Don't Forget Me (14 page)

Meeting Again

S
tella was listening
to the sound of
Want You Bad
by The Offspring pouring out of the speakers of her Corvette when she noticed someone following her in a red and black Bugatti Veyron. It was Donn, who had tracked her thanks to the signal of her mobile.

Stella accelerated sharply to put a few cars between them but was still unable to shake off the unknown driver. Checking that there was no oncoming traffic, she neatly executed a U-turn and from the opposite lane glimpsed a man driving the car but, dazzled by the Bugatti’s bright headlights, she was unable to make out his face. The car continued to tail her doggedly, making her run stop signs and red lights until she’d had enough and slammed on the brakes, forcing the car to drive past her while she tried to see who it was.

Donn managed to swerve and miss her, a flicker of amusement softening his pale face as he took the lead. Then, spying a side street, he turned sharply and cut her off. Determined to make him stop so she could see who he was, Stella drove her car smack into his. Donn’s car spun out of control into the opposite lane, where it whined to a halt with the hood facing the wrong direction. Now flank to flank but still unable to see him through the car’s tinted windows, Stella flung open the door of the pickup and got out. Donn quickly righted his vehicle, accelerated into the correct lane and sped away, slowing to wait for Stella to get back in her car and drive off again. He was being more cautious now and, seeing her flash past him, stayed well back to keep out of the range of her rear mirrors, no less determined to make sure she got home without further mishaps. He parked the car out of sight then got out and walked the short distance to watch her through the kitchen window as she cleared up the broken pieces of the mug she had dropped in the sink that morning, when she had looked out the window and gotten such a shock at the sight of Drake on the other side of the glass.

Her gaze drawn automatically to the window, she peered out and saw the outline of a figure in the dark. She quickly ran to the door and pulled the chain across, then turned around to lean against it, sliding down in fright until she was sitting on the floor. She had no idea it was Donn she had seen. Then, after her heart had slowed down and her courage returned, she went upstairs to shower, closing her eyes and willing the water to dissolve the raw tension she’d accumulated during the grueling day.

Vuk, in the meantime, had driven straight to the parking lot opposite CVS Pharmacy and was relieved to see Drake leaning casually against his bike, keeping his promise to show up for their meeting. Vuk cruised over, winding down his window as he drew alongside. He turned down the volume of the rock music booming from his car speakers to speak to him. The insistent rhythm of
My Generation
by The Who could still be heard in the background.

“Great tune,” Drake commented in a harsh tone. “Remember when we used to play it together, me on bass, you on guitar?”

“What the hell do you want, Drake?” he snapped, seeing his brother’s body tense as he scrutinized the cars streaming up and down Border Street. Vuk was close to getting out of the car to hit him, he was so mad about what had happened earlier, but he was even more curious to hear what Drake wanted to say.

“I didn’t tell you everything before…” he replied between gritted teeth, his expression troubled.

“So?” said Vuk gravely, his eyes searching his brother’s face. “I wanna hear what you’ve got say.”

“It’s not that simple. If he finds out I’ve told you…” Drake trailed off, a shadow of fear darkening his brown-green eyes, making them narrow even more. He flickered his tongue piercing nervously.

“Who, Drake? Give me a name!” Vuk urged him.

“Consul Graham Bristol is behind it all,” he said, finally.

“But he’s a Council member, a Conservative… Drake, what shit have you gotten yourself into now? And what’s it got to do with me?”

“You need to know who you’re up against.”

“Wow! Don’t tell me even Drake Wolf has a heart! So you’re not the usual asshole!” Vuk remarked sarcastically.

“I’ve been taken off the job. Consul Bristol gave me two options, rightly so, and as a result I lost a young wolf,” he said, his voice a mix of anger and despair.

“I’m sorry…” Vuk said sadly, staring stonily through the windscreen, one hand tightly gripping the steering wheel.

“Stella’s in serious danger!” Drake blurted suddenly.

“Oh, really? Gosh, and I hadn’t even noticed. Since when do you care about her, anyway?” Vuk asked grumpily.

“I never meant for her to get hurt, Vuk. She’s super sassy by the way, real hot, got to hand it to you Vuk…” he said roguishly, a hint of a smile curving his lips. Vuk glared at him.

“But why her? She’s just a normal girl living a normal life like so many others…” Vuk asked puzzled, not understanding why Consul Bristol wanted Stella specifically.

“Well she seems to have special connections,” Drake explained vaguely.

“Who, me?” Vuk asked, frowning in confusion.

“No, not you, Vuk, somebody else, even if the Council didn’t like the way you upped and left – But I just haven’t been able to figure out who the hell it is.”

“Go on…”

“Now don’t get pissed, Vuk, but Consul Bristol wants to use Stella as a bargaining chip at the event to be held at New York City’s Yankee Stadium, before the new Conservative member of the Council is elected.”

“What kind of event?” Vuk asked instantly.

“A cage fight,” said Drake, giving Vuk a wary look that alluded to his brother’s cage-fighting past.

“Why does the Council want to replace a member? And which member in particular?”

“What? Don’t you know?” Drake asked incredulously.

“No, idiot, it’s been a while since I stopped caring about the dirty business of the Council.”

“A year ago, a former Conservative Consul called Rod Warner almost killed a guy in public for reasons that are not yet clear, or at least not yet disclosed, and was recently expelled from the Council because of it.”

“Almost killed?” Vuk asked, with a dazed look.

“Well, the boy would certainly have died but a vampire who happened to be on the scene jumped right in and bit him; it saved him, of course, but the poison spread through his body and turned him into a vampire,” Drake recounted.

“And what was this vampire called?”

“Aaron Dale: do you know him?”

Vuk nodded, alert, a queer grimace on his face. He knew full well why Warner had been thrown off the Board. He’d broken the most important rule: never kill a human openly in public. Vuk realized, too, that the boy Warner had nearly killed and who had been saved by Aaron Dale was in all probability Jason Rees. He had seen the two together that day at the university: his sudden disappearance from Medford so as not to see Stella again, the fact that he had left suddenly without letting her know anything, while still doing everything in his power to stay in touch with her, begging her to wait for him as if he had an unexplained reason to keep his distance; this seemed to explain everything.

“Go on…” prompted Vuk, his interest now spiked considerably. He knew why the Consul would have been expelled. Killing a human in public was a violation of one of the most important laws, since it could lead to the unmasking of the vampire population by the humans.

“Initially, the Council tried to cover everything up but the news spread like wildfire and put them in the spotlight, so they had to control the damage by getting rid of Warner, and now they want to elect another Conservative member in his place.”

“So you think that Consul Bristol wants to help his friend, former Consul Warner, by using Stella to get the boy to recant his version of the story… The boy that was nearly killed but instead became a vampire a year ago?” Vuk summed up, to see if he was on the same page as his brother.

“You got it…” Drake confirmed.

“What connection can Stella possibly have with that boy?” he asked, confused.

“No idea, but it must be a very close connection if it has bargaining chip value. The way I see it is that Warner wants to get back on the Council and that this is the only way to do it.”

“The bastard wants to be elected a second time…” Vuk reasoned aloud.

“I see you finally got there,” said Drake, his mouth curving slyly as he crossed his arms and placed his hands on the roof of the pickup.

“So which scumbag do I have to watch out for now you’re off the assignment?” he asked gravely, determined to strengthen Stella’s guard.

“You know a vampire named Donn Brooks?”

“Yeah, and pretty well too…” he replied fiercely, gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white.

“Thought so… Well, he’s got the exclusive now.”

Vuk snarled, thinking about how difficult it would be to get Stella away from that cursed vampire.

“Fine. Gotta go, Drake, Stella will be home now,” he said, his face creased with worry as he turned the key in the ignition and the engine started to growl.

“Keep your eye on her, Vuk. See you.”

“Thanks, Drake…”

“No problemo. Find myself in a real easy mood today… By the way, thanks for helping me out with that vampire earlier,” he finally acknowledged with a grin.

“Hold the thanks, it was more of a knee-jerk reaction, I guess because we share the same blood… Later, Drake,” Vuk ended the conversation on a sardonic note, which he then softened by returning his brother’s smile, before driving off quickly to Stella’s house in Medford, accompanied by some Iron Maiden on his stereo.

On the Stereo

R
ealizing she had
left her cell phone in the car, Stella went downstairs to go out to get it. She grabbed her car keys from the kitchen and went into the hall to unlock the front door but jumped a mile high in fright. She bumped smack into who she thought was Drake… but turned out to be Vuk.

“Hey, chill babe, it’s only me,” Vuk said soothingly, holding her in his arms to reassure her.

“Oh shit, Vuk… You scared me to death!”

“I thought I told you not to come home without me!” Vuk reproached her.

“You know how much I love provoking you.” She felt his breath, warm on her lips, and his hands strong around her waist.

“You’re still so tense, babe.” He looked at her with desire, his thoughts roaming back to when he had kissed her, up against the wall of the kitchen, that morning.

“I’m just a bit shaky still. I thought you were Drake or Nathan when I bumped into you,” she explained.

“I’m happy you bumped into me.” He came closer to her as if to kiss her, but when it seemed like she was not in the mood, he stopped and sighed on her lips with a slightly crafty smile. He knew it drove her crazy.

“I’m serious, Vuk. A little while ago, I saw a person out here in the dark,” she said uneasily, peering about her.

Vuk grew serious, his eyes narrowing and jaw clenching.

“It was probably neither of them…” he said, guessing it had been Donn as he’d been speaking to Drake himself on Border Street only twenty minutes ago, while Nathan’s corpse was lying on the ground in a remote corner of Green Mountain Forest.

“You said you were coming to help me, but you never came. What happened?” she asked, wrapping her arms around him with a slightly wistful smile, and Vuk took her by surprise by throwing himself on her lips. He kissed her mouth for a moment, and caressed her with his tongue. Then he slowly pulled away, sucking in the taste of her lips, and then pulling her to him, wetting her lips with his saliva. She tasted so good and he was burning up with desire. He wanted to consume every part of her.

“Stella, I made it there, but I couldn’t find you. I knew you were in good hands though… with J.”

“Did you talk to him?” she asked, hesitatingly.

“Not really,” he said vaguely, looking away. “Is your side still painful?” he asked caringly, edging up her top, his fingertips gently probing her skin.

“It’s a bit better,” she said, putting her hand over his and lowering her top, fearing that she would fall prey to the pleasure that coursed through her at his touch.

“Where were you going?” It was clear from his eyes that he wanted more than a kiss. He desired her so much. Stella bit her lip.

“Only to get my cell phone, I forgot it in the car,” she replied, starting toward her Corvette. Searching the front seat, she suddenly felt Donn pronouncing her name tenderly, while stroking her hair. She looked up and caught sight of him in the rearview mirror. She turned around, but the vampire had already disappeared. Donn wanted her to see him one more time before spending the night with Vuk, in the hope that this would be enough to keep him at bay.

Retrieving her cell phone finally but still feeling shaken, Stella climbed out of the car and went back to Vuk. She was wondering whether the guy she saw in the car really was Donn.

“You ok, Stella? You have that same weird expression you had on your face this morning. Did you see something?” he queried, frowning.

“No, Vuk, no,” she said, deflecting his question. She smiled innocently at him and took his hand to lead him into the house. Vuk let it go, and followed her.

They looked at each other, perching on chairs around the kitchen table and listening to the Dire Straits song
Romeo and Juliet
, which was playing on the stereo next to the sink. That CD had been a present from him. They talked for a long time. The CD ended and another one began;
Angel
by Aerosmith came on.

Vuk picked her up, carried her to the bed and wrapped his arms protectively around her. He rolled with the girl between the sheets and played with her sensually, trying to stoke her desire. He was already going crazy with lust.

Taking her by the hips, he pulled her to him and pushed his body against hers so that they fit together perfectly. He came closer to her lips, his hands moving around to her behind. His desire pressing against her and consuming him almost painfully inside.

His body trembled with impatience. He wanted to go further with her, but he reminded himself of how much Stella was smarting from her injuries, so he turned her around and spooned with her, pulling her butt against him. Stella moved against him to settle into his embrace, rubbing her thighs on his legs and her butt against his pelvis. Vuk could no longer resist her.

“You’re killing me, little girl, you know that, right?” He slid one leg between the girl’s thighs and pushed it into her most intimate part. Stella winced and let out a little moan, a look of amazement on her face. Vuk moved to get on top of her, and made space between her lips.

“And if death is this sweet, I want to die now between your lips.” He kissed both of her lips, and then sucked and licked her mouth thoroughly, moving his tongue inside her and pushing it back into her throat, stopping her breath.

The sexual tension peaked, and Vuk’s body began to expel heat. He savored her full lips, each time with more vigor.

“You’re so beautiful.” He felt that she was his, and nibbled her neck, sucking at her taut skin. Then he pulled his shirt off over his head, and lifted up her tank top, baring her stomach. The top was so thin, he could see her nipples against the fabric and felt them harden at the touch of his tongue. He squeezed the skin near her navel and slid a hand between her thighs, moaning with pleasure.

“Vuk…” Stella saying his name was like a caress, the word rolling from her mouth as if she were the angel from the song, his angel. In the dim light of the room, the green of his eyes seemed even more heated and intense. A shudder ran through her body and she lost herself in his eyes.

“I don’t want to miss this moment with you, Stella.” He squeezed the hollow of her neck with his hand, while his fingers trailed over her lips. He kissed her, opening her mouth as much as possible. With the pressure of his tongue, he probed inside her, feeling at one with her. Another Aerosmith song,
Crazy
, drifted up to them from the kitchen.

Vuk sucked on her lips, tasting her sweet mouth and stroking it with his tongue. She was like a drug for him, and now he couldn’t do without her. Looking at her excited him, and he enjoyed every movement she made and every sound that escaped her mouth.

“Damn… You drive me crazy,” he said, as he sank between her thighs, and pushed himself against her. He wanted to fill her with himself, but her shorts were blocking him.

Stella moved under the weight of his body and arched her back. Vuk began to move his body on top of her, alternating slow, gentle movements to sudden, more aggressive lunges. It was like making love with their clothes on.

“Oh God,” Stella gasped to herself. She breathed in through her nose, and turned to look at the ceiling, her eyes brightening and her lips parting as she exhaled sharply. It was the first time she had had this feeling. Vuk was such an expert at this, she thought.

“I want you…” He kissed her again. Her shirt had risen even more and now only just covered her nipples. Her shorts were rubbing on the skin of her thighs. She enjoyed his every touch, and wanted more. At each movement, she felt a shiver between her legs. She was in ecstasy, and it was almost too much. She tried to resist Vuk, squeezing her knees around his waist, blocking his legs with her thighs.

Vuk was still able to push himself against her, but not all the way. Taken aback, Stella gasped and her eyes lit up with a light Vuk had never seen before. He felt like he would go crazy, like he had never seen anything that beautiful.

“I need you. Now.” He opened her legs completely with the weight of his body, letting out a moan as he moved to kiss her lips, his tongue sliding into her mouth. Stella clung to him and felt the throb of his desire for her. She sighed, quivering, caressed by the sensual rhythm of the song.

Vuk waited for her to take another breath, and then pushed himself against her once again. Stella moaned in pleasure, her eyes out of focus. He rubbed himself against her, feeling the friction of his pants against her shorts. He reached down to open her shorts, and unzipped them, hooked his thumbs into her panties and lowered them. Stella suddenly felt a stabbing pain from the wound on her back, which had reopened under the bandage just when he was sinking between her legs, crushing her thighs into the bed under the pressure of his body.

The smell of her blood stopped Vuk as the song ended. He sighed with a half-smile, trying to restrain and hold back his desire. He got up to turn off the stereo and came back to bed. He wrapped her in his arms and brought her head to his chest. His feelings for Stella tormented him all night.

In the morning, he watched her sleep between the sheets and kissed her deeply on the lips, filling himself with her. Stella woke up clinging to his mouth. The last time something like this had happened, it had been Jason doing the kissing. She stiffened. She looked at him, at his body, even more beautiful in the daylight, and put her hands on his bare chest before pushing him away slightly. Vuk felt her discomfort and stopped trying to kiss her.

“I have to take a shower. I don’t know how much longer I can hold out here with you in bed without touching you,” he said, indicating the bathroom door with a nod of the head.

“Not only do you sleep in my bed, but now you want to take a shower in my bathroom?” Stella teased.

“I mean, I don’t have to, but you’re the one who will have to deal with me then.” He grabbed her by the thighs.

“Do want me to skip class?” She pretended to be surprised. Vuk put his hands up her shorts and gently squeezed her butt.

“That would be the least of your problems…” He pushed his erection against her, sensitive to the touch of her body.

“The shower is yours,” Stella said quickly, feeling a shiver run over her.

“That was easy. But will you ever be mine, Stella?” He sealed her lips shut with a kiss, got out of bed, and walked toward the bathroom, undoing his jeans as he did, freeing his erection which had by now become painfully cramped in the confines of his pants.

“I’ll go and have some fun all on my lonesome…” he concluded, turning his beautiful green eyes to her once again, before closing the bathroom door behind him.