Free Vintage Soul by David Niall Wilson Page A

mind had dropped into a slow-motion world of fuzzy vision and humming sound.   He stroked the other side of her throat, and she lunged that way, lashing her hair back and forth across his face.    Each time she tried to clamp onto him, he evaded her, and throughout it all, he caressed her cheeks, her throat, and her hair.   His voice never ceased, and she realized vaguely that he was chanting.
    Then something slipped between her lips.   She tried to turn from it, but it was too late.   Blood spurted in over her tongue, washed down her throat, and she latched onto the metal tube like a baby suckling its mother.   She couldn’t stop herself.   It was his blood, she knew the scent, the taste, and it was as sweet as she’d imagined, though cold – so cold.
    â€œThat’s right,” she heard him say.   “Take it all.”
    She did.   He pulled back from her with a satisfied smirk on his face and surveyed his work.   Vanessa hung limply from the chains.   Her bones had knit themselves and healed, her complexion had grown rosier.   Her strength returned, but along with it a strange, inexplicable lethargy.
    Her captor waited a few moments longer, then stepped forward again.   She watched him, but did not try to reach him.   Her thoughts were shifting very slowly, and she couldn’t quite remember why she’d wanted to escape, or who he was.   He stepped close again, pulled something from his pocket, and slipped it around her neck.
    Glancing down, she saw he had hung a circular gold pendant on a chain around her neck.   He held the ends of the chain together behind her and whispered two words she didn’t understand.   When he stepped back, the chain was joined in back.   The chains on the wall grew slack.
    Vanessa allowed him to lead her to the cot by the wall and sat beside him.   The chains trailed behind her and hung limply down over the edge of the cot.   She knew she should be doing something, but could not bring it into focus.   Her eyelids had begun to flutter, and she was very tired.
    â€œI couldn’t have you attacking me every few minutes, you know,” he said conversationally.   “You really are far too fast to be trusted.   I think things will go more smoothly now, don’t you?”
    Vanessa nodded her head, though she had no idea what things he meant.   She hoped he’d leave her so she could lie back on the cot and rest.   She thought the sun must have risen outside and sapped her strength.   If the building had proper shielding, this wouldn’t happen.   She tried to tell him, but he shook his head.
    â€œIt’s fine.   You get some rest, and I’ll be back to see you with more blood.   We have to keep you healthy, don’t we?”
    She nodded.
    He reached out and traced her throat with a long fingernail, lifted her chin, studied her face, and then stroked her skin gently.   “Before long,” he told her, “I’ll be taking my blood back, you see.   All of it, and more.   I’ll be taking all of that wonderful, powerful blood of yours, and that exquisite immortality, and I’ll be keeping it for my own.   I’m afraid I can’t share, and it’s a pity, but you understand, don’t you?”
She nodded, though she really didn’t understand at all.   He couldn’t have said what she thought he did, how was that possible?   She was the one who took blood – she didn’t give it back.   What a funny thought.   
    The man stood and laid her back on the cot, and Vanessa closed her eyes at once.   On her chest, the gold medallion glowed with a dim golden light.   He watched for a moment, nodded, and tucked the small bottle with its metal tube spout back into a fold of his robe.
    â€œHow fitting,” he said, brushing his fingers a final time through her hair.   “They sell these for