Abandoned

Van Helsing blood shall sour and spoil.

Should demons touch, their souls will boil,

Sent back to hell for pain and toil."

Amber stared at me. "So it's a curse?"

"More like a protective enchantment. A Romani woman from Transylvania placed it on my family more than a century ago. A vampire was slaughtering women outside Bucharest, where both her daughters lived. She asked my great-great grandfather to hunt down the creature and kill it. She had no money to pay for his travels, so in exchange for his help, she promised to cast an enchantment to protect all the generations of his family."

"Why didn't she just cast it on her daughters?"

"The recipient of a blessing or curse has to be present to receive it."

"Uh-huh. Guess I missed that class at Hogwarts. Do you have any idea how batshit crazy this all sounds?"

"Crazier than you being a vampire?" I asked.

Amber glared at me.

"Anyway," I continued, "ever since then, my relatives have traveled the world, hunting vampires."

"And you were hunting me?"

"No! Not exactly."

"What's that mean, 'not exactly'?"

"My dad has been pushing me to get involved in the family business. Take on my first assignment. He's been tracking a vampire in this area for more than a year with no luck.

"A few weeks ago, he finally caught a break: small game found dead in the woods, not far from our storage units. Drained of blood.

"It had all the marks of a fledgling vampire, probably turned by accident. He wanted me to find it and track it. See if it might lead us to its maker."

"My maker? Gross. James didn't make me. He murdered me. You get that, right?"

"Sorry."

"So, you tracked me to that storage unit?"

"No. I told my dad I didn't want any part of his assignment. I said that I wasn't a vampire hunter, and I didn't want to learn how to be one."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. He was pissed. It surprised the shit out of me when I found you in there."

She opened her palm and held out the stakes. "These aren't yours?"

"No. My grandfather's, probably. I never got around to cleaning out his shed after I moved in."

Amber rubbed her temples. "This is a lot to take in."

"I know. I could use a drink. Can we go inside? I'm freezing."

We headed back to the house. Amber tossed the stakes on the kitchen counter while I poured myself a bourbon. She pulled a glass from the cabinet, poured herself some blood from the refrigerator, and set the bottle on the counter next to the stakes.

We sipped our drinks in silence. Amber sighed and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"I was just thinking about my rotten luck with men. Take the last two guys I met. One was a vampire who killed me. The next was a vampire hunter who almost killed me again. That's a pretty lousy streak."

"They sound like two assholes to me."

"Damn straight."

We fell back into silence as the minutes ticked by. Then Amber set her glass down and stiffened.

"Do you hear that?" she asked.

"I don't hear anything."

But then I did hear it. The sound of tires crunching up the gravel road. I walked to the living room window. A red pickup appeared a few seconds later, snaking its way up the path toward the house.

"That's my dad's truck," I said, running back to the kitchen.

"Your dad? What's he doing here?"

"No idea. He never visits. We see each other enough at work."

"Shit!" Amber said. "Put all this away!"

She snatched her crimson-stained glass, but her elbow hit the bottle of blood. It tipped onto its side and rolled toward the edge of the counter. Amber and I glanced at each other, then lunged for it at the same time.

We were too late. The bottle slipped over the edge of the counter and exploded on the floor, splashing blood everywhere.

"Fuck!" Amber shouted. "What do we do?"

"Hide," I said. "I'll pretend I'm not home."

"Won't work. He saw your lights on."

"Well, we can't let him in! The kitchen is covered in blood and there are wooden stakes on the counter."

The truck was halfway to the house.

"Okay," Amber said. "Stay calm. Just invite him in, introduce me as your girlfriend, and we'll keep him out of the kitchen."

"He's a vampire hunter and you have fangs. What's the plan, never open your mouth?"

"Then you think of something!"

We were out of time. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the living room.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Take off your shirt."

"What? No!"

"Take it off! Trust me."

She glared at me but whipped off her shirt.

"Bra too."

"No way!"

I sat on the couch and yanked her on top of me. She straddled my lap. The plan must have clicked in her head because she unhooked her bra and tossed it on the floor.

"Make it look real," I said. "Intense."

She cupped my face with both hands and pulled me into a deep kiss. My hands caressed the smooth skin of her back, then I traced my fingertips down her sides until I reached her waist. I moved her hips back and forth against my hardening cock. She took the hint and began moving on her own, grinding her pelvis into mine.

I heard the tires crunch to a halt on the gravel, followed by the sound of the door slamming closed.

I trailed kisses down Amber's neck. She arched back as I continued down the middle of her chest. I supported her back with one hand and used the other to cup her breast, bringing it closer to my mouth.

I kissed and licked her areola until the skin pebbled and drew taut around her hard nipple. My tongue found the sensitive bud, flicking and teasing.

I heard the sharp rap of knuckles on the front door. Amber stiffened.

"Pretend you don't hear," I said. "It's unlocked."

I drew her nipple into my mouth. She moaned, slid her fingers through my hair, and pulled my head tighter against her chest.

Another knock. Louder this time.

Amber's hips continued to grind into me. I turned my attention to her other breast just as the door creaked open and my father's face appeared in the crack.

"Abe?" he called. "Abe, are you—"

Amber shrieked and crossed her arms over her chest, turning to hide her face from the intruder. My dad froze halfway across the threshold. His eyes widened in shock.

"Dad!" I shouted. "What the hell!"

"Oh, God! Sorry. Sorry! I tried knock... I should've ... talk tomorrow."

He slammed the door so hard I thought the window might break. He must have jogged to his truck, because in no time it was retreating down the gravel road at a much quicker clip than it had arrived.

I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Amber. She was grinning.

"That was brilliant," she said.

"It was desperate."

"Do you think he saw anything? I got a little carried away."

"I hope not." I glanced at her breasts. "You'd give him a heart attack."

Her hips continued to move in slow circles against me.

"I've felt so ashamed," she said. "Every time you looked at me, I thought you saw a monster. But this whole time, you weren't scared that I'd hurt you. You were scared that you'd hurt me."

I nodded. "I could never forgive myself."

"That curse or enchantment or whatever. Does anyone else know about it?"

"It's our family's most closely guarded secret. My dad would kill me if he knew I told anyone. Especially a vampire."

"Then why did you tell me?"

I watched as the light danced and sparkled within her blue eyes.

"Because I trust you," I said.

She leaned forward and mashed her lips to mine. I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her tight. Her skin was cool, but it quickly absorbed the heat from my body, and soon it felt no different than my own. Her hips moved with increasing urgency until our bodies seemed to melt together.

She shoved my shoulders back, forcing my tongue from her mouth. Her eyes were glazed with lust.

"Take off your pants," she said.

She stood, and I pushed down my pants as she stepped out of hers. Then she was on me again, her bare skin pressed to mine. Her slick folds found my hard shaft and pressed it flat against my abdomen. She dragged herself along my length and moaned into my mouth.

I cupped her ass and helped her move, working her dripping pussy up and down my shaft.

"I need you inside me," she groaned.

I lifted her ass and pulled her to the top of my shaft, the head of my cock teasing her entrance, then slid her back down without entering her. She moaned in frustration, and I repeated the motion, tugging her slowly up my shaft and slipping inside her opening for just a moment before pulling out again and dragging her clit back down my cock.

I kept at it until she was whimpering and shuddering with need.

"Stop teasing. Please. I need it."

I slipped inside her, then back out again.

"Need what?"

"You."

I shortened my strokes, not allowing the tip of my cock to reach her entrance. She tried to lift herself higher, but I pushed her back down.

"What do you need?"

She mewled into my ear. She could have easily overcome my resistance, but I sensed she enjoyed my being in control.

"Say it," I demanded.

"Fuck me. I need you to fuck me."

I lifted her ass and found her opening. I thrust up as I pulled her hips down, burying myself inside her in a single stroke.

"Yes!" she hissed. "Give it to me."

She crashed into my lap as I drove my hips upward again and again. The pleasure was incandescent, beyond anything I'd experienced. The wet slap of our bodies filled the room as her juices coated my shaft. Within a few minutes, she came, screaming into my shoulder as her pussy convulsed around my cock.

I rocked her quivering hips against me, burrowing as deeply as I could inside her soft, warm depths.

When she'd finished, she slumped backward. I supported her back and shoulders with my arms. With my lips and tongue, I lavished her chest with kisses, exploring every inch of her breasts. By the time I drew her nipple into my mouth, she was ready again, moving her hips against me and running her fingers through my hair.

I shifted her onto her back and kissed her. She wrapped her legs around me and ripped open my shirt as if it were tissue paper. As I propped myself above her, she ran her palms along the muscles of my chest, up to my shoulders, and then down along my arms, coming to rest on my biceps.

Her lips found mine and I began to move inside her. I started slowly, but desire soon overtook me, and I broke the kiss so that I could move faster. I tilted my hips as I searched her eyes, allowing her face to tell me when I'd found the right angle. Once I found it, I kept a steady pace, driving into her as she built toward another orgasm.

When her legs started to rise and her moans grew louder, I knew she was close. I was too.

"Yes," she said. "Right there. Oh, fuck. So close."

"That's it. Come for me, baby." I moved faster, pounding into her. "Come on my cock."

Her breasts danced in circles on her chest as her eyes grew wide.

"Oh, fuck. I am. I'm coming! I'm com—"

Her back arched and she slapped the couch with her palms as she squirmed and writhed below me. I pinned her hips to the couch and buried my cock inside her as I erupted.

After she'd milked the last drop of cum from my cock, I collapsed on top of her, spent. She traced her fingers up and down my back as we both caught our breath. I kissed her neck as my cock slowly softened inside her.

"You're such an asshole," she said.

"How do you figure?" I asked, nibbling her earlobe.

"I'm supposed to be furious at you for lying to me." She gave me a gentle shove. "You deserve it, you know."

I raised my head and met her eyes. "I know."

"But you're lucky. Instead, all I can think about is how soon we'll be able to do that again."

I smiled. "Is that right?"

"Mm-hmm. So, how long until you're ready to go?"

"Only one way to find out." I lowered my lips to hers.

It didn't take long.

*******

My dad was waiting in the office when I arrived at work the next evening. He sat behind a gray metal desk, thumbing through a tall stack of manilla folders filled with rental contracts.

"You're late," he said, not glancing up from the folders.

"Ten minutes."

"Late is late."

It pissed me off that he was trying to force an apology from me over something so trivial.

"Hey, before you barge into my house next time, how about you try texting or calling first."

"I did," he said, finally looking at me. "You didn't answer."

No shit, I thought. I was pinned against my shed by a vampire at the time.

"That's not like you," he continued. "Thought something might be wrong."

"Thanks, but I can take care of myself."

He scooped some of the folders from the stack and transferred them to an open drawer. "Had any luck tracking that fledgling?"

"I told you. I'm not tracking anything."

"Figured as much. If you'd done like I asked, you'd know the trail's gone cold."

My pulse quickened. "You've been tracking it?"

He nodded. "Here's what I don't get. Why were exsanguinated animals lying around the woods? Any vampire, even a brand new one, should know better."

"Maybe this one's not too bright."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's very bright. Maybe it wanted someone to find those animals." He stood and started to pace around the desk. "But then why would the carcasses suddenly stop appearing? It doesn't make sense."

I said nothing. I didn't like where the conversation was headed, and I hoped my silence would put an end to it.

"Are you even listening to me, Abe?"

"Yeah, Dad," I snapped. "But I don't know the answer to your question. And to be honest, I don't really care."

He slammed the desk drawer shut. "I'll never understand you. There's another killer loose out there. How can you not care?"

"Because I don't want it to consume my life like it has yours."

He glared at me across the desk. "I may not be perfect, but at least I serve others. Only person you seem interested in serving is yourself."

"Oh, you serve others, do you? What about serving your family?"

"Stop it. I was always there for you."

"You know how many different schools I went to growing up? All so you could hop around the country hunting vampires? I lost count. But I could count how many friends I had every time I walked into a new building. Zero."

"This conversation's over."

"You were all I had left in this world after mom died. I was just a terrified eight-year-old kid. In my head, cancer was this formless monster that could be lurking anywhere, inside any of us. What if it took you next?

"And then I found out what you did for a living. What you really did. I found out there were other monsters, real ones, lurking out there in the dark. And instead of avoiding them, my dad went looking for them."

"I had no choice. You know that. Even if you act like you don't."

"You did have a choice. You could have chosen me!" I took a breath and lowered my voice. "I begged you to stop. To just not do it anymore. But you never listened."

"There's evil in this world, son. Closing your eyes to it won't make it go away."

"I respect what you do, Dad. I do. But I hope to have a family one day. I want them to have happy, normal lives. I don't want them lying awake at night, like I did, wondering whether their dad will be there when they wake up."

He stood and patted the remaining stack of folders. "Gonna leave the rest of these for you. Flag anybody more than a month late on payment and email them a reminder. Then finish that project in unit 13."

He opened the door to leave, then paused and turned to face me.

"Look, Abe. I've been doing this a long time, and, I don't know. Something feels off about this one. I can't explain it. You catch wind of anything suspicious, you tell me, okay? You tell me right away."

"I will."

"You promise?"

"Yeah. I promise."

He nodded and closed the door.

*******

When I got home, Amber was waiting for me in my bedroom, wearing nothing but the red thong I'd bought for her. It looked even better than I'd imagined.

After we wore each other out, she nuzzled next to me in bed, her left leg draped over my waist. She traced her fingers along my chest and kissed my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your eyes. I can tell you're distracted."

I'd been staring at the ceiling fan, my eyes unfocused, watching the blurred circle of blades slice through the air.

"Nothing. Just an argument I had with my dad at work."

"About vampire hunting?"

I nodded.

"He still wants you to track me? Find the vampire who made me? Kill us?"

"Something like that," I said. I didn't want to go into details.

"I've been thinking about that too. Maybe he's right."

My eyes refocused and drifted from the ceiling fan to Amber's face. I studied her eyes. "You're serious?"

"Since that bastard left me in your storage unit, I've been filled with rage. What he did was worse than killing me. If I were dead, it would just mean oblivion, blackness, nothing. I'd be at peace.

"But the world I knew and the people I loved are still here. Only, I can never see them again. It's like I'm watching them from behind a pane of glass, and I'm pounding my fists and screaming, 'I'm here! I'm right here!,' but they can't hear me. They'll never hear me."

Her eyes moistened, but she fought back the tears.

"I never want someone else to feel this way. I never want him to hurt anyone else the way he hurt me. If I knew where he was, I'd rip out his fucking throat right now."

"You told me he'd kill you if you tried to find him," I said.

"Then he'd be doing me a favor."

I squeezed her hand. "You don't mean that."

"I do. You're the only thing keeping me afloat right now. If you hadn't found me ..."

I propped myself up on my elbow. "You really want to track him down?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Okay. Tomorrow afternoon I'll pay a visit to the guy whose name is on the rental contract for your unit. See what I can find out. He lives in a mobile home park not far from here."

She smiled. "You've already started searching for him, haven't you?"

"Look, don't get your hopes up. This guy hasn't responded to any of our late payment notices. He probably moved or something."

"Abandon hope. Got it."

"You know what I mean."

"How long has he been renting the unit?" she asked.

I knew where she was going. "About a year."

"So maybe I'm not the first girl he's stashed there."

"Maybe not."

"Then let's make sure I'm the last."

*******

I climbed the warped wooden steps leading to Zach Fischer's home and knocked three times on the door. A thin man wearing wire-rimmed glasses answered. He looked to be in his early 40s.

"Mr. Fischer?"

He scratched the top of his shaved head. "Who's asking?"

"Sir, my name's Hans Levin. I run the self-storage facility where you're renting. Unit C-42?"

I waited for him to say something, but he only nodded.

"Sorry to bother you at home, but we haven't had any luck reaching you by phone or email. Are you aware that you're three months behind on rent?"

I wasn't about to tell Zach we'd already cleaned out his unit. The last thing I wanted to do was panic him. If word got back to James, he'd realize Amber had been discovered, and we'd all be in danger. Better to let Zach think he was late.

"Well, I might have missed a few payments here and there, but I'm sure it hasn't been three months."

"It has, actually. And if you're not able to pay by the end of the month, we'll have no choice but to declare the unit abandoned and confiscate its contents."

His eyes grew wide. "Confiscate? Shit. Are you serious?"

"I'm afraid so. See, your contract—"

"You can't do that! It's not my stuff! I don't even know what's in there."