Bella Notte

Chapter Fifteen

We went and had lunch in town before we went home. Dominic was leaving that evening for Italy and the next day Kelly would be over for her photos. I suddenly felt like everything was slipping away too quickly and I wanted to hold on to it.

Concern crossed Dom's face. What's wrong?

Nothing. I'm thinking about how it's all going to change. I sighed.

He hugged me. Don't worry so much, you'll enjoy the changes that come. He kissed me gently on the cheek.

The day ended with me feeling sorry for myself. I really missed Dom from the moment that he left. I was alone in the house because my parents were away, yet again, and my grandparents were visiting friends a few towns over- they wouldn't answer when I asked if these friends were vampires as well.

I stayed in my room all night as I sipped on my new favorite nutritious drink- of a red nature- and watched the monster movies I had memorized. God, I hate being completely alone. Yeah, it's cool to have my moments of thought without everyone being able to hear them, but it's too lonely and quiet.

And so I sat, staring at my television screen as Bella Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr. acted out my lifelong friends. I decided that I was a strange, strange girl.

I fell asleep as the sun was dawning. My dreams were blank and my thoughts empty. It was a restful sleep.

When the alarm went off two hours later, I was tired, but not as tired as I should have been for only getting two hours of sleep.

I quickly got dressed in an oversized black sweater and black leggings. I brushed my hair and teeth and then pulled my hair into a pony tail. I ran downstairs and got rid of the evidence of any blood and hid the pitcher full of it in the secret compartment in the fridge. I really didn't want to have to explain to Kelly why there was blood in my kitchen, let alone my room. My mini fridge was currently pretending to be a table, so it was clearly hidden and locked with the old fashioned key worn around my neck like a necklace.

Just as I had finished hiding all existence of vampires in the house, the doorbell rang.

“Coming!” I shouted as I walked to the door. I pulled it open and found Kelly standing there. “Hey, girlie. Come in.” I smiled at her.

“It's so cold out there.” She gestured to the door. I hadn't realized the weather so I didn't bother to turn on the heat.

“Let me get the heat going in the room where we'll be having the shoot. I'll bring in some food too.” I smiled at her and dragged her to the back of the house and out to the sun room.

Since it was now overcast, the entire room looked gray- not a good light for a photo shoot. Damn. I really had wanted this to go smoothly, but it looked like the gods were against us.

I put Kelly in a squashy chair and wrapped a blanket around her. I turned on the heat so the room would warm up to a nice seventy degrees, and then I walked off to the kitchen.

The phone rang.

“Hello,” I said into the receiver.

“Hi, Emma. This is Chris. I'm running late. Is Kelly there already? Has the overcast landed by you guys as well?” He threw the questions at me so quickly I barely blinked as I listened.

“Hi, Chris. Yeah, Kelly's here. Unfortunately, the overcast is here as well. How late do you think you're gonna be? I setup in the sun room- like we had discussed, do you want me to move it?” I asked him.