The Vampire's Dancer Ch. 04

Yet another Author's Note

I really do apologise for leaving it this long. Here is Chapter 4, I hope you enjoy. I'm currently just finishing off Chapter 5 so that should be up maybe a day after this one. So sorry again. =(

*

She wouldn't have thought of Viktor as a texting kind of person, but he'd reply to every single one of her texts, seconds after she sent it. She added this to the growing list of things she lay awake thinking about over and over and over again and never coming to any conclusion.

He was incredibly fast, smart, mysterious, not to mention un-humanly gorgeous... She'd never seen any man like him, everything about him is perfect, she could find no flaw. Body -- flawless, Face -- flawless, Personality -- so far... flawless. She felt like so ordinary compared to him. She could find nothing but flaws in herself.

"Excuse me, Miss...? Miss? Miss?!"

Startled, she looked up into the face of a pudgy man, his cheeks red from the wind and receding hair blown in all directions.

"Could I get my coffee already?!"

She stood and took his order, pretending to listen as the man rambled on about waiting, rudeness, and complaining to her superior. But really all she could think about was Viktor and his strange habits.

A breeze rushed over her and she looked up as a woman entered. Elegantly tall, with flowing deep brown hair, she wore a fitted business suit and perfected smoky makeup. Blemish free, fair skin complemented her hair greatly, her ruby red lips were set on a slight smile as she glided to the counter and in a husky, velvet voice ordered her intricate coffee.

Her icy blue eyes pierced into her for long moments before slowly walking into the buzz of chatter and seated herself by the window. She fixed her gaze onto the street beyond, not once touching the drink before her.

Rain splattered against the window, she could see the wind blasting against trees, pedestrians, whisking away umbrellas and hats in a second.

She busied herself with new orders and silently cursed Adelle for calling in sick. Her phone left abandoned behind her. She sighed heavily as a coffee mug fell from her grasp and hit the floor, shattering into hundreds of tiny little pieces.

She blinked and suddenly there he was. Stooped over the floor collecting the broken shards with his bare hands. She bent down and stared at him.

"How did you..."

"You never replied to my text" He smiled cheekily at her through perfectly styled hair hanging just over his eyelids. She focused her attention on the mess before her but her mind was elsewhere, continually going over every little detail of his sudden appearance.

"Ouch!" she gasped as her finger leaked crimson.

Viktor tensed and his eyes dilated, staring at the blood trickling down her hand. Through a clenched jaw he reached to a nearby towel and gently pressurised her finger.

"Thanks" she murmured, pretending to be oblivious to this strange display of emotion. They stood awkwardly not quite meeting eye contact. Viktor's gaze was fixed over her shoulder and she saw his jaw tighten further.

"Excuse me" he uttered hoarsely and rushed away from her as if she carried a deadly disease.

*****

He swept into the bathroom and stared at his reflection with remorse. Slowly he unclenched his jaw to reveal pearly white fangs protruding from his upper gums. His hunger ripped through his throat burning into his mouth. He turned away from the monster looking back at him and swallowed his desire.

Her blood smelled so good, like nothing he'd ever had before. She was pure, un-touched.

The door opened and closed so fast it didn't even leave a breeze. Sure enough, there was Eleanor. She smiled like a cheshire cat, her eyes sparkling and devious.

"So you chose to carry on lying to your little virgin blood bag." She purred at him.

Ignoring her statement he said as cooly as possible "So... you reached maturity, I thought you were still too weak to come out during the day."

She drew her fangs, "Only on days like these, I see you flaunt your ability enough. The corporation may not like that."

"The corporation are hypocrites! They tell us never to go out in sunlight whereas they barely abide by their own rules. Besides, the sunlight makes me uncomfortable."

"You could be so great, you could be one of The Four if you truly desired, why do you choose to weaken yourself with a human? Although I will admit your little blood sack smells terrific." She smirked.

In a flash he held her by the neck against the wall, cracking the concrete.

"You will not touch her." He growled. She chuckled and ran her tongue over her fangs.

"Like she could stop me. Mmm...she makes my throat burn just thinking about it" he tightened his grip on her throat.

"You will not touch her. Lierah is mine." Eleanor gasped and smiled wickedly.

"You're not telling me... Oh this is just too good! You love her! Oh my god, Viktor Lestat...falling in love with a human!" She cackled loudly, beating her fists against the wall.

"I have almost 500 years on you, I could crush you like paper." He growled, but she simply stared at him slyly.

"You wouldn't do that, we both know you wouldn't. Dad." She giggled menacingly.

"Now you listen to me." His voice was barely a whisper. "I may be your maker, but that bond was broken centuries ago. If you lay a hand on Lierah, I will not hesitate to rip your throat out and make you meet the sun."

Her smile faded and she retracted her fangs. He released her and stalked out of the bathroom, retracting his own fangs as he went. Taking an unnecessary breath, he smoothed his hair and returned to the main part of the little café. He immediately spotted Lierah peering at an untouched cup of coffee at a seat by the window.

He strode up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders making her jump.

She looked up at him too speak "Jeez, you scared me. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I better be going. I have a previous engagement I forgot all about."

She blinked at him and drank in his words. It pained him to leave her like this but he was so afraid of ripping her throat to shreds if he did not get out of there right then.

"Okay... I'll see you soon?" He nodded and lightly kissed her cheek, before he sped out of there as quickly as he could without causing suspicion.

*****

Pulling herself together Eleanor freshened her makeup and walked slowly into the cramped array of tables. Sniffing her out quickly she made her way over to the little red head bustling behind the counter.

"Miss?" She jumped as she peered up at her. Breathing in deeply, she caught her delightful scent, coming to realise what Viktor might see in her.

"Can I get you something else? I see you didn't enjoy your coffee." She laughed nervously.

"The coffee was fine, thanks. My appetite just switched on to something... else." She ran her eyes up and down her body making the human squirm delightfully.

"I see you've become acquainted with a friend of mine, Viktor Lestat?" she raised one eyebrow inquisitively.

"Oh, um... yes, we've been in contact."

"It's annoying how he disappears like that huh?" Lierah, still tensed up, chuckled slightly.

"Yes it is rather frustrating."

"He's currently living at a hotel in central London, about 15 minutes from here I think. Hotel Ravana, if I remember correctly. I just thought you might want to drop by and surprise him."

She left the little human there, staring after her with a glass and cloth in hand.

*****

Three hours later Lierah was locking up the café. She had been pondering the mysterious woman's advice all day and came to the conclusion that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea since he'd rushed out of the café so quickly she'd barely even spoken to him. She stood on the kerb and hailed a taxi.

Whilst clambering in she said "The Ravana Hotel please" and the driver sped off. In 15 minutes she stood in the cold and rain in front of what had to be the grandest hotel she'd ever seen.

She came through the spinning doors into a large marble reception area with plush sofas and beautiful flower arrangements hanging on the walls and settled on solid oak tables.

A lavish red carpet led up to the check in desk where a smartly dressed woman stood on the telephone. She removed her coat and scarf and made her way towards her. She felt much underdressed in such a place. She felt as if she should have been wearing a ball gown and glass slippers.

The woman smiled and held a finger up to say "hold on one moment" and completed her conversation.

"Hello Miss and welcome to the Ravana Hotel. Would you be requiring a room?"

"Um... sort of. I was supposed to meet a friend of mine, he told me you'd let me up to his room."

"Of course Miss, name?"

"Viktor Lestat"

The woman looked surprised, but she regained composure very quickly.

"Mr Lestat is up on the top floor, in the Penthouse Suite." She handed her a room key and directed her to a lift.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome Miss, Have a pleasant stay." She attempted to hide her surprise but couldn't help but gawk at her as the lift doors closed.

Yet another thing she found strange about Viktor.

She shook it off and watched the lights on the buttons climb. Eventually she stepped into a wide hallway, with wide windows on the one side and tables set with flower arrangements on the other. She made her way down the hallway to the large double doors at the end.

She decided to knock, instead of using the room key. She stood and waited, and waited. She was about to knock once more when the door swung open and there was Viktor, wide eyed and breathless..?

"Lierah! How did you...?"

"Some woman in the café said she knew you and she told me where you were living and that it might be nice if I come and surprise you." She grinned awkwardly up at him. His face fell.

"Oh."

"If now's not a good time I could just..."

"No! I mean..." He scratched his head in a gauche manner. "It's fine, please come in." He widened the door for her and she stepped into the room.

She thought the entrance hall was grand. She was mistaken. A passage way led into a wide room, with plump leather couches and a round hearth in the middle. Two steps lead into a crème marble kitchen with top of the range appliances and even a barbeque grill. The living room area had huge floor to ceiling windows ringed around the biggest TV she'd ever seen. Complete with a fluffy black carpet. A large oval table with seats for maybe, ten people lay in a big expanse of marble floor,

She gaped at everything she saw and took a few steps. This put her in a position in which she could see through the open door which led into the bedroom. A massive white four poster bed took up much of the room. Again with floor to ceiling windows but this time they were covered up by remote controlled black blinds. She noted that the on suite door was closed.

She could hear Viktor take a breath as she stepped inside. She turned to face him open mouthed.

"I don't want to know how you can afford all this." She laughed slightly.

"Inheritance" he simply said.

She looked at him for a moment and made to carry on exploring. Viktor took two strides and was in front of her peering in to her eyes. He settled his hands on her shoulders making her heart skip a beat, he smiled a little and bent down to brush his nose against hers. Kind of like a confirmation. She nodded slightly and he gently pressed his lips against hers, with one hand holding the back of her head, the other on the small of her back. She placed her hands around his neck and pulled him closer, he willingly obliged, sliding his tongue over her bottom lip.

She tensed as she tasted something metallic and bitter. Something that she could not see, but she could taste. She broke the kiss and looked directly into his eyes. She stepped away from him and he made to take her hand, but she jerked it away from him.

"I need some answers. Some things about you just aren't adding up."

Sitting on the bed, he froze as she settled back. She felt something damp. She ran her fingers over the blanket covering the bed, curious; she stood and stripped the blanket back, almost fainting when she saw a huge bloodstain coating the pretty white sheets.

She gasped, horrified and rushed over to the closed door and almost screamed with what met her eyes. Lying in a bathtub was a girl around her own age. There were two deep puncture marks in her neck where blood dripped into the tub, coating the white porcelain and the girl. She looked as if she was barely breathing.

She whirled around to Viktor who was stony faced, showing no emotion at all.

"Viktor..." She barely recognized her own voice fear filled voice. He just stood there as she began to run, her heartbeat pounded in her ears ad she almost reached the door.

Then there he was, in front of her. She made to run back into the kitchen but she tripped into him who was suddenly standing right behind her.

"What... what are you?!" She whispered

He sighed heavily and shook his head. He closed his eyes for moment before opening them sharply and opening his mouth to display long white fangs.

*****