by R.A Cullison
Six
We board the plan to the US finally. We never found out why the flights were cancelled and I didn’t care, I just wanted to be back on American soil. CJ sat next to me with hesitation she sat down next to me. I could tell she was uneasy being close to me.
“Are you ok with sitting next to me?” I finally asked her.
“Actually, I am a little uneasy.” she answered.
“Why?” I gave her a serious look.
“Because I know what you eat and I know some history of your kind.” she said.
“Well I don’t eat what you think I do and the history of vampires are not what they seem. Beside I was human once and I was your grandmothers first cousin.” I said pulling out a magazine from the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me.
She turned to looked at me and reached in her leather jacket pocket and pulled out something.
“Is this you?” she handed me a picture.
I took it to looked at it. I was shocked, it was a picture of me and Nikki with Matt and Kyle back in Philadelphia when I was pregnant with Travis. Matt was holding April in his arms, we were all smiling.
“Oh my.” I ran my finger over Matt’s face and then the kids. “Yeah, that was when I was pregnant with my son.” I handed it back to her.
“My Grandma told me about you a few times, but I didn’t realize she was talking about you.” she said shoving the picture back into her pocket.
“Yeah, I miss her.” I sighed trying not to think of the past.
“Uncle Corbin still love you, you know that right?” she said. We both looked over at the guys. Corbin smiled at me, he was still so handsome but then I thought of Michael.
“I know, but I am involved with someone.” I started to looking at the magazine and pretended to read.
‘“I don’t want my picture taken. I am fat.” I said
Matt put his arm around me, “You could never be ugly, your pregnant and that’s a beautiful thing, besides it something we can look back on and remember this is the time where Nora was pregnant with my son.”
I smiled at Matt, “Ugh!”
Nikki came out pulling Kyle behind her, he didn’t want his picture taken either. “Suck it up Kyle!” she told him.’
Steady heavy breathing pulled me out of the memory. I looked over at CJ, she was sleeping peaceful. I began to feel myself getting the burning in the throat, time for my shot.
I walked back to the bathroom and gave myself a shot. I waited a few minutes for the burning to stop and made it back to my seat. I looked over at Corbin he was looking at me weird, then pointed to my eyes. I looked at my at my reflection in the plane window. My eyes were glowing red and looked really creepy. I quickly closed my eyes and pulled out my sunglasses, slid them on.
CJ woke up and looked a little disorientated. She looked over at me then over at Kyle and Corbin.
“Bad dream?” I asked.
She gave me a weak smile and sat up, “Yeah.” The flight attendant came over to us.
“Can I get you anything?” she asked.
“No, thank you.” I smiled.
“Yeah can get a cup of coffee with cream and sugar.” CJ said.
“Yes, Miss.” the flight attendant disappeared behind a set of curtains. CJ then did a double take at me and was looking at my sunglasses.
“Whats with the sunglasses?” she asked. I lifted them up and she took in a jagged breath. “Oh, gotcha.” she then looked over at Kyle.
“Want to trade spots?” Corbin asked her.
“Yeah, please.” she got up and her and Corbin traded spots. I looked at Corbin and he just smiled at me.
“I scare her.” I said.
“Yeah, well your eyes are kind of creepy.” he said it jokingly. “lets see if they changed to normal.” he reached over and pulled off my sunglasses. “There they are back to normal.” he folded up my sunglasses and handed them back to me. I shoved them in my bag and zipped it up.
I turned and looked out the window. The sky was black with some stars shined in the distant. “Corbin?” I finally said. I turned and looked at him.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Ever wonder what might have been?” I asked.
“Between us? Sometimes.” he shrugged.
“Me too.” I said turning back towards the window.
“Why do you ask? Something on your mind?” Corbin asked.
“Just thinking of what might have been I guess. So how is Kyle holding up?” I asked.
“I think pretty well, but the whole Nora’s a blood sucker thing makes him uneasy.” Corbin smiled.
“Blood sucker don’t really apply to me, since I don’t drink blood.” I smiled back at him.
“Yeah, I tried to explain that to him but he believe me, I guess.” he said looking towards his brother.
The Pilot came on over the PA. “Ladies and Gentlemen we will be making an emergency landing in Los Angeles. Sorry for the delay.” I looked over at Corbin and sighed.
“Well this sucks.” I shook my head.
We finally landed in the US and I was ready to kiss the ground. We walked into the air port. I kept away from people like always, Corbin was standing beside me. Kyle and CJ were sitting on a bench on the other side of Corbin.
“What do we do now?” Kyle asked.
“Lets rent a car.” I joked.
“Great idea, Nora!” Corbin lightly punched my shoulder. “Got any cash, I am broke now.” he asked.
I reached around and handed him some cash, “here, make sure it’s a decent size car, I don’t want CJ and Kyle to be uncomfortable being too close to me.” I smiled at them. Kyle was glaring at me.
“Alrighty then.” Corbin took the money and headed to the car rental counter.
I leaned against the wall waiting for Corbin to get the car when something caught my eye. A familiar face staring at me from across the waiting area. I smiled at him and he smiled back. I quickly but carefully made it through the crowded area to him. He turned and went outside, I was on his heels.
“Michael.” I said feeling excited to see him.
“Hi Nora.” he greeted me, but he didn’t seem as excited to see me as I was to see him. He hugged me and kissed my cheek, it wasn’t a lovingly touch it was like friends. Then another female and male appeared behind him. I pulled back. “Nora this is Josiah and Bethany.” he reached over and took Bethany’s hand. I looked at him and then at her.
“Oh I see. Well its nice to meet you both.” I went to turn into the building.
“Nora, you were gone.” he said holding my wrist.
“For like a month. Its ok. Bye Michael.” I continued into the building feeling hurt. Since being a vampire my emotions were more intense. Corbin was staring at me when I walked into the building, he could tell something was wrong.
I went to where I was standing before I saw Michael. Leaned against the wall with my arms crossed staring at the floor.
“Ok, I got a SUV.” Corbin said dangling the keys.
“Great lets go.” I said taking the keys from his hand.
*******************************************************
After several hours of driving, I had to pull over and let someone else drive, Corbin and I traded spots. After another hour we could hear some light snoring coming from the back. I looked back, Kyle and CJ were out.
“Nora?” Corbin finally spoke.
“Yeah?” I answered.
“What’s wrong? You act heartbroken.” he said.
“Good observation.” I said looking at him.
“What happened back at the air port?” he asked.
“I saw Michael.” I said.
“Oh, I thought he was your bf?” he asked.
“Suppose to be, but I guess he found something better in a woman named Bethany.” I said lowering my head.
“Oh, Sorry Nora-bug.”
he said.
“Nora-bug? I haven’t heard that in a long time.” I smiled.
“Oh, sorry.” he reached over and touched my hand that was resting on the arm rest.
“So, we still going back to Philly?” he asked.
“Yeah, I still have my house there and I still have the guys, Gabe and Stephen. Shit, speaking of which.” I dug out my cell and called Gabe.
Two rings later, “Hello?” Stephen answered.
“Hey, where is Gabe?” I asked.
“Nora, Hell where are you? Did you find The Crows?” he said excitedly.
“I am back in the states but I am driving back from LA and yes I have Kyle and Corbin both.” I answered.
“Great, we been worried, its like worrying about our little sister. By the way we moved back into the old hide out.” he said. My phone started beeping.
“Shit my cell is dying. I will see you in a few day. Ok?” I said before my phone died. “Great.” I closed it and slid it back in my pocket.
“They really love you, don’t they?” Corbin said.
“Yeah, they are my brothers.” I said.
“Talking to them really cheered you up.” he said. I could hear Kyle and CJ tossing around.
“Lets find a hotel so we all can get some real rest.” I said.
We found Motel 6 just outside of St. Louis. We got 4 rooms, so we all had our own.
I was soaking in a bath when I heard someone knocking and open the door.
“Nora?” Corbin called out.
“Yeah?” I answered. He came into the bathroom.
“Oh, Umm.” he went to turn.
“Embarrassed, its not like you haven’t see me naked before.” I chuckled.
“Yeah, well that was when you were human. You probably don’t look the same.” he said looking at the wall.
“You think so?” I stood up. “Look at me.” I said. He turned around and looked at me up and down. “So, am I disgusting to look at?” I chuckled.
“No, in fact your too tempting to look at.” he smiled.
“Really?” I slowly stepped out of the tub and over to him. I ran my hand down his face, then to the back of his head, pulled his head towards me and I began to kiss him. His arms slowly wrapped around my waist and pulled me closer to him.
He picked me up and carried me into the bedroom and laid me on the bed. I began to rip his clothes off, they didn’t stand a chance against me. Before we realized what we were doing, it was too late.
“Should I stop?” he said breathlessly.
“No.” I sighed.
Early the next morning I woke in his arms. I rose up a little so I could see his face, he as fast asleep. I got up and slide on a long shirt and brushed my hair and put it up in a ponytail.
I stood there watching him, then I realized that my feelings for him never changed, they were just camouflaged by my feelings for Michael and Matthew. But I did love Matt more than anything. I had to stop thinking of him. Corbin finally woke up and looked down.
“Well, that’s a first for me.” he said staring at me.
“What is?” I asked.
“I never been with a vampire before.” he winked at me.
“And how was it?” I asked.
“Like being with a human. It was fantastic! Are you kidding me? I been waiting for this to happen for years.” he said sitting up. We both chuckled.
“We better get dressed, Kyle and CJ will want to leave soon.” I walked over to my back pack and pulled out a pair of jeans and a hoodie. Corbin stood up and his clothes were in shreds.
“Um, I don’t think I can wear these.” he held up a pair of shredded jeans and shirt.
“Oh, um yeah.” I chuckled and handed him a hotel robe.
“Thanks.” he put it on. He walked over to me and kissed me. This time I let him. I wasn’t going to stop myself with him anymore. He left to go get some clothes. I threw on my back pack and headed down to the lobby. Kyle and CJ were already there waiting for us. I checked out. Corbin finally came down and checked out also.
Kyle drove this time while Corbin and I sat in the back seat. I pulled out a small laptop out of my backpack.
“What do you have in there?” Corbin joked.
“Look and see.” I handed him the back pack. He peeked in and chuckled.
“Well be prepared I guess.” he zipped it up for me.
“You have any weapons?” Kyle asked.
“Why?” I asked as the car came to a slow stop. 2 large men walked up to the car holding machine guns.
“Get out of the car!” one ordered. We did what we were told.
“What’s going on?” I asked. He grabbed me by the back of the head and dragged me to a limo.
The door flew open and inside was Dutch Anders smoking a cigar. “We meet again. Get in the car!” he ordered. I got in and sat down.
“What do you want?” I snarled.
“There seems to be a small matter concerning vampires. And your face and name came up a lot.” he said drinking a dark glass and from the smell of it, it was blood.
“You’re a vampire?” I whispered.
“Me, No I am no vampire.” he gave a evil laugh.
“I can smell the blood in the glass.” I said.
“You can? Well then I guess your right, I am a vampire.” he turned and looked at me with his eyes glowing and his fangs showing.
“What do you want from me?” I asked again.
“I want Michael to surrender the Vampire Nation over to me.” he snarled.
“And what does that have to do with me.” I asked.
“He is your mate.” he said.
“No I’m not, he is with someone else.” I went to leave.
“Really, I heard it was you.” he said puling out something from his pocket.
“You heard wrong!” I had my hand on the door and it flew open, 2 big men were standing there.
“Shoot her!” he ordered.
They dragged me out in the middle of a field. I could see Corbin, Kyle and CJ being forced to watch.
“Such a waste!” one of them said. I heard the click of their guns. I closed my eyes and waited for the shooting to start. I heard 2 shots go off and then burning in my back. It didn’t hurt but I pretended to be dead. I held my breath and laid still.
“Is she dead?” One of the men asked. I felt his fingers on my neck.
“Yes, she is dead!” he said. I heard them walking away. I could feel the bullets beginning to slowly move out of my body.
I waited for everyone to leave before I attempted to move. I heard footsteps running towards me.
“NORA!” someone yelled. Corbin bent down and rolled me over to face him, I acted dead.
“Is she dead?” Kyle asked.
“They are leaving!” CJ said. I began to blink.
“Your alive!” Corbin whispered.
“Yes, I am a vampire, shots from a gun wont kill me. I been shot before.” I rose up and dusted myself off.
Corbin hugged me tightly. “That scared the shit out of me!”
“Yeah, me too.” I said.