Indulgence (235 page)

The ordeal was over in a matter of seconds. I stood above my
prey, my breathing rapid. I felt satisfied, but I wanted more. I surveyed my
surroundings. The other deer had scattered when I attacked. My vision cut
through the forest and my hearing reached out further, seeking more victims.

A slow clap broke through my concentration. I reigned in my
hearing and vision. This sound was close and very much misplaced. The details
of my surroundings disappeared and I could only see the immediate area where I
stood. The clapping got louder as if it were somehow approaching me.

I focused in the direction of the noise. I saw two silvery
blue specks among the shadows. I had seen this before. I knew what it was, or
rather who it was.

“Vincent,” I snarled.

I squinted and concentrated on the two eyes I saw looming in
the darkness. The rest of his body appeared as my eyes quickly adjusted. He was
leaning against a tree, his right leg crossed at the shin over his left. He was
wearing jeans and his motorcycle jacket over a tight black shirt.

My instincts moved me to a crouched, defensive position. I
hadn’t expected to see anyone out here let alone Vincent. A wave of anger and
emotion swelled within me at the sight of the man who had transformed me into
the living dead. On one hand I was angry that he took away the last choice I
could have made as a human. But in doing so, he also saved me from being
killed. Vincent’s presence was a shock and I wasn’t quite sure how to react to
him so I remained frozen like a statue.

“Hello, Allison,” Vincent spoke from the shadows. My eyes
narrowed, never leaving his. A low hiss escaped through my lips.

“Allison, please don’t be angry,” he begged. “I came here to
see you, not to harm you.”

I chuckled to myself.
How could he possibly do me any
more harm
, I thought. A growl formed in my belly and crawled up my throat,
escaping through my clenched teeth. I burrowed my eyes straight into Vincent’s,
not wavering. I wanted him to know I wasn’t afraid of him and truth be told I
wasn’t. Yet part of me was somewhat relieved to see him, to know that he was
unharmed.

Vincent stepped through the trees, his hands extended as if
making a peace offering. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “Swallow the anger. Don’t
let it consume you.”

My eyes followed his as he slowly approached me. Swallow the
anger, he had instructed me. I took a deep breath and smelled the sweet scent
that was unmistakably his alone. I looked at his face and his sheer beauty was
almost enough to calm me. I felt the anger start to subside and slide down my
throat. I slowly stood up to meet his face as he stood just inches from me. I
wanted so much to be mad at him for what he had done to me and what he had done
to his brothers and sister. I wanted to hit him and unleash my fury upon him;
maybe even kill him so as to protect my new family from having to carry out the
unthinkable task themselves.

“You looked like a seasoned professional,” Vincent whispered
with a half smile, referring to my first attack. “Very nice. But these clothes.
What did Max do to you?”

“How did you know I would be here?” I asked through my still
clenched teeth. I desperately wanted to show him that I was angry.

“Max is quite predictable. He brings all first time hunters
to this locale since there’s no chance of running into any mortals. I heard the
helicopter take off so I ran here.”

“You ran here?” I asked in disbelief. Lorenzo had said we
could normally run this distance, but hearing Vincent say it, and knowing he
ran it as fast as the chopper had flown it was a bit mind boggling.

“Of course I did. I knew it was just you and Max and the
others wouldn’t pick up my scent since they were heading in a different
direction.”

“So you know I’m here with Max now, right?”

Vincent ran a finger along my jaw line, stopping at my chin.
Part of me wanted so much to smack his hand away; another part of me wanted to
pull him close and kiss him. As mad as I was right now, I was still deeply
attracted to him.

“I know,” he responded.

“And you know what will happen if he finds you here, don’t
you?”

“There’s no need to worry about that. Max is focused on
hunting. He knows your instincts will carry you and he doesn’t have to worry
about you. We have some time before he finishes his hunt.” Vincent moved his
face closer to mine, still holding my chin.

“Time for what?” I whispered. Vincent, with the slightest
touch, dispelled any anger I held for him.

“To talk,” he whispered in response, sweeping his lips
barely across mine. The slight touch of his lips on mine ignited a new feeling
within me. An overwhelming sense of desire washed over me, yet there was a part
of me that was somehow able to control myself.

“About…” I pushed myself onto my toes as I waited for his
reply. I leaned in hoping for a kiss. Vincent chuckled and stepped back, much
to my disappointment.

“Us, Allison. To talk about us.”

The disappointment I felt from the lack of a second kiss was
quickly washed away. But that brief sense of excitement was replaced with
frustration when I thought about our situation.

“Us?” I questioned.

“That’s right. Us.”

“What about us? There can’t possibly be an
us
after
what
you
did.”

“But there can be an us,” Vincent responded with a glimmer
in his eye.

“How, Vincent? You transformed me without my permission. You
broke your society’s law and there’s a price to pay for that. So tell me how
there can be an us? You ruined all of that.”

Vincent chuckled.

“Really,” I fumed. “I don’t think any of this is funny.”

“You’re right, it’s not. But my dear, there is a way.” He
placed both of his hands on my cheeks and steadied my face. His touch was
magical, sending an electrifying current through my body. He stared deep in my
eyes and I stared back into his beautiful, crystalline blue eyes.

“How?” I whispered. His hold on me was astonishing. It was
like any time I wanted to feel any anger or ill will towards him, one touch of
his hand wiped it away, replacing those feelings with longing.

“Run away with me,” Vincent whispered softly touching his
lips to mine again. His lips were hot, as were mine, but supple and welcoming.
I wanted more and moved my arms around his neck.

Vincent grabbed my arms, stopping my embrace. “Did you hear
me?” he asked.

“Uh huh,” I muttered. Vincent backed away a few steps,
allowing me to clear my head. I took a deep breath and came back to reality.
“So how is this supposed to work? I’m just going to run away with you now?”

“No, you can’t leave now. Max will be expecting you shortly
and if you don’t show, he’ll suspect something and will come looking for you.
It would only be a matter of time before he picked up my scent.”

“Then when? How?”

“So you’re willing to go? With me? No questions asked?”
Vincent peered down at me as if I should have had a few questions.

“Why don’t you just tell me what you are getting at so we
don’t have to play these games?”

“You realize, if you leave with me, we’re gone forever. We
can never return here.”

“Oh,” was all I could say. I hadn’t really thought about it.

“And you’ll never be able to see Jenna again. Or Marlo, or
my brothers.”

“But why?” I questioned. “I’m not the one that did anything
wrong.”

“They can never know where I am. They don’t want to kill
their brother as much as I don’t want to be killed. Once they realize you are
gone, they’ll know you are with me. You being around them will only heighten
their awareness of your scent. If they pick that up anywhere near where I am,
well they might not be able to stop themselves from finding me.”

“So you are asking me to give up the only family I have left
in this world for you? You, the person that took from me the last decision of
my mortal life?” The anger hiding in my belly was starting to swell again. “Why
exactly could you not wait for me to tell you when I was ready? Why couldn’t
you do that for me?” I yelled. My eyes stung with venom but the tears did not
flow.

“Allison, Allison, please,” Vincent pleaded. “After you
lunged at Jenna, I was afraid one of my siblings was going to kill you. That
after all, was the plan all along. We either transformed you with your consent,
or we would have to destroy you if you posed a threat to our kind.”

“Ugh.” I squeezed my eyes shut and what little I could remember
from that night filled my mind. “I still can’t believe I lunged at my best
friend,” I muttered.

Vincent began walking in a circle around me. “Your symptoms
that night, the night of the Halloween party, they were quite strong. But none
of us spent enough time with you throughout the evening to notice the changes.
Had I spent more time with you, maybe I would have noticed and we could have
avoided this whole situation.”

“What changes?”

“Your body temperature was higher than it had ever been
before. Marlo said you were light headed and in and out of paying attention to
conversations. She also mentioned the tingling sensation you felt in your feet
which you attributed to the boots you were wearing. On the contrary, that was
the venom building up in your system.”

“Oh,” I groaned. “You’re right. I felt the same sensation as
I ran out here tonight.”

I paused for a moment.

“How did you know I was about to…” the word hung on my
tongue, too painful to say. I couldn’t believe I almost attacked my best
friend.

Vincent let out a little laugh. “Allison, we’re vampires, we
can tell when one of our kind is getting ready to attack.”

“What did I do? What happened?” Marlo and her brothers had
told me what had happened, but I wanted to hear it from Vincent’s perspective.

“Jenna crept around the corner, looking for Lorenzo. When
you smelled her, you stood up and your expression just changed. The gold flecks
danced in your eyes like a hurricane circling over water. Lorenzo noticed and
grabbed Jenna and quickly removed her from the room.”

“So I didn’t attack?”

“Well you did. You leapt through the air just as the door
was closing. I caught you midair to stop you.”

“I see,” I hung my head, ashamed of what I had almost done
to Jenna.

“Hey,” Vincent said. “Don’t beat yourself up. You didn’t
know what was going on and we were able to control the situation. But now that
you are one of us, we can teach you to control your needs. You won’t be a
threat to Jenna.”

“Are you sure Jenna didn’t suspect a thing?” I had to ask.
If she suspected anything, that could pose a risk to her life.

“No, she doesn’t suspect anything.”

“What happened after you pulled me out of the air?”

“Allison, you have to believe me,” Vincent pleaded, his eyes
begging for forgiveness. “I didn’t have time to think. All I knew was that you
had just almost attacked a mortal, which posed a great risk to exposing us.”

“But you said Jenna didn’t suspect anything.”

“True, but in that moment, I wasn’t sure what Jenna had or
hadn’t seen. All I knew is what you almost did, in front of my siblings, and I
was afraid they were going to destroy you. I had no choice Allison. I had to
transform you.”

“But you did have a choice,” I stated. “You didn’t have to
put yourself at risk for me. You could have let your family do what they had to
do with me.”

“No, Allison. The thought of this existence without you was
too much to bear for me. In my mind, I had no choice; I had to save you.”

“Save me,” I whispered. The irony of the word
save
struck me. Vincent took my mortal life, destroyed my soul, yet he had saved me
from certain death.

“I am sorry,” Vincent deliberately stated as he pulled my
head up. “Please forgive me?”

I stared into the abyss of his eyes, his finger still
holding my chin. There was just something about him I couldn’t resist. His
rendition of the events on Halloween night made sense. I could understand his
fear that his siblings would have acted upon their pact and destroyed me. I
could understand his sense of hopelessness at the thought of losing me, because
frankly, I felt the same about losing him. The hole that tore through my heart
when I learned what he had done, and heard he could never return, was too
painful for me to bear. And now he was here, my love, standing in front of me.
Yes, he took away my choice, but in doing so gave me something more. He gave me
eternity. And I wanted to spend it with him.

“Of course I forgive you,” I said. “And I’ll go with you.
Just tell me when.”

Vincent’s face lit up. I wasn’t sure if his delight was in
my forgiveness, or with my agreement to run away with him. Maybe it was both.

“You do? You will?” Vincent questioned.

“Of course, Vincent. I…I’m falling in love with you.”

“You are?” he questioned as if he couldn’t believe what he
was hearing.

“Yeah, I am. The return of my memories of us over the past
year has made me realize how good we are together, how much fun we have
together. Things may not have gone as planned when you transformed me, but
sooner or later I was going to have to consent. And now I’m a vampire and have
all eternity. To spend with you.”

Vincent smiled. “Oh Allison, you don’t know how happy that
makes me.”

He picked me up and twirled me around. The stars and
treetops bled into a blur above our heads. Vincent placed me back on the ground
and grabbed my face, kissing me again. This time he didn’t stop me from
wrapping my arms around his neck. He slid his hands down my back, wrapping his
muscular arms around my waist and twirled me again. I threw my head back in
laughter. I felt such pure joy in that moment.

“Okay,” Vincent said as he placed me on the ground again.
“Tomorrow, at precisely two minutes before midnight, you need to jump out your
window and scale down the side of the castle. I assume they have you in the
room with the painting of the ocean, correct?”