Intrigued Ch. 06

-Raven-

I walked past him into his apartment, warm pine filling my nostrils. He looked at me as if I were a ghost. "It is good to see you again, Keegan... face to face," I said with a smile. My fangs were retracted, I did not want to frighten him.

"Likewise," he said, cautiously, " I've been going to The Riff every night for a month to find you. Where have you been?"

I studied his expression, for some reason, he was fearful of me.

"I was terrified that I would kill you... it is not something that I can guarantee that I could control," I began.

-Keegan-

Déjà-fucking-vu! I thought as the familiar words left her mouth.

"Cut the shit, Raven," I cut her off, "You came here to kill me! Just fucking get it over with!" I shouted.

She just stood there staring at me, looking confused. She wore a simple, white blouse with a cinched waist and fitted black slacks, she looked almost human.

"Keegan... what on Earth makes you think that I came here to kill you? I have been here with you for awhile now, and you have not even seen my fangs. I do not wish to kill you," she said softly.

She made a good point. If she really wanted to, she could have those fangs out in no time, draining the life out of me. The thought that she didn't come here to murder me gave me comfort, but still left one question unanswered:

"Well, if you don't wanna kill me, what are you doing here?" I questioned, looking down at her.

She walked over to me and stared into my eyes and replied: "I have been thinking of you, Keegan...I just could not force myself to stay away from you any longer."

Ignoring the fact that she used the same dialogue from my dream for a second time, I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. Her body was very cold, but I didn't mind, it felt amazing to have her in my arms again. It was almost as if someone loosened their grip on my heart.

"I've missed you," I said before I knew it. I was afraid that I would scare her off.

"I have missed you as well, Keegan," she replied, running her cool hands up and down my back causing goosebumps to form.

-Raven-

If I were any other vampire, I would be disturbed by his thoughts and would have probably killed him. He had thoughts of passion and the future, of companionship. It is not in a vampire's nature to act as companions, especially to humans. Humans were either one of two things to us: food or fun, never anything more. It was pointless to expect anything else, they were impermanent...They would wither and die while we remained constant, unless of course, we decided to turn them.

I can honestly say that within that hug, my icy heart seemed to melt a bit. I pulled him down for a kiss, it was slow and passionate. It was what both of us needed. His tongue explored my mouth without urgency, causing me to release a moan into his mouth. I wanted him... I wanted all of him and I did not care at what expense.

-Keegan-

I needed her and she needed me, I could tell by the way she looked at me. I picked her up bridal style and carried her to my bedroom. She was everything.

I laid her on my bed. I got on my knees and removed her small, dainty shoes exposing her cold little feet. I kissed each toe and I got to my feet.

"Lay down, Raven," I instructed in a husky voice. I watched as she laid on her back, never breaking eye contact with me. I straddled her hips, hovering over her, kissing her lips. She grabbed my hair and pulled me deeper into the kiss.

I unbuttoned her slacks and pulled them down her thighs revealing black, lace panties... Hot. She watched my every move as I tossed them to the floor. "Take off your shirt," I said in that same lust-laced voice. Seeing her wearing nothing but black, lace panties, the matching bra, and that hot and bothered expression made me want to just throw her legs over my shoulders and take her. That's not what I wanted tonight, I craved something more...

-Raven-

Judging by his thoughts, for the first time, our thoughts and expectations were congruent. '...Everything I've ever wanted... like her since Aspen...have to have her...don't care if she's a vampire or not...' looped around in Keegan's thoughts as he took in this new view of me. He crawled on top of me again, kissing my neck and running his hands over my body as if he was afraid I would disappear.

I ran my fingertips along the muscles in his arms, his shoulders, and along his back. He leaned down and kissed my lips and said into my ear: "Bite me."

Needing no further invitation, my fangs extended and I kissed my target. I sank my fangs into his pulsing lifeline causing him to moan aloud. I drank from him until I had my fill and licked the wound clean. I brought him in for a kiss that was sweet with his blood. He returned it as if it were simply honey.

"Keegan, I need you," I admitted to both of us as I reached down between us to softly grip his manhood.

"Do you?" he said, sitting up to search my face for any deception.

"Like I need to feed," I replied, utterly shocked by my honesty. I ran my now-warm hands over the tattoos that painted his chest.

With that, he reached behind me to unsnap my bra and tossed it to the floor. My panties followed soon after. He peppered my cleavage with his kisses, causing me to bite down on my lower lip. When he was out of his boxers, he pressed his cock at my entrance.

He wanted me just as badly as I wanted him, but he needed something more... "Promise you won't leave me again," he said tracing my pussy up and down with his erection. I promised. "Once we do this again, you'll be mine. No more hiding, no more loneliness, no more pride, and no more shame... you will simply be mine." he declared, shutting down the possibility of any debate, not that I was prepared to give him any. I nodded my agreement.

"No, Raven," he said, "That's not gonna work for me. I need to hear you say the words."

"Yes, Keegan, I agree. Once we do this: I will be your's," I said, my sense of pride evaporating just as he said it would. Keegan's. It had quite the ring to it.

With that, he pushed into me... slowly but firmly. I moaned as he lifted my legs over his shoulders and increased his depth. "Oh, shit, Raven," he whispered as he slowly pounded me, rotating his hips, leaving no place inside of me untouched.

I was invigorated by this solemn, thorough love making session he was giving me. There was no rush, we were making up for lost time. "Tell me who you belong to, Raven," he said as he increased his pace. He took my right nipple into his mouth.

"I-ah! I am your's, Keegan," I managed to choke out as he bit down on it.

"What all belongs to me?" he asked as his kissed and nipped at my neck.

"All of me! My breasts, my pussy, my flesh, my blood, it is all your's!" I screamed as I neared my peak. His quick hand found my clit as he began to deliver hard, consistent blows to my pussy.

"Who. Am. I. To. You?" he said between thrusts. He used both hands to grip my breasts to deepen his invasion.

"You are everything!" I screamed as I came undone. My pussy convulsed around him, begging him to follow me to heaven. He did, soon after. He wrapped his tattooed arms around my shoulders as he blew his load deep inside of me.

He withdrew from me and laid beside me. I felt great. He pulled me into his arms and I laid my head on his chest, tracing the ink. "You're not gonna go disappearing, are you?" he asked after a few minutes of thinking that very question.

"No, Keegan... I am here for the long haul. When I said I was your's, I meant it. I will not be leaving until nearly dawn because I have to sleep and obviously, I cannot be out in sunlight," I said.

"Good," he said, "because it really sucks when you're avoiding me.

We laid in silence for a moment, until Keegan's breathing evened out. His phone was vibrating in the other room. I was careful not to wake him when I rose to go get it.

It was a text message, one of many:

Jenna: Hey... what r u doin?

Jenna: R u still sleepn?

Jenna: Hey, I've been lookin 4 u

Jenna: Did u 4get about me? :(

Jenna: It's getting late, guess I'm not gonna c u tonite

Jenna: U stood me up Keegan thats so not cool

I deleted the messages and put the phone in his bedroom. I was his and he was mine, and no ditzy bartender with feelings for him was going to change that.

-Keegan-

The next morning, I was awakened by the sun shining in my eyes. I sat up in my bed and looked around my bedroom, recounting the events of the night. It was gonna suck waking up every morning with my arms empty... 'Fucking sun,' I thought as I covered my head with the blanket. It was because of the sun that I couldn't be with my demonic angel 24 hours a day. I tried to force myself to go back to sleep, possibly sleep until dusk because there was no point in being awake without her being near me.

My cell phone vibrated. I picked it up to see what it was trying to tell me. It was a text message from Jenna. 'Oh, shit, Jenna!' I thought as I remembered our last conversation. I read it:

Jenna: Keegan, I'm sry for the way I acted n 4 the messages I sent last nite. That was rly childish n I'm sry.

I searched through my phone and I couldn't for the life of me find any new messages from Jenna. It was as if they were deleted... Raven.

I decided to give her a call instead of texting back. When she answered, she sounded like a mess. Before I could say a word, she started in: "Keegan, I'm so sorry, I just really wanted to see you and you said you were coming to see me and I waited and waited and didn't see you and all you had to do was say you didn't want to see me and it wouldn't have been a big deal but you said you wanted to see me again and then stood me up, I was just hurt," she went on and on and it seemed as if she didn't breathe between words.

I held the phone away from my ear until I heard her rant come to a close. "It's okay, Jenna. I didn't even get any messages last night. When I made plans to see you, I had all the intentions in the world of seeing you again. Something just came up last night and I just forgot and I'm the one who's sorry," I said softly, trying to calm her down.

After she had calmed down, communication was a lot easier. "Keegan, be straight with me. Is it another girl?" I heard her ask.

I was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out a way to put this without pissing her off. I decided that honesty was the best policy. "Yes, Jenna. It's the girl that I left with the first day that I met you. I hadn't seen her in a month and last night she just popped up on my doorstep. It's just, it's really, God, I'm sorry, Jenna!" I said, throwing myself at the mercy of the court.

She was quiet for awhile, a long while before she began to speak. "So, you're telling me that she came out of nowhere after being gone for an entire month and you chose her over me, even though I've seen you every night, all night for the entire month she was gone, regardless of how beautiful the time we had together was?" she asked, seeming to get a little more pissed every second.

"I'm sorry, Jenna, I don't expect you to understand or to find it in you to ever forgive me," I said, feeling lower than any dog.

"Good, because I don't either. Goodbye, Keegan," she said coldly as she hung up the phone, leaving me feeling more alone and depressed than I've felt ever before.

I sat my phone down on my bedside table and cocooned myself in my blanket. 'Way to go, Keegan,' I thought, 'You've hurt a girl that really, actually cared about you. The only girl that has cared about you in a really long time. What the hell are you gonna do when Raven washes her hands of you? You know she will, they always do. You'll just be alone again, a vampire's used plaything...' "Fuck you!" I yelled at the taunting voice in my head. I closed my eyes and felt a troubled sleep wash over me.

-Raven-

When I approached his apartment building, I was sure he was still asleep. I did not hear his thoughts echoing when I walked inside. If he was sleeping, I did not want to wake him. I walked back outside and climbed the fire escapes until I reached his balcony. Sure enough, he was asleep, wrapped up in his blanket.

I tried the balcony door. 'Keegan, you foolish human,' I thought as I slid it open. I shuddered to think what could have happened if I were a vampire that was not in love with him. Love? Could it be possible? I closed the distance between me and the bed. I would have thought it was cute, him being all wrapped up and sleeping until I heard his thoughts.

-Keegan-

I woke up from my dream with a start. When I looked around my apartment, nothing was amiss. 'It was a dream...just a dream,' I thought as I laid back down. I looked up at my ceiling, heart going wild. After I relaxed a bit, I sat up and swung my legs off the side of the bed. I looked at the clock: 10:43 pm. 'Where is Raven?' I thought. I felt the pain resurface when reality set in. I did not know where she was but I knew exactly why she wasn't here. I felt like such an idiot.

I flipped the switch of the light on my bedside table and leaned forward with my head in my hands. I stood up and was about to leave the room when something red caught my peripheral. I almost screamed when I realized what it was: blood. It was everywhere! There were drops on my pillows, streaks on my blanket, and a fucking puddle on the pillow on the opposite side of my bed. I caught a glimpse of myself in my dresser mirror, I was also covered with smears of blood.

'What the fuck happened here?' I thought as I looked down at myself, I could almost fucking puke. As I continued to look at the mess, I noticed something: there were drops on the floor. They continued around the bed and lead to the closed door of the bathroom. I was honestly scared shitless to see what the hell was in that bathroom but I had to know...

I cautiously approached the bathroom and pressed my ear against the door. I heard movement, there was definitely someone in there and they weren't dead yet. I swung the door open and my heart nearly broke at the sight I saw: It was Raven. She was sitting curled up in a ball in the corner of the bathroom. She appeared to be sobbing and for some reason she was covered in blood.

"Raven!" I screamed as I ran over to her, "What happened? Who did this to you?" I asked feeling as if I would rip whatever hurt her apart limb by limb. She looked up at me but seemed unable to speak. I sat on the floor next to her and pulled her into my arms. "What's wrong, Babe? You can tell me," I said as I stroked her hair.

"I-I came here at dusk because I-I wanted to s-see you. When I got h-here you were asleep and I h-heard your thoughts and s-saw your dream," she stammered and began to cry again. I held her tighter to me and kissed her forehead.

"It's okay, Raven," I said, making an attempt to comfort her.

My dream was pretty awful but in reality it was honestly just my life. I dreamed that I was back to the night in August that I've dreamt of so many times: I had just loaded the blue SUV with the last of her stuff. "You know, I can ride with you there so I can help you unload when we get to the dorms," I said as a last attempt to get her to let me go with her.

"No, Keegan," she said shaking her head, "I have to be without you this year, anyway, it only makes sense that I learn to be independent again." She was probably right, all summer I'd been waiting on her hand and foot, living in fear of the day she'd go back without me.

"Okay, fine," I said, clearly beaten, "But explain to me again why you're leaving at midnight?"

"Baby, we've been through this a million times! I'm leaving at midnight because check-in is at eight and it's a seven hour drive," she said, throwing her hands up. "I know your gonna miss me. I'm gonna miss you, too, but stalling me isn't gonna make me stay, K. I have to go," she said, rubbing her hand on my face.

"I know you do and I'll be okay, it's just gonna be so hard to be without you for so long," I said, sadly.

"I know it, but I'll call you every day, multiple times a day and I'll text you repeatedly. Fall break will be here before we know it," she said with a smile that made me feel a lot better.

I wrapped her in my arms for the last time. "I love you, Aspen," I said as I rested my cheek on the top of her head. She pulled away and looked in my eyes. She smiled and gave me a light kiss. "I love you, too, Keegan," she said.

I walked to the SUV and opened the driver side door for her. She got inside and rolled down the window. "I'll call you as soon as I get there," she said and I nodded. She leaned out and gave me a peck on the lips. I stood there as I watched her drive away. That night, I stayed up all night waiting for her call, it never came. At 9:42 am, my phone rang but it wasn't her cell, it was her family's phone. It was her mom, she was crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she managed to choke out: "She's gone."

The dream took me through the four days of depression, the four days of guilt. All I had to do was keep her from going until the next day or go with her and we'd both be gone and we'd be together. Why didn't I try harder? Why did I give up so easily? I decided to take my own life in an attempt to reunite us.

I looked over the highway overpass and watched as the traffic passed beneath me. I closed my eyes and stood on the railing. My heart was going a million miles per hour when I heard it: "Don't do this, Baby. This isn't the way. If you do it this way, we'll never be together again." I stepped down and walked home.

The dream faded to Jenna. The month that I spent with her and all the times she told me she liked me. I saw the smile on her face when I told her I would go home with her, I saw how she curled up to me and held on to me like she never wanted to let go, I saw the hope that she had when I told her that I would meet her at the bar, I saw her sitting at the bar, looking at the clock, and sending me text messages as she waited. I watched as her heart began to break when she knew that I wasn't coming. I watched her fall apart when she hung up the phone. I felt her heartache.

The dream made another turn to Raven. I saw her standing in front of me giving me a cold stare, explaining to me that she could never be what I needed and that I could never be what she wanted. I watched as I threw myself on the ground at her feet, begging her not to leave me. I saw the disgusted look she gave me as told me to stand up and at least pretend like I had pride. I watched as I begged her to kill me, to end my suffering and she just turned her back on me, telling me that I was too pathetic to waste her energy on.

Then, I woke up.

I blinked and I was back in the bathroom. I held Raven close and continued to stroke her hair. "Do you really think I am that much of a monster, Keegan?" she asked as the tears subsided. "I would never do that to you!" she said as she pulled away from me. "I love you and I will never leave you."

I looked away, deep in thought.'Did she say she loved me?' I thought as my heart soared. "I love you too, Raven, but all I've ever had was heartache," I explained as I looked around the red splattered bathroom. "Seriously, why is there blood everywhere?"

"All you have had was heartache until I came to you. You never have to worry about getting hurt ever again. I will take care of you until your dying breath," she said as she brought me in to a kiss. I felt the walls around my heart fall away. "There is blood everywhere because of my tears, " she explained.

"You cry blood?" I asked in horror.

"Yes," she said, "Is that a problem?"

"No, not really, it's just my apartment looks like a crime scene," I said with a smile.

"I will take care of it, Keegan," She said with a smirk. -Keegan-

It really didn't occur to me that I was deeply enthralled with someone that I barely knew anything about. I was perfectly content with knowing nothing except that she cared about me. Just for shits and giggles, I asked her about her past. Mainly, just to see what all she would be willing to share with me. To my surprise, she was willing to tell me everything: