Blood & Wine

Neve knocked on the door of her date’s house and chewed her lip. The air was cool and it chilled her legs as she stood on the gravel pathway. She looked around at the beautiful property as she waited; the lawn was lush and had the greenest grass she’d ever seen. The front of the house was lined with mulch and had lovely blueish purple hydrangea bushes that hugged the grey stone walls of the house. Her gaze looked back up at the overcast sky and then back down to the deep red door in front of her. Neve sighed and hugged her arms tightly to herself. ‘She sure is taking her time.’, she thought as she shivered. She reached her hand out to knock on the door again when it swung open to reveal the object of her affections.

“Neve! I’m so sorry I took so long. I was just finishing up with dinner. Please, come in!”, Lara said.

Before she could say anything, Lara was already rushing back into the kitchen. Neve took a hesitant step in and surveyed the entry hall. It was a cozy little room with coat pegs and a small bench stationed underneath. The scent of homemade cooking filled her nose. She shut the door behind her and shrugged her coat off. Lara appeared in front of her again.

“If you could also leave your shoes at the door, love, thank you.”

“Of course,” Neve said.

She hung her coat up and shucked her heels off near the bench. She could hear Lara working in the kitchen and took a deep breath before joining her. She didn’t know why she was so nervous. Neve padded down the hall into the kitchen and examined the food on the table. A small chicken, various colorful vegetables, a large bowl of Caesar salad and beautiful china plates littered the table. Neve’s gaze flicked up to Lara, who was busy picking two bottles of wine from the wine rack on the counter; one red and one white.

“Right, so, I’ve got a lot of wine but these two are the best. Are you a red or white kind of girl?”, she asked.

“Um, red sounds good.,” Neve smiled.

“Perfect!”

Lara carefully put the bottle of white wine in the rack. She turned back around with the red wine in her hands and smiled brightly.

“This is a 2017 Merlot.”, she said. “It’s got a lovely palate. I think you’ll like it.”

Neve caught a glimpse of the label before Lara went to pour the wine into their glasses. It read, ‘Jetbird.’ Sounded fancy enough to her. Lara motioned for her to sit down at the other end of the table. She sat as Lara began to cut the chicken. Neve remained quiet as she served a couple slices to each of them. She figured she should try and make conversation.

“This all looks delicious. Thank you again so much for hosting.”

“It’s no problem at all! I hope you like it.”

Neve took small helpings of everything and placed it on her plate. As they ate, they made small talk and Neve opened up more. They discussed everything from childhood stories to politics as the wine kept flowing. Lara had moved herself to the chair sat next to Neve’s left side. She was stroking her forearm and laughing at all her quips. It couldn’t be going better.

“I can’t believe you got them stuck up your nose!”, Lara giggled.

“It’s true!”, Neve chuckled.

There were a couple beats of silence before Lara looked over at the bottle and gasped. Neve followed her gaze.

“I can’t believe we finished the bottle. I never usually do that.”, Lara giggled sheepishly.

“Hey, I’m not judging.”, Neve replied.

Lara shifted her gaze back toward Neve and the air in the room shifted. She really did have nice eyes. Neve wanted to stay put and listen to her talk some more, but she really needed a bathroom break. Did Lara move closer? Neve needed to excuse herself before her nerves got the better of her.

“Where’s your bathroom?”, she asked.

Lara looked at her confusedly for a moment before replying. “Um, yeah, it’s down the hall to the right.”

“Thank you.”

Neve got out of her chair a little too fast, probably, and walked out into the hall before heading right. She couldn’t let everything fall apart now. She reached the bathroom and shut the door behind her. She used the toilet, washed her hands and then stared into the mirror while giving herself a mental pep talk.

‘You got this. You can’t back out now.’

Lara sighed and opened the door. She was about to head back down to the kitchen until she saw a light peeking under the door of the room next to her. How did she not see that before? With a quick glance down the hallway, she pushed the door open quietly. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw. The room had been made into some makeshift shrine. There were two desks with papers littered on them as well as photos covering the walls. Neve stepped closer and saw that the photos were of…her. They were all of her. There were ones of her in her apartment, some of her just walking down the street and then a few of her at her workplace. They were all taken at a distance. She had no idea how they got close enough to take a photo of her at a government building. She looked down at the desk in front of her. Her heart dropped into her stomach. There were copies of medical files, files from the missions she’s been on, as well as receipts she could have sworn, she threw away. Right in the middle, however, was her file from the bureau.

“Impressive, huh?”, said Lara from behind her.

Neve spun around and backed herself against the desk. “What is all this?”

“You weren’t supposed to see this yet.”, Lara sighed. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

She didn’t know what to say. She thought she’d been stealthy enough. Lara looked at her expectantly. What did she want to hear? That Neve admired her work? That it impressed her enough to get her off Lara’s back? When she didn’t get an answer, Lara sighed exasperatedly.

“You seriously thought I wouldn’t catch on? Me? I clocked you the minute I saw you snapping photos of me. Then, there was that fateful night when we ‘bumped into each other’ on the subway platform.”

Neve swallowed nervously. She had her training; she knew how to handle this situation normally. But Lara was far from situation normal. Neve had been tasked with tailing her for months after her latest stunt. Lara had been terrorizing big name museums for the better part of ten years. It was a mystery as to how she got in and out of the buildings without getting caught, much less how she was able to leave her calling card; a red handkerchief. No one had been able to catch her. Until now.

“People know I’m here. If anything happens to me, they’ll come knocking on your door.”, Neve said with renewed confidence.

Lara scoffed. “I’ll be long gone before then. I don’t want to hurt you, Neve, but I will if I have to.”

Neve narrowed her eyes. “I just want to know why. Why are you stealing expensive artifacts? What’s your motive?”

“They belong to me.”, Lara hissed. “They belong with me and my ancestors.”

Neve was confused. From what she’d learned about her, it seemed like she was on a more selfish mission. Maybe to sell the artifacts for a profit.

“Your ancestors?”, Neve asked.

Lara shook her head. “You still don’t know? Think about it. Why did I only go after Romanian artifacts? Why did I only go there at night?”

Neve thought for a moment before it dawned on her. She would’ve burst out laughing if the situation permitted it. “You think you’re, what, a vampire? Oh, come on, Lara.”

“Don’t call me that word! I hate that word!”, Lara shouted.

Okay, Neve had some leverage then. “I’m sorry.”, she placated. She put her hands down at her sides. All she had to do was reach for her panic button on her belt and backup would be there as soon as possible. Lara started talking again. Something about her family history, but Neve was only half-listening.

“What are you doing?”, Lara suddenly asked.

Damn. “I’m just-“

“Put your hands up right now.”

Neve begrudgingly complied. She had been so close.

“You’re not leaving.”

Something about Lara had changed. Shifted. Her face was ashen and her eyes seemed darker.

“You can still walk away from this clean, Lara. You don’t have to do anything.”, Neve tried.

Lara smirked. “You lot think you’re so clever. That you’ve always got the upper hand. Let’s test that, shall we?”

Neve’s brow quickly rose to her hairline in shock and horror. Lara’s body had started to change before her very eyes. Her skin turned grey and her eyes black as her body began to stretch out into something sickly and horrible. Her fingers turned into thin, bony claws as she reached her full, true height. The clothes on her body had torn a bit, revealing the sharp, dangerous angles of her body. Lara’s mouth opened to reveal razor sharp, gnashing teeth. Neve watched in awe. She couldn’t believe her eyes. She had to act, quick. Her arms had fallen to her sides at some point during Lara’s transformation into…. whatever she was. She fumbled for the small device on her belt and clicked it as many times as she could. Lara snapped her eyes down at her and realized what she’d done.

“I told you not to do that!”

Lara leapt at Neve without warning and grabbed her by the shoulders before throwing her onto the ground. She had to do something and fast. As Lara stalked over to her, Neve looked around her to find something to defend herself with. Nothing looked blunt or sharp enough to do any damage. Lara chose that moment to grab her by the ankle and drag her over. Neve’s nails scrapped on the wooden floor as she tried to cling on to stop her. Lara stood over her on long, bony legs and raised her fists up only to slam them down on either side of Neve’s head. There was no way this was happening.

“Do you believe me now?”, Lara said sardonically.

Neve couldn’t respond as Lara’s mouth stretched wide open; her pointed teeth ready to bite into the soft flesh of Neve’s neck. In a last-ditch effort to defend herself, Neve threw her hand up to push Lara’s face away. Unexpectedly, Lara shrieked in pain and threw herself backwards. Neve looked down at her hand, unsure of what had just happened. Then it caught her eye. Her ring. Her silver ring. With renewed vigor, Neve launched herself up and took on a fighting stance.

“How’d that feel?!”, Neve shouted.

Lara brought her hands down to reveal a rather nasty burn in the shape of the underside of Neve’s ring. Neve wasn’t sure what she was going to do next. Lara growled and made to get up but stopped short when they both heard cars coming to a screeching halt outside. She whipped her head back around to look at Neve.

“This isn’t over.”, she said before launching herself upwards, pushing Neve out of the way and running out of the room. Neve got up to run after only to see she’d smashed the bathroom window open and escaped.

“Damn it.”, Neve bit out.

Just then, she heard footsteps on the stairs. She turned toward the noise and saw her fellow agents racing up the stairs to her aid.

“Are you okay?”, one of them asked.

“Yeah,” Neve started. “You’re not going to believe what just happened.”