#vampire!griff

He starts to blow another bubble with the gum in his mouth, but his teeth pop it.

He reaches his car and pops the trunk to toss his duffle inside. Along with his duffle, there is a large cooler inside. Griff opens the lid and glances inside.

He’s running low.

The trunk is closed with a thud, and Griff gets in his car. He feels a little warm, so he cranks up the A/C. Out of habit he looks in the rearview mirror, but only his sleek black sunglasses can be seen. His reflection is invisible.

Vampires don’t have reflections.

He lets the A/C cool off his face for a moment before he begins to drive.

During the heist today, half of his face was covered with a bandana. He wasn’t out in the sun long enough to do any major damage, just enough to give him a slight twinge of a sunburn. If he could see his reflection he would guess his skin was pink.

He drives the familiar path to the blood bank. He goes every few weeks – after about a month blood has an ‘expiration date’ and is no longer usable – so Griff goes to collect the out-of-date blood.

All Griff has to do is smile at the receptionist at the front desk and if they have any blood, it’s his.

He needs a lot today and he hopes they have it. Griff is not above stealing blood, either from the bank or from an actual living person. He’s done it before and he’d do it again if he had to. In his early days in the 1300s - he was violent. He’d tear out a man’s throat for the hell of it, not because he needed to feed.  Griff changed as the centuries rolled by. He took him awhile, but he calmed down the extreme violent tendencies. He does the bank heists now for the hell of it. He doesn’t need the money, he enjoys the thrill of the ride, to see if he can get away with it. He’ll never be caught on camera.

Still everything he does has a streak of violence to it. He’s committed dozens of crimes. He’s fought in several wars. The only job he had that was not violent was he was a teacher for a few years. He taught history, and never cracked open a textbook. He didn’t need to, because he saw these things with his own eyes.

Griff has lost people, but new people come into his life in unexpected ways. He’s befriended the receptionist who’s in love with him. He’s lived long enough to know the signs. But he is a vampire and can hear her heart beat a little faster and can tell her blood gets warm.

When he strides into the blood bank he already has a smile on his face. He enjoys seeing her.  

He spots her at the counter and lowers his sunglasses. He can already tell her blood is heating up.

“Hey sugar,” he flashes a grin and pushes up the sleeves of his leather jacket, “got anything for me today?”

“Is that a new tattoo?” she asks. Griff has to tell her a story about one of his tattoos before he gets any blood. There’s dozens of tattoos she still doesn’t know the story behind. Griff has been getting tattoos for centuries. He gets one every few decades to space them out.

“Which one?” he gives her another grin. He rests his elbow on the counter, and takes off his sunglasses.

Yeah her heart skipped at that. He grins again to himself.

“That one,” she smiles and touches his forearm. Griff is warm for a vampire, but when she touches his skin, it burns. The good kind of burn, not like the burn he has on his forehead and ears currently. He didn’t realize until this moment he might have feelings for her. He could have gone to any blood bank. He could have flirted his way to blood through any girl. And maybe Griff just feels lonely but this girl is sweet. He’s had plenty of women, but he still finds women who surprise him.

“That one? Sweetheart I’ve had that one. Shit I’ve had that one for years. Got it in Rome.” Griff smiles at her, she knows that story well. It’s her favorite tattoo, at least of the ones she’s seen. It’s a skull, with intricate vines wrapped around it. Flowers are blooming out of it’s mouth and eyes.

“I want to go to Rome, actually I just wanna travel anywhere.” she sighs as she stands, “c’mon. It’s back here.”

“I’ll take you with me someday for all your trouble,” Griff follows behind her to the store room.

“Really?” she gasps and turns around.

“Hell yeah. I have a lot of travel miles built up.”

She stands up on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to Griff’s cheek.

“Are you sunburnt or are you blushing Griff?” she blushes herself as she asks.

Before he can answer she’s lead him to where the blood is kept. He collects the blood and gives her a kiss on the cheek in thanks. He doesn’t see her blush but he can hear her blood pumping faster as he leaves.

He stashes the blood in the cooler and drives on home. He can’t get that kiss or her touch out of his mind.

It’s been a long time since that has happened to him. Griff is a lover of women and it doesn’t take much to rev his engine, but sometimes a certain touch gets his blood hot.

There have been about 4 women total who had this effect on him. He knows the heartache that will come with it. Watching them age while he stays the same. But every time it’s been worth it. He married 2 of the 4, and he made them happy. That was all he could want, was their happiness.

Now this girl is number 5.

He thinks about his options the whole way home. He wasn’t planning on staying in Atlanta much longer. He has his money, and he’s stocked up on blood for now.

As soon as he gets in he takes one of the blood packets and makes some coffee. Instead of water, he uses blood. It’s an acquired taste.

He sets his duffle on the floor in his apartment and clicks on the tv while he waits for the coffee to brew.

His apartment is bare. When he stays somewhere short term, he doesn’t decorate. He owns several houses in multiple countries, and those are vastly decorated. He could open a large museum if he wanted to with all the artifacts he’s collected.

The sound from the tv fills the apartment. Griff stands in the kitchen and watches the program as he gets out a mug for his coffee. The mug says “bite me” in large bubble letters. It made Griff laugh so he just had to buy it. He sets down the mug, and gets his bottle of aloe out of the fridge. His sunburn is beginning to sting.

He’s just begun to squeeze some of the gel onto his fingers when he hears the familiar thump of her heartbeat. Then he hears the thump of knuckles on his door.

Gel still on his fingers, Griff slides over to the door and answers to see her. His receptionist.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” she blushes. Griff is standing dumbfounded.

“That’s usually my line.” He jokes, then his voice turns stern, “Did you follow me home?” He’s teasing her but she is caught off guard. He hears her heart jump with nerves, so Griff smiles to ease her. “Come on in!”

“You left your sunglasses on the counter,” she holds them gingerly in her hands as if she might break them.

“Thank you sugar,” he stands aside to let her in, and takes the glasses from her. His fingers burn hot when they brush her hand.

“Is that…aloe?” she looks at his fingers still sticking out, covered in gel.

“Sunburn,” he shrugs and smears the aloe on his forehead. The back of his head where his hair is shaved, and his ears are a bit burnt but the aloe can wait.

“I know what you are Griff,” she says suddenly. Griff follows her eyes and she keeps glancing at the now empty pouch of blood near the coffee maker.

“You’re not gonna quote ‘Twilight’ at me are you?” Griff teases.

“I figured it out pretty quick. You came in for blood. No one comes in to take blood like that. And you know all these things normal people don’t know! And then there’s the fangs.”

Griff flashes her a grin, the fangs gleam under the kitchen light.

“At first I just thought you were someone imitating a vampire. Ya know the teeth? But then you touched me.”

Griff cocks his head in question. His past 4 women all had something different to say. Griff affected all of them in completely different ways. It’s the one thing he can’t predict.

“It sounds crazy but-“

“Believe me sugar, I’ve seen it and heard it all.” Griff leans against the counter.

“It was a few months ago. You touched my hand and though your hand was warm, my skin felt as though your hands were made of ice.” She looks down at her hands and she rubs them together as if she still is cold.

She doesn’t realize Griff has moved right in front of her until she hears his voice. She can feel his breath against her skin. Smirking to himself he hears her heart thudding in her chest. He can smell the warmth in her blood.

“And it didn’t scare you?” he asks with a small smile. While she had been talking he poured himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip from the mug and smiled at over the rim of the mug.

“No,” she blushes. Then she giggles as Griff has a bit of bloody coffee on the corner of his mouth. She wipes it with her thumb. Griff feels her shiver as her thumb brushes against his lips and scruff of his beard. She’s about to lick the coffee when Griff sees the realization that it’s blood. He takes her wrist in his hand and brings her thumb to his mouth.

Griff doesn’t know if it’s cheating that he can hear a woman’s heartbeat and actually feel her blood turn warm with arousal but damn if it doesn’t turn him on.

Seeing her cheeks blossom red as he licks her thumb, he relishes in hearing her heart race.

When he pulls her thumb from his mouth he kisses the back of her hand. “Is my tongue warm or cold?” he asks with a devilish smirk and kisses the back of her wrist. His lips blaze a path up her arm and he presses several kisses to her clothed shoulder. “Well?” he asks right as he gets to her neck. She feels his breath from his nose on her neck, and Griff feels her tremble. “Tell me,” he whispers as his lips press gently to her pulse point on her neck. With a shudder and a gasp her knees buckle and she shakes in his grasp.

“The same,” she shudders, “same as your hands, warm but cold.” She shivers but Griff still feels the heat of her blood.

Gently he presses an open-mouthed kiss to her neck. His fangs don’t pierce her flesh, they only dig in slightly. Not enough to draw blood.

The sound of her blood pounding fills his ears, her pulse beats fast under his tongue. Then the sweet sound of her groaning his name fills his ears. Her hands grab his head, Griff hisses in slight pain. Her hands had touched his sunburn.

She flew back in fear. Griff’s hiss didn’t sound like any hiss she had heard before.

Griff saw her recoil. It’s not the first time someone has been frightened by him, and it won’t be the last. Her response surprises him. He’s centuries old and people still surprise him.

She wasn’t scared off the hiss, though it was weird to her. The concern on her face wasn’t from her fear of him, rather fear that she hurt him.

“I’m sorry!” she frowns, then a small smile appears on her lips. “Can I put some aloe on you?”

A smirk is her answer, and Griff sits down with his coffee at the kitchen table. She stands behind him and rubs aloe along his red skin. He jerks his head when she touches the tips of his hears. Griff hears her heart jump, and he realizes that she made a discovery. It didn’t take her long to act on it either. Slowly she traced her fingertips along his ears. Maybe because Griff’s dark eyes weren’t looking at her that she found her boldness.

“What’s this tattoo?” she asks just as she plants a kiss to his neck.

“Got it in prison,” he says quickly and spins around. “Ya know, I got plenty more tattoos you haven’t seen yet.” as he spoke his hands were sliding up under her shirt onto her hips. He stands and gently presses a kiss to her lips. He waits for her response, he’s kissed enough women to know. Her body and her heart will let him know if he can continue. She pulls away and he sees her eyes.

Griff reaches for her and she hops up into his arms. Griff can tell she’s cautious of his two fangs. She kisses him eagerly but when he opens his mouth she flinches.

Sitting down on the bed with her in his arms, he stops the kissing.

“Listen sugar, I ain’t gonna hurt you. Only way you’re gonna turn into a vampire is if you get vampire blood in your system ok? My teeth are sharp but the worst it could do to your lips is poke ya a little. Ok? I can control when they break the skin.” He listens for her heart, it’s still beating fast from anticipation, but it doesn’t waver.

Hearing his reassurance, she pulls off her shirt. Griff rolls them over and lays her on her back on his bed. He reaches behind her to unclasp her bra, but she stops him.

“Too fast?”

“Shirt. Off. I wanna see the tattoos.”

Griff smirks and reaches in his pocket for a piece of gum. He slides the piece into his mouth and toes off his boots. He pulls his shirt off his head and quickly unbuckles his belt and removes his jeans.

His shirtless torso and bare legs are covered in ink. He doesn’t have as many tattoos on his legs, but he has a couple on his thighs and some on his calves. Griff sits on the bed in front of her, and she gets up on her knees.

“Pick one.”

She touches a tattoo on his pec. It’s a silhouette of a classy pinup girl.

“My girl in the 1940’s. Sent me a damn ‘Dean John’ letter while I was in Germany. Didn’t get the letter til after the war ended and I was on my way home. Got that tat for her right before I shipped out.”

Griff watches her unbutton her own pants and slip them down her hips.

“Since I’m not giving you blood, I’ll trade you a piece of clothes for a story.”

“Hell I’m game. ‘sides ya only got two things left,” Griff winks.

She stands up on the bed and rests her hands on Griff shoulders and he takes the hint to take off her pants. After they are off he takes the opportunity to squeeze her ass and scrape his beard across her stomach.

Sitting back down in front of him, she leans down and licks a tattoo on his hip. It’s an old looking crest symbol of a lion.

“Shit girl,” Griff growls a little. “That’s one of my oldest. Got it back where I’m from. It represents my family name.”

“Where are you from? What’s your family name?” she pops back up and asks.

With a sly grin Griff shakes his head ‘no.’

“One question for each piece of clothing. Bra. Off.”

She blushes but she knows he’s right, and she removes her bra. Griff stops the “game” for a moment to pleasure her chest, and he slowly pushes her back to lie on her back.

The back of his head still has aloe on it, and when she gasps and reaches to clutch onto his head, her hands get covered in sticky aloe.

She feels his fangs touch sensitive skin, and it’s a tiny scrape sensation to add with his beard. Griff lightly blows on her chest and neck where his mouth has been and she shudders.

“One more,” he smiles.

For support to look up, she grabs on to his bicep and points to one there. It’s a simple outline of an anchor.

“Why do you have an anchor tattoo?” she giggles.

“Shit, I’m about to get ya naked and you’re bustin’ my chops,” he winks. “Got that one when that was the tattoo style to get. Didn’t know at the time that they’d show up everywhere. Now…where was I?” Griff purrs and leans down and kisses a trail down her chest and on her stomach. He bites her panties and pulls them down, his fangs poke two small holes in the fabric as he pulls.

He slides them off her legs and tosses them behind him. He drinks in the sight and licks his lips. His fangs glint in the light.

“I’m gonna take you traveling,” Griff purrs in her ear.

“How will you get blood?” she chokes out, her heart is pounding with anticipation. Griff pulls off his boxers and lays on top of her.

“I was only planning on getting blood from there once. I kept coming back to see you. I’ll find ways.”

Griff moves, and he drinks in her sigh. Her blood is hot, her skin is covered in sweat and goosebumps.

He’s centuries old and has had dozens of women – but he will never tire of how good it feels to bring pleasure to a woman. Especially one he cares about. And he cares for this girl. He’s only known her for a few months but he’s lived long enough to know a feeling.

He feels it in his gut, but also it’s how she feels in his arms.

Afterwards he smooths her hair out of her face.

“So when do you wanna go to with me? And travel?”

“I’ll quit tomorrow,” she grins. She giggles and curls into his arms. “Traveling the world with a vampire. Sounds like a book or movie or something.”

“I’ve read a book like it. Don’t waste your time. It’s shit. I’m much more entertaining,” he teases and kisses her forehead.

Griff sighs as she falls asleep in his arms. It’s a risk he always takes when he meets a girl. He wants it to be her choice if she wants to become like him. He doesn’t let the dark thoughts creep in yet. For now he’ll enjoy holding her and plan where he wants to take her. He’s been all over the world but it’s always exciting to share it with someone new. He’s discovered tricks and found places to go at night.