Mine, Bitten

Chapter Thirty-One

Lily

       Lily watched from the porch as the sun made a slow ascent to the sky. She felt a smile, the first smile in days, pull lightly on her lips. She didn't know how much she had missed it up until that point-having dealt with darkness and its inhabitants for several days; one would think to have certain withdrawals of it.

            Her thoughts saddened-Ruby could never know the sun again-it was now her certain demise.

            She tilted her face to the sun as it brightened, fusing softly with the last remnants of night.

            When last had Varian felt the sun?

            She realized then aside from what he had told her that she knew absolutely nothing about him and it had never occurred to her to ask.

            Was it possible to be born into what he was? Was he turned like Ruby? Had he been a human at one time?

            She tried imagining him as mortal-she closed her eyes and pictured a man, fragile in a human kind of way, not lethal and every way threatening-dark velvet eyes that were gentle, which held that distinctive warm glint of life.

            Did he have a family once-a wife and children?

            A house full of vampires and she knew nothing about them. 

            Shaking her head she pushed herself from the stairs and started to turn inside but something afar caught her attention and she stilled.

            A stray cat across the street darted from beneath a parked car-her heart jolted.

            Charlie!  Panic swept through her and she made a dash down the small set of stairs to the pavement.

            She felt an immediate stirring followed swiftly by an adamant voice.

            Do not, Lily!

            She came to a stop there on the pavement- How could I've forgotten Charlie?

            He is fine.

            She felt an anger pulling- My father tried to kill me, my best friend was turned abruptly into a raging juvenile vampire and I've been told that I'm some cross of hybrid -don't you think I deserve something of normalcy? She continued on her path down the pavement. Besides, he's all I have left.

            She could feel his frustration, strange as if it were her own, coursing rapidly through her.

            I could will you back to the house. He warned.

            Her temper grew- If a part of me is vampire then it is possible I could overrule your willpower over me?

            She was startled by a deep chuckle-You are clever my little human.

            I'm going with or without your consent-she dared.

            It was bizarre, but she could feel his anger doubling over-he didn't like her willfulness one bit but she wasn't about to give in without a fight. She felt his struggle against the heaviness of the sun, the inability to stay awake, even mindfully-she knew, without him in the daylight she was completely helpless to whatever potential dangers lay in wait but she was willing to risk it, even for her little fluff of Charlie.