I looked around and saw no one but I knew who had left it. I took one petal from the bloom, then placed the rest of the flower on a bush. After a while, I started to receive poetry which he had written along with roses. They were mostly small, one-liners, but beautiful.
I could not throw them away. Unable to bear even the thought of not keeping his beautiful poems, I would fold them up as small as I could and shove them down inside my corset. Then, when I had a moment alone in my room, I would put them into a secret box that held my petals and poems…”
When she paused, Alex exclaimed, “Danielle, what a great love story! So, what happened? Did you ever get to speak to him?”
“No, I never got the chance.” She looked down into her lap.
“What happened?
“My husband…he found my sacred box of treasures and assumed I was having an affair.”
“What did he do?
“We argued and he beat me, of course. Only that time, when I drifted into unconsciousness…I never woke up.”
“Oh, Danielle.”
Alex took her into his arms. She had said it all so simply, like it was not uncommon for a man to beat his wife to death. She had never spoken of how she had died and he had never pushed her. The subject of your death was usually something most didn’t want to talk about.
Danielle leaned her dark head on Alex’s shoulder, but her composure remained. “Do you see now why I didn’t want to talk about it?
“Yes, yes, I understand. I am so sorry.” He felt terrible for asking her to tell him about it.
“Don’t be sorry, Alex, it was a long time ago and if I had lived, I would have had to live with that man forever.”
“No,” he insisted. “You could have run away. I know you would have found a way to be with him.” Alex spoke urgently, as if she could run off and find him that very second.
She shook her head. “No, my husband would have found me; there was nowhere I could have gone. Let’s not dwell on it. It’s just the way things go.”
The door behind them opened and Jeremiah came out onto the porch.
“It’s getting close now.” He pulled a chair up close to the swing.
Alex realized nobody knew of anything appropriate to talk about, so once again they sat in silence. After some time had passed, the sky started to lighten. Alex had to fight the urge to take flight and run into the house.
Jeremiah stood and handed Alex a pair of extremely dark sunglasses. “Here, you might need these.”
Alex thanked him and put them on.
Jeremiah looked at Alex and said, “Here we go.”
Danielle took his hand and rose from the swing with Alex in tow. Jeremiah went to Alex’s other side. They stood together, watched the sky and anxiously awaited the arrival of the sun, Alex’s enemy.
Electric tingles of nervousness that vampires seldom feel traveled through Alex’s body. The colossal sky slowly turned from black, to gray, and even more slowly to blue.
They kept their thoughts to themselves as they waited in silence. Alex squeezed Danielle’s hand and thought of how all those years, with all of his hopes and dreams, he had never thought he’d ever get to see another sunrise, the thing he wanted more than anything.
Slivers of clouds mingled together in a pastel dance of pinks, purples, and hazy oranges, then parted again and made way for the huge ball of fire that rose into the sky. Every emotion took its turn with Alex. Excitement replaced the nervousness and he wondered how a dead heart could beat so wildly. As the tip of the sun rose, his eyes slammed shut in pain.
“Aaaahhhh!”
His free hand flew up to his head while a million tiny knives stabbed into his brain.
“Alex! Are you ok?” Danielle asked.
“I’m fine.” He pried his eyes open slowly, trying to give them time to adjust. There was no way anyone could spend years in darkness and not feel tremendous pain with their first glimpse of sunlight. The burning continued intensely, but he had every intention of seeing this through.
While the sun rose ever so slowly, he felt joy spreading within him but it also felt like there was a molten warmth spreading there as well. Determined to ignore any feelings of discomfort, he kept his eyes on the expanse before him.
The sun made its final assent when a volcano erupted inside of him and filled his veins with scorching lava.
“Noooo!” Alex cried out and clutched his free hand to his stomach.
“Jeremiah! His hands!” Now, Danielle’s voice was close to hysteric. Even as Alex crumpled to the ground, she would not let go of his hand.
His skin felt like bubbling hot wax. He wrenched his eyes away from the sunrise to look at his hands and saw large smoking burns on his skin. His mouth opened to scream, yet nothing came out.
Alex quickly returned his eyes to the sky. He didn’t care that he was burning or that he couldn’t speak; it seemed as if every feeling and thought faded into the background. He knew he was in some kind of trouble, yet, to him, it was all happening in slow motion.
Alex refused to look away from the sun.
“Alex! Close your eyes!” Jeremiah hollered at him.
He didn’t think about Jaiden or Isabella or even God, only about himself. Overcome by the joy of the moment, he refused to see what was happening to him.
“Alex, do it!”
He heard Danielle’s voice in the distance.
“Danielle, take his legs.”
Smoke rose into Alex’s line of vision.
“We have to get him into the basement. It is the safest place,” Jeremiah told Danielle.
“Hurry, let’s get him.”
Alex couldn’t speak. He couldn’t tell them to stop. He wasn’t sure if it was because he could not speak or because he was so mesmerized by the rising sun. He could feel them dragging him across the porch.
No, no, no, he told himself. He wouldn’t let them take from him what he had missed most all of those years. Anger welled up inside him. How could they do that, knowing how much it meant to him? How could they take away his moment?
Alex had no idea how badly he was injured. He had no idea what it could do if he stayed in the sunlight much longer. Danielle, who was very strong, was at his feet, but Jeremiah was mortal and old, which made him weak.
Jeremiah held him underneath each of his arms and attempted to drag Alex into the house. Suddenly, to their surprise, Alex twisted violently and landed face down on the wooden porch.
His legs had come free from Danielle’s grip and he started to crawl back into the sunlight.
Danielle screamed, “Get him, Hurry!”
Jeremiah grabbed the back of his coat and yanked back but his strength was nothing compared to Alex’s. Jeremiah lost his grip and fell on his backside.
Yes, yes! Alex thought. I am going to make it. I am going to live in the day!
Common sense had completely left him and they were dealing with a crazed vampire.
Suddenly, his head was forced down onto the porch and the rest of his body was flattened against it too. Danielle had tackled him like a football player. She sat atop his body and held his hair in her fist.
“I’m sorry, Alex.”
With that, she pulled his head back and slammed it into the porch, face first, with her incredible strength. It was not enough to knock him out but he was stunned enough not to fight them momentarily, long enough for them to get into position to try again.
Despite Alex’s vampire strength and all of his kicking and struggling, they somehow managed to drag him into the house and away from the deadly penetration of the sunlight.
Once they had him in the house, he continued to struggle, until blackness flooded his vision. He could still hear their voices but he could not see them.
No, no, no, he tried to tell them. I want to stay; I want to see the sun!
While they dragged him down the stairs, he fought wildly, telling them with his thoughts that he wanted to stay. Slowly, their voices began to fade until he finally lost consciousn
ess.
16
Isabella sat on the overstuffed, brown leather sofa in Alex’s den. She watched a movie on the huge fifty inch flat screen and sipped a cup of coffee. Jaiden lay beside her, sleeping soundly.
She still couldn’t get over the size of the television; it was like being at the movies. Having the television on gave her some comfort; her home had always been filled with children and the noise which accompanies them. Alex’s house was so large and lonely with only herself and Jaiden to occupy it.
Alex had left the night before and, to her knowledge, had not returned. She had a feeling that something was wrong. She knew she shouldn’t worry but she couldn’t shake the feeling.
When the door bell rang, she was startled out of Tolkien’s battle for middle earth and spilled coffee all over the front of her blue tank top. Groaning, she placed her mug on the end table and hurried to the door.
Damion and Christopher waited on the other side of the front door.
“Hi, Isabella.” Damion greeted her.
“Hi, guys, Alex isn’t here.”
Damion nodded. “We know, which is exactly why we’re here. Can we come in?”
“Sure.” Confused, she moved aside so they could enter. Then, she led them into the den so Jaiden wouldn’t be by herself for long.
While Damion and Chris each sat down in a recliner, Isabella reclaimed her seat on the couch beside Jaiden.
“Is Alex ok?” she asked as she pointed the remote at the TV and pushed mute.
Chris leaned forward in his chair. “There was some kind of accident. We don’t know any details, yet, but Danielle asked us to come over here and get the truck.”
Isabella gasped. She had known something was wrong. “You don’t know what happened?”
“No.” Damion shook his head. “We only know he is injured pretty badly and that he needs to come home.”
“Where is he?”
Damion answered quickly, “He’s at Jeremiah’s house. Look, I don’t want to be rude but we are just as curious as you are and we want to get over there so we can find out what is going on.”
“Oh. The keys are all on a hook beside the garage door.” She pointed in the general direction of the garage.
Christopher stood. “Thank you, Isabella.”
She followed them to the door. “No, thank you for letting me know. I had a feeling something was wrong.”
Damion opened the door to the garage. “Don’t worry, he will be home soon.”
Christopher followed him into the garage and shut the door behind him.
Unable to return to her movie, Isabella paced the floor. What could she do in the meantime? She picked up Jaiden off the couch and carried her to the very last room at the end of the hall.
For a long time, she stood in front of the door to Alex’s room and debated if she should enter. She wanted to get things ready for when he got home but she didn’t want to invade his privacy, either.
She opened the door and peeked in.
Well, what could it hurt? she thought and tiptoed inside.
The entire main part of his bedroom appeared untouched. His gorgeous bed was made and didn’t even have a wrinkle on the burgundy comforter. All of his dressers were free of clutter, without even a hint of dust. It was as if no one occupied the room at all.
After a few moments of staring at the bedroom furniture, she realized there wasn’t much she could do. She didn’t even know what his condition was.
She decided to explore and opened the closet door. His closet was absolutely, for sure, the most perfectly organized closet she had ever seen. The next door she opened was the bathroom. It was a man’s bathroom, all black tile and chrome fixtures. The shower stall was not even a stall, just a lot of faucets and a big shower head dropped from the ceiling. All you had to do to take a shower would be to walk around the gigantic blocks of frosted glass that looked like ice cubes.
The last door in the room was locked.
“Hmmm.”
She tried again. At first, she wondered why it was locked; then, the obvious reason that Alex was a vampire and would probably have lots of things to hide occurred to her. It made her curious as to what was behind the door, though, although that wasn’t strange because most people would want to know what was behind a locked door.
Isabella gave up on finding anything to do for him. She felt like an intruder so she and Jaiden went back to the sofa and her movie.
It was impossible for her to concentrate on the movie. She knew it wasn’t going to get any better, either. Obviously, she didn’t know Alex that well, but in the short time she had known him, she had felt sort of tied to him…in a way. Especially after what he had done for her family; no one had ever helped her and asked nothing in return.
He had even left a credit card on the table with instructions to call the doctor for Charlotte and make her an appointment and call for a car to take her to and from the doctor’s office. She was going to be forever grateful and wished there was something she could do for him.
The soft, electric glow of the television was all that lit the room. Jaiden, who Isabella had placed beside her on the sofa, was no longer sleeping soundly. She had begun to whimper and thrash around a bit.
Isabella picked her up and cuddled Jaiden to her chest, assuming she was only having a bad dream. She rocked her slowly.
Jaiden wouldn’t have it; she continued to fuss and whimper. Suddenly, her eyes sprung open and she began to cry loudly, almost full out screaming.
“It’s ok, it’s ok. Shhh.”
The lights began to flicker and, with a flash, the dark room was lit with a blinding light.
In awe, Isabella gasped. “Jaiden!”
Every light in the room was on and Jaiden had become quiet.
“Well, little one, apparently, you don’t like the dark, huh?”
Jaiden answered by closing her eyes and sticking her tongue out. Isabella smiled and kept rocking her.
“Well...It has started already,” Isabella mumbled quietly.
17
He could hear the ocean. He could smell the salt of the sea. When he opened his eyes, he realized he could also see the ocean. A full moon perched high in the clear, starlit sky. He watched the black waves crash against the sandy shore, creating white foam, which made its way up the beach and dampened his bare feet.
He wore loose white pants, rolled up to mid-calf, exposing his abnormally white legs, and a white button up shirt. The cool, crisp breeze blew the seagulls’ voices gently through the air. Then, the wind blew in another voice.
“Alex, Alex, where are you?”
It sounded like Isabella. He quickly turned a circle, scanned the dark beach and called, “I’m here.”
A white figure came into the moonlight and strode down the sandy beach in his direction. It was Isabella. Her golden hair fell loose and flowing down her back like a glowing golden waterfall. He desperately wanted to run his fingers through it. As she moved closer, he could see that she was wearing a strapless white gown which exposed just enough. The embroidered bodice was tight until it met the waist where it flared out into a billowing bell of satin and lace. It was a wedding gown.
When she saw him, she grabbed the skirt of her dress with both hands, exposing her bare feet and legs, and began to jog toward him.
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you, but it’s so dark out here, I couldn’t see a thing.”
She arrived in front of him and stopped merely an inch away. So close that he could feel the breath from between her luscious, pink lips. She surprised him by wrapping her arms around his neck. Then, she stood on her tippy toes and pressed her body against his.
Alex could smell the sweetness of her skin, the sweetness of her blood. Her neck was exposed to him, open and waiting for him to taste.
He was totally confused. Had they gotten married? When had it happened?
But then again, he was there with her. They were in each other’s arms and, apparently, in love so
he didn’t care what had happened.
Suddenly, she pulled away and put one soft hand on each of his cheeks.
“Alex, I was so scared that I had lost you,” she whispered.
“You will never lose me, Isabella,” he whispered back to her.
She moved forward once again and wound her arms around his neck like before, only this time, her lips met his. Their kiss was beautiful and wanting. Alex felt the urgency between the two of them. He could feel her heart beating against his chest as she moved her entire body up against his.
He felt her teeth nip his ear and her breath as she spoke. “I want to be with you forever, Alex.”
She moved away from him so that she could look him in the eyes. She ran her right hand down the length of her delicious neck and brushed her flowing locks aside, exposing her precious, pale skin.
Stunned, he did not utter a word. He had sworn he would never make another vampire. God would not be pleased if he did. Yet, how could he live a life after she was gone? He had thought he would never have to make this decision.
“Please, Alex.”
“I can’t, I can’t do it.”
She pulled even farther away from him. “Why? Don’t you love me?”
He saw the confusion written all over her face.
He sighed. “I cannot give you this horrible thing called immortality which some so loosely call a gift…I just can’t.”
When he reached out for her, she turned away.
Crystal teardrops glistened in the corner of each eye. “I thought you loved me, Alex.”
Then, she turned and ran into the darkness.
“Wait!” he called after her. ”Wait, Isabella, I do love you!”
The first thing Alex noticed when he woke was that his hearing had returned. He could hear muffled voices, although nothing was clear enough to understand. When he tried to open his eyes, they simply would not open. He tried to shift his body but stopped immediately. Even without being able to see, he could tell he was burnt badly.
Alex wasn’t used to pain and he hurt everywhere; he had only felt like that one time before.
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