The Vampire's Call

HAVEN

Grace seemed utterly shocked to see me here. I could guess why; she hadn’t seen me since she was four.

Of course, I kept true to my word, I was still there any time she needed me, but I would never show myself to her. The only time I did was in her dreams, and she was getting greedy, my little angel.

I couldn’t stay away any longer. I wanted to make her mine as soon as possible before another thought that they could touch what was mine.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You look like... Anyway, what can I get you?”

What? It was my turn to look at her surprised. She didn’t recognize me? She saw me just this morning. How could she act like I was just another patron? That irritated me.

“You can call me Haven.” I frowned.

She jolted, and her eyes widened again. I could feel her whole body react, making her scent scatter in the entire room. It would be hard to keep in control if she did that. Shit.

“But...I don’t understand,” she said, confused.

Did she think that I wasn’t real? Did I go about the whole situation wrong?

“When do you finish your shift?” I asked, even though I knew the answer to that question. I didn’t want her to think that I was a stalker, even if, technically speaking, I was.

“In two hours,” she answered.

“We can talk then.” I smiled. “I’ll take a coffee. Black, no sugar.”

She wrote it down and blushed before nodding. She mumbled that she would be back soon, and she fled to the counter in front of my booth.

I was sure that I affected her at least, but she wasn’t the only one. I could feel how hard I was, and my fangs wanted to show. It was so difficult to resist her now that she was of age.

She brought me my coffee with a smile, and she leaned into the table to lay it in front of me, flashing her bra slightly. Shit. My eyes couldn’t look elsewhere. She had such magnificent breasts. I couldn’t wait to touch them for real and not just in a dream.

She blushed as she noticed my gaze, and I shifted uneasily on my seat to try to look somewhere else. I couldn’t make her mine here. I needed to think about something to distract myself.

As if someone heard me, the door to the diner opened, and in came teenagers of Grace’s age. She lifted her honey eyes to look at the newcomers, and she smiled as she recognized them.

There was a boy and a girl. The girl was petite with black hair and light brown eyes. If I remembered correctly, that was Lee, Grace’s best friend. I didn’t know the male with her though.

Grace went to join them, and she seemed surprised and happy. Who was that boy? I could feel jealousy creeping in.

I knew that Grace didn’t have a boyfriend so who was he? I tuned my ears to listen in on what they were saying while I drank my coffee.

“Lee, Daryl... What are you two doing here?” Grace asked.

“Since you said that you were working tonight, we thought that we could spend the last hours of your shift with you—to lighten up your mood,” Daryl said.

“That’s...so nice of you,” Grace answered. “Please, take a seat. I’ll bring you our best ice cream. You’re going to love it.”

“Thanks, Grace,” Lee chirped.

Grace moved back to the counter, and she had a faint blush on her cheeks. I didn’t like that at all.

I looked at the boy, and he was looking at my Grace with a glint in his eye. No. This wasn’t going to happen. Grace was mine, and she deserved only the best. Not a low human like him who only thought about...

I didn’t even want to think about what he wanted to do to my girl. I was fuming, and my fangs were going to show if I kept letting anger control me. I couldn’t let that happen here. There were too many humans around, and it would be a pain to erase their memories.

Grace brought them their ice cream, and I made eye contact with both of her friends as soon as she was gone. Lee started blushing and averted her gaze while Daryl seemed uneasy.

Hm... Maybe he didn’t only like girls. I smiled, and I knew that he was under my control when he smiled back.

“You two are going to finish your ice cream and leave. Also...Daryl, you’ll tell Grace how madly in love you are with Lee and that’s why you’re leaving,” I said low so no one else would hear me.

They nodded, and I felt that Lee wanted to say, “Yes, Master,” but I didn’t want a human to call me that. That was reserved for my playroom, and I hoped Grace’s lips. But later for that.

Grace came back, so I resumed drinking my coffee as if nothing happened. She noticed that Daryl was holding Lee against him, and Lee was fluttering her lashes to the boy.

I couldn’t help a smirk, seeing that display of the cute couple. Perfect. Now they wouldn’t bother us anymore.

“Thank you, Grace,” Lee said excitedly. “They’re delicious.”

“Anytime,” Grace said. “Hm... Since when are you two dating?”

“I’m madly in love with Lee,” Daryl declared, like the perfect little puppet that he was.

Good boy.

“Wow,” Grace said, surprised. “Congratulations to you!”

“We won’t stay long, then. I hope you don’t mind,” Lee said.

“Of course not,” Grace answered happily. “I...I have someone I need to talk to anyway.”

That made me smile. I could hear by her tone that she was looking forward to it. So did I. There was much to discuss, but I was confident that she would see things my way. I only needed her in my home, to live with me. That was all I wanted.

“Oh?” Lee asked. “Who?”

“You don’t know him.” Grace dismissed her friend.

“How so? I’m your best friend. I always thought you had a thing for Daryl, but...is it Haven again?”

“Haven?” Daryl asked, confused. “We don’t have a Haven in our class.”

“He’s not from school.” Lee shook her head. “He’s…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Grace cut her friend off. “Have fun, you two. I need to get back to work.”

Grace moved back to the counter, and she seemed dejected. I was what? What did she tell her friend about me? That I was just a dream? Well, I was very much intent on changing that.

I stood up and adjusted my jacket before I moved to Grace. She was sighing and biting her lower lip in frustration. I didn’t like to see her like this. She deserved the world, my Grace, and I was going to give it to her.

I pulled her to my chest with an arm around her waist. She shot surprised eyes at me like she did the first time I invaded her dreams. I smirked and leaned into her to capture her lips like I did so many times before.

Her lips felt even softer in real life. She was hesitant at first, but she soon melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around my neck as I held her waist to me.

She remembered me, and that was enough for now. I didn’t deepen the kiss here because I didn’t want to lose control. That would have to wait for when we would be home.

“Haven.” She pouted, just like this morning.

“Not here, princess.” I chuckled against her lips. “You have a shift to finish, and we have to talk before we do anything else.”

“Shoot! I almost forgot about work,” she whined. “Go back to your seat. I’m...I’m almost done.”

“Of course,” I said, amused.

I laid one last feather-like kiss on her lips while everyone was watching us, and I went back to sit in the booth. I brought back the coffee mug to my mouth and took a sip. I didn’t regret a thing. I didn’t want anyone to call Grace a liar.

Her friends were shocked, but that just made me smirk. I couldn’t miss the slight blush that was on Grace’s face and the whistles she got from her coworkers. She was so beautiful in that moment. I could have kissed her again.

I heard her friends leave, and a few minutes later, Grace went to change. She came out wearing tight high-waisted jeans and a crop top.

She was showing too much skin for my liking, but as long as she felt comfortable. She walked to me with a bright smile, and I wanted to ravish her lips again.

“Let’s go,” she said.

I would follow her to the depths of Hell if she asked me.