Viribus

Chapter 6: Who is C.B?

Me and Viribus sat there in silent awe for what seemed like hours. Thankfully the wounds on my neck weren't nearly as severe as I thought they were once I cleaned them up.
This thing was really fucking with my mind. It's trying to make me feel like I can't trust anyone, it's trying to isolate me. I had no idea what the beast did to Viribus and it scares me that it could happen again. I could never make it without him.
I'm so frustrated because just when I thought I had it all figured out, I realized I didn't. It wasn't Lincoln Liles. It was C.B and I had no idea who that was. I hadn't read anything in any of those articles about a person with those initials. 
A few moments later I hear the jingle of keys and the front door open from outside. The hard sole shoes clacking up the stairs to my room and opening the bedroom door. Dimitri takes one look at me and I can almost see the tears in his eyes.
"My God, Viviana, what happened to you? Why didn't you call? You know I would have left work immediately if I'd knew you were in danger." He runs over to me and I flinch.
"What's wrong? You know I'd never hurt you, don't you?"
The way he looked at me, the depth of his blue eyes, the smell of citrus on his collar; this was my Dimitri and I knew almost immediately.
"Yes, I know you wouldn't. This night has just been terrifying and I'm so glad you're back,.....the real you.", I place both hands on his face and we kiss.
"What do you mean the real me?"
I tell him the whole story about the look-a-like monster and take him to see the shower.
"I can't believe it. This thing is smart. Who is C.B?"
"I don't know who he is but I met him tonight. I don't think Lincoln Liles has been haunting me. I think it's whoever this man is."
"I'm not going to leave you alone again until we figure this out. It's just not safe. Look at what this thing did to you.", Dimitri says as he starts to dig in his bag for supplies.
"Dimitri I don't want you to be out of work because of me. I'll be okay."
"No, it's the right thing to do. You need both me and viribus here and the sooner we figure out what's going on, the safer you'll be. Work can wait.", he says as he finishes patching up my neck wounds with a xeroform dressing and loosely wrapped gauze.
"Let's go to bed and in the morning we can start over fresh and I can tell you all about the new information I found."
"Sounds good, I know you are exhausted. Are you sure you're going to be okay in here by yourself?"
"Sure....", I say looking down at the floor.
After what just happened, I was definitely not sure.
"I don't feel confident about that answer Viviana, let me stay in here with you and Viribus or I know I won't be able to sleep."
Well, If he insists, it is his house after all, right?
" Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I'm actually terrified so please stay."
He brings me one of his big t-shirts and then leaves the room to get ready for bed, himself.
Viribus is standing in the corner watching me. Boy, do I hate when Viribus watches me. When he watches me, I know something, somewhere is watching me too. When Viribus watches me, It seems like I can feel the earth move, like it might open up and swallow me in any minute with one single gulp. His eyes are unlike any dogs' I've ever seen. Red, fiery balls of light. They tell a story, a story much more intricate than I think an ordinary canine is capable of, but then I knew better, Viribus was a lot of things but ordinary wasn't one of them.
Clapping my hands together I call his name.
He runs up on to the bed and into my arms. He was a fearless warrior and an invincible hero but in this moment, he's just my big puppy.

"Alright, are you ready for bed? I know I am, I'm exhausted...", Dimitri says from the hallway as he walks through the door.
Hold up just a minute, I know this man didn't have the audacity to come into the room just casually looking fine. I don't know if I had ever seen so much of his body before.
He was wearing a white tank top and basketball shorts. You could tell he took care of himself. His arms were extremely muscular. I couldn't see one flaw about him. A lot of women say there's something about a man in uniform but there's really something about a man you always see in uniform, not being in uniform. What I really liked about Dimitri was even though he was a 30 year old surgeon, he didn't take himself so seriously. He was always kind and getting to know him these past couple of weeks made me like him even more.
"So tell me about this new exciting information you found?"
"You're ain't gonna believe this, I found an article today pretty much proving that Lillie Liles, daughter of Lincoln Liles is alive. It was a retirement article dated for earlier this year."
"That's great news, was there a picture?"
"Unfortunately, no but I think this information is just the tip of the iceberg."
"Viviana, maybe we can find out her address and just go and visit her. She could probably help us piece all of this together."
"I don't know...what if she isn't nice to us. We are literally strangers coming to her house and dredging up very painful, maybe even traumatizing memories."
"It is risky but you are not just some stranger. You are living in her childhood home and your life is in danger."
He's got a point there, I'm not going to get killed by this thing just because I'm afraid to talk to Lillie.
We agree that tomorrow starts our journey to figure out where Lillie lives.
"I can make a palette on the floor if that would make you more comfortable?", he says as he looks down nervously.
A part of me wants to play hard to get but another part of me, the stronger side by far, wants to just devour him.
I decide to meet somewhere in the middle and tell him we can both sleep in the bed.
I scoot over to him and lay my head on this chest so I can hear his heartbeat. Dimitri runs his hands through my hair and kisses me on the forehead.
"I don't want you to be worried about this, you know I have your back. We're going to get to the bottom of this."
"Thanks for everything, Dimitri. I know I've said it million times and I'll probably say it a million more. I'm not sure why you decided to open up your whole life for me but I'm glad you did. I don't know where me and Viribus would be without you."
"You want to know why I did it? You're worth it. I really care about you Viviana and I want you to be happy. I mean, maybe if my dad would have actually tried to help my mother or even just acknowledged something was wrong, she'd still be here today..." His voice starts to trail off. "I guess what I'm trying to say is I don't want to be like him. If I care about you, I want you to know and I'm not going to sit back and let anything bad happen to you."
He wraps his arms around me and I can smell his cologne. I take a deep breath in and enjoy this moment of feeling warm and safe because tomorrow, the hunt for Lillie Liles begins.