Vampiric: Chapter One, Part 3

After the meeting with Caroline, Drei had me quit my job, warning me that working for Caroline would be a full-time occupation in and of itself. Luckily, my manager hadn’t yet posted the new schedule and assured he would edit me out of it. Though he wouldn’t openly admit it, I knew Drei was grateful I was done with waitressing.

I spent most of my workless half-week buried in books, studying the lesser-known European Revolutions of 1848 and others. The drudgery of studying figure after historical figure caused me to go into a stupor of sorts. My eyes read what lay before me as my brain stored it in some dark corner, but my conscious thoughts were elsewhere. Primarily, where was the contact Caroline had promised?

Drei was pondering the same, though he would never admit it. Admitting it would be the equivalent of saying he believed I had fumbled the meeting altogether.

“Would you like to join me?” Drei questioned, sitting across the living room from me.

I marked my spot in the reading to look up at him. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and slacks. His coat was still hanging by the door. Usually when Drei left, I was finishing up at work, so he had never asked before.

“Don’t you have something you’re supposed to do—someone to meet?” I convinced myself I asked because I didn’t want to be more of a burden. No matter how much he insisted I wasn’t, I couldn’t help feeling he lied.

“Not tonight.” He wasn’t lying, which was, or course, a good thing. But his eyes were sad and there was something like worry in them. Worry for me.

“I’m fine, Drei.” I smiled to assure him.

“Abriel,” he sighed, shaking his head and sitting down across from me; he leaned forward on his elbows. “You are the most perplexing person I have ever known.” Though this wasn’t necessarily positive, I saw the hint of a smile on his pale lips. “You wanted to leave, so you left. But you have yet to really leave. You have merely traded one hideaway for another.”

I sighed, knowing he was right. Of course he was right. But it was a lot more complicated than he made it out to be. “I had a job,” I reminded him, hoping it would constitute as not hiding.

“It was a start, a small one,” Drei conceded, but I knew it wasn’t what he meant. “I will protect you, Abriel. No bounty hunter will take you away so long as I am with you. You have nothing to fear.”

“I know that, Drei.” I had thought my life would just return to the way it had been, except with a different town and different crowd. But the moment we reached the city, I wasn’t so sure. Suddenly, it seemed like everyone was a bounty hunter in disguise and would try to drag me off to some awful fate. Outside of work, I made excuses—which Drei unintentionally helped to provide—so as to not have to leave. After so much freedom, the city seemed like a prison in and of itself.

“Come out tonight.” He crossed the room and pulled me to my feet. His pale amethyst eyes were bright and excited. It seemed he was certain this was what I needed, and perhaps it was.

“Okay,” I whispered, nervous and unsure but not wanting to disappoint him. He had done so much for me; some days it felt like I never did anything for him in return. But I could do this.

His lips upturned in an infectious smile, a smile that seemed to burn away the uncertainties in my mind. “I will wait for you to change;” he kissed my cheek.

Away from him, my nervousness about a night on the town returned, but now I felt like it was about time as well.

My wardrobe had expanded slightly since we had arrived to include clothing other than just blue jeans, sweaters, and shirts. From my closet, I pulled out a white, off the shoulder blouse and a black chiffon skirt, pairing them with black ballet flats. As I brushed through my somewhat unruly hair, I looked at the angel necklace Drei had given me a few years back at Christmas. Impulsively, I put it and the matching bracelet on. I left the room, my former nerves now a bubble of excitement.

Drei was stalking around the living room, his features betraying his nerves, tight and furrowed; if he was the sort to chew his cheek, he probably would have done that as well. He seemed to be having second thoughts about his insisting I join him.

“Let’s go,” I said, smiling. I grabbed our coats and handed him his before he could change his mind or I lost my nerve.

When he looked up, his eyes glowed warmly with love and adoration for what they saw. He reached out and touched the necklace, as though he couldn’t believe I was finally wearing it and it completely changed the way I looked to him.

“You are gorgeous, Abriel,” he whispered, pushing a stray curl behind my ear.

All I could do was smile and revel in the fact he had chosen me. He loved me.

“Let’s go,” I repeated, though I had no idea where he was planning to take me. It didn’t seem to matter much anyway. Not as long as he was there.