you know about my ability?” He had said, “Let me in, Anya.” I needed to keep him talking to buy some time so I could figure a way out of this alive.
“I know more about you than you know about yourself, Anya. Why don’t you open yourself to me? Let me in and you might develop a better understanding.” He talked as if he was certain of what he said. He was extremely confident, almost scary confident.
I couldn’t believe I was even allowing myself to talk to a vampire. I was trained to kill them, not to have civil conversations with them. Even so, I had no weapons, and clearly, I was not going to be able to kill him with my bare hands. Because of this, I ran in the direction of the trees, in the direction of my house, as fast as my legs could carry me. What was I thinking? Unfortunately, he was a vampire and was much faster than I was.
I didn’t even make it to the tree line before his arms collapsed around me pulling my body into his. “Stop,” he said in a soothing voice. His mouth was by my ear. I could feel his lips. “Anya, open your senses to me. Drop your guard.” Our bodies were moving in one motion as I struggled to pull away.
I gave in and did as he asked. What else did I have left to do? As soon as I opened my senses the lightning crashed inside of me again. He carried so much sadness. A hint of lust and desire trickled in, as well, but the sadness was saturating and overpowered my will to stand. I would have fallen to my knees if he hadn’t been holding me up in his arms.
His lips moved again, still touching my ear, as he said, “You can feel it, can’t you? I’m sorry for the sadness this is causing you right now. It will pass, I promise. It will pass.”
By then all of my weight was in his arms, and I started to cry. “I’m going to have to close you out again. The sadness is too overwhelming for me.” I could hardly breathe, and my heart was pounding.
I felt us drop to the ground. He cradled my body in his arms and whispered, “Anya, don’t shut me out. You have to know how I feel. The pain will pass once I can bear the thought of you in my arms again.” He must be some kind of crazy vampire. Ordinarily, I would never have let myself be in the arms of a vampire, but I had no other choice.
His mouth moved over my cheekbone, as felt his breath say, “Please don’t be scared.”
I turned to face him. The sadness and grief had started to give way to his lust and desire. A new set of lightning bolts crashed into me. Tears streamed down my face as our eyes locked. He moved his face closer to mine. Why was he affecting me like this? It was as if he were taking over my body. I felt trapped, spinning in his emotions.
His yearning to kiss me consumed me, and I couldn’t resist him. I was no longer in control of my actions. I placed my lips on his. Everything inside of me fell silent, and shock took over. Was he feeling shock or was I? What was I doing? I thought, I can’t possibly be rational. He’s my enemy.
I started to feel embarrassed and ashamed of my actions. Then I felt his hand wrap around my neck and slowly move to the back of my head to tangle into my hair. His other hand wound itself around my waist. His arms squeezed tighter around my body. And wham. The desire was back and stronger than before. He kissed me almost too hard, a kiss full of desperation. “I'm sorry. It’s been so long for me,” he said. His breath enraptured my body. He moved his lips slowly over mine. He wound more of my hair in his hand, and his grip tightened. A joyous pain shot through me, and I liked it. I was willing, almost too much. I couldn’t help it. I caressed his cheek, heard him sigh, and moved my hand down his firm neck and then to his chest. I stopped over his heart and pushed my hand in harder, trying to pick up a heartbeat, but I couldn’t feel one. Then the realization I was kissing a vampire hit me hard.
I quickly pushed out of his arms and stood up, and Sorin rose to his feet