Posted by The Black Knight on July 03, 2000 at 20:28:16:
Chapter 3
Charlotte Watson opened her eyes late in the next day. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up. She lay in her apartment on her own bed. She still wore the clothes from the previous night. She looked
around the room and nothing was amiss, except for the fact that all the drapes were closed. She looked down and saw that she was wearing the same clothes that she had the night before. She smiled as she smelled something frying. She got up and went into the kitchen. All the drapes in there were closed as well. There was a plate of eggs and bacon on the table.
"I can't eat this." Charli said.
"Something wrong with my cooking Charli?" Luke asked from the other end of the kitchen.
"No it looks fine. I'm just trying to watch my weight."
"I'll make you a deal, you eat it and I'll watch your weight." Luke said with a smile.
"Am I imagining things, or did you just hit on me Professor?"
"You're imagination is okay, it hasn't had its workout today." Luke answered.
Charli smiled as she sat down.
"On the bright side at least I can eat this, and you can't." Charli said.
"What would give you that idea?"
"Isn't that why you drink blood, because you can't digest regular food." Charli said.
"No. We have to drink blood because our bodies require a certain enzyme which cannot be found anywhere else. As for eating regular food, I can eat as much of it as I like just as long as I stay away
from certain leeks and rose petals." Luke said.
"I take it I've been watching too many movies?" Charli asked.
"Go ahead and watch your movies. Just as long as people believe that ridiculous stuff we're safe."
Charli got up and walked over to the sink. She pulled back the curtains and looked back at him.
"That's not exactly true either Miss Watson. Some of the younger vampires can't make it out in the sun, but once we make it past a couple of years we're perfectly safe." Luke said.
"Then why all this creeping around at night?"
"Don't you think most people would notice a six foot man flying over them in the day time?" Luke asked.
"Very good point. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly did happen last night?"
"How much do you remember?" Luke asked.
"I remember being tied down on a table and hearing another girl screaming. Then that awful man stepped over me. I remember you pulling him back, then everything else is a blank." Charli said.
"But you remember what I am?" Luke asked.
"A vampire."
"Fortunately for you, Charli, vampires still survive on the old feudal system. We have one ruling family, without one of them present we go by the oldest, or the master vampire which ever happens to be
there. I am not only the oldest vampire here, but part of the ruling family and there are only two people in the world who would dare to
challenge any decision that I make." Luke said.
"Who? Miss Morrison?"
"No, not Matty. She is my sister, well actually she's my half-sister, but she is younger than I am. Only my older brother or my father would ever second-guess me." Luke answered.
"Who is your father? I know I've seen that crest somewhere before, but I can't quite place it." Charli said.
"It's a Romanian crest. My father's most infamous name was Vlad Tepes, but most people know him as a later incarnation - Count Dracula." Luke said.
"Be serious for a change, would you?"
"I'm dead serious, but then technically I am dead. The reason that I brought that up is because the Count is coming here in two weeks." Luke said.
"Is he really your father or just the one who made you a vampire?" Charli asked.
"He's actually my father. My mother was mortal when I was born, but she had already been infused with some vampire blood, so it wouldn't kill her." Luke answered.
Charli smiled as she ate a little bit.
"You're a good cook." Charli commented.
"Anyone can fry an egg."
"I can't." Charli said.
Luke smiled as he walked around behind her.
"Let me rephrase that. Anyone can learn to fry an egg." Luke said laying his hands on her shoulders.
Charli jumped to her feet as the doorbell rang.
"It's just a doorbell, Charli."
"After last night, I'm just a bit skiddish of anything sudden." Charli said.
"Do you want me to get it?"
"No, you're my professor, how would it look if you were found here?" Charli asked.
The doorbell rang again and Charli walked into the living room. She walked to the door and opened it. A lovely raven haired woman stood just outside the door.
"Hello Miss Watson, my name is Heather Taylor. I'm a reporter with WGFN channel 7. I know this may be a bad time, but I'm investigating a mysterious string of deaths at your college." the
young woman said.
"What are you talking about?" Charli asked.
"Two nights ago Richard Collins and Beth Boswell was found in the river with their throats slashed. Last night Shannon Peterson was found dead." Heather said.
"Shannon's dead?" Charli gasped as she sank back into a chair.
"You didn't know?"
Charli wiped her eyes and shook her head.
"I'm sorry that I upset you, Miss Watson. I thought the police had been here already. According to my information you were the last person seen with Miss Peterson." Heather said.
"We were walking back to the dorm together then..." Charli began.
"Then I asked Miss Watson to come back to my office to discuss her position as my secretary." Luke said as he walked into the living room.
"Do you know anything about this?" Heather asked.
"Professor Lucas Drake. I have no knowledge of it. Like I said Miss Watson was with me until late last night, then I came over here this morning to give her some papers to copy for me. Now Miss Taylor,
if you don't mind you've upset my secretary and she has a lot of work to do before class tonight."
"Oh, I'm sorry." Heather said as she walked toward the door.
Luke walked out into the hall with her.
"Miss Taylor." Luke said.
Heather turned and faced him.
"If I were you, I would forget about this investigation. The reporter is supposed to report the story, not be the story."
"What is that suppose to mean, Professor Drake?" Heather asked.
"If this killer is as violent as you say, he may not appreciate you poking around. I would advise you to leave it to the police."
"I can take care of myself, Professor Drake. I've been doing it a long time." Heather said.
Luke smiled as he went back into Charli's dorm room and shut the door. Heather pulled out a pad and a pencil. She smiled as she wrote down Lucas Drake on the pad.
"Rudeness doesn't necessarily make someone a suspect, but that warning will suffice." Heather thought as she walked down the hall.
One hour later Charli had changed her clothes, but still sat in her living room crying. She looked up when Luke came into the room.
"Were you going to tell me?" Charli asked.
"Tell you what?"
"That Shannon was dead." Charli answered.
"I would have had to eventually. I was going to give you a little time to contemplate what you had learned last night. Perhaps after you had come to comprehend that, I would have broken the news to
you." Luke said.
"She was my friend. Did you think that I wouldn't notice that she was gone?"
"You know that never occurred to me." Luke said.
"For someone who has lived so long, you make some of the dumbest mistakes."
"Well I was distracted." Luke said.
"Why didn't you let me die down there?"
"Quite honestly I should have. You endanger me and every other vampire on this campus, but there's something different about you. In over two thousand years I have never met a young woman like you." Luke
said.
Charli looked puzzled as he walked toward the door.
"Wait. What did you mean by that?" Charli asked.
Luke turned and walked back in front of her. She smiled as he took her hand in his.
"Two thousand years ago, just outside of Rome a child name Lucas Dracula was born to Roman Empress. Eighteen years later his father told him who he was and what he was." Luke said.
"You?" Charli asked.
Luke nodded.
"From that day on I resigned myself to the fact that I would live the rest of my time alone. The taking of a human life has always seemed wrong to me, so I keep my distance from other vampires. I
could never love a mortal woman and watch her grow old and die before my eyes and do nothing about it. The part of her that I loved would die if I converted her, so I am left with nothing." Luke said.
"Is that why you keep turning me away?" Charli asked.
"No. The problem is that I do love you. Ever since I first saw you in my class I can't get you out of my mind."
"You have a problem with that?" Charli asked.
"It was what Kim was trying to tell you last night. Every moment you're with me your life is in danger. If I loose control for just a second I could kill you." Luke answered.
"For some reason I don't believe that."
"What makes you think for a moment that I couldn't stand you up right now and kill you?" Luke asked.
"You didn't do it in your classroom, and I don't believe you could do it now."
"Faith and trust are very good virtues, but they are misplaced in me." Luke said.
Charli pushed her long brown hair back with her free hand. She smiled as she tilted her head to one side.
"I don't think so. This is how much I trust you." Charli said as she leaned toward him.
He stood up and turned away from her. He walked toward the kitchen and leaned on the wall beside the doorway. Charli got up, walked over to him, and lay her hand on his shoulder.
"Did I do something wrong?" Charli asked.
He turned and faced her. His eyes were bright red and she could see his fangs when he opened his mouth to speak.
"That trust almost cost you your life."
"But it didn't. The only question you have to ask yourself is, Which emotion is stronger love or lust?" Charli asked.
"When your life hangs in the balance, I do not want to ask that question of myself."
"But it would seem, Professor Drake, that you must answer that question." Charli said.
That evening as the sun went down, Luke went back to his office at the college. Madeline sat at his desk.
"Did you have a nice little foray into the normal world?" Madeline asked.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Just curious, brother. We have a problem." Madeline said.
"Yes, I know. Heather Taylor came by to see Charli this afternoon."
"Charli?" Madeline asked.
"Charlotte Watson, the young lady from last night." Luke answered.
"I thought you were more particular toward the blondes."
"Leave her alone, Matty. What I said last night applies to you to. If anyone lays a hand on her they will answer to me." Luke said.
"This is not Singapore repeating itself all over again is it?"
"No, that was one night, and one mistake that you will never let me forget." Luke said.
"It wasn't my fault that she was the niece of Van Helsing, but I was the one he came after with a torch."
"This one is special, and I won't let anyone destroy that." Luke said.
"I can sense the way you feel about her. You seem to forget that the same blood flows through our veins, Luke. We can sense each other from miles away. As strong as your feelings are for this girl, I
would say that you're in love." Madeline said.
"What would you know of love, Matty?"
Madeline smiled a little.
"I have emotions, too." Madeline said as she walked toward the door.
"What about your problem?"
"It would appear that you're too preoccupied with that pretty little college girl to worry about it. I will see what I can do to through Miss Taylor off the scent, myself." Madeline said.
"Just don't do anything stupid."
"Stupid, you mean like falling in love with a twenty year old?" Madeline asked.
Luke smiled as Madeline walked out of the room. Charli came into the room smiling a little.
"Something amuse you?" Luke asked.
"Just her. She really is a witty young lady."
"Yeah if you consider two hundred and eighteen young." Luke said.
Charli rolled her eyes as she lay a piece of paper on Luke's desk.
"What's this?" Luke asked.
"A memo from Danielle Francis, you know the head of the Social Studies department. It seems that you have a meeting tonight before your first class."
"All three of us?" Luke asked sarcastically.
"All three of you."
"There are only Danielle, myself, and Candice Dalton in the Social Studies department. The only good thing about these meeting is that they're short." Luke said.
"I was wondering why we were stuck in the Science Building." Charli said.
Luke picked up the memo off his desk.
"Do you want to go, or do you want to finish filing those papers?" Luke asked.
"Considering that you're just trying to keep me busy anyway, I think I'll stay here."
"Good choice. One of the draw-backs of working here is you have to go to these meetings." Luke said.