Rock The Viper

by Sammie J

  Noah sits up and I can see his hands have turned into fists. “I hate him Juan. He is a sick mother fucker anything could have happened to me.”

  I take him in my arms and let him know again, “He has been dealt with.”

  I move away from him and look at Peppa and say, “We have something more to worry about.” We both look at Peppa. I wait for him to say something but it doesn't come.

  “Noah, Peppa found out something about me last night and I don't think she will accept it. I'm scared it's going to rip us apart.” He looks at me then but I can't look at him, so I turn away.

  I hear his breathing pick up and he moves away from me, “You cheated on her?”

  I quickly answer with, “No, let's get one thing straight. I will never cheat on her.”

  “Juan, you have told me that I was drugged, half naked and found with a woman riding me, surely it can't be worse than that?”

  I laugh and then sigh, “You have no idea Noah. Ok, this isn’t easy, so I’m just going to say it I'm...fuck, Noah, I'm a vampire.”

  Silence. I turn to look at him and he is staring right back at me. I see his face is struck by confusion. “Did you say Vampire, as in bite neck and drink blood. Are you fucking kidding me Juan?”

  I stand, walk to the window and look out the curtains. I know I don't have long before the sun rises. I turn back to Noah, “I know this is going to be hard to take in. Yes, I’m a vampire and yes, I drink blood, but I don't kill. I'm not a cold blooded murderer like they make us out to be in the films. We want to live a normal life among you humans. I need you to know I would never hurt you or Peppa.”

  He laughs and gets of the bed to face me. “Fuck off Juan, what game are you playing? A vampire really is that the best you can come up with.” He holds his head and quickly sits down.

  “Noah this is no game, I'm serious about this. There is so much more and I need to talk to you both about it, to tell you everything.”

  He sits there and I can hear him trying to work it all out in his head. He suddenly looks up at me “Prove it?”

  I run my hands through my hair and kneel so I'm at the same height as him, “Noah, I'm not going to bite you to prove to you I'm a vampire. I told you I wouldn't hurt you and I meant it.”

  He blurts out, “Show me your teeth.”

  I lower my head, let my fangs drop down and quickly look back up at him. He jumps off the bed and goes to scream, but I put a hand over his mouth so he doesn't wake Peppa up.

  I close my eyes as I can hear the blood rush around his body as his heart beats faster and faster. I rest my forehead on his and whisper, “Please Noah, calm down. I swear I'm not going to hurt you. I love you for fuck sake. And if I was going to do anything, I would have done it by now.”

  We stand like that for a good twenty minutes till I feel his heart rate go back to normal. I let my hand go from his mouth and he moves and then runs for the bathroom. I can hear him throwing up.

  The sun starts to peek through the curtains so I make my way back to the chair and sit. When Noah comes back into the room he gets back into bed and covers himself with a sheet. He doesn't sleep, he lies there. With the sun coming up, I have to fight to stay awake. My whole body is ready to shut down, but I can't let it, not yet. I need to know they are both ok. Noah moves to face Peppa.

  He sighs and then asks, “Are you still here?” I lean forward in the chair and answer him, “Yes, I'm still here.” I see him nod his head and he moves himself closer to Peppa. I watch as he kisses her and she kisses him back and I ache from wanting to be there on the bed with them both.

  I let her know I'm in the room and watch as her body reacts to my voice and I see the fear she has for me. It hurts my very soul to see that. She asks me what I want from her and I tell her that I want her to accept me. I know that is going to be the hardest thing for her to do. I answer her questions the best way I can, letting her know what powers I have. I try and make her see that I'm not a monster. I even try and make light of it when Noah wants me to use my power to tell him what he is thinking. And all our thoughts turn to licking my snake tattoo.

  Peppa brings me back with a bang when she sends me a thought and I focus back on her. I explain the Entwining the best way I can and I understand the anger I see come from her as she feels I have been hiding things. She walks over to me and I get on my knees and I let her know my feelings are real. I watch as her tears fall and then she walks away and a pain so unbearable rips through me, my body starts to shake and I have to leave to sleep. I let Noah know that I need to go and it's the hardest thing I have to do, to walk away from Peppa when I can hear her crying her heart out.

  When I awake I don't bother to shower, I head straight to where Peppa usually is but I don't feel her and when I see Noah sitting on the sofa, with a drink in his hand, I know she is gone and I feel the rejection, and if I had a heart that beat it would be shattered right now.

  I sit down next to him and he turns to me, “She's gone, and I'm worried she isn't going to come back. The police have told her she can go back to the flat and after yesterday, I think she might do that. I can't lose her Juan.” He looks at me as if I have the answers but I don't. I don't even know what to say to him. I need to feed, so I tell him I will be back as soon as I can. He nods his head and takes another sip of his drink.

  When I get back I find Saul hunched over Noah, who is lying on the sofa holding himself, rocking, as he cries. I rush over and Saul stands up, “What's happened? Is it Peppa?”

  Saul puts his hand on my shoulder which makes me look over at him, “No, Noah has had a flash back from the night before, I was trying to get him to tell me about it when you came in.”

  I lower myself to the floor and touch Noah's face with my hand. He looks up at me and the sadness I see takes my breath away. Through sobs I manage to understand what he says, “I cheated on her Juan. I remembered the woman sitting on me bouncing up and down. I thought it was Peppa, so I fucked her. Juan she will hate me, fuck, I'm going to lose her.”

  I look to Saul as he didn't tell me anything about this. Saul bends down next to me and looks at Noah, “Noah you didn't cheat because you didn't fuck the woman. She pretended to fuck you because you couldn't get hard.”

  My eyes widen at that and so do Noah's. He wipes his eyes and asks, “So I didn't fuck her?” He shakes his head, “Saul, please tell me you killed Jacob. That you sucked all his blood from him and watched him die.”

  Saul laughs, “No, Noah, you didn't fuck her, and believe me it took everything I had not to kill Jacob, but you are free of him now.” Cruz shouts up from the basement for Saul, so he stands and says he will see us later.

  I tell Noah to scoot over and I lie down next to him and turn to face him and smile. “What happened to you Noah was down to Jacob’s twisted ways. Whatever happened in that room, I know Peppa doesn't blame you for it. I know it's going to be hard, but you have to let it go or it will eat at you, and then he's won.”

  He takes his phone out of his pocket and sends a text. His eyes find mine, “I texted Peppa to let her know we both love her.” The beep goes to let us know she sent a message back. He reads it and then shows me. We both look up at the ceiling, not saying anything and then I feel his arms go around me and he hugs me and I hug him back. I hear him whisper, “I can't lose her.” And I say back, “We aren't going to.” And that’s where I stay, in his arms, till he falls asleep and I carry him to bed.

  The next day I feel her as soon as I wake. She's here and I think to myself, that's a good thing as she only stayed away one night. I shower and get dressed and as I walk past her room I know she is there. I decide to head out and feed quickly from my favourite pig and get back as soon as I can.

  When I walk back there is no sign of Cruz and Saul, they must be out feeding no doubt. I hear someone in the kitchen when I walk in the lounge and sit down on the sofa. I was hoping it was Peppa but it turned out to be Lara. She sits down next to me. She went on to tell me how handsome I was and I really d
idn't see it coming, but Lara was suddenly on my lap, trying to kiss me. I tried to get her off me without using too much strength but she held on tight. She said something about being better than Peppa and that’s when I felt Peppa and she walked into the room. She was mad but it was more aimed at Lara than me, but I made sure Peppa knew I didn't do anything with Lara. All hell broke loose after the word Slut came from Lara's mouth, and Lara thoughts hit me one after another and the name Eric left my mouth.

  Eric, her lover, gave her some story and she believed him. So, they set it up that he would ransack the flat to make it look like a burglary and then Lara could claim on the insurance. She didn't know why he wrote Slut on Peppa's wall and she didn't expect him to go that far. He promised her everything and she believed everything he said. She also projected to me the hurt she felt at his hands. He was hurting her, yet she still did what he said. It wasn't till Peppa said something about scared to go back to the flat that I shut out Lara's thoughts.

  I watched Peppa walk out the room. I called after her, but she said nothing. I stood and watched as Noah paced the floor shouting at his sister. I started to walk away to go and talk to Peppa, but I heard the front door bang shut.

  I rushed out and saw Peppa walking away. I used my speed to stand in front of her. I wanted to beg her not to leave. I touched her and she moved away from me, and when she said she didn't know if she was coming back something inside me broke, and the pain I felt brought me to my knees as I watched her walk away. Noah was suddenly behind me, helping me to my feet. I turned into his arms, “I'm a broken man Noah. She's walked away from me twice now. I don't think we can come back from this, she can't see past the vampire to the man I am.”

  Noah shakes me, “Look at me Juan, these last few days have taken their toll on her. She needs time to deal with everything. Trust is a big thing for Peppa and to be honest, she hasn't seen a lot of that this past week. She will come back to us.” I could tell from his voice and thoughts he wasn't sure if he believed that and I didn't either.

  Chapter 24 (PEPPA)

  Was I stupid to have walked out, yet again? I told myself yes. I didn’t want to be whiny, but I didn’t know how to deal with all the feelings running through me. I should have stayed and faced Lara and Juan but instead, I find myself in a hotel room, banging my head into a pillow, telling my mind to shut up as I hadn't slept.

  For the last six hours I have thought about nothing but Juan, Noah and Lara. I went from crying, to denial, then anger. The anger being directed at Lara more than anything. I had gone back to Noah's to get answers from Juan and I was ready to listen, to try and understand, but finding out about what Lara did pushed me over the edge. I couldn't understand why you would love someone and be so blind to their ways, that you were willing to hurt the people around you. She had made bad choices and I couldn't deal with her any more. I didn't want her in my life. I decided I would buy her out of Café Net and I knew deep down, I couldn't go back to the flat, so something had to be sorted about that.

  I turned over onto my back, closed my eyes and found sleep wasn't going to come, so I showered and dressed for the day. I ordered food, turned on the TV for some company and I started banging my fists against the bed as the thought, why does love hurt so much? Went through my head. This was all so complicated, I found myself in a threesome with two men, who I fell in love with in a short space of time. I had an ex who wanted to destroy any happiness I had. I find out that one of my boyfriends is a vampire and that my friend let her bastard of a boyfriend destroy my home. So no wonder I was going bonkers.

  I started laughing and couldn't stop. Then the laughter turned to tears as I realized I had pushed the two men, who I love, away and didn't take their feelings into consideration. And now, I'm here, all alone and I was the only one who could change that. I felt relief after coming to that conclusion. There was a long way to go to building the trust back between us all, but it was a start. After finally finding some peace in myself, I drift off to sleep.

  I wake to the TV telling me it's time for the news and I look at the clock in the room. It tells me it's 10 pm. I get up, go to the bathroom and get done what needs to be done. I switch the TV off, take off my clothes and get back into bed. I feel for my phone and the minute I touch it, it lights up. I see I have three messages, all from Noah. He asks, if I'm OK? And then, where am I? And finally, can I let him know I'm safe as he's worried.

  I quickly text back letting him know, I'm OK, I'm in a hotel and doing a lot of thinking.

  A text comes straight back asking, will you be back at work tomorrow? And is it ok if he pops in for a cuddle, as he misses me.

  I laugh a little and text back, yes I will be at work and I would love a hug to.

  He texted back and says, good because I really need one right now.

  I text back, me too Goodnight Noah.

  And his final text reads, Goodnight sweetheart.

  My heart swells and a tear rolls down my cheek, but I wipe it away. I'm not going to cry any more I have done enough for a life time. Till the next time.

  I take a taxi to work the next day. I was expecting Noah to be standing there waiting for me, but he wasn't. I was also ready to face off with Lara if she showed her face at all. I had a feeling that wasn’t going to happen.

  It was a busy morning, which kept my mind off things. I managed to sneak in a sandwich and the crowd disappeared later on in the afternoon. I was cleaning up when I heard the door go and in walks Noah. I smile at him and he smiles back. It doesn't take long before I'm in his arms and his lips find mine and I melt more into him. When I look up at him I see the dark circles under his eyes and hate knowing that I caused them. He kisses my forehead then looks back down at me, “I've missed you.” I give him a quick kiss to the lips and say the same thing back to him.

  I see sadness cross his face and he closes his eyes when he says, “Come home Peppa, please come home.”

  I kiss him again, “Is Lara gone?”

  He opens his eyes and nods his head, “Yes, I sent her packing. I have no idea where she went, but I made it clear she wasn't welcome any more.”

  For some reason, I felt sad for her, but she made her own bed, so now she gets to lie in it. I bite my lip and say, “Will you pick me up after work?”

  He looks shocked, “Yes of course I will.”

  I laugh, “You were expecting a fight weren't you?”

  He laughs then, “Yes something like that I was prepared to beg if I had to.” His phone goes and he looks at it, “I have to get this, but is 5:30 pm ok?” I nod my head yes. He leans in and kisses me goodbye and he walks away answering his phone.

  Noah picks me up at 5.30 pm on the dot and he doesn't let go of my hand all the way home, and I don’t want him to. When he parks up he turns to me, “I know Juan will be happy to see you, he hasn't dealt with this well. He thinks he has lost you.”

  I frown at Noah, “Really he thinks that? He hasn't lost me, not unless he doesn’t want me anymore.”

  Noah takes my hand and kisses it, “There is no chance of that, come on let’s get inside and find our man.”

  When we walk inside Noah's phone goes again so he walks off to talk and I make my way to the lounge. On the TV I notice a note has been stuck to it addressed to Noah. I read it, it's from Juan, saying they have gone back to their own house, that he thinks we all need some space and he thinks him being here would mean that I wouldn't come back and he hates that. He also told Noah to tell me he loved me and that Noah knew how to contact him.

  I stood staring at it and felt my blood drain from my face, my chest felt heavy and I struggled for breath and a wave of sickness washes over me. I did this, I made him leave, oh god I made him leave and I clutch my heart as I let out a sob.

  A sound catches my attention and I take a look round, there it is again it’s coming from the kitchen and then I hear it again, my name someone is saying my name. I walk over to the kitchen door and peer inside, my legs buckle from under me but I manage to hold myself
up on the doorframe as I see Lara's beaten body lying on the floor. I shout out for Noah and rush over to Lara. I get on my knees and look her over from head to foot.

  Her face is battered and one of her eyes is swollen shut. There is blood coming from her nose and mouth. I shout for Noah again and then find my phone and dial 999. I reach for Lara's hand and hold it and tell her, “It's ok the ambulance is on its way,” she moans. “It's ok Lara I'm here.”

  Noah comes rushing in and stops dead in his tracks when he spots Lara lying on the floor. I watch as the blood drains away from his face. He comes over and bends down next to me. He strokes Lara's hair away from her face. He looks at me and asks, “What happened? Who did this?”

  I put my other hand on his knee, “I don't know I found her like this. She hasn't said anything else but my name. The ambulance is on its way.”

  He leans over to look in Lara's face, “Lara, it's Noah, can you hear me?” She tries to nod her head yes. “Who did this to you?”

  I watch a tear roll down her face as she says quietly, “Eric.”

  Noah stands and explodes, “I'm going to kill the fucking bastard.” He starts pacing the floor.

  I look up at him and say, “Noah please calm down, think of your sister.” He looks at me and all I see is hatred. I know it's not aimed at me but it scares me.

  “Calm down, look at her Peppa! He beat the fuck out of my sister!”

  He bends down again at Lara's side and as calm as can be he says. “Where is he Lara? Where is the bastard living?”

  She turns her head away from him and with his hand he gently turns her head back to him and through gritted teeth he says, “Where is he Lara?”