Chapter Twenty

   Mike ceased his kissing and advancement, and looked at me with pure fear in his eyes that he had harmed me. ‘Tif? Tif, what’s wrong?’ But my attention and sight were fixed on him. ‘Tif...?’ But when I didn’t answer, he followed my gaze. My arm snapped up and gripped his shoulder; I couldn’t stop my nails from digging into his skin. ‘You! Get out!’ he shouted with such malevolence that my fear was portrayed in Jake’s face. Mike then jumped off me and stood at the end of the bed, his posture that similar to a wolf defending his territory from a rival.

   ‘Mike, don’t,’ I tried but he was so fixed on Jake that I could tell he didn’t hear me.

   I sat up, pulling the covers over my bare chest. ‘Jake, get out. Get out!’ I shouted when he didn’t inch away or flee. ‘Jake, I said get out!’ The unexpected high pitch of my voice burst into my ears and I became dizzy from my popped eardrums.

   I sat there; heart racing, chest pounding; in panic and terror over what might have happened. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t see him there, knelt in front of me, but what I saw in his face was terror itself, as though his other side had come out and I was now his nearest prey.

   ‘No!’ I screamed, and my body closed up and my hands rose to try to propel him away.

   ‘Tif, stop!’ he shouted back, but it was no good; I tried making myself as small as possible before he said anymore. Then, he grabbed my hands and pulled them aside, uncovering my face. ‘Tif, it’s me. It’s okay, I’m not him. Look at me!’ he said impatiently, sending a shock pulse through me. ‘Oops, I’m sorry. Please calm down.’ He stopped talking, which was for the best as then I could collect myself and let my adrenaline run out so my muscles could relax and I could once again face him.

   ‘Honey,’ I managed to mumble, letting the words just escape my lips. ‘Wha... what happened just now?’ His thumb wiped across my chin, wiping away the remnants of our not-so-long-ago passionate moment.

   He sighed in relief. ‘We both know what just happened. And he needs to go. In fact, I hope he has gone, properly left us alone. Tif, he doesn’t belong in our world; he is and always will be our enemy, no matter whether he cares for you or not, but he will at least always be mine. Like I said, him being around puts me on an edge that I can’t bear to live on.’ His hands trembled as he clambered up over to me. My hands rose and touched his cheeks; the touch of my skin on his settled him more than I thought it might. Leaning forward, he in turn touched his forward to mine, and his rhythmic breathing transferred itself to me and I felt my chest settle more and more to match his pace.

   ‘Mike, he... he... I could smell him. That’s what made me freeze like I did. It took me ages to realise, but when I finally did and I saw him there, I just lost control and froze.’

   ‘Sssh, sssh,’ he repeated until I stopped ranting. ‘Tif, you can’t blame yourself for letting that happen. He shouldn’t have done that.’ He paused and sighed in what seemed a sense of regret. ‘I overheard part of your conversation outside, and the things he said made me realise how lucky I am to have you as mine. From now on I won’t let you out of my sight, except when I go out to hunt.’ The most remarkable thing about him speaking just then was that he didn’t sound panicky or hasty in trying to put across all of what just happened meant. My hands trailed up his arms and wrapped around his shoulders as I leant up to hold him in an affectionate embrace – or as affectionate and caring as I could make it.

   ‘Hmmm,’ he sighed into my ear. ‘Tif? I’m sorry, I almost lost it there. Any angrier and I might have just attacked him.’ He took a slow, deep yet gasping breath. ‘But you’re around and that’s still one thing that will keep me sane, or at the least if that isn’t too harsh to say.’ Tilting his head down, he smiled at me in an expectant, hopeful way as though he wanted me to understand; and I did, I knew me being around him was some sort of consolation to what would normally be a solitary life.

   ‘I get it, you know. I mean, where would I be now if I didn’t have you? I’d either be lost, another form of myself or even not alive at all. Who knows? Hmm? But come on, like I said we need to sleep. Or you at least need to try to get some.’ I let him go and went back to lying on my back, flat on the bed; he shuffled down beside me and lay on his side to face me. ‘What?’ I asked a little defensively as he smiled and stared without a blink.

   ‘You know I can’t sleep,’ he chuckled. ‘Go on, I know you can so I’ll sit here and watch, be on guard as you might say.’ He leant over and kissed my forehead. ‘Nothing will happen, I promise. I won’t move from your side.’

   I sighed, thoughtfully. ‘It’s too bad we aren’t in the mood as we were before.’ To that, his eyebrows raised in slight surprise to what I was suggesting. ‘What? Oh, come on. It’s not like I can get much sleep myself. I only half sleep as you might say.’ My hand subconsciously rose up and stroked his chest towards his neck, I felt it move but I hadn’t willingly told it to do that. ‘Mike...? If we wanted, we could stay awake all night, doing whatever we liked and we wouldn’t suffer for it.’

   His response was to place his hand gingerly on mine, I felt the nervousness within him pulse through his veins under my fingertips; though his eyes portrayed a sense of wanting and desire that I felt deep within me. ‘Tif, I know what you’re saying but you will feel the effects of it way more than I do. You’re still part human compared to me; your humanity resides in you more than mine does in me...’

   ‘That’s not true,’ I hastily interrupted, with placing my other fingers on his lips. ‘Mike, if I didn’t know you as I do, I’d still believe you were human.’ He pulled my hand away and kissed the back of it tenderly; raising his eyes up to meet mine and pounced his lips onto mine so hard I bit my own lip. My blood seeped out slowly onto his lips and I felt him lick the droplets up with his smooth tongue. ‘Mmmm,’ I moaned softly and slowly, as my arms wrapped themselves around his shoulders one more time. Pulling him onto me as we were before our major interruption earlier, he supported himself so swiftly that I barely felt his chest touch mine before he propped up again. Biting into his own lips for me, he let our blood mix together, on and just inside our lips, the taste of his was so amazing; the sweet, succulent, delicious taste of his blood seeped right down into my stomach and soaked into my nerves. It was so sensational that I shivered under him and my nails dug harder into his flesh and we kissed more passionately than ever before. I could only guess that what I was feeling from his blood on my taste buds may only be a fraction of the sensations he was feeling from mine on his.

   Just then he growled through his lips, vibrating mine; it wasn’t a frightening growl just one to let me know how much he was wanting me, so badly that the lust was just within manageable levels. Our hands clamped together by our sides and we enjoyed every moment of this time together, it was so intense.

   By the end of it all, we were sprawled out next to each other on the bed, scratches all over our bodies, blood running down our lips and chins, skin dripping with sweat from the high intensity we got it up to. Forcing my body to move, I rolled over and curled up a bit and tucked into his side. His arms slid under my shoulder and over my waist. Eyes closed I slipped into a train of nothingness and let my body regain its lost energy; somehow I knew it would without me putting anything into it (such as food).

   ‘Tiffany?’ he whispered into my ear.

   ‘Hmmm,’ I mumbled, reluctant to talk at that point. His finger pressed under my chin and pulled my face up and sweetly pecked his lips on the corner of mine.

   ‘Ok, Tif. But you do know what time it is, yeh?’ he suggested.

   ‘Hmm? What time is it then?’ I asked back.

   He reached across me, to his bedside table presumably, and held his watch out for me to look at one-eyedly. Noticing the time, I jolted off the bed, bringing the duvet with me, clutching it to my chest.

   ‘Hey, Tif. It’s ok, we did what we wanted. Let’s not ruin the moment, please? Come back to bed,’ he subtly spoke. He sat up and reached out for me to take his hand. Smiling softly at him, I reached my hand out and took his as he wanted, stepping over with each step placed carefully so I didn’t trip over the duvet. His smile radiated back to me as he helped me back on while pulling the duvet back over us both. ‘Tif, it’s ok you know. It was great, really. I would never ask for just that, you know me. And I know you. You kinda did ask but we both did want it to happen, but I’m not all about that. Am I making sense?’ he asked, uncertainty spread across his face.

   Giggling a little, my right hand caressing his side, I replied. ‘Yes, of course I understand, Mike. It seemed bad at first that I’d got you into it with you not wanting to; but you’re right, it was amazing. I love you so much; I couldn’t be without you now, ever. I know it seems like I’m rushing into saying it but I mean it, I really do.’ Looking up into his eyes, I tried putting across my feelings through my gaze.

   ‘Hehe, come on you, let’s settle down and you can sleep for a couple of hours before we need to move at all.’ At that, too tired to try to argue back, I shuffled down more and curled up beside him once again. Uncomfortable on my left side, I rolled over; he in turn put his arm over me from behind and left me to try to sleep if I could. But, knowing how much energy I had burned off, I had hardly any left (even as a vampire, or half vampire) to keep myself awake.

*****