"…I have to be honest about everything before I let anything we have get screwed up by all this. Alright, I’m going to explain what I am to you and you can decide how you feel about it." Brian explained, watching her eyes intensely. Stephanie nodded and waited quietly for him to start. "Okay, umm, jeez, where to begin. I guess the beginning is the best place. When I was 23, I entered a singing contest type of thing, and the manager guy was, Louis Pearlman, a very strict and over-bearing man I might add. Well me and four other guys including my cousin formed a music group and were rather big in Europe. Well one night while we got together with Mr. Pearlman, he offered us the chance to keep our fame forever, and we being young and slightly stupid agreed. And since we agreed, he gave us an unbelievable gift, which unfortunately was more like a curse." Brian paused a minute, breaking his intense stare they had been sharing.
"Why was it such a curse, I mean, never worrying about losing popularity with the fans and public. Isn’t that a good thing?" Stephanie asked, lacing and unlacing her fingers with his.
"Because, no good thing comes without a bad thing to follow. He made us as he was, an immortal, one that drained the life of helpless victims, keeping himself alive by feeding on the blood of others. He made us vampires." He paused again, watching her chocolate eyes narrowing at him slightly but her features remained soft and caring.
"Brian, there is no such thing as vampires. You could just tell me you didn’t want to see me, instead of making up some lame excuse to try to scare me away." She whispered, not sounding angry, just downhearted. She pulled her hand away from his and moved to stand up. Brian’s hands shot out and pushed her back down.
"You’re not leaving until I finish. You don’t believe me, well how do you explain the cut on your throat? I accidentally cut you with my fangs when I was kissing your neck." He whispered, grabbing her chin in his hand and turning her face to his. She looked paler, and ran her finger against the healing cut on her neck. Brian noticed this and moved her fingers, leaning his face into her neck and kissing the slit lightly. Stephanie drew in a ragged breath and looked into Brian’s eyes when he pulled away. "I’m sorry but you need to hear everything before you decide on anything to do with me."
Stephanie nodded, and, as if in a trance, she stared into his sapphire eyes and pushed her lips against his roughly. Brian responded immediately, holding her face closely to him. His tongue outlined her lips and parted them slowly. They were so intensely involved with the kiss, neither one heard the foot steps coming up the path or stopping in front of them.
"There you are, Brian, I’ve been looking everywhere for you." Howie stated, watching the two bodies pull apart. He smirked when Brian’s face dropped. "I was just wondering where you went, but since you’re obviously busy, I’ll catch you at the house. Unless of course you’d like to bring this lovely lady to the house for drinks."
"NO! I mean, the house is a mess, we can’t have company. Besides, I have to walk Stephanie home, to make sure she makes it back there."
"Oh, okay, see you at home Bri. And it was wonderful to meet you, Stephanie." Howie smiled charmingly, grabbing her hand and kissing it before walking into the darkness of the park.
***~~**~~***
"Was that good for you, my dear?" Aj asked, kissing her cheek before rolling off of her.
"It was amazing, Aj. But should I be this tired?" Theresa yawned, drowsy from lack of blood and fatigue.
"It’s expected. Now for the decision you must make. I’m going to give you two choices. Listen to me very closely, ‘cause I’m only going to give you a little time to decide. Got it?" Aj explained, rolling her over on her side to face him.
"Umm hmm. I got it. What do I have to decide?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist affectionately. He said nothing for a while, merely played with her long honey colored hair, twirling it around his fingers.
"I’m going to make this short and sweet so you hear it before you fall asleep. I’m a vampire and you’re have lost nearly all your blood. Don’t fret your pretty little head about that though. You can live through all this. Your decision to make is, do you want to live for eternity with me, and be mine forever, or died painlessly and peacefully in your sleep this very night." No matter how hard he tried, the last few words came out sinister, making Theresa shudder nervously. "You sleep on it a little, Sweetheart. I’ll come and wake you in about an hour. I need to tell the guys about this, but if you agree, no matter what they say, I’m keeping you. Rest now my dearest. I’ll wake you in an hour." Aj explained, climbing out of bed and sliding on his jeans. Theresa rested on her elbow and looked up at him. He started walking to the door but was stopped by her voice.
"What if I already decided?" She whispered, staring into his slightly surprised eyes. He turned all the way around and sat down on the bed next to her.
***~~**~~***
"So are we on for tomorrow night? I mean it is your birthday and all, we can go out somewhere, or stay in. Just as long as there’s no biting." Stephanie joked, pulling out her apartment key, Brian right behind her.
"I don’t know what the guys have planned and I don’t want you getting involved with the guys, it’s very dangerous. If I can, I’ll leave their little party and come over here and we’ll celebrate, okay?" He whispered the last part seductively in her ear. She shivered and giggled lightly.
"Sounds like a plan, Littrell." She smiled and opened the door, flipping on the lights as she walked in. Brian stayed right outside the door, watching her dropped her leather jacket onto the small hunter green couch and a tiny black kitten follow at her heels. "Brian, why are you still standing outside?"
"A vampire can only enter a house if they’ve been invited in, after they’ve been invited in they can come in as many times as they want." Brian explained, staring at her as she picked up the fuzzy little cat and walked slowly up to the door.
"You can come in, Brian." She said softly, gazing at him as stepped over the threshold of her apartment.
"Thanks, so this is what your home? It’s nice, very simple. Well I suppose I should leave so you can get some sleep. Bye Sweetie." He pulled her into a warm embrace and kissed her temple lightly.
"Night Bri. I’ll see ya tomorrow night." She whispered, kissing his cheek feather soft. He smiled lovingly at her and kissed her lips, outlining her lips with his tongue. When they pulled apart, and grinned at each other.
"Sweet dreams Baby Girl." He said sweetly, walking out the door and blew her one last kiss before he shut the door behind him.
"I love ya, Brian." She whimpered, staring at the door for a little longer then kissing the kitten’s fluffy black head. "Come on, Tye, let’s see what’s on the news today."
Stephanie flipped on the television set and caught the last bit of one of the stories.
"…the body of a Miss Jillian Marks was pulled from the Winston River earlier today. From what can be told, she had a serious loss of blood and a slit wrist. But police believe this was not a suicide but a murder." The newscaster reported on the screen, showing a picture of Jill on the upper-right hand side of the screen. Stephanie gasped in shock, letting the horrible news seep in.
"Oh my God!" she stuttered, reaching for her French style phone and dialing in Theresa’s number. "Come on, Theresa answer the damn phone."
"…Hey this is Theresa and I'm not here. Either one, me and this really hot, rich guy eloped to Vegas, or I just don’t want to get up to answer the phone, so leave a message. BEEP!"
"Hey, Theresa it’s me, you won’t believe what I saw on the news. Jill from work, she’s died Theresa. And Brian told me he’s a vampire. And he really is one, I guess it’s not the vodka that’s your problem. Well call me when you wake up or get home from the bar. See ya at work, Girl. Bye." She hung up the phone and turned off the TV. Tonight’s excitements had made her extremely tired. Stephanie carried Tye into her bedroom and sat him down on the bed and went to change into her pajamas.