River of Red

XX

After five hours of driving I had gotten tired.
I wasn't the one driving, though, but I was the passenger, and the lack of light outside and the gentle lull of the engine constantly drew my eyes closed.
Only Domitius's cool presence kept me from falling asleep.
My eyes landed on Domitius, his dark arched eyebrows, his long lashes.
As my kids started to close I'm exhaustion, I spoke to him, "Tell me something." I said quietly, my voice tired and soft.
His eyes stayed glued to the road, "Why? You need sleep."
I frowned at that, but I couldn't help my eyelids from closing.
"Because," deep breath, "because I don't wanna sleep."
With a barely audible whisper, he said, "Sleep, dove."
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My dreams were plagued of Nolan, but at the same time it wasn't Nolan. I saw him murdering people in cold blood, laughing vicious laughs.
Dream Nolan was a cold blooded killer.
My Nolan was sweet.
I guess he hadn't been my Nolan, he had just been partially mine.
I couldn't seem to get out of my own head. I was sleeping, but I felt like I was in another world.
Trees swayed around me in the warm summer night. No animals could be heard, but that's was probably due to the man eating a young woman at the middle of the field. She screamed, really loud, the sound bounced around in my skull as long lost echoes. She was limp, almost lifeless, but the man didn't stop there. He continued until every drop of blood was gone from the woman's body, until every drop of her life had been taken away.
He made sure she knew it too.
After he was finished, he raised his head, blood dripping from his mouth. He threw the lifeless body to the ground as if it was nothing, like a bag of trash that needed to be discarded. I whimpered in my dream state as Nolan sank his fangs back into his skull.
At my whimper, his eyes met mine, staring into my skull, as if he could actually see me.
I cried out, his fangs elongated once more, as he burst in my direction. When he ran towards me, I screamed, his eyes were as lifeless as the woman's.
He sank his fangs into me, making me scream louder. He had no consideration towards my life, just as he had none for the woman.
I felt myself falling, away from Nolan, away from the pain.

I blinked my eyes open.
Domitius leaned over me, a worried expression on his face.
"Wake, dove, wake." His voice was rough, demanding.
My eyes landed on his, and I noticed his hands gripped my shoulders tightly.
"Are you okay?" His voice was gentle.
I nodded, not knowing if I really was okay or not. The dream still haunted my mind, as if I had actually been there. My hands shook, my neck ached, the screams still echoed in my skull.
His hand brushed over my cheek, "You have been screaming for minutes now, you would not awake, I was worried."
That surprised me, both the fact that he had been worried and that I had been screaming.
He drew his hands away, leaving a longing in me I couldn't quite pinpoint. A mask drew over his face, leaving it blank and indifferent.
He put his hand on the key, twisting it, "We're almost there." His mask was back up, as he started the car I noticed that I hadn't realized it was off until now. He rumbled back onto the highway, having been on the curb. His eyes focused back on the road, taking in the low amount of traffic midday. I looked at the clock, it was 12:57AM, meaning I had slept for 8 hours.
I was no longer tired, I was instead very energetic. I looked to Domitius to see how he was faring with the long drive. His back was straight, his face bore no sign of exhaustion, which was strange, considering we had been driving for at least 24 hours.
The sun shone off his smooth pale skin, lighting up his scar.
"Vampires can go in the sun?" I asked, curious.
His gaze slid over me, "Yes, but only some." He paused, and I gestured for him to continue, "The young ones, babies I call them, cannot go into the sun. Much like a human infants skin is gentle to the sun, the young vampires are also gentle. They cannot go into the light, or they will die." I drew in a breath, why didn't he die?
I raised an eyebrow, "huh?"
He sighed, "After they reach a certain age, their skin starts making an immunity to the sun. It starts after they turn 100, at first they die, then it becomes more of an irritation, like a sunburn, then it develops to complete immunity at around 500 years."
I nodded, finally understanding how they can go into the sun.
I looked at the light that gleamed on his flesh, "I take it your over 500?"
He nodded, not moving his eyes a fraction of an inch off th road. I made no other attempt to converse, since I saw the flash of pain on his features when he nodded. I understood he may need time, maybe from something horrific from his past, or maybe recently.
That made me think about Mary.
The way to door was so meticulously carved, the name so beautifully written, that she must have been someone that Domitius had cared for. That thought made a ping in my stomach, making me feel sick at the thought of him with a girl, though I don't know why.
I decided to look out of the window, and tried to push the thoughts out of my mind. The grass beside the highway was green, and I noticed a sign.
It said Welcome to Virginia.
We were in Virginia, the question was why?

We drove for a few more hours, me too scared to fall asleep and Domitius a stoic expression.
He hadn't said a word since we had entered Virginia, and I didn't know why.
The radio station was still on, so I just occupied myself by focusing on the music. Another half a mile down the road, and guess what? My favorite song came on.
I looked to Domitius, and pleaded with my eyes for him to allow me to sing along.
He stayed looking straight ahead.
I took that as a yes.
The infectious beat strung at my heart, and my voice came out with it.
I took a deep breath, "If you like pina coladas, or getting caught in the rain, if your not in to yoga, and you have half a brain. If you like making love at midnight, on the dunes of the cape. Then your perfect for me girl, so come with me and escape. Do, do, do."
Domitius looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you finished?" His voice was amused, like he thought my singing was funny.
Just to aggravate him, I sang another verse, only louder.
"If you like pina coladas! Or getting caught on the rain!"
I lifted my hand to his cheek, squishing the soft, cold skin there.
"If you like making love at midnight! On the dunes of the cape!"
He half smiled, only lifting his left lips up into a quirk.
The song ended.
I lowered my hand, suddenly embarrassed. His lips fell back down into a blank expression.
I became sad, that such a beautiful thing could be wiped away so quickly, "No! Smile again! Please?" With his unexplained bought of happiness gone, his face remained still. I wanted to see his smile again, so I brought my hand to his mouth, and pulled it up at the corners. I laughed, I found it funny how odd he looked with a forced grin. Without looking at me, he bit my finger, and clamped it gently between his teeth.
I fake screamed, snorting a bit as I laughed.
I tugged on my finger playfully, "The vampire has my finger! Someone help!"
At that, he let out a quiet chuckle between his teeth, which made me smile more. I had never seen him smile like that, never heard his laugh.
It was fantastic.
He licked my finger, making me squeal.
"He's eating me! Help!"
I tried to pull back my finger, but he but down harder, making it inescapable.
He growled, and tried to talk through his teeth, though his words were muffled, "No one's going to help you, dove."
I poked his nose with my free hand, but the car jolted, which caused my to accidentally poked it into his nose.
I pulled my hand back, and screamed, grossed out. His eyes popped open, and he gasped, which released my finger.
Smooth.
He slid a glance my way, "Why did you put your finger up my nose?"
I blushed, and looked out the window, not confident enough to meet his eyes, "I meant to just poke your nose, but the car moved, and my finger went in the wrong place."
I realized that sounded bad.
Really bad.
My face burned more, it felt like I was on fire, and it wasn't cooling down any time.
His hand lifted my face to look at him.
"It okay, dove, I'm not injured." He dropped his hand back to the steering wheel, but I still looked at him.
He was confused at my embarrassment.
Men and their stupidity.
He cleared his throat, and scraped his eyes back to the road. I slid my gaze from his features to out of the window.
After about an minutes of silence, he finally spoke, "We're going to stop at a hotel for a while, to freshen up." He paused, "And for you to get some proper rest and food."
I nodded, I didn't really know what to say.
After thirty minutes he pulled into a Motel 6 parking lot, making me sigh with relief.
I would get a shower.
I would get sleep.
I would get food.
I was a tiny bit happy.
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Oh my gosh!
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