By Sierra Carter-Littrell
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From the balcony that extended from his office, which gave him the perfect view of his nightclub, Howie Dorough caught the perfect view of her - the woman that had become his desire for the past few days. Every night for the past three weeks, this woman had shown up and danced in his nightclub causing the familiar pangs of desire to flood his senses. But inside Howie Dorough kept a secret that no one in the world knew about, but tonight, he felt like he wanted to tell this beautiful creature of a woman the truth of what he really was.
As stealthy as a panther stalking his prey, Howie made his way from his third floor office and crept slowly through the club keeping in the darkness, so that no one would notice the man that was on the hunt for his desire. Howie made his way toward the creature that had intrigued him so much as he saw one of the regular customers go up to her. The guy began to harass her cornering her near the bathroom, but still in the darkness of the back of the nightclub away from the massive crowd. Howie softly walked up behind the man tapping him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, buddy. But I don't think that she is interested in you," Howie's soft-spoken voice told the man.
"Sorry, buster, but I don't think that she wants you, either," the man told Howie with a smirk on his face.
Those words made the shorter man's blood begin to boil before he suddenly grabbed the guy on the shoulder throwing him against the wall near the bathroom door. Howie held his hand at the man's throat before leaning close to his ear.
If you don't leave this young lady alone, I will snap your head like a twig or I will disembowel you right here, Howie spoke to the man with his mind before pushing him away toward the crowd. "Now, are you going to play nice and leave her alone?"
"Yes, sir," the man said before going away.
"Are you okay?" Howie asked turning to the woman that had been his only thought for the past few weeks.
"Yes, thank you for your help. I really appreciate it," she said to him as she rubbed the drink that the man had spilled on her as Howie grabbed him before finally looking up at her rescuer. All she could do was gasp at the sight in front of her.
"You are welcome, but there is no need to thank me," he said leaning toward her before speaking into her ear. "How would you like to dance?"
"Sure," she said to him. Howie carefully took her hand into his as he brought her to the center of the dance floor. Howie softly wrapped his arms around her as he brought them to a halt in the middle of the dance floor. As if on cue, the music began to play a soft salsa song that caused Howie to begin to sway his hips in front of her.
"So, what is your name?" Howie whispered in her ear as he got closer to her.
"Aphrodesia, but Aph to most people," she told him.
"Beautiful name," he told her.
He's cute. He can't be who I think he is, but he looks so familiar, Aph thought to herself. In a way, he looks an awful lot like Howie, but a little paler than in the many pictures that I have seen him in.
"Actually, I should look familiar because I am Howie," Howie spoke to her.
“What? Do you read minds?” Aph joked.
“Yes,” Howie answered her in his serious tone.
“What are you doing with me? What do you want from me?” she asked as fear became ever present in her voice.
“I’m thirsty,” He replied simply.
“You’re thirsty and what? Do you want me to take you to the bar and get you something? Am I missing something here?” Aph said a little confused. What the hell was he talking about? And how come none of the message boards ever posted that Howie was, in fact, a lunatic?
“I’m not crazy,” He said, his eyes suddenly flashing with anger and passion.
“Will you stop reading my mind please...okay you’re thirsty. And what do you want?”
“I’m not thirsty for a drink,” Howie said, sending a shock wave of fear and yet strangely also pleasure through Aph’s body.
“I’m lost...you’ll have to forgive me. I’m new to this whole star comes and saves you, dances with you, and then wants something from you thing,” Aph quipped. With a speed she knew no human could hold, he was suddenly right beside her taking her hand into his, and leading her to the front door of the club. She caught his glances as he pulled her to the front door. From his glances, it looked like Howie Dorough was looking at her like she was his dinner.
“There’s a lot that people don’t know about me, a lot that I have to keep hidden from the public,” he stated in a matter of fact tone as he dragged her out of the club after nodding to the bartender.
“Yeah, I can see how this type of behavior could throw most people off,” Aph stared at him as he stopped next to his purple Corvette and opened the door with his keys. I think he doesn’t appreciate my sense of humor. There is something off about Howie and it was something that I can't quite put my fingers on, she thought to herself before saying. “Are you going to kill me? Or rape me?”
Before responding, he licked his lips and, what seemed like to her, ponder the question. Oh fuck, I’m screwed and dead, she thought. “That was my intention at first, but now I have other ideas.”
“You’re serious?” Aph said in shock as he held open the door for her. Howie leaned closer to her and softly whispered to her.
"Aphrodesia, I can take from you what I wish...your life, your mind,” Howie said turning her so that she face him as he placed his hands on her hips, “Even your body...that I could possess instantly and make it feel things you never thought possible.”
When the last word died on his lips, Aph felt like she had been drugged with lust. Her body exploded with desire so intense it actually made her vision blurred, “What are you?”
Howie leaned closer to her before saying, "A vampire." A soft gasp came from Aph as he changed right before her eyes knowing that she wouldn't believe him. His chocolate brown eyes illuminated and pierced their very depths through her. Then with a soft curl of his lips into a deadly smile, he showed her the fangs of the being he said that he truly was.
Aph wasn’t really sure what to do next. It wasn’t everyday that a person finds out that the man that they had been lusting over for so long was a vampire and then shows up when you least expect it to prove so. What was even more disturbing was that despite my fear of him being a total psycho, is that I want him, not to mention that I have longed for him more than I have ever longed for any man in my entire whole life, Aph thought to herself as she stared into his chocolate eyes.
“If you truly want me...you’ll have me,” Howie said to her reading her thoughts before taking her hand into his and helping her into the car before going around to the driver side.
“Will you hurt me?” Aph whispered to him, not really caring about the answer. All she wanted was the ache in her to be soothed.
“Only in a good way,” he promised her as he brought the car to life with a single turn of the key.
************
As they arrived at his condo, Howie slowly lead her to the front door before opening it. Howie stopped at the front door looking at the woman next to him before letting her into his home all the while having an internal struggle with himself. He knew that by not killing her and then by revealing his true nature, he put them both in great danger. But as she pulled closer to him with every minute that she was next to him, this made him feel things that had not felt in centuries. She awakened his mortal desires by her sincere demeanor and her exquisite soul. Now, he was going to break every rule just so he could have her, even if it was just for this night.
The feeling of his lips against hers began to mess with the thoughts in her mind as they now stood in the middle of his condo a few inches away from his bedroom. I can't be doing this, I just met this man and then he tells me that his is a fucking vampire. How in the world can we be doing this after he tells me that? she thought to herself before getting captivated in the movement of his lips against hers and his tongue gently stroking hers. Aph gently rubbed her tongue against the fangs that he had revealed earlier causing him to softly moan into her mouth. After doing that simple gesture, he softly broke the kiss leaving the two of them breathless, but as she got her breath back, she told him, "We can't do this."
"All I want is one night. One night in your arms, away from the madness and pain," he told her. "Please just one night. No regrets." If that's all I can stand because she is driving me to places, I haven't been in years, Howie thought to himself.
The pleading in those big, beautiful brown eyes made her forgot all the rest of the world and focus on just him and her as she breathed the one word that he wanted to hear against his lips. "Yes," she told him as his lips softly crushed against hers. As his lips played against hers in a sweet, yet sexual motion, she could feel his arms slowly run down her back before hoisting her up, so that she could wrap her legs around him as he took her into his arms. Their lips continued to be pressed together as the fluid motion of him doing that movement caused a slight moan to escape the back of her throat. She opened her eyes and gazed into his eyes finding the love and passion there as he slowly carried her into his bedroom before laying her down on the bed. The softness of the bed became a new feeling to her; everything in this man's arms became a new feeling for her. She lifted her hand and stroked his stubby cheek as he looked into her soft violet eyes, before slowly leaning forward and brushing his soft, cool lips against hers in another kiss.
He slowly pulled back, breaking their kiss as he gazed into her eyes. Howie softly kissed her lips again before asking, "Aph, are you sure that this is what you want?" He asked her this knowing that he was asking more for himself than for her. "Yes," she whispered as the tears streamed down her face fogging her vision, he pulled her closer to him and wiped the tears away with the pad of his thumb before their mouths met in another heated, passionate kiss. He slowly slid his body over hers, as he slid his tongue into her mouth caressing her tongue in long, sensual strokes once again. His soft, strong hands slowly lifted the short that she had been wearing over her head before he slowly broke their kiss as he trailed sweet little kisses down her neck and onto her chest. He smiled at her sexily as he slowly set his lips over her bra-covered nipple of her left breast. He softly kissed it before moving over to the right one and doing the same thing. He softly kissed her lips as he took one of his skilled fingers, sliding it around her back and undoing the hooks of her bra. He slowly pulled her bra off before kissing her bare breasts.
After softly kissing each breast, he slid slowly down her body kissing every inch of it before stopping at her belly button. He slid his cold, wet tongue into it causing her to giggle. She kept laughing until she felt his finger slid down into the pair of small panties that she had on. She gasped as he slid one of his fingers into her wet center, feeling to see how wet she already was for him. Her gasps became moans as he slowly slid another finger in before he began to pull them out and in, in long, sensual strokes. Her breathing became ragged as she felt herself coming but he pulled his fingers all the way out before he quickly slid off her panties with one hand as he licked the other hand off.
He found his way back to her mouth and kissing her passionately letting her taste herself for the first time from his lips as she slid her arms up and around his back. Their tongues started an intimate war as she slid them down his back until she felt the soft silk material of his silk dress pants. She slowly slid them off, leaving him in his boxers. The moment where he threw his pants to the side, she could see that he was very much in a state of arousal and he saw her eyes staring at him. He softly smiled to himself before saying, "Don't worry. I will be very gentle."
She couldn't speak to him, but she just simply nodded and watched as he lay back down on top of her. As he kissed her once again, he guided her hands to the bottom of his shirt. She followed his motions and in one fluid movement, the sweater that he had been wearing was now on the floor with the rest of her clothes. As he lay back down on top of her, the now naked, soft, cool skin of his body against mine made goose bumps appear all over her body and this brought a soft, sweet laugh from his lips. The soft laughter from his lips became an icebreaker for the whole situation as she reached up and pulled him back down to kiss his now laughing lips.
As he once again lay down on top of her, she slowly broke their kiss and said in a soft, yet sexual voice. "I need you, I want you," she said before lifting her legs around his back sliding them down to the waistband of his silk boxers. The material slid easily between her toes and she slid them off of him tossing them to the side with her foot. She linked her legs back around his waist as he stopped us for a moment looking into her eyes as if to ask her if she really wanted this. The pleading look of pleasure, pain, and sorrow filling her eyes told him that the both of us needed this moment. "I'll be as gentle as I can," he said before he slowly slid into her. She could feel the pain of his entry through her entire body, as he stayed that way for a few moments letting her get used to him. He looked into her eyes for a sign to continue, she didn't answer the unspoken question but she softly kissed his soon-to-be forbidden lips as he knew her answer. He slowly started to thrust in and out of her in long, full filling strokes.
As he did this, he began to kiss her neck again as we became faster and faster. She began to moan deeply and threw her one hand up to the bedpost to hold on for the ride of her life. Probably the only ride of my life with this man, she thought to herself as he kept hitting her sensitive, hot spot as he pulled in and out of her. She could feel her climax coming as her walls tightened around him as his thrusts got deeper and deeper into her. As we were at the edge, he put his mouth on the soft skin inches below her ear as he heard the whisper, “Please...” and needed no other explanation. As she let go, he sank in, both on her neck and between her. They rode the final wave of pleasure together, two finally becoming one.
Afterwards, the only sounds that filled the room were labored breaths and emitting gasps of aftershock pleasure. With a strangulated groan, Howie removed himself from and gathered her close to her chest, holding her, loving the feel of the soft body in his arms.
“I didn’t take that much,” Howie whispered lovingly, while caressing her hair.
“I know,” was her only reply as she felt as if her body was sedated with pleasure, but suddenly her mind filled with regret. “I’ll never see you again, will I?”
He knew this would be dangerous, more for her than him. He could make her forget but he would always remember. He knew what his answer should be but instead his heart spoke and it spoke the ultimate truth.
“Shhh, go to sleep," Howie told her before saying the sentence that could kill them both. "Yes, you will and I will be here with you." Howie spoke to her before softly kissing her lips once more before whispering one last word, "Forever.”
Aph gently feel asleep in his arms as Howie's mind began to wonder as with those words he knew that he had fallen in love with her. I hope that both of us can survive this , Howie said holding her in his arms as sleep took him over for the first time in so many centuries.
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