s Sage and Cristian continued their lip lock, her vampire urges were aroused as she could feel his body temperature rise. Instinctively, she began to kiss his neck, feeling lost in his embrace, as the urge to sink her fangs into his protruding vein and taste his blood grew stronger. Fighting against her urges, she mustered all her strength to pull herself away from him, turning so that he wouldn’t see her glowing eyes. “What is it, Sage?” he asked between breaths. She put her hand to her mouth to conceal her fangs. “I think we need to slow down a bit,” she said, trying to get a handle on her urges. Cristian took a deep breath to calm his nerves from
of what could happen once it consumed him.He walked over to her as she kept her back turned away from him and caressed her shoulder. “I don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, Sage,” he said. She turned around to face him. Her eyes back to normal and her fangs receded. “I’m not sorry for the kiss,” she said breathlessly. “I just want to take things a little slower.” He took her into his arms as they held each other. “I don’t know what it is, but I can’t help myself around you,” he said “I love being with you.” Sage closed her eyes as she inhaled his musk-scented cologne. “I love being with you too,” she whispered intoxicated by his scent. “The night is young,” he said, stroking her hair. “Let’s take a tour,” he said taking her hand.
They went to the Empire State Building Observatory to take in a splendid view of the Big Apple. “This is breathtaking,” Sage said in awe as she looked at the skyline that sparkled like stars against the night sky. “You feel like you can conquer the world from this height,” Cristian said as they took in the view. Sage nodded her head in agreement. “This is spectacular,” she said as they snuggled together.
Next, they got on a double-decker sightseeing tour bus to take a tour of the bright lights of Times Square and get a view of the illuminated backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. Sage felt bubbly being with Cristian. She had resigned herself to a life of solitude, but he made her feel alive again. She didn’t think it was possible after she’d lost Cristian that she would ever love again, but now here she is with this walking, talking, embodiment of her lost love and falling in love all over again.
After a whirlwind evening of movies, tours, and romance, Cristian got out the waiting cab, walking Sage to her door. “I had a great time tonight,” she said gingerly. “Me too,” he said. He took her hand, kissed it, then leaned in and delicately kissed her lips.
They stopped at the sound of Anna clearing her throat standing at the doorway and laughed.
“So I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked. Sage nodded her head, “Yes.” He began backing up toward the cab door. “Goodnight,” he said grinning. “Goodnight,” she said.
She watched the cab drive off while Anna, with her arms folded, stared at her. “What!” Sage exclaimed. Anna gave her a knowing look. “You two keep this up and you’ll be shagging soon,” she said.
“Sure, you haven’t,” Anna said teasingly. She followed Sage into her bedroom. “So this means you’re not going to tell him you’re a vampire?” she asked. Sage liked the idea of having a normal relationship and didn’t want to complicate it with her vampire secret. “I think it’s best that he doesn’t know,” she said.
“There you are!” Robert exclaimed, finding Cristian in the gallery looking at his masterpiece painting of Sage. “There have been a lot of inquiries about that painting,” he said. He looked at Cristian. “And requests for interviews about the inspiration behind it,” he said. “So did you find your muse?” he asked inquisitively. Cristian smiled at the portrait dreamily. “Well, that answers my question,” Robert said with a laugh. “So this means you won’t be living like a vampire anymore,” he said, giving him a playful pat on the back. Cristian chuckled as he headed to the back of the gallery toward his studio. “What’s with the vampire fixation?” he wondered. “Wait a second,” he thought, having a light bulb moment. He recalled the day Anna came to the art gallery and how she seemed to walk without moving her legs—as if she was floating. His mind flashed to when Sage came to his loft and she told him she couldn’t come inside unless she was invited and her odd behavior after their kiss earlier in the evening.
Intrigued, he sat down at his desk, opened his laptop, and began a search on vampirism.
“Vampires have extremely pale skin, because they are corpses,” he said reading the information aloud thinking of how ghostly white Anna’s skin appeared. “They cannot enter a house unless they are invited.” “They don’t cast any reflection or shadow and are sensitive to sunlight.” He thought of when Sage was sitting on the couch in his loft she didn’t reflect in his mirror or cast a shadow in the light when he could see his own. “But she was able to go out in sunlight,” he said confused. “I thought vampires imploded in sunlight.” He continued to read. “Vampires have supernatural ability, senses, and need to consume blood in order to survive.” He then thought of how each time he’d offer Sage something to drink or eat, she would decline it. His eyes darted back and forth rapidly as his mind processed the information. “It can’t be,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Sage is a vampire?”
It was about one in the morning when the airplane landed at JFK airport, and Rafael and a drowsy John walked through the empty terminal. They hailed a taxi and got a room at a rundown motel. A yawning John fell on the bed, falling fast asleep while Rafael rummaged through the drawers taking out a phonebook to look up the addresses of all the art galleries in town and of toy stores to restock the confiscated water gun. “Find the artist that painted the vampire’s portrait and find the vampire,” he thought.