Protector (28 page)

As soon as he reaches the bottom step
, he sees Rosa, James’ wife, standing in the main sitting area with her back to him and her arms resting on the mantle of the grand fireplace.

“Rosa?”
he calls to her.

“Oh
, Alessandro, I didn’t hear you come back down,” she says, obviously very worried and distracted about her husband.

“I’m sorry
.  I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No
, its okay.  I was just lost in my own thoughts, waiting for them to come back.”

“Well
, if it makes you feel any better, you have nothing to worry about.  Everyone is fine.  We did what we went to do.”  He runs a hand through his hair.  “I don’t know how many got away though.  They all stayed behind to tie up loose ends.”

“I can see that
,” she says and looks toward the staircase. “Is that her?”

“Yes, that’s
Anna-Marie.  She was still alive after all.”

“How can that be?  They have never been known to control their blood lust before
.  So, why now?”  Rosa asks curiously.

Alessandro sits down on the plush black chair beside the fireplace and rests his head in his hands.

“To be honest, I don’t know why they kept her alive.  I’m just glad they did.”  Alessandro stands back up.  “Can I borrow a few things for her, please?  She needs a bath and I have nothing for a female.”

She smiles at Alessandro
.  “Sure, I’ll be right back.”

Alessandro sits back down and closes his eyes while he rubs his temples.  A few minutes later, Rosa is breezing off the elevator with a black canvas bag slung over her shoulder and her arms loaded with
clothes, bath salts, lotions and hair care items.

“Alessandro, are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.  It’s just been a long week,” he says as he stands back up.  “Thank you for these,” he says after taking the items from her.

“It’s not a problem at all.  The bag is actually hers.  It was in the car the night of the accident.  I don’t know why but I felt compelled to save it. 
I never opened it so I wasn’t sure if she had enough clothes.  These should fit,” she said pointing to the clothes.  “Let me know if she needs anything else.”

Alessandro runs back upstairs, once again taking two steps at a time.

As Alessandro enters the room he sees Anna-Marie sitting on the floor.

“I’m sorry I took so long.”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t that long.”

“Here you go.  This should be enough
, right?” he asks as he hands her the stuff Rosa gave him.

“Is this my bag?”

“It appears to be.  Rosa, James’ wife, told me she found it and saved it for you.”

She hugs the bag close to her, “Thank you
, Alessandro!  I appreciate it.”

They just stand there staring at each other in awkward silence for a long drawn
-out minute.

“Okay
.  Well, can you point the way to the bathroom?” she finally asks.

“Of course, I’m sorry
.  It’s down here,” he says as he walks back into the hallway and faces the direction they came up only minutes before.

Anna-Marie looks in the mirror for the first time and is shocked by what she sees in her reflection. 

“Oh
, my goodness, I look awful!” she says to herself.

She turns her head from side to side looking at her body in the mirror.  Slowly she undresses, exposing more flesh of the stranger she has become.

She is so skinny her bones have begun to protrude from the lack of nourishment over the past four days.  Strangely this is the first time she has thought about her hunger since being rescued.  As if her stomach heard her thoughts, it starts to growl and cramp with fierceness.

She rubs her sunken
-in stomach.  “Ouch, I’ll feed you in a little bit,” she tells it.

She is dirty from head to toe from the whole incident.  There is dried, reddish brown blood from the cuts she got when she was thrown out of the car, although there is no evidence of fresh blood anywhere now.  The only wound she can find is the bite mark on he
r arm left from the Rogue.  Staring at it now stirs the memory of his reaction to her blood and his statement that she is a mix.

The very thought sends a chill down her spin.  She wraps her arms around her tiny frame to stifle the chill.  She turns around and walks over to the tub and turns the
hot water on full blast.  Once it is at the right boiling temperature, she lowers herself in and lets the steamy water devour her like a hot fiery inferno.

It doesn’t take long for her to break down.  She has been through so much in the past few days.  She never expected to survive and she had made peace with that, but they kept her alive and for what, only to torture her?  It makes no sense.

She lowers herself further down into the scalding water, consumed by the fear and dread she has felt through the whole ordeal.  She slides down even further until she is totally submerged and lets the water and tears work their magic.

Like a veil has been lifted, she feels an instant sense of calm and security as she lifts her head out of the water.

She isn’t quite sure what aroused her from her lovely daydream, either the now ice cold bath water or the sound of Alessandro pounding on the door and calling her name.  It could have been both.

Anna
-Marie stands up and steps out of the water.

“I’m fine
, Alessandro. I must have fallen asleep,” she says to the closed door as she wraps a big fluffy towel around her tiny body.

“Umm
. . . okay, I was just checking on you.  You have been in there for over an hour.”

“Wow, really?”
she says to herself.

She pauses before opening the door when she remembers the bite mark.  She doesn’t want him to see it.  Not yet anyway.

“Umm . . . I’m sorry.  I’ll be out in a minute, okay?”

Alessandro doesn’t leave this time. 

When she opens the door, she is startled to find Alessandro standing in the doorway.  He gives her a quick glance over to make sure for himself that she is okay.  Satisfied, he moves from the doorway to let her by.

“I told you I was okay.”

“I know,” he says and looks away as he leads her back into his bedroom in order to take his mind off of her nakedness.  As soon as they are securely in his quarters he pauses and says so quiet she almost missed it, “Anna-Marie, I know you have been through a lot in the past four days, but so have I.  I wouldn’t dare try to even compare our experiences, but I lost it when I thought you were dead.  I prayed for hours for it not to be true and here you are,” he says as he looks up into her eyes and smiles a true smile for the first time since they left the warehouse.  “So, you’ll have to forgive me if I seem to be a little over-protective of you right now.”

“Oh, Alessandro
,” she says and hurls her body into his arms and squeezes tight against his waist.

“I thought you were dead
, too.  All I wanted to do was die as well, so I didn’t have to live with that pain.  I couldn’t do it again.”

He strokes her cold wet hair
.  “Shhh… Bella, it’s alright.  It’s all over now.  We will get through this together.”

As i
f her stomach agreed, it rumbles a loud fierce growl.

They begin to laugh as he pu
shes her away to arm’s length. 

“Let’s go put some meat back on your bones.”

Downstairs in the dining room sits a feast
Anna-Marie hasn’t seen in a long time.  They both look at the delicious spread of assorted meats, whole, mashed and sweet potatoes, a variety of colorful vegetables and every flavor pie you could want, and then back at each other.

“Don’t look at me
!  I didn’t make all this,” he says.

“No, we did
,” two women say in unison.

Anna
-Marie looks at the two beautiful women standing by the swinging kitchen door.  Looking at them they could be sisters.  The only difference between them is their hair.  One is a blond and the other a brunette.  They both are tall and slim and both have eyes the color of warm honey.

“We figured you would be starving after all you have been through.  Besides
, we have been anxious for hours waiting for the guys to come back.”

Alessandro looks at these two women with complete affection.  Not in a romantic way, but more in a motherly fashion.

“Anna-Marie, this is Rosa and Claire.  Rosa and Claire, this is Anna-Marie.”

“It’s very nice to meet you
,” Claire says.

“Yes
, dear, we have heard so much about you.  I hope the products were alright for you,” Rosa says.

“Oh
, yes, thank you so much.  It is very nice to meet you both,” Anna-Marie says surprised to find that Rosa is actually the blond rather than the brunette.

Anna
-Marie’s stomach begins to cramp up.

“Oh
, my!  I bet those monsters didn’t feed you a lick did they?” Claire frowns.

“Yes, but not much
,” Anna-Marie says as she thinks back on her meals of bland soup and the one glorious sandwich.

“Thank you for making all of this
,” she says and looks back over at the table.

“It was our pleasure.  Please enjoy
,” they both say in unison again and walk away.

“Okay, sit. Eat
,” Alessandro says to Anna-Marie.

She looks back at the wonderful feast and starts to chew on her lower lip.

“Actually, could we take some back upstairs?”

Confused,
Alessandro looks at her.

“After everything that’s happened, I kind of just want to relax and just be alone with you for a while.
  If that’s okay?”

He smiles at her
.  “Yeah, I like that idea.”

They both make a big plate of food, not letting one thing go without being touched or sampled before they head back upstairs.

“Wow
, that was really good!” Anna-Marie says, rubbing her swollen stomach.

“Yeah, they definitely went above and beyond, especially for two chicks that don’t even eat real food.”

This brings Anna-Marie back up to reality.

“Alessandro, I need to tell you something.  I’m not exactly sure how
, though.”

She stares into Alessandro’s eyes looking for something in his expression to tell her what he is thinking, but there is nothing.

Alessandro takes a deep slow breath.  “What is it?  Anna-Marie, you know how I feel about you.  There isn’t anything you can’t tell me.”

“Well, one of the Rogues said something that didn’t quite make sense.”

“You can’t trust those animals, Anna-Marie.”

“He said I was a mix.”

Alessandro stares at her, all expressions gone from his face.

“And why would he say that?”

Anna-Marie takes a deep breath and moves her shirt sleeve up to expose the nasty bite mark.

“Son of a bitch!” Alessandro yells and jumps up off of the bed and starts to pace, anger flar
ing through him.  Suddenly it occurs to him what she just said and whips around to stare at her.

Anna
-Marie’s breath catches in her throat from the penetrating glare of his coal black eyes, the same eyes as the man in the room at the warehouse before Michael rescued her.

“You’re a
Mixed Breed?”

20

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning
, while intertwined in each others arms, Alessandro and Anna-Marie hear a commotion coming from downstairs. 

“They’re back.  We need to go speak with my father.  He’ll help us figure this out
,” Alessandro says.

Anna
-Marie silently stands up from her cozy spot on the bed.  Without saying another word, they go downstairs carrying the dishes from their feast with them.

The scene downstairs is chaotic.  All thirteen of the men and the two wives are crowded in the
main sitting room, each replaying the night’s events.  Most are dirty from the fight, but it doesn’t appear that anyone is hurt.  Anna-Marie studies them, never have been in such close proximity to so many vampires before.  Ironically they look absolutely normal, totally gorgeous, but normal nonetheless.  Then she notices a man who is kind of standing apart from the rest of the warriors.  He is silent, just looking around seemingly lost in his own world.  As she looks harder she sees that he is the same man who first rescued her and his face looks like he ran face first into a mac truck.