by Anna Santos
“I was just hungry.”
“Baby, you need to trust me.”
“Why would I? You thought I wanted to break up with you.” I pouted, still annoyed and hurt about that.
“First, we needed to be in a relationship in order to break up,” he pointed out. “I guess when people are friends with benefits, it isn’t called breaking up.”
“What can I say to make you feel better?” I asked, since there was no point in beating around the bush. I would spend too much time trying to ease his fears, when I had a really nasty thing to confess.
I looked up at him, noticing that he was pondering my words.
“I want you to marry me after you cut Ewan’s head off,” he said, his eyes furrowing deeply. I dropped the spoon from my hand and it fell on the floor, making a loud metallic noise.
I said the first thought that crossed my mind, maybe the second, because the first was a bit of static and surprise. “We are immortal, we don’t get married.”
“Of course we do. We have a ceremony to marry us before the Goddess. She will bless our union and—I want to be married to you.”
“Hum,” I mumbled. “Why?”
“I don’t know, Violet, maybe because I’m tired of being single,” he replied sarcastically. Undoubtedly annoyed with my question. He seemed to regret his comment because he honeyed his voice to talk next. “Ewan never married you. Not in front of the Christian God nor any god, did he?”
“No. We just—assumed our union as a married couple. I’ve married other men, but they are all dead now. And I was faithful to Ewan for more than three hundred years.”
“I want to marry you, to have you for myself. For three hundred, four hundred, as long as you want me,” he whispered, tender voice and beaming eyes. “We can even have babies. You said you wanted to be a mom.”
“I can’t be a mom anymore,” I sulked, amazed that he even remembered that from my hallucinations, when I was experiencing the first weeks of the treatment. “Besides I had a terrible experience.”
“We can test them first for pathological diseases.”
I laughed against his stomach. I liked that he was funny. Even if I was just realizing how funny he was now that we were spending so much time together, and he was being less secretive around me.
“Eylones can have babies,” he clarified, holding on to his own laughter. I stopped laughing and stared at his face with inquisitive eyes. “We are making the necessary treatments to make your ovaries able to conceive with other Eylone males.”
“Other Eylone males—but there are only five in the whole world, right?”
“With me if you wish and if it doesn’t work, then I—can step back and let another one try but—you will be my wife, my lover, and I could—raise your kids like my own.”
I sat on the bed, noticing how it was small with him in it. He was huge and impressively well-built. It didn’t help that I blushed every time I found myself thinking how handsome he was. However, I was not focusing in his attractive features. I was replaying his words in my mind and my head spun around, even if I was trying to look calm.
“So there will be like five Eylone males trying to claim me?”
“Of course not.” He sat on the bed, shaking the mattress with his weight and getting tense by my words. “It will be an in vitro fertilization. No creepy mating rituals,” he declared, acting all protective, putting his arms around me and bringing me to the safety of his hug.
“You got me worried for a second there.”
“You are mine, no one will touch you,” he muttered, possessiveness reaching its peak, and making me shake my head in front of his face. “You will be.”
“You are annoyingly insistent,” I complained, but I was not really mad about it.
“I know what I want, Violet, and I just wish...Just think about it, honey. I can wait for an answer,” he mumbled against my face, playing with some locks of my hair between his fingers. I could feel his lips touching my skin and I knew he wanted to kiss me. However, I was evading his mouth each time he tried.
“What’s wrong with you, Violet?” He asked when he trailed kisses on my cheeks and I evaded my mouth from his once again.
“Promise me you won’t get mad,” I requested, hiding my face against his shirt and wetting the fabric, since the hurt that laced his voice was enough to make me start crying again.
“What have you done?” His voice trembled when he asked.
“I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t, but you are the only person I can tell this to and—I need you to know what happened. I wouldn’t feel good with myself if I didn’t tell you,” I sobbed, gripping harder at his shirt.
“You slept with him,” he tried to guess, and his face was dark when I stared at him. “We both knew that this would happen. It was just a matter of time. You wouldn’t be able to withstand the attraction that you still feel for him.”
“Let me explain first.”
“You love him, you loved him all this time, even after knowing all the bad things he has done. Did you come here to tell me that you want to go back to him?”
His voice came out broken, and I felt his pain inside my own heart. I put two fingers over his lips and shook my head to his question. I had to reassure him and calm him down. How could he think that? I had just told him that I didn’t want to break up with him. Galvin drifted between insecure and possessive behavior.
“I came here to tell you that—it’s true that he came to my house and he tried to take me to bed. It’s true that, for some moments there, I was tempted to sleep with him. But then I realized something,” I talked sweetly, so he could fully understand what I wanted. “I may still have feelings for him, even when I know he plotted to get rid of me and stay with Anastasia, but the fact is all those feelings are nothing compared to what I feel for you. I love you.” My voice lost its strength. I felt vulnerable, but I continued to speak. “I was a kid when I fell in love with him. I was naïve and I really didn’t know how the world worked or even what love was all about. I’m tired of spending my energies thinking about revenge. I really don’t even care about it anymore. I’ll just leave them alone to their petty lives, and I’ll move back here, to be closer to you, to spend my days with you,” I whispered next to his lips, trying to figure out if my words were having any effect on him. “Just say something, already,” I urged him, trying to end the suspense and wanting to know his opinion. Would he still want me after all I’ve told him?
“So—you love me.” He grinned after his words.
“Was that all you understood after my long speech?” I questioned with furrowed eyebrows. Before I could complain again, his lips crashed against mine, and he made my mouth open to let his tongue in. My muscles relaxed under his passionate hands and searing kiss.
“Galvin, wait,” I asked, pushing him just enough so I could speak. “We aren’t going to use this bed for playing. I need to get back home and take a shower. I also need a clean change of clothes and...”
“Why? You smell just fine.”
“I’m still feeling dizzy,” I lied. I really needed a shower to cleanse my soul after what happened with Ewan. I deflected Galvin’s attention. “Do you think I should tell Ewan the truth before I’m gone? Just to clear things up and completely bury the past?”
“I think you should just pack your things and leave. Or not even pack, just leave it all behind and move right back here, or better, move into my home.”
“You have a home?”
“Did you think I lived here in the compound?”
“Well, you spend a lot of your time here.”
“It’s where I can find you and where I work. I have a really good excuse for spending my time here. But I have a home, a big home for you and me to live in.”
“It just needs to have a bed, and I’m happy,” I teased him huskily, and he smiled against my lips, nibbling my lower one and making his tongue play with mine.
“Do you want to see my house?”
“Aren’t y
ou on patrol?”
“Yes, but I can always try to find a substitute. We’ve been all doing extra hours.”
“You can show me tomorrow, when I come back. I’m going to go back now. I want to say goodbye to Francesca and Sebastien. Then I’ll pack my things and come back here.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He kissed me again, teasing my lips, sucking my tongue and I felt his smile against my lips. I was also bubbling with happiness. It was rushed, maybe, but it was right. I knew it was right the moment he defended my reputation, the moment he touched me, and kissed me against the old door of my small apartment. He was in love with me, and I was falling deeply in love with him.
“Just explain to me one thing,” I asked, pulling him slightly, so I could speak. “Why was Cyan talking about Anastasia?”
“He’s my undercover agent to have your back. He’s her vampire lover, and like that he can go inside their house and watch Anastasia’s every move. I didn’t want to leave you vulnerable to her. Who knows what she could do to you? Never underestimate a scorned woman.”
“Are you talking from experience?” I asked, amused by his words, but extremely grateful by his concern.
“Maybe.”
I pulled him closer and seized his mouth, kissing him one more time before I left.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Anastasia’s evil doings
WHEN I GOT HOME, I turned on my phone and became extremely worried. I had ten missed calls from Francesca. When I heard them, I panicked, because she was sobbing and begging me to go to her place to talk to me. So I rushed there, neglecting the time, and worrying about the girl with whom I had a nice friendship. It was supposed to be a cover up, but I couldn’t help but feel attached to the girl, even if she had no idea of what I truly was. However, it had been a long time since I labeled a girl as my friend, and Francesca was able to breach my barriers and come inside my heart. She was funny, she was nice, and she was really sweet. If she was in trouble, I would go out of my way to help her.
After three insistent knocks on her door, she finally opened up, and I noticed her smeared makeup and her puffy crying eyes. “What is wrong?”
“Oh, Sarah,” she sobbed, and threw herself into my arms, hugging me. “I’m so stupid. I thought he liked me.”
“Who?” I asked even more baffled.
“Sebastien.”
“What happened?” I questioned, coming inside and closing the door behind me. The room was dark and there was just a light in the corner of the room.
“I saw him with another girl. He invited me to his home, so we could study,” she sobbed, sucking on her lip. “I thought he wanted us to hang out and studying was the excuse. It’s been nice between us, you know. We kissed a few times.” I simply nodded. She sighed deep as she folded her arms. “Then when I arrived at his apartment, the door was opened and I went in. After calling, I heard no answer. But when I went in, I saw that bitch and him in the bedroom, sucking each other’s faces! And when I called his name, it was like he didn’t even recognize me. He didn’t even reply to my questions! I hate him so much right now!”
“Wait up,” I demanded. An unsettling feeling began welling inside me. “Who was kissing Sebastien?”
“That bitch, your boyfriend’s sister. And she is engaged! And then she goes and tries to steal someone else’s boyfriend!”
“Anastasia?” I asked, my heart pounding faster. That wasn’t good, that was not good at all. “When was that?”
“Like one hour ago.”
“Are you all right?”
“No, I’m not all right. I hate him! I hate him, and I hate her! How could he do this to me?”
“I don’t think he—was able to resist,” I mumbled, grabbing my hair, worried about what Francesca told me. “We need to go to Sebastien’s house.”
“What for? I don’t want to see them together. They are probably fucking right now,” she shrieked, fisting her hands. “She was all over him and he didn’t seem to be appalled by her. God! I was so naïve. I thought he was different. I thought we had something special!”
“We need to go to his place right now,” I urged her, worried, thinking about the worst that could happen to Sebastien.
Before Francesca could disagree, I was grabbing her hand, and we were leaving her apartment. I had no idea where Sebastien lived, so I needed her to take me there. Though, it was never a good idea to take an innocent civilian to the place where a vampire was probably feeding or worse. If she had done anything to him, I would kill her. I didn’t care if my revenge was fulfilled or not, I would rip her head off!
***
Fifteen minutes later, we were opening Sebastien’s door and turning on the light in his studio. Things were a little messy, but worse was seeing Sebastien’s body over his bed. The blood was still falling on the mattress and he looked dead. Francesca tensed up and stepped back. Before she could scream and escape, I covered her mouth and made her calm down.
“We need to stay calm. We need to check on him,” I whispered in her ear.
“He’s dead, she killed him. She killed him. She stabbed him,” she sobbed, tears falling down.
“He’s not dead,” I whispered, because I could hear the feeble sound of his heart. “Not yet.”
Francesca opened her eyes wide and ran from my arms to dial the emergency number. I looked around, trying to figure out what Anastasia could win with such a sloppy feed. She made no effort in covering up that she was a vampire. Blood dripped from the puncture marks that she had left in his neck. What was her end game?
I kneeled next to him, bit my wrist, and put my blood over his lips. My blood would heal him. At least, I was hoping it would since I was no longer a vampire. Nevertheless, it had been a reflex. I had done that thousands of times to humans who had been almost killed by other vampires.
To my dismay, Sebastien didn’t react, but the blood was falling down his throat. I was calm, since I had seen millions of scenes like that one, but Francesca hadn’t. She was stuttering on the phone, trying to explain what was happening. I felt sorry for the boy and for her.
Sebastien eventually gasped, expelling blood into my face. I cleaned it, and caressed his forehead, so he would relax. He had a look of panic in his eyes, afraid, no doubt, for his life, reliving the moments that Anastasia showed her fangs and drank the life out of him.
“Everything is going to be fine,” I whispered, while using my enthralling powers to make him forget about the fangs and the vampire. “You cut yourself, and you fainted before you could call for help. But you will be okay now. Francesca is here.” I smiled to reassure him.
“Francesca,” he called, remembering who she was, yearning for her in his eyes.
“Sebastien?” She called from the other side of the bedroom, coming and sitting next to us. “Why there is so much blood? What happened? Did she try to kill him?”
“You don’t remember anything. You never saw Anastasia here. You came here to check on Sebastien and you found him like this. You called an ambulance and now you are going with him to the hospital and you are going to be there for him. Okay?” Francesca just nodded at my words of enthralling. “He will be fine, and you two will date and be happy,” I mumbled to the two of them, making Francesca hold on to his hand. “I’ll see you at the hospital. I need to leave now.”
I got up and left. I had something important to do. I had a vampire to visit, and I was wondering what I was going to do. I needed to confront her, but I needed to understand if Ewan had any part in what happened to Sebastien, or if Sebastien was a victim because he was my friend, and she was telling me to back off. My mind was clouded by hate and by confusion. I was set to leave and never come back, but now that she had threatened my friend’s life. I couldn’t just leave and let her get away with that.
Chapter Twenty-Four
A weird relationship
I KNOCKED ON EWAN’S bedroom suite and waited for someone to open the door. I was hoping that he was there. I was right, because a sleepy and sh
irtless Ewan came to the door. Nice abs and smooth skin were a delight to the eyes, but I had to focus.
“Sarah,” he mumbled, rubbing his tired eyes. “What are you doing here at this time of night?”
“Who is it, Ewan?” Anastasia asked, coming out to the living room in a really sexy negligee. I couldn’t help but think they were doing it, or, at least, had done it.
My eyes stared from Ewan to Anastasia and she smiled; a creepy smile that made me step back.
“Have you changed your mind about our night together?” Ewan teased me, but I just wanted to throw up. The nausea was becoming frequent, every time I was near him. My body was reacting to his actions with repulsion. I breathed deep and built up the nerve to put my plan at work.
“I came here to ask Anastasia why she did it.”
“Did what?” Ewan asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he rubbed his left arm.
“She went to Sebastien’s house and tried to kill him.”
Ewan’s neck snapped to look at Anastasia, who lost her smile.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, trying to sound outraged by my words. “I was here all night.”
“You went to Sebastien’s apartment, drank his blood, and left him to die. We’ve called an ambulance and Francesca is with him in the hospital, but—he lost too much blood. I don’t know if he will make it or not,” I explained with a crying voice, playing the damsel in distress and the grieving friend.
“What are you talking about? I don’t drink blood. Are you crazy?” Anastasia defended herself.
The joke was on her, since Ewan had told me what he was, but apparently he hadn’t told her that he had confessed. I looked at Anastasia with grieving and sobbing face. Tears welled in my eyes. I had a century to practice how to be a lying bitch and Anastasia was out of her league.
“Francesca said she saw you with him. She thought you were cheating on your fiancé. Sebastien and she are dating. We went there to confront him, and we found him almost dead. There was blood everywhere,” I explained, hugging myself and staring from Anastasia to Ewan with watering eyes.