Getting to know the ghoul - Marvin's Haven

He brought her hand up to his teeth, inviting her to feel the fangs with a smile.

"We shall try some night then love." His gaze still one of love and adoration.

She felt them as she nodded and then attempted to retract her hand quickly.

"Please." Though it wasn't clear what the please was for.

He smiled broadly showing his fangs in all their glory, her hand still held over them.

"Please what love?"

She still did not look at his fangs, even as she was forced to feel them. She didn't try to pull her hand away again, however.

"Please... for whatever you think is best for me."

He let go of her hand "I think it is best you look at the teeth that give you so much pleasure twice each night when I place them into your flesh."

He stared intently at her, his gaze hardening "Or are you afraid of me dearest one?"

She held her hands behind her back and turned to face him. Her eyes slowly trailed upward, first staring at his shirt and then up his neck and finally to his face. She looked a little hurt by his words, but not enough to make her cry or run. She steeled herself as she stared at his fangs.

"I am only what you wish me to be. But it would be foolish not to fear you, isn't that right?" Oh yes, there was a hint of defiance there.

"Well yes, you should fear me Naomi. I am after all a vampire, and capable of inflicting things on you worse than death itself. But there is no need for you to ignore what I am, nor what makes me what I am. If something as petty as fangs sets you off.... yet daily you sleep next to a corpse, and even make love to what is a reanimated corpse. Some things just aren't worth the trouble of being in denial over."

"The fangs make it real. It's not petty," she nearly hissed.

"Angry now are we love? Of course the fangs make it real. Haven't you gotten it through your pretty head just what you've gotten yourself into? I'm a predator. I stalked you, found you, claimed you and made you mine. You serve a vampire, and the sooner you accept that, the better."

"Now hiss at me again like that and I'll make you regret it."

"I have accepted that!" She hissed again, angrier. Obviously he just didn't understand. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be here. You want me to say that I am afraid of your fangs? Is that it?"

"You've just sealed the fate of your parents" he said calmly

"No, I don't want you to be afraid of them. I want you to not shy away from them, or any aspect of me, or who I am."

"Now I want you to contact your parents and arrange a visit. Tell them it is an emergency."

"What? Why?" Anger turned to panic. "What are you talking about?" Now she did look entirely too fearful.

"I'm going to eat both of your parents, and then leave their drained bodies where none will ever find them. We have systems in place for such things. Now I want you to contact them and tell them you want to see them down here, that it involves school matters. Something innocent sounding. An emergency will draw too much attention. This is part of your punishment. The rest will come out when they get down here."

His voice was calm, serene, even relaxing.

She felt sick-- literally. Her eyes welled up with tears as her face took on a sickly hue. She turned to run to the bathroom, but choked herself on the lead he held and dropped to her knees, dry heaving and crying.

"One chance Naomi" he said as she fell to the floor heaving. "One chance to spare them. Beg. Beg and tell me what you did wrong tonight."

She still felt sick and it wasn't going to be pretty. But she kept it in and staved it off. She couldn't keep herself from vomiting and crying, though, so the tears and gulps of air that sounded as she sobbed were clear as day even as she coughed.

"Please, please don't kill them," she said fearfully. "I'm begging you, please don't. I won't deny what you are again, I promise. I won't shy away from you or your fangs. And I won't raise my voice to you again, I promise!"

She turned on her knees to face him, though keeping her head up seemed to make her dizzy. She laid her face, which was steaming hot from her tears and coughing, on the tops of his feet, holding him by his ankles. "I'm sorry," she pleaded. "Please don't hurt them."

"I don't care that you raised your voice to me. I care that you denied who and what I am, and sought to ignore it, even as you benefited from it."

He bent down and undid her collar.

"Go clean yourself up and shower. You just saved the lives of your parents."

"Thank you," she sniffled and let out a cry of relief. She couldn't hold herself from being sick much longer.

She half-ran and half-crawled to the bathroom. The sounds of her vomiting couldn't be denied. She attempted to run the water to cover it. The toilet flushed after several moments and the shower head came on.

She stayed in the running water long after it ran cold.

He smiled, and decided that one of her parents really would have to die now. But down the road, and in such a way as to raise no suspicion. Perhaps he could hire it out.

After a while he called out in a kind and gentle voice "Naomi love, are you alright?"

No response.

He sighed and went into the bathroom, turning off the water as he entered the shower. "Well love, how are you?"

She had managed to wash her body and her hair. She even brushed her teeth and gargled. But now she sat on the shower floor, knees to her chest. The water was like ice. She was just... staring at the wall.

"I'm alright," she replied in a monotone voice. Obviously still shaken. Almost catatonic, but not quite. He couldn't deny that the events were traumatic to a fragile mind.

He picked her up and carried her to the bed, carefully covering her up.

"And this love is why you don't want to see the monster in me. You have no idea how much restraint I showed there. Now get some sleep, you've had another shock."

"Yes, Marvin," she said again in that same voice, utterly broken. She didn't move and didn't close her eyes. She just... stared and shivered.

He came back a moment later and put the collar back on her, and slipped a teddy bear into her arms.

Poor thing, he'd pushed too hard, but really she had brought it all on herself.

Marvin leaned over and kissed her forehead. Sleep well love, your brain will feel better in the morning.