All in a whisper

          After living centuries at a time you start thinking that there is nothing that you haven’t seen or felt and you think you know pretty damn well what is to come when you see a human being.

***

          With a precision that only his kind was capable of he landed in the narrow space of the balcony without even so much as a sound. He looked back down then stared deep into the darkness of the night. There was no moon and from where he was standing no other form of light could reveal his presence to a living soul. He took his time opening the glass door and entered like a shadow into the closed space of the creature’s bedroom. The scent from before was even more obvious and at a closer look he realized it was coming from a humans wounds. The bed covers were in disarray hiding beneath them some of the mess that was spreading on the sheet creating an ever expanding contrast between the white of the covers and the crimson blood pool.  Taking a step forward, he kicked a phone receiver by accident. It was smeared with blood as well. His senses were on the highest alert, his instincts told him there was no danger and that sweet smell made him ever so hungry and eager to taste. It took him a second to realize that there was a curled up figure collapsed next to the bed and he stared at it with greed. The vampire walked closer and knelt next to it, hands involuntarily stretching to touch the still figure. The contact between them brought a weak jerk and a moan from the human. The woman was face down on the wooden floor with an arm stretched in front of her. Following the direction of the outstretched hand, he realized that she had most probably tried to reach for the phone. Judging by where the item now laid she had just managed to knock it off the nightstand, only for it to roll further away from her reach. With her attempt to call for help an obvious failure, who was he to challenge fate’s hand by refusing such a tempting and delicious offering. The vampire grabbed the small figure and turned her face up, eyes red, fangs ready to bite at the first chance they found a vulnerable spot. The woman had her eyes opened, staring right at him, through him, like searching for more than just the surface.  Her brown eyes held, surprise, fear, pain, regret and defeat, but there was something else in that look, something that was desperately trying to hold on and make its way through. He recognized it as hope, but it was that unexpected mixture of defiance in it that intrigued him and made him stop. He stared at her for a minute, hunger urging him to taste her, to do what that primal instinct told him and bring the predator inside him to the highest peaks of his senses. Alas he was never one to follow his urges blindly so he put his fangs away and reached for her blood drenched T-shirt lifting it up. Her short breaths warned him that she was not going to last much longer and he moved faster searching for her wounds. As he passed his tongue over them to close them he wondered what kind of monster would stab a person in their stomach and leave them to such a painful death. The attacker must have had an increased amount of anger or cruelty or maybe even both, but definitely lacked the skill, knowledge and experience since the second wound had barely missed the heart and he couldn’t bring himself to believe that it had been done on purpose.

***

         It all seemed like a bad dream. She could have sworn that she felt the life leaving her wounded body and she had felt helpless, but now she was lying in her bed, floor sparkling, sheets clean, covered with a warm blanket as if nothing had ever happened. She blinked a few more times to try and dispel any possible illusions, but everything stayed in place and felt real. She rolled on her back and stood up straight touching the places where the wounds were supposed to be. When she felt the sore spots on her stomach and near her heart she slowly lifted her long T-shirt, but saw no sign of injury. A noise coming from downstairs distracted her and panic washed over as pieces of last night's events came back, then shaking her head she reminded herself that there was no sign of the events ever happening. The noise came again and this time the woman removed the covers and slowly got out of bed heading for the staircase, grabbing a baseball bat that she kept in the closet on her way there. It became more and more clear that someone was in her kitchen and she cautiously started down the steps that led to the ground floor, stopping right outside the room. Although the only sounds that could be heard inside where those of dishes and frying eggs, her grip tightened just before she rushed into the room. She swallowed a lame interjection as she laid eyes on the man leaning against the kitchen counter, armed with a spatula and a blinding smile. There was a short silence as the young woman looked at him half mesmerized half confused and then he pointed to a chair

"Please, have a sit. Breakfast will be served momentarily".

The sound of his voice made her knees weak and sent a shiver through her body. The man had a voice that, just like the rest of his appearance seemed to be taken out of her most passionate and wild fantasies. That no one would ever know she had, of course. Trying to keep herself together, she looked around the kitchen assessing the danger that she could face, but unless the man was bent on attacking her with the spatula, it seemed safe enough to lower the bat. Still she kept it close and ready for action, just in case.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my kitchen?" her own voice was raspy and she cleared her throat waiting for an answer.

"My name is Jack and I'm making breakfast" he answered as if that made perfect sense. The young woman frowned even more confused.

"What kind of thief breaks into people’s homes to cook breakfast?” Jack studied himself for a brief moment

"Do I look like a thief?"  He asked in turn, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I don't know. Is there a standard look for a thief?” This conversation was going the wrong way, but he cut her off before she could finish her thought

"Good question! I promise you I'm not a thief. Please have a sit" Jack pointed to a sit once more.

He smiled even more brightly when she hesitated, head tilting on the side studying her face

“If I wanted to hurt you, I could have done so while you were sleeping”. The logic of his argument was undeniable, so the young woman slowly took a sit at her own table, leaning the bat against the nearest chair.

“You could still turn out to be a psycho” she said softly.

“In which case you are permitted to hit me with the bat as hard as you can” His amusement towards her fear and skepticism made her frown, but she kept silent as the eggs and bacon sizzled in the pan.

‘Jack’, as he called himself, moved through the kitchen with a grace that even most women would kill for and at times he seemed like he almost glided on the floor tiles instead of walking. When a plate was placed in front of her she eyed it suspiciously. Everything looked delicious and the fact that she was just noticing her extreme hunger did not help her current situation at all. Jack laughed, the sound going straight through her and she looked up at him

“Oh come one, it’s just food” he said as a grin stuck to his face.

“Maybe you’re one of those twisted people, that enjoy seeing others in pain and you poisoned the food” she offered.

”Fine then, I’ll eat mine and you can just watch me” her stomach growled in protest and she blushed.

Once again the young woman couldn’t help but admire his movements, as she looked at those long graceful fingers that made her skin tingle for some reason. She could have sworn that his brilliant blue eyes were inhuman and the matching dark hair made him even more irresistible, maybe even just a little bit too much. The intensity of his look was amazing and the more she looked into his eyes the more impossible it became to look away.

“So” he said suddenly, making her jump in her seat and quickly looking down at her plate as the realization that she had been staring came over her “What might your lovely name be?” he finished smiling.

Her head snapped back up

“Weren’t you supposed to know that already?  I thought thieves always new at least the name of their victims”

“Do you feel like a victim?”

The woman paused for a moment looking at the two plates on the table, the glasses of orange juice, the toast on one side and then back at her visitor. For some unknown and unusual reason it felt more like a weird morning date

“Annabell” she finally answered

“Annabell” he repeated, then paused as if he were chewing the name “I like it!” 

“Great! Now the world makes sense again”

Anna was sure he hadn’t missed her sarcasm, but apparently chose to ignore it since he just smiled, so she carried on “You still haven’t really told me what you are doing her” she remarked offering him an encouragement to speak up.

“You mean you don’t remember?” he asked in turn after a moment.

Anna looked puzzled, but stayed silent hoping he would take that as a hint that she had no idea of what he was talking about. When he didn’t show any sign of wanting to explain, she pressed on

“Why don’t you remind me?”

“I wish I could, but alas I only came in when the job was nearly done, so I can only tell you that it was bloody.”

The young woman just stared at him, eyes wide as the reality of the previous night events started to sink in. She felt the dark claw of panic gripping her tighter by the second and as the air left her lungs, she felt she couldn’t breathe it back in. Her mind went blank and even the stupid exercises that her stupid doctor had taught her to use were nowhere to be found, the idea of suffocation wrapping firmly around her. Jack looked up and was next to her in a blink of an eye, not complete certain of what he could do to help her. He started rubbing a hand on her back. He had seen it done before in such situations and people said it helped, but since it really didn’t look like it did, to hell with everyone. He turned her chair so she could face him and knelt in front of her

“Annabell, Annabell look at me” he tried his best to keep his voice soft and calm, but when that didn’t work either he raised his voice, his hands grabbing her shoulders and shaking her lightly.

  “Hey, look at me! Look at me, damn it!”

When she finally looked him in the eye, he saw only fear written in them, a fear that went far beyond rationality and suddenly he knew what to do. He focused his mind on her and looked her deep in the eyes, his own starting to glow a brighter shade of blue with every moment that passed, until they looked iridescent.

“Focus on the sound of my voice Annabell, listen to my words. Can you hear me?” Like she was in a trance Anna nodded

“Good. Now listen carefully. You are safe and you will calm down. Take a slow, deep breath and exhale. One more” she followed his lead without any sign of protest

“That’s it, you’re doing great. Keep breathing. Everything is going to be just fine. You will stay calm when I release you, do you understand?” Anna just nodded.

Jack smiled and closed his eyes, releasing his grip on her mind. She blinked a few times and looked at him surprised

“What did you just do?”

“Are you all right?” he ignored her question trying to make sure she wouldn’t freak again.

She felt her checks blush in embarrassment and looked at the floor

“I’m sorry” her voice was no more than a raspy whisper as she spoke, but he waved it off.

“I’m the one who should be apologizing. It was insensitive of me to talk about it like that, but I sincerely thought you would remember what happened. I didn’t expect…” his voice trailed off as he sat back down in his chair.

After a deep breath Anna sighed and looked out the window as if all the answers were right there

“I remember…” she paused then tried again when she felt her voice shake “I remember going to bed and waking up in the middle of the night to find him on top of me. I thought I was having a bad dream then too, but he had a knife in his hands. I saw it coming down and then felt the pain, but after that everything is in pieces. I think I tried to call for help, but I don’t remember dialing or talking to anyone” by this time her breath had accelerated once more, but she forced herself to calm down “This morning I wake up sore in the places he supposedly stabbed, but no wounds. What did you do to me? How did you even know to look for me?” Out of breath and reaching a disturbingly high pitch even in her opinion, Anna stopped and looked back at him searching for some answers.

Jack seamed to weigh his words carefully before he spoke

“I can tell you that by the time I got here he was already gone and I found you bleeding. You did try to reach for the phone, but I doubted you managed to do anything more than knock it off the night stand. It was too far away from you. Instead you fell, face forward, on the floor, which is where I found you. I closed your wounds so you wouldn’t bleed to death. And I’d rather not answer the last question, its better you not know” his face had been expressionless all through his explanation and for some unusual reason Anna felt hurt by it.

“Why?” came her simple question

“Because it’s safer that way. Some things are meant to remain unknown” he stood up and started for the sink.

“Then why did you stay?” the question had been but a whisper, but Jack stopped in his tracks, turned and stared at her. He opened his mouth to say something and frowned when nothing came out, his expression impenetrable.