"Is he awake yet?" I said, pacing up and down the hallway in front of the library. "It's been two days. He should be awake by now."
"Calm down, Ebony, this process takes time, and we cannot rush it," Henry said, leaning against the wall as he watched me pace.
"But his heart stopped, that means he is technically dead right now, and I killed him, and he won't wake up. He needs to wake up," I yelled out in frustration. "He promised me he would come back."
"Eb, for fuck's sake. Calm your farm and sit the hell down. You're making me dizzy with your constant turning," Jake yelled as he slid down the wall and sat on the wooden floor with his legs out in front of him.
"Shut up, Jake," I snapped at him.
"Why does everyone feel the need to yell at me?" Jake said, hitting the back of his head on the wall. "I might be undead, but words still hurt."
"You know what else hurts?" I said, turning to him and clenching my fists.
"Leave my balls out of this," he covered his groin with his hands. "You promised."
"This is so frustrating. What if I didn't do it right? What if my blood doesn't work properly? What if ...."
"Ebony, we've been over this a thousand times," Henry said, shaking his head softly. "Your blood is going to work, but the transition takes time. You took nearly three days to turn if I recall, and we all had to sit there and listen to Carter go on like this. So just relax and be patient." Henry gave me a reassuring smile.
"You're right. You are absolutely right. I need to be patient and calm down. Sorry, guys." I plonked myself on the floor where I was standing and closed my eyes. "Think calm thoughts. Everything will be ok," I muttered to myself.
"Oh, thank fuck." Jake cheered loudly and clapped. "I thought I was going to have to stake you,"
"You what?" I opened my eyes and glared at him.
"I was joking. I would never actually kill you," he blew me a kiss. "Well, not on purpose anyway."
"Shut up, Jake," I snapped at him.
"You shut up, Ebony." He snapped back at me.
"You shut up first."
"No, you shut you first."
"Ok, enough out of both of you," Henry said, intervening between Jake and me.
"We need to stay focused and remember the goal here. Carter will wake up, and then we find Leon and save our worlds. Agreed." Henry was always one for staying on task.
"I'm good to go," Jake said, stretching his arms up over his head and giving a satisfied moan of enjoyment. "Yep, good to go."
"Fantastic." Henry rolled his eyes. "Ebony?"
"Yeah, I'm good." I spread my legs out on the floor and fell forward, resting my head on the cold hard ground. "Are the council still in the library?" I mumbled.
"Yes," Henry said, moving closer to the door. "I still can't hear anything, though."
"So, I'll just stay here then. They don't seem to like me very much anyway." I relaxed my body on the floor as I knew I was going to be there for a while.
I met with the council yesterday, and they had quite rudely expressed their concerns about Carter and myself, and I quote, 'We feel like you influence Carter that we don't like, nor do we understand, but we realize that fighting with him is useless, as we need him to win this. So, we would all appreciate you letting us deal with the situation so we can keep it professional and under control'. Yep, that's a pretty clear piss-off if I ever heard one.
"To be fair, they don't like anyone," Jake said, flopping down next to me.
"They like me," Henry said back at Jake.
"No, they don't. They just want to suck your royal dick and take your money." Jake groaned from the floor next to me.
"Do you have to be so damn crude all the time?" Henry snapped back.
"I don't have to, but I feel like people expect it from me and the ladies love it. Right?" He pushed my arm and winked.
"I do love it," I said, nodding back to him. "It's why I dream about you," I teased him.
"See, the ladies love me. Wait, you had a sex dream about me, didn't you?"
"Yeah, it was hot, too," I said from the floor.
"I knew it! You naughty little ...."
"I can hear something. Shh," Henry said, suddenly interrupting our conversation.
We both sat up and looked at each other as we heard two loud bangs and something crashing onto the floor in the locked library. This was followed by some sort of yelling and then more things crashing to the ground.
"Who is throwing shit around in there, and why the yelling?" Jake said, standing up.
"Ummm, apparently that's Carter," Henry said, backing away from the door slowly.
"He's awake?" I smiled as I stood up.
"He's definitely something," Henry said with caution.
The door swung open suddenly, and there stood one of the vampire council members looking disheveled and quite nervous. "Ah, Miss Summers. Can I please request your assistance in here for a moment," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "We have a slight problem."
"Is Carter ok?" I said, rushing to the door and charging past him, not waiting for his response. "Miss Summers, wait." I heard his voice behind me, but I didn't look back. Instead, I ran to the middle of the three-story library and gasped at what I saw. The library looked like a tornado had hit it. Every window in the library had been broken or hit with something hard as shattered bits of glass were covering the floor. There were what looked like hundreds of torn or damaged books lying everywhere, along with all the turned-over and broken tables and chairs. I looked up at the second floor of the library, and it was looking pretty much the same as this one, a complete mess. As I scanned the rest of the room, I noticed that the remaining vampire council members were all crouched on the ground and seemed to be cowering in fear, but vampires don't feel fear.
"Please, Mr. Morgan, can you come down from there so we can talk about this?" A cowering vampire councilor called as he looked around frantically for what I assume was a pissed-off Carter. "There is no need to hurt any more of us."
Silence filled the air as we all looked around the room cautiously, not knowing what to expect.
"Mr. Morgan, you need to come down here at once. I order you." Another vampire council member said, standing up bravely. "We need to talk." He demanded, straitening his robes.
A loud growl came from above us on the second floor, and it made the room shake. "Carter," I whispered under my breath.
"You will not intimidate us anymore." The vampire council member said, noticeably shaken from what he had just heard. "You will talk to us, or we will take action."
"Get. Out." I jumped at the sudden sound of Carter's growl around me again.
"If you would just calm down and listen to us." The vampire council member said sheepishly to the air, "You will leave us with no choice but to .."
"I will give you two seconds to leave the room before I come down there and rip you all to shreds." Carter hissed from above, and everyone stood up, looking terrified.
"Mr. Morgan, please," The same vampire pleaded. "I will not allow you to intimidate us any longer."
"ONE!" Carter bellowed loudly, making them all run out of the room frantically and leaving me standing there all by myself.
"Carter, it's me, Ebony. Please come down. I want to make sure that you are ok." I once again scanned the room for any sign of him. "Carter, please." I practically begged.
There was silence.
"Carter, please come down to me. I'm worried about you, and to be honest. I'm completely terrified right now. Can you please come down to me so that I know you are ok?" I closed my eyes and listened for a moment. Nothing.
"Fine, then I'll just have to come to you," I composed myself for a second and then jumped up onto the second-floor balcony with one powerful jump. As I stood on the railing, I could suddenly hear what sounded like a very fast drum beating in the distance. The sound was only faint, and I could only hear it if I concentrated on the air around me, but it was definitely there. "Carter, it's only me. Everyone else has left. Please come out." I placed my feet on the ground and listened once again. I could still hear the drum faintly, but I could also hear something coming from the back of the wall.
"Carter, is that you?" I called, walking towards the noise.
"Stay away from me," he yelled as the noise became louder, like nails down a chalkboard.
"What is going on? Are you hurt?" I walked with every one of my senses on high alert.
"Ebony, just stay away from me," he said a little softer.
"No, I won't stay away from you. Now, come out here so I can see you," I said firmly as I walked into the darkness of the library aisles. The light above me was swinging from its cord and casting light on the room around me. "Carter?" I was nervous now, and every instinct in my body was telling me to run.
"Don't come any closer," Carter said, shifting in the darkness.
"I just want to help you."
"Something isn't right. Something has gone wrong," he said with fear in his voice. "It didn't work."
"What do you mean it didn't work?" I reached the back wall and looked around frantically for him. "Carter, what do you mean?"
"It's still there, it should be gone, but it's still there," Carter said, walking out from behind the shelves of books and staring at me with blood-red eyes. I went to touch him, but he put his hand up to stop me. "Don't." he took a step back and shook his head.
"What is going on?"
Carter looked down to the ground, avoiding my eyes. "My heartbeat, Ebony, it's still there," he said, putting his hand to his chest. I gasped as I watched his chest rise and fall quickly as his heart was beating fast. It looked like something was trying to escape through his chest cavity. "Make it stop. Please, make it stop beating. I can't stand the noise in my head for a second longer." he pleaded, covering his ears. "Make it stop." He started to hit his chest hard and growl like a wolf attacking his dinner.
"Carter, stop." I grabbed one of his hands in mine, which made him instantly look at me with his now yellow eyes. "You need to calm down." He just stared at me intently, almost making me look away.
"You fear me now, don't you? I can see it in your eyes." He stood over me, almost consuming me in his eyes. "You fear this monster inside me."
"Carter, you can control this. I know you can. I've seen you do it."
"How can I control something I don't understand?" He growled loudly.
"You just have to. We need you." I reached up and touched his face gently. "Please, come back to me. I won't give up on you." I ran my thumb along his jaw. "I need you."
"How can you need this monstrosity before you." He took a step back and shook his head, lost in his thoughts. "I need to rip this thing out of me." He took a knife from his boot and held it to his chest. "I can't stand this noise any longer."
"Carter, stop this. Enough." I screamed at him making him stumble back slightly. "Give me that damn knife and cut this shit out!" I grabbed the knife from his hand without a word from him. "You will stop this nonsense right now and listen to me. Do you understand?"
He just nodded his head.
"Right. Let me get this straight. You have a heartbeat, but you have changed back to vampire, right?"
He nodded his head again, clutching his chest.
"So, you are undead with a heartbeat?"
"That is what I have been telling you, yes."
"Carter, do you understand how amazing that is?" My words seemed to shock him.
"Why is it still there, Ebony? It should be gone. I'm dead, but it's still beating? I don't understand any of this," he said, looking down at his chest. "What the hell am I?"
"You are Carter Morgan, the vampire who is going to save the world. This is a miracle, and your heart is beating, yet you are dead. Carter, you really are the most powerful creature to ever walk." I reached out and touched his chest, feeling his heartbeat instantly. "You kept your heart beating against all odds, and I adore you for that." I smiled up at him with absolute pride.
"You still want to marry me, even though I'm a freak?" He said calmly, putting his hand over mine on his chest.
"Yes, more than ever. I cannot believe this," I put my ear to his chest and smiled at the sound. The heartbeat seemed to slow down as I pressed myself against him. "Are you feeling any better?" I whispered.
"The pounding noise in my head has stopped. Thank you." He put his strong arms around me. "I still don't understand any of this."
"I haven't understood anything from the moment I meet you, but I've learned to just go along with it." I smiled up at him.
He kissed my forehead softly. "I told you it would never stop beating for you. I just didn't expect you to be able to hear it, or see it for that matter, " he smiled, kissing me gently again.
"You always keep me on my toes, don't you?" I turned my ear back to his heart and closed my eyes.
"I try." I heard a soft laugh. "We must tell no one of this, though. If word got out, I was a vampire with a heartbeat. I dread to think what would become of me. I would be labeled a freak in this world,"
"It's our little secret then," I smiled, still listening to his heart.
"This heart beats for you and you alone from this moment on. You must tell no one, not even Jake."
"I promise," I looked up at him. "Our little secret." He tilted my chin up with his finger and kissed me.
"No one must know." He whispered in between our kisses.
There was a loud knock at the door, making me jump and pull away from Carter's embrace.
"Miss Summers, is everything ok in there? We have a silver stake here. Do you require assistance?" I recognized the voice of the vampire council member from before.
"Are you serious? Any excuse to fucken kill me lately," Carter said, shaking his head in annoyance.
"No need for that. Everything is fine," I called down to the vampire with the sliver stake in his hand.
"Very well, can we come in? We need to get things in motion right away," He called back, clearing his throat.
"Give us five minutes," I yelled, looking back at Carter.
"Remember, we tell no one about this," Carter whispered sternly, lifting my chin again, so I was looking into his red eyes.
"I swear on your heart. I will tell no one."
"Thank you." he kissed me softly.
"So that's it, we now just go off and start a war?"
"The war has already begun. We are just going to end it," Carter smiled and kissed my forehead. "Then I make you mine forever." he took my hand in his and kissed it softly.
"Let's do this already so I can ask Jake to be my maid of honor. He would look gorgeous in pale pink,"
"I think he might have something to say about that." Carter smiled as the doors below us swung open and the room filled with voices, all anxious to know what was going on.
"Remember, tell no one," He said in my ear
"I know." I nodded.
"Ok then, let's do this," he said, leading me towards the stairs without another word.