Darkness (9 page)

Holy crap! They’re married! My vision started to de-fuzz but my body felt super weak. I tried to lean against the back of the chaise but I collapsed instead and my body just kind of slid off the chaise and onto the floor. But only part way. My legs and feet were still on the seat but my cheek was kissing the tile.

“What did you do to her?” I heard Oscar roar.
No wait! Oliver. It was Oliver that was here.
I’m Laney, not Julz.
My head was still a bit fuzzy and I was still having a hard time separating myself from her.

Someone touched me on my arm that was flopped onto the floor over my head. It was the dog’s nose nudging me and Isaac trying to lift me back onto the seat. My vision fully retuned then as I was seated upright and propped against the back of the chaise. Oliver had Julz pinned against the wall of the entryway with one hand around her throat, her feet dangling only inches from the floor. She was just as limp as I was. Only her eyes were darting from one face to another. Hayden was beside him pleading for him to let her mom go.

I yelled, “Oliver, stop!” At least that’s what it should’ve sounded like. What came out was more like “Olivestaw.” But he seemed to understand and set her on her feet where she immediately crumbled to the floor. Isaac and Hayden lifted her under her arms and took her to the couch where they laid her out not too far from me.

Oliver was on the chaise with me. He was trying to get my body parts to respond and trying to hold me at the same time. I told him my parts were starting to come back, and he brushed my hair from my face and then left to get me some water. I had gained back all my abilities by the time he returned with two glasses of ice water. He handed one to Isaac for Julz, who was now sitting up on her own, and gave the other to me. He hovered closely in case I dropped it.

After I swallowed I looked right at Julz and said, “I’m sorry.” And I was. She loved Oscar with everything she was. Every ounce of her being loved him and she was in pain from being separated from him.

Her response was, “I doubt you are.” And she was able to give me a pretty evil glare.

I sat up a little straighter. “What is your problem? Why do you insist on hating me?”

She stood, a little unsteady, to leave the room, but before she did she said, “Why should you be able to have what I can’t.” She began to take a step away then added, “Plus, you make it so easy.” And with that she was gone.

Alrighty, now she was back to her bitchy-self. I rested my head back on Oliver’s shoulder. He was sitting behind me, holding me. I felt exhausted. Lola rested her head on my lap just before I was swept off the chaise and carried down the hall. Oliver set me down on the edge of the bed and then knelt before me. Lola came padding in behind us and flopped onto the floor with a huff and stared up at me with her big golden eyes.

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked.

I nodded.

“I’ve never seen that happen before. Something between the two of you caused that sort of reaction.” His eyes focused on mine. “I’m really sorry,” he started and all I could think was that I was so tired of hearing the word “sorry.” He continued, “That’s not what was supposed to happen.” He sat beside me on the bed then and held my hand.

“Why did you want me to do that? What where you hoping I’d see?”

He sighed. “I was hoping you could see into her life and her relationship with Oscar so you could see why I need to protect her and her family. I was hoping you’d understand how important it is that you stay away from him. So you could see how dangerous he is. So you would fully understand why I am so protective over you. He’d do anything to get her back. Including taking you from me.”

“And you thought just telling me this wasn’t enough?”

He shrugged. “It didn’t quite work out the way it usually does. Were you able to see anything?”

I nodded and we lay back on the bed and I told him all that I’d seen. Minus the getting married part. I don’t know why I didn’t share that. Maybe I felt she’d been through enough. That maybe she needed one thing that was hers. Or maybe it was because I knew he’d freak. Oh, and I left out the sex part too. I felt violated enough as it was. I knew it wasn’t real. I just wished that hadn’t been my first memory of the experience. I hoped all the feelings would fade, and soon. I didn’t want any part of her life in me. Ever.

We talked some more about other things. Things I’d been wanting answers to and things that weren’t even important, and I relaxed at how normal that was. I fell asleep with my head in the crook of his shoulder and that’s where we stayed for the next several hours.

Chapter 10 - The Great and
Almost
Disastrous Hallway Incident

Felix returned the following afternoon. While we were sneaking me a bowl of Lucky Charms and hoping the psycho queen wouldn’t hear or smell it, Felix swung open the bedroom door and sauntered into Oliver’s room with a large box of Jujyfruits in his hand. Well, it would have been a large box had it been in my hands. But in his, it looked small, really small. In our conversations, the previous day, as we relaxed in bed the rest of that afternoon and into the night, Felix’s shady candy addiction was mentioned. Oliver mentioned it had been really difficult to be around Felix so much in the beginning because of his obsession with sugar. But after time, it didn’t even faze Oliver. He didn’t crave junk food at all anymore.

“Hey,” he said with a big smile before he popped a few candies into his mouth. Chewing happily, he asked me if I wanted to see Carter. I know, you’d think such a vampire would have better manners. I literally jumped at the chance to see Carter, which was a bad thing because I still wasn’t feeling one hundred percent after the Julz experiment. And that’s what I was calling it, because that’s what it felt like, an experiment gone wrong.

I rushed as quickly as my body allowed into the room Carter was staying in and sat in a dining chair that had been moved to his bedside. As I examined him, I noticed his coloring was looking better. But it was hard to really tell as the lights were fairly dim in that room.

Felix and Oliver were with me. Standing rather close. Felix nudged Oliver with his elbow as he was pouring more candy into his hand. “I need to talk to you.”

I heard Oliver sigh and they headed into Oliver’s room.

Carter was on his back, and the puffy white comforter, looking not so white anymore, was pushed down just far enough that I could see some healing scratches across his chest. It did seem his skin wasn’t as pasty looking as it had been. His lips were severely chapped, cracked in places, and his thin blonde hair was sticking up in all directions.

He was sleeping and I didn’t want to disturb him. I sank back in the chair and squinted around the room. There was a door near the foot of the bed. It was closed, and from what Oliver had told me, nobody but Isaac and Julz were allowed in there. It was their room. Her little cave, as Oliver liked to call it. The part of the room that Carter was staying in had really nothing in it. It was sort of like an awful waiting room. Like someplace where you waited when you were about to receive incredibly bad news. There was an opening to a bathroom opposite the bed. It was dark in there and I couldn’t see anything in it. My mind started to wonder about all the creepy things that hide out in dark places and I was starting to feel super uneasy. I yelped when I heard Carter’s raspy voice whisper my name.

Oliver rushed in like I’d been attacked and I reassured him that all was okay. After a moment he hesitantly went back to Felix in his room.

“Hi,” I whispered, and Carter's face lit up just a little, but his once bright blue eyes seemed pale. Almost like they’d lost all their hope and wonder. The wound across his left eye, that started just above the middle of his eyebrow and ended just below the outside corner of his eye, was healing nicely and rather quickly. Just a crusty scab, and I imagined a nice scar would be left as a constant reminder. His eye, however, was as red as could be. It looked like every blood vessel in it had surfaced all at once. There was a white gauze bandage around his left forearm and it seemed that whatever damage was under that wrapping was still oozing its way through.

“Felix thinks I’ll survive,” he said in a raspy whisper.

I felt tears threatening to surface. “You better,” I said through a choked voice, “I’ll be seriously pissed if you don’t.”

He chuckled lightly and said, “Me too.” I blinked back the tears that had begun and forced a smile at him as I gently held his uninjured hand. His skin was warm and a little clammy. His smile began to fade as his eyelids started getting heavy. I held my smile as I watched his lids lose the battle and his head lulled to the side. He was out again. I continued to hold his limp, clammy hand even after he had totally fallen back to sleep and his breathing had slowed and become steady and calm once more.

There was a small silver bowl barely sticking out from under the bed. I could see that it held some first aid type items in it and a lip balm. I let go of Carter’s hand and took the lip ointment from the bowl. I tried my best to apply it carefully but I disturbed his slumber and he turned away from me onto his side.
Whoa, way too much Carter!
The blanket went with him as he turned, revealing Carter’s skinny naked butt. First naked boy butt I’d ever seen.
Well, at least this memory was real.
And if anyone should’ve felt violated, it should’ve been Carter. But I was thinking he really couldn’t have cared less. This was just something else I’d be keeping to myself.

Oliver burst into the room then, but I’d already dropped the lip balm back into the bowl and jerked the blanket over Carter’s butt. I was standing beside the bed trying my best to act normal while Oliver eyed me suspiciously. I’m sure I looked totally guilty. “I caught that feeling. What the hell where you doing?”

“Nothing,” I answered too quickly. His eyes shifted from mine to Carter’s sleeping body. He didn’t say anything else, just took my hand and I followed him back to his room where I sat on the bed and listened to him and Felix argue.

They stood in the middle of the room bickering back and forth like an old married couple. I didn’t understand anything they were saying. They were both speaking in that Vampiric language I’d heard them speak to each other in before, that same language Oliver used while screaming at Julz. I did catch the occasional word or two that made sense, but not the rest of the sentence and I didn’t feel like trying to piece it all together.

I leaned back against the wall and began scrolling through the text messages on my phone. A couple from Kiera; her parents were making her crazy and she still hadn’t heard from Carter. One from Zoey asking again if everything was okay. Even one from Ashton. That was a surprise.

Hey Laney! Howz CJ? Call if u can

I stared at it for the longest time. ‘Call if you can…” Yeah right, like that would go over well with my super protective vampire boyfriend. Nah, I’d just respond with a quick text:

Hes doin better. I will have him call u when he can.

I hadn’t heard Carter referred to as CJ, short for Carter Jeremiah, since Ashton had graduated, which was the year before us. It felt odd to call him that now. So I didn’t. It was nice to know Ashton actually had some sort of a heart though. Even if it was partially black and shriveled.

“I don’t feel she’s strong enough for me to leave her yet,” Oliver said in very clear, regular English. Well that brought my attention front and center.

“She’s fine, you’re just making excuses,” Felix responded. That I understood too. My attention was fully fixed on them now. “You know Julz is going to leave. She won’t even be here,” Felix continued, then left the room, closing the door after him.

Oliver huffed and then sat heavily on the edge of the bed. I scooted forward and wrapped my arms around him from behind. His body was cool and firm. I loved the way it felt against mine. I rested my cheek against his back.

“What was that about?” I asked quietly.

He turned his head toward me and I peeked up at him so our eyes would meet. I felt my stomach turn. He still made that good nervous feeling run through me. His light brown hair was a bit more out of control than usual. A bit longer too, a chunk fell forward and reached his eyebrow.

“I have to leave.”

“Why? Where are you going?” I asked as I straightened behind him.

He turned his body and wrapped me in his arms, pulling me down onto the bed and onto his chest. “I have a meeting. I have to go, I don’t have a choice.”

My head rested against his chest and my body against his. I felt a panic begin to creep up inside of me. In an unsteady voice I said, “Can I come with you?”

His lips pressed against the top of my head and he whispered, “No.”

It took everything in me to prevent the sob from escaping. “How long will you be gone?” I couldn’t bear to look at him. How could he leave me here in this house, with her? And that thought sent a whole new panic soaring through me.

“I’ll only be gone a day.” I eased only a fraction.

“Are you taking her?” I asked in barely a whisper. I was afraid of the answer.

“No.”
Phew!
But I didn’t ease up much more. That meant she’d be here…with me “She’s not allowed…” he trailed off for a split second then began again, “She’ll never be a Brookehaven Vampire.”