Within the Cards (10 page)

Had my presents repelled her from continuing this class? I scanned the thoughts around me hoping to pick hers up somewhere near the building. All I could hear was the thoughts of others. What I heard made me sick. That brunette male was talking about seeing Ellie last night. He laughed about how she wanted to do obscene things with him. It made me want to get out of this seat and suck the blood out of his neck before I twisted it to hear the crunching of the bones. The females were talking about what a bore she was. They didn’t know the true Ellie. She was never a bore. She made each of these females appear to be ragdolls. These dolls had no faces in the sight of hers as a porcelain doll worth millions. She had ten times the personality of any of these ordinary human females.

Mr. Dundford began to call the roll. My fears of never seeing her again returned, building resentment of this immortality that cursed me. I wanted to be human, so death would find me fast and quick. It was like a painful, lonely walk of suffering and punishments for assignments uncompleted. It was worse than when she left the first time. This time my hopes of her return were apprehensive. I waited for decades for her, and she hadn’t appeared. Had she ever appeared? Would she ever appear? Was I the insane vampire my mind had decided when I imagined her yesterday? She wasn’t here. No, this could not be true. I knew I had not imaged her yesterday. She wasn’t an illusion.

Mr. Dundford’s voice pulled me back to reality. Again, in the strange reverse way he called the roll starting with her name.

“Eleanor?” he called. There was no answer.

“Eleanor?” Once more, he called the name that I so hoped to hear a respond. He looked up from the podium and glanced over the students that sat in front of him. I wanted to jump up and scream, “Give her a few more minutes,” but I sat in my seat like a statue.

My head lowered in defeat as I stared at the buttons on my linen black shirt. This discouraging moment wasn’t what I had expected this morning when I dressed for class. Once again, my existence felt crushed. I raised my head to accept the point in purgatory I was sentenced.

At once, a wisp of roses, lilac, and lavender filled the air next to me. I looked up, and the room was still as if the clock had stopped ticking. Everyone in the room froze in place.

“Miss me, Vamp boy?” her voice still scornful and full of hate, but at the same time there as a hint of playfulness that was close to the way I remembered her.

“I should have expected a grand entrance from your kind.” I lashed back, playing the part she hoped I would play. In reality, I wanted to lunge for her and wrap my arms around her, but again I just sat still waiting for her to make the next move.

She sat next to me this time. Her scent was overwhelming. I could barely control my urge to kiss her, but I knew she would take this as a push for war. I held my breath because her aroma made me thirst for more than blood. I wanted what I was void of for so many decades.

“What’s wrong vamp boy does my scent drive you insane? You can’t handle a woman this close to you.” She pushed with a slight sultry grin.

“I just can’t handle the smell.” As I exhaled again and gave her the response, I thought she looked for. It was true I could not handle her scent, and it did drive me crazy.

I wanted to keep this conversation lasting for eternity. I wanted to take in the delicious smell again, but I didn’t dare with her this close to me. I didn’t trust my own self-control.

“So are we going to spend the rest of the class period with you holding everyone frozen in time?” I questioned her. We both turned to look at the frozen ice sculptures in the room. She looked at me again and smiled. She felt proud of her accomplishments. I tried not to let her see that I noticed her pride, and I tried to act as if I half cared.

A strange look came across her face, it was as if she almost recognized me, but I misread it. It was repulsion. Ellie hissed in my direction and rolled her eyes. She sat back against her chair then turned and looked at me.

“I thought you would want to spend this time with me seeing you think you know me,” she replied. She didn’t realize how much I honestly wanted time to stand still with just the two of us looking into each other’s eyes, but not like this. I wanted her to remember me. I wanted her to remember the love we shared. I wanted to feel her body next to me.

“There you go again.” She lashed. I realized she was reading my thoughts. So much for me not wanting her to know what I really wanted.

“What are you talking about?” I asked as I sunk down in my chair trying to act as if I were not paying her any attention.

“Your thoughts of some love you think we shared.” She half laughed with an irritated snarl. I felt the repulse she felt for me. It hurt.

“If you could only remember” I shifted in my seat and half smiled trying not to irritate her more than I already had.

“Remember what? Some fantasy of death that some vampire dreamed up. You must be wishing for a painfully long death.” She hissed. Her voice was harsh and venomous. The last one hundred years had turned her hard. I looked deep into her eyes hoping for a glace of the Ellie I knew. She had to be in there.

“What have they done to you, Ellie?” My mind wandered as I looked to the front of the room.

“No one has done anything with me.” She spat back at me. I thought at any minute her head would start spinning by the way she snarled at me. I hadn’t been around someone that could read my thoughts in so long; I kept forgetting she could hear my nonverbal comments.

She whirled her finger in the air as if unwinding the air and with a snap of her fingers, time began once more. The class was moving. Mr. Dundford renewed his thoughts of the ungrateful students. He started the roll again. She had moved time back to the beginning of the class.

“Eleanor?” He once again called her name as he continued to look at the roll book in front of him. This time she smiled and winked at me then answered her calling. I watched her as she smiled, and my mind began to wander to a time far away.

After long hours of entanglement with Ellie, the room looked as if an earthquake had shaken the very roots of its existence. She lay beside me. Her breathing was rapidly keeping time with my own. I never have nor would I ever spend time in the place called heaven that I learned of as a child, but I knew lying next to her after lovemaking had to be close to what heaven must be like. At that point, it was as close as I wanted it to be. I never wanted to leave her side. She rose up and propped her body up with her elbow. She lay on the bed with her face resting on her hand and used the other hand to gently caress my chest. I gazed at her face, and she smiled with more than her lips. She smiled with her eyes, and I knew without the spoken words that she was no longer living in the unhappy years she had told me.

“I love you,” I whispered to her.

My mind shifted back to the present. The new Ellie that sat next to me in class was monitoring these words and thoughts.

“You're sick, vamp,” she lashed her thoughts at me. “I would never make love to you, but if by some chance I became completely out of my mind and did, I don't think smiling would be my response back to you. Puking comes to mind.” She snarled and hissed her return thoughts in my direction.

“So why sit next to me today if you’re not somewhat interested in my thoughts? Why stay in my head?” My thoughts questioned her. I turned to look at her, and she was glaring at me. I stared into those ice-cold gray eyes.

I looked into her eyes hoping for some response of recognition. She looked shocked at my question. I thought I caught a slight view of the old Ellie. However, that moment didn't last and was no more than wishful thinking. I could tell she was convinced I was derange more now than before. With these thoughts, I just gave her an even better reason to think I was a lunatic. Maybe I had finally fallen over the edge.

“Mr. McRyne, I take it, you and Miss. Valeness will be more than glad to work on this project together.” The voice from the lecture podium called out. I looked up to see the professor looking in our direction.

“Yes sir,” I answered before she could get the rejection through her lips. Her glare was blinding. I could feel the anger radiate off her body. Her temperature was warmer than mine, but this was more like a heat that burnt ones skin as if they had stayed in the sun far longer than need be.

Class sped by faster than I wanted it to, but I felt she had something to do with the visual movement of the minute hand on the clock. Our class ended. I started to move from my seat when a warm hand pushed into my chest. She touched me. It was forceful, but it was as if she had vibrated me from the depths of my nonexistent soul. I followed the arm up her neck to the angelic face that now was standing towering over me. This was a mad angel. The thought of this made me smile almost laugh because I knew the grounds for her rage. She was going to have to spend more time with me than any witchyre would dare spend with a vampire. A small laugh leaked out before I could stop the sounds that exhaled through my vocal cords.

“What the hell do you think you're doing?” She snarled with heat this time. I kept looking toward the front of the class as I spoke to her.

“I don’t understand. You came and sat by me today. I just assumed you were offering a peace treaty.” I said with innocents.

I knew she was just sitting next to me because she knew from reading my thoughts that her scent drove me over the edge. However, this backfired on her. The professor assigned a research project for us to complete together. I knew she would certainly not trust me to complete the project myself. A witchyres at no time would rely on someone else. They saw themselves as perfect, and Ellie would not take the chance of getting an unsatisfactory grade so I knew she wouldn’t refuse to attend our projected study times. I tried to keep my thoughts to myself, but she could read my gratification.

“Why would you think I would do something like that?” I innocently questioned. “Mr. Dundford assigned by seating arrangements. You sat by me so you must have set it up.” I said putting the blame back on her. I saw the confusion in her eyes. She wasn’t so sure of her own intentions. She shook her head.

“Back off scum or you’ll regret it.” She spat in my direction.

She got up and started to the exit. She stopped before reaching the door and turned in my direction. This was when I knew the Ellie I knew so many years before was different. I knew I had to find a way to make her remember, not just for her or myself, but also for the rest of the humans in the class.

“Seeing you are so in love with me, you might want to pay more attention to the thoughts of the female humans in this class,” she paused taking a slow, deep breath. She then smiled an evil smile. “Last night while you were playing with yourself in your dorm, I went out and met some of these rats we attend class with. The blonde girl Trish I think her name is. You know the girl that sits a few rows behind you. She has a crush on you. She thinks you’re hot. Of course we know better. If you were not a vamp, I might think the same, but the smell makes me sick. Anyway, she fanaticizes of having sex with you. You say I’m in love with you. What would someone that loved another do in this case?” She looked at the ceiling as if trying to find the answer written in the air above her. “Awe, I know I will rip her heart out and drink her blood for supper tonight.” She hissed and with a quick snap of her fingers, she disappeared.

Damn it, I was going to have to stop her. I knew I had pushed her too far. She was going to hurt an innocent girl for her lustful thoughts of some sexual fantasy I would never allow to come true. For years, I pushed human girls away reading their thoughts so I could anticipate their verbal approach as well as their body language. Most humans after several weeks of attending classes would veer away from any relationship with me. I was a loner, but with Ellie in my thoughts, I had not paid as close attention to this mortal's thoughts as Ellie. I hadn’t seen this reaction from her. I was kidding myself thinking Ellie was the same as before only feeding on the dying.

I thought back to what the human males were talking about at the beginning of class. They said they saw Ellie out last night. What was she up to? She said she learned this information from Trish. Oh no, I had to stop her.

Chapter Nine

ELLIE’S NIGHT OUT

ELLIE
:

Let me see if I can find the delicious looking male that wants to ‘hit this’. The stupid little rat had to be hanging out somewhere he could be seen. He loved to make himself look bigger than he truly was. Now where would the human college vermin hang out? Of course, the same place the other rats hung out. Everyone knows rats gather to breed in packs.

I snapped my fingers and arrived at the place other students referred to as ‘The Union’. This insignificant place looked similar to a coffee bar with minuscule bistro tables around the edges of the room. In the center was a large area that looked like the living area of someone's house. Several students were sitting with their computers working on homework while some of these rodents were chatting on their cell phones. There was a room to the side set up with game systems for students to relax and socialize with others. College kids filled the room. They were looking for some action of some kind and needed to be seen by other people. What pathetic egos, they always look for other's approval. They had such a need to have their egos stroked.

I listened to see if I could pick up the thoughts of this particular rat. Awe yes, there he was with his group of muscled beefcake friends laughing and talking about useless things that meant nothing to an intelligent person. What more could I expect? Compared to his brain, his muscles were enormous.