Chapter 2—unreasonable
“Wh-what are you talking about?! Are you on drugs?! Go away!” I yelled, shoving against him with all my might. My heart beat unevenly in my chest, my lungs seeming to fill with the dread I began to feel; it was as if I couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t be serious. This couldn’t happen! Vampires were just myths! They can’t corner pitifully drab teenage girls in alleyways. It just doesn’t happen!
“You’re really quite the pretty little thing,” he continued, “Lovely, honestly. That beautiful rosy color to your cheeks! You don’t get that from those Japanese girls. Your skin is so pale and soft…” he stroked my cheek lightly, encouraging the blood to spring forth to his fingertips, as if he had control of my heart. He smiled down and pressed his cold lips to my cheek.
“And your scent! It’s deliciously sweet.”
“Why are you doing this to me?! I never did anything wrong!” I cried, trying vainly to push from him, panic setting into my fibers. What if he wasn’t lying? He’d kill me here and now, and I’d never grow up, graduate, get married, have children…all of a sudden, all of my plans for life were swept away by a disheartening disaster.
“I can’t resist you. I want you, Alice. Please, please….choose me.” I looked up at him in horror, my arms falling limp. There were several things I noticed in that moment of silence. One, his heart wasn’t beating under my fingertips and the grim realization of the truth hit me like a truck. Two, his elegant face was soft and warm, like he actually did want me. Thirdly, I wanted him back, vampire or not. I was attracted to his voice alone, and I had the horrible feeling that this was all apart of his trick. I tried to scream for help, but his face kept my voice pulled to a whisper.
“Let me go! Please…please, Travista, I’m not ready to die!” I cried, trembling. I could feel my lip jutting out as it did when I was scared. I could almost smell my death on his sweet breath, and it made me dizzy. I wanted to pass out and just let him kill me when I wasn’t aware.
“Don’t you want me too? Alice, you can have me.” he murmured softly, petting my hair. I began to cry again, and I felt so many different things: humiliation, for crying like a little girl in his presence, fear of losing my very boring yet beloved life and most of all, (and also most annoyingly) I did want him. I wished I could throw my arms around his neck and have him kiss me and take me away from my abnormally drab lifestyle. I took a deep, shaky breath.
“No, I don’t want you. I’ll never want you…in fact, I never want to see your damn face again!” my voice gained power and strength, and it almost raised my morale a little…but maybe I was just hoping too much. He stepped back a little and blinked.
“Really? But Alice, don’t you know? Drat, maybe I moved too early…” he began to murmur to himself, but his immortal body was still pressed up close to mine. I pushed against him again, hoping he’d comply. I was trying to hard not to feel his strong chest and lord, did I want to.
“I have no idea what you’re prattling about, but do you mind getting the hell off me!?” I tried to sound fierce, but he just laughed humorlessly and stepped away, running his hands through his longish hair and looking at his polished shoes. I was hesitant to look back up at him, but when I did, I was surprised to see that he was thrown off guard; lost in thought and vulnerable. He looked scared.
“Ah…this…I made a very big mistake.” He muttered embarrassedly. My heart throbbed sadly, aching for him to take the words back. I kept my face smooth, hoping that this switch of his confusing character would stay until I could escape to my home and hide away for the night.
“When did you realize that?” I spat venom at him, bitter from the familiar taste of rejection, “When you realized that you cornered a boring drab broad-to-be?” his eyes flashed up to my face, his embarrassment melting and boiling into fury.
“Are you insane, Alice? You’re beautiful. That wasn’t a mistake—just…telling you. What I am…now, anyway. Telling you now was my mistake.”
“You’re so full of it, Travista. Honestly, you’re a terrible liar.” I shoved my way past him—or so I attempted—and he grabbed me about the waist.
“You’re right, I do suck at lying. You’re gorgeous. Angelic.” His eyes were drowning me in violet waves; it was hard to breathe. I felt drawn to him, though violently uneasy, like I would do anything for him…
Suddenly, an old tale that my mom told me in my child years floated into the back of my skull: a vampire had immeasurable influence on the human subconscious, enough so to make them faithful sentinels to their coffins, convince young maidens to be their lovers and eventually serve as a source of nourishment when all other use had been served. Was he using this power? I felt a surge of relief as I realized that I didn’t love him one bit. He was playing mind games! Well, I’d always taken pride in my pigheaded power of will, and I was pretty good at mind games—I was ready to see just how good.
“Whatever, Travista. Let me go home.” It as a lot harder to say than I thought, and he seemed just as surprised as I was; he let go of my waist. I dashed off, leaving him alone there and I felt normal again—the pain in my lungs as I frantically dashed off into the waning night.
I groaned as I slammed the door behind me, kicking off my shoes and dragging my aching feel to the room dubbed “the living area.” I had to chase three taxis and run down four alleyways before I could get on the right track home, and even then I had to walk two miles home. I was beyond lost in my memories to stray so far off course. I sat alone on the couch, my father off on a “business trip” before he’d even said hello. In fact, I had never even seen my father in twelve years. I was fine being alone right now, and I was grateful for the liberty to take off my fuku and lay there in nothing but my panties and my undershirt. It was disgustingly hot here in Japan, and even though it was unusually dark in this city, it felt as blistering hot at night time as it had in the Arizona sun. I was sweating, and I had to pull the loose hair off my neck into a sticky ponytail and swing it behind my head before I felt even the slightest relief. My father had never said how to work the AC, and I mentally cursed him for his lack of care for his daughter. Shawn had always been a careless man, even when he was married to my mother. They had met at a school dance; my mother had been stood up and he was the boy who loved taking advantage of the lost girl. He had meant to use her—yet somehow he ended up genuinely falling for her that night. He had chased after her for a week, and finally she agreed to date him, touched by his apparent attempt at romance. From there it was entirely her effort. My mom was like superwoman—he hurt her and broke her heart time and time again and all she ever did was bore him two children, myself and my twin brother, who died when we were ten. She was an excellent woman, calm and sweet. Yet even she could not put up with his antics for every long. When Jason and I were five, she gathered us up and left without a goodbye. And he never looked for us. I rolled my head back on the arm of the sofa as I speculated my grim new life with the father I had never cared to meet, and I felt the blood rush to my face if my father would care that I’d been confronted by a very strange, possibly thirsty vampire this evening. I closed my eyes and hummed loudly, as if to silence the longing I suddenly felt when I thought about him. Before I could be fully aware of the lullaby I’d picked, I fell into an uneasy sleep, haunted by dreams of the handsome vampire.
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