I want to give a big shout out to everyone that has read the story so far. I want to send a special 'Thank You' to xAngelofHardyx, RoseanneMay, Lady-Sony and Ms. Chandy. You guys rock!!! There's a little bit of drama it this chapter! Enjoy!
Jeff and I vanished a few minutes later. Randy called and told us later that night that he told Maggie everything about what was going on. Randy said that Maggie insisted that she have an 'audience' (her words) with the King.
The next afternoon, I called and let her know that we were coming over. We vanished into my room and walked into the living room where Randy and Maggie were waiting. I walked over to her, hugging her tightly.
"Are you better today?" I asked her. She pulled away and nodded. It was not like Maggie to not hug me back. I pulled away and looked at her. She was nervous. She kept looking at the floor instead of looking at me. I stepped away from her. Jeff wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me close to his side. I saw Randy step up to her and touch her shoulder. She looked over her shoulder at him and gave him a half-hearted smile. At least it wasn't Randy that she was nervous of. She turned back to glance at me and Jeff. She took a couple of steps away from Randy and dropped to her knees in front of Jeff and I. She dropped her head.
"Please forgive me, your highness. I'm so sorry that I told the enemy who your Queen was. I had no idea who they were. I am completely responsible for what happened, no one else."
"Maggie, baby, what are you doing?" Randy asked. He stepped up and knelt down beside her.
"I'm begging for forgiveness from the King." She pushed at his unmoving chest, trying to get him to back away. "Stand up so you don't get in trouble too."
"But Maggie…" She shot him a pleading look.
"Please Randy." He stood up and stepped away. I looked down at Maggie and then at Jeff. Was this how the whole 'court' thing worked? That was another negative mark against me being Queen. I had no clue what to do. I watched a smile pull at the edges of Jeff's mouth. He glanced at me and removed his arm from around my waist. He knelt down in front of Maggie. He lifted his hand to me. I instantly took it. It was weird. The more we were together, the harder it was for us to be in the same room and not touch each other. We had to make at least some small contact.
"Maggie?" She jumped, not realizing that Jeff was that close to her.
"Yes, sir?" He looked up at me and Randy and smiled.
"Maggie, you don't have to call me that. You don't have to go on your knees before me and beg for forgiveness. I'm not your King. Please stand up." Jeff stood back up. She quickly followed.
"You are the King of the city, right? That's what Randy told me last night." She looked back at Randy.
"Yes, I am, but…you're not a vampire. I'm not your King." He laughed quietly. "I think you've been watching to many old movies." She smiled back at him.
"Oh. Maybe you're right. I'm still sorry." He patted her shoulder.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. How could you keep a secret that you didn't know you were supposed to keep?"
"So, you aren't mad at me?" She asked timidly. He laughed again.
"No, I'm not. How could I be? Sophi would kill me if I was mad at you." He leaned in and mock whispered to her. "Even I'm not stupid enough to piss off the Queen."
It was a good two weeks before Maggie was back to her old self around everyone. She also confided in me that she let Randy bite her.
"So, how was it?" I asked her. We were sitting in the diner one day. John and Randy were sitting a few booths away. She got a huge smile on her face.
"It was amazing. I can't believe I waited so long to let him do it." She lowered her voice a little. "So, have you ever let Jeff?" I smiled. I could feel the blush working up my cheeks. I unconsciously rubbed my neck on the sensitive spot that Jeff had bitten earlier that morning.
"Maybe…" Maggie laughed.
"So, how long did you make him wait?"
"Not too long. Umm…I let him do it the first time we were together." Maggie looked at me shocked. "What? He had just told me that he was 'one'. Hell, I had already made him wait four months just to sleep with me and at the time, it's not like I could really say 'no'." She grinned.
"So, how was it?" I rubbed that spot on my neck again.
"Let's just say, I'm normally not a screamer." I've never heard Maggie laugh so hard in my life.
The weeks flew by pretty quickly. Since that night in the dinner, no one had seen or heard from Taker's men. We had gotten word (Jeff had started including me in that 'we'. He told me everything he found out now.) that Taker's men never went out before sunset. Something about keeping with legends and it helped with the whole scare factor. Just for precaution, I opted to stop going in to the paper. I worked off of my laptop. I stayed with Jeff pretty much 24/7. When I wasn't with him, John was right there. If I went out somewhere, John went with me. Jeff told me that he didn't want to take chances with anything. Jeff and I talked more and more about me becoming a vampire. Oddly enough, it wasn't Jeff pushing the conversations, it was me. I was still nervous and scared but the more time I spent with Jeff, the more I wanted to be with him forever.
Jeff and I were spending the day at my apartment. I had been sitting on the couch doing some research on rats. I had a story about giant rats outside of the city that were killing local pets. Fun stuff. Jeff had all kinds of paperwork and files spread out on the kitchen table. He was currently writing something on a legal pad. I watched him run his fingers through his hair, frustrated at the fact that something wasn't working out the way he wanted it to. I sat my computer on the coffee table. I lifted my arms above my head to stretch my stiff back. I had been hunched over my computer all afternoon. Just when I got into full stretch, my stomach rumbled loudly. I saw Jeff lift his head and smile at me.
"A little hungry, love?" He asked. I nodded.
"I must be." I stood up and walked over to where he was sitting. He tossed his pen on the table and scooted his chair back away from the table. I straddled his lap and draped my arms around his neck. His hands went to my lower back, holding me in place. "How about you?" I kissed him lightly. "Are you hungry?" He grinned.
"I'm always hungry, love." I laughed and kissed him again.
"I know you are. I was talking about food this time." He made a face pretending like he understood. "What if you and I go down to the diner, grab something to eat," I pressed myself into his chest and kissed his chin, "then come back here and work it off?"
"Hmm," pretending to think about what I said, "that sounds…" His phone rang, interrupting him. He picked it up off the table and looked at the ID. "I have to take this, love." I nodded and made a move to get off his lap. His arms tightened. "No, stay." I nodded again and laid my head against his shoulder. I could hear the person on the other end talking frantically. Jeff ran his free hand slowly up and down my back. His hand eventually ended up on the back of my neck, under my hair, stroking my hairline with his thumb. I sighed contently and settled into him even more. After a couple of minutes, Jeff stopped the call. "Bob, I'll call you back in a minute, okay?" He waited for a response and hung up the phone. I sat up. "Why don't you run down to the diner and grab us something to eat and bring it back here? I'll clear off the table enough so we can eat while I finish my call. Then I'll make sure you have me all to yourself for the rest of the evening. Okay, love?" I smiled.
"Okay." He kissed my nose and let me stand up. He dialed John.
"It's Jeff. I need you to go with Sophi to Starlight." He waited for his answer. "Okay."
"On his way?" I asked when Jeff hung up. He nodded and pulled me down for another kiss.
"Can't wait till you get back, love." Jeff said against my lips.
"I won't be long." I said against his.
"Good, I have plans for you tonight."
"Really?" I was about to ask him what they were when we heard John clear his throat. I turned my head to look at him only to have Jeff kiss my cheek by my ear.
"I told you. You two make-out all the damn time." John said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"He's just jealous." Jeff whispered in my ear. He kissed my ear and let me go. I walked over to John and hugged him.
"Don't be like that Johnny." He rolled his eyes at the hated nickname. "Come on, I'll buy you a late lunch."
John and I actually walked down to the diner. It was a little overcast but still a pretty day. We had about an hour before sunset. I wasn't too worried, we should be back way before then. John and I walked into the diner and saw Maggie ringing someone out at the register. She smiled at us and nodded towards the counter. We went and took a seat. A second later, Maggie walked over. We gave her our order and she brought us a basket of fries and something to drink.
"Mind if I share?" I looked over at Randy as he slid on to the stool beside me. I smiled and pushed the basket of fries closer to him. We settled into a pleasant conversation about nothing. A half an hour later, Maggie was sitting our bag on the counter. We told her and Randy good-bye. John's phone rang as he pushed the door open.
"It's Chef. Let me take this really quick and then we'll walk back."
"Okay." I stepped away from John to give him some privacy. I leaned against the brick wall beyond the front window. John smiled and made a face at me while he listened to Matt talk. I laughed at him. He let the smile fade from his face as his look became serious. That made me stand up off the wall. I had this odd sensation that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
John took a step towards me. I watched his eyes get big an instant before they rolled back in his head. He crumbled to the ground, revealing Miz standing behind him. I took a step back as Miz took a step towards me. I got no more than that one step before I backed into a wall of muscle. I opened my mouth to scream but before I could make a sound, a hand clamped over my mouth preventing me. His other arm hooked around my waist holding me against him. He easily lifted me off the ground as I started to fight his hold. His hold only got tighter. Miz was steadily walking closer. The closer he got, the harder I fought.
"Stop fighting me, pet. It only excites me." I froze. It was Adam's voice in my ear. I remember it from that night in the diner. He emphasized his words by grinding himself against my butt. "I can see why the vampire has a thing for you." He sniffed at my nape. "You smell good enough to eat. Even though I can smell that vampire all over you, I'm gonna enjoy tasting you." That brought the fight back. I twisted and kicked with everything I had. I would have used my arms but Adam had pinned them to my side when he grabbed me.
"She's a little hell cat, isn't she?" Miz said. He reached out and touched my face. I tried to jerk my head away but Adam had a pretty good hold on it. I kicked him as hard as I could in the shin. He grabbed the spot. "You bitch! You're gonna pay for that.' He jerked his head to the side. "Take her in the alley." I went crazy again, trying to twist out of Adam's hold as he started walking backwards. He turned the corner into the small alley that was between the diner and the old hardware store next to it. The alley was just big enough for one dumpster which both places used. There were used boxes and crates littering the alley as well. Adam abruptly tossed me to the dirty, wet ground. Before I could move, he was on the ground kneeling above my head, pinning my hands to the ground over my head and clamping his hand over my mouth again. Miz crouch at my feet. This time he was smart enough to grab my ankles.
"You think it's funny to kick me?" He ran his free hand up the front of my leg from my shin to mid-thigh and then back to my shin. He grinned at me. "Try and kick me now." He lifted his hand so that I could see him make a fist. He slammed his hand straight back down. I screamed behind Adam's hand as the bones in my lower leg shattered under his hit. I felt tears come to my eyes at the intense pain.
"Aww, look." Miz said mockingly. "She cries." He got in my face. He grabbed my t-shirt, with a hand on either side of the collar and ripped it right down the center. "Tears aren't going to stop what's going to happen to you." Before I could process what was happening, Miz grabbed me by my upper arms, jerked me up off the ground and threw me into the side of the dumpster. My back making contact, knocked the wind out of me effectively stopping my ability to scream. The back of my head making contact, made me see stars. I didn't even have a chance to hit the ground before I was grabbed and again thrown into the side of the dumpster. I felt the crunching and tearing pain as my shoulder took the brunt of the hit. The side of my head bounced off the side. I felt the blood start to run into my eye from the cut above my eyebrow. I slumped to the ground with a destroyed shoulder that left my right arm completely useless. I was picked up by what was left of my t-shirt and tossed into the center of the alley on my side. Someone's foot kicked me, rolling me onto my back. I sucked in air as much as I could, trying to get enough to scream. Adam's face appeared before mine, blocking out the sky. His grin was far from friendly.
"How do you like our game so far, pet?" He ripped the remains of my t-shirt off my shoulder. I felt every one of his teeth sink into my upper arm as Miz continued on with the beating. Adam's bite felt nothing like Jeff's. Jeff. I tried to focus my thought on him while the barrage of hits, kicks, stomps and bites kept coming. I tried to bring his face into my mind while my vision blurred in pain. You know the saying that eventually the pain is so great that you don't feel it anymore? That is complete bullshit! My entire body was one big ball of pain. I refused to scream. Every time I made a noise, the next kick, bite, or hit was harder than the last. I felt tears start to roll down my cheeks, mixing with my own blood that now flowed pretty freely out of my many open wounds.
I wasn't crying because of the pain. I was crying at the thought of never seeing the people I cared about again. I wasn't going to be able to tell Maggie, John or Randy how much they meant to me. I never got to say good-bye to them. I never got to tell Jeff how much I truly loved him. I vaguely heard a noise at one end of the alley. Miz and Adam finally stopped. They vanished with Miz's help. A voice that sounded like John's, called out my name as my vision went gray. I closed my eyes. I could feel myself passing out from the pain.
"Oh shit! Sophi? Can you hear me?" I heard John ask, while I heard Maggie cry. The tears kept rolling down my cheeks as I tried to suck in enough air to say something to them. My destroyed ribs weren't helping. All I wanted was to see Jeff.
I felt a pain beyond description as John slid his arms under me and lifted my useless, broken body off the ground. I heard Maggie sobbing.
"Oh God, Sophi." Jeff. I heard a flutter of papers. John must have vanished us back to my apartment. I made a strangled sound of pain as John laid me as gently as he could on my own kitchen table. I struggled to open my eyes. I just needed to see Jeff one more time.
"What the fuck happened?" I heard Jeff yell. I could hear a little yelling back and forth but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I had finally drawn enough breath to say something. I painfully opened my one good eye. It seemed as though the other eye had swollen it's self shut.
"Jeff?" My voice was pain filled and almost non-recognizable. Jeff's face filled my partial vision.
"Yes, love?" I could see the pain in his eyes. I hate that he hurt to see me like this. My thoughts were scrambled. There was so much I wanted to say. There were things I needed to make sure of.
"Watch over Maggie?" I heard her crying.
"Love, don't talk like that." Jeff said, rubbing my cheek. I needed him to listen to me.
"Please?" I coughed as I tried to clear my lungs. They were quickly filling up with my own blood.
"Yes, love. I'll take care of her. She'll be fine."
"Not John and Randy's fault." He nodded his head.
"I know. I know." I blinked. It must have taken longer than I thought cause Jeff started to call out my name. "Sophi, Sophi? Love, please talk to me. Love, please." Jeff pleaded in my ear. I opened my eye again. I took in as much of Jeff's face as I could one last time. I was so cold. I needed to make sure he knew before I died.
"I love you Jeff." Jeff dropped his head to lay his cheek against mine. The last thing I heard before I floated away into the darkness was his voice whispering to me.
"I love you too, Sophi. I love you too. Forever, love. Forever."
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