Of Darkness and Fire

CHAPTER ONE (PART TWO)

I feel a little offended when he calls me little. From what I can see, he looks to be about my age, at least, maybe a little older. Then again, he's a vampire, so I'm sure he's much older than I am.

"Excuse me," I quietly murmur, trying to step forward, hoping he'd move out of my way.

He doesn't budge. He doesn't move one muscle. The only thing I can see is a darkened look that looks a little too hungry for my taste.

"I said, excuse me," I repeat, only this time louder. Maybe he'll get the clue and leave me be.

Instead of moving, he reaches over, grabbing a strand of my wavy hair. He wraps it around his finger, watching it bounce as he let it go. "You do look rather tasty. Why don't we just get to it and have some fun." He extracts his fangs, giving me a big, unpleasant grin.

This guy is a total f*****g creep. A rush of uneasiness sticks in the pit of my stomach. I'm not one to normally have much fear, but one, I'm in a darkened alley with no one else around, and two, I'm completely alone with a vampire that seems to only have one thing on his mind.

A small sense of nausea overcomes me. I stall hard, trying to figure out a way to get me out of this uncomfortable situation.

Unfortunately, nothing comes to mind. The nerves start causing me to tremble and I can't think straight.

A sudden rush of confidence mixed with an ounce of fear fills me whole. The words spill out faster than I can think clearly. "I'd rather f**k anyone else," I spit out. "Now, get lost."

His eyes got even darker. Darker than the night. It's like staring into the black abyss. I can feel his anger. It's practically pouring out of his pores.

That may have been the wrong thing to say. Nice going, Gena.

He takes one more step towards me, now only inches away. I feel like I should run, but my feet are frozen. I can't seem to move away. He looks down at me, his eyes swirling with an unpleasant emotion, nothing but pure hunger. He takes his index finger, lightly caressing my cheek, sending a displeasing shiver down my spine. "You're a feisty one, aren't you? I like it." He moves his finger down my arm slowly.

I quickly swat his hand away. I need to do something, anything. Maybe attacking him with whatever strength I have will work.

Regardless, if he's a vamp, any type of fight will make it harder for him to get me. At least that's the hope.

I reach under my coat, ready to go into fight mode when a deep voice in the distance stops me. "Leave her alone. Now."

We both freeze. I look beyond the man's shoulders, noticing a dark figure coming towards us quickly. He stops, standing there in a small sliver of moonlight that creeps into the alleyway.

The sudden warmth and closeness of the creep's body suddenly moves away, finally giving me room to breathe. The mysterious man behind him starts drawing closer to us. Just close enough that I can physically make out the features.

My heart skips a beat. He's f*****g gorgeous. A very tall, beautiful creature, to say the least. Dark, jet-black hair that is barely visible in the night. He holds those same dark, obsidian eyes, and they are looking right at me. My knees grow weak, causing me to stumble back a few steps. I quickly gather my balance back, flattening my feet against the damp asphalt. I look over at him, noticing his soft looking lips moving upward into a small smirk.

He continues making his way over, stopping right next to the creep that is bothering me. His eyes look right at him. "What do you think you're doing?" He asks in a stern voice.

"I wasn't going to hurt her, Wyatt. I swear. I was just messing around." The low-life vampire's tone suddenly drops lower. He almost looks scared.

Wyatt ignores him as his gaze falls on me. "And you, little human. You don't belong here."

Little human?

Who does he think he is? What the hell is it about these vampires calling us mortals, little? He looks to be about my age too.

"Excuse me? I can be wherever I want. I'm not breaking any rules. He was about to break a rule, not me," I say, pointing at the creep, knowing he truly can't touch me without my consent, especially now with someone else present.

The Blood District and the Mortal Lands have a treaty together. As long as we, mortals, provide blood, meaning donating and such, the vampires in the District can't technically feed off of us, unless we give them our full consent. They also technically can't kill us either, or else they'd be reprimanded for their crimes. Meaning, they'd most likely be killed.

Do all vampires follow the treaty completely? Hell no. I'm sure there are vampires out there all the time that feed and kill poor innocent humans, but I know my rights. I know the crimes that would be committed, so I'm not as scared as one would think.

Wyatt's eyes narrow at me and his eyebrows move upward, but he doesn't say anything. He only looks at me—studying me. Staring at me like a total creep.

I can literally feel his eyes caressing me, without fully knowing the extent of his stare. A slight sense of anger starts to burn inside of me. The way he's looking at me—he wants me to submit. It's clear he's a dominant vampire. I'm sure part of it also has something to do with him being a vampire and me a puny human, but little does he know...I'm also the dominant type, even if I'm a mortal.

"Are we done here? I was making my way home, until I was so rudely interrupted," I say with disgust, glancing over at the creep that bothered me in the first place.

"You have quite a little mouth for someone so vulnerable," the creep hisses.

I roll my eyes. Sure, he may have scared me at first introduction. I'll give him that. But as I stand here, a sense of confidence and bravery has filled me since then, especially now with this Wyatt guy showing up. I at least have an eye witness.

"I'm a lot tougher than you think." I cross my arms across my chest, looking and feeling fed up. It's already so late and I need to be home.

Like now.

My eyes dart straight to Wyatt. I continue waiting for him to say something—anything, but all he does is just continue to stare at me with a smart-ass smirk on his face.

Moments go by while Wyatt continues his staring. He finally opens his mouth, his eyes move over to the creep. "Wes, go. Now," he demands strictly.

"But—" Wes tries to argue.

"I said now," he demands once more, only this time giving him a stern stare.

Wes nods his head without another word, quickly disappearing into the night, leaving us alone.

A sense of uneasiness washes over me once again. I'm now alone with some sort of higher-ranked vampire it seems, but he's not only higher-ranked, he's also hot-as-f**k. And once again, I'm now alone with said vampire in a dark alley with no other eye witnesses around.

I am ready to leave. I want to leave so badly, but he is still standing in my way, now taking over Wes's spot and for some odd reason, my legs won't move.

"Can I leave now, or are you just going to hold me hostage?" I ask in a smart-ass tone.

Wyatt looks at me, the same expression he's worn since the first time we locked eyes. It's so f*****g irritating.

"Why are you doing that?" I ask, annoyance very clear in my voice.

"Doing what?" He smiles at me. And just then, I knew. He knows exactly what he's doing.

"Never mind."

He clearly isn't moving and I clearly am not going to stand here any longer. Instead of letting this waste of time continue, I'll go and find another way home.

I turn on my heels, ready to make my way back towards the bar where I came from.

"No thank you?" He asks, causing my movement to stop as I turn back around to look at him.

I sigh heavily. Saying just two simple words to this guy will be one of the hardest things I've had to do. He's also been toying with me this entire time, which only makes it harder.

I stand there, taking a moment to gather myself. Two simple words are so hard to spit out. It literally takes all of the energy and force I have left when I finally say, "thank you."

"For what?"

I take a few steps toward him. Anger behind every step. "Seriously? You're going to make me say it? You know for what."

By my surprise, Wyatt takes a few steps towards me, closing the gap, only leaving us mere inches apart. My throat suddenly goes dry, causing me to swallow a few times. I clear my throat, deciding to submit to this ridiculous conversation and ridiculous vampire.

"Thank you for saving me."

I look into his eyes as our gazes lock. They're so dark and mysterious, but as I look closer, using the little light I have to work with, I can see a sort of softness swirling in his gaze within that hardened shell he shows on the outside. Upon instinct, I soften my expression a little, becoming less tense and less angry.

"That's better," he says. He takes his index and thumb, lightly grabbing my chin, pulling my face upward toward his, forcing our eyes to connect once again.

I always knew about how cold vampires are, but I actually never experienced their cold touch until now. I shiver at the sudden contact of his cold touch.

"And you're welcome." He puts a strand of loose hair behind my ear. "What is your name, Love?"

I felt caught off guard, so I pull away quickly. What do I tell him? I can't give him my real name. It's clear he's higher-ranked, so I'm sure he'd know who I was if I were to give him my true name. At least that's what I assume.

"Names don't matter."

He smirks. "It's only fair I know yours since you clearly know mine," he says cooly.

This man, this vampire...There's something about him. There's something there, the longer I stare at him, the more I find him so intriguing. He may be irritating and annoying as hell, but he is also so beautiful, so manly and so mysterious.

He stands there patiently, waiting for my answer, waiting for my name. The more I think, I realize everyone knows me only as Genavieve. I hate my full name. However, being a princess, everyone only ever calls me it, so giving him a shortened nickname may not give my true identity away. I doubt he'd even realize.

He's a vampire. I don't want to lie. I'm sure he could tell if I was. I'd rather be truthful without being completely truthful.

"Gena," I say quietly, making sure not to say it too loud over the nightly wind.

"Gena," he repeats to himself. His eyes dance like stars in the moonlight. "I'll see you around, Gena." He turns, starting to walk away a few steps before he turns back around to look at me. "And please stay out of trouble. I'd rather not have to save you again."

He gives me a quick smile, turning on his heels to continue his way out of the alley.

"I didn't ask for your help. I was fine on my own," I spit out, stopping him in his tracks again.

He laughs without turning around. "Whatever you say, Love."

Then, in a blink of an eye, he vanished, leaving me alone once again. I continue my way home, oddly finding myself miss his presence.