Secret Desire

chapter 22: unexpected

"You're not that strong." Anabelle laughed in good humor.

She pulled on my arm, beginning to drag me away from the fight. Here I was, perfectly willing and able to protect myself, to finally fight, to really test my strength and I wasn't human anymore but now Anabelle was even trying to protect me.

"You're not going to let me fight?" I frowned at her. She sighed deeply, continuing to grip my arm, pulling me faster.

"I have to do what I can." She murmured. I shook my head, mostly from shock.

"Why?"

She held onto my arm as if not trusting me, knowing perfectly well I wouldn't hesitant to turn around. We kept running, getting further away.

"William doesn't talk about you the way Zero...err, Kale does or Jake or Shane. He talks about you like you mean so much to him but in a much different way." She told me quietly, which was out of character for her. "It used to bother me. I hated it. I refused to talk to him but I followed him because it was exhausting trying to get Kale to love me like he loves you. After awhile he got tired of me, as everyone always does eventually--"

"Anabelle..." I breathed out, not able to help myself from interrupting her. There was an under-tone of sadness in her voice. She slowly shook her head.

"It's fine, let me finish....We were in Florida, we had been driving for awhile and I was complaining about something. He said to me; If you don't make the best out of life, it doesn't matter if you live forever, if you're immortal, in the end you'll only end up killing yourself by drowning in your own misery." She smiled as she repeated his words. I stared at her for a moment. Then looked away as she continued. "He talked so casually, so calm and cool. It...inspired me. I let my guard down after that. I'm doing this because he adores you, because I'm selfish still and I love him..." Her voice was unbelievably small. It took me a long moment. My eyes widened.

"You love...you love....you love who?" I asked, confused. Her smile widened. I knew that smile! That was my smile, Kale's smile, it was love's smile.

"I love William." It sounded as if it were the very first time she said it outloud. Well, I think it actually was. And when I thought about it, it was so terribly obvious. She sighed again. "Now try to keep up, newborn."

"I'm not that new." I muttered.

She laughed. She was so much more beautiful when she laughed rather then when she snarled. My attention to detail, as always, was terrible. For the first time I noticed the way she dressed and how different it was from when I first met her. She was in jeans, dirty from the desert, and a grey, low-cut t-shirt. It wasn't low-cut that would be normal for her. And her hair was tied back in a loose, curly ponytail. Why was it so hard for me to pay attention? Her new look was durastic but it was like no one else noticed it either. Maybe because all of us were so used to ignoring her, nobody cared.

"You did this Jamie. You helped me move on and I'm just..." Her voice trailed off. She looked away from me.

"Is this our truce then?" I asked, a little stunned.

She was still smiling. "I guess it is."

We ran off, quickly leaving the desert and our fighting friends behind. I was still somewhat uneasy about trusting her but at this point it seemed I had to as she held my arm so I couldn't turn back. I tried to pull away a couple times but she held tightly. I wasn't as strong as I thought or maybe she was so set on keeping me safe, she used all of her strength to keep me at her side. Would she really do that? Would she really go to such lengths just to protect me, for William's sake? I wasn't sure...