My Beloved (4 page)

She looked into his eyes and saw he liked the fact she was jealous of someone else. Before she could say anything more, he was talking to whoever was on the other line.

"Yes, Darcy, it's Vincent. Yes, I am now using a cell phone. I need your expertise in making things disappear. Yes, it does involve witnesses. Don't take that tone with me, boy! I still have two hundred years on you! Did you forget the fact I was betrayed and left to rot in the ground for the last three hundred years?! Besides, you owe me for that one time in Prague... I thought so. I'm in a city named Vancouver, it's about a two-hour ride from where I last resided… Okay, an hour drive by those metal carriages. This is no time for corrections! The local police are here and I need to make my mistake go away. Alright… I'll see you in a few minutes." He handed the phone back to Wendy and she had to hang it up since he didn't know how to yet.

"Does he live near here? You said a few minutes?" It scared her that another vampire was coming, but she tried not to show it.

He chuckled darkly before piercing her with his stare. "He told me he was roughly a three-day 'drive' away, which should mean he'll be here in about fifteen minutes. We're very fast as you've witnessed."

She sucked in a breath and tried to smile. "C-Cool."

His gaze became concerned and he wrapped his arms around her. "Cool? Are you cold, Firefly?"

She choked out a laugh, but inside she was going crazy. It was such a war zone in her head it was giving her a headache.

"It's a term now. It's like a dulled down 'amazing'," she briefly explained, trying to get over the fact he was so close to her… again.

"I think I may need to be rid of this attire. It may draw attention." He spoke more to himself than to Wendy. He pulled away from her and this time Wendy did start to feel the bitterness of the cold when his heat was gone momentarily.

"H-How are you warm?" she blurted out, making her eyes widen fractionally from her own brazenness. Where had this courage come from? she wondered to herself, but chalked it up to having an adrenaline rush. After all, she was just carried out a window four stories up.

He laughed to himself before talking to her as he was taking off his scrub shirt. She gulped loudly when the white t-shirt he was wearing underneath rode up, giving her an impressive glance of his physique.

"I only grow cold when I go without blood for too long. It is what keeps me… closer to being human, you could say. I'll explain all of this to you in due time, Love. Although, I may need to feed again soon."

He looked distraught by the fact and Wendy couldn't help but ask, "Soon? Do you normally  f-feed a lot?" Bile rose slightly in her throat at the thought of feeding. She was never a fan of blood, only being able to tolerate small amounts of her own. He looked torn at her, which unconsciously made her step forward to comfort him. It felt foreign to her, but she decided to go with it for now.

"It is your blood, Firefly, that calls to me. Only yours until you are turned will fully sate my thirst, but be that as it may. I know you are… struggling to accept this situation."

Her eyes widened with every word he spoke. Even he knew she was not ready and may never be ready for that! However, a small part of her - the one that's now being a constant thorn in her side - was almost turned on by the thought. Like that part of her was begging for his large incisors to sink into the soft flesh on the column of her neck. It disturbed her to even think about wanting that.

"W-Well, thank you for considering me," she stuttered and looked anywhere but him. Vincent looked to want to say something, but froze for a moment.

"Looks like you can now meet my coven brother, Darcy."

Vincent

He saw hesitation in her eyes at the mention of his long time friend. It hurt him to know she was so distrustful of his judgment. He realized, though it's a lot to ask for, especially in the beginning.

Before he could soothe her worries, his long time brother was at his side. They were opposites in the looks department in almost every way. Darcy had pale blonde, almost white, hair and had dark, nearly black eyes. His skin was always ashen pale no matter how much blood he consumed. The only way to tell he's fed recently was by the slight color to his cheeks.

"Oh, it's so good to see you in the flesh, brother. It's been too long." Darcy came up and hugged Vincent to him, feeling their old friendship rekindle.

"Indeed it has. Darcy, I'd like you to meet My Beloved, Wendy Garret, the one who gave me life once more." Vincent gestured to Wendy proudly with a beaming smile that nearly blinded her into a daze.

Darcy stalked slowly to her and lifted up her hand to kiss her knuckles, all the while maintaining eye contact. "I thank you for freeing my brother," he murmured lowly. Vincent could smell the apprehension and fear roll off of her from being so close to his friend and made a motion to clear his throat. Darcy chuckled to himself and stood straight again.

"A skittish one, isn't she?" he inquired and turned back to Vincent.

Vincent felt the need to protect his love from such a statement and brought her to his side. He was relieved to only detect a small amount of fear. A huge margin less than before. She felt safer with him and that comforted his soul. "Wouldn't you be if you were in her shoes?" he said with a lazy grin and a quirked eyebrow.

Darcy was going to retort when a police cruiser flew past them and parked at the hospital. Darcy let out a low whistle. "Incredible! You're out not even a week and you create this mess! And here I thought you to be the wiser and older one."

Vincent growled lowly at him, but it had a playful tinge to it. He turned his gaze downward to see his Wendy fiddling with her fingers in apprehension and anxiety. He would give her more breathing room so to speak if his possessive and selfish streak would let him. "You stay right here, love. We'll be back within a few moments."

She nodded hesitantly and then without warning, they were off. Vincent looked to his friend of centuries for guidance in this new world. They stopped once they were in the underground parking and away from any security cameras.

"This will take a little longer than normal, Vince. With all the technology, I will need to call in reinforcements to delete any files pertaining to this incident. I will let you sift through my mind later to know what I am talking about, but for now just trust my judgment," Darcy said with a grave look.

Vincent nodded and watched as his friend made a quick call to whoever he needed to help fix this mess. It was all new to Vincent. Back in his days it only took mere seconds to erase any problems of a breach in their secret. Now he realized, although the leaps and bounds of this new world are amazing, they can prove to be troublesome.

"Alright, I have Ericson hacking into their security files and erasing any reports they have already made and or are going to make. We're safe there. Now we need your brain capabilities to secure the others here," Darcy told him.

Vincent decided to be patient in asking what 'hacking' meant and in asking what were files. He'll get his answer in due time. He nodded, signaling he was ready. They both flitted inside while Vincent swept through the minds of the staff to see how far this little laps in poor judgment went. It wasn't until they hit the second floor where there were questions to what was going on. He could feel the staff’s questions linger in their minds, preventing them from doing a good job if they weren't distracted.

"It's been a while since I've done this, brother..." Vincent quietly whispered to Darcy on his right. They were hidden from eyes behind a service cart that stood tall with various items like towels and sheets.

Darcy placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder for support. "Let's shake that rust off your old bones, then, huh?" Darcy spoke with a smirk at the little jab. Vincent grinned mischievously and focused on the staff on their floor. Closing his eyes, he opened his mind and mentally connected with all of them. He could feel the strings of the subconscious tying to his. He then yanked at them and sifted through their memory of seeing the police storming through. He erased everything that happened within the last twenty minutes and let their minds go.

"I never get tired of seeing their confused faces!" Darcy snickered and laughed when the hallway was now filled with confused and stunned workers who were looking at the clock in bewilderment.

Vincent grabbed Darcy's coat. "We can have a laugh later. We need to go to the next floor."

They made quick haste to go to the third floor and repeated what happened on the floor below. Finally, they reached the fourth floor and quickly repeated once more. "Did you get the cops outside? I can hear them become frantic over the radio since no one is calling back," Darcy reminded him.

Vincent could already feel the fatigue washing over from overuse and not using his gift for so long. Nonetheless, he reached all the way outside and soon the radio calls stopped. He had to tweak the cops’ minds in thinking it was a false alarm, making all of them walk sluggishly out of the building and ignore the two looming shadows to the right of the hallway.

"Ah hell, Vince! How is the hospital going to explain the window?" Darcy groaned when they slipped into Wendy's brother's room. He was still out cold from the medicine Vincent gave him earlier, even with the commotion around him. The room was now colder than usual, thanks to the gaping hole in the large window. Darcy sighed and called another person. "You're lucky I have so many connections, brother," he muttered and asked someone to stop by and repair a window. "Alright, I'll go get your Wendy and flit on up here. Then I'll be sure to distract the nurses so they don't come in here."

With that, he waggled his eyebrows and left Vincent there without another word. He growled in irritation with his close friend. Darcy knew Vincent would want to go get her and have her in his arms. It was the price he paid with calling on him though. Even though he was his sire, Darcy knew he only used the bond they share until it was absolutely necessary.

The bond between a sire and a fledgling can be a beautiful or a destructive thing. Depending on who the newly turned vampire's master was. Vincent knew a lot of his kind who used and abused the ones they created. The sired person has no choice but to follow orders. They would do anything to make their master happy. Vincent loosened that tie long ago. He didn't like the idea of someone following him around like a puppet. The bond will always be there, but he didn't call upon it until the task called for it. So Darcy knew he meant business when he used it.

He never thought he would ever turn another person. Not because he hated who or what he was, on the contrary. He loved being a vampire, and always has since the day he was turned. He just never saw himself making that commitment, but when he saw Darcy lying on the dirt path miles from any village, beaten up and broken, something compelled him to save the poor soul.

"One beautiful librarian as you ordered," Darcy said, flashing into the room with a shaking Wendy in his arms.

"L-Let me go!" she said with a stutter. Her glasses were nearly off her nose, making her push them up with her dainty pointer finger. Darcy laughed and set her down with a wink. "And I-I'm not a librarian!" she said defiantly while crossing her arms. Her body unconsciously moved toward Vincent for safety, making him smile over at her. Her eyes rested on her sleeping brother and she sighed. She seemed completely drained so Vincent took the liberty of picking her up again, making her squeak in surprise. "What is the deal with you vampires, picking up people?" she muttered lowly under her breath, forgetting their superior hearing.

The men let out a laugh, making her face burn with embarrassment. "I love to hold you against me, that is why, Love," Vincent said, bending his head against her ear. He saw her shiver from it and internally smiled.

"So when are you two love birds leaving?" Darcy asked, fiddling with a pair of doctor’s gloves. He took out a pair of scrubs he snagged on the way back up here and put them on over his clothes.

Wendy quirked an eyebrow in question. "We are not love birds!" she said at the same time Vincent spoke.

"Not quite yet."

Darcy chuckled at the pair, but looked at Vincent for answers. "Oh? And why not! Might as well get the trip over with. Don't want to cut it too close with the sun now, do we?"

Wendy looked more interested with this piece of information.

"So it's true? You people can't handle the sun?" she asked, now feeling a little better knowing she'll be safer in a few short hours.

Darcy laughed through his nose. "Picturing us as a pile of ash, darling? Not very nice, but to answer your inquiry, no we can't. Because we are technically dead, our body doesn't do photosynthesis, therefore it repels any sunlight." Darcy's eyes looked positively entertained by the odd couple before him and it made Vincent annoyed.

"I've given her my word she has one week here to say her goodbyes and then she's coming with me."

Darcy looked in surprise at him. "A whole week? That doesn't sound like the possessive Vincent I know."

His teasing was grating on Vincent's nerves and it took a lot of restraint to hold back from yelling at him. The only thing stopping him was the fearful little Firefly in his arms. "Yes, well, it is rare for a vampire to have the bond with a human."

Wendy now looked up, confused, still trying in vain to get down from the arms that held her. "Why is it rare?"

Vincent looked down at her which made his irritation dissipate into nothing.

"It's like if you were to fall in love with a cheeseburger!" Darcy piped up with a laugh.

Her eyebrows shot up while Vincent's furrowed. "What is a cheeseburger?" he asked, making Darcy hit his forehead.

"It's a food! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to opt for a healthier meal tonight and go snag me a nice little nurse." Now dressed in full scrubs, Darcy waltzed out and clicked the door shut behind him. Only then did Vincent set her down. He noted Wendy's face was now an ashen pale and she looked to be sick.

"Love? Are you alright?" He reached for her, but she stepped back and looked as if she was going to cry. Vincent realized this was the moment he was waiting for, her breaking point. He was both dreading and looking forward to it. He dreaded that she had to go through it, but he knew the sooner the better so she could move on.

"I am not your love! How am I supposed to be alright when that-that creature just left to go snack on some poor woman?! You drugged my brother! You punched out a window and then let us fall from four stories! You're a freaking vampire who intends to take me away from everything I know! I'm tired, and confused! Half of me wants to go with you and the other half is scared out of my mind! So NO, I am not alright!"

He could hear her rapidly thudding heart beat and it made him concerned. Her tears were building up, causing some fog to obscure her glasses. She angrily blinked them back and ripped the glasses off her face before wiping them with the hem of her shirt, muttering to herself. He could feel all the emotions coming off of her in waves. He sighed and sank into a rocking chair that was next to him and abruptly pulled her into his lap. She fought for a moment before realizing it was no use and gave up. He gently cupped her face to look at him so she would listen to what he had to say.

"You are so amazing, Wendy. I know that you are afraid. I know that you are confused, and I know that you want answers to your never ending questions. You may not believe it when I tell you, but I love you with my whole being, because my soul is drawn to yours. I am truly sorry for the disturbance I have caused in your life, but I would not take it back since it has brought me to you. I realize you don't love me...yet, but I ask that you would stop trying to fight so hard against something so natural. You were born to be mine, just as I was created to be yours. In this time, in this very moment, you and I will always be intertwined by fate. Can you let go of the control you hold so tightly in your grasp? I can give you my vow to never drink from you unless you permit me to." His eyes were beseeching to hers, making her sag against his hold and surrender for the moment.

"I-I...I don't know what to say." She gently took his hands and lowered her face away from them. He could sense her mind was still in turmoil, but it was less chaotic than just moments ago. He tucked her into him so her head rested on his shoulder and his hand rubbed up and down on her back. She dwarfed him in size and nearly looked like a small child compared to his towering stature. Her flaxen hair tickled the skin of his arms, but he felt completely at ease with her in his hold.

"You don't need to say anything, little Firefly. Sleep to clear your mind." He rocked them until she fell into a deep sleep.

Her lips were so close to his neck that it was hard to concentrate but he managed. To Vincent, his Firefly reminded him much of a small cat. She was fierce yet soft, a complete contradiction. Her blood was calling out to him like a siren that held the most tantalizing temptation he'd ever face. He could hear the blood running in her veins and it made his gums ache when his fangs threatened to come out. 'I'll need to feed in a few hours, before sunrise,' he thought to himself. Darcy walked back in a half an hour later with a satisfied grin.