"Stop struggling!" He bellowed at her.
Breathlessly, she finally relented. He seemed to sense that he had won this round, because he maliciously chuckled and loosened his grip. His cruel chuckle was the last thing she remembered before she lost consciousness.
Chapter 8: The Vampire's Cabin
Later, though she had no idea how much later, Elizabeth woke up on a nice, firm, chaise lounge. Her head rested gently on a pillow. She could tell it was now night, but a lamp near the lounge was on, allowing her to see her surroundings. She was in a wooden cabin much like the one she had intended to stay in. Before she could take in much more than the basics of her surroundings she caught a presence out of the corner of her eye. Her head whirled to a recliner in the far left corner of the room. Her captor was sitting in it nonchalantly. A magazine rested in his lap. He smiled at her devilishly. She instinctively closed her eyes for a moment, wishing him away, hoping he was a nightmare. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see that her wish had come true. He was gone. Bewildered, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. That was impossible. He had been sitting right there. She turned her head to her right and almost died of shock. He was standing next to the right side of the lounge. Quickly, he slid onto the lounge and on top of her. He grabbed her shoulders. Elizabeth's face flushed, and she suddenly felt very weak. Her brain was scrambled. Up was down and 2+2 equaled 3. She was Alice gone down the rabbit hole and trapped in a nightmarish Wonderland from Hell.
“Who are you,” she began. “What are you?” she asked more certainly. That was what she really wanted to know. What was this impossible creature in front of her?
Aaron looked down on her with fierce black eyes. As Elizabeth passed her eyes over him, she suddenly realized that he was also sizing her up. She locked eyes with him, realizing the best way to get his focus off of her slender, pretty physique, was by having him focus on her eyes.
“I am Aaron Ayro,” he responded. “But you already knew that. What you really want to know is what I am. I am a vampire.” His eyes drifted over her body and Elizabeth had the impression that he was undressing her with his eyes. She gulped.
“I don’t believe you are a vampire,” she said obstinately.
He smiled devilishly and bared his fangs.
“I’m still not convinced,” she persisted. “Stop toying with me.”
And then Aaron transformed into a bat right before her eyes. She nearly fainted on the lounge. Before she could cry out, he had transformed back into his human form. Elizabeth stumbled off the lounge and fell to the floor. He grabbed her from underneath her arms and lifted her up. He threw her up in the air, caught her, and wrapped his arms around her, looking at her ravenously. He bared his fangs and she was certain that she would die in his embrace. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the going away present from Arthur: the silver cross. She pressed it against Aaron’s neck. Nothing happened. He released a cruel laugh from his lips.
“That only works if you believe in it,” he said.
He grabbed her hand and lowered it. She dropped the cross in despair. Tightly, he gripped her and then kissed her on the mouth. His mouth was hot. A fire travelled up through her body as nerve endings were scorched by his kiss. When he stopped kissing her she felt drunk. She licked her sore mouth and tasted blood. He had bitten her lower lip. She swooned and thought for a moment that she might pass out. As if sensing she was about to go down, he picked her up and carried her into another room. He laid her down onto a giant king size bed. He stroked her cheek with a hand. She realized a tear had been there.
“I’ll be back in a moment. Don’t keep me waiting too long!”
Elizabeth watched him walk out the door. And then she burst into tears. She sobbed hysterically. And then she caught sight of the window. She ran to it and quickly opened it. She jumped out and into the night. She had no idea where she would go, but she knew it would be far away from this monster. However, before she could take even more than a few steps from the window, a figure jumped from the roof and dropped directly in front of her. The creature whirled around with giant fangs, far larger than Aaron's tiny ones had been. This thing was a saber tooth tiger in comparison. He actually hissed at her and Elizabeth saw that the whites of the man’s eyes were blood red. She let out a blood curdling scream. Suddenly, Aaron appeared miraculously at her side and struck the saber tooth vampire. It went flying back. Aaron scooped her up and put her back through the window. He followed suit a moment after.
"That was Joe Newman. Sometimes he hunts a little too close to the house. But he knows you're for me. Trust me," he said with that chilling smile that made her blood curdle. "It's better me than him."