Free Dark Love by M. D. Bowden

no
problem for him, and it would give Sarah a chance to get some
experience in fighting while he taught her new skills. He would
have to stay by her side non-stop as he could not let her get hurt
again, and could not let her hurt people either.
    The air hostess
returned with a couple of plastic glasses and two individual
bottles of red. He thanked her and paid, amused to see her blushing
again.
    As she walked
away he rolled his eyes at himself. Really he had no idea how hard
it was going to be to find the kind of challenge he hoped. They
might stumble upon something entirely unexpected, or they might not
find any supernatural presence at all.
    He unscrewed
one of the bottles and poured some into the small glass that had
been provided. It was not very elegant.
    The plane shook
with turbulence, and he spilt a little wine on the fold down table.
He held Sarah tightly so she would not be disturbed, while he
mopped up the mess with a napkin.
    As the plane
steadied he took a long drink of wine, enjoying how it made him
feel.
    He would have
to make it up to Sarah - that was for sure. All this time under his
control could not be that great for her. She was constantly being
surrounded by temptations, and he was taking away from her what she
wanted – blood. His mind was constantly connected to hers. It had
to be, for they were surrounded by people and had been for
hours.
    Even as she
slept he could tell her mind was searching for something, for a
feed, for power. All her senses were primed to smell the faintest
presence of blood, of life. If he let the connection fade he did
not know what would happen, but he did not imagine it would be
good.
    As he took
another sip of wine an idea occurred to him; they could rent a car
at the airport. That would be the quickest way to get them their
own space away from humans.
    Unfortunately,
linking his mind to Sarah’s had some unforeseen effects; his own
desire for blood was increasing. It was good he had the wine now as
the alcohol helped suppress his desire for blood. He had three more
hours to cope with the bloodlust before they would land at Gatwick,
London, and they would be free to go where they pleased.
    They could
feed.
    Daniel smelt
wafts of slightly unpleasant, overcooked food, coming his way. He
felt Sarah stir at his side and looked around to see that her eyes
were open. She gave him a cheeky grin.
    ‘I hope I
didn’t drool on you,’ she said.
    He laughed
lightly, ‘Want to try some, no doubt utterly fantastic, airline
food?’ he asked with sarcasm.
    ‘Why not?’ said
Sarah. ‘I am hungry, or thirsty, or something. Maybe it will
help?’
    ‘It might a
little, but this will probably be of more use,’ he said, presenting
her with a full glass of rich red liquid.
    ‘Umm wine, I
haven’t had that in ages,’ she said.
    Daniel watched
as she took it and downed it in one.
    ‘More?’ he
asked.
    ‘Yes please,’
she replied, holding out her empty glass as a different air hostess
started to pass over their meals.
    Daniel quickly
poured her some as the man to his right was given his meal on a
tray, and then placed the bottle on his table ready to receive food
for himself and Sarah.
    As the air
hostess moved off to dispense more meals Sarah wrinkled her nose at
Daniel, and he could not resist - he kissed her hard on the lips.
As he pulled back smiling he was pleased to see her cheeks flushed,
pleased he still had that effect on her.
    She took
another sip of wine and peeled back the foil on her tray. He
focused on his and did the same, revealing over-cooked salmon in a
creamy parsley sauce, accompanied by some very uniform looking new
potatoes that looked like they were from a tin.
    He started to
force himself to eat it, trying not to draw attention to himself.
The man to his right was tucking in to his, occasionally elbowing
Daniel in the arm.
    He glanced at
Sarah and she was pushing her food around with her fork, and he
watched as she tentatively brought some up to her lips and