A Note from me: Here's chapter 4. I hope you're enjoying it. I know there hasn't been much action yet but it's coming I promise! Please review if you can! I love getting feed back and I write these stories for you so let me know how you think I'm doing! PS. I own the OC's nothing more!
I managed to boot Kenlie from the bathroom so I could take a shower and assess the bit of information I had just received. I tried to rationalize that there had to be more than one Vampire named Aidan in the world but I knew that regardless of how much I tried to convince myself of differently it wouldn't change the fact that this was the Aidan Waite. The Vampire we'd come in search of. I honestly never thought we'd find him, I just assumed that he was either buried or dead. His appearance validated that indeed he had been buried, but who would've dug him out, the Vampire in the van perhaps. I had no clue what I was going to do. I had already gone against every bit of training I had and if the Guard were to find out that not only had we housed a Vampire but that it was Aidan Waite and we didn't either kill him or hand him over, we'd be done for sure. It was in that moment that I made a decision I never thought I'd make. I wouldn't tell Kenlie that our new roommate was indeed the reason we came all this way, and I wouldn't kill him. I would let him go.
I got out of the shower, put my pajamas on and headed out to the kitchenette. I opened the box of cashew chicken Kenlie had brought back for me, gazed at the contents, and closed the box again. I had too much on my mind and no appetite whatsoever. I grabbed a drink of water, my lighter and cigarettes, and stepped out onto our small balcony for a smoke. I thought about making a concrete plan but quickly tossed that aside. I got myself into this mess by just winging it, I'd get myself out by doing the same. I exhaled my last drag, stubbed out my cigarette butt, and made my way to the bed I'd be sharing with Kenlie.
"Is the TV going to bother you?" Aidan asked from his bed as I tossed the blankets back to climb into bed with Kenlie.
"No," I said as I crawled in and covered up.
"It's fine." I added with a tired sigh the events of the day finally taking a toll on my body.
"Goodnight, Adelaide." He said softly.
"Goodnight." I replied as I shut my eyes.
Sleeping was pointless. I spent a majority of my time laying there with my eyes locked on the ceiling above me. Recent events had me questioning everything I'd been living by and I wasn't sure how to handle it. I had always had clear motives and knew exactly what I needed to do but now I was at a loss. Finally I managed to get some rest, it may have been fitful, but it was rest none the less.
"Ady, wake up." I heard Kenlie say quietly.
"What?" I asked as I rolled over to face her .
"I'm running to the store, do you need anything?" She asked as she stood up.
"No thanks." I said with a yawn and a stretch.
"Okay then." She said with a smile and she headed out the door.
I scooted myself up to a sitting position and looked over at Aidan asleep in his bed. I took a moment to wake up before making my way to the bathroom. After washing my face and brushing my teeth I headed back out into the room.
"Morning." Aidan said from the kitchenette causing me to freeze in my tracks.
"Don't worry." He said with a chuckle and he took the Batman mug out of the microwave.
"If I was going to kill you I'd have done it while you slept last night." He said reassuringly, taking a swig from the mug.
I had heard him moving around a lot while I tried to sleep, I just assumed that he was trying to get comfortable, I had no idea he was untying himself.
"Did you sleep well?" He asked as he walked past me and plopped down on his bed.
"I assume you know that I didn't." I replied rather snappily as I cautiously positioned myself between him and the door just in case he tried to make a move.
"Have you told Kenlie your name?" I asked deciding that there was no point in being sly with him.
"No, why?" He asked as he reclined back, his eyebrow raised.
"Good." I said with a sigh.
"Don't." I added turning to face him head on.
"Why?" He asked sitting up to match me.
"Just don't." I said forcefully, looking him straight in the eyes. His Houdini routine seemed to put my mind back in Guard mode.
"So, you know who I am then?" He asked more than stated as he moved to the end of the bed so that he was now directly across from me.
"I know a lot of things, Mr. Waite." I said as I stood up and looked down at him. Clearly he wasn't prepared to hear his full name.
"And there are some things I know, that Kenlie doesn't need to." I added seriously as I still stared into his eyes.
"I'm baaack!" Kenlie cooed as she entered, her hands full of bags.
"Holy shit." She said once she took notice of Aidan and his lack of restraints.
"Yeah," I began as I took some bags from her.
"I untied him." I lied well enough for her to believe me.
"Oh." She replied quietly as she still stared at him.
I took my bags into the kitchenette and started sorting the items out. It was all everyday items until I got to the last bag. Inside was a full outfit clearly indicated for a man., my eyes glanced from the bag to Kenlie.
"He can't keep wearing what he's got on." She justified as if she was a child who had just been scolded.
"Thanks." Aidan said with a smile as he rinsed out the mug, took the bag from my hands, and went into the bathroom.
"So what's the plan?" Kenlie asked as we emptied out the few small things left in the bags.
"When are we questioning him?" She added
"We aren't questioning him." I said bluntly.
"What? Why?" She asked confused.
"I already did." I lied looking her straight in the eyes. I hated having to lie to her like this, but if I wanted to keep her out of whatever trouble I would surely be getting into once we got back, I had to.
"Without me?" She asked sounding slightly hurt by being left out.
"Sorry." I said offering an apologetic smile.
"But I couldn't just chit chat with him while you were gone." I explained.
"It's different this time isn't it?" She asked clearly not as oblivious to the situation as she appeared to be.
I thought about her question and my response for a few seconds before answering her. It was indeed different than ever before, but I wasn't sure I should tell her that.
"We're going to do things differently, but the situation is still the same." I said aware of how odd that sounded.
"We're going to let him go, Lee, and once he's gone we never speak of this again." I said strictly, causing her to look at me with great confusion.
"But if we let him go." She began.
"If we let him go one of two things will happen. Either he'll starve or feed off of someone who has been sick and die anyway." I said knowing that her concern was that he would kill someone before the virus could kill him.
"I hate to say it but he's one of the smart ones, Lee. He knows that there's no way to tell if someone has been sick, he won't risk dying to find out if they have been." I said reassuringly.
She nodded her understanding and agreement that no one needed to know that he had been with us at all. I knew that this was difficult for her, nothing about this trip had gone the way we had expected and it was clear that Kenlie would have preferred to see Aidan as a friend and not the Vampire that he is. Maybe it was the fact that we found him in such a sorry state, maybe it was because I didn't stake him at the crash site, I didn't and would probably never actually know.
"My turn!" Kenlie exclaimed as she swiftly passed Aidan as he exited the bathroom.
"If she had to go that bad she could have kicked me out of there." He said with a laugh as he sat on his bed and put on his shoes.
"If she had to go she would have." I replied with a chuckle of my own as I grabbed a paper bag from the market and opened the small fridge.
"She's just sitting in there thinking." I added as I grabbed a couple quarts of blood and placed them in the bag.
"What are you doing?" Aidan asked coming up behind me.
"You have somewhere to go, yeah?" I asked as I turned around to find myself face to face with him.
"Uh, yeah." He replied, his voice and face full of confusion.
"Why?" He added as I leaned to the side and reached past him into the fridge for the last quart of blood.
"Here." I said as I handed him the closed paper bag and grabbed my clutch wallet from the counter.
"Take this too." I said holding out a hundred dollar bill for him.
"You're letting me go." He said sounding slightly dismayed.
"Just like that?" He added with a shrug.
"Just like that." I replied, and I waved the money around a bit.
For a moment he just stood there staring at me, I assume trying to detect what ulterior motives I may have had.
"I can't take your money." He said scoffing as if insulted.
"After all you've already done." He began, as he paced a bit shaking his head.
"I can't take your money." He said again, stopping and facing me once more.
"Fine." I huffed and stuffed the bill into my pocket.
"You're taking this though." I said as I picked the bag up from the table where he had set it down.
"Thank you, Adelaide. You and Kenlie both, for everything." He said as he grabbed the door knob and opened it up. He took one last look at me and he was out the door.
I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding and slipped my hands into my jean pockets, the bill crinkling as my fingers hit it. Suddenly I sprinted from my place in the kitchenette to the door and out onto the open walkway that lead to the stairs.
"Aidan!" I called as I watched him hit the last stair.
He spun around, wide eyed. Clearly he hadn't expected me to come after him. Hell I didn't expect to go after him myself.
"Is everything alright?" He asked as I approached him.
"Yeah, it's just." I began to say without really knowing exactly where I was going with this.
"I just wanted to say good luck." I added , giving him a genuine smile and a quick tight hug.
"You too." He said giving me a squeeze and with that I took off back up the stairs smiling to myself.
I wonder how long it'll take him to find that hundo in his pocket…