"Wait!"

Solomon lurched forward, his body responding instinctively to the fleeing vampire, to the sense of fear she gave off. His hand reached out, fingers circling her wrist just as the last sound passed his lips, and he closed his fingers tightly around it. They stood like that for only a tiny point in time, but it was enough for him to feel the lack of heartbeat, the absence of warmth, the cool skin beneath his fingertips. He closed his entire hand around her wrist, uncaring as to whether she was a murderer or what species she was. Whatever was inside him sensed the prey in her, pounced on it, and he was loathe to let go.

The muscles of his hands pulled against her. No weak man, even in the realm of the supernatural, he felt her feet leave the ground briefly and skid across the dirty stone before she finally moved back towards him. Caught in mid-flight as she was, he doubted it would be safe to simply hold her by one wrist or even by both. If he knew the acts of cornered animals, as this girl seemed to be at that moment, she would just as easily lash out at him as she would try to escape him another time. He took the only alternative he could think of at that moment.

He held her. Not the romantic, caring type that two lovers take part in or the soft, gentle type that a mother uses to calm her child—he held her as he would a friend. He pressed her against his chest, pinning her arms with one of his, and simply let her know that he was there ... and that she would not be leaving. He held her for a few moments before he came to realize just how long it had been since he held a woman, or touched a woman, or even been near a woman. The inappropriateness of holding her sank in just after that, but he found himself torn between letting her go and risking another attempt to flee or holding her and risking an uncomfortable situation.

"Your name...," she whispered, her voice cutting into his thoughts.

Confused, he looked down at the top of her head. She seemed frozen, almost unwilling to believe that she was near him, and he felt a twinge of guilt. He had probably frightened her. Women seemed to be easily frightened by him, at least in his most recent experiences. He had great difficulty dredging up memories more than a few days old, but in the memories he could still touch and replay in his mind, women seemed to avoid him from afar.

"...is Solomon."

__________________
[Graphics by Me.]

[The signature links to Aleksandr Sokoll.]
["I believe in sleeping." ~ Bruce Lee]