Kane Ch. 01

Kane scowled as he got dressed for the evening, after six-hundred plus years of being it still galled him that he couldn't go out during the day. Although born a vampire, he hated his life; he wanted to be human more than anything that he could think of. He wanted it even more than finding his mate, the truth of it was this; he didn't want to find her. He wanted to grow old and die alone; he was at a loss as to why he hated his life so much and why he had never accepted it. His only comfort was that he could eat human food, he didn't care about the whys or how of it, it was the one thing that kept him sane.

He was honest with himself, he was a bastard. He used women indiscriminately; he didn't care what they looked like or even if they were with someone. From his point of view, if he had to live forever it was going to be on his terms and no one else's. He usually had a different woman every night, it kept things simple and eliminated the possibility that one of them would fall for him.

Most of his friends and family had given up on him a long time ago. Tired of his excesses and his lack of regard for the needs of others, "Fuck em" he muttered as the memory of the last time he had spoken to his brother came back.

He ran his hands through his long blond hair and smiled at the reflection in the mirror. He wouldn't have any problems picking up women; he never did even when he didn't use compulsion. All he had to do was give that lopsided grin that women found so appealing and it was all over. It was more than that though, women were also drawn to him because of his height-he was well over six feet six inches tall in stocking feet and was muscular, not body builder muscular but he looked like he spent a lot of time in the gym.

He felt particularly horny tonight and decided to use a driver, why go to a hotel when he had a perfectly good car that would do nicely. He picked up the phone and called George who was one of his very few remaining friends and driver.

"George, thirty minutes." he said and hung up.

Kane's favorite place to pick up women was the karaoke bars; he himself was a singer and liked to look out over the audience to select the woman who would provide his entertainment for an hour or so. Once he spotted her, he would sing to her and place a mild compulsion on her to follow him outside, then he would remove the compulsion giving her the option to stay or go, most times they stayed. Tonight he was going to a new place; it was just as well, the other places were getting to know him a little too well.

Carla slowly dressed for the evening, she really didn't want to go but her Friends Dina and Mary had insisted; they were tired of her crying over Justin who had dumped her for a prettier, lighter skinned and much smaller version of herself. He wanted to remake her, he didn't like her size or the clothes that she wore, he hated her glasses, he wanted her to quit her job and make him her only priority. The final straw had come when she found him searching the internet for skin lightening cream.

"There's nothing wrong with my color!" she had screamed at him.

"Come on baby, a shade lighter is all I'm asking." he replied.

When she refused, he left and a week later was spotted with someone else. That had been a two months ago and Carla hadn't been out since. Now as she fixed her hair which she cut after Justin left she took in her appearance. Halle Berry she wasn't, twiggy she wasn't but she wasn't by any means ugly, she toyed with the idea of contacts but couldn't imagine sticking something in her eyes. She wore very little if any makeup; she had little patience for that kind of thing. At the last minute she remembered to put on her lipstick.

Thoughts of Justin popped into her head, and she pushed them away; her friends were right. If he had really loved her as he said he did he would have accepted her as she was dark skin and all but he hadn't and now... Before Justin, Carla had been fun loving, dancing and karaoke were probably her most favorite things to do other than reading a good book and watching movies. Tonight, her friends were hoping to bring that part of her back. The last thing she did was put on a little perfume, which was something else that Justin had dictated.

"It makes me sneeze." he complained.

A car horn beeped outside, Dina had insisted on picking her up afraid that if they trusted her to drive herself that she wouldn't show up. They were right she admitted to herself as he grabbed her purse and house keys.

Kane surveyed the bar; it was a nice enough place he decided as he sipped on a rum and coke. He hadn't spotted anyone that drew his attention but the night was young. He had already looked at the list of karaoke songs and made his selections, he tended toward the seductive and sexy songs that catered to his smooth baritone but could sing about anything if he chose to. He found a table toward the back that faced the door, he wanted to see who came in, and he took another sip of his drink and wondered what his first lay of the night would look like.

"Carla come on! We just got here!" Dina said pulling on Carla's arm.

'I know but I don't think I'm ready for this." Carla protested.

"That's what you said last week!" Mary said taking a hold of her other arm and pulling her toward the door.

"Fine but can we at least sit in the back?"

Dina and Mary looked at each other and shrugged.

"Fine, but just so its not too far back, its hard to see anything especially if there's a bunch of tall people in front of us." Dina said.

Carla chose a table in the middle of the room satisfying everyone, just as she sat down; the nape of her neck tingled, someone was watching her.

Kane almost choked on the sip of rum and coke that he had just taken, his head snapped toward the door where three women had just walked in, his vision locked on the one in the middle automatically dismissing the other two.

"No." he muttered to himself, "damn it no!"

Whoever she was, he didn't want her not even to fuck.

"NO!" he screamed silently as he watched her sit down with her friends.

Carla looked around the room to see if she could spot whoever it was that was watching her, seeing no one; she shrugged off the feeling and ordered a long island iced tea. A few minutes later the emcee was on the stage welcoming everyone.

"Who's going to be out first singer for tonight?" he asked.

"Get up there!" Dina urged Carla.

"No! It's been too long." Carla replied.

"It's like riding a bike, you don't forget so get up there!" Dina said raising her hand for Carla.

The emcee saw her and nodded.

"Folks, we've got our first singer for tonight! Come on up here sweetheart!"

Dina made Carla stand up and pushed her forward when she tried to sit down.

The emcee held out his hand to Carla.

"Come on sweetheart, don't be shy,"

Having no other options or so she thought; Carla made her way up to the stage.

"What's your name honey?" he asked.

"Carla." she replied softly.

"Welcome Carla, let's give her a hand for being the first singer for tonight!"

Carla blushed and wished that she was anyplace but where she was.

"What are you going to sing for us tonight?" the emcee asked.

Carla quickly looked through the list and picked the shortest song that she could find, sang and practically ran off of the stage.

Kane's heart stopped as he watched Carla go on stage, he noted that she was perfect; built the way he thought a woman should be built. She was short barely reaching 5'3 and that was being generous and full of curves and places to hold on to while making love. He fought to stop this train of thought; he wasn't going to give in to this! Her voice tore through him, it was beautiful soft and melodic. Kane shook himself, he wasn't going to do this, he wasn't! But even as he thought it, he knew that she would be the one that he would fuck. The protector in him surged forward and he pushed it back, she had friends; she didn't need him.

Kane made his way to the stage, he already knew what he was going to sing, it would be the most seductive song on his list and he would sing it to her, take her to the car, fuck her and leave. Like every other woman in the place, Carla was enthralled with him; aroused by him and she wanted him. He sang to her, his blue eyes glued to her brown ones. After the song, he walked up to her, placed a small compulsion on her and her friends and held his hand out to her. Carla took his hand and gasping at the contact.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself as she allowed herself to be led outside.

Kane smelled her arousal, it was a sweeter smell than that of every other woman in the room, he smiled at her as she allowed herself to be led from the bar. He whistled and his car pulled up, George got out and opened the back door. Returning to the front seat, he put up the partition and turned up the music. Wasting no time, Kane kissed Carla intending for it to be his perfunctory "before I fuck you" kiss but it turned into something else, it turned into an "I want you kiss." Kane abruptly pulled away, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. He pulled Carla into his lap straddling her legs on either side of him as he pulled her skirt up over her hips and to her waist. He began a slow grind against her, his cock hardened at the contact. He reached down and moved her panties to the side, lifted her and slid into her. Carla cried out but made no move to stop him even though her brain was screaming at her that she didn't know this man.

Kane felt his orgasm begin and he wanted her to come with him, he had never cared about that before but now it was important. As he thrust into her, he ground against her hard, she came first with him following shortly afterwards.

Carla slumped against him, what in the hell was wrong with her? She had just had unprotected sex with a complete stranger and he was angry.

Kane rested his head against the head rest, he had to get out of here and he had to make her forget.

"Carla, look at me."

When she looked at him, he saw her tears; she had just done something that she never thought herself capable of.

"Carla, this never happened; if you see me again you won't know me."

To his shock and horror Carla just looked at him with a confused and humiliated expression on her face.

"Why don't you want me to remember?"

Kane looked at her and tried again, this time she climbed off of his lap, got out of the car and straightened her clothes and walked away without looking back. Kane watched Carla walk away, this had never happened before. The partition came down.

"Ummm Kane? I don't think that compulsion works with all mates, at least that's what I understand."

Kane glared at George.

"She is not my mate now get me the fuck out of here!"

Five years later

Carla smiled at the blue-eyed five year old.

"Time for bed."

"Not yet mama, I have to finish!" he objected.

"I'll make a deal with you, five more minutes then you brush your teeth and go to bed, deal?" she asked.

Ian looked at her as if trying to decide who was getting the better end of the deal.

"Alright," he said as he turned his attention to the book he was reading.

Carla always looked at Ian with a mixture of feelings, bitter because his father didn't know about him, bitter because the bastard didn't even tell her his name and just disappeared without a trace, sweet because this precocious little boy brought love and laughter into her otherwise lonely life. Ian would be tall like his father and would be a heartbreaker with his curly sand colored hair and blue eyes that were like his father's, his skin was dark but not nearly as dark as hers. Ian's father was the first and last white man Carla had ever been with, he had been the last man she had ever been with period.

It hadn't been easy explaining her pregnancy to Dina and Mary, in end she let them believe whatever they wanted. The only thing they were sure of was that Ian wasn't Justin's son because Justin was black and obviously, Ian's father was white. Carla never told them the details of that night and hadn't planned to. The more pressing question was what she was going to tell Ian when he asked about his father.

The past five years hadn't been kind to Kane but that was mostly his own doing. He still hadn't accepted what he was and he hadn't acknowledged Carla for who and what she was. He actually tried to think of her as little as possible and when he did, he would go find a woman to fuck just so they didn't look anything like her. But yet when he went to the karaoke bars, he looked for her, George had finally had enough.

"I'm done! For the past three centuries I've watched you flop around like a fish out of water and for what? Because you refuse to accept who and what you are, in case you haven't noticed, I'm the only friend that you have left and that's about to change. What the fuck is wrong with you? Oh wait! I know, you won't accept who you are and you left your mate to fend for herself. Do you know what really pisses me off? I would give anything to find my mate and you found yours and you don't want her, what the hell is up with that? How can you call yourself a man and a vampire-oops my mistake you don't want to be a vampire. Anyway let me start again, what kind of man are you that you would do that to your mate? Even human men have more honor than that! What you did to her was wrong and you know it, but you can still fix it, I'll help you.'

Kane listened without comment until George was done talking.

"Are you finished? I didn't ask for your opinion, if you don't like what I'm doing there's the door and don't let it hit you in the ass on the way out."

George looked at Kane and shook his head; he turned around and walked out the door closing softly behind him.

That had been a week ago, Kane quickly found out that being alone wasn't all it was cracked up to be. He missed George and his "go fuck yourself" attitude but he refused to give in, he wasn't going to call him. That resolve lasted another three days. During that time Kane came to grips with a few things, one he was a vampire, no amount of wishing and praying wasn't going to change that and it was about time he accepted that. Secondly, he had hurt his mate in the worst possible way by denying her his love and protection and thirdly, he had to find her.

Kane picked up the phone and put it down again, he didn't even know if George was still around. He picked up the phone again and hit speed dial. George answered after the fourth ring.

"Yes?"

"George, it's me Kane."

"How's the hermit life going?" he asked.

"You were right." Kane replied, about everything." he added.

"Thank God!" George said, "I'll be right over."

As he waited for George to come, Kane walked around his penthouse apartment. The shutters were up giving him a full view of the city, his thoughts wandered toward Carla; was she safe? Had she married and had children? If she had it would serve him right.

George popped in several minutes later.

"Glad to see that you've come to your senses, so what is it that you want to do?"

"I have to find her." Kane said.

"It's late now but why don't we hit the karaoke bars tonight starting with the one that you met her at?" George suggested.

"Carla, come on already!" Dina called out.

She didn't want to do this, she wanted to stay home and grade the online essays that were just e-mailed to her.

"You promised and my mother is on her way." Dina added.

"Alright! But no karaoke places right?" Carla asked.

"We're not going to a karaoke bar I promise. I heard that O'Malley's has really good hamburgers, I thought that we could go there." Dina replied.

Carla hadn't been anywhere near a karaoke bar, as a matter of fact she rarely went anywhere since Ian had been born. She was only going now to shut Dina up.

"Mom Mom!" Ian squealed as he ran over to Regina, Dina's mother.

"Hey there baby boy! How are you?" she asked as she hugged him and gave him a kiss on his cheek, "you're getting so big and handsome! We'd better start warning the girls." she added.

Carla cringed, it was true that Ian was a good looking boy and would grow up to be a handsome man but she didn't want him to be known as a heart breaker; she wanted him to be known for the respect that he had for others. She took great pains in teaching him that respect; she could only hope that he remembered it as he grew into adulthood. She found herself thinking about his father at the strangest times, like now; was he married now and back then? Did he have children? She tried to push him out of her mind angry that she was even thinking of him but she couldn't deny that there was a connection of some kind between them which was crazy because that was the one and only time that they had eve met. She could still feel the self loathing and anger that radiated from him and even now wondered what that was all about. This time when she tried to push him out of her mind, she was successful. She Kissed Ian on his head after making him promise to be a good boy and to go to bed as promised.

As Kane dressed for the evening, George sipped on glass of warmed blood. Curiosity got the better of him; he wanted to know why Kane had changed his mind.

"So what changed your mind?" he called into the bedroom.

"Your leaving for one." Kane said as he walked out of the bedroom, "it didn't take me long to realize that being alone isn't all that its cracked up to be."

"But you didn't call." George commented.

"No and to be honest, I wasn't sure that you'd talk to me. I also needed the time to think and George, you were right about everything. I am what I am and nothing will ever change that, I have wronged my mate, you and my family and I need to start mending those fences. George I humbly ask your forgiveness for my mistreatment of you and our friendship, I also ask that you help me find Carla. If you can't do either of these things, I understand."

This was huge! Kane Brenin apologizing? George had no memory of it ever happening.

"I'm here aren't I? I never stopped being your friend but I couldn't watch anymore and yes you are forgiven and yes I will help you find Carla."

Kane breathed a sigh of relief, he could have looked for her alone but the extra pair of eyes and ears would help.

Carla and Dina stood in front of O'Malley's looking at the sign.

"KARAOKE NIGHT TONIGHT!"

"You said that we weren't going to a karaoke place." Carla said softly.

"This must be new; I haven't been here in awhile. Let's just go in and get something to eat. I promise not to volunteer you."

Reluctantly, Carla agreed; lunch had worn off a long time ago and a burger did sound good. It was early enough there wasn't a long wait for a table, once seated; Carla ordered a long island iced tea and began to relax. It did feel good to be able to talk to an adult about adult things, there was only so much that you could talk to a five year old about no matter how intelligent he was.

The first place Kane and George went was to the bar where Kane had first met Carla. Silently, they stood in front of the boarded up building.

"Well" George said, "Let's check out some other places."

They went to several places not bothering to go into some of them simply because Kane thought that they would be too rough for Carla. Two hours and six bars later, Kane was frustrated; now that he had decided to find her he was impatient.

George saw the sign for O'Malley's and showed it to Kane.

"It can't hurt to look and besides I'm hungry." George said.

As soon as Kane walked in, he smelled her.

"George! She's here." he whispered suddenly nervous.

"Good, now go and do what you do best."

"I can't." Kane whispered.

"What in the hell do you mean you can't? You've been singing your way into women's clothes for years!" George said not understanding what the problem was.