Chapter Three

"Indie? Is that you?" Lexi shouted from somewhere upstairs as I came through the front door.

"Yeah it's me" I shouted back

Suddenly Lexi came bounding down the stairs with a huge grin on her face.

"SO…. Who's taking you out for dinner huh?" she said with such excitement yet she had a sly-ness in her voice that told me she already knew the answer.

"How did you know?"

"Oh I don't know" she smirked and tapped her index finger to her chin looking up at the ceiling "A little birdy told me"

"Hmm or maybe it was the note that came with…. the big bunch of gorgeous roses on the kitchen table!" Lexi blurted out.

"Roses?" I replied, shocked. Had Joseph actually sent me roses? I felt myself blushing and watched as Lexi stood there nodding and clapping her hands together in excitement.

I wandered into the kitchen and there on the table sat a bouquet of half a dozen long stemmed pink roses wrapped together in purple cellophane with a pink ribbon tied around it. I picked them up off the table and saw a white card in between the leaves, it read;

'Looking forward to dinner, hope you had a wonderful day'
I smiled at the thought of dinner and suddenly felt extremely nervous. I don't know if I was nervous because I was going to dinner with him or because there was something about him that felt off somehow.

"so… I'm assuming they are from Mr Mysterious am I right"

I nodded in reply and Lexi swept the roses from my arms to smell the sweet scent that was coming from them and filling the kitchen.

"Wow, he sure knows how to impress, that's for sure" she said enthusiastically

"There's something about him Lexi, I just can't quite put my finger on it though. I mean what the hell was that thing with Edward about yesterday? Did Bella and Edward say anything after you guys left?"

"Nope Edward just said they used to be family friends but they didn't get along. That was it, he didn't go into details. But hey that's between them. And let's face it every girl in Cardinia is talking about how gorgeous he is but clearly he's interested in you! So I say go for it"

It was 7:00pm and I was just putting on some lip gloss to finalize my make up when I heard the doorbell ring. My stomach filled with butterflies almost instantly and I could not believe just how nervous I really was.
I had picked out my favourite pair of blue jeans to wear, matched it with Lexi's white long sleeved top that had a slit down the length of each arm, threw on my favourite pair of brown calf high boots and accessorised with a long silver necklace that had an owl pendent on it. My mother had given it to me before they left for the city and I always wore it on special occasions.

Joseph was standing outside on the porch with Lexi when I came downstairs. He looked so handsome in a pair of blue jeans with a well fitted V-neck t-shirt and black leather jacket on.

"Hi and thank you for the flowers, they were beautiful" I said as I approached the front door.

He smiled; I glanced at Lexi who had a huge grin of her face.

"Ok you two go and have a great night" said Lexi as Joseph gestured me towards the car.

I hadn't even thought about how we were going to get to dinner until I saw Joseph's black sports car sitting in the driveway. Wow nice car, I thought to myself. My thoughts then turned to wondering what exactly it was that Joseph did for a living.

Pulling up to the curb of the little Chinese restaurant in the middle of town I was excited and nervous to be alone with him once again. I don't know why I felt the way I did, maybe because he was absolutely gorgeous and I was just plain old me.
I didn't think my looks were too bad, don't get me wrong but I wasn't as pretty or outgoing as other girls I knew. I had long brown hair; just past my shoulders, blue eyes and I must admit I had a pretty good figure from jogging everyday but I wasn't one for loads of makeup or done up hair and jewellery. I was just me.

Joseph came around to the passenger side door and opened it for me. I grabbed my purse and stepped out onto the curb.
Suddenly someone came at me out of know where and before I knew what was going on they had ripped my purse out my hand and knocked me to the ground. Joseph was instantly by my side.

"Fuck Indie, are you ok? Are you hurt? Did he hurt you-"

"No, no I'm fine, my purse, he took my-"

"Wait here!"

Before I knew what was going on Joseph was taking off after him. A passer-by saw what had happened and came running over to me.

"Miss are you alright, let me help you"

"I fine really, I didn't hurt myself" I replied in a shaky voice.

"Your boyfriend-"

"He's not-" I couldn't get the words out.

"It's ok; here let me help you up"

As I got to my feet I shut the car door and without hesitating, started running after Joseph. I didn't even thank the man who had helped me up but I had to find him. I only got a blockaway when I saw something out of the corner of my eye down the back alley beside the coffee shop. I came to a complete halt. I watched in horror as the body of the man who had robbed me dropped to the ground andJoseph was standing over it.
His face hardened with rage. I could see blood dripping from his lips and what looked like fangs bearing out at me from under them. His eyes were pitch black and filled with nothing but evil in them. He glared at me in shock or horror I don't know but all I could do was look at him, his face and his teeth. The lifeless body at his feet, I just stood there.

He stared at me in shock and within a second his eyes turned blue again, the rage left his face and his teeth went back to normal. He quickly wiped the blood from his lips

"Indie" he whispered painfully but he just stood there staring at me.

"I'm sorry" he said and with that he disappeared.

I looked down at the ground trying to grasp what was happening. I wanted so badly to run, to scream, to yell for help! Anything… But I couldn't move.

My legs stuck firmly in place, panting, my heart pounding against the wall of my chest.
I looked down at the broken lifeless body that lay in front of me. I felt a surge of adrenalinwash over me and I rushed to his side.

"Wake up, please wake up" I shocked his shoulders but his head just flopped to the side.

Blood covered every inch of his neck and his chest. I could see the flesh ripped from the side of his throat leaving behind a gaping hole in his neck and a pool of blood quickly growing on the concrete beneath him. I quickly placed my hands over his neck trying to stop the bleeding.

"You'll be ok, you'll be ok" I screamed at him

"HELP, somebody help us" I cried.

It was no use, I tried to get the words out of my mouth loud enough for someone to hear mebut a lump had formed in my throat making it impossible to scream and the only noise that came out was a harsh crackly whisper.

I sat there on the cold hard concrete, my hands pressing into his neck, feeling his pulse getting weaker at tips of my fingers and there was nothing I could do but sit there sobbingand watching on as this man's life slipped away from me.
The last pulses of blood rushing out through the hole in his neck, spilling out between my fingers onto the concrete below.

I don't know how long I sat there for. I sat just staring at my hands now covered in blood.
I looked at his body… observed how tattered his clothes were… his face unshaven… his hands dirty and the flesh ripped from his neck.
He was someone son, possibly someone's father or brother. All I could do was sit and look at him.

The tears finally stopped flowing after what felt like forever but I couldn't move.
Numbness washed me and an eerie calm that filled the alley.

I glanced around but there was no one in sight; just me and the body in front of me.

I spotted my purse a few feet away and so I pushed myself up off the hard ground what little strength I had in me and walked over to pick it up.

I don't know why I didn't call the police. I should have but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

As I started walking towards home still trying to grasp what had happened I realised I wasn't afraid of Joseph instead I was just so desperate for answers but to questions I didn't know how I was going to ask.
In that moment though, right then, even after everything that had happened and what I had just witnessed all I wanted was him.

As I climbed into the shower; I watched as the blood mixed together with the water and made its way down the plug hole. I stared at it… numb and in total disbelief of what had occurred that evening.
Images of Joseph's face flashed through my head. Who was he? What was he? But deep in the pit of my stomach, I already knew the answer to that.
We had studied vampires back in high school. I had even done an essay on them. For fuck sake though I never believed they were actually real! And Joseph… how could he be? He was so… so normal.
I sunk down to the bottom of the shower and lifted my knees up to place my head on. Lexi had gone out with Bella and Edward and I began to feel so alone.
I could feel the hot tears welling up in my eyes again. 'I can't cry' I thought to myself, if I start to cry again I'm afraid I won't be able to stop.
But with that I couldn't hold it in any longer.
I sat in the bottom of the shower huddled to my knees and just sobbed.