Blood & Lust

Chapter Twenty-Three

    I never thought that it would turn out the way it did. Actually, I thought that me confronting, and Draco confirming that he’s a vampire would be something out of Twilight or something similar. I thought it would be worse than dodge ball in gym, with Hayley, but that wasn’t even close. When I arrived home, after spending the day sitting on a tree branch with Draco, and talking about his vampire abilities—other than being a mind reader, having great speed, and strength—and his years of travel (though he hasn’t told me which time era he’s originally from).

    In fact, now that my theory has been confirmed, I have no idea what I should do. I know that confiding it with someone else is definitely out of the question, even if I told Mom and Dad, they would have me locked away in a padded cell. The same results would probably happen if I tell Raven, Josh, and/or Kristen.

    As I put the car in park, I looked in my rearview mirror, and I was happy to see the silver Lexus parked behind me before I got out of the car. He stepped out, and meets me at the back door, which is already open as he gestured for me to enter.

    I gaped at him, completely dumbfounded when he said, “I just used the key, was I too fast for you?”

    I laughed, realizing I still haven’t gotten used to his speed as I stepped inside. I didn’t have to look behind me to know that he’s already inside, and that he’s taken a seat at one of the chairs by the family table.

    “Is there any particular reason you decided to follow me home, aside from the obvious?” I asked, still confused as his gaze meets mine.

    He laughed before rising, and snaking his arms around my waist. “Well, aside from the obvious, I wanted to make sure that you made it home safely.” He murmured, lips at my ear, sending a shiver through my entire body, but I don’t bother to pull away—like any normal person would.

    Instead, I leaned against him. “The others still plan to come after me, are they?” I asked.

    I could feel his body stiffen beneath me, so I turned around to face him, and I see his gaze is far away, distant. At that point, I actually thought that I pushed the wrong button, but he nodded before he said, “You have no idea how dangerous they are. You’ve read about the murders, and we’ve heard about it from Josh.”

    “I thought there was something suspicious about you when you seemed too interested in it.” I said, making my voice sound light, and also remembering the day Josh talked about his dad being on the case. I quickly decided to change to a different topic, a topic that doesn’t involve murder when I asked, “Why do you disappear almost all the time?”

    He looked away, his lips forming a thin line as he walked a short distance away from me. For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer, and I was about to think of something to say when his gaze eventually returned to mine. “They keep planning on killing, and I keep trying to persuade them to stop, or to leave. But Lilith…Lilith is and will always be persistent, she rules with an iron fist, Phoebe and Jack just simply do what she says without questioning it, and I was the only one who rebelled against her by running away.”

    My body froze as I remembered how easily they’d lured me in, and how they’d almost killed me. “Which one is Lilith?” I asked, truly curious, wondering if she’s the blonde or the brunette.

    “She’s the blonde.” He muttered, almost too low for me to hear, but the way he said it was filled with nothing but hate.

    “Why would they keep coming after me?” I said, meaning only to think it for fearing I would have a mental breakdown, but I quickly closed my mouth shut after the words already came out.

    He sighed. “They were after you because they’d do just about anything to get me back into their coven.” He grumbled, his voice sounding dark, and malicious when he continued. “I’ve never thought that they would go to these extremes, but I guess I knew they were responsible for your death in each of your lifetimes…” he trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.

    Without even thinking, I walked over towards him, and wrapped my arms around him, hoping to get him out of his pessimistic mood. He wrapped his arms around me as I buried my face into his chest, and all the while, breathing the wonderful scent of him.

    “Your Mom is almost here, do you think it’s time to introduce me as your boyfriend?” he asked, taking me off guard, and causing me to stiffen underneath his embrace. But before I could get a word in, he quickly whispered, “Maybe another time,” before kissing my cheek, and disappearing.

    Five minutes after Draco got into his car, and left, Mom pulled into driveway, just like he had foretold. I tried my best to appear as neutral, and act like nothing’s happened.

    Then, it hit me.

    This is the first time that Draco had categorized himself as my boyfriend. Though I’ve never saw myself as anyone’s girlfriend before coming here, but I was glad that he finally made it somewhat official.

    “Hey Willa Mae, how was your day today?” Mom asked after opening the back door, and setting her purse on one of the kitchen chairs.

    I took a deep breath before I turned around, and said, “Everything was great.”

    “Well, I think that the chemo has finally taken effect. I lost a little bit of my hair, and…” she stopped, especially after seeing my expression that’s probably now one of fear. She quickly shook her head. “Sorry.” She mumbled.

    “Don’t worry about it.” I mumbled too, my eyes glued to my feet, desperate to hide the tears, reminding me of what will happen in the near future. I took the moment of silence to make a run for my room, hoping that Mom will think that I’m doing homework, but in reality, I just wanted to be alone.

    After closing the door, I released the tears I’ve hold back the moment Mom had mentioned chemo, and gestured to her thinning golden brown hair. Even though I didn’t inherit her hair color, I had the strange, and sudden urge to go out to the nearest hair salon, and dye my hair that color. I mean, if I did it, I would look like a younger version of my Mom.

    I shook my head, knowing that there would be no way that I could revive anything about my Mom once the cancer wins the battle.

    That night, as I got ready for bed, I was about to plop onto my bed when I felt a presence in the room. My gaze swept around my room, making sure that everything is in its proper place. I kept doing it two, three, four times, and each time there seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. I have no idea why I’m doing this, but it didn’t take me long to conclude that I still might be paranoid after leaving the hospital, and with what Draco had told me…that could explain a lot.

    It was then that decided to give up, and try to go to sleep.

    My eyes remained open as my head rested on my pillow, my mind already racing, trying to catch up with the major events of today. My theory about Draco has been proved as a fact. And even though that every normal, sane person would run away from those kinds of things, looking back, I find that I never found myself afraid of him.

    I was at the point where my eyes were closing when it hit me, the reason why I didn’t runaway from him, didn’t tell someone about him, didn’t do anything to put myself as far away from him as possible.

    I think I really am in love with him.