Protector (33 page)

“She was never the same after that
,” Anna continues.  “My once radiant best friend turned into a recluse after that.  There was nothing I could do to bring her back.  A few months later she found out she was pregnant.  She withdrew even further with the knowledge of having that monster’s seed growing inside of her.”

Ann
a tries to catch her words as they come out, but it’s too late.  She grabs Anna-Marie’s hand,   “Honey, she knew it wasn’t your fault, please don’t think badly of her.”

Anna
-Marie didn’t realize until then that she had been crying.  She doesn’t know how long the salty tears have been flowing.

“I don’t think badly of her.  She was a victim.   The fact that she carried me for nine whole months with the knowledge of how I was created is unimaginable.”

“Yes, it is, but she couldn’t abort you.  She saw you as a victim as well, even if the thought of you brought the nightmare of that night back to her over and over again.  She made me promise to take you when you were born.  Of course I would have done anything for her, so the day you were born, she signed you over to me and your dad.  She refused to see you, not even once.  I figured she would change her mind as soon as she saw your beautiful pink face and emerald green eyes, the same face as her own and not of that monster.”

“So what happened?  Why didn’t she change her mind?”
Anna-Marie asks sadly.

“Marie committed suicide that night.  She was so haunted.  She thought that was the only way to make it go away.
  Honey, she was a good person.  Nobody deserves that fate.  I’m sorry you never got to meet her.  I’ve missed her every day, but you remind me so much of her, it’s like she’s still here.”

“Thank you for telling me
, mama.  I know it couldn’t have been easy.”

“No
, it wasn’t, but it’s something you deserved to know. “

Anna
-Marie stares off at the water trying to get a hold of her speeding thoughts.

“Mama, is that why you have been so worried about me?  You know, because of what she did.”

“Yes.  Like I said, you remind me so much of her.  Watching you mourn so deeply this past year has taken me back to those days.”

“Oh
, mama!  I’m so sorry to put you through that.”

“It’s a mother’s job
, baby girl.  Well, sweetie, I am spent now.  I’m going to go back up to the house and lay down for a little while.”

“Okay
, mama.”

Ann
a gets up to leave and Anna-Marie begins to cry harder, “Hey mama, thank you for loving me despite the monster that created me and who took your best friend away.”

Her mom pulls her up off the bench and envelops her in a big hug
.  “Oh, honey, it was never your fault.”  She pulls away to look at her beautiful daughter.  “How could I not love you?”

23

Anna
-Marie decides to go back to Wilmington the following day.  She had intended to stay longer, but she is so emotionally drained from this trip.  She is glad she went home for a visit, but Pamlico County is no longer her home.  Once upon a time it was, but that was so long ago.  Those were easier times when everything was new and wondrous, a time of innocence, when she quickly fell in love with her best friend. 

The story her mother told her about her birth has plagued her every thought.  She knew before hand how the Rogues are.  Alessandro had told her they rape and kill with no remorse.  It didn’t hit her until it became a part of her life how awful they really are. 

This whole trip has made her so sad.  Not just for her birth mother and the nightmare she had endured, but also for Dylan and what he must be going through.  She can never imagine him as the monster everyone has described the Rogue to be. 

She told Alessandro she was going to be staying in Pamlico for a few days and truthfully she isn’t even sure she meant it when she said it.  She needs time away by herself to figure things out.  Too much has been happening lately and she feels as if her head could explode at any moment. 

Tonight she will stay at a hotel close to Wilmington so Alessandro doesn’t find out she is back in town.  It is an absurd thought to her that she has to hide her whereabouts from him.  He isn’t her husband and he doesn’t own her, but she knows how protective he is of her.  He would be seriously livid if he found out she was putting herself in unnecessary danger. 

She wants to go to the cemetery one last time.  She isn’t quite sure how she is going to do that though, without Alessandro finding out.  She knows Alessandro goes back to the manor right before sundown to update his father on any occurrences that may have happened that day.  After that, is all up to him.  He told her before that he used to go out with Michael to club Styx regularly, but it doesn’t seem like they have been on very good speaking terms lately. 
She’ll just have to take her chances.

At nightfall
, Anna-Marie parks her car a little further down than in her usual spot.  If the past has taught her anything, it should be to never go out at night alone.  So much has changed in the past week though.  The saying “knowledge is power” is very true.  Ever since she was first told the truth about whom and what she really is, her whole outlook has changed. 

She no longer fears the night and the creatures that stalk it.  It’s the part of her she is embracing the most.  She knows her blood is no good to vampires and she was born with extra strength she never before knew she had.  To top it off Dylan appears to be a pretty big member of the Rogue world around here.  To have orchestrated her kidnapping and have control over the nest back at the warehouse took power.  There is no doubt in her mind that Dylan would never hurt her.  It may be wishful thinking, but she has to hold onto hope that he will do the right thing.

She takes a deep breath and then gets out of the car to slowly walk the half of a mile to Dylan’s empty grave.

It has been a long time since she has been here at this time of day.  All seems to be at peace during this hour, the hour between night and day when everything and everyone is making their transitions. 

She comes to a stop in front of the grave that had been her godsend for almost a year.  A place in fact that once upon a time was the only thing that gave her solace.  She is aware of how silly it is to even be here now, knowing that Dylan isn’t really here, yet it is so familiar and comforting to be here.  She vows to herself, no matter the comfort, this will be her last time. 

She sits down in front of the grave and silently stares at the inscription on the stone for a long time.  There’s nothing poetic or witty about it, just simply his name and birth-death dates. 

“Oh, Dylan, why?  Why did all of this happen to us?  It doesn’t seem fair.  We were both cheated out of so much,” she says to the grave.

She puts her head between her knees and begins to cry.

“Yes, we were.”

She jerks her head up at the sound of the voice behind her
but doesn’t see anyone.  She whips her head around wildly looking for him.

“Dylan?  Where are you?”

Out of nowhere a huge man jumps down out of the grand live oak tree that has shaded her on many days, a man who is both familiar yet a stranger.

“Dylan?”  At that moment the whole world melts away
, leaving only her and her best friend.

Every emotion ever felt is running through her at this very moment, not just sad feelings but anger as well.  She doesn’t know what she should to do.  Had he come back a few weeks ago, before she knew what she knows now, she would without a doubt throw herself into his arms and cry happy tears for his return. 

She knows too much now.  She knows he isn’t the same as he used to be, even looking at him now, it is apparent. 

It is only a little after seven o’clock, so it is still light enough for her to clearly study his new features for the very first time.  He appears taller and more built than he was before.  He was of average height his whole life, but now he is pushing well over six feet tall and his shaggy chocolate hair is falling into his face covering most of it, but his brilliant sea
-green eyes are still shining through, even if they have lost their luster and threatening to turn to a cold black.  It’s hard to imagine anything taking away the beauty of his eyes.

“Hello
, Anna-Marie,” he says, looking very insecure.

“Oh
, Dylan.”  She looks at him sadly and begins to cry again.

He flinches
.  “Please don’t,” he begs.

She bits down on her lower lip
to stop it from quivering.  “I can’t help it.  I’ve missed you so much.” 

Forgetting everything, she runs up to him and throws her arms around his waist and cries even harder like she does in all the dreams she has had of him, the good ones anyway.  In her dreams she would cling to him with all of her being, never wanting the moment to end.  He would stroke her head and whisper reassuring words into her ear.

This is no dream.

“No!”
he says and pushes her away roughly.  “I don’t want you to see me this way,” he says and bends his head to avoid eye contact.

Anna
-Marie is so shocked by this she gasps and her tears dry up as anger boils up inside of her once again.

“How could I not?  You kidnapped me!  Didn’t you think I’d see you eventually?”
she yells.  “You could have just stayed dead and I would never have known!”

“I know.  Believe me, I tried
.”

“Why did you do that by the way?”

Dylan lifts his head up and looks down into her green eyes. 

He shrugs his shoulders
.  “I wanted to be close to you.”

“Why didn’t you just come to me and tell me you’re still alive.  We could have figured it all out and it would have been easier than torturing me.”

He chuckles, “Oh, yes, I replayed that little reunion over and over in my head.  Every time the ending is the same.  How would you have reacted to me just showing up on your doorstep at night with my arms wide open, ‘Hey baby, I missed you, by the way I’m not really dead, but a vampire.  Can I come in?’  Yeah, that would have worked out great.”

“How do you know how I would have reacted?  You never even gave me a chance.”

“Do you really think I want you to see me this way?  To know I’m a monster?”  He looks back down.

“Do you know what I have been through this past year?  I have been living in hell.  I died along with you that night in front of our house.  Life for me has been a never
-ending nightmare.  In a million years I would much rather have known you were still alive than dead.”

For the first time she notices the pain radiating off him.

She can’t bear to see him so tormented.  The sight of him makes her anger and pain from the past year fade away. 

She takes a step closer in his direction
.  “Oh Dylan, you could never be a monster.”

He holds up a hand
.  “Please, don’t.  I can barely control myself as it is and the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”

“I’m not afraid of you.  My blood is no good to you, remember?”
she says and takes another step closer.

He w
inces at the thought of what happened to her during his brilliant kidnapping scheme.

“I’m sorry about the kidnapping.  I never wanted you to get hurt.”

“Well, I did.  I thought I was losing my mind.”  She pauses and studies him closer, remembering his sadness.  “But you were very kind to me.  It helped.  Can we sit and talk for a little while?” she asks.

He looks at the barely visible light, “Sure, but not for long.  I don’t know how much time we’ll have before your friends come out.”

Alessandro,
she thinks to herself.

“You know about them?”

“Of course, we all do.  The question is, do they know about you?” he asks her.

“About my lineage?  Yeah, they know.”

“Please be careful.  They aren’t so accepting of Mixed Breeds.”

“I’m safe, I promise.”

She takes the lead and walks the couple of feet to the grand live oak tree that he is still standing under and sits down on the ground.  Watching her slow movements, he follows a few seconds later.

After a few silent minutes
Anna-Marie breaks the ice.  “So what happened that night?”