Vampiric: Chapter Ten, Part 1

Chapter Ten: Blood Thirst

Caroline tried to make me speak to her. From the minute she arrived back from the club she was outside my door begging me to listen. I wanted to yell at her, to tell how much I regretted her in my life, but I knew those words wouldn’t be entirely true. They were anger blowing everything out of proportion. So I laid there pretending to be asleep until after she gave up for the night.

For a couple of weeks, I avoided her. The thought of speaking with her filled me with inexplicable fury. I would wake up before her and leave for work early, then return after she had turned in for the night. At work, I listened to what she needed done and left before she could mix personal with business. I didn’t need to hear what I couldn’t trust myself not to respond rashly to.

Nights were an escape of sorts, though I knew my dreams weren’t helping to make things better. At least, I believed them to be dreams. Who knew? Drei was in all of them. Similar to the times before I had met him, he would slip into my room and lie beside me. He never spoke, but I assumed that was because I didn’t know what he would say. I had given up on imagining what he would say. But I knew it was him from the scent ingrained in his skin, the gentle way he tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed my temple. The way his fingertips trailed down my arm to lace between my fingers.

When I woke up, half-expecting to find him there, I was greeted by the gently swelling curtains. Since New Year’s, I had started sleeping with the window cracked open, letting the chill winter air wrap around me. It felt soothing and calming, helping me believe I would be ready to face her soon.

I even avoided Ian when he tried to speak on her behalf. He always felt so depressed when I walked away. For whatever reason, that depression clung to me, causing guilt to slowly grow alongside the dissipating anger.

One night as I was leaving work, Ian stopped me. “Get in;” he bobbed his head in the direction of his vehicle. When I didn’t budge or meet his gaze, he said, “We need to talk.”

“Why should I talk to you?” I asked, staring past him, incapable of finding an excuse.

“Because you’re doing the same damned thing he did to you.”

Meeting his eyes, I wanted to argue—felt the need to argue—but the words wouldn’t come. They were stuck in my throat. He was right.

I climbed into the passenger seat and steadied my gaze outside. He didn’t say anything straight away, trying to find the right words to start. I could feel his uncertainty and hear his struggle.

“Forget the flourishes and fancy way of talking around things,” Ian said suddenly, glancing at me. “What did she do to deserve this? Especially from you?”

“She talks to you?” I asked, staring through the windshield so I could watch him on the edge of my vision. I knew it was time to tell someone, even if it was Ian and not her.

“Yes.”

“Did she ever tell you she kissed me?”

He glanced at me, then did a double-take as if he thought he had misheard. “Kissed you?” he asked, sounding as though it grew more ludicrous as he repeated it. “You’re kidding.”

“No. She doesn’t know he saw. And neither would you. So neither of you would know that’s what started it.” I inhaled deeply, trying to steady my voice and keep the swelling emotion at bay. “Then she started calling all the time for my job, needing to see me…and it made things worse. It made him doubt me. Gave him reason to believe I didn’t love him anymore.”

“But why now?” he questioned, his loyalty to Caroline overriding his pity. “You could have held that against her five months ago when you first split.”

“Because then I could ignore it. She was helping me so much, but—” The words I had escaped me and nothing came in their stead—just empty strands of thought searching for something to hold onto.

Ian laid a hand down to stop me wringing mine. “What was it about that night?”

That night. I had avoided thinking about it, though rather unsuccessfully. “The way everything he did reminded me of Drei. Of our relationship when it was still working for us.”

“But why take it out on her now?”

I wondered if there was a reason he wanted to know it all, if it was his way of helping me prepare to talk with her or something else. The more I said to him, the less I felt angry and the more I felt like I could do this. I could tell her and it would be okay.

“I’m not trying to,” I said softly. “I was trying not to take it out on her.”

“Why this way?”

Shaking my head, I admitted, “Silence was better than saying something I’d regret.”

He pulled to the curb by the apartment building. “Talk to her, okay?”

“I don’t know how to start that conversation,” I whispered, shaking my head.

“And you think I knew how to start this one?” he teased, offering a knowing smile. I gazed at the silent building, knowing she was inside, possibly still up waiting. “Tell you what. Start with, we need to talk. See where it takes you.” Again, he was right, but this time I was grateful for his opinion.

My arms wound around his neck. “Thank you.”

“Go on. Putting it off only makes it worse.” After a moment, he grinned and added, “Good luck.”

As I climbed out of the car, I could have sworn I felt a kiss on my cheek. Glancing back, Ian winked at me and I made a mental note to ask him about that later on. I suspected while he knew our secrets, there was one of his own he should share—with me at least.