Dancing in the Dark - 5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

“What the . . . where’s the . . . where did it go?” Viktor asks me.

“It healed,” I shrug. I’m going to get a perverse sense of amusement out of this conversation, I can feel it.

“In the seven minutes it took us to get from there to here it healed completely?” he says, clearly not sure if he should believe, despite what he can see with his own eyes.

“No,” I say slowly, like I’m talking to a child, “in the ten seconds it took me to get my hand out of her mouth and grab her hands it healed completely.” I’ve got a smug little smile on my face, and it pisses him off.

“Whatever,” he shrugs like it doesn’t matter, but his vampiric pride has been stung and I can tell he’s disturbed by the fact that he has no idea what’s going on. Vampire’s always think they know everything.

“What’s this?” he asks looking at the remote in his hand. He presses the red button and then jumps away from Emma as she convulses in the big two person tub. I laugh at him and he glares at me.

“You’re a fucking piece of work aren’t you?” he asks angrily. At least, he tries to sound angry, but it comes out more like he likes the idea of me being a sadist.

Emma is breathing fast in the tub, having just been given a small electrical jolt. Not enough to harm her, but enough to snap her out of the shock she was slipping in to. She stares up at us, fear in her eyes.

“So, Emma,” I smile at her, “who are they?” She looks to Viktor, who looks back at her calmly and presses the button again. He holds it down for a few seconds this time and when he lets go Emma is breathing hard. Sweat starts to form on her brow.

“My friend here asked you a question Emma,” he says softly, then turns to me. “What is your name anyway?”

“Mark,” I reply.

“I’m Viktor,” he holds out his hand and I look at it, and then shake it, chuckling a little at our absurdity. I sit on the edge of the tub and look down at Emma, who is glancing back and forth between us. Viktor steps up behind me and drapes one hand over my shoulder, resting his hand flat on my chest. The other hand, the one with the remote in it, rests on top of my other shoulder, ready to press the button again.

“You…you don’t know each other,” she gasps, more a statement than a question, “you seem like you know each other.”

“Oh Emma, this is not about us,” I say gently, lifting my hand to twine my fingers with Viktor’s. “Who are they Emma?” she doesn’t answer, and the fun begins.

***

Half an hour later Emma is unconscious in my bathtub, still holding out on us. Viktor is mad, and I’ve gone to my happy place. My new toy works wonderfully, but Emma has a lot of fear for whoever it is she works for. Whatever they’re going to do to her for telling is worse than death. Viktor hasn’t realised that this is why she hasn’t cracked yet, but the knowledge that I get to introduce her to a world of pain has me doing a happy dance in my head.

Viktor sinking to the floor against the shower door brings me down from the clouds real quick though. I rush over to him.

“Viktor? Are you ok?” I’m worried. Like, I’m really fucking worried about him, and it brings home to me just how strange we were acting in front of Emma. I take a step back from him for a second until he groans and rests his head back on the glass behind him.

“Viktor?”

“I need to eat,” he moans. I look at him in consternation.

“Vampires eat food?” I didn’t know that.

“We eat meat,” he whispers.

“Oh.” That would make sense I suppose, they are carnivores. I go out to the kitchen and dig through my freezer until I find some steaks. I toss them in the microwave to defrost and then go and help Viktor out to the kitchen table. He lays his head down on his arms and looks at me.

“Who did you feed me this morning?” he asks softly.

“I didn’t feed you anyone, you drained me dry, which I’ll thank you not to do again anytime soon,” I snap at him. I don’t mean to be mean, but now that I’m thinking about it I’m freaking out a little over my reactions to this vampire.

“I drained you dry?” Viktor is skeptical.

“As a fucking bone,” I hiss at him. He stares at me for a moment, then the microwave goes off and I pull out the meat. I’m about to ask him if he wants me to cook it when he snatches it from me and rips into it. I watch him for a moment, mildly disgusted.

“You don’t want that cooked then,” I finally say. Viktor shakes his head, but doesn’t say anything since he’s still trying to cram the bloody mess down his throat. I think about fixing myself something to eat, but after watching Viktor for a bit longer I decide against it. I have a very strong stomach for violence and gore, but something about the way Viktor is enjoying the raw steak turns my stomach.

Viktor swallows the last hunk of flesh and licks the blood from his hands. Gross. I wet a tea towel and toss it to him. He cleans himself up and then we sit awkwardly at the table and stare at each other for a moment.

“So . . . ” I start, “what is this?” I wave a hand back and forth between us, referring to whatever it is that’s making me crazy about him.

“It’s a mating bond,” Viktor says, deadpan. “What are you, anyway?”

“I’m human. A mating bond?”

“Yes. You’re not human.”

“Am so!”

“Are not!”

“Am─ what are we five?” I snort at our foolishness. I take a deep breath and look at him. In typical vampire style, now that he’s taken care of his physical needs he’s a picture of good health. He is so beautiful it almost hurts me to look at him, and as our eyes meet I accept that he’s right about the mating bond, not that I really understand what that is.

And that’s all it takes for me to jump him.