by Jemma Grey
“I didn’t mind. It was actually nice.”
“Was I horrible last night?” I asked afraid of the answer I might get.
“How much of last night do you remember?” he asked instead, grinning again.
“All of it, I think. I mean I know how I got home and I was talking to you... but after that it’s all foggy...” I trailed off frowning.
“Oh, you were running around the house stripping and singing how hot I was,” he grinned and my face knotted up with complete horror again.
“What?” I shrieked. I did not do that, even drunk, I wouldn’t.
Eric burst out laughing, and I wanted to die of embarrassment. I pulled the cover over my head hoping to blend into the bed only to realize I was still wearing the clothes I’d gone out with last night. I resurfaced glaring at him. I knew I wouldn't do that.
“Okay, so I lied,” Eric smiled, “but you should have seen your face, and for the record you did tell me that I was hot. I think you used the words,” he paused for a moment “...‘God-like perfection.’ We had a very interesting conversation, Jen, wished you could have remembered,” he smiled and I got the feeling that ‘interesting’ was a huge understatement.
“Like what?” I murmured afraid. Whenever I was drunk, I spoke freely. Whatever was on my mind came out.
“You told me that you made out with Charde and a few secrets,” he said seriously now. Just as I was about to ask what secrets I’d told him exactly he said, “Oh and you also promised me a date-”
“I did not,” I cut him off at once.
“Yes you did, Jen. I said that you never go out with me, and it was very hurtful. Then you said - and I quote ‘Well fine, Eric, I’ll go out with you, okay? Are you happy now?’ So you see, Jen, you did.”
“I was drunk,” I moaned. “You took advantage of me.”
“No, you tried to take advantage of me. You were practically trying to tear my clothes away. And besides it doesn’t matter, I already have my hopes up so shut up and go back to sleep. You’ve only been asleep for two hours.” He dropped my hair and leaned towards me, lightly kissing my cheek. “I have some college stuff to take care of so I’ll be gone. But it shouldn’t take long so I’ll be home by the time you wake up.”
Going back to sleep sounded like a good idea so I nodded and closed my eyes. It was only when I heard him close the door that I remembered to ask him about the secrets I’d told him.
13
“Jenifer!” Christy yelled waking me up. Without hesitating she ran from the doorway and leaped straight onto the bed hugging me. I didn’t have time to react, I was still half asleep. “Jenifer, I missed you so much,” she smiled sitting at my side, spreading her tiny arms as wide as they could go, showing just how much she missed me.
I sat up, my eyes barely open and smiled at her. “Hey,” I said rubbing my eyes. “I missed you too.”
“Sorry,” Eric frowned, walking into the room, his hand halfway through his hair. “As soon as I opened the front door she flew past me, I couldn’t stop her.” He looked at Christy now. “She didn’t even say hello to me... I feel disowned,” he sulked.
Christy didn’t look at him, her eyes were glued to me. “Jenifer, can I hug you again?” she asked uncertain. I didn’t answer, instead I wrapped my hands around her, pulling her into a hug and in return her tiny arms wrapped around me tightly. “You smell funny,” she commented when she pulled away, wrinkling her nose.
“That’s alcohol, baby,” I said, laughing slightly.
“Eric smells like that sometimes and mommy yells at him…” she trailed off, looking around the room in wonder. After a second her eyes bugged out and she turned back to face me. “Jenifer, you slept in Eric’s bedroom?” she frowned, and I could see her trying to figure it out.
I was hoping she wasn’t going to pick up on that. I didn’t have an answer and when I looked to Eric standing at the foot of the bed behind her, he only shrugged. “Yes,” I finally nodded.
“Where did Eric sleep?” she asked, tilting her head to the side, staring at me with wide, round eyes.
“Well…” I began, “Eric missed you so much that he slept in your room…”
“He did?” she burst out in pure astonishment then a second later Christy erupted in laughter, and Eric picked her up off the bed, placing her on the floor.
“Let’s go watch TV,” he said, taking her hand and leading her out of the room, “and let Jen rest a bit.”
“I missed you too, Eric, but I’ve never had a sister before... You play with me and stuff but Jen is…” she trailed off.
“Oh so you like her better than me, huh…” Eric trailed off as the bedroom door closed behind them.
I got out of bed more aware than I had been when I had woken up the first time and headed directly for my bedroom. Sometime later, I walked out of the room feeling clean and refreshed. I then got myself breakfast, which should really be lunch at this point, and sat down on the couch beside Eric. Christy was on the floor, her toys scattered about the room as Barbie’s Princess and the Pauper played on the TV.
Sometime during the third Barbie movie Eric fell asleep on the couch beside me, and then a little while after so did Christy. I turned the TV off and then picked her up, off the floor carrying her to her bedroom. Next I woke up Eric and sent him to his bedroom as well.
With nothing else to do I began picking up Christy’s toys which were now scattered about the living room. Somewhere along the line I decided that cleaning up was a good idea, and just as I was about finished Eric walked down the stairs and into the living room staring at me with raised eyebrows.
“There are people to do that,” he commented. I just shrugged and continued. When I didn’t respond he said, “You can start getting ready for our date.”
“Why do we have to go on a date?” I muttered, not looking at him.
“Isn’t that what normal teens do?” he asked at once.
I turned to face him now. “Normal? Eric we aren’t normal. I’m a weird artificial pureblood experiment and you - don’t even get me started on what you are… We’re outside the world of normal, and normal people go on dates so they could get to know someone… who they might possibly want to marry. I’m already engaged to you.” I took a breath, folding my arms across my chest, sulking in defiance.
He walked up to me and held both of my shoulders, looking as though he was about to start shaking me. “Fuck, Jenifer,” he almost shouted. “I’m trying to give you a normal life and you’re making it very hard.”
I bit my lip at this. “Normal is overrated!” I snapped, “but fine, Eric, I’ll go on the stupid date with you, but you can’t make me like it so,” I thought for a second and came up with nothing “urgh,” I grunted stamping my foot in frustration and he instantly burst out laughing.
“Did you just stamp your foot?” he chuckled at me.
“Shut up, Eric,” I snapped and without giving him a chance to react, I turned on my heels and stormed out of the room, leaving him laughing at me.
About an hour later, I was standing in front of the mirror in a baby pink and white strapless dress that reached inches under my knees. It was pretty in a girly way but as shocking as it was I actually liked it. It was one of those things that could be worn for any kind of event, classy yet simple.
I heard a soft knock and I turned to see Eric standing in my doorway. We matched, I realized and a broad smile spread across my face. He was in a light pink shirt and God, did he look good. But he was Eric after all, so he would look great in anything really.
“You look beautiful,” he walked up to me and pulled me into a hug. An instant later he pulled away, holding my shoulders. “You smell like me. Why do you smell like me?”
I looked up at him smiling. “I used your shampoo,” I said unashamed.
“You drive me insane,” he grunted and turned away from me. He went to my bed, dropping down on it so that he was now staring up at the ceiling, his feet still touching the floor though.
&
nbsp; I walked up to the bed and stood between his legs, looking down at him. “Then that means I’m doing my job,” I teased.
Eric sat up instantly, facing me. He put both hands on my waist, looking up, his face inches from my stomach. Already I could feel the air around us slowly turning into steam. Acting on instinct I slowly raised my hands and gently touched the sides of his face. Warmth and desire coursed through me at this touch. I could hear my brain cells clicking off, one at a time in my head.
“You know what?” Eric whispered smiling. “You're right, God put you here to drive me insane.” In one of his non-human flash movements, he pulled me down on the bed and suddenly I was lying under him, though no part of his body touched me. My heart was pumping in my chest, and I couldn’t form a thought other than I should start ripping his clothes off now. Screw our date, I never wanted it in the first place.
“You wear my clothes and even after they’ve been washed, I smell you when I wear them. Do you know what that does to me, Jen?” he asked with eyes that made me want to start undressing him even more than I thought possible.
“Turns you on beyond comprehension?” I suggested, smiling back at him. He chuckled and then rolled off of me, propping himself up with his hand. His face was inches from my own, and his scent filled my nose strongly.
Now I understood completely what he had meant earlier. His scent was slowly seeping into me, getting me high. It was utter torture and yet it was so very good. Everything about him was dangerously intoxicating. He was like wildfire that slowly incinerated my body. It started easy and with just one spark, one moment that was simple and fun, and then it grew. Until instead of sparks in my heart, it was fire running through my veins.
It was wild and dangerous, and yet so safe. It made me wonder if this could last. I didn’t think something that was so unpredictable and raw could work. And what would happen if our marriage failed? I doubted that I'd ever be truly free.
“Eric…” I whispered, “if our marriage fails… what is going to happen… to us, I mean?”
His answer was instant and sure. “It won’t fail,” he whispered, taking my hand. It startled me at how certain he was.
“But what if it does?” I insisted.
“It won’t, I promise.”
“How can you know that?” I asked, and he looked at our hands that seemed to fit together perfectly. He then began playing with my fingers as I stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to speak.
“Because I won’t let it,” he breathed out. “I love you, Jen and my kind... we don’t love like humans do… We love only once in our lifetime, one person for our entire life… There's no word for it, but it's an unbreakable bond made by fate and destiny… It’s intense and is the strongest bond we have… We know when we meet that person... that one person we’re supposed to love forever. We know the exact moment it happens. Sometimes it happens in the first meeting, the very first time you lay eyes on her, and at other times you can spend a lifetime together and then one day, suddenly something snaps inside you and nothing is ever the same…” he trailed off.
“You sound like you know the feeling…” I whispered.
Eric didn’t reply instantly. Instead I felt his gaze heating my face as he thought about his answer. “Do you remember when we met?” he then asked. “In the car when I told you I cared for you…?” I looked away from our hands to him and nodded slowly, thinking back to that first day in the car with him. The memory was distant and slightly blurred now, even though I remember every second of that day. It was like I was seeing the images through a net, all the little details that I was now used to seeing, I couldn’t see back then. It was strange how much I changed in just a few months - how much my body had changed. “That’s when it happened for me… You apologized… and then I just didn’t see you the same any more…”
“I would do anything for you… If I could get out of this marriage I would. It would hurt like Hell because I do want to marry you, but I would call off our wedding in a heartbeat if I had the chance… I’d keep hoping that maybe one day you will want to marry me, but even if you didn’t… I’d still call it off…” he trailed off leaving me confused and glassy eyed. It took me a moment to find my voice.
“Why…?” I breathed out in a low, almost inaudible whisper.
“You’ve made it clear you don’t want this wedding. You’re not ready to be married yet… I see what this is doing to you… I don’t ever want you to be unhappy... When you love someone, really love someone, you put their happiness above your own…”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. Eric was so good and pure, and I wasn’t. I didn’t deserve him. I was broken, incapable of loving him the way he loved me. I could never give him that. I wished I could, because he deserved that kind of love, but he couldn’t have that from me. It didn’t make sense. “Eric… why do you love me…?”
He didn’t answer right away. “I enjoy being with you… you laugh at the most weirdest, simplest things. Your sense of humor,” he chuckled, “it’s like a switch in your head that you can turn on and off whenever you want. Sometimes I would tell you a joke and you’ll stare at me like I’m insane, and then after a while I’ll tell you that same joke and you’ll laugh until you start crying,” he laughed and I bit down on my lower lip.
“There are these moments,” he continued, staring at me, “when I see you staring off into space… You’re lost and far away, but then this small, breathtaking smile would pierce your lips.” He reached out and touched the corner of my lips with his thumb just barely. “It’s short and carefree but your whole face lights up… and for that moment you seem so peaceful. I know you’re thinking about your friends or Daren, I know it’s not me… yet I’m happy…
“But none of that is why I love you, Jen… To be perfectly honest I don’t know… I just do. Because I would still love you if you did none of those things, and I do even when you throw stuff at me or be mean to me. Even when I hate you… I love you.”
I didn’t say anything for a long while. “I don’t see it,” I muttered. I was none of those things Eric described.
“You won’t… not until you’ve seen yourself through my eyes… If I had one wish for you, it’d be that just once you’re able to see yourself not just the way that I see you, but how the world sees you as well. You’d be amazed at what you truly are…” he trailed off.
Eric’s phone shattered the silence then, ringing loudly from his pocket. He immediately got up and answered it. I was thankful for this and as soon as he moved from my side, I got up and walked towards my bathroom, locking myself in it.
Without thinking I turned on the tap, letting the water run as I stared at myself in the mirror. My face was flushed and I was wide eyed and glowing somehow. I inhaled slowly, trying to calm myself and when that didn't work, I wet my hands slightly, passing them along my face. Taking a few more breaths, I dried my face, smoothed out my hair and dress, then walked out of the bathroom to find Eric sitting on the bed staring at me expectantly.
“Ready?” he asked and I nodded. He then took my hand, leading me out the room towards the front door, down the stairs to where his car was waiting. Then we were on our way to wherever he was taking me
* * * “I have a confession,” Eric said after an hour of ignoring me. Ever since we’d left the house, I had been pestering him to tell me where he was taking me. I didn’t like secrets, and surprises usually had an annoying way of blowing up in my face so I didn’t like those very much either.
“You’re taking me to the Lost City of Atlantis,” I guessed.
“What?” he asked, frowning at me as though I had just escaped a mental facility.
“It’s possible,” I defended myself. “You're a pureblood, so why not Atlantis?”
“Stop guessing, Jen,” he smiled, “you’re never going to figure it out. Now do you want to hear that confession or should I keep it to myself?” he asked looking at me.
“Fine, what is it?” I sighed, staring out the window.
Somewhere along the drive the tall, intimidating buildings had ceased. Now we were on a lonely road that was layered with huge trees at both sides that seemed to go on forever.
“You never promised me a date. I lied,” he smiled unashamed.
“What?” I snapped instantly turning to face him.
“I knew you'd give me a hard time,” he admitted.
“Take me back, Eric, right now,” I demanded turning away from him, staring back out the window as trees zipped past us.
“Nope,” he paused, “besides we’re almost there.” His smile grew just as he slowed the car and pulled into a narrow dark dirt road hidden between the thick, bulky trees.
For a brief moment, I was pissed off at Eric. He’d tricked me into going out on a date with him. My vision blurred with anger and before I could stop myself, a tiny, low growl escaped my throat. “Jen... did you just growl at me?” Eric smiled and I shrugged nonchalantly at him. “You know sooner or later you’re going to have to learn how to control that… Can't have you growling at people in public.”
I had planned to ignore him until we were wherever he was taking me and I absolutely had to acknowledge his existence, but my curiosity stirred awake at this, and I turned away from the window facing him.
“How can I have... pureblood reactions... when I’m not a pureblood...?” I asked, not sure how to phrase it. “I’m not eighteen so...”
“But you will be in two months... And by the time you’re eighteen you’ll have completed the three stages…”
“What’s the other two stages like?” My voice came out as a whisper as the memories of the first stage and how painful it was flew through my head. I could only imagine that the other two was going to be just as or maybe more painful.
“The second stage hits you like a fever… It can last for days or hours, for everyone it’s a bit different because we all receive different gifts and this stage prepares you for it. You’ll have headaches like a bitch… When it’s over you’ll start craving things. Your diet is going to change…”
I frowned at him deeply. “Meaning I’ll start craving blood?” I whispered and though it was meant to be a question, it came out as a statement. “How strong will the cravings be?”