“Then rewind it and show me how you guys did it.”
Laughing, Xavier couldn't help but say, “Aidan, your girlfriend is very demanding, man.”
“But Ivy and I are siding with Bree.” That was Tristan, and he shot Adrienne an impish look. She, on the other hand, glared at him. “Seal it with a kiss.”
“You lot really want to embarrass us, huh?”
Surprisingly, it was Yvonne who replied. “We were getting bored while the two of you were gone.” She locked eyes with Tristan before turning back to the two. “And also, you owe me, and you know it. Just consider the kiss as payment of your debt.”
“Screw you four.”
“I prefer you do that to Xavier,” Tristan jibed.
“Fine,” she quickly answered, and before any of them knew what was happening, she circled her hand around Xavier's nape and brought him down into a soft yet mind–blowing kiss. When she pulled away, she grinned up at him. It was obvious she’d just rocked his world. She turned to their friends. “Satisfied?”
“Yes,” Tristan and Xavier answered at the same time.
Everyone laughed.
“That was short though,” Brianna quipped, earning herself a glare from Adrienne.
“I'd like to see you do better,” Adie huffed.
Adrienne rolled her eyes, but despite the foolishness her friends made her do, she was still having a great time. There was great coffee and even greater company. To add to that, she earned herself a relationship. She also had to give credit to Xavier though. There wouldn't have been a Xavier–and– Adrienne if he hadn't cared enough to come back right away. To be braver and more straight to the point. He was the one who had kissed her, the one who first admitted his feelings for her. He stepped out of his comfort zone, and with those thoughts, she curved her lips into a satisfying smile.
She was seriously in love.
Chapter 16: Break, Bleed, Band
“Why the hell are we in a forest?” Tristan's voice echoed amidst the trees and marshy grassland. With the way his lips twisted into a foul arc, it was evident that he felt contempt and nothing else for the little journey. “Who said I wanted to go hiking the week before Christmas?”
“You did,” Yvonne snarled back, rolling her eyes in the process.
“I didn't say anything about hiking through the forest.”
“Yes you did. You said you were fine with whatever I wanted to do, and this is what I want to do.”
Tristan growled and stomped his foot in frustration. Yvonne was the weirdest girlfriend he'd ever had, and he was starting to get sick of her mysteries. Whenever they went to the beach, she didn't like to sunbathe for too long. Whenever they kissed, she felt stiff and controlled as if there was something foul in her mouth. She was still pretentious, that characteristic stayed and remained permanent, but he felt like he was slowly growing out of like with her. “Of all the places we could go, why choose a forest?” he demanded.
“Because this is where Adrienne told me to go.”
“Adrienne choose this?” He kicked a few fallen twigs out of his path. “Fucking A.”
“I also want to show you something,” she said, walking deeper into the forest. “But we have to wait for them. Brianna and Aidan are also coming.”
“Why do we have to wait?” he asked with a petulant frown covering his face.
She stopped in her tracks and waited for him to catch up to her side. She sighed. Usually they would be holding hands and kissing. However they weren’t acting like that today. She had a feeling she knew how this was going to end, that they were just prolonging the inevitable. But she didn’t want to abandon all hope.
“I hope you two haven't been waiting for too long,” Adrienne's familiar voice said, lightening the tension enveloping the whole area. “And I hope you weren't bored out of your mind.” She walked up to the couple. Xavier, Aiden, and Brianna trailed behind her.
“Far from it,” Yvonne answered, rolling her eyes then smirking. “I'm going to tell him,”
Xavier tightened his grip on Adrienne's hand, and then immediately, she knew what the blonde vampire meant. She was going to show Tristan what she was capable of, what they were capable of, the strength, the speed, the mind–reading. He needed to know if they were going to be able to remain a couple. Curious but worried at the same time, she whispered a question into Xavier's ear.
“Can she do that?”
He answered back,” If things don't go as planned, we'll erase part of his memory.”
“I forgot about that option.”
She was smiling, suddenly remembering the night of her debut. That was when most of her questions were answered by Brianna.
Her friend had found out about the existence of vampires when she was attacked by some criminal vampire. She had been saved by the good guys, and then given the choice by Adie’s father to retain her knowledge and help their kind. Most who found out about vampires had their memory altered to remove the knowledge of their kind.
They kept this option to a minimum since taking away a person's memories and thoughts was like removing a part of his life from him. As much as they didn't want to do that to Tristan, they had no choice if the revelations didn’t go well.
“We're ready when you are.”
Nodding, Yvonne headed for the nearest tree and placed the palms of her hands against the trunk. Looking at Tristan, she smiled at him before she pushed and sent the whole tree crashing down onto the ground. Adrienne and Xavier, who were slowly bending into a crouching position, immediately frowned when they read the human's mind.
What the hell is she doing? Tristan looked at Adrienne and Xavier, they just stood their, watching Ivy. In the blink of an eye she stood before him. She’d moved to fast for him to see her. “What is going on? Yvonne, what are you doing? How can you move like that? Did you guys rig that tree? I don’t understand.” Tristan took a step back from his girlfriend and looked at Adrienne. “Adie, what’s going on?”
“Talk to Yvonne, Tristan. I can’t really help you with this.” She tried to smile at him encouragingly.
“Tristan,” Yvonne called to him.
When he turned to face her again, she smiled, showing her fangs. “I am a vampire,” she said simply.
Tristan laughed. When he realized that no one was laughing with him, he looked at her with wild eyes. He turned to his long time friend, considered the man at her side. “Xavier too, huh, Adie?”
In answer, Xavier grinned, showing fang.
Tristan took another step back. “Adie?” He quickly glanced at his best gal pal. “What’s going on here?” He looked over at Brianna, then at Aiden who was also smiling, showing fang
Adrienne stepped forward, holding out her hand. “Its okay, Tristan, I’m a vampire too.”
No. She can't be, Yvonne and Xavier were vampires…he understood that, it even made a weird kind of sense. Considering they kind of kept out of the sun, Yvonne didn’t like heavy kissing…obviously because of the fangs. He groaned. Shit, so they must have turned Adie into one of the living dead. And he’d gone with Yvonne to bring his friends demon lover back to her side. And Aiden. A quick glance at Bree’s boyfriend showed fangs too. Damn him!
Immediately Tristan bolted. Dashing wildly as his arms continuously flailed in the air. No one, not even a professional wrestler, was strong enough to push a deeply–rooted tree out of the ground. Nor could they move that fast. He didn't want to know anything else. He just wanted out of here. He was scared out of his mind, and the only thing he wanted was to reach his car and drive off. When he was an arm's reach away, he felt a strong gust of wind push him forward, he tumbled and fell. Before he knew it, Xavier was leaning over him.
“I'm sorry,” the black–haired male said.
Darkness closed in upon Tristan, and he lost all consciousness. When he woke up a few moments later Adrienne, Xavier, Yvonne, Aidan, and Brianna stood in front of him. He quickly stood up and moved beside the blonde female. “Did I fall,” he asked as he tried to sn
ake his arm around Ivy’s slim waist, but she pulled away from his grasp. He looked at her with a questioning glare. “Why'd you do that?”
Yvonne, whose head was bent down, muttered, “We're over.”
Tristan, in that moment, felt like a heavy weight had been dropped on his shoulders. He wondered why she’d said those words with provocation. They hadn’t been fighting. In fact, he thought that everything was going well for the two of them. It hadn't even been a month, and she wanted to break up already. Scratch that. She’d already broken up with him. “Why?”
“We're not going to work out. You and I cannot happen,” she answered, eyeing Brianna and Aidan warily. “Can you guys take me into town; you can drop me off at the mall.”
“We have to talk, Ivy,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder which she quickly shook away. “Don't push me away just like this.”
“You pushed me away first.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Tristan asked, his voice threatening, as he ran a hand through his mocha–colored hair.
In the background, Xavier and Adrienne were furtively glancing at Aidan and Brianna. They read Bree's thoughts and saw that worry clouded her brain. Tristan was a human who had feelings for a vampire. Brianna was in the same situation, although hers was even worse. She was in love with a vampire, and how long would their relationship last? He'd be as beautiful and flawless fifty years from now. In five decades, her hair would be graying, and her face would start to wrinkle. She knew what would eventually happen and what she had to do. But she couldn't bring herself to break up with him. She loved him too much, so she kept quiet.
“I don't have to explain to you why we're not together anymore,” the blonde then said, getting in Tristan's car and slamming the door closed.
“What's wrong with you, woman?” Tristan was on the brink of pulling the hairs on his head out. “First you break up with me without a decent reason, and now you're abusing my car!”
“Just take me home, Tryst.”
He breathed out a sigh. They were really over now. “Can't we fix things?”
“No.”
“Please?”
“I said no.”
“Pretty please?”
“No.”
“Pretty please with a cherry on top?”
“Suck your own cherry, Tryst! I said no. What don't you understand about that word?”
The human emanated a low growl from deep within his chest. Why was she being so hardheaded? Especially after all they'd done together? They traveled to Europe together. Didn't that mean anything?
“Fine. Consider this the last time I take you anywhere.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Why aren't you driving yet?” she demanded.
Slamming his own car door closed, Tristan turned the engine on and sped off.
When the couple had moved out of site, Brianna turned to face Aidan, and he saw fear clouding her eyes. Smoothing a hand over her cheek, he asked her why she looked worried.
“Did you see what happened a while ago?” she asked her boyfriend.
Aidan nodded his head.
“That's going to happen to us, isn’t it.”
In that moment, his eyes turned a bloody shade of red, as he squeezed his shoulders to steady himself up. “No, it's not.”
“Seriously, Aidan.” Brianna was looking away from him now. “We're not like Xavier and Adrienne.”
The people mentioned remained silent in the background, arms around each other. They could read Brianna's thoughts. They didn’t agree with her, but it was up to Aiden to make this point.
“We're not going to break up. You aren’t going to be freaked by what I am, you already know I’m a vampire.”
Bree rolled her eyes. “That’s not what I mean and you know it. You won’t age, I will. There's no way for us to stay together for very long.”
“There's an alternative,” answered Adrienne, looking up to meet Xavier's eyes. “It's a big sacrifice, but it's still very possible.”
“Adrienne, you can't seriously mean…” Xavier's eyes told her to keep quiet. “No, he can't.”
“Yes, he can if she's willing to give up everything else,” she insisted.
“I can't, Adrienne,” it was Aidan who spoke this time. “I might lose control.”
Brianna looked at her friends, frowning. “What are you guys saying?” Her gaze moved from one vampire to another. “I'm lost.”
Xavier ran his fingers through his shaggy mop of hair. He moved his other hand from Adrienne's shoulder to her hip. He then pulled her closer and set her in front of him, so now he was hugging her from the back.
Despite her boyfriend’s nervous actions, Adrienne rolled her eyes. “Just bite her, Aidan.” Her eyes turned crimson. “Turn her.”
“She'll lose her family.”
“She won’t loose them, she just won’t be able to tell them anything about her new life. And she'll gain more,” Adrienne quickly quipped, turning to her best friend. “You have a choice to make here, Brianna.”
“There's no choice,” Xavier's voice was firm.
“Xavier, there is a choice–” Adrienne started to argue.
“I want to be like you guys,” Brianna cut in, interrupting Adrienne’s willingness to fight for her friend. She turned to her boyfriend. “I want to be with you, Aidan.”
“You don't know what you're saying,” He shook his head at her. “You'll have to adjust to a new life. You'll have to leave your family. You'll have to leave this place sooner or later. You'll have a craving for blood. Do you want that?”
“I want you. Everything else doesn’t matter,” she replied seriously.
Aidan turned to look at his best friend, Xavier, intending to ask him for advice. He knew he was being selfish, but he wanted to turn her into a vampire. He loved her. He lived for her. Like what the Twilight poster said, 'If you can live forever, what do you live for?' For Aiden Cross, that answer was Brianna. He lived for Brianna. When he realized that, he know he didn’t have to ask his best friend’s advice. He knew what the right thing to do was. He turned to Bree, starting toward her. “There's no turning back,” he warned. Slowly closing the distance between them.
“I know,” she whispered.
“Aidan, stop,” Xavier commanded, and his friend obliged. “Think about this first.”
Before Aidan could respond to that, Adrienne stepped in front of her fiancé. She wasn't really a hopeless romantic, but she knew the importance of love in a person's life, that life cannot exist without love. She knew how Brianna felt about Aiden, and what the vampire felt for her best friend. She would fight Xavier for their happiness.
“Imagine life without a mate, Xavier,” Adrienne whispered, her fingers playing with the strands o hair on his nape. “Imagine how life would be if we didn’t have each other.”
Frowning and knowing she had won this, Xavier answered, “I can't imagine life without you, Adie, You know I need you.”
“That's how Bree feels,” she said simply. “How Aiden feels.”
Xavier then thinned his lips since he knew Adrienne's father wasn't going to like this.
His fiancé pressed the issue, “Put yourself in their place.”
“I hate the fact that you're making sense,” he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “But the rest is up to Brianna and Aidan. We don't have a say in this anymore.”
“We'll see you guys in a few hours?” Adrienne then asked. “Xavier and I just want to run through the forest.”
“We'll see you,” Aidan answered, slowly pulling Bree away from the other two vampires.
Hopping on Aidan's back, Brianna circled his neck loosely with her arms, and when she said, “Go.” Aiden sped off into a darker, more secluded part of the forest. They ran past trees, stones, and a few animals here and there. When he felt that they were far enough from civilization, he stopped and carefully helped her down.
She was breathing heavily, knowing all
too well what was going to happen soon. She waited for Aidan to bend down closer to her, and when he did, she closed her eyes.
“Are you a hundred percent sure?” he whispered into her ear.
Bree, scared to death, nodded her head.
Aiden lowered her to the forest floor. He’d chosen a secluded area under the boughs of a large tree. The ground was covered in soft greenery.
She grasped the ground beneath her, closed her eyes and waited for Aidan's breath to tickle the skin of her neck. She waited for a second, barely breathing. When the second turned into several, she sucked in air and opened her eyes. “What's wrong?” she asked, sitting up. “Why aren’t you doing anything?”
“Are you positively sure?” He looked at her with burning desire.
All thought that maybe he didn’t want her, melted away.
“Are you willing to risk loosing your family?”
“I know I can't stay with them anymore, but I can still see them. I'm sure, Aiden.”
“There's no going back, Bree.”
“Make it quick.” She slowly closed her eyes again. “I have a low tolerance for pain.”
Laying his body over hers, Aidan straddled Brianna with his knees on each side of her hips. Unhurriedly, he lowered his head closer to hers and opened his mouth. He felt his fangs protrude from his gums and he carefully grazed his sharp teeth over her skin. When he touched her collarbone, he inched higher and bit down. He growled in satisfaction. The blood of a mate had an incomparable taste. It was mind-blowingly scrumptious, unmistakably delectable. But he couldn’t take all of it, if he drained her she would die.
Her heartbeat slowed and he pulled away from her neck. She stayed motionless on the ground, yet her heart still beat. He breathed a sigh of relief. She was only unconscious. He nipped at his wrist, opening a vein so that he could drip some of his blood into her mouth. He watched as she swallowed. He drew back and applied pressure to his wound until the bleeding stopped.
He rolled off Brianna, gathering her into his arms to keep watch as she went through the change. It wasn’t a long process. Maybe an hour passed before Brianna Kim opened her eyes. The beautiful brown color would return, but for knew they had changed to the claret of a vampire.
Bleeding Love Page 21
