I stayed walking behind Lilliana and Eviline as we made our way to the tiny stores. I didn't try on anything, my head was circling in other places to even try to focus on both Lilly and Evie. I kept checking my phone to see if I got a text or missed call or even email from Luther. Right after they were done shopping we were supposed to get something to eat which was kind of out of the blue. Maybe it's because he was jealous of the fact Rowan had gotten me a present? Which is so off because why is he upset, I mean I barely know him and it's not like we are dating or anything so it's not even his business regardless. Hours go by with no call or text or anything, "Hey Athena if you want all three of us can go and get something to eat-" Eveline says before being interrupted by a deep black car pulling up on the sidewalk then whoever it was gets out of the car and low and behold it was the man of the hour Luther Valentine. "I do apologize I meant to call and none of my texts went through to you seeing I was in a spot with no reception for a long while." I looked him up and down, the girls give me a pat on the back sharing a tiny smirk "Well we will see you tomorrow in school bye girl..~" They tease as they make their way into Lillianna's car. He gives a small chuckle, "Truly I am sorry, are you okay with going now?" I give him a small nod in response. He starts to lead the way to a small restaurant. It had vines growing along the outside of it, the smell of freshly baked sweets flowed out of the front door. My stomach growled loudly and I held it tightly hoping he didn't hear it as well. As we get inside he manages to get us a nice table away from the loud noises and by a big window to get a view of their garden. He was struggling to make small talk considering I only gave him nods or shrugs here and there. He sighs, "Listen I'm sorry for my actions toward you being all over the place, it's just there's something about you that I can't shake from my thoughts. Almost like you're my unhealthy obsession, and then seeing you with Christopher and now this Rowan character I can't really control myself." I stare at him processing everything he had just poured out. So he is jealous of Rowan? And he basically confessed somewhat of his feelings, is this the right Luther because I think we lost the real one. "So you're jealous of my best friend and you like me?" I say. He in response gives me a small shrug, so maybe this is the real Luther still. We ended up talking for hours before he started to drive me home, before we made it to my house I saw my dad's car still at the station. "Hey Luther pull into the station my dad is still here." He gives a small nod and pulls into the parking lot and he walks into the station with me. Before I was able to properly look for my dad Luther's father came over to us. Magnus Valentine, he was in the medical field and he was quite tall. He was muscular but not too big to the point he won't scare his patients and he had dark hair along with a short beard. "Athena, you must be Peter's kiddo. Everything is okay with him though you may want to go in and be there for him. We just found out the new body that came in was one of his close friends." I was kinda taken back by this, "what happened to them?" Magnus makes eye contact with Luther as he speaks, "It was just an awful animal attack, I won't go into too much detail seeing I don't think I'm legally allowed to." He pats my head before speaking again. "Now go to your father hun, a hug wouldn't hurt." I sigh and kinda give Luther a side hug, and Jesus Christ his skin was cold as ice, though I pushed it off and just walked in to my dad. He looked miserable as if he had been in the middle of crying or trying to hold back everything. I manage to make my way behind his desk and hesitantly give him a small hug. He almost instantly hugs back, turning in his chair to where his face hid my stomach. God I've never seen this man like this ever. I ended up driving him home and made sure he ate and went to his actual bed and not just the couch. Once I made it to my room there were the pebbles again, I just opened my window and Rowan happily climbed through the window. "Hey I heard what happened, is everything okay? Is Peter okay?" In response I just give him a hug nuzzling into him. "Everything..everything is fine I made sure he got home and to bed we can just hang out until I end up passing out." He just nods and gets me comfortable in bed before Everything else was a blur that night. I ended up walking up and Rowna was sleeping on the chair across the room, I got up and wrapped a blanket around him and crawled back into my bed. I didn't want to do anything. An hour or so pass by and I start to slowly remember last night. Rowan told me an old story about his ancestors and something about vampires and wolves. I grab my computer and start to look up more of the story finding myself in some sort of worm hole. Though I couldn't help it, I just kept reading and reading and the more and more it made sense to me. HIs cold skin, inhumanly fast reflexes, the fact he never comes to school and warm sunny days, and he never eats even when we went out to eat he never ordered any food. I know this sounds absolutely insane but Luther Valentine is a vampire. The more and more things I read the more terrified I got not just of the fact he could be a vampire but just by the fact the "animal" attacks may not be animals. What do I even do, I can't tell Peter especially now. After Rowan woke up I drove him home and at school it was an optional day if we wanted to go we could if we didn't then we dont show up is all. Luther saw me and tried to wave before I just walked past him going into the woods hoping he would follow me. After a 20 minute walk I stopped in my tracks. "Your skin is as cold as ice. You have pale skin and you never eat. Luther, what are you..?" I say shakily. Silence roamed around us before there was whooshing all around me, he was pacing all around me. "If you think you know so much Athena I want you to say it. What Am I." He spoke in a very dominant tone. "You're...you're a vampire." I say. And he stays behind me and whispers in my ear almost, "If you knew then why are you still here, I mean how undeniably stupid are you?" I swallow my throat. "Because..-" I turn to him to continue my sentence. "- because I know you'd never hurt me, at least intentionally hurt me that is." Testing my limit I stepped closer to him, "And besides how stupid would you look if you wen't through all that trouble of protecting me if you're just going to kill me yourself?" He steps back from me slightly, he looks at me trying to find his words almost tearing up, then he leaps up over me onto a tree. "Why are you not scared of me? Why are you not screaming or begging me not to kill you? What's wrong with you!" He spoke shakily as if he was more afraid of me than I am of him. I yell out at him, "I don't know why I'm not afraid and god damn it Luther I know you won't kill me I don't really know why but I just know it! I don't know what's wrong with me alright!" He leaps down in front of me picking me up, slinging me on his back making sure I was secure before running off, which felt like I stuck my head out of a cop car in the middle of a high speed chase. Maybe even faster than that. When he sets me down even then he was ever so gentle, I try to catch my breath for a moment. I watch him step up onto a clif, I walk a little closer to him still having that type of distance away from him. He waits until the sun peeks out away from the gray clouds, and he unzips his hoodie, sliding it off along with taking off his shirt and throwing it off of him. I watched as the sun perfectly touched his skin. His skin started to sparkle like a million diamonds, "God you're so beautiful.." I say. He looks away from me for a moment then looking back at me. "It's disgusting I have the skin of a cold blooded killer." He puts back on his shirt and walks past me leaning his back against the rocky mountain behind him. I pick up his jacket and go up to him. "Is it so hard to believe that I don't find you the least bit threatening and I actually enjoy your weird company?" I say. He looks up at me with a soft expression, "Yes it is and it's more scary when I've been waiting for a girl like you to come in my path for a very very long time now.." he goes to lean in but pauses himself and walks away back into the woods. I follow him, "Woah wait you can't just say all that and then walk away from me." He turns back to me walking to me, I didn't realize it but I had backed myself against a big willow tree. He was so close to me I could practically feel his breath on me. "I'm scared to even touch you Athena, I'm terrified that I might break you if I get the chance." he says as he hesitantly pins his hand behind the sides of my head he goes to place his hand on my cheek before putting his hand back on the tree. "I can't even touch your cheek, your scent is so intoxicating to me. Remember when I wasn't in school for a while after we had met? You have no idea of the kind of spell that you have over me." I stare up at him and he stares back. "How about now? Do you want to kill me now..?" In response he shakes his head no. I gently take his hand and hold it as rubbing a circle on his palm. "See..It's not so bad is it? Touching me?" I say in a more soft reassuring tone. We held eye contact for a little bit. "This doesn't..scare you?" He says quietly. "The only thing scaring me is that thought of you leaving me.." I say calmly. He then started to lean in slightly and I started to do the same. It wasn't too much longer before our lips touched, fitting together like puzzle pieces. I can tell he got nervous seeings he slightly pulls away, then he puts his free hand on my cheek holding it ever so gently. We stayed like this for a while until he finally took us back to the school grounds.
