Natty Silver

Thanks for everyone being patient with this next chapter! There is more to come!

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"You are a vampire." The statement came fluidly from my lips. I should have been afraid. Anyone with any kind of sense would have been, but I felt... excited. My heart pounded in my chest, my mind raced... vampires are real, and I was sitting there holding hands with one as we stared out at the lights of Bossier City across the Red River.

"I'm sure you have questions," Donovan spoke after our long silence.

I could only nod. I did have questions, so many that I felt overwhelmed.

I heard a soft beep and realized it was coming from my purse. "Oh my God!" I dug in my purse and found my cell phone. 4 missed calls and 6 text messages. "I forgot that I was meeting my friends!" I stood quickly and dialed Cher.

"Natty, are you okay? Where have you been?" came her strongly southern voice.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I just found a guy in the ally that was all cut up so I called the police and waited with him," I lied. Donovan smiled slightly.

"Is the guy okay?"

"Yeah, I think he will be. Where are you guys now?"

"We were about to head home. Couldn't really have fun while we worried about you." Cher's voice was concern mixed with annoyance. I guess I couldn't really blame her.

"No, let me meet you guys and I'll buy the next two rounds." I didn't want to leave Donovan, but I didn't want to ruin my friends night.

"Fine, but take a cab or something. Don't want you finding a stray dog that needs help."

I looked at Donovan. He was looking down at the pavement, smiling. Apparently, he could hear everything that Cher was saying. Dirty eavesdropping vampire.

"Okay, where?"

"The Limbo Lounge. Need directions?"

"I can take you there, I know where that is," Donovan told me.

I nodded at him. "No, I can find it, Cher. See you guys in a bit." I ended the call and looked at Donovan. "Is your car nearby?"

Donovan buttoned up his torn shirt quickly and he took my hand. "Come on."

We walked, hand in hand, in silence for a ways. Seedy alleys completely void of all people that wanted to be seen... and I never felt safer.

We found his car, which happened to be blacked out Chevy Nova SS. "Nice classic," I said as he opened the door for me.

"Glad you approve."

The interior was rich, black leather, which I'm sure wasn't factory. This was much higher quality. The stitching almost looked as if it had been done by hand. This was a very nicely redone muscle car.

Donovan slid into his seat and started the engine. It was loud and rumbled like a lion ready for a fight. So far, everything about Donovan was sexy... and now I could add his car to the list.

"I'm sorry I have to leave."

Donovan pulled the car onto the road and chuckled. "Why are you sorry?"

I wasn't really sure why I was sorry, except that I'd have to say goodbye to him. "Nurse instincts , I guess. You were so badly hurt just a few minutes ago."

"Uh huh... and is that all?"

I glanced up at his ice-blue eyes, which were looking at me. What was that supposed to mean? I smoothed out my vulnerability with confidence. "Well, I was just getting to know my first vampire and now we have to part ways."

Donovan turned his attention back to the road and said nothing. I wondered if he expected me to say more, like I didn't want to leave him or something else that would put myself out there. I watched out of the passenger window at the old buildings go by. I liked him, but I had just met this guy. My judgment had been wrong with hot guys before... I wasn't about to put my foot... actually... my heart in my mouth this time.

The black Nova pulled up in front of a swanky looking club. Limbo Lounge was written in a fancy, mod type face in Neon.

I sighed, not wanting to get out of the car. Before I could speak, Donovan was outside, opening the car door for me. Chivalrous. Donovan could be over a hundred or two years in age... maybe even more. As he held out his hand to help me out of the car, I shivered and smiled at the thought.

Donovan lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it softly. "Thank you for your help tonight, Natty."

I could only smile. I hated good-byes. "It was nice meeting you, Donovan, even under these weird circumstances." I planted a light kiss on his cheek.

His hand was still holding mine. Donovan's eyes didn't leave me, he just continued to stare hard. Whatever he was thinking wasn't being portrayed on his face.

I turned to leave, but Donovan had other ideas. He pulled me back to him and pressed me up against his car with his body. His icy eyes looked down on me with fire. He was hard in every meaning of the word, and I was enjoying being pinned against the Nova by this consuming man.

Slowly, Donovan lowered his lips to just below where my ear meets my neck. I couldn't move. When I felt the heat of his face radiating against my skin, I had to close my eyes.

He opened his mouth and I felt his teeth scrape my skin gently. It sent thousands of tingles through my body and swiftly added more to the pool that was growing at the apex of my thighs.

"The next time you are off from work, we will meet again," his whispered. Teeth scraped my neck again, this time a little rougher. I could feel my knees getting weak and I struggled to maintain my composure against him.

Donovan pulled his handsome face back to look at me. "I have so much about you I want to know." His lips found mine and I lost myself. I had been with plenty of men before, but never had I experienced a kiss like this. I was the rain deprived forest and Donovan was a fierce electrical storm. Together, we were a raging wild fire bound to happen and consume all.

Donovan kept his lips against mine for a moment before he pulled away from me. "Good night for now, Natty," he whispered.

I could barely think as I attempted to tame the hunger I felt at that moment. I definitely hoped I'd be seeing him sooner than later. "Good night, Donovan."

To much frustration, he pulled his body away from mine to let me leave. I glanced at him one last time. He stood there, statue like, watching me walk away from him. I took a deep breath and crossed the street. I needed a drink.

~~~~~

The next three nights passed uneventfully. I had some good patients that only liked to call me when they really needed something. I welcomed the non-patient care related busy work while I thought of Donovan. At least, no one could get hurt if my mind wandered as it was wanting to do it all of the time since the incident in Shreveport. I felt a little worried that I may not see him again since I didn't give him my phone number or town I lived in even. A vampire could figure that out, right? Hopefully? As tonight was my last night on for the next couple of days, I really hoped so. He had told me that we'd meet again the next time I was off work. We'll see.

It was dark and overcast when I went outside to my car at 7:34 am. I remembered hearing one of my patients say that it was supposed to rain for the next 24 hours. I smiled. Good sleeping weather. I was going to go hibernate in my comfy bed for at least 12 hours.

My Chartreux cat, Murphy, greeted me at the door. He seemed excited about sleep as well. I readied for bed and we fell asleep together.

Almost exactly twelve hours later, I woke to the sound of rain outside of my window. It must have been pouring and the sun had already gone down. No wonder I was able to sleep so well. I laughed. My mom would be upset with me knowing I had wasted all of the daylight hours sleeping.

Still in my string tank top and pajama pants, I wandered around the house a bit, wondering what I wanted to do for food. I really wanted some chicken fried steak from the Outback, but I'd have to drive up there to get it. The rain brought out the worst drivers in East Texas. The ones who drove slow in the sun, drove slower in the rain. The ones who drove fast in the sun, drove even faster in the rain.

No matter, I wanted chicken-fried steak. I made an order online for their curb side pick up and changed my clothes. The food was ready when I pulled up to the restaurant. I could nearly cut and eat the air outside, it smelled so good!

Five minutes later, I was pulling into my driveway. The rain was still coming down in sheets, but I didn't care. I was about to curl up with my fave comfort food and watch some stupid sappy movie on Netflix. By the time I made it from my car to the back door, I was soaked. I didn't really hurry because the nice spring rain felt good on my skin. Besides, I wasn't going anywhere anyway.

My key found the lock and I turned the knob.

"Hello Natty," called a sexy familiar voice just behind me.

I shivered and knew it wasn't from the wetness of my clothing or hair. "Hello Donovan." I turned to face him. He too was soaked. Black hair matted to his forehead and the black button up he was wearing was saran-wrapped to his sculpted body. I so wanted to rip the clothes from him and see exactly how far his perfection went. I blinked hard. "Let's get inside."

I went to the kitchen to put my food down and turned only to see Donovan still standing at the door way. "What, afraid to come in?" I couldn't help myself and laughed.

He looked down at the door jam, appearing almost embarrassed. "I have to be invited."

Well, what do you know. At least that part was true about vampires. "Please come inside, Donovan."

The big, Irish vampire entered my home and shut the door behind him. He was holding a bottle of red wine. Donovan cleared his throat. "Uh, I brought you a bottle of your favorite wine." I regarded the old label of the wine as he held the bottle out to me. It was a '75 Cabernet Sauvignon.

I took the bottle from him and marveled. "How did you know it was my favorite type?"

Donovan didn't respond, he just smiled, pulling two of my crystal wine glasses out of the cabinet and taking the bottle from me. With a quick snap of his wrist, the bottle broke cleanly, right below the cork.

I laughed as he poured the glasses half way. "That's a neat party trick."

He glanced up at me with a smile. "What?"

"The breaking the bottle off so neatly."

Donovan thought for a moment with his eyebrows furrowed. "Oh, yeah, sorry." He put the bottle down and picked up the glasses, handing one to me. "Forgot that isn't norm for you."

"Yeah, about that... I have... questions." I pulled the chair away from the dining table and sat down. I had a lot of questions... and I was hungry. "Do you mind?" I asked, pointing at the food.

Donovan sat down beside me and smiled warmly. "No, go ahead."

I organized my thoughts as I pulled my food from the bag. Now that I know vampires are REAL... what do I ask? Where do I start?

"I'm sure you are wondering who chained and cut me up in the building," he suggested.

I lifted my eyes to look into a sea of ice blue. "Yeah, that would be a good start. I've never seen something so horrifying in my life."

Donovan lifted his glass of wine to his lips and sipped slowly. "I am what we call a Regulator, or what you might consider a cop of vampires. I enforce vampiric law."

I listened intently as I ate dinner. I never would have imagined that vampires would have laws, or that they would need 'cops' for that matter.

"There are vampires that resist the laws though, the ones that simply act upon their urges, without regard to vampire safety, let alone human safety. We call them Primals." Donovan's long fingers traced the etchings in his glass.

"So a primal or some primals did that to you?"

He nodded. "A group of them did on order by one of the Primal gang's leader."

"That leader must be quite a bad-ass."

"Yeah, she is."

Sipping on the Cabernet, I was surprised to hear that the bad-ass gang leader was female. "A woman."

"When a human becomes a vampire, the only differences between the sexes are their body shape. They are equally strong and fast. Truth be told, some of the most ruthless and vicious vampires I can think of have been women."

"Interesting. So, how long have you been a vampire?"

"Since 1759, I was 28. It was just a couple of weeks after my Uncle Arthur acquired property to open his brewery." He looked pained as he thought of that event. "I didn't tell anyone and basically had to muddle about until I learned how to be a vampire on my own."

He had to figure out how to be a vampire.. on his own? "I can't imagine that. I bet it was hard."

"It wasn't too bad at first... there weren't many people around the brewery then. But, as Uncle's ale began to grow in popularity, he had to hire more men to help."

A question popped into my head... and, while I wanted to know the answer, I felt I already knew. "Have you killed a human?"

Donovan lifted his eyes from the glass in his hand. His steady gaze made me shiver. It was the look of troubled regret.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that."

"No, it's okay. It was a long time ago. You deserve to know what you are getting yourself into."

The conversation was turning dark and it made me uneasy. I sat my fork down on the take out box and took a big gulp from the wine. "What do you mean? What am I getting into?"

As he stared at me, Donovan's eyebrows grew more furrowed. Suddenly, he looked away and stood swiftly. "I should go. I shouldn't be here. I've already put you in too much danger."

I got up and grabbed his hand as he reached for the door. "No, don't go, Donovan."

The tall handsome man stopped and turned to face me, his eyes were hard and dangerous. "I never should have come here, Natty."

I didn't want him to leave. I had waited more than three days to see this amazing man again and I didn't want the night to end already. "Please don't go." I put my hand on his muscular chest. I could feel his heart beating with a strong, slow thump.

Donovan looked down at my hand, then continued to stare down at me with frustration in those striking eyes of his. I couldn't decide if he looked angry or worried.

"How can you do this..." He growled softly, his hard expression unchanging.

"Do what?"

He shook his head and blinked finally. "You have a pull on me." Donovan's eyes flicked over my eyes and face. "I can't..." His expression turned to hunger as his gaze traced my mouth.

I felt my heart rate pick up as I felt the same fire that was in his eyes. I wanted this vampire so badly. I wanted him to do bad things to me that made me scream his name at the top capacity of my lungs... but instead, I remained frozen in his gaze.