She took a long swallow of the red liquid and grimaced.  Actually, it wasn't that bad. Codrin was right.  Spices did help.  Codrin had told her she must eat.  She didn't need a lot of food but he had stressed, "We do not live on blood alone!"  Yes, he'd almost kept a straight face delivering that line.  He'd suggested that she carry a small bottle of hot sauce with her at all times and he'd stressed to avoid anything containing garlic or onions.  She didn't care for either so that would be no problem.  She had to admit that the tomato juice tasted almost good with the spoon of hot sauce in it.

He'd also told her to get some meat.  Red, of course, and very, very rare.  Some restaurants would server steak tartar but the health department frowned on that.  The House of Magura would not be intimidated, he'd assured her with a grin.  "We know where the bodies are buried," he'd chuckled a dust dry chuckle.  Eliza wasn't sure exactly  what he meant, but she dutifully laughed, sharing a joke she really didn't fully understand.

She pushed the small hockey puck like meat patty from one side of her plate to the other.  There may be a tinge of pink, but if that was rare, she was . . . .  She failed to find the metaphor she wanted and gave up and cut a small piece off and put it in her mouth.  "Oh!  It needs hot sauce.  It needs something.  This thing should be put out if it's misery!  I should be put out of my misery," she thought upending the hot sauce bottle over it and vigorously shaking.

"Miss Radu?  You are Miss Radu, aren't you?" she heard a masculine voice say.  Looking up she saw Craig Jeffers, the squad captain of the EMS unit that had transported Vicki to the hospital the other night.  He was smiling, standing next to her table, holding a plate in his hand.  She recognized him instantly.

"Please, sit down.  Captain Jeffers, isn't it?  Do sit!"

Smiling he sat and put his plate down.  "I call ahead and they have it waiting for me.  That way, I usually get to eat," he grinned.  And you, you have an excellent memory.  Not many people would remember my name after such a short meeting during such a situation.  You ladies are doing well, I hope."

"We are both doing well, and you should call me Eliza."

Taking a sip of coffee, he smiled.  "I'll call you Eliza if you call me Craig."

"Deal!" she said, sticking out her hand. "Pleased to meet you Craig."

Taking her hand, he grinned.  "My pleasure.  I hate to be too rude, but I have to eat.  A call can come in anytime and if I miss too many meals, I'll waste away to nothing."  Eliza lifted an eye brow at that comment.  Looking as his rather muscular form, she doubted that he'd be wasting away to nothing anytime soon.

She looked as the side of his neck and found her self licking her lips.  She sighed.  "Bet he'd be a tasty snack!"

Talking around the sandwich he was eating, Craig said, "You’re certainly looking better than the last time I saw you."  She shook his head.  "If all you're eating is a half cooked steak, tomato juice and a bottle of hot sauce, I'm not sure how you're recovering."  He chuckled.

"No," Eliza thought to herself, "I will not blush.  I won't, I won't, I won't."  She cut a piece of the mostly raw meat off  the steak, added more hot sauce and popped it into her mouth.  She grimaced.  "I've been told I need to gain weight and that good rare steak would help.  I can't say I've ever been a big eater, but lately I've had almost no appetite. So, here I am.  I think part of the problem is that everything tastes so bland to me I just don't have any interest in food."

He held up one finger.  "Ah! What you need," he swallowed a piece of sandwich, "is a good home cooked meal.  I'd be happy to volunteer!"

"Wow, you don't waste any time, do you?" Eliza laughed.

"Hey!  I live in the emergency lane.  If I snooze, I lose."  His eyes, got big.  He reached to his side and looked at his pager. "Damn! Gotta run."  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a business card.  "Call me at 10 PM tonight, ok?"  And then he did run, his half eaten sandwich and cooling coffee left on the table.  Eliza shook her head and grinned.  She wondered what life in such a fast lane was like. Excitement day after day, she wondered if it ever became routine or boring.

She hit the enter button and listened for the laser printer to fire up.  Yep, there it was.  Dr. Rolf was having her print off the manuscript of their research results.  She wondered if this was really part of her job, but she didn't mind.  She was getting paid and that might not last that much longer.  She and John had hardly been speaking and she knew that he'd had Kathy do some background research for him.  She sighed and had to admit that Kathy actually might be better at it than she would have been.  She was a trained detective who wanted to break into investigative reporting.  "She was pretty too!  Damn her!" Eliza thought.

She looked at the wall clock.  It was almost 10 PM.  She looked at the card in her hand.  Should she?  She hesitated and then picked up the phone.  It felt like she was going to choke to death on her own heart.  She slammed the phone down. "What is wrong with me?  I am a grown, attractive woman and I'm acting like a stupid school kid!"  She picked up the phone and dialed.  It rang one time and she hung up again.  She got a very determined look on her face.  She picked up the phone and dialed.  "Hello?  Craig?"  She grinned and sat down, almost limp from tension release.

The clock on the wall said 10:45 as she hung up the phone.

Smiling to herself, she thought back on the conversation.  They’d covered a lot of ground in a short space of time.  He was 34, which made it nice since her 33rd birthday was coming up.  Nice height, which she knew from experience.  He’d been Captain of the squad for 2 years now, having gotten to this point, he planned on courses for paramedic school.  Not an easy group of courses.
Of course, if that’s his goal, I think he’ll make it, she thought.  A very focused man.  He had already started his advanced training, which left him very little free time, since he seemed to be going to school or working.

He knew she was working as a research assistant and was a librarian.  He also knew she was 34 and he’d been making sounds like he did want to see her again.  Well more than sounds, now how to find the time to meet?  He knew she worked nights and she knew he had alternating shifts.  “Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” she said out loud.

Now to find the way.  She had work for the next 3 nights.  Craig was on duty also, his being a 10 hour shift.  He had Friday night free, she didn’t.  Well free, but night school.  Saturday, she was free all weekend, Craig had Saturday classes.  That left Saturday night, Sunday morning and most of Sunday.

They were supposed to talk again tomorrow, after Craig got off shift and before Eliza went to work.  Grinning, she thought, “Boy I hope this works out, haven’t felt this rush of feelings since John.  The loser.”

Laughing now, she realized that wasn’t fair.  Just because the relationship didn’t go anywhere, didn’t make him a loser.  There was still a residue of anger there though.  He could of at least told me and not snuck around. A twinge of anger jolted through her.

This sort of feeling wasn’t getting her anywhere, except more angry.  With the anger, Eliza noticed her fangs descending.  “No, not now,” she thought.  With that mental push, she realized that the change had stopped.  “Oh wow, that’s something I didn’t know before.  Maybe I can control these things after all.  Then I won’t be at the mercy of the fangs.”  Laughing at that thought, she thought she’d try a little experiment. “ Well not now, I feel to good.”  Wondering if this would work too, when she got excited, she have to find out.  This fang dropping at inopportune moments had to stop.

Since she had the night off, had also had a “good” dinner, (that was a matter of opinion), she thought she’d read for a while.  This was a luxury of late.  Between work and spending time with Vicki, she hadn’t had much time to indulge herself with reading.  Settling down in her chair, she picked up her book.  Toby saw the opportunity and took it, leaping to land in the middle of her lap, walking in circles twice, and settling down for a snooze.

So deeply engrossed in her reading, she didn’t hear the first light knock on the door.  A slightly louder knock caught her attention, and a harder one still brought her up and out of the chair, heading for the door.  She called, “hold on I’m coming.”

Reaching the door, she looked through the peep-hole. “John?” she called.  “What are you doing here this time of night.  She looked at her watch, noticing it was almost midnight.  Since they hadn’t been speaking much to each other, Eliza was surprised to see him there.

“Well may I come in or shall we talk through the door.” John asked with some sarcasm.

“Oh by all means come in,” Eliza retorted.  Already she was feeling hurt and much more than a little angry.  “Who did he think he was coming into my home after the way he treated me and speak that way?”

Opening the door and stepping back out of the way, Eliza gestured him in.  Already with her feelings of anger, she could feel her fangs.  If John continued in this way, he may just get the shock of his life.

Heading back toward the living room, she asked him to sit down.  Now he seemed a bit ill-at-ease, so she had a good idea what was coming.

After a little small talk, John having told her how good she looked tonight and the fact of the night off must have been good for her.  He went on to say she’d been looking a little paler than usual, but she looked “in-the-pink tonight.

“OK John, get to the point.  I know you didn’t come here to tell me how good I looked, you wanted to talk and it couldn’t wait until tomorrow night at work, so talk,” Eliza ground out.  Oh boy, her anger was getting the best of her and now she could feel the tips of her fangs against her lips.  They weren’t fully extended yet but close.  Pushing back her anger, she felt the fangs recede.  So it does work.  Now I need to find out if it works in other kinds of excitement.  With one part of her she heard John hemming and hawing.

“Alright Eliza, since you seem to want the news straight out, Friday will be your last day.  I'll include a bonus since I didn’t give you the normal two weeks notice.  That will be the equivalent of two weeks pay,” John said in a huff.

“What in the world do you have to be huffy about, John?” Eliza asked. “ You come into my home and treat me to your sarcasm, fire me and then expect me to be happy.  I think not,” Eliza said to John.   “You have someone all lined up to take my place, haven’t you?” she asked.  Now there was no controlling the anger coursing through her.  This had built up and built up, until she couldn’t control it if she wanted to and she didn’t.

“Why would you think that, Eliza?”  Before he could go on, Eliza almost screamed at him, “because I’ve seen you with Kathy and you weren’t too careful about the way you talked to her on the phone.  I know she’s done research for you, and most of all I AM NOT STUPID,” she cried.

Eyes flashing, she stared at John.  Suddenly, she saw his eyes go glassy as he stared back at her.  Continuing to hold his eyes, Eliza forced herself to calm down.  She was angry, but she didn’t want to harm him.  She knew what a murderous rage could do.

Slowly her projection changed.  She’d have her snack, he’d not remember a thing in the morning.
She knew it could be done, laughing to herself now, she changed the direction to pure sexual stimulation.  Watching the look in his eyes change was fun.  “I’ll get the satisfaction, he’ll get a tad weak.”

Moving toward him slowly, she let her fangs fully descend.  She pushed him to a sitting position on the couch. Drawing back her lips, she moved slowly and deliberately toward his neck.  He knew in that moment what she was and his eyes widened in fear.  He knew what was going to happen.  Now he knew for sure that vampires were real.

Tracing her long, blood red, fingernail down his neck.  How long she had wanted to do this.  Now, she was going to have some fun with him.  She leaned over, bringing her eyes level with his, knowing that he could see her bare breasts through the open neck of her blouse.  She grinned as she could see lust join the fear in his eyes.  Lust and fear are tremendous erotic elements and the possibility of imminent death had put his emotion and reactions in a turmoil.  She leaned close and as if kissing his neck sank her fangs slowly into him.

How good, how sweet this man tasted.  He sat there as she drank from him, knowing what she was doing and powerless to stop her.  His eyes closed with the feelings she was drawing from him.  She could sense fear, lust and pure carnal desire, but he was powerless to move.  His entire being cried for release and resolution and he could do nothing and she wasn't going to allow him either.

Knowing she couldn’t drain him, she reluctantly pulled back.  Withdrawing her fangs from his neck, she slowly, sensuously, licked the area she had just drank from.  Smiling, she watched the punctures close over. She reached down and watched his eyes widen with the intensity of the sensation but then she straightened and buttoned the top buttons of her blouse, grinning.

Again looking deep into his eyes, she said to him, “John you know what I am now, there is no help for it, I must take steps so that you cannot divulge what you know.”  A look of fear passed over his face, quickly leaving him paler than what was caused by his blood loss. Fear had totally replaced lust.

“I could make you like me but I don’t think I will.  So, having revealed myself to you, I will now take that knowledge back.  For a short period of time John, you did know that vampires exist.”

Staring deep, deep into his eyes, Eliza said to John, “You will not remember what happened here.  You will remember firing me and the rest of that conversation, but this you will not remember.  I am going to leave you with something to remember me by, though.”

Again leaning toward him, she quickly sank her fangs into the same place she had drunk from him before.  Not drinking this time, just the punctures.  You will wonder forever more as you consider losing the sweetness you'll never know.”

“Forget now.  Leave John, get out of here now, before I do something I'ill regret,” Eliza yelled as she herded him out the door.  Pushing him through, she closed the door, locked it and leaned back against it.  Feeling the beginnings of laughter stir through her, she gave into it and dropped to the floor, unable to stand with the laughter gusting through her.

When she was finally able to breath again, she stood up, albeit a trifle wobbly, making her way back to her chair.  “I’d like to see his face when he finds the marks.”  Laughing again, she thought, “I got my snack, my revenge and the means to find a new job, all in one night.”

Slowly walking down the street to his car, John wondered about the stinging in his neck, about what the hell had just happened and why he felt so weak.  It was an effort to walk, and he was glad when he finally got to his car.  Opening the door, he climbed in and sat there contemplating what had just happened.  “I know something did, but I don’t know what it was,” he thought.  Reaching up again, he absently rubbed his neck.  “Damn bugs, must have gotten bitten,” he guessed.  “Alright, now to tell Kathy it’s a done deal,” he thought.  Driving away, he rubbed at his neck again.