Bliss and Bloodlust

As Cassie and I were leaving work Friday afternoon Dan called me. “I have a surprise for you.” he said before I could even say hello.

“Hello dear. You know I don't like surprises.”

“But I assure you it's a good one. Come and meet me.” He told me where to come and when I said Cass was with me he said to bring her along.

“So it must not be dirty if he's asking me to tag along.” she said as we made our way to the car. “Unless he's into threesomes.” she half-joked, but then my mind began to wonder.

Shaking my head I got into the car and Cassie followed me in her car out of the garage. We drove to an auto shop about seven blocks away. Daniel was waiting near his motorcycle looking very devil may care with his leather jacket and boots.

Carlos was with him. He gave me a smirk and then his eyes went to my best friend and a look of lust was on his face, his eyes hungry. The look wasn't lost on her. She introduced herself and Dan and I both shot him a warning glance. He gave us a naughty little grin. Oh boy, now on top of other things I had to worry about Carlos trying to ensnare Cass.

Dan gave me a hug and a kiss. “Follow me.” he said and after pulling Cass away from the other vampire we obliged.

We went to the back of the building and parked next to a huge SUV was my pickup truck. Only it wasn't quite the same. “What did you have done to her?” I muttered as I got closer.

My pickup, an old '69 Chevy, used to be a fading chipped shade of sky blue with rust spots, scratches and dents that gave it character. Now it had new tires, new lights, a new engine, new windshield, new everything and was a gleaming dark blue and didn't have a scratch or dent on her. And of course new brakes. In other words it looked brand new.

“Look inside.” Dan said eagerly. “There's even an alarm now.”

I opened the door and saw that it had been reupholstered and now had a new stereo system and GPS.

“Dan this is too much. You were only supposed to get the front fixed, get the dents out. How much did it cost?”

“You worry too much about money.” Dan said as he put a hand on my shoulder.

“Well, I'm kind of poor, so it comes with the territory. Seriously Daniel, you fixed every inch of her.”

“Well she needed it.”

“He's right, she did.” Cass added, gliding her hand over the hood in awe. Carlos watched her like he was stalking prey.

“Quiet you.” I said, pointing at her but kept an eye on Carlos, as did Dan.

She shrugged and slipped in the drivers seat and began playing with the stereo, Carlos joined her. “It was a piece of shit.” he added, “I was surprised it could even run.”

“Hey,” I exclaimed. “That's my baby you're talking about. Shh,” I cooed to the truck, “He didn't mean it.”

“Yeah, I did.” He actually laughed, a good hardy belly laugh.

“Look, it even plays MP3s.” Cass exclaimed.

“You're not helping.” I told her.

“Darling,” Daniel turned me around to face him, “It was the least I could do. Are you going to tell me you don't love it?”

“No, it's nice.”

He scowled. “Nice?”

“It's wonderful. Amazing. Thank you. I'm never gonna be able to pay you back.”

“It's a gift.”

“Well this is a big one. You'll have to let me do something for you.”

“I have a few things in mind.” he said low with a sly smile.

I smiled back. “I bet you do.” Cass had begun blasting a Kelly Clarkson song and was singing along. “Thank you.”

Daniel kissed my cheek. “Take her for a spin.”

Cass moved so I could sit behind the wheel, she on the passengers side. I put the key in the ignition and heard her purr, not stall and sputter like she used to.

“Wow.” was all I said then I backed out and took a drive down the block and back again. She ran much smoother than I remember her ever running. Daniel had a smirk on his face as we pulled up. I put the truck in park and stepped out. “It's perfect.”

“Damn right.” he seemed pleased. “Are we still on for tonight?”

I nodded.

“Good. Go home, eat, and be ready by six.”

“Yes sir.” I said playfully.

With one last kiss he got in his bike, Carlos, after flirting with Cass, got into Dan's car, the one I had driven over, and both drove off.

“He gave your truck an extreme makeover. Why can't I find a man like that?” Cass said with a small sigh. “Does he have a brother? Is Carlos single?”

“No and no.” Although I didn't know a damn thing about Carlos's relationship status.

“Really? Too bad.” she pouted. “He was cute.”

Oh, brother.

When I got home, after taking a few detours just so I could spend more time with my precious, I changed clothes then made dinner. Bren and Phil, who has been sleeping over all week, wouldn't be home by the time I left, and I only told them I was going out with Dan. It was Friday night after all but they needn't know where we were headed.



“We don't have to do this.” Daniel said as we parked the car. “We can leave it for another time, when you're ready.”

“I told you it's fine. I'm ready.” I told him although my stomach was full of angry butterflies.

“If you say so.” Dan said under his breath and stepped out of the car.

I took a deep breath and followed. He took my hand and led the way into the building. I didn't know what to expect but the firing range was a fairly large place. The lobby we walked into was well lit, with a dozen seats and the man sat behind a wooden desk greeted us as we enter. Beyond the desk was a narrow corridor that I suppose led to the practice rooms. There was a station to the left with a glass cabinet filled to the brim with handguns and rifles and such. Gun Rental, the sign above it read.

Daniel and the man at the front desk talked while I fought my nervousness and fear. I don't know what exactly changed my mind about learning how to shoot, maybe the crazy ex and attempts on my life, but after talking to Daniel about it I had convinced myself that I was ready for this, that I was a necessary step to better protect myself. I was only half as sure now.

Dan touched my shoulder. It took me a minute to realize he had been speaking to me. “Are you alright.” he asked. I only nodded my head, not trusting my voice right now. “Come on.”

We headed back, along the way I could hear the muffled sounds of guns popping in the rooms we had passed. The sound unnerved me and I clutched Dan's hand tightly.

The room, one of four shooting bays, as they called them, was fairly a large sized, more long than wide, with ten separate shooting lanes, each one about five feet wide, with dividers between each one, but no one else was here except us. The back wall was lined with targets with human like silhouettes that were interchangeable and we could move them forward and back electronically with a remote.

Dan had brought two of his own handguns, a .22 pistol and a .38 revolver, both Smith and Wesson's, and ammunition. I wasn't sure how many weapons Dan owned, I didn't really want to know, but he knew how to handle them and had even told me that there were wooden bullets designed to stop a vampire. He had shown these same guns to me days ago, along with a rifle, and gave me the basic rundown on how to hold them, load them, and so on. Even so I was a bit timid about handling them.

We moved down to the middle of the room we sat our belongings down. I had our safety glasses and noise canceling headphones, in hand plus earplugs, for extra protection because it was going to be very loud.

“Is anyone else coming in?” I asked, putting the earplug in.

“No. Just us.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I made it so.” he said with a crooked grin. “Shall we begin?”

I sucked in a deep breath then exhaled. “Yes.”

He took the guns out of their cases, and handed one to me. I took it gingerly in my hands. “Load both of them.” he told me, saying he wanted me to become familiar with them, and I tried to remember everything he had taught me.

He watched me silently, and it took several minutes, I wanted to get it right and when I was done he seemed satisfied. He took the .38 from me and went to a lane. “Safety first.” he said putting my glasses onto my face, and the headphones on my ears.

After doing the same to himself, Daniel, tall and powerful, took position, and fired all his rounds, not even bothering to move the target closer until he was done. All of his shots were perfect. Impressive.

“Is there anything you can't do?” I muttered, but I knew he had heard me.

He moved my headphones back so I could hear him, “You're turn. Ready” he said.

I nodded and then went to a lane with the .22.

“Back straight, shoulders back, relax.” he said putting his hands shoulders and back. “Get a good firm grip. Use both hands.” He adjusted my arms to the right height as I held them out in front of me, both hands holding on for dear life, one finger near the trigger. “Good.”

He placed the headphones securely back on my ears and adjusted his own. I sucked in a shaky breath, counted down from three and fired. The force of it shocked me and I found myself frozen.

I saw Jayson's face in my mind, gun pointed at me.

I hadn't anticipated the fear this would instill in me.

Several long moments passed in which I only stood still. Not truly seeing, not hearing. Numb.

“Tourie?” I realized Daniel had removed the headphones and was speaking to me. He had one hand on the gun and took it without any protest from me. “Tourie... darling?”

“Yes.” I whispered when I was able to use my mouth again, my voice small and dead.

“Let's take a break.”

“I'm fine.”

No, I wasn't but I knew why I had felt like I had been petrified. The sound of the gun in my hands reminded me too much of being shot myself. My stomach lurched and I had to swallow down the bile rising in my throat.

Daniel, having put the gun down, forced me to sit in the chair behind me. I hadn't even felt myself move backward but I was a good ten feet away from the lane now. Dan knelled in front of me, his eyes darting over my face. Then suddenly I couldn't breath.

“Shh.” he cooed and swiftly sat down, pulling me onto his lap, holding me. I buried my face in his neck and cried. “It's alright, darling.”

I was shaking. My stomach churned making me feel sick. Maybe this had been such a great idea after all. But as I began to steady my breathing and my stomach, again, I became defiant. I was not going to let this rule my life. I had to face my fear. I regained my composure and wiped away my tears. I felt embarrassed.

“I'm sorry.” I apologized and pulled myself up.

“Do you want to leave?” Daniel's blue eyes watched me like a hawk as I went back over to my lane and viewed the target.

“I can't tell where it went. Did I hit anything?” I said instead of answering. I brought it closer. I should have known where it went. The target had a bullet hole in it's stomach area. I had aimed at the same place I had been shot.

“Tourie.” Dan said, he was now beside me. “Do you want to go?”

“No. No. I can't.” I shook my head fiercely and then picked up the gun.

Daniel quickly replaced my head phones and I fired again and again and again.

About an hour and a half later we were driving back home.

“You did good.” Daniel commented as we made our way down the dark, rain slick deserted streets.

I hadn't made any head shots but I hit the target several more times, but mostly I missed. But Dan said I had the basics down and would be ready if I ever need to use a gun, and he was hoping I never would.

I gave him a small smile and leaned back to placed my head against the headrest. “Why do you have so many guns? They're dangerous.”

“I'm dangerous.” he said seductively.

“But I like you.” I grinned. “Guns can kill.” I said soberly.

“A gun never killed nobody. People get shot by people,”

“People with guns.” I finished for him. He chuckled. “Have you always known how to shoot or is that a vampire thing?” I asked.

“I had to learn, my father taught me.” he replied softly.

“Oh.”

Daniel took my hand and held it for a long time before he spoke again. “We used to go hunting in the backwoods near our home. We only killed small rodents, bird, or nothing big.” he paused. “He thought I would become a solider like him... like Jack... But I didn't. When my brother died I lost any and all interest in going to war.”

We stopped at a traffic light. His eyes grew hard as did his voice. “I somehow managed to avoid going. I don't know if it was a good thing or not. I suppose if I had I would have just died in battle. I might not have been...” he trailed off for a moment. I wasn't sure what he had been about to say. “You know what my father told me after I told him I wouldn't go off to war? He said I was a coward and I would never be half the man my brother was. I told him perhaps he was right and he never looked at me the same way again. I can't blame him.”

He grew quiet. I didn't know what to say, what could I say. And I wasn't sure why he had choose to tell me all of that. I squeezed his cool hand gently and he seemed to come back to earth... slightly. We drove the rest of the way in silence.



I took a sip of orange juice as I sat in Dan's kitchen. It was four am Saturday morning. I stared out the window at the woods that lined his backyard, it was still raining lightly. The lumber that was there weeks ago was gone, his deck was coming along nicely.

I took another sip and went to the fridge thankful the rumours of vampires not eating were just that. I took out a slice of leftover pizza that we had gotten last night and ate it cold.

“Couldn't sleep.” Daniel's voice out of the dark made me jump.

“Don't do that.” I clutched my heart.

“But it's such fun, darling.” He was next to me a second later. Vampires. He took a bite of my pizza, sat down at the island and pulled me onto his lap. “What's wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Don't lie.”

I rolled my eyes which I'm sure he could see. “My life is so.... strange now.” I paused then said, “I mean, you for one thing, you're not human.”

“Go on then.”

“Well, there are people who want me dead.”

“Two of them.”

“And that's two too many.”

“I agree.” We sat quietly for a while before he said, “Come on, back to bed we go.”

He lifted me up and carried me like a baby all the way up the stairs and laid me on the bed. He placed himself on top of me. His lips found mine and I felt all my tension melt away in an instant. I put my hand on the side of his face and felt his smooth skin, I could feel his smile. His fingers tickled my belly as they made their journey over my skin. The rain outside had begun to pick up and the distant sound of thunder rumbled and we made love through the storm.

I could feel something unpleasant waking me, something hot and wet and painful. I wanted to scream but no sound came out.

Daniel was biting my neck, the same exact place he had bitten me before but there was no pleasure this time, only searing pain as his fangs tore into my flesh.

He sucked and sucked and with each pull the pain increased. I tried in vain to push him away but I was growing too weak. Make it stop, I said over and over in my mind as my vision clouded.

He released me only to hiss, “No point in struggling, darling. You're mine.”