"No, Matt!" she screamed, as he thrust the knife into her side. She cried out in pain and collapsed against him. He held her tightly, not letting her go. "It's okay," he whispered in her hair. "I'm going to stay with you while you die. I won't leave you alone."
Her sobs filled the quiet kitchen. "Please don't do this!" she pleaded. Jane tried to fight her way out of his grasp, but she was growing weaker by the second as the blood poured from her wound.
He slowly pulled the knife out of her. She gasped from the excruciating pain. "Matt, no," she sobbed.
"I'm sorry. There's no other way." He jammed the knife into her thigh.
Jane barely felt the blade. Her clothes were soaked in blood, and the pain was slowly becoming less painful. Her vision darkened as she slipped in and out of consciousness. She could feel her heart growing weaker as the blood poured out of her body. She was going to die, and Jack and Sebastian wouldn't be there to save her this time.
* * *
Sebastian climbed out of the car in front of Jane's house and stood stock-still, listening intently. He could hear two heartbeats. One heart was beating strong and fast with adrenaline, and the other was beating a horrible rhythm. "Jane," he whispered. She was dying.
In a split second, he was throwing open the front door. His eyes widened at the sight before him. Jane's blood covered the kitchen floor. She was limp in Matt's arms as he held her, watching her die. A long butcher knife was thrust into her stomach.
Matt looked up at Sebastian. "You're too late," he said.
"You son-of-a-bitch!" Sebastian grabbed Matt by the neck and hoisted him in the air. "I should have killed you a long time ago."
He threw Matt across the room. His body sailed in the air before crashing into the far dining room wall. The drywall disintegrated under his weight, and Matt fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. He was knocked out cold.
As much as Sebastian wanted to kill him, he turned his attention back to Jane. The puddle of blood on the floor pooled around her lifeless body. "Jane," he whispered, hovering over her. She looked as helpless as she did when he first saw her in the hospital.
He sat on the floor and pulled her into his lap. He could hear the police sirens in the distance. He didn't have much time.
He quickly bit into his wrist and held the wound over her mouth. His blood dropped steadily onto her tongue. "Drink!" he commanded. "Drink!" He held her close to him. "You are not allowed to die, Jane. Do you hear me?" he yelled. "Stay with me!"
He knew if she couldn't heal on her own, the only other option would be to turn her. But with the amount of blood she had lost, he didn't know if he could change her in time. The only thing he knew was that he couldn't live without her. "Come back to me, Jane!" he choked.
He carefully lifted up the hem of her shirt and watched as the superficial scratches began to heal on their own. His blood was healing her, but it was a slow process because of the extent of her injuries, and he didn't have much more time.
He could hear the brakes screeching on the police cars. They were coming.
"Drink," he whispered. "Drink, Jane." Tears cascaded down his face as he stared down at her. "I love you. You can't leave me again. I can't bear to lose you."
He could hear the cops running up the sidewalk and then stepping onto the porch. Reluctantly, Sebastian pulled his wrist away from her mouth to allow it to heal. He held her tightly in his arms.
The police stormed the house with their weapons drawn. "Where is Walker?" one demanded.
Sebastian pointed behind him, but when he looked, Matt was gone. Matt had escaped.
CHAPTER 41
SEBASTIAN PACED THE hallway. He was sure that he would soon leave a permanent path in the tile floor. Jane had been in surgery for hours, and every second that ticked past seemed like eternity to him. He would intervene if need be, but he tried to keep his cool and let the surgeons do their work.
"Sebastian Alexander?" a voice called.
His head snapped up, and he stopped pacing. A doctor came around the corner and approached him. "We just finished with Jane's surgery," he said.
"Is she — will she — is she alive?" he asked, stumbling over his words.
"She's stable, Mr. Alexander. The surgery went well. She was lucky that some of the knife wounds were only superficial."
Sebastian knew that his blood had played a big role in healing some of her injuries. "Can I see her?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not yet. She's in recovery, and you won't be able to see her for a couple more hours," he said.
Sebastian stared into his eyes. "You will take me to her. Now," he demanded.
"Yes. Follow me," the doctor said. He led the way through the ICU. An armed guard was stationed outside of Jane’s room. The doctor said, “It’s okay, Officer,” as they walked past him.
Sebastian stared at Jane in the bed. She looked so fragile. The heart monitor beeped a steady rhythm, and he found the sound to be soothing. She was alive. That was all that mattered at that moment.
He stayed with her, not wanting to leave her side. Minutes turned into hours and hours turned into days. Jane had taken so much of his blood, he was sure that her brain would be mending itself. It was very possible that her memories could come back, and he wanted to be there when they did.
* * *
Jane slowly opened her eyes. The bright florescent light made her squint as she looked around the room. She had a moment of déjà vu. She was in a hospital room. For a moment, she thought that she was waking up from the coma all over again. What if everything had been a dream? A whimper that escaped her lips filled the room.
Suddenly, she felt a hand cover hers. She looked up to see Sebastian standing over her. "I'm here," he said.
"Sebastian." She looked up at him. Slowly, she raised her hand and touched his face. "You're here." He was real. She wasn't dreaming.
"I'm here, and you're going to be okay," he whispered, his voice chock full of emotion.
A nurse entered the room. "Hello," she said, obviously surprised that Jane was awake. "My name is Betty." She stood over Jane. "I was a friend of your late husband's."
Jane smiled. She remembered Jack speaking of Betty quite often. "Jack had nothing but nice things to say about you."
Betty smiled. "Do you know why you're here, Jane? Can you remember what happened?"
Jane nodded. She closed her eyes as she recalled the horrible events. "Yes, I remember what happened, but —," she said, her voice trailing off.
"But?" Betty coaxed.
"My name is Laurel Parker," she said. Her eyes darted to Sebastian. "I remember."
* * *
Matt sat outside of the hospital on a bench. His baseball cap was pulled down low on his face, and he clutched a newspaper in front of him, shielding his face from any passersby. He had specifically picked the bench near the outside dining area, because that is where the nurses congregated on their breaks. He knew eventually someone would talk about Jane.
Two nurses in particular had caught his attention. They were discussing their grueling day, and then one began to talk about Jane. Matt inclined his head and eavesdropped on their conversation.
"I heard that all the police officers and extra security is because of that woman that almost got killed by that cop last week."
"Yeah. She's on my floor." The nurse kept her voice low. "She's awake. The doctors say she's going to be okay."
A frown crept over Matt's face. Jane was going to live. He stood and casually strolled away from the hospital, keeping his head down as he walked. His intentions at that moment were to lay low and get out of the area. He would come for Jane eventually, but first he had to find out everything he could about Sebastian Alexander. Sebastian had made Jane drink his blood, and Matt had seen with his own eyes the healing power of his blood. Sebastian wasn't human, and Matt had to find out what he was and then the best way to kill him.
CHAPTER 42
SIX MONTHS HAD passed since the fateful incident with Matt, and Laurel found h
erself still looking over her shoulder. Matt was completely MIA, and the cops had no idea where he was. He had the mind of a cop, so he was laying low and not using any of his credit cards. He hadn't returned back to his house, which was under constant surveillance. He had completely fallen off everyone's radar, but Laurel knew he was watching and waiting for the right moment when she let down her guard.
She had spent a few weeks changing her name from Jane Walker to Laurel Parker on every piece of identification. The process had been long and arduous, but she finally felt whole with her real name.
When Laurel had woken up in the hospital six months ago, she had regained some of her memory back. Most of what she remembered was non-distinct things like her favorite foods, style of clothing, how much she loved Sebastian. But most of her memories were still behind a dark cloud in her mind. Occasionally, she would get a picture in her mind, and if she concentrated hard enough, she was able to hold on to it and decipher it.
Laurel was eager to ask Sebastian for more of his blood, but the subject was a touchy one since he was afraid of the effects on her. Every time she drank from him, she regained a piece of her memory. But along with it came an excruciating headache that sometimes would last for days. It was as if her mind was rejecting her past. She was able to regain some of her memories on her own, but it was a frustratingly slow process.
Sighing, she reached over the counter and fixed some of the garland that had fallen down during the day. It was a few weeks before Christmas, and Laurel had spent the better part of the week decorating her store. She had a newfound love for the holiday season.
A buzzer for the door sounded, and Laurel's eyes darted up. It had been Detective Robbins' idea to utilize a system that in order for someone to get into the store, Laurel had to push a button to unlock the door. That way there wouldn't be any surprise visits from an unwanted visitor, namely Matt.
Sebastian stood outside the glass door. Laurel reached over under the counter and pushed a button. He walked in and smiled, taking her into an embrace. He had been overprotective, to say the least, over the past six months. He dropped her off at work in the morning and picked her up at night, and he stopped by the store several times a day to check on her. But it was a compromise considering he didn't want her to go to work at all. And it was all because he knew the same thing she did — Matt was coming back. It was only a matter of time.
"Are you ready to go home?" he asked.
Laurel nodded. Her home was now Sebastian's house. She didn't mind that arrangement at all, because she quickly found that she couldn't possibly stay in a house she was almost murdered in. "Let me get my things," she said.
She popped into the back room and bundled herself up in a coat and scarf. It had been freezing earlier in the day, and she was sure the temperature had drastically dropped since the sun went down. Lastly, she grabbed the strap of her purse. She fished the keys out from inside the purse as they walked outside, and she locked the door behind them. Big snowflakes fell from the dark sky, and Laurel wrapped her scarf around her face tighter. Sebastian wrapped his arm around her as they walked home, giving her a light squeeze. The town was lit up for the holiday season, and the streets looked beautiful covered in snow.
Once they were inside Sebastian's house, he helped remove her coat. She hung her purse alongside her jacket and scarf on the coat rack. "Did you remember anything else today?" he asked.
It was a question that he regularly asked her, and her answers were usually fifty-fifty. "I remembered one Christmas morning when I was a child."
"Oh?" he prompted.
"I can remember waking up really early, and the whole house being dark. I snuck down to the Christmas tree." She smiled. "I remember opening one gift in particular. It was a doll that I really, really wanted. I ran back upstairs and woke up my parents. They weren't as enthused as I was." She laughed.
Sebastian pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead. "Now that sounds like a wonderful memory." Then his brow furrowed. "No headaches?"
"No." She hesitated and then said, "Even with the headaches, it's worth gaining the memories."
Sebastian released her and walked into the kitchen. "It's not worth it when I have to watch you in so much pain, Laurel. The last time earned you a trip to the emergency room for two days." He closed his eyes. "My blood is not helping you."
Laurel chased after him. "Yes, it is!" she protested.
Sebastian opened the refrigerator and sighed. "Do we have to fight about this every single day?"
She crossed her arms across her chest. "We wouldn't have to fight about it if you would just give in."
Sebastian cracked a smile and handed her a bottle of water. "Sure," he scoffed.
Laurel took the water. She was thirsty, and it wasn't fair that Sebastian could read her every thought and know what her body was craving. She opened the water and sipped at it as she walked into the living room. She didn't want to fight with him. The stress in their lives was enough without adding in arguments.
Sebastian sat on the opposite end of the couch from her. He flicked on the TV and pretended to be interested, but she knew better. Laurel slowly crawled over to him and straddled his lap. She put her hands on either side of his face and kissed his lips. "I don't want to fight with you," she whispered.
His hands rested on her thighs. "I don't want to fight either," he responded. He lifted the hem of her t-shirt, but then he paused. His fingertips outlined a scar on her stomach from where Matt had stabbed her.
Laurel could see and feel the hurt and anguish coming from him. She knew he felt guilty, but he had saved her life whether he wanted to believe it or not. "Sebastian, I'm all right," she reassured him.
He looked up at her. "I don't want to ever lose you."
"You won't."
"But I can lose you as long as you're still human," he insisted.
Laurel stared at him for a few moments. Was he suggesting what she thought he was? "Sebastian," she said, her voice just above a whisper.
"We could spend eternity together. You'll never be sick. You'll live forever…with me." He paused. "We wouldn't have to worry about Matt hurting you ever again."
Laurel's head was spinning. She barely knew who she really was, and now he was asking her to choose between becoming immortal or staying human and perhaps losing the love of her life. After all, that was the inevitable outcome of staying human. Sebastian would go on living forever. She released a shaky breath. Maybe he was having second thoughts. Why would he want to stay with a human anyway? She wondered if this was Sebastian's way of telling her goodbye. "I don't want you to leave me," she declared.
Sebastian cupped her face in his hands. "I will never leave you. I am here forever. If you don't want to become what I am, I respect that decision. I will be there for you no matter how sick you are or how old you are. And I will be the last person you see when you die if you choose not to become immortal. I love you, Laurel, unconditionally."
His words sank in slowly, and she realized she would lose him eventually even if it were because of her own demise. On the other hand, she could become a vampire and stay young and live with him for the rest of eternity.
"Don't decide anything right now. Just think about it," he suggested.
She nodded, not knowing what else to do or say about the matter. She wished she knew what her decision was before she lost her memory. She knew deep down she wanted to become immortal, but she was afraid of the consequences. However, the biggest consequence not to turn could be to lose Sebastian, and she didn't want to make the wrong decision.
* * *
Two months passed, and there was no sign of Matt. Knowing that danger perhaps wasn't lurking at every corner, Laurel found it was getting easier to relax and enjoy life.
One morning in late February, Ashley entered the store with the biggest smile on her face Laurel had ever seen. Ashley had been happier than usual since she had started dating Gavin. "What's your good mood about?" Laurel asked.
Ashle
y walked behind the counter and flashed a diamond ring on her left hand.
Laurel screamed in chorus with Ashley in excitement. "You're engaged! When did this happen?"
"Last night! He took me out on the lake and proposed to me right there on the boat." She put her hands over her heart and sighed. "It was so romantic."
Laurel smiled. "So when's the wedding?"
"Three and a half weeks."
"Three and a half weeks!" Laurel blurted. "How are you going to pull that off?"
"Well, I was hoping that my amazing best friend would help me." She hesitated. "And I'm also hoping that you'll say yes to being my maid of honor."
Laurel leaned over and grabbed Ashley, hugging her tightly. "Of course!"
"We booked the wedding at the lake where he proposed. There is a huge reception hall, and a big outdoor gazebo overlooking the lake. It's going to be perfect."
"Well," Laurel said, motioning to the computer, "let's get started."
CHAPTER 43
THE NEXT FEW weeks were a blur as Laurel kept busy with the wedding plans, the store and her maid of honor duties. She was thankful for the distraction, however. Only a handful of times had she actually thought about Matt and everything that had happened.
The weekend before the wedding, Laurel planned a surprise bachelorette party at her house. She invited the bridesmaids and some of Ashley's friends and relatives.
Laurel glanced at the clock. Ashley would be arriving any moment for what she thought was going to be a quiet movie night with just the two of them.
A knock sounded at the door, and Laurel quickly answered it. Ashley walked in as all of the girls in the dining room yelled, "Surprise!"
Ashley jumped. "Oh! You guys!" She looked around at all the bachelorette party decorations that Laurel and the girls had spent all afternoon setting up. There were plenty of naughty decorations and goodies shaped like the male anatomy.
Ashley hugged Laurel. "And I thought we were just having a movie night."
Laurel smiled. "Go and enjoy your party."
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