Blood in the Darness

"Room service!" came the voice with a knock.

Ctessial froze against Arda, there was no time to linger in a happy afterglow. Arda and he had lingered too long in one place, the young vampire clan had finally caught up with them.

"Shh," he snapped. "Get over by the bed and lie on the floor. Whatever you hear, don't move."

She nodded and crawled on the floor by the bed furthest from the door shaking in fear. Could the vampire clan have found her already? What would they do to her? Would her agony start all over again and would Ctessial keep his word? Was Ctessial even strong enough to protect them? She did her best to keep quiet and even breathed shallowly. She could hear him moving towards the door and she knew that he was looking out the small peephole. Her breath caught in her throat when she heard him remove the latch to the door.

"Room service?" she heard a female voice ask.

"No thank you," said Ctessial cautiously.He suspected that the young vampires were looking through the eyes and mind of the maid to see what was going on with Arda.

There was a long moment of silence.

"Okay," replied the woman at last. Arda heard her footsteps retreating down the hall.

She heard him close the door and re-fasten all the deadbolts and chains.

"It's all right, Arda" Ctessial said in a whisper.

She rose cautiously from her spot on the floor. Arda's legs were trembling. She was still afraid.

"We need to pack up and get moving," Ctessial said impatiently. "We've been in one spot for too long."

Anna didn't know what to say. The sharpness in his voice frightened her. There were sadistic vampires who were looking for her. The thought of it nearly scared her to death. The simple, middle-class life she'd lived was crumbling away. She was now fully immersed in a world of supernatural creatures and dark magic.

Ctessial watched Arda with great anxiety and trepidation in his heart. She still looked terribly thin and weak. It broke his heart to make her move so quickly. but the vampire clan was on their tail. They weren't ready to confront them and needed a safe harbor to make their stand. The small and open hotel room was no place to do it. Ctessial could sense Arda's fear and see the doubt in her eyes, but for now, she was coming with him. Thank the gods for small blessings.

Over the past few days he'd been wondering what to do with her. Arda was only a human, and she was still weak from her torture. He'd considered sending her away but he couldn't bring himself to part with her. There was something about this woman. He was inexplicably drawn to her. Arda was intelligent and intriguing; her companionship had been like a ray of light in the darkness of his tomb. But...there was something more. In all his years, Ctessial had never been so inexplicably drawn to anyone like he was drawn to her. She was his magnet. An anchor in his confusing immortal life.

They got in the car.

"I'm driving now." said Ctessial commandingly.

Arda didn't argue she rapidly got into the car. Ctessial drove like a bat out of hell. He drove faster and faster. Ctessial wove in and out of traffic. Arda braced herself. She had never driven this fast before.

"You're scaring me, Ctessial you're going to hit someone or something. You'll burn out the engine, please slow down. The car can't take this kind of treatment. Please slow down..." Arda begged desperately.

Ctessial tossed a quick glance at her. Arda was frightened of his vampiric powers. Ctessial knew they needed to get to safety. He didn't know anything about cars, but he supposed she was right about burning out the engine. If that happened they'd really be screwed. So he dropped from 120 miles per hour to a 100. Ctessial wasn't happy, the slower they went the more likely the young vampires would catch up with them. Still Ctessial had to get his Arda to safety.

Hours went by with them driving, at 100 miles per hour. Ctessial's ferocity and determination in his driving, agitated Arda. She had never experienced anything like this before. Arda was extremely unsettled by his erratic behavior. Not to mention, she was starting to have human needs and didn't want to strain Ctessial further.

Still she was hungry and longed for the companionship they had experienced over the past few days. Couldn't they be close like that again? When would they be close like that? Did Ctessial still want to be close like that or had he just used her last night?

Finally, Arda could bear her hunger no longer. She spoke, although a small part of her was afraid of Ctessial's vampiric wrath.

"I'm hungry, Ctessial." Arda said it in a small and timid voice. She didn't know what was going to happen. Ctessial wouldn't yell or try to control her again at her would he? She was trapped in a speeding car. There was nowhere to run. Arda had never been in a situation like this.

"I'll summon, you something. What do you want?" his voice came out sharper than he meant it to be. He had a responsibility to guard Arda against her impending doom.

"It's not just the food Ctessial. It's alot of other things too. I was hoping we could just pull over...even for fifteen minutes and talk about last night. I'm still really bewildered and disorientated by our...well my actions. It's like there was a spell on me and I don't know if my passions and what occurred between us was real. Whatever kind of black magic occured confuses me..."

Ctessial listened without hearing. He had not been around mortals in a long time and didn't realize they had emotional needs as well as physical ones. Arda was in a vulnerable state. She needed reassurance but Ctessial had none to offer. He just "summoned" her and an egg salad sandwich, cheese puffs and a coffee.

Arda ate in silence and kept her worries as well as thoughts to herself. There was no longer a sense of camaraderie between her and Ctessial. There was no more joy left in the car. Arda doubted her own feelings.

She bowed her head and turned away from Ctessial. She felt so tiny, helpless. She was caught in something that was way beyond her knowledge and understanding. Her world was simpler that Ctessial's mysterious vampiric world--family, friends, work...but all of that seemed to be gone forever. She was alone, an island on to herself.

At some point Arda dozed off, when she awoke- it was dark, but there was the soft glow of sunlight streaming through the corners of a window that had been blacked out with some blankets on top of the normal curtains. She didn't recognize the room at all. It almost looked like a nice hotel room, though she couldn't imagine why she'd be in a hotel. Her mind was laboring as though it hadn't had to work so hard in a long time.

Ctessial sat on a sofa across from her. "Welcome to my home, Arda." he said simply.

Arda mumbled very sleepily that it was nice. But, she was just being polite. She hadn't looked at Ctessial's Cold War era fortress. Arda fell right back asleep. Troubled dreams came to her, she was no longer worried about her attackers. What mattered now was her and Ctessial's relationship. Did they feel the same way about each other? Or was he just using her? Their passion had seemed so real, but was she nothing but a plaything for him?