Chapter 9
When Nora awoke, she expected daylight. But when she opened her eyes it was still dark, the city beyond still twinkling with white and honey-colored lights. She reached for her phone, but remembered that it, along with whatever else she had on her when she was taken, was gone. She looked around for a clock, and found one, a simple, black-and-white clock inlayed with Roman numerals, hanging on the wall.
Four o’clock, it read; she had only been asleep for a few hours.
But she felt awake and alert, and her body was still tense from the events of the evening. She stood, placing her bare feet on the soft, plush carpet beneath her. Then, she sat on the edge of the bed and looked out the window. Under any other circumstance, being in a bedroom like this would be an unthinkable luxury for a girl like her, but now it only served to remind her of the situation she was in. Anxiety began to well in her, and any hope of sleep vanished.
She looked out the window, off into the distance, the twinkling oranges and whites of the city lights an endless, stellar sprawl. She thought about what Kieran had told her, about being a vampire. It then occurred to her that there was a very good chance he was making everything up, that he was just as in on it as the rest of them, and this was all some kind of elaborate plot to lull her into a false sense of security before moving into the next stage of his real plan.
But then she thought about the hypnosis that the men performed, about the pallid, corpse-like skin that everyone in the society had, and the red capsules that gave their drinks the color of faded gore. She didn’t know what to believe. She pushed the thoughts of what, exactly, was going on out of her mind as best she could as she stood up and looked around the room.
The bedroom was large, much bigger than her apartment, but like the rest of Kieran’s home, sparsely-appointed. There was a dresser made of white birch, and a walk-in closet that was completely empty.
What a waste. She imagined what it would look like filled with the types of luxurious and elegant clothes that a woman who could afford to live in an apartment like this would wear.
There was nothing in the room with which to occupy herself.
Well, Kieran did say that I could help myself to anything here…
With some trepidation, she left the bedroom and stepped into the hallway, then into the main room. Kieran was nowhere to be found. Though the lights were still on, the apartment was deathly silent. She raised her hand to her ear, to make sure her hearing aid was still in place. It was, and as she touched it, feeling the cool plastic with her fingertips. She wondered if her disability had anything to do with why the men at the auction were unable to hypnotize her.
She put aside these speculative thoughts as she walked toward the space near the window where Kieran had stood earlier. And when she reached the spot, she noticed something that had been blocked from her view before by one of the bookshelves. A small stairway led up, to a door in the ceiling. Deciding that some fresh air would do her good, she moved with quick steps to the liquor cabinet, made herself a small drink, and went back to the stairs, which seemed to me made of simple, clear plastic bordered above by a handrail no thicker than her wrist.
Undoing the latch of the door, she pushed it open, the cool air of the evening rushing in. Though there was a chill to the fall breeze, the cold didn’t bother her. She made her way up the rest of the stairs, and stepped out onto the roof. What she saw forced her to pull in a small, sharp gasp. There was a rooftop terrace, a wide, circular area with a 360-view of the city that was even more spectacular than the one from the apartment. Nora could see everything from here: The magnificent Art Deco spire of the Chrysler Building, the faraway skyscrapers of the Financial District, with the World Trade Center towering above them all with its jutting, angled form, and the endless expanse of lighted grids that was Brooklyn. Then she turned, and the long rectangle of Central Park stretched in front of her, its angled form contrasted by the smooth curves of the water and streets that existed within its sharply-defined space.
And standing with her back toward her, his figure set perfectly within the shape of the park, stood Kieran, his arms stretched outward, his hands clasped on the railing that outlined the terrace, the silver shape of the full moon visible in the sky beyond.
The wind was a low, hollow howl as she moved toward him. She wanted to find some way to get his attention, figuring that sneaking up on a vampire was probably an unwise thing to do.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked, turning his head just enough for Nora to see his profile backlit by the city lights.
“Not a chance,” she said, moving toward him with hesitant steps, the fingers of both hands wrapped around her drink.
He turned, seeing that she was still in the underwear that she had been wearing since he bid on her.
“You know, I have women’s clothes here,” he said, a sly smirk forming on his mouth.
Nora looked down at her mostly-exposed body, and immediately became self-conscious. It had been a while since she’d had to worry about waking up and a man being around. “It wasn’t exactly the first thing on my mind,” she said, feeling the skin on her face turn a light shade of red.
He slipped out of his jacket once again, walked toward her, and draped it over her shoulders. “As much as I like seeing you in my clothes, we’ll really need to do something about your outfit situation if you’re going to be staying here.”
Just like before, the warmth of the fine material of the jacket and the rich smell of his scent made Nora’s head swim. She took a sip from her drink, and walked with Kieran toward the railing where he had been standing.
“This is quite the place,” said Nora, the wind blowing around them in soft gusts.
“It is. A gift from someone close to me,” he said, looking off into the distance.
“I think I can see my apartment from here,” she said, pointing toward the north end of Central Park.
A moment passed. Nora took another sip of her drink and found her eyes following one of the orange veins of traffic as it moved along the side of the park. The faint sounds of the city—cars honking, sirens, the clanging of trucks along the road—wafted up to them in soft echoes. She found herself standing closer to Kieran. She couldn’t tell if it was from the chill in the air, or something else, but something pulled her toward him.
“This has been an unbelievable night,” said Nora, hoping to coax some conversation out of Kieran.
“Yes, a fitting introduction to our world.”
“But…” Nora hesitated, then blurted, “but…how much danger am I in? Who is that other vampire who wanted me so badly? I just need to know what the hell I’ve gotten myself into.” She could feel tears of fear and frustrating forming in her eyes.
“You’re safe, for now,” he said, putting his large, firm hand on Nora’s shoulder, “and I’m going to make sure you stay that way.”
He took in a short, shallow breath and measured his words carefully. “Marcus Ricci. From the Italian society. An arrogant, troublemaking fool. Our people live and die by our discretion, and vampires like him threaten that with their very nature. He was a wealthy man before he was brought into our fold, and has become even wealthier since. Our people are very conscious of things like status, and power, and having someone like him enter our world with so much influence has been… destabilizing, to say the least.”
“Then why was he even… turned?” she asked, the terminology of Kieran’s kind sounding strange to her as she spoke the words.
“Hard to say. When we bring in new members, it’s a measured, drawn-out process; some might say too drawn-out. We avoid bringing in new blood, so to speak, from those with established wealth, high status, fame for this specific purpose. Some suspect that Marcus found out about our world and paid one of us to turn him.”
“And what do you think?”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s here, and unless he breaks one of our cardinal rules, he’ll be here for a long while.”
Nora took another sip of her drink. And as she looked down at her glass, she saw that the distance between her body and Kieran’s had closed even further. She didn’t know what it was; she should be running in fear from this man. But there was something about him, something about his scent, the way he moved, the way he looked her, almost through her, with those eyes that seemed to glow with heat amidst his pallid, cool skin, like twin campfires in tundra.
“But I’ve seen his type before. Hot-blooded and thin-skinned; a dangerous combination. He must’ve seen the same thing in you that I saw. And it’s only because I hadn’t bid on anyone before that I had enough money to outspend him.”
Nora traced the rim of her glass with the tip of her finger. “And… what was it exactly that you saw in me?” she asked, her voice soft.
Kieran finally turned to face her. “It wasn’t a thing, it was a feeling,” he said, again taking time to carefully choose his words. “When you see something, someone, and you know that you need them to be a part of your life.”
By now Nora was even closer to Kieran, the skin of their arms nearly touching. Whatever feeling she was experiencing that was drawing her closer to him, he seemed to be feeling it, too.
Kieran then turned, leaning his side on the railing; Nora did the same. Though he was facing her, he was looking away, off into the distance, his full lips pursed, appearing deep in thought. Nora found her eyes drifting down, staring at his firm, strong hands, up to his thick forearms, which were toned and covered in a smattering of dark hair against pale skin, then to his chest, where the top two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing the outlines of hard pectoral muscles.
The feeling of hot tightness was returning, and she was becoming aware that this feeling was something that she wasn’t going to be able to resist for much longer. Part of her hoped that Kieran would bid her goodnight, and leave her here alone, not succumbing to the man who now owned her. But the greater part of her, the more insistent part, implored him to see, somehow, how she was feeling, and to make his move.
Kieran turned to her, looking upon her small, delicate frame draped in his suit jacket, her full lips in a glistening pout. Without thinking, he moved his hand up to her face, feeling the soft lines of her jaw against his palm. Nora closed her eyes and leaned in his touch, his skin cool, hers flushed and warm.
Protestations began to form on Nora’s lips, but before they could take form, Kieran leaned in, and took her mouth in a slow, lingering kiss. Nora was shocked, at first, her body tense. But a second of his touch was all it took her to loosen, to lean into the body that was now pressed against hers. At first, the kisses were light and chaste, but as he read her body, his mouth opened enough for his tongue to lick her bottom lip, sending hot, tingling shivers up the goose fleshed skin of Nora’s neck.