Free The Vampire's Lover by Kayleen Knight Page B

fumbling with the zip on his jeans. Her head had cleared a little now and her arms were by her sides. He was using both hands on the zip – if she was going to act this was the time to do it. She scanned the room frantically and her eyes settled on an ornament on the coffee table a few feet away – it was a glass angel a friend had given her once.
    She reached out for it and heard Jack panting and grunting as he fiddled with his zip. It was just out of her reach, and when she stretched her inner-elbow ached with the effort and her forearm throbbed. She twisted her waist but with Jack atop her it was hard. Eventually she heard the zip of his jeans and he wriggled them down to his knees – then he grabbed her and pulled her sweatpants down. He leaned off her as he did this to make enough room, and she used the chance to grab the ornament.
    It was cold in her hand, and became immediately sticky with her sweat. With a crow-like cry she swung it around and smashed it on whatever part of Jack’s body was in her random trajectory – this happened to be his head. He stumbled back and she stood up and grabbed her pants. Her purse was at the door and she took that, and then she left the apartment lest he should recover. 
    She ran out of her building – almost jumping down the steps. It was only when she got to the front door and the cool summer breeze caressed her sweat-covered, bare thighs that she remembered she wasn’t wearing pants. She walked down the street a few yards and went into an alley and put on the sweatpants, and then continued walking down the street. She chose the direction at random. Her whole body was reacting to what had almost happened to her by shaking uncontrollably.
    After walking for a couple of hours she calmed down a little – but she was still hurt and incredulous and in awe of what had nearly happened. She wanted to forget it all – if only for a little bit. So she did what every person who wants to temporarily forget something does. She went to a bar.
    She chose it at random. It was a slightly dingy-looking place, but it looked okay. When she went in she saw that it was mostly bikers, but this didn’t bother her and they didn’t even seem to notice her. She sat down at the bar and ordered a whisky.
    ****
    She stayed at the bar all day and late into the night. She got drunker and drunker and when the sun had set and the room filled with the hot musk of the evening drinkers her head was whirling and she felt like she was going to be sick. Over the course of the day she had gone from sad to angry , to depressed to regretful, and back to sad again. Now she was too drunk to be anything. It took all her energy to stumble from the bar. The barman – a round man whose chequered shirt could barely contain his belly – laughed at her through his grey beard. She had been thankful that he wasn’t the cutting-off-drunk-people sort a few hours ago – now she condemned him for it.
    She stumbled into the street and used her hand to support herself, gripping at a brick wall with all her effort. She thought that she was heading the right way and then thought about getting a cab – but she had spent most of her money in the bar and had to pay her rent and she didn’t want to waste anymore today. In her state she didn’t see the issue with walking home alone. She felt a lot safer than she normally would, as people often do when they are intoxicated – when she was sober she was shy and timid and rarely looked people in the eye. Now it seemed as if every passerby was a potential friend. She called to them introductory greetings and waited for them to respond. After a few minutes of this she was sure that there was a conspiracy against her – everyone looked away in the same embarrassed way and then circled around to avoid being too close to her.
    ‘ Fine’,’ she mumbled. ‘I dun’ need you anyway!’
    She fell into a nearby wall and realized she needed to urinate. There was some part of her that knew