I could smell fire. Well I didn’t really smell the fire, I felt hot and smelled smoke. I opened my eyes and saw that my bedroom was filled with grey smoke. Alarm shot through me, making me gasp and cough, choking on the stuff.
"Ariya!" I heard James's voice full of panic.
I tried to get through the fog to get to him. He wasn’t in the bed. Why was our apartment on fire? More importantly, where was the fire? Fear began to take over before I forced myself to try and calm down and get out.
I heard James again but couldn't see him through the smoke. Forcing myself off the bed and crawling towards the door, I worked on trying to stay low to the ground. I took my shirt off, leaving me in only a sports bra. I wrapped the shirt around my hand, so I could grab the handle of my bedroom door to get out of the room. The handle didn't feel hot through the shirt when I touched it, so I pushed it open. The air seemed to get cleaner the further I went into the living room.
I took a deeper breath and only coughed once instead of gagging like I had been trying to breathe in air in my room. There weren’t any flames in the living room, so it seemed like wherever the fire was, it had to be somewhere in my bedroom, even though I didn’t recall seeing any flames in there either. Where was James? Something inside me was telling me to go towards the windows and out onto the balcony. Maybe because subconsciously my mind was telling me that I needed fresh air, or better yet, to get out of the apartment. I crawled through the living room, and once I made it over to the couch, I stood up.
The smoke was definitely heaviest in my room because I finally felt like I could take a breath without choking now. I walked over to the porch and slid the glass door open.
James was standing the two stories down on the ground shouting for me. "Thank goodness. Ariya, come on. Jump. The building is on fire." He held his arms out to me.
"How'd you get down there? Why did you leave me?" I yelled down to him, upset all of a sudden. It made no sense that he was out of danger but had left me behind. After all his moaning and groaning about keeping me safe, this didn't seem logical.
I walked towards the edge of the balcony, but didn't move to jump to him. It really wasn't that high up, but it still felt strange, jumping off the building. I knew James and his super strength would be fine catching me, but it didn’t make the idea more pleasant.
"Ariya, I'm sorry. I couldn't carry you out because I didn't know where the fire was coming from. I went to take a look. Come on, you have to hurry now."
His voice sounded strange, but this was James, and I trusted him. If he left, it must have been for a specific reason. I went to climb over the rail and felt a jerk behind me. I panicked and tried to pull away. It felt like flames were surrounding me. I got scared thinking the fire may have spread more quickly than I had thought possible, and without another thought, I threw myself over the ledge.
I landed with a thud into Nick’s arms. Nick? I looked up confused.
"Ariya, what is going on with you?" he asked setting me down.
"But James...you...James told me to jump." I looked back up at the building and saw James leaning over the balcony, but no flames and no smoke. "The building isn't on fire?" I asked, surprised. I would have sworn that James was the one below telling me to jump, not Nick.
"Sleepwalking," Nick confirmed to James as I saw his graceful form land next to us.
"Why did you pull away from me?" he asked, taking my face in his hands and looking at me, searching for any sign of injury.
"James, I'm so confused." I didn't understand what was happening to me. I’d never experienced sleepwalking a day in my life until recently. "Was Nick down here the whole time?" I asked.
Nick shook his head in a silent no.
"I would have fallen?" I followed up in response.
"Of course not. You wouldn't have been hurt. We were watching you to see what you would do. When I thought you would jump, I tried to grab you but you surprised me going over the edge like that. Nick had already jumped down, just in case. I didn't think you'd do it though." James looked concerned as he spoke.
Rightly so. I'd just thrown myself off the balcony of our building.
"We won't let you get out of bed from now on, how's that?" he said trying to sound lighthearted but not succeeding.
I nodded, suddenly chilled by yet another unwelcome side effect I'd picked up lately. My body was not making this process easy on me. "Is this a bloodline thing?" I looked up at James.
"I’m not sure, Ariya. I haven't experienced it before. I can ask, though. Maybe I should," he finished, talking more to himself than me.
I nodded into his chest.
I was able to fall back asleep that night, eventually, as James stroked my hair and held me close beside him.
***
Before I knew it, morning had come and James was waking me up in time for my self-defense class. He let me go into the room by myself for the hour-long class, and I assumed he kept himself busy in other parts of the gym.
I took everything I had out on the class. I hated giving the vampires another reason to be worried about me. They didn’t seem to have any idea about this sleepwalking trait, so maybe it wasn’t a bloodline thing, and it was just an ‘Ariya’s crazy’ thing. Adding something else for them to be concerned about felt so unfair.
I was still lost in thought even after the class. James was waiting for me when I walked out, and we started to head home, still in silence.
He finally looped his fingers through mine and kissed my hand. When he smiled at me, I thought I was going to trip and fall it was so distracting. I loved that he could bring me away from my darker thoughts. I would do everything I could to hold onto him. In that moment, thinking about us gave me some courage, and the endorphins from the workout this morning played a role too, I was sure. I decided to ask him about us, since he appeared to be in good spirits.
"James, what's going to happen with us? I mean you and me, down the road."
The clarification hadn’t been necessary; the look on his face said it all. His smile faded, and while that made me flinch, I didn't want him to ignore the question like he always did. I wanted this conversation to happen, sooner rather than later, and I had to know if what I was feeling was completely one-sided or not.
"What do you mean, Ariya? Everything is good, we'll be fine," he said too briskly.
"You know what I mean," I pushed back. “How are we going to make us work later on? I mean, it’s not like I can stay human forever if this is going to last.”
"I know," he murmured looking down at the ground. He stopped walking, letting go of my hand and worry spiked in me. "I don't know what's going to happen, Ariya. This is a lot for me. I'm breaking rules I've lived by my entire life. As much as I try to do what I think is right, I don't want to go back to following them, but that knowledge is still there. It eats away at me thinking I’m wronging you by being with you. I also can't imagine taking your life away from you. I know how important family is to you. I honestly don't know if I can handle living forever with the regret of you not having the one thing you've known you wanted your whole life. How could I be responsible for that?"
I answered immediately, frustrated that he just wasn’t getting it. "Why don't you believe me when I say things change? I would be fine without a family. It’s not you that would be responsible, James. It’s me. It’s my decision to make," I said, ending more faintly than I began.
"You don't know that. You don't know if you would be okay forever without one. You also don't know if you want this life, Ariya. It's hard, immortality. Everything around you dies. Your parents, other friends, Riley, you'd watch all of them go and you'd be left behind."
"But I'd have you and Nick and Caroline," I argued.
"You don't know if that would be enough," he challenged. "And you don't know what would happen to us. The three of us are Protectors. Whether there is a bloodline or not we would be protecting something. Anything can happen when doing that."
That was an unwelcome thought. I had always just imagined life with the three of them. Would they still be around if I turned? I wouldn’t be able to save them anymore if something did happen to them. Could I live with that? Knowing that they were out there and that there was no bloodline to save them?
I looked at the snow-covered ground and kicked my foot around. "Then why are we doing this if you're going to decide one day that it's time for me to move on?" I said, discouraged at the direction the conversation was going. "Are you waiting around until you don't feel anything for me anymore, and then you'll cut me loose? If that’s your plan, then you're not thinking about how I'm being affected.”
"I'm not trying to do that, Ariya. I'm figuring this out as I go. I have no plan. I just have my feelings for you and my thoughts on what the right thing to do is. I've never picked the wrong choice like this before."
"Wrong?" I asked, startled.
"You know what I mean," he chided.
I couldn’t help it though. "No, I don't think I do know what you mean, James. You don't tell me what your feelings are. You don't even want to sleep with me, for heaven’s sake."
"I would think my feelings were clear, Ariya. And I told you I need time. You think it's easy for me, knowing that you’ve never wanted to sleep with anyone else before me? We don't know what's going to happen. I don’t want you to have a painful memory to add to everything you’ve been through already."
I noticed a dangerous tone in his voice, and I tried to hide that it secretly sent thrills though me. I wished it had been about a happier subject.
"Well it isn't clear. I worry about telling you how I'm feeling about all this. How I feel about turning, and what I feel for you. I worry you'll freak out and change into your Protector mode and say we can't be together and then where will I be? I would be fine without a family if I had you, but I can't decide that if it's not a choice you're willing to give me. And you’re making it sound like it isn't. This isn't fair to me if you can't truly make up your mind.” Pausing and rubbing my temple, I sighed. “And you've done more than enough with me to still make it hard if that happened, even without the sex part."
I finished my rant in a huff and walked away from him. I knew he was following me, but he didn't come up to walk beside me. I didn't want to fight, but I needed to know where we stood, and it looked like that wasn’t an answer he was ready to give me. How could I move forward with my thoughts and feelings for James when I had no clear answer from him, no clear direction?
It wasn't that I would be turning for James, but I would be turning for a life with him. Why would I turn just to be a vampire alone? If I wanted to be with James, I'd have to be a vampire. He may not say that, but I knew it was the truth. On the other hand, if I wanted a family, then that would be it. No more James.
But I hadn't wanted that path anymore, I wanted James, and I chose him wholeheartedly. How could he not see that? And he didn't want to be with me further until he had decided what he would do? Was that it? The conversation caused more pain and confusion than clarity. He claimed to not know where this would go, where as I was stuck here craving eternity.
I grabbed Caroline when we got back to the apartment and closed the door to my room. "I need a girl’s day," I said.
"Sure thing. Me too, actually. You okay?" she asked, pulling me in for a hug.
"I just had a rough talk with James, so, not really."
She looked at me in her motherly way. "What do you want to do?"
"Anything away from the boys," I said, smiling meekly.
She put on a big grin. "Right away!" She snatched me by the hand and pulled me out of the apartment so fast I thought I was going to have whiplash. It was exhilarating though.
"Geez, Caroline!" I felt the adrenaline rush pour into me instantly making my mood lighter.
"You wanted to be away from the boys. I thought the quicker the better. Movies? Shopping? What do you think?" She laughed as her voice reflected the excitement I now felt. A day out of our locked-up routine sounded like just the thing to cure my blues.
"Everything!" I shouted. “But, I’m gross! You didn’t let me shower!”
“Oh hush, who are you trying to impress anyway?” She pushed me forward towards town for whatever activities we could find.
We headed to the lone Mineral Point shopping center. Caroline was a shopaholic, and she knew that I enjoyed watching her, but not shopping for myself. She managed to not force me to buy anything, but she did make me try on a few items that I noticed them in her bag later. I shook my head, quietly smiling about how the items would probably end up in my closet soon.
"I've missed this," I said throwing my arms around her.
"Me, too. Boys are so moody," she concurred, throwing in her famous eye roll.
“What did Nick do? Should I beat him up?” I laughed knowing full well Nick would crush me in a fight.
Caroline laughed along with me. “When he and James are together they are so strategy focused. They forget I’m young for a vampire and still want to do other things. I have to beg to get to do anything with you and I hate it. Before, when things were not as dramatic, I felt like we had it made. I miss that. I know I’m the weirdest vampire ever for saying that, but still. I want to protect you, but I want you to still have a life. Nick and James aren’t concerned with the having a life part, but I think it’s important. Especially because I think you will turn eventually, and you’ll want to have done as much of the human stuff as possible.”
“Oh, Care. I don’t want you all to be in a tiff over me. I’m fine, I promise!” I worried that I was ruining things for her.
“Stop it, Ariya! We aren’t in a tiff.” She laughed beautifully. “I just don’t understand those two. They are machines sometimes. Boys are stupid.”
"Agreed!" We laughed at that sentiment.
“Now that you know why I needed to get away, why did you?” She raised her eyebrows at me questioningly.
“I asked James where he saw us going, and he said he doesn't know. It makes me feel like he's just going to decide it's wrong and drop me," I confided in Caroline.
"Ariya, he won't be able to drop you. Trust me."
She was so confident, but I wasn't. "He doesn't tell me how he feels," I huffed, angrily thinking about our conversation.
"Probably because he's torn about it. Look, I think it's obvious he loves you, more than anything. He won't do something stupid. If he does, I'll be there to knock sense into him," she said with a wink.
"He won't tell me he loves me, though. How am I supposed to believe it if he can’t bring himself to say it? Oh, and apparently he can’t see himself having sex with me, either. Aren’t the guys supposed to be the pushy ones with this? He’s not, at all. Isn't that strange?"
"For James, no. You're this pure, innocent little thing and you want him. He's protecting you, I'm sure of it.” She stopped as if debating whether or not to keep going with that thought. Eventually she did. “I know because he talked to Nick about it and I overheard. He doesn't want you hurt physically or any other way. He’s protecting you always, Ariya, even if it is from him," she said. "Come on, we spent all day ridding you of this irrational bad mood, don’t clam up now. I mean, I know it's not your fault, the irrational part that is." She grinned at me teasingly. "Let's focus on the fun we've had, right?"
"Right!" Now, I was more determined to snap out of it.
Caroline made a valid point. I hated that James was concerned about being with me, but he was trying. I didn’t want to sleep with him until I knew that we both at least wanted to try to make our future work. He was protecting me. I couldn't stay mad at him for that.
We headed back to the apartment after grabbing a drink and a bite to eat. It was a full day, and I was exhausted. James was in my room reading when I got back. Damn it, what a sight.
"Did you have a good time?" he asked gently.
"Yes, I needed some alone time with Caroline." I threw my purse onto the floor and headed into the bathroom to get ready for bed. It was probably too early, but I didn't care. I was spent.
While I was finishing up, Caroline poked her head in. "Nick and I are going to go for a walk. We'll be back in a couple hours. Will you be okay?" She was asking James more than me.
He nodded at her and she shut the door. They must feel a little more comfortable if they were letting me be on my own with just James. That cheered me up.
I crawled into bed, pulling the covers up around me without saying anything to him. Even with the knowledge that he was protecting me, a part of me was still hurt.
He got under the covers with me and turned me to face him. "Ariya, please. Don't be angry about this. All of this is a big deal for me." His eyes pleaded with me. He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently, pushing up against me.
"I just wish I understood your feelings more," I said and sighed.
"You're my everything," he whispered into my hair.
I couldn't resist snuggling into him and let his calming power wash over me. I stayed nestled into him until I fell asleep.
***
We settled into a routine after being back at school for a couple weeks. The Protectors had sectioned us off into our own world, and at times it felt like we were separated from everything going on outside the four of us. I knew we were lying low because we didn't have information on what was coming next. We had no clue where the werewolves were or what their plan was, which meant the Protectors were being more cautious than ever.
They were tense any time we went anywhere. They tried to make things as normal as possible, but it was difficult on all of us. Caroline would take me shopping, we went to the movies, bowling, all the things we would have done anyway, just not with many others. We occasionally went to the parties our friends hosted, but with Riley and me not speaking, it wasn't very comfortable for everyone.
James and I hadn't resolved the future of our relationship. I worried about him, but I decided having him right now was good enough. None of us knew what was going to happen the next day, much less in the future.
The sleepwalking stopped, thankfully, after the fire incident. I don't know what caused it. Maybe being upset about the whole Riley situation. If James was worried about it, he didn't let on. Time passed quickly, even in the midst of the uncertainty and fear.
Spring Break was coming up soon. It was slated for the first week in April, which seemed late this year, but I guessed Easter was later and our college was one of the few that actually let the students out over the Easter Holiday. James said his grandfather's cabin was an option for us to go to. Nick and Caroline liked that idea, but I had pictured senior year spring break somewhere in the sun with a fruity drink in my hand. I didn't dare bring that up to them because they were trying, after all, to do something for me, and I had loved it at the cabin previously. It would be nice to retreat back there again. At least they were willing to go out at all.
One afternoon, Caroline decided we should go shopping for some clothes for our trip. She also mentioned she was having a date night with Nick and wanted to get something ‘a little special.’ She threw in a wink or two as she chatted about what she wanted, since she knew exactly what Nick liked. I couldn’t help but laugh at her always open self. After having her practically force me into not only trying things on with her while we visited Victoria’s Secret, but also making a few purchases, I knew something was up. I knew her well enough to know that her excessive grinning meant there was more going on here than just a trip for her to get lingerie for a date night with Nick. Beyond me realizing something was up though, she didn’t give anything else away.
When we got back to the apartment, Caroline shoved me in the door and closed it shut behind me, without following me in. I turned to find James, standing in the kitchen wearing an apron and holding a glass of wine in his hand. His cheesy smile and attire made me realize we were having a date night too, and my surprise faded into an easy feeling as I started to laugh.
“Hello, beautiful.” He kissed my temple and escorted me to the kitchen table, which we never used, and pulled out a chair for me. I sat in awe as I watched him moving around the apartment so gracefully.
He brought out a creamy tomato pasta dish, salad, and garlic bread. He laid everything out and served me before taking his seat at the opposite end of the dining table.
"Aren't you allergic to garlic?" I said, teasingly, knowing very well he wasn’t based on my conversations with Caroline about vampire myths.
"Ariya, not everything you read about us is true. Please, I'm stronger than being allergic to garlic," he said with such a high air to his voice that I giggled.
We laughed over the course of our meal, well my meal, since he wasn’t eating the food, and it felt so comfortable being with him. I remembered how nervous I used to feel around him, and how that had faded into this calm, safe state that our relationship was in now. Well, it wasn’t calm all the time, like when we were talking about my vampire future. And it certainly wasn't calm when he kissed me, or even sometimes when he would look at me like he might be thinking about kissing me. It brought back the feelings of nerves and butterflies, but just being with him and talking to him, that was perfect. I didn't want to lose this.
In an effort to keep the evening as wonderful as it had started, I avoided the topic of the future with us altogether. I knew more than anything that I wanted James. He was wonderful, caring, and strong. Those were all the reasons I had in loving him before, only now I felt more confident in them. I knew I needed to put myself in his shoes. For two hundred and fifty years he had been taught to be a Protector only. Now, he was faced with feeling more than just the need to protect me.
I knew he loved me, too. Maybe he didn’t say it and I knew I hadn't said it either, but it didn't make the feeling any less real. Maybe I'd tell him tonight. Probably not. I was too much of a chicken with this stuff, but the thought still made me smile.
He cleared my plates and brought out a cannoli for dessert. My eyes bulged out of my head and I devoured it. He laughed at me and kissed me softly before retreating to the kitchen to do the dishes.
“I can do that!” I got up walking towards him, but he held up his hands.
“Please let me take care of you and not only when your life is in danger,” he said.
“What brought this on?” I asked. “It has been quite a surprise evening.”
“You deserve to be happy, Ariya.” He looked at me in a way that caused me to flush deeply. I finished my glass of wine handing it off to him. It was his last dish to clean and I shook my head at his super human speed. Once he put the towel down, he picked me up and carried me to my room.
He popped in a movie. I didn't even see which one as I lay there stuffed.
"That was delicious! You spoil me," I said rolling over to face him.
"You're inspiring, clearly that's why I can cook so well." He kissed my cheek. "Full?"
"I can barely move!" I exclaimed.
He continued smiling down at me. "Ariya," he started and my stomach clenched because he had such a serious tone.
Oh no, what did he want to talk about? He sat me up, climbing off the bed and pulling me to the edge, letting my legs hang over the side, and kneeled in front of me.
"I know you're worried about us, about our future. I can't begin to explain the pain it brings me to think that you're worried I won't feel something for you. I don't know how to express my feelings, because quite frankly, I'm still under the impression that the safest thing for you is to have a normal life without me."
Oh gosh, where was he going with this?
He looked at me and brought his hand up to the side of my face, stroking his thumb across my cheek. "Ariya, I don't want to cause you any kind of pain. I don't want you to have regrets. The most selfish thing I can think to do is keep you with me. But I can't help it. Ariya, I am hopelessly in love with you. There will never come a day that I don’t feel for you the things I feel now."
He looked at me so earnestly I thought I was going to melt through the bed. Tears sprung up in my eyes at this perfectly handsome vampire in front of me expressing his love. "James, I'll love you forever," I responded and brought my hands to his face.
He pushed me back onto the bed, kissing me feverishly as if it had been ages since he'd done so. Something was different about him tonight, like he had let go of some unknown force that was holding him back. He pushed into me, and I had to break our kiss to gasp for air.
He went his normal route, trailing his kisses down my neck, but as I turned my head the exhaustion I normally felt and had learned to keep at bay hit me full on. I shook my head, almost dizzied by the force of it and how tired I had suddenly become.
"Ariya?" James asked, concern lacing his voice.
"I'm sorry. I...I'm so tired. I don't know what happened." It felt as though I'd been awake for days with no rest. I hadn't felt this tired before from the emotions. Seriously? Now my emotions were going to do this to me?
"I'm ruining the night," I whined. As I said it, I noticed I was slipping myself under the covers. James chuckled softly next to me. I was going to kill these emotions in the morning for spoiling this moment, when I had the energy to do so.
"Ariya, you don't ruin anything. You can sleep. We have all the time in the world, and I want you awake for this." He kissed my forehead.
"No, I want you," I said with a yawn slipping out.
I felt him chuckle again beside me and pull me to him. The security of his solid chest beneath me was the last feeling I had before thoughts stopped completely.
***
I opened my eyes and felt a bit light headed, almost as if I was still dreaming. Taking a look around my room, I noticed that it was still night time. I blinked, making sure I was awake. James wasn’t in the room with me, but I could hear the sound of the television coming from the living room.
I smiled to myself and got up out of bed throwing on my robe. Since I was awake now, maybe we could pick up where we left off. Opening the door slowly so as not to make too much noise, I peeked out and started walking the few steps down the hall to the living room. The back of James’s head was to me as he was facing the TV.
Usually, he turned around when I entered a room. Being a vampire meant super hearing, at least that’s what Caroline had explained to me. He could probably hear me breathing in my room from the way she described it. Maybe he was letting me sneak up on him.
I smiled again, planning to jump towards him, but froze when I heard a sound at the door. Caroline and Nick had gone away for the night, so there shouldn’t be anyone else coming in. I instinctively looked to James to see if he was worried, but he just moved his arm to the back of the couch, slouched down and looked relaxed. Knowing he would react to any danger in the apartment slowed my heart rate back to almost normal.
The noise from the door came again, and the front door knob was turning now. My stomach jittered for a moment, wondering why James hadn’t even looked to the door.
“James?” I said quietly, but he didn’t turn. I started walking towards the door myself after realizing James was still not reacting. Was he playing a game?
Before I could get much further towards the kitchen, and ultimately the front door, it swung wide open with a loud thud. I flinched thinking now James would be reacting soon. He had to, because in front of me, holding a wooden stake, was a giant, burly, drooling man.
He looked rabid. Whoever he was, he reminded me of Devon and made my skin crawl. It was that same feeling I had last year whenever Devon came near me. It was like critters were running up and down my arms, making my stomach clench. My body was telling me what my eyes were confirming; this was not good.
The man grimaced, or maybe that was a smile. He looked like a demented Tarzan character with his stringy hair hanging down in his face. He was huge, with muscles bulging in every possibly place. I was becoming more terrified by the moment, especially since James was still not reacting. What was wrong with him?
I turned and called him again, looking towards his inattentive form sitting on the couch. “James!” I demanded his attention, more urgently this time.
Still nothing. His eyes didn’t even turn towards me to acknowledge I was there. The panic was really starting to set in hard. It appeared he was watching TV and everything was fine, but clearly it was anything but.
“James!” I yelled even louder.
The man at the door chuckled. “I wouldn’t have believed this if I didn’t see it for myself,” he said. His voice added another layer to the terror that was building by the second in me. The gruffness made me want to turn and flee immediately.
My heart started hammering again.
“Now Tristan, that’s enough.” A beautiful woman appeared behind the grotesque man and entered my apartment. She looked like she should be walking down a runway, not making her way into a strange apartment in Mineral Point, Michigan. Her hair was long, dark, and straight, and she carried herself like royalty, practically floating across the floor as she moved closer to me.
She spoke in a sweet, tinkling voice. “Hello, Ariya. I’m so happy to meet you.” She touched my arm, and I felt cold all over. It was like she took all the heat from me instantly.
A slight gasp escaped my lips. “Who are you? Wh—What—What’s going on?” I was starting to tremble, and my voice was affected by it.
With everything going on in our lives right now, I knew this situation was dangerous. James was somehow catatonic and wasn’t hearing me, or these strangers, that were now in the apartment.
“This can be very confusing, I know, but you see, you’re dreaming,” the gorgeous model said to me. “Don’t mistake my words, we are really here, but you are still asleep in your bed. I just pulled your subconscious self out here because I needed you to see how serious I was, and how easily I can manipulate you.”
It was hard to decide what was creepier, her actual words, or the calm, pleasant way she spoke them. “You’ve been doing all these things to me? The sleepwalking? You almost killed me! I jumped off a balcony.” Anger flared, but the woman didn’t seem to care one bit.
She smiled. It disturbed me how easy her smile was to like. She didn’t seem evil at all in this moment, looking at her innocent smile. If she hadn’t touched me, I would have thought her to be pleasant, but my gut knew the truth.
“Yes. That was scary. It seems I may have put too much trust in your Protectors. Anyway, now you are dreaming again. I have certain…abilities, which make me able to block your precious James from hearing this. I can do it to anyone, but it makes me tired, so please listen carefully. I don’t like to repeat myself.”
As she spoke, Tristan, the ugly man with her, was moving closer to James, ever so slowly. Instinctively, I started backing up towards him as well, to get in front of him and protect him. I reached out to touch James and watched in shock as my arm passed through him. I gasped looking at my hand. It didn’t seem like anything was wrong with it, but I couldn’t touch James. This woman could touch me though. She just took all my heat from me a minute ago by touching me.
“He can’t hear, feel, see, or smell you Ariya. So please pay attention now. Tristan isn’t very patient either, like me, and he’s been dying to get back at James for killing his brother.”
Tristan’s teeth glistened at that remark, and I became truly afraid. Tristan’s brother must have been Devon. That’s the only death on James’s hands, besides Emma, that I knew about. Unless this has nothing to do with me and has everything to do with some other part of James’s extremely long life. The thought seemed unlikely, though.
“What do you want?” I questioned, trying desperately to make my voice sound stronger than I felt.
“I want you to come with me. Tristan is here for persuasion, should we need it. Tristan?” She turned to him, and he lifted the stake he had carried in, twirling it in his hands, and stepping in front of James.
“Stop it!” I hissed. “Don’t you dare touch him!”
The woman held up her hand to Tristan. “When I wake you up, I want you to walk back into this living room and out the door with us. You cannot touch James as you leave. Either you come with us willingly, or Tristan destroys him, and we take you by force. The choice is yours, but if you cooperate, he’ll live.”
My heart stopped and a pit formed in my already churning, upset stomach. This was like Emma all over again. James would feel betrayed that I left, but what choice did I have?
Leave quietly or he dies. That’s the ultimatum.
His death was not something I would be able to handle. I needed him alive, and if I did leave quietly, he’d be alive to find me. I know he will be able to. There was no other choice but to go with these new monsters and hope that James could find me quickly.
“Come with us quietly, Ariya,” the woman said to me again.
“Wake me up and I’ll do whatever you want, but please, please back away from him,” I begged.
“That a girl.” She smiled again, this time with a smile much less innocent and much more cruel.
All of a sudden, I jerked awake in my bed. My body shook violently as I debated if I was truly dreaming, or if the nightmare was real. I cautiously got out of bed and tiptoed to the door. I couldn’t hear anything but the TV. When I opened it and walked around the corner of the hall, I saw the two unwanted guests in the apartment and James, still oblivious, watching the TV. My body quivered as I walked out to meet them. My nightmare was real.
“Let’s go,” the woman ordered, her beautiful voice sounding sharp and cruel now as her patience abruptly appeared to be wearing thin.
My movements were slow as I kept my eyes trained on Tristan. He hadn’t moved away from James, and I wasn’t about to pass him without making sure James was safe. Sensing what I was doing, Tristan made a motion like he was going to bring the stake down in James’s chest, and I screamed involuntarily. The woman shot Tristan a nasty look, and James flinched, no doubt in response to the sound of my screaming. She told me not to make a noise.
“Ariya?” he said groggily and started getting up from the space he had been unknowingly glued to.
“Get over here!” the woman said to Tristan. “You’re lucky he still can’t see us. You’ll pay for that one, Tristan.”
“Sorry, Audrey,” he said gloomily.
My head snapped back over to look at the woman again. Audrey? So it was Audrey who was here in my living room, whisking me away somewhere? She looked different from the blurry picture of the woman in his father’s office. And she definitely didn’t look to be in her mid-forties like James had said.
“Ariya!” James said again urgently and jumped over the couch to rush to my room.
Tears slid down my face. I was so scared they’d kill him if I made another peep. I clasped my hands over my mouth to keep it from betraying me. The woman grabbed my arm, and we flew out the door, moving unbelievably fast at a speed I came to recognize as superhuman.
“Sleep,” she commanded as she touched my head.
As she spoke, I thought that she surely must be joking because there was no way I could sleep right now. Right after, I felt something tugging at my mind.
No!
Sleep was coming. I didn’t want it. I didn’t understand it, but I couldn’t fight it. I gave up hoping I was still dreaming, knowing this was real, and instead began praying that James would somehow figure this whole mess out.