Ch. 46..50: The Werewolf's Vampire Mate Chapter 46-50

Chapter 46: A little honesty

Beau

"A good leader is emotionally intelligent" he sits down on the sand with his legs crisscrossed and I laugh at how ridiculous he looks. This is a very muscular man shirtless and taking deep breaths on the beach. People pass by but no one really looks our way. "Come on, join your old man."

He taps the sand and it gets all over his fingers, one of the things I hate about the beach is all the sand and how it gets everywhere.

"I don’t want to."

I don’t know what this is about but I know it’s about the fight I had with one of my brothers. Father hates it when ii get angry, he hates my reaction to everything but I have always been this way.

"Sit down," he glares at me and I cower. I cannot refuse the man. No matter how rebellious I am.

"close your eyes," he tells me after I am seated. I close my eyes because I have no choice. I close my eyes and his voice is all I can hear. It is calm and very soothing. All the anger in me slowly evaporates as I focus on the sound of his voice "Inhale"

I inhale.

"Exhale."

I exhale.

I open one of my eyes and his are still closed. he is completely engrossed in his meditation. i don’t know how he does It, how he can control his emotions so well.

"Keep your eyes son,"

I don’t know how he knows but I close them immediately, trying to understand what he intends to do with this. Nothing major happened, I just had a fight. It is normal for wolves to use their fists first. He wants to make me into someone I am, the so-called leader he thinks I am.

I don’t know if I fit the role, he has chosen for me.

"How do you feel?" he asks in that calm tone.

"I don’t know, the same. Still pissed." I answer him honestly. Just so he can know that whatever he is doing is not working.

"Inhale son, take a long breath in and think about other ways you could’ve handled the situation"

I obey him not fully grasping his words "Think about what would’ve happened if you had walked away. Settled things amicably," he breathes out and my mind suddenly feels like it is in a funk. A good kind of funk.

i used my fists on a brother in my pack. He asked for it but could I have ignored him and settled things calmly. Was it even possible?

"When you hurt your family when you hurt the pack, you are hurting yourself," he explains.

"Exhale," he tells me.

I obey him completely getting engrossed in his experiment. Suddenly i regret everything that happened today. I regret the bruises, the words that were spoken. I regret them all.

"A good leader understands his people."

I inhale again without him telling me to and when I open my eyes, he is smiling at me proudly. He accomplished whatever he intended to.

"Be a good leader."

I open my eyes to the dream I just had and Lanis is lying down next to me. His eyes are open and he seems to be doing something on his phone. He drops his phone when he notices my eyes on him "You’re up," he states.

"Yes," I try to stand up from the bed but he grabs me so swiftly.

"Don’t get up, rest a little longer," he tries to stop me but I glare at him instantly. Things are weird between us right now. I am still so pissed at him. I don’t know what to think, I don’t know how to act around him. he lied to me, he kept something so vital from me and he used it to hurt me.

"I can’t be in bed when a lot has happened. I need to talk to everyone. I need to figure out what I am going to do with Fallon." I tell him honestly because no matter how pissed I am with him; I still love him and I still trust him completely.

"Not tonight, the day is already over. Why don’t you just get a good night’s sleep and then do all that tomorrow," he suggests.

I shake my head "I don’t even know what is happening. I am sure Bell’s took him to the infirmary. He shouldn’t be getting any medical attention. He is a murderer."

"You almost killed him," he reminds me.

I roll my eyes "I should’ve finished him off. He doesn’t deserve to live," that is how I feel. No matter how many times I dream about my father and I remember all his wise words, I just want to avenge his death. A life for a life. Fallon needs to pay for his actions and this is the only way I know how to.

I succeed to get up but Lanis is not happy from the frown on his face. "Are we okay?" he asks so suddenly that I am caught off guard. I know he can sense it; he knows things are off between us and he is the cause.

"I don’t know," I answer him honestly.

He sits up more on the bed and runs his hands through his hair from the nerves of this conversation. "Are we going to be okay," I walk over to the other side of the bed and reach for him. No matter how pissed I am with him, I am still drawn to him. The pull that brings me to him is uncontrollable and I can’t help myself.

"You lied to me, you hurt me and somehow it seems like this is something you’d do a lot."

He shakes his head immediately "Never, I didn’t mean to lie. I shouldn’t have kept things from you but I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t want to hurt you and that’s what I ended up doing," he concludes.

"Why did you want to leave so badly," his eyes dart around the room. He doesn’t look directly at me. He is hiding something from me again.

"I can’t tell you,"

I let go of him already getting pissed again. He is doing the same thing that got us here in the first place. I can’t fucking stand this "Fucking leave, if you want to so badly," I point to the door because I can’t take this. I can’t watch the love of my life hide things from me.

"Please no, I’m sorry," he walks up to me but I am not having in. This is my life partner, my mate. If he can’t trust me, then what the fuck are we even doing?

"Just go," I growl angrily.

"I’m sorry," he refuses to let me go. His fingers grip my hands so tightly. "I’m sorry. I don’t mean to lie and hide things. I hate what I did to you. I want to be better. I trust you with my whole heart but If I don’t do this she will die."

My eyes spring up to his face from the downward position they were in and I freeze from his words "What?" I ask him because I am confused. What is happening?

"I have to go help her, she needs me." he cries and I pull him closer to me. He has been dealing with whatever he is talking about alone. This is what I mean when I say trust, he needs to be able to open up to me. Talk to me.

"Who?" I ask him patently.

He pulls back a little from me "Maddie, Cassius has her. He won’t let her go unless I come to him."

Fuck.

"When did you find out?" I ask him completely disentangling from him. Maddie is his Ex. The girl he was with before me and all I can think about is saving her. there is no anger within me with the fact that he is bothered. The fact that she somehow got involved in this because of me leaves me in anguish.

"This morning."

He found out this morning, he didn’t want me to know and he needed to go help her, that is why he told me about my father "Why didn’t you go?" I realize since he is still here.

"You needed me."

How do I stay mad at him now? This is not his fault, none of this is his fault. He is involved with Cassius because of me and my family. Everything is my fault and he still stayed here to make sure I was okay. "Where is he, let me come with you."

He shakes his head immediately "He said I should come alone. that is why I couldn’t tell you." crying he reaches for me again.

"You planned to go alone, what if he just wants to kill you?"

He shrugs "He wouldn’t kill me," he tries to rationalize.

My heart races at his words because he wanted to go meet the man that wants to kill my whole kind without any plan. That is very stupid, I can’t believe he was going to risk it all like that.

"I’m coming with you. There is no way I will let you go into this blindly. we will get Maddie out and you too."

I have to do this.

I need to think of a plan.

 

Chapter 47: The Plan

Alanis.

I told him.

The things I was so scared to blurt out came the moment I thought I was losing him. Beau is angry but this time he is not pissed at me. He is worried, he wants to be a hero but if he comes with me, we might just end up killing Maddie. This thing happening is not so simple, it isn’t as black and white as he is making it out to be but I want to trust him. I need to trust him

A beep comes from my phone which makes me look at it, it is a message from the number that called. A video log pops up. This could be a message from Cassius. It’s been hours since he called me, he probably thinks I am not coming anymore. Whatever he has planned remains unknown to me; he wants me--for what exactly?

Beau left the room in a panic, he said he needed to talk to Bell. Figure out what we can do in this situation. The best solution is to use me as bait, get Maddie out of there and then fight. I am not weak like he thinks, I can fight my own battles. My only worry is that he won’t be alone, Cassius has an army, he has a whole gang to protect him.

Me going to that location is just a way to get me. He wants to use me as bait. He might already know my relationship with Beau. He wants to see how far; he would go for me.

The video plays and Maddie is crying, tied up to a chair. Her dress is purple with flower prints all over. I got it for her as a present for our one year. Everything about this video is heart-wrenching. Tears fall off her face as she shakes and trembles in shackles. There is a big purple bruise on her cheek.

"Time’s ticking," a recognizable voice speaks up.

The hairs on my arm spring up from the sound of the voice. It gives me chills to know that someone could derive so much pleasure from hurting other people.

"Help me," Maddie screams into the camera. "Please Alanis, help me," he cries getting to me even more than he probably intended. Closing the video, I run out of the room in search of Beau. Things are getting out of hand and I don’t know what to do. She needs me and Beau is trying to come up with a strategy, if I decide to leave right now, I doubt he will ever forgive me. He wants us to do things his way and I have to prove that I trust him completely. If this is the way that I do that then I have no choice. Running around the compound, I stop in front of Isabelle’s house.

The door opens revealing my boyfriend and his best friend. They have worried expressions on their faces. I am unsure of what they have decided "We need to get to her," I cry immediately.

Beau runs over to me, probably worried about my reaction. Can he blame me? No matter what happened between me and Mad, she is still important to me. There was a time when I felt so alone like I didn’t have anyone and she was there, she was the light that brought me out of my darkness. Just because we are not together anymore doesn’t mean I don’t care about her. I will hate myself if anything happened to her.

"We need to leave now. What have you decided? I need to know you have a solid plan if you are coming with me," I tell him point-blank.

He runs his hands through his hair and Bell walks closer to us "You know it is a set up right. If you go there alone, he will find a way to take you with him and then use you to get to Beau," she is being rational

I don’t need rational right now. I just need to get Maddie out.

"If I go with you guys, he will kill her," I interject.

She nods "Yes, I know that and we don’t want that so we need a middle ground. We make it seem like you are alone. We surround the building, makes sure we get you out after."

"He’s a fucking vampire, he will smell you from a mile away."

"We have a way to cover our scents. I just need to talk to Alby. He will make the concoction. It’s an oil that I mixes with herbs to get the desired effect. We used in in the war, with the vampires."

"We don’t have time," I cry.

"We have no other option, let Bells get to Alby, it should take him about an hour and then we will go, together. I am not letting you do this alone. There is no way." his eyes plead with so much desperation that I can’t help but sigh in defeat.

"Okay," Bell runs in the other direction and I turn to face Beau "I don’t think this is a good idea. Us going together. Cassius is very experienced. He will know about this."

the fear is clear in my words, here I am trying to convince the one person that I can’t live without, that it’s okay to send me off without knowing if I will even be able to come back. I know wall Beau is thinking about is me. He doesn’t really care about Maddie; he is a good enough person to want to help her but I am probably his first priority.

He will not allow me to go off on my own.

"You have to trust me; I will not let anything happen to you." he grabs my hands in his and the squeeze is comforting. "We will get her out, just trust me please," he leans forward and presses his lips to mine. The kiss is soft, but there is desperation.

We are both scared.

******************

"Everyone as you all heard and know by now; Fallon betrayed our kind," his tone is firm. Everyone in his pack is gathered outside. This is an impromptu meeting that he called. he was not kidding when he said we are going to surround the location with his people.

I don’t know if I feel good about him bringing so many people but all I want is to save Maddie and if this will be the way then I am willing to try it. I haven’t spoken to anyone at home. I know it will be better to surround the place with my people because Cassius will not sense it if they are vampires. He would be less suspicious. I know a part of him will know that I might not come alone and he will be ready for whatever I bring.

A lot of people murmur and whisper to each other after his statement but no one says anything directly to him. I know what they are all thinking. They know about Beau’s outburst. No one wants to say anything to upset him, I guess word has gone around.

They are all scared but they don’t really believe that Fallon is the bad guy. They trust him more than the word of a vampire. No matter what happens, they will still be wary of me.

"Where is the proof?" someone suddenly speaks up.

Beau’s eyes turn to the direction of the person responsible "He confessed it to me, I know you don’t want to trust the words of Alanis but trust the word of your Alpha. Fallon is my fathers’ brother, he is family but he betrayed us. Killing the Alpha is like killing every one of us, so we all have to stand together and get justice for Rick."

The person that asks remains quiet.

"We have a location on the person that attacked Moe," he announces. With a deep breath, he continues "I need a couple of people with me. We are going to surround the location and try to finish this off once and for all."

"Are we agreeing to kill a vampire now, what about the contention?" Olin—beau’s father’s friend asks.

"We need to do this before he attacks us again. He has a human hostage. he is not only threatening our kind, we can’t sit back and watch him hurt the humans too."

He isn’t giving them the full picture but the expressions on most of their faces say that they are with him on this "What do we have to do?"

Beau selects six people to come with him, Olin, Bells, Justin and three other people I don’t know their names. Thinking about it, I don’t think six people is enough to totally catch Cassius off guard but I also understand that he doesn’t want to risk everyone.

We have to do this.

As we walk into the woods with the plan, I still have this feeling in my gut that things will go south. I feel like something is wrong.

I need to save Maddie.

Chapter 48: Cassius

Beau.

This has to work.

This has to work because if it doesn’t, I will lose him. I know this is a big risk, letting Lanis enter blindly. He is bait to whatever Cassius has planned. He wants my pack. He wants us dead; he is doing this to get to us but if I don’t let Lanis do this, he will hate me. I wanted to say no, I didn’t want him to go alone into the building but he can’t be controlled. He is a man of his own, see what he did when I told him not to leave. He got pissed and ended up hurting me. He was just trying to show me that he is strong enough to do what he wants when he wants.

He would do what he wants without me.

He might be my mate but i cannot control him, i just have to be by his side through whatever he decides. That is love, or what I think love should be, it might b hard and there might be times were I might not practice this but I will try my best to be the best for him. I will protect him with all i am and all I have.

The run from the woods to the location didn’t take long. Lanis wasn’t kidding when he said he was fast. He got there before me and my brothers. The text said Lanis should meet him here. The building is unfinished—almost looks like a construction site. Why the fuck would he want to meet here? This seems like a trap but Lanis is to intent on getting to Maddie. I can’t do or say anything to stop him.

"I have to go in," he breathes out.

We are hidden behind the trees, that leads to the woods. Alby gave us the mixture to hide our scents, it is supposed to last for an hour. That means whatever we have to do, we only have an hour.

"We are outside, if we hear or see anything. We will not stay back," I tell him and he bounces his head up and down in a nod. Olin and the rest of the wolves are on the other side. They are all in their true forms. Bells and I are the only ones in human forms. I watch Lanis and he looks terrified.

"I got you," I assure him.

He manages a smile but it is fake. He reaches for me and presses his lips to mine. It doesn’t feel right, almost feels like a goodbye kiss. I am not saying goodbye to him. No matter what happens, I will save him. I will never let Cassius take him.

Bells comes closer to me as I watch Lanis walk away from me. His strides are slow and it feels like he is taking a huge part of me with him. If i don’t see him again, I’d die.

"He will be alright," Bells breathes so close to me that for a moment I forgot she was next to me.

"I hope so, why is this happening?" it is a rhetorical question because I know she doesn’t have the answer that I seek. I don’t understand why all of this is happening. Things used to be easier but suddenly everything is hard rock. I am trying to catch a break but things are all happening at once. My eyes stay on him until he enters the building. I can still feel him even though he is not close to me. We haven’t completed the mating ritual, it is supposed to me more intense after but if it feels like this, I don’t know how much worse it will feel when we do.

"Things will get better," she places her hand on my shoulder comfortingly. it is not working because I don’t have eyes inside. I don’t know what is happening. I just have to trust that he will be okay. I just have to trust that he is strong enough to stay alive until he needs me.

Everywhere is quiet, fifteen minutes pass by and I hear nothing. Its like we are sitting ducks, waiting to either be attacked or not. I don’t know what I was expecting but this is not it. He was supposed to come out—at least if Cassius wanted an exchange, Maddie should’ve been out by now. I am losing my mind just sitting here, waiting for what I have no clue about.

"Nothing is happening," I mutter in disappointment.

"Wait, its just been a couple of minutes. We don’t know what is happening," she is being rational. That is why she is here beside me, she is the only one that can stop me from bursting in there.

"Its been fifteen minutes. It is not supposed to take this long. What the fuck is going on inside,"

"Relax, we have the place surrounded. They are still inside. If they try to leave, we will notice. Just be patient."

She is too calm. Right now, she has nothing to lose, unlike me--I have everything to lose if this goes south. I stay where i am, deciding to listen to her because I might regret over reacting like I usually do. At this moment I just want to do everything i can to protect Lanis. so we have to wait.

i watch the building and it feels like hours, as I stand on my feet, hidden behind trees, waiting for the inevitable. My heart thuds loudly within my chest, the uncertainty in killing me. I watch the building and watch the building.

"It’s been thirty minutes, we don’t have enough time," this is me getting impatient and letting all the emotions out. Bells nods but stays still "We need to go inside."

She shakes her head "We can’t, let them come out."

My head moves in denial "Nothing is happening, what if this was just a set up. What if he hurt him?"

"You don’t know that, just calm down Beau."

I take a step from her because I already know what I am going to do. I am going inside. I need to know what is happening. I can’t stand outside blindly unsure of his safety. Bells grabs my hand roughly in an attempt to stop me. "You are making a mistake. Lanis doesn’t need this right now."

"Lanis needs me, I can feel it." I tell her grabbing her hand and pushing it off me. "Stay outside, tell the rest to do the same. No one should come inside. I will handle it."

I run to the direction of the building and Bells doesn’t stop me, she knows by now that if she tries to, I will only do what I want. The door to the entrance is large and not completely built yet, I can already see inside from the outside and this has me terrified. Not knowing what happened to him. I don’t know what I plan to do when i fins them but I know I need to make sure he is okay. i can sense him in the building so I use my powers to find him. I take a deep sniff as and look around but everywhere is quiet. There are doors leading into rooms, I go in search of him in all the rooms.

He is nowhere to be found but his scent is getting closer. After searching all the rooms and to no avail, I see a door at a corner that I didn’t notice early. Taking slow strides towards it, his scent gets stronger and I know he is inside this door.

Reaching for the door knob, I grab it slowly and turn it until I hear the click. Once the door is open, I see stairs leading to what I assume is a basement. They just had to be in the basement. I fucking hate basements. The fact that they will do this in a basement just tells me that they didn’t intent to even let him go, they weren’t even going to let Maddie out. This is a trap.

I go down the stairs until I am in a room and everything, I see has my heart shattering into a million pieces. Alanis is tied to chains on his feet, both hands are clasped above his head. He is shirtless and covered in what looks like burns. His eyes are closed, he is unconscious. Maddie looks to be alright and well in this situation, standing in front of Lanis and watching his pain. This has me confused because he came here and risked his life for her, he did all this for her so I don’t understand what I happened.

"The man of the hour has arrived," I hear him before I even see the person behind the voice. My eyes are glued to my mate. The pain he must be in. I have no idea how this happened. I turn around slowly and then I see him, the man behind all this.

Cassius.

Chapter 49: In her head.

Maddie.

A year ago.

"You’re coming to this party, right?" Caitlin my best friend asks with a wide smile on her face. I stare at the screen of my laptop not really interested in our conversation. She is trying to drag me into a party and I am not interested.

I have been searching for something all my life. Something that is so rare but exists and the fact that I have finally found what I am looking for is all I can think about. No one knows what I am talking about, no one will believe me if I even mentioned it out loud.

Creatures like this don’t exist.

it is impossible to even think they are real but I know for a fact that they are because i have seen one before. I was just 10. I walked in on something I shouldn’t have and ever since that Is all I can focus on. I have wanted to meet a vampire since I was a child, I have wanted to be one all my life.

Suddenly I find one and he is in our school.

Alanis Dravon.

The fact that he is real and so close to me makes me giddy. I can finally be who I was meant to be all along.

"I don’t want to go," I groan with hopes that she will take the hint and let it go but if I know Caitlin, I know she doesn’t let go of things that easily.

"Guess who is going to be there," there is a gleam in her eyes as she tries to lure me into this party. I know instantly who she is talking about. Alanis is my latest obsession. Caitlin is aware, I have been, should I say, stalking him for the past month. I follow him everywhere he goes until the day he finally notices me.

It will happen, I know it will because I am persistent. Before i found out that he was a vampire, I did my search online. It was not easy because most of the people I met were perverts with weird fetishes claiming to be vampires. I’m sure you’re wondering how I found out about Alanis. It wasn’t like I searched for him in particular. It was the biggest coincidence. One day after school, I bumped into him and his drink poured on me, I mean all over me.

And what was in the cup?

You guessed right.

Blood.

He tried to explain in a way to get me off his track but I knew instantly. I could smell and feel it. He couldn’t get me to believe his out. Suddenly all my hard work was paying off. I was finally going to get what I have always wanted. Knowing that he was so close to me made it easier.

Made things better.

"So, you in?"

She is watching me like she already knows that I am. Well I am suddenly interested in the party. I want to meet him again, and this time not because I am stalking—okay maybe I am stalking him by going to this party because he will be there but this is my chance. My chance to finally be exactly what I was always meant to be.

***********************

After the breakup.

He broke up with me.

After everything we have been through, he chose to end it all. I have done so much to be with him, I worked so hard to be the girl for him. It wasn’t easy, considering all the things I knew about him. I know who he really is and I accepted it.

Okay, maybe I chose him because of who he is. That might have been the selfish reason but I ended up falling for him. It wasn’t just about who he was anymore. Yes, it made me want to be like him more but I still loved him.

It’s been a day since he broke up with me and I haven’t been able to do anything. I’ve been in bed all day, thinking about how I lost everything I wanted so bad. It wasn’t easy finding Alanis. Knowing who he really is, it took a while and when I found him, I had to make him mine.

"Mads" my room door opens and Caitlin walks in almost like she is expecting what she sees. Me in bed, under the covers depressed. I have every right to be miserable because I lost everything. Everything I worked so hard for. I look at her through a little hole I created with the duvet and she sighs loudly "Get up," she pulls the covers off me and I groan miserably.

"Stop," I try to grab the covers from her but she is faster than me.

"You stop, I left you for Peru all happy and now I have an Emo best friend."

Cut me some slack, I just lost my boyfriend and the chances that came with being with him, all in a moment. I don’t know why Alanis broke up with me, i still have no clue.

"Why are you here?"

She sighs again "I am here to get you off this bed and out for a girls night with me, I need my best friend back." he grabs my leg and I slide down the bed and to the floor. Chuckling, she walks over to my closet and grabs a dress from it "Come on, have a shower, get dressed and lets get you out of this house."

Her offer is tempting, I know she is worried and my parents are worried. I told them about Alanis. i could see the pleased expression on their faces. They never liked him; they are glad that we had broken up. They didn’t care about how I felt. How I wasted a year of my fucking life for nothing.

****************

"A bar?"

She nods with a bright smile "Yes, i want to get you piss faced drunk, so you forget all about Alanis," she opens the door of her Honda car door and walks out of it. I look at her, in her tiny shorts and tank top and wonder how she would even think it’s a good idea for two high school kids to go into a bar full of adults. I get down from the car because at this point in my life I don’t really care about anything.

"I got us fake ID’S" she waves it in the air and I have to grab it from her to stop her from flashing the obvious that we don’t belong here. "You want to get us caught before we even get in?"

Walking into the bar, we stick out like a sore thumb. This is not one of the high school scenes. Russo’s bar is the regular one but I know for a fact that Alanis goes there and I don’t want to bump into him right now. I am still very pissed at him, I have this anger in me, somehow, I want to make him pay for hurting me. I am not going to give up on my plans. All I have to do is find a new prey. this town is full of vampires. His whole family—they think they are not obvious but i know what they are hiding. They can’t be the only ones, there must be more and I will find one and then I will make Alanis pay. He will get what he deserves for hurting me.

"Come on," Caitlin intertwines her arm in between mine and pulls me to one of the tables. I sit down on the bar stool and she winks "I’ll go get the drinks. I am a more believable adult."

This place doesn’t look like they give a shit about ID’s. They probably won’t even ask. I watch Caitlin in the far corner as she flirts with the bartender. He is an older looking man, looks to be in his late twenties. It is totally wrong but she is looking at him like she wants to have him for dinner. Her fingers brush against his arm and he smiles, almost like he is inviting her. I roll my eyes because I know how the night will end. She is going to go home with him.

He gives her two big glasses of what looks to be beer and she skips all the way to me "Here you go girlfriend," she winks as she drops mine in front of me. I grab the handle of the glass and lift the cup until it is on my lips. I have never been a fan of alcohol but at this moment, if it’ll make me feel better then I’d gladly take it. "Aren’t you already feeling better?" she asks me curiously.

"Not at all," I take another sip of my drink.

She groans "Come on, have some more," she reaches for my glass and pushes it into my mouth. A whole gulp passes down my throat and the bitter after taste lingers in my mouth.

I look around and everyone seems to be having the time of my life. I hate that i have this incomplete feeling within me. I am so empty and I thought I would finally get the chance chance to be complete. I thought I would finally get the ending I craved all my life.

A man seated on the bar counter is watching me and the expression on his face is alluring. He is as pale as the coldest winter snow, his green eyes pierce into my soul from the distance between us. I feel it before he smiles, I feel something that pulls me to him.

I feel a connection.

It pulls me.

Chapter 50: The invite

Maddie.

A year ago

"Come on."

Caitlin pulls me into the house of the party and excitement kicks in. I have missed him, call me crazy. I know I don’t even know him, apart from who he really is but I feel like we could be a power couple—of course that is when he finally turns me and I can become one of his kind.

I’ve imagined being a vampire. Would I look the same? Would I be prettier? Pale skin and sparkling eyes. I crave everything that comes with being one of them and the closer I am to Alanis, the closer I feel all my dreams coming true.

The music is loud but all I need are my eyes to find him. He has a crew, people he moves around with. There is the girl and his best friend Rus. Rus is a major jerk, he talks to much and I hate him but he is my future husband’s best friend so I will tolerate him.

"You’re looking for him, right?" Caitlin shouts into my ear because of the loud music.

I ignore her because I don’t need to answer a question that she already knows the answer to. My eyes search for him but his absence in the living room of the house is frustrating me. I want to find him already "I’ll be back," I tell her not even waiting for a reply. I walk around in search of him. The kitchen is free of Alanis, so I go up the stairs and into all the rooms. People have claimed most of the rooms in the house already. I am used to this; a typical high school party is for hooking up. I am not interested in hooking up with anyone but Alanis, I want him to want me. Crave me so much that he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

I want him at his weakest and most vulnerable state.

Jack a boy from school notices me and a frown creeps up to my face hoping he doesn’t come up to me. I don’t need his bullshit right now. I know Jack peters has a crush on me. He wants someone that totally doesn’t even have time for his kind. I don’t have any interests in dating anyone normal.

"Hi Mads." he mutters nervously.

I manage a smile because I still put up a front in front of everyone. No one knows this side of me and don’t plan on showing it to anyone. "Hi Jack."

"You looking for someone?" his eyes follow the direction of my eyes. Alanis is nowhere to be found. Where is he?

"No, looking for the bathroom."

It’s a lie, I know. Sue me.

"That door," he points and I see a long line. "I can wait with you as you wait for the line to clear up."

I can’t seem to escape him. "Uh, it’s fine. You don’t have to." I walk to the end of the line and he follows me. The fact that my lie put me in this mess makes me angrier.

"I want." he rests his back on the wall and smiles at me "So, you owe me a dance after this."

Somehow, he thinks he is doing me a favor, I wish he’d leave already. I don’t even have to go to the bathroom.

"Hey mads." I look up from the shock of whoever called me and Alanis is standing right next to me with a cool smile plastered on his face. I have been looking for him and somehow, I didn’t even notice him come up to us.

"H..Hi" I stutter.

He chuckles "There’s an empty bathroom downstairs," he says loud enough for me and Jack to hear. Jack coughs nervously pissed that Alanis is here and interrupting us.

"Show me to it?" I tell him grabbing him by his arm and walking away from Jack. Jack doesn’t follow us and I smile satisfied that he took a hint. I can’t believe I am holding Alanis Dravon the vampire. The smile on my face says it all and as we get downstairs, he stops "You’re safe now." he tells me with a sense of accomplishment.

"Safe from what?" I furrow my brows in question.

"From the guy upstairs. You don’t have to pretend to want to go to the bathroom." he starts to walk over to the other direction but I grab his arm again "How did you know?"

He chuckles "I read your mind," it is supposed to be a joke but I know that wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen. He is being sincere but disguising it as a joke.

He fucking read my mind.

After the breakup.

That night when I finally connected with Alanis at the party was the best thing that ever happened to me. The fact that he was so charming and sweet at the same time made me feel like I hit the jackpot. I just needed him for his abilities, I needed him to turn me but the fact that I ended up getting love made me feel euphoric.

I felt on top of the world.

He read my mind that night but that was the last time I thought about anything I didn’t want him to hear. I knew it could be a disadvantage if he found out about my plans. I wanted him to think that I liked him and just wanted to be with him, he couldn’t know that I knew about his powers.

At some point, I planned to make him trust me enough. That didn’t happen because he never opened up to me. A year passed us by and he didn’t tell me the one thing I wanted to hear. He kept it from me until the break up and somehow, he expects me to be happy for him that he found someone else.

"Get up and dance with me," Caitlin grabs my hand in hers and pulls me off the stool. There is 80’S music blaring from the boombox at a far corner but no one is dancing. Caitlin is already drunk; she is as drunk as I knew she would be by the end of the night. I haven’t been able to drink. Mystery man has been staring at me, and I can’t seem to take my eyes off him.

His lips tilt upward when I stand up and I know he wants me to dance. I am wearing a skimpy dress—the one Caitlin brought out of my closet. It is so short that if I bend down just a little bit, he would be able to see everything. Just the fact that he is watching me is turning me on.

Caitlin whines her waist to the music and I follow her as she pulls me closer pressing into me "There is a totally hot guy checking you out," my eyes are glued to the mystery man, I know she is talking about him. I can’t take my eyes off him either. His hair is sprawled over his face in a sexy I don’t care way. I have never seen anybody more beautiful in my life.

"You’re staring too," she giggles in amusement.

"He’s hot," I exclaim.

"You should talk to him."

I shake my head in refusal because I am nervous. This is not some high school boy, he is all man, the fact that someone like that could even want me seems impossible. I will wait until he comes to me, I am not doing the chasing this time. Time flies and I watch Caitlin make a fool of herself, she is at the point where I can say she is wasted.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she informs me, slipping her arms from around my neck.

I watch her leave and take strides to the bar. Mystery man is still watching me, his eyes stay glued to me so as I sit down next to him, satisfaction crawls on his face "Can I have another glass of tequila," I can feel myself getting on the edge.

Maybe this is not such bad thing, getting drunk and forgetting about it all. I don’t want to think about Alanis and the fact that I lost everything I have always wanted. There is a cute guy next to me that can make me forgot about Alanis and his selfishness.

"Your friend seems to be enjoying herself," he points out and this is the first time I am hearing his voice all evening and it is everything I expected. Deep and alluring, there is a husk to it that pulls me in completely in a take-me-I’m-yours way.

"Yeah, she is energetic," I manage as I try to catch my breath. The alcohol is kicking in and I am the type of drunk that gets really emotional. I hope I don’t freak him out before I even get to know him.

"You don’t seem to want to be here,"

I nod because I would rather be anywhere but here right now—preferably in bed under the covers. I still feel pretty sad and angry at myself for everything that has happened but somehow, I know this man will be the highlight of my night.

"Kinda going through a bad break up," I mutter and instantly slap myself internally for even uttering those words. Why am I being so honest?

What is he doing to me?

"So, what happened in this break up?" he asks and the expression on his face shows complete interest, like he genuinely wants to know what happened between us.

"Long story."

With a smile, he leans forward and whispers in my ear, it makes my skin crawl in a good way "Good thing I have all the time in the world."