Sanguine Malediction

Chapter 35

The next morning as my bath was running, I sat at the foot of Leo's bed as he was downstairs and thought about Leo and Henry. I thought about Henry's smirk before he leant into Leo and told him something that made him have some sort of big revelation about me. It was frustrating that I didn't know and nobody was telling me.

I lay in the bath in silence, alone with my own thoughts. What that woman had said to me last night about Thea getting her head ripped off haunted me. I didn't know why that woman had such a burden against me, I didn't recall knowing her or having done anything to her for her to be such a rude person towards me. She definitely got under my skin though, and I despised that. I was sure she had something to do with Thea's murder, I was so damn sure.

I washed myself and then stood up in the bath, wrapping the towel around my body. I headed back into Leo's bedroom, Leo was sitting on the edge of the bed. I sighed in my head at his classic appearance of being in the bedroom when I had nothing but a towel covering my naked body. Though it was his bedroom, he knew I had been bathing and decided to pick the time where I had just come out of the bath. I glared at him, waiting for him to say something but he didn't.

Ignoring his presence, I went over to the door to exit his bedroom but then froze. Something had to be said. I had to know what the big secret was. I sighed and turned around on my heels, but bumped head-first into Leo's chest. He was looking down at me from his taller height, he glared into my eyes and his fingers creeping up my waist.

Frowning, I asked "What did Henry tell you last night?"

"I'm not certain I should tell you." Leo replied quietly, still glaring into my eyes.

"What harm could it do by telling me? Just tell me." I demanded, looking down at the floor as I debated shying away from finding out the strange truth.

Leo tucked my hair behind my ear and gently grabbed my face, tilting my chin upwards to face him. I looked into his eyes. "You're so beautiful." He said in a soft whisper.

I didn't know what to say. He was being suddenly charming towards me but it felt different. He stared into my eyes as he complimented me, like he had meant what he said. I started to blush as I gave a crooked smile to him. I pulled away from him and ran my fingers through my hair in a somewhat frustrated manner. I walked around him and towards his bed, with my fingers on my lips, trying to think of what he was trying to do. Was he trying to seduce me? Was he trying to toy around with me? What was he trying to do? I stopped and faced him, pointing my finger at him, trying to find the words to say to him. But nothing was coming out.

"You want to know what Henry told me?" Leo finally asked.

"What?" I said crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes at him, preparing myself for the mysterious truth.

Leo looked at my feet and then back up to my face. "He told me that you are my love and I am yours. He told me that we are denying to ourselves out of fear and denial." He said warily. I gaped and frowned at him, unsure of what to reply with. "What do you feel for me, Alice?" Leo asked, taking one step towards me.

"I don't know. I think you're attractive, you're kind at heart and you can be a bit of a wind up...." I stopped speaking. I started to think of all the times my heart had skipped a beat whenever Leo touched me or kissed me, when my heart almost stopped beating when he nearly got killed, when my heart had ached at the thought of him with someone else, when my heart felt like it had been stabbed at the words of Leo saying that it wasn't like we loved each other.

I had told myself that it was just silly human feelings but I had now realised, it was more than that, much more. I had never felt such a strong connection to someone. I hadn't fallen for his charms or slick flirting. I had fallen for him and told myself otherwise. I looked at him, probably the same way he had looked at me after Henry had whispered to him. I was trying once again to convince myself otherwise but this time, it wasn't working. But how can I love someone I barely know? A vampire, that's walked the earth for two centuries? He flashed me a smile I had never seen before. It was a gentle, loving smile. He stepped forward again.