Bound to Remember, a Paranormal Romance (Book 1 of the Spellbound Series) (12 page)

“
How did you get this off?” he asked, with a puzzled look on his face.

“
I didn’t; Annie did.” I grinned.

“
She is very powerful. Be glad she is on your side and not Hades’.” Zelma patted Ben’s hands.

“
But—” Ben was interrupted by Zelma’s finger to his lips.

“
She can remove ANY spell, dear, even mine. Now this old lady is heading to bed; I will see you all at daybreak.” Zelma stood up and walked towards the front of the house.

“
What was she talking about, Ben?” I asked, as he looked at Zelma.

“
We will talk tonight; I am sure you have many questions, Antonia.” He picked up the ring and put it in his pocket. Annie handed me half a grilled cheese sandwich.

“
See? You still know what I like!” I said as she sat down. She smiled at me, and then turned to Ben.

“
So, Benjamin, why Toni?” she asked, biting into her half of the grilled cheese sandwich.

“
Well,” he started.

“
Wait!” Annie grabbed Ben’s hand. “Tell me the truth, tell me no lies.” His eyes closed before he began to talk.

“
I needed to escape Los Angeles after saving those kids. I knew I always had a home in San Francisco, so I moved there. It was not hard to get a job at the nearby hospital, with a little influence of course.”

“
But you’re not answering my question, Benjamin; why Toni?” she asked, eating her sandwich as if nothing else were going on. I sat there in disbelief.

“
What are you doing to him?” She just hushed me.

“
I saw her when she arrived at work on my first day. She looked so similar to Joanna that I felt the need to be close to her, so I made sure that I would,” Ben admitted. That gave me my own line of questions for him
.

“
How did you make sure that you would be close to me, I mean Toni?” I asked as I leaned into the conversation.

“
I influenced the main doctor to have her give me a tour. I just wanted to be close to her and ask her about Joanna.”

“
Why?” Annie asked.

“
I needed that part of me back. However, Antonia is nothing like Joanna, and I love her in a different way.” I blushed at Ben’s mention of love.

“
What?” I asked.

“
I love her.”

“
What are your intentions with Toni?” Annie looked suspicious.

“
To keep her safe.” Annie looked at me with a confused look on her face.

“
You have told me the truth and no lies; back as you were without any surprise.” She released his hand and he opened his eyes.

“
Are you satisfied, Annabelle?” He sipped the last of the blood in the glass.

“
Yes.” Annie never took her eyes off me. I felt Ben’s love as he looked at me; I slowly turned my head to look his way as a tear formed in Annie’s right eye.

“
Can you show us to our room? I need to speak to Antonia in private,” Ben said.

“
Sure, come this way,” said Annie, who looked shocked. Ben grabbed our bags and we headed up the staircase to a small bedroom.

“
There’s a bathroom across the hall that has towels; let me know if you need anything else. I’ll be downstairs until daybreak.” Ben nodded as he closed the door.

I sat on the bed; Ben paced the floor. I looked up at him and smiled before he started talking. “I am sorry for not telling you that I knew Zelma,” Ben said, and I felt a flood of emotions.

“
Don’t worry about it. I’m just happy that everything worked out.”

Ben sat next to me on the bed. “Antonia, when we return to San Francisco, I want you to move in with me. You can stay in the first bedroom, but I need you close to me in order to protect you.”

“
Protect me? Why?” I thought he was going to say because he loved me; but saying he wanted to protect me only made me more confused.

“
Antonia, do you know your blood type?”

“
Yes, it’s AB negative.”

“
Do you know how rare that blood type is?”

“
Yes, only one percent of people in the world have it; I did go to medical school. Why are you asking me this, and why do YOU still need to protect me when I have a protection spell?”

“
Do you know why there are only one percent of people in the world with that blood type?”

“
AB negative is a blood group that has both proteins, A and B, and Rh is absent. It’s rare to have all three things. What is this, medical exam day?”

He took my hand in his. “Antonia, your blood type is so rare because of vampires. You see, AB is believed to be ‘cursed’ blood or ‘bad’ blood. The curse is that vampires are intoxicated by your blood.” He looked into my eyes.

“
If that is so, why are you the first vampire that I have ever encountered?” I asked skeptically. I was starting to think that Ben was a conspiracy theorist.

“
I do not know, but please trust me.” Ben’s eyes pleaded with me.

“
Fine, I will trust you and move into your house,” I smirked. I did not want to argue with someone who, under a truth spell, had just admitted that he loved me and wanted to protect me.

“
Great; you need not worry about rent, and I will get you out of your current lease.” He stood and paced the floor. Somehow, I could sense his fear.

“
Ben,” I started. “When you were talking to Annie, you said something about love?” Ben stopped pacing and turned toward me. If he weren’t a vampire, he probably would have blushed as he sat next to me.

“
Yes, I did,” he responded, but said nothing more. I rolled my eyes; he wanted me to drag it out of him.

“
So why did you say that?” I questioned. Ben exhaled a long exaggerated breath.

“
My feelings are premature, but they are real. You are the first woman that I have allowed myself to get close to since Catherine, and I feel myself wanting to get closer to you, be with you, and somehow make you love me.”

My mouth dropped open at his reasoning and I felt what he said was true. He took my hand and intertwined our fingers as he brought my hand to his lips. My body felt like it would explode at any moment.

“
Ben, how did my blood taste to you?” I asked as I paced my breathing.

“
The same as mine tasted to you,” he said as his eyes filled with passion and his lips kissed my fingertips. I was breathless with every touch.

“
How do you know how yours tasted to me?” I slowly pulled my hand away from his lips. I wanted him in a carnal way the more he touched or kissed me. I folded my arms across my chest to be safe.

“
Antonia, I can feel all of your emotions since our blood exchange, and you can feel mine.” He smiled. My hands flew to my mouth in shock, and I shook my head as I remembered the orgasmic feeling I’d had when I drank his blood.

“
No,” I murmured.

“
Do not worry; your secret is safe with me.” Ben winked as he stood up.

CHAPTER EIGHT

I hurried out of the room, embarrassed over my thoughts about Ben. I went into the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face before I headed downstairs to find Annie. Wandering through the house, I discovered her on the front porch, smoking a cigarette.

“
When did you start smoking?” I asked, fanning the smoke I had just walked into. Annie looked back at me and put the cigarette out.

“
Long story.” She sat up straight and patted next to her for me to sit. “Toni, are you okay? You’re all red; what’s wrong?” she asked.

“
Nothing is wrong; I’m just embarrassed.” I slumped my body on Annie as she wrapped her arm around me.

“
Why?” Annie rubbed my back and leaning her head forward to look at my face.

“
Well, for one, Ben and I can feel each other’s emotions ever since our blood exchange, and I’ve had some very lusty feelings that I would never want him to know about. There was something erotic about drinking his blood.” I looked at my friend before putting my head in my hands.

Annie looked out at the trees. “Toni, don’t worry; the truth is he wants to protect you more than sleep with you. I felt his fear while he was under my truth spell, and he’s a vampire. For him to be so afraid makes me terrified.”

She was a powerful witch, and she was afraid — so how scared should I be? “Terrified of what?”

“
Hades,” Annie said in an ominous tone. I slapped my hands to my knees.

“
Oh, come on! Not you too?” I rolled my eyes and tilted my head to the sky. Annie sighed.

“
Give me your hands and close your eyes, Toni. I will show you something you could never see, unless you were a witch or immortal.”

Annie closed her eyes and took my hands into hers as I closed my eyes. Annie started speaking in a language I had never heard before. My mind went empty as I saw a vision of a dark place. The smell of mold and mildew filled my nose as Annie whispered, “Stay quiet, and keep your eyes closed. I want you to see him.”

I wanted to ask her whom she was referring to, but I decided to follow her instructions. I could see Annie and myself as we stood in the darkness of shadows. A man appeared from the blackness. He sat behind a large, black, glass desk as he wrote in a book with cloth pages. I looked around where he sat; it appeared to be an office. The walls were painted to look like windows, with clouds and sunshine, and the floor was made of marble. I marveled as I looked at the handsome man behind the desk. He was gorgeous, with silky black, shoulder-length hair, alluring hazel eyes, a perfectly straight nose, and a strong chin. The sight of him made my heart skip a beat. I stood there in awe and thought he seemed somehow familiar to me. I was thinking about where I could have seen him before when a short, ugly man with a tail approached his desk.

“
Well?” The handsome man said, clearly annoyed by the creature that stood before him.

“
I am sorry to disturb you, Master Hades,” the little man said as he bowed and snorted. I gasped as Hades looked up suddenly, in the direction in which Annie and I were hiding. I heard Annie begin to speak the unfamiliar language again as the vision disappeared. I opened my eyes and found we were back on the porch.

“
I told you to stay quiet!” Annie yelled.

“
I’m sorry! Next time, you might want to give me a heads up that we are going to be right there!” I said, defensively.

“
Well, I didn’t think you would approve of a trip to the Underworld, but at least now you know he IS real,” Annie whispered.

“
Who is real?” Ben asked as he joined us on the porch.

“
Hades,” I said without a thought. Ben’s eyes darted to Annie as she stood up to face him.

“
You took her to the Underworld?” Ben fumed and took at step towards Annie with anger and loathing in his voice.

“
Sort of; I just showed her a vision of Hades, because she didn’t believe he was real,” Annie explained in a small voice.

“
Are you crazy? She could have been killed, or worse, seen!” Ben yelled.

“
No, dead man! She couldn’t; it was just a vision of the Underworld.” Annie stalked past Ben and into the house. I moved closer to Ben and wrapped my arms around him as I pulled him closer to me.

“
I’m sorry, Ben. I didn’t know we were going there, but now I know what — I mean, whom — we are up against.” Ben’s arms closed around me, and his touch made me feverish.

“
Well, for that, I guess I can be grateful.” Ben tried to smile, but he was clearly still very angry with Annie.

“
What time is it?” I looked up at Ben, still wrapped all around him.

“
Almost five. The sun will be up soon.”

“
Come on; let’s go in.” I took Ben’s hand and we went inside to the living room. We sat on the couch as Annie sat in the chair across from us. Sadly, we all remained silent.