บท 5: Instinct

Roaring in pain and fury, Damien lunged forward. This time, Dezzy's hand slipped, and he was able to pull out of her grasp. He crossed the floor in three paces, clutching the vampire's collar in his fist and bodily lifting him up, pinning him to the wall.

"What sort of life did you expect me to have after that? Did you even consider what you condemned me to, leaving me like that?" Damien demanded, pulling forward and slamming the vampire against the wall again. "Did you think it was kind? Generous?"

The vampire stared at him, dull red eyes drooping into a slow, measured blink. His black lashes were thick and long, and he gazed up through them to meet Damien's eyes. There was not an ounce of remorse in his expression, nor pity, nor shame. "It was petulant," the vampire answered. "And stupid. Clearly, I should have finished the job."

Damien stiffened, reacting to the threat with a snarl, the hair on the back of his neck bristling. "You wouldn't dare," he growled.

The vampire just blinked again, equally slow, seemingly uncaring.

The longer the vampire refused to react, the angrier Damien felt. Did this confrontation mean nothing to him? Did he really not think at all about the anguish and misery he'd caused that night? Damien shoved the vampire against the wall again, so hard that the man's head bounced forward after the impact. Damien pushed his face close to the vampire's, inhaling sharply, planning to say something threatening. Before his mind could form the words, though, something strange and deeply unsettling happened. As he took the breath in through his nose, he caught a hint of the vampire's scent. It hit him like a nose-full of fragrance, almost burning his nasal passages with the intensity of it. The smell resonated with a part of him buried so deep that it was almost forgotten, now clawing its way back to the surface of his consciousness.

The scent sunk its claws into his brain, sending a full-body shiver down his spine. His fingers spasmed in their grip on the vampire's collar, and Damien's mouth fell open instinctively. He snapped his mouth shut a moment later, but it had happened, and it was too late to conceal his reaction. Rather than remain close to the vampire, whose pleasantly masculine scent had somehow sparked a visceral reaction of something other than rage, Damien stepped back, releasing his grip on the vampire's clothes.

The man slumped to the floor, his body limp like a new corpse. A moment later, he seemed to regain control of his limbs, carefully peeling himself up off the floor and giving Damien a narrow-eyed look of distrust. "Watch yourself, little pup," the vampire said. "I don't take kindly to creatures who put their hands on me."

Damien wanted to snarl some sort of threat back, but his tongue felt stupid in his mouth and his thoughts had scattered to the wind. He couldn't seem to pull words together, his heart pounding so loudly in his chest he thought it quite likely that everyone in the room could hear it beating faster and faster. Part of him knew already, exactly what was happening to him. But a much larger part of him was clinging desperately to denial.

Unable to form words in the midst of his internal turmoil, Damien took another step backwards, and then another.

The vampire sighed heavily, turning to Damien's mother. "I do thank you for your hospitality," he said, carefully straightening his collar and dusting off his clothes, shooting a momentary look of irritation in Damien's direction. "I apologize for the disturbance."

"Yes, well," mother said, giving the vampire one of her sharpest looks of disapproval, "perhaps this will be the last time."

"I certainly hope so," the vampire said. "I try not to make a habit of being poisoned."

Mother continued to glare at him until he had the decency to look a bit chagrined.

"I do apologize for any unnecessary distress my presence has caused," the vampire added.

Mother sighed. "Young man," she said, in her most scolding tone, "perhaps you would be wise to consider the impact of your behavior before you act, rather than attempting to smooth things over with a pitiful apology once you've already made a fool of yourself."

"A fool of myself!" the vampire drew himself up, appearing genuinely affronted by the accusation.

Mother just stared at him for a few more seconds. Slowly, the puffed-out chest and straightened shoulders began to slouch, curling inwards.

"Very well," the vampire said, then turned to Dezzy. "My good demoness. Thank you for the use of your blood." He swept into a bow.

Dezzy grumbled under her breath. Damien thought she might be saying something like 'if I'd have known…', but the vampire apparently chose not to pay her grumbling any mind.

"Young pup," he added, and plucked awkwardly at his still-wrinkled collar as if assessing the damage done and finding it unremarkable, "for what it's worth, I'm glad you've made a place for yourself, despite everything you've endured. It's admirable."

Damien snarled back, "I don't need to hear that from you!"

Again, the vampire chose to pointedly ignore the comment, turning instead to Damien's mother. "Thank you again for sparing my life," he said. "Would I could repay the debt of your kindness."

"Would that you could," mother answered wryly. "Do be cautious in the coming days. You may need additional treatment to ensure the blood poisoning is fully cleared from your body."

The vampire swept into another bow. "I will keep that in mind."

"Send word if you have need of medicine," mother said.

Damien wanted to protest, but he barely got a strangled half-word out before his mother turned to him, a single glance enough to tell him that it was not his place to decide who she treated. She'd always welcomed everyone to her shop, no matter how awful. As much as Damien had hoped this monster would be the exception, he wasn't particularly surprised.

"I will," the vampire said, then glanced around the room once more. "I hope I shan't have need of you again."

"We all hope that," Damien piped up, his upper lip curling to reveal his fangs.

The vampire curled his own lip back at Damien, revealing his own wickedly sharp teeth.

Damien felt something entirely unwelcome stirring in the pit of his stomach, and quickly turned away to try and erase the sensation from his traitorous body.

"Take care now," mother said, and Damien heard the door creak open, followed by the soft sounds of footsteps. "Be careful of the sunlight." A moment later, the door closed again, and Damien felt the tension in his body drain away as he realized the vampire was finally gone.

"Damien?" Dezzy said quietly, laying a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

Damien swallowed hard. No, he wasn't okay. He was pretty sure he'd just imprinted on a cold-blooded killer. What was he supposed to do now? It wasn't like he could control what his wolf wanted in a mate. But what did it say about him, that his instincts wanted that monster to be his fated love? It was too horrible to consider.

"I think," Damien said, in a quiet, listless voice, "I want to go back to bed."