by Jemma Grey
“Hi,” I said turning to face him and suddenly found myself staring at a pair of piercing dark eyes. At once, I dropped my hand, a bit freaked out and turned to face Mr. Mano who had already started the lecture.
The class dragged on and Ryan’s stabbing eyes never left my face. It made the class long and torturous, and each minute that dragged by, I felt as if a giant hole was being slowly carved into my head. Finally, I could take it no more.
“What is your problem?” I snapped, suddenly in his face. He jumped back immediately, startled. “Stop staring at me, it’s weird and annoying so quit it,” I sneered through clenched teeth. Without waiting for him to react I turned around, glaring angrily at the white board in front of the class.
A minute later, I felt his eyes on me again, and automatically a low, deep growl escaped my throat as I turned to him, about to start separating his eyeballs from his head. “I’m sorry,” he said immediately. “You just look so familiar. I’ve seen you somewhere.”
“I don’t see how you could know me, I just moved here,” I replied.
“I know…” was all he said and I didn’t bother to reply. Some minutes later the bell finally rang and immediately I began to gather my stuff.
“What’s your next class?” he asked just as I was about to stand up.
I froze and then turned to face him. “Literature.”
“I’m heading there,” he suggested as we both walked out of the classroom, and I couldn’t help thinking that I just made friends with a crazy person that’d spent an entire hour staring at me.
My last two classes flew by in a blur and before I knew it, the final bell had rung and the teacher dismissed us. Everyone had already gathered their stuff and was leaving even as the teacher continued to talk about our assignments. I remained in my seat and took my time packing away my books. The corridors were going to be too crowded and I didn’t want to get stuck there. When the classroom was empty, I stood up and started for the door.
I had barely made it out of the classroom when something wrapped around my arm and pulled me to the side. Instantly a scream built at the base of my throat, and my heart launched off in overdrive.
The first thought to enter my head was that he found me - he found me and he was going to finish off what he started the night he killed Daren and Brandon. Without thinking, I lashed out at the person. My hand yanked itself away immediately.
“Jen, I’m sorry, it’s me,” Eric said, his hands turning my body to face him. When he saw the expression on my face, he instantly dropped his hands at his side, staring at me cautiously. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.
I swallowed loudly, my eyes never leaving him as the fear continued coursing through my veins. I was shaking, the room had suddenly gone ice cold as I stood there, not knowing what to do or how to react. Eric it seemed was lost for words too.
I dropped my eyes to the shiny polished floor under my feet and then whispered so low that I could hardly hear myself. “It’s fine,” I lied. “I’m fine.” Then without waiting for him to say or do something I walked away, heading for the car park.
Eric was right on my heels and during the short walk, he didn’t say anything or attempt to touch me and I was happy for that. When we were outside, I continued walking down the stone path as Eric stopped in his tracks. “I have something to show you. It won’t take long.”
I froze and turned to face him deliberating for a moment, then sighed and walked back towards him. “What?”
“Our house,” he smiled and a deep frown pierced my face instantly.
“We have a house?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he nodded, holding out his hand to me. I didn’t take it. I was still nervous and jumpy about him grabbing me and when he realized I wasn’t going to, he dropped his hand wordlessly. “Come on,” he said and started walking out of the school and down the street.
We walked for just over two minutes in total silence, and then he stopped directly in front of a huge hotel-like building, grinning at me. I could do nothing but stand there dumbly, staring up at the gigantic concrete monster, rising tall and over powering in front of us.
“This,” I frowned at him, “is not a house, Eric.” When he said that we had a house, I was expecting an actual house, not an entire building.
“Ours is on the top floor,” was all he said as I once again turned towards the building, staring up the length of it. I could hardly see the top floor from the ground, and I wondered how many floors the building had. “So you're ready?” he grinned excitedly and grabbed my hand, leading me into the lobby. I forced myself not to yank my hand away and followed him wordlessly.
The lobby was huge as well. Everything in here screamed expensive and elegant. There were five elevators in a semi-circle at the back while a white, soft and comfortable looking couch set was laid out at the front for visitors. A huge marble counter was at the side of the room, stretching along the wall.
Eric walked over to the counter where someone was sitting with a newspaper blocking everything but small, delicate long fingers which held up the papers. “Avril,” Eric said and the newspaper dropped a notch revealing a pair of liquid, green eyes. As soon as the person saw Eric, the newspaper was discarded on the counter and a short, fair-skinned girl was suddenly standing in front of us.
“Oh, Eric,” she chimed hugging him. “I’ve been waiting all day for you, I was so bored that I even offered to fill in for Joe, and I actually read the human newspaper, but finally you’re here,” she cheered and kissed him on his cheek.
She then held out her hand to me. “I’m Avril, you’re Jenifer. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Without waiting for me to react, she took my hand and shook it, and then pulled me into a hug. Instantly I felt my body tense up at the contact. “I live one floor down below you, and I’m your witch,” she released me, smiling.
I looked at Eric, frowning. “She is helping Dean and Katalin,” Eric explained and I nodded. He then turned back to Avril. “Very subtle,” he said, sarcasm coating his words.
“Oh shut up, Eric,” she glowered and I couldn’t help laugh. “Here are your keys,” she said but held out an empty hand in front of her. “And the wards on the building are up.” Suddenly black smoke began to rise from her hand and then in an instant, two key cards materialized in the middle of her palm, as though it had always been there. She held them out to us and Eric took them at once.
“Thank you,” he smiled and steered me towards the elevator. I hated elevators. It was too small and sealed in. Ever since that night, I couldn’t be in one. It always reminded me of being locked away, and that was a feeling and memory I didn’t care to relive ever again.
My foot rooted to the ground directly in front of the blue door with the words ‘STAIRS’ written on it. “I don’t like elevators,” I commented when he turned to face me.
“But it’s not dark in there,” he frowned and I pulled my hand away from him, taking a step back, confused and surprised. Eric misunderstood though and said, “It’ll be fine.” He smiled encouragingly, pulling me to the elevators. I followed zombie-like, too shocked to stop my feet, my eyes never leaving Eric’s.
“How’d you know I didn’t like the dark?” I whispered, my voice small and so low that if it wasn’t for his pureblood hearing I didn’t think he would’ve heard me.
Eric turned to me, studying my face for a while. Then finally after several long seconds he opened his mouth, answering my question. “You would rather stay outside, than go into a dark room… Some sort of light must be on for you to sleep comfortably… if I take it off you always turn about or wake up… It’s almost as if you can sense it… your breathing gets uneven and hard, you make tight fists…” he trailed off staring at me.
I literally couldn’t remove my eyes from him. I didn’t know I did all those things in my sleep and yet Eric knew. I had tried so hard to hide my fears, but he was slowly figuring them out.
Just then the elevator doors opened in front of us and Eric entered turning around t
o face me. “It’s so closed in,” I commented still eyeing the blue door.
Taking a step towards me, he took both my hands in his. “It’s going to be fine, Jen, I promise.” I stood still and silent for a short moment and then I nodded slowly. Eric began to step backwards pulling me with him. He then released one of my hands and entered the code for the penthouse.
Immediately the air around us thinned. My breaths were coming fast and shallow now, and my chest suddenly tightened as if an unbearable weight was placed there. My throat closed and I could feel panic beginning to set in. I couldn't breathe anymore. I had to get out. Just as I was about to, the doors closed, sealing me inside.
I swallowed loudly, trying as hard as I could to calm myself. “What…” I began in an attempt to distract myself, “what’s the wards?” I asked, slowly breathing through my mouth.
“It’s a shield around the building. No one that means you harm can enter… It’s the same principle with the made vampires entering a human house, they can’t unless they’ve been invited in… Just in the case of the wards, if the person means to harm you in any way they’ll be blocked. It’ll be like walking into an invisible wall,” he explained.
“Okay,” I nodded, searching for another topic that would take my mind off the small confined space that only seemed to be getting smaller by the seconds. “So there are witches too?”
“Yeah… not as ugly as humans portray them, but they exist… Witches are the guardians of nature. Their spells and magic comes from the natural world, and in return they’re supposed to protect it.”
The elevator pinged to a stop then and before the doors could fully open, I dashed out of the room inhaling deeply. My hand flew to my chest as I felt air enter my lungs, and I drank it in hungrily.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Eric sighed at my side. I refused to even respond to that statement. He was never getting me in another elevator again, not unless he whacked me on the head with a bat and I was either unconscious or dead.
When I had calmed down enough, I forced myself to look at where we were and found myself in an open space roughly about the size of a bedroom with plain white walls. Double glass doors with golden, fancy knobs stood watching us expectantly. Eric turned to me then, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.
“So it’s not furnished or anything. I thought you might want to choose the furniture and stuff,” he mumbled. My only response was a light nod in his direction as he walked towards the double doors, holding the key card in his hand. Eric stopped in front the doors and then without opening it, he turned to me with a guarded and strange expression on his face that I couldn’t quite place.
“You grew up in a multi-cultural country, right?” He asked frowning at me uncertainly. “Trinidad is mixed with different cultures?” he said before I could answer.
“Umm… yeah…” I trailed off as I wondered where he was going with this. “But I grew up with a Hindu background,” I then clarified a second later.
“I know,” he whispered. “Jen… I know you wanted a traditional Hindu wedding, and I can’t give you that… but I can give you this tradition…” he trailed off staring at me nervously. Eric then turned, unlocked the doors and in a single movement pulled open both doors.
The image that met me shocked me to the very core. Tears immediately filled my eyes as I stared at the scene, not being able to look away. A huge, bright grin plastered my face at once as my heart raced off in my chest, threatening to burst right out of my ribcage.
Starting from the threshold, bright red rose petals layered the clean white floors, stretching on throughout what I could see of the place. But that wasn’t why I was all choked up. The main reason for my reaction was the small items sitting on the floor, just beyond the door.
There was a small lota, or vessel as some people called it that was filled with rice grains. In front of that was a taria that held a thick red liquid. Instantly I knew what it was supposed to be, what it signified.
This was meant to be Bou Baran, a Hindu traditional rite the wife performed when she entered her husband’s home for the first time. I was supposed to tip the lota so that the rice spilled onto the floor and the red liquid was a mixture of milk and lac dye. It symbolized a bride bringing health, luck, wealth and an abundance of food into her husband’s home. We were supposed to eat our first meal here, as husband and wife.
“Crap,” Eric muttered at my side and I turned to him, still staring in shock. “I thought I was forgetting something, we don’t have any food,” he explained but I really didn’t care. I was just happy that he thought to do this for me, it wasn’t perfect but that didn't matter.
“I’ve got you covered,” Jason said, walking up to us from inside the house as he gestured to a small table further inside with two boxes of what looked like take out on it. “I knew you’d forget the food, you dumb ass,” he grinned as Eric scowled at him, sighing.
Before I could say anything, Eric held out his hand to me and I took it at once, still dazed and shocked as he bent down to my feet, slowly taking off my sneakers, one side at a time and then my socks. His movements were precise and gentle, as though he was still waiting for me to tense up at his touch.
When my feet were completely bare he stood up at my side and began leading me over the threshold. Carefully I held onto Eric’s arm as I raised my right foot, gently nudging the lota with my toe. It fell over, spilling the rice as my heart pounded in my chest. Then I stepped into the dye mixture, soaking the soles of my feet in it. It was warm and thin between my toes and at the feel of it on my skin, I felt elated. I couldn’t believe that Eric and Jason did this.
I stepped out of the liquid and then Eric and I took a few footsteps into the house. He still hadn’t let go of my hand and I stopped, turning back to see the imprints I’d left on the white floor behind me. I then turned to Eric, wrapping my arms around him and I burst out in fits of giggles. I was 100% sure that we weren’t doing this correctly but I didn’t care. I was ecstatic and so happy right now.
“So food’s on the table and there’s a bottle of water as well…” Jason started, running a hand through his hair. “There were two bottles, but I got thirsty waiting for you guys… Anyway I’ll be hanging with Avril,” he sighed and started for the door.
“Jason,” I called out, and he instantly stopped and turned back to me. “Thanks for this.”
“No worries, Jen, just don’t tell anyone I was involved here… Don’t want girls to be expecting me to be nice to them and shit. I’ve got a reputation to keep up,” he winked at me and then walked off, leaving me alone with Eric.
I turned Eric grinning. “Tour?” he asked and I nodded instantly as he began leading me throughout the house. The place was amazing, even without furniture and all that other stuff I could see the potential it carried, and it was endless. I saw myself living here with Eric. All the walls were white and each room was completely bare. In total there were two bedrooms, two toilet and baths - one in the master bedroom, a walk in closet, a living room, kitchen, and laundry room. There was also a huge balcony which gave an amazing view.
“So…” I sighed more to myself than to him. “This is our new home… after we get married?” A smile spread across my lips then.
“This is our home,” I heard him whisper in confirmation, and I looked up to find him staring at me. “Do you like it?”
My answer came instantly. “I love it, Eric… thank you,” I smiled at him and then I found myself doing something I’d never thought I’d do. I closed the distance between us and wrapped my arms around him, pressing my face to his chest. At first he didn’t respond and I knew that I’d taken him by surprise.
The seconds dragged on and then his hands drifted up and I felt them wrap around me. At his contact, I didn’t tense up or stiffen, instead I buried my face even deeper into his chest, breathing in his gloriously addictive scent.
12
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Eric asked poking his head through the doorway of t
he living room. I kept my eyes trained on the TV, ignoring him as best as I could. “It’ll be fun,” he said walking into the room and I could almost picture the smile on his lips.
Eric, Jason and some other guys from their college were going out, and for the past four hours he had been begging me to go with him, since all the other Wilsons were out of the country again. It was one of those all boys night event, so I figured that my Friday night was better spent on his parent’s couch watching old Naruto episodes.
Besides Eric and I deserved some time away from each other, it wasn’t healthy always being together. There was this blood thing between us that made me crave him like he was water and I was parched in the desert, and that scared me a lot. It was too intense and uncontrollable. The more time I spent with him was the more my body burned when he wasn’t around, and that needed to stop. I needed to kick this thing before I got really addicted, because that’s what it was becoming: an addiction.
A fluid, quick blurry movement flashed before my eyes and then Eric was suddenly standing above me. He had been ‘vamping out’ a lot lately, something I still wasn’t used to. Though if I focused, my new eyes followed his quick movements but I still outwardly reacted as if he’d snuck up on me.
Instantly I flew up into a sitting position on the couch, my hand flying to my chest as my heart pounded in my ear. “God, Eric! Would you please stop vamping out? It’s very confusing, one minute you’re there and the next you’re not,” I ranted, breathing hard. I dropped back on the couch watching his movements carefully. A second later however, he was sitting at the end of the couch, my feet on his lap.
“Vamping out?” he asked raising an eyebrow. “Well, what else should I call it?” A wide grin plastered his face and he slowly began to lean towards my face. He stopped inches over my head, staring down at me and again my heart went into overdrive, and this time it had nothing to do with his non-human movements. It was his blood calling to my own, the inches separating us, his smell wafting through my nose, his hands touching my bare skin… It was everything about him. Immediately I clenched my fingers, keeping my arms rigid at my sides so I wouldn’t do anything I’d later regret or feel guilty about.