Bleeding Love (5 page)

“Why does that
make a difference?” She just wasn’t getting why Xavier could know all this time
but she couldn’t.

“Vampires age
very slowly. At two hundred years they are as a thirteen year old human. We
wanted to give you time for your body and mind to aged. As an adult in both the
vampire and the human world, you can help take care of yourself. You can learn
the skills you need to survive, to make your own decisions. The reality is that
the curse or spell was not intended to last forever, but to give you time to
become an adult. Now you can live and survive without the help of the curse,”
her father smiled at her.

 “So the curse is
completely broken?” Adrienne asked. Her mouth formed into a very thin line. She
didn't know what she thought about all of this. What the night’s revelations
would mean to her life. She would need to learn a lot more about being a
vampire before she could have an opinion. What really bothered her is that she
knew she was a pretty shallow human being. She liked boys, she liked to party,
she wanted to go to Mexico on Spring Break. She just knew this whole vampire
princess, betrothed, and well…dad had said something about vampire
hunters
…was
going to really interfere with her shallow human, but happy life.

“The curse isn't
completely broken.”

She blinked.
Excuse
me.
“What do you mean the curse isn’t completely broken?”

“There are
remnants of the spell that still remain. That will probably always remain. You
retain many of your human characteristics. For instance unlike most vampires, you
can still go in the sun without burning your skin or eyes. You can control the
need to feed on negative energy, and you can use human food for sustenance. So
basically, you're still human except that you have some powers. Some of the
powers that you will have we know about, and some we may have to discover.
Vampires can all see and hear things from miles away. We do this very easily,
you may have to work at it and concentrate.”

“Don't forget her
super-strength,” Xavier said, laughing. “Obviously she isn’t going to have to
think about using that power. Just a few sexual insinuations here and there,
and you'll be able carry a pick-up truck with ease. But she might need to learn
how to control that power. Can you imagine her hitting a tennis ball, now?”

After he said
that, he did the hottest thing; he winked at her. Xavier Kristofferson, the guy
with the very hot last name winked at her, but she frowned. “What did I say
about your sexually-related remarks?”

He shook his
head, not understanding what she meant, but she knew he was only pretending.

“You don't
remember? I said I didn't like them,” she finished, intending on rushing to his
side in an attempt to surprise him. Instead she surprised herself. She went
from her chair, to his side in the blink of an eye. With her eye’s opened wide
in amazement, she turned to her father for answers, but Xavier beat her to it.

“You're pretty
slow for a vampire but extremely fast for a human,” he teased. “This is one of
the first vampire powers we have to learn to control. You can’t do this in
front of humans, obviously. But you won’t be as fast as a vampire, as that is another
element of the curse.”

“Curse or no
curse,” Adrienne started, dashing around the room, a few papers on her father's
desk flying away. She had to admit having super-speed was extremely fun since
it made her feel really carefree and as if she could out run any thing. She
could run across forests and not have to worry about some beast catching her.
She decided she was going to do that some time—run endlessly and be unstoppable.

Suddenly she
understood why all the vampires she read about in stories or watched in movies
were arrogant and egocentric. After all, they had powers, the intellect, and
the beauty humans could only dream of having. There were plenty of reasons that
they thought they were great. And now Adrienne knew she was one of them, but
she still loved her human side—the cursed side. “Curse or no curse, I am 
so
 happy
I can still have total fun in Cabo!”

“Spring Break is
still months away, it's only October,” said her father, in a matter-of-fact
tone.

“And your point
is?”

“Before you start
dreaming about the fun you'll have in Mexico, there are many things to learn.
And you can’t tell anyone that you are a vampire. You can talk about this with
me, with Brianna, and with Xavier. That is all.”

Adrienne's
stomach suddenly twisted in nervousness. She didn’t really like that. What
about Ethan, or her other friends?

“Eventually you
will have to choose between remaining in the Day Class, or switching to the
Night Class to learn more of your vampire side,” her father said.

She didn’t have
to think about that one. “I'd like to sta—”

“Just think about
it first,” her father said, interrupting her. “You have a week before I'll ask
you again, so just wait and see how things go this week and think carefully
about your choice.”

Adrienne had
already made a decision, but since her father gave her a week, she gladly took
the seven days. She thought she’d probably learned all she wanted to know about
vampires for the moment. She was on severe overload. She absolutely didn’t want
to talk about Xavier and why they were betrothed. She wanted out. So she simply
smiled before asking, “Now can I go?”

“Not before I
give you my birthday gift, kiddo.”

Adrienne grinned
when she saw her father open one of the drawers of his desk. He got a very tiny
plastic bag from the mahogany table before he went around and stood in front of
his daughter. Adrienne took the gift gladly and fished a contact container out
of the bag.

“Uh, thanks, dad,”
she said to him, smiling rather awkwardly before she stood on her tiptoes and
kissed him on the cheek. She didn't need contacts, especially now that she was
vampire. Didn’t her dad say they could see miles away? But still, the gift was
from her father. She was thankful.

“No problem,” Carter
Stahl then said before he turned to Xavier who was grinning.

The centuries old
vampire prince then faced the debutante, chuckling while saying, “You don't
want your eyes to suddenly turn blood red in the middle of class.”

Monday morning
came quickly which meant that Adrienne had to get her ass out of bed for
school, even if the Egyptian cotton and linen sheets were tempting her to sleep
in. Being a vampire, she didn't really need sleep, but her body enjoyed the
rest and just wallowing in laziness. Evidently she could eat human food, or siphon
negative energy. She hadn’t noticed any fangs yet, so maybe she couldn’t eat
blood like normal vampires. She sighed, the cozy comfort of her bed enticed her
to stay there just a few more minutes.

Adrienne got out
of her queen-sized bed and took her time in the hot shower. Finished she
wrapped a towel around her torso, sauntered over to her bedroom's walk-in
closet, and picked a mini-skirt and a spaghetti-strapped lace top for the day.

When she left her
bedroom and started walking down the main spiral staircase of the mansion, she
fell in stride with Xavier. She saw him run a hand through his ebony-colored
hair, and when they locked eyes, Adrienne couldn't help but marvel at the sight
of his eyes with out the crimson stain of blood hunger. They were a deep shade
of blue and looked like the midnight-sky.

 “What's this?”
He interrupted her thoughts and tugged on one of the straps of her top. “Is
this what humans call clothes?” His eyes didn't leave her bare shoulders, and
in addition to that, he could easily study every naked inch along the nape of
her neck. Xavier could feel her blood pumping through her veins, and he wanted
just a small taste.

That confused
him. Vampires craved human blood, and they got sustenance from the blood of
animals, but the blood of their own kind typically held no attraction. But
right now he could smell Adrienne's blood; she had the most exquisite sent.

“It's what you
call a top, and yes, it's what we—”

He raised one of
his eyebrows up at her, and in response, she rolled her eyes before continuing.

“—it’s what 
they
 call
clothes.”                       

“I'd say humans
have no taste when it comes to dressing up, but since you're a vampire and are
wearing them, I'll just leave it at humans having little taste.”

Adrienne couldn't
help but snicker. 
Was he for real? 
Did he really just insult
her fashion sense? And this was a first; really, a guy telling her he wasn't
enjoying the view of a woman in a short skirt and a revealing top. She couldn't
contain the smirk that was fast spreading across her face.

“You're just
saying that because my scent is much stronger now since I'm wearing so little.”

A look of shock
and guilt swept over his face.

She teased him
further. “You probably want to dig your fangs into my neck.”

His eyes flashed
from cobalt blue to shocking red.

Realizing that
she had just provoked him, she ran swiftly down the stairs and in about five
seconds, she was in the kitchen, and so was he.

“Have I told you
you're slow for a vampire?” he asked, smirking. He looked hotter than ever in a
pair of cargo shorts and a loose black t-shirt.

Instead of
grinning back at him, she pursed her lips. He always managed to insult her,
degrading things that she did. “Quite a few times,” was her terse reply.

She wanted him to
leave—to just go back to his room and hang with his vampire friends, speaking
of which,

“Aren't you
supposed to be at the dorms? It's too early to speak with my father, you know.”

Adrienne opened the
refrigerator and got out a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich. She placed it inside
the microwave to heat up. With only her father and her living in the house, they
only needed a few housekeepers. At some point last night her father had said
that some of the helpers around the house were vampires, they had they had been
looking after her ever since she was born. Talk about loyalty.

“Your father
thought it would be a good idea if I lived here with the two of you.”

“He was probably
high when he told you that.”

Of course, she
was only joking, but Xavier seemed to take it seriously for a moment proven by
the way his eyes darkened for a second.

“I'm sure he
wasn't and isn't on drugs.” Xavier squared his shoulders as he regained his
apathetic, all-high and mighty posture. “He gave me the room across yours. Considering
you're my fiancé, you should be grateful.”

“And why should
 I
 feel
grateful?”

He didn't need to
think about his answer. “Because if we were to share a bed you wouldn't be able
to keep your hands off me.”

Adrienne feigned
amusement. “Hah-hah,” she said quite dully. “Is that one of the many vampire
jokes I have never heard of. It doesn’t sound like a joke to me. It’s not funny
at all.”

Xavier's red eyes
became translucent. He was entertained. “I'm sure the attraction you feel for
me isn't a joke.”

Who knew
vampires had a sense of humor?
 She thought before she sighed heavily, turned around and
left the kitchen, heading outside to the driveway. She looked up at the sky. The
sun was high and shining pretty bright, so it surprised her when Xavier came up
behind her and waited for her to get into her SUV. The rays of the sun lit up
his hair, and the usual black strands appeared to have dark blue streaks running
through them.

“Why aren't you
dead yet?” she asked the vampire, and that in turn, made him smirk.

“Should I be
dead?” He feigned confusion, and she could only harden her gaze at him. He was
always making her feel inferior to him, and she didn't like that. No matter how
hot he was, he was still arrogant. The arrogance was different somehow from Ethan.
She thought her boyfriend could be nominated sainthood; he was such a good guy.

“You're a
vampire! You're supposed to turn to dust when you go out in the sun!”

“You've been
watching too many movies,” he said, stepping closer until he stood right beside
her and the Mercedes. The vehicle was a gleaming black and had a custom-made
interior of white leather seats. Xavier knew that she considered this car her
baby, another very human trait. He cut his thoughts short and again looked back
at her. She was extremely pretty, with loose wavy curls and innocent-looking
eyes although there were tons of vampires who were much more attractive than
Adrienne. She was stunning.

“But seriously,
answer me.” Her face was honest, genuinely confused at the complexity of
vampire
rules
. “Why don't you look the least bit hurt or affected by the
sun?”

In truth,
he 
was
 affected; he could feel the rays of the sun burning his
skin slowly, although he could handle the pain for a few more hours, as long as
he didn't look directly at the sun. That would cause horrible damage to his
eyes. He was feeling hotter than usual, but he was used to this, the extreme
warmth of the sun. He'd been exposed to California weather for quite a while
now.