To Love A River

Ezra let go of the arm that was now gripping the front of his shirt tightly and raised both of his hands in front of him in an apologetic gesture. "Ok, ok, I got it, I'm sorry. But err, could you maybe unhand me now?" He asked with a grin, pushing down that eerie feeling of repulsion to the scent of her blood.

However Love was facing her own battle against another will, and this one urged her to kill the vampire in front of her, creating a build up of energy inside of her body. 

Straining against the unfamiliar feeling, she released the front of his maroon shirt and sat back clenching her fists to her side, trembling slightly. 

"Wh-What is…happening to me?" She choked out through gritted teeth. 

Ezra cocked his head to the side thoughtfully, noting the slight shine in her silvery eyes. "I have an idea, and as promised I will tell you everything, but first…" He glanced down pointedly at where Love was still straddling his waist. "I'm not complaining but maybe it would be more comfortable if you sat somewhere else." Ezra smirked up at her. 

His emerald eyes shined a little brighter as he fixed his eyes to her silver pair. "Get up and sit on the bed." His melodic voice reverberated with a strange intensity, and Love felt a strangely familiar compulsion to follow their orders as she complied. 

"What is that? Why did I feel as though I had to do what you asked?" Her voice was cold and flat. Love did not like to feel as though she were not in control of her actions and she had not forgotten that this was the vampire she had been hearing inside of her head, the one who had threatened her friend's life.

Ezra glanced around the room for a moment before spotting a chair near the corner of the room. He lifted it with one hand and placed it a couple of metres in front of where Love was now sitting on the edge of bed, so that they were facing each other. This was partly to create a little distance between the two of them but also to ensure that she stayed within his line of sight, eye contact was an essential part of the skill that he had utilised. 

"First of all, let me return your memories, after that some things will become a little easier to understand and we won't have to waste time going over everything from the other night." He said as he leaned forward in the chair and outstretched a slender arm, Love could see the wiry muscles rolling underneath his inhumanly perfect skin. 

"Well? Lean forward a little, I need to touch the side of your head." His tone slightly mocking. 

Love tensed a little but moved forward of her own accord until his fingertips touched against her temple. She almost recoiled at the feeling of his cold fingers, and the strange reaction inside of her body rose up again. Love pushed against the intrusive thoughts and gripped the side of the bed, preventing herself from launching her body at the vampire in front of her. 

In the next moment Ezra's eyes shined a little brighter as he stared into hers and in a flash the events of the evening she had spent in After Dark with Elora had rushed back into her mind with startling clarity.

With a shuddering gasp she strained her body further. Every cell inside of her screamed to rip this vampire apart, but she knew now that it was futile as long as he held her gaze. 

"Explain! What did you do to me? To El?" She hissed at him through clenched teeth with a cold fury. 

Bizarrely, Ezra just beamed at her, flashing pristine white teeth with slightly elongated canines. 

"Excellent! It would have been a pain if that hadn't worked. Hmm, now where did we leave off last time…" He stroked his chin in contemplation as he leaned back in the chair languidly, crossing his legs in a relaxed manner. Love waited, barely restrained fury brimming in her silver eyes on her otherwise expressionless face.

"I suppose I should first assure you that your friend is fine, I had her take a little nap is all. Like I told you before, she is already back at your residence. I really didn't want to use her as a bargaining chip, you know?" He sighed regretfully. "It's not my style, but you were being highly uncooperative at the time." He said wagging his finger at her, as if he were rebuking an unruly child. Love's irritation heightened. 

"Funny that. I wonder why." She remarked sarcastically. 

Ezra chuckled lightly in amusement, his eyes sparkling again at what he thought was playful banter. He truly failed at times to correctly read human emotions. 

"Ah yes, I suppose it would be boring if you just did as I asked without any motivation right?" He chuckled again. "But moving on to the next question you had. The reason why I can control your actions is down to a skill that most vampire's have but rarely utilise nowadays. What with the availability of synthetic blood and all, it's become a bit of a lost art." He sighed wistfully. 

"Essentially, I can exert a power called Influence over the mind of any human or vampire I wish through eye contact alone. This is not the same for every vampire as there are limitations that depend on the mental strength of the target. But I'm a little special, you see." He straightened slightly as a cocky grin crept onto his face, that Love itched to wipe off with a slap. Her hand twitched a little in response. 

"Ok, and why can I hear your voice in my head? Is that the same thing?" She asked instead.

"Not exactly, no, but I suppose it is linked in a way. By giving you some of my blood that night, it created a link between us similar to the link between a vampire and one of its creations, this in turn makes Influence easier to use." He stated this calmly as if they were discussing the weather, but Love felt a sickening feeling in her head at his words. 

"One of its…creations? What did you do to me?" She whipped her head around suddenly realising now that her initial shock from waking up had dissipated, that she was seeing a little too much, a little too clearly, inside of what should be a pitch black, windowless room. 

"Am I - am I a vampire?" She almost choked the words out as her heart began to race and her hands shook. Was this why her voice had sounded a little different to her? A little too perfect?

Ezra laughed again, that frustrating musical laugh. 

"A vampire? No, you are not a vampire. Or at least not entirely." He paused and leant forward again slightly, staring into her silver eyes as his own sparked with excitement. 

"You're special, Love. You are the only one of your kind that I have seen in this generation, or any for a long long time in fact. You are a Dhampir." 

**