Working Title

At 18k words I am almost at my second short term goal (20k). I’ve also completed chapter four of Ordinary People, and we are finally seeing Delia and Daniel actually interacting. Sadly, it’s not as Daniel was hoping. Or maybe he was…?

“The feeling of warm, living human skin… we come to appreciate it in a completely different way.” I felt his hand gently brush the curve of my shoulder and I shivered again. Only that time I couldn’t blame it on the cold. “And not just the feel, but the sound. You probably know our hearts don’t beat.” Of course. Everyone knew that about vampires, even if they only thought they were creatures of fiction. “I can hear yours from here: it’s so, so fast. You are not afraid of me, are you, dearest Delia?” I was, but not in the way I should have been. “And of course, there is the smell.” His voice was moving closer now. I trembled, but did not run. There was something about his voice that was almost hypnotic. “Your perfume… it’s nice, but it just doesn’t suit you.”

It was like my senses suddenly exploded all at once. I felt, rather than heard, his words near my ear. I saw, instead of felt, his lips brushing my neck. My mind somehow opened up and, even in the darkness that surrounded us, I saw us as we were then: me, stock still, white as a ghost with a look of panic frozen on my face. And then there was Daniel standing behind me, bent over slightly so he could bury his face in the crook of my neck. His hands were curved around my waist, resting on my stomach as he pulled me closer against him.
It was an extremely intimate position, and it could almost be mistaken for a lover’s embrace. But to anyone even remotely familiar with vampires – of reality or fiction, it didn’t really matter – the truth of the image would have been instantly obvious. The vampire had caught his prey, and all that was needed to complete the scene was for him to extend his fangs and-

At that thought I let out a shriek and ripped myself from his grip. Daniel made no attempt to stop me and I stumbled out towards the parking lot and the darkness beyond.

In short: when it comes to getting a girl’s attention, Daniel is a case of epic fail.

Originally published at Working Title. Please leave any comments there.