Bleeding Love (22 page)

Forgetting that
vampire regents had the ability to read the minds of other vampires, Adrienne
bit her lip in embarrassment. She never expected this kind of thing to happen.
Maybe she shouldn’t have come home early or skipped the after-party. If she
were to put the blame on someone, it was going to be Xavier, but looking at
him, her eyes narrowed. He seemed like all the energy had been sucked out of
him. And she hadn't used her psychic powers on him.

“Is something
wrong?” she asked, eyeing her father, Xavier, and his mother.

They all acted like
something serious had just happened. However she didn’t have a clue what it
could be.

“It's Dad, isn't
it?” Xavier turned to look right into his mother's eyes and saw the answer in
them.

Suddenly,
Adrienne had some idea of what everyone was worried about. She still had a lot
of unanswered questions.

Coincidentally or
not, Xavier wondered about the same things. “But how?” He was moving towards
his mother. “He's not supposed to die?”

Xavier's mom,
whose name Adrienne still didn't know yet, placed a hand on Carter Stahl's
shoulder, and in return, he nodded in understanding. “I'll explain for you,
Henrietta.”

“Explain what?”
Xavier's voice rose. “That my father's going to die? But he's immortal.”

“I’m sorry
Xavier. But your father was shot in the heart with a bullet that was specially
designed for maximum damage to our species,” Adrienne's father finished, and
because of the gravity of his words, Xavier could only fall to the floor.

In comfort,
Adrienne took slow steps before she stood beside him then knelt down. She
grazed his shoulders with one of her arms and welcomed him to lean closer to
her. He didn't, and she felt her heart constrict. It was only now that she realized
how important his family was to him.

“He was shot by a
woman know as Fedora Jekaterina. She is one of the most infamous vampire
hunters during this time.” Adrienne's father showed no sign of slowing down or
stopping for sympathy. “She shot your father with a bullet that was designed to
release a noxious substance that will slowly kill your father’s body. We don’t
have an antidote, or cure for this weapon.”

“So you came here
just to bring the bad news?” Xavier said, addressing the question to his mother.

She slowly walked
over to him, and Adrienne obediently moved aside to give the woman space. It
was the first time she ever saw Xavier completely vulnerable. “I wouldn't
travel over three thousand miles just to bring you this news. I could call and
speak with you about this.”

“So why else are
you here?”

They continued
staring at each other.

“I've always
known you were a smart boy.” Her smile wobbled. “I've come to bring you home.”

In that moment,
Adrienne froze. Her whole word just stopped. It took her father's warm,
comforting hand to bring her back to reality. The bomb had just been dropped,
and quite abruptly for that matter. She and her father turned to Xavier and his
mom. By the look on his face, he didn't look like he wanted to leave. She
guessed right.

“But this is my
home.”

“Xavier, I know
it's hard to leave a place you've grown so accustomed to, but your father's
sick, and we don't know how much time he has left.” Henrietta Kristofferson was
the archetype of what a queen was supposed to be. “And you're going to replace
him,” she then said, turning to face Adrienne next. “And you're going to
replace me.”

“Henrietta, you
don’t expect my daughter to leave with you, do you?”

The regent's
smile melted the ice and tension enveloping the whole room. By the tremor in
her voice, Adrienne knew she truly loved her Kingdom. “Not yet, but I need
Xavier to go back. You do understand my stand, right, Carter?”

Adrienne's father
nodded his head before he turned to face Xavier. The vampire in question was
still glued to the floor, his head bent down, and his body preternaturally still.
“Your mother's right, your kingdom needs you.”

“But my father
isn't dead.”

“Your mother and
your father's loyal board of trustees still have to train you. They need time
to groom you and make you into a king, a ruler ready to serve his country.”

Xavier was
hesitant.

“Your dad and
I 
need
 you, Xavier.”

And that resolved
all his uncertainty. He propped his palms on the cold floor and pushed himself
up. His nod was minute, but everyone saw it and understood his commitment.

Adrienne's guts
tightened. She didn't know why, but she really didn’t like what was happening.
She hadn’t had enough time with him. But this wasn’t about her. She tried to
look at Xavier, but ever since he was made aware of the news of his father's
poor health, he hadn’t once glanced her way.

“When are we
leaving?” he asked, dusting off his pants.

“Later tonight.”

“You should say
goodbye to Aidan and the rest,” Adrienne meekly offered.

He turned to face
her and nodded, it took a lot of courage but he smiled. He barely tilted his
lips upward, but the curve was there, and Adrienne just had to smile back. It
was the first time she saw some light in him ever since he knew of his father's
condition, and knowing that she was able to brighten up his day made her happy
as well.

“I can do that
after you help me pack.”

Carter Stahl and
Henrietta Kristofferson eyed each other like a bunch of teenagers. Something
was going on with their two children. And it looked like something good. It
would really be bad if this separation interfered with that.

“Don't bring too
much stuff, Xavier dear,” the female vampire regent said, still smirking. “I
look forward to seeing you again, Adrienne.”

“Same here, Mrs.
Kristofferson.”

Her smile was
genuinely polite. “Hopefully, it will be soon. You have an open invitation to
visit us in Europe.”

“I'd like to
visit Europe again,” was her understated answer.

Xavier didn’t
leave that night, but he was leaving today. They had gone to their respective
beds for some rest, and now Adrienne was trying to help him pack. To say that
Xavier's room was a mess was an understatement. He had emptied his closets and
pulled down the posters and pictures that he’d hung on his walls. His clothes
were strewn all across the floor.

Adrienne had to
maneuver strategically through the piles to make sure she didn't step on
anything that was clean. He’d thrown a couple of his vintage shirts on his bed,
and Adrienne was the one to fold them and place them neatly into his luggage.

“Oh how will you
live without me?” Adrienne teased, grouping his clothes according to tops and
bottoms, boxers excluded of course.

That was Xavier's
business.

“Life will be a
bit boring; I’m sure, but still bearable.”

He walked over to
her side and watched her as she tried to take care of him. She was cleaning up
after him, folding his clothes, fixing things before she put them away. She
then motioned for him to pick up his bathroom stuff, and when he gave them to
her, she placed them in one of the larger pockets of the suitcase. It made him
emotional.

“But seriously,
things are going to be different especially with the Night Class.” She avoided
making eye contact with him. “You'll be missed.”

Smirking, he
placed a hand on her mop of hair and disheveled it, forcing her to swat his arm
away.

She frowned at
him as he kept the smirk on his face.

“I'll miss you
too, Adrienne,” he said, his voice void of the slightest emotion.

His fiancé had no
idea whether he was being serious or not. “Too bad I won't miss your smartass-i-ness.”

“Good luck with
the SATs.” He was chuckling softly. “Looks like you'll need it.”

In return, she
chucked one of his jeans at him, but he caught it swiftly and without strain.
She momentarily forgot about his out-of-this-world agility, and speaking of forgetting,
she reminded him of their most recent unfinished conversation.

“You still
haven't told me,” she left the statement hanging.

But Xavier
immediately understood what she meant.

Turning to
finally face him, she saw him bite at his bottom lip. He was contemplating
whether to tell or not to tell. He shifted at her side, and to steady him,
Adrienne nudged him lightly on the shoulder.

“You promised you
were going to tell.” She stopped packing his things. “And you're leaving in a
few hours.”

“Why are you so
adamant about knowing?” he asked her curiously.

It was Adrienne's
turn to think. Why was she pressuring him to tell her the reason he'd been so
lively for the past few weeks? It wasn't her responsibility to keep herself
up–to–date with the happenings in his life. She knew it just couldn't be all
about curiosity. The pressure to know came from deep within her, so deep that
she couldn't explain what it was exactly.

“Aidan and the
others are going to be here in an hour or so. You're purposely stalling, aren't
you?”

He sighed,
knowing she wasn't going to give up.

“It's not that
I'm stalling,” he answered quietly. “I just don't want to burden you with more
problems.”

She was taken
aback by that. The reason he was happy, was going to make her life harder? That
didn't make sense. If this was his way of staying secretive, she was going to
have to step up her game. “And what may these burdens be?”

Trying to be
intimidating and bordering on seductive, she moved closer to him, the skin of
her leg grazing his as well. Surprisingly, Xavier didn't move away. He held his
gaze on her face, before dropping his eyes to look at her clasped hands.

Sighing he said,
“I don’t want to burden you with my feelings,” before he ran a hand through his
messy mop of black hair. Knowing that what he said confused his fiancé, he
continued, not giving her time to question him. “I like yo–,” He shook his
head. “No, I love you.”

She choked on
air. “L, lo–love?” She was frozen beside him. “Xavier, that's a strong word,”

“I knew you'd
react like this. That was why I didn't want to tell you,”

She nodded her
head in understanding. “But I kept pushing you.”

Minutes passed,
and they remained at each other's sides but never touching. She was still
trying to grasp the idea of how he could harbor such strong feelings for her.
It wasn't even like she was really nice to him most of the time. She’d been
nicer lately, but in the beginning she’d been horrible. “How do you know?”

“I knew you long
before you knew me,” he said, reminding her of how he protected and watched
over her during the last few centuries. “I didn't love you as a man loves a
woman then. But I knew you were mine. From the very first time I met you I knew
that we were to be bound for time and all eternity. When I saw you again on
your
eighteenth
birthday I was drawn to you even more. That was why I
kissed you.”

Standing up,
Adrienne walked over to the balcony where Xavier left her alone to think. She
watched the sun sitting high in the late morning sky. She tried to think of an
answer that wouldn't hurt Xavier. Yes, she was attracted to him, but that only
reached the borders of physicality and she knew how vampires were when it came
to love. Seconds turned to minutes, and after a while, the bulb in her brain
lit up. She made her way back to his bed and propped herself up next to him.

“I know what
you're looking for,” she started, tensing up. “But I can't give that,
yet
,
so all I ask is time. You want something 
real
. You don't deserve
the attraction, the lust, I feel for you. That's why you have to come visit me,
you have to come back.

He completed her
sentence. “And that's when you'll give me your answer.”

She nodded
smiling, happy that he wasn't offended with what she said. To alleviate her
nervousness even more, he pulled her closer to him and began to embrace her.
She gave in and leaned her head on the curve of his neck as she took in his
scent.

“I'm sorry.”

“This is my home.
I'm bound to come back.”

Still hugging,
they were so completely immersed in the moment that they didn't hear the others.
Aidan, Brianna, Yvonne, Tatiana, and Valerie witnessed the intimate hug the two
shared, and blushing, Adrienne abruptly stood up before rushing to Brianna's
side.

“Thank God you
guys finally came,” Adrienne greeted, covering up her unease. “I was beginning
to wonder what kind of friends Xavier had, you know, not showing up before he
had to leave.”

“The sun was
bothersome,” said Yvonne, annoyed with what she saw a while ago.

“Hangover,” Valerie
and Tatiana answered simultaneously.

“We're here
anyway.” That was Aidan. “So let's go get the party started!”

“We're supposed
to be sulking not enjoying ourselves!” Brianna interjected.