I Hope They Taste of Me Forever

The snapping of a twig would have been far too horror film. I wasn’t trapped in thickets of trees, shivering in the cold and tears visibly trickling down my face in the brief interludes of moonlight through the branches. I was in a dirty Chicago alleyway, and it was the crunching of glass beneath my shoes that drew four bright, glowing eyes to my positioning peeking from behind a brick wall. Had those Friday night drunken bastards disposed of their bottles differently, cheap imitation of life emptied from them to satiate a desperate tongue, perhaps everything would have gone differently. Perhaps the sequence of events to come could have taken a positive turn. But that’s not how things happened. The liquefied solution to a midlife crisis left a fragment of its packaging in the strategic position beneath my foot as I stepped backwards, and the crunch inaudible to any others locked me into an undesirable situation.

They heard it immediately, for their voices ceased discussion and I felt their burning gazes digging into me even through the brick wall. Even if I had run, there would have been no point. It took them but a few fleeting seconds to run to where I was, but if they’d wanted to kill me the shock of who I was must have momentarily stunned them, and they kept their elegant cool.

“What do you know?” The dark haired one laughed a light, throaty laugh. “It’s the girl. The Williams girl.”

“I’m pretty sure Hayley doesn’t appreciate the similarity,” the blonde smirked.

How did I find myself in this position? Why do I still go for walks, when almost every time I do it leads me straight to trouble? Why couldn’t I just run when I stumbled across a potentially life-threatening situation? Why am I always drawn closer?

And what annoyed me most of all, about this situation, was that I was shocked. The sight of the two supernatural beings conversing in such a friendly, familiar manner actually shocked me. I knew one of them was evil, and I never trusted the other. I always expected something like this. So why did it shock me so? Why did it render me incapable of running, of speaking?

Together, standing side by side, their beauty was heightened to almost unbearable levels. The aura around them glowed, their slow but sure caressing tickled curiosity of every kind. I was hopelessly entranced, and I knew how horrific they really were. How did the human race still survive, if these magnificent creatures were our competition? We were doomed. Simply doomed. Every man, probably every woman would likely offer up their lives and blood just to see the two brush lips. Their power, just from being, was truly terrifying. And beautiful.

The blonde turned her ice cold eyes on me, narrowed to dangerous slits.

“So how long have you been spying on us, Elle? How long ago did your gang of fools let you off your leash?”

Her voice was murderous; I could feel the air around me shaking abnormally with unsettlement.

“Shh,” the dark-haired girl quieted her. “Calm yourself, Emily.”

It didn’t escape my notice that the shorter vampire’s hands comfortingly spun their way across the blonde’s shoulders and waist. Most of my research on vampires had nothing to do with their inter-relationships. Occasionally I’d stumble across a brief passage I didn’t entirely understand. Ancient books never mentioned polyamorous or open relationships. Translations of ancient languages and scripts weren’t nearly as helpful. And the amount of fantasies woven on the internet makes it impossible to distinguish reality from the web of imagination. I couldn’t pretend that I understood this strange shape in vampiric relationships. Lena and Beckett loved each other in some sort of supernatural emotion that humans couldn’t comprehend… well that’s what Pete had said… Did he know she was getting this cozy with another woman? Probably… Beckett knew everything… this was probably his idea. And somehow Emily had dragged Hunter into all of this last month…

I’ve forgotten what’s normal and what’s not. It’s been too long. So maybe I shouldn’t be passing judgement at all.

“Elle,” Lena’s lips twisted in an indistinguishable expression. “So good to see you again.”

I nodded stiffly, glancing at Emily. The taller vampire’s expression had changed from one of furious loathing to stoic and dismissive. Both were equally as captivating.

“So how are you and our dear Peter?” Lena asked, her voice casually more stunning than any other. “Still going strong, I hope.”

“We’re fine,” I managed through gritted teeth. My voice sounded scratchy and false, stacked aural imperfections next to these two.

“Good, good… My love is so interested in your involvement with our old friend.”

“By love I’m assuming you mean…”

“William, yes.” Her laugh tinkled appealingly. Hell, if I didn’t know who she was, I’d probably fall in love with her.

“Humans have some sort of aversion to being so intimate with friends,” Emily started, shaking her magnificent head of hair back for effect. “As… higher beings, we don’t have time for such trivial assumptions to interfere with what we want.”

I nodded, but I didn’t fully understand.

“How strange… You were right, Emily. I can’t read her thoughts.”

“See how frustrating it is, just to try?” Emily said in annoyance.

I was about to interject with something about Hunter. Something about telling him. Something about finding closure on this whole predicament. But I didn’t have time, for Lena was still intent on making pleasant conversation.

“So Elle, what are Peter’s plans for you? Surely it’s no easy feat for him, denying himself your blood when you two are… close. Is he planning on turning you? I must say, it would be a delight to have you join us… perhaps you could convince Peter that we’re really not that bad after all…”

“We haven’t made any plans for the future yet,” I mumbled. “We just are.”

“Well, while that is quite lovely in its own way, it cannot remain that way forever. You’ll have to talk about it eventually.”

“We have more important things on our mind for the time being.”

“Of course, of course…” she replied. “Just giving you something to think about. We better be off. It was lovely talking to you, Elle.”

She shook my hand, leaving a brilliant cold rush tingling through my body. I wondered if that was what it felt like to be one of them all the time. Emily shook my hand too, barely touching it before letting it go and flashing me a malicious grin.

“Race you back to the warehouse?”

Her terrifying laugh as she ran off at ridiculous speeds chilled me to the bone, and brought the situation crashing back. She was a part of everyday life. The complete contrast of character between her tonight, donned in an elegant Dandy dress and the quiet, simple girl I had almost unhappily gotten used to, made me forget they were the same person. To put it simply, if she was a Dandy…

Then we were fucked.