Chapter 12
Gifts in White Satin...
He remembered Alexis getting out of bed during the night licking his cheek, kissing him goodbye. For some reason he never heard the apartment door closing, causing him to wonder if she might still be there. Rather than investigate he fell back asleep not awakening until morning. When he did his hand went to his neck, feeling for puncture wounds. Not finding any he breathed a sigh of relief in knowing he was still human, at least for now.
After getting out of bed he looked around half-hoping she was still there. He had visions of her hanging upside down somewhere, sleeping fitfully. Without a trace of her he shrugged his shoulders deciding on a shower. While doing so his eyes went to the drain looking for a few strands of her hair -- there were none to be found. He felt energized while showering, as though he'd been given a shot of B-vitamins. He couldn't account for the feeling of extra energy since it never occurred to him what effect her bodily fluids were having on him.
While taking out the trash he felt a piece of the cross poking through the trash-bag, reminding him of what he'd done with her beckoning. He felt too good to feel a sense of guilt for what he'd done, never giving it a second thought.
He hated thinking about her constantly but couldn't help it. He wasn't the kind of guy to sleep with someone and then write them off, as though nothing happened -- especially a vampire. He decided he wanted to buy her something. It was more an experiment to see if he was up to the challenge, a task posing all sorts of problems. Getting her a gift was sort of a payback too, since he felt certain she was the one who'd been leaving the gifts outside his door.
He walked the aisles of a nearby department store, scratching his head as he mumbled to himself frequently. He had no idea what to get her. "Were there 'vials-of-the-month' clubs for vampires," he wondered smiling to himself.
He was in the ladies cosmetics department, lost in thought when a good-looking young woman spotted him from behind her counter, offering help. He placed two hands on the counter leaning forward, looking down at all the bottles of perfume, overwhelmed. He doubted she'd use perfume. After getting a large tube of sun-screen the girl asked if there was anything else she could help him with.
"I'm not sure if anyone can help me. I met someone I don't know how to buy for. She's not like anyone else."
"I hear that one all the time," she said smiling.
"No really, she's not like anyone else. I don't know what she likes. As far as I know she doesn't need perfume. Strange thing is, I don't think she needs to."
The clerk knew smitten when she saw and heard it, deciding to play along:
"Well, there are some light smelling talc's," she said reaching to take one out so he could sample it. After opening the lid she handed it to him when they made eye-contact.
"Wow, nice eyes," she said in seeing them.
"Thanks. Some say they're eerie looking."
"I can see why but when you smile they're amazing, less intense."
Though feeling complimented he decided perfume was a bad idea, telling her as much. When he turned to leave she asked using a different tone, "How about a bottle of Red?"
For some reason his first thought was the color of blood. When he turned to look at her he feared she might be smiling -- fangs showing. Instead he saw her innocently holding up a bottle of perfume with a big red heart and the word "Red" written in white letters inside the heart. She sprayed some on the back of her hand letting him smell it.
"It doesn't blend well with my skin-type but there are some who seem to like it. It has an unusual fragrance don't you agree," she asked still looking dreamily into his eyes.
The scent more than intrigued him. In fact he felt an unexpected arousal in smelling it. Then it hit him, it was the same perfume his mother used. He wondered if it might be a favorite of vampires. He decided to buy it thinking if Alexis didn't like it he'd give it to his mother, when and if he saw her again.
After looking around for another hour or so he decided on a heavy-duty toenail clipper. Press-on nails seemed reasonable as did the ribbed sleeveless black cashmere sweater. He had no idea what she could do to conceal her fangs, thinking it was why she didn't smile much.
He returned to his apartment thinking and hoping to see a sign from her. There wasn't any. Since he didn't bother with gift-wrap, he set the gift-bag on the kitchen table before going to the park to play chess for awhile. He wondered how George and Connie were getting along, if at all. He played a few games before going to the art museum wanting to see a new exhibit. On his way home he decided to see what movie-rentals were available at a local store. When he got to the horror section he took every vampire movie they had, wondering what they were like as he still wanted to learn as much as possible about them.
It'd been awhile since he called his father, so he called him. He was afraid to bring up his mother, thinking it would only upset him. But the possibility of his running into her was so unlikely, he did so anyway. Certainly he wouldn't tell him the details but he thought bringing her up in conversation would provoke some response. He imagined some far-out comment like,
