Fangs and Fairytales: Orphans

Orphans -- Chapter the Seventh

Shannon sat up with a start, noting he was still in the windowless storage room but he wasn't sure how much time had passed. His head was ringing, his eyes were somewhat unfocused, and at some point, he had dressed or been dressed in his boxers, As the memory of what had transpired between Masha and himself flooded back in, his hand found its way to his neck, noting how tender it was.

He stood and tested his legs. They were wobbly but supported him, so even though the pounding in his head was growing worse as he stood, he gathered his clothing that had been tossed aside in the heat of the moment and set about redressing. He was tying his sneakers when Masha returned with a glass of apple juice.

"Good, you're up," she said, smiling softly and handing him the glass of juice. When he took it she sat down on a storage chest and watched him while he drank it. "That should help you feel a little better but you'll want to give yourself a few hours."

"Do I have a few hours?" Shannon asked her, remembering the seriousness of their situation.

"You should be fine. And hopefully, no one will show up tonight anyway. They don't know we're here yet. Well not as far as we know. And they shouldn't have any reason to suspect this is where we are either." Masha told him. She watched him continue to drink the juice until it was finished before asking him, "How are you feeling?"

Shannon rubbed the spot on his neck again. "Confused. What the hell happened exactly?"

"I'm sorry. I got a little carried away. Like I said, it's been a long time, and you are so susceptible...." Masha trailed off, embarrassed. "It was only after... I mean I didn't influence you to...." She took a deep breath. She knew her feelings for Shannon were very real, as was the attraction between them. She was so afraid she had damaged his trust beyond repair now, but she had to explain what had happened.

"Am I your thrall now? Isn't that what they call it? Like I'm under your spell and have to do your bidding?" Shannon remembered his thoughts in the moment and the question came spilling out of him.

"What? No. What have you been reading? No. You're not still under any kind of influence."

Shannon didn't fail to notice the qualifier in that sentence. "But I was."

Masha looked at her hands instead of looking Shannon in the eyes. She sincerely had not meant to do it. She had thought she could maintain control. But as he had touched her her will had dissolved like tissue paper in water until she was so lost in him she didn't know where she ended and he began. "I'm sorry. It wasn't something I planned, I wasn't trying to make you do something you didn't want to do. See, you humans, you usually don't even understand why you're attracted, you just see something you like and you chase it. Your awareness is so limited. Attraction is complex, and there are a great deal of purely psychological factors, but the things that drive it, that put it over the edge, they're much more physical. Chemicals, pheromones. I feel them all." She moved to sit down next to him on the sofa. "With you it's overwhelming. You're intoxicating." Just sitting this close to him she could feel it again and she reached out and traced her fingers down the side of his face, half expecting him to flinch away from her touch. When he didn't she sighed and her lips parted, already aching to be on him again. "You're like all my favorite flavors. I just lost myself in the moment."

Shannon found himself closing his eyes as her touch reignited the intense desire he had been feeling earlier. He had to swallow hard before continuing. "That explains you but it still doesn't tell me what happened to me," Shannon said, his voice soft.

Masha could see his pupils starting to dilate again, and his respiration was speeding up. Quickly she pulled her hand back. "Uhm..." She licked her lips and then refocused. "We vampires release pheromones too, but also something else, a sort of desire hormone. It's quite powerful and can be completely overwhelming for humans. We also have the ability to control it, holding back when needed or using it to sway someone's behavior."