“No. I think it is obsession mixed with curiosity. She thought she knew Matt very well and he turned out not to be so interested in her as he was in himself. I am the opposite, so therefore I am new and exciting. But it will wear off eventually.”
“Maybe it will if you sleep with her. Then again, it probably won’t,” Michelle said, playfully tugging his ear.
“Oh really?” Dante asked.
“You’re addictive,”
Dante smiled. “Whatever happens, you know you’ll always be my girl.”
Michelle grinned. “Nice try, but your girl is out there,” she said, waving her hand towards the door, sitting up and dropping the cloth into the bowl. “Hang on.” Michelle picked up the bowl and walked towards the bathroom, disappearing behind the door. When she resumed her previous place, she continued as if she hadn’t paused. “It must be hard for you being here too, with Melina. I forgot.”
“She’s the furthest thing from my mind.”
Michelle interlocked their fingers, leaning back. “You can’t lie to me. It’s the one thing you’re not good at. Why don’t you just talk to her? I know you want to.”
“There is nothing to say. I made the mistake of believing she cared about me once and I gave my life for her. In the end I lost everything only to find her with an enemy. What once was there no longer exists.”
Michelle was about to retort when Dante gave her a fierce look. She shrugged, defeated. He swept her fringe back with his hand and kissed her cheek.
*
By the time Alex had come out of the bathroom the other two were already in bed, Michelle the only one under the covers.
“So how is this going to work?” Alex asked, trying to sound casual.
Michelle faced her, “I sleep naked. Dante offered to be the go between the two of us if it freaked you out.”
Michelle gave Alex a blown kiss and faced the other side. She placed Dante’s right arm around her neck and snuggled into it, holding it with both her hands.
“What about the others? Can they come in here?” Alex asked, nervously removing her towel, revealing her underwear and bra.
“It’s a vampire dwelling, so yes. But they won’t,” Dante replied.
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m here.”
“Damn straight,” Michelle said, raising her fist in victory. She seemed completely at ease, which comforted Alex no end. If anyone could be understandably frantic it was Michelle, but in the arms of Dante it seemed she did not have a care in the world. She knew she would be fine.
Alex climbed into bed with her back to Dante and soon shifted this way and that. Of course I would find a huge, soft bed uncomfortable and fidgety, she thought.
“I have a really nice pillow here, just so you know,” Michelle said.
Alex turned into Dante just as he raised his arm. She instinctively placed hers over his stomach and nestled onto his chest. Dante slowly curled his arm around her shoulders, completing the mass of muscle protecting her.
Alex sighed deeply. A good pillow? Oh yeah.
She had almost moulded into his body, praying nothing shifted.
“Don’t move” Alex whispered.
“Told you,” she heard Michelle mumble, already drowsy. Alex felt a soft brush of lips against her head.
“Goodnight,” the dreamy voice said.
She didn’t have time to respond before she drifted off to sleep.
It seemed like only minutes had gone by when she was being jostled awake again.
“Hey, Alex. Time to wake up.”
Alex could hear Michelle, but had trouble doing what she asked. Finally, she pried open her eyes. “Ohhhhh…why’d you wake me?” Alex moaned playfully.
“It’s late, sleepy head. Don’t get up too fast!”
Alex yelped and dropped back down to the bed, her body doubled up, her limbs screamed, all centralised by a spasm feeling like it was destroying her back.
“It’s ok, don’t worry. It’ll pass. Here.”
Alex scrunched her eyes as Michelle kneaded the exact spot Alex felt was crippling her. Finally, she felt enough relief to speak.
“What is going on?”
“It’s a sort of temporary muscle atrophy. It always used to happen when I slept with Dante’s arms around me. Sorry, I forgot to warn you. Our bodies relax when we sleep next to him, he must give out some kind of aura that gets us comfortable and drowsy. It’s a natural pheromone vampires can use when they feed, I guess. It feels unreal but we pay for it in the morning. It doesn’t last long, just hurts when we try to move again.”
“Ow…ok thanks. I think that’s better.”
“Yeah, I told you it doesn’t last. You’ll get used to it. I did.”
Alex sat up. Much slower this time and stretched her neck and arms. Get used to it? What did that mean?
“That was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in months,” Alex said. She felt energised, strong. She looked at Dante, ghostly pale, even a grey tinge to his skin and not breathing, yet he looked very much at peace. His bruises were gone, the lacerations too. Alex slowly reached a hand over to touch his face. She may as well have touched an ice brick, so cold was his skin.
“That is so weird.”
“Completely healed. The most gorgeous corpse you will ever see,” Michelle said, kissing his lips lightly. “I’ll see you downstairs. I’m starving.”
After visiting the bathroom, Alex ventured cautiously downstairs and found Michelle in the mansion’s kitchen. Alex had taken the time to get what she felt was properly dressed, (the clothes she wore last night). Michelle on the other hand wore nothing but Dante’s shirt, her hair tousled from sleep. She was sitting at the end of the serving table with three plates of food. Whether it was Dante’s arms or the daylight streaming in the kitchen window,
