She stood, unmoving except for her eyes. They followed his every move intently, a flash of the most intense yellow glimmering as the moonlight washed over her milky skin.

Her loose, perfect curls cascaded down her back, the night breeze barely teasing them in the cool night air. Even at this distance she could smell the sweetness of his warm soft skin. She could almost feel his heat with every breath he took.

Fascinated filled her. She'd been watching him like this for close on a month. Every night she travelled, seemingly unnoticed, through the dimly lit streets. She spoke to few, she liked her solitude. Her need never extended past herself, unless of course, she was hungry.

That first night she'd intended to feed on him, but something had stopped her. She'd become so close that she could hear his heart beating, feel the inviting warmth of his breath, taste the sweetness on his skin. Yet she still hadn't touched him. She didn't understand why, and didn't try to. It was accepted as she accepted every feeling she had. And she watched.

He couldn't get her out of his mind. She haunted his thoughts from the moment he awoke to the moment he drifted into sleep. And from then, she walked in his dreams too. Every dream played the same, mimicking the night they'd met, the only night they'd met.

Even now he could feel her presence as he walked through the dark streets back to the safety of his home.

He could feel her strongly again. As the cool night air drifted around him, he could feel her close, watching, waiting, and it excited him like nothing else. He could feel his skin grow clammy to his touch and his heart begin to race, as for the first time since that night he caught a glimmer of light in the shadows.

He wanted to walk over to her and take her the way he believed she'd intended to take him... with passion, with love, with such burning desire that it consumed his very soul. But something stopped him approaching, and it was the uneasy feeling he'd also had that night they'd first met.

He replayed it in his mind over and over. She'd appeared before him without warning, and he'd gazed into her eyes to see such immense hunger that it startled him so much as to take his breath away. But she hadn't touched him. She'd meant to, that much was clear to him, but as quickly as she'd appeared, she disappeared again quicker. Yet the memory of that moment between them lasted minutes, hours even.

He'd give anything to be with her, as in that briefest of moments, he became lost in her eyes, and lost to himself forever.

Her head moved slightly as she watched him, and she felt the cold moonlight catch her eyes. At that moment she knew he'd seen her. She'd heard him gasp, then watched him as he stood waiting. She knew what he waited for and she could resist the pull no longer.

Her perfect frame stepped slowly from the shadows, the only sound audible to her delicate senses the light rustle of her satin and lace gown against the night breeze, and the pounding of his heart. As she glided ever closer towards him she could hear his heart beat faster, and yet he remained silent and still.

For the first time since she'd been reborn, she felt a heat inside her, coursing through her veins as his eyes met hers. She revelled in it. For the first time in what seemed like an eternity she felt desire for something other than sustenance and survival. She wanted him more completely than she could ever have imagined.

She drew closer to him, all the while her eyes stayed locked on his. Even if she wanted to she couldn't have looked away. She could see so deep inside him that she could read his very soul, and it enthralled her beyond all imagination.

Eventually she stood before him, barely a hair's breadth away from his warm, trembling body. She couldn't tell whether he was trembling from fear or desire. Reason told her it was both as her being slowly became consumed by his burning gaze.

Her lips parted slightly and she smiled softly, her eyes washing over the delicate skin of his neck and throat briefly, before returning to the warmth of his eyes.

He waited in anticipation, watching her every move as her perfect form approached him. As she stopped before him he could feel the cold eminating from her almost transluscent skin. It was truly beautiful in it's resonance through the darkness.

His eyes travelled down to her pale lips and lowered to take in the perfect line of her shoulders, her breasts, her waist. His gaze once again fell upon her lips when they parted and curled slightly with her smile.

He drew his breath momentarily as the truth of her being flashed before his eyes. He turned his gaze back to her piercing eyes and in that instant all became clear to him. But as he stared into her soul, if she still possessed such a thing, he realised he didn't care.

His hand raised slowly and it came to rest on her cheek. He was startled at the sharp coldness of her skin, yet he was enthralled by it too. He understood now. He knew that whatever had made her find him the first night, it was something deeper that changed her mind. And although he knew this could be his last living moment, he didn't care. His heart beat faster than ever and his own hunger was almost consuming him as they stood together, silent.

Her eyes closed slowly as she felt the warmth of his hand on her face, and once again she felt the heat inside her she'd missed for so long. She felt the ache deep within her being, and as she opened her eyes again to meet his gaze, her hand lifted and caressed his neck tenderly, almost purposefully.

Her eyes once again drifted down his neck and across his throat, and as she took in the sight of his warm, soft, tempting skin she gradually inched towards him. She looked up into his eyes one last time to see no fear, no hatred. There was nothing but need when she gazed upon him again, so she leaned in towards his neck.

Her fingers danced over his skin as her lips grew ever closer to the sweetness of his flesh. She felt the need so badly it was eating away at her, and she slowly parted her lips again. He stood as stone as her teeth touched the delicate skin of his neck, and as her hand lifted to rest on the back of his neck tenderly, she pierced his flesh and let the warmth of his being flood into her cold mouth.

She listened as she drank, hearing the racing of his heart, then the steadier, slowing rhythm inside him. For the first time in what seemed like eternity, she felt alive, as his life flowed inside her. Every second which passed brought him closer to death, and as she heard his heart slow more and more, she drank more carefully.

Her lips finally left his skin and she studied his face. His eyes, though he was weakened almost to the point of death, still showed that same need. She saw him nod slowly and she smiled. She raised her hand to her own neck and trailed one long, sharp fingernail across her skin briefly. The hand which held him steady, resting at the back of his neck, pulled him towards her.

As she felt his warm lips touch her icy skin she shuddered slightly. He began to drink, slowly at first as his strength would let him, gradually becoming more and more urgent as he tasted more, and wanted more. His hands wrapped around her body and pulled her close as he took all he could from her being. He stopped only when he felt the pain, and as his back arched her arms wrapped around him and held him close, comforting, supporting.

He screamed as the pain flooded his body, then he breathed one last warm breath before he turned limp in her arms.

After a moment, he moved. His body twitched slightly as she held him. His eyes opened suddenly and he breathed in long, slow and deep. His first image with his new eyes was of her. The one who'd made him, the one who'd wanted him so badly, and the one he'd desired to have as his own. They stood like this, wrapped in each other's arms, for the longest time. Watching. Loving. Needing. And it was all in their eyes.

As the sun threatened it's arrival, they slipped away together, into the shadows as she'd done so many times before.

To the ones who saw, it was poetry. Such beauty in something so feared was beyond their comprehension. Until now. Now it was the most real thing in this world, and their hearts began to yearn for the same. It was like a choir singing out to those who could hear, the harmonious clarity of the song almost deafening.

And they heard. They all heard and they all remembered.

Copyright © K Wakeman