"Why do you like thunderstorms?"
"Because it shows that even nature needs to scream sometimes."
- E. D.
Standing in front of the door, I couldn't bring myself to knock or open the door. Taking a step back was pointless with Anna's arm holding me in place. She huffed in annoyance before knocking for me. Her fist had barely lowered an inch when the door flew open and the stunning man from before, Aro, looked annoyed by the interruption until his eyes settled on me making his gaze soften. We stayed in each other's gaze unmoving until a cough caught our attention.
"Apologies. Please, come in." He opened the door wider for us and Anna shoved me forward as I stared at the floor instead of looking anywhere near him. She turned me as the door closed and forced me to sit on the couch that I didn't notice before. When she turned to leave, I quickly grabbed her hand in a silent plea. She may trust them, but I still don't. She turned from my desperate look to Aro and he nodded his agreement. Sitting in silence for a few minutes, Annabeth finally cracked and got the conversation started.
"Since neither of you are going to start this, I will. I've already taken the liberty to explain some things to Liz, all that's needed is to clarify some things." I rolled my eyes as she smirked at me. "Hopefully, she'll behave this time." Bitch.
"Do you have any questions then, Elizabeth?" He asked and I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Feeling Anna's elbow dig into my ribcage, I looked up to glare at her.
"Nothing is going to change if you don't start talking." She lectured me and I narrowed my eyes at her when her stern expression changed into a gleeful one. "They have a library…" Damn her for using my weakness against me.
"Fine, but it had better be a good library." I grumbled as she laughed at her success. "What does all of this mate business mean?" I shifted my scowl from her to look at his confused expression.
"In what regard?" He asked, puzzled.
"I mean, I'm only a human and you're a vampire. This a big change to both of our lives, but as someone who plans for everything, I am left questioning exactly how much of my life that I'm being expected to change or give up entirely." I narrowed my eyes at his dumbfounded look daring him to deny my subtle accusation.
"We can discuss that at a later time, that is if you decide to stay of course. I want to make it clear that I won't force you to stay here or force the bond on you. All I ask is for the chance to get to know you, Elizabeth." He shifted in his seat before continuing. "I know you are probably confused about the memories that are surfacing, and if you would allow me, I can explain everything." How did he know about them? Shifting my shocked gaze from him to Anna, I was waiting for one of them to explain.
"Liz, breath." I registered the shaking in my shoulder, but past that, nothing. "Elizabeth, snap out of it!" Her muffled voice said and was probably yelled. "Do not make me slap you out of it again." Again, her threat registered in my brain but the growl that rang out finally pulled me back to reality. We both looked to see his eyes were pitch black instead of the crimson from before. She didn't look away but whispered for me to do something. What the hell did she expect me to do? Something in me said to stop thinking about it and just let my instincts take over, and as I breathed out and let go, I found my body rising from the couch and moving directly in front of him to block his view of Annabeth. He still growled in anger until my hand lifted his head up to look at me directly as I spoke.
"Άρο, αγάπη μου, αρκετά." (Aro, darling, that is enough.) While it may have been my voice, I still don't know how I can be speaking a language that I have no knowledge of. He visibly relaxed at whatever it was I said, but I saw the fight behind his eyes to not move. At this point, I've gotten this far so why stop now. I nodded my head in silent permission and I suppressed the shudder that ran down my spine as he pulled me down to straddle his lap. "Είμαι καλά, αγάπη μου. Δεν πάω πουθενά." (I'm fine, my love. I'm not going anywhere.) My voice spoke again, and I knew I would have to ask about this later.
"I'll leave you to it." I heard Annabeth say before the door closed, but I didn't dare to look away from his face. I'm not sure how long we stayed locked in this embrace until his eyes shifted down to my lips then returning to my eyes with the unsaid question. I knew what my instincts were telling me to do, but my overthinking side was still contemplating what this would mean if I did kiss him. There was a small part of my sounding the alarm bells and screaming for me to run away from the dangerous creature in front of me, but it was being drowned out by the much larger part that was begging me to just give in. Deciding to be spontaneous for once in my life, I started leaning in as one of his hands moved to cup my jaw. Just before our lips could meet, the door burst open, ruining our little moment.
"Father, there-" A dark haired boy started before he froze at the sight of us, but I didn't miss what he said and the flash of shock in Aro's eyes. "Should I come back later?" He hesitantly asked, but I was still caught up on the fact that he said father. I didn't think it was even possible for vampires to procreate given that they are technically not living in the traditional sense.
"What is it Alec?" he asked callously, and as I tried to move away, he held me in place.
"You asked me to inform you when the Seattle situation changed." He timidly spoke and I felt bad for Aro's reaction towards him.
"Well? Get on with it." Aro growled out and I tried again to shift myself away from him unsuccessfully.
"It's worse than we thought. It appears that someone is recklessly creating a newborn army." With that, Aro dropped his head against my shoulder. He left an electrifying kiss on the bare skin before pulling away and releasing his hold on me.
"I'm afraid I must take care of this. Try and get some sleep while I'm gone. It is getting late, and we can talk more in the morning. I'll send Heidi to bring you some clothes in your size for tomorrow, but until then you are welcome to borrow something of mine to sleep in if you would like." Not knowing how else to respond, I nodded and numbly climbed off of his lap to go back into the room I woke up in earlier. Since he didn't mention which door was the closet, I picked one of the two and instead found the most extravagant bathroom I have ever seen. The shower alone could have easily fit ten people in it comfortably. Taking quick note of the stack of towels by the tub, I exited the bathroom and went in search of something to sleep in but all he had were expensive button up shirts in various colors. Sighing at the lack of luck, I picked a rich blue one and smiled at the scent of him on the shirt.
Since I didn't really know how long this was going to take, I settled on taking a shower before bed to try and wrap my head around everything that has happened today. Vampires were real! But does that mean that other fairytales were true as well? I dismissed that thought process as I washed out the shampoo from my hair. I don't need to go down that rabbit hole before trying to go to sleep. I'm going to have enough nightmares as it is, they don't need more fuel. Shaking the remaining what-ifs from my head, I shut off the shower and dried my body off quickly before towel-drying my hair as best as I could, so I didn't have to sleep in a wet shirt.
Once it was satisfactory, I quickly braided it back and dressed in only the shirt, which thankfully swallowed my small frame whole, and climbed into bed. I tried to check my phone only to find it dead and sighed as I started at the ceiling before trying to get comfortable. After what felt like hours, I finally drifted off to sleep. And I really wish that I hadn't.
*Dream*
Running through the forest behind my house, I was laughing as Annabeth tried to chase after me. After a few moments I could no longer hear her behind me, and when I turned around, she was nowhere to be found.
"Annabeth?" I called out only to be met with the echo ringing around the otherwise deathly silent wood. I repeatedly called her name frantically searching everywhere for her before letting out a blood-curdling scream at the scene I found.
Annabeth laid dead on the forest floor with her throat torn open and blood all over the area. Stumbling backwards, I didn't see the tree root sticking up and I ended up tripping over it while I stared at the body of my sister in heart. The one last person who was keeping me sane was now dead at my feet.
"They're going to get you, just like they got me. Run away Elizabeth, before it's too late for you." Her voice rang out and I screamed again before the scene went dark.
*End of Dream*
Bolting upright, I frantically looked around the room, terrified that I didn't recognize it until the door was thrown open making me scream again. I tried to back up against the headboard in terror at the blur of movement before my mind registered that it was only Aro.
"Tesoro, it was only a dream. It wasn't real. You are safe here." His calming voice spoke to try and soothe me, and I surprised even myself as I launched myself into his arms, sobbing into his chest.
"It felt so real and I couldn't save her. Why couldn't I save her?" I brokenly cried while harsh sobs racked my body.
"Shh. It's over now, it was just a bad dream. You are both safe here. I can assure you that Felix would never let anything bad happen to your friend, just like I will do everything in my power to do the same for you." He spoke lowly while rubbing soothing circles on my back and playing with my hair that had fallen out of the braid. Slowly he got me to calm down a bit and I was desperately trying to fight back a yawn. "Try and go back to sleep, darling." For a moment I nodded in agreement but that quickly turned to panic when he moved to leave.
"Please stay?" I begged, no longer caring about anything else that happened today. He hesitated, and for a moment I thought he would still leave, until he walked around the bed after kicking off his shoes and climbed in next to me. I quickly cuddled up to him, thankful of his naturally cool body temperature before my eyes were drooping shut. Just before I succumbed to the darkness of sleep, I heard him whisper,
"Always."
I smiled at the word and drifted off again, this time without any more bad dreams.
