Chapter 9
1318 Words
Alina
My eyes were burning.
That was the first thought I woke up to. The second, however, was to realize that my eyes weren’t really burning. I opened my eyes a bit, only to shut them immediately. It was under the scrutiny of the direct sunlight coming in through the huge floor-length windows on the wall opposite to the bed.
The third thing that crossed my mind was, I don’t have gigantic windows in my bedroom!
Oww!
I jumped up in bed, looking around the unfamiliar room to search for the source of the voice I just heard. However, all I got was a room devoid of any other humans or vampires for that matter.
I could’ve sworn I heard someone talk. How come no one was here?
I did talk, but it’s in your mind.
Then I remembered about last night, of being escorted to the restaurant by Ryan, bumping into Erick, fainting in the bathroom, and ending up at his beach house. I grimaced.
“How can I hear you?” I asked aloud. My voice came out raspy, so I cleared my throat a few times.
There’s water on your bedside table.
And there was. Taking the covers off, I shifted to pick up the glass, but I overestimated my own strength and the glass immediately slipped from my trembling fingers. I gasped and reached out in an attempt to catch the glass before it fell. Instead of it shattering on the floor, I heard the banging of the door and a gust of wind followed by a hand reaching out to catch the glass inches away from the floor. Water sloshed over the rim and dripped onto the wood, but the glass remained intact.
Gasping, I looked up and found Erick standing next to the bed with the glass of water safely in his hand. He was dressed in faded jeans and a blue t-shirt. It was not the first time I’ve seen him use his vampire speed, but each time I saw it, it leaves me stunned at the power display. It reminded me of how different we truly were.
“Here.” He handed me the glass.
Taking it from him, this time carefully, I drank the entire glass and placed it on the table. “Thanks.”
“Breakfast’s ready. I got some clothes in the wardrobe over there.” He pointed to the right-hand corner of the room right next to another door, which I guessed was the bathroom. “Get ready and come downstairs.”
I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Stop ordering me arou—” I began to say, but when I went to look at him, I found myself talking to thin air.
Not ordering, just following doc’s orders to get food into your system ASAP.
“I really need to know how you’re doing this!” I grumbled and got out of the bed slowly. With almost two days of surviving only on coffee, I was not sure how I was even standing, but that was beside the point. I needed to go see Papa and finish up my work at the office. Which reminded me. How did Erick manage to convince Ryan to let him take me home?
Following Erick’s instructions, I opened the wardrobe and found a few extremely expensive designer dresses and underwear with their tags still on, and they were all of my size. Shuddering at the creepiness of it, I pulled out the simplest one I could find along with a pair of simple cotton underwear and went into the bathroom to shower.
Showering as quickly as possible, I was out within ten minutes with a peach coloured sleeveless summer dress that came to my knees with golden butterflies on the hemline. I towel dried my hair and let it down to dry naturally. I didn’t even bother with makeup for I never liked that stuff anyways.
Walking down to the kitchen, I found two plates of food already served and steaming. The smell of bacon and eggs and fresh toast with butter made my mouth water instantly. My tummy growled at the same instant, making me realize just how hungry I was.
“Come on.” Erick urged as he took a seat on the counter where the food was and placed what smelled like a glass of mango juice and another of a much darker liquid. I would rather not think about that suspicious drink so early in the morning.
“Did you make all these?” I asked as I sat down opposite to him.
“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his head, seemingly at a loss for words. “I couldn’t think of anything else to cook. Is this okay?”
Erick Stayton never failed to surprise me. He was making an effort just as he said. I had to give him some credit for that, and it was not like I could avoid my fiancé forever. The question was, do I make an effort as well or do I hold on to my morals a little longer until he did something that could permanently alter my view of him? I couldn’t decide on that yet.
“It’s fine,” I answered and took a bite of the scrambled eggs. A moan escaped my lips.
Maybe it was the fact that I haven’t eaten anything for nearly two days, or maybe it was just Erick’s cooking. Whatever the reason, it tasted damn delicious!
“That good, huh?” Erick smirked.
“Hey! Try to survive on a liquid diet for two da—” I cut myself off. Of course, he could! He could survive on a liquid diet forever.
I cleared my throat and continued to devour the divine ambrosia in front of me.
“I need to get back,” I said after I finished my plate and gulped down the mango juice in one go. I must’ve been really hungry. “I have to check on Papa.”
Erick put down his glass and gave me a sympathetic look. “I already called the hospital. He’s stable and resting. We need to talk.”
“Okay, let’s talk about how you can suddenly telepath me,” I said, “and how you got past Ryan and everyone to get me here?” That part had been bugging me since this morning.
“Well, there weren’t many people, so I just compelled them to,” he said like he was talking about the weather. Then he sighed and ran his hands down his face. “Vampires can telepath with people we’ve had a connection with.”
“What connection?” I asked confused.
“I drank your blood... and we had sex.” His voice was strained at the last part.
“You mean when you r***d me?” I corrected. My good mood was over.
“Yes, Alina.” He ran his hands through his hair, messing it up. “When I r***d you, we shared blood and body that’s why I have a telepathic connection to you.”
“Then why didn’t you use it before today?” I asked. Somehow, I had this nagging feeling that he wasn’t sharing everything with me. However, if his explanation included anymore ‘sharing blood and body’ comments, then I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know. It was one thing seeing your assaulter and another thing discussing the crime with him.
“We haven’t exactly been under the same roof for this long.”
Now that, I can’t argue with. “Fine.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “What did you want to talk about?”
“My mother will be arriving shortly. She wants to take you bridal dress shopping.”
And my day just got a lot better, or not!
- Writer
