The Eyes of Death Book 1 - The Taru

Chapter 3

"Hi Tali what has been happening?" I tilted my head to the side and smiled reassuringly at her. I could smell that bastard all over her. And somehow it infuriated me for some unknown reason. My inner animalistic side was feeling territorial with her. Why I did not know, I usually don't feel that way with my future donors until much later in our relationship.

She looked at me sheepishly and made a small smile, she was obviously scared to loose her job. I took a chair and sat besides her.

"Relax I won't bite." Yet! I thought. She smiled again, this smile of hers was really addictive. "I know he made a pass at you" and I winked at her.

She hesitated for a moment and started speaking in a low voice "all the girls have been through it, he wants to have sex with you and if you refuse he gives you trouble and tries to have you fired." To say I was fuming was an understatement.

"Well that backfired on him didn't it?" I giggled and she joined in.

"Ok show me your work, the real one." Which she proceeded to do. Her designs were precise, well made with little to no errors. Even though she was young she showed a level of professionalism well beyond her age.

"Very good Tali, I like your work." Come in the office, I want to see the other girl's work you mentioned earlier.

We went in the office, a small room with standard office furniture. Nothing too fancy but comfortable. All four walls were made of floor to ceiling windows, with curtains that could be closed for privacy. I closed the door and motioned for Tali to sit next to me at the round table on the left. The desk needed to be thoroughly disinfected, its stench was horrible to me. Tali didn't seem to notice or mind though.

The other plans were on the table. They were horrible needing completely to be redone. "Who made those?"

"The girl over there" pointing at a slutty brunette that probably had seen the underside of that desk over there. Yuk~! I guess a good clean-up of the personnel IS in order.
At that, I was about to speak when Tali did a strange face.

"Are you ok?" I asked. She discreetly touched the spot over her solar plexus, a move I knew to well, which made me curious.

"I think I need coffee that's all." I nodded and she got up to get her coffee which she had left on her desk. As she opened the door she winced again and then for a moment her shields failed. As her sent finally came to me, it was like a brick wall. My animal instincts exploded like never before, my blood rushed through my body, my hunger flaring with a strength I had never felt before. Scratch that I had felt it before, when I was turned and woke up. It was that powerful. My entire body was craving blood and it was right there all over, these beings waiting for my hunger.

I was loosing control fast. Then, all of a sudden my nose was swarmed by a familiar smell, coffee. I managed to regain control and opened my eyes to stare right down a coffee cup. I looked around to see Tali, her eyes wide with fear looking around us. While I thought she was afraid of me, I noticed that her fear was not directed AT me, but at everyone else. I looked at her inquisitively taking a hold of the cup.

She looked at me visibly relieved at something. "Your fangs are showing." She stated simply.

I could not believe this, this young girl, that had sent me in a feeding frenzy making me a very dangerous killing machine, had not only been unafraid of me but had approached me and hid my fangs with her coffee cup. I was stunned.

** Tali five minutes ago **

Suddenly I felt something right below my stomach twist in a very painful knot. I knew this , a hunger I could never satisfy. I hated this, it was the reason I was slightly pudgy, 'Love Handles' my mom would say.

So I excused myself for a moment and went to fetch my coffee, which usually did the trick. I headed back quickly to the office with my coffee held between both my hands, it smelled good for office coffee.

Sometimes in ones existence, faith sends you reeling with a right uppercut down destiny lane, this was one of those moments when you know your life is forever changed. As I entered the office, Miss Laniery, the new boss, was bent over the table, hands clutching it. As she heard me enter and close the door, she looked at me, fangs baring, claws extended, hissing at me like I was food. She was in a feral frenzy state.

Now, any ordinary person would have screamed, turned around, try to open the door and die a horrible death. I am not ordinary. I knew I was in terrible danger but so was she and everyone else. She was revealing herself to everyone here. There was no safe option, then it just hit me, instinct took over. I jammed my coffee in her face, covering her fangs and her nose in coffee in the process. I winced and looked around to make sure no one saw us.

"That was close, no one saw us". I hope she is not pissed at me afterwards.
Damn I was screwed. I was holding a coffee cup up the nose of a feral vampire in a feeding frenzy who just happened to be my boss who owned a large multinational company. I was either about to die or be fired. Then her eyes changed.

Although she was wearing coloured contact lenses, a glow could be seen through them. That glow was fading, which was a good sign. Suddenly her claws retracted, leaving some very hard to explain scratch marks on the table. She was looking at me with a big question mark on her face. I smiled slightly and said "Your fangs are showing".

She looked shocked but then realized I was holding my coffee mug up her nose. She took it, took a small sip, probably just for show and handed it back to me. Her fangs were gone. Then she said "You my girl are either extremely brave or insanely stupid."

I smiled and answered "Probably a bit of both". She laughed and seemed to relax.

"I will accept that answer. But I have some questions for you, you know my secret and I think its fair that I should know a bit of yours". Here we go, what I had been waiting for and dreading for countless lifetimes.

She went on "What are you dear?"

Now, in order for you guys to understand my dilemma, you need to know me better. Even if I am human, I was not always so. In one of my previous lifetimes, I had been a vampire. I didn't remember much, just bits and pieces, flashes and images. But I remembered enough at least to know that the constant hunger I felt could never be sated because I was no longer a vampire. But, also enough to know I could not trust the first vampire I met.

My vampiric life had ended with the fall of ancient Egypt and I had not been turned in the 3500 years since then. There was a good reason of course.