Dragan's Redemption Book One of the Manor at Echo Lake Trilogy (16 page)

“How are you go
i
ng to get hit by a bus living here at
Echo
Lake
?
”
  Throwing her head
back,
she laughed.  “Ok
ay
, maybe bad analogy, but you know what I mean.”

“Can I see it?”

“See what?”

“Amira
!
”

Laughing she jumped up running to her closet
as Dragan watched her curiously
.  Reaching up on the top shelf
,
he was
surprised
to see her pull down the wooden box that the
wood smith
had made for her
to hold the tea
with her initials and
vines
engraved
through
out.

Lifting
the cover, she pulled out a small leather book.  Runnin
g back over to him, she jumped o
nto his lap
f
orcing him to have to
put his hands on her hips to steady her so she wouldn’t topple off.

“Do you always make yourself this comfortable
with men
?”

Flipping through the book, she shook her head.  “
No
, just with you.”

Just great
,
he thought to himself. 
He by no
means believed her
,
and r
ight now she was killing him
,
and the pain behind his eyes told him that he had waited again too long to feed.  He watched the pulse beat on the side of h
er
neck causing his fangs to start to emerge.  Inhaling deeply, he willed them back.

“
Ready
?”

“As ready as I will ever be.  This is my first bucket list reading.”

“Well prepare yourself then.  This is fun
.  But you have to keep it a secret between me and you
.”

Amira slid off his lap while handing him the open book.  He could feel her eyes on him as he read.

I, Amira
Coulter, hereby swear that I will fulfill all of my bucket wishes before I die.

1.
Stay
a week on
Nantucket
.

2
.
Love Completely
.

3
. Swim with a pod of whales
.

4
. Live each day as if it is my last.

5
.
Touch the moon.

Signed July 16 by

Amira Coulter

She watched as he read her list hiding a smile at seeing his eyebrows raise a couple of times.  After he finished reading, Dragan closed her book softly handing it back to her.

“Well?”

“Very interesting.  How in the world do you think you are going to touch the moon?”

Slapping the book against h
is
arm, her laughter rang like music in his ears.  “That’s all you have to say?  I have just shared
my most personal secret with you and that’s it?”

“You
only listed 5.  That is a pretty short list
.
”

“No
it’s not
. 
W
hen I wrote this a year ago, I had about 100 things on the list.  I did
ninety-five of
them, and
am down to the last five.  I figured
if I got through all of them, then I could start a new
list
.”

Standing to his
feet,
he held out his hand,
and then
gently pulled her up wrapping his arms around her as he did.  Sliding her arms around his waist, she loo
k
ed at him questioning.

“What I wish for you
,
sweet Amira
,
is that you get every one of those items checked off of your list
so that you can make a new one.” 

Leaning down his breath warm against her neck
,
he whispered in her ear.  “Let me know if you need help with
any one of them.”

“How about number
2
?”

“Excuse me?”

Amira
’s
arms
tightened
around his waist while her hands
slid
underneath his shirt pressing against his skin.  Dragan froze at the touch.

“We could take care of number
2
right now
in the biblical sense
.”

Again unsure if she was joking, he pulled on her arms removing them from his skin.

“Amira, you must stop.”

“Don’t you want me
, Dragan
?”

Groaning he grabbed her face.  “You have no idea what you are saying right now.”

“Oh, but I do.”

“Amira
,
STOP!”

Pulling away
,
her face flamed red fro
m
embarrassment, realizing that maybe he
did not
like her that way
,
but he wouldn’t let her go.  “You know nothing about me, who I am.”  His voice sounded
urgent
trying to make her understand
.

“Then tell me who you are.”

Kissing her quickly, he let her go and walked over to the bathroom to take a shower
.

Amira was frustrated
,
and she glared at his
retreating back.
 

“Who is running away now
,
Dragan?”

Dragan strode quickly back to her
,
and
Amira
flinched
at the expression on his face.  Her words seemed to have struck a nerve with him
,
but she was not ready to back down.
Putting her hands on her
hips,
she stared him down.

“You are just a baby
,
Amira.  You
do not
have any idea what you are talking about
right now
,
but I know that my truth you can’t handle.  You are naïve to think that you have ever come across someone such as me.  So, whoever your little boyfriends were before me, once you and I connect, and I mean really con
nect
,
and I am not talking about sex
here
…there will never be anyone after me.
  You seem to have this need to rush whatever is happening between us; where I, on the other hand, would rather take it much more slowly.
”
  Dragan gripped her under the chin
;
forcing her to look up at him
,
his voice now sounded threatening.  “Rest assured
,
Amira, for you and I it is not a matter of if
but a matter of when.”

Releasing her, Dragan turned again
towards the bathroom not see
ing
the tears
now glistening in Amira’s eyes.
Sitting heavily down on the bench, she reached for her now
cold
tea.
He had no idea that her
’when’ may never happen
,
and her heart hurt thinking of that possibility
.  Yesterday really scared her, and she knew that her fever had to do with the anomaly in her blood
,
and her episodes seemed to present themselves more and more often.  Thoughtfully, she broke a croissant in her hand before popping it into her mouth.  She needed to find out what his secret was, and the realization that he wanted to know her secret, brought a smile to her face.  Maybe they could resolve this disagreement today after all.

Pacing the floor in
her bedroom
,
her mind raced as she waited
impatiently for him to
get out of the shower
.  She was still not ready to tell him ev
erything yet about her illness
,
but there were ways around that.

Hearing the knob turn, she sat back down causally sipping her tea.  Dragan looked over at her sitting quietly.  He could hear her heart
beating quickly in her chest.

“What are you up to
,
Amira?”

Startled
,
she looked at him wondering how he knew.   “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Ok
ay
,
Amira, whatever you say.”

“Well, I was thinking…..”

Dragan’s eyebrows rose as he continued to look at her.  Sighing deeply, he sat down again at the table, this time away from her.

“Please tell me what you were thinking.”

“You want to
know
what is wrong with me
,
and I want to know what is up with you.”

“Go on….”

“So, maybe we tell each other our secrets.”  Smiling nervously, she watched his face for a reaction
,
disappointed
when she did not see one.  Dragan tapped his finger rapidly on the table.  This was a giant leap of faith for him in trusting her.  Was it too soon?

Shrugging
,
his voice lowered
,
and for some reason gooseflesh broke out over her skin.

“Sometimes, you have to be careful what you wish for.  You want to know who I am?”  He watched as she nodded her head
,
noting the way she swallowed.  She was nervous.

“I am a vampire
,
Amira.”

Whatever Amira had expected
,
it
wasn’t
the words that came out of his mouth.  Her face looked pinched
,
and he realized that she was trying very hard not to laugh aloud.

“You find this funny?”

“If you didn’t want to tell me
,
you can just say so….a vampire?  That has to be the funnies
t
thing I have ever heard.”

Without saying a word, Dragan reached for her and in a blink of an eye, she was laying flat on her back on her bed.  Her breath caught in her throat as she looked up at him wide eyed while his body pressed her down into the mattress.  His eyes were blood red
,
and his teeth were bared showing long
sharp
fangs.

Frightened
,
her heart rate picked up again as he leaned down
,
and she was afraid he was going to bite her.  Instead, he whispered in her ear.

“I do not find this funny
,
and I told you, you cannot handle my truth.”

Amira found
she was
no longer held down by him but instead was staring at his back as he sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.  Taking a moment for her mind to grasp the fact that he was a vampire, and that they really did exist, she no longer felt afraid.  If he was going to hurt her, he had ample opportunity before today
,
and he
hadn’t
.

Reaching out, she gently touched his back watching him stiffen at her touch.  Compassion flowed through her.  Rising to her knees on the bed, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders pressing her cheek on him.

“I don’t need or want your sympathy…”

“Good, because you don’t have it.”

Standing to put distance between them
,
he turned and faced her.  “Your turn.”  Seeing her confused
expression,
he became impatient.  “Secret
,
Amira?”

Amira flushed realizing she had forgotten.  “You are right.  I am sick, but I am being treated for my disorder.”  Amira knew that his silence meant that wasn’t good enough for him.

“I have a deficiency in my blood that when I don’t rest or take care of myself, I get sick easily.”

“Like an immunity weakness?”

Amira heaved a sigh of relief.  “Yes, something like that.  I don’t know all of the medical terminology but yeah…that’s it.”

Nodding his head Dragan realized that would make sense.  Fevers usually did arise and pass qu
ickly.  His relief he knew showed
on his face, but she was avoiding looking at him
,
and he felt sadness realizing that things had changed now that she knew he was a vampire.