Just a Sip

Later on that night after I had awoken and taken a shower. I padded around the silent room, wondering why Armand hasn't come out of his space yet. I put my wet hair up on top of my head to keep it out of my face as I rummaged through drawers to find an outfit to whatever gala I was to prepare for tonight.

Armand strolled out of his chamber, looking refreshed. I put a hand on my necklace, and looked at my feet.

"Good Night." I said shyly looking away from his chest. He smirked, running a hand through his hair.

"Good evening." I tip toed around him, it was as if there was a calm and silent foundation we stood on, and I wanted it to stay this way. Armand grabbed my arm and spun me around, 

"Hey. Don't avoid me." he said looking into my eyes with his now deep brown ones. I folded my arms as he let go. He tapped his lips, and I stood on my tippy toes to press my lips against his. They felt cool. 

"Did last night really happen?" I asked leaning against the minibar. Armand went into the fridge and took out a container of blood, grimacing at it.

"Want a round two to prove it?" he replied baring his exposed teeth. I shook my head rapidly. "None of this will taste the same." he said putting the container in the microwave and pressing buttons. "Now that I've had your blood, my standards are higher." I shivered as his eyes fell to my chest and then away.

"What am I getting dressed for tonight?" I asked changing the subject and holding up my slinky, soft creme lounge dress. Armand took his breakfast out of the microwave.

"Nothing. You have a night off tonight." 

I raised an eyebrow. What was I? The genie from 'I Dream of Jeanie'. 

"Oh master, I'm so thrilled!" I said clasping my hands together and pressing them against my breast. Armand gave me a look and downed what was in the container.

"I'M going out tonight for another promotional. We have so many people wanting to taste the fantastic dreams, that I have to start making house calls." Armand grinned. My stomach dropped as he walked past me, the same cold and creaturelike vampire that I had first met.

"Armand, you have to stop with the torturing. Someone could get KILLED." Armand stopped, turning his ear to me. "You were human at one point in your life, your qualities can't be COMPLETELY gone." I pleaded, fearing for the fate of fellow humans. Even though some smelled, or some were annoying...they still had families, and memories...things that keep them alive. 

"I was never human. And I don't have any human left in me." Armand responded with a coldness that I could feel up my spine. "So just do your job, and sit pretty while I bring home money for your expensive dresses and toys. Because I'm the only person that knows the recipe to the tea, and I always make more money." he said going into the bathroom and locking the door behind him. That last comment bit at me like a brisk wind. Was that what I was now? A doll? I had become his human, only to advance half a step? 

I sat on the bed and looked at the floor, angry tears, boiling hot, from behind my eyes. I was humiliated. Armand came out of the bathroom, wearing a navy blue two piece suit. He straightened his cuffs and didn't even glance at me as he selected a gold tie and handed it to me. I stood up and put the tie around his neck with trembling hands. Trying to shield my thoughts, I tucked the tie into loops and finally arranged it so that it laid flat against his chest.

"Thank you pet." he said emotionlessly as he checked how he looked one last time before heading to the door. This was our first real fight as a couple. I thought wanting to laugh at how silly I felt.

"You're not silly for thinking that. We are a couple and are going to be together for centuries. So get used to fighting, because the make up sex will be sensational." I dropped my jaw and beat on his arm. 

"Stay out of my thoughts batboy!" I hollered as he pulled the door open. He turned and looked at me, leaning down and kissing my neck. I thought he was going to bite me as he hesitated, but then he pulled away, slapping my bottom.

"See you tonight kitten." he said as I straightened a flyaway hair on his perfectly sculpted and slicked back hair. I had a feeling of importance, Armand was mine, and I was his. No Evora or Radu could come between us now, even if that meant being his missus, I was still now part of his world.

"Do you love me?" I blurted out. His face was blank. What? Vampire speaky no engrish now??! A slow smirk crept over his face.

"...Bye Miu." he said turning on his heel and stuffing his hands in his pockets. I watched him walk down the hallway with a heavy heart. I had to do something. Before I go to hell for letting him do what he aimed to do tonight.

After closing the door, I ran to the closet threw on a champagne colored day dress and a jacket. Pocketing the spare car keys laying beside the bed, I left the room going to the lobby. 

•     •     •

     Surprisingly Armand's car was still out front. I froze as the valet boredly glanced over at me.

"Is there something you need mam?" he asked putting his fangs away. I pointed at the car.

"Mr. Servano...has he left?" I asked swallowing. The valet nodded. 

"A limo picked him up about a half an hour ago. Are you his wife?" he asked. I nodded silently and got into the car. "Do you want me to tell him you'll be out?" he asked as I began to roll my window up.  

"No, tell no one." I said starting the car and leaving the area of the hotel. I brought out the GPS again and punched in my brothers address. I was so nervous about getting caught by Armand that I couldn't even think straight. After about 3 stoplights, I made it, locking the doors and hopping out of the car. I went into the building and past the security guard, who greeted me nervously.

"Miss Stewart." he said half bowing. I waved him away as I went into the elevator and pressed the button for my brothers floor. I tapped my Christian Loubotin heel on The floor anxiously as I waited to be admitted by my brother. The door slid open as I marched into the room, slamming right into someone that was NOT my brother.  I had dropped my purse and leaned down to pick it up, cursing up a storm. 

"Where the FUCK is my brother?" I asked through gritted teeth as I straightened myself up. I was looking right at...Evora? What was she doing here? I wondered, blanching.

She smiled toothily at me. She wore a fitted blood red silk dress that hugged her in all the right places. Her bronze curls shaped to perfection around her face.

"Miu...am I correct?" she said ushering me inside. I nodded, jerking away from her cold touch. Before I sat on the couch, I glared at her.

"Where's Troy." I asked. She spread out on the couch luxuriously. 

"He's getting ready for a gala we are planning on attending." she said digging her nails in the cushion of the sofa and smiling. I set my jaw.

"Well I'll just wait then." I said sitting and putting my purse in my lap. The room was silent, as Evora stared at me curiously. Her eyes meandered to my necklace.

"I see you belong to someone. Someone special?" she asked, pulling a cigarette from her clutch on the table and propping it in her mouth. She offered me one. I took it as a challenge and snatched the cigarette, putting it into my mouth.

"I am." I said as she lit mine and hers in one swift motion. Smoke rolled out her nostrils, and to my horror, it was red. 

"Relax, it's just the pigment they put in it. It's not like it's...fresh blood or something." Evora said grinning. I let smoke coast out of my mouth. "So does Armand treat you right? Give you toys and treats?" she asked rolling her shoulders. My pissed off levels were going off the charts. But I composed myself. 

"Being his human has its advantages." I say defiantly. Evora held my gaze.

"You know...spending eternity with him won't be so appealing after he knocks you around a bit. Your fleshy and soft human skin won't protect you from when he has a bad night." I clenched my fist around my purse. Satisfied at the fact that she had hit a nerve, she stared at the ceiling. "Armand made me. I would know." 

I released my grip. Armand had MADE Evora? No...it can't be.

"The sex was great, don't get me wrong, but his temper makes it even better. Especially if you have the tough skin of a vampire." she laughed as I held back angry tears. Bitch. 

"At least ive still got my youth...and can go out in the sun...unlike your old and unsightly self." I shot back standing up. Evora's eye twitched, I had gotten to her. But she ignored it. My brother walked out, straightening his tie and looking at me surprisedly. I hugged him.

"Can we talk, in private for a moment?" I asked glancing at Evora out of the corner of my eye. Her face was turned to the window as my brother nodded and led me down a dark hallway to his room. We went in and he shut the door.

"What's going on?" he asked searching my face with his eyes.

"First of all, WHY are you sleeping with that...bitch?!" I screeched. Troy shook his head.

"Because she's entertaining...and we have a good time together." he said walking over to his boudoir and putting his cuff links on. I was tempted to tell my brother everything I knew about her, but who was I to ruin his life in the vampire world? It still bothered me though, I was jealous of Evora, and how she got to spend infinite amounts of time with my brother. She probably knew him better than I did.

"What else brings you here besides to chew me out for dating your enemy." I crossed my arms like a child and pouted.  "I need Radu's address." I said slowly. Troy stopped what he was doing and became silent. 

"Why?" he asked. "Because if you're looking for answers, you're DEFINATLY not going to him for them." I groaned following him to his closet.

"Troy let me handle it. I know what I'm doing and I can handle big bad Radu. Besides, I'm Armand's human...isn't it against vampire rules to Mack on another vampires dinner?" my brother winced at my analogy.

"Miu. It's more complicated than that. So don't put yourself in that position in the first place." Troy shook his head disappointedly and began to leave the room. I grabbed onto the coattail of his suit. 

"Please. I Need answers. I need to stop Armand from hurting anyone else." my brothers eyes searched my eyes and looked away. "It's all my fault, and I would rather DIE than let him continue this." I finished, letting his suit fall from my fingers.

"He's staying in an apartment building in Picadilly. Commons place. Apartment 4." my brother said giving me one last pleading look.

"The only reason I'm letting you go is because I'll be following you and listening out for you. I don't like what Armand is doing or how he's handling his business...or you." I tucked a curl behind my ear. "If there was ever time to be the big brother and save his little sis, itd be now." he said closing his hand around the doorknob and pausing, obviously thinking.

"Troy...do you...like this life?" I asked him wanting to reach out and touch him. He wouldn't look at me.

"No. I regret everyday. Every meal, every sunset. I'm so tired." my older brother said with centuries behind his eyes even though he wasn't old. "That's why Evora and I are together. We hate what we are and find solace in eachother." I shuddered, trying to understand where my brother was coming from. But if he liked this cold woman, then by all means should I support him.

We left the room and met Evora as she stood by the window and looked out at the black night. She pressed a hand to the glass and gazed at my brother who approached her, and I saw what Troy meant. I wasn't as perceptive as I thought I was. This ice queen, with decades of murder and blood under her belt was only doing what she was trained to do. Armand had made and trained her to do awful things. She couldnt help it, it was in her nature. Troy and Evora kissed, linking their hands together and looking at me. Evora's eyes were glassy. She was only mean to me because she didn't understand...how did it feel to be truly human again?

"Let's go." Troy said pressing the button on the sunshield over the window and closing out the city lights.
     
•     •     •

     I cruised down the turnpike, my brother not far behind. I ran through my head what I would say to Radu...if I even caught him at home. We arrived at the apartment building. It was a uniformed brick with rounded balconies and perfectly trimmed trees outside. It looked black and deserted as I drove right into the lot and blinked my lights twice so my brother new I had made it. He blinked his in response, waiting outside of the vicinity with Evora in the passenger seat.

I slid from the car, hearing a dog howl in the distance. A lonely and hollow sound. I went up to the second building, following the instructions my brother had given me. 

I ran my finger down a list of residents on the wall, with silver buttons next to them. Calm and waiting. My finger landed on his name. 

"R. Desalvo." I whispered to myself, the cold air of night creating transparent ghosts of my breath. I pressed the button. There was no answer. I pressed it again, to hear a voice come from a voicebox nearby.

"If you're selling something. Get out before I eat you...starting with your head." he said sounding fully awake. I hesitated, suddenly unsure of my motives and wanting to run back to my car. I swallowed.

"Y-yes, Radu? It's me, Miu." I said shakily pulling my jacket tighter around me. There was silence and then the door buzzed unlocked. I looked around to make sure my brother was still waiting. I entered the dimly lit hall and went up to Radu's apartment. The door was already standing ajar as I stood outside of it.

"Radu?" I asked putting a hand on the black painted door. The apartment building was silent as a tomb. The door creaked open and Radu looked down at me with a look of knowing on his face.

"You want to know the truth don't you?" he asked letting me in. I still didn't trust him after what had happened that one night, but what other way could I obtain the information I wanted. I desperately prayed that my brother was nearby.

I entered his apartment, which was sparsely furnished and cold. I shivered as he walked to a closet and put a shirt on.

"Why is it so cold in here?" I asked, avoiding eye contact with his intense stare. Radu shrugged sitting in one of the two chairs he had. I sat in the one opposite him and put a hand on my necklace. His eyes never left my face.

"You're scared." he said steepling his fingers under his smooth chin. I shook my head and bit my lip. 

"I'm Armand's, you do something to me, he kills you. So what's there to be scared of?" I asked gaining inner strength. Radu smiled faintly and nodded.

"Touche." he said. "so what do you want to hear? The happy ending where we all live forever? Or the sad ending where we all live forever?" he said as I crossed one leg over the other with the scratching of my heel on the chipped wood floor.

"The truth." I said plainly and finally meeting his eye. He pulled at a string hanging from his armchair and looked around the room, the only light we had was from the remnants of the moon splashing through the floor to ceiling windows.

"You already know about your family history concerning witches...am I correct?" Radu asked calmly. This was a side of him I had never seen before. It was if he had given up on being the bad guy, he wanted to share his secrets. I nodded. "What you probably don't know, is of the Romani blood that you have from your mothers side. One of us." 

I raised an eyebrow, wary. I thought I was just black and Vietnamese, this was way sketch. 

"You don't have to believe me now...but just wait. Armand and I were to marry an eligible  by a certain age, or we couldn't Inherit my uncles money. We could have married who we wanted, when we wanted. Just as long as we did it." Radu clasped his hands together. "The most beautiful girl in town, no doubt belonged to Armand, and I ended up corrupting the lovely and completely vulnerable Evora." I shivered, feeling the cold truth roll off of Radu in waves. I wondered if Evora could hear her name in our conversation from the car. "Armand married Magdalene...he has told you about Magdalene right?" I nodded chewing at my thumbnail.

"Well he married her and-" 

"They had one son named Adi and Armand cheated. Why are you telling me things I already know?!" I said getting up from my seat with a scraping of the legs on the wood. Radu laughed gaily.

"You're like a puppy. You're eager for the truth. But as you've learned I'm sure...YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" Radu said in his best drill sargent voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Proceed." I said with a wave of my hand still to impatient to sit. I had to get home before Armand did. Radu was silent as he stood up, coming close to me. So close that I could feel the static on his skin. My heart hiccupped.

"You would rather see than hear?" Radu said in more the form of a statement than a question. I looked away.

"I just want to know what happened. I have to know what makes Armand tick so that I can-" I paused. "Get along with him." I lied. Radu let his fangs slide out. I quickly backed away.

"What are you doing?" I asked looking around for a weapon. Radu smirked at me and slid his fangs over his own wrist. It caused a bubbly gulch ot blood that was even visible in this moonlight. I remembered times when I would cut and I felt sick to my stomach. Was I really that weak to hurt myself for others hurting me? 

"Drink it." Radu said inching closer to me. I stared at him, aghast. Was this some sick joke? Or was he serious? "Miu. Who else can you trust. I'm offering you visual proof, and you won't take it. Because you're scared." I clutched to my necklace breathing heavily. I couldn't look away from his streaming arm. Nononononono. My brain screamed. But he was right. Who could I trust anymore. Even my own brother kept things from me. I reached out for Radu's pale wrist slowly.

"Hurry before it heals." he said calmly. I brought my mouth to his skin and immediately tasted...roses? Wine? At first it was a palpable feeling. One of shock at me leaning over a vampire and sucking HIS blood. Next it was emotions I tasted. Fear, anger, selfishness, greed. I felt as if I were falling into a vision, but it was only the kind I could see, not the kind I could BE in.

I was back in the Romani village at night. I tried to ignore the feeling of nausea that rolled around my stomach like a restless sea. Armand and Radu stumbled from the bar that I'm guessing was where they shared the vague conversation about Magdalene. They laughed and hooted and hollered as the ominous night fell.

"We will get my son back!" Armand said drunkly, slinging an arm around Radu's neck. They had reached an alley now as a detour to wherever they were going.

"Your last night sleeping in my home!" Radu said back, belching loudly. The two were throwing stones and tripping down the darkened alley, not aware of the dark figure watching them from at the end. I couldn't help but feel scared. The person stepped out of the shadows, as evil looking as death itself. 

Armand and Radu jumped back. 

"All saints!" Armand hissed. The figure had long features and was as flawless as the bright side of the moon. I didn't recognize him, but realized that I shouldn't. Who was he. Was he a vampire? But by the way the man looked, all ominous and terrifying, I knew he was. And I was afraid of what I'd see.

Suddenly the vision melted away, revealing another one. Radu and Armand circling around a house, staring up at it's windows with hungry eyes. I was guessing that this was after they had been bitten by the vampire in the alley. Their lips were permanently stained red, as if they had went on a killing spree. Their hair matted and shirts torn. A woman walked past the window and blew out a candle. 

Radu's hunger saturated my mouth as he looked to his cousin. Armand looked determined. As scary as it was, I realized that this was how Armand was...he never went through any serious changes. He was born to be a monster. 

The cousins scaled the wall to the second floor of the building, peering into the window like two goblins in Halloween stories I  heard as a child. A woman laid atop her covers in her nightgown and a baby curled up on her chest. Her thick brown curls were splayed across the white sheets like spilled paint. 

I became nauseous as I saw Armand and Radu look at eachother. I felt Radu's unsure feelings, he was the one who still held on to humanity. Armand was a different story. He climbed into the window, a shadow of death. I wanted to scream, as the woman smiled in her sleep and absently rubbed the babys back.

Radu climbed in after. Armand inched towards the bed, looking at the baby with a look of love and confusion and conflict I had never seen in a vampire before. Then he looked to the woman in hatred. His eyes deepened their color to a murky red.

And then he killed her. And let the baby live.

Radu pulled away then, letting me stumble backwards to the wall. I was back in the apartment, the distant sound of a police siren outside. I knew the truth. I didn't have to finish every gory detail of Radu's pathetic end to life. I was frightened. I raised shaky finger to Radu.

"You and Armand killed...you killed..." I couldnt get the words out. I was shocked...and disgusted. The woman...she was....

"Armand and I killed your great-great-great-great-great Aunt. And then we made Evora into one of us, killing whatever Armand helped create inside of her. I was in love with Evora, and she betrayed me. So I helped kill her. I wanted her to feel the pain I felt."

I fell to my knees. "Magdalene. She's my aunt. Armand chose me..."

Radu came beside me, materializing right before my face. "Miu. He's reliving the past, righting his wrongs, starting with Magdalenes descendant. But what my sick fuck of a cousin doesn't realize is that everything he touches, dies."

I remembered everything about my life, my family, things said to me. The things I ignored in my normal everyday life. And then another thing occurred to me.

"Radu...how did you take me into your vision with you? You didn't have tea." Radu scoffed breathing on the glass of the window and wiping it away with the sleeve of his jacket.

"Armand isn't the first vampire to use their own blood to conjure visions and mirages. All it takes is a drop of our blood to create fantasies." 

My stomach churned yet again. Armand was using vampire blood...in his tea. I stood up and went to the sink in the kitchen. I was going to be sick. All of this information was clogging my brain. I couldn't breathe. I hung my head over the sink. I felt mucus coat my throat.

"Armand's going to kill me, isn't he?" I asked Radu as he walked over beside me. He was silent as he looked to the window, his jaw set and face drawn. He had about enough of this life as I had. And I wasnt even a vampire.

"If not now, then soon. Very soon. And he's letting you take the whole world with you to dreamland."