“Crap…” I mumbled to myself.
He smiled and made me look at him, “What did you say?” he asked.
“Nothing.” I lied and looked back at the screen.
He smirked and leaned closer to my ear again, “I love you too.” he whispered and kissed the sensitive skin right below my ear. I jumped in my seat from the goose bumps and he laughed at my reaction.
“I’m sorry… it slipped. You didn’t have to say it back…” I said with a shaky voice.
“Baby I let it slip a while ago. Why are you getting scared? I love you too.” He said grabbing my hands. The movie becoming totally forgotten he made me sit by him again. “I actually…wanted to tell you today.” He confessed.
I smiled at the thought. My heart felt like it was still beating out of my chest, but in a good way. He pulled me back in his embrace and kissed my forehead. I glanced back at the movie when I heard the actress start making naughty noises and saw that her vampire boyfriend was biting her.
“Let’s say you... you are a vampire.” I started and felt him tense up, “Would you bite me?”
“If I was a vampire? No.” he answered, totally confused.
“Would you be a good vampire like them?” I asked pointing to the screen.
“I’d hope so… but is there such thing as a good monster?”
“There is good and bad in everything. Non-vampire humans have evil amongst them too, why judge someone by their teeth. I wonder if there is such thing as vampires though...” I asked putting my attention back to the movie. I played with his fingers as they tangled with mine.
“Anything is possible…” he mumbled.
“Hmm…” I thought about the possibility. Is it weird that I thought it would be hot to have a vampire boyfriend bite me?
“Baby…” he started but was interrupted by both of our phones.
We checked them and both of us looked at each other, “Tiffany,” I said at the same time he said “Daniel.”
We laughed and answered our phones. Tiffany said she had the excuse of going to ‘powder her nose’ so she could call me quickly. She was having a good time on the date and Daniel was being a ‘total hottie’. She ended her call with me before Daniel ended his with James. She didn’t want to be in the bathroom too long.
James hung up and looked over at me with a sheepish smile.
“You were saying something?”
“I…” he started but stopped himself. He looked around the room as if he was trying to remember what he wanted to talk about or find something else to say instead. That’s when I realized he wanted to tell me whatever the ‘dark secret’ was.
He was about to confess but couldn’t.
“James.” I said as I brought my hand to his scruffy chin and made him face me, “You know you can tell me anything right?” I said looking straight in his eyes.
He nodded and turned his body to fully face me. I took it as a cue to do the same as I pulled up my legs to sit cross legged on the couch.
“Baby…” He started and grabbed my hands. I had butterflies in my stomach from being so nervous about what he was going to tell me. What was he going to tell me? What could be so bad that he was this nervous? “I really am a monster.”
I smiled and laughed, not humorously though, “You’re joking right?”
“No.”
I stopped smiling and narrowed my eyes at him.
“James. Are you trying to scare me or something?”
He looked offended, “No… I would never want to scare you. I’d never hurt you. I will always protect you… even if you don’t want me around.” he quieted down, “Don’t forget that.”
“Prove it.”
“Prove that I would protect you? How?”
“Prove that you are what you say you are. I know that you would protect me.” I don’t know if it was because of the movie or the past few weeks of insanity that I wasn’t completely brushing off what he was saying as a joke. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to believe him or if I already did.
“How do I prove it to you?” he said more to himself than to me. He almost looked embarrassed as he thought to himself quietly.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“The blood.”
“Blood?”
“When you pricked your finger… and I…” he didn’t finish his sentence. He really was embarrassed.
“Are you trying to say you’re a vampire and you like my blood?” I asked remembering him lick the blood off my finger.
“Well… not a vampire exactly. I don’t even know if they are real…or still real if they were real. But… I guess if you had to give it a name it would be the closest to what I am.”
I wasn’t scared of him but I couldn’t control a rush of panic that went through my body. Whether he was lying or not, is it so safe that I’m staying in a small apartment with someone who thinks he’s a blood sucking vampire? Maybe Lana knew something and was trying to warn me off. Maybe they dated and she freaked her out so she broke up with him. Or escaped…
“Um... never mind.” he said quickly and faced the television again.
“No… I want to hear more…” I said taking his hand. My hands were clammy and I was shaking but I didn’t care. I still wanted him to know I wasn’t running. Yet.
“What…do you want to hear?” he said looking at my trembling hands.
“I’m not sure if I totally believe you yet. For all I know you’re tricking me and as soon as I believe you completely you’re going to use this to make fun of me for the rest of my life. Guys do those types of things.” I said scooting closer to him.
“Baby I’m twenty-six years old, I don’t do that type of thing.” he smiled. I scooted closer again anyway, “You want me to hold you after I told you I’m a monster?” He asked and was hesitating putting his arms around me.
“You say you’re like a vampire. What makes you like a vampire and what makes you unlike a vampire?” she asked.
He hesitated, “Karina… maybe we shouldn’t talk about this---”
“I want to know James. I have been feeling like you’re holding something from me. I’ve told you I love you… you’ve told me you love me. We need to be honest with each other. But I don’t think we’re ever going to make it far in our relationship if you’re not completely honest with me…not telling me something or keeping something from me isn’t lying, but it’s not honest.”
“You’re right…”
“So you say you liked my blood? Do you like all blood?” I asked feeling stupid for asking. I swore if it was a joke I was going to kick him.
I figured it was better to get closer and show him I trust him and get him to talk. But it seemed to do the opposite. It felt like he was scared to hold me. His arm was loose around me and I felt like I was being hugged by a stranger.
“I guess I like the blood…” he answered, “It…it’s not like a life or death thing for me. It’s more of a treat. When I smell or see it I can’t control myself.” He said.
I suddenly felt a wave of panic go over me, “You can’t control yourself?” I tried hiding my panic but it was clear in my shaky voice.
I felt him tense again. I must have been worse than I thought in hiding my fear.
“How is it a treat?” I asked him.
“Like how some people love bacon and it’s not like something they have to have. But when they smell it… they have to have it.”
I smiled at the comparison to bacon. Blood is like bacon to vampires. “Does it taste like bacon?”
He smirked, “No. It’s sweet to me…”
“You can go out in the sunlight though?” I asked trying to think of all the vampire stereotypes.
He chuckled, “Yes…”
I smiled, “You’re twenty-six right?”
“Right.” He answered, not sure where I was going with this.
“How long have you been twenty-six?” I said suddenly freaking out that he might actually be three hundred.
He started laug
hing out loud at that question and I couldn’t help but smile at his boyish charm whenever he truly laughed, “Since August. I’ll be twenty-seven next August.” He said still laughing.
I felt my ears heat up from feeling like an idiot. Thankfully the lights were still dim from the movie and he’s not looking at me anymore. I realized he was avoiding extensive eye contact.
“Like I said… I’m not exactly what people stereotype as a vampire. But… if you had to give it a name that would be the closest to what I am.”
“Would you age?”
“Possibly.”
“So you can die…”
“Yes...”
“How did you become a vampire?” I said suddenly believing him more. I made him look at me, “Someone didn’t bite you did they?” I felt both worried and scared for him at the thought.
He shook his head sadly, “It was a curse brought upon my family.”
“A curse? How so?”
“Yeah,” he said starting to run his fingers through my hair. I took that as a good sign. He was easing up to me again. “My great-great grandfather was in love with a gypsy. Gypsies were and still are everywhere. My grandfather fell in love with one of the gypsy daughters. But his family already had a marriage planned out for him. Marriages were planned back in those days. The gypsy was pregnant and after she found out she assumed he was using her she went into a complete depression, stress, and rage causing her to lose the baby.”
“How awful…” I thought of the poor girl feeling abandoned by the man she loved and having to go through the misery of losing her child, “How did the curse happen though?”
“After she lost the baby, she placed a curse on all the Carmichael men from my grandfather and after.”
“So curses are real? Wow…” I mumbled, “What exactly is this curse?”
“From our thirteenth birthday or whenever we hit puberty, we will become…a monster. She didn’t specify what type of monster…so we may vary sometimes. But we usually end up looking vampirish. I guess that was the monster of choice those days. We have to find true love to break the curse. If we find someone who truly loves us for the monster we are by our fifteenth birthday as a monster, the curse will be broken. If not… we’ll be stuck as a monster permanently and forever.”
“Fifteenth? You’ll be twenty-seven in August. You’re way past fifteen.”
“No not my actual fifteenth birthday but the fifteenth birthday of being cursed. So my twenty-eighth birthday will be the last chance I have.
“It will be broken for all of you?”
“No… just the person who finds the love.”
“So… is it going to be broken for you?” I asked looking up at him now. I loved him. He knew it, so it should be gone.
He looked down at me and smiled, “You have to see all of me. You have to see me as a monster… then we’ll see how you feel.”
“Show me.”
He furrowed his eyebrows, “Not today... I think that was enough for today.”
“Wait… so is that why you really don’t want me to see the gypsy psychic?” I hated bringing her up but I had to know.
I felt him tense up again, “Yes. Gypsies can sense us. They hate us because they know of the legend. Well not all of them… but she did. They try to prevent whoevers with us from falling in love with us. They scare off the girl before we can tell them our story.”
I suddenly felt extra guilty for seeing her.
“You saw her again didn’t you?” He said plainly.
“You can read minds too?” I half-joked, only expecting him to say yes.
He laughed, “No… I just know you.”
“I’m sorry…Tiffany wanted to see her and I went with her. It’s no excuse but that’s what happened. Lana kind of just threw the reading at me.”
“It’s okay… please just don’t see her anymore.”
“Okay.”
“You know… she actually saw me coming before we knew each other.” He said.
I looked at him curiously, “What are you talking about?”
“We met each other at Lotus Dragon.”
“You’re right! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” I asked.
“I didn’t want it to encourage you to see her again.” He said still running his fingers in my hair.
“She said something about you having a tattoo. Do you have them?” I asked.
He laughed, “Um… a few on my back.”
“I want to see!”
“Later.”
I groaned, “Tease.”
“So… are you scared of me?” he hesitated.
“Should I be?”
He held my face to his with both his hands squeezing my cheeks and forcing my lips to pucker like a fish. “No. I would never hurt you.”
“Then no.” I attempted to say.
He smiled and gently kissed my puckered lips. He released my face and sighed, “it’s getting late…I think you should go to bed now. I’ll stay on the couch.”
“But---”
“No buts. It’s better that way tonight. The blood thing is still too fresh…” He said, “If you hear or see anything weird just say my name and I’ll be there before you know it.”
I nodded and gave him a passionate kiss goodnight hoping that would make him not want to sleep on the couch, “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight beautiful.” he said longingly as I forced myself to walk away.
Chapter Thirteen
I couldn’t sleep. How could I after what James told me. As much as I wanted him to be here I was thankful he wasn’t. It gave me a chance to think. Alone.
I stared at the ceiling fan that I had on highest speed and thought. I repeated everything he said to me in my head countless times. He calls himself a monster. He says he likes blood. I should be running away. I should be thinking he’s insane.
But there is no way he’s serious. Is it even possible? I thought I was going insane from seeing the ‘monsters’ during my attack. But now…who am I to doubt it?
I closed my eyes and forced myself to drift off to sleep.
My eyes shot open at the first sign of light that drifted into my bedroom. I don’t know how I felt it, but I knew I wasn’t alone. My bed was empty. But someone else was in the room with me. Without moving, I used my eyes to scan the room. I looked by the window and there was nothing. My eyes drifted to the closet and it was closed as usual. I finally decided I was being paranoid and sat up on my bed. I looked next to me and saw James on the floor leaning against my night stand. He said something about not going to work today, which was a rare for the man who never gave himself a day off, so I didn’t want to wake him. Plus, he looked so cute sleeping so peacefully.
I took a quick shower and got ready but he was still asleep. I felt bad that he had to sleep in such an uncomfortable position but he had to be exhausted for even being able to sleep in a weird position like that. Deciding a big manly breakfast would be the best treat for him I got started with cooking before I woke him.
As the food finished cooking I went back into my room and sat in front of him on the floor. He looked so peaceful and that same boyish charm he has only when he lets go and truly laughs was shining through his slumber. I wondered what he thought of while he was awake that made it such a rare sight to see. I had to roll my eyes at the fact that even in his sleep he looked perfect. His facial scruff was still the perfect amount of shadow, his hair was never out of place, and a jawline that any male model would kill for.
Wondering how much of a light sleeper he was, I blew on his face to wake him. I smiled as his steel blue eyes met with mine.
“I guess asking if you sleep is off the list of questions I have for you.” One hair fell out of place and dropped to his eye. I couldn’t help but smile at the moment of imperfection. He still looked hot. I brushed it away with my fingers and leaned forward to give him a quick kiss.
He smiled and looked around my room taking everything in, “What time is it?” he asked trying to sound as norma
l as possible and not the usual sleepy voice. He failed. I loved so morning voice. Deep and velvety.
“Half past ten. I knew you were off today so I let you sleep in. I felt bad that you were sleeping here, of all places. But I couldn’t carry you. And if I woke you, I wasn’t sure if you would go back to sleep. Plus, that’s what you get for sneaking into my room in the middle of the night pervert.”
“Pervert?” He laughed and crawled his way to me making me slide back on the rug. He was on top of me as he started tickling my waist, “I swear if you don’t let me go…no breakfast for you!” I said in-between laughing and screaming. I hated being tickled. It was close to torture in my opinion.
He laughed, “Threatening a guy with food? Wow. You’re just cruel.”
“Only when it comes to tickling. So…come on, lets go eat.”
Since neither of us had work that day. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to harass him with questions about what he said yesterday. I had millions of them and most of the questions were ridiculous. I knew I needed a full day with no interruptions to get through them and for him to answer honestly.
Questions like: Do you have vampire friends? Is there some vampire association? Do you have any super powers? Can you teleport? We have Italian a lot…so does it hurt when you eat the garlic? Does it hurt when you eat anything? Do you have x-ray vision? Do different blood types taste different? How many people have you bitten? What happens when a mosquito bites you?
“What are you doing?” he asked looking at me inquisitively. I looked down and realized I was covering myself up with my cardigan. If he does have some sort of x-ray vision I needed to work out more.
I nervously laughed, “Oh…nothing. Just thinking.”
“About?” he probed as he took a bite of his bacon. I smiled as I remembered his comparison of blood and bacon.
“Do you… have x-ray vision? Because I need to know.”
He almost choked on his food as he laughed. I crossed my arms and frowned, “Can’t blame a girl for asking…” I need to be warned before someone sees me naked. Getting my legs waxed and such. “Because a boyfriend with x-ray vision can make things awkward. And if there is anyone else like you out there…and they could see me?” I shivered at the thought.
In My Veins Page 9