“Sure but…” I started to protest before he cut me off.
“Kylie, this is your first, and I guess with your decision not to join me in eternal life, only graduation from high school. They want to do this right. Be nice.”
“Okay,” I said my resolve wavering.
The meal, of course, was delicious. Danny and Mason devoured several very rare, to the point of raw, steaks which completely grossed me out. Patrick and Amelia were glowing with pride which instantly made me feel bad about objecting to the very nice dinner. I thanked them many times. I wanted them to know that it really did mean a lot to me even though I thought it was too much. It was such a nice gesture, they had many things on their minds, what with the whole having to leave thing.
The thought of having to leave instantly made my mood go down. I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to drive the Pulmer’s from their home. It felt weak to let Selena remove us from our home. Or in my case the only place that’s felt like home in a long time. Tears wanted to swell in my eyes but I forced them away. Now, was not the time. I needed to enjoy the evening. This evening I had with my family.
We laughed and joked just like a real family. But soon my eyes began to be heavy. Graduation had been in the late afternoon and the sun had long since gone down. Jonathon, ever observant, noticed. He chuckled, “Well, I think we better get going. Kylie’s getting tired.”
“Oh, sweetie I’m sorry! You must be exhausted. Not all of us can go on an hour of sleep a week,” Amelia said patting my arm, “I’m sorry we kept you out so late dear,” she said kissing the top of my head.
“It’s okay. I was having fun and I wasn’t aware that I was getting so sleepy.” They chuckled.
We headed out of the restaurant that was still doing a good amount of business even though it was well after midnight. Jonathon pulled me into the car next to him. He shrugged off his leather jacket and put it around me. He buckled me in and then pulled my head down to rest it against his shoulder.
I inhaled his sweet scent and it made me dizzy. My eyelids drooped closed. The sound of the car heater finally lulled me into sleep.
I felt something hard and cold wrap against me. It jolted me into consciousness. I mumbled something that was completely incoherent. I felt Jonathon’s sweet breath blow against my face as he laughed. “My sweet principessa. We’re home now. I thought my bed would be more comfortable than the car but if you’d like to sleep in there…” he said leaving the sentence hanging.
“No, your bed sounds better,” I mumbled.
“I thought so.” He chuckled.
He carried me all the way through the house and then up the attic steps and laid me down gently on his bed. He tucked the comforter tightly around me. “Thank you,” I mumbled sleep becoming of me once more.
I don’t know how long I slept before I woke up in a cold sweat. But I do know that I had a nightmare. A nightmare that felt chillingly real.
And I couldn’t help but feel that we were walking directly into Selena’s trap. We were her pawns. And everything was going exactly as she had planned.
Chapter Nine: Run
Everything was packed. Of course we couldn’t bring everything. We were all only allowed to bring one suitcase. That didn’t bother me that much. But Diana grumbled constantly about that fact. It was so easy to forget that she and all the Pulmers were vampires they tended to act so human.
Gabriel, Benji, Vivian, Viola, and Balthazar were all waiting outside. Benji jumped around in excitement, Gabriel stood broodingly, Viola was making random items appear and then her sister, Vivian, was making them disappear, and Balthazar was helping Patrick load the vehicles.
Jonathon, Joseph and I were going in a brown Infiniti QX56 and Gabriel was going to be riding with us. I shuddered at the thought. The guy gave me the creeps but Jonathon promised me that there was nothing to worry about. Benji was going to be riding with Danny and Mason in Danny’s Hummer H3. Those three would get along great. All of them were pranksters. I was sure Jonathon was relieved that Benji wouldn’t be riding with us since Jonathon always seemed to get the brunt of whatever Benji’s prank or joke was. Amelia, Patrick, and Balthazar were going in Amelia’s Mercedes GL500. Diana, Vivian, and Viola were going in Diana’s Lexus.
Patrick, with Balthazar’s and Joseph’s help, finally managed to get Diana’s trunk closed.
“Diana, I thought I said one bag. There’s six here.” He said trying to look mad and fatherly but failing utterly because he couldn’t help chuckling at Diana’s pouted lips.
“Uncle Patrick. I brought two bags and so did Vivian and Viola. We are girls. We have to have our accessories,” she said with a smile flicking her pale blond hair over her shoulder.
“Diana, we are fighting an evil immortal being no one is concerned with how you look,” said Patrick shaking his head.
“Uncle Patrick, you never know when fashion might come in handy. You have to be prepared,” she said giving him a ‘duh’ look.
Patrick just shook his head once more and moved on to loading the next car. Diana, Vivian, and Viola all high-fived in victory.
It was starting to get dark out. Which was the plan, let it get dark, and then we’d leave, the Coven would meet us later as would Luigi. I looked up at the mansion that had become more like home, and said my silent good bye. It felt weak to let her chase us away. But Jonathon kept reminding me that we weren’t running away. We were playing the game now too. We would lead her to where we wanted her to be. And then destroy her once and for all.
I didn’t tell him my worries, that I thought his plan would fail; I just didn’t want to worry him more. He had enough stress on him without me adding doubt to the list of them.
The loud snap of the last trunk snapping closed made me jump. I was so frightened that Selena would come out of the bushes and slaughter us all. I shook my head trying to shake the thought away like an etch-a-sketch.
Jonathon’s cold hand grabbed my wrist. I shivered and wrapped my jacket more tightly around me. He let go. “I’m not cold. I’m just scared,” I said grabbing his hand back.
“Don’t be. We’ll protect you,” he said and his silver eyes glowed in the darkening sky.
“I’m not only scared for myself,” I whispered.
“Silly girl, are you worrying about vampires?” he chuckled and brought my hand to his lips pressing a small kiss there before letting our hands drop again.
“Yes,” I breathed. How could I not worry? They were my family. Not only that but there were random vampires that I didn’t know willing to die for me. Was there something I was missing?
“Don’t. It will take more than one sadistic vampire to kill all of us,” said Jonathon with a cocky grin. I knew he was right. It would take more than one sadistic vampire to kill all of them. Key word being all. I knew deep down that some of us wouldn’t survive. Selena wouldn’t go down without a fight and Jonathon knew it too but he just wouldn’t say anything.
“Then what’s with the vampire guard? And the Coven? If it’s not such a big deal why are so many people, and vampires, involved?” I taunted wanting to catch him in his lie.
“Better safe than sorry,” he whispered in my ear as his arms wrapped around my waist pulling my back against his chest. I leaned my head back against his shoulder. The fight instantly went out of me. I hated arguing with him.
I tilted my head back to look up at him. He was looking at his house, saying goodbye I assumed, like myself. Feeling my gaze upon him he looked down. I kissed his cold chin lightly. If anything happened to him or the others, surely, I would die. My heart wouldn’t be able to bear the loss of any of them, even Gabriel, because it would be my fault. Everything always seemed to be my fault.
“Jonathon, dobbiamo andare,” said Patrick, standing by the driver’s side door of Amelia’s Mercedes. Jonathon, we must go.
Jonathon sighed and put his nose against my hair, inhaling my scent. “Alright,” he said softly but Patrick heard him. Patrick’s car started as did
Diana’s and Danny’s. The headlights momentarily blinded me. Jonathon led me to the Infiniti QX56. Gabriel and Joseph were in the front with Joseph driving. The windows in this car were so tinted that no one would be able to see who was driving or who was in the back. It was a miracle you could actually see out the windows they were so tinted. Despite the increasing darkness everything already looked dark thanks to the glass.
Danny’s group took off out of the drive way. Then we left behind him. Diana was behind us with Patrick behind her.
That’s when I realized what this was.
This was an escort.
An escort of vampires.
With the precious cargo in the middle.
Me.
“Jonathon!” I cried, slamming my fists into the leather seats. I was about to have a full blown hissy fit in about two point two seconds.
“What?” he asked innocently.
“What have you done?” I hissed through my teeth.
“Just some precautions,” he said innocently tapping his index finger against his granite lips and looking out the window.
“Precautions?” I asked and if I could I would have put my hands on my hips.
“I just want you to be safe,” he whispered and seared me with his silver gaze. The unspoken question in his eyes was, Is that so wrong?
“How come I’ve never seen this car before?” I said changing topic. Unfortunately, it was a bad choice.
“Because it’s new,” he said.
“Thank you for that enlightening answer Captain Obvious. Why are we going in a brand new car?” I asked this time.
“So, Selena won’t recognize it. It’s bullet proof too and smash proof. You could run this baby over with a tank and it wouldn’t even leave a dent. And it has special tinted glass so that a vampire can’t see in from the outside. I designed the amendments myself,” he said, his eyes glazing over. He was proud of his creation and I didn’t want to burst his bubble. What was it with him and tank proof cars. Last time I checked Selena wasn’t a tank she was a vampire.
“Is it really necessary?” I whispered, now worried, was the situation more serious than I thought? Maybe I hadn’t been taking this serious enough.
“I hope not. But better safe…” He started.
“Than sorry. I know,” I said rolling my eyes.
He chuckled. “I just want you safe principessa.”
“I know,” I said kissing the side of his hand that was now cradling my face.
The ancient city lights of Rome soon faded behind us and were replaced by dark country meadows.
The quite hum of the engine sang me to sleep after another two hours. My head drifted to Jonathon’s shoulder where he pulled me against his shoulder. He conjured a blanket from some unknown place and wrapped it around me. I was scared but I felt safe there in his arms as if no bad could ever happen as long as held me.
When I woke up it was light out. The strange gray hued brightness, almost like the sun shining through rain clouds, startled me at first. Man, those were some tinted windows. People probably thought it was the president in the car. I hadn’t realized I had slept so long. It felt like minutes not hours and my body was extremely stiff.
My stomach growled. I put my hand to it.
“We’ll stop as soon as we cross the border into Switzerland. It shouldn’t be much longer. Another thirty minutes at most,” said Jonathon in comment to the rumbling emanating from me.
I stretched my stiff joints. My back hurt from sleeping in the car and my neck had a crook in it from resting it against Jonathon’s shoulder all night. My stomach growled again.
“Is her stomach going to keep making that irritating noise? It’s giving me a headache,” said Gabriel and I could see him put his thumb and index finger to his head to prove his point. I felt offended. Jonathon growled.
“Gabriel, why are you always such a pain in the ass? Why don’t I just light it on fire so you’ll have something worthwhile to complain about,” Jonathon hissed, his face only centimeters from Gabriel’s now.
“Well, Johnny Boy if you had a power like mine, you might not be quite so rude,” he said dead pan. He didn’t even smile jokingly. I had never seen him smile. Such a strange, strange, man. Uh, vampire.
“Gabriel, I don’t care if the Originals worship you and your over-kissed ass. I don’t like you and I probably never will. But I need you right now, to protect her. Just be nice. And remember I have a unique power of my own,” his hand was now glowing with blue and purple flames he skimmed it lightly over Gabriel’s face, it looked like a caress, but Gabriel’s face became charred and cracked looking. “Now, apologize to her.”
“I’m sorry, human,” he said barely audible.
Jonathon growled again. “She has a name.”
“Sorry, Kelsey.”
“Her name is Kylie! Apologize!” screamed Jonathon. I wanted to cover my ears.
“I apologize, Kylie,” Gabriel said. I nodded and tried unsuccessfully to pull Jonathon away from Gabriel. I was scared of Gabriel, Gabriel and his power.
“Let it go,” I said pulling uselessly at him. Jonathon looked at me and saw the fear in my eyes and sat back. I let out the breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
We hadn’t even been gone twenty-four hours and already there were problems. I knew Gabriel was powerful, thought persuasion was a hard power to control, or so Jonathon told me when I asked him about Gabriel a couple of days ago.
Gabriel was the first vampire with the power of thought persuasion. Gabriel was also apparently the first vampire created outside the elusive Originals. Jonathon said the power of thought persuasion was a hard one to control. The power of thought persuasion can backfire on the person using it. The power can get a mind of its own and take over the vampire’s mind. That might explain why Gabriel’s always so grouchy. Jonathon said it took a lot of Gabriel’s energy trying to keep the power in check. But that’s all he would say. I knew there was more he wasn’t telling me and probably would never tell me and I certainly wasn’t going to ask Gabriel himself about his power. But I just had a feeling there was more to Gabriel’s story than I knew.
I knew when we crossed the border into Switzerland because Jonathon let out a sigh of relief. Selena could still get us outside of Italy but I think it made him feel better to think she was a long ways away.
Danny pulled into a gas station that looked old and greasy. We all pulled off the road and in behind him.
There was only one gas pump so he filled up his Hummer and then pulled away so we could fill up the Infiniti, and then the rest did the same.
The place looked like something out of a horror movie. It was small and brown. Brown, because it was covered in layers and years of dirt. It looked like at one point it had been blue. Or maybe gray. The window were so covered in dirt that you could see the shape of someone’s hand where they had tried to wipe it away. Not only were the windows dirty but many of them were also broken and glass littered the ground.
We pulled away and stopped another ten minutes later at a tavern type place. Jonathon and I got out of the car with Joseph and Gabriel as our guards. Ugh, guards. I still thought Jonathon was going overboard but I do whatever it took to appease him. Even if it meant riding in a tank proof car with a cranky black-clad vampire.
The place was nearly empty, with only a creepy looking bartender working. He was old and dirty, with wispy white hair, and only a few teeth left. I couldn’t help but shudder. This place was full of horror movie type buildings a people. I figured we were taking the ‘off the beaten path route’ and not the ‘rainbows and sunshine’ route. Too bad.
Even though the place was empty Jonathon had to yell to get the man’s attention. He was too busy cleaning the same glass over and over again. When he finally did get the man’s attention he handed us a menu covered in layers of grease.
I scanned it quickly and ordered eggs and toast.
As soon as the meal came I ate it as quickly as possible so we could be on our way. I di
dn’t want to spend another minute in the place. Joseph led the way out with Jonathon and me in between him and Gabriel. They were taking this ‘guard’ thing further than I felt it needed to go in my opinion.
The others were waiting patiently. When they saw us their engines started. We got in to the massive vehicle that I thought was completely unnecessary. Joseph took the driver’s seat again, I guess when you’re a vampire driving doesn’t make you tired. Gabriel, broodingly, took his former seat. If he hated being here so much why did he come?
We traveled on. We stopped a couple more times for food and gas.
As the day passed, we went through Austria and Hungary. We were stopping for the night in Hungary. Tomorrow we were going to be in Romania. That’s where we were to meet the others.
“Romania!” I had laughed when Jonathon said it, “Romania, as in home of the vampire!” I couldn’t help but double over in laughter even Gabriel cracked a smile.
“The legends of vampires in Romania probably stems from the fact that Romania is where the Originals dwell,” he said stern faced.
“The Originals? Who are they?” I asked. I had heard him mention them before when describing Gabriel to me.
“They are the originals, and named so. In essence every vampire in the world was created from them. The humans they bit but did not kill turned into vampires, and those vampires made more vampires, and so on. But if it weren’t for the Originals none of us would be here,” he said.
Gabriel muttered something under his breath. I wasn’t good with foreign languages but it sounded vaguely Greek.
When the last of the light was gone, and most of the stars were in the sky, we finally pulled into a hotel. Of course it was beyond fancy. Only the best for the vampires and the lone human.
Danny, Mason, and Benji hopped out first and disappeared, I’m sure doing a scan and sniff to make sure Selena wasn’t anywhere near or had been, they came back in less than three seconds and gave some sort of signal. Jonathon disappeared from my side.
Forbidden (Fallen Series Book 2) Page 10
