’You’re alone.’ She’d regretted saying those words as soon as she saw the defeated look on Charlie’s face. Mila watched her fall onto her side and curl up into a ball, as if she could somehow make herself disappear. The motion made the blanket slip away from her angular shoulders. If only Mila could have crossed the short distance between them to tuck the blanket snuggly around her. She knew Charlie would have flinched away from her, at best. She ached to do it anyway; the girl was so chilled that her teeth were chattering. But she also knew it was better not to do anything that would agitate her and prevent her from drifting into the heavy sleep that Mila could see coming in her eyes. Charlie needed sleep more than anything.
Clearly she’d hit a nerve by mentioning Char’s family. Needless to say, she hadn’t pressed for details. If things had been different, she might have asked why she was all alone in this lonely apartment. Where were the parents and siblings who surely must have cared for her. Where were the friends and love interests who should have flocked to her charming, personable demeanor. Something kept them away. Or kept her away. Maybe Charlie was more like her than she could have guessed at first glance. Ever surrounded by people, but always separate from them. ’Someday you’ll cross paths with someone who will recognize you for what you are,’ she thought to herself. ’You won’t always be alone.’
To hear Charlie so readily agree that Mila should leave was painful, but not unexpected.
"Yes. That's a good idea."
Mila didn’t offer a reply. And anyway, she could see that Charlie’s eyes were already closed. Her voice was just a soft sigh on her lips.
"You should leave, I won't tell."
It wouldn’t matter if she did. The wounds on her neck would be healed by the time she woke up. With those gone, there’d be no evidence that Mila had laid a finger on her. It would be safe then to let her contact anyone she liked. It was like she said, no other human would believe her story anyway. Mila had left people like this before – waiting for them to drift into a heavy sleep before skipping town. She only had to do that when they’d been conscious, or when she’d been too rough and had gone too far… That had happened often in the early days, but very rarely now. In any case, letting the surviving ones go free had never brought her any trouble in the past. This time would be no different.
The tension in the air gradually subsided as Charlie slipped into unconsciousness. Mila could hear the light, even sound of her breathing, could see that her body had completely relaxed into the couch cushions. The vampire rose quietly from her seat and moved to stand over her. Charlie looked perfectly at ease now with the glare smoothed away from her features and her lips slightly parted. Mila brushed a few fallen strands of hair from her eyes and tucked them behind her ear, her fingertips lingering on the girl’s cheek before she pulled away. She wrapped the blanket around her shivering shoulders, hating the fact that her close proximity would do nothing but make her colder. With the blanket pulled all the way up to Charlie’s chin, Mila bent to scoop her up, one arm under her shoulders, the other under her knees. Her head rested heavily against Mila’s chest. The vampire marveled at how light she was as she moved carefully down the hall to the bedroom.
Soon she had her tucked into bed, her pale cheek on a pillow, more blankets draped over her body. Mila sat at the edge of her bed for a little while longer until she was satisfied that Charlie’s breathing was becoming stronger and that her wounds were healing as they should. Finally, with no other excuse to delay, she stood up and moved to the doorway.
“I wish I had met you under different circumstances,” she whispered to the empty air, hesitating halfway through the door. She took one last look at Charlie’s sleeping form and then she quietly left to go fetch her things.
It didn’t take long for her to gather her belongings. After she’d tidied up the living room and put the wine glasses away, it was like she was never there. All that was left was to put Charlie’s phone back where she’d found it on the island counter. With everything done now, she headed to the front door. But something there caught her eye and made her pause. It was Charlie’s scarf hanging in the entryway, the one she’d been wearing that first night. Mila touched the ends of it lightly. Like everything else in the apartment, it had the girl’s scent. On an impulse, she pulled it off its hook and wrapped it around her own neck. She found the spare key that Charlie had loaned her and hung that in its place.
And then she was gone, driving down the empty city streets with everything thing she owned in the backseat. On the move again, as always. Nothing had changed. Except that now she’d been made self-conscious again of her own monstrous nature. She needed a distraction. Something she could lose herself in and get back to the way things were before. She wasn’t hungry yet, but she would be eventually. She’d go back to her old hunting grounds, familiar territory. Find some young thing that would throw herself at her willingly…
“You think you can just sweet talk me for a while and I’ll throw myself at you?”
“No need for that, sweetheart, I’ve already got you.”
The woman on Booker’s lap giggled loudly as he as gave her side a squeeze and nuzzled his scruffy chin against her neck. She was wearing a heavy perfume and sweet smelling hair product, but all the vampire’s senses were focused on the throbbing vein under his lips as he kissed her above her collarbone. His hand snaked over her bare thigh to dip under the hemline of her short skirt. She shrieked and playfully pushed him away, turning the shove into a caress over his chest and shoulders. Their sounds were almost drowned out in the loud pulsating music that filled the nightclub. They were sitting on plush leather seats in some dark corner of the room. Colored lights flashed over the woman every now and again, giving Booker a glimpse of her half-lidded eyes that were gazing at him intently.
He certainly did have her now. He could probably whisper what he planned to do and she’d still be fawning over him. The wonderful thing about clubs like this – apart from the fact that they were filled with desperate people – was that he could have her right now without anyone noticing. His teeth had already become sharp as he growled against the skin of her neck and become more and more rough with hands. The breathy moans in his ear only egged him on.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was curious about what kind of mischief Lisette was getting into, and whether or not he should be saving some thirst for later. They didn’t always tag team their prey, but it was a fun way to mix things up. And he was sure she couldn’t be too far away…