Feeling her gaze burning through him, he cast a glimpse in her direction.
“You’re… real,” she finally sputtered, a quiver in her voice as she touched his arm. “You’re flesh and blood.”
Huffing out a chuckle at her words, he attempted to contain the nervousness of her accusation, as if she’d discerned there was something unusual about him. He didn’t look any different from any other twenty-eight-year-old male. He’d always assumed that once they met, he could convince her that she’d been mistaken as a child when she told the police officer that her dark angel had saved her. “Of course I’m real,” he said, attempting to add enough conviction behind his words so she wouldn’t question him further. He proceeded over the Tobin Bridge and took the exit toward the park underneath the tall structure on Chelsea’s side of the Mystic River. After he pulled into a space, he turned to the young woman he’d waited fourteen years to meet. “We need to talk.”
Her eyes widened in a mock gesture. “You think?”
Derrick exited the vehicle and walked around to the passenger side, opening the door, but Kristina didn’t get out. “Are you coming?” he said as softly as he could force himself. He’d saved her life for the fifth time by his count—of course, she only knew about two of the situations—and the first thing she chose to do was develop an attitude with him.
She assessed the deserted recreational area, her gaze raking across the vacant playground and picnic area, and then looked at him again. “Where are we going?”
“A morning stroll.” He motioned his head to the north, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of me,” he taunted, knowing she always tended to lean toward danger. He swore the girl thrived on putting herself in treacherous situations.
“I’m not afraid of anyone,” she retorted, a pronounced pucker of her lips detracting from the power of her words. She proceeded to move her legs to the side, but then cringed at the pain in her side.
“That’s what happens when you jump from a hundred and thirty-five feet.” He shook his head at her foolishness. “What in the world were you thinking?”
Ignoring him, Kristina inched herself out of the SUV and carefully pulled herself upright. Her good arm cradled her other, but she didn’t as much as let out a peep.
“We could stay in the car,” he offered quickly, a pang of guilt rushing through him. He was being too hard on her. He’d heard her proclamation, knew why she’d jumped. “But the sunshine will do you good. You picked a beautiful morning to kill yourself, so I thought it’d be nice if our official introduction was a little more memorable than just me saving you.” He held his hand out to her.
She scrutinized him, scrunching her eyebrows and crossing her arms, even though the movement caused her to wince again. “What’s your name?”
Ah, his spunky girl was coming to, he thought. He smiled, dropping his hand since she obviously wasn’t going to accept it. “Derrick,” he said, gesturing to the walkway. “Come on, it’s just a short walk.”
As they strolled along the boardwalk that bordered the Mystic River, a grouping of black-capped chickadees flew about them, searching for offerings, which brought a faint smile to Kristina’s face. A local obviously fed them regularly.
The sun was higher now, bathing Boston with a heavenly glow, providing a beautiful backdrop. Rays of sunlight reflected off the steel and glass buildings, sparkling like diamonds on the horizon. The City upon a Hill, as it had been dubbed, conveyed a quiet innocence in the morning. Of course, he knew better. Tonight, the vilest of society would be out to terrorize and take what wasn’t theirs. But for the time being, he was with the woman he’d protected from those beasts. The woman he’d also protected from his brother and best friend after she’d seen his antics in the alleyway so many years earlier.
He stopped at a bright sunny spot away from the playground, which would fill with children in the next hour. He aided Kristina to the lawn and then tucked the blanket around her. “I would have taken you to the hospital, but they can’t do much more than I did. All they can do is try to make you comfortable. And… they’d commit you for attempting suicide.” He shook his head again at the fact that she would do something so reckless, but held his tongue from uttering any more insensitive remarks. “Warm enough?”
She bobbed her head, but then released an uneasy breath tinged with discomfort. She crinkled her nose and then shook her head as if confused. “You look exactly the same.”
Derrick broke eye contact and stared off at the river. He figured she wouldn’t accept anything but a full explanation, but that was something he couldn’t give her yet. “No I don’t. It was dark in that alley,” he refuted, realizing she wouldn’t buy it, but knowing he had to try to convince her otherwise.
“But I saw you,” she insisted. “It’s been fourteen years, and you look the same age as me.”
He turned to her and sighed, wanting to tell her everything. Hoping she’d accept him. “I wanted to wait a few more years. You’re too young to know what you want, but you forced my hand.”
Her mouth turned up a fraction, obviously proud with herself, but she held a full grin at bay. “I always thought you were a vampire or something.”
He cleared his throat, resisting the urge to laugh. “Vampires don’t exist. The dead don’t walk. And if you don’t have a heart pumping blood through your body, you can’t do any of the things that supposed vampires do.” He raised his brow, inquiring if she caught the gist of his comment. He’d always wondered how books and movies portrayed vampires as sensual and erotic when they purportedly didn’t have the necessary body functions required to make such acts possible. You didn’t have to be a doctor to understand that if you don’t have a heart pumping blood through your body, vital sexual organs aren’t going to function properly.
“I know vampires don’t exist,” she rejoined. “But…” she moved her head slowly from side to side as though trying to unite her memory with reality, “the way you came off that roof. And you do look the same. Now that I know I didn’t conjure up some apparition, I know what I saw. So, what are you? No normal human could jump off a four-story building without getting hurt.”
He gazed into her eyes, attempting to impress on her the importance of this conversation. “If I tell you, Kristina, your life as you know it is over. You’ll have to stay with me forever. My family won’t allow you to leave once you choose. That’s why I wanted to wait until you were older.”
Kristina lifted her chin, steeling herself, a question in her eyes as she struggled to understand, it seemed. “Can you make me what you are, then?”
His jaw practically fell open in response. He hadn’t expected her to accept that he was different so easily. “Can you turn an ape into a human? No, I can’t make you what I am; I’m a living being like you.”
Her body trembled, and she gathered the blanket tighter, as though a chill had swept through her. She’d been fishing for an answer, and he’d caved. Maybe she wasn’t ready. He needed to be careful.
But then she squared her shoulders and sat up straighter, as if preparing for the truth. “So, why me? Why did you save me—twice?”
Twice? It’d been more than twice, he wanted to confess. But he understood what she was really asking. Why hadn’t he saved her mother? “I was too late.” He balled his hands into fists at his sides. “If I’d only been a few minutes earlier, your mother would be alive. That punk stabbed her in the descending aorta. It was amazing she’d lived as long as she had.” He ran his hand across his forehead at the memory, pinching his temple. “So I had to make sure I’d never lose you; I couldn’t fail twice.”
Her eyes softened, accepting his answer. But then she leaned closer, her brow furrowing as if a thought had just occurred to her. “But how do you always know where I am?”
Derrick focused above her head, afraid to meet her eyes for this tidbit. “I wish I could claim some magical, mythical power, but I can’t,” he said, trying to make light of his confession. She didn’t crack
a smile, so he continued, “It was easy the first eight years; I just had to check on you at night, make sure whichever foster home you were with didn’t abuse you. But then, you turned into a wild teenager, so I had to find ways to keep track of your whereabouts.” He lowered his gaze to her eyes again. “I tracked you by your cell phone. Amazing the programs that are available. I could sit back and wait to see what trouble you would find.” He smiled, attempting to diminish his admission.
“So that’s how you knew I was at the party,” she said, seemingly not alarmed by the fact that he’d kept tabs on her. He thought for sure that she’d think he was some deranged stalker.
He drew in a breath at the memory of Kristina when she was sixteen. He’d seen the two of them on the balcony, heard their conversation. Ignored the first twinge of jealousy as it’d hit him. He’d never thought of her as anything but his charge. But when he’d heard the college kid tell her to drink up and then offered for them to go outside for fresh air, he sensed he was up to no good. He’d waited, though. He’d thought it would be good to let the boy scare her, but he hadn’t expected him to turn violent as quickly as he had. “That kid is lucky I didn’t kill him.”
Kristina dropped her head, apparently not upset, but plainly disappointed for some reason. “So, you’re human?” she asked, a note of doubt tainting her words.
He released a breath of relief that the idea didn’t repulse her, but then realized she’d obviously ignored his attempt to change the subject of what he was. Offering her a hint of a smile, he said, “Would that disappoint you?”
When he’d failed to save her mother, leaving her parentless, he’d become her protector. But after seeing her with that college kid, he’d started to see her differently. They looked nothing alike, didn’t listen to the same music, didn’t do the same recreational activities. But he’d always hoped that once they finally met, she would like him. In the last few years, he’d fallen in love with her strength and spirit, even though he didn’t agree with her unwise choices to escape reality.
“I just don’t understand. How can you be the same age as I am if you’re human?”
“I’m not the same age,” he said, resisting a sigh. He wanted to tell her, needed to tell her, longed to tell her, but knew he could only reveal so much without knowing if she was the One. “I’m roughly twenty-eight in your years, though.” Again, he was talking too much, but he had to give her something, and for some reason, he felt as if he could confess anything to her.
She absorbed his answer without commenting. Kristina did senseless things, but she wasn’t stupid by any means.
He stared into her eyes for a moment, noticing she didn’t look away. “Kristina, if you’ll allow me, I want to watch over you while you come down. And then we can discuss everything else. Okay?”
Her brow furrowed again. She hated anyone to tell her what to do. He’d overheard many arguments between her and her foster parents over the years. Of course, in her defense, most of them had never treated her as their child, rather as a paycheck. Just another kid they fed in order to pad their pockets. “Come down from what?” she snapped.
His breath came out as a puff of smoke in the cool air at her reaction. He was surprised she was even able to have the conversation they were having. Based on her dilated pupils, even in the bright sunlight, she was still a tad bit high from her recreational activities only hours earlier. “Trust me; in about two days, you’ll know what.” He tilted his head in query. “Do you trust me, Kristina?”
A gentle smile lifted her cheeks, the first indication of the sweet woman he knew was hidden beneath her hard outer shell. He’d seen her soft side, the side she only shared with her best friend Beth. “I don’t even know you, but yes, I do trust you. Even with my life a couple times obviously.”
Derrick rested his hand on the side of her neck, his heart thrumming at the chance to be near her. She didn’t flinch at his touch; in fact, she closed her eyes and leaned into it. Soft golden beams of morning light saturated each strand of her hair, casting a delicate glow around her face. “You’re a beautiful woman. So smart, so sweet. Why have you done this to yourself?” He ran his fingertips along her face from her temple to her jaw then brushed her long blond hair off her shoulder, happy that she had at least stopped adding the purple and pink streaks. Another attempt to stand out in a world where she felt all alone, he assumed. She could have been anything she wanted, but she’d spent the last six years abusing her body.
She pressed her hand against his. “You forced my hand,” she answered. “I was looking for you.”
Chapter Three
Derrick paced the floor of his apartment as he listened to his brother’s babbling. As usual, Michael was unable to keep his opinions to himself. They’d gone through the same thing last time.
His brother took a breath long enough that Derrick thought he might get in a word, but then started yapping again before he could speak. “Mom and Dad will be fine as long as you clean her up, but Vic’s going to be ticked. Me? What do I care? She’s just another human you’re infatuated with—”
“That’s enough, Michael,” Derrick cut him off, breaking into the one-way conversation. “The reason I called was to tell Dad I wouldn’t be into work this week. I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Derrick stared out at the Boston skyline through the wall of windows on the one side of his apartment, his blood boiling over his brother’s callousness. His brother was one of their kind who’d be happier if they were the only superior beings on this planet.
“I thought you’d want the opinion of your wiser, and obviously more sensible, brother. But then again, you’ve never listened to me. Why should you start now?” He paused for a second, and Derrick could hear the weight machine in the background. Michael never felt he was large enough. He constantly worked out to improve his already stellar physique. It drove Michael crazy that even with his two inches of height and twenty extra pounds, Derrick could still pin him. The clang of the steel plate clinking into place echoed through the phone, and his brother’s breath filled the line again. “Personally, I don’t see the infatuation.”
Derrick rested his head against the cool glass, irritated that he’d even taken the time to call, wishing his father hadn’t already left for work, forcing him to converse with his younger brother, who for some reason seemed to think he was in charge. Derrick needed to return to the room before Kristina woke up. She’d be confused, he was certain. “You make it sound as if I have a different woman every week. You know there hasn’t been anyone in my sights other than her. I’ve waited fourteen years for Kristina.”
“Freak!” His brother let out a roar of laughter. “Just make sure I’m around when you tell Vic. I don’t want to miss that.”
Derrick squeezed his eyes together, resisting the urge to chuck the phone across the room. For some reason, Michael could roil him up faster than anyone else could. “I’ve already settled this with Vic. We’ve had this conversation, and we just don’t agree—on anything. And I’m not a freak. I had to protect Kristina all these years, since she didn’t have anyone else. I knew she’d mature to be as smart and strong as her mother whom I greatly admired.” Janelle had been one of the smartest women he’d worked with when he was interning. She’d been trying to better her life while carrying the responsibilities of a single mother.
A snort boomed through the phone’s speaker. “Yeah, I saw how much you admired Janelle.”
“You know it was never like that,” Derrick defended himself. “I had a fondness for her, but I was too young. We worked together, nothing more. Kristina’s perfect. She’s everything I saw in her mother but with a lot more spunk.”
“Well, you obviously have more than a fondness for Kristina,” Michael responded with a chuckle. For someone who hated humans, his brother sure rattled off plenty of innuendos, making it clear where his mind was most of the time. Of course, Michael had the mentality of a twenty-three-year-old male. It didn’t matter what their species when the hormones were in full s
wing.
Derrick, on the other hand, had only one woman on his mind, which had been the case for the last few years. He’d just been biding his time. “Kristina is special. She’s had a hard life and hasn’t dealt with her troubles in the correct way, but she’s strong. She’s caring and wonderful. And she’s smart. She’s definitely the woman I want to spend my life with. Even if I end up being alone a few years, she’ll be worth it.
“Whatever,” Michael grunted, and Derrick could picture him throwing his hands up in frustration. Like Vic, his brother was another person he rarely agreed with. Yeah, they all got along, but when it came to their beliefs, his two best friends, Michael and Vic, saw things differently than he did and weren’t shy about voicing their opinions. They continually harassed him every time he mentioned Kristina. “You don’t even know if she’ll want you, or how she’ll react when she finds out you knew her mother. That’ll mess with her head. And then, if she doesn’t choose you—” Michael broke off, not finishing his words. His brother knew Derrick understood what he was inferring.
Derrick’s heart thrashed in his chest at Michael’s insinuation. His hands broke out in a sweat causing his grip to slip on the phone. “You haven’t spoken with anyone, have you? I haven’t told Kristina anything, I swear.” The line was quiet and Derrick squeezed the phone in his hand, almost crushing it. He had to remember his own strength sometimes. “Michael, tell me you haven’t said anything,” he demanded.
“No, man. I haven’t said a word,” his brother finally said through a groan.
Derrick expelled a breath of relief. “Thank you. I just need a few more days. She’s through the worst part.”
“Where is she now?” Michael asked. A note of concern in his brother’s tone surprised Derrick. Michael had made it clear on several occasions how he felt about Kristina, most humans for that matter. Why would he even care if she made it through alive?
Creatus c-1 Page 2