The Vampire Vigilante

I left out of the bathroom and went straight to my bedroom. I decided I would give it a little while until I called Erik, or maybe I would run into him in the morning. I changed out of my outfit and turned on the shower, letting the steam fill the room. I gently stepped under the hot water and let it run over my head and down my back.

It felt so good to do some combat work. I had tried it when my father was alive; he let me practice with some of the boys who were sons of our military. They practiced on the grounds of our castle similar to what Erik had set up, but ours were much larger.

My father knew when I practiced that I would be stronger than most vampires, because I beat each one that I fought with ease. But after seeing what I did when I practiced with the dummies tonight, I knew there was something different.

What did the blue smoke-like substance mean? Was I really that drunk the other night or was the glow to my skin real? Because I wasn't drunk tonight and I definitely saw it.

I decided I did not want to think about it anymore and I turned the shower off. I dried off and put on some pjs, leaving my hair wet to dry natural. I looked at the clock to see it was 10:30, so I wondered if Erik was still awake.

Grow a pair and call him.

I took a deep breath before digging the note with his number on it out of the drawer I had shoved it in. After I threw it away I decided it might be a good idea to keep handy in case something really did go wrong.

Or you need a booty call.

"Grrr..." I growled at myself, ashamed of what thoughts just went through my mind. I stared at the letter and grabbed the phone on the bedside table. I began dialing the numbers and he picked up on the second ring.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," I answered, "Everything is fine. I just...I wanted to apologize for the destruction outside. I owe you two practice dummies." He started laughing. "I was wondering who might have done that."

"Yeah, it was me," I replied, chuckling, "I'm sorry about it. I'll get you some new ones."

"Don't even worry about it," he said, "There are hundreds more in the stock house." There was a long pause for a minute.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know it was me," I almost whispered, "Have a good night."

"Come to my office." I shuddered at the way he commanded me.

"For what?" I asked, "It's awfully late." I could visualize him sitting in that chair, one arm on the armrest and the other on his chin, like he sat so often.

It would be nice to be sitting in his lap.

"I've got some information to talk to you about," he answered, "I thought you might want to give your input on the matter." I held my breath for a moment. "Sure, I'll be there shortly." After I said that I hung up the phone and sprinted to the bathroom. I began vigorously blow drying my hair, afterwards pulling it into a messy bun. I made sure that there were several stray hairs framing my face. I then decided to skip makeup since I was looking better and more like myself every day.

I stopped in front of the mirror to examine myself, wearing nothing but a loose tank top and some pajama pants. I slipped a cardigan on over my tank top but skipped putting on a bra.

Maybe now he will get a feeling of what I have felt the past week.

I had a nice set of breasts. They were large, but not too large. Now that I had some curves to my body it made them look even better.

I wonder how it would feel with his hands all over them?

I shook my head, trying to get my mind out of the gutter. I slipped on some house shoes and walked out into the hallway, heading to his office.

When I got to his office door, it was cracked slightly. I knocked twice.

"Come in."

I creaked the door open to see the lights were dimmed down, there were candles lit around his little reading nook, and a soft melody of Fur Elise was playing. He was facing the window, standing up.

Can this man get any more mouthwatering?

He was wearing grey slacks that hugged all the right curves, a white t-shirt, his hair was messy like he had just ran his fingers through it, and he had on only socks. I tip toed to the front of his desk and sat in the chair I had sat in before. He walked over to the door and closed it, afterwards coming to sit on the edge of his desk in front of me.

Oh, sweet Jesus.

He smelled like cologne but he also had a sweet, sweaty smell coming from him. He had his feet spread apart with his hands clasped together down between his knees. I gulped as I looked up from the floor to meet his gaze.

His eyes were golden and lit up. My eyes widened in surprise, unable to tear my stare away from him. My mouth opened slightly, and his eyes darted down to my lips.

Nope, we can't do this. Not yet.

I closed my mouth and clenched my jaw. "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" His eyes went from my lips to meet my stare again. "I talked to a colleague who got to Malachi. He thinks you are dead." I sighed a breath of relief. "Thank god." I put my face in my hands as I leaned back in the chair. "It will make my life just a bit easier for when I find somewhere permanent."

"I have a plan, however," he said, looking up at the ceiling and chewing on the inside of his cheek, "If you want to hear me out." I moved one of my fingers to let my right eye look at him. "Go ahead."

"So," he started, getting up and walking around to the back of his desk, "We have the Midnight Ball coming up next weekend."

Shit, I almost forgot about that.

"And Malachi will be there," he continued, "And I was hoping you would be too." I practically jumped out of my chair. I stood up and clenched my fists, shaking my head. "Hell no. No, no, no. I don't want to ever be around that man again."

"I'm not finished," he said with certainty, stopping the pace he had going behind his desk, "We could scare him. If he thinks you're dead, don't you think it would give him a good scare to see you alive and well?"

"Um, no," I said, looking at him like he was crazy, "I don't think it would give him a good scare. I think it would put a big fat target on my forehead to kill me then and there." Erik then walked around the desk and put his hands on my shoulders, looking me straight in the eyes.

My heart raced having him touching me, my breathing became staggered as he stood mere inches away from me, and my eyes were locked onto his.

"Melody," he breathed, "I know who you are. Like I said before, I have been doing some research. I know you're special. I saw you on the balcony that night." My breath hung in my throat; I couldn't catch it.

I knew I wasn't seeing things.

"I want you to know I'm on your side," he continued, "My colleague told me that Malachi said you were a danger to society, and that is why he was keeping you captive all these years. He said you were the reason for why his Kingdom is the way it is, and that you killed your parents in cold blood.

"He said you basically exploded; your extraordinary powers becoming too much. You hated your parents, so you killed them in a fit of rage. So he decided to remove the threat: you."

I couldn't take it; I was ready to bolt for the door. But he held me in place. His touch gave me serenity and nailed me to the floor.

"That's not the truth," I said, tears rolling down my face, "I loved my parents. More than anything."

"I know," Erik replied, rubbing my upper arms with his thumbs, "I know. I finally got some answers from a historian overseas. He was the one my father worked with. He informed me that the explosion did in fact come from inside, which I presume was you. But whatever happened to you that night did not kill your parents; they were attacked and died from blood loss. They had some type of chemical in their system that blocked their healing abilities."

"Then poof-you were gone. Presumed to have run away or dead somewhere. So nobody ever investigated into it further besides my father. Like I said, he was on the verge of indicting Malachi when he fell ill. The historian and everyone else my father worked with were too scared or ashamed to turn against Malachi. At this point, I'm sure he was feeding off of your power somehow. He was untouchable."

I flashed back to that night at my home. We were peacefully having family time, when everything started to shake and fall apart. Vampires came bursting in through every window and doorway pointing weapons at my father, mother, and me. I froze, terrified. I was only 14, and had no idea what was going on. Malachi came into the room while we were held hostage, and he ordered one vampire to grab me while my mother and father began attempting to fight the others off. I could hear all of our friends, workers, and military on-site screaming while being slaughtered. I watched as Malachi smiled while my mother and father slowly lost the fight, overrun with enemies. They were getting stabbed, hit, kicked, and finally injected with some type of shot. They both were lying on the floor at this point, blood pouring from every wound.

I had felt the hurt and rage bubbling up inside of my tiny body watching them lay there, defenseless and injured. As I watched the light fade from their eyes, the rage overwhelmed me. My tattoo exploded, my body felt on fire, and I screamed.

The scream caused some type of explosion. The walls of the castle fell down, bodies were thrown in every direction, and when it was over everyone was dead but me.

Or so I thought.

The last thing I saw before collapsing to the floor was Malachi walking toward me with a menacing smile across his face.

"Melody?"

Erik snapped me from my trance. I brought myself back to reality to see that he was no longer touching my arms, but standing about 10 feet away. I suddenly noticed my tattoo was on fire and I was radiating that blue glow again. I looked up from my arms to see he was staring in awe.

"I...", I trailed off, loosing my voice, "Erik, I don't know what is going on with me." My voice broke as I starting shaking. I tried to shake the glow from my arms like I did that night on the balcony but it wasn't going away.

"Look at me," he commanded. I looked up at him in fear. Not fear of him, but fear of what was happening to me.

"Focus on me," he said, "Breathe. In and out. You've got this, you can control this." I looked deep into his golden eyes and started to slow down my breathing. I felt my heart rate begin to decrease, the burning of my tattoo dulled down, and I could feel my eyes dimming. I took one last, long, deep breath and closed my eyes. I leaned my head back for a few moments then I looked at Erik.

"What does it look like now?" I asked. He smiled at me. "You look like Melody again." He took a few slow steps toward me. "This is what I'm talking about: if you can learn to control that before the ball, you'll have Malachi pissing his pants on the way out of the door." I chewed on my lip. "I don't know; I'm sure he will have a bunch of people there with him. So even if he ran for the hills, someone would get me."

He put a hand on my cheek with his fingers in my hair, looking deep into my eyes. "I can promise you I won't let that happen." This man made me weak in the knees.

I smiled up at him. "Thank you. For everything." He rubbed my cheek with his thumb and I closed my eyes, enjoying this blissful moment.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Damn, who is ruining this moment for me?

Erik took a few steps back and then retreated behind his desk. "Come in."

I looked at the door to see a large man dressed all in black coming through the door.

"Sir, we were just informed that a breach was made on the north side of the Kingdom," he said, "I have sent our men out there, but they have not found anything other than a few boot prints. Whoever it was went back to where they came from."

"Thank you," Erik grumbled, obviously as irritated as I was of the intrusion, "Just keep me updated if you find anything Titus." The man nodded and bowed, afterward leaving the room. Erik then moved his eyes slowly back to mine. I could feel the blush spreading across my cheeks.

"Thank you for telling me all of this," I said, slowly standing up, "I think I'm going to call it a night."

"I agree," Erik said, stretching in his chair, "If you haven't noticed, I have been putting long hours into finding out more about you." I smiled at him and began to turn for the door.

"Let me know what you decide about the Midnight Ball." I stopped and turned a half turn to partially face him.

"I would really like to have you there," he added. I smiled. "I will." I then left the room and shut the door behind me. I walked slowly back to my room, closing the door gently behind me. I took off the cardigan I was wearing and collapsed into bed.

My body was tired from the training I did today and my mind was exhausted from what just happened in Erik's office. I don't even think it took 30 seconds before I was asleep, dreaming of his fingers on my skin.