He leaned in, my face in his ice-cold hands. He ran his nose along my jaw once then spoke.
"I want to try something. If I'm so perfect at everything else, I should probably try the one thing I don't know how good I'm at."
He moved his face up so his lips were perfectly placed on mine. "Is this okay with you Stella?" I could feel every change his lips made on mine as he spoke.
I stuttered when I tried to answer. Finally, I got a full sentence out, "Yes. Of course it's okay Daven."
Now, I have never kissed anyone before besides my parents and they didn't kiss me the way Daven wanted too. He wanted to go full out, the way you see actors kiss in those big, dramatic love scenes.
Daven parted his lips slightly. My reaction was uncalled for. As soon as he started kissing me, I went ballistic. My hands reached up for anything to grab. They found his silky, perfect hair and instantly grabbed it and wouldn't let go. My lips parted as I calmed down and I sighed.
Daven staggered back, breaking my grip on his hair easily.
"Stella! What were you thinking?" he said breathless.
"Daven… I'm so sorry… I'm just not good at kissing. It wasn't you…you are an amazing kisser. It's all my fault…" He stopped me short by putting his cold hand over my lips, smiling.
"Stella…I guess we just have to work on your kissing. I have patience, don't worry… I can wait a little longer," he embraced me.
I could tell he saw my expression because he smirked as he moved in closer. I'll admit that I wasn't expecting a hug, especially after what I had just done to him with that kiss. Of course, I was no where near prepared for what he did next.
Daven picked me up, gently threw me on his back, still smiling he took off running. He must have heard something, because he wasn't acting like he normally did.
"You might want to close your eyes and hold on tight," he said with a sense of irritation in his smooth voice.
"Daven… is something wrong?" I asked, a little bit worried and I knew he could tell.
He didn't reply. He just kept looking forward, dodging trees by inches I still flinched because I thought I was going to hit them. I started getting motion sickness and Daven could instantly tell.
He laughed with that irritation still in his voice and said "I told you to close your eyes Stella. I'm going to go faster, so I suggest you do close your eyes this time."
I did as he told me not wanting to get sick. I still wondered how he could go so fast just by running, but I figured I'd be better to just sit there and keep my eyes closed instead of thinking. I could feel the increase of speed almost right after I closed my eyes. I kept a mental note that no matter how fast he went, his breathing stayed the same. Always normal, and every once and a while I wouldn't hear a breath for a minute or so.
Before I had realized that we had stopped, he was taking me off his back and setting me on the ground. I could feel his muscular arms wrap around me then he put his right hand in my left one.
" You can open your eyes now Stella. We aren't running anymore." Daven whispered in my ear so his cool breath went onto the side of my face.
I swear I felt his cold lips press against the side of my cheek. Then they were gone and I opened my eyes to see that we were standing hand in hand in front of a mansion in the middle of the woods. I later learned that that mansion belonged to Kyle's family. We walked hand in hand into his house.
Inside the house, it was incredibly bright and welcoming. There was a piano with a dozen of red roses on it in the brightest corner of the room. To my right was the kitchen with a beautifully carved wooden table off to the side with ten matching chairs surrounding it. Dead in front of me was a winding staircase where two girls were standing there, staring at Daven and myself, but mainly me.
The girls were blonde and black haired. They were both so strikingly beautiful. The blonde one was taller and she seemed to be older too. The black haired one was fairy-like. She was so small and dainty that I thought that if you touched her, she would break. They both had the same dark circles under their eyes and extremely pale skin, the same as Daven.
Three young men walked down the stairs, all staring at me once again. By now, Daven had set me down. The first of the boys had blond hair with brown low-lights and had deep red eyes. The second from the top had brown hair with blonde high-lights and was the most muscular. The last one had bright blonde hair and Caribbean blue eyes that I found enchanting.
Two more people walked down and I looked up at Daven. He laughed, kissed my cheek and said, "These are the final two. My mom and dad."
The two that were his 'mom and dad' didn't look much older than the second boy. The man had dark blonde hair and looked like a model. The woman had deep brown hair and a welcoming expression on her face. Something about her expression made me calm down with seven complete strangers staring at me, checking me out to see as if I was good enough to even stand in their house.
Daven made the first move. He said, "Everyone, this is Stella. Obviously Chrysler, Orlando, Lila, Leah and Michael, you all know her from school. Mom and dad, this is Stella Dawne, the girl I've been talking so much about. Stella…"
He left me breathless. I didn't know what to say. I looked at Daven for help. He smirked again and said to the family, " She's very happy to meet all of you. She is just in shock because there are so many people in this family."
"Oh… Yeah right Daven. We all know that… Never-mind. I'll tell you later," the blonde one said.
"Okay… Anyway… Stella, this is Leah. That's Lila, next to her is Orlando, Orlando is standing next to Chrysler, Chrysler is next to Michael, Michael is next to Dakota and Dakota is next to Kara." Daven pointed each of them out and when he said their names.
"So…umm…are you all related?" I asked, stuttering.
When I asked this, everyone just stared at me, then at each other. Lila was the first to say something. "Daven…didn't…tell you?"
"Tell me what?" I said blankly. He didn't talk about his family at all with me around. The only time I've ever seen them together was at school during lunch.
"Daven! You moron! She doesn't know? Why are you keeping it a secret? Who is this nobody going to tell? No one! That's right! She doesn't have any friends besides you and maybe Jessica! What were you thinking Daven?" Leah said loudly, her facial expressions showing that she was angry with Daven.
Leah, maybe if you paid attention during lunch you would see that she has more than two friends! She sits at a table that is completely full and more humans are coming to sit there each day. We're the ones that don't have any friends! Haven't you realized that or are you that blonde that you can't see it?" Daven shouted.
"Daven! Leah! Stop fighting. Now Daven, why don't you take Stella up to your room and explain to her what you two were just fighting about. Leah, when Daven comes back, you tell him you're sorry. Okay?" Dakota said, calmly.
"And if I don't?" Leah retorted back.
"Leah, you don't want to go there. You know what he might do to you." Daven said, smirking, holding me as close to his ice-cold body as he could.
"Daven, when you come back all alone, I'm not going to comfort you because she left you. You shouldn't be with a human anyway, you know that one day… you won't be able to hold it back and she'll wind up dead, and it'll be all… your… fault. How will you live your eternal life knowing that you killed the one person that you love? Your eyes won't be golden anymore, they will shine bright red proving that it was you that killed Stella and then the others will find you and make you one of them. No vampire, not even my half-brother, should have to go through trying not to kill a human. You aren't making a smart decision Daven, and I know you know it." Leah said, irritated and glaring at him.
"Hold on. Did she just say vampire? Daven… you're a vv… vampire?" I said, tears starting to come to my eyes.
"Stella…wait…uh...well...yes… I am. I couldn't find the right time to tell you and… I knew if I told you that… that you would leave me and I would be alone again." Daven said, with a hint of depression in his voice.
" Daven… I don't understand why you didn't tell me before. I wouldn't have left you. I really do love you and even if you are different from the rest of the world, like a vampire, I don't care. Daven… There is nothing, besides you leaving me, that would make me leave you. Is there anything else that you haven't told me that you want to tell me now?" I said, acting strong even though I was scared and ready to run out of the house that had one vampire (that I know of) in it.
"Stella… There is so much that I want to tell you, but there are some things that I can never tell you. Some of the things that I have seen… heard… some of the things that I have seen and things I know are things that no person, vampire or not, should ever have to bear knowing. Stella… I love you and my vampire side can't do anything to stop that emotion…even if it…" he stopped, turned away from me and whispered, "Even if it kills you."
I stared at Daven until he turned around. As soon as he caught my eye, he twirled back around so his back was to me. The room suddenly became dead silent, quieter than I have ever heard. I could hear myself breathing but mine was the only breathing in the room. Daven's family had gone over by him, except for the pixie-like one. She came over by me and was putting her arm around me as Daven suddenly turned around. He was staring at the window, along with Leah, Orlando, Chrysler, Michael, Dakota and Kara.
I felt Lila turn around to see what the rest of the family was staring at. Her grip tightened on my arm as something glass hit the floor. She tugged me in the direction towards the rest of the family. I moved easily, without any problems because I knew that something was wrong. No one had relaxed. Everyone was intent on whatever was in the window.
Whatever was in the window had jumped down and had started walking towards all of us. I was struggling by now because Lila was holding me so tight. Lila let me go with concern though, like whatever was here was here for me.