Protector (31 page)

This is really going to happen?
She thinks to herself. 

The only person she has ever been with is Dylan and although he was naturally gifted in bed, his manhood wasn’t nearly as big as Alessandro’s.

She sits up and hugs her knees.  “Alessandro, I’m scared,” she says and begins to chew on her lower lip.

His smile disappears and he sits back down on the bed beside her
.  “Why? What is wrong?”

“I have only been with one person, and it has been a while.  What if
-” She pauses and looks away feeling embarrassed.

“What if what
, Bella?”

“What if I’m not any good?”

“Oh you crazy beautiful girl!”  He pushes her back down on the bed and maneuvers himself to where he is now laying on top of her again.  He begins to kiss her softly on her neck, and then works his way to her ear.  “It’s not possible,” he whispers into her ear in a low husky voice.

He stares down at thi
s beautiful creature that is now his, not wanting to miss a single expression and knows without a doubt he could do this forever.

“I love you
, Bella,” he whispers to her.  “You are so beautiful, you are driving me crazy.”

A tear rolls down her cheek, “I love you
, too, Alessandro.”  She knows this to be true, more so than she ever has before. 

They make love for
the next two hours, enjoying the sensation of each other as they come to the brink of orgasms many times, before they are finally satisfied.  They both fall asleep happily with their bodies still intertwined and sleep more secure than either of them has in a long time.

Anna-Marie awakens suddenly and notices its dark out now.  The bedside clock reads just after midnight.  They had never intended to stay there that long.  Surprised, she looks over and sees Alessandro is still deeply asleep in the bed beside her.  She moves his arm softly off of her so she can go to the kitchen for something to drink.

She quietly searches in her dresser to find a pair of panties and an old t-shirt to put on,
then tiptoes out of the room.  Feeling curious, she moves the sheer living room curtain aside to look out the window at the sleeping street below.  She is struck again how quiet and eerie the street is.  There’s not a soul in sight, but she isn’t that ignorant anymore.  She knows there are things out there stalking in the night.  Things lurking in the dark and feeding off the life force of others.  It’s still hard to believe not that long ago she was a normal person living a normal life, but now she knows she is far from normal.  The illusion is gone.  Now she has to figure out a way to live this new life as part human and part monster.

She drops
her hand to close the curtain, but before she looks away, she sees something. 

There is a movement on the fire escape across the street.  Leaving the curtain in place she
leans in close and peaks outside the window again.  This time she sees a man standing on the fire escape staring in her direction. 

She quickly moves the curtain out of the way and her breath catches in her throat.

“Dylan,” she whispers.

He is on the fire escape across the street staring straight at her with his piercing sea
-green eyes.  He knows she is there, too.

“But
. . . How can that be?” She quickly puts her hand to her mouth as she remembers the man on the roof of the warehouse.  “I wasn’t seeing things.  It was him.”

Like a flash of lightening
, he is gone, leaving her standing there still staring out the window, frozen in her spot.

Freaked out
, she checks the lock on the window and runs to the door to do the same.  After everything is secure she runs back to her room where Alessandro’s sleeping body awaits.  She curls up beside him trying hard to get the trembling to stop.  She lifts his heavy arm and wraps it around her.  She will lay here in the safety of his embrace.  One thing is sure, she will not dare close her eyes again tonight.

22

Anna
-Marie glides through the following day in a daze.  Alessandro had to go out on patrol early in the morning, leaving her at the manor alone in his room with her thoughts to entertain her.  She knows with all of her heart it was Dylan on the fire escape the night before.  Could it really have been him at the warehouse as well?

“How is this possible?”
she asks herself. “I held his cold lifeless body in my arms that night and I saw him in the casket.  How could he have become a vampire?  And how did he get out of his casket once he was buried without a trace of any kind of disturbance?” 

Then an idea comes to her.  She jumps up off the bed and walks over to her bag with all of the stuff she brought from her apartment and fishes out her trusty laptop. 

She sits on the plush chair beside the bed and puts the laptop on the small table in front of her.

It doesn’t take long for the sleek hot pink contraption to light up.  On the Google page she types in one simple word,
vampire.

“Holy cow!”
she says out loud once the search is complete. 

There are thousands of links referring to vampires.  She clicks the first one and reads it slowly.

Dating back for hundreds of years… said to have originated from Romania… mysterious creatures known as vampires rose from their grave on the seventh day after death and stalked the night in search for blood . . .  

“Well
, that is the typical stuff you hear.  There has to be something else,” Anna-Marie says to herself and continues to read.

…
these undead creatures tend to be unrecognizable to the people who once knew them.  Their hair, nails and body stature tend to continue to grow at a rapid pace for the first year.  After that said first year their soul dissipates, leaving an animalistic monster that leaves bloodshed in its wake.

She remembers she didn’t recognize Dylan at the warehouse.  It was too dark in the room to see him clearly.  The only time she got a good look at him was when he was standing on the roof of the warehouse after she got out.  He was illuminated by the light of the full moon behind him.  His hair had grown into a shaggy mess falling into his face and his features were sharper and angry, but she saw his eyes.  She would know those eyes anywhere
, even if they looked to have lost their light. 

“That’s just creepy
,” she says to herself. 

She didn’t get a good look at any of the Rogues from the warehouse either, but she does remember everything about the man from the cemetery and the one from the alley.  They were animalistic for sure, but
they were also very man like.  However, all of the Brotherhood and Protectors she has met so far have been completely different, utterly gorgeous, very much resembling their angelic ancestors and very much different from the Rogue.  

“Note to self, ask Alessandro why the Brotherho
od and Rogues look so different,” she says to herself.

The
thought makes her sad, now that she has seen Dylan.  It’s obvious what side he is on, but is it too late for him?  Could there still be a part of him that’s still Dylan?  She can’t imagine him not being the beautiful man he always was.  Maybe, just maybe, it’s not too late for him.

Wouldn’t it be great if he was able to work with the Brotherhood?
She thinks to herself.

She pulls her attention away from that thought for now and
goes back to her search.

“Hmm
. . . very interesting, however nothing even close to making sense of how a person becomes a vampire.”  She had asked Alessandro once before but he never really said how.

About a hundred web sites later
. Anna-Marie only finds one similarity from almost all of the websites she has visited; a person has to receive a bite by a vampire to become one.  To be more exact, a vampire has to bite its victim, but if for some reason the act is interrupted and the victim is not fully drained of all their blood and die instantly, the venom will surge through their veins and that person will become a vampire in seven days. 

Anna
-Marie thinks back on the night Dylan died.  She has no clue how long he had been out there before he died or what could have happened to interrupt the attack.  No incidences were reported of any kind that night.  Plus, the coroner did say Dylan didn’t die instantly.  What he said was it was
possible
he died instantly.  Clearly, the two are not the same.

She closes her laptop and sits back in the chair.  It’s pointless to keep searching for answers she already knows.  To top it off
, it’s Friday.  Dare she bother going to the cemetery anymore?  Really, what’s the point if he isn’t even dead, but instead haunting the night as a monster?  She erases that thought as soon as it comes to her mind.  She knows without a doubt she still loves him in many ways and probably will for the rest of her life.  She can still mourn him.  She can mourn her best friend since childhood, the innocent love they shared, the man that was her life and the life they will never have together again.  Yes, technically he is still alive, but the person he once was is dead.  It’s clear he will never be the same person he once was and neither will she. 

“No, I will not mourn at that hallow grave again
,” she says to herself finally.

She stuffs her laptop back in her bag and grabs her cell phone and pushes speed dial, number four.

“Hey, mama.”

“
Anna-Marie dear, how are you?  I’ve been so worried.”

“I’m okay, I promise.  I’ve been busy and staying with a friend.  I was actually thinking of coming up for a visit.”

“Really?” her mom asks in surprise.  “When?”

“I was thinking maybe this evening
, if that’s okay?”

“Oh
, honey, I’m so happy you’re finally coming home.  Your father will be, too.”

“Okay
.  Well, I’ll be there sometime this evening.  I’ll call you later when I get my plans in order to let you know the time.”

“Alright
, sweetheart.  I love you.”

“I love you
, too, mama.  Bye.”

Anna
-Marie throws her phone on the table and walks to the fluffy bed and lies down.  In one fast swoop, she throws the black velvet blanket over her head and buries herself underneath.  It’s funny how comforting it is to hide under the blankets.  It’s a childish notion to think no harm could come to you as long as the blanket is over your head.  No matter how big the boogie man is, he could never break through.

“It might be a good idea to get some rest, because I have a feeling this visit
is going to be very draining,” she says to herself.

She intends to ask about her adoption.  It didn’t register until recently that her mother seemed like she knew something about her adoption.  She acted like she so badly wanted to talk to her about it, but
Anna-Marie wasn’t having it.  She didn’t care one bit about the details and has always refused to even think about it, until now that is.

At sundown Alessandro and the other Protectors come home to the manor.  Alessandro doesn’t linger to speak to anyone as he would normally do.  Instead he heads straight up the stairs to check on Anna-Marie.  This has been the first day he has left her here alone since they found her. 

As he opens the door he spots her lying on the bed
, seemingly asleep.  He quietly walks over and gently climbs onto the bed beside her.  He lays there in the dark room staring at this sleeping beauty.  It reminds him of the first time he saw her sleeping in the cemetery.  He gently strokes her cheek. 

“Alessandro?”
she whispers.

“Yes
, Bella, it’s me.  How was your day?”

She smiles and scoots closer to him so she can wrap her arms around him, “
It’s better now.”

He laughs
.  “I’m happy to be of service.”

“So I talked to my mama today.”

“Oh yeah?  How did that go?”

“It was good.  I kept it brief.  She was really happy to hear about my plans to come for a visit.”

“Have you decided when you are going?”

“Yes
, I have.  I want to go today.”  She pauses for his reaction.

“But it’s already getting dark out.”

“I know, but it’s not that late.  I took a nap, so I will be rested up for that long, boring drive.  I should be there in time for a late dinner.  I could have left earlier but I wanted to wait for you to come home.”