The Hunt

8

They walked for several minutes in silence. Or better, Andreji walked, River stumbled helplessly along. The grip of his Master on his shoulder was tight. Finally, the mortified young man was led into the entrance area of an old, run-down apartment building, a few blocks away from the night clubs. His heart beat faster. Did Andreji have a hiding place here? One of those he had spoken of? Was he going to…, now? River’s breathing was fast and ragged.

Andreji pressed a button on the apartment buzzer panel and waited. After a few seconds, a soft, slightly chichi sounding male voice answered. “About time. I nearly would have gone to bed without you, darling. I’m coming down.”

“I have brought someone with me. Is that okay with you?” Andreji asked calmly in his dark voice.

“That depends on what he wants…”

“Nothing from you,” Andreji answered.

“Fine.” The voice fell silent.

A few moments later, the clicking of heels resounded in the stairway. A young lady came into view, carrying an electric torch. She wore jeans and a tight, long-sleeved shirt that directed the viewer’s eyes on her small breasts, and her hair was dressed nicely. She opened the door to the stairway for them and smiled at Andreji. They exchanged kisses on the cheek, her perfume engulfing River who was still kept close to Andreji. “Long time no see,” a male voice erupted from her full lips while her high cheek bones stood out because of her smile.

“I am sorry I was unable to come by last month. I hope you managed without me?” Andreji asked politely.

“Yes, I was able to do a few more shifts because a colleague was ill, so I managed.” She looked over to River. “And who’s this beauty?”

“Just an acquaintance who would like to watch,” Andreji replied, fixing River in a way that told him not to misbehave.

Watch the white-haired had said. That sounded assuasive. Watching meant not being involved, right?

“I’m Emily,” their host turned to the half-Japanese and offered her hand, smiling reassuringly as if she sensed that he was not comfortable in the present situation.

River glanced at his captor. Andreji looked down on him indifferently. Eventually, he took Emily’s hand. “River.”

“Oh? That sounds as if your mom has been a child of the seventies…”

River remained silent. He surely would not discuss his mother, now.

“Shall we go upstairs?” Andreji proposed.

Despite the nightmarish situation, River could not help but feel delight at the prospect of a heated flat. The cold, wet clothing clung uncomfortably to his also wet skin. While they climbed the stairs, Emily explained that the lights in the corridor were broken. As soon as they had entered her apartment, she fetched River a towel, for which he was grateful.

“D’you wanna do it now?” Emily asked Andreji. River looked at them alarmed.

“Yes. If you are up to it,” Andreji replied. There was a strange sharpness in his eyes.

“Come along. I’ve prepared everything.”

The two of them went through a door to the left of the small apartment corridor. River remained where he was.

“Come – in,” Andreji’s voice resounded strictly from behind the door after a few moments.

Seeing the uselessness of disobedience, River complied. When he entered the room, he saw a big bed, completely in bright orange satin. On it sat Andreji, a black and white speck in the colourful room that had no windows.

Emily crawled on Andreji’s lap, smiling shyly at him. His eyes were fixed on her as she pushed his hair back. River was taken aback by the situation. What was happening here? Why had Andreji told him to come in? He felt like an intruder, totally out of place.

Emily pressed her lips on Andreji’s, and Andreji opened his mouth. A cold shiver ran over River’s back as he watched the two kiss deeply. It was disgusting. Andreji brushed over Emily’s back and removed her shirt. Still kissing, he lifted her up and gently laid her down on the bed.

River did not want to watch this. What was the point?

Andreji straightened up. His sharp gaze rested on River for a moment before he went around the bed to open the drawer of the bedside table. On the bed, Emily lay motionless, her chest slowly rising and falling, her eyes glazed over.

River frowned. Andreji retrieved dressing material from the drawer. Emily remained perfectly still. This was not about what it had seemed to be at the beginning, was it?

“Where?” Andreji asked business-like.

“My left arm,” Emily answered in a whisper.

Andreji knelt down beside the bed. He took the arm, pushed up the sleeve, eyed naked flesh, and let his thumb move over the skin.

River’s heart thumped. This was not about sex. What had Andreji done to the ‘woman’ that she remained so calm in the face of what was to come? River felt urged to do something, to make Andreji stop, yet he knew there was nothing to be done. Any actions he could undertake would only provoke Andreji, would they not?

Worriedly River watched Andreji open his mouth. Only shortly his teeth sank into the flesh, then River saw the blood flow for the glimpse of a second, before Andreji covered the wound and started drinking. Emily lay perfectly quiet, her breathing even, her eyes closed. There was no sound in the room. River saw Andreji’s voice box move up and down as he swallowed.

Sooner than River had dared to hope, Andreji straightened up, covering the wound with his hand. For a moment, he remained perfectly still and licked his lips.

Finally, as if he were awakening out of a stupor, he recollected himself and started to take care of the wound with the help of a compression bandage. With the right, untainted hand he felt Emily’s forehead. “How do you feel?”

“I’m okay.”

Andreji left the room, licking off the blood from his hand. River watched the person on the bed alienated.

Andreji returned merely an instant later, his hand clean, carrying a bottle of water. He sat down on the bed and helped Emily to sit up. “Drink.” He held the bottle onto her lips.

River watched the display sceptically. He was certain this was meant to make him believe that vampires were decent people, but he was not stupid. Andreji had always claimed to be the nice guy and that he was not interested in playing false games, only to manipulate Ray into believing River had betrayed his own friends behind his back. There was no way River could trust anything Andreji said or did.

Emily leaned back to rest against Andreji’s shoulder. They remained like that for a few moments.

“You are growing paler,” Andreji observed.

“I feel a little sick,” Emily admitted.

“Do you want to eat something to settle your stomach?”

“Hm, yes, that sounds good. But wait a few minutes…” She seemed to try to find out what was wrong with herself. She closed her eyes and moved her hand over her stomach. “I think it’s better if you take me to the bathroom,” she whispered.

Andreji immediately lifted her from the bed and hurried past River. Seconds later, River heard Emily throw up. When he stepped into the corridor to look into the bathroom, he saw Andreji stand behind her. He supported her and made sure she did not vomit on her own hair.

“I think it’s a little better, now,” she said finally.

“Okay. I’ll help you shower, and then I’ll make you something to eat,” Andreji stated. When he started undressing Emily, River could see why he wanted her to shower – they obviously had not made it to the toilet in time. Andreji lifted the naked form of his ‘donor’ into the bathtub, completely unperturbed by the combination of the mixture of male and female features on her body, and turned on the water. Carefully, he adjusted it to the right temperature before he washed Emily clean with the shower head. Subsequently, he took a large towel and wrapped her in it before he carried her back to her bed.

“So,” Andreji said, “I am not sure what is on the menu today – apart from pale ladies –,” she hit him playfully on the arm, “but I am ready to take your order, now, Madame.”

She smiled and considered the offer. “I remember a very tasty cheese soup you once cooked for me…”

“-And you have all the necessary ingredients at home?”

“I think so…” She smiled in a way that informed Andreji that she had bought everything in forethought.

“Very well,” Andreji smiled in return and went out of the room, presumably into the kitchen.

River used the opportunity and sat down beside Emily. “Why do you let him do that?” he asked bewildered.

She smiled at him – still looking pale – and shrugged. “He’s a charming man, and he pays well. I see our meetings more like rendez-vous than anything else. I mean, look at him! He’s gorgeous, isn’t he? No man ever cooks for me!”

River was totally puzzled, now. “Don’t tell me you actually have sex with him?!”

Emily grinned mischievously. “What else? It’s a little difficult without kissing, of course, but he still is a damn good lover…,” she doted on Andreji.

“Why without kissing?” River wanted to know. From a nearby room he could hear the sounds of a knife.

“Well, because of his saliva’s effects, of course,” she stated matter-of-factly.

River looked at her questioningly.

“It acts on humans like a sedative, probably to calm his victims before he drinks from them. Didn’t you know?”

River shook his head, not betraying that Andreji’s kisses had had no such impact on him, not at all. “Since when do you know him?” he asked instead.

“I ran into Andreji when I was nineteen. I’d just fled from the apartment of my not-so-nice first boyfriend, and he helped me out. He got a cheap flat for me and offered to pay me a certain amount of money each month in return for my services. Of course I was scared at the beginning, but – as I said – he’s very charming and managed to take my fears from me. I’m glad I met him.”

River shook his head, upset over what he heard. “Don’t you realise that he’s taking advantage of your situation? He’s made you an offer you had to accept or else you would have been without a home - charming indeed!”

“Now calm down, smart aleck. I earn my own money these days, and he’s not my only lover either. I don’t depend on him. Whatever I do, I do because I fancy doing it, not because I have no choice.” She smiled at him indulgently.

River leaned back in disbelief.

A while later, Andreji came back with a bowl of tasty smelling soup and a spoon which he handed Emily.

“You’ve never cooked for me,” River stated.

Andreji smirked while he took a seat and made himself comfortable. “Why should I? What would be in for me?”

River ignored his self-satisfied taunts. “What will happen, now?”

“With Emily’s permission, I intend to stay here for the day. In the evening, we will travel on, northwards, as you can imagine.”

“Of course you’re welcome,” Emily chipped in.

“And how will you punish me?” River pushed his luck. He did not want to wait for his punishment, and with Emily in the room, Andreji might reconsider the matter.

Andreji laughed silently; a calculated laughter it was. “Punish you? For what? For using an opportunity to regain what you feel is your right to have? –I think not.” He let it sound as if the mere idea was ridiculous.

“But surely I brought you into a difficult situation!?” River argued, not believing his ears.

Andreji snorted. “You getting me into trouble? What do you dream of at night?!” He caught breath. “Honestly, do not think too highly of yourself. You are not important enough to upset anybody.”

“And yet you were looking for me…” River tried to prove that Andreji lied to him.

“Emily,” Andreji turned to the ‘woman’ who was spooning her soup, “when did I call to tell you that I was coming by today?”

“Don’t know. Some time last week.”

Andreji looked at River. “See? I am not in London because of you. I was here to deliver two works, discuss a new order, and meet Emily. Only when you stumbled into my arms earlier today did I realise you had decided on a short trip. After that, it only took me a handful of phone calls to get to know where you were ‘hiding’.”

River averted his eyes, defeated.

“As to the cooking,” Andreji returned to the starting point, “there is still some soup left in the kitchen. “I think you realise why I will not wait on you.”

“Yeah, ‘cause I’m not important enough,” River mumbled angrily and left the room only to get away from Andreji.

As he walked along the corridor to find the kitchen, he realised that he was in front of the apartment door while Andreji still sat in the sleeping room in the back of the apartment. Before he had time to reconsider the matter, River was already out of the door and half down the stairway – where Andreji caught him. The taller man pulled him into a tight embrace.

“No, do not leave,” he whispered as if he were asking River for a favour.

River wanted to cry out for help, yet refrained from doing that since it would probably lead to nothing and only endanger other people. Instead of hauling him up to the flat, Andreji simply stayed on the stairs and pressed River against him as if they were lovers. Slowly, River calmed down and stopped struggling against him. He liked Andreji’s scent, somehow…

Eventually, Andreji put an arm on River’s back and guided him upwards. They returned into the flat, shut the door behind them, and went into the bedroom. “We will go to sleep, now,” Andreji decided. River did not protest. Andreji closed the door and drew an extra curtain so the windowless room would be entirely dark. Then he led River to the bed, and they lay down together. Andreji put an arm over River’s chest. “Good night.”

River could not sleep. Of course, that was only natural after two failed flight attempts. The worrying fact was that they were not the reason for his insomnia. What kept River wide awake was the blood that was flooding his lower body. He grew hard, and he did not understand why. Admittedly, he had not had any sexual relief for months, but that could hardly be the reason for his physical reaction at this moment. He was lying in bed with Andreji! By all means, he should be afraid, terrified.

River was not. He had an erection instead and inhaled Andreji’s smell as if it were some kind of drug.

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