Don't Forget Me (15 page)

Before the Full Moon

L
ate that afternoon,
after spending the day together at the university, Stella and Vuk drove to her house. Stepping through the door, Stella’s eyes caught the shadow of a man walking in her garden on the curtains of the living room.

“Vuk, someone’s out there…” she shivered tensely. She stepped back, frightened, pressing herself into the protection of his chest. She felt a rush of adrenalin course through her body.

“You sure?”.

“I just saw someone go past the window!”

“Pack a bag for tonight, we’ll leave shortly. I’ll go see who it is, though I already think I know…” he said confidently looking through the window.

Stella ran up the stairs to her room and started throwing the things she needed into a bag. Suddenly, she heard someone slowly open the front door and slip inside.

She looked up and down the hallway but saw no one, then walked cautiously toward the stairs, sensing somebody watching and following her. Then she saw her hair swing forward as if a breeze had caught it. She spun round… Again she saw no one but nevertheless had the distinct feeling that someone had brushed by her, crossing from one room to another.

“My God, Stella, you’re paranoid! There’s no one here except you,”
she mumbled to herself, slowly shaking her head, incredulous at her own fears.

She went to the banister and leaned over, peering down the stairs to see if there was maybe somebody at the door, noticing that it was slightly ajar and that there was no sign of Vuk.

“Vuk, is that you? Who’s there?” she called, feeling creeped out. She heard sounds in the living room then felt her shoulders turn cold and an icy breath on her neck. Spinning round, she saw the door to her father’s study move a notch. She leaned against the banister then took a few steps toward the room only to pull up short as she heard noises from within. Mustering her courage, she walked to the door and pushed it wide open, and was surprised to find the room empty. She looked with a smile at Jeff’s guitar, lying on the chair by the desk. For an instant she remembered Vuk playing it to her in the bedroom.

At that moment she heard other sounds coming from the bedroom. Losing patience, she marched up the corridor and went in. All she saw was the wide open window, which she closed to shut out the chill. Then she turned and saw Donn standing on the threshold, staring at her and holding the keys to the Bentley. He put them back in his pocket nonchalantly and continued staring at her.

“Hi, Stella.” His voice was warm, his eyes dark, his expression impassive. He was wearing a black shirt and a pair of grey jeans. He was irresistible.

Stella continued to look at him with her mouth open, immobile in front of the window. She tried to say something, but no words came out. She was unable to tear her eyes from him.

“I was wondering which bedroom was yours…” Donn murmured, moving towards the bed. He looked around, taking in the things in her room, then went to sit down on the bed.

“It’s you…” Stella stammered out, blushing.

“It certainly is me,” replied Donn, with an amused air.

“Did you get in through the window?” she asked, keeping her eyes fixed on his mouth. “Why go to all that trouble when the door was open?” She bent her head to one side and the shadow of a smile crossed her lips.

“Come here to me, angel,” said Donn, patting the space beside him.

“I’m ok where I am, thanks,” she murmured, weakly, hesitantly.

“If you don’t come to me, I’ll come to you.” He got up from the bed and moved towards her. Stella felt herself aching for his touch and her inner being began to tremble.

“I wanted to see you,” he continued in a whisper, his eyes watchful, his head bending towards her lips, his voice deep and possessive. He took her by the nape, swept her hair from her forehead and pushed his tongue into her mouth longingly. His body took possession of here, he caressed every part of her with his tongue.

“Do you really mean that?” A groan left her lips.

“If you don’t believe me, angel, I’ll spend the whole night here proving it to you.” He sucked on the skin on Stella’s neck, the excitement making her forget to breathe. His tongue slid like an ice-cube between her breasts, licking her sensually.

“I think you and I had better take things up from where we left them in the library…”

He squeezed one of her breasts with his hand, licked her naked skin and sucked the other through the t-shirt, clasping it with his teeth.

“Why do I find you so irresistible?” panted Stella, throwing her arms around his neck and hiding her face in his shoulders.

“Because you’re mine, angel,” murmured Donn. He pushed her against the wall by the window and held her there, his fingers pressing deep into the base of her neck. He kissed her lips, causing her to release a stifled cry. He leant one hand against the wall and with the other encircled and massaged her breast, still damp from his saliva.

Stella opened her mouth slightly and let out a moan. Her head dropped to the side for a moment at the pleasure of his touch. She bit a lip and sucked it deeply, holding it between her lips.

“You’re biting your lips,” said Donn scoldingly. With one of his hands he pulled hers behind her back and blocked her arms against the wall. She tried to break free, but Donn held her close. He slipped one of his fingers inside her silken panties, feeling her thighs opening at his touch. He pushed his erection against her groin. He stifled her groans with his mouth, his tongue never relenting. Stella shook as a wave of pleasure shot down her inner thighs and went like a tidal wave through her body. Her mouth was fatally attracted by his.

Only then did Donn let her hand go. She reached down to squeeze his, still between her thighs.

“You are mine, little girl,” Donn sighed. He moved her hair aside behind her ear and kissed her on the forehead. He slowly pulled away from her, then caressed her most intimate parts, sending more ripples of pleasure through her.

Vuk ran back to the house and, finding the front door ajar, raced up the stairs, striding quickly down the hall as he heard Donn’s voice, bursting into Stella’s room with a menacing look on his face, his eyes flashing fiery sparks. Stella jumped away from Donn, turned to Vuk, and then looked away. The werewolf understood immediately what had happened from their heavy breathing, their thoughts clearly still miles away, lost in the moment that had just passed between them.

“Vuk, do join us,” Donn said, assuming a veneer of politeness, irritated by the fact that Stella had broken contact with him, her eyes telling Vuk, “It’s not what you think!”

“I knew it was you, Mr. Brooks!” Vuk glared at him threateningly.

“Good man,” Donn replied carelessly, oozing self-confidence.

“I can’t believe I was beating myself up before about where the hell you’d gone, I should have realized that your only wish is to be alone with Stella, but now
I’m
here…”.

“She has always been my ultimate objective!” cried Donn possessively, wrapping her in his arms.

“But now, get away from her,” Vuk threatened him, enraged and ready to attack.

“Vuk, we’re on the same side,” Donn said, now irritated as he tried to reason with him.

“I can protect her very well by myself, thank you,” Vuk said, not prepared to listen to reason as a spike of pure adrenaline rushed through his veins, his instinctive impulses battering his body.

“Even tonight?” asked Donn with bitter irony, only to receive a fierce, pointed glare, leaving the air heavy with a deafening silence.

Then Donn raised Stella’s hand with a gesture of elegance and gently touched his lips to the back of it, lifting his eyes to look into hers then pulling her unexpectedly into his arms, sighing her name and kissing her intensely, impulsively, on the corners of her mouth, dicing perilously with Vuk’s fury.

“I’ll see you later, angel,” Donn whispered seductively in her ear, finally pulling himself away from her and ignoring Vuk until, at the last minute he acknowledged him, pronouncing his name through clenched teeth and giving him a tiny nod of his head, his eyes shadowed. Then he left the house and disappeared down the road.

“Vuk, let’s go to the factory now otherwise we won’t have enough time to tie you down,” Stella said, grabbing her bag and heading quickly to the stairs.

Vuk understood that Stella did not want to talk about what had just happened, and he was fine with that, for the moment. He had more important things to think about. He did not trust Donn, but nor was he sure he wanted to keep her with him for the full moon night, not sure he wanted her to see him in his werewolf form, when his instincts would take over and he would lose control of his mind.

“Are you still sure you want to spend the night with me?” He blocked her passage down the hall, moving toward her as if to kiss her but at the last second simply taking her bag off her shoulder to carry it himself.

“Vuk, how many times do I have to tell you I trust you!”

“You shouldn’t, Stella. My instincts will overpower me completely tonight.”

“I don’t give a damn,” she said, her expression resolute, letting the sweet gaze of his eyes melt her.

“My blood will boil in my veins, my heart will pound like a hammer, and I’ll be higher than a kite on adrenaline rushes”.

“I don’t give a shit about any of that stuff either.”

“You’ll be just like any other prey in the forest, I won’t be able to tell you apart”.

“I know the risks I’m taking… discussion over, I’ve made up my mind. Let’s go!” she grabbed his hand resting on her hip, and followed him down the hallway. Then, startled, she felt him suddenly take her in his arms. She tried to protest with a sweet smile on her lips, but found that the more she attempted to show her annoyance by giving him a serious talking to, the more he pressed her tightly to his body and the more powerless she felt. Flailing against his chest, she didn’t even dent the armor of Vuk’s embrace. Unable to move an inch, she yielded to the delicious sensation of being held by his strong, enveloping arms.

Vuk carried her down the stairs, out the door to the pickup and set her gently on the seat beside his. He felt himself liquefy as he gazed into her eyes and felt her warm breath on his skin, then he broke the connection to resist the temptation of her alluring lips. He walked away to cool off, then turning back at last he got behind the wheel, looked at her again with intense desire, looked back at the road and sped off.

The road flowed by under the wheels of the pick-up and the lights of the cars in the other lane flashed by. Vuk was silent for the entire ride, realizing that he was could not forgive Stella for how she was unable to resist Donn. His eyes were serious, fixed on the horizon in front of them.

Stella flipped through the stations on the radio, and then stopped on one she liked. The announcer stated that the next song would be
How to Save a Life
by The Fray. The song started and Stella immersed herself in its words. She stared at Vuk until he turned toward her, and gave her a bitter smile worth more than a thousand words.

Their destination was an old, abandoned factory, a secluded spot near the woods, not far from a lonely stretch of highway. It was the place Vuk had spent every night of the full moon.

Stella took a key from the pickup’s dashboard and went to unlock the padlock and chain that barred the building’s rear door. She held it open for Vuk, who left the twilight glow to enter the factory.

“Hurry, Stella, we’re running out of time,” he hissed in alarm, entering the factory in the half-light.

He put the bag, harness and steel chains he had brought along in the pick-up down next to the wall Stella was to tie him to. Then he took off his jacket and started to undress, as she leaned against a cold, damp wall, watching his magnificent body attentively.

The Old Abandoned Factory

V
uk unbuckled his
belt, unbuttoned his jeans and stripped off his tee-shirt to quickly stand bare-chested before her. His torso was like sculpted marble, his shoulders and arms epitomized strength and protection, while his skin was already glistening with the effort his body was making to cool the burning source of heat it had now become, the warmth seeming to envelop Stella too.

Vuk could tell she was attracted to him; he could feel her eyes on his body. He wanted so badly for her to be his, but he knew that first he would have to win her back from Donn.

“If you want me to keep stripping, little girl, you have to give me some motivation, like by showing your appreciation, like all strip-tease acts,” he smiled playfully, walking seductively toward her.

“Oh, stop already. I wasn’t staring, I was just waiting for you to finish so I could tie you up. You done?” she replied, feeling more tense than playful, as well as embarrassed as she saw him walk boldly toward her with an almost predatory look in his eye.

“Tie me up? If anyone was listening to us, Stella, they’d think you wanted to do wicked things to me tonight.” He furrowed his brow and his eyes glowed a deep yellow, becoming as attractive as the rest of him in his current lustful state of undress.

“Vuk, you’re right. I’d love to do wicked things with a werewolf tonight. Think that’s likely?” she responded flippantly, catching him off guard and seeing him stop short of her, his breath ragged.

“Yeah, sure, little girl, I happen to know just the right werewolf, too… What’s more he’s standing half-naked front of you as we speak,” he said, glancing down with languid defiance at his body for a second.

“Just so I know what I’m getting myself into, Vuk… Aren’t you pushing it too much tonight?”.

“Yeah, maybe it’d be pushing it a little, probably better to take a rain check,” he smiled, giving her a funny look, trying to hide his pleasure.

“Probably,” she agreed, forcing a tiny smile to her lips.

“Believe me, Stella, no one has ever managed to bring a smile to my face right before my transformation. I get such a fantastic vibe from you… It’s almost like I can’t even feel the symptoms anymore”.

“Well, if there’s anything else I can do to make you feel better just let me know…”

“Kiss me,” he sighed, wrapping his arm round her and pulling her roughly to him. He wanted to feel that she was still his, just like the night he had slept alongside her.

“I was thinking more along the lines of another joke or some naughty word play…” she said, seeing a twinge of embarrassment on his face as he glanced away. She did not want to kiss him after what had happened with Donn. Suddenly, Vuk’s grip on her loosened and, writhing in pain, he sank to his knees. Feeling the burning heat his body threw off, Stella swiftly bent down to help him.

“I’m good now, little girl, it was just cramp,” he said, feeling the onset of more spasms, the pain so strong it knocked him to the ground.

Stella frantically wanted to stop him from hurting so much, she wished she could feel the pain for him, anything to give him the elusive respite he craved. She tried to reassure him, to show how much she cared through the gentle touch of her hands but, stricken, just felt guilty that she was powerless to do more.

“You’d probably never have suffered these painful attacks if I’d let you continue the X-rated performance you wanted to give me…” she said, trying to distract him.

He smiled. “Yeah… I could have earned at least a twenty, no?” he joked, his magnetic eyes radiating a bright yellow light.

“More like a fifty with those pecs, I’d say…” she replied in dulcet tones. He felt his body wracked by more painful spasms.

“Let me tie you up now, Vuk,” she continued in her soothing, honeyed voice.

“Right, you need to tie me up… What an idiot, how could I forget the highlight of the evening…” he agreed, his fingertips grazing the contours of her face.

“Are you telling me you can’t wait for me to tie you up?” she asked.

“No, only that I’d like you to tie me up more often but possibly under more relaxed circumstances,” he said, his expression seductive, his fingers softly brushing her lips.

Stella let herself be pulled for an instant into the warm light of his eyes but then felt disoriented and broke away before wrapping him gently in her arms, a smile of complicity on her face.

Once she’d got him to his feet, they walked over to the steel cables he’d fastened to the rings in the wall earlier, and then she crouched down at his side, reaching for the harness.

“Okay, now I’m going to put the harness on.” She slipped it over his slightly raised legs, straddling his body to hike it up to his shoulders and round his arms, finally sliding back down his length to fasten it around first his hips and then his chest, using all her strength to pull it tightly closed in front.

“Now hook the steel cables to the harness, Stella. Make sure each one is fastened tightly. I can’t risk escaping this time, not when you’re here,” he said, his unease growing as he passionately grabbed her thigh and squeezed it in his hand.

While Stella carefully followed his instructions, Vuk buckled a collar around his neck, his expression troubled and serious.

“Vuk, you’ve never used that before.”

“I need to, this time, Stella.”

“Why?”

“Because the other times I freed myself at once and you weren’t even close, so just fasten the collar with the snap-hook to one of the steel cables. You’d make me feel much better,” he explained, stiffening with the effort it took to delay and fight his transformation, knowing it would burst through any time now.

“Ok…” she agreed reluctantly, perplexed at his words.

“My hands too, Stella… tie my hands” he said, giving her a wry look as he handed her a pair of handcuffs and felt her gently lock them tightly around his wrists.

“Tighter,” he urged firmly. He slipped the keys to the cuffs into the pocket of her jeans.

“They’re real tight now, Vuk, any tighter and I’ll cut off your circulation!”

“I doubt that,” he smiled wryly.

“Ok, they’re a little tighter now…” she said tentatively. Her hands were trembling.

“You’re so tense. Is that what comes of chaining a half-naked guy like me to the wall?” he laughed wryly, somehow caressing her lips with his manacled hands. Stella felt his hands aflame on her lips.

“Vuk, you’re burning up, you’ve got a fever!”

“That’s cute. I wish it was only a fever… But no, it’s normal for my temperature to rise before I transform. It’s even worse when I get angry, it’s like I’m on fire, burning in my own private hell,” he said with bitter irony, his harnessed body crumpling next to her once again.

“Stella, it’s time for you to leave, please go,” he continued, a vein swelling on his forehead.

“No, not yet.” She looked into his eyes, sure of what she was doing, noticing how taut every muscle in his body had become but intuiting that, despite his blood red eyes, he was still himself deep inside.

“I’ll transform soon, Stella, then I really won’t be me anymore.” Suddenly ravaged by his instincts, he pushed her away from him to avoid hurting her but then quickly regained control.

“Go! Get away from me, damn it, you’re in danger if you stay. Get out of here!” he shouted in torment, leaning his head and shoulders against the wall in despair.

“No, I’m staying with you,” she exclaimed stubbornly, standing at his side.

“Stella, get out of here, please, I don’t want you to see me like this,” he panted, exhausted, letting his face rest on her breast.

“I’m not going to leave you on your own.” She touched his face with her hand and reassuringly stroked his sweat-drenched hair.

“Why, Stella? Why are you doing this? You could have spared yourself the whole scene,” he asked in wonder, pressing himself to her, his hand twisting her shirt as he impulsively held her to him.

“Vuk, you think I mind staying here with you?” She frowned, she could not believe at what she was seeing.

“Well, let’s face it, who in their right mind would be here out of choice? Even I would have happily missed this particular gig,” he said sardonically, feeling the pain subside but knowing it wouldn’t be long before it clawed at him again. His eyes couldn’t hide his exhaustion.

“I just can’t bear to see you suffer like this, it’s killing me.” Stella took out a bottle of water from her bag and poured a little on her fingers. She then brushed them across Vuk’s dried lips, which he wrapped around her water-soaked fingers.

“There is one way to make me feel better… Kiss me!” He stood up suddenly and, fuelled by his desire, leaned over to kiss her. But cramps crippled him, pain was making his body tremor in her arms.

“Sssh, calm down, it’ll soon be over,” she added, trying to reassure him as she stroked the length of his back.

“No, Stella, you’re wrong, it’s not even started yet,” he groaned, totally wiped out.

“Vuk, the more you fight your instincts, the more it’ll hurt. Let yourself go, it’s fate”. Stella noted that Vuk’s blank eyes were staring at the far end of the factory.

“Not until I see you walk through that door. I want you safe. Then maybe tomorrow morning I’ll deliver myself to your doorstep, where you’ll find me instead of the morning paper,” he continued ironically, detaching his mind to let his body deal with the stabbing pains, hinting at the times he had woken up in a state of weak, naked confusion in her garden, once even shocking the paper boy into falling off his bike.

“That means you think about me even when you’re not your true self.”

“Or maybe it’s just my instinct that leads me to your house, Stella. That
thing
is not me and if I somehow manage to reach you, you must promise me that you will even run me over, if necessary. Because it’ll be the end if I get you alone in the woods with me and I would never be able to live with the guilt, or without you,” he exclaimed, his body now slippery with the sweat of struggling to quell the wrenching pains.

“Vuk, that’s just not going to happen, so don’t even say it.”

“If you’d seen what I can turn into you, you’d never say that.” It was getting beyond dangerous now, so he hastily put the keys to the pickup in her hand.

“You don’t think I’m so easily fooled by a mere change of appearance, do you? I know that you’re trapped there deep inside and I would never risk hurting you or ending your life. It doesn’t bear thinking about,” she said, her eyes suddenly turning hot and moist.

“But if it’s a question of my life or yours?” he asked, his breathing jagged and faint.

“Both. Or neither,” she whispered in his ear.

“Stella, don’t say that. Not now that I have no option but to accept my fate,” he said, jerking his knees to his chest to try and block the lacerating pain that was gripping his body.

“My heart is so sad, the thought of not being here for you right up to the end is killing me already,” she said, a tear rolling softly, silently, like a forlorn caress, down her cheek.

“Don’t be sad, Stella. This is the end,” and he edged his chained body nearer to her, reaching out his manacled hands to gently brush the tear away. He fought his instinct to
kiss her, knowing that just one taste of those sweet lips would prevent him from letting her go.

“See you tomorrow, Vuk. At the first light of dawn,” she murmured, and turned to leave, but Vuk, giving in to his instincts, grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.

“You’re so beautiful at sunrise. The reason I wake up is to see you.” A glint of eroticism danced in his eyes.

“Vuk, you’re no longer yourself. Let me go!” He pulled her to him, took the key to the handcuffs from her pocket, and freed his hands. Then he grabbed her and ran his hands down her body as far as the chains would allow.

“I’m overcome with desire, babe.” He grabbed her head and shook her hair. He pulled her to him and threw himself violently on her lips. He opened her mouth with force and pushed his tongue inside. His lips moved restlessly, making the kiss all the more intense. Stella tried push him away, but he was way too strong.

“Do you think this is funny?” Stella asked with difficulty. Vuk licked her lips and then held her lower lip between his teeth, angered by her attempts to loosen his grip. Suddenly, he disappeared from sight to move down and bite her neck. Letting out a groan, he then proceeded to suck her skin, pulling it between his lips. Stella lowered her chin and managed to get him off of her neck.

“You’re killing me, you know that, right?” He pushed against her lips, his fingers pressing into her hips, hurting her. Then he pulled her shirt partially off, baring one of her breasts. He wrapped his hand around it and stretched toward it with his tongue, but could only reach with the very tip, blocked by Stella’s hands on his head.

“What’s the matter?” He was excited beyond all limits, his erection pressing against his jeans, his eyes sparking. He thought his heart would explode. He reached down to take Stella’s shirt off, but she would not let him.

“Donn had you!” he yelled at her. He thought back to when he had found her in the room with the vampire, and grabbed her by the throat from under her shirt, squeezing her neck until her face started to turn red.