by Dawn Gray
"I'm not one of them, am I?" Julian stiffened at the question. "I'm something else and you know what, don't you. Who am I, Julian? Who were my real parents?"
He turned to me. On his face, I watched a lie begin to form. I knew him too well now for him to lie to me, but he tried anyway.
"Your parents are at home, probably worried sick that you didn't come home last night." He stood up. I, suddenly, was on my feet up on the bed, noticing that I was only dressed in somebody’s oversized white dress shirt. "They probably think that you’re injured."
"Oh, yeah, they wouldn't ever guess that I was staying with an eighteen-year-old vampire, who just makes my blood boil every time I look at him." Julian looked at me and sighed. "You make me nuts, Julian."
"This can't happen, Ash, and now you know why." I jumped down off the bed and walked over to him. I put my hand on his chest and sighed.
"This is happening, Jules. This has been happening, whether you like it or not." He stood there and watched me as I grabbed my shorts and sandals, slip them on, then walked passed him to the door. "I'll see you later."
I was just about to put my hand on the gold doorknob that was on the front door when I felt him behind me. Slowly I turned and looked at Julian. He stood at the edge of the staircase, staring at me with those eyes of his. I pulled the door open and walked out. As I walked down the long driveway that led to the road, I felt him again. I walked on a few more feet before I stopped and turned again. I didn't see him, but I could feel him.
"Quit hiding and come out in the open." Julian stepped out from behind a tree. "Go home, Julian."
"No," he said. I crossed my arms in front of me and shook my head.
"I'm confused." I rubbed my forehead. "You told me that this can't happen, but you're following me home."
"You need to be protected."
"Bullshit!" My eyes filled up with tears and I closed them. "Julian, right here, right now. You have to make up your mind. I can't do this. I can't wait forever for you. When you left, I waited eight months for you, eight months, just for you to come back and tell me that I can't care for you. That's bullshit, Julian."
"What do you want from me, Ash?"
"I want you to tell me what you want. I can't wait for you forever. Tell me, right now, do you want me or not." He looked at me, stood there for a moment and then sighed. He didn't speak, so I turned and walked toward the road again. Just as quickly as I turned around, he was in front of me, less than two feet away. He put his hand up, and then put it back down. "What is it?"
"You make me crazy, Ash. You are so obnoxious. You think you know everything."
"I do know everything."
"Be quiet and let me finish." He sighed. I was quieted into submission, just by his tone of voice. "You think you know everything, but you know nothing. You insist on provoking me, even though you know my nature, and I'm sure you knew a long time ago. You push buttons that no one has ever pushed before. I'm ready to draw the line, here Ash, but you would only cross it, wouldn't you?" I nodded and smiled. "It's not funny, Ash. I think I love you."
"And this is a bad thing?" I watched his temper flare when I said this.
"Yes, damn it, it is. How can I protect you when all I can think about is holding you? I want you. I want you so bad that it's killing me inside, but I don't know if I can have you. You're very young, but you're also very strong. This is not a good idea." He sighed. I watched as his face turned soft and then he rubbed his eyes.
"You didn't give me an answer." Suddenly, he put his hands on his hips. "I'm going home."
"Ash!" He yelled after me as I walked away from him. "Ashley, you little brat." I stopped only for a second and then I walked on. "Okay, if you’re going to be that way then we'll just finish talking about it in the morning over breakfast."
I smiled to myself and continued to walk home. As I rounded the corner, walking up my own driveway, I noticed the four police cars that were parked in front of the house. I watched the red and blue lights turn and then I walked up and in through the front door.
"Mom, Dad?" I paused in the doorway. They came running around the corner and hugged me. "What? What's wrong?"
"Oh, honey, we thought we lost you. Where did you go?"
"Yesterday, when I walking, it started to rain and then I went to climb a bank, slipped, and hit my head. I woke up only a little while ago. I came right home." They knew little or nothing about Julian and I intended to keep it that way.
The rest of the day went without incident. The next morning, when I was supposed to be on the school bus heading for school, I was sneaking around the side of Julian's house. Michael met me at the back door and then told me that Julian was still sleeping.
I made my way, as quietly as I could, to the third floor, slowly opened the door to Julian's room, and looked in. He was lying across the queen-sized bed, his head toward me, naked as could be. I walked into the room, closer and closer to the bed. He was lying on his stomach, so the only thing exposed was his bare bottom. I reached out to touch his back, but I got as close as about an inch away, and then the next moment I was laying on my back on the bed with him towering over me again. I struggled to catch my breath, and then realized that I could feel his bare skin on my legs and where my shirt had been pulled up in the flip over.
My face turned red and Julian then realized why I had changed a different color. He slid down off the bed and I turned my head away as he grabbed for the bathrobe on the floor beside the bed.
"I didn't mean to scare you." He sat back down next to me. I sat up, pulled my shirt down, and smiled. "I really had the intention of being up when you got here."
"Don't worry about it, it happens all the time." He checked me over and then I smiled. "Well, waking people up seems to happen to me a lot, getting thrown down on the bed by a naked man, though quite intoxicating, has never happened to me before."
"So,” he pulled on his jean shorts under his bathrobe then took it off and pulled on a tank top. "What would you like for breakfast?"
"You." Of course, I had forgotten about my mind when I whispered and he turned to look at me quite quickly. "Sorry, it just slipped." I smiled and stood up from the bed. "How about pancakes and then you can tell me about my parents."
"Ash." Julian's voice carried after me as I walked out of his room and then down the stairs. When I reached the bottom and stood in the parlor, waiting for him, he was right behind me. "Ash, what did you mean by that?"
"My parents, you lied last night." The two of us walked out to the small-enclosed patio. "You said that they were at home and, granted, my parents are at home, but I want to know about my biological ones."
"What makes you think that I know?" We sat at the table with Quinn, Michael, and David.
"Well, let me think." I looked up at the sky. "Your desperate need to protect me. From what, I don't know, but it seems to have to do with my past. The fact that I can feel you when you are near me, and sense your mood. The fact that I can read your mind."
This statement made Quinn drop his fork and almost spit out the eggs he had been eating. Michael glanced up from the magazine on the table and David just giggled. Julian shook his head.
"There's no way. That's impossible, Ash."
"Right now you’re thinking about when I could have been doing this, picturing all the times that I knew what you wanted to do next, say next. You’re trying to figure out how a little ‘mortal’ like me could be able to read your mind."
He stood up quickly and started to walk away, and then he turned around and came back. "It's not possible. Ash, it's not."
"Tell me about my parents Julian or I'm sure Quinn will."
"Your parents are Nancy and William Benson, Ash. I swear to God that is all I know." His voice forceful.
"Then tell me what you're protecting me from. Tell me why you’re so hell bent on keeping me safe," I demanded.
"Because I love you!" He put his hands on the table and leaned toward me. "Do I have to have any other reason?"
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I watched him walk away and then I sat down at the table and stared in disbelief. Quinn got up and followed after him, the other two didn't say anything. Curiosity had me two steps behind as he disappeared down into the darkness of a basement. I hid behind a tall stack of boxes when Quinn cornered Julian in a dimly lit room.
"Are you insane?" Julian leaned on the wall and glared at him. "You can't do this, Julian. It is too dangerous, for both of you."
"Don't you think I know that?" Julian bumped his head back and closed his eyes. "When Victor told me she was the one, I wanted to kill him. She knew nothing of us."
"Knew, as in knows now?" Quinn questioned. Julian nodded. "How could you tell her? This could ruin the whole thing! Julian? I knew you were stupid but come on."
"I told her about us, okay. She knew anyway, but she just wasn't sure. Two nights ago, she came running in from outside, stood right in front of me and knew that I could read her mind. She's not stupid either." Julian leered at his brother. "I can't help how I feel, Quinn. She tugs at my heart. She drives me crazy."
"She's important to us."
"She's important to Victor. She could care less about anybody else but us. Quinn, she's just a girl." He sighed.
"Yes, a girl that will become a Queen." Quinn watched his brother walk to the back wall and stand facing it. "You weren't supposed to meet yet."
"But we did Quinn."
"And you certainly weren't supposed to fall in love with her." He laughed. Julian smiled.
"But, I did and that doesn't change anything. She's not going to go for anything, Quinn. She's too smart."
"Then her parents will make sure that this doesn't continue," Quinn argued.
"Why, what can they do to her?"
"Please, be careful with this, Julian. It's not just her life you’re dealing with anymore. She knows of us, and that is harmful to us."
"She won't tell."
"Make sure she doesn't." Quinn sighed and smiled at his brother. "Remember her importance to us."
"I only know her of her importance to me and, right now, keeping her from harm is all I care about." Julian watched as his brother walked away.
Quinn moved past me as I tried my hardest to try to shield myself from him. When I turned to observe Julian I saw him walk in a circle, then turn and smash his fist through a large wooden crate. I crept out of the shadows, as he was just about to smash it again, but he suddenly seemed to feel me there and regarded me, unclenched his fist and leaned on his arms against the boxes.
"I swear I was telling the truth about your parents, Ash."
"Queen of what, Jules?" He glanced away. "Queen of what? Queen of you, of the vampires?"
"In due time, Ash. I can't tell you now." He sighed. "But, please know that I love you and that nothing will ever happen to you."
As he walked away, further into the dark basement, I turned and moved back the way I had came, and then started home. I could barely see as the tears built up in my eyes.
3
Two nights had passed, I couldn't even think about going to see him. My heart raced when I whispered his name, but my mind shuddered at the thought that I might be hurting him by my actions. I sat at the window in my bedroom; from there I could see his house. It was dark and had been the last two nights, but I felt him and the others. They were still there.
I wished him to come to me, wished with all my heart, but then told him no, to stay home. It was about ten on the second night that the doorbell rang and I listened to my parents hustle about to answer it. I came down the stairs to the landing that was just at the top of the first flight of stairs and hid behind the wall. You could hear everything that was being said in the living room from there.
I watched as some old woman, hunched over and using a cane, walked in with the help of my father and a priest. They made their way to the living room, where they all sat and, of course, my mother offered them tea.
"No thank you, we need to get right to the point. Your daughter is in danger." With this statement, I knew they were talking about me. Kim and Grace wouldn't ever do anything wrong. "She has met with the others."
"Others, what others?" My father voice sounded as if he were in a state of panic.
"Her kind. We brought her to you because we thought you would keep her safe from them. They have told her too much already. If they continue to be together, your daughter and this vampire, we will have to destroy them."
Destroy them? Destroy Julian? What the hell were they talking about? Why was I not supposed to be near them, why couldn't I be with him? However, the woman talked on about how we should move so that I could forget about him. They discussed hypnotism, how it might aid in forgetting. I swore right then that I wouldn't ever forget Julian, if it killed me I wouldn't forget.
She told them that I would soon find out all of what they were trying to protect me from if I stayed here any longer. I just cursed under my breath and wanted to yell that I wish they would all just stop trying to protect me. She asked my mother about her journals, the ones she kept when they were preparing to take me from my real parents. My mother answered her, telling her that they were safe, up in the attic in a secret hole in the wall.
I had to know what the big secret was, and I knew where the little spot she was talking about was. I had watched her put the books in there, but never thought of them after that moment. I walked quietly up the stairs and crept to the attic staircase. I hated the attic, but I braved the darkness and felt my way around. The light of the half moon window in the corner shone directly onto the spot where my mother's journals were hiding.
I used the edge of an old dictionary to pry open the board and looked in to see five dust-covered books sitting in the small hole in the wall. I slowly pulled them out and dusted off the cover. I wrapped them in a blanket and went back down to my room, where I stuck them in my backpack. Tomorrow, I wouldn't be going to the day camp my parents had signed me up for.
The next morning I went out to catch the bus. I didn't talk to anyone, but as I stood at the bus stop, I felt him close to me. I viewed him standing by the tree. He was taking a big chance being here. My sisters told my mother everything that I did. I walked over to him and smiled at his cheery face.
"We have to talk later," I told him. "I promise I won't ask about my parents, but there is something that we need to discuss."
"I've missed you, Ash," he said softly and reached out to touch me. The two of us looked at my sisters, who glared. His hand dropped to his side and he nodded to them. "What do they have, staring problems?"
"Yes, and they will tell my mother that you were here." I smiled.
"So, it's a free country." Julian laughed.
"Not if my parents can help it." I replied. Just then, the bus pulled up. "After camp, I'll be over. Wait for me."
"I will." And he was gone.
I had escaped the halls of the community center, where the day camp was, and ran to the library that was a few blocks over. This is where I found a nice quiet spot and curled up with the journals. I found out which one was the first one and began to read.
March 15, 1975:
They visited us again today, told us that the baby was due on the 21 of June. We're very excited, but then again, this isn't going to be an easy task.
I read on from that date. It explained that I was to be given up for adoption by my biological parents, but it wasn't until I had already been born, that my new parents found out anything about me. She said I was born with two sharp teeth, and that my mother had died during childbirth, my father, on the way to the hospital the day I was born. His car had been hit by a train.
She writes on about how an elderly woman stopped in when I was two days old and told her about my parents. They weren't normal, and it was something that they were going to have to take into consideration when they thought about keeping me.
June 23, 1975:
She said that they were different, but the explanation that she gave us went beyond different, but the priest she
brought with her made us believe.
She told us that Ashley's biological parents were, well, I'll laugh at this later, but she said they were vampires. Ashley's mother had become pregnant and that she had been made a vampire in the seventh month of her pregnancy. Her husband had been made one shortly before.
I laughed, how silly was this? Who would believe that their daughter was a child of vampires, but the priest assured us it was true.
Her father had been killed, not by a train, but by some of his followers who had sought him out and killed him. The mother had foreseen this coming and rushed to the hospital. They said that Ashley was taken out by force and then they had killed her mother. They tell us that, as far as they know, Ashley's mother had been a few centuries old, but she could have been older.
They want us to believe that Ashley thrived in her mother's womb for more than a few centuries. Ridiculous, but then again, they also told us something more outrageous.
Ashley, among her kind, is of royal blood.
I closed the book and looked up at the ceiling that was towering above me. This is why Julian wanted to protect me so badly. I was his Queen, but then again, why would this old woman want to protect me from Julian? I was confused, but they had made one thing perfectly clear. Whatever vampire told me about my past would be in danger of being hunted down. I couldn't let Julian be threatened by this. I would go along with my parents on the hypnotism, for Julian's sake.
My mind was made up when I went to his house after camp, but I couldn't bear to go in and tell him that I knew the truth. I stood by the water, looked out at the blue ocean, and wished that I could get lost in its depth. I was there, thinking and then I knew I wasn't alone. I turned and glimpsed at the back steps of the patio. Julian stood on the steps, a white dress shirt pulled out of his black dress pants. His hair blew in the breeze. He was quite handsome and I wanted to run to him, but I didn't.
