Breathless (23 page)

“
Ah, you see the resemblance,” he said. It was impossible to miss. From the auburn ringlets to her golden brown eyes, she looked nearly identical to me. “Beautiful, isn’t she? I can see why Alexei was so taken with her.”

The sound of his name sent a tremor though my body.

“
Alexei will come for you eventually, but only once you have reached a certain maturity, if you will. That’s why it was so important for me to come now, while you’re still so young.”

I still didn’t understand why Chaseyn was here. He could tell.

“
I came to stop him.”

“
Why?”

“
My mom was victim to his charisma when she was human,” he began to explain.

“
Your mom’s not human?”

“
No. But she was when she met him. They had a whirlwind courtship, marrying just before he was scheduled to ship out to Normandy during the Second World War. She became pregnant immediately with me. He knew he had to turn her or risk losing us both. I’m half human, half vampire, but she is completely undead.”

“
I’m still not sure I understand why you want to help me and not
him
,” I said cautiously.

“
He never came back for us. He left us to learn the ways of this new life on our own, which is unacceptable to our kind. Had he not been the ‘child’ of such an ancient, formidable vampire, others would have tortured him with the most severe of punishments. But that is a story for another time,” Chaseyn said casually. “For most of their short-lived union, Mina and Alexei lived in his cottage in the woods. He never returned to the house after the war. Though we remained there for a brief while when I was first born—and visited for short stays often over the years—Mina hated being in isolation. She wanted to be among others like
us
. Fortunately, in Europe
our kind
are much more common, and Mina soon found a coven working as folk musicians in a Soho pub where she had taken a job as a barmaid. At first, she wasn’t aware of
what
they were, but they knew immediately that she had a dark secret. One evening, they invited her to their home in a dark alley behind the tavern. In her previous form, she would have feared for her life, thinking these beautiful, brooding creatures wanted more than she was willing to give. But soon, she clued in to their alternate lifestyle. They took her—
us
—in under their wings to help us adjust to this life of eternal darkness. I hate to think where we would be today if not for them. We stayed with them for only a short time—about 15 years.”

“
But, what about
him
,
” I asked, frustrated that he hadn’t said any more about Alexei.

“
We only know what those most-hospitable vampires told us years ago. Alexei was a relatively young vampire at the time, having been turned about 100 years earlier. His father, though, was one of the ancients, offspring of the original immortal couple. He was very powerful, and he passed some of that power on in his blood. But that’s a story for another time.

“
My mother didn’t know what Alexei was when she married him. She didn’t choose this life, and she’s not the only one. He’s done this to other unsuspecting women. It’s nearly impossible to know who he will prey on next, but we knew he would come for you one day soon. If we could even stop him from claiming one more innocent life…”

“
So that’s it? All this time, you’ve been leading me on in an effort to save me from
him
? How could you lie to me like this? I fell in love with you.”

“
I’m not done,” he said, fury raging like a storm in his mossy eyes. “That first day, at the school, I saw you, and something happened that I wasn’t expecting. Something I couldn’t control. This is going to sound silly, and I’m embarrassed to even speak the words, but it was love at first sight. You felt it, too. I know you did.”

He was right. From the moment I first had laid eyes on him at the back of the English class, and then again in the hall later, I knew we had an impenetrable connection.

“
I’m not going to hurt you. Not ever.”

“
How can you be so sure? Don’t you have uncontrollable primal urges? I’ve read
Dracula
.”

Gregarious laughter rolled off his lips, and I thought he might actually bust a gut.

“
What,” I shrugged innocently. By now, my fear had eased, and I felt fairly certain that Chaseyn was harmless—to me anyway.

“
How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not a vampire. I’m human—mostly,” he said, grabbing my hand and placing it on his chest so I could feel his heartbeat.

“
It’s the mostly part that scares me,” I said, curling into his arms.

“
For all intents and purposes, I’m no different from you, with the exception of a few minor details.”

“
Can you fly,” I asked deadpan.

He just smiled and shook his head.

“
Does holy water burn your skin,” I asked next.

Chaseyn rolled his eyes. I was taunting, and he knew it. Relief washed over him; I could tell by the way his shoulders relaxed before I asked the next question.

“
Do you read minds?”

Now, Chaseyn was laughing uncontrollably. He was taking great pleasure in my ignorance.

“
Well, why don’t you enlighten me, then,” I said, embarrassed that I was so clearly naïve to immortal code. My hands were trembling, but my anguish had softened. Still, I wondered, now that I knew his secret, would some sort of undead justice league force him to kill me?

When Chaseyn finally regained his composure, he looked at me with sincere concern. I wondered what he was contemplating. Perhaps, he was deciding my fate.

“
Forget everything you thought you knew,” he began.

“
That doesn’t leave very much,” I said.

He shrugged and continued.

“
I can’t fly or leap tall buildings—just small ones—and reading minds is just a myth, too,” he began.

“
Well, that sounds like a rip off. What’s the advantage,” I asked.

“
That I’m going to look this good forever,” he said with a wink. “Seriously? I’m not sure you would call them advantages.”

I looked at him with pleading eyes. Now that he had entrusted me with his secret, I wanted to know everything, and he was holding out.

“
I have heightened awareness on multiple levels—it’s kind of like sensory overload. I can hear a pin drop, run like the wind, smell the faintest odor, and see with incredibly clarity for miles. I have exceptionally precise aim, my intellect is incomparable, and my reflexes are second-to-none,” he explained.

“
Anything else,” I asked.

“
I have a reflection, as you know, but true vampires do not, and my saliva has a healing power. Remember when we first met…that wound…no scar,” he said, before carrying on with a snicker. “Oh, and, I don’t sleep in a coffin and garlic, holy water, and crucifixes…more myths.”

“
That’s it?”

“
One last thing,” he added. “I have a sixth sense. I am incredibly intuitive.”

That last part explained a lot, I thought. Like how he always seemed to know what I was thinking or planning before even I did.

“
Is that right,” I asked.

He smiled coyly.

“
I think I might need an example to illustrate what you mean.”

“
Well, I know that your mom is likely getting suspicious about what’s happening up here. We’re being too quiet,” he said.

“
That’s too obvious,” I replied.

“
Okay, um, let me think of something else. You’re hungry.”

“
My stomach growled, and it’s been six hours since I last ate. Anybody could draw that conclusion,” I goaded.

Chaseyn shrugged.

“
I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” he said, reaching his hand out, palm up, next to my head.

“
What are you doing,” I asked confused.

“
Shhh. Wait.”

Just then, my left earring fell from my lobe, landing softly in his waiting hand.

“
Lucky guess,” I said, though I was clearly impressed. He smiled like the Chesire cat.

“
I’ve got to go,” he said, kissing me on the head and dashing for the door. “I should head downstairs before your mom comes up. I’ll tell her you’re sleeping. She’ll likely come up in a minute or two to check that I’m not lying. Curl up on your side, tuck your arms under your pillow, and breathe deeply.”

“
How did you know that’s how I sleep?”

“
Really? I thought you were paying better attention,” he chided. “Have you forgotten already?”

“
Wait,” I shouted just above a whisper. Chaseyn turned quickly on his heel to face me, sensing the urgency in my voice. “We’re hardly through here.”

Chaseyn was stepping backward, inching his way closer and closer to the door. I had mere seconds to get out the words I needed to say before he would disappear into the narrow hallway.

“
You’re practically over it,” he replied smugly, his hand reaching behind his back for the doorknob. “I can tell that you’re warming up to the idea. Everything will be back to normal soon.”

“
You never told me about Alexei. What’s he going to do to me?”

“
Nothing,” he said firmly.

“
Nothing,” I repeated. Surely, we hadn’t gone through this entire charade for nothing.

“
Not while I’m here. I promise.”

And, he was gone. Sure enough, less than five minutes later, I heard the soft pads of my mom’s feet climbing the staircase. She peeked her head inside the door and seemed sufficiently satisfied with what she saw. I, of course, appeared to be sleeping soundly. In actuality, I was working hard to maintain control as I pondered all of the outrageous events that had transpired over the afternoon. It explained so much—the cool breeze whenever Chaseyn was nearby, the low gasps as my finger bled, the calming effect he had on people, the haunting dreams and how they stopped when he arrived. It was so clear now. He had been there all along, keeping a constant vigil outside my bedroom window.

I was in love with a semi-immortal, mutant freak. Around here, the biggest problem most couples faced was whether they should vote republican or democratic or if they should raise their kids Catholic or Protestant. I wondered how we would explain
this
to our kids. I supposed we could always offer them their choice of blood or milk with their meals.

Once I knew my mom had cleared the room and was firmly planted in front of the television watching her favorite soap opera, I reached for the phone beside my bed. There was just one more thing nagging at my conscience, and I needed an answer. I hit speed dial and waited for the warmth of his familiar voice on the other end of the line. When he answered, I didn’t waste any time with formal greetings. If he was truly intuitive, I wouldn’t have much time to get out the words before he caught on to the reason for my call. I blurted out what was on my mind.

“
Chaseyn, I just need to know one more thing,” I said hesitantly.

“
Anything.”

“
Were you ever going to tell me?”

Silence. I had my answer.

Chapter 23 - Catastrophe

For the most part, life went back to normal the next day—normal as in how it had been before Chaseyn and I had taken a break from each other. We were once again inseparable. I still had plenty of unanswered questions—and I was a tiny bit terrified of
what
he was—but I tried to overlook those details. At least, for a while. Chaseyn had been pretty forthcoming in the sanctuary of my bedroom, and I decided to cut him some slack. We never spoke of the secrets that were revealed that day. Life continued this way for a long time. Until, one day, my life changed course.

“
Lia, you’re grandma’s had an accident,” my mom said. She sounded serious, but she seemed calm. If something truly bad had happened, she would have been a mess, so I waited quietly for her to finish. “She slipped on some ice going up the stairs to her house, and she broke her hip.”

“
That’s terrible, mom. Is she going to be okay?”

“
She’ll be fine, but she could use some help getting around,” she continued. “That’s what I really wanted to talk to you about.”

I sensed I wasn’t going to like what was coming next.