Chapter Twelve
1982 Words
Chapter Twelve
Cat couldn't believe what she'd just seen.
Even after the warehouse workers had taken the final lot of tonight's auction away, Cat still stood frozen in place, right in front of the heavy duty elevator.
Although they were hard to read, some of the passages on those framed pages had been pretty damning. They mentioned the so-called undead. Vampires. There were even illustrations to go with the text that looked unlike anything she'd seen before.
She didn't believe in stuff like that, or did she?
Cat remembered the old portrait that seemed to feature Alexander. That could have been a funny coincidence, or a very clever reproduction piece that looked a lot older than it really was.
She recalled the dream she had of him later that very night; the details of what exactly happened had been fuzzy, unclear, but it all came to her as soon as she read those pages. Somehow, her subconscious had already figured out what he was. Then there were those two funny marks she'd seen on Shelly's neck. Had she just imagined all of this stuff?
Her mind tried to rationalize everything, to convince her that the supernatural didn't exist, even if all the evidence pointed toward it.
And he'd been here. He'd bought this very item without bidding on anything else, which could potentially explain everything! Was that a coincidence too?
All around, people were rushing back and forth, finishing up for the night. Cat forced herself into action to do the same.
She grabbed the clipboard with her notes, as well as her handbag, and made a beeline for the exit. At home, she'd talk to Shelly and realize that probably she was just stressed out and all of it was messing with her head. Yes, that had to be it. Better sense had to prevail.
Nobody seemed to pay much attention to her as she left. Even the streets were unusually quiet on her way.
Still, once she found herself in a near-empty tube station, waiting for the next train, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched.
Again.
She'd felt the same after her first day last week, when Shelly had dragged her to the pub.
Perhaps this was what it felt like to lose your mind?
Cat wrapped her arms around her handbag tightly and scanned the platform. Of the few people around, most didn't seem to be looking at her at all. An old couple stared intently at the board announcing the next train. A man in a business suit was tapping away at his phone. Further up, there was a man in tattered jeans and an old, faded canvas jacket, who rummaged around in one of the two large plastic bags he'd been carrying earlier.
All of them were way too busy to be paying attention to Cat.
And yet...
A gust of wind blew across the platform, adding to the eerie atmosphere. It'll be an approaching train, Cat tried to reassure herself. Her hands went numb in the cold so she pushed them deeper into her pockets.
After an unseasonably warm October, winter had finally come.
Or perhaps it wasn't the weather that made her feel cold. A chill slowly crawled down her back, causing her to turn around and scan the other side of the platform again. Nothing. Nobody.
She closed her eyes and slowly counted down from ten—an old relaxation trick her mom had taught her when she was little and still afraid of the dark.
When she opened her eyes, she saw the lights of the approaching train. Finally. She'd be safe in there, and it would take her straight home.
Cat raced at the nearest door and sat down in one of the many empty seats. The train was quiet as well, but brightly lit and a lot less scary than the station had been. There was a surveillance camera on the ceiling, aimed squarely at Cat, reassuring her further. If anyone tried anything, they'd be caught on film.
She folded her arms and kept her eyes fixed on the platform. Only those few people who had been waiting earlier made it into the train. Nobody looked out of place or dangerous in any way.
The doors closed, allowing her to breathe another sigh of relief. She'd made it. The train pulled away, slowly at first, then speeding up through the dark.
Cat rested her hand on her chest and felt her heartbeat slow down back to normal again. She slumped against the back rest of her seat and closed her eyes.
Alexander smiled at her, and she smiled back.
When Cat came back to her senses, she was no longer on the train. The street she found herself on didn't look familiar.
This wasn't her neighborhood. Had she been sleepwalking? To make matters worse, it had begun to drizzle; her hair was already damp.
She had no clue where she was going, and yet her feet kept moving of their own accord.
House upon house passed her by, each one grander and more luxurious than the last.
Finally, she stood in front of a large ornamental gate and it hit her.
She was on Kensington Palace Gardens.
This was Alexander's villa!
She wanted to turn around and run, but something gave her pause. All those dreams she'd had of Alexander were hard to ignore. The closer she got to the gate, the safer she felt somehow. At the same time, the feeling of unease she'd felt at the metro station earlier was creeping up to her again. Something dangerous lurked in the darkness behind her, she was sure of it. She shivered as the damp crept through her coat.
Where her instincts had told her to run from this place on Halloween, today they were screaming the opposite. Go in. He'll protect you.
It made no sense. Why would he want anything to do with her, after the way she left things that night?
The gates opened of their own accord, and she stepped inside. It didn't matter that the more rational voice in her head insisted she had no business here. That he wouldn't want to see her anyway. That he was probably in there with the woman who had accompanied him to Sotheby's. Pangs of jealousy tore at her heart.
Yet her heart insisted she had to proceed.
She turned around one last time as the gates shut slowly behind her. There was something there, across the road. Two eyes, glowing red, staring right back at her. Her heart skipped a few beats and she swallowed, hard.
Cat clutched her handbag tightly with both hands and ran up the driveway toward the house. The gravel shifted and crunched under her feet, making it near impossible to maintain her balance on her heels. She stumbled and almost fell as she reached the front steps.
One of the two large wooden doors opened and a familiar silhouette appeared in front of her.
"Catherine!" Alexander called out.
Within the blink of an eye, he stood in front of her, at the bottom of the steps. How had he moved so quickly?
"Catherine. You came," he spoke again.
Cat didn't know how to respond. She blinked a few times, almost expecting him to vanish right before her eyes. Maybe she'd fallen asleep on the train, and this was all a crazy dream?
"Someone is following me," Cat mumbled, taking a shaky step forward. Her knees trembled, and almost straightaway, so did the rest of her.
"I'll protect you," he said as he reached out for her arm, steadying her.
Somehow, she believed him.
This was crazy and completely impossible. She took a step and promptly lost her balance again. He caught her. At once, she felt weightless; they didn't walk up the steps together, they floated. All she could focus on was his hand on her arm, burning through her damp clothes and setting her heart alight.
Dream or not, if she assumed that everything she'd learned was true, and he was a vampire, did it really matter? This right here, it felt right. She'd be a lot safer inside the house with him, than with whatever was out there watching her.
As soon as they crossed the threshold into his house, she froze. There it was, the painting that had started everything and almost ended it too.
She'd been captivated by it before she'd even met the man himself.
The door shut behind them with a loud click and the outside world seemed to no longer matter.
"You'll have questions." Alexander turned to face her. His expression was soft, almost gentle, even if the flicker in his eyes suggested something more. Was it passion that she saw? Her body's reaction to him was obvious; the elevated heart rate, butterflies in her stomach, all of it hit her like a freight train, and threatened to throw her off balance again.
"I'm not sure I want to know the answers," Cat mumbled.
She glanced down at her shoes, which were scuffed and coated in streaks of mud. Her one good pair of heels.
Cat met his gaze again and his dark eyes lit up. He didn't scare her anymore. Something about him invited her to proceed. Just like on that first night, before everything had gone wrong. Her mind went blank except for one thought: how good it had felt to kiss him.
She tiptoed and let her desires take over. Before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her, and his lips had locked with hers. It was familiar, like they'd done this so many times before; of course in a way they had, in her dreams. Soft lips, begging for affection, their tongues twirling and darting around one another in an endless game of cat and mouse.
Cat felt feverish, overcome with sensations. This one kiss seemed to unleash all the tension and yearning she'd felt for weeks.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, in between kisses.
He didn't stop or respond. How was it that he still wanted her, when he surrounded himself with women such as the one who had accompanied him to the auction?
The more she drank in his essence, the less important her questions seemed. The only thing that mattered was that she was here, with him. And that he wanted her back.
Cat stumbled backward, her knees buckling underneath her. Their lips disconnected, though his muscular arms still cradled her. For a moment, she had trouble identifying her surroundings, then her eyes settled on the hunting scene on the wall next to them.
"That painting." Cat nodded at the canvas.
"That's me. Yes," Alexander confirmed, like he'd read her mind.
A sense of déjà vu came over Cat. He'd had his arms around her when she asked him this in her dream. She recalled what came next: a dance and a bite to the neck. Had it really been a dream, or a bizarre vision of the future? Her heart started to race again, but she felt more excited than scared this time.
"You are a..." She paused, unable to say the word out loud. Vampire.
It still seemed so crazy, so impossible. Everything was going so well; despite everything, he really seemed to be into her. She wasn't ready to slip up and make a fool of herself.
Alexander smiled and brushed a wet lock of hair out of her face. "Let's get you cleaned up. You must be freezing."
He was right; in all the excitement she'd forgotten just how sorry a state she was in. Cat nodded and slipped her arm into his. Halfway up the stairs, something changed. A fresh dose of dread came over her, causing her chest to constrict and heart to pound even harder. She stopped and scanned the hall, then paused when she saw a man staring up at her. His eyes shone deep red. Danger.
"There's someone there," she whispered.
Alexander paused as well. "That's just Michael. He won't harm you."
Cat frowned and bit her lip. Her instincts were trying to tell her otherwise, and yet she was inclined to believe Alexander's reassurances. He would protect her, no matter what.
"You're safe, I promise," he said.
Downstairs, there was no sign of the other man anymore, and instantly, her fear subsided.
- Writer
