A Taste Of A Vampire

Though she could have begun peeking in any room, she had to admit to herself that there was only one that had truly captivated her attention, and it was that one that she was determined to go to. It was Nicholas’ bedroom. It was the biggest bedroom she had ever seen with what was unquestionably the biggest fireplace she had ever seen, but it was also the one room that he hadn’t really showed her in any detail.

They had entered it, moments later they were kissing one another and locked in each other’s arms, and then they left. There had been no time for her to look around or to discover anything at all. She stepped as silently down the hallway to his room as she could and paused outside of his bedroom door, her heart banging wildly against her chest as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

It was the most personal room of his in his home. It was where he slept, and where he dressed. His personal bathroom was there. She felt she could probably get no closer to him than that room, in discovering him through his house.

Reaching for the doorknob, she turned it slowly and carefully, holding her breath tight in her as she did. The door opened without a sound, and she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, making sure that the latch didn’t click loudly when she did it.

Looking around the room carefully, she saw that it was empty and she exhaled slowly in relief, letting out all the breath she had been holding inside of her. The air in the room was still, but not stale. It smelled fresh, as if a window had been opened earlier, though all of them were closed just then.

Step by careful step she walked further into the room, letting her fingertips trail over the edges of the furniture as she passed each piece. The wardrobe doors opened silently and inside she found an exquisite collection of clothes. They had to be tailor made, and by someone in Europe, she was sure of that. No one in the states designed anything like what she was looking at. There was a small glass stand of cologne bottles on the top of the dresser, and she sniffed at a few of them, liking every one of them.

She took one that she really liked and dabbed a bit on the back of her hand, bringing her hand to her nose and inhaling slowly to enjoy it. It smelled like he did the first night she had met him by the creek. She smiled serenely at the memory and had just set the bottle back down when she heard his deep voice in her ear.

“That’s my favorite as well.” The voice was quiet and smooth, like black velvet.

Everything in her jumped as adrenaline shot through every part of her like lightning. She spun around where she stood and felt his hands close on her arms gently.

“Nicholas!” she gasped, staring up into his fiery green eyes.

“What a surprise to find you here,” he said quietly as if he wasn’t surprised at all. “What are you doing here?”

She wanted to say something believable and acceptable. She wanted to say something that would make it all right for her to be going through his house alone and for him to find her in his bedroom. She wanted to lie.

“I came to…” she began.

She was going to tell him that she came to visit him and hadn’t found him downstairs, so she went up to his room to see if he was there. It sounded good. It was believable. She wanted to say it and save her dignity, but the words caught in her throat and as he held her eyes with his, she found that she couldn’t say them. She couldn’t say anything but the truth to him, no matter what she wanted to say.

“I… I needed to know more about you. It’s just that you sound so much like the man my great-great-great-grandmother wrote about in her diary. It’s uncanny. You could be twins. Your house is the same as she described. You are the same as your great-great-great-grandfather that she described, and it’s just so strange and curious to me that I had to come and… and see if I could find the truth. I have to know the truth.” She stared at him as everything in her raced. “You sound exactly like the man in her diary.”

His eyes flashed. “Do I?” he asked with a sharp edge to his voice.

There was no doubt that she had awoken some anger within him.

 Fear gripped her with a chill that ran over her entire body and she shivered in his grasp. Somehow, in the depths of her, there was a strong anchor. Her heart and mind held fast to it and she made herself speak to him.

“My great-great-great-grandmother… Elizabeth… she loved that man. She wanted him… more than any other man. More than my great-great-great-grandfather that she married. I want to understand it all. I’m so fascinated with her feelings for him… for Nathaniel…” She trailed off as her skin began to feel icy and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck and her arms raised upward.

He regarded her silently for a moment. “And how do you feel about this man?” he asked, searching her eyes as he pulled her closer to him.

She could barely breathe. Her heart pounded wildly and her blood raged through her body, nearly deafening her ears. Again, she found that what she wished she could say was somehow unable to be voiced, and what she did say was exactly what she was thinking and feeling.

In barely more than a whisper, she answered him. “I feel like I’m not in control with you. I feel like I’m falling for someone I hardly even know.”

Again, the fire in his eyes flashed and his dark red lips parted. “What do you want?” he asked, peering deeply into her.

There was no way she could avoid speaking the truth no matter how much she desperately wished that she could. She swallowed hard and took a shallow breath.

“I want you.”

His stare was unrelenting as they stood there motionless for an infinite moment. She shivered slightly, and a split second later, he pulled her to him and planted his mouth on hers, kissing her hard and hungrily.

“You’re sure this is what you want…?”