Born of the Egyptian Night

Three

"So Layla, I don't think I've seen you around before, are you new here?"

"Yeah, it's my first day," I replied scrunching my nose.

"That bad huh?"

I laughed, "Surprisingly, yes"

I could see the question in his eyes, a question i didn't want to answer.

 "So, Tau... that's an Egyptian name, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, wow Layla I'm impressed. How did you know that?"

"It was my great grandfathers name." My gaze danced between my clasped hands and his deep eyes, "It means lion... it suits you." I said with a meek smile and slight blush.

A smile crept onto his face, "Aren't you just full of surprises. Not many people know where my name came from, much less what it means." Suddenly my words seemed sink in and he lit up with the realization, "Does that mean your Egyptian to?" 

"Yes, well only half. My..." I paused to choke back tears, "my mothers parents moved here before she was born." Thankfully he didn't pick up my change of mood with the mention of my deceased mother.

"You have Egyptian blood, no wonder..." His voice seemed to take on an 'its so obvious' tone then trailed off in thought.

My eyebrows pulled together in confusion, "No wonder what?"

He looked a bit taken back by my question, like he hadn't meant to say it out loud, but he quickly recovered and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. 

"No wonder I can't take my eyes off of you."

As I gazed into his beautiful eyes I began to feel tingly all over. More specifically the right side of my neck. Then that tingling turned into an itching, and before I knew it,  my neck was burning. It was like the day of the attack all over again, like acid was being poured into my neck through the bite. 

"Open your eyes Layla," I could feel Tau's strong hands on either side of my face, holding me still. "look at me."

My neck burned so badly it was hard to concentrate on anything else, but some how I managed to pry my eyes open to gaze into his golden orbs.

"That's it, now breath deep Layla. Concentrate on your breathing, not the pain."

Silent tears streamed down my face as I tried to do as he said, but no matter how hard I concentrated, my deep breaths kept hitching on spikes of pain.

"You can do this Layla, listen to my voice, breath in, breath out. That's it deep breaths."

A few minutes later I found the pain had faded again and I was able to take in my current state. I was laying on the ground with Tau kneeling over me and both of his hands holding my face, his thumb slowly stroking my cheek. His handsome face full of worry as he looked into my eyes.