The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven

by Jessica Miller

  I didn’t know what to say. I was speechless.

  “I know what you’re thinking. You’re a student and I’m a teacher and this shouldn’t have happened. But it did and I’m not sorry about it. I like you Ella and I feel a certain way when I’m around you.”

  “Me too,” I confessed.

  Aidan grinned and reached under the table to hold my hand. The small sentiment made me blush and feel warm inside. “I know we couldn’t have a normal relationship, but we could try?”

  “How, no one could know about it? You’d get in trouble for dating a student.”

  “That’s why it would be our little secret,” he winked, squeezing my hand. “Let’s just take it one step at a time.”

  “We should probably get back,” I said. He squeezed my hand one more time before he let go. I couldn’t believe he felt the same way I did. I still didn’t understand why I had such a strong pull to him. I was just happy he felt the same way about me as I did him. I was also hoping that we could have a repeat of last night.

  I quickly pulled Aidan aside before we stepped into the salon to meet the others. “So, when will we be able to be together?”

  “Hmm, how about you stop by my office tonight and I think we can come up with something,” he winked and gave me a quick kiss when no one was looking. I smiled sheepishly as he opened the door for me.

  I sat with Aidan and Gabe in the lounge area while we waited for the girls to be finished. Five magazines later and several stolen glances from Aidan, the girls were done. They had straightened Riley’s unruly hair and got rid of that headband she wears to try and control it. They replaced the headband with a small sparkly clip and the only makeup she wore was a light pink eye shadow with clear mascara and a soft pink lip-gloss which I thought was the perfect choice.

  “Riley, you look amazing!”

  “Really Ella, you like it?” she asked unsure.

  “I love it!”

  “Me too,” she admitted. “But don’t get used to it. There’s no way I could do this myself.”

  “I can help you with that. Trust me. I know what it’s like to have unruly hair,” I smiled. “And I love that lip-gloss.”

  “Thanks, Gabe picked it out,” she said.

  I turned to Gabe eyes wide. He coughed uncomfortably. “I just simply suggested less is more,” he said. I laughed which made Gabe turn red in the face.

  “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me,” I told him.

  He leaned down smiling wickedly and whispered, “Don’t forget we start training on Monday.”

  Crap.

  I turned back to Riley and asked her, “Did you ask what lip-gloss they used so you can get some to take with you?”

  “Sienna already got it for me,” she said.

  “And what about hair care products?”

  “Oh I,” she stammered.

  “Well, you’ll need stuff to keep up with the do. Excuse me?” I said to one of the stylist. “Can you please help her pick out some products and one of your best flat irons?”

  “Oh, no Ella. You’ve done enough I can’t,” Riley protested.

  “We’ll make this one on me or should I say daddy,” Cameron smiled, handing the cashier a credit card.

  “You guys, thank you so much. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

  “I have a history report coming up,” Cameron said. Aidan cleared his throat reminding her that he was there. “Just kidding,” she smiled and leaned in closer to Riley. “We’ll talk later.”

  “What Cameron means is you don’t owe us anything,” I said, frowning at her. Cameron rolled her eyes and went back to charging things on her dad’s account. “We are happy to help you out,” I reassured Riley.

  “Yeah, I love shopping for other people as much as I love shopping for myself,” Sienna said.

  Once we got back to the school I was in a much better mood. “Ella, would you please meet me in my office so we can go over your schedule?” Aidan said winking at me.

  “Are you changing your schedule?” Cameron asked.

  I drew a blank on how to answer. Aidan jumped in and answered for me. “No, we just want to see if we can fit in some extra classes she might be interested in taking,” he said and I nodded. I said my goodbyes and quickly dropped off the few items I bought and then headed right over to Aidan’s office. Since it was Saturday, the offices were empty. I knocked on the door lightly just before letting myself in, just in case. Aidan looked up from his desk at my entrance and smiled brightly as he told me to lock the door behind me.

  “So, what exactly do you have planned?” I asked as I clicked the lock. Before I could even turn around he was behind me wrapping his arms around my waist. I sighed, feeling content and leaned back into him putting my arms over his.

  “I’ve wanted to do this all day,” he said, turning me around and kissing me. I slipped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer, savoring the kiss. He pulled back, took my hand in his, and led me over to the couch. I sat down on his lap and started to kiss him again.

  It wasn’t long before he pushed me down on the couch and climbed on top of me. My skin began to tingle as he slid his hand under my shirt. When he was kissing me, it was hard for me to keep my hands off of him. I didn’t understand it. It was a different feeling, like nothing I felt with anyone else. I knew it wasn’t love. I felt more of a need to just have him touch me and that need grew stronger every time I was with him. I started to unbutton his shirt while he kissed my neck. Once his shirt was off, it didn’t take long for the rest of our clothes to follow. His hand slid down to my hips and he started to tug at my underwear. “Aidan…wait,” I said breathless.

  “You want to stop?” he asked.

  “No,” I said. And I didn’t, which was the weird part. “I’m just…I’m…I’m a virgin,” I confessed, a little embarrassed.

  He flashed his dimples and gently tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, exposing the faded bite mark he left from last night. “It’s okay, we can stop,” he said, tracing the bite mark with his finger. “There are other things we can do.”

  “Except that,” I said, pushing him away from me.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked concerned.

  “It’s just,” I couldn’t believe I was about to say this. “The last time someone bit me, it was to steal information from me.”

  “Oh, Ella, I had no idea.”

  “I’m surprised it wasn’t in my file,” I said sarcastically.

  He chuckled softly and pulled me into him. “Ella, just having you here in my arms is good enough for me.”

  “Yeah, you say that now, but just wait.”

  He laughed again. “I will wait as long as you need.”

  “Now when you say a thing like that it makes it hard for me to resist you,” I said, turning my head so I could nibble on his neck. I could see his pulse pounding and I could hear the flow of blood pumping in his veins. I started to lick my lips at the thought of sinking my teeth into his skin.

  “Go ahead. It’s okay. I know you want to,” he said, his voice weak.

  I pulled back. “I…I never. I wouldn’t even know how?”

  “It will just come to you naturally. Trust me,” he said, tilting his head to the side.

  “I don’t know? What if I can’t stop?”

  “I trust you,” he said, kissing my lips gently.

  I wanted to, but I was nervous. I could feel it inside me, the ache for it, the thirst. I bent down and the sound of his blood flowing caused my fangs to appear. I could feel the draw of the blood calling to me. I was about to sink my teeth into his neck when there was a knock on the door. The tapping scared me. I flinched, accidently nicking his neck with my teeth. “Sorry,” I said.

  “Mr. Callahan?” The person on the other side of the door called.

  “Who is that?”

  “I don’t know, but you have to hide,” he said.

  “What?”

  “Do you have any other suggestions?”

  “Yea
h, don’t answer it,” I said, struggling to get my clothes back on.

  “Who is it?” Aidan asked.

  “Mr. Callahan, it’s Roman. I’m here to drop off those papers you asked for.”

  “Right, just give me a second,” he said, pushing me into the closet and throwing my clothes at me. I couldn’t believe I was actually hiding out in the closet like some harlot. I prayed this didn’t take too long. It suddenly got really hot. I started to fan myself. I felt like the walls were closing in on me and I couldn’t breathe. Crap, this was not good.

  I heard Aidan open the office door and let Roman in.

  “What can I do for you?” Aidan asked.

  “I just wanted to drop off these papers that you asked me to have Gabe sign about our extra training sessions.”

  “Right, I’ll take those,” he said, reaching for the papers.

  I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt like I was suffocating. I thought maybe if I could just get the door open a crack, let some air in, but when I did the door creaked. Roman turned his head toward the closet and I froze, holding my breath.

  Aidan took the papers from Roman, distracting him. “Thanks Roman. Anything else I can help you with?”

  “No,” he said, turning his head back to the closet.

  “Okay then. Sorry to hurry you along, but I’m kind of busy,” Aidan said, pushing Roman out the door.

  Roman turned back to Aidan. “What happened to your neck?”

  “Huh?”

  “Your neck. It’s bleeding?”

  “Oh, I cut myself shaving,” Aidan said quickly. Not sure if Roman bought it or not, but he left. Aidan closed the door behind him and locked it. Then he opened the door to the closet and I leapt out gasping for air. “Are you claustrophobic?” he asked.

  “I would guess so. Never been in a small confined space before,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “That was close. We need to be more careful.”

  “We’ll have to find another place to meet.”

  “Yeah, but where?” I asked, worried that we were kidding ourselves about finding a way to make this work.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out,” he said, cupping my face and pressing his lips to mine.

  I had to force myself to pull away. “I have to watch a movie with my friends tonight, but afterwards we can meet, by the fountain? I can call you?”

  “No need. I can see the fountain from my room. I’ll watch and wait for you,” he said, kissing me one last time before I left.

  I couldn’t stop smiling as I walked out of the teachers’ dorms. My head was rushing from my time spent with Aidan. I was so out of it I didn’t even notice Roman when I stepped outside. “Hey,” he said.

  I jumped back startled. “Christ Roman, stalk much?” I said, clutching my over beating heart. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I was about to ask you the same thing,” he said accusingly.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I had to talk to Mr. Callahan about my schedule.”

  “I was just there. I didn’t see you.”

  “I went to talk to Gabe afterwards,” I said, walking away. I didn’t feel the need to justify my actions to him.

  Roman reached out and grabbed my arm, stopping me. “You’re lying!” he spat.

  “Let go of me,” I growled, struggling to pull my arm free. “You’re hurting me!” I said, cringing at the tight grip he had on my arm. When he saw the scared look on my face he finally let go. I glared at him.

  “He’s just using you,” he said, his voice pained.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, rubbing my sore arm.

  “Mr. Callahan,” he said like I should have known. “Once he gets you into bed he’ll discard you.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s nothing going on between me and Mr. Callahan,” I spat defensively. Roman gripped my shoulders, getting in my face. There was an intense glow in his eyes. “Roman, you’re scaring me,” I said. His hands tightened just before he let go.

  I stood there not knowing what to do or say.

  I closed my eyes and tried to steady my erratic heart. By the time my pulse had slowed, Roman was gone. “What the hell?” I ran a shaky hand through my hair and walked back to the dorms. What a mess I had gotten myself into. I was messing around with a teacher and Roman, the last person I would want to know about it already has his suspicions. How did I even get myself into these situations?

  When I finally got back to my room the door was locked. Not in the mood, I pounded and kicked the door. My run in with Roman had put me in a sour mood causing me to take it out on Mackenzie. “Mackenzie! Open the door!” She wouldn’t answer which pissed me off even more. “Open! The door!” I yelled.

  She swung the door open in a huff. “What the fuck is your problem?”

  “My problem is that I’m stuck with you as a roommate.”

  “The feelings mutual,” she said, slamming the door in my face.

  I pushed the door back open and she glared at me. She had her friends Addyson and Madison with her. “What are you doing?”

  “This is my room too. You can’t keep me out of it.”

  “I gave you a schedule,” she said, crossing her arms.

  “You know what you can do with your schedule? You can take it and shove it up your ass!” All the girls gawked at me like they couldn’t believe I was actually standing up to Mackenzie. Just to piss her off even more, I sat on my bed, took out a book, and pretended to read.

  “You’re just going to sit there?” she scoffed.

  “Yep.”

  I knew Mackenzie was getting really pissed off, but tried not to let it show. She only lasted about five minutes before she gave up and stormed out with her friends. “Mission accomplished,” I said to myself, smiling. Now that I had the room to myself I decided to get some studying done. I thought maybe now would be a good time to learn all the basic things I should know. So I pulled out my books and got to work.

  Chapter fifteen

  The first thing I decided to look up was the whole drinking blood thing. After finding the freezer full of blood bags and the way I felt right before I was about to bite Aidan’s neck, I needed to know what the deal was.

  I flipped through my book until I came to a chapter that was titled blood lust. I started at the top of the page. It stated that over time we did need blood to survive but we weren’t completely dependent on it. Full vampires did need to drink more blood regularly than half-breeds. I think I now knew what that secret storage locker in our wine cellar was. No wonder my dad always threatened a loss of limbs if we went anywhere near it. I shuddered at the thought.

  I followed down the page and read more. Drinking blood was what helped strengthen our powers. Without it our powers could weaken or fade completely. Normally a vampire would not need to start consuming blood until a year after they had come into their powers. The blood lust was then at its highest because our powers were usually fully developed by this then.

  My head was spinning from all this new information. “So, we do drink blood. Okay, gross.” Although, I didn’t think it was all that gross just a moment ago when I was about to bite Aidan’s neck. I closed the book and put my head, taking a deep breath before I continued. I needed to know this. I couldn’t keep being left in the dark about this. This was who I was. I had to face it. I was about to open the book back up when there was a knock on the door.

  I reluctantly got up to answer it. “Hey, Ella.”

  “Hey Riley.”

  “I’m not bugging you am I?”

  “No. I was just doing some research,” I said.

  “You want some help?” she offered.

  If anyone could explain this to me it would be Riley. “Actually yes.”

  “Great,” she said, excited to help. “What are you working on?”

  “Well, I was trying to figure out about…us.” She crinkled her brow at me. “Us as in vampires,” I clarified.

  “Ah, I see. So
what have you learned so far?”

  “I only got to the part about the blood lust.”

  She nodded, going right into study mode. “Well, I don’t know everything, but I do know some things. So maybe we can learn together.”

  “That would be nice,” I said smiling, happy to have some help.

  “I can tell you you don’t have to worry about the whole blood lust thing until later. That’s something they teach us next year.” I wanted to tell her she was wrong, but I still didn’t understand why I felt this way and I couldn’t tell her about Aidan.

  Riley took the book from me and flipped through the pages. “How about we start here,” she said, pointing to the part about our powers. We read the first few pages together, then went over them. We learned that not all vampires have powers, but those that didn’t made up for it in other areas. For example, those without powers had better senses; sight, sound, and smell. They also possessed great strength and speed. Even though all vampires have heightened abilities the ones without special gifts are stronger.

  We also learned that most of our powers came from our bloodline, but it has been found that sometimes a combination of different powers can create a whole new one. That would explain why I was the only one in my family who could heal. We read on to learn that full vampires are known for their strength and that was why most of them became guardians. It also talked about how each creature had their own distinct smell and over time we would learn how to tell each other apart. The more I read the more it went into things I already knew; how alcohol lessened our powers and lack of use could weaken them. Most of what Tristan had told me.

  I sighed, a little frustrated. “Why don’t we take a break here,” Riley suggested. “Most of this we’ll learn in history anyways.”

  “Good idea. I could use a break,” I said, lying back on my bed.

  “Is there something else bothering you Ella?” she asked quietly.

  Yes I wanted to say, but I still thought I couldn’t talk to Riley about it, not yet.