The Embrace (25 page)

It was strange how quickly I’d managed to forget our troubles. Our separation had been terrible. He had played with me like a toy and I had naively accepted it. I’d considered suicide and tried to create a new vampire companion which would have ruined any hopes of reconciliation.

Yet almost all of this had fallen away now that Gabriel was with me again. He had a kind of power over me that only a sire can possess. I guess a soul mate truly does have the power to change your life.

“Good night. Did you sleep well?” As he spoke he stroked my cheek. Even after 8 human years and over 7 vampire months with him my body still tingled whenever he touched me.

“Brilliant, now that I’m with you.” I replied.

I stayed in the bed for a few minutes, watching Gabriel pick out clothes and tidy the room. His body moved with a confidence that had always impressed me. I had been an insecure, weak human being when I first met him and I had always envied how sure Gabriel seemed to be, even when making the smallest movements.

Even as a vampire I found it hard to know if I was doing things right, as my recent actions had shown. I hoped that reuniting with my mate would change all of that.

I would quite happily have stayed in the bedroom with Gabriel all night but when I thought of the victims waiting for us I felt my hunger stirring. Maybe this surreal feeling would fade if we resumed the usual routine that had been so comforting before our fight. Our life would officially be back to normal if we completed our routine.

I dressed and prepared for the night with a huge smile on my face. Everything felt perfect. I had a sort of spring in my step and my blood lust was healthy and strong, a sign that I was thriving again.

We left the flat hand in hand. The air seemed clear and still and the heart beats swirled around my head like beautiful birdsong. There was no heavy, humid feeling or painful headache like I had experienced over the past few weeks. It was paradise.

We had been wondering for a few minutes when a sharp buzzing sound cut through the still air. The sound rang a faint bell in the back of my mind but I couldn’t place it.

Gabriel reached into his pocket and pulled out a mobile phone. I had forgotten that he had a phone. He had used it numerous times in the weeks before our fight, usually to keep in touch with the outside world. Sure enough it was the phone that was emitting that shrill ringing sound.

He put his finger up to signal that he would just be a minute and then pressed the answer button.

Whoever was on the other end of the phone seemed to surprise him and for a second I saw a fleeting sign of worry in his eyes. He smiled and dashed off, leaving me standing alone, obviously expecting to have some privacy.

He had underestimated me. My time alone had increased my strength and attributes immensely. The Louisa he had left behind would have struggled to hear him if he lowered his voice at such a distance, but my skills had grown during my period of independence and now I almost matched him.

I could only hear his half of the conversation but it was enough. It felt wrong to eavesdrop but something about his increasing contact with the human world worried me. I almost felt I had the right to listen in after our honesty pledge of the previous night.

“Look, I can’t right now.” His voice was low and hushed. He sounded like he was panicked by this conversation.

“No..no...please don’t come down here. You can’t....well I’m back with Louisa actually....I know what I said but it’s just...yes exactly. So please, there’s no need to come down here, okay?”

His back had been to me until then but now he turned around, catching sight of me. I tried to be casual but he obviously realised how careless he was being. His voice lowered even more and he backed a few paces away.

The conversation didn’t seem to last a lot longer. He wasn’t happy, it was written all over his face, but he soon managed to resolve whatever issue he had.

He closed his phone and ran over to me again, trying to put a smile on his face.

“Is everything okay?” I asked him. I wanted to act like I hadn’t heard anything but obviously I had. I was just being a concerned partner, that was all. Well, I could keep telling myself that.

Gabriel put a smile on his face. It was forced but it still eased my worry slightly.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. I’ve been handling some business ventures and my human go to guy wants to come around. I told him not to, obviously.” He stepped closer to me and gently played with the end of my long hair. “I want to spend my time with you.”

He kissed me and everything seemed to become clear and comfortable again. The phone conversation implied someone wanted to see Gabriel, someone who Gabriel wasn’t too enthusiastic about meeting with, but his story made sense.

Gabriel had always had a lot of money, not that he needed much really with his ability to perform compulsion. He could steal the money from the Queen’s pocket without drawing any attention.

I knew he was reluctant to do that unless he had to. He had always shown distaste for stealing money earned by humans, so he must get it from somewhere. When I thought about it a disgruntled business associate seemed highly likely.

I was worrying unnecessarily, of course. I just had to relax and trust Gabriel. After centuries of life as a vampire he knew what he was doing.

The phone didn’t ring again that night and it seemed like my momentary suspicion had faded away. We hunted like old pros. Every little movement we made was synchronised and perfect. We didn’t rely on the easy methods, waiting until a strong heart beat crossed our paths. Instead we focused on finding the perfect victim and then went to seek them out over long distances.

That night we hunted more successfully than ever before. We returned to our nest with the tranquil feeling that comes with a perfect hunt. Nothing could burst through our little bubble, nothing could disturb us.

As we returned to the nest shortly before sun rise Gabriel took my hand in his. This still felt so strange somehow, as if we were in a dream, although of course vampires don’t dream.

My wish had been granted. I had managed to win Gabriel back and now he was mine. We were a couple again, bound by a force stronger than I could even imagine.

In the small window before sunrise Gabriel and I talked again, about everything. We spoke mostly about the future. We had all of eternity to explore our relationship together, every night for hundreds of years to fulfil our deepest fantasies.

Gabriel still wanted to move on to mainland Europe. He said London was good for now but that it was stifling my gift for compulsion. I loved London far too much to leave just yet. The constant stream of tourists provided perfect victims who wouldn’t be easy to pin down. The neon lights entranced me and the thousands of heart beats felt like music in my head.

Gabriel was of course confused by this, as he always was when I spoke about my passion for the vibrant world I had come to know.

“You are the most unusual creature I have ever met.” He told me, laughing as he did. “I’m offering you the chance to go anywhere in the world and you want to stay here? You never cease to amaze me.”

I laughed with him. It felt good to have something to smile about again.

“One day we can go to all of these places, I promise, but I want to explore my own country before I go anywhere else. London is so beautiful. Remember, we have all of eternity together. We can do anything we want.”

He kissed me and as I lay in his arms I thought about that long future. We had a lifetime to figure out what we wanted to do and no-one could take that away from us.

It may seem strange that I welcomed Gabriel back so easily, but he was my true love. When I was with him I felt at ease. I knew that I would be an idiot to let him slide away over something as petty as preserving my pride. 

The moment we reunited it felt as if we’d never been apart. We hunted together with the natural flair of wild animals. The nights blended together but it wasn’t due to boredom, rather just an extended lifetime of bliss. 

We found a particular spot we liked during one of our nights on the hunt. It was a small, secluded area boasting one of the patches of natural greenery that could be found in London city centre. It was very small but there was a blanket of beautiful flowers which brightened up the scenery even in the darkness. The border was fashioned from tall, thin trees with heavy, overhanging branches.

It may have seemed simple to others, but to us it was paradise. The simple beauty seemed exotic in such an urban space, and the exquisite floral scent enticed us even from a distance.

Sometimes a place simply captivates you. The feeling starts deep in your stomach and not long later your whole body tingles with the thought of what this place could mean. Gabriel and I had felt it once already when we first saw Millingstone apartments. This green heaven seemed to be a new sanctuary for us.

We first saw it during our nightly hunt. It seemed this beautiful area had become a popular hang out for teenagers looking for a quiet spot. As I watched these young lovers with their arms wrapped around each other, pressing their lips together and whispering messages of love, it reminded me of my own relationship with Gabriel, the early stages of puppy love we had shared.

Maybe that was what made this garden special. It reminded me of a long forgotten time when Gabriel and I had experienced no problems, before anything bad had ever happened between us. Although we had reconciled, the bad blood would always be an unspoken part of our past.

We went to the garden almost every night, waiting in the darkness for a pair of young lovers to appear and accidentally wander across our path. We usually chose our victims together, making the decision as the tight unit we had grown to become.

About a week after our discovery of this inner city utopia, I lay in Gabriel’s arms underneath the sprawling branches of one of the trees. We had already fed on an unsuspecting innocent. It wasn’t the usual young lover, just a jogger who had chosen the wrong course. We had feasted on every drop of blood in her veins and so we were satisfied, but there was always room for more.

Gabriel kissed my forehead and brushed a loose hair from my eyes in that old comforting way. My mind relaxed and my muscles loosened. Even after all these years he could make me feel like  one of the giddy teenagers who visited the park in the throes of young love.

“I love you.” I whispered. I had never meant anything so sincerely.

“I love you too” he said, gently nuzzling my neck. “Are you still hungry?”

I laughed gently. “Of course. I’m always hungry. If I was a human, I think my stomach would be rumbling.”

He laughed back. It felt wonderful to hear the sound of our laughter mingling together after all that time we had spent avoiding each other.

I turned to face him. There were a few small lights dotted around the garden and the glow shining over Gabriel’s face made him seem angelic. With my pure looks and his shining aura, we probably looked like two angels in the Garden of Eden. The irony was not lost on me.

I kissed his lips gently. “You pick the next victim. Anyone you want, and I’ll go with you.”

His face lit up at the thought. He took me by the hand and pulled me out into the expansive grassy area. The night was nearly over and the couples had slowly disappeared as the hours moved on. Now there were only a few stragglers dotted around the place.

Most of the couples looked the same to me, and none of their heartbeats stood out over the fluttering noises in my head.

“Which one?” I asked him as he looked around the whole crowd before us.

I don’t know how he could tell which one to pick but something drew him over to one particular couple. The boy was tall with muddy blonde hair, his skinny chest clad in a football shirt. Everything about him seemed like a stereotypical teen. The girl was petite and blonde, nothing extraordinary but certainly pleasant. If you asked me she seemed far out of the boy’s league, but I’ve never been a good judge of beauty.

Gabriel nodded towards the blonde. She seemed eerily familiar but I couldn’t place why. I pushed my feelings down and let myself concentrate on the kill. Gabriel and I had worked out a system when killing couples: I would take the boy and distract him while he dealt with the girl.

Our system operated with unrivalled efficiency. I had an undoubtedly strong ability to control humans and it was easy for me to seduce the male of the couple and sink my fangs into his pulsing veins before he even knew what had happened.

Gabriel took longer to seduce the girl, turning her into a quivering wreck before he finally released her into death’s embrace. Usually we would swap as soon as Gabriel was satisfied with the blood he had taken from the female. We would do that a couple of times, gaining our fill of the rich blood of both victims.

Occasionally we would drink from one source at the same time but that always made me feel nervous. I had developed a new sense of independence since our troubles, although I knew we would never be equal. Gabriel was far stronger and more experienced than me, and I couldn’t yet match up to him. Feeding from the same victim just highlighted the inequalities between us.

After we abandoned the bodies we returned to the nest. It was earlier than normal and I had expected to spend the night talking with him. After everything we’d been through, our nights together were even sweeter now. I’d come to realise that we were both volatile and another fight may be inevitable. That fear made sure that I took hold of ever moment we had together.