“Belle, you have to stop hitting me. I’m sure we can another way for you to show your affection.” He had to hand it to her. She had a lot of spunk, and taming her would be fun, if exhausting, and at times probably painful.
“Don’t call me Belle. My name is Isabella!” she said
Ah, that was more like it. He didn’t like the fearful look she’d displayed earlier. He much preferred her being a fighter. Something he could work with.
“You never had a problem with me calling you Belle before, but I understand that you are upset right now so I will let that slide. Can Raymond let go of you now, or are you going to bolt again?”
Isabella shook off Raymond’s arm as Samson nodded to him. She immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest. Definitely ready for battle. Not that she’d win. Ever. But he’d let her try.
“Can we talk now?” he asked
Isabella didn’t answer and instead, pressed her lips together even tighter. He knew exactly how he could get those lips to open up, but it was probably better to not try it while she was still pissed at him. He didn’t fancy another kick in the balls.
“Shall we leave you guys alone?” Vanessa asked.
He nodded to his friends. “Thanks. Make yourselves comfortable in the living room. This might take a while but I will try to be quick”
Once they were alone, he looked at her. Her expression hadn’t changed. He could see the tension in her body and face, the fierce determination not to let anything get to her. She wasn’t ready to listen to him, he knew that. But he had to try anyway.
“Belle, I’m still the same man.” he began
She shook her head without saying a word. Ah, the Silent Treatment. A woman’s prerogative.
“What we have together-” he continued
“We have nothing together,” she interrupted him. “You lied to me.”
At least she was talking now. It was a start. “I didn’t lie to you. I just didn’t tell you. I mean… I wanted to tell you. But this isn’t exactly the easiest thing to explain. What should I have said? ‘Hey honey, let me take you to dinner, and oh, by the way, I’m a vampire, so just order anything you want while I drink a glass of blood.'”
“You never had the intention of telling me.”
“That’s not true, and you know it. I meant it when I said that I do care about you… I -”
She interrupted him. “Lies. That’s all it was. You even used your mind control on me. Do you really think that I would believe anything that comes out of your mouth? How stupid do you think I am?”
Isabella uncrossed her arms and fisted her hands at her waist.
“I can’t believe that I slept with you. I slept with… With a monster. Is that what you wanted from me, sex?”
Her words Hurt more than anything, but he tried to understand her. “That’s not true. It wasn’t about sex.”
“Liar.” she accused.
“You’re repeating yourself.” said Samson
“Because you keep saying the same thing. You are a vampire. What else could you possibly need me…. A human for?.”
“I’m not going to lie about being attracted to you
But after we were together, I realized that I wanted you, and not just for physical pleasure. I wanted more… I wanted you and I couldn’t even explain why. I know what I felt and you can’t tell me you didn’t feel it too when we made love.”
Isabella had felt it too, but it had to be an illusion. He’d tricked her… Maybe used his powers on her again. He did it before and he could certainly do it again. She’d slept with a vampire, she’d let him inside her, not just her body, but her heart. People like him shouldn’t even exist. Something was so wrong with this picture.
“You’re a vampire. You’re a vampire.” she repeated over and over again. As if by saying it, it would go away, but it didn’t. He was a vampire, and he stood in his room looking at her, making her feel like she’d hit her head and was coming out of a daze. But she hadn’t hit her head. He was real.
“I slept with a vampire.” She dropped her arms to her sides and let her shoulders slump.
Samson nodded. “And you liked it just as much as I did.”
“No.”
She had to deny it to keep her sanity. What would happen to her world if she suddenly had to admit that she liked, no, loved sleeping with a vampire? Everything around her would crumble. Creatures like him shouldn’t-couldn’t!-exist. Vampires were myth, folklore-stories to tell around a campfire to scare people. They only lived in the movies, never in real life. Every child knew that! Just as everybody knew there was no Easter Bunny. This couldn’t happen. None of this could be true. Denial was the only way to go.
“I have to go. I have to go back home now.” she said. Maybe she would be able to think when she got home.
He slowly shook his head and came closer. “No. You’re not leaving.” With his knuckles, he stroked her cheek softly. “I need you.”
“You’re a vampire.”
“Don’t you think I know that? It doesn’t change how I feel about you.” Samson replied
“Get away from me.” Isabella said.
She used all her strength to reject him, when her body was trying to lean into him. He still had the same power over her he’d had ever since she’d met him. She still wanted him, wanted to lick every bit of his skin with her tongue. She wanted to have his hard body pressed against hers and feel him impale her, when what she should want was to impale him-with a wooden stake right through the heart! If he even had a heart.
“Don’t touch me!”
At her outburst, he instantly pulled his hand back as if she’d slapped him. She could see the anger well up in him, his eyes suddenly flickering red. It looked as if it took all his strength to control himself.