The Last Time We First Met - Part Three
by: Denise Underwood
c. 2001
"I think we should go," Triona insisted once more, looking around the dark
club warily. She knew the others thought she was being a wet blanket. But
something about this place scared her to death.
She was in Toronto for a conference and had hooked up with a few people
she knew from work and previous conferences. It was Saturday night, and
someone had had the idea of sampling the nightlife. Triona had no
objections to a pub or two, or even a dance club. She'd had no idea that
she and her companions would end up in a 'vampire bar'.
From the moment they'd been motioned past the bouncer at the door, Triona
had been trying to convince them all to leave. She felt like a sheep in a
circle of wolves. But none of them would listen -- in fact, they seemed to
be having the time of their lives.
"Jeez, Triona," said Mark in irritation, "you'd think you thought there
were really vampires here, the way you're carrying on."
She bit her lip. Is that what I think? Maybe, deep down; in the part of her
that thought that myths and legends must have a basis in truth somewhere.
"That's stupid," she replied instead, plucking at the sleeve of her emerald
green velvet top in unconscious agitation.
"Oh, come on. Like vampires would hang out in a vampire bar!" Susan,
another of their group chimed in giggling, already more than a little drunk.
She took a swallow of her scotch before answering. "I don't know, I think
it would make a pretty good cover. No one looks for what's right under
their nose." Triona pressed herself further into her corner of the booth as
the others laughed.
Twenty minutes later, all her group were out on the dance floor. Triona
just sipped at her drink, eyes darting here and there as she nervously
fingered the cross that hung under the neck of her blouse. She didn't
honestly believe in vampires -- or anything else that went bump in the
night. But something about this place put every hair on her body on end.
"It's a crime that the most beautiful member of your party sits all
alone," a seductive voice whispered past her ear.
Fighting back a shriek of fright, Triona turned to find a muscular Asian
man sitting next to her, smiling. She found herself riveted by his deep
black eyes as he placed his hand on her wrist. "I prefer it actually," she
managed to say, finally finding her voice.
"I refuse to believe that. Just because your friends are foolish enough to
leave you here, all by yourself, doesn't mean that others are so blind."
She felt like she were drowning in his eyes -- an expression she'd never
really understood till now. "Really, I prefer to wait here for my
friends... alone."
The hand on her wrist tightened. "Ah, beautiful lady, never alone." He ran
a finger across her cheek, making her shy back, and he smiled. A smile that
didn't reach his eyes. His voice took on a deeper timber when he spoke
again. "Come with me now. You know you don't want to be alone...."
Shaking her head at the wave of dizziness that took her, she felt a cold
fear seep through every pore. "No," she said faintly. Then a little
stronger as she shook off the dizziness, "No. Let go of me, please." She
tried to pull away, but his grip was unbreakable. The black eyes were no
longer seductive, but hard and predatory. "Let go of me or I'll scream."
The man laughed. "Do you think anyone will pay any attention? And even if
they did -- you have to leave here eventually," he finished menacingly.
"And when she does, it will be under my protection, Anatole." The man's
head snapped around at the sound of the soft as steel female voice.
"Release her," the voice demanded.
As she spoke, the woman moved out of the shadows that had hidden her face
from view. Triona was taken aback at the almost perfect features that were
revealed by the light: jet black hair, porcelain skin, and brilliant blue
eyes. Anatole seemed almost ready to protest the order, but one look at the
woman's eyes were enough to make him swallow whatever objections he might
have had. She felt his hand release her wrist.
"Go!" the woman ordered. He went. Then the woman's attention turned to
Triona. "Are you all right?" she inquired in a soft, French accented voice
as she slid into the booth next to Triona.
Nodding, she nervously took a sip of her drink. '"Yes. Thank you." She
wasn't quite sure what to make of her rescuer. Definitely more dangerous,
but she didn't feel the cold fear that she had before. "I don't know what I
would have done if you hadn't come along," she admitted.
"I'd say screamed." She smiled slightly.
Triona laughed. "I'm sure the management would have been thrilled at my
causing a scene."
"Oh, I don't mind the occasional scene. It can add spice to an otherwise
boring night." Again, the slight smile. "My name is Janette. Welcome to my
club...."
***********
Triona came back from where she was, hundreds of years in her past --
though it always seemed like it was only yesterday. "And if it had ended
there, I probably would have gone back to Vancouver and my life as it was."
"And what was your life then?" he asked, totally drawn into her tale.
"I was an investment banker -- and a damn good one. Basically I took the
money of people who had too much of it and made them more," she added,
responding to his look of confusion at the term. "Not by choice. But of
necessity."
"What would your choice have been?"
"An astrophysicist actually." Triona laughed outright. "I didn't grow up to
be a bureaucrat, Jean-Luc, believe me." She chewed her bottom lip, far away
once again. "My parents, and my aunt and uncle, were killed in an
small-plane accident when I was twenty-four; my father was the pilot. I was
in university at the time, working towards my PhD. All of a sudden I was
the guardian of my thirteen-year-old cousin, Stephanie. There was some
money from life insurance, but not enough for me to keep going to school
*and* raise a child."
"There was no one to help you?" The pain in his eyes was quite real as he
realized just how alone the young Triona must have been.
"No one." She shook her head. "A family friend offered me a job. I had a
business degree -- my parents had insisted I have something sensible to
fall back on. No rocket scientists for them!" Triona smiled sadly. "They
would have had no idea.... So, I became an investment banker. I was very
successful and made pots of money for my clients -- and it allowed me to
build a nest egg for me and for Stephanie."
"But it didn't end there."
"No, it didn't...."
****************
Denise * ithildin@ondragonswing.com* Ith
http://www.ondragonswing.com
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