Encounters With a Mythic: Three Degrees of Obsession

Chapter 4:

If someone would have told Michelle that one day she would be walking through the mind of a literal vampire, she would have handed them a business card and told them exactly when their first session would be. The day was beyond crazy. The entire idea of her past day had taken a turn from terrifying to thrilling as she walked down the hallway to the Archive with the big bad mythic himself.  

"It's just beyond that corridor there." Michelle said while taking the chance to steal a look at the man who she was begrudgingly becoming more and more intrigued with. He never made eye contact with her during the walk. Just kept those cold blue irises focused in front of them, face showing nothing that she could discern. And for a woman that had spent the better years of her life studying how to basically read someone's mind, being shut out of his was really starting to get under her skin.

Just wait Michelle. The Archive room is sure to make his jaw drop. she thought.

They were finally at its entrance. A large metal door shone with pride while a key pad and retina scanner were embedded in the wall on its right. She punched in the code. Did the vampire hiss in a breath when she took her glasses off? Michelle turned to him. Her hands clasped tightly around the stiff handle of the door. 

"Okay, Valmond. Just beyond this door lies the Archive. Please make your way to the left and take a seat in the white chair once we enter."

"I thought the point of this journey was to study my mind yet you seem intent on studying my face. Is there something on it?"

Damn, busted. 

"No, nothing of the sort. I'm just gazing your levels of anxiety. Usually when people see a big door with a lock their hearts start racing as they wonder what's behind door number two, ha-ha." 

Smooth Michelle. Very smooth. That's definitely going into the journal when you get home as the dorkiest thing you've done all year. Compartmentalize.

"Interesting. Though it should be noted that I have gone millennia without a heartbeat and I don't believe it knows how to race." Michelle could tell her jaw was the one that must of dropped as he added, " Ah, The door? Would you like some assistance with that?"

She glared at him. Then with a bit more struggle than she was prepared to showcase, managed to open the door. Or rather, to begin the decompression process. One by one inside the metal slab bolts thicker than her thighs slid from deep inside the wall to deep inside the door itself. A psst sound followed by a loud thump occurred one after another as the seven locks realigned into place. The door slowly crept open with a whoosh and Michelle was forced to take a step back as the pressure of air escaping the room pushed against her. When did Valmond get close enough to right her step?

"Umm... Thanks." She said while  tucking a loose strand of black hair behind her ear. She could feel her cheeks heat as he looked at her. That all consuming look again as he loomed over her from the front. The way he smelled was doing funny things to her mind. Like fire and vanilla. Wild, yet sweet. The same way he seemed to be at all times with her. And damn his strong firm hands for sending a light shiver from where he held her arms down to her toes. When his lips pressed together as if he were about to kiss her, her mind began to scramble. She wanted to shove at him and tell him to back off but all she could manage to do was place her hands against his chest and feel the thudding of his heart beat. Wait.

Heartbeat?  She thought.

"Mr. Valencia, I do believe you've lied to me. You do have a heartbeat. And from what I can tell it's training for the Olympics." She pushed off of him. Surprised to feel the marble stones that must be his muscles flex beneath her brief touch.