Page 2 of A Vampire's Pain
I smiled, yet even though I had a sure thing here, that hollow feeling suddenly came crashing back, making me lose my smile. It took over, killing the excited feeling I had just had. It had been doing that more and more lately. If the game was too easy, then it would push forward and take over. I swallowed hard, trying to drown the feeling and find my smile again.
“You go first,” I said. “Let us have some fun pretending.”
She smiled even bigger, slowly letting me go.
“Strangers just randomly meeting?” she asked.
“Aren’t we strangers still?” I asked.
She chuckled and nodded.
“Then I will go first. Come find me,” she teased me.
I smiled, watching her walk away before I grabbed a drink on the nearby table as soon as she was out of there, and then I downed it in one go, trying to just kill that dark feeling that was spreading inside of me.
I don’t want this!
My wolf finally voiced his complaint. I often kept him on a tight leash, never letting him out, because we never agreed on the same thing. We were so opposites. He hated the games. I liked them because they offered a distraction.
“Shut up,” I mumbled, grabbing another drink.
I loosened my tie a little before downing the drink. My heart was pumping harder, and I felt like the room was growing smaller. Fuck, I hated it when this hollow feeling got the best of me. It always made me feel so suffocated. Why could it not just leave me alone?!
“Gabriel.”
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I looked behind me, seeing Ace. He must have seen me starting to freak out. He knew this side of me. He knew about the hollow feeling and how it could take over my very being. He knew so much about me actually. He was my best friend.
“Let’s go outside,” he said.
I nodded, and he slowly led me outside, knowing I felt unsteady on my legs. When we came outside, there was a big staircase leading down to the garden, and I stopped on top of it, just taking a big mouthful of air into my lungs until I felt calm enough.
“Another drink?” he asked.
“Please,” I said, sounding almost desperate, like an addict.
He nodded and walked inside again. I loosened my tie even more and unbuttoned the first button, not that it did much, while I kept trying to control my breathing, but it wasn’t enough! It simply wasn’t …
Suddenly, something sweet hit my nose.
I started to sniff the air without thinking. The scent was so faint, yet it gave me a small idea of where it was coming from. What was this? It smelled like … violets. I started to walk down the stairs, forgetting all about Ace and the drink. My heart started to beat at a different rhythm. It was still fast, but steadier than the wild and uncontrolled one.
Where was it coming from?
I ended up walking among the big bushes that made it impossible for me to see very far, but I could smell it. Something sweet was hanging in the air, and everything in me screamed that I needed to find it. I continued to walk ahead until I hit the big wall that surrounded our house.
“Nothing …” I whispered.
Of course, it was nothing. I shouldn’t have followed it, I told myself. I was being stupid, yet I noticed I was no longer feeling so suffocated. Whatever that smell was, it had helped me. I turned around and started to walk through the garden again, when I heard another crunching sound, not coming from me. I stopped, listening to the sound coming closer and closer, when suddenly out of the dark a woman appeared. She had her back turned to me, but that smell I had followed … It was hers! It was so strong now that she had appeared. She looked around, looking so confused, until she finally turned to me, her dark green eyes locking with mine.
“Oh, I think I’m lost. Which way to the party?” she asked with a voice that went straight to my heart, now forever engraved in my memory.
Mate!
Fucking hell …
Chapter 2
-Valeri-
