Chapter Nineteen:

Note: It sounds silly but I am excited for everyone to read the upcoming chapters I've completed. (Five!) I enjoyed them and I hope you all will, too.

But for now, I hope you all enjoy this one! :)

Once Brigid's door was closed, Larten carried Erin to her bed. He laid her down gently, pulling back the bed sheets and comforter. It was just like before only now he had a true solemn duty that was his for the rest of the night. He would not leave her side.

He covered her and noticed she was shivering in her black tank-top and shorts. Her skin was cold and clammy. Just like before. He found the blanket in the closet she had draped across him and covered her in it, too, tucking her in. He pulled the chair from her desk and sat down by the bedside. Larten had never taken into consideration the empathetic portion of her powers. Future flashes, glimpses into people's lives, and empathy. He had never met a human yet who had such abilities. He only knew of Hibernius, Evanna, and the natural vampire ability to locate auras and send short clips of messages. He wondered if Brigid and she would be able to link thoughts with him. Larten remembered when he had been tracking Murlough after he had abducted Erin and how he seemed to be drawn to the place where Murlough had her. It was like a signal of some sort that increased the closer he got. Maybe that had been Erin projecting the last of her energy and he had been close enough to 'hear' it. He would like to experiment with Brigid and Erin and see if they could make a connection.

Erin started tossing violently in the bed, her teeth grinding.

Larten stood and tried to stop Erin's flailing arms.

"If you touch either one of them I will make you beg-" She snarled.

Suddenly she started hyperventilating. Larten tried to smooth back her hair to calm her but it did no good. She was choking in her sleep. He had to get her to calm down and breathe normally.

Larten went to the other side of the bed and crawled in, reaching his long arms to pull Erin tightly against him. He held her back firmly against his chest and started breathing deep, controlled breaths. His arms held hers tightly to keep them from flailing. He breathed slowly and meaningfully trying to get her to match his rhythm. Soon her breathing started to calm down and keep pace with his. Her heart wasn't pounding anymore and she wasn't grinding her teeth. He could feel her body relax into his. Larten could feel his own body relax with hers. He smelled her hair and the nape of her neck. He sighed inside knowing he needed to escape this embrace. He extricated his arms from around her and carefully started to inch out of the bed, but that's when she did something quite unexpected. Immediately feeling the loss of whatever comfort she had been feeling, she turned quickly and reached her hands out to grab fistfuls of Larten's shirt. She was very much asleep but she wanted what had made her feel safe to stay right with her.

Larten glanced at her hands slightly gripping his shirt. He inched back to where he had been just a minute ago. She placed her head into the crook of his shoulder and he could feel her breathing lightly on his neck. Her arms were against his chest and she was as close as she could get. She was warm against him. He deftly slid his arms around her again. This was not ideal but even vampires craved such things whether they admitted to it or not. He didn't think about it in depth. What was the point? He was in the situation and had no intention of changing it.

Larten felt Erin shift her position against him to where she had an arm hanging across the side of his waist and had moved a foot in between his. He laid his cheek and chin on top of her head from where it was crooked deeply into his neck. He wasn't tired but he had made a promise to take care of her and not leave her side. He did not plan on doing so anytime soon.

Erin slowly opened her bleary eyes and rubbed a hand over them. She didn't know how long she had been asleep. She had been having terrible nightmares, her subconscious drowning in a suffocating ink-black ocean. But then something had taken hold of her and she was able to finally break the surface and not feel like she was drowning anymore. It had been warm and secure and strong and her mind cleared into a normal state. Once that happened, she had had a solid, peaceful sleep without any dreams or interruptions.

She closed her eyes once more, rolling back into the position she had been in. She nuzzled her face into the pillow, her nose back in a crevice that was warm. She was on her stomach and had an arm draped across something solid; something solid that was rising and falling gently. She wiggled her foot and felt it rub against something that felt like another foot.

Wait, what? Erin raised her head up. The niche where her face had been was actually a space between Larten's neck and a pillow, her arm was over his chest, his arm was stretched out under her stomach while his other one was placed behind his head, and as for her foot, it was definitely between two other feet that were not her own. Larten was stretched out on his back sleeping soundly. Erin rubbed her eyes again. She heard Larten yawn beside her and shift a little, lowering his arm that was under his head across his chest touching hers. Erin couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked to the side of the bed where her alarm clock and lamp were and saw her desk chair was next to the bed. Had he watched over her the whole night? (Again?) She must have been pretty violent in her sleep if he had needed to crawl into bed with her. That was the only way she could explain it.

She sighed and laid her head back down on the pillow directly beside Larten's. She watched him breathe in and out, her arm feeling the fall and rise of his chest. He was so tall and lanky but solid. She had seen him without his shirt on already and even though he seemed thin, he was anything but; his torso, arms, and back were rock hard muscle, sharply defined, with a spattering of scars here and there. He was strong and warm beside her. She was immediately embarrassed when the thought came that she wanted to lay along his chest and feel his strong body beneath her soft frame.

As slowly as she could, she disentangled their feet, and eased to the side of the bed. Larten's immediate reaction was to grunt and shift the arm that had been under her as if searching for something before finally folding it onto his chest with the other, grunting once more with a "mmph."

Erin snuck into her closet, not turning the light on, and grabbed a random shirt and pair of pants. She tip-toed out of her bedroom and before closing the door, she looked at the sleeping figure of Larten. He rolled onto his side folding the pillow under his head. Erin relaxed, slowly closing the door. She had managed to not wake him, even with his acute vampire senses.

Erin walked into Brigid's bathroom and took a quick shower and changed into the clothes she had blindly grabbed: light jeans and a sable long-sleeved shirt.

Walking out of the bathroom she bumped into Brigid.

"Jesus, don't do that!" Erin said, holding a hand to her chest.

"I'm trying to be quiet for sleeping beauty!" Brigid snapped back. "And I need to go to the bathroom so move."

Brigid squeezed past Erin and shut the door behind her.

Erin's heart finally dropped to a normal rhythm as she walked into the kitchen. There was Brigid's box of cereal, open and on the island. Erin looked at the time on the microwave: 10:00 A.M. She had slept around sixteen hours and was grateful. She also had half of the morning left to make a list of things to accomplish for the day: groceries, vacuum (which she would wait until Larten was awake and past his point of morning grumpy grumbling), laundry, and mop the kitchen floor. Brigid would be helping so it wouldn't take long to get everything done. Speaking of Brigid, she would be starting her senior year of high school next Wednesday, exactly one week from the day. Erin was prepared for Brigid's new school year freak out and would help calm her as Brigid's anxiety grew and grew until the first day. Immediately after that first day, Brigid would be happy and right back into the swing of things. It was just the looming fear of the new term that got to her. Erin would remind her over and over that everything was going to be fine.

"Hey, whatcha writing?" Brigid asked, jumping up to sit on the edge of the island, grabbing her box of cereal to munch on.

"A list of things that need to get done."

"Booooo." Brigid boo'd, giving a thumbs down.

"Chill. I'm only going to need you to do two things."

Brigid looked at the list. "I get to choose which two."

"Fine. As long as you really do them!" Erin gave the pen to Brigid.

"Laundry, check. Aaaaand...mop, check." Brigid saw the look on Erin's face. "I know, I know, laundry is not just washing the clothes and leaving them in the dryer. Have a little faith, sis."

"I always have faith in you. Now give me some cereal."

Brigid jumped off the island counter, taking back her cereal. She munched and brought up Erin's upcoming birthday.

"Guess what this Friday is! Friday the 30th! Dun dun duuuuun. Get it? Like Friday the 13th."

"I got it." Erin glared at her.

"So...what do you want?"

"Oh my god, Brigid, we go through this every year!" Erin brandished her spoon at her, exasperated.

"Yeah, I know, but this one really is special. I mean, thirty!"

Erin narrowed her eyes. "Are you for real or are you making fun?"

"No, for real!"

"Brigid, it really isn't a big deal. I'm not worried or concerned or care that I'm turning thirty." Erin said pointedly.

"I wasn't trying to say that! I mean, you have a sweet upper figure with an ass that don't quit. Girl, your body is banging." Brigid said, trying very hard to hide her jealousy.

"Well I've already had to accept the fact that I will never, ever be thin like you again. Ever. We could pay for your college if you start modeling."

"Oh yeah, totally, mm-hmm, sure." Brigid rolled her eyes.

"Your first gig could be at the Cirque freak show. I'm sure Larten could pull a few favors. Promotional photos to send around. A re-vamping of their flyer. You'd draw the masses for certain. That's how we'll start off. I can envision it already." Erin said, taking her last bite of cereal and rinsing her bowl out.

"Ha ha, very funny."

"I honestly wait for the day that you get discovered. Don't forget me when you make it big! You'll have to take care of me when I'm old and senile."

Brigid wrapped her arms around Erin and started tickling her.

"Agh, stop! Brigid, stop, I hate you!" Erin was laughing but dying inside. She hated being tickled. "I will feed you to Larten, I swear to god!"

Brigid stopped tickling her and held Erin in a hug. "I would never forget you. Besides, you'd end up being my mom-ager anyways. A bloodthirsty shark mom-ager."

Erin hugged her baby sister back. Brigid was the most important thing in her life. She tried not to think about the dream-vision she'd had about Brigid getting kidnapped by Murlough. She would be doing everything in her power to stay one step ahead and pray ardently that she could somehow keep the vision from coming true. She remembered the part with Larten. She wouldn't let anything happen to him either. She had promised that already. He wouldn't be alone.

Erin let go. "Okay, go get dressed. You're coming with me to get groceries and we'll stop by the mall for a final two outfits."

"Aye, aye, captain!" Brigid said bounding to the stairs.

Erin sat on the couch and made another list of the groceries they needed. She noticed that her notebook she had written in just a couple of days ago was still there and piled on top of it was a couple of Brigid's notebooks. Erin set her pad of paper and pen down and grabbed the top notebook. Inside was a mess of equations and lists of single words and diagrams that would confuse any mathematician or physicist. She noticed by Larten's name the words: bright street lamps, red blur, rain drizzle, confrontation written by it. Erin's brow furrowed. She had also had a small flash about bright street lamps written in her notebook and two different kinds of confrontations. Erin closed the notebook and sat it back down. She didn't want to continue deciphering what Brigid had written, diagrammed, etc. They both had had similar aspects present themselves psychically. Unfortunately, there was no linear demarcation of when these variables would happen, as usual.

Erin's concentration was broken by the sound of Brigid coming into the room. She wore a blue-and-white striped long-sleeve shirt, dark jeans, high-top sneakers, black plaid scarf, and her leather jacket.

"Crap, all of my coats are in my closet!" Erin groaned.

"You can always wear Larten's cloak." Brigid dead-panned.

"There's still two-and-a-half months until Halloween, Brigid."

"Damn, Erin, you go right for the jugular! Good Lord, you're mean!"

"Oh, shut up. Go grab one of yours for me, please." Erin walked to the bar counter making sure she had everything she needed in her purse.

"Vicious!" Brigid hissed at her, teasingly, disappearing around the corner.

They were finally climbing into the car, Brigid letting Erin borrow a cream colored scarf and a short charcoal grey coat that belted around the middle. Brigid immediately turned the radio on nice and loud.

"Pfsh. Larten wouldn't know good music if it hit him over the head." Brigid mumbled.

"He doesn't like it."

"Mr. Grumpy Gus doesn't like anything." Brigid retorted.

"Well, he took care of me last night so we'll dismiss his grumpy sour attitude for at least one night."

Brigid looked at Erin seriously. "Did he?"

Erin gave a puzzled glance at Brigid. "He didn't leave my side. He was actually asleep right by me when I woke up. He must have held me to stop me flailing my arms from, I'm guessing, the more severe nightmares; to keep me from possibly harming myself somehow, I assume."

Brigid's face went from seriousness to straight up confused.

"He was asleep next to you? Like, asleep in your desk chair next to you or..."

"No, he was in the bed with me." Brigid turned into the grocery store parking lot and parked. She went to open her door and step out when Brigid pulled her back into the car.

"In bed with you? As in..."

Erin shut the car door and sighed. Here we go.

"Yes, he was actually in bed with me. Literally next to me. He was on his back and had an arm under my stomach. That's it and that's how I figured he must have been holding my arms against me when the worst parts were going on. Totally explainable." Erin kept it clinical and left out details, mainly the stirring detail that she had wanted to be completely against him, full-bodied, reveling in the sultry dichotomy of their physiques.

"I was the one who let him watch over you. He offered so that I could sleep and I let him." Brigid whispered.

Erin looked surprised. "He offered to take care of me for the night himself?"

"Yeah." Brigid said quietly.

"Hmm." Erin nodded her head, shoving the feelings that this new bit of information solicited. "Well, you made the right decision, obviously. I actually got to sleep and have plenty of energy to tackle the day with." Erin smiled wide at Brigid. "Hey, don't make that face. Simple explanation. No funny business. You really did make the right decision. You needed to sleep and Larten has to pay for his room and board and warm meals somehow!"