My shift at the diner ended at ten p.m. that evening, and since the small trailer park I lived in was just a mile down the road, I walked back to save on gas. It was a relatively balmy evening, and the sky was clear, letting the stars above shine like they never did in Chicago, and I very determinedly forced back thoughts of what sitting on Warin’s skyscraper this time of year would be like.
A small “thud” sounded from the road behind me, startling me out of my morose thoughts. Before I even managed to tell myself that it was probably just some clumsy, nocturnal animal, I heard the very, very last thing I'd expected:
"Found you, Snack.”
I spun around, automatically clutching my handbag in front of my chest—because of course this was a mugging situation—and saw a tall, eerily familiar figure looming in the middle of the road, hands casually thrust into the front pockets of his tight jeans.
“Aleric?" My voice broke in disbelief.
His eyes narrowed slightly, and I shivered at the cold expression in them. "Oh, good, so you aren't suffering from amnesia."
I gaped at him. "W-wha..?"
"That would be about the only excuse I'd accept from you. And since that isn't the case, I get to do this the fun way." He removed his hands from his pockets, a predatory edge to his posture.
Gulping, I slowly backed away. "Look, I don't know what you're doing here, but I'm sure Warin wouldn't want you to drain me, no matter how bad things ended!" Quite the cowardly move to throw Warin’s name at him, but when faced with a lethal predator, you really just try anything.
He snorted and then started stalking me, copying each of my steps backwards with a cocky saunter, cold eyes never leaving mine. "My brother is rather dumb when it comes to you, you little cunt. So I will do what he failed at. No one denies a Waldlitch, especially not an insignificant human like yourself."
I gasped at the insult, which was really not the thing to get upset over at this time, as I was fairly certain I only had moments left to live.
He smirked at my reaction. "Ooh. You don't like that name?"
"Please, Aleric," I said, changing tactics. "I'm sorry for what I did, leaving him, but I thought you'd be happy. You wanted me gone, didn’t you?”
"Oh, I'm ecstatic." The smirk slipped off his face, leaving blankness and those icy blue eyes.
I swallowed hard as he hunched just a tad more, muscles contracting in that tell-tale way I'd seen on nature programs when a feline was seconds from jumping their prey.
My instincts took over and I spun around to run.
Which was, of course, borderline idiotic. He caught me before I took more than one step, pulling my back into his chest, lifting me off the ground.
"Now, now," he purred into my ear. "You don't wanna be doing that, little Snack. I'll forget why I'm here." He trailed his nose along my neck, inhaling deeply, and I shuddered and went rigid in his grasp.
"Please," I gasped. “You don’t understand—“
“Oh, I understand. And in a moment, so will you,” he hissed into my ear, and then everything blurred for a few seconds until we were off the road and in the middle of the small bit of woodland that lined the trailer park.
The tall vampire lowered us to the ground in a sitting position, still with my back pressed against his chest, easily immobilizing my attempts to kick at him and wriggle away by throwing a long leg over my thighs, crossing down over my knees. I might as well have tried to kick off a mountain range. He simply ignored my flailing arms, not even deeming them enough of an annoyance to pin them.
And then his bleeding wrist suddenly appeared in front of my face.
"Drink."
“No! Are you insan—mmph!”
He didn’t wait for me to finish my protest, and pressed his wrist hard against my mouth—which I instantly clamped shut, lips tightly pressed together.
Sighing, he grabbed my nose with his free hand, pinching off my air supply. “Why must you be such a difficult pet?”
I tried to thrash my head to breathe, but he didn’t release his grasp. Eventually, I had to gasp for air, and instantly, I had his bloody wrist in my mouth, thick liquid filling my mouth.
I coughed and sputtered but he kept his arm in place, ensuring that I swallowed everything, until my struggle became more frantic as I was choking from the lack of air.
Aleric let me have a moment to cough and gasp before he bit into his wrist again, pressing it right back.
Not wanting to have my nose pinched shut again, like some child not wanting to take her medicine, I didn't close my lips this time, but I did bite him as hard as I could. Unfortunately, that just got a pleasured groan from the asshole, so I quickly let go, allowing the blood to drip past my lips.
"There's a good girl," he purred, a husky note evident in his tone. "When I'm done with you, there will be no more running away, ever again."
I growled angrily against his arm, to absolutely no avail as gulp after gulp of his heady, dark life essence passed my throat. The fact that Aleric moaned during the entire process, his excitement hard and evident against my back, made the whole experience quite a bit more rapey than being force-fed blood really should have been.
Aleric bit into his wrist three more times, making me drink until the wound closed, and I was getting quite woozy.
When he finally released me, I felt pretty buzzed.
"You psychopathic asshole!" I gasped, spitting out what little of his blood remained in my mouth.
“Brave words, little Snack.” He got up effortlessly, hard eyes staring me down. “You’re lucky I’m here to fetch you. I’d much rather snap your neck.”
I rolled over on my back, my legs too oddly energized to want to corporate to get up. The night above me was alight in colors, and I could make out the energy sparkling within every single leaf on the bushes and trees above us. I vaguely remembered Warin mentioning that too much of his blood would “intoxicate” me, and boy had he been right. I was so high.
“Warin sent you for me?” I asked as I rubbed against the earth beneath me. It felt so good, like being embraced by the planet. "Did he ask you to fucking blood-rape me, too?" I looked up at Aleric. He seemed aglow with the source of life itself.
"Ooh!" I breathed. "You're pretty! A pretty sociopath!"
Aleric sighed. “No. He’s been stubborn as a goddamn mule. Wouldn’t look for you, wouldn’t want me looking for you. Whatever you said to him must’ve been pretty fucking convincing, so well done you. Now get up. We’ve got a long trip. Who the hell runs away to Kentucky, anyway?”