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Tricked

 


 

 

It was the warmth of his skin. She always loved it, craved it, and reveled in it. Unlike most men, he had no issues with simply lying next to her. They didn’t need to speak, it was enough to simply feel each other’s presence. He never even remarked on how cool her skin always felt, or how ashen her chocolate skin was. He simply accepted her for what she was. Or really, who she was.

 

He didn’t know the first thing about what she was. They never did.

 

“Finish it.” His voice came out in a raspy whisper, likely brought on by the two bottles of wine they’d already consumed. He was referring to the small amount of blush wine that sat at the bottom of a third bottle. Layolah shook her head.

 

“I’ve had my fill of wine, love.” She said softly into his ear, her breath causing him to shiver. She never said their names unless she had to. She kept hoping it would somehow help her to forget them eventually. He turned to face her, his bright green eyes glassy from drink.

 

“You’re quiet tonight.” He commented, propping himself up on his elbow. The move caused his defined abdomen to crease into its six separate and smooth muscles. “Is everything okay?”

 

Layolah looked down his face to his smooth throat covered in cream-colored skin. Instinctually, her eyes focused on the small bulge that held the carotid artery beneath it, watching it as it twitched slowly with every beat of his heart. She heard him let out a soft chuckle.

 

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those people who gets all freaked out on Halloween.” He said, dipping his head to catch her eyes again. “Black cats and salt over your shoulder?”

 

Layolah had to laugh this time. How she wished that the only things to worry about in the world were superstitions. If he only knew just how many things went bump in the night in this world, and not only on Hallow’s Eve.

 

“I’ve just been thinking.” She responded, meeting his stare again with her own dark brown eyes. “It’s been a year since we first met. Tonight.”

 

“I know,” he said, nodding. “I saw you at that Halloween rave party over on 5th. You were wearing that insane little black cat outfit and had half the guys in that place practically crawling on you.”

 

Layolah smiled. She had been feeling particularly reckless that night, and the power of the night filled her with urges that she normally suppressed. He would never know how many lives he saved that night by his sweet scent and soulful green eyes…

 

“It wasn’t quite that bad,” Layolah said, sitting up at last. She could see through the opened patio doors of his small apartment better now, and blinked at the shinning city lights glittering back at her.

 

“Oh yes it was,” he corrected, sitting up with her. “I left my date that night to get to you. She was my best friend’s sister too. I still get shit for it.”

 

Layolah turned to him and stroked his chin lovingly.

 

“Well you should have brought her along.” She teased and leaned in to kiss him, but he pulled back and frowned.

 

“Layla,” he said the name she gave him, the name she gave all of them. There was no need to tell them her real name. They were never around long enough to understand why she renamed herself after her prison; after the endless Night.

 

“It was a joke, love.” She lied. He never liked it when she teased him about allowing others to join them intimately. He was a man who firmly believed in heterosexual exclusivity. It was part of the reason she cared for him, but also another reason why they’d never prosper. Humans have such a hard time understanding what does and doesn’t matter after so many centuries…

 

“Move in with me.”

 

Layolah raised a brow. She wasn’t surprised by the request; she knew it was coming for weeks. But she didn’t expect it to come tonight, of all nights. Though it did justify the decision she’d made earlier that night.

 

“I don’t think-“

 

“I know it seems sudden,” he cut in, taking her cheek in his hand. “But we have been seeing each other for a year now, and neither of us is seeing anyone else. You spend practically every night here anyways – it just makes sense.”

 

Layolah sighed. The time had come.

 

“Besides,” he continued, nuzzling her nose. “I want to wake up beside you for once, instead of discovering that you’ve snuck off in the middle of the night.”

 

She closed her eyes and treasured the feeling of his warm flesh against her cheek. Every breath she took brought in more of his scent, which seemed stronger tonight. She that wasn’t really the case; that it was her. Her body’s response to the deeper mystical powers that were always at work on Hallow’s Eve. She felt the tingling in her gums, the faint throbbing in the base of her skull that would travel to her eyes, the signal deep within her being that warned her that soon the dawn would come and chase her from the earth’s surface.

 

“You are a wonderful man,” she said at length, her voice low and smooth. “You have a sincere soul that is slowly becoming obsolete. You’ll never know how refreshing that has been for me and how thankful I am for it.”

 

She felt his smile before she opened her eyes to see it. His smiling face was one she would imprint in the forbidden recesses of her memory, encased in warmth and longing along with the others. But then his smile started to fade as his eyes focused in on hers.

 

“Your…your eyes-“ he began.

 

“I’m flattered by your offer, but I don’t think it would be fair of me to allow you to make it without knowing all the facts.” She continued on. “Living with me is something that no human man can do. Not for long.”

 

“I…I can,” he stuttered, his attentions obviously divided between the surreal look of her nearly blackened eyes and her words. “I can deal with anything as long as it’s with you. I love you.”

 

Layolah shook her head, gently pushing a lock of his hair from his forehead.

 

“You love what you think me to be.” She replied softly. “I’ve been what is enticing to you. I’ve spoken the words that would tickle your ears. I’ve allowed you to believe what you must. But that must end now. It all has to end.”

 

She saw his pupils start to dilate, and quickly turned away. She didn’t want him pacified for this. She wanted him to hear the truth with a clear mind. He deserved that much.

 

“Layla, I don’t understand-“

 

“You don’t understand because I didn’t allow you to. But that is no longer the case. You will know the truth now, love. You will understand what I truly am.” She sighed deeply before sliding her hand down to his neck, her thumb caressing the throbbing drug that held her prisoner.

 

“You’re Layla. You’re the woman I love.” He said tenderly, placing a hand on her chin. He tried to make her look at him. “That’s all that matters to me.”

 

He leaned in to kiss her, and she didn’t stop him. He tasted of wine and the strawberries they’d eaten before and of her, from their earlier lovemaking. It was an intoxicating mixture, one she would miss terribly. She felt his tongue probe her mouth, grazing against one of her elongated canines before he pulled away. His eyes were now hazed with lust, but the lingering confusion still remained. He couldn’t choose between his desire and the warning that was now sounding in his head, she knew. She pitied humans at moments like this. How hard it was for them to distinguish between emotion and reason at times was nothing less than a detriment.

 

“I wish that’s all that mattered to me.” She replied finally, pulling back to face him fully. “But it doesn’t. I need more. More than you can ever give me. Though I wouldn’t mind having you around for a while, I have no desire to watch you slowly get weaker and slower and eventually decay before me. One experience with that was more than enough.”

 

He blinked at her, his lust finally starting to fade at the confusion over her words.

 

“You see, my dear, I cannot move in with you because I am not yours to keep. I belong to a master whose chains I can never break, and whom you can never best.” She said, her voice deepening. “I am a creature of night, a shadow, a forsaken husk walking the line between the living and the dead. For as much as I desire your company and affection, I desire the rich, thick drug of life that courses through your veins much more. It is the only gift you can ever give me that will truly mean anything, that will prove your love to me.”

 

He shivered. She felt it, and saw the hundreds of small hairs on his neck and face stand up as his pulse began to rise. The rhythmic sound of his heart was becoming a tattoo, an intoxicating drum calling out to her. She couldn’t resist anymore.

 

“Layla…please…” his voice was strangled, his eyes wide with the terror that was slowly but firmly sinking in. She knew there was no longer any pretense; her eyes were now completely black, but for the blood red the edged them, her fangs were now completely exposed and the veins of her face bulging against the surface of her skin. She finally looked the monster she truly was, the dark-monger the death-bringer; the Vampyre.

 

“Shhh,” she cooed as she leaned in towards his ear. She felt him try and move back, but her grip on his neck easily kept him in place. “It will all be over soon, love. You will be at peace, and I will have this wonderful gift that you’ve given me forever.”

 

She placed a soft kiss on his cheek and inhaled his scent one last time.

 

“Happy Anniversary.” Layolah said, just before she sunk her fangs into the tender flesh of his neck and drank.

 

 

***

 

 

Layolah stood at the entrance to her home, the pillar of the archway over her doorway the only obstruction from the golden rays of the morning sun. She could already feel the heat from the fiery star on her skin, and her body was aching horribly with its need for the blackness.

 

She should step out, Layolah thought. She should face her executor, her judge, the light. She should let it cleanse her of her sins, of all the faces of all the people whose lives she stole, of all her loneliness. It would hurt, but only for a moment and then she would be free. Free of The Black. It would only take one step.

 

She pulled the latch on her door and stepped into the cold solace of her home.


Layola hoped that one day she would take that final step. But today was not that day. Today, The Black won.






Chapter End Notes:
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