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Groggily, she climbed out of the bed and walked toward the living room, her bare feet carrying her through the apartment soundlessly.
When she saw Seth sitting on the couch watching a movie, she could only stop and stare. The dim light didn’t conceal how handsome he was. Her body ached to go to him, to feel his arms around her again. Looking at the screen of the television, she tried to see what had him completely engrossed, what had him spellbound to the point he hadn’t heard her approach.
After a few moments she recognized the movie. The horribly burned face would be almost impossible to not recognize.
She walked up behind him and stared in fascination at how absorbed he was in the story.
“Seth?” She called his name quietly, careful not to touch him. After all, she hated it when people snuck up on her while she was watching a horror movie and scared the bejeezus out of her.
He jumped up and jerked back as though the monster from the screen had come to life.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. Why are you watching Nightmare on Elm Street?”
He didn’t answer her immediately. Turning, he watched the screen for a few moments as the villain gave an evil laugh. “I wanted to hear the rhyme,” he answered without looking at her.
“Rhyme?” Willow asked confused.
“Is that what you think of me? Do you see me as some monster who will invade your dreams and terrorize you?”
He sounded hurt, so lost. The conversation they had at the bar came flooding back to her. “Oh…” She didn’t know what to say. Now that she’d gotten a decent night’s sleep, she was thinking much clearer. She walked around the couch and sat on the opposite side of him. “Seth, I—I’m not sure what to thi
nk.” She reached over and grabbed the remote, cutting the television off and forcing him to look at her. “What am I supposed to think of you? You are a complete contradiction. You give me the best sex of my life and make me think that you are at least part god, but then I find out you’ve been drinking my blood. Just taking something from me…”
“Would you have given me permission? Do you think you would have said ‘No, I don’t mind, drink all you want’?”
Willow shook her head. “I don’t know what I would have said because I was never given the chance. I don’t know, maybe I would have said ‘go for it,’ thinking it was some weird fetish, or you were just a freak. Maybe I would have said ‘no way, no how,’ and walked away. Maybe someday I’ll be queen of the universe and all will bow before my glory. The point is you didn’t have any right to make the decision for me.”
“You’re right, and it was wrong of me. But I’m not exactly accustomed to just telling everyone I know—women that I pick up in a bar—that I’m a vampire.”
“I don’t care what you do with everyone else!” She certainly didn’t like hearing about him picking up other women. “I can forgive—hell, I can ignore the first time you did it. You didn’t know me from Eve. I understand you wouldn’t want your secret out. But after that, after you invited me to stay here with you, I had a right to know.”
“What do you want me to say? You’re right. And ‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t begin to cover how I feel.”
“But would you feel the same way if I hadn’t found out your secret?” She stood and started to pace across the room. “Would you still be sitting here telling me how sorry you are if I hadn’t run out of here?”
“I was planning on telling you. I was going to tell you the night you found out.” He looked away from her.
“What happened?” she asked curiously, stepping closer.
“I was afraid you would run from me. That you would freak-out and run screaming from my apartment wearing nothing but what you had on at the time. I just wanted one more taste.” He turned to look into her eyes. “I just needed one more taste of you, in case you decided to leave.”
She was speechless. What could she say? She had reacted exactly as he believed she would when she found out the truth.
“I didn’t know vampires’ stomachs growled,” she changed the subject.
“They don’t.”
“Then how…why… Now I’m confused.” She sat back down on the couch, facing him.
Seth gave a bitter laugh. “Join the club, swe…Willow.”
“You never answered my question earlier. Did you feed after I left?”
“Every night. More than once on some nights.” He watched her as he spoke. Was he trying to gauge her reaction?
Willow felt an instant surge of anger rush up from his answer. She clenched her jaw to prevent herself from spitting an insult at him, reminding herself it was none of her business whom he “ate”.
“But it didn’t seem to matter,” he continued. “No one satisfied me. No one was able to ease my thirst, my pain. No one, until you did last night.”
