Out of the Box 8 Page 3

  Mirroring him, I pulled back a little and propped myself up on my forearm. Far from quenching my curiosity, his answer had piqued it. “Why not?”

  He shrugged. “It’s just a personal choice.”

  In retrospect, I should have accepted his answer and moved on. I don’t know why I didn’t. I don’t know what I was trying to get at. All I know is that I pushed yet a little more.

  “But why?” I insisted.

  Shaking his head lightly, he sighed. “Some questions just don’t have an answer, Virginia.”

  He rolled onto his back and closed his eyes. I didn’t move, my eyes detailing his face. I knew his features very well by now. The strong lines of his face. His sensuous lips, now pinched in a thin, unhappy line. The fingernail-sized spot, just a little darker than the rest of his coffee skin, on the side of his face, close to his right ear.

  Without touching him, I could imagine the softness of his skin beneath my fingers, and the slight roughness of his closely-cropped hair. I knew just how cool his skin would be, and how fast it would warm beneath my hand.

  I knew, also, that he’d always be the same. The next day, month, or century, he’d still be gorgeous. And I…

  “You’d never…” The words caught in my throat, and I struggled to push them out. “You’d never turn someone to keep them with you? So they wouldn’t grow old while you remained perfect and twenty-four forever?”

  Anando’s eyes opened, and immediately found mine. They were so dark, I could barely distinguish his pupils. “If you’re asking whether I’d ever turn you,” he said, his voice calm but radiating with an angry heat, “the answer is no. And it has nothing to do with what I feel for you.”

  The strength of his last words shocked me. I don’t know what I had expected, but this definitely wasn’t it. And then, his answer only raised one more question. What was it exactly that he felt for me? He wasn’t supposed to feel anything. The rules we had long ago abandoned claimed as much, and so did everything I had ever heard about vampires.

  I wanted to ask him, but, a little afraid of what his answer would be—just as afraid, in fact, that it would include the word love as I was that it wouldn’t—I took too much time to find my words. After only a few seconds had passed, Anando sat up in the bed, his back to me, then stood.

  “I have to go before sunrise.”

  I didn’t know what to reply. Sunrise was still hours away. I knew it, and so did he. What did it mean that he was lying to me? Why was he running away?

  He dressed quickly, his back still turned to me. When he was done, he returned to the bed and, leaning down, kissed me. Then he looked at me for a long moment, the smallest smile playing on his lips. I had never seen that expression grace his features, and it took me some time to recognize it. He looked sad. Sad and Anando are just not words I’d ever think of associating.

  My mind was screaming at me to say something—apologize, tell him that I didn’t want to be turned, promise him not to question him anymore, anything so that the sad smile would go away—but I couldn’t find the right words.

  Finally, he said, “Be safe,” and left my apartment. I gathered the blankets more tightly around myself, suddenly shivering.

  When I went to the club the next night, he wasn’t there. I went every night for a week. I never saw him. I asked Leo, and he said Anando hadn’t come back since Halloween. He also said that, as far as he could remember, Anando had never stayed away from the club so long.

  I’m not an idiot. I know it was my fault. I said something that upset him enough that he stopped coming to the club so he wouldn’t see me anymore. I kept replaying our conversation in my mind. It wasn’t all that hard to figure it out. Whether it was the case or not—and if it was, it certainly wasn’t conscious on my part—my questions made him think I wanted him to turn me. I should have dropped the matter rather than push and try to understand. He had said I could ask what I wanted, but clearly I had crossed a line of some kind.

  When I understood that, I decided to give him some space, let him cool down. I was hoping he’d miss me and come back to the club. I even gave my number to Leo, and asked him to call me if he saw Anando. Two more weeks passed. Leo didn’t call.

  I should have taken the hint, I guess. I should have resigned myself to the fact that Anando simply didn’t want to see me anymore.

  You know me, my Lady. I can be much too stubborn, sometimes.

  I went to his house. I knocked on the door, but no one answered. I opened the back gate and walked around the house; the pool was covered with a blue tarp and every window shutter was closed. I knew, then, that he was gone, but the idea only sank into my mind a few moments later. When I got back to the street, I crossed paths with a neighbor who was walking his dog. He asked me if I was looking into buying the property, and when I didn’t answer fast enough, proceeded to tell me he was relieved that the street’s only vampire had moved away.

  It has been five weeks now, without a word from him. I’m afraid I’ll never see him again. I’m afraid I scared him off with too many questions, too much insistence. And I’m afraid I’ll never get to tell him that, despite my best efforts not to let it happen, I fell in love with him.

  The End

  About the Author:

  Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for fifteen years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the readers' reactions. After playing with science fiction, short stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at paranormal romance novels.

  To see her other stories, including free short stories and sample chapters, visit http://original.kallysten.net

  Also available from Kallysten:

  Forever Starts Now

  After receiving pictures that prove her fiancé’s infidelity, Claire breaks her engagement to Jonas and throws him out of her house. As a Special Enforcer, Jonas’ job is to hunt vampires who kill humans, but while she packs his belongings, Claire discovers he might be killing innocent vampires as well. Needing to know more about vampires before she decides whether to turn Jonas in, she visits a club where vampires and humans come in close contact, On The Edge.

  There, she meets the attractive and mysterious vampire Matthew. She observes him from afar for a few nights, and when he finally comes to talk to her, it is to scare her and ensure that she will not return to a place he considers dangerous for her--a view he unexpectedly shares with Jonas.

  Claire does return, however, and discovers more about Matthew’s past than he wanted her to know. She also discovers he is attracted to her, just as much as she is to him. Their first night together is passionate, but, with the intervention of Matthew’s Sire, it ends in blood…

  Forever Starts Now shows a normal woman thrown in extraordinary circumstances where love spans generations and “forever” has a very literal meaning. She will have to find out who she is before she can get her “happily ever after” with the man of her dreams.

  All Things Except Blood

  Vampire Eyrin lives in a world in which her kind seals pacts with humans and protects them from fearsome demons in exchange for blood. She is one of her clan’s strongest fighters, until the night when she is gravely wounded, in both her flesh and spirit. Disfigured, she hides from all and refuses to feed.

  Returning to the lair, her human lover Ian is shocked to discover her condition but resolute to show her she is still as beautiful in his eyes. He offers her blood and comfort, causing Eyrin to do the one thing forbidden to Childer – take his life.

  When Ian awakens a vampire, sired not by her but by the clan’s Master instead, Eyrin reluctantly takes on the task of teaching him about his new existence. But her guilt over killing him makes this responsibility a heavy burden for Eyrin, and the new relationship they forge is a far cry from the one they used to share. Will Ian be able to reach out for her again, or will she keep her door and heart locked to h
im?

  Snapdragons

  When Rhea arrives in Miami, she has nothing to start her life over, not even her memories. The past five years have disappeared, erased by her own magic. Or at least, that’s what the letter says—the letter that claims vampires killed everyone she cared for—the letter written in her own hand and signed with her name.

  Clinging to knowledge of magic she doesn’t remember acquiring, she finds a job, a place to live, and tries to rebuild her life. The sudden reappearance of Peter, her first crush, brings back joy in her new existence. He also brings back vampires, in the form of his long-time lover Kaelin.

  Can Rhea truly live again with part of her past lost to her, or is Peter right when he says she’s strong enough to get her memories back—and see her world shattered again?

  (Not a HEA story)