Vivienne

Shortly after, Vivienne found herself back in her car and once again racing down the road to the hotel in question.  The minutes passed easily and she pulled up into the half circle  where the guests could unload their vehicle and get registered. Looking up at the sign, the vampire uttered the name of the hotel. “Ocean Lilly, spa and resort.  Sounds like the place Drake and his ilk would stay.”

A woman with a perfect blend of Korean and European descent came out to greet the vampire. Vivienne instantly locked onto the woman’s jet black and pink streaked hair, naturally tanned skin, and down to her inquisitive brown eyes partly hidden behind a small round pair of glasses.  An unnatural shiver raced through Vivienne as she noticed the woman's lips parting as though she were going to speak. Plump and red, they formed the hint of the number three at the top with the dent in the center highlighting the curves itself.  

“Welcome to the Ocean Lilly.” Catching the scent of lilies, the vampire breathed deep and listened further. “I am Faye, and here to help you in any way to get you checked in.”

“Vivienne.  So glad to meet you, Faye.” The vampire nearly stuttered as she responded in the same breath.  The doctor couldn’t figure out why, but she was unable to stop looking at the human woman before her.  She could see every little curve of her bones, the sensual and well developed shape of her hips, her graceful and elegant neck pulsing with pure and delicious blood, the subtle “V” shape of the lady’s face and well-placed rounded nose.  Vivienne kept glancing at Faye's brown eyes that seemed to sparkle for her, up to her well-groomed eyebrows, and finally back to every strand of black and pink hair she could absorb.

It dawned on Vivienne that she finally knew what was happening to her.  Staying far back from human involvement had protected her from this turmoil for over three thousand years.  She’d heard the stories, read the plays such as Romeo and Juliet, overheard conversations and even seen versions of it in movies and television.  

Never believing that it was possible until now.

The vampire noted that emotions were what pushed younglings for those first five years or so, then they seemed to grow tame.  Vivienne herself hadn’t felt the stirring of any real emotional connection until this very moment.  Her insides seemed to twist and ache in a good way, She was feeling it for the first time in her life and un-life.  

Love.

Faye sardonically rolled her brown eyes in disdain as she rattled off her typical lines about her parents' hotel that to her were only barely adequate to call a ‘resort or spa’.  The hotel had one small room that counted as a spa, filled with salt water and scented with lavender.  Thinking about the resort part of the hotel made the black haired beauty snort lightly, as the only part of it being close to a resort was the large glass doors for the rooms that allowed guests to see the sun rise.  Knowing that the hotel was a fancy illusion, Faye kept greeting guests as the respectful and dutiful daughter she was.  Her parents loved the hotel and planned for her to take over, but that wasn’t her dream.  The Korean woman loved cybersecurity the most, followed by an interest in networking. 

The security system of the hotel was the Korean woman's shining triumph.  State of the art cameras, a small server farm, multiple monitors, and backup to the cloud all at her fingertips.  She’d even set up the firewalls and intrusion protection so her mother and father didn’t have to make large cash drops at the bank, instead relying on transfers via credit card, app or phone.  Hiding herself away in the central room that she’d designed to monitor the hotel, Faye kept herself out of the sight of most tourists.  Behind the door of her room she could play games, hangout with online friends, create scripts, even monitor the hotel cameras, all while avoiding the rude comments from tourists or even listening to them make fun of her race by sounding fake Korean.  The key to her freedom was literally locked in a boxed room.

Until two minutes ago when she spoke to the entrancing woman before her.

Faye stopped walking and stood nearly frozen.  She tried to speak once the soft and cultured voice tickled her senses, “U-ah..”  She stammered and swallowed hard before pushing up her glasses over her eyes a bit more.   “Good to, wait..um, is that a French accent?” She asked while trying to unfreeze her body to just shake hands with the vision before her.  Feeling her feet first, the Korean woman took an excited step forward.  That step closer to Vivienne let her eyes fully focus on the vampire, where she was immediately taken in by the depth of the sea pulsing from the soft blue eyes penetrating her.  Although Faye wanted to look away from the beauty before her out of habit, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.  Shaking and fidgeting all over, the black-pink haired woman freed her frozen hand and scratched at her temple, unable to concentrate on anything else.

Standing in front of this well formed, exotic woman shaped much like an olympic swimmer, was exactly where this quiet boxed away lady felt she needed to be.  Faye wasn’t thinking about her monitors or friends.  Her gaze was dreamily moving down Vivenne’s long locks of black hair covering her breasts, and catching herself in a hesitant breath wanting to kiss between the heart shaped gap in her blouse.  Her body didn’t give any warnings to the stonelike appearance Vivienne’s skin had, rather it drew her closer to the vampiress.

Vivienne spoke, sending another wave of shivers up and down Faye’s shaking form. “You have a good ear. My..” The Korean didn’t register the stutter from the vampire, “.. I am indeed from southern France, yes.  That was years ago.  Some things are hard to erase, even with all the time.. in the world…”  She gave out an involuntary little laugh as she trailed off, which only made the hostess want to get closer to the woman.  Faye’s feet complied with the deep desire building within her, and took a step closer to the charming woman before her. This act forced her so close to Vivienne that she could feel the warmth and breath coming from the vampire.  Her heart beat so heavily it jolted her frame and caused her body to keep shivering wildly, as if a cold wind had passed by. This close to the vampire it wasn’t Vivienne’s lips that Faye was drawn to but the elegant gap between them, hiding the secret of a desperate kiss.  Thoughts of twisting and curling with the vampire's hidden tongue made her mind scream at her - kiss her you fool!- Yet she was still frozen, locked this close and unable to just lean forward to bring that embrace to the pair.  

“I-I like to think..I am..” Faye breathed heavily forcing her breath to pierce the alluring gap in Vivienne’s lips.  -Please god lady, just lean into me- her mind again pleaded in silence. “..observant. It is, I .. um, what I, I do best.”  She sighed as she managed to eek out something.

Allowing Faye to get dangerously close to her, Vivienne tasted the aromatic and delicious breath that was forced between her lips.  Vivienne felt her knees twitch as she took that sexually charged heat into her own body.  Her fangs clicked into place.  Part of her wanted to take the Korean beauty to a private place and end the confusing feelings that were ripping through her dead body.  The doctor gazed longingly into the observant and impassioned brown eyes, noticing that the hostess was enamored as well.  Vivienne heard the fluttering and pounding of Faye’s heart, flushing her body in a glorious nervous maroon that allowed the vampire to regain control of herself. -You nearly lost your...No, I couldn’t have done it..why is my stomach hurting?- Vivienne quickly questioned herself.  The breath still lingered inside Vivienne’s body, its sexual and enticing energy using precious blood to flood heat to the vampire in ways she’d never experienced.  The desire filled her body like she’d never thought possible and didn’t know if she could or want to truly control.

Vivienne reached up with her hand, gently cupping Faye’s cheek.  She’d considered taking a much needed step back, but her body refused to listen and let the simple touch linger much longer than any stranger should have allowed. “W-What are you observing right now, Faye?”  Vivienne’s voice regained her confidence the longer her hand remained in place. “I assure you, in so many ways you cannot be observing what you think you are.  I am confused and don’t want to break this tenuous trance we are in.  I find I cannot move.”

Faye leaned her head into the cool palm that caressed her cheek. “I am observing that you haven’t moved any more than I have in the last few minutes.  I have observed that you have a very intoxicating scent coming from that toned body of yours.  Almost like you are in some way betraying yourself of something.  My body has betrayed me as I lean into your cool touch even more.  The prickle down my spine tells me I should be afraid of your rock hard and icy touch, but I don’t care.  I don’t want to break this, how did you put it?  Tenuous trance, yes.  I-I..” Faye’s breath catches lightly before she can continue, “I see the sparkle in your heavenly aqua eyes, and taste the sweet iron breath on my tongue.  So, I am wondering what it would be like to kiss you.  Here and now.”

“That would be unwise.”

“Mmm, why is that?”

Looking  in Faye’s soulful brown eyes made Vivienne give a confession. “I don’t think I could lie to you if I wanted to.” Vivienne tugged on her lip with the tip of her fang for a moment, “The short version is that if you kiss me, You will be bound to me until I release you.” the vampire paused to a very strange string pulling in her chest. “Do..you want..” She breathes in another deliberate and unstable whiff of the woman she’s confused by. “..to be charmed for life, because I don’t think I could let you free of the entrapment it would cause.”

“So I am helpless?”

“Faye.” -Another heavy breath!- Losing a touch of willpower to Faye’s warm and carnal sigh, the anxious vampire’s eyes rolled and fluttered for a moment before she was able to regain her thoughts. “I-I, You don’t know how true that statement is.”  Vivienne felt the strings tighten around her heart and turn into iron, ending her confusion once and for all. “Y-you have free will right now.” Her speech failed her as her voice cracked for a moment. “I-you we? No, Um, You should really take a step back and make that decision to kiss me.”

Faye felt that something was off with the woman gently holding her cheek.  Her hand itself was a warning.  The first touch that nearly sent the hostess to her knees, ice cold. A second later that very same palm was hot as fire against her olive skin. “What if I want to be reckless and just take the chance?” 

“You are right, mon amour.” Vivienne hesitated a moment, bathing in the simple feeling that she’d never experienced before. “I-I am trapped here by your presence.. I c-can’t explain what is happening, I have never felt this way before. Faye..I-never, emotions..”  She took a useless dead sigh to gain her speech, “..I can’t say that I would be a very good companion.”

Standing there with Vivienne’s hand on her cheek, Faye realized that in any other instance she would have walked away without a thought or care in the world.  Walked back to her little box, the box that let her be who she wanted.  She wasn’t Faye Park, the good daughter, listening to whatever her parents told her.  Cyberlilly was who existed in the box.  Comfortably entrenched within the virtual world, she had quite a following of peers that played games with her, asked her for help with problems and even confided secrets.  As Cyberlilly, she always received offers from the men and women to date long distance or even occasionally meet and spend long weekends as a couple.  Dating and relationships had never been a priority to Cyberlilly, choosing instead to remain alone and in her box.  Faye Park existed only to be a good daughter, to please her parents.

“Sounds like we are more alike than you want to admit.  I have not been a good companion in my past.  Simply put, I don’t get along with most people and I stay hidden away in a room that I designed to hide from everyone. I-I double as s-security and our IT department. I greet people just to help my parents keep costs down in a tourist town.”  Faye closed her eyes for a moment, focusing on the slender hand still on her cheek. “Mm, until now, I have been awkward in everything I do or say in person.”

“The irony.”  Vivienne mused as she watched Faye’s eyes slide shut. Letting the moment guide her, Vivienne’s index finger did little circles on the olive cheek in her hand. “I-I don’t want to let this moment pass. I-we, cannot keep standing here all night.  We will have to move at some point.” She felt a little ache in her chest that she didn’t like. “If you allow me to come inside, you will have the chance to gather your thoughts.”

Faye’s knees buckled the moment Vivienne started caressing her cheek.  The sensation of falling halted by an equally gentle embrace by the vampire at her waist and the small of her back, bringing them closer to the kiss that had been discussed seconds before.  The black-pink haired woman knew immediately that she didn’t want the intoxicating moment to ever end.

Being held tightly in Vivienne’s hug, Faye didn’t want to face the inevitable, barely able to get the words out. “W-What.. happens if-if.. we go inside and we d-decide that we are ships that have passed in the night?”

A very painful knot started to form inside Vivienne’s chest, just as she noted the song “Crazy For You” by Madonna over the resort’s speakers, its lyrics intervening in the encounter at the perfect moment.

“...I walk over to where you are

Eye to eye, we need no words at all

Slowly now we begin to move

Every breath, I’m deeper into you

Soon we two are standing still in time

If you read my mind you’ll see

I’m crazy for you

Touch me once and you’ll know it's true

I never wanted anyone like this

It's all brand new...”

“W-what a reference, Faye.  I-imagine that it means this was never meant to be.  Let’s hope this wasn’t a fluke but an honest attraction.”  Her hand pulled slowly away from Faye’s cheek, nearly stopping as the girl placed her own hand over Vivienne’s wrist. “I know, Faye.  I don’t want to either.” Reluctantly, the vampire pulled away from the small hug the two were in, taking a step back and ensuring that the enthralling kiss would not trap the woman.

Twirling a piece of her pink highlights, Faye kept smiling at Vivienne. “You are more than welcome inside; I assume you are registered?”  Faye hopefully asked  as she took a step back and then headed through the double sliding doors to the front desk.

The foyer set the tone for the hotel immediately.  The walls were painted blue and white and covered in black and white pictures of the 1960s, containing various surfers and tourists tanning themselves.  Round with wood and topped with granite, the front desk had the trappings of a typical tourist town.  Little cardboard pop-ups with various leaflets pointing out things like the lighthouse and First Landing State Park.  Beyond that, the desk had a small computer terminal and a copier to get guests checked in and charged for services.

“I am not a guest, Faye.  I am actually looking for some information about a band that is staying here.  Can you assist me with that?”

Faye kept quiet as she reached the desk and hopped over it in the effort to make it look like it was an everyday occurrence.  Catching her foot on the lip of the granite the pink haired lady fell on her face then lay on the floor, both embarrassed and holding her nose. “Ouch.  That was.. Well, stupid.”

Vivienne didn’t laugh or react to what Faye had done.  She’d long figured out that humans did wildly crazy things to show off or be silly.  The vampire was fairly certain that the hostess was trying to show off, and failed in the process.  Vivienne sniffed the air and knew instantly that her new beau wasn’t bleeding. “I can imagine that didn’t feel good.  Are you bleeding?”

“No, I am not bleeding.  My pride is a bit injured, but I am fine.”  Faye sighed and pulled herself up from the tiled floor and wiped her nose just to be sure and looked back into the blue eyes peering right back at her.

Once again, their eyes locked onto each other and the silence said it all.

“I-I think it is s-safe to say outside was not a fluke.  I still want to kiss you.”

“Mon Amour.  I-I would not suggest that ki-kiss all the same, right now.  I have to agree with you though, I no longer think this.. whatever is going on, is a fluke.”  

Vivienne’s ache in her chest dimmed the moment she admitted what she was feeling.  Typically emotions this intense would bring the beast within to the surface where she’d fight for control.  This was much different.  The vampire still knew she was in love and let herself express it the best she could, given her inexperience.  She walked to the edge of the smooth desk and leaned on it with her arms. “I would like to take advantage of the distance that this desk affords us for the time being.” Vivienne fluttered her eyelids as she breathed in Faye’s scent once more. The vampire had to restrain herself from tearing the desk into splinters. “I want nothing more than to tackle you to the ground and give you that kiss and not come up for breath for a very long time.”

Faye blinked first, allowing the couple to finally think about more than just kissing each other. “I-whew.”  Wiping the sweat from her forehead after the idea of being kissed by Vivienne, Faye tried to focus on the vampire's words.  “Y-you m-mentioned that you wanted my help with something?” The hostess felt her heart pounding in her chest as she kept replaying the tackling kiss in her mind.

“I know the Flying Cannibals are staying here.  When are they expected back, do you know?”

“What in the world do you want with those degenerates?  They have caused nothing but misery here in the hotel for the last week.  I mean we have their cards on file to charge them for all the damages, but we will be closed while that happens.  Our suites are a mess.”  Faye expressed in half rage and half disgust with the group of musicians. “My parents are up there right now asking them to keep the noise down because we have a building full at the moment.”

“They didn’t play tonight?”

“Apparently not.  I am not even going to ask why.  I just want them gone.”

“How long have your parents been gone, Faye?”

“Probably twenty minutes or so?  My mother was going to head up there on her own, but my dad has a funny feeling about the group, so he went with her.”

“Faye.  I know we have been doing a little dance with our feelings in the last, what ten minutes at most?  I also know that this will sound odd.  Do you trust me?  More like can you trust me?”

“I-I want to?”  Faye’s voice got a little crackle in it for the first time since meeting the entrancing woman before her. “Yes.  I – I can trust you.  Is there something wrong, you have to tell me.”

“Please, go to your little room and scan the cameras and see if you can find your parents.  No matter what, for the good of both our future, you stay safe and out of any possible harm’s way.  I will be back shortly.  I have some business to attend to.  It will be an hour at the most.  Can you hold out that long, mon amour?”

“You have said that phrase a few times now.  I confess to not knowing French.  I think I know what it means, though I would enjoy hearing it confirmed from you.”

“My love.”

Faye’s cheeks washed over in crimson, her lips quivered and her eyes started to form tears. Her mind and body revealed its truth to Vivienne that the Korean woman felt the exact same way.

“M-mon amour.”  Faye managed to eke out and kept looking at the crystal blue eyes, committing them to memory just in case this was the last time she would see and feel the legendary love at first sight.

Vivienne gave a little wink and smiled before bowing to her new girlfriend. “Until I return.  Heed what I said.  Stay hidden, find your parents.”

Faye locked the doors behind Vivienne as she left, and sprinted to her safe room to watch and scan the cameras. “Come on mom and dad, where are you?”