A Shade Of Vampire: A Shade Of Novak Part 19

She began moving against me. I went slow at first, watching her as she moved her feet, making sure I wasn't going too fast. But as the music picked up, I stopped being so concerned since she seemed to be coping with my speed just fine. I raised my eyes to her smiling face. That drew out a smile from my own lips.

"You make me look like I've been dancing all my life," she laughed.

"I do?"

She nodded.

Then she pulled herself up toward me.

Her soft lips caressed my cheek.

My cold, pale cheek.

Chapter 30: Rose.

I couldn't keep the smile off of my face as Caleb led me into a dance. He was so gentle. So hesitant at first. I found it endearing.

I wasn't sure what made me reach up and kiss his cheek. It was almost as if I wanted to rea.s.sure him, to set him free from whatever doubts were holding him back.

He didn't deserve the life he'd been dealt with. Caleb was a good man. That much was clear to me by now. I wanted to warm him as he'd warmed me.

Once we'd finished dancing, I withdrew my arms from his shoulders. He stepped away from me, though his eyes were still fixed on me. I smiled at his seriousness.

Turning around, I scanned the rest of his apartment. I looked at the ripped wallpaper, the damaged furniture, the smashed mirrors. I walked up to the wall and ran my finger over a torn oil painting.

I turned back to face him, his eyes still following me. I cleared my throat, steeling myself for his response. "You don't have to live like this, you know."

He heaved a sigh and turned his back on me. "Don't," he muttered.

"I don't know you, Caleb," I continued. "But I don't think that you belong in this castle."

He remained still, his breathing heavier as I spoke.

"I promise that I'm not just saying this because I want you to take me home. I'm being honest. Even after witnessing what you do along with these other vampires...I just don't know. There's something I'm not seeing in you that I should be seeing in you."

I walked up to him. He avoided my gaze, though he didn't change his stance.

"I'm not asking you to tell me what goes on here. I guess I'm just asking you to stop treating your life like it's worth nothing."

I reached out and touched his arm, hoping that he would look at me and see honesty in my eyes.

"I think you deserve more than this," I said, gesturing around at the broken-up room. "And if there's some way that I can help... Well, I guess I'm here."

I shrugged when he still didn't say anything. My shoulders sagged and I walked back over to the other side of his room, sitting down on the edge of his bed. He walked over to his piano and sat down, running his fingers over the keys.

"Rose," he said, heaving a sigh. "Sometimes, choices you've made in the past limit the choices you have today."

"Maybe," I replied. "But there is always choice."

He didn't argue back. Instead, he began playing the piano. But he appeared agitated, his fingers flying off the keys as the tone of his music turned aggressive. He stopped abruptly mid-tune. He shot to his feet and glared down at me.

"I want to show you something," he said.

He marched out the room, and I had to run behind him to keep up.

He walked straight out of his apartment and took a sharp right turn, walking along the corridor until we reached the stairs. To my surprise, he grabbed my hand and pulled me up toward the witch's level. He opened her apartment door and, pulling me through the different rooms, stopped in the same room where I'd spied on him sitting with the wooden chest.

He walked over to a table and lit four candles. Then he approached a cabinet in the corner of the room and pulled out what appeared to be an old leather-bound photo alb.u.m.

"Come here," he ordered.

I approached the table. He finished flipping the pages somewhere in the center of the binder and dropped it down on the table in front of me.

Spread out over two pages were four fading black and white photographs.

I gripped the binder and lent closer to the photos. Each were of the same young couple-a young man and a woman. I brushed my fingers over the photographs, clearing away the dust, and as I did, I couldn't stop myself from gasping.

The four photographs were of a young man and woman standing at the helm of a boat-clearly taken on the same day, since they were both wearing the same outfits in the photos: the girl, a flowing summer dress; the man, a casual s.h.i.+rt, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and pants. Both smiling, they had their arms around each other, embracing like lovers.

The man was clearly a once-human Caleb.

And the woman... long black hair, tall, slim... the witch. Annora.

"That was my choice," he said, his deep brown irises glistening in the candlelight. "Do you understand?"

Chapter 31: Caleb.

I didn't take my eyes off of my beautiful captive as she stared at the photographs.

She gazed up at me after a few minutes. "You two were lovers?"

I nodded, picking up the photo alb.u.m and placing it back on the shelf. There was only so long I could stand having that alb.u.m open.

"Oh. Wow."

She sank down in a chair.

"We were engaged at one point," I said, walking around to the opposite side of the table and placing my hands on the table, staring at the engraving in the wood.

"But what happened?"

I sat down in a chair and glanced at her face. Grimacing, I braced myself to recount a history I'd long tried to forget.

I was the son of a s.h.i.+pyard owner. As I was his only child, my father trained me from a young age in vessel construction and repairs. He took pride in being the most reputable s.h.i.+pbuilder in town. All the wealthy merchants and aristocrats would come to us as their first stop whenever they needed a repair or a new s.h.i.+p.

One such client was a silk merchant. He owned a fleet of s.h.i.+ps and did regular business with my father. I always looked forward to the time he would call by, because his daughter was often with him.

Annora. She was the most beautiful girl I'd ever laid eyes on. Tall, slim, long black hair flowing down her back, enchanting grey-blue eyes. Each time her father came in with a s.h.i.+p, I would snoop around to see whether she was on board. I was too reserved to talk to her at first. But eventually, I gathered the courage to start conversation. Small talk here and there at first, but she also took a liking to me. Soon she was the one seeking me out whenever they moored in our s.h.i.+pyard.

My attraction to her grew stronger with each meeting. When I think of her now, I can't believe she is the same person. She used to be such an innocent, shy creature. Her gentle nature was intoxicating to me. I found myself craving her presence and wis.h.i.+ng our time together was longer. I couldn't get her out of my mind. I even dreamt of her at night.

Our friends.h.i.+p soon turned into a romance and, although her father didn't fully approve of me, since he considered me beneath her, he didn't object either.

After a year of seeing each other, on my nineteenth birthday, I proposed to her. She accepted on the spot and swore that she would love me until her last breath.

We were due to be married in three months. Our families started making arrangements.

Then one evening, my life changed forever.

My father sent me to service the s.h.i.+p of a new client. The client was an exceedingly wealthy saffron merchant who was new to these parts and required exceptional attention. Also, the gentleman had requested that the s.h.i.+p be fixed during the night because of an eye condition that made him sensitive to the sun.

Although I despised doing repairs at night-it was always ten times more difficult than during the day-I agreed to my father's request. Apparently there was a problem with the wheel of the saffron merchant's s.h.i.+p.

"Sir?" I called, as I climbed onto the deck.

There was no answer. I walked along the deck until I reached the captain's compartment. I knocked three times. A tall man opened the door. His eyes were pitch black, and his skin was strangely pale. He appeared to be middle-aged, smartly dressed, his hair slicked back with some kind of expensive-smelling oil.

"Over here," he said, shutting the door behind us and guiding me toward the wheel.

I placed my tools on the floor and began my examination, the shortest of my career. The man walked up close behind me. At first I thought he was just watching what I was doing, but then cold hands gripped my throat and the man dug his teeth into my neck.

I was too stunned to even scream at first, but when I did, n.o.body could have heard me. The door was closed and his s.h.i.+p was moored in the farthest berth. Soon, I had no more strength to struggle. I writhed on the floor in the heat of transformation.

The man's black eyes flickered in the candlelight as he watched me throughout my transformation.

When the agony burning through my body had begun to subside and I had stopped coughing up blood, he held his hand out to me, helping me to my feet. Still too feeble to stand, I sank down in a chair.

"What is this?" I gasped.

"A gift," he replied, chuckling.

He gripped my bloodstained s.h.i.+rt and threw me off his s.h.i.+p. I lay helpless on the wooden jetty as the saffron merchant's s.h.i.+p sailed away into the distance.

Those next few hours were the most frightening of my entire life. I didn't know where to go or whom to trust. I had heard rumors of vampires who walked among us. I didn't know many details other than that they were evil creatures.

My first wave of bloodl.u.s.t hit me, so strong that I realized I couldn't even return to my home without pouncing on my parents and sucking them dry.

I ran as fast as I could toward the beach, away from the town. Away from my family. Away from Annora. I raced for hours along the beach until the sun rose. My skin began to burn so intensely, I thought I was going to die. I ran toward the first cave I could find and hid in its darkest corner. I curled up in a ball, trying to control the way my body was convulsing for want of blood.

I tried to force myself to sleep, to forget the pain and hunger, but it was useless. I stayed in the corner of that cave all day and all night. I remained there for at least five days before a search party came looking for me-a search party consisting of my parents, Annora and her brother.

I was horrified to see them approach the entrance of my cave at night, flaming torches in their hands. I managed by some mercy to restrain myself from jumping on them and instead darted out of the cave. I travelled further along the beach. They had no hope of catching up with me that night. I found another cave and, after filling my body with the blood of a dead shark I'd found along the sh.o.r.e, I retreated for the night.

But they didn't stop trying to follow me. Eventually, after the tenth day, I stopped running. My parents and Annora had found my hiding place once again. I climbed out of the entrance of my cave and sat perched on the rocks above, looking down at them.

And I told them everything.

My parents could barely believe their ears. I had to repeat parts of my story several times before they accepted it.

Annora, on the other hand, just stood silently, tears streaming down her beautiful face. I'd thought the pain of being a vampire was intolerable-but the anguish on my lover's face caused me more agony than my transformation.

For the following weeks, I remained living in caves. My parents stopped trying to persuade me to return home. They accepted that I was too much of a danger.

Annora, on the other hand, didn't stop visiting me. As I begged her to forget about me and move on, she refused.

"I can't leave you, Caleb," she'd said, sobs racking her body. "There's no one else I could ever love."

I tried to be callous toward her. I tried to scare her with my fangs and claws. But no matter what tactic I used, she insisted on staying with me.

Then one night when she came to my cave, after a particularly aggressive argument, she asked me to turn her into a vampire. I laughed in her face and thought that she was joking. But she was deadly serious.

"You've lost your mind," I shouted, storming out of the cave.

I didn't return until the morning, hoping she would have been gone by then. But she wasn't. She'd sat waiting in the cave for me all night.

She approached me as soon as I entered, gripping her hands in mine.

I jolted back. "How many times do I have to tell you? Don't touch me."

"Turn me," she whispered, her voice hoa.r.s.e, her eyes red from crying.

"Annora, stop it," I hissed.