“What’s wrong?”
Chansey turned to me and said, “Curry, it’s Solomon. He isn’t doing well.”
19 A Different Kind Of Craving
I raced through the front door and called out for my best friend without a response. Chansey and Avery entered the door behind me and Chansey said, “He’s in the basement. He screamed at Gia and Lairah to go away and leave him alone. They said that they had never seen him like this before.” I looked at her dire expression and knew his retreat to the basement wasn’t a good sign because it meant he thought he was no better than the delinquents we reformed.
I followed the stairs leading to the basement we built for the disorderly and prepared myself for the worst as I recalled Avery’s warning. He would be prepared to kill me to get to her blood.
I found my best friend sitting in a chair facing a blank wall with his back turned to me. “Sol?” He didn’t answer so I just began talking. “I don’t want you to worry about this. You’ve been through much worse than this and I’ll help you through whatever happens.”
I waited in vain for a response. “Sol, I need you to tell me what’s happening so I can help you.”
He remained unmoved as he stared at the blank wall, clenching something tightly in his fist and then he asked, “She’s unharmed?”
“Yes, she is safe. I left her with Chansey because I thought she might feel safer and more comfortable with another human.”
From behind, I saw him slowly nod his head as he said, “You did a great job, Curry. I’m very proud of you.” He turned to peer back at me over this shoulder. “I think it’s wise for me to stay down here until we see what the effects are going to be. Especially since she is in the house.”
That didn’t fly well with me. “This is your home and you’re our leader. You don’t deserve to be locked up in your own home. What happened wasn’t your fault and she can go somewhere else. I’ll take her now, right this minute.”
“No, I don’t want you to take her away,” he said. “It’s too dangerous to move her right now and she deserves protection. She has had so much tragedy and terror in her short life. I felt it when I drank from her.”
My heart went out to my best friend as I asked, “Are you in a lot of pain?”
“No, I don’t feel physical pain, but her blood is doing wicked things to me. It’s messing with my mind. I think I can feel the onset of the craving coming because I want her. Just knowing she is in the same house has my heart beating out of my skin. I felt the precise moment you returned with her because I can sense her now. I feel her inside of me.”
“I am so sorry this has happened to you,” I apologized.
Solomon stared off and said, “I was initially sickened by Vincent when he told me to bite her. When I pushed her hair away from her neck, I fooled myself into thinking it wasn’t fear I saw in her eyes. I thought she wanted me to do it. Maybe it was her blood calling to me or maybe I imagined it, but regardless I wanted to do it and I can’t blame Vincent.”
“So, you’ll start over with your sobriety. Tomorrow will be day one without drinking from a human” I encouraged.
His eyes told me the depth of his shame as he pleaded, “Please, don’t tell Chansey. I know she will find out I drank from her, but she doesn’t have to know the details. She wouldn’t understand and I don’t want her to be frightened of me.”
I wanted to cross the room and give him a hug or pat on the back or something, but I knew he wouldn’t want that. “Come on, Chansey deserves more credit than that. She could never be frightened of you, Sol. She loves you and knows how honorable you are.”
“My thoughts at this moment are not honorable, I assure you. They’re just down right ...wrong,” he confessed.
I knew telling him she still retained the memories of what happened would not help matters, but it was his right to know. “I don’t know why, but she remembers everything. She recited the exact words you used to compel her.”
He jerked around to look at me and said, “Shit! She’s going to hate me.”
“How can I make this better? Tell me what I can do for you,” I offered.
“You can lock the door from the outside on your way out and tell Miss Ferrand that I am truly sorry for what occurred between us. Please, assure her it will not happen again.”
“Of course, I will,” I promised. “You know I will make certain she feels safe while she is here, but I think you should consider compelling her again, if only to give her and yourself peace while she is with us.”
He shook her head. “I don’t trust myself with her and I won’t be the reason her safety is at risk again.”
“You’ll miss the opportunity if you don’t act soon. There’s still time,” I advised.
“No,” he flatly refused. “I can’t face her.”
“You know I would do it for you if I could.”
He leaned forward in the seat, resting his elbows on his knees. “I know you would, but this isn’t your problem to fix. This is my mess.”
With his words, I knew I had been dismissed. I climbed the stairs, but turned for one last look at my best friend before locking him up and I saw the light reflect upon something shiny in his hand. He loosened his grip, but I remained unable to make out what it was he held so close to his heart. Whatever it was, I hoped it got him through what he was about to endure.
≈ ≈ ≈
I found Chansey pacing at the top of the stairs and the moment she saw me emerge, she asked, “How is he?”
I attempted to reassure her that he would be alright, but I suspected she saw the uncertainty in my eyes. “He’s going to be fine. He just needs a little time and he’ll bounce right back to the old Sol that we all love, but want to kill at times.”
My wife was anxious as she said, “I don’t know, Curry. He really did not look well before you and Avery arrived.”
Avery interrupted, “It hasn’t been long enough for the intense craving to start. Trust me; it’s going to be bad if he doesn’t drink from me.”
“The craving has already begun, but it’s mild and he is going to be fine,” I said, perhaps a little too sternly. “He is strong. Until you, he had gone almost 200 years without drinking directly from a human and don’t you forget that anytime soon.” I paused, but didn’t feel quite finished in my defense of my best friend. “200 years. Your mind cannot conceive what it has been like for him to go that long without doing the one innate thing that his body constantly craves, so you need to lay off. He risked his ass to go up in that crazy place to save you. We both did, so why don’t you show a little gratitude?”
“I haven’t laid eyes on my sister yet, so please excuse me if I am more than a little skeptical of a clan of vampires that stole me from a different coven.”
Chansey stepped into the heated conversation in an attempt to cool my temper by saying, “Curry, she has a point. We know we rescued her to save her, but she has no certainty of that. She can only expect the worst after what she has been through.”
Avery cooled her tone and added, “I don’t mean to appear unappreciative of your rescue efforts this morning, but I had accepted my fate with Vincent. I knew my death was inevitable and I was content to die, but I don’t know what my future holds here with you. My fate could be far worse than death and I have no way of knowing, so I will be grateful when I’m certain I have reason to be grateful.”
Still feeling the need to defend my friend, I added, “Solomon has asked me to tell you how sorry he is for drinking from you and to tell you it will not happen again. He has decided it is best if he temporarily stays in the basement while you’re here, just until the craving stops.”
“You call this a compound. What is this place?” she asked.
“We are The Coven of Landra,” I proudly announced.
“I heard Vincent and the others talking about you.” She laughed and said, “They say you turn vampires into farmers.”
I found amusement with Avery for the first time and laughed out loud as I sa
id, “Well, that’s one I haven’t heard.”
“No mockery intended, I assure you. It’s just what I overheard Vincent say about your coven. I don’t even know what a ‘farmer’ means.”
I continued to smile and said, “No offense taken because that is almost what we do, but we don’t encourage vampires to drink the blood of animals. Human blood is too easy to come by to resort to drinking the blood of unclean or diseased animals.”
Together, Chansey and I explained what The Coven of Landra represented and the services we provided. I told Avery how Sol helped me reclaim who I was intended to be and taught me how to save the unsavable. She had many questions about me and Chansey and we did our best to explain it in terms she could understand. Surprisingly, she didn’t find us strange and seemed very accepting of our Agápe relationship.
“I believe I am seeing a clearer picture of who Solomon is and I am truly sorry I happened to him. I don’t know how long it will take for the intense craving to stop. I’m not really sure it ever stops. I don’t have anything to gage that by because no one ever stopped drinking from me once they started.”
“Trust me. Solomon is tough and he is going to be fine.” I turned to Chansey and said, “Why don’t you take Avery to her room so she can bathe? I’m sure you can find some clothes for her between you and the other girls.”
“How many people live in this compound?”
“Come on, I’ll catch you up on everything you should know.” Chansey showed Avery to her room and I knew she would return much more educated when my wife was finished with her.
After Avery’s bath, Chansey helped to settle Avery in by preparing their lunch and giving her a tour of the house and grounds. Knowing they would be out for a while, I decided Avery’s absence from the house was the perfect time to check in on Solomon since it had been hours since my previous visit.
I guiltily unlocked the door leading to the underground chambers and descended down the stairs to find him sitting in the same chair, staring at the same spot on the blank wall while gripping the unknown object in his fist. Not a good sign.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Guilty,” he replied.
My words weren’t going to sway his guilt, but I attempted none the less. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. You shouldn’t feel guilty because she’s fine. Really. You have not harmed her and it’s only a matter of time before she sees how different we are from the monsters she has been with.”
He gave no reply so I continued, “Much worse was done to her at Vincent’s and she survived.”
“Don’t speak of what has been done to her. I don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to think about it,” he angrily responded.
Things were getting too serious and I decided to try lifting the mood a little. “Okay, no problem. Avery is doing the girl bonding thingy with Chansey. It’s weird, Sol. Chansey is taking her under her wing and they act like they’ve known each other their whole lives. I guess it’s the whole humans knowing about vampires bonding thing, but I think I’m a little jealous.”
I thought I sensed a lighter mood when he said, “That’s good for Chansey. She needs a human she can share things with. I know she tires of never being able to be honest with her friends and family about whom and what we are.”
“How is the craving?” I inquired.
“The craving is not at all like what Jenn told us to expect.” Sol reached and touched his lips as he said, “She’s all I can taste in my mouth, but it’s not her blood. I can’t stop thinking about the way I felt when I was close to her and I can’t forget the sweet taste of her skin on my tongue.”
Her blood definitely did wicked things to those that drank from her. “Maybe this is how the withdrawals begin, but Avery said that you would be debilitated due to the intense craving of her blood. She seemed quite certain about it and we had a little bit of an argument about it.”
He nodded toward the wall. “Yes, I am aware of your argument with her and I do appreciate your concern, but she has been through so much. It would be a huge favor to me if you laid off of her. The unhappiness she experiences here only adds to my grief.”
“Okay, I can do that for you. Besides, I think we have called a truce, but I’m still puzzled by your response to her blood. Don’t you feel like something isn’t right about the effects of her blood on you? You never became intoxicated like the others, did you?”
He sighed, “No, I never became the least bit intoxicated.”
“We know she’s not lying because we saw how foolish the other vampires acted after drinking from her. I think the difference is that you’re just strong enough to handle it. We are much older than most of those vampires at Vincent’s. Maybe it’s an age or tolerance thing,” I reasoned.
“I guess that’s a possibility, he agreed. “It’s not like we have a lot to go on, but something has happened. I will admit to that much.”
No craving for blood meant he didn’t have to stay away from everyone. “Since you don’t crave her blood, you don’t have to be locked up down here like an animal. Join us tonight,” I suggested.
“I want to give it a little more time before I’m near her. I’m sure she’s terrified of me and what if something happened? I’d never forgive myself if I harmed her. It would be crazy to be so careless.”
“That’s probably the wiser thing to do,” I agreed. “Remain here tonight, but tomorrow night you’re coming up if everything still seems cool.
He nodded as he looked down at the object in his hand. “Yeah, we’ll see.”
20 Reunited
After Chansey and Avery returned from exploring the grounds, she came into our quarters and found me in my studio working on a new oil painting. I cleaned my brush and said, “Back so soon, Love?”
She walked over and stood behind me to peer over my shoulder at my latest creation, but I had just begun so she could only guess what the result would be. She could never visualize it because it was something she had never seen, but I saw it in my mind perfectly. It was a picture forever etched in my memory as I looked at Chansey while she promised to be my wife forever.
She reached for my shoulders and began to massage them slowly. “Avery didn’t sleep much last night and she was really tired. I suggested she take a nap, but in reality I think it’s me that needs the nap because I’m exhausted.”
I dropped my head forward so she could get to the tense muscles on my neck. “I’m sorry you were up worrying all night. Maybe you should take a nap, too.”
I was listening to ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ by Leona Lewis through the surround sound speakers in my studio as I worked on Chansey’s portait because it inspired me, but the slow tempo of the song seemed to inspire Chansey. She lifted the back of my T-shirt and ran her hands over my back and then down and around to my chest before she slowly dropped her hands to my stomach above my jeans. She leaned forward and kissed the back of my neck. “You had a long night, too. Why don’t you nap with me?”
I closed my eyes and leaned back to feel her front pressed to my back. “If I come to bed with you, we won’t be napping.”
“Promise?” she asked seductively.
I stood up from the stool and whispered, “Come with me,” as I took her hand and she followed me into our bedroom. I stopped next to our bed and took her into my arms. She pulled me by my hands as she backed toward the bed and she stopped when the back of her legs met the mattress.
She grabbed the hem of my T-shirt and pushed it up over my head as I lifted my arms. I reached for the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head and then unfastened her bra, allowing it to drop to the floor.
She reached for the button on my jeans and unsnapped them before she slid the zipper down. After she hooked her thumbs in the waist band of my jeans and boxers, I stepped out of them as she pushed them lower on my legs.
After I unfastened her shorts, I pushed them with her panties down her legs and ridded us of the last thing preventing me from co
mpletely feeling her skin to skin.
She sat on the edge of the bed and scooted backwards until she was in the middle. She used her index finger to motion me to come to her and I crawled over her and hovered without pressing my full weight against her.
I could hear the slow tempo music playing from my studio and it commanded me to slowly trail kisses down her body starting at the hollow of her throat until I reached her flat stomach. She ran her hands up through my hair and lightly tugged as I worshipped her body with my mouth.
I slowly crawled up her body and kissed every inch on my way back up to her mouth. When we were face to face again, I lay against her and felt her heart beating against mine as she pulled her legs up around my waist as she had grown accustomed to doing since our wedding night.
I stroked her cheek with my fingers and she turned her face into my palm and kissed it. I leaned down and softly whispered, “I love you,” against her ear.
She turned her face to mine and kissed my cheek. “I love you, too. I was so scared last night. I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you.”
I felt tears rolling down the side of her face as I brushed my nose across her temple. “Shh...Don’t cry. It’s over and I made it out fine,” I whispered.
“I need you, Curry. Now,” she said as she pulled me closer with her legs and I recognized that wonderful direct line to all of her emotions as we made love. Her fear, relief and passion unraveled beneath me and I felt something new as well. The new sensation was simultaneously beautiful and frightening, but I couldn’t give it a name because I didn’t know what it was, but I loved it.”
≈ ≈ ≈
When evening arrived, I knew we had to formulate a plan to reunite Jenn and Avery, so I went downstairs to check on Sol and found him in a far more improved state. I leaned against the wall when I got to the bottom step and said, “You look much better, not so loathsome. How do you feel?”
He smiled at me from across the room in a way I had never seen from him before and he said, “I’m great. I feel...much less loathsome.”