Love in Troubled Times

by Gayle Riley

  Aria padded down the stairs, looking incredibly tired. I got the feeling she wasn’t sleeping much by the circles I always saw under her eyes now. I had to know what was going on.

  “Aria,” I said gently, setting her breakfast in front of her as she sat down. I had made her some eggs and bacon when I made my own breakfast. I was a great cook, and I knew it would be a nice gesture, especially if I was going to ask her to divulge something. “I’ve been trying to give you time, but I need to know what’s going on. You seem so distant, and I just want to know the truth. I can handle it.”

  Aria sighed and reached in the pocket of her robe to pull out something that made a million emotions run through me at once. It was a gorgeous ring that she put on a finger that meant she was engaged to someone. It was a dazzling diamond surrounded by sapphires, just the kind of ring my brother would give to a woman he loved.

  “It’s not what you think,” she told me, obviously seeing the panic plain on my face. “I mean, it is an engagement ring from Richard, but it doesn’t have to mean what you think it does. We were supposed to tell you about everything together, but then all this stuff with Chad has me so scared and stressed. It’s been so hard.”

  I softened a little, ready to at least hear her out. I couldn’t imagine being in the position she was in, being under attack from someone I had once cared about and maybe even loved.

  “Just tell me,” I begged, reaching out for her hand, “if things are over for me and you.”

  “It’s not like that,” she tried to explain. “I’m…” She trailed off as the doorbell rang. I held up a finger telling her to hold that thought as I went to see who it was. I had ordered some protein powder online but didn’t expect it until the next day. Maybe it had come early.

  But when I opened the door, I immediately got a blow to the face. The man at the door reached down and placed something against my skin, and I screamed in pain as volts of electricity ran through my body. Chad had come for Aria, and I had just let him in my house.

  I tried to get up and move as he left the door wide open and went searching through the house for Aria, but I couldn’t move. It was like I was paralyzed. “Run!” I called out to her, and hopefully it was just in time.

  I began to pull myself across the floor in a crawl, and I saw her running up the stairs, trying to get away from the man. But he yanked at her robe, revealing her body and making her tumble backwards.

  “Please!” she screamed and cried as the man grabbed a chunk of hair and began to drag her haphazardly down the stairs. I tried once again to pull myself up on the bottom step, but Chad kicked out, getting my arm and my face. “Please, I’m pregnant. Don’t hurt me!” Tears were streaming down her face, and she looked to be in utter fear. In that moment of shock, my eyes went to her belly, and I could see the beginning of a small bump. She was telling the truth. That was what she was trying to tell me and why Richard would have proposed marriage. She was having either his baby or mine.

  “No!” I cried out, knowing more than one life was at stake now. In more pain than I had ever felt in my life, I finally pulled myself up as he slammed her down onto the marble floor. There was blood behind her head, and she looked groggy as I approached from behind.

  “You will have no other man’s baby. You are mine. I am your dom. You are my sub. You will do as I say.” His voice was deep and evil. I reached for a clay pot that sat in the foyer and threw it at his back with as much force as I had. It gave him pause, but then he turned on me and came after me, pulling a knife out of his pocket. What was wrong with this insane man?

  My life flashed before my eyes, and I hoped Aria would take this chance to run, but just as she was hitting the door, he brought her back again, yanking at her hair until she fell and hit her head, falling unconscious.

  Just as the knife was about to dig deep into my abdomen, a shot rang out. Chad collapsed, and I saw my brother standing in the doorway, holding the gun that just shot the man that was trying to harm the woman we loved. Richard immediately dropped to the ground where Aria lay in tears, his hands quickly covered in her blood.

  I reached for the phone to dial 9-1-1, but then I heard the ambulance already approaching. Which one of us had won her didn’t matter anymore; I just needed her and that baby to live. If not for me, then for my brother. He would never recover from that, and I knew it. Were they going to be able to save them both?

  I watched as they loaded her into the ambulance, covering her naked body up. Richard instantly told them about the baby, and I told him to be the one who rode with her; I would catch him there. Busted arm and all, I was going to drive there so my brother could be with that child that was growing inside her because something inside me was telling me it had to be his.

  Chapter 10

  ***Aria***

  I looked down at the ring on my finger, somehow untainted by the blood I had lost in the fight with Chad. By now, Aaron must have realized about the baby. The nurses and doctors in the hospital had been monitoring its life as well as mine for the past twenty-four hours. By some miracle, there had been no obvious damage to the baby, though I had a severe concussion and needed a partial transfusion. The only comfort I had in this event was the fact that Chad was gone. Even if he made it through recovery, he would be locked up and never allowed to lay his hands on somebody like that again.

  Now that I was coming to, and the pain medicine was helping the ache in my skull, I knew that I had to talk to them about how we were going to handle this. My hands went to my stomach, and I rubbed the small bump that was there affectionately. One of their children was growing inside of me. We were going to be a family, whether traditional or not, and we needed to decide what that would look like. I couldn’t keep breaking hearts anymore. But I knew that I wasn’t ready to give this ring back.

  The door to my room opened, and in walked both men carrying bouquets of roses; blue and yellow. They smelled wonderful. I smiled at them both and waited for the door to close before I said anything.

  “You both saved me,” I told them, feeling nothing but grateful. “And you saved our baby.” I looked down at my stomach happily. I could see tears in both their eyes. “I don’t want to give either of you up. I want to be a family, but that means I’m keeping this ring and marrying Richard. I need a partner to help raise this child, and I know that Richard loves me and this baby for all time.” They were about to speak, but I stopped them. “I don’t want to know whose it is. I know it sounds crazy, but there are others who live this way, so just hear me out. What if Aaron was our third? We could live together and be our own little family, and if Aaron ever finds a woman he loves and wants this with, he is free to leave. Otherwise, I can still have you both, and you can both have me. I can be your wife.” I looked at Richard who came to me and put his hand on my belly. “And I can be your lover.” I looked at Aaron, and he nodded.

  “I can live with that,” Aaron said, and Richard nodded in agreement, overwhelmed by emotion. “So, when’s the wedding? I call best man.” We laughed-cried at Aaron, loving just how he always made everyone feel better.

  “I’ve always wanted a winter wedding,” Richard admitted quietly, sitting down on the side of my hospital bed.

  “It sounds perfect,” I told him as he leaned down to kiss my forehead, and Aaron leaned over and kissed my cheek. What an adventure this life was going to be.

  THE END

  Bonus 10 of 30

  My Two Vampires

  Description

  Maurice has been dead but still walking the earth for nearly a century. But when he rescues the beautiful Rhea from a band of late-night, human attackers, he finds himself feeling like a human again. However, his clan leader soon sets his sights on Rhea to be his next bride, and this vindictive man will tempt Maurice into a ménage just to keep Rhea in his arms. Will Rhea succumb to the power of the vampire leader, or will Rhea and Maurice be able to break free of his spell and be together?

  Chapter 1

  ***Rhea***

&n
bsp; I hated having to walk home after a late shift. I worked at a casino in Reno, and I often got off in the wee hours of the morning. Most of my colleagues had cars that could get them home safely. They would have someone walk them to their car and then get in and drive off. They didn’t know how lucky they were.

  I was twenty-two and thrown out into the world on my own years ago. I had finally gotten to a place where I could do some online schooling to become something more, instead of couch hopping. I had to choose between things like a car and being able to feed myself and being able to pay for college or having nice furniture.

  On the outside, nobody knew exactly what my struggles were. I looked like anybody else, maybe even better. I was pretty like my mother had been; I knew that. My appearance belied the struggles when I walked out the door of that casino and into the desert night. I had to walk two miles in order to get to a home that was much less than perfect. But at least I was no longer subject to my father’s drunken episodes and my brother’s torture. I was free.

  It was around two in the morning when I began my journey, walking away from the bright lights of the casinos around where I worked and into the dark alleys of the city. I had been safe doing this for almost a year now and had gotten quite lucky. I hadn’t ever had to use the pepper spray I carried with me at all times. Though, I knew it was only a matter of time until someone took an interest in a young girl walking alone at night in the city.

  I wasn’t surprised, only anxious, as I felt this odd feeling like I was being watched or followed. I began to hear the occasional footstep behind me, but I just kept walking. Part of me hoped it was my imagination running wild on me like it did sometimes, and the other part of me knew my best defense was to keep walking and hope I could get to anywhere where there would be witnesses. If I made it that far, either someone could save me, or whoever wanted to do something to me might change their mind. Looking back and acknowledging the person would only incite them to attack.

  All those ideas came crashing down when I began to hear a second set of footsteps. There was more than one person following me now, and I was about halfway through my journey home. There were plenty of places around here to pull me into the dark where no one would see or hear me. I reached my hand in my bag and clutched onto two things: my pepper spray and my keys. A key could do a little damage, and so could the small knife I kept on my keychain. I didn’t know how these things would hold up against more than one attacker, but I had to at least try.

  I began to look around for a narrow path that I knew was nearby. It was smelly and led through an alley that I usually didn’t feel safe in, but my thought was that it was a shortcut. I knew that on the other side there would be a couple of businesses I could get to if I ran fast enough.

  I found it and took the turn to the right. I could tell that the feet were getting faster, closing in on me. They thought they had me cornered. I worried about what it was they wanted from me as I picked up my pace as well, finally sprinting as I saw the other end that would come out on a street that usually had some traffic. But just as I reached the end, a man appeared pushing me back into the alley as the two men behind me caught up.

  I pulled out my pepper spray, spraying it liberally in the face of the man who had blocked my way out of the alley. I kicked at him, trying to take him down so I could get past him, but someone from behind yanked me back by my blonde hair, probably ripping a good chunk of it out.

  I screamed and turned around, focusing on the two attackers that were at my back. I sprayed them until I dropped the pepper spray and then slashed out at them with my knife. I caught one of them in the face, but the man I had kicked recovered and grabbed my arms, crumpling all my defenses to the floor. I had already dropped my purse, and it was discarded and forgotten on the ground.

  As one of the men held my arms tightly behind my back, I knew it wasn’t my money or anything in my purse they wanted. They were there to hurt me, plain and simple.

  One of the men got an evil grin on his face, and I could see he had several rotting teeth inside his mouth. It was sickening to look at.

  He got real close to me and pulled a knife of his own, much bigger than mine, and held it up to my throat. His breath smelled like the rot of his teeth, and I gagged on it, trying not to throw up and cut my own throat. I had to find a way to live. I had too much to do to get my life in order. I was meant for more than a year working at a casino.

  Chapter 2

  ***Maurice***

  I found myself walking around the dark side of the city of Reno as I did most nights. I could not remember how many nights I had done this, or how long I had lived in this part of the United States. When you have been alive for over a century, your memories and time tend to blur together in a confusing mess of everlasting nothingness. At least that was how it felt to me. I hadn’t been very close to other vampires who talked about any sort of human emotion. Most of our feelings were hidden behind blood lust. In my experience, it wasn’t the only feeling we had, just the strongest. That was, until I heard the ear splitting scream of a woman in the night and followed the sound.

  I climbed to the top of an old warehouse building that overlooked a dark alley where homeless humans would spend the night on occasion. That was where I took most of my human victims, when I had them. Those humans were often sick and weak, welcoming the idea of death so that their problems would fade away. Many of them called out to their gods or their lost loved ones as I drank them dry.

  But this screaming was coming from someone who didn’t belong in a place like this. As I looked down below, I could make out three men and a woman. They were attacking her relentlessly, but she was fighting back, screaming so loud I was sure some other human must come to save her. But I didn’t have much faith in their race anymore, even though I was once one of them.

  I didn’t make it a habit of saving humans in peril unless they were children or innocents being attacked by new, bloodthirsty vampires. But there was something about this woman as I zeroed in on her racing heartbeat as she fought for her life against her three assailants. She wanted to live.

  Getting closer, dropping down into the alleyway with nothing but the sound of an extra whisp of wind, I could see her fearful eyes. They were a light grey like an old black and white film and her hair was made up of short blonde curls. Something about her struck me in a place I didn’t know was still within me.

  I had felt little beyond boredom and some guilt for what I was and what I had to do to survive for quite a long time. So, I was surprised, almost to the point of pain, as an attraction welled up in me at the sight of this woman. My attraction had nothing to do with the blood that ran through her veins, and I could almost remember what my heart felt like when it used to beat. There was nothing else to do at that point but to save her and risk revealing what I was to her.

  I came up behind the men. They had no idea I was coming. Being a vampire meant that I made little to no noise, and I could move faster than a human eye could detect if I wanted. I was not constrained by human illnesses or rules. I was nothing but the perfect evolved predator that only another creature like me could ever stop or put to rest.

  The three men were easy. I picked them off with little effort or time, thrashing them against the walls of the buildings that lined the alleyway and drinking their blood to quench my thirst. I would not have to eat for quite some time, their thick, evil essence making me bloated with plenty of sustenance.

  The woman I had saved stood there in shock, watching the whole thing transpire. She didn’t run and she didn’t scream. I had expected at least one of those. Her grey eyes just watched me as I finished and stood before her with barely a drop of blood spilled onto my jacket or hands.

  There was a chill in the air, and it began to rain, which was odd for a place known for vast deserts with tumbleweeds rolling across the busy streets at all hours of the day. “Are you alright?” I asked the woman, not knowing what else to do now that she didn’t seem to fear me at all. I hadn’t figured on
her sticking around. But maybe she was badly injured and couldn’t run.

  The woman turned her grey eyes away from me and surveyed her own body, coming up with a small spot of blood on her arm from where a knife must have gotten her. The rest were tears and bruises it seemed. “I think I’m alright,” she said, just as if she were talking to a regular human being. Was she in so much shock that she didn’t realize what I was? In that case, she was probably going to faint, and I couldn’t leave her out there to get attacked once again.

  I scooped her up into my arms, cradling her. “Is there any way you can tell me where you live? I’d like to make sure you get home safe,” I told her, hoping she could give me anything, if only a description of her home.

  “I live in the South Sutter Apartments. Do you know where they are?” I actually did know what she was talking about, and for me, they weren’t very far.

  “Close your eyes,” I told her, knowing my speed would make her ill if she kept them open. I watched her close her grey eyes and felt a twinge of sadness that I couldn’t see them anymore. There was something about them that made me feel grounded; that made me feel like I was human again.

  I took off in the direction of her home, the city flying by me as if I was in a plane, or like I was a bullet shot from a gun. It was the best way to travel, and one of the only things I still found fun anymore.

  I slowed as we approached the entrance, letting her direct me to which unit she lived in. They were not the nicest apartments to live in, and I was even more surprised to find that inside her unit, there was almost no furniture. It wasn’t the way I expected a woman like her to be living.