by Santos, Anna
Chapter SEVEN
ARIA
The next day
I woke up screaming, thinking I was still underwater, breathless. But I wasn’t. I calmed down and registered my surroundings as my eyes adjusted to the light and my body relaxed under the covers.
I was somewhere beautiful and peaceful. I sat up carefully and touched myself to see if I was real and if this place was also real. How did I survive? Where am I? I didn’t recognize this bedroom with a vaulted ceiling and beautiful golden curtains falling over a terrace door. Nor did I recognize the larger four poster bed I laid on with a thick goose down golden blanket and delicate white curtains.
Did I die, and this is what heaven looks like?
I looked around before staring down at myself. I was wearing a white vintage nightgown. Everything seemed new but somehow old-fashioned, taken from a historical movie. The bedroom looked like it belonged to a palace or an expensive hotel. It was gorgeous. Even in my wildest dreams, I couldn’t imagine a bedroom that beautiful and extravagant.
It was day outside. The rays of sun peered through the curtains. I put my feet on the white marble floor. It was cold, and I didn’t have any slippers to protect my feet from it. But I was determined to know where I was. There was a door to my right and French doors that gave way to a balcony in front of me. Either one of these exits could give me more information about where I was and who had brought me here. I fell to the floor, losing my strength. I was tired. My legs hurt as if it was the first time I used them. I felt clumsy like the Little Mermaid when she tried to use her new limbs for the first time. I forced myself to get up with the help of the bed and moved forward, with tiny steps, sending the sting of sharp needles down my legs with each movement.
I gave up and let my body rest on the floor, swallowing my tears and my pain. I placed my head on the blanket as I tried to recall what had happened. I woke up with a nightmare. Not a nightmare, it was real. I had almost died until I was saved by a mythical creature who took me in his arms and flew away. I had screamed and begged him to put me down. Until I probably lost my senses because I was nauseated and dizzy when I looked down and saw Paris filled with lights. The last thought I remember having was that I was so wrong to envy Lois Lane and her walks in the clouds with Superman. Flying was overrated. It was scary, and the temperature would drop to extremes. I hated flying!
I was distressed. I wanted to climb back in bed but couldn’t. I didn’t have any strength left. I wanted my mom and my dad, wherever they were. They must be worried about me. I didn’t go back to my uncle’s place. And I was having weird hallucinations with imaginary places and beings. Maybe I was still hallucinating, and I was, in fact, in a hospital room, and there were nurses there to help me.
“Please help. Please help me! I don’t know where I am,” I pleaded, first low and then louder.
I needed help. I started to cry, gripping the blanket and trying to move up to the bed. I needed the security of the sheets and the pillows to make all the hurt go away. I needed to sleep again. I was so tired! Everything was spinning.
“Please help me.”
Someone must have heard me because I felt strong arms, picking me up from the floor and placing me on the bed. I was so thirsty! I tried to open my eyes, but it was pointless. The blanket covered me, giving me a sense of security.
“I’m thirsty. Please, I need water,” I mumbled, hoping that the person next to me was kind enough to assist me.
I felt a hand on my back, pulling me up, and a glass touched my lips. I grabbed the glass with my own two hands and drank from it, almost losing my breath in the process.
When I finished, I opened my eyes and saw him.
I blinked, one, two times.
He took the glass out of my hands and sat next to me. My cheeks burned. Heaven sure has beautiful angels! Or he was a hot doctor. I thought that hot doctors only existed on TV. Guess I was wrong. But he wasn’t wearing a white coat or even green or blue scrubs like the nurses. He wore a white cotton sweatshirt and a pair of blue jeans. He had blond, ruffled hair and stunning blue eyes. He was muscular and tall. His eyes were on me, making me feel shy, and I had no idea why he was helping me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
I wanted to say something else, but my eyes were heavy. I closed them and felt his hand holding mine. It was nice and warm. It made me smile just before I gave in to sleep, again.
CEDRIC
The process had begun. I no longer turned to stone when the sun came up. I’d found my mate, and I had thirty-one days to make her fall in love with me. I had left her unaccompanied for a while, and she woke up weak and scared. She slept most of the night and day. It was normal. The transformation drained her. She needed to rest, but I couldn’t help my impatience. I tried to go outside to the gardens and enjoy the sunlight. It’s been decades since I felt the sun on my skin. When I turned eighteen, I became a gargoyle, and my curse was triggered. For now, it was in a dormant state. I was allowed to be awake during the day until my soul-mate, and I became mates for eternity, or until she failed to love me, and I turned into a stone statue forever.
As enticing as the sun and the flowers were, I’d rather stare at her. It wasn’t a creepy obsession. It was just that she looked beautiful while sleeping, and I wanted to be there when she opened her eyes again. I didn’t believe that it was possible to fall in love at first sight. I knew nothing about her. Okay, that wasn’t true. I knew she had a beautiful and kind soul, and she had tried to explain logically all that happened to her. She had a lovely name, too. She was brave. Other than that, I didn’t know if she liked roses, lilies, or any other flower. If she preferred pink to blue. What is her favorite song? Nevertheless, she was meant to be mine from now on.
I was restless. The war was imminent. The vampires broke the rules. A meeting was arranged to discuss the events of the previous night. By the time my gargoyles found the boat, where my soul-mate had been, there weren’t any vampires there. There were only humans confused by what had happened and a dead body of a beheaded vampire. We weren’t the ones who decapitated him. His own kind had done that. There were claw marks. My men also found the girls in the basement. They had their memories erased and didn’t know what they were doing there, but there were bite marks on their necks and signs of abuse. Sexually molesting their victims was against the rules. But we couldn’t start a war without hearing the other side. Therefore, I had arranged a meeting with the king of the vampires.
I needed the girl’s testimony as proof of the vampire’s actions. I also needed her to recognize the dead vampire as the one who tried to hurt her and rejected her. I wasn’t sure about what happened. But he was the only one found dead and left behind. I was assuming that another vampire took care of him.
The news about the suicide of a girl in the Seine was in all the newspapers. No one knew who she was. Maybe they would have more information in the afternoon newspaper. The fact that she was presumed dead and they were draining the river for her body was perfect for my plans. Aria wasn’t going to go back to her old life. She was mine from now on. At least, for the next thirty-one days. After that, if I disappeared, she could do whatever she wanted with her existence. Still, I wasn’t planning to let her go. I wanted her to fall in love with me so that we could become angels. She was going to experience her transformation harder than me. I have to be next to her to make the pain go away. I also need to help her understand and practice her new abilities.
I held her hand, placing it against my lips. Closing my eyes, I inhaled her scent. My body was experiencing yearning and desire. My heart was beating fast, and my skin was quivering with pleasure just from touching her.
“You better wake up soon, darling, or I’ll have to wake you up with a kiss,” I whispered in her ear, smiling at this thought.
There was a fairy tale that ended with a prince kissing a princess and waking her up. My fairy tale could start like that.
Chapter EIGHT
ARIA
My he
ad was killing me! It was like someone had knocked me out cold and then held an alarm clock next to my ear to cripple me even more. I was feeling so much pain that when I opened my eyes and saw the same bedroom with luxurious decorations, I thought that the drugs they were giving me were powerful, and I was probably in a horrible shape.
What happened to me? I remembered falling into the river, fighting for my life. Then, I was rescued by a mythical being while escaping from freaking vampires! So, I was probably in a hospital or locked up in a mental institution. That could explain the hallucinations of white rooms with golden features. It was a good guess. I was in an asylum since I saw imaginary monsters from horror stories. What next? Would I dream of fairies and Neverland?
Maybe I had this all wrong, and this was heaven. Yes, it must be heaven since, in the balcony’s doorway, I could see a tall and breathtaking angel coming in my direction. The wind was playing with the curtains, shoving them away to show me the view. Behind him was a garden, but I couldn’t care less about it. I just had eyes for him. You think that Marilyn having her skirt lifted by fabricated wind is sexy? Well, that piece of heaven, walking in slow motion towards me, was way hotter, and he was fully clothed. Eat your heart out Marilyn Monroe!
Damn, I liked those drugs. I barely recognized my thoughts, but it was my fantasy, I could pretend to be someone else that was staring at a gorgeous man who by chance just sat on my bed next to me and held my hand between his. I should have a big dumbass expression right about then, caught entirely in his eyes. I stood quietly, waiting for him to speak and praying that no one dared to wake me up.
I guess that if I was aware that I was dreaming, it was because I was in the fifth stage of sleep since I was having the most vivid dream ever! REM state is when dreams are vivid, and they feel real, but it was also when I could drop to stage number one and wake up, leaving that gorgeous angel behind in my fantasies. Please, brain, be a good friend and keep dreaming.
“I’m glad you woke up. You must have a lot of questions,” he said to me.
“Not really,” I whispered, blushing when his fingers rubbed mine, and he stared at our hands. “What kind of dream is this?” I questioned, unsure about what was supposed to happen. Am I going to be kissed for the first time, even if in a dream? Would I be okay with that? I was overthinking it too much! I should be less rational in my dreams. Rational part of me, shut the hell up!
“This is not a dream.”
“A hallucination, then?”
“No, this is reality. You have been asleep for fourteen hours now. I was hoping you would wake up before night came. I’m glad you did.”
“Hum,” I replied eloquently.
If I were in a dream, the created characters wouldn’t know they weren’t real. I could always find out if I pinched myself. Maybe that just worked in movies. I had no intention of trying, though. It was a good dream, best dream ever!
“I can assure you this isn’t a dream. You had a bad experience. Someone tried to hurt you, and you are probably experiencing some light amnesia. Do you know your name? Who you are?”
“My name is Aria,” I whispered.
“That’s right!” he exclaimed, smiling at me and making me blush harder.
“What’s your name?”
“Don’t you remember?”
I shook my head. “I don’t remember seeing you before.”
“I was the one who saved you yesterday.”
Widening my eyes, I recalled what had happened. “No, you weren’t. Someone flew, and he looked like…”
“A monster?”
“He wasn’t a monster. Monsters are evil. This gargoyle was nice to me.”
He smiled wider. “I’m glad you thought I was nice.”
I frowned. “You look nothing like him.”
“I told you my name. Do you remember?”
I pursed my lips and then shook my head. All was a blur.
He pointed his hand at his chest. “I’m Cedric.”
“That’s a beautiful name,” I said. That’s such a lame answer! He could call himself feather, and it would still be a cool name for him. I bet many girls would be eager to say his name with a sensual sigh of lust whenever he would walk by them, whatever name he had.
“Thank you. Do you remember what happened before you ended up in the river?”
“The sane version or the crazy version?”
“The crazy version.”
“Good, because I don’t have a sane one,” I confessed and rolled my eyes to the ceiling, pondering on how to start. That was almost funny coming out of my mouth, but I don’t think he was in the mood to laugh. He had caring eyes but a serious expression. “So, I went to a party on a boat with my cousin. I need to mention that I had just arrived in Paris. So, I went to a party, where I was feeling uncomfortable. A ridiculously gorgeous man took me to a creepy place, where I found out he was a vampire. Then, he said the meanest things. After, I was attacked...” I decorated the narrative with a less scary word. “I jumped into the river, thinking it was a good idea, and then realized it wasn’t. To make things weirder, I was saved by…you, apparently. I remember I was flying and that’s about it. Nothing more. I just know I woke up here. I don’t know where I am.”
“Your memory is fine,” he claimed as he rubbed my hand with a serious expression.
“Huh!” I verbalized, baffled by his acceptance of my story. I was expecting a smile because I thought I was able to tell it with a bit of humor, even if it had a teaspoon of sarcasm.
“So, I’m in a mental institution, right? Even if I doubt that my parents can afford this place. Are we in an ancient palace or some big old-fashioned property?”
“We are at my home, outside the city. I thought it was better to take you here, instead of my palace. You need to face the transformation, and I don’t want the distraction of my subjects around you.”
“What?” I asked, totally confused by his words. Is he claiming to be royalty? Is he one of the patients? Maybe he was as disturbed as I was.
“We need to have a serious conversation. Maybe I should begin by explaining what really happened to you and how you ended up here.”
“Maybe you should,” I confirmed, unsure of what he meant by that. However, I wanted to know where I was and why I was there. So, I was ready to listen to what he had to say.
CEDRIC
It started with a nervous giggle. Then it turned into laughter as she held her hands against her chest, unable to control herself. I knew it is a tense laughter. She was reluctant in accepting all I had told her. She was extremely logical. She didn’t believe in the existence of other realms, vampires, gargoyles, and other beings that, until now, were part of an imaginary world.
I let her laugh and calm down. I waited patiently for her to stop, and I could talk again. She needed to listen and follow me inside the house where I could show her the angels. Maybe she would believe it faster if she saw them now that she was able to see the supernatural beings, their wings, and their glow. Showing her the angels wouldn’t terrify her as much as showing her the gargoyles. Though, they were asleep since it wasn’t night yet. After she knew that angels, demons, gargoyles, vampires, and all sorts of beings were real, I could tell her the most important thing about what happened the night before. The part where she belonged to me and I belonged to her, and we needed to fall in love so that I could break my curse.
“Please, Aria,” I begged, holding her face.
Those big brown eyes were going to be the death of me. Her soft hair was tangled between my fingers. I caressed her face, lost in her features. I had never wanted to kiss a girl as badly as I wanted to kiss her. They said it was magical to kiss one’s mate. But I was aware that it was too soon for that. I didn’t want to scare her more than she already was.
Aria’s expression became serious as she evaded my touch. “You make no sense at all. Is this a prank? Did Gabby decide to send one of her friends to trick me, so she could laugh at my insecurities? I’m afraid I’m too smart to b
elieve in fairy tales. There is no way in hell that I believe vampires exist, and that gargoyles are flying freely in the skies of Paris! And another realm? Where you are the prince? Please, at least, you could be original and say that you are the prince of a small and unknown country in some forsaken continent. But I know geography, so give it your best shot.”
I sighed. I knew it would be hard. She was more accepting the previous night. Guess sleep made her think it had been a hallucination or an awful dream.
Looking around, she asked, “Where is the camera?”
I ruffled my hair. “There is no camera. I wouldn’t make up something serious like this. Vampires are real, gargoyles exist, and you need to prepare yourself because there is a lot more that you don’t know.”
“So…you saved me from drowning in the river. Vampires tried to… And no one knows that I’m here?” This time her voice trembled with fear. “Do my parents think I’m dead? You kidnapped me! Someone else saved me from that river, or I was able to get to the shore and fainted. You found me and brought me here. Now you are messing with my head! I have a family. They must be worried sick!”
“Aria, everybody thinks that you’re dead,” I informed her, noticing that tears were running down her cheeks. “Please don’t cry,” I begged, wiping her tears with my thumbs. “It is better for them to think that you are dead.”
“How could that be better?” she shouted as she pushed my hands away from her. “I want to see my parents. I demand that you call my family and tell them I’m alive!”
I gazed at her, shocked by her tone and demands. She folded her arms over her chest and stared at me, cold and serious eyes, making my heart hurt with what I was going to say. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean, you can’t?” she asked, anger shining in her eyes.