Subj: A Return to the Shadows part 28
Date: 6/4/01 9:49:32 PM Central Daylight Time
From: KimD
A howl broke the stillness of the night. Victoria's bare feet stepped onto
the cold stone patio. She walked into the night, heedless of the cold. The only
thing that filled her mind was the sound of his voice calling her. Nothing else
could penetrate her mind but his command.
She felt anticipation rise as she caught sight of him. Secretly she wished she
could be free of him. As much as she desired her freedom, she had also been
anticipating this moment. She hated that uncontrollable hunger she felt for
him. She knew that she was incapable of doing anything that would release herself
from him. He would never allow that to happen.
No matter how much she wished for freedom when he called she was filled with
longing, and everything else seemed unimportant. "Barnabas," she whispered as
she drew closer to him. She went early into his waiting embrace. She tilted
her head, giving him full access to her neck. He put his hand under Vicki's
chin and lifted her lips to meet his. The kiss started out gentle, like a soft
caress. But quickly grew in force until in became brutal and violent. Vicki
welcomed the violence for she knew that it would bring the release that she
craved. He kissed a path down the line of her jaw. She shivered with excitement
when she felt his fangs graze her neck. Then came the rush of pleasure when
she felt his teeth pierce her neck. She felt heat go through her body like lightning.
She had felt dead all day, but now she was finally alive.
After they finished he watched her go with sadness and regret. When he had first
met her he had pictured them together many times. But he had never imagined
it would be like this. At one time he had imagined that there could be a cure
for him. He would finally live a normal life, and he would marry Victoria. When
that failed he wanted to stay away from her. He hadn't wanted to inflict this
kind of torment on her. Last night when he bit her shouldn't have happened.
He had been so overcome with jealousy after seeing her with Quentin that he
couldn't control himself. He couldn't change anything now, and he wasn't sure
he would even want to change it. She belonged to him now. Completely.
Julia was surprised the next morning when Mrs. Johnson came to tell her that
Elliot was waiting for her downstairs. Since Angelique disappeared he had nothing
else to do in Collinsport. She had expected no more than a phone call telling
her goodbye. She checked her appearance in the mirror. Her long dark hair was
very neatly pulled back in a braid. She tugged on the glasses that completed
her professional look that at times she had grown to hate.
She went downstairs and found Elliot waiting just inside the doorway. He smiled
as he saw her approaching. "Good morning Elliot," she said as she reached him.
"I thought you would be packing up to leave by now."
"I won't be leaving Collinsport just yet. I've found it to be a more interesting
town than I could have hoped. I still haven't found out about the vampire that
bit Carolyn"
"Elliot," she said cautiously, not sure how to keep him from asking question
that she couldn't answer.
He smiled as if he were amused. "You don't have to worry. I didn't come here
to find out about a vampire." She looked at him curiously. "I wanted to ask
you to have dinner with me tonight. We've nothing urgent to do, and this will
give us a chance to catch up. It will be just like when we worked at New York
University."
"I'd love to," she smiled as she said it. They used to spend several nights
in each others company at Elliot's apartment in New York. He would often cook
for them both, and they would often stay up most of the night talking. They
had become close friends then. He knew her better than anyone else did. To him
she wasn't just smart, reliable Dr. Hoffman, the person you call when there
was a problem, she was just Julia.