Mystery Man Revealed (Now Published so sample only)

Chapter 8

© Sandra Corton 2013

Chapter 8

She had no idea how but he managed to coax her out of her room. It took him most of the night to manage it. By the end she knew it was simply from sheer exhaustion that she agreed to open that door and even face him.

It took her a lot of effort to even look at him but she forced herself to. He stood there looking as handsome as ever. He seemed to look the same as any other time she saw him. Now though in the back of her mind was the conception of what he truly was.

“I don’t want to know anymore tonight.” She held up a hand and he simply nodded in understanding.

“That is fair.” He replied.

“Good then I am going to sleep.” She turned back to her room then but his hand on her shoulder stopped her.

“Please stay with me. I will feel much more secure in knowing you are safe.” He said in an almost pleading voice but she shook her head as the intense feelings from earlier gripped her.

“I can’t.” She stammered as she took a step back into her room.

“Honey I have no desire to scare you but the facts are quite simple. Pure bloods are faster and stronger than I am. The only way I can properly protect you is by you staying close to me.” He told her firmly and she shuddered.

She turned back to Aiden then. He didn’t seem to be lying or concealing anything, in fact he seemed genuinely concerned. She had to admit that she had a lot more faith in him than the guy with the red eyes that she had seen before.

“Do you promise not to do….anything?” She forced herself to ask and he sent her that glimmer of a smile.

“Yes.” He agreed readily.

“Will you be here in the morning to answer my questions?” She stared him down, needing to know that he would do these things for her.

“Yes I will be here.” He promised and she let out a sigh of relief.

“Then I will come with you.”

She made a cautious step in his direction then and noticed his tensed shoulders relax. He gestured her towards his room and though she was hesitant, she finally stepped through the doorway. She sat on the very edge of his bed slowly waiting for him to do something unexpected again.

“I am the same person as I was last night when you were in here.” He said softly.

Underneath his words, she heard a tremor of wanting acceptance from her. He didn’t want her to see him as the monster that he saw himself as, she realised. She calmed down then. He was right, nothing had truly changed. She had known he was something different to an ordinary man from the first moment she saw him. That was how he had become such an intense mystery to her.

“Rosie was the only person that ever accepted me for what I was born as. I didn’t ask for this.” He looked away then and her heart went out to him.

“Tell me about it, how did you know what you were?” She asked as she scooted towards the head of the bed.

“I never knew in the beginning. Apparently my mother bragged to Rosie about it though. She had attracted this wealthy handsome man that took her blood. Rosie made a lot of the connections when I sucked on a cut Bettina had made when playing one day. Of course my sister panicked saying I was the devil.

"That was when Rosie took me in. The rest of the family were threatening to have me killed. They were saying that I was evil and in cahoots with the devil himself. Of course I didn't understand any of that at the time. All I knew as that my family abandoned me." He finished his story sadly and Honey felt all her fear of him drain away.

"So that woman's perfumes smell last night?" She asked as she pulled the covers over her.

"Feeding makes me less likely to go after you. Last night was the first night it felt bad to take a strangers blood." She took a deep breath at his honest answer, feeling a tiny amount of fear flood back through her.

"Why? If it’s never felt bad before then why now? Plus I thought you said you can eat normal food." She asked in confusion.

"I can eat normal food and most of the time that satisfies me. You though make that extremely difficult. When you first started working for Rosie I had to feed more often. It never stopped the burn in my throat though." He explained and she felt her mouth pop open with shock.

"Then why do you even want me to be this close to you?"

She pointed between them as he made himself comfortable on the other side of the bed. He sent her a smile that socked her hard in the chest. It was stunning to see a proper smile from him. It lit up his face, making  him a wondrous sight to behold.

"I told you before that a half blood should only ever meet an innocent once. That is when the ritual and sacrifice should be done." She sucked in a breath at the terror those calmly said words shot through her. "The reason why is quite simple, it is far too easy to become attached."

"To me?" She sent him a dubious look which he returned with a heated one that shivered along her nerve endings.

"Yes to you. You are incredibly beautiful. The things you do fascinates me. I am entranced by your hair, your smile and your sheer determination. Your blood sings to me every moment we are together...."

"And makes your throat burn right?" She interrupted a little shakily.

"My throat may burn for you but that doesn't mean I would ever harm you." He told her honestly as he reached out a hand to touch her gently. "I would only ever hurt myself if I hurt you. Now rest and I will answer your questions in the morning." He insisted as she opened her mouth.

"Just one?" She quite deliberately fluttered her eyelashes at him and he let out a small laugh.

"Go ahead then." He waved a hand at her to continue.

"Why were you at that club?" She asked as all humour drained from his face.

"I will answer that one in the morning." He said on a sigh.

"Is it that bad?"

"I was there for you Honey. I needed to know what to do about you." He said quickly.

"Oh okay." She was so startled by his answer that she rolled over and faced away from him.

She knew so much about him now than she perhaps  had never wanted to know. She should have left him as a mystery on her mind. Then he wouldn't be this being that she couldn't quite comprehend. He said so much that made absolutely no sense to her but she wanted to know more.

Her stomach fluttered then as she recalled he felt something for her. He may crave her blood but he had feelings that kept him from ever hurting her. She could only wonder if it was the same mind blowing attraction that she seemed to have for him.

"Honey I can't help what I am but I promise you that I will try my very best to never hurt you." He said as he stroked a hand through her hair.

"You already told me that." She said on a yawn.

"I just need you to understand the importance of what I am saying." He stressed and she recognised the depth of sincerity of his words.

She relaxed then as she truly believed that he wouldn't hurt her. She was certain that she would never get to sleep with all that had happened that night. After all, she had just found out that her boss was a vampire, maybe only half vampire but still.

When the sun woke her up she was immensely surprised. She sat up, stretched and found Aiden was gone. Just as the day before she was disappointed until she smelt bacon frying. Her heart fluttered, it seemed he was making her breakfast.

She got up and dressed as quickly as she could before heading to the kitchen. A little sigh escaped her at the very domesticated looking vampire. He turned to her then with an uncertain look.

"Any nightmares?" He asked and she automatically reached up to touch the necklace he had given her last night.

"Um no." She answered in surprise.

"Good then that means it worked." He said with a satisfied nod of his head. "Please sit and we can talk." He gestured to the stools that sat next to the kitchen counter.

She took a seat and he served a whole array of things. There was bacon and eggs or simple fruit and toast, all served on fancy plates. It seemed that he had been very busy this morning. He handed her an empty plate for her to fill.

"I wasn't sure what you would like." He said rather sheepishly which made him look completely adorable to her.

"Just some toast and eggs will be fine." She said with an encouraging smile.

"I was thinking that perhaps you should invite your family over on the weekend. We could have a barbecue or something like that." He said with a rather casual shrug and she nodded enthusiastically.  It felt so weird to be talking about something so normal now that she knew what he was.

"You don't have a barbecue though." She mused and he shrugged.

"That is easily fixed." He said as he piled his plate with bacon and eggs. She watched him eat with a lot of curiosity. "You do not believe I can eat normal food." He said with a raised brow.

"Well you didn't seem too keen the other night." She told him as she took another mouthful which only made him seem more uncomfortable.

"I was already full." He said as he cleared his throat.

"Oh....ohhhh." She remembered the woman's perfume then and his explanation last night. "Is it weird to eat normal food after...that?" She asked as she tilted her head to the side.

"They don't like to be mixed." He answered simply.

"That night who was the person that turned up here?" She had wanted to ask the previous night but had felt too fearful of the knowledge.

"I told you at the club that they know you now. You refused to dance with him which was good for both of us. He did not see it that way. He claims that I stole his meal but I was allowed to take you. The elder of his clan knew you were my innocent. I had his permission to take you from their feeding ground." He told her astutely making her feel rather anxious.

"I think I need to try and understand what you mean. The one that turned up here was the guy I refused to dance with. The one that bared his teeth at you?" She finished with a frown.

"He bared his fangs at me actually." She gulped in a breath at his words.

"Why would he do that?" She managed to ask.

"He was trying to get me to back down and leave you to him." He told her his voice lowering. She shivered at just the thought of what would have happened if she had agreed to dance with that horrible man.

"Who is he?" She asked as she shredded her toast crust into crumbs.

"His name is Ethan Jacobson. He belongs to the Bellini Clan." Aiden replied calmly.

This news was what he had found out himself the previous day as he explored on the Internet. Honey meanwhile felt the man’s name settle with a thud in her stomach and send a hideous shiver through her.

"Clan?" She asked uncertainly.

"It is what a group of us are called. I am known as a half blood loner. That is what I choose to be though." He replied as he ate some more bacon.

"So you could be a part of this....clan?"

"I doubt I would ever be invited into a pure blood clan." He said with a humourless laugh.

"What if you did the ritual?" She stammered out the words. 

He reached across to touch her hand. She flinched back at his cool touch and the tingles that reverberated up her arm. She glanced up then and was captured by his silvery eyes. His fingers though continued to twirl against her own until he threaded his fingers through hers and had hold of her hand.

"I could never do the ritual. The simple task of watching you sleep has destroyed any hope of that." He said softly with a shake of his head.

She couldn't respond. From his words to his blazing eyes and down to the heat that coursed between their clasped hands, she was speechless. His other hand caressed her cheek before trailing down her throat making a delicious shiver run down her spine. His finger pressed against her pulse point which throbbed wildly beneath his digit.

"You are so beautiful." He broke the tense silence between them as he leaned in closer to her.

She felt entranced by the silvery eyes that drifted along her face. They darted from her lips to her eyes then down to her throat. She could barely breathe through the intensity of his gaze. He moved in even closer and his breath, that sweet tantalising scent of his surrounded her. His fingers let go of her own to run over her bound hair.

"I love your hair." He murmured as pins began to fall from her hair under his ministrations.

Her hair tumbled down and his hands ran through the strands slowly. He tilted her face as he lowered his head and their lips met. Tremors of pleasure ran through her as his soft lips brushed hers over and over. His thumb returned its pressure to her throat where her heart beat throbbed intensely.

He gently sucked her lower lip into his mouth and she gasped with the desire that burned through her at such a simple gesture. She pressed her lips a little harder against his and felt herself swept up in instant lust as his tongue flicked out to lick her lips.

She wasn't sure what happened then. The world moved around her so fast as to become a blur. Dizziness engulfed her as she opened her eyes to try and ascertain what was going on. Then she felt his teeth against her throat. Panic was replaced by the earlier desire as she pushed against him.

"Aiden stop!" She said as she thumped his shoulder but it was like hitting a stone.

He looked at her then, his face a blur of lust and something intangible that horrified her. It was his teeth, she finally realised. His front incisors had become long, sharp and deadly looking fangs. If she hadn't quite believed him before then she did now. He was definitely a vampire.

"Aiden seriously don't do this." She whimpered as she tried to push him away again.

His body went stiff against hers. His look became one of horror, but at himself. He was gone before she said anything more. She slumped against the counter feeling both relieved, devastated while still awfully aroused from his kisses. She had to get out of here. She needed time to think.

She was still shaking when she picked up her keys and handbag.  Then she was berating herself for letting him get that close now that she knew what he was. She drove for hours as she tried to calm down and think through things rationally. Nothing seemed to help.

Her mind was the biggest jumble as she thought about the best kiss that she had ever received in her life. Why did it have to be from him? Why did this dangerous being have to be the one she was attracted too?

She cursed under her breath when she began driving back in the afternoon hours. She had to be back before dark for her own safety, she knew that well enough. She still trusted Aiden far more than the guy with the red eyes known as Ethan.

She wasn't sure how to handle things when she got back to the house. What do you say to a man that was about to shove fangs in your throat and suck your blood? She laughed a little hysterically to herself as she thought about it.

She put her hand to her throat for about the thousandth time that day. Her fingers curled around the necklace he gave her as she planned what to say to him. She still had no idea when she pulled up to the house.

"I am so sorry Honey." He said the words to an empty room as he cursed himself for a fool.

He had destroyed the trust they had been starting to build. Her throat had beckoned him, that soft skin, her intense mouth-watering scent and her encouraging murmurs. He had lost himself in the very essence of her until he could no longer think clearly and now she was gone.

He heard an engine from quite a distance away. He felt hope fill him as it rumbled closer. When it pulled up in the driveway, he was ecstatic. She was here! She had come back to him.

Then doubts assailed him. She had seen him at the very worst he could be. She had now seen the monster that lurked within him. How could he face her now? A simple sorry seemed ridiculous with what he had almost done.

"Honey I am truly sorry." The words escaped him the very moment she walked through the door and she sighed.

"I'm not sure if that's good enough." She replied as she stood still in the doorway and stared at him.

"I lost control." He said feeling it was a pitiful excuse even though it was the truth.

"Obviously." She replied sarcastically.

"It's so much harder with you." He said on a sigh.

"What do you mean?" She sent him a dubious look.

"Honey I have never been in a relationship my whole life. Rosie is the only person I've ever been close too. Women to me have only ever had two uses." He looked away from her then as though ashamed of what he had said.

"And those two uses are?" She tapped her foot as she stared at him closely.

"Food and sex." He said quickly after clearing his throat.

"Well at least you’re honest." She muttered.

"That is why this is so hard. I should  not want you for either but I want you for both. I want more than that though." He told her with a groan and Honeys heart beat raced at his words.

"Like what? What do you want more of?" She asked calmly.

"Your laugh, your smile. The way you are so cheerful with everything. The calm way you took all the information I've thrown at you. Your kisses, I want thousands of those now that I've tasted your lips. I just want you." He finished on a whisper, his eyes burning through her.

"Okay well that's detailed." She looked down at her hands then, not sure what else to say. "I'm going now." She said simply as she walked towards her room.

He watched her walk away, not sure if he had managed to get his message across. He went to his study then, trying to stay as far away from her as he could. It didn't help him. Her smell still surrounded him, muddling his mind. He could hear her heart beat and the sound of the shower running. She was everywhere. There was no avoiding her as much as he wanted to.  

His throat burned and he knew he would have to fulfil his thirst soon but he had no desire to upset Honey further. He knew that it had bothered her when he told her about the woman he used as a meal the other night. He wasn't sure why though. A knock on his door didn't truly surprise him; after all he had heard her approach. He answered to find her looking uncertain but determined.

"Did you do that this morning because you were hungry for more than just food?" She asked quite solemnly and he sighed.

"Yes and no. I crave your blood like no other. You are the lure and I am the fish." He told her and she snorted.

"I don't think you're the prey somehow." She crossed her arms over her chest. "If you need to uh feed, then go do it, don't let me stop you."

"I was thinking along those same lines but it never satisfies me, so why should I?"

"You only want my blood." She said on a whisper.

"Yes I only want you. Nothing else. I need you to understand that I am not going to....no let me rephrase that, I will do my best not to have an incident like this morning." He promised and she frowned.

"Could you....would it help you if you did take some from me?" She stuttered through the words and he looked shocked by them. Deep in his eyes though she saw the hunger, the ripping need that he had for her. So she thought it would be the best solution.

"Don't ever offer up something like that!" He said fiercer than she had ever heard him.

"I just thought...." She never got to say anymore as he was out of his chair, sweeping her hair away from her throat before pausing.

"I can live without blood but I am fairly certain that I could never live without you now." He snarled the words against her skin before leaving nothing but a breeze behind.

She stood there feeling a little dazed and a lot confused. She had thought that by offering herself up that he might feel a little more control. Obviously her assumptions had been wrong. She sighed wondering what to do now. It seemed that nothing she did helped any situation that involved him. He craved her blood but wouldn't take it when she offered, leaving nothing but confusion and more mystery.