Chapter 18
Liz sighed and rubbed her eyes. “How long was this supposed to take? It doesn’t look like anything’s happening.” It was true but I just hadn’t felt like saying it while Erik’s father still was hopeful for a miracle. I shot Liz a look to make her shut up but it was too late.
Max White stood up from the side of the bed. “I wasn’t really considering this as an option that would actually work but I had hoped that maybe I was wrong. If it would have worked Erik would have woken up soon after the potion was given to him. I was just in denial.”
His shoulders were slumped, there were prominent dark shadows under his eyes and he had an air of desolation. He walked out of the room before we could say anything to try and comfort him. But really, what could we say that would make him feel better?
“I’m so annoyed with everything,” I muttered, looking away from Erik’s still form then I too got up and walked away. I heard footsteps behind me and knew that Liz was following me, although for what reason I didn’t know. I picked up my speed in hopes of leaving her behind.
“Damien, wait,” Liz called after me. The distance between us had grown and when I got to my room I had enough time to shut and lock the door so she wouldn’t come inside. She tried the door handle then knocked. “Let me in,” she whispered, knowing somehow that I was still near the door and could hear her. “If you need someone to talk to I’ll listen. You can talk about Alexandria.”
I opened the door and raised an eyebrow. “Why exactly would I want to talk to you about her? That’s personal and something I would tell only to a friend, but you haven’t exactly been acting like a friend the last little while.”
Liz frowned. “I’m sorry, I know I haven’t been much of a friend recently but I want to change. You can trust me.”
“How can you say that? I trusted you with helping me find out what Alexandria was hiding from me and you ended up telling her. Why’d you tell her?” I asked her, fury in my voice.
“I thought that your relationship,” she said while making a face, “wasn’t good for you. I was just trying to look out for you.”
“Everyone seems to be trying to do that, and I really wish they would leave my life alone,” I snapped. “You thought it was best to get Alexandria to leave, she thought that she’s protecting me by keeping secrets. Everyone needs to understand that I can handle things; they don’t need to make decisions for me like a child.”
“Everyone knows you can handle your own problems, they just are trying to make your life easier,” Liz replied. “I think that had something to do with why Alexandria was keeping secrets, even though I still think she has another motive.”
“Yeah, well maybe you were right about her,” I told her. “Maybe getting close to her was a mistake,” my voice getting louder. “I don’t know what I was thinking. She’s just a vampire, and like every vampire, they can’t be trusted.”
I walked closer to the window; memories of her on the balcony overwhelmed me, only I didn’t feel sadness anymore, just anger. Frustration trapped inside of me with no outlet to get out. I hated that I felt like this. My fist clenched and I felt the need to punch things. I saw my reflection in the window pane and for some reason it angered me more. The next thing I knew pain was coming from my hand and there was shattered glass on the floor.
I stared down at my hand, at the bright red droplets of blood seeping out of the cuts on my knuckles. I clenched my fist and more blood appeared. Liz slowly walked over to me, eyeing me with wariness. She placed a hand on my shoulder and grabbed my hand inspecting the injury. She didn’t comment on what I had just done, and for that I was grateful.
“I’ll go get the first aid kit,” she murmured and left the room. I touched the back of my hand and welcomed the stinging sensation, it distracted me. “Don’t touch it, you could get it infected,” Liz teased.
She motioned for me to sit on the bed then sat beside me. She took my right hand and then wet a cotton ball with rubbing alcohol and then started to disinfect the wound. I winced and tried to pull my hand away but she didn’t let me.
“That hurts,” I pointed out.
She shrugged not caring. “You did this to yourself, so you have to suffer the pain.” I rolled my eyes. She proceeded to clean up my hand and then stitched it up. I didn’t complain again. “There, you’re good to go. Just no more punching more windows,” she joked.
It was then I realized how close she was to me. Her eyes fell on my lips and she looked conflicted. She closed her eyes and came closer to me, making her choice. That still left me to make my choice. Would I let her kiss me or pull away and let her feel rejection? I wasn’t with anyone anymore, so I didn’t see the problem. And just like that I had decided as well.
Her lips touched mine and her hands played with my hair. There was a nagging part of my mind that was analysing the kiss and comparing it to when I kissed Alexandria. Liz was gentler, she kissed me as if it was a dream and she didn’t want to do anything to wake herself up. Alexandria added more passion to the kiss; she made me feel something more than Liz did.
I really should stop kissing Liz. In the end all this was to me was a rebound. To Liz, well it may mean much more. She probably thought that this kiss meant I had feelings for her, that I liked her more than just a friend. In reality a friend is all she would be and right now I was too hung up on Alexandria to be thinking clearly.
Liz pulled back from me and smiled, her eyes lit up. It was a bad idea to indulge her with a kiss. She caressed my face; her touch was barely there, just leaving a weird sensation after.
She glanced at the clock and looked unhappy. “I have to go. I’m meeting with a girl that is a hunter in this city. We were going to get some drinks.” She thought for a moment. “Do you want to come with me? I’m sure it’d be fine.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t want to interrupt your girls’ night,” I answered, not wanting to continue giving her the wrong impression.
Liz hesitated but nodded. “Alright, I’ll see you later.” She left the room, shutting the door behind her. I had a feeling that she wasn’t just going to be hanging out with girls, I’m sure there would be a few guys there too.
The fact that she hadn’t said that outright made me think that she was close to another guy. Maybe she thought I’d be jealous, if anything I was the opposite. I encouraged her to get a guy and get over me. Her infatuation was affecting our friendship.
I pulled out the chain and ring from my pocket and played with it. it was quickly becoming a habit of mine. Even when I wasn’t thinking of her I still brought out the ring and then my thoughts eventually became of her.
I walked over to the window and felt a bit bad when I thought about my parents and how they would react to a broken window. Oh well, I’d just deal with that when I came to it.
“Erik?” I heard Max White yell. I quickly got up and came to the location where the shout had come from, Erik’s room. He was shaking Erik as if he thought he would wake up that way.
“What’s going on?” I asked sensing his worry.
“His magically induced coma has an expiration date it seems,” Max White stated sadly. “He has a week at most to live if he doesn’t get out of this coma.” Max White collapsed in the chair beside the bed. He seemed like he didn’t want to be alone so I took the chair on the opposite side of the bed, my hands still fiddling with the chain.
I touched the ring and looked down. It felt warm. There was something going on with the ring. I unclasped the chain and let the ring fall into my hand where I inspected it further.
Erik began coughing; it appeared that his condition would just deteriorate as time went on. Erik’s father put his face in his hands. He didn’t know what to do anymore to try and save Erik.
The ring seemed to get warmer and when I looked down it almost looked as if it was emitting a soft light, but that was impossible, wasn’t it? Why was it acting this way?
I looked up at Erik again as his coughs died down and got an idea. What if the ring was behaving strangely because it was in the presence of Erik who was in a magical coma? I felt optimistic as I grabbed his right hand and slid the ring onto his finger. It was loos at first, but then it fit the width of his finger perfectly.
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Sorry if this chapter didn't really have much description. i generally go back later and when editing i added more desciption. I did this for the first book after it was done but for this book chapters 1-10 have been looked over and had stuff added to them. i'm not quite sure when i'm going to edit this. i'm focusing more on writing the story then if the story has a few mistakes. i'll fix that later on.
Thanks for reading, i hope you enjoyed. i didn't really enjoy writing the part with Liz, even thought she's my character, i don't like her as much as other people, probably cause she's going after Damien. she should find her own guy. he doesn't like her. sigh. she's just annoyingly persistant