Chapter 37 : Human and Vampire Part 2
Continuation form previous chapter...
Evangeline patted the space beside her, gazing at me beneath those lush lashes that swept across her high cheekbones.
"Lay down with me, Alastair."
Without a word I crawled into bed beside my mother. She propped her head up in the palm of her hand, nails tapping against her cheek and her other hand drawing up along my arm and playing with the ends of my hair.
She'd changed her appearance since the last time I'd seen her. We looked almost identical now, fitting for a mother and her son; matching eyes and a head of rich and luscious dark hair.
"I know you don't like me," Evangeline said softly, pulling my from my thoughts.
I didn't respond, eyeing her sweet smile which I knew was only a deceit.
"You despise me, don't you? Hate me for bringing you into this ruinous world? I can see that you do. Say it, Alastair. Tell me how angry you are."
I adverted my eyes, remaining silent.
Evangeline sighed and cupped my cold cheek. "But you and I are very similar," she admitted. "Sometimes I think I can see myself in your eyes. Does that make you hate yourself too, Alastair?"
"Draven and his gang are rhioting the streets," I said, changing the subject.
She turned my face to hers. "Awe, sweet pea, is he giving you trouble?"
"He's hurting people."
A little giggle escaped her lips. "He's hurting humans, Alastair. There's a difference."
"He shouldn't be hurting the humans, then."
She ran a hand through her long wavy hair. "He's merely getting payback on those that hurt him as a human. He's having fun, don't spoil that for him, my child. Play along. Maybe you two could become friends."
I blatantly disregarded her last words. Him and I weren't exactly "compatible". Then the rest of what she said registered in my mind: 'Payback on those that hurt him as a human'.
"Draven wasn't born a vampire, was he?" I asked.
Evangeline chuckled and leant over my shoulder, her lips by my ear and her words a hushed whisper. "I had a thought once, and Draven was the perfect little guinea pig."
She pulled away and for a split second I witnessed the insidious darkness that loomed behind her angelic beauty.
***
I'm wasn't quite sure why I returned to that part of the city.
I walked around the block where tall metal fences enclosed a school. To me, it was but another barrier that separated the humans from us vampires.
What was I hoping for? I was swayed by his kindness and a little allured by his ideas. I remembered the school emblem on his jacket, finding the complimentary school with that very emblem not far from where I first bumped into him.
It was the heat of the day, school kids climbing over playsets or digging in sandpits. It wasn't hard to spot him. He sat beneath a tree, reading all by himself. And as I'd sensing my stare he lifted his gaze, shuffling the glasses on his nose.
The young boy walked over to me with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a book tucked under his arm. The wind blew at his hair, ruffling the curling brown locks.
"Hey, I remember you," he said, pointing an accusing finger at me. "You walked away and didn't help me finish picking up those books you made me drop." He folded his arms. "Rude."
"Sorry," I mumbled, kicking a stone at the fence that stood between us.
"Who were those boys anyway?" He asked. "Bullies of yours?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"And why aren't you wearing any school uniform?"
Another shrug.
"It's Wednesday. Shouldn't you be at school? Are you playing hooky?"
He sure asked a lot of questions.
The boy perused his lips. "You sure don't like talking, huh?"
It's not that I didn't, I just never had much to say.
"You're like Gary," the boy remarked. "He's a boy in my class that sits at the back and looks out the window all the time. He doesn't talk but gives you these very scary looks every once and a while."
"Is my face scary?" I asked.
"No," he said after some thought. "But it's kinda sad though. Like your turtle just died."
I nodded, awkwardly. Again I failed to understand him. People had pet turtles?
The boy sighed, unfolding his arms. "I'm Adam." He put his hand through the fence, looking at me expectantly.
I stared at his hand for the longest moment before slowly taking it. "Alastair Polair."
"Sounds fancy," he remarked. "Alright, lets go. We have work to do."
Suddenly, Adam threw his bag over the fence. It flew right over, colliding with the ground at my feet. "Hold this, would you?"
I gingerly took the book he offered me, watching him with confusion as he squeezed through the metal bars.
"What are you doing?" I asked, stepping back and eyeing his dubiously.
"Don't worry," he grunted. "I'm super skinny. I won't get stuck."
He wasn't lying either. He was a lanky kid, with big feet.
He managed to squeeze through, picking up his bag and standing before me with flushed cheeks.
I held the book he had given me with both hands. "Why did you just do that?"
"Why not?" He said. "If you're allowed to skip, why can't I?"
"But I don't go to..."
He grabbed my wrist. "Now run."
He tore off across the street, dragging me after him. Funnily enough, I didn't try to stop him. The school disappeared behind us as we zipped through an alley behind a coffee shop and around a corner, almost colliding with multiple people who stared after us in bewilderment.
When we finally slowed to a stop Adam was laughing hysterically and his glasses were all fogged up. He pulled them off and cleaned the lens on his school shirt.
"I've never skipped before," he admitted. "It's kind of riveting."
"Won't you get in trouble?" I asked.
He shrugged carelessly. "Probably. But who cares! This is fun, right?"
He shoved his glasses back on his nose upside down and grinned foolishly. He looked absolutely ridiculous and before I could help myself, I began to laugh.
The sound of it, as well as the bubbling sensation in my chest, startled me. I stopped immediately and frowned down at myself. I couldn't remember the last time I laughed. It felt like the first time and perhaps, it truly was.
How strange, I thought. It actually feels... nice.
Adam watched me with a smile on his face."It's good to laugh, isn't it?"
I looked up at him and nodded slowly. Truthfully.
"Well, come on," Adam encouraged, waving us on.
"Where are we going?"
We got to a park and Adam made a fool out of himself by openly breathing in the air and sighing loudly. "Perfect." Then he dropped to the ground with his legs folded beneath him and unzipped his backpack. He pulled out three books. "Do you like animal stories?"
"Uh..."
"Great! Then we'll try this one," he decided, taking my lack of a reply as a yes.
He handed me one titled Fantastic Mr Fox. I read the title aloud slowly.
"I thought you said you couldn't read?" Adam claimed, tilting his head in wonder.
"I said I wasn't that good. I don't especially enjoy stories."
He balked. "Why? Stories build imagination." He opened the book in my hands, flipping through the pages. "You become a critic as soon as you turn the first page. Just look at the way the lines are created. Have you noticed that the first sentence is usually always short? Look there: 'Down in the valley there were three farms.'"
He read upside down surprisingly good. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if he had the whole story memorised at the back of his mind.
"Thats how the author opens the story," Adam continued to ramble. "Gets you thinking, huh? Dad says short sentences at the beginning of a story are a good way to grab people's attention."
"But all these sentences are short," I pointed out, running my finger along the page.
"I'm not just talking about this story," Adam said, exasperated. "You've got to pick up other books too. Jeez. You really know nothing."
"Oh, okay."
He tapped my book. "Just give this one a go, yeah? Fantastic Mr Fox is super funny. And it's got pictures too." He flipped further through the book and chuckled every once and a while at the odd pencil drawings. "He's so smart and he always protects his family. I'm hoping one day people will turn this into a movie. When they do, we should watch it."
I gazed at an illustration where the fox and his family stood together in a burrow beneath an old tree. "Seems claustrophobic, being that close in such a small space," I mumbled.
"No, you're looking at it wrong!"Adam accused. "It's their home. They're happy to be together. My mom hugs and kisses me everyday before school and even though I don't like germs I still love her. Don't your parents hug you?"
"Not really, no," I answered softly, keeping my eyes on the book in my lap rather than looking at him.
Adam was quiet for a few moments before suddenly blurting, "You're weird."
I lifted my head. "Really? I think you're quite odd yourself. Are you all like that?
"Who?"
"You... humans," I said, shuffling uncomfortably.
"And I suppose you're not human then?" Adam snickered. "Why do you and that bully call us something else? We're all one thing, with a little... what's the word? Variation, that's it."
I shook my head. "We're different."
"'We are all different but there's something kind of fantastic about that, isn't there?'" He was speaking in that deep guttural voice again.
"Pardon?"
"You'd understand if you read that book," he grinned, gesturing to Fantastic Mr Fox.
"You are weird," I mumbled, but there was a small smile on my face.
"We made it a regular occurrence, sneaking Adam out of school and going to the park to read. I didn't enjoy reading so much, not quite like Adam did. To him, it was magic."
The fearful expression on Nikki's face had melted away and a mixture of happiness and relief touched her ocean blue eyes in the form of a smile.
"And so what happened?" She asked, urging me to continue. "Did you guys ever get caught?"
I chuckled softly, remembering my dearest friend and those joyous times. "I wish you could of seen the way his brown eyes would light up every time he talked about stories and the meaning they held." I turned my face to the side. "I wish you could of met him, Nikki."
Her smile faded a little. "Why do you make it sound like something bad's about to happen?"
"I came to care for him over the weeks we spent together," I continued. "One day we got caught by a parent that knew his. That was the first time I went to anyone's home, and all I received was an hour of yelling by his father who wore the same large spectacles that his son did. He threatened to call my mother, demanding who she was. Adam stood up for me. I think he partially understood that my home life wasn't like his. After that, things quietened and his father would invite me home with Adam almost every day after school." I stole in a breath. "I guess I should of seen things coming. Ignoring Evangeline when she called was never going to end well. I knew that, but, I got so caught up in his world that I..."
"That you what?" Nikki asked desperately, so absorbed in the story that she started to lean forward.
"Evangeline began to question my whereabouts. If only I hadn't befriended Adam. If only I'd never gone to his school. If only I'd kept walking that day instead of helping to pick up his books. If I hadn't, then maybe Adam would still be alive today with children of his own that he could teach the beauty of the written word to. Because of me," I paused, "he never got the chance."
Nikki touched my arm. "What happened to him, Alastair?"
"I was late one day. We usually walked home together to his house but this time Adam didn't come out of the school gates. I thought he'd gone off ahead so I hurried to catch up to him. I followed our usual path but he wasn't there. Then I smelt something... heard his screams. I didn't need to find him. Turns out they found me."
"Why?" I croaked, shaking with the pain searing throughout my body as I held myself on my forearms.
My vision blurred with tears that refused to spill. Like a rag thrown to the side, Adam laid crumbled on the ground, a red liquid spilling from the two holes indented in his neck. I stared at what were once warm brown eyes that now appeared glazed and lifeless.
Slowly, the boy standing over Adam's dead body twisted his head around, a crooked grin on his face. He looked down at me like a cruel owner would to his dog and licked the blood dripping down his chin.
"Why?" he mused, green eyes the colour of dark ivy gleaming as he turned to face me properly. "Because he was precious to you of course."
The pain in my body fuelled my anger. "You murderer. He didn't do anything wrong!"
Draven tilted his head, his small face and pretty boy looks making him look almost innocent. "But he did. He was friends with you."
"Draven... killed... Adam?" She whispered, covering her mouth. "That's why you tried to protect me him, wasn't it? I can't believe..."
I nodded. "Adam was my only friend. But he was also human and fragile and easily taken away. He couldn't defend himself against Draven let alone the other four vampires he had by his side."
Nikki shook her head, fighting away the tears.
"And then, at my darkest point, Lord Emrik appeared out of thin air."
Right before his first could ram into my gut Draven was flung backwards through the air. He collided with the back alley wall in a crumbling thud and dropped to the ground, wheezing and startled.
"What the-" the vampire holding me released his grip and wiped around, words ending with a gasp. "An Imperial!" In a matter of seconds he too was flung back by an invisible force, scrapping along the cemented ground and hissing in pain.
My body trembled as I turned over my shoulder and witnessed the dark shadow looming over me.
"Such pestilent infants," a deep voice rumbled. "Leave. Before I change my mind about sparing your cowardly lives."
Draven and his band of vampires didn't need to be told twice. Only a suicidal fool would challenge any word of a Noble Blood. Without wasting another moment, they ran off without sparing a last glance and disappeared from sight.
Crouching to the ground beside me, the Great Vampire offered me his hand. "My boy."
"For some unknown reason I took his hand," I said, remembering that fateful night. "Why he bothered to spare my life, I'll never know. I never bothered to ask. And, well, the rest is history."
Tears were streaming down Nikki's cheeks by the time I finished speaking. I sat up abruptly, reaching out to her. She shook her head, smiling sadly and wiping away her tears. "I... I always thought I knew you best, Alastair, but, I... it turns out I never did. This whole time I didn't know anything. Y-you suffered and I never knew."
"Don't cry," I soothed, pulling her against me. I felt her wince against me a little but she immediately relaxed, rubbing her damp cheeks against my bare chest. "You couldn't have known about my real past. I never told you — I couldn't tell you. But you need to understand that you gave me something I couldn't get from anyone else. Hope. That saved me, Nikki. You saved me."
"I did?" She squeaked, peeking up at me and sniffling, her lashes wet with tears. "How?"
I brushed my thumb over her cheek, her fair skin warm and tinged pink. "I waited for you, Nikki. For the longest time."
"What do you mean?"
"It's difficult for vampires to conceive children," I said. "Perhaps it is the cause of our eternal lifespans, or something in our blood from long ago. Regardless, years passed where it was just the three of us. The Lord and Lady Whitely filled in the roles of my parents, teaching and showing me things in this world that were invisible to any other being. They were always calm and dignified. They stayed out of matters that weren't theirs. They lived a seperate life, disregarding even the Vampire Council. And yet even though they remained aloof to their own race, they still kept an eye on the way we lived. They were spectators, only inflicting discipline on those that targeted them. I never saw the life I left behind again, not until that day Brianna needed our presence at the cinema. Lord Emrik and Lady Marisa protected me. They seemed to understand that I needed their guidance and wisdom. I think..." I paused. "I think I became more to them than some rugged and hopeless vampire on the street. They really did care me. They wanted to give me something that gave my life meaning, I remember them discussing it late one night."
"You do understand that the bloodline will be weakened?" He asked carefully.
"I do not care of such matters," Lady Marisa responded quickly, shaking her head. The curls of her black hair were shadowed by the light in the living room and bounced with each jagged movement. "He is no less a son to me than any other. And what other choice is given to Imperial's now that our race has diminished to only a sparse few? The blood will not weaken extraordinarily."
"Marisa..."
I watched the Lady's shadowed figure glide gracefully across the floor. She stood in front Lord Emrik and raised a hand to caress her mates face, the other resting on her stomach. Softly she pleaded, her face angled upwards to meet his eyes, "A daughter, Emrik. Let us have one. Not just for our sakes."
They were both still for a moment. Then Lord Emrik raised his hand and placed it over hers that was on his cheek. They stayed silent, as if words were no longer needed between them.
"I didn't understand it at the time but years in the future you were born. They gave me you, Nikki. And even before you were born, I knew that you were my other half. It's funny. An ordinary vampire like me with nothing to give in return was granted with the most powerful vampire as their soulmate. What to do with you." I grinned down at her impishly and snaked my arm around her shoulders.
Nikki chuckled and fixed the sheet up over our naked bodies. "Alastair, I think you gave Mom and Dad something special," she said. "You made their homes warm. You made a family. I think before that, they were lonely. You gave them the hope that a child born of their blood could survive in this world if they had you next to them. You're just as important. That's why I think we'll be okay."
I kissed the top of her head and she snuggled into my side. She always knew exactly what to say to make things seem so much easier. There was no one like her, no one who understood me quite like she did.
"Would you have still loved me if I were born a man?" She giggled.
I ran my fingers through her matted hair. She liked when I did that, shivering at the goosebumps springing along her skin. "Your parents could more or less decide that they wanted a daughter, so there was no chance of that."
"Still," she laughed.
We remained silent for a length of time, both of us thinking over what I'd just told her. Nikki seemed to be thinking especially hard about something, eventually tilting her head up to look at me.
"Alastair, what can I offer you out of this life?"
I gazed down at her in confusion. "What are you talking about? You've already given me everything I could ever want."
She shook her head. "It's not enough. Tell me one thing that you want most and I'll try my hardest to give it you."
I looked straight ahead, that one thing making itself apparent in my mind. "I want..." I trailed off.
Nikki sat up a little and worried her bottom lip. "What?"
I loved it when she bit her lip. Turning my face to the side I admired the young woman laying next to me in silent bliss. I took in her heart shaped face and the small button nose in the centre. I marvelled at her long dark eyelashes and got lost staring into her large blue eyes. I craved her petite body that fit perfectly with mine and those pink supple lips that branded my skin whenever she'd use them on me.
She was everything I wanted and more.
"Alastair? Tell me, please."
Smiling down at her I tucked a strand of ombré hair behind her ear and answered gently, "A child. I want a child."
Nikki's eyes widened and I felt her heart skip a beat.
"I want a child to pass down the wonders and beauty of the world to, things I learnt only because my life was saved by two amazing creatures. I want them to know our joyous memories and learn love and kindness. I want them to appreciate life and not ever dread it. I want to show our child that."
Nikki didn't know how to respond, and I didn't expect her to. Her face had turned beat read, tongue darting out to lick her bottom lip. "I don't..."
"You don't have to decide anything right now," I said quickly.
She shook her head. "No, that isn't it. I just... don't want to answer on the spur of the moment," she whispered. "I'm so full of happiness right now that I'm scared I'll wreck what we have, but I... I want that life too, Alastair." She met my eyes, a teary smile on her face. "I want that life. With you. More than anything."
My chest felt like it were caving in, constricting with too much love for one person. Leaning down I captured her lips in a sweet and tender kiss that I wanted to make last forever.
A/N: I CRIED WHILE WRITING THIS GUYS. I'M NOT EVEN JOKING. AND THEN I CRIED AGAIN WHILE EDITING. TEARS WERE LEGIT RUNNING DOWN MY FACE. LIKE, TALK ABOUT BEING ATTACHED TO CHARACTERS OMG IM SO EMOTIONAL RIGHT NOW I NEED A BOYFRIEND
Has anyone else noticed that Alastair is the centre of the whole story???!!!?
Totally coincidental, I did NOT mean for that at all. Nikki was supposed to be the centre but like oh well let's just roll with it because I'm actually loving this more. And this chapter is by far my favourite.
How'd you like Alastair's back story?? Did I tie everything together nicely??!
Vote and comment and yada yada you know the deal byeeee
-nessa
Published 30/01/2018