The Awakening (13 page)

“You won’t tell Daniel will you?”

“Of course not. Are you ok now?”

“Yep I’m fine. Thanks Gavin and sorry for ranting at you the minute you got in.”

“It’s fine, but I now really need a shower.” At that point, we heard Alice shout up the stairs.

“I’m home everyone. Are you in staying in for the football?”

“Lauren you are staying right?” Gavin asked.

“Yep I’ll stay.” I said and gave him a deep kiss.

“Yep me and Lauren are gonna be here mum.” “Ok just checking as gonna make a big roast for dinner.”

“Cool mum I’m starving. Can I have a sandwich? I’m just gonna have a shower.”

“Of course you can. I’ll make it now. Lauren do you want anything?”

“No I’m fine thanks.” I shouted back. “Your mum is lovely.”

“And so are you.” Gavin said with a glint in his eye and pulled me in for a long kiss. “Now go I need a shower and you are distracting me.” I grinned and decided to go downstairs and see Alice.

As I bounded down the stairs feeling much, better than a few hours ago I bumped in to Daniel “I take you you’re not my number 1 fan again?” He said with a smirk and twinkle in his eye.

“What? I don’t know what you mean.” I stuttered.

“You know exactly what I mean. I’m not the only naughty one. Didn’t your mum ever tell you it’s rude to read other peoples mail.”

“I…. Um….I‘m sorry.” I said not feeling one bit apologetic but finding I couldn’t really say anything else. Daniel laughed.

“No you’re not, but I suppose I’ll have to except your apology. Maybe I should drag you along one night. You could let your hair down. Might do you good you are quite uptight.”

“I am not and it’s for vampires only. In case you hadn’t noticed I am human.”

“I think they make exceptions for witches. We’d have a good time.” He said with a huge smile. “In fact I think I’ll suggest it to Gavin. He’s not been to a vampire club in a while we could all have a bite to eat.” He laughed and I noticed his fangs appeared.

“Um….Err….No thanks.” I said in a panic and shot down the stairs. When I glanced back, Daniel was gone and I breathed sigh of relief before feeling breath on my neck.

“Spoil sport.” Daniel said directly into my left ear and then breezed past me chuckling and leaving me rooted to the spot.

I went into the kitchen feeling slightly shaken, but felt an excited buzz in my stomach. I couldn’t figure Daniel out and given all my ghostly warnings had never warmed to him so wondered why I had this odd feeling. For a change, Alice wasn’t in the kitchen and as I quietly wandered about, I heard her and Marcus chatting in the lounge. I decided to take the opportunity to slip into the garden and sat at the bench down the bottom. I loved Gavin’s parents garden it was large and no other houses overlooked the space. It backed onto countryside and I liked the trees and plants that weaved through various sections of the garden. I needed to get rid of some of the built up energy in my body and raised my hands and leaves starting whirling about. Ever since my first visit here when I’d accidently cast this spell, it had become my favourite. It was rooted in nature and meant I could be outdoors and it made me feel calm. The leaves gathered in larger numbers and whirled round in a beautiful column. As I watched, I felt the energy flow from my body and I felt my shoulders relax but suddenly I became aware of a presence behind me. I spun round and the leaves instantly tumbled to the ground. “That was quite impressive.” Daniel said watching me warily. “Lauren I think I keep making the wrong impression on you. It’s just you are quite intriguing and I can’t help but tease you.”

“Its fine I’m really not bothered about you one way or another.” I said flippantly and turned away. “Lauren I would really rather us get along if only for Gavin’s sake. I’m sorry about before I was just joking about the nightclub thing. Although I do think it would be fun.” Daniel said with a half-smile and shrug.

“I’m really not interested in your seedy clubs and I’m sorry I looked at your email. Whatever you want to do is up to you but I think vampire feeding or biting or whatever it is seems wrong.” I stared at him and again felt a mixture of anger and excitement build up in my body as Daniel stepped forward and grabbed one of my hands and stared directly into my eyes.

“There’s lots about us vampires you still don’t know Lauren. I understand you are new to all this stuff but you’ve gotta try not to stress about it all. The clubs are just places for us to hang out with likeminded people and chill. It’s no different to you going for a few drinks with your mates. It’s not everyone’s scene but life is for living and having fun.”

“I’m just really not comfortable with the whole biting thing. It goes against the family friendly we wouldn’t hurt a fly thing.” I said looking around as Daniels intense stare was making it hard for me to rationalise my feelings.

“We are family friendly as you put it but we are also vampires and some of us enjoy the freedom of just being our natural selves. There’s no harm to anyone it’s just some fun.” 

“Gavin said something about a temporary high and some vampires get addicted. What happens then? I bet someone gets hurt when that happens.” I replied feeling my voice rise and cheeks blush.

“It’s rare but it does happen. The vampire council always deals with it and yes, I imagine someone does end up hurt. Lauren we are not all angels but it’s no different to humans. You have jails full of undesirable people. Murders, rapists, and people who steal and harm to fund drug habits. There are some vampires that go off the rails but it’s not as bad as you think and our council actually sort it out quickly and effectively.” Gavin said sounding annoyed. “Look I know this is difficult for you.” Daniel continued his voice softening “But it’s all part of life. I’m not some addict if that’s what you are worried about. I indulge from time to time but it’s consensual and fun. You are perfectly safe and so are 99.99% of the human population. It just a rare blip that you really don’t need to worry about.” I sighed and realised what he was saying did make sense in human society we had all sorts of horrible people and vampires have to hide their fangs at all times so it is probably a release from time to time to go to these clubs. Nevertheless, it did worry me that I would find out bits of information over the next few months that I may not like and that maybe in the end all vampires need a vampire partner and I may never be enough for Gavin. As if reading my mind Daniel said, “You don’t need to worry about Gavin you know. It’s never really been his thing and he’s always preferred the company of humans.” I smiled and shrugged.

“Um… Thanks, I was a bit concerned.”

“Right miss let’s start again. I am not a big bad monster and you need to chill out a bit more. Deal.” Gavin said and shook my hand before I could say anything in reply. I felt a whisper in my ear and figured the Elizabeth’s ghostly spirit wasn’t impressed but I decided to ignore it and go with my own feelings instead for a change and gave Daniel a genuine smile and shook his hand back.

The rest of the day passed in a happy blur of chatter, football and Alice’s amazing roast dinner and I finally felt that I could get to know Daniel properly and ignore Elizabeth’s stupid warnings. Later that evening I returned to my flat and logged onto Facebook. I updated my status – Had a fab weekend with the in laws
can’t believe the weekend is over already. Instantly my chat box opened and it was Sophie.

Sophie: I see you’ve had a good weekend. Was Daniel around much?

Me: Yeah he was and I actually got on pretty well with him.

Sophie: Wow so you have finally thawed to Mr USA ;)

Me: I suppose he isn’t as bad as I thought. He seems to have dropped some of the Mr Cockiness.

Sophie: Will he be hanging out with us all more now then. Not sure if Charlotte will be happy or sad, she still fancies the pants of him.

Me: I don’t really know he’s still supposed to be going back to America soon but his stay seems to have been extended. He might be staying until Christmas now.

Sophie: Maybe he prefers us Brits ha ha!!!

Me: Maybe, he was born here after all. I think he’s just loved spending time with his family and he was telling me he missed Marmite

Sophie: Yuk!!!

Me: Yep that’s what I said but he loves it and can’t get it over in America very often.

Sophie: Well I’m glad you two are getting on better now bet it makes it easier with Gavin.

Me: Yeah it will be nicer less stress and more fun.

Sophie: Right better go. Love ya x

Me: Me too see you soon x

After browsing at a few more things I logged off, had a brief tidy, got ready for bed, and quickly feel into a contented sleep. Sometime later, I woke with a start covered in sweat and my heart racing I looked at the clock, it was 3.45am, and I sighed and flopped back on the pillow. As I closed my eyes to attempt, sleep images flashed across my mind. It appeared to be fragments of a dream and I suddenly realised that’s what had woken me up. I’d been shot in my dream. I sat upright as pieces came back to me in a disjointed order. I tried to rearrange them so it made sense but some of them were already fading away. From what I could remember, I was in a large old-fashioned dress with tight curled hair pinned back and wearing dainty gloves. I remembered someone helping me do my hair as the many curls were delicately held in place by several decorated pins. My reflection in the mirror looked like me but with subtle differences and I heard the name Emily from somewhere across the room. The next thing I remembered was a horse and carriage and the sound of heavy rain. I was in the carriage with a man but I couldn’t remember a thing about him although his voice seemed familiar. My final memory of the dream was a knife and then a searing pain. It was this pain that seemed to have woken me. None of it made sense but then often dreams don’t. I figured it was just something cobbled together from too many period dramas on the telly or a story I’d read in school and half forgotten. Eventually I feel back to sleep and thought no more about it.

The next week flew by and before I knew it, it was the weekend again. I had another amazing weekend spending most of it at Gavin’s parents. We all went bowling on Saturday afternoon. It was lovely spending time with Gavin and Daniel in a relaxed environment and it made me wish things had been like this since he’d first arrived. The only fly in the ointment was that occasionally I still got an odd buzz when Daniel was near and I couldn’t understand why it only happened with him. In the first game I lost by 40 points but given, I was playing against a bunch of vampires this was hardly surprising as although they were almost human they still possessed a little extra strength and speed which was very useful in bowling. I decided in the second game to use some covert witch skills and won with a record-breaking 10 strikes. There was much talk of cheating but I just laughed and Gavin congratulated me on my excellent spell casting. Sunday consisted of another day dominated by football but I didn’t mind, as it was so nice to spend some quality time with Gavin and his family although I decided the following weekend would be a big get together with our friends and for a change, I wasn’t anxious about Daniel joining us. However, Elizabeth seemed to be as that night when I returned home I heard some weird whispering but it was faint and I could only make out my own name and Daniel’s.

Work dragged by in the week that followed but I meet Gavin for lunch twice, which made it more pleasurable, and he surprised me Thursday evening by turning up with a bunch of flowers. “Wow. What are these for?” I asked as he stood on my doorstep grinning.

“It’s to mark our anniversary. We’ve been together six months today.” He said as he handed me the flowers and gave me a big kiss.

“Oh my god really! Is it six months since our first date?” I replied blushing with embarrassment, as I had no idea.

“Yep. Don’t worry I knew you wouldn’t remember. It’s been quite eventful. You can’t say life isn’t exciting with me around.”

“You can say that again. It’s like I’ve been in a film the last few months.” I said smiling.

“Well this film will have a happy ending I promise.” Gavin enveloped me in a hug and we spent the evening chatting and laughing on the sofa. That night Gavin stayed and it felt lovely having him all to myself as recently he’d been spending so much time with Daniel. In bed, we continued to sleepily-chat as I rested my head on his chest and he stroked my hair. I drifted off into a blissfully happy sleep but woke later with the strange dream from the other night clinging to the edges of my mind. The dream was definitely based in the Victorian era and I seemed to be the female but this time it ended with me being chased down cobbled alleys. I could hear the clatter of boots on the ground and someone shouting and again the sound of gunfire. As I tried to remember more I heard a whispering voice ‘Lauren you are better off without him’, I turned and said out loud “Who do you mean?” Gavin woke looking startled “Who are you talking to Lauren?” he said in a sleepy slur.