Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Twenty-Four

 

I dreamed about heated lips across my body and soft flesh between my teeth. A hunger was building up inside of me, wild and dangerous. My heart thudded almost painfully as the twisting need took over my soul. I half-whimpered, half-moaned in my dream state. When I felt a responding cool hand move up my thigh, a very uncharacteristic growl tore from my throat.

I jerked awake abruptly, blinking in the dark before seeing Aveline’s glowing hazelnut eyes watching me curiously. She was snuggled close to me, her face only a few inches from mine, and one of her legs tangled between mine. It was her hand placed on my thigh that had awoken me. Behind me, Xander lay quiet and I assumed sleeping, his chest resting against my back and his arm flung across my stomach and over Aveline.

When I had returned to the room, I had rudely forced my way between the happy couple so that I could go back to sleep in a nice sandwiched state. Both appeared to be happier now that I wasn’t in as much pain, but really it had been for my own sanity. I had hoped that maybe I’d be disinclined to try to sneak out into the halls again for a little one on one with a certain someone…

“What were you dreaming about?” Aveline asked quietly, a smirk rising on her face. I blushed.

“Nothing,” I responded. The only thing I was grateful for was the fact that while the claim allowed Xander and Aveline to feel my pain and fear when I was in danger, it didn’t allow them to know when I was actually enjoying myself.

“It sounded a little too… interesting to be nothing,” She teased, sliding her knee up between my legs in an intimate way. I squirmed away, pushing myself back against Xander as a result, but she only giggled. Xander stirred, his arm tightening over me.

“Aveline,” He mumbled, “Stop being a pest.”

“Fine,” She whispered soothingly as though trying to lull him back to sleep. It was probably so that she could continue bothering me. “It feels so nice now that you’re not in as much pain. A living nightmare, that’s what that was.” Even though her subject had changed, I didn’t move closer to her. Xander’s grip was warm and protective; I didn’t want to bother him further.

“Have you ever been punished like that before?” I asked her quietly. Aveline paused a moment, thinking hard.

“Not like that,” She decidedly answered. “I’ve been through worse, though.” Her statement piqued my interest.

“What did you do?” I inquired curiously.

“Nothing,” She replied simply. When my confusion was evident, she reached out and poked my nose. “It’s an old boring story from when I was human.” I was startled. I hadn’t ever really thought about a human Aveline, but it was obvious she would have been if she was turned. I grasped her hand, scooting slightly closer and ignored Xander shifting with me.

“Tell me,” I demanded, though I meant it to be more convincing than it came out. I considered coming up with a better plan to get her to tell me her human story, but settled with reverting to my original request but with a more demanding tone. “Tell me, tell me!” Aveline laughed quietly, amused.

“Oh, fine, but it isn’t a very pretty story. Or a long one,” She warned, but I waited with apt attention. “Well, just before The Great Depression, I had been a typist.” She typed on my arm teasingly to make her point. “A stenographer to be exact, for a boring office filled with boring people. Boring Aveline. Or should I say Evelyn, which was my birth name.” I chuckled then, fascinated to hear how normal she had seemed.

After a moment of composing her thoughts, she continued, “When the Great Depression came, it hit hard in the early 1930s for me. I lost my job because my job lost their investors. I was an orphan, so I didn’t have a family I could fall back to. I had heard the best way for women to make money in a time like that was… well… to sell your body.” She hesitated then, though I wasn’t planning to judge her on her decisions she made back before my parents were probably even thought of.