Back In Time

Chapter 6: In Which I Get My Grub On

I sat in what I hoped was a demure and ladylike pose, listening to the conversation around me. The fact that we were seated on the dais with Anne and the King was an honour not lost on me, although most of what they were discussing was. Since I wasn't really interested in figuring it out, I started to review what I wanted to say to Eric. I knew that he was not best pleased by my insight to his mind, and so I was trying to think of how best to deflect his ire. I remembered that one of the things that had ensured my relative safety when I'd been human was the fact that I could not hear vampires' thoughts. Of course, when Eric had made me vampire, that had changed. However, I had been changed by him and he was a very old, very powerful vampire. Being under his protection was a big plus. Ironically, I was now frantically attempting to think of ways to protect myself from that same vampire.

On an impulse, I tried to push my feelings of unease toward him, via our bond. I kept a close eye on him while I did this, but he seemed unperturbed. I thought for a moment, wondering how it would be possible that he couldn't feel my emotions. Even before he had turned me, he had been closely attuned to my every mood via the blood bond we'd had. Was it possible that he couldn't feel me because in this time, he had not yet tasted my blood? I decided not to rule anything out just yet. I mean, had I been asked yesterday, I would have said that time travel was impossible. Best to keep an open mind.

In addition to worrying about how I was going to explain myself, I was getting hungrier by the minute. In my short experience as a vampire, I knew it wasn't wise to let myself get to the danger zone. I needed to find someone soon. I started scanning the room when I remembered with a shock that things were a lot different now. In my own time, I didn't have to hide what I was. We were out in the open and there were people everywhere who were tripping over themselves to cater to our 'needs'. Granted, things had shaken up since the whole Russell Edgington thing, but there were still plenty of people fascinated with us. I personally found it a little sad to feed from the fang bangers that hung around Fangtasia and places like it, and tried to do it only when I had no other choice. Usually, Eric and I would go together to The Wet Bar, a new place in Shreveport that catered exclusively to vampires. They had a license to employ human donors and it had a fun night club theme. I know it sounds sort of sleazy but it was actually pretty cool. Since we'd been traveling, though, I'd taken to glamouring unsuspecting people. I wasn't completely comfortable with foreign views on vampires and preferred to be discreet.

I began scanning the room, very subtly, while trying to appear interested in whatever it was Eric and Godric were talking about with Anne and Henry. Luckily, I wasn't included being actively included in their discussion. Hopefully because they thought I couldn't speak their language, but probably because they thought I was a simpleton. Either way was fine with me. I noticed that a lot of the people were paired up in some sort of dance, spinning and marching to the music coming out of a small ensemble near the large doors leading outside. People were lazily drifting in and out of those doors and I could smell a lovely array of flowers wafting in from outside. I decided that once I found my target, I would lure him outside and try to get him alone in the gardens. Of course, it would be a him, not only because men were more susceptible to my lady charms, but also because I couldn't help noticing that most of the women had layered white powder on their faces and necks. It smelled weird to me, and I fleetingly remembered something about lead or arsenic or something like that being used in cosmetics back in the day. I couldn't remember when or what country that had happened in, but I didn't want to get a nasty taste in my mouth if I didn't have to. So, I was looking for a man.

I decided to lower my shields to help me find one, thinking that it wouldn't be too hard to pick one out that was thinking about the strange woman on the dais. I found him relatively quickly. He was handsome, well dressed, and found me greatly intriguing. When I'd first been turned, I had learned some tricks of the trade from Pam; flirting, being coy, attracting a human man. Things that she was disgusted to find that I didn't know already. Eric was highly amused when she began teaching me, which annoyed the shit out of me. After I'd learned my lessons, though, he wasn't so amused anymore. He'd cancelled the lessons, saying that I had sufficient charms without Pam's tutelage. Then Pam and I were amused, which annoyed the shit out of him. Circle of life.