Just a Sip

I left the apartment feeling as if I were being watched at every angle. I felt my stomach knot at the very idea of Armand finding out where I just was. Radu let me leave with a warning...and a last bit of information I couldn't yet forget.

"I'm...sorry." He said as he held the door open. I stared at him. Was it normal for a vampire to be...humble? He looked at me with eyes I felt I remembered from a distant world. "For what we did to your family...what happened to your brother..." I came closer to him, so close that I could smell his earthy scent. 

"You know about, my brother?" I asked in a hushed tone. Radu smiled a knowing smile. 

"I know everything there is to know.  I also know that he's outside waiting for you." he said grinning and leaning in the doorway. I wanted to laugh at how silly I was for thinking that Radu was naive. 

"Do you know who made him?" I asked curiously stepping back. Radu shook his head and kicked a chip in the wood of his floor with his shoe.

"No. That I DO NOT know." 

I had a newfound respect for Radu, a friendship if you could call someone with so much of your history that. 

"How does it feel to be his?" he asked as I lingered at his door. I was silent, looking at the light of dawn beginning to creep up the stairs. 

"It feels right." I said nodding and taking a deep breath. Radu reached out and put a hand on my necklace. My palms began to sweat. I had one more thing that I wanted to find out, but I was nervous. I was yet again scared to find out the truth.

"Magdalene was...SUPPOSED to be with Armand right? That's the way the story started?" I asked shakily. Radu's eyes fell to mine as he dropped his hand to his side.

"Yes. Magdalene was supposed to be Armand's." I breathed a sigh of relief. And then I remembered the night of the ball...was I the modern day Magdalene? Everything confused me at this point actually. I had no idea what was going on with my past, how could I even BEGIN to fix my future. "But between you and me," Radu continued, "Magdalene was more like me. We had chemistry. But Armand always gets the girl." Radu said running a hand through his hair, just like his cousin. I stood on my toes and kissed Radu's cheek, the rough stubble of his chin grazing my lips. It felt funny, like something left unsaid. Radu had just helped me out, that's all. That's the only reason I felt like this. I reasoned with myself.

"You won me. Just not in the way you want. But you won me." I said wrapping my coat tightly around me and descending the stairs to get to the car and drive home before Armand could get back to the hotel and catch me in the act.

•     •     •
     Hugging my brother good bye and waving awkwardly at Evora, I went up to the valet of the hotel and pressed my hands to the podium anxiously.

"Has Mr. Servano arrived yet?" I asked hoping I was lucky enough for him to pull an almost dawner. But then again why would he risk it? The valet shrugged apologetically. He was a young unpolished vampire I could tell. I had gotten so good at recognizing the youngbloods from the old ones. The young ones still had fresh pucker wounds on their necks and near black eyes. They also could be out at dawn longer since their new skin had to develop.

"I just got here." the boy said staring at my neck. I snapped.

"Hey. Up here tweenie. Is there any way you could find out?" I asked, feeling my old personality coming back. He shook his head.

"Sorry." I left the podium in a huff and bustled inside tossing my keys to his waiting hands. I shivered, the lobby was freezing as usual. I looked over to the lounge, double taking. Armand was sitting with a pincurled blonde girl in his lap. He was laughing and talking with other vampires, his bright teeth glinting in the light. I felt stupid.

This was where he belonged. Not tied up with me in a dismal hotel room for the better parts of the night. My throat began to feel tight as blondie threw her head back and laughed heartily at something he had said. 

My silk dress suddenly became a potato sack, my heels melting into converses. And my shiny and curly black hair now a frizzy mop on my head. My pumpkin carriage had arrived and reality was the driver. Tears filled my eyes as Armand looked in my general direction and saw right through me.

I was out of place. The Mathletes Club President at a beauty pageant. I clamped a hand around my necklace, feeling rage fill my whole body. It was like I was completely alone. I was isolated. I ripped the necklace off and threw it on the ground. It fell to the ground with a small shatter as if it were slow-motion. Glass littered the floor, and the oozing red liquid of our trust saturated the ground in a small puddle. It barely made a sound, but Armand's head snapped over to me again as I stormed off to the elevator. 

That's it. I thought angrily smashing my finger against the button of our floor, the door was about to close. Armand's hand stopped it like it was nothing. His palm left a dent in the stainless steel metal. I stared at him with my arms folded. I wasn't sure of what to feel about him. I didn't even know what to think, so I wasn't even in any danger of him READING my thoughts. 

"Why did you do it?" he asked calmly. I looked away and sniffed.

"Do what?" I asked leaning against the back of the elevator. He was silent, waiting for me to grow up. But I didn't want to.

"She was an old client of mine. Rose Caldwell. We just had a few drinks after the promotion." I set my jaw, unsure of myself. What he didn't realize was that it wasnt about Tulip or Rosie or whatever, it was everything I had learned about him. He was a monster. He got into the elevator and waited for the doors to wheeze and shut. The enclosed space frightened me. What if he turned me, right here right now. I looked at Armand out of the corner of my eye and realized that he didn't have a choice to be a vampire. I do. And I have to assert that choice. 

But what do I do?

"Where did you come from when you were downstairs?" Armand asked stonily. My throat felt tight as I clutched my purse win sweating palms.

"I needed some more...mascara." I lied boldly. Armand raised an eyebrow. At least he bought it, I thought.

"Why are you lying?" he asked holding his hands behind his back. I bit my lip.

"Why are you?" I asked slowly choosing my words. A plan began to formulate in my head. Armand shook his head.

"Stop with the games Miu, I'm beginning to get annoyed with them." I turned to him.

"And then what?" I frothed slappin my purse on his arm. Rage was apparent in his eyes, but he remained stoic.

"And then I get fucking PISSED. And THEN I do things I dont mean to do." He said through clenched teeth.

I remembered Magdalenes story and how Armand was completely right, he did do things...horrible things to people when he was pissed. Would I wait until he did something to me? The elevator reached our floor, the doors slid open. Armand walked ahead as usual. I began to examine his every move. He was a timebomb. Ticking. When would he explode?

"I could have another necklace sent up tomorrow." Armand said breaking me from my thoughts. I nodded grimly as he let us into the room. I dropped my coat to the ground and began to climb out of my dress. Armand shut the curtains and the sunshield. The room was quiet, a defiant silence thick like fog hanging in the air. Armand didn't get undressed, he merely stood and watched me as I peeled off my tights wearily and threw them in a heap by the bed. 

"Why do I feel like you're letting me down?" he asked standing up and towering over me. Gooseflesh raised over my naked arms as I crossed them. His chocolate eyes were rimmed with red, he was hungry. 

"I'm not." I lied looking away. Armand snatched my chin between his fingers and forced me to look up at him. His grip was tight, but careful. "I know your smell, your movement, your smile, your thoughts. Currently, all of these factors are different. There's something you're not telling me. We're so close to hitting it big and you're going to let me down." Armand said letting my chin go and pacing. My eyes filled with tears, everything was going wrong. He was troubled, haunted by his past. And I thought I could change him. I tried to walk away, but he came up and shoved me against the desk in fustration, causing me to fall and just barely hit my head. I sat for a second trying to regroup and silently getting up.

Armand stood by the bed, his rich mahogany hair waving in his face. I walked over and began to take his jacket off. He stood as I unbuttoned his shirt and slipped his tie over his head. He didn't make any attempt to move as I slowly pushed him on the bed to lay down. I turned off the lights and felt for him in the pitch black darkness. I took his ice cold hand in mine and curled up against him.

He quietly murmured to himself about nothing. Nonsense and gibberish I couldnt understand. He was falling apart. He was going to combust. My lip felt hot as I raised my free hand to it, I had bit it on accident when Armand pushed me into the desk. My whole body ached from the fall. But at that moment, I swore it would never happen again.

Armand buried his face against my breast and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Hundreds of years and I find myself in the same situation all over again. It just never ends." he said as I rested my head on his, the downy hairs tickling my face. 

If he was speaking of what happened to Magdalene or Evora, I could say with all honesty that the story was going to end differently this time. 

Tomorrow, it ends. I decided. The chain had to be broken.