The sound of gravel crunching under the wheels as I pulled my Harley into the driveway was not unlike the static rage noise that filled my head when I was struggling to keep cool. The constant swirl of a hundred different noises in the world around me, stirred up with my anger and my animal. Sometimes those noises threatened to send me crazy, because ironically, that would actually calm it all. The release of the darkness would wash over me and soothe it all away.

That’s right. Go ahead, let me out.

Some days it was worse than others. Since she arrived it had mostly been worse. And now this. Whoever they were, they were pushing their luck with those ridiculous notes. I needed to find them and fix the problem, fast. I’d just have to add it to the list of big fucking problems that needed my immediate attention.

“Is this where you live?” Jess asked, dismounting and strolling towards the large sweeping steps of my veranda. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, it’s impressive, but I don’t generally find houses that exciting.”

She gave me a playful look over her shoulder and paused, hand on her hip. My cock twitched. Damn that big seductive smile. “Then again, it depends on what happens inside The Bachelor of the Island’s pad. I imagine all sorts of mischief could happen in there.”

Yeah, best you don’t know. I grabbed her hand and led her around back. “I said we were going for a ride, I didn’t say it was on the motorcycle. Come on.”

“Are you shitting me?” she stopped dead in her tracks with a hand over her open mouth, staring at the helicopter. I loved that mouth. So big and beautiful, her whole face was all about the mouth. When she smiled it made me forget, just for a moment. I could forget Selena, the Bael, Alexander. I could imagine happiness without fear.

By the time we were settled into the cockpit she was still jabbering like she’d had a wrap of speed, with ‘ooooohs’ and ‘aaaaaahs’ and pointing at buttons. It was infectious, and thankfully helped to distract me from the inappropriate notions of her mouth on my cock.

It didn’t take any effort on my part to impress women, I certainly didn’t need a helicopter to do it, but pleasing her was fucking wonderful. I wanted to make an effort. Seeing her eyes alive with excitement, and her juicy lips in that mischievous grin.

Pathetic, cock-sucking, dickhead.

Once we were airborne she managed to start stringing together words, even whole sentences.

“Why on earth do you have a helicopter?” was of course the first question she asked.

“Business trips,” I replied, leaving out the part about how living in one place meant our hunting choices were limited and so we travelled out of state a lot.

“What sort of business? I thought you played poker?” She looked at me doubtfully.

“I do. There are other casinos around the country, you know. They get so suspicious of me I have to move around. Besides, I have my teeth into a few other projects, too.” I touched her leg to distract her away from the topic. Turned out no distraction was necessary.

Her response was, “Hey, if your business gets me flights in a chopper, I don’t care what it is.”

She might change her mind about that. When would that time come, I wondered? When would she find out?

Leon was knocking on the edge of my consciousness, asking to be let in. Now that Jess was absorbed by the twinkling city lights passing below I dropped the barrier without any enthusiasm.

“Yes?” I asked, my lips not moving.

“With respect, Zac, I wanted to ask if you know what you’re doing?” Leon’s voice drifted into my mind.

“I have no idea, but I’m going with the flow.”

“Do I need to remind you that this could play out really badly?”

“No, you don’t need to remind me of anything. In fact, with respect, you should watch your step. I already warned you all.”

“I’m here as your friend. Are you asking me to sit back and watch you burn?”

“I’m asking you to have faith in me. I can’t stop, Leon, not even if I wanted to. I’m too drawn to her. It’s agony trying to stay away.”

“Which is precisely why you should stay away. She could undo so many years of being clean.”

I raised the barrier back up and blocked him out, ignoring the scratching in my head as he tried to get back in. Jess was still mesmerised by the view and I decided to surprise her with a little more of the thrill that she so craves.

“Do you trust me?” I asked.

“Hell no!” she snorted. “I barely know you. You’re freaky, and a stalker, and into some dodgy business.”

I returned her grin and banked the chopper sharply upwards into a vertical rise before flipping it over several times, then nose-diving towards the earth. I let us drop way lower than a human pilot could before pulling back up from the dive. Not many helicopters can go upside down, but I have the money to buy the best.

She screamed. And screamed some more. My teeth tingled.

“What’s up?” I asked as I flipped us round again. “I thought you were an adrenalin junkie?”

“Oh… my… fuck… stop it!” she spluttered.

I levelled us out. She looked as white as me, but then a smile crept back on to her face.

“Holy fuckbuckets! Do it again!” she laughed.

I complied, and the fear and excitement rushed off her, bouncing around the cockpit. The beat of her hammering heart went right through me. Her blood smelled so hot and sweet, surging around that delicate body.

The Beast emerged from the shadows within, silent and predatory, stealthily creeping to my core and testing my resolve. My mind swirled with the torment of one half wanting to touch her and the other half just wanting to rip her throat out and drink her dry. Her jugular was pulsing so loudly, it hammered in my ears like a passing train.

Louder and louder… my vision darkened at the edges. I poked upwards with my tongue to try and stop my fangs from dropping, but they were half out and showing no signs of retreating.

She’ll taste so sweet. Sweeter than any other. Drink from her. Savour her. Add her to the basement and feast on her daily until she’s an anaemic, withered soul like Selena.

The aerial stunts were clearly a mistake. The last thing I needed was the increased appeal of her pulse racing, as if the temptation wasn’t great enough already. We still had a couple of hours of flying and I couldn’t afford to lose focus up here. A crash wouldn’t likely kill me but it wouldn’t do her much good, assuming I hadn’t already killed her before hitting the ground.

“Enough of that,” I said, facing away in case she saw my teeth. “Don’t want to give you a heart attack.”

“Yes, if I’m going to die up here there must be better final moments.” She leant over and rubbed my dick. Was she crazy? Had she already worked me out? And if so, why on earth was she doing that?

That was also a terrible idea at any time of day, but especially at five thousand feet in a confined space. My erection was instant and the darkness on my periphery closed in, fangs entirely out, throbbing and aching. I hadn’t realised that I was holding my cell until I looked down and found it shattered and crushed in my fist.

I hastily dropped it down the side of the seat. In a moment of ludicrous madness I’d been about to call ahead and book us a hotel room.

She looked out the window as she stroked and rubbed at me, playing a game of ‘who can act the most casual despite the ridiculously raised tension?’ Oblivious to the imminent danger. She was perilously close to either being screwed senseless or sucked dry. Or, let’s face it, both at the same time.

Her thoughts swirled with sex. There was a small amount of underlying fear. Unfortunately it wasn’t a big enough part to make her act on it and get the hell away from South Padre. The idea alone sent another wave of pain through me.

The Beast snarled in anticipation. I grabbed her hand a little too roughly and stilled the rubbing, as hurt and rejection swept across her face.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I need to take it slow.”

“Sure,” she muttered, quickly withdrawing her hand and placing it in her lap. “You must be the first guy to ever say those words to me. What’s your story? Messy break up? Are you on the rebound?”

“Messy life. There’s a lot to work through.”

“Sounds familiar,” she sighed, resuming her scrutiny of the view from her window.

She was quiet after that. The silence brought a calmness back over me and I managed to contain myself for the rest of the flight. Still, I must admit, I was taken aback when I landed her safely on the old cracked helipad.

“Where are we?” she asked, rousing herself from a half-sleep.

“Pittsburgh. Have you been before?”

“No.”

“Good.” I led the short way to a parked car and opened the door for her.

“You have a car waiting? That doesn’t look good, you know. Exactly how many ladies do you bring here?”

“You’re the first, honestly. I called earlier and had the rental company leave it here for me.”

“Slick,” she said, stroking my face as she slid past and climbed in. Ten minutes later we were at the top of Mount Washington.

* * *

She gazed out at the spectacular night skyline from the viewing platform. I gazed at the spectacular view of her body. My heart aching and breaking, demons scratching and gnawing. I was totally unprepared for feelings like this to surface. Where did she come from? Why was she here, tormenting me?

We sat down and drank in the view together. The panorama of downtown was something else. The Golden Triangle skyscrapers lit up, dazzling, where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers flow together creating the Ohio. The whole town shimmered and sparkled; glass, steel and concrete, lights, bridges and water.

In the forties it was a different scene; the Smokey City. The heavy industry smog was sometimes so thick that the streetlights were left on during the day. It was one of the few places I could wander in the daytime without that niggly dulling of my senses, the undercurrent of pain, the aching uneasiness.

I returned my attention to Jess, who sat leaning on her hands, so that her back was arched and her… assets, were out. I couldn’t help thinking about how they’d fit so perfectly in the palms of my hands. It was chilly up here and her nipples poked at the fabric of her top. I’d have offered her my coat if I’d been chivalrous enough to remember to bring it, but my mind had been preoccupied with other ideas for keeping her warm.

I couldn’t do that though.

Then again, I couldn’t not do that eventually. Catch 22.

The breeze changed direction and her scent caught in my throat, setting it on fire. “You’re so beautiful, you take my breath away.”

She laughed, her mouth overtaking her whole face. Radiant.

“That wasn’t supposed to be funny. Was it too cheesy?” I was no good at this.

Loser.

“No, it’s not that,” she said. “It’s just that I’m sure you were only speaking romantically, but you literally do take my breath away. I’m frequently dangling on the edge of consciousness around you.” She looked away, flushing pink. “As you well know.”

“Oh yes, I promised to kiss you. You won’t pass out again?”

She blushed pinker, looking even tastier. “Hey, that was just the one time, and it was because I was in shock that night!”

I leant in and kissed her before she could say another word. Her plush lips parted eagerly, urging my tongue to enter. She tasted better each time, it was getting harder instead of easier. Her delicate hands reached for the back of my head, twining in my hair. I hoped that I’d sucked on enough mints to take away any taste or smell of blood from my mouth.

Her heart thumped heavy in my ears with increasing speed. She swayed even though she was sitting; she really might pass out again. I slid my tongue languorously across hers once more before forcing myself to back off, with momentous effort. She looked about as pleased as I was for stopping.

“How long do we have to go slow?” she rasped. “It’s the middle of the night. There’s no one up here except us. It’s perfect.”

“I don’t want to have to carry you down when you lose your faculties. I don’t think you can handle any more of me yet. I’d blow your mind.” I flashed her a mischievous grin.

That made her smile, as she nudged me playfully with a shoulder. “You know, I’d love to call you an egotistical, deluded prick, but I’m sure you’re right.”

I caught her and laid us down, pulling her in tight against my chest and burying my nose into the waves of her fiery, red hair.

She stroked her fingers along my arm and paused, circling at a certain spot above the crease of my elbow. Such a gentle touch. If only she knew the feral surges that tore through me, pulsating out from the touch of that finger.

Take that fucking finger and bite it… suck the blood from it as she watches.

“Lux?” she asked suddenly, snapping me from the hunger. “That means light, right?”

Her finger had found a particular tattoo, amongst the many. Skirting past the Legacy mark of the sun, she had identified the scrawled words Fiat Lux. My chest tightened at the stabbing memories associated with those words.

“You speak Latin?” I asked.

“Not much, I remember some from school. What does it mean?”

“Let there be light.”

She snickered, “Is that intentionally ironic? I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen you out and about in the daytime! You’re like one of the spring-breakers, sleeping in all day. Do you have some sort of sunlight aversion?”

She asked it innocently enough, but there it was. The beginning of the end. It would start to unravel from here.

“It’s this place.” I faked a smile. “Well, not this place, but the island. I’ve just spent so long living on rave central that my body clock adjusted. It feels natural to me now. I’m not a morning person.”

“You don’t ever get sick of the constant parties? Not seeing the beauty of the world in daylight, riding your motorbike away into the blue sky?”

“It’s who I am now, I live with it.”

You don’t have to. You could have more. Fulfil the Legacy and walk in the day, you pathetic weasel.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why not just go to bed at a normal time for a change and get out?” she asked.

“I don’t live entirely by the night, Jess. I do go out in the day. I just choose not to do it very often.”

“I still don’t understand. I mean, I like to party, but not at the expense of living in the normal world.”

How was this ever going to work? There was no way I could have another relationship with a human. Too many questions, too many secrets to hide, too much hunger to suppress. Too much danger to not only her life, but also ours. At least, to our way of life. I should listen to my guys more.

“I’m not a normal person.”

“Me either,” she sighed. “I always seem to be looking for something more. When life gets too familiar I pack up and leave. I don’t even know what I’m searching for, but I usually go looking for it where trouble lives.”

“Maybe you’ve found it now?” I asked, immediately regretting it. Encouraging her was positively wrong.

“Maybe,” she sighed again, trailing her hand down my chest… and the darkness snapped its jaws in my ears.