Chapter 12
So sorry for not updating sooner but I was in Hawaii on a school marine biology trip for a week and I couldn't bring my laptop with me. Plus writers block sucks!!! I do not own 'the little vampire'. I only own Tanya, her friends, and Cedric.
I woke to find that I was on a soft surface with a warm blanket pulled over me and I realized that I was in my bed. I then realized that there was also something cold near me as well. It wasn't a bad cold but a comforting kind of cold when you feel too hot and a cold substance feels just right. I sat up slightly to find that Gregory was sitting on my bed beside me fast asleep as he sat in a somewhat upright position and leaned against my head board. His arm was around me and I found that my head had been resting against his stomach as I slept. I looked at Gregory's sleeping form for a few moments as I reached up and very gently stroked his cheek and that small action woke him as he took a breath and slowly opened his eyes.
"Hey" I said quietly and he smiled.
"Hey" Gregory replied, "sleep well?"
"Very. You?"
"Huh? I didn't fall asleep"
"Yes you did, I woke up before you and you were sleeping right next to me"
"Oh, I guess that's what happens when you practically haven't left the room in almost 24 hours"
"24 hours? I was asleep that long?"
"I said almost 24 hours; it's been about roughly nineteen or twenty hours by now"
"Well I'm awake and ready to go now. Where is everybody anyways?"
"They're all downstairs waiting for you to wake up"
"Well let's not keep them waiting"
I got up and grabbed a few fresh pieces of clothing and I quickly got changed in my bathroom. I came out of the bathroom and Gregory smiled as he stood and escorted me out of my room to see my waiting family.
"You said you never left the room, why did you do that?" I asked.
"I couldn't leave you alone after I found out that you had been kidnapped by Rookery. I actually only left once because father made me leave to go feed for a while but other than that, I was always with you never leaving your side for more than a second"
I stopped in the middle of the hallway making Gregory stop as well.
"Gregory, I…" I began, "I can't keep this hidden anymore but… it wasn't completely Rookery who kidnapped me, Cedric was in on it"
I saw that Gregory's face went from confusion and then to slight anger. "He what?!" Gregory growled.
I sighed knowing that I was going to regret this later but I couldn't keep it bottled up inside me anymore, "Cedric was the one who kidnapped me and brought me to Rookery. But Gregory he didn't-"
I didn't get the chance to finish my sentence and explain to Gregory as he ran ahead of me and flew down the stairs with me attempting to catch up to him. I reached the bottom of the stairs just in time to see Gregory grab the front of Cedric's shirt from where he sat in between Charlene and Andrea as he roughly pulled him up and pinned him against the wall. Everyone was in the living room and had looks of confusion and fear on their faces as they watched the scene unfold.
"Cedric, you bastard! I trusted you!" Gregory shouted at Cedric.
"Gregory, stop! Let me explain, you don't understand" I said, hoping that Gregory would listen.
"Oh, I understand alright, Cedric was one of Rookery's knaves. He doesn't want to become human at all"
"Gregory!" Fredrick bellowed, "Let Cedric explain for himself and then we can judge the situation"
Gregory was reluctant to let go of Cedric but he let go of his shirt and he backed up and I came up and took Gregory's hand as I placed the other on his shoulder to calm him.
"Explain yourself, Cedric" Fredrick ordered and Cedric glanced at me for help.
"Just tell them what you told me" I said, trying to encourage him.
Cedric nodded as he began his sad tale, he told us all about how Rookery used Charlene as influence on him and how he threatened to kill her. He explain the whole situation to us in great detail as he explained why he did all of what he did and he also explained the fake act in the alley.
"But there were also a few things I didn't expect" Cedric said as he continued his tale, "I didn't expect to meet someone like Andrea" he turned to face Andrea, "and I understand if you hate me for what I've done, I cannot be forgiven for my actions"
Cedric was quiet as he finished telling us his story. I glanced around the room hoping that everyone would understand the situation he was in like I did. Charlene obviously understood as she had been there the whole time with Cedric and thankfully, Freda, Fredrick, Anna, Rudolph, mom, dad, the girls, and Tony all seemed to understand Cedric's reasons. Unfortunately, Gregory was still angry at Cedric and I couldn't tell if he understood or not. Cedric looked in Gregory's direction.
"Gregory, please, you must understand that all I did was not done willingly. I never meant for anything bad to happen, especially this ruining our friendship"
Gregory just stood there in silence as he glared at Cedric with nothing to say to him at all. Gregory suddenly turned and ran out the front door and thankfully it was night out as he flew into the night sky. I ran to the door and watched him fly off in the distance and Freda came up behind me and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"He'll be back" Freda said, "he just needs time is all"
I nodded as I closed the door and made my way back over to the living room and Tony instantly jumped up from his seat and barreled into me as he hugged me tightly.
"Tanya! You're okay, I missed you!" Tony said and I knelt down to his level and pulled him into my arms.
"I missed you too, kiddo. It's good to be back" I replied as I hugged my little brother. Mom and dad stood as they made their way over to me and they both hugged me as well as I stood.
"We were so worried about you" mom said as she hugged me and then pulled away to hold my face in her hands for a moment before letting dad have his turn.
"God, you cause a lot of trouble don't you?" dad joked as he hugged me and I laughed. Mom then said that she had to make dinner and she asked dad to help her as they both made their way into the kitchen and Tony took my hand. I smiled at him as Charlene stood and made her way over to me.
"I wanted to thank you for what you've done" Charlene said.
"To tell you the truth, I didn't exactly do anything" I replied.
"But you risked your life for me when you shouldn't have and you helped my brother as well"
"It was nothing; I don't think we have anything to worry about anymore for awhile anyways"
Charlene nodded and smiled as she turned and headed over to Cedric to talk to him. I walked over to the girls with Tony still clutching my hand as the girls stood and hugged me saying how worried they were and that they were glad to have me back. Soon it was time for supper and the Sackville-Bagg's, Cedric, and Charlene left to go home as us humans headed into the kitchen to eat. Later that night after supper, the girls and I headed up to my room to hang out and watch a few movies on my DVD player. Tony practically didn't want me out of his sight as he joined us in my room to watch the movies. I guess Tony was just a little paranoid about me getting kidnapped and he just wanted to make sure that I was safe. What a good little brother I have.
Soon after a few movies it was time for us to go to bed and at first Tony was reluctant to leave my side but he eventually left to get ready for bed. The girls were rather tired as we got ready and climbed into our beds. I, on the other hand, wasn't very tired considering that I had slept for almost 24 hours already since my kidnapping so I stayed awake as I lay in my bed just enjoying the comfort of my blankets and pillows. Around sometime after midnight, I heard my door quietly open as Tony crept into my room in his pajamas. He maneuvered around the girls' cots as he made his way over to my bed and I slightly sat up.
"Tony, what are you doing?" I asked.
"I had a nightmare" Tony replied and I could hear in his voice that he was scared and possibly crying. I motioned for him to come up onto my bed and he did as I pulled him into my arms.
"You want to tell me about it?"
"W-well, it was Rookery and he had kidnapped you again and Gregory wasn't there to rescue you and I couldn't find you. He took you to the cliffs and when I got there he stabbed you with a stake and threw your dead body over the cliff. And when I woke up I came in here to check if you were still here and not dead"
"Sweetie, I'm right here I'm okay. Besides, Rookery's not coming back, Gregory killed him when he kidnapped me"
"H-he's dead?"
"Yes, there's nothing to worry about anymore. Do you want to stay here for tonight?"
Tony nodded and I pulled back the covers as he crawled under them and I put my arm around my little brother as he curled up closer to me and within a few minutes the both of us fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up first as mom came into my room looking for Tony when she found that he wasn't in his bed. I explained the situation to her and she nodded as she left the room and headed downstairs to make breakfast. I lightly shook Tony awake and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he turned to face me.
"You sleep okay?" I asked him and Tony nodded.
"Yeah, now that I know Rookery's dead and not coming back to take you away again, now I know you're safe" Tony replied.
"Good, I don't want those stupid nightmares to scare you like that"
I kissed Tony's forehead before getting out of bed and Tony left my room to get dressed in his own room. The girls woke a few minutes later and we all changed into the clothes that we would wear for today. As soon as we were dressed, the girls and I headed downstairs where mom was making breakfast of pancakes and fruit salad with potato hash browns. I had already talked to mom and dad about going to England with the Sackville-Bagg's to see the comet and now the only thing left was how we were going to get there.
"Have the Sackville-Bagg's considered anything about it?" mom asked.
"I dunno" I replied, "I figured that they might fly there or something"
Andrea suddenly stopped what she was doing and she stared at me, "if we are flying then I'm not going. I'm not spending another second in the sky like that ever again!"
"Hey it wasn't that bad"
"Oh yes it was! I'm the one who's scared of heights here!"
"Girls!" mom said making us stop our small conflict, "we'll figure this out later at the Sackville-Bagg's house, okay? In the mean time, I need some help with a few chores around here, this place is rather big"
The girls and I nodded as we stood and began working on the things that mom needed help with. By the time we were done all of the chores and cleaning the entire house, it was beginning to get dark and I wondered if Gregory had come back yet from last night. I guess I was going to find out as mom told us that we were going to the Sackville-Bagg's to sort out the travel issue and we all climbed into the car and drove off towards the vampires' house. We drove into the Sackville-Bagg's driveway and we got out of the car and knocked on the door to the house. Freda answered the door as usual and she beckoned us all inside and we sat down in the living room. I, on the other hand, inched my way away from my friends and family as I made my way to Gregory's room in hopes of finding him there.
I hesitated when I reached Gregory's bedroom door and wondered if I should knock or go in depending if he was in there or not. I decided to just walk in as I quietly opened the door and stepped inside Gregory's room. He was, obviously, not there and I sighed as I made my way over to his bed and sat down. I was starting to get rather worried about Gregory in more ways than one. First, I was worried if Gregory was still trusting Cedric or not, second, I knew that Rookery was dead but what if there were other vampire hunters out there ready to stab Gregory's heart? Third, He's my boyfriend! I would obviously worry when he suddenly just took off without another word of explanation. And so I sat there on Gregory's bed still surprisingly unnoticed by my family and friends but I didn't mind, I kind of wanted to be alone for a little bit.
I glanced around Gregory's room and I noticed a scrapbook sitting open on Gregory's desk. I began to get curious as I stood and made my way over to the desk and I glanced down at the scrapbook in front of me. The page that it was open to was of when our families and us spent a day at the park and our parents had brought their cameras with them. On one page there was a picture of me climbing a tree in the park with Gregory hanging upside down beside me in the tree with huge smiles across our faces. I giggled at the memory of that picture as I continued to look at the other pictures. There were pictures of Tony, Rudolph, and Anna playing in the playground of the park and pictures of both of our parents sitting on a bench as they smiled at the camera. That day was a really good day for both of our families and we all had so much fun. I noticed that most of the pictures were either of me, Gregory, or the both of us doing different things in the park. Another picture that I saw was of me standing by the beach as a wave rolled onto the shore covering my feet and the photo was taken beside me as I looked down at the water below me.
I heard a small thump behind me and I quickly turned just in time to see Gregory's balcony door open and Gregory stepped inside not knowing that I was in the room. "Gregory!" I cried as I rushed towards him and Gregory looked up just in time before I crashed into him and held him in a tight embrace.
"Tanya, what are you doing here?" Gregory asked as he too wrapped his arms around me returning the embrace.
"Our parents are discussing travel plans for England and I came up here to check if you came back from last night. Why did you disappear like that? I was so worried"
"I just… needed some time to think and you shouldn't be worried, Tanya. Isn't that supposed to be my job not the other way around?"
I laughed at that last part as I pulled away just enough to be able to kiss him and he kissed me back. We pulled away from each other and I stared into his deep red eyes.
"What all did you think about?" I asked with a little bit of seriousness in my voice and Gregory sighed.
"Whether I can trust Cedric or not. Whether I can protect you from this happening again. Whether I'll be able to be human again after this. I thought about everything that's been causing us so many problems when all we want is for it to stop"
"Gregory, honey, you can still trust Cedric you have to believe me on this. I know he kidnapped me but he had his good reasons for it"
"And I do believe you! It's just that… it'll take time for me to be able to fully trust him again"
"And you don't need to worry about protecting me from getting kidnapped or getting into anything dangerous. Besides, I can't just sit here with a 'goody-two-shoes' life without some excitement happening once in awhile"
"Tanya, you don't get it! What if you get seriously hurt or something and it's my fault? I'll never be able to forgive myself if something horrible happened to you and I'm not there to prevent it from happening"
"If something happens to me then it's my own fault not yours, got it? I can make my own decisions and if I get hurt then that's my fault because I decided to do it in the first place. Don't you dare beat yourself up like that just because of me. Now enough depressing chat, lets go downstairs and figure out this England thing"
"Yes ma'am"
I smiled mischievously at Gregory and he smiled back as we both left Gregory's room and headed downstairs where the rest of our family and friends were waiting.
