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?
