* Please Review! Let me know what you thought about last chapter too!*
The longer they were there, the more he was sure she was starting to remember things. She would start to make comments about things or ask him a question but she always stopped herself. He was getting impatient and by the fourth night he decided to take matters into his own hands. He was going to force the memories out of her.
He was pacing his bedroom while she was getting ready for their night. She was in his bathroom, brushing her hair when he made up his mind. He took a deep breath and stalked in. She set down her brush and smiled at him but Jerry had no smile to return to her. He marched up to her and grabbed her by her shoulders. He bent down and locked eyes with her.
" Remember them. Remember them now. Remember all your lives with me. Remember what I am and how we felt about each other." He ordered. Lyric started breathing heavy as her eyes unfocused. He slowly let go of her shoulders and stood up straight. He watched with a weight in his stomach.
Lyric's right hand came up to grip the counter as her eyes shut. She sank down to her knees as a rush of emotions and memories flooded her senses all of a sudden. Elizabetha's life, her life came first. It burst through her mind and she started to whimper. Her left hand came down and she braced herself on the floor when Julianna's life started. Everything those women, she, went through, every feeling they had, every experience they went through was hitting Lyric, wave after wave until she started to scream uncontrollably. She was vaguely aware that Jerry had dropped to his knees and was speaking to her. He reached out and touched her left shoulder but Lyric yanked away from him. She shrink away from him as far as she could get. Her eyes flew open and tears were pouring down her cheeks.
" What's happening to me!" She yelled.
" It's okay, Love." He said softly as he crawled over to her. Lyric kicked at him with her legs as she looked wildly around.
" Something is wrong with me!" She yelled.
" Nothing is wrong, Lyric, you are just remembering." He said, keeping his voice low and soft.
" Remember what? These aren't my memories! I'm not them!" She said as she cried.
" Yes, you are. They are your past lives. You were those women." He said. Lyric was on her back, propping herself up slightly with her elbows.
" No, that's not possible! Past lives don't exist!" She cried. Jerry placed his hands gently on her legs.
" I didn't think so either, until I started finding you over and over again." He said as he worked his way up her body.
" What do you mean, finding me over and over again?" She asked in a panic.
" Think, Lryic, think back. I am in every one of your lives." He said. He had reached her knees. Lyric started shaking her head over and over again.
" That's not possible." She actually whispered.
" Yes it is, My Love. Remember me, remember what I am." He said as he reached her waist. Her eyes were darting back and forth and he knew she was searching her own mind. " Remember me, my Lyric. Remember me with you as Elizabetha. I saved you when you were Julianna."
" Stop." She whispered as she closed her eyes.
" You married me as Catherine." He kept going. Lyric started shaking her head. " I loved you in every life form you took. I love you now." Slowly her tear filled eyes opened as she looked at him.
" What are you?" She whispered. He took her shoulders and leaned down so they were eye level.
" You know what I am, what I have always been." He said.
" That's not possible." She repeated.
" Say it, Lyric." He said. Again she shook her head. Slowly she started to bring her right hand up to her mouth. " Say it." He said more forcefully. Her tears had slowed down but they hadn't stopped.
" Vampire." She whispered. Slowly he nodded. " Vampires aren't real." She whispered.
" But here I am." He said. " I have always been here." Again Lyric started to shrink back from him.
" No." She said. Jerry nodded.
" I have changed my name over these past few hundreds of years but I am the same man I was when you met me as Elizabetha. I love you more now then I have ever." He said softly. " Please, don't be scared of me. I have never and I will never hurt you."
" This can't be right." She said. " None of this can be right." She pushed herself up to stand so Jerry followed her example.
" Would you like me to prove it to you?" Jerry asked. Before Lyric could respond, Jerry's fangs started to descend. Lyric was shaking her head and he knew she was going to try and bolt.
He was ready for it.
Lyric took off running. She needed to get away from him. She ran out of the bathroom and towards the bedroom door. He moved so fast that she didn't even see him. He was standing in front of his bedroom door and she slammed right into him. She turned away to run again but he wrapped his arms around her and they sunk to the floor as she fought against him.
" Let me go!" She yelled as she struggled and tried to twist away from him.
" Relax, Love. I would never hurt you, I could never hurt you." He said against her head.
" Get away from me!" She yelled. She was pushing against his chest.
" You can go nowhere, Lyric. This is the only way out. Just relax." He was speaking gently. " You are my heart, my life, I could never hurt you." When it became clear to her that he was not letting her go, Lyric's struggling started to lessen. His head was resting against hers.
" What happen to Nick?" She asked suddenly. She knew he was missing, the police had come to the diner, asking around about him. Jerry's arms tighten on her. Lyric turned slightly and looked at him hard. "What did you do to him?"
" I warned him about upsetting you." He started to defend. Lyric pulled away and he let her. They were both on their knees.
" So he was telling the truth then. You did choke him, didn't you?" She asked. Jerry nodded slowly. "Did you have anything to do with his disappearance?" She asked. When he didn't answer, tears filled her eyes. " What did you do?"
" The details are not important. What's important is he will not bother you again." She said.
" Jerry, what did you do?" She asked again. Jerry exhaled slowly. They stared at each other for a few minutes.
" He is dead." He said. The answer knocked Lyric back on her ass. " He was beating his wife and children. I saw him."
" You didn't have the right to kill him. You are not his judge." She said in horror.
" He was coming for you. I had to protect you. He was coming to take you against your will. Should I have let him? Should I have let him rape you? How could you expect that of me? I love you." He said. Lyric shook her head.
" It wasn't your right to kill him." She said. Jerry felt his anger starting. His fangs were beginning to slide down again.
" I did it to protect you!" He said loudly. " He left a mark on your skin! He was told to leave you alone! I could not let him get away with it!"
" How did you kill him?" She asked. Jerry shook his head.
" I protected you." He hissed to her with his fangs fully extended. Lyric recoiled quickly and turned her head. Her eyes snapped shut in fear. Jerry felt regret move through him. He pulled his fangs back and reached for her. " I'm sorry, Love. I'm not trying to scare you." Lyric shook her head as she stated to cry again. " You did not love him. You told me yourself that you were not in love with him."
" That's not the point!" She yelled as she looked at him. " You killed someone!" Jerry didn't say anything to her, making Lyric swallow hard. " Where is he?"
" In a mine shift." He answered plainly.
" Did you hurt him?" She asked.
" I did it to protect you." Jerry said.
" How many people have you killed?" Lyric asked.
" I killed the man who first took you from me when you were Elizabetha,"
" Don't call me that!" She interrupted. " My name is Lyric! I'm not Elizabetha or Julianna or whatever those women's names are! I'm not them! I'm just me! I'm just Lyric!" Jerry sighed then started to move towards her. Lyric bolted again, this time towards the bathroom. She slammed the door shut and locked it.
" Lyric." Jerry's voice came through it. " I could easily break this door down. It is nothing to me. I could make you understand and accept everything." She sat down on the edge of the tub as she cried. " Everything I have done has been because of you. From the first moment I saw you, I changed everything about myself. I killed to protect you, I killed out of my grief in losing you. I can't change who or what I am and for that I am sorry. But I can prove to you everything I am saying is true."
" Go away." She said weakly. Jerry sighed and rested his head against the door. He shook his head then pushed away from it. He moved to his dresser and opened the bottom drawer.
" Lyric, I'm setting a book out here. Inside it I have kept a record of your different lives. I recorded all of our conversations, the things we did, the places we went. Read it, please. You will see that you remember and you will know then how much you mean to me. It is night so I will leave you. I will be upstairs in the main part of the house. I must return at dawn though." She crawled over to the door and heard him set something down on the floor. She held her breath as he walked through the room. When she heard the door shut she carefully stood up and unlocked the bedroom door.