Blood Lust
Chapter Thirty-Six

I gasped.

I remembered that feeling all too well. I looked around frantically.

"...Please give a warm welcome to Mayor Verne!" The woman at the podium clapped as she stepped to the side, introducing the man behind her.

It was him.

But he was different. That man had tucked himself away in a white suit. His hair had been slicked back. It complimented the stubble that clung to his beautiful face. He could dress himself up anyway and my heart would still be able to identify him in a crowd.

R adjusted the jacket of his suit as he walked up to the microphone, "Good evening." He spoke.

R had never said a word in front of others if he didn't have to. Why was he talking so openly with these strangers?

"It is my greatest pleasure to be able to serve you..." R's voice was strong and well liked among the crowd.

"Ow." I jumped when the hand Dee had wrapped around me was digging into my side. "W- Are you okay?" I looked up at Dee to see his face was on the verge of turning. His jaw clenched from trying to keep his fangs from showing through.

"That bastard." Dee growled between his teeth. His hand was still digging into my waist, "He won't acknowledge us."

"Does he not remember us?" Tears poured out from my face before I had time to slow them. "He said the mark bonded us together forever! How could he not know me?"

I started to shout at the end of sentence, but Dee grabbed me and pulled me in.

"We'll fix this. I swear." Dee held onto me, tightly.

Through the tears being wiped into Dee's shirt, I watched as R stood on the stage and gave the rest of his speech. His eyes glanced over me every chance he got. Every time our eyes met, I was hit with a wave of feelings.

I wiped away the tears and cleaned the mascara off. I needed to pull myself together for the final part. The meet and greet portion where we would get to introduce ourselves.

"Christi!" Alma, Mister Orion's wife had pulled me in line right behind them. "Oh, I baked him a pie. Don't you think he'd just gobble it up?" She showed off one of her prize winning pies. It did look beautiful, but I doubted that he'd eat it.

"It looks great." I tried to smile.

When it came to my turn I got nervous with Dee standing behind me. I was worried what he'd do. "Hello, what a beautiful couple." R smiled in a sickly manner.

"Oh, we're n-" I began to correct, but Dee had cut me off.

"Thank you." Dee grabbed R's hand for a firm handshake.

"And what it is this?" R was shocked to notice a pram at our side.

I gathered that R had suspected that Leon might be Dee's son. "This is my son. Leon." I pulled back the netting to show him.

Dee cleared his throat, "Leon Verne." I had to look back at him to make sure he wasn't going to rip out of his own skin and lunge at R.

R was visibly confused. He was trying to replace the words to speak. "Well it was nice meeting you. We better get this little guy to bed." I shook R's hand and pulled on Dee's shirt.

Lee, Martin and Yun had waited behind a building for us. "What the hell happened?" Martin whined. Dee pushed through them as he stormed back towards the house.

"Just keep moving." I grabbed Martin's arm and pushed him forward.

We walked back home in silence with Dee up front. He was almost running and when we came up to the house, he slammed the door open.

"Jeez, what the hell is his problem?" Martin opened his mouth.

When I heard Dee slam his door behind him I zipped around to finish the conversation, "We met with R. It was him."

"And? Did he not see his son?" Martin replied.

"No. That's the thing. It was as if he never met us. He thought me and Dee were a couple." They were shocked by what I was telling them. Lee couldn't believe it. "Have you ever heard of anything like this?" I asked. Lee shook his head.

There was only one other possibility left. R knew who we were and was faking it, but why? I had to replace out. Even if I went to talk to him alone. I wanted the truth. That was the least he could give me.

Defeated; I walked up the stairs and collapsed in the bed. Leon had laid quietly in his crib. He was mesmerized by the mobile that hung from the crib bars. Listening to him coo had given me peace of mind. Long enough to close my eyes and drift off.

In the morning, I had asked Yun to watch Leon while I did some shopping. Down in the square, people were bustling about. Excited about the new mayor, I presumed.

"Good Morning Christi!" Alma had spotted me from down the road. I waved her off and kept focused on my mission. I was headed straight for the mayor's office. R had to be there. Or, maybe not, since it was daylight?

At the door I gave a good knocking. "Hello? This is Christi Marchand. I was wondering if I could speak with the Mayor?" I shouted through the wooden door.

The door pried open to let in the faintest sliver of sunlight, "Do you have an appointment?" The voice asked.

Vampire.

"Ah, no, but it is urgent. If I could just get a mere minute with him." There. That was my entry point. I pushed opened the door, letting more sun flood in. The person behind the door didn't know what to do and quickly backed up, in fear. The door swung all the way open, pushing the vampire to recede all the way into a second room that had all the windows blocked off. I made my way to the closest window and began pulling down curtains.

"Stop!" A voice boomed.