A Night in the Vampire's Embrace (Paranormal BDSM)

I was on my way home…

Suddenly, my heart started to beat faster. Something happened, something important. I began to claw through my memories, but they all felt liquid. Trying to grab onto anything concrete seemed a lot like attempting to get a grip on a handful of water. With each effort, the images dissipated or slipped free.

Frustration nipped at the back of my psyche, so I relaxed. I exhaled through my nostrils and let the memories come back to me. My first tutors taught me this technique. It worked to recall particularly elusive incantations. It worked now as well.

The sound of my heels echoing on the pavement came back first. The colors came next: gold and yellow hues. The sun had started to set, and while my neighborhood wasn’t especially nice, I called it home. But before I could get to my apartment’s front door, I heard something from behind me.

It sounded like a swish of air.

One of them had found me. It had to be one of the clans. Instantly, I spun around, only to freeze. He stood there under the streetlight. Dusk had only settled in, yet the shadows seemed to lengthen around him. He existed in our world, but only barely. The yellow glow touched his features and surrounded him in shadow. Even though I only caught a glimpse of him, I felt my breath catch. He was handsome. Gorgeous.

Instantly, I got the impression of strength. This man exuded power. Simply standing there, he kept his back straight and yet he seemed more like a predator. I couldn't be certain of what I faced and yet my heart sped up. His short cropped hair caught the light along those dark strands, and there was something about his eyes. Even from thirty feet away, I could make out the crystal blue irises. They held me and transfixed me for one or two seconds, long enough for me to nervously lick my lips.

To any outside observer, he hadn't made any threatening gestures. Besides, with a full
thirty feet of distance between us, I should have been calm. There was no reason to panic, only I realized why he was there.

The ritual.

One of the vampire clans must have learned of the ritual and what we planned to do that night.

Impatience itched at the back of my neck. A very big part of me wanted to jump up, learn all I could about my new surroundings, and work on figuring out what to do next. But no, those decisions and actions had to wait. Instead, I focused on the final memories, those flashes they could've only happened a few hours ago.

The predator standing in the mixture of streetlight and fading sunlight watched me for a moment. He gave me enough time to puzzle out what he was. His complexion was only a little bit later than your standard human’s. When he smiled, he made sure to keep his lips together. I allowed my vision to slip into the spiritual realm where I would be able to read his aura.

I could see the darkness around him. Spiritual and ethereal, his shadows clung to him constantly. This man was not alive, not in the traditional sense. I was right. He was a vampire.

All of a sudden, my throat felt dry. I had never faced one of them before. As a spell caster, I should have felt reasonably secure. My tutors had always praised me for my potential. More than one it said that I could do well in combat with a little bit of training.

"Good evening," he called to me. He didn't seem to raise his voice, yet I had no trouble understanding him. "It’s a fine night for a stroll, don't you think?"

I leveled my eyes on him. I wasn't about to let him think that I was scared even as my heart thrashed against the bars of the cage. My palms started to itch as well. Most mundane people would've heard about spell casters and magic users and believed us to be close to omnipotent. Depending on how old this vampire was and how much he had seen, he likely knew that we were nowhere near omnipotent. Sure, I knew a few offensive spells, but most of my education had been dedicated to theoretical studies.

As far as epic which is went, I wasn't very impressive.

I took a breath, steeled my resolve, and tried to sound as confident as possible, "Who are you?” I tried to sound firm and diplomatic.

The vampire smirked at me. He seemed entertained by my attempt to sound intimidating. Nonetheless, he offered me a sweeping bow, "My name is Raymond. I know what you're going to do tonight, Sarah."

He knew my name.

I opened my mouth, summoned the syllables to incantation, and started to raise my hands. A few sounds and a few gestures were all it would take to engulf this vampire in a pillar of cleansing fire. This was one of my most powerful spells, and it definitely could have killed him.

If only I had been allowed to finish it.

Like everyone in my circle, I had heard stories about vampires and their speed. I knew that some of them could move faster than the human eye could process. Raymond darted at me. Midstride, he pulled out a syringe, and I felt the tip bite into my neck. He depressed the plunger before I could make a single sound.

The world went dark, and I felt myself fall into his arms.

Then I woke up slowly. Okay, I thought, now was time to work on escape. I do find some way out of wherever he was keeping me. I knew I was up against more than one vampire, if only because they rarely hunted alone. More often than not, their instincts were to work together.

My eyelids fluttered open. The effects of whatever sedative Raymond had given me started to fade, yet my muscles still groaned and my body felt weighed down. Whatever he'd given me lingered in my system and probably would for a few more minutes at least.

I found myself in what looked like a studio apartment. Spacious and airy, the chamber spread out before me. On the other side of the room I saw a four poster bed. Gossamer sheets hung around the sides. To my right, there was a kitchen complete with fridge, stove, and a granite island. Stainless steel pots and pans hung an assortment of hooks.

No sign of the vampire. At first I thought it might be a good idea to feign unconsciousness. Of course, that would require I remain perfectly still. It also meant I would have to remain on my side and not move. It also assumed that if Raymond were nearby, he didn't already know I had awoken. His senses might've been strong enough to register the shift in my breathing or the change in my pulse. Knocked out, my heart rate was probably steady and relaxed.

Knowing that a vampire captured me spiked my heart rate.

Dealing with one of his kind would've been a lot easier if I'd known what this Raymond could do or what his limitations were. As strange as it sounded, vampires were a lot like dogs, with innumerable breeds. They had different abilities and vulnerabilities. Sunlight burned some but not others. Silver could be used in certain cases. Many vampires were fast while others could become invisible. I had heard reports other cases where the vampire seems telepathic or even precognitive.

What did I face? What could this Raymond do?

I already knew he was fast.

Realizing that he could be invisible for all I knew, I decided to skip deception. It struck me as pointless. Besides, if he realized I was awake, then maybe I could get some information out of him. For instance, it would have been very helpful to know the time.

I had been on my way to meet the rest of my circle. Those were the other casters I knew and trusted. They had effectively raised me since the moment I had discovered magic within my soul.

The ritual would start at one in the morning. They could do it without me, but it would be riskier. For all I knew, it was already the next day and the ritual had failed or succeeded. Of course, if it succeeded, then Raymond was dead.

We had been planning this spell for a long time, years actually. If it succeeded, then this city would become toxic to vampires. The air itself would become poisonous. It made sense that some of their clans had found out about it, but even then, I was surprised they came after me.

I wasn’t particularly strong. It only made sense if the vampires had dispatched hunters to take out several members of my circle. If enough of us disappeared, then the ritual would fail.

Exhaling through my teeth, I sat up and caught the sound of rattling chains. One glance at my wrists confirmed it. Raymond had knocked me out and chained me up. The metal chains were relatively thin, but when I let my vision slide back into the mystical, I picked up on traces of magic. These chains had been enchanted.

I chewed on the side of my cheek for a second, thinking. Under most circumstances, I could have snapped the links with a word or two. After all, metal this thin shouldn’t have been difficult to break.

Discarding caution, I whispered the incantation. As the words made it past my lips, I felt the warmth and joy inherent in all magic. My soul seemed to flare with the joy of life until it snapped back at me. I felt the magic convert into something akin to electricity. It shot back through the chains to the manacles around my wrists and into my flesh.

A hiss of pained frustration burst from my mouth.

“You should be more careful,” came Raymond’s silk-soft tones. “I’d hate to see you hurt yourself.”

I lifted my gaze and glared at him. Now he definitely knew I was awake. In spite of myself, fear prickled goose bumps all along my skin. I tried to stay calm and rational, yet there was a very good chance this man intended to end my life. Yes, he could have killed me in the street and left my body there for the police to find, plus his use of a sedative implied he wanted me for something else, but I couldn’t be certain.

“What do you want?” I asked, working hard to keep my voice level.

“You.” Raymond took several steps closer. His movements were fluid yet efficient. Again, I couldn’t help but think of how he moved with a hunter’s primal instincts. Power. He gave it off like an intoxicating scent, the kind that could easily prove addictive.

I swallowed back my anxiety. Did he intend to feed on me? It seemed unlikely considering my abilities. Plus, the rest of her circle would come after me. He had to assume I had connections. Very few magical practitioners worked alone. He had to understand the risk he was taking.

“What do you want with me?” Again, I kept her gaze level. I met his dark eyes. The hues of crystalline blue threatened to swallow me. He might have been one of the hypnotic vampires, but I trusted in my ability to resist his powers. I had trained for this. Maybe I couldn’t defeat him in hand-to-hand combat or blast him with magic, but the interior of my mind belonged to me. If he wanted to fight there, he was going to lose.

“Tonight, you and your friends were going to try to murder me. You’re going to help me make sure that doesn’t happen.”

“How did you find out about that?”

Raymond smiled and bowed his head, like the idea of turning this into a serious discussion made it impossible for him to concentrate. “Really?” he asked, glancing back at me. “You want to know how I discovered your little plot?”

“If you know about our plans, then you know this city will become toxic for you very quickly. Wouldn’t it be smarter for you to just get out of town?” I shaped my mouth into a calculating smile. If he had been any other human, I might have frightened him.

As things stood, my attempt at bravado only made his grin widen further. This time, he allowed his lips to part, revealing the pair of fangs. I swallowed back my fear but somehow managed to keep from looking away.

“No. I want to stop your ritual.”

“You can’t,” I said, my voice quaking as he came closer. He moved in silence, a graceful creature of the dark. He stalked closer and I tried to explain, “I’m not important enough. The circle can still do the ritual. Even if you took out five or six of us, there would still be dozens left over. Raymond, we’ve been planning this for a very long time.” All of that was true, only I offered up these words to make myself feel better.

He came closer, within inches, and I refused to move. Every muscle in my body twitched to scramble back even though I knew perfectly well that I would just run into the wall. He had me chained and trapped. I was at his mercy.

Rather than hiss or growl or bare his fangs, Raymond smiled again and reached up to stroke my cheek. His skin was cool and left a tingly trail of electricity buzzing down my face.