Torn between two lives

Mine

Leo stared at Eliza intently, watching her smile and greet customers as she wiped down tables. Such work was beneath her, he hated seeing her perform menial labor. He had envisioned their meeting a thousand times, a thousand different ways. His most recent fantasy was walking into the coffee shop, asking her what she recommended and feeling her fingertips slide across the back of his hand as she passed him his cup. Would she write her number on the side, or was that too forward?

“Just say hello and offer to take her to dinner.” Alec said with a roll of his eyes. “Every time we see each other these days, it’s wrapped around that girl.” He knew better than to suggest he turn her or make her into a t****l already, his neck still hurt from Leon’s grip. It seemed easier, to turn her into a newborn completely dependent on him or a t****l addicted to his pheromones. Alec had fallen for a girl in Germany, a lifetime ago, though he knew she was not his mate, so he enjoyed feeding on her and when she outlived her usefulness, he made a meal of her, simple as that. But Leon was different with this girl, this Eliza, and it baffled him.

“It’s not that simple, it needs to be perfect.” Leon muttered, pushing food about his plate. A perfect meeting for his perfect mate. Neither men ate, simply pushed food around and pretended. Leon wondered why he bothered anymore.

“Of course–” Alec stopped mid sentence, turning his head abruptly, sniffing the air, “Is there a dog near here?” His lip curled with disgust, honing in on a brunette man walking into the cafe and making a beeline for Eliza. Neither men moved, they simply watched and strained their heightened sense of hearing.

“Eric?” Eliza squeaked, running a hand through her hair to tuck back a stray lock, blushing slightly. The fork bent in Leo’s hand, his knuckles white.

“Long time no see princess, do you work here?” Eric, he quickly learned, smiled as if it were a surprise and not preplanned, which was obvious to the observers. He had a relaxed, familiar posture. Leo had never smelled a wolf in this area, they kept out of larger cities, where vampires thrived, it was an unspoken boundary.

“Um, yeah. Pays the bills and all the coffee I could drink.” Eliza was nervous, cheeks flushed, and it drove Leo crazy. He didn’t move, didn’t even answer when a waitress walked by their table and asked if they needed a box or anything. Alec answered for them and got the check, leaving a handsome tip due to his rude companion.

They both watched Eliza and the wolf flirt awkwardly and Alec was already regretting what was to come. Leo stormed away from the restaurant without a word, flitting away with vampiric speed the moment he was away from prying eyes. Alec followed quickly behind and once they returned to the stone house Leo had owned since it was built, all hell broke loose.

“He was flirting with my Elizabeth! How dare he!?” Leo grabbed the first thing in arms reach and enjoyed the way it smashed against the wall. A man entered the room, head bowed, the picture of submissiveness.

“Shall I fetch your meal, sir?” He chose a tile and stared at it, unmoving, a shell of a human.

Leo waved a hand and Alec moved to intervene, “Perhaps a scotch first?” Leo just growled at him and he frowned, fine then, cause a mess, waste a good meal, see if he cares. Sometimes, Alec wondered why he kept in contact with Leo and were it not for the perks of being associated with an Elder, he probably would not.

The t****l entered the room with an unmarked man strapped to a gurney, where Leo managed to find such strong specimens was a mystery to him, and perhaps better that way. The t****l slapped the man on the gurney and his eyes snapped opened and he began to fight against the restraints. The t****l simply walked out and Leo moved forward, pulling the lever that freed the man who immediately leapt from his prison.

“Where am I, what’s happening?” His speech was still slightly slurred but Leo grinned at the sound of his elevated heart rate.

“You are my dinner.” Leo said simply, waiting for the man to react, and react he did. The man was large, bulky, strong and healthy, on paper a challenge for someone Leo’s size, but not for a vampire as old as he. When charged at, Leo dipped out of the way, enjoying the scent of the man’s blood as he stepped on the shards of glass from the vase Leo had thrown.

“Don’t play with your food, Leo.” Alec said, exasperated. Though his fangs were already protruding from his mouth, his eyes shining red. But Leo did not listen, he dipped and spun, a dance between vampire and victim as the man tried to attack him, what a fool. When he spun towards Alec, he stopped their play, latching his fangs into the man’s arm, causing Leo to grasp the other, lest he lose out on the perfect taste of fear in the man’s blood.

The tension usually abated with the fresh blood but where Alec was demure, sleepy even, Leo was still tense, shredding the arm of the now dead man in an attempt to calm himself. The t****l returned with warmed, damp towels and offered them to the vampires who cleaned themselves up without a word.

Leo continued the silence as he bolted out the door, causing Alec to shake his head and call the elder a fool. He knew were Leo was heading and chose to return to his own home, lest he get caught further in Leo’s mess. He had heard many a tale on the infamous Anna and from what he had seen, this human girl was nothing like her, though it would do little to try and convince Leo of that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eliza stretched, sore from the constant energy being expended from work and school. The first two weeks of the semester were always the toughest and the constant tickle of the hairs on the back of her neck did little to help her. She threw her curtains open abruptly, knowing she was being watched, though she never could confirm it. Her fingers gripped the window and slid it open and she leaned out over the opening, she kept telling herself to replace the screen but never did. Yet when she looked down on the street, her breath caught. There, in the light from the street lamp, was a face she knew so well but had never actually seen. Her heart raced and she kept blinking, waiting for him to disappear. It couldn’t be…. “Leo….?”