Fire Ch. 02

She stopped then, eyes still closed and focused on the very new and incredibly exciting sensation of having something buried inside of her. Slowly her hips began to move, as if her body was searching for more, with our without her consent, and she gave in, sliding her finger in and out until she could feel herself build to something. Boldly she added another finger and stifled a low moan as her fingers pushed against her inner walls and she stretched around her fingers.

She was softly panting now and lay prone on her back, her knees bent, using her fingers to pleasure herself to orgasm. When it finally came she gasped hard against the gut wrenching pulses that made her back seize and her hips jerk against her hand. She gasped for breath and rode her hand convulsively squeezing her thighs tightly until the sensation passed and she just lay there in a haze of stunned satisfaction.

She pulled her hand away, wiping the wetness on her leg and closed her eyes until the heat had passed.

It wasn't until she'd cooled down significantly and had begun to clean up and dress herself that the significance of her dream occurred to her. Before in her dream, that dream, the face of the man had been vague and fuzzy. Only the eyes were ever familiar, but when she thought back to this last dream she couldn't escape the fact that he had clearly resembled Jairus...and still had had those same eyes.

She joined the others for breakfast and sat silently as they planned their day, and discussed when Jairus would return, as he had been gone already four days. She wasn't listening really; her mind was preoccupied with the burning eyes in her dream. She'd never remembered the dream long enough to give it much thought before. It was one of those dreams one only remembers when they dream it again. But it seemed curious to her now that she would dream of a vampire, and that her mind would know to add the burning eyes into her dream.

Her thoughts continued to wander as she tidied the kitchen and swept out all the rooms. She paused at the door to Jairus's room. She hadn't entered more than a few times since her first night here, and it made her anxious, though she knew he wasn't there. She squared her shoulders and entered, briskly sweeping the room out and spending as little time thinking in that room as she could. Somehow she knew it would be dangerous. However once she left the room and let her guard down the uneasy thoughts came flooding back.

She could have added him into the dream she mused, and only remember the creature in her dreams as a vampire. It was a possibility, and would make more sense. But then, she felt so sure that the dream was the same. Each dream perhaps was slightly different, in fact the details were difficult to hold on to, even last night's dream was beginning to fade from her memory, but the one thing that stayed the same were the eyes... and the teeth. No, it was definitely the same dream.

She had no idea what to do with that information.

After her few chores she usually borrowed a book and sat outside in the sunlight. The shapes of great trees she'd seen were a great stand of ancient looking oak, spaced wide apart with a pleasant carpet of grass and meadow flowers growing beneath, it was a soothing place to walk or sit and be alone with ones thoughts. Today was no different. She'd dusted yesterday and scrubbed the floors the day before, so there wasn't much more for her to do.

She wasn't hungry and after an early supper eaten alone in the kitchen she borrowed a book she'd been reading, a book of history of the northern peoples, the Huroth, a race of dark haired giants and warriors supposedly, and she'd taken an interest partially because she suspected her father may have been of their ilk.

All she knew of her mother was that she'd been a stubborn child and had left home as soon as she might to follow an army camp. She'd come home pregnant and widowed, and died in labour. There was little her grandparents could tell her of her father, other than that he had been a large man, and military of some sort, but her own stature and strength told her that.

She walked to a little ridge she'd found and settled herself into the grass, resting her book closed on her lap. She'd chosen this ridge because it opened onto a gap in the trees that gave her a view of the expanse of forest beneath her.

From here she watched the sun set and the twilight dim to a velvety star studded night. Far in the distance were the feint wisps of chimney smoke from the nearest village. There were something wistful about the curling grey tendrils. She'd not been there yet, but from what she'd been told it sounded much like her own village, and therefore held little reason for her to want to visit, except perhaps out of sheer boredom. Her mind wandered to the village and she wondered if Jairus had ever fed there. He must have she reasoned, though he said he must be careful, so he likely didn't do so very often.

Another thought occurred to her, he'd been passing by her own village when he found her...was he perhaps intending to feed there? Has he fed there before?

A strange tingle ran up her spine. He'd said that his victims didn't remember him, or thought he was a nightmare...or dream. Had her dream...had he? Her breath caught at the thought. She had lived alone, and in a cottage near a heavily wooded area at the edge of the village. There would have been few witnesses, just her, alone at night. It seemed almost improbable to her now that he hadn't.

But if he had did he do more than just feed, like he had in her dream? Her mind flickered back to the first time he bit her and her response then...what might have she behaved like if she thought she was dreaming? She shivered. What was it he'd said to her in her dream? She struggled to remember. When he first came through the door...his greeting...something about it seemed incredibly relevant to her at this moment.

"hello again'

"Yes! That's it" she cried, hello again...the 'again', he'd been there before, he'd said she wouldn't remember...

"What is IT?"

She yelped at the voice, then realized it had been the voice that had greeted her. Her mouth fell open in surprise and realization as she gazed up at the tall shadow of a man beside her.

It was as if a flood gate had been opened and various and sudden memories of being locked in his embrace, his hands and mouth on her body, washed over her. She closed her eyes to shut them out, but they were insistent.

"Oh god" she groaned.

There was a hand on her shoulder and she jumped in her skin.

He was kneeling next to her, frowning. "What's wrong?"

She gasped a breath and shook her head, pulling away and standing. "N-nothing, ah sorry" she quickly pulled herself together, "I was just thinking and you scared me...that's all."

He was giving her a funny look and she turned her eyes away, knowing that he was looking for answers in her eyes again. "You're sure, you seem...upset."

"No really, I'm fine." She glanced into his face and saw an expression that told her he didn't believe her for a second.

"I'll leave you then, and see to the others." He still frowned as he turned away and melted quietly into the trees.

But she had to know, and before she could stop herself she went after him. "Jairus?" she called into the shadows.

A shadow moved and became a pale face, moving towards her. She had to control herself not to let out a cry at the sight, so like her dreams, a sight that pulled the terrified voice inside her out from its hiding place.

"Yes?"

"There's, ah, something I'd like to know...need to know" he was silent but attentive.

"You.." now how was she to say this? "You came to me before...didn't you?"

He was very still and looked at her a long time.

She wondered if he'd understood her. "Jairus?"'

"Yes."

"I was just asking..." he cut her off gently with a wave.

"I understood you. 'Yes' was my answer."

She blinked at him. "oh." She hadn't totally expected such an easy admission.

"You remembered?" he asked softly, still standing very still in the shadows.

"Well...sort of, I thought it was a dream, and then I remembered certain things and everything seemed to point in that direction."

"How much do you remember?"

She looked at him carefully, was he trying to discern how much she knew about what he'd done to her. Had he even...no, she remembered feeling that she was intact this morning. That thought caused her to blush profusely. He must have taken her expression as an answer because he looked at the ground.

"I see."

"H-how many times" she asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer. He sighed.

"Well, I'd say, at least... eight. "

"Is that normal...for a single person?" the number seemed high to her, for all his talk about taking care and not bringing attention to himself.

"No."

"Then why" she asked stepping toward him, her hands clasped in her skirts.

"You were alone, and far from the village. Your home is not too far from here, an easy trip for one night."

"I see. Is that all?"

His face changed subtly, and he opened his mouth to speak and seemed to think better of it, and looked down again. She waited watching him.

"No" he said finally.

"Then why me?" she winced inwardly at the plaintive quality of her voice, but she couldn't help herself. All her life she'd been tormented and picked on and singled out, and now she found that he'd been doing it too. For some reason that stung a little more than it should have.

He must have heard the crack in her voice as well because his face softened suddenly and he moved toward her, his eyes full of pity and remorse. His fingers lifted and grazed her cheek lightly.

"I'm sorry Thea, I never meant to harm you, or upset you. And for taking the liberties I did." He dropped his hand. "I know it's not much of an excuse, but I ...couldn't help myself. It's rare that I return to the same person twice, but I let myself and twice became three times, became four." He made a vague gesture.

"But why? Why me?" she could feel her eyes begin to burn and she quashed the feeling with great difficulty.

He sighed. "The truth?"

"Please"

"I liked you."

"Liked me?" that wasn't what she expected to hear, though what she was expecting she couldn't say either.

"Yes. At first you were always asleep. I never did anything...well, I just fed, but I liked you. The way you looked, and especially the way you...tasted."

She flushed a little at that, and he straightened looking her in the eye. She could see him remembering, and she could see the little flames flicker to life in his dark eyes. Her own breathing deepened in response.

"Then one night I woke you, and I heard your voice, and saw your eyes. As I said before," he said turning his eyes away once more, "the effects are different with everyone, and I would be a liar if I said that that didn't also draw me back, despite my better judgement."

"The way I responded?" she asked thickly, embarrassed.

"And my own response to you."

"That changes also?"

"It does. It also makes it harder to control that response when...well, when it begins to go too far"

"I see."

There was a long pause and neither spoke or looked at the other.

"What will you do now that you know this?"

"I hadn't thought that far." She admitted to her shoes.

There was another long pause as she tried to sort out in her head what was happening. He had been coming to her in the night, touching her, taking her blood, without permission, and then had taken her from her village; Taken her from certain death and loneliness. He'd used her. He liked her, perhaps even desired her. She wanted to growl with frustration. If she kept giving him her blood, could she control herself? She knew deep down she could not, and if he couldn't either...well then this wasn't going to work. It would be torture to even try.

"Shall I leave, and let you decide?"

She nodded, feeling more lost and forlorn than she'd ever before.