Gregor's Reason: The Night Movers Vampire Series Book 3

by Helen Bright

  When I yawned once again, he took my hand and led me upstairs. He paused outside my room, and I was disappointed when all he did was peck me on the cheek and wish me a good night’s sleep.

  I let myself into the bedroom and leant back against the door long after it had closed, half expecting to hear his footsteps as he made his way back down the hallway so he could grab me and take me to his bedroom. But those footsteps never came.

  In the end, I took off my dress, underwear, and make-up; and had a quick shower, before donning one of my new satin nightdresses, courtesy of the wonderful Anna.

  I sat on the edge of the bed and contemplated my next move. Should I just go to bed and have my talk with Gregor in the morning? Or do I go to him and get it over and done with tonight?

  Even though I was tired, I found myself walking down the hallway and knocking on his door. Whether I would live to regret my decision, remained to be seen.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Gregor

  I heard her close her bedroom door and come to stand in front of mine. I had opened it at her first knock and swallowed hard at the sight of my Chloe, wearing a sexy black satin nightdress that skimmed her curves beautifully.

  “Can I sleep with you tonight?” She asked hesitantly. “I don’t want to have sex; I just want you to hold me while I talk.”

  “Of course, you can. If it were up to me, you would spend every night, wrapped in my arms. But Chloe, seeing you dressed like that, feeling the satin material against your skin as I hold you, well, I’m going to have a hard time just holding you.”

  “I see. Should I take it off then?”

  “If you want me inside you tonight, then by all means, take it off.” I mused.

  We stared at each other for a moment until she looked down and sighed, then walked towards my bed. Leaving my boxers on, I got in beside her and turned out the light.

  I lay on my back and held her against my chest as I ran my fingers through her hair.

  “It's why I keep it short, you know. Because of what happened. Because of him.”

  “How come?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm, as she sighed once more.

  “The second and third time he attacked me, he grabbed my hair and pulled me back. I nearly got out of the door that last time, but he just managed to grab a chunk of hair as I was tried to run, and he pulled me back with it and slammed the door shut. As I said, that’s why I keep it short now, so no one can stop me from getting away.”

  “Oh, my love, I am so sorry that you still feel that way about your hair, but if it’s any consolation, the short style really suits you. You are too pretty to hide your beauty behind lots of hair, anyway.”

  “Thank you, Gregor. I may grow it again one day, but I do find the style more practical in my line of work.”

  “I can see how that would be,” I told her, then waited with bated breath to see if she spoke again.

  “I bet you wondered why I stayed, and thought me a fool for doing so. You wouldn’t be the first to think like that, nor the last, I’m sure. But there were circumstances, hard ones to believe I would ever put up with, but everything happened so gradually, that I didn’t notice it for a time.

  “Peter was sweet to begin with. Good looking, with a great body, and so caring and thoughtful. Well, he was at first, anyway.

  “He was a builder and had these big dreams of building us a house and had even started to draw up plans for it. We got engaged after three months of seeing each other; he kind of sprung it on me actually.

  “We were out with lots of my friends at a works party, and he got down on one knee and proposed to me in front of all of them. He had the ring and everything. Of course, I said yes. What else could I say after everyone was oohing and ahhing at his speech.

  “I moved in with him two months later at his insistence so that we could start saving straight away for our home. My mum and dad got on really well with him, but my Aunty Joyce cautioned me that I was moving too fast, and that I didn’t know him that well. Of course, I knew this was true, but I went ahead with it regardless.

  “The manipulation was one of the first things he started with. I see that now. At the time, I wasn’t detached enough from the situation to notice. I used to go out with my friends from college on Tuesday’s to the pub where we used to go after our classes had ended. It was a tradition that we had kept up even though we all now worked in different areas of Nottingham. Tuesday night was quiz night, and afterwards, they played classic rock. I used to enjoy it, we all did.

  “Pete would book us a restaurant somewhere on Tuesday nights, and then say he had forgotten about the quiz, or he’d turn up to the quiz and sit there looking miserable all night, saying my friends made no effort to talk to him, even though they were welcoming and friendly. So gradually my Tuesday nights out with the college gang started to trail off.

  “Then he started to choose clothes for me, saying he didn’t like it when I flaunted my cleavage or showed too much leg, so that I could get other men's attention.

  “Of course, I told him he was silly. I have never been body confident, even as a teen, so I would never purposely show off any of my body like that. I was also loyal to the core and believed strongly in being faithful in a relationship. But he turned it all around saying I made him feel self-conscious and not attractive because I felt the need to dress flirty. It made him feel not good enough for me, he’d said.

  “That upset me because as someone who had low self-esteem most of her life, I hated to think my actions would cause the same feeling in anyone else. So out went the skirts, and anything that showed even the slightest hint of my bustline, which was pretty hard going, as I haven’t got a small bust to begin with.

  “Then came the accusations, such as I had taken too long getting home from work; therefore, I was stopping off somewhere to meet someone else. He would look through my phone, checking my text messages, but accuse me of deleting them when he couldn’t find anything. In the end, it all became too much, and I booked a flight to Spain and spent a week with my mum and dad so I could clear my head. I never told them about what had sent me there, just that I missed them and had a holiday at work, but Pete couldn’t get time off.

  “Pete turned up one day, apologising for his behaviour, saying he just loved me that much, and was scared that he was going to lose me. He said that he knew he needed to work on trusting me more, but that his ex-girlfriend had walked out on him for someone else; he was worried the same thing was going to happen with me, and it was eating him up inside.

  “Once again, I felt sorry for him. I had been cheated on in college, and I knew how painful it could be. I forgave him, but started to realise I knew so little about his past, and that if we were to move forward in our relationship, that would have to change.

  “He stayed behind and helped my dad with some building work on the B&B they were opening in Spain when I left for home, and my dad was raving about how great he was when I called them a few days later.

  “When he came home things were great for a few months. We went out more as a couple and mixed with friends more, too. But then one night after coming home from a night out, he accused me of flirting with my friend Gary. I had known Gary for years and would never think of him in that way, but Pete kept going on about it.

  “We had both had a lot to drink, and we started to argue. I can’t quite remember the full build up to it, but suddenly he was in my face almost screaming at me, so I pushed him away, and he stumbled back into the door. He righted himself quickly, slapped my face and almost threw me onto the floor. I felt my wrist go straight away and screamed in agony. The neighbours started banging on the wall, and he just kicked the table over and left the house.

  “I had to get a taxi to the hospital and sat in A&E for three hours before getting X-rays, but I knew it was broken.

  “I ended up with a cast on my wrist for eight weeks. As I was a medical secretary, it made doing my job almost impossible, so I had to be assigned different duties for some
time, mostly phone work.”

  My anger was an almost palpable thing by this point, and I hoped that Viktor had been able to do what he had promised me and rid the world of this ogre.

  “What did he say when he saw the cast,” I asked, trying hard not to show too much emotion.

  “He was mortified. He said that when he was growing up, he had often witnessed his mother attacking his father on many occasions, so when I pushed him, he thought that’s what was going to happen to him, and that’s why he lashed out first. To protect himself.

  “I didn’t get on with his mother. She was a nasty, sarcastic bitch, so I was willing to believe him when he told me that. And I believed that as I had pushed him first, it was my fault that things had got physical.

  “He cried on and off for most of the day, we both did. In the end, we decided to make a fresh start. Yes, I know you think I was crazy for doing so, I think so too, but that’s what happened.

  “For another couple of months’ things were good again, and we had a pregnancy scare. I was on the pill, but I had missed one by accident, and we hadn’t used condoms. We were saving money to put towards a self-build property and had been living in his rented house together for a year, so money was tight, and we couldn’t afford a baby, but in a way, when I got my period we were both disappointed. I think that feeling is natural actually, whatever the outcome you wanted.

  “He started talking about us starting a family after that, and we tightened our belts, moneywise, even more. One of the doctors at work was turning fifty, and all the secretaries decided to put £30 in a collection to send her on a luxury spa weekend for her birthday. We were also having a big party for her at the pub next to the hospital.

  “Pete wasn’t happy about the amount I had put into the collection and reminded me of it daily. My parents were having some more building problems at their place, in Spain as they had paid a local contractor a hefty deposit, then he had run off with their money without doing the work. So Pete took time off from work and agreed to go over and finish the build with my dad as his labourer. So we had his flights to pay for and the loss of his overtime to contend with while he was out there.

  “The night he was due to fly out to help mum and dad was also the night of the birthday party. Pete said I shouldn’t go as I had spent enough already on the doctor’s gift, but I dug my heels in and got ready to leave. It was like someone had just flipped a switch, one minute he was saying I had disappointed him, as calm as you like, the next minute he started punching me in the face and stomach.

  “I didn’t even have time to defend myself. He must have only punched me five or six times, but they were enough to make my eyes black, bust my nose, and bruise my ribs. I actually thought my nose was broken and made my way to the hospital when he left, but luckily it wasn’t.

  “Before he left, Pete threatened me that if I told anyone what ‘I had caused him to do’ or if I tried to leave him, he wouldn’t go to Spain to finish the build, which would leave my parents in deep financial shit. I knew they were relying on his help, and I knew how much money they had invested in it, so I didn’t report it, or tell anyone as I should have.

  “When he left, he took my bank cards, passport and car keys, which just left me with the £40 I had in my purse and whatever I could find in my coat pockets and bags. I had to use the bus to get to work all the next week. I rang my colleagues and told them that I had fallen down the stairs as I was leaving for the party, so couldn’t attend as I was in a mess. My friend Gemma came and picked me up and took me to A&E. I think she was suspicious of my injuries, but she knew that Pete had left for Spain, so I was alone in the house.”

  “I came home from work every night both aching from my injuries and exhausted from all the thoughts that were constantly buzzing around my head. I knew I had to leave, but I also knew my parents were relying on his help. He was over there holding normal lighthearted conversations with my parents, as their daughter was battered and bruised from his hands. What kind of monster does that?” She asked.

  “A psychopath, Chloe. He was a psychopath. I’m so sorry for all that you suffered. You don’t have to tell me anymore,” I said, praying that she wouldn’t.

  “No, I do need to tell you. If we have any chance at a future together, I need you to know.”

  I stayed quiet and listened carefully as her breathing steadied once more. I could almost feel the cold detachment come over her again as she began to speak.

  “When he arrived back from Spain he came into the room and kissed me as if nothing had happened. I still had some bruising under my eyes, but he never mentioned it. He said he had a few more things to finish off with the build before it was completed, but at least my parents now had paying guests, so could finally make money in their chosen retirement project.”

  “He said he had talked to my dad about us getting married and starting a family, and my dad gave him his blessing. That made me feel sick, and I left the room and locked myself in the bathroom for an hour.

  “I had to make a plan, get away from him somehow. I thought about going to my Aunty Joyce, but she had warned me about him, and I hadn’t listened. So I didn’t feel like running to her and hearing I told you so, even though I knew she would help me.

  “So I decided to let him think that things were ok between us and trick him into a false sense of security so he wouldn’t suspect that I would leave him.

  “The worse thing was faking affection and the sex. He emptied my pill packet down the toilet and wouldn’t use a condom so that he could get me pregnant. I suppose he thought that if I were pregnant with his baby, he would have a hold over me. But I made an appointment with the family planning clinic in the next town over and got the depo injection without him knowing.

  “That’s what set him off that January. Unbeknownst to me, the wife of a friend of his had seen me going into the family planning clinic when she had been visiting her mum. His friend must have said something to Pete about it when he’d mentioned us starting a family. So when I got home that evening after work, he was waiting for me.

  “You already know what my injuries were, and you’ve even seen how bad it looked from the photographic evidence. If it wasn’t for one of the neighbours calling round, I think he may have killed me that day.

  “But what hurt me even more than all the injuries put together was the looks on my parents faces when I told them how long it had been happening, and my reasons for not reporting it sooner. They were distraught seeing me laid all battered and broken in the hospital bed, but anger was the main emotion flying around that room.

  “My dad was livid, as was my mum, but not just with Pete, with me, too. They were also heartbroken that I didn’t feel like I could confide in them and then angry again that I could be so stupid as to put up with someone like Pete when they thought they had taught me to be so strong.

  “My mum actually asked, “Where did we go wrong?” Like it was all somehow their fault that their daughter was open to such manipulation.”

  “I’m sure you are wrong, Chloe,” I said, holding her a little tighter as her body started to shake with held back emotion.

  “No, I’m not Gregor. It also hurts to think that my father was so stressed about it that he had a heart attack on the day that the case was due in court. My dad was a Sargeant in the army for God’s sake. He was a strong guy, but all that with Pete was too much for him. He ended up with a triple bypass.”

  “Well, from experience Chloe, and believe me I have had many human friends over the years, I can tell you that while stress can play a factor in your health, he must have had other issues going on with his heart if he needed a triple bypass. It saddens me to think that you have carried so much guilt about that.”

  I felt her warm tears fall onto my chest, and my heart broke to know that she still suffered from her past.

  “What happened to this Peter Finch, Chloe? The document I received said he was hit by a car. Do you know if someone tried to kill him?”

  “They q
uestioned my dad, but he was still recovering from his surgery, so it couldn’t have been him. But who knows how many enemies he had.”

  I kissed her tears away from her cheeks before pulling her body higher up the bed and kissing her softly on her lips.

  “Do you feel better for telling me all this Chloe?” I asked.

  “I don’t know yet. I will be able to tell you in the morning when you look at me in daylight, so I can judge the expression on your face when you see me. After you have had the chance to think about it and process all that I've told you.”

  “If it does change, perhaps it will be because I realise you are much stronger than I thought you were, to have survived such a past to grow into the woman you are today. That’s who I fell in love with Chloe, the woman you are. Don’t forget that when you look for ways to push me away.

  “You are not the only one who has a painful past. I, too, have suffered. Maybe you will judge me and find me lacking for my actions or lack of them. Do not forget my love that I have had many years on this earth and not all of those were filled with things that I am proud of or want to re-live.”

  “Why don’t you share some of them with me, Gregor,” Chloe whispered, stroking my face.

  Could I? When we went to St Petersburg, she would know how uncomfortable I was there. If I told her then, maybe she would forgo the visit to avoid my distress? So I began to tell her about my past.

  “My family had been part of Russian Aristocracy for many centuries before I was born. My father, who was also named Gregor, had married my mother after he had taken human blood and become immortal. He was forty-eight when he did so, just over a year older than I was when I became immortal.”

  “Why did you wait so long, Gregor. I mean, it makes no difference when you are a man, not a woman becoming immortal. It would make more sense that you would want to stay young and virile, say thirty maybe.”