Installment 3

Chapt 7




A cat.

Shayna mustered up the strength to crawl over to the front door to her apartment. Every movement sent a stream of acid burning through her muscles, pooling inward to gather in the pit of her stomach. The light mewling in the vestibule was where she was focused. The carpet felt as if it was looped with razor blades instead of polyester pile. The door loomed large but seemed to be miles away instead of inches. She had to get to that sound and smell.

With a trembling outstretched hand, she reached up to slowly turn the knob of her front door. The motion was foreign to her at first. Seeing her hands move as if in slow motion followed by smoky trails of ghosted fingers, she realized that her shaking was slightly faster than what her mind could process. The speed could be jarring at times as she was still adjusting to her new vampiness.

The door opened in a flash, revealing the nearly starved black and white feline that had been in residence upstairs until recently. He immediately scampered back into the farthest corner of the dimly lit entrance hall and gave a loud hiss from being startled.

The smell that had brought her to the door was more concentrated now. Shayna could feel that odd sensation of her teeth shifting down. She ran her tongue tentatively over the needle-sharp tips. Her salivary glands started to work overtime, creating a mouthful of anesthetic liquid that would ease the pain of fang insertion. This was one of the distinct bonuses that most of the books she had read did not properly describe. The combination of vampire enthrallment and the unique properties of their saliva would make for a deadly combination for fragile human meals.

I wonder how it works on cats.

Shayna could hardly believe that she was about to pig out on her former neighbor’s kitty.

But he smells so good.

She caught the gaze of her intended snack and tried her new mind-tricks out for size. She looked deeply into the cat’s beautiful green eyes and willed it to come closer. He mewled a bit and took a tentative step towards her, tail swishing to display his displeasure.

Listen lady, I only crapped in your planter box twice. There is no reason for you to be mean to me right now.

“Ok, I am officially off my rocker.” Shayna complained.

Tell me something I don’t already know.

Shayna straightened up and shook her head, startled at the sound of a cat speaking, in perfect English, inside her head. It wasn’t possible. Had she turned into some sort of Dr. Dolittle when she became a vampire? What other animals would be holding conversations in her head? This really sucked.

“Hey there little guy, I am the nice lady from downstairs. Remember me?” she said slowly as she began to crawl towards the cat. He tensed for a moment and pushed backwards at the sound of her voice. Shayna caught his gaze again and willed him forward once more. She was really hungry and he was the only thing on the menu. It was like a bad joke about Chinese restaurants had come true.

The cat relaxed his stance and started towards her again. He crept towards her with his head held low and steady. If she didn’t know better, she would have thought he was stalking her. Too bad that the opposite was true. She didn’t want to move too quickly and startle him again. She could almost taste the wonderful warmth of his heartbeat and felt her nostrils flare with each stealthy movement. He smelled like a double fudge sundae would to a diabetic.

As she reached for the scruff of his neck, she felt a slight breeze move behind her followed immediately by a cold steel vise being tightened around her neck. She was pulled back abruptly while the door was slammed shut by an unseen hand. Shayna was thrown back onto the couch so quickly that the piece of furniture seemed to have moved to her rather than her to it.

“Do not move” ordered a deep voice that was slightly familiar to her.

In a blur, a cool wrist was in front of her face and in the space of a milisecond, she was attached to an open wound that seemed to bleed champagne. She was unable to do anything other than drink deeply from that delicious fountain. She latched her mouth to the offering and drank until she felt almost giddy. A lightness coursed through her veins and the pain she had been wrestling with suddenly disappeared. She began to see an image in her mind behind heavily lidded eyes. It was unclear at first but seemed to coagulate as she continued to drink.

It was him.

Her eyes flew open and she struggled to focus on the rest of the body that had served as her first meal. She traced the arm back to a finely chiseled torso and up to that marvelous face she had seen just the night before. He was even more breathtaking than she had thought. Yummy.

Stop gawking and give him hell Shayna.

“It is about damn time you showed up” Shayna croaked grumpily. “You better start talking before I decide to sharpen one of these table legs.”

He said nothing in response. His glare spoke volumes, however. It took some of the wind out of her sails.

“What?” she demanded. “What beef can you possibly have with me?” This question was posed in a considerably less self-assured manner than the last statement was. He was kind of creeping her out with that stare.

Still no response, just more glaring.

The last of her moxy left her. “Umm, can you say something please?” she squeeked.

He stared for another moment. Then his face relaxed slightly.

She let out the breath she had no idea she was holding.

“This was such a mistake” whispered David. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

David closed his eyes and worked to make his face as neutral as possible. He couldn’t really blame her for this. It was all his fault. If only he had taken the glimpse of that mark at face value.

“Play of light, my ass” he grumbled.

It was going to be a long night.