A work of fiction inspired by several current Vampire genre as well as ancient myths about supernatural beings. All Characters are fictional.
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Natalie sat at her desk in her large, lavish Manhattan loft surfing the internet. Her loft was large and extravagant and for what she paid for it, it should be, she thought. It was decorated in a mixture of modern, to hundreds of year old antiques, to art and nick knacks even older. They were not haphazardly place in the loft, but flowed together. There were art dealers and antique dealers all throughout the world that would give a right arm to own some of the items in her loft. The kitchen was modern and spotless. She never cooked anyway and when younger never needed to learn, she had servants for that. If one looked out the windows they would see a wonderful view of central park, but Natalie kept them closed off from the outside world with very heavy drapes that were hung so not even a single small ray of sunlight or moonlight could break their barrier. She never had guests to enjoy the view anyway and her neighbors never spoke to her or her them. They shied away from her when she passed them in the hall at night. She did not care, she preferred it that way. She had been alone for a long time and was used to it. Once she had a family, one that loved her and she loved them but they were all dead now and even if they weren't they would not want her around with what she had become and would curse her very existence.
Natalie enjoyed the internet, she thought it was just a marvelous invention and one could find anything on the web, but tonight she was bored, but she had been bored for long time actually. Sighing she glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost three in the morning and she had not eaten that day and she felt the desire for food. Natalie turned off her computer and stood up and decided she had better go get something to eat before it got too late. It was not that she could not find something to eat later or that things would be closed later in the City That Never Sleeps, but she wanted to be home before the sunrise.
Natalie took the time to put on some dark red lipstick and looked at herself in the mirror and smiled. She did not wear much makeup and was naturally beautiful lady. Natalie appeared eighteen or nineteen but in truth she was older, she stood five feet seven inches in her bare feet, and her slender body was curved in the right areas, her long, thick, straight, black hair fell to the middle of her back and she brushed it so it covered just a bit of the left side of her face to give her a more seductive look. Her skin was like smooth carved alabaster. She frowned. Once many years ago her skin tone would have been the envy of many a young woman, but today girls go to tanning salons or lay in the sun to burn their skin brown. Sometimes Natalie envied the people, who could lie in the sun and feel its warmth on her body, but the sun was not good for her skin and she would burn easily.
Weighing only one hundred and five pounds her sleek body may appear weak to a lot of people but the ones who knew her knew she was far from weak. Natalie took one last moment and looked at her chest and thought her breasts could have been a little larger and then turned slightly and smiled at the curve of her butt. She was proud of her butt and thought it was her best physical feature. It was small as the rest of her frame but was perfectly shaped. Overall she was satisfied with her looks and had the confidence of knowing she was a true vision of beauty and seductiveness. Natalie knew she oozed sex appeal and sexuality. She had seen both men and women who were not beautiful but sexy and she had seen both men and women who were beautiful who were not sexy, but she knew she had both.
Her confidence in her looks would be considered vain, and yes she knew she could be very vain, but why not? She had every reason to be. After all, at one time men wrote poetry praising her charm, her gracefulness and her beauty. Yes she had confidence and arrogance about her and it showed in everything she did form the way she moved and talked and even just stood listening and observing. After all she had been through in her life; Natalie knew to show weakness was a death sentence.
She was dressed in a black, pleated mini skirt that flared out at the hem and a black and red bust line corset that had a series of thin harness straps that ran from the bust line and back of the corset to a choker collar around her neck. She put on a pair of well-polished black leather riding boots that came up just below her knees and felt how she was dressed was good enough for just a quick meal and then back home.
The young woman walked to the door and took a black leather waist jacket off the coat rack and put in on. She did not bother to zip it up. It was not cold outside, as a matter of fact it was June in New York and the night air could be warm and humid, but she did not care. Natalie like the jacket on her and the heat did not bother her anyway.
Natalie was walking on the sidewalk deciding where she should go eat. She knew of several places she could go and where she had eaten before but she could not make up her mind. She would have time to figure it out before it got too late and decided just to enjoy the clear night. She passed several people, some drunk, some not, leaving their clubs or parties and the streets were alive with yellow taxi cars being flagged down by the night goers. She smiled as she thought of the people who partied well into the early morning and acted as if they owned the night; they knew nothing of the night or what terrors it could hold.
When Natalie walked by them some of the drunken men would give her cat calls or call out to her while other men and a few women just stared at her to admire her beauty as she walked by. She ignored them, she wanted food right now not sex. Once a very drunk young man stumbled into her, looked down at her pretty face and tried to grab her butt. She looked at him before his hand got close and he suddenly seemed to sober up and back away and then grabbed his friend by the arm and almost ran to the subway tunnel entrance.
Over all she liked New York even if she preferred the older cites of Europe such as Paris and Rome...she frowned when she thought of Rome, the city of her birth. It had been years since she had seen Rome but she knew she could not go home. To go home was to die. She was banished from the city by an authority more powerful and older than the Catholic Church.
"One day," She said aloud, "One day I will see it again, even if I am to die, one day I will see my home again."
Yes she liked the city but she was bored and wanted something different, plus she knew she was wearing out her welcome and some wanted her gone and one day those that did would strike and she would have to flee or fight, and there were very few people in the word Natalie would flee from so she knew it would end in bloodshed, but she had grown weary of bloodshed and death. As she walked she now had two things to think about, where to eat and where she would go next.
"Maybe Japan, I have never been to Japan and I heard they are different in their rules and laws." She mumbled to herself. "More traditional; I would like that; I hate some of the modern ways of America."
Talking aloud to herself and it was a habit she had for a very long time, being alone for such a long period in her life it just became a habit she could not break. She thought of Japan or other places she would move to, older places; but she knew she would not move there. For some reason she could not explain she was drawn to another city in the Americas, a Southern City. Every time she used the internet to find places to live when she escaped New York her search always brought her to the city of Charleston in South Carolina. She did not know why and she had never been to the Southern parts of this country but it was always there haunting her.
She walked down Central Park West and soon found herself on the corner of West 113th street near Harlem and noticed the sidewalk was empty of people the further she was from Manhattan and the street became less crowded of cars. There were a few people still on the street, but they were the homeless and small groups standing under the street lights drinking their addiction from bottles hidden in small brown paper bags. She turned up 113th Street toward the Hudson River. Any girl with her looks and age would know better to be on this street at this time of morning in this city, but Natalie was not afraid. It had been many years since she had felt true fear. She walked another block and stopped and smiled.
"You can come out now, Dante. I know you have been following since I left my loft." She said without turning around.
A man stepped from and alley and onto the street behind her. Natalie turned to see the man who had been following her.
Dante stood six foot two inches and had light brown hair that came down to his shoulders in an unkempt way that made it look very sexy. He was a handsome man, extremely handsome, and Natalie knew that under his clothes he had a very athletic body. She had seen it many times. Dante was dressed like he had just left a night club. His baby blue button down silk shirt glimmered from the light of the street lamp and was tucked into a pair of black slacks that Natalie knew were not made from some cheap material. His shoes were also black leather that would have cost most people at least a week's paycheck. He was very handsome, she thought, and they had once shared history and passion together but that was the past.
"When are you going to stop watching and following me, Dante?" Natalie asked.
The man shrugged. "I just wanted to make sure you are okay."
"Make sure I was okay or told to watch and follow me to make sure I behaved?" The girl snapped back.
"That's not fair, Julia. I don't belong or report to Slavic. You know that. But I do show him the respect he deserves, as should you. He is concerned about you and why you are here."
Natalie laughed and it was a musical pleasant laugh to hear. "If I wanted Slavic's position I could cut his heart out and take it like that." She snapped her fingers. "And call me Natalie, that's the name I use now."
