Ever After (29 page)

“You heard Doc, no stress honey you need to focus on yourself now and get stronger. They don’t want you worrying about anything.” She sighs as she looks back down at her hands.

“Gran, I’m much stronger now. Please let me decide what I can handle. It’s going to worry me more and stress me more knowing, there is something going on with William and I’m the only one who doesn’t know what it is.”

“You must promise me you will not tell Doc or William, about this conversation.” I felt a little sick to my stomach. It must be bad if I had to pretend I didn’t know.

“You know, Will was very sick after Vincent’s attack don’t you?” Gran shook her head and takes a deep breath.

“Yes, of course but my blood was supposed to help him.” I looked at her, confusion washing over me.

“Corrine I won’t lie to you, Will was so weak even after you ...” she seemed to be lost for words. “Donated your blood and Doc was worried he would not make it. The effects of the blood he was forced to drink were extremely serious.”

I pulled my bed sheets up to my neck, for some stupid reason where Will had bit me seemed to ache when anybody talked about the night it happened. Gran was one of those people whose facial expressions told you everything going on in their head, hers was tense and strained. I did not like where this conversation was going.

“Please go on Gran,” I pleaded. “Will won’t tell me anything about what he went through, he just tells me he’s fine and I can see he’s not.” I shook my head sadly.

“He’s sick Corrine, very sick for a half blood. You know they are stronger than humans are, but Will seems to nearly be as weak as he was in his human life. Doc was able to help him regain some of his strength, but not all of it. Will’s extremely vulnerable to an attack from the Dark coven. Doc tells me he sleeps nearly eight hours at a time, and he’s been sick twice since the attack with typically human illnesses.” She looked away sadly, unable to look at me.

“He’s been sick all this time since Halloween, and I knew nothing about it? How could I be so blind?” I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

“Corrine, no don’t say that. You could not have known all of this. They are vampires, masters at hiding things; they wanted to protect you from worrying too much is all”

She reached over and hugged me, patting my back. I just could not believe my invincible, strong William was suffering in silence. I sat in shock for a few minutes, and I did recall some odd things about his behavior over the last few weeks.

“I should not have told you,” she whispers wringing her handkerchief in her tiny frail hands. “It might cause you to have a setback. Doc warned me to keep you stress free.” She threw up her hands. “Look what I have done now!”

“No Gram, I’m not in shock I was just thinking about the last few weeks and if I could think of anything strange about William.”

“Did you?”

“Yes, now that I think of it I did notice some things. I remember he would disappear for long amounts of time, but I was out of it a lot. I saw him several times with his head down, looking so tired. He thought I was sleeping, but I saw him closing his eyes a lot fighting the sleep. I also recall Doc and Pratt watching him all the time, their dark eyes seemed filled with concern. It all makes sense to me now.”

“Corrine, don’t be upset please .Dr.Pratt and Doc are caring for him, and watching him.” Gram tried to make me feel better. “He will recover, Doc told me he and Pratt think it will just take time for him to regain his strength.”

I could see she still was not telling me all of it. She could not hide anything from me. She was acting strange, and I knew there was more to this story.

“Gran, what’s the part you’re leaving out?” I tilted my head as I stared at her.

“Well it’s just that Doc’s concerned for Will’s safety. The Dark coven may retaliate when they learn of Vincent’s death. Doc and the coven leaders have been meeting about it all week,” she says with a frown on her face.

“I also know the coven is protecting Will. He is never to be alone from now on. Doc told me if attacked, he could not fight off a Dark coven member.” She pauses, looking down at her hands. “It could mean death for William if that was to happen, those are Doc’s exact words.”

I looked sadly at the photo of Will and me together on my nightstand. Both of us smiling, so happy and un aware of the problems our future would hold. I had not thought of retaliation by the Dark coven, but Vincent was an elder with them apparently, so it would be logical for them to be angry. Doc had killed him, but they would come for all of us, no doubt and seek revenge.

I was a target to more than likely. Vincent thought I was the one who made Will lose his identity, at least in his mind. I felt sick at the thought of all those evil vampires coming after us. Gran could see the fear in my face, as she patted my hand. I tried not to worry, but this news was as bad as it could get.

“It will be ok, the coven is guarding you, and Will both. If they choose to retaliate, it will be very hard for them to get near you both. They will not get past them. The Followers are good, but they all have the ability to fight and kill and they will use it to protect their own,” says Gram.

She kissed my forehead and told me I needed to rest now and goodnight, as she and Libby headed for bed. I was left with my own thoughts about the future, and to wait for Will who was on his way here. I would ask him about what Gran had told me when he got here. I needed to hear it from him that he was really going to be ok.

Chapter 12

Secrets

A light tap at my door, and I knew William was here. I instantly felt much better. I giggled at him, as he walked in all bundled up in a puffy black ski jacket and black knit hat and scarf. He had the scarf nearly covering up his face only his eyes were visible. Clearly, he was cold.

“Cold out there,” I smirked, covering my mouth to muffle my laugh. He looked like a vampire Eskimo or something.

“Uh, yeah a little,” he says. “I’m glad you think I’m so funny!” he winks as he starts to peel off his many layers.

“Sorry, you just look like a vampire burrito!” I smiled innocently.

“Glad I can amuse you.” He rolls his eyes as he pulls off his hat. His shiny black hair is sticking up all over. He looks adorable. “I aim to please your highness!”

He bows down being sarcastic. I throw a pillow at his head he quickly ducks down and crouches on the floor as if he is under fire from me. He crawls over on his hands and knees to my bedside.

“Mercy, mercy please doesn’t shoot!” He put his arms up on the edge of the bed still kneeling, and leaned over and kissed me. My head spun, at the feel of his gentle kiss.

“Ok, you win no more pillows,” he begs. I laughed; I looked into his eyes, getting lost as usual.

“How are you feeling?” I ask. He seemed puzzled, as that was exactly what he was going to ask me.

“Uh… I should be asking you that, not the other way around.” He caught me staring at him, analyzing him really; he seemed uncomfortable all of the sudden.

“Somebody told you didn’t they?” he asks his eyes seemed dark suddenly.

I recalled this trait, Lydia told me about it. When a Vamp was disturbed or deep in thought very often their eyes would appear to get darker, but only slightly. Humans with their poor eyesight compared to a vamp’s would never notice such a minute change in eye color. I did and for the first time, I was momentarily excited about it, but with Will’s tense face locked on mine, it was not the right time to mention it.

“Was it Roth? I will kick his ass!” he snarled, his anger building.

I figured I had better talk fast before he bolted out of the room, and hunted poor innocent Roth down.

“No, it wasn’t Roth. It was Gran and I made her tell, me. She let a few hints out on accident and I caught on, and put them together. It wasn’t her fault… really at all.” I looked down at my hands embarrassed now.

“So you know I’m not 100% yet, not quiet up to snuff,” he says.

“Is that all Will? Is there more you’re not telling me?” I gently placed my hand on his shoulder.

He still did not look at me. I put my fingertips under his chin, and tilted his head up so his eyes, met mine now.

“Please Will I love you, tell me what you know.” He blinks, and takes a deep breath.

“Well… basically I’m a mess, not much else to tell you really,” he sighs sadly.

“William!” I said in a warning tone, he knew I meant business.”

“Ok… ok… well it’s just that blood Vincent made me drink, it really messed me up bad. I’ve been a train wreck for weeks. My body’s a total joke,” he says as shakes his head. “I sleep more than you did even when you were fully human.” I took his hand in mine. I was shocked at how hot it was.

“Are you running a fever?” I say as I place my hand instinctively to his forehead. He backs away, annoyed by my mothering him. I drop my hand and take a deep breath.

“Yeah, I usually do anymore. I just ignore it now.” He rubs the back of his neck. “I eat more human food than blood, and I got a cold twice while we were in Maine. It was like the turn of the century the last time I had a human cold!”

“What do Doc and Pratt say about it all?” I fidgeted with my bracelet as I waited for him to answer.

“Well Pratt’s trying to figure out what’s going on, that’s part of the reason he’s still here, and for you as well of course,” he says with a weak smile.

“How serious is it Will? Did Pratt say you might recover soon?” I felt my heart speeding up, one word popped in my head –stress-, the big no for me. I knew by his silence that it was not good.

“Maybe? I don’t know to be honest with you. I feel almost…
human
right now, it’s so strange really.” He looks down at the floor.

“Human?” I gasped in disbelief. I never thought I’d say that word like I just did, like it was a dirty word or something.

“Yeah, sort of,” I could see he was very disturbed, heck, I was disturbed too. We were supposed to be the same now, or would be soon. “Pratt thinks that maybe with time, I will get better, but they will not tell me that for sure yet. I still need blood, though. I’m not going
all
human
on you or anything.” He laughs, trying to break the heaviness in room.

“Good thing, cause I am going all vampire on you, you’re going to have to keep up you know!” I play punched him in the arm.

“Wow…”He holds his arm, pretending to be hurt, and laughed.

“You’re such a girl!” I tease him.

“Gee thanks a lot,” he sighs, leaning over and kissing me softly again.

“How is Gran doing? Is she ok with all this?”

“Oh…she noticed my color, right away after I washed all the makeup off.” I shrug my shoulders. “She said she would rather have me as a vampire as to not at all.”

“I second that, you really do look lovely.” He kisses my hand.

I wished I could feel better about all of this, but doubt kept filtering into my head, especially when I tried to sleep. So many factors were coming into play that really grated on my nerves. The fact neither one of us was really sure about our conditions, or if we would recover. The fact Todd was still out there somewhere and possibly plotting to try to kill me again.

The last one, but not the least, the fact my evil stepmother may or may not want to kill me so she could claim my inheritance. I did my best to try to block it all out. I could literally feel my body react to stress, so Doc and Pratt were dead on about avoiding it. I could feel my heart speed up, like crazy when Will was telling me he was sick. I hated to see what my body would do under really stressful conditions; it couldn’t be good at all.

The next few days passed by quietly. I saw Doc and Pratt each day. I went to Doc’s office at the hospital often with dad in tow, for my “check ups”. I did feel better but I was still at risk, for a setback. I had to be watch full for signs of distress. Pratt was anxious to get me to France to complete the change now.

Will was improving as well, but not as quickly as Doc and Pratt would have liked. I watched William a lot myself. I could see he was still weak. I would wake in the night many times, as I was requiring less sleep as the days went on. I would see him sleeping all through the night and even in the middle of the day sometimes.

Doc seemed very uneasy, with both of us so vulnerable still. It was not something he was use to, he protected his coven always. Will and I were basically sitting ducks, if the Dark coven decided to attack us; it would be an easy kill for them.

The Dark coven was another story. I hated to even think of them. Doc had heard from his sources that the Dark Coven was irate about Damon’s death. Doc could not get the name of the one who now led them, but we all knew someone was. Doc was watching for any signs of a possible violent attack by the Dark coven every day.

The Followers were on high alert now, watching for anything that could pose a threat. Will and I were never technically alone. My house was watched at all times by various coven members. If the Dark Coven chose to seek revenge, we all knew they would come for Will and me first.