Chapter 5: Just Like Antoinette

I dreamt the most splendid dreams that day: Kittie, Nathan, and Dean working together in the restaurant, Dean being drilled by questions about the late 1800s and all the things that he had learned. Dean told the highlights of his life but never delved into too much detail. Nathan and Dean joked back and forth, slightly irritating Kittie.

“If Dana were here, we would have an even match, but you guys are just picking on me!” she pouted.

The guys just laughed, and Nathan gave her a hug. Then I realized what I was seeing wasn’t a dream at all. I was reading their thoughts and mapping a picture of it all in my head.

Kittie had sensed my invasion. “You seek us out even in your bed! Go to sleep! You need your rest, darling.”

Her words compelled me to dissolve the images before me, and I drifted off into a deeper sleep. I had visions of the falling snow and the full moon and other beautiful things in nature.

Some time had elapsed, and I was roused out of my sleep by Dean climbing into the bed and holding me tightly. I began to stir, and he told me to go back to sleep, and he sank his teeth into me. It had the same warm and lulling effect as before, and my eyes felt heavy again. He tore at his wrist with his nails and put it to my lips, and I sucked unconsciously. There we were, locked in a vampire’s kiss.

I woke up and climbed out of bed, leaving Dean wrapped around a pillow instead of me. I walked into the kitchen and made myself a cup of tea. Nathan and Kittie came in through the back door, laughing about something.

“Well, I’m so glad you are awake, sleepyhead,” Nathan said.

“Did you sleep well, hun?” Kittie asked as she made some tea for herself.

“Very well, thank you. Thanks for all of your hospitality,” I answered.

“No problem!” they both said in unison.

“What time is it anyway?” I said as I noticed it was dark outside.

“About five o’clock,” Nathan said.

“So what are we going to do tonight? Dean was telling us about this club in Providence that we should check out. Maybe we could all go together,” Kittie suggested.

“I don’t know what I want to do. I guess I will just follow you guys around. The club was nice; good music and freedom from the normalcy of life. But I am so hungry right now... I wish Dean would wake up so we could go out together. I’ve only hunted once and I’m scared to go alone,” I said, being slightly juvenile.

I took my seat on the couch and brought my knees up to my chest. I had never felt so insatiable before. I could feel the muscles of my stomach contracting and causing horrible hunger pangs.

“When was the last time you ate?” Nathan asked sympathetically.

“Last night. We went to the hospital and I had my first meal,” I replied.

“How many did you kill for your first meal?” Kittie asked.

“One.”

“Only one! No wonder you are hungry! Nathan drank from five hearty men for his first meal, and you drink from one person in the hospital!” she scoffed. “If you want, I can take you to feed.”

“Ummm, I don’t know,” I said.

“I understand if you would rather hunt with Dean, but you need something to eat now! Nathan, go in the fridge and get a thing of cow’s blood and heat it up in the microwave,” she said.

“Cow’s blood?!”

“It’s not the best, but it helps, especially when you are really hungry,” Nathan told me.

He offered me a pouch that looked like the same thing the Red Cross uses when you donate blood. It was just warm enough to feel like human blood. I took a sip through the opening, and it tasted very similar to the real thing. I drank it all and felt my pain go away. I wasn’t completely satisfied as I had been with the man in the hospital, but it was enough for now.

“Thanks guys! I feel so much better,” I said as I got up and walked over to the door. “Let’s go outside or something. I’m bored!”

“I think we should wake Dean up and go out to the mall or to dinner,” Nathan said.

“Yeah, you get to go to fancy French restaurants and the sort while we live like peasants here!” Kittie said to me with mock jealousy.

“You act like I was born yesterday. Oh wait ... I was, but that’s not the point. I know you guys are rolling in the money as well. You only spent about half of it when you bought the house, cars, and restaurant! And Kittie has the house in Alaska and the private plane,” I said, sticking out my tongue.

We all laughed, and I gave Nathan a punch in the shoulder. The Dark Trick had worked in unusual ways on him. He seemed far more muscular than he ever was, his face and body slimmed down and toned up. It was even as if he had grown taller. His hair was no longer that giant mop of brown locks it had been before; it was now just subtly wavy and down to just before his shoulders, and he had ditched the bangs. But the one thing it could never change was his eyes. Eyes that seemed to stare into your soul and mesmerize you.