The First Touch (7 page)

Then she thought, as she shut off the water,
no sharing my thoughts with Ivan though. Hum...No wonder he is so freaking handsome he is a vampire! Lovely! Could my life get any crazier! I hope I have not just snapped
. Though she doubted that she had, every bone in her being felt that this was right, true. The world shifted again. Her legs seemed to finally register it and they suddenly became wobbly. She grabbed the paper towel machine to steady herself, slowly regaining her constitution.

As she dried her hands, she
thought,
Vampires....are you freaking kidding me. Vampires....will this never stop?

Suddenly
,
she felt the sinking sensation, a feeling that answered her question, and she swallowed hard. She had come to rely on those feelings, trust them so completely. She hated being right all the time, it was depressing. There she had it; this really was never going to
end. She shook her head, sighing
to herself, and thought selfishly,
I wonder if they are all
handsome.
If Grayton were one of these...creatures, would he look like Ivan? Would he have soulful eyes that hollowed her out and made her head feel like mush?

She shook her head again
as
the answer seeping out again from behind the fog.
No Grayton was not an Ivan,
but he was special like him.
She thought,
Ok too much information right now, slow it down. One thing at a time, answers later, right now I have to get out of this coffee shop, before I don’t have the strength to run.

She put on a brave face and even managed a small smile as she headed for the door. As she reached for the handle, a thought popped into her head. An image of Ivan’s eyes just before he jumped over the table flashed again. They were the best hunters in the world that she was sure of. Then she thought to herself
, I hope I do not get eaten this time.
She tightened up her smile and headed back out to the table.

New Eyes

As
Autumn
sat down at the table, this time with a new look was in her eyes. One of apprehension, a skin crawling clarity that could be felt in the air around them, one that Ivan now found entirely unsettling. Her posture, her skin, even her eyes were now different, dark and clouded. Instinctively he looked back at the bathroom door searching for any other bodies, nothing. He did not speak; he just stared at her with suspicious eyes
instead
. Autumn broke the silence st
ill not looking at Ivan announcing
, “Well thank you for the cup of coffee.”

Before she could even make a move to collect her things though Ivan spoke, “I was wondering
,
what are you doing tomorrow?”

She had a look of startled bewilderment when she replied, “What? Why?” He
smiled
with wis
tfulness
that was unmistakable and probably well rehearsed she thought sourly. She suddenly found herself wondering how many women had fallen for him, only to be devoured.

“I would like to see you again.” She looked at him her eyes searching him, as if she were now analyzing him.
Was he toying with her? Had he planned to get her alone so that he could kill her?
Her posture changed
,
slouched then ridged, then slouched and ba
ck again. She was confused now.
H
er eyes roamed the coffee shop searching,
what was the change?

She did not see anyone new in the room. Not even his cold cup of coffee or the spilt saltshaker on the table next to them, the same five bodies as before.
No glass riddling the floor.
Had he intended on killing her anyways?
He had not minded before
,
jumping over the table to rip her throat out. The others in the room had run in fear.
No
, no one here would stop to help her, not here. She g
lowered at that thought. That was
right
,
even the muscle
bound Neanderthal looking tool
at the front table had screamed like a girl and ran from the coffee shop before.

Maybe he thought that they would,
No.
..What had she missed? She looked at him finally and put on a tight smile
again,
the words spilled out before she had time to think them through.
She replied with extra sweetness that she did not feel, “I am busy tomorrow night but I have no plans for tomorrow morning.” She said these words in hopes that the stories were true about the sunlight bit.

Nevertheless, to her surprise he jumped at the words with a smile that sent her mind racing, “Good idea, my thoughts exactly.” He watched her carefully and she smiled emptily thinking,
was he planning to kill her tonight anyways?
She
huffed
thinking;
I am not trying to b
e eaten no matter how crazy I have become or how good his mouth felt on my
neck.
Her mind raced
franticly
trying
to come up with another excuse.

Her smile faded when the idea hit her. She would simply treat him the same way that she would any other man who was wrong for her. Especially the really good-looking ones, they seemed to be more trouble than they were worth
for the most part
. At least this would seem least like a lie, and should increase her chance of parting ways with him without causing alarm. Unexpectedly, she felt her heart turn sad, as her life of disappointments suddenly felt
heavy
. Some
how this, she realized, felt strangely like one more of those moments. She reached over, collected her things gathering them all up into
her arms, and held them tight for a moment.
Trying to think of the nicest way to let him down, ta
k
ing
a
deep breath,
a fresh bit of tiredness in her voice.

“I am sorry, this is going to sound crazy but I have to...” She sighed continuing, “Look
,
you’re just too beautiful and I am far too strange for th
is to be anything of real subst
ance. You will soon tire of my weird eccentricities and I have had enough heartache in my lifetime already to fill millions of pages. So I am going to have to change that yes to a no.” He listened as her words, as they sunk in he went numb.

His sp
irit sank as the
weight on his chest hit him
, hard
. He could not fail; he had seduced hundreds of women in his life
time
and never even really had to try.
Why was this one being so difficult?
She added sincerely,
“But thank you,
I will not soon forget this... almost moment.”

As she stood, the chair scraped the floor sending a grating sound into the air that instantly set him on edge. She watched him flinch and her arms tightened on the items in them protectively. He stood in a flash and closed the distance between them. He slid his hands out and helped her to put her coat on
, like a gentleman, watching
as her
han
ds began to shake, as he did
.

Ivan took this as evidence that it was just a show, hoping then that her tough front was just that.
Was she attempting to flee to relieve the stress of the situation
? Perhaps she was a little clairvoyant. It became evident to him that he was going to have to push her to get to the core of her alarm, “May I have a kiss for our almost moment?”

S
he stopped in her tracks, pushing
a few strands of
hair behind her ears looking up at him, and replied
awkwardly
, “What?” She said it in a tone that indicated that she had not heard him correctly. Her stomach lurched at the thought of his mouth on hers, and Ivan seemed to respond to it. He knew that she had heard him but he also guessed that from her tone that she was still very nervous
in his presence
.

So he asked again
, this time his voice
soft, and gentle,
as he asked,
“May I have a kiss goodnight?” He looked at her unwavering and reached for her ha
nd, intending to touch it tenderly
. To his surprise, she flinched and pulled her hand away before it even made contact. His eyes flashed with a pain that he had not expected to let show. To his surprise her next reaction of apologetic filler
,
in response to his
,
actually stroked his bruised ego, slightly.

Autumn explained, “I am so sorry. I just don’t like to touch people that I don’t know very well, it makes me... uncomfortable.” She added as her brain caught up with her heartbeat, “It is nothing personal.” She smiled and pleaded with her eyes asking him to take pity on her. Inside
her head was screaming at her,
run...run....run!

He smiled and stepped even closer replying, “Well then, I am sorry I pawed you
,”
with those words, he poked her in the ribs playfully.

She replied, “No it was me. You didn’t know
,”
she said these words with a wave of her hand attempting to make light of the situation and smiled brightly again.

Meanwhile her head was rolling a single memory around, over and over
,
why had he asked for a kiss? S
uddenly
an avalanche
triggered by his playful gesture
clicked everything into place, and sent her mind colliding with her heart
. The kiss and the burning man,
this could be him
?
She needed to kiss his lips
,
was this that
guy
from her dream
? It was so long ago, only a few days after the accident. What had he said,
kiss me but only if you want to
. Her heart skipped a beat and she swallowed hard at the thought.
Dam
n it! N
ow she had Déjà vú? What was it?

She was blushing brightly
as her blood rush to her head
and then back to her heart
; this was the turn that he was looking for. He smiled another large grin that caused her blush to deepen. Her mind even commented on that smile,
so handsome
. It caught her breath as the impulse to touch his beautiful face came on
,
strong
. She slowly turned towards the door, trying as hard as she could not to look at him again. Then she chasti
sed herself,
she was not normally so shallow, but no one could deny a face so pure
,
no one
with a heart
.

Ivan dropped a large bill on the table and
caught up
to her
,
as she made her way out. He opened the door for her and caught a
nother
whiff of
her s
c
ent, and smiled deciding that he liked her aroma
. Time slowed suddenly and a chill released
into the air
so violent that ev
en
he noticed, and he quickly commented, “Its cold out here.”
She nodded as the breeze
hit her and rubbed her hands together nervously
a chill running
down her spine. He smiled as her face was struck
by the moonlight
in a way that he could only describe as
sheer
beauty. She stole a glance at him
,
over her shoulder
,
as
she brushed past him. He grinned
even wider, a faint smile lingering
in her eyes
,
enticed by his charms
it appeared
once more
welcoming him to her company
,
in spite of herself
.

Her heart sank, as she thought to herself hopefully, this was easier than she thought,
talking with death
. No wonder it felt so peaceful before. Maybe that was their way; they lulled you in and then kill
ed
you softly. She smiled sweetly, as the image of her vision before in the coffee shop
, flashed into her eyes
. She cringed inside and corrected herself;
no, it would not be gently
.

She eyed him for a moment, looking out at the passing cars for a taxi, though not trying to alarm him in the process. He jumped at the brief opportunity to speak to her again. “Can I walk you home?”

She
shook her head
, saying with the
worry that was beginning
to surface again, “I live half
way across town.”