Love's Eternal Flame

“Who? Oh,” distracted laughter filled the tone of her current conversation partner, “That is Dorian Hudson. An up-and-comer in the financial sector. I’ve heard all of his investment projects turn to gold - he has the midas touch when it comes to stocks.”
 
It was his beauty which first caught her attention, the piercing knowledge that simmered in his cerulean eyes that kept it. In the nights following the all to brief glimpse, he stayed in the forefront of her mind - stoking the fires of infatuation. She had to know more, so she used her contacts to find out.
 
He was just 25 years old, only a few years out of college - Brown for his undergrad in Financial Management and Planning, currently completing his Masters in same online [her research found this to be a specific accommodation as the university did not offer the online option for any graduate degrees]. He had gone to Brown on a full academic scholarship, had two older siblings, and had maintained close ties to his immediate family, who live in the Baltimore area.
 
He was well regarded, quite the charmer, with a perchance for casual dating. The string of beautiful and rich women left in his wake would give most women pause - the fact that there seemed to be ‘no hard feelings’, ‘deep, dark, secrets’, or seedy gossip on any detectable level was interesting. Charming people tended to find a way to smooth over even the most ruffled feathers - she would know, as it was one of her specialties.
 
It was one of the main reasons, aside from her beauty and poise, which had caught the attention of her sire all those centuries ago. It was also one of the reasons she had become Harpy of the Baltimore Camarilla; the fact that the Prince loved her with undying passion [his words] was another likely factor.
 
Her Prince was the jealous type, so her research was very much done within the limits of her position within the Camarilla. Her network of contacts and informants brought to bare any scrap of information to be had regarding one Dorian Hudson - including his habitual stomping grounds of an evening, his friends, his family, his acquaintances. She dug until she believed she had all the information she could need to make first contact.
 
Oh, it had all gone perfectly.
 
He was everything her instincts had told her, and more. Her infatuation with him grew, and she could see the same intensity burning behind his eyes when he looked at her. She dreamed of him, her every moment plagued by his visage, his voice, his aura.
 
She had asked her Prince for permission to embrace and He DENIED her. She REFUSED to be DENIED.
 
And so, their love would live eternal - as would they - in secrecy if necessary, in the dark most assuredly.