“There’s no easy way to tell you,” Charles said, his voice low so the next table of diners at the pricey and elegant restaurant wouldn’t hear. “I’ve met someone else. I’m not sure where it’s going, but I want to see it through.”

Diana blinked and thought she must be having a nightmare. Charles couldn’t have said those words. They loved each other. They were soul mates. He could not possibly want to leave her.

“What does that mean?” she asked with amazing composure.

“I don’t know.” He covered her hand with his own.

“Do you want me to move out?”

“No. At least, not yet. Let me see how it works out with Heather.”

Diana had to force herself to breath. “Your secretary?” she uttered in shock. How could it end like this? How could a love she had thought so unique end in such an utterly common manner? How could it happen without her knowledge? Shouldn’t there have been warning signs? Shouldn’t they have at least had a fight?

“How long?” she forced herself to ask.

Charles’ face hardened and he withdrew his hand from hers. “Does it matter?”

“How long?” she repeated, with a touch of hysteria creeping in her voice.

He leaned forward. “For God’s sake don’t make a scene.”

“How long?” she insisted, unable to keep the tears from welling in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

“Jesus!” he muttered, his eyes searching for the waiter to bring him the check. “I can’t believe you’re making a scene.”

“I am not making a scene,” she curtly replied, using her napkin to dry her eyes. “Just tell me how long.”

“Six months.”

“Six months!” Diana exclaimed. She thought back to all the good times they had had in the last six months. Was it possible? Mother of God! How could she not have known? Where were the signs? This wasn’t possible. She must be dreaming.

The sick pit in her stomach told her it wasn’t a dream. She stood and looked about the room for a means to escape this nightmare. “I need some air.”

“I’ll get the check and we’ll leave.” Charles continued to look about for the waiter.

“No. I’d rather walk home by myself.”

“Don’t be stupid. I’ll drive you.”

Stupid. Yes, she must have been very stupid not to see any signs. “I need time to understand this. I’ll walk.”

“Diana, it’s not safe.”

Diana looked at him in utter confusion. “Do you think I care? You just ripped my heart out and you’re worried about my safety? If someone kills me tonight, they’ll just be doing me a grand favor by putting me out of my misery.”

Before he could argue, Diana left the restaurant, leaving him behind, still waiting for the waiter to bring the check.

***

Xavier sensed her presence several moments before he located her silhouette walking across the Battery Park pier. He could almost taste her misery and sadness. He could feel her desire to die and was perfectly willing to oblige her. However, he would have to hurry if he intended to do so. He was not the only one who had singled her out for death tonight. A serial killer called the Wall Street Stalker waited like a spider for her to enter his web at the entrance of the Battery. 

***

Diana softly gasped in surprise when the man stepped out from the shadows. Instinctively, she knew he was a harbinger of death who intended to kill her, not by his looks, for he was well dressed and rather handsome, but rather by his eyes, deep and endless pits of nothingness. She sighed, relieved that soon this terrible pain ripping through her soul would end.

His voice soft and mesmerizing cut through the chilly night air. “Are you alone?”

Diana could not stop the renewed tears the question caused. She nodded in response. She was utterly alone.

“It is not safe to walk this park at night. You could be hurt.”

When she didn’t respond, he added, “Do you wish to die?”

She opened her eyes. Was she wrong about the man? Was he only a concerned citizen doing his good deed for the night? She had been so certain he meant to kill her. Before she could thank him for his concern, she noticed another shadow moving towards the man. “Look out!” she cried, giving the man sufficient time to turn and defend himself against the attacker. He easily overpowered the man welding a knife. Then he opened his mouth wide and sank long white fangs into the attacker’s neck.

So she was to die after all. She sighed with relief. Soon her pain would end.

***

When Xavier finished feeding on the blood of the Wall Street Stalker, he lifted the body and tossed it over the pier railing into the Hudson River.  He turned to look at the young woman. He was amazed she had not attempted to run. Self-preservation was usually a strong motivator in humans.

As he approached her, she exposed her neck in invitation. Amazing. He had never known a human so willing to die. Although the hunger was no longer on him, the sweet smell of her blood, offered so willingly, was too much temptation.

He pulled her to him and gently bit into her neck with his piercing sharp teeth. She tensed at the first moment of pain, but then relaxed, accepting her inevitable death.

As Xavier tasted her blood, he glimpsed into her life.  The first sensations were the pain and grief of the night. The restaurant scene was replayed and he was filled with her misery. Then her memories moved back to earlier times and he learned what she was before this night. The lightness of her soul tasted so sweet it made his mind reel with desire.

He pulled back. Had he not fed immediately before tasting her, he would have never been able to stop until he had drained every drop of her delicious life force from her body. However, Xavier had learned to control his natural desires during his lifespan of over two thousand years.

He lifted her into his arms and carried her to his apartments. He laid her on a guest bed and felt her heart. He could feel a faint beat. He tested her blood and determined she was O positive. He went to his refrigerator where he always kept a supply of blood and selected a bag. With the ease of the paramedic he often impersonated, he began the transfusion of blood into her body.

***

Diana woke in a hazy fog. Am I dead? Why would I be dead? Then she remembered the man at the pier. Yes, I must be dead. She forced herself to sit up in the bed. Looking around at the glistening mahogany wood dresser and black leather chair, she doubted her conclusion. Surely heaven would look a little less like an upscale condo and more ethereal in nature?

She swung her feet over the edge of the bed. However, the moment she stood, she fainted and collapsed to the floor.

When she awoke, she lay once again on the bed. How strange, she thought, until she saw the man watching her from across the room. There was something odd about him…what was it? Suddenly the image of his fangs ripping into the man’s throat came back to her. Ah, yes. He’s a vampire.

She sat up. “I didn’t think vampires really existed. I thought they were just fodder for B movies and novels.”

The man walked into the lamp light and sat down on the edge of her bed, taking her wrist into his, feeling for her pulse.

“We don’t go out of our way to verify our reality.” He smiled at her. “My name is Xavier Damond.”

“Why didn’t you kill me?” Diana felt the pain return as she remembered why she had been walking the pier.

Xavier stared at her several moments before returning her wrist to her lap. “I had already fed. I thought I’d save you for a later meal.”

Casey leaned back, exposing her neck, “Are you hungry now?”

***

Xavier leaned forward, pressing his face into the curve of her neck and let his teeth scrap gently across the warm flesh. He wanted to sink his fangs deep into her neck, to taste the sweetness of her soul again, but he knew it was too soon. The blood in her body was not hers and would not bear her sweetness. He must wait at least a week before her blood would replenish itself.

He forced himself to pull back. He turned her face towards him and waited for her to open her eyes. When she finally did, he asked, “Are you so anxious to die?”

“Yes.”

Xavier shook his head in amazement. “All because of a broken heart.” He shook his head. “In time, you would have recovered.”

“I don’t see how. A huge piece of me has been torn out. I don’t think this wound is recoverable, nor do I even wish it to be.”

Xavier frowned and shook his head. “You are a romantic.”

“I was.” Tears welled in her eyes.

Xavier tilted her chin up so he could see her face. “Do you see me as a romantic figure?”

She breathed in and out as if in pain. “I see you as death and an end to my misery.”

“Well, no doubt that will happen. But I do not feed for your convenience. So you will have to wait.”

She frowned. “How long?”

“A week, perhaps more.”

She looked quite miserable at the prospect of living so long. “Is there no other vampire that could feed on me now?”

Xavier laughed at the absurdity of the situation: a mortal demanding to die. “I would kill any vampyre who entered my feeding zone.”

“Then let me go and I will die some other way.”

He cupped her chin with his strong grip and squeezed until she flinched in pain. “You belong to me, now. The moment you stepped out on that pier, you forfeited your life. It is mine to do with as I like. Do you understand?”

Tears welled in her eyes, but these were at least tears of pain and not misery.

“I can cause you great pain without killing you, so do not challenge me again.” He then released his grip.

Her hand touched her jaw. For a moment, he thought he would have to hurt her more, but finally she nodded her head.

“Good,” he said more gently. “What is your name?”

“Diana,” she replied.

Xavier leaned towards her full pouting lips.

Diana pulled back in surprise. “What are you doing?”

Xavier placed one hand behind her neck to prevent further withdraw. “I am about to kiss you.”

“But you’re a vampire.”

Xavier smiled. “That does not preclude my desire to kiss you.”

When his lips touched her warm soft skin, he felt a hint of the same sweetness he had tasted in her blood. There was a purity inside her that he inexplicably craved. His kiss was soft and gentle. He made certain his teeth did not cut and cause her pain.

When he ended the kiss and pulled back, he studied her expression. “Well?”

Diana’s eyes rounded  and her forehead crinkled in puzzlement. “That was very odd.”

“How so?” He had hoped for a reaction a little more enthusiastic.

“Your lips are cool to the touch, but they seemed to make my lips burn in response.”

Xavier smiled at her explanation. “And did you like the sensation?”

“I’m not sure.” She looked into his eyes and he felt his world tilt.

He stood and moved away. He no longer trusted himself in her proximity until he had fed again. “I must go now. You may move about the apartment as you wish. I’ve put some groceries in the refrigerator for you. I trust you will be able to ascertain which is meant for you.”

“How soon will you be back?”

He studied her calculating face. She was still determined to kill herself. She planned to do so while he was out hunting.

He returned to the bed and lifted her like a rag dog to her feet, except her feet were not quite touching the floor.

She gasped in pain, but did not protest.

In a voice so soft it was barely audible, but with such ferocity that the hairs on the back of his neck rose, he said, “I would like to believe that it was my kiss you were already missing, but consider me a skeptic in my old age.”

She did not refute his skepticism.

 “Do you love you sister, Diana?”

For the first time, he saw fear in her eyes. “What sister?”

He smiled. He had found her Achilles heel. “Ah, I see you do. Well, understand me. You are mine. You no longer have claim to your life. Killing yourself would be a theft from me—taking that which is mine.” He squeezed her arms a little harder and brought her face eye level to his. “If you attempt to take what is mine, your sister will pay the price…with her life.”

Diana blanched but did not reply.

“ 101 Brewster Road, East Orange,” he said as he pulled the address from the memories he had touched the night before.

“No!”

He lowered her until her feet touched the ground and even waited to make certain her wobbly legs would hold her. Then gently, he brushed back her silken black hair from her face. “Then we will bargain. You will concede you are my property and will make no attempt to damage said property. And in exchange I will do no harm to your beloved sister.”

Diana nodded.

Xavier smiled. She was so alluring with those big brown eyes and thick black hair. He allowed himself to kiss her lightly once more, but the sweetness almost overcame his restraint. He stepped back.

“The apartment is rather large and you may find some of the rooms interesting. Just don’t try to leave or harm yourself.”

“I won’t.”

His right eyebrow rose a half inch. “Remember the consequences if you do.”