Forever Here

by Harold Wall

  extended towards me. I stared at the blue veins in her wrist, the temptation stronger than ever. My tongue licked the tips of my fangs.

  "I…I…" I wanted to refuse, tell her that she wasn't meant to be food, but I found I could no longer speak.

  The girl sighed and carefully climbed up onto the bed, her wrist still extended towards me. "Do it—its okay." I shook my head as if to say that it wasn't, but she only shoved her

  wrist right under my nose. "Do it before I change my mind."

  I looked up at her eyes then and saw that thee expression had changed. All that was left in her eyes was confusion and pity. Pity for me. And a certain sort of…kindness. I looked

  back down at her wrist and nodded, taking it gently in my hands. "Sorry," I rasped as I leaned down and bit as gently as possible into her wrist.

  The blood flowed easily into my mouth, running down my throat. It didn't taste like rust the way it had back when I was still human—in fact, it tasted sweet, thick and luscious. And

  with each swallow, the pain went away. And as soon as the pain was gone, I pulled away, not wishing to drain the girl senseless. I stared down at her wrist at the quickly closing

  bite marks, running my thumb gently over them.

  I'd bitten a human.

  Guilt ran like crazy through me, tearing at the inside of my chest. "I'm so sorry!" I murmured, not daring to look up to face the girl, "I didn't want…I don't want…I…"

  "Why don't you?" The girl asked. Instead of the hatred or the fear I expected to be in her voice, there was only awe. It caused me to cautiously look up at her face. She looked at me not with disgust, but with complete and total curiosity. "You aren't like the others," She whispered, "Most would have sunk their teeth gladly into me just because they could, but

  you…you were dying from lack of blood and you still refused to drink it from me while I was unwilling. Why?"

  I stared at her for a long time, trying to find the right words. "Not too long ago I was sort of in your situation. I escaped before anything too serious could happen, but some of my

  closest friends had been under the same circumstances. The only reason we're not under it any more is because my soulmate turned out to be the prince and unlike Prince Alec who

  probably applauds the torture of humans, Delos immediately put an end to the entire thing when he found out exactly what was going on."

  "Delos is your soulmate," The girl clarified.

  "Yes, and he's the one Prince Alec wants to make an alliance with. He wants to use me to get Delos to agree to it, but I don't think it'll work. Alec is probably trying to work up a

  new plan right now as we speak." The girl still looked uncertain, so I sighed. "Even if I like it or not, we're now different from each other. We're no longer the same species. But just

  because we're different doesn't mean that you're any less worth wile than anyone else is. I'm not going to drink blood from you if you're unwilling."

  The girl stared at me for along time, her eyes uncertain and yet curious. "I've certainly never met a Night Person like you before,"

  "I didn't even know I was a Night Person until fifteen minutes ago."

  The girl nodded her head, "I'm not sure if what you're saying is true," I was about to object and insist that what I was saying had no lie in it, but she continued on, "But I'm going to

  believe in you. There's something about you…the others might not see it, but I do. So you can count on me to give you blood willingly."

  "You don't have to," I objected. The girl smiled softly.

  "But I want to—besides, when you do it, it doesn't hurt a bit."

  "Probably because you're doing it willingly," I laughed quietly. The girl said that there was something about me, but I knew there really wasn't. Contrary to what Delos said, I still

  didn't believe that I was all that extraordinary. It was more like there was something about this girl—so brave, that she'd willingly give her blood to keep a vampire fed. "What's

  your name?" I asked, smiling for the first time since I'd left Delos so many days ago—thinking back, it felt like an eternity since I'd last seen him. So many things had changed since

  then—life would never be the same again.

  I sat on the window seat that overlooked the ocean, watching as a distant, unsuspecting sail boat floated in the distance, blissfully unaware that just a few miles over was a medieval kingdom full of vampires and other Night World people. In the six months that I'd been there, I still hadn't found out where exactly I was. All I knew was that wherever it

  was, it had a beautiful beach with lots of sun and extremely loud and obnoxious seagulls flying around. And wherever it was, I knew that it was far from Washington where Delos

  was.

  Delos…I wondered, my heart giving a painful lurch. How was he doing? Had he given up his search for me? I hadn't heard any word of him, not even from Alec. But then again,

  since the moment I'd woken up, Alec hadn't had much to do with me. It was as though he was trying to forget my presence, forget that he'd ever saved my life and that I still

  existed. But I knew that he was still interested in making an alliance, because sometimes I'd hear him speaking to another vampire—Blade, I soon found out his name to be even

  though he never looked at me with anything but disgust—about it, shooting back and forth ideas that never got them anywhere.

  "Do you want me to pull all of it back or do you want me to pull only part of it back?" Rogue's voice snapped me back into reality as her fingers started to play with my hair,

  experimenting with different styles.

  "However you think it should look," I normally didn't like it when Rogue acted like she was a servant around me, but every time I objected against it she ignored me, telling me that

  even if I was one of the good guys, it didn't mean that I could let her slack off in work. I quickly realized the truth of her words, because about a month after my arrival here in…

  well, I didn't know where, a girl had been beaten nearly to death by a werewolf for slacking off a tad bit in her duties. I shuddered, picturing Rogue in that situation and from then

  on didn't utter a complaint whenever she tidied up my room or did my laundry—although I did try to pick up after myself as much as possible.

  "I think you'd look pretty with it partially back," Rogue announced, dropping my auburn hair and heading over to the dresser where all of my limited hair supplies were, picking up a

  few stuff. "I really wish we could have some hair spray…maybe a blow dryer or a curling iron—you'd look so pretty in curls."

  "Uh, thanks," I muttered—I never really was one to like getting dolled up. The only time I ever wanted to look nice was for Delos, but obviously Delos wasn't here. What was he

  doing now? I wondered, once again retreating into my own little world. Does he miss me? Whatever the answer, I knew that I desperately missed him. I should have insisted that I

  wanted to stay with him, I thought for about the billionth time that morning—I forgot how many times I'd thought it in the last six months, but I was sure it was some impossible

  number of times. I should have squashed my desires to go and comfort my parents and tell them I was alright. I could have sent them a letter or maybe even a messenger. I could

  have done a lot of things differently, but because I hadn't I was stuck here in a kingdom ruled by a crazy ruthless Prince.

  "You know before I came here I was studying to become a hair stylist?" Rogue asked as she started to play with my hair again. I perked up a little bit—it was very rare that Rogue

  ever talked of her previous life; all I really knew about it was that she had a mother and little sister waiting for her.

  "Oh?"

  "My mom owned a studio," Rogue went on, "So I've played in one since I was little—it was natural for me to wish to do it as a profession. It was actually on the way home from

  school that the van picked me up
…" Her voice trailed off and I didn't try to push the subject further—I knew what happened after that.

  We said nothing more as she pulled my hair back and started to stick it up in a more permanent position. As she did, I thought of my own parents. I hadn't seen them in so long—

  almost an entire year had gone by since the last time I'd seen or heard from them. Now that I thought about it, if I'd insisted that I didn't want to see my parents, what would I be

  feeling right now? I'd miss them terribly, and I'd have felt guilty for not going to see them when I had the chance. Delos had been right—I needed to go when things were still at

  peace. Not that we knew that Alec had been in the back ground stirring things up.

  Not only was I away from Delos, but I was also had put off my return to my parents.

  "Do you miss them?" I asked my voice soft. Rogue's hands paused for a moment before they continued their work. She didn't answer for a long time, merely continued to work on my hair quietly in such a way that I thought that maybe she was upset with me or maybe she had just decided to ignore my question.

  "Terribly," Rogue suddenly answered her voice quiet. "But it doesn't hurt as much if I don't think about them."

  I swallowed, "How do you do that?"

  "I just…concentrate on what I'm doing; try to think in the now. I don't try to think about the past or the future—I just concentrate on the here and now. And when I concentrate on

  the here and now, I can do my best to protect those who I care about and are still with me." She pulled her fingers away, indicating that she was finished playing with my hair. I

  turned around and peered into her tired dark brown eyes. She tried to smile, but it came off weak and weary. "At least that's what I do to keep myself going. But I do think about

  them sometimes at night and it is hard." I nodded mutely, my eyes drifting away from her. She was quiet for a moment and I could feel her penetrating gaze on me the entire time.

  It was as though she were reading my thoughts, because after a few seconds of silence she asked, "Do you miss him?"

  My eyes snapped to hers—just like she rarely talked about her past life, I rarely talked about Delos. It was as though if I talked about him like he wasn't there, it would make the

  fact all too real. And I'd already spent too many sleepless nights crying for him, wishing that he'd come and save me. I didn't think talking about it would help my situation one bit.

  But Rogue had told me a little bit about her past life, so I almost felt obligated to tell her more about him. "I miss him with every fiber of my being," I confessed, not at all

  embarrassed by its sappiness. It was truly how I felt and there was no denying it.

  Rogue slowly nodded and hesitated, her mouth open to say something. After a moment she sighed and spit whatever she wanted to ask out. "Would you tell me about him?"

  Pain washed through me. Of course I could tell her about him, but not without feeling an immense amount of pain. And what was more was that I knew Delos like no other—I'd seen

  and felt every thought and feeling that had ever gone through his mind and heart and I knew that some things just couldn't be explained no matter how hard I tried. There were no

  words for some of the things that described Delos. But looking at her curious eyes, I couldn't help but have a strange feeling that I wanted to tell her, to get it off my chest. "Delos

  is a true leader—he's someone who has the voice that someone will listen to. He's one of those people who draw people to him without him really knowing it, and he's kind and

  compassionate—not that you could tell if you were just meeting him, because he does tend to put up a protective shell. He's knowledgeable, sure of himself, and yet he's also

  vulnerable. He has his flaws of course, like we all do, but he's…" I paused, trying to find a good word that described him as a whole, "he's simply an extraordinary man whom I love

  with all my heart."

  Rogue stared at me with an unreadable expression for a long time, and I started to wonder if I sounded like one of those lovesick crazy nutjobs who were constantly in lala land.

  But considering the past few months, I could see where she might have a point.

  But instead of claiming that I was crazy, so simply said, "Wow. You're really telling the truth too,"

  "What?"

  Rogue shrugged her strong and yet delicate shoulders. "It's just that…you're so honest and straightforward. And you see people for who they are. If someone else told me that about

  a vampire, I wouldn't have believed them. But coming from you…I believe you."

  I relaxed, smiling softly. "Thanks Rogue," I whispered earnestly.

  "I'm just glad that I can finally trust someone here," Rogue said, summing up our conversation as she reached down and pulled back the sleeve to her clothes, revealing her small

  white wrist. "Feeding time for the vampire," She suddenly announced, shoving her wrist under my nose.

  I looked at her wrist, at the blood that was flowing freely through her blue veins. "I fed on you yesterday," I objected as calmly as possible—if there was one thing I absolutely

  hated, it had to take blood from Rogue almost every day.

  "Stop worrying about it—I recover fast," Rogue insisted, shoving her wrist more up into my face, knowing that eventually I'd give in to the temptation to gently bite in…

  I bit.

  The blood flowed freely into my mouth, tasting rich and sweet. Along with the blood, I felt the usual feeling of horrible guilt. I was drinking blood from a human—not only that, but

  she was one of my closest friends. And I was feeding on her. Every time I drank blood from her wrist, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was taking advantage of her, hurting her

  because of what she had.

  After a few moments of drinking, I could feel that I had gotten enough.

  But as I pulled away, the door to my bedroom slammed open, making me quickly and roughly release Rogue and she gasped in pain. Without detecting why my door had been

  slammed open, I grabbed Rogue's wrist and brought it back close to my face, examining the damage. The bite marks were no longer clean—they'd torn a bit through the flesh. I

  quickly closed my fingers around her wrist and tightly squeezed, making it act as a temporary tourniquet while the bite marks disappeared. "I'm so sorry," I apologized, the guilt

  practically overtaking me.

  "I'm fine," Rogue insisted, but her voice was strained. I looked up to see her expression, to see if she was telling the truth and that she really was fine…but she wasn't even looking

  at me. Instead, she was staring wideeyed in the direction of my door. Not a good sign.

  I slowly turned towards my door, not really knowing what to expect and found Prince Alec standing there, his eyes locked on Rogue's wrist. I glanced back down at her wrist to find

  that although the bite wound had pretty much closed up by now, blood had still flowed freely from the wound—both her arm and my hand was covered in blood. I cleared my throat

  and glared back up at Prince Alec. "What do you want?" I snapped, thankfully getting his attention. "Or did you just come in here to stare?"

  Prince Alec, as usual, looked annoyed by my tone—but then again, when wasn't he annoyed with me? "I actually wanted to inform you of news on Delos," as soon as those words

  left his mouth, my entire being froze, my heart stopping and restarting frantically. Every thought I had turned to Delos, my fading image of him coming back clearly in my mind.

  I let go of Rogue's now fullyhealed wrist and let it drop to her side, shifting myself so that I was between Alec and Rogue. "What about him?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from

  sounding rude like before. I didn't want to ruin any chance and risk him changing his mind.

  Alec's eyebrows rose and for a moment his eyes wandered down my body. I blinked in confusion, looking down at myself. I hadn't really changed anyth
ing—I wore a green tunic

  that had gold embroidery around the edges. Nothing too fancy. And it wasn't like I had any blood on it—the blood had gotten all over our hands. I looked back up at Alec who was

  still staring and cleared my throat. Alec's eyes swiveled back up to mine, wide with an emotion that I didn't quite understand. "Erm, Delos…right." Instantly he was back to his

  annoyed, stuckup self, getting back to business. "I've just received word that Delos is starting to give up."

  Give up? The words repeated over and over in my mind, my stomach sinking in dismay. Giving up? He couldn't give up! I was right here, waiting for him! I was still alive! Didn't he

  see that the accident wasn't really an accident at all? That I was still waiting for him to come and rescue me? "You're lying," I found myself hollowly saying, "He'd never give up

  looking for me!"

  Alec shrugged his broad shoulders. "It's not his fault—the team he was with has given up and has insisted that he give up too. He's not too happy about it, from what I hear." A

  strange smile played out across Alec's face and a deep, almost maniacal laugh started to rumble through his chest. "Actually, he's so upset, he's making himself sick." I stared at

  him wideeyed in horror. I wasn't sure exactly how I felt about this—all I knew was that in my mind I kept thinking, Not Delos. Delos wouldn't do that—he's strong. He would never…

  But Alec, although he looked like he thought this was some big joke, didn't look like he was lying. "Your source is wrong," I found myself insisting, "Delos wouldn't do that…"

  "I think you over estimate him," Alec interrupted, his irritation once again taking over his expression. "You have so much trust in him—it's admirable, but I don't think you know him

  as well as you think you do." I wanted to insist that I certainly knew more about him that he did since Delos was my soulmate, but somehow I didn't think that it was a wise idea to mention that. "Do you think that maybe, if I sent him word that I knew where you were, that he'd agree to an alliance?"

  I suddenly knew why Alec thought this was a joke—he thought Delos was weak enough to give into temptation, do anything to get me back. "No, I don't think so!" I snapped, taking