The Crimson Bond (4 page)

CHAPTER 5
            I awoke in my own bed with Anna perched on the edge next to me. She had a sympathetic look on her face as she moved to lean over me. “Oh, Brooke,” she pleaded. “Please don’t be mad at me. You probably feel I pulled you into all of this, but I never thought for a minute that one of them would bond with you. It‘s almost unheard of. Alex was afraid he had overwhelmed you so he left to give you some space and time. He said to call or use that telepathy thing ya‘ll have when you‘re ready to see him.”
            I closed my eyes briefly and then opened them again to give Anna a long suffering look. “I don’t blame you Anna. Yes, you took me to a bar full of vampires on my very first night here, but you didn’t cause Alex and me to do that bonding thing that happened.” Suddenly, a thought occurred to me and I gazed at Anna assessingly. “You’re not a vampire too, are you?”
            Anna tilted her head to the side, her strawberry blonde hair falling over one shoulder. “No silly, I’m not a vampire”, she giggled. She paused a beat. “But my brother, Kyle, is.”

            My eyes widened and I lifted my head off the pillow. “What!? Really?” I said, remembering the sweet bartender from earlier.
            Anna rolled her eyes. “Yes, really. And he has been for the past few years. He had the unfortunate luck to be attacked by muggers after leaving from work one night and Paul, actually, turned him before he died from his injuries.” She took a deep breath and I could tell that repeating the story was hard on her. “He was messed up really bad when Paul found him and if he hadn’t been turned he’d be in a grave right now. Our parents died in a car crash ten years ago and he’s all I have. Once he was turned, I made it my business to find out everything I could about vampires. I've even considered being turned myself and if I met a vampire I wanted to spend the rest of eternity with, I probably would.” She grabbed my hand. “I know this is a lot for you to take in right now, but please don’t be scared off by the fact that they’re vampires. Honestly, they’re some of the best beings I know. And, well, you’re bonded now with one, so I guess you’ll have to get used to it anyway.” She said it so kindly I found I couldn‘t stay mad at her. And when I thought about it I felt kind of sorry for Anna. It must be hard on her to make any long lasting human friends when everyone that really mattered to her were vampires. It was a heavy secret to carry.
            I shook my head trying to clear the confusion away. “I’m just having a hard time grasping that there are vampires walking around the earth, co-existing and mingling with society, and hardly anyone knows.”
            “Well, it’s true. It’s not so hard to believe when you think about it. How would anyone know? They don’t walk around with their fangs out. In fact, a lot of them eventually hold very powerful positions in our society and no one knows what they are. It helps that they’re around for hundreds of years. I mean think about it-- they have plenty of time to earn lots of money, get great educations and so on. Of course, there are those that use their power for evil, but it’s the same way with mortals. Some are bad and some are good.”
            Okay, so she was starting to make sense to me. “So what’s with this bonding thing between Alex and I? We can obviously communicate with each other in our heads, but what else is involved with being bonded?” I had so many questions. Literally, overnight I felt like I had been thrown into a completely different dimension. It was enough to almost make me long for Brad and his small town again. Almost.
            “Look Brooke, if you have to be bonded with someone, Alex is the one for it to happen with. He’s a very old, very powerful vampire. He’ll protect you from other vampires like Ethan, though trust me, there are much worse vamps out there than Ethan. And admit it, he’s absolutely gorgeous.” I had some questions about Ethan too, but those would have to wait, because I had too many other questions right now to be sidetracked.
I rolled my eyes and cocked my head to the side, waiting for her to answer me.
            “Okay, okay. Vampires are really territorial in that now that you’ve bonded, you’re his and only his. It means no dating or blatantly flirting with anyone else, obviously. Trust me, it would not end well. Also, no other vampire can bond with you or take blood from you. And once you’re turned completely, the two of you will become very powerful. You’ll have powers that other vampires don’t, but I’m not sure what they are. You’ll have to ask Alex.”

            “What kind of powers do regular vampires have?”

            “Well, for instance, my brother Kyle has an unreal amount of strength. He could lift a house, I bet. No lie. And Paul can see through any wall no matter what it’s made of, he can see straight through like it’s not even there. It’s really hard to sneak up on him, if you can imagine. Ethan is super compelling. Creepiness aside, he can get someone to do about anything he wants.”

            “Wow, interesting.” I thought for a moment. “So what’s Alex’s special power?”

CHAPTER 6
            The next day I spent trying to come to grips with the fact that vampires did exist and I now had one bonded to me. A gorgeous, ancient, rich, successful one. In the vampire lottery I would say I won. And if what they were saying was true, I would eventually become a vampire myself. As much as I craved him near me now, my inner self still scoffed at the idea of my future being decided for me. I didn’t question whether I wanted to be with him at all, it was the whole becoming a vampire thing that scared the living daylights out of me. Alex interrupted my thoughts by asking me telepathically if I was feeling any better. I answered him that I was, but that I needed a little time to let everything sink in. He agreed, but told me that he would be coming over this weekend to talk. His impatience was almost tangible. He didn’t even ask, just told me. I guess that’s how it was going to be with him. We would have to work on that if we were going to be together for the rest of eternity. Regardless, he didn’t have to worry about me staying away from him for very long. After just one day, I was already yearning after him with an intensity I’d never felt before. I wasn’t sure if it was because we were bonded or because I was falling for him in the usual human way. My guess was that it was a little of both. I loved that it was just as hard for him to stay away from me as it was for me to stay away from him. I’d never had these kind of intense electrifying feelings for anyone before.
            After taking a nice long bath, I laid out a slim, gray pencil skirt and sleeveless, white button down shirt for work the next day. Anna had returned my black heels and I pulled them out to go with the outfit. After scouring through my jewelry, I found several pieces and laid them on my vanity for the morning. I was looking forward to starting my new job and getting some normalcy back after all of the craziness of my first few days in Charlotte. Despite everything that had happened, I still felt the need to go about life as usual. Perhaps it was my brains defense mechanism. I called goodnight to Anna from my doorway and crawled into bed. Just before I drifted off to sleep, I heard Alex’s voice breaking into my thoughts from wherever he was.

            “Goodnight Brooke”.

            At the sound of his husky voice my stomach flipped over.
Would his voice always do this to me?

            “Night Alex”, I whispered, even though I could have said it without speaking. This talking telepathically thing would take a little getting used to. I kept forgetting that it was even possible.
I wonder if he can hear my thoughts? Was it just a good guess that I was going to bed right now?
I really hoped so, because I don’t know what in the world I would do if he could read my every thought. 
            The next morning I woke early, taking extra time to get ready for my new job. After adding some curls to my long, dark blonde hair and carefully applying makeup, I dressed in the clothes I had laid out the night before. Anna came rushing into the kitchen as I was finishing up a bowl of oatmeal. “How in the world do you get up so early?” She rummaged through her purse pulling out a tube of lipstick and applying it without a mirror. Sickeningly, it was perfect. “Coffee is the only thing I’m going to have time for. Late as usual!”
            I poured her and myself coffee into travel mugs, added some splenda and half and half and began gathering my pocketbook and keys. “I’m usually running a little late too, but with it being my first day, I figured I’d better be on time.”
            “Well, good luck today!” Anna hugged me quickly and grabbed her coffee before rushing off to her room to finish getting ready.
            I glanced at the clock and was relieved to see I still had 30 minutes before I needed to be at work. Even though it would only take 15 minutes to get there, I decided to go ahead and leave to give myself plenty of time. I headed out the door with a silent plea for a good first day.
            I pulled into the parking lot of Chase Advertising with a few butterflies in my stomach. Just looking at the huge fifteen story glass building with its’ perfectly manicured exterior, really brought home that I was finally taking the next step in my career. It was a far cry from anywhere I could have worked in Oakwood, but I was more than ready for the change. I entered through rotating doors into a large lobby with shiny marble floors and a mahogany reception desk situated in the center. I headed over to a set of stainless steel elevators and pressed the button to go up. The doors slid open and I stepped in pressing the button for the eleventh floor. Once the elevator came to a stop, I stepped out into a reception area and walked over to the petite brunette sitting at the desk. Her mass of hair was piled onto of her head and a pair of trendy glasses were perched on her nose. She looked up from her paperwork and smiled. “You must be Brooke Ashcroft?” I nodded and she continued on. “I’m Kara. Julie said for you to head into her office when you got here and she would get you started.” She pointed to a spacious office to her right. Even though the door was open, I knocked tentatively and waited until the attractive middle aged woman sitting behind a large desk beckoned me in. She smiled and stood up to shake my hand. Her short, white blonde hair was styled in a sophisticated bob and she wore an elegant black sheath dress and a strand of pearls of varying lengths.

            “Hello, Brooke.” She glanced at the clock on her wall. “You’re prompt I see. You certainly know how to impress me. Let me just give you a quick tour of the floor and you can get started. I’ve been without an assistant for the past few weeks and I have more than enough to keep you very busy the rest of the day.” She led me out into the hallway and pointed to the break room across the hall. “We have coffee in there as well as a refrigerator and microwave. Your office is here next to mine. Once you get settled, I’d like you to start on these,” she handed me a stack of papers she had picked up from her desk. “I’ll have a couple of meetings I’ll like you to attend with me this afternoon. Feel free to come ask me any questions you might have.” She gave me a quick smile and headed back to her office.
            I spent the rest of the morning arranging my desk, weeding through corporate emails and filtering through the stack of paperwork Julie had given me. Around lunchtime, the petite, brunette receptionist I had met that morning popped her head around the door to my office. “Hi Brooke, would you like to go next door to the deli with me and have lunch?” Kara had a bubbly personality and seemed like she was going to be easy to get along with.
            I smiled brightly. “Sure!” I was happy to be making a friend so quickly. It would be nice having someone in the office to do lunches with occasionally. Already, I felt like I was finding my niche here at Chase. I signed out of my computer and grabbed my purse. We rode the elevator to the first floor and walked next door to the deli. After ordering sandwiches, we found a table next to the front window. We carried on an easy flow of conversation while we ate. Kara took a sip of her sweet tea and asked, “How do you like it at Chase so far?”
“I really think I’m going to like it here. Julie seems like she’s going to be great to work for and so far everyone’s been really welcoming.” Chances are even if I hadn’t liked it, I was too nice to have admitted it. But in this case it was true.
Kara smiled. “Well, I for one am glad to have you here. I’ve was hoping they’d hire someone that I’d like having around and I could tell the moment I saw you that we’d get along great.”
“Really?” I gave her a questioning look.
“Yep, anyone wearing those incredible heels is destined to be my new best friend,” she teased.
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “You know what? I think you and my roommate Anna would get along just great. She borrowed them the very first night I moved in!”
            After such a strange start to my life in Charlotte, I finally felt a little normalcy returning. I pushed all of the craziness of vampires and bonding to the back of my mind and let the happiness of settling into my new job carry me through the rest of the day.
            Time passed quickly and before I knew it, Kara and I were heading towards the elevator to go home. Even with most of my focus on learning the ins and outs of being an advertising assistant, in the back of my mind my thoughts still strayed to Alex. I wondered if he was thinking about me. I was already anticipating what was sure to be a very interesting talk this weekend. As we passed Julie’s office I heard a familiar, smooth voice that sent tingles pooling in my stomach.
No way. It couldn’t be!
To my surprise Alex’s voice echoed through me. “
Oh, but it is
.” I heard the amusement in his voice just as if he had spoken it out loud.
What in the world was he doing here?
I thought this to myself, but I’m sure he heard.
Julie called out to me as I passed by. “Brooke, step in here if you don’t mind. I was hoping you could drop this package by the mailroom on your way out.”
As I entered her office I knew immediately that it was the back of Alex’s athletic frame in the sharp grey suit standing at Julie’s desk. He turned towards me as I entered and winked before turning back to Julie.
Julie gestured to Alex and her voice took on a more formal tone. “Brooke, this is Alex Chase. Alex is the CEO and owner of the company. Alex, this is Brooke Ashcroft. She’s my new assistant.”
I mentally rolled my eyes and cursed the luck that would put me in this position.
You have got to be kidding me!
Alex gave me a smirk and stuck out his hand. “Nice meeting you Brooke.” As I shook his hand my body reacted with the same disturbing onslaught of feelings it had the other night. I closed my eyes briefly trying to regain my composure and opened them to meet the laughter in his clear blue eyes.