Torn

Chapter
1

         
He came and sat
beside me on the couch handing me one of the beers he had been holding and I
chugged most of it down in one drink. I then looked up into his lavender eyes,
they were slowly turning back to their original color of aqua but since he had
licked and healed the wound on my hand a short time ago they still had shades
of violet in them. He wiped the tears from my face but more just fell from my
eyes. Finally he gave up and picked the letter up off the floor reading it
quickly while I finished off the rest of my beer.

           
“I
knew it was bad, that’s why I came back. I could feel your anguish,” he said.

           
“How
did you arrive so quietly? How did you even get into the house?” I asked happy
for the distraction.

           
“I
left my bike a few blocks away, I ran the rest of the way. As for getting in
the house, I picked the lock on the back door no vampire magic there,” he said
smiling slightly. “I’m sorry Liz I feel like it’s my fault that your kids are
gone.”

           
“It’s
not your fault at all. Richard is an asshole that thinks he is better than
other people because he has money. I even tried to explain to him that you all
helped get rid of the ghost. He didn’t want to hear it, he had his mind made up
before he even got home. Once Cora told him whatever she did he knew he was
going to take the kids and leave. He was hurt because he thinks I am cheating
on him and he knew the worst way he could hurt me was by taking the kids,” I
said and started crying again.

           
“Maybe
I should go. I don’t want you to get thrown out of your house because I am
here. Richard said he didn’t want any of us in the house,” Archer said looking
worried.

           
“No I
don’t want you to go,” I said. “Fuck Richard. Ugh, I am so pissed I let that
man dictate my every move for over 8 years, I refuse to let him do it anymore.
He doesn’t want to be with me anymore then he gets no say about who I hang
around,” I said. He grabbed my hand and I instantly felt the current of warmth
we shared spread through my entire body. I took great comfort in knowing he
felt it as well. As a vampire his body temperature was usually cold which meant
he spent most the time feeling nothing but the chill in his bones. When a
vampire finds their soul mate or mate as they called it, when the two touch
they would both feel the tingly warmth spread through their bodies. I loved
that I could give that to him, as a married woman it was about the only thing I
could give to him although I longed to give him so much more. Even though my
husband had just decided in a fit of rage to take our children and leave me I
didn’t want to use that as an excuse to run into Archer’s arms. There was
something more important at play here other than how I felt and that was how my
children Mattie and Morrigan now felt.

           
“How
am I ever going to get my kids back? How will I ever be able to fight him Arch?
He is like a local celebrity. I am nothing but a lowly housewife, and I know he
is going to spin it like I am a cheater. It’s just the type of person he is,” I
said feeling hopeless. What if I never get to see my kids again?

           
“You’ve
got to fight Liz, you can’t give up! I know how much your kids mean to you I
can feel it and Richard knows it too. You have to fight for them and I will
help you.”

                                   
***

           
I
didn’t want to stay in the house I had worked so diligently on taking care of
for years. Without my children here it felt like nothing more than an empty
shell. Richard could have his big empty house; the house meant nothing to me
without my children in it. I gathered up some of my clothes as well as Pharaoh
and piled them all into my car. I dropped Archer off at his bike and then
followed him back to his house. The only place I now felt any comfort at
anymore.

           
We
pulled up as the sun began to rise in the eastern sky. He stopped me from going
into the house and we watched the sunrise on the crumbling porch of the old
house together.

           
“Trying
to prove a point?” I asked thinking he was trying to disprove the myth of
vampires bursting into flame when the sun touched them.

           
“No,
I’m trying to give you hope. A new day, a new beginning,” he said as he pulled
me close to him I instantly felt that sense of hope he was speaking of.

Chapter
2

           
Archer
led me through the kitchen then down to the basement with Pharaoh lagging
behind sniffing out his new environment.
 
I assumed the basement was going to be a cold cement block basement the
way most basements are but once we walked down the rickety wooden stairs I was
shocked to see an elaborate expansion to the small house above. I suddenly
realized that the small rusty tinned roof house was a deception and that this
basement if you could call it that was truly where they all lived. Basically it
was an underground mansion.

           
Archer
showed me around, there was a huge living room complete with fireplace. I had
no idea how they had accomplished that feat, then again I was sure there were
plenty of things they could accomplish that I would never understand. We
continued on where he showed me the enormous kitchen that was equipped with
every appliance you could ever imagine.

           
“So do
you guys eat?” I asked thinking it mighty frivolous to have such a huge kitchen
if they didn’t.

           
“We
actually enjoy food quite a bit. Luckily we also have a high metabolism so we
can eat whatever we like.”

           
“Jealous,”
I said and he smiled back at me. He pointed out the game room then Cutter and
Mystic’s bedroom as well as Darla and Jagger’s bedroom. Archer’s bedroom was
the last door at the end of the long hall. He glanced back at me again as I
still stared around at the large house within a house and was honestly a little
overwhelmed by it all.

           
“You
ready?” He joked.

           
“Uh,
sure,” I answered not quite sure what surprises I would find on the other side.
He slowly opened the door to a huge room bathed in black and royal blue. There
was a king sized bed set up in the middle of the room with the softest looking
comforter in the bluest hue I had ever seen. I instantly wanted to jump on it
and sink into a deep sleep. Looking at the bed made me immediately tired, I
yawned.

           
“Sleepy?”

           
“A
little,” I replied and yawned again.

           
“I’d
say more than a little.”

           
We
walked into his bedroom and he set my bags of clothes on a blue lounger in the
sitting area closest to the bedroom door. On the other side of the bed I
noticed a small bar complete with mini fridge and microwave.

           
“Wow
you don’t ever have to leave your room if you don’t want too,” I said.

           
“With
you here I may never have too,” he said and my heart flip-flopped in my chest.
I started to blush giving myself away although he didn’t call attention to it,
thankfully. He pointed at a door beside a huge plasma TV hung directly across
from the bed letting me know that was where the bathroom was located.

           
“Mind
if I take a shower?”

           
“Help
yourself. Whatever is mine is yours,” he said as he sat down on the bed kicking
his boots off then laying back on the bed using the remote to turn on the TV.
Pharaoh jumped up on the bed and lay at his feet. I found it to be a wonderful
image, everything felt right except for the fact my kids weren’t with me. I
swallowed back the lump in my throat that that thought brought up and managed
to smile at him sweetly as I walked in the bathroom gently closing the door
behind me. Once I shut the door and turned on the shower with a barrier between
us I sobbed and let my tears mix in with the spray of the shower.

                                   
***

           
Once I
finished with my shower/tear fest I climbed out of the shower and realized I
had forgotten to bring any clothes in with me. I snatched a deep blue towel
from the shelf and wrapped the plushness of it around me. I felt a bit
embarrassed walking out of the bathroom past Archer in just a towel to get to
my PJ’s but I had no choice. I took a deep breath and quickly opened the door
trying to walk as fast as I could to my bag of clothes hoping he would be so
engrossed in whatever he was watching he would pay me no mind. I snuck a peek
at him and to my relief he seemed to be sleeping. I got my PJ’s and ran back to
the bathroom to get dressed.

           
It
dawned on me that I hadn’t been to sleep at all. It was finally catching up
with me as I felt completely drained of energy. I wondered where I was supposed
to sleep. There was a small loveseat out in the sitting area, maybe I should
sleep there? But damn if that big blue bed didn’t look incredibly comfy my
conscious whined, and it was so big that we didn’t even have to be close at
all. Bed it is, my body definitely needed big and comfy right now.

           
I came
back out of the bathroom and glanced over at Archer who still appeared to be
sleeping soundly. I climbed quietly into the bed and it felt even better than I
had imagined with an added bonus of smelling just like him a combination of the
woods and leather. I sighed and closed my eyes laying back on his soft pillows,
just as I was in that not quite asleep not quite awake place I felt him grab me
and pull me into his hard yet soft cool chest. My body began to tingle with the
sudden warmth that spread through my body and I gasped.

           
“That
is exactly how I felt when I saw you come out of the bathroom in nothing but a
towel,” he whispered. I felt myself grow hot from wanting him although deep
down I knew we couldn’t do any more than hold each other. I was fine with that
I thought as I snuggled my head onto his chest listening to his heart beat low
and slowly like a drum.

Chapter
3

           
As I
awoke the next evening brushing the sleep from my eyes I looked around the room
realizing I wasn’t in my own bed and slowly recalling all the events that had
happened the past couple of days. My heart ached for my children as I fought
back the tears. I looked around the dark room seeing neither Archer nor my dog
Pharaoh anywhere. I looked over to the large clock on the wall and I rubbed my
eyes in disbelief. I got up out of the bed in a rush and ran over to my purse
searching for my cell phone. It was seven o’clock at night; I had slept the entire
day. I hadn’t even woke my children up and gotten them ready for school, this
was the first day I had not done so. I hadn’t even called them all day, I felt
like a terrible mother.