Kelly pulled the car around to the back and parked it in its spot in the garage. They both knew that they couldn’t talk about their date freely since the other vampires were still there. Before they got out of the car, they sat quietly and gazed at each other for a moment. Todd took her by the hand and thanked her for such a great day.
“You have no idea how bad I needed this,” he softly said. “After everything that has happened to me the past few weeks, this was the best day that cleared my head.”
She gently squeezed his hand and purred, “It was my pleasure, I’m glad you had a good time there.”
He leaned in toward her for another kiss, to which she eagerly responded. This time, they lingered in their kiss much longer; making out in the front seat of the car. Their breathing became heavy as they groped at one another, kissing as deeply as they possibly could. Before they knew it, they were steaming up the windows. They both giggled as Kelly took her finger and swiped the windshield, drawing a heart.
“We had better go in,” Todd suggested. “I’m sure they heard us pull up in the driveway, they’ll think something is wrong and come out here.”
Todd led the way through the back door, cutting through the kitchen, and down the hallway. He slowed down when he heard voices coming from the main dining room. The door was open, so they slowly walked by to see who was inside. The Royals were holding their meeting, which was why the rest of the house was completely quiet. All eyes were turned to them as they were noticed, but all the vampires around that table knew they were there before it even walked in the back door. Emma did a quick nod of her head to acknowledge them, but discreetly shooed them away with her hand. She didn’t smile and looked extremely tense; definitely not a good scene and an unusual look for her.
Once they finally got upstairs and put their things away, they met back up in Todd’s room to continue hanging out. They were still full from lunch, so was too early to have dinner. Plus, neither of them wanted walked past the dining room again to get to the kitchen. They were happy to wait until the little vampire convention was over.
“What do you think that was all about?” Kelly asked.
“Emma had mentioned that they had a meeting today, so it could be about anything. Personally, I’m happy to stay out of the vampire business as much as I can!”
“Well, what do you want to do?” Kelly asked looking around the room.
Todd sauntered up to her and pushed her hair back on either side of her head. He leaned down and planted a kiss on her mouth. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck, standing on her tip toes to reach him better. They stood in the middle of his room and kissed for several minutes before there was a knock on the door.
Todd pulled back and squeezed his eyes shut, wincing at the bad timing. He opened the door to see Emma standing there awkwardly.
“I’m sorry about before,” she said. “I didn’t mean to be rude, but the Royals don’t like outsiders listening in on business. They get a little nervous about that.”
“That’s all right,” Todd responded. Emma noticed his lips were pinker than usual around the outside, which was a telltale sign that he and Kelly had been kissing. His heart was beating faster than normal, which told her that it was intense kissing.
“Dan and Zach should be back shortly…along with Brianna,” she snorted and shook her head. “It’s a good thing I didn’t go along with them because I would’ve encouraged him to drain her dry after the shit she has pulled with us!”
“Emma!” Todd gasped with a laugh. He wasn’t used to hearing her speak so violently about someone. Emma’s head snapped to attention when she heard a car pull up.
“I think they’re back, let’s go downstairs,” Emma said before she zipped out ahead of them.
She opened the front door, expecting them to already be there, but instead found them struggling with Brianna at the car. Confused, she walked up to them and asked what was going on.
“She says can’t get out of the car,” Daniel stated, just as confused as Emma was.
Brianna’s body was turned as if she was going to get out of the car, but her feet dangled just above the ground.
“I don’t know what’s happening,” Brianna exclaimed in a panic. “My body literally won’t let me put my feet down.”
Emma, Zachariah, and Daniel stood around her, kind of wondering if she was faking. They couldn’t understand what her problem was. Daniel took her by the hands and tried to gently pull her out, but her feet scrambled to stay in the car. He tried to yank just a little bit harder, yet she threw herself back with such force that it took him by surprise.
Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Emma’s head, and she began laughing. “I know exactly what’s going on.”
The others looked to her for an answer.
“The night of the party when I threw you out, I charmed you. I told you that you were never to step foot on my property again!”
Zachariah suppressed a snort and covered his mouth so that Brianna couldn’t see him laughing. He recalled her doing that as well. Brianna looked at her with disgust, but swiftly wiped her expression from her face. She didn’t want to get off on a bad foot once again.
Emma leaned down so that she was face-to-face with Brianna, locking eyes with her. “Tell me the truth,” she charmed. “Are you really changing for the better or are you scamming my brother?”
“Emma!” Daniel exclaimed.
“Well! I want to make sure she’s telling you the truth!”
“I’m really changing for the better,” Brianna replied, forced to tell the truth. “After not being able to get a hold of Daniel, I began to realize what I had lost. I didn’t like where my life was going…and today I thought it was all over. I thought Daniel was going to kill me.”
Emma folded her arms, waiting for Brianna to continue on. She was going to have to do better than that.
“Emma, I owe you an apology. I don’t know if any words I can say will allow you to forgive me, but I hope you can. I’ve changed for the better. I’m so sorry for disrespecting you the way I did,” Brianna pleaded with complete honesty.
Emma glanced at Zachariah, who was smirking and had an eyebrow raised. She then looked to Daniel, whose hopeful face made her heart surrender.
Daniel spoke, “Brianna here was kind enough to allow me to drink from her, and I was able to stop. I didn’t allow myself to kill her.”
Emma slowly blinked, “And why didn’t you?”
“Why didn’t I kill her? Because I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be like…” Daniel trailed off.
“Like me,” Emma finished for him. “You don’t want to kill someone you care about, like I did.”
He nodded matter-of-factly. “My whole life I have watched you forgive people who have hurt you. You’ve always given second chances to those deserving of it. What is Brianna guilty of? Being a bitch? Throwing a party in our house? I think something like that can be forgiven since she truly seems sorry.”
“I can forgive you, Brianna,” Emma began, knowing that Daniel was right. “But if you cross me one more time…” She just slowly shook her head in warning.
“I won’t cross you, Emma,” Brianna continued her plea. “I want a new beginning, I want to be a new person. A better person. Daniel brought out the good in me. I know first impressions last a lifetime, but I’m hoping that you might be able to forget our first meeting. Can we please start over?”
Emma slightly licked her lips, and opened her mouth just enough to reveal her fangs. She was angry and on the defense, and she wanted to make sure Brianna knew that. Sure, Daniel could try to defend his girlfriend, but he was no match against Emma.
“Okay then…you’re forgiven,” Emma flatly replied. She slowly turned to walk away before Daniel grabbed her arm to stop her. She gave him a quizzical glance as he was motioning back at Brianna.
“Do you think you can uncharm her, please? She still can’t get out of the car,” Daniel asked.
Much to Emma
’s amusement, she turned back around and locked eyes once again with Brianna. “You may step foot on my property now.”
Brianna tested her words, and slowly lowered her feet until the soles of her shoes were in contact with the gravel. She let out a short laugh, truly fascinated with the power that the vampires had over humans. She smiled broadly and thanked Emma as she stood up. Emma couldn’t help but smile a bit as well; amused by Brianna’s joy of being able to put her feet on the ground. Like a true lady of the house, Emma politely invited her to come inside.
As the four of them began to walk toward the front door, Emma put her arm around Daniel’s shoulder. “How are you doing?” She asked him.
“I’m doing really good now,” he smiled broadly, glad that the annoying craving was gone. “After I drank Brianna’s blood, I felt fine. It’s much better than being the crazy, bloodthirsty, psycho I was before!”
Emma chuckled, “You were pretty unpredictable!”
“You didn’t see me at my house! When I caught a whiff of her blood there, I went berserk!”
Zachariah looked back at them and enthusiastically nodded his head in agreement. He then added, “I think he’s going to be just fine now.”
As they walked back inside, Todd and Kelly were standing in the foyer talking amongst themselves. They both slightly backed up at the site of Daniel, fearful that he might lunge at them. Todd was subconsciously preparing to defend himself, not wanting Daniel to bite him, which could be fatal for the new vampire.
Daniel held his hands out in front of him peacefully, “I’m okay now, I promise.”
He filled Todd in on the afternoon’s events, explaining that he was no longer lusting for blood like he was that morning. They carefully stepped closer and closer to each other as they talked, until they were at a normal conversational distance. Kelly began to step closer as well, desperately wanting to give Daniel a hug. She was just happy to see him “alive”. After a few minutes of chatting, she opened her arms to invite him in. He moved forward and embraced her, but was careful not to breathe. He didn’t want to be tempted to bite her, even though he knew that it would kill him immediately.
Brianna sauntered up to them and said to Kelly, “I owe you an apology as well. I’m so sorry for being so snotty to you before, you didn’t deserve it.”
“Thank you,” Kelly responded. “I appreciate that and you’re forgiven.” It was still surreal for her to be surrounded by all of these famous faces. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that anything like this would happen. Not only was she moving into Davenport Manor, but she was now dating Todd Foster; the actor who she had a crush on for several years. She had the girl everyone loved to hate apologizing to her. And most of all, she was surrounded by vampires, which was the weirdest thing of all. However, books and movies had them all wrong; they seemed almost completely normal, just like any other human. Except they had different diets and temperaments. Although, it was safe to say that she had met crazier people in downtown Chicago than the immortal ones standing before her.
CHAPTER 7
Months had passed and spring was finally upon the Midwest. The barren trees surrounding Davenport Manor began to sprout tiny leaves, teasing with their upcoming umbrella of shade. The residents of the Manor had settled in for the winter and became accustomed to the changes that had taken place.
Kelly had officially moved in and happily became a permanent resident. She gave her bedroom personal touches with a few of her treasured items from home. She had a small collection of porcelain Harlequin clown dolls that were quite beautiful, but could be creepy to some. When Emma first saw them on the shelf, she clenched her teeth and winced, commenting on how disturbing they were. Kelly fired back by telling her that they didn’t hold a candle to the vampires in the “weird” department.
While she had her own room, she and Todd rarely spent their nights alone; sometimes she’d stay in his room, sometimes they would stay in hers. Either way, they were always together. Over the months, Todd began taking down the pictures of him and Emma as a couple one-by-one…until they were gone. The only pictures of Emma that remained on his wall were group pictures as friends; it was as if their relationship had never existed. The empty spaces were replaced with happy images of him and Kelly, celebrating their budding courtship.
Kelly got a job in the town of Davenport with their local newspaper, the Davenport Declaration. Since she came from the marketing field, she was hired to coordinate the advertisements in the paper. She loved her new job and the people that she worked with, who were all locals. While she had this little taste of independence every day, she was never really alone. Two royal guards inconspicuously accompanied her to work, during work, and on her way home. Emma went to great lengths to protect her resident living weapons, and took no chances after what had happened to Todd.
Kelly didn’t mind the high security; it came with the territory. But, in all honesty, she couldn’t have been happier. She lived in the most famous home in America; a place that people on the outside could only dream of seeing. She was dating a fantastic man and would occasionally pinch herself, wondering if it was all just a marvelous dream. She was part of an elite inner circle of creatures and knew their secrets; most would find the idea of vampires disturbing, but she found them fascinating.
Todd was able to keep his role in the action movie that he missed the table reading for when he was kidnapped. It was all thanks to Emma, who charmed the director to allow him to stay. Granted, some of his costars weren’t too pleased, but he proved himself worthy of forgiveness by giving an outstanding performance. Filming had wrapped a couple of weeks earlier and he was enjoying his time back at home with Kelly. During filming, he commuted downtown every day, except the days that they filmed early in the morning. Then, he used Daniel’s condo as a crash pad since it was in the heart of Chicago.
His relationship with Emma was awkward at first, but slowly began to relax into a friendship. It certainly wasn’t easy living under the same roof as his ex, especially since his new girlfriend lived there, too. Sometimes he would think about the situation and acknowledge just how weird it all was. It was something he definitely couldn’t make up. He had reached the point in his relationship with Kelly where he was fully aware that he loved her. However, deep down in his heart, tucked away on a back shelf, he still carried a torch for Emma. He always would.
It wasn’t the same as having nostalgic feelings for an ex, it was a feeling he had never experienced. There was an odd sense of status while dating her; not because of her wealth, but because of what she was. How many people could say they were in a relationship with a vampire? And she wasn’t just any vampire; she was a queen. A queen that loved him, despite the fact that one drop of his blood could kill her. Yet, she saved his life…more than once.
Todd had his feet kicked up on the chair in front of him as he took a drink from his coffee. He was having a relaxing moment of solitude out back by the garages while Kelly was at work. It was still early in the morning; droplets of dew created a blanket on everything outside. It was quiet, for once, and he was savoring every second of it. All that could be heard were the birds happily singing to one another in the forest surrounding the property.
It was short-lived as he heard tires crunching on the gravel from the driveway. Emma’s Mercedes turned the corner and rolled past him as she made her way to her garage spot. She waved as he passed and he casually waved back. He cursed at himself when his stomach did a flip when he saw her; he desperately wished it would stop. In a moment, it would be the first time they found themselves alone together in quite some time. They both subconsciously tried to avoid putting themselves into that situation.
He heard her car door shut and she emerged from the garage carrying a couple of grocery bags. He turned to face her as she walked up to join him.
She sat down across from him, placed the bags on the ground, and crossed her legs. She was extra careful not to accidentally touch his leg with her foot as they were seated close
together. She pulled one of the bags onto her lap and began rummaging through it. She pulled out a little box of three Cadbury Crème Eggs and handed it to him.
“I saw these at the store and thought of you. I remembered how much you liked them last year, so I grabbed some for you. There are a few more boxes in the bag, I’ll put them in the pantry for you,” She told him.
He beamed at her generosity, “Thank you so much! That is so sweet of you! It’s too bad you can’t eat these, they’re so good. But…more for me then!”
“So what’s new?” She enthusiastically asked while lightly swatting his knee.
“Not much, just taking a little break before the next Ticking Through Time begins filming.” He was contracted to star in the recurrent films since he appeared in the previous one. “How about you?”
She realized that they hadn’t sat down and chatted in so long, now it almost felt like a forced conversation. She remembered when they shared their days with one another…now it was just idle catch up.
“Well, we were talking about coming out in the open, but decided that right now might not be the best idea. We were going to offer our blood as healing agents for hospitals, but realized that it could possibly put us into some sort of danger. As crafty as we are, humans can be just as slick and unpredictable. I’ve been hiding what I am for two centuries…I’m tired. I don’t want to hide anymore, but now isn’t the time to come out.”
He raised his eyebrows and nodded, “But, if people don’t see you all as a threat, but rather as healers, they’ll probably be more open-minded.”
“We know that. But, we also know there are going to be groups of people that will be bigots toward us; it’s inevitable.”
“I can’t imagine what it feels like to have to hide what you are,” Todd responded with compassion.
Revolutions (Davenport Manor Book 3) Page 9
