by Martha Woods
Connie’s eyes lit up, “Ooh. Who is this Jared fellow?”
Calla blushed lightly, not really sure how to put into words her relationship with him. “He’s a part of the vampire pack. Jared was assigned to babysit me, to make sure I didn’t try and get away or hurt Tessa. We’ve gotten fairly close, maybe a little bit more than that…”
“This Tessa you speak of,” Connie replied, “Tell me about her. Are the two of you close? I know you say you’re protecting her, but is it any closer than just that?”
Her brow knitted together, “Why do you care about her? I thought this was about what was bothering me…”
“Don’t question me, my dear. Believe me when I say I know what is best for you. I know how to get to the root of your problems, but you must answer my questions,” Connie responded as sweetly as possible.
Suddenly, Calla had an uneasy feeling. She stood from the chair, “I don’t think I want to talk, but thank you for seeing me…”
As Calla started to back away, Connie stood from her chair, “What’s wrong, Calla? Talk to me, darling child. I’ll take all of your woes away.”
She shook her head, “No, I’m fine.”
“I came all the way to see you. Do not waste my time,” Connie pressed, annoyance starting to hint in her tone.
“I’m sorry…” Calla muttered. Turning quickly, she hustled toward the door.
Connie hurled her tea cup toward Calla, the porcelain shattering against the wall next to her. She flinched and looked back to Connie with wide eyes. “You’re making me very angry, Calla. Tell me about Tessa. Right. Now,” Connie hissed.
“I don’t have to tell you a damn thing,” Calla said firmly.
The old woman snarled loudly, sounding almost animalistic. “You little brat!” she screeched. Her eyes clouded into a pitch black as she launched herself at Calla.
Calla screamed as she struggled to try and get Connie off of her, pushing Connie with all of her might. She bared her teeth as she hissed and scratched at Calla.
“Tell me where Tessa is!” Connie hollered in Calla’s face.
“No!”
“Tell me!” Connie grabbed Calla’s head and slammed it against the mahogany floor. “I will chop your head off and drain every ounce of blood from your body once I get my hands on you. I’ll feed you to my fucking dogs. Tell me where Tessa is!”
The room around them started to burn to the ground, intense flames reaching toward the sky as the whole beach house started to fall apart. Black smoke choked Calla as Connie screeched, swinging her arm back to strike Calla.
* * *
Calla jerked awake, her body broken out in a cold sweat. She drew in sharp breaths. God, her head was killing her. Feeling the back of her head, she winced as her fingers gently pressed against a sizable bruise. How was that even possible?
“You’re awake,” Kristian spoke as he approached her. She jumped from the suddenness of his speaking, her wide eyes flying to his face. “Are you okay?” Kristian asked, actual concern gleaming in his eyes. “You look terrified…”
“I… I…” she stammered, her brain struggling to process the dream she had just had. What if that had been an actual Calder trying to poke around in her head? What if she had dreamed the concept because of how her sister had poked around in Calla’s head? It was impossible to tell, and she definitely didn’t want to tell Kristian that and him freak out. “I just had a bad dream… It felt real…”
“I see. Tessa gets those from time to time,” Kristian said, closing the space between them and handing her a plate. “You need to eat. You’re looking a bit ill.”
Calla looked to the blood bag, noticing it was lower than she remembered. She must have already filled one and they were taking another. “Thanks,” she murmured, looking down to the food to get her mind off the blood. He had fixed her a pan-fried steak, baked potato, and fresh peas. The aroma alone made her stomach growl and mouth water. Balancing the plate in her lap, she cut into the steak and took a bite of the medium rare meat. She groaned the moment it hit her taste buds, “You’re a great cook,” she complimented.
“Thanks,” he replied. “I knew you needed to eat, and trust me when I say you don’t want Jared cooking for you.”
Calla smiled weakly. Was Kristian actually making small talk with her? He had never talked to her outside of barking orders or snapping at her. “How would you know? I thought human food is repulsive to vampires.”
“It is, however I cook as a hobby. Jared’s never cooked, not even as a human. I’d be terrified to see a meal prepared by him.”
She giggled lightly, “Wow, that’s true. I never thought about that. I’ll definitely have to keep that in mind.”
Kristian sat at the island, looking down at some book as Calla ate. After a couple of minutes of silence, Kristian spoke again, “I’m sorry I’ve been such an ass to you. I was bitter about what you did with Deidre. However, Tessa has helped me get my head out of the sand and realize it wasn’t your fault. Now I can see what all you’re doing and sacrificing to help keep her, as well as my family, safe. I can’t stay upset with someone who is helping protect the ones I love. So, thank you for all you’re doing. Especially with training Tessa and donating us your blood.”
His emerald green eyes were soft and sincere, proving that Kristian meant what he said. Calla was taken back by the sudden show of appreciation. He had been so angry with her this whole time, and it was a little hard for her to believe that he had a change of heart. However, she knew he was being genuine, she could feel it in his aura. Slowly, a smile appeared on Calla’s lips. Maybe things would start looking up for her once the fight with the Calder was over. “Thank you, Kristian. It means a lot to me to hear you say that. You don’t have anything to apologize for. I understand you were just being protective of Tessa, and you had every right to be. I only hope that we can start to be friends, or at the very least civil with one another.”
“I’d like that,” Kristian nodded. After a moment, his lips twitched into a smirk, “Especially since you’ll be involved with Tessa and Jared.”
Her face turned beet red in color, “Oh, so I take it he talked to you about it then?”
“He didn’t have to. I’ve known him since I first met Ally. He hasn’t been protective over a woman since his wife.”
“His wife?” Calla gaped.
Kristian’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped, “I… I shouldn’t have said that. It kind of slipped out. Please, for the love of God, forget I said that.”
“He never told me he was married…” Calla breathed aloud, though she wasn’t exactly talking to Kristian when she said it.
“Because it didn’t end well and I’m sure he tries to forget about it. Just as you should forget it too.”
“I won’t tell him you said anything, I swear. If I do, then you’re welcome to take all of my blood,” Calla replied, locking eyes with him.
“I wouldn’t be that drastic,” Kristian said, shaking his head. “But alright, I trust you not to tell him.”
“Was his wife Bridget?” Calla asked.
He sucked in a breath, “Yes, but that’s all I’m telling you.”
“Okay,” Calla sighed. She wished she could know more, but didn’t want to put Kristian into any sort of situation with Jared. That wasn’t fair to Kristian.
Kristian cleared his throat, “Eat up and be sure to drink your juice. We’ll need a couple more bags, but we’re going to do it as safely as possible. If you need anything, let someone know.”
“Could I have an aspirin? My head is killing me,” Calla asked.
Kristian nodded and then sped off in the blink of an eye. He reappeared in front of her with two white pills in hand.
“Thanks,” she said, taking them and popping them in her mouth. Kristian walked away, and Calla’s eyes fell on the blood once again. It was going to be a long couple of days. She was ready for the fight to be over and done with, no matter the outcome.
Part 3
Calla
dozed on and off all night and the following day, never getting the best of sleep but never staying up for long either. Once again, she was terrified to sleep, afraid this time that it was the Calder trying to get into her head. Thankfully, she had breaks from filling the blood to shower and to rest here and there to keep her from crashing completely. They were doing a very slow drip, figuring it would help her not crash as hard since they weren’t taking a lot at once.
Finally, the next evening, Ally believed they had just enough to give each vampire about two hours in sunlight. As soon as Ally unhooked her from the machine, Calla tried to stand. Her knees wobbled and began to buckle, but Ally’s hands appeared on her shoulders and steadied her. “You need to take it easy, Calla. You’ve given a lot of blood.”
“I’m fine,” Calla stated stubbornly. She didn’t feel fine, but she wanted to see Jared. He hadn’t come out of the bedroom since she had tried to ask him about Bridget. She needed to apologize again, make sure he wasn’t still pissed off. Calla also needed his comfort. He had made her feel better through these spells of exhaustion.
“You’re not,” Ally insisted, pushing her to sit back in the chair. “What are you trying to stand up in such a hurry for?”
Calla’s eyes darted away from Ally, looking off into the distance. “I wanted to talk to Jared,” she admitted.
Ally then walked away. When she was out of sight, Calla heard Kristian speak to Tessa across the room, “Come on, Tes. Let’s get out of here for a little while.” Calla looked up to Kristian. He winked at Calla before heading out the door with Tessa. She smiled to herself, touched by the kind gesture. He truly was putting in an effort to be kinder to her.
A few minutes passed before Calla heard the bedroom door open and close in the distance. Ally then walked passed Calla, waving at her before leaving. Before he even stepped into view, she could feel Jared’s aura. He was anxious and upset. Slowly shifting her eyes over, Calla looked up at him as he walked through the threshold.
As soon as his eyes landed on her, they practically bulged out of his head. “Holy shit,” he breathed, moving to her in a blur, taking her chin in his hand as he examined her face. “They’ve practically drained you…”
Calla shook her head, “It’s not that bad. I’m just tired.”
“You look unwell,” Jared urged.
“So does your caring for my well-being mean you’re not mad at me anymore?” Calla questioned.
He let out an uneasy sigh, “Not necessarily.”
“Jared,” Calla groaned, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to prod. I-I… I know that you’re not my boyfriend or anything. As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized I had overstepped. It was impulsive and I won’t do it again.”
“Stop apologizing,” Jared said gently, sitting down in the armchair next to her. Reaching over, he took her hand and held it in his. “I didn’t mean that I’m still mad right now, just that me caring for you doesn’t mean that I’m not mad. I’ll care about your well-being no matter how I’m feeling.”
Calla smiled weakly. He really did care about her. “So you aren’t mad at me?”
He shook his head, “No, I’m not mad. I shouldn’t have been mad in the first place.”
“You had the right to be upset. I shouldn’t have been pressuring you to tell me things that you clearly didn’t want to…”
“That didn’t give me the right to talk down to you, and make it sound as though I only care about what’s between your legs. There’s more between us than that, and I know that. It was a dick move to try and downplay it. So, I’m the one that’s sorry,” Jared breathed.
Calla sat up straight and leaned over, pressing a gentle, sweet kiss to his lips. His hand extended upward, gently holding her cheek as he kissed her back. When she pulled back, she looked deep in his eyes. “Let’s just move past this. I promise not to ask about it again.”
To her surprise, Jared shook his head no. She arched a brow, not expecting him to want to harbor on the subject anymore. “We can move on from it… You deserve to know what happened.”
“Jared, it’s really okay. I don’t need to know. That’s your business. You should only share it with me if you want to.”
“I want to,” Jared pressed. Calla was silent, responding only with a nod. He took a deep breath before beginning, “When I first became a vampire, I was bitter and lonely. While I was thankful for the gift of sight, I still felt like a monster. For so long, all I wanted to do was go back to my family, help them through their mortal lives to thank them for all they had done for me. Since I couldn’t, I kept to myself. Then, shortly after the Civil War, I found the person I thought was ‘the one’.
“Her name was Bridget. She was the product of an affair between her mother and the master of her plantation. Being newly freed, Bridget had tried to make it on her own since no one would help her. She managed to land a job as a nanny in a city in North Carolina, and rented out a studio apartment. One night, when she was walking home from her employers house, two white men attacked her. I stumbled upon her hours later, just before sunrise. She was hardly hanging onto life, unconscious with a pulse so weak I could struggled to feel it. There was something about her that I wouldn’t let me walk away and let her die. I changed her… Bridget is the only person I have ever changed.
“That bond I had with Ally, the loyalty and dedication, was amplified between myself and Bridget. She was beautiful, brave, smart, and had an adorable southern accent. It wasn’t long until we were declaring our love for one another. For the first time in my life, I had hope that I wasn’t going to be alone. I thought Bridget was my eternity. Many times I had laid down my life for her, to protect her from humans, witches, and vampires alike. Bridget loved me, but I loved her blindly. No pun intended,” he added with weak humor.
Jared sighed again, “And then Ally brought on Nolan. He was a rogue vampire, just a couple of years into being a vampire. Nolan thought he was the toughest and baddest vampire that there ever was. In his human days, apparently he had been something like the cowboys you see in movies. Riding from town to town on his horse with nothing but a silver pistol with bullets to spare. Nolan was flashy and selfish. He always wants what isn’t his. And he set his sights on Bridget.
“I, myself, was cocky. I thought the love Bridget and I had shared for ten years was unpenetrable. Never once did I consider Nolan more than just a pest who knew no boundaries. So when I would leave to go on missions with Ally, I wouldn’t give Nolan a second thought. Soon, Bridget would start fighting with me about how lonely she was when I was gone. That she didn’t want to wait days, sometimes weeks, to see me. I’d have to remind her that we had all of eternity, so the days I was gone would greatly be outnumbered by the days she spent in my arms. Bridget would calm down while I was there, but grow bitter every time I left. At the time, I didn’t know it had been Nolan getting in her head, telling her she deserved better. That I shouldn’t treat her like she was breakable, and if he were me, he would take her with him or not go at all.
“Bridget fell into his bed within just months of him being a part of the family. I came home one night, just before dawn, and found them in our bed. For a moment, I fooled myself into believing Bridget would be horrified that I had caught them and would beg for forgiveness. I would have forgiven her too, I was so sick with love. She flipped out of bed and screamed at me at the top of her lungs, telling me to get out, that she was with Nolan and she didn’t love me anymore. Nolan leaned against the headboard of the bed with a smirk on his face as she cursed me, hit me, and demanded me to get out.”
There was a haunting look in his eyes as he relived the memory. Calla could feel his hurt, her eyes starting to water. Jared cleared his throat before continuing, “I had to sit by and watch as Nolan and Bridget dated for three months. Every day had felt like a decade to me. Then, surprising no one but Bridget, he bedded another woman. Bridget left him and begged me to take her back, telling me that she had made a horrible mistake and had learned her lesso
n. It hurt so badly to turn her away, but I had to. Her love wasn’t true, or else she would have never climbed into bed with Nolan.
“Once again, I turned into a shell of a man. Cold, distant. I didn’t want to love or let anyone else in. I gave myself to the job, not letting my mind ponder too much about Bridget or the concept of love at all. Maybe I hadn’t ever allowed myself heal completely from it, and so every time I see Nolan, it reopens the wound…” Jared’s eyes found Calla’s, his hand squeezing hers, “But I’m ready to move past it. I don’t want something that happened nearly a hundred and thirty years ago to stand in the way of my future. Especially when it comes to you.”
Calla’s heart ached for Jared. His two-hundred years on the planet had been filled with pain and loss. She was honestly surprised he was as calm and collected as he was. Calla was pretty sure that she would be pissed off at the world and hateful in demeanor if she had to go the trials Jared had. His last words to her had been like aloe on a burn, brightening her spirit after feeling his aching aura. “Thank you for sharing with me, Jared. It means a lot to me. I care about you so much…”
His hand once again found her face, cradling her cheek, “I care about you too. More than I ever thought possible.”
She leaned in and gave him a deep, passionate kiss. Jared kissed her back just as passionately as he snaked his arms around her waist and picked her up in a single swoop. One hand held her firmly by the ass as he carried her to the room. He pulled back as he opened the door with his back, “Now that’s done, you need to rest, Calla,” he breathed to her.
Jared laid her on the bed softly, bringing the cream colored blanket around her before lying in the bed next to her. Calla curled into his side, resting her cheek against his shoulder. Words couldn’t describe the happiness she felt to be in his arms again. It had only been a day, but that was long enough for her to actually miss him. Her attachment to him didn’t make that much sense to her. It had always taken her ages to even say yes to going on a date with a guy, but with Jared she had already slept with him and grown attached in the course of a week.
