WHEN SHADOWS CALL

CHAPTER 3

"VAMPIRES??!! ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW INSANE THAT SOUNDS?!? WHAT'S NEXT, THERE'S WITCHES, WEREWOLVES AND BIGFOOT!?" I hollered at the top of my lungs while tearing my hair out.

"ALL MY LIFE AND VAMPIRES WERE REAL?!?! WHY THE HELL DIDN'T ANYONE SAY ANYTHING???!!"

Aria stood silently near the door while calmly holding my gaze. She watched closely as I drew in many shaky breaths.

"Lucas, you should know that this isn't natural. None of this is a 'need-to-know', besides you were perfectly safe." Aria began softly as soon as I progressed to pacing around the room.

"THAT'S NO EXCUSE ARIA!!!"

"Ok fine! Take it up with your family then, they were the ones that made me swore to absolute secrecy, your parents, siblings and even your grandparents!!" Aria yelled back at me. I was completely nonplussed.

"M-my f-famil-y??" I croaked, looking disbelievingly at her.

"Yes, Lucas I'm so sorry," Aria's voice was barely a whisper now, she slowly closed the space between us enough for me to see the hazel irises in her apologetic gaze, "Your elder sister expressly forbade me to say anything and to not even make an appearance, she just wanted you to carry out a normal life and be safe."

"But then last night, as I was combing the streets, I heard noises, your shouts and voices and that was it, I couldn't and won't turn a blind eye anymore, I arrived as I hoped to be just in time to save you." Aria finished; she was so close to me now that our faces were within a few inches apart. I swallowed nervously and stepped back quickly, "Sorry it's just that I have a girlfriend." I muttered quickly while averting her eyes. She looked at me and gave a somewhat small sad smile, "My bad I shouldn't-"

A phone rang somewhere in the room. I recognized it at once.

"Aria, do you have my phone on you?" Aria produced my phone and gave it back to me. "Thanks for keeping it safe for me."

She nodded and retreated a few steps back. All the adrenaline, shock and anger started to leave me and I felt drained again. I glanced at the caller ID and saw that Aileen was calling me. I took another deep breath just in case and answered in the most normal tone I could.

"Hey Aileen what's up?" I couldn't help but grinned slightly at her voice answering me back.

"Hey babe, I just miss your voice so much today and does your girlfriend need permission to check up on you?" She huffed at me.

"Uh-h no of course not babe it's just- there's a lot going on right now and-"

She cut me off mid-sentence and asked, "Is that why you weren't at campus today? I couldn't find you anywhere and I got worried, I left a ton of messages and voicemails for you."

"I'll get back to you on that in a few, babe I promise." I chanced another glance at Aria whose eyes were glowing blue this time and slightly narrowed at my phone. Somehow knowing that vampires really exist, I don't feel an ounce of fear from that knowledge.

Something about Aria doesn't feel right, this is the first time that I've seen her other side (Dawn had briefed me how vampires would look). The door to the study flew open and there stood Ashley and April both in identical red leather jackets. Both of them wore huge excited grins as soon as they saw me in the room. I blushed slightly at the sight of both of them.

"Change of plans, Aria mom and dad will be-" April stopped as soon as she saw Aria glaring at my phone slightly with a small snarl.

"Lucas where are you? You better not be hooking up with anyone else!" Aileen's voice shook me alert. I chuckled weakly.

"You and your jokes sweetheart?"

"Hang on that voice... April Laurier?!"

My eyes widened. "Y-y-ou know her babe?"

"Of course, I do. What's going on Lucas?" she snarled. I could still detect a trace of concern from her question.

I blinked and gulped. My girlfriend sounded like she wouldn't stand for any nonsense right now. "U-um-m... I-I-"

"Stay where you are, I'm coming over now." With that, she ended the call before I could say anything else. The tension in the room was tangibly overwhelming as soon as I lowered down my phone. Aria seemed to return back to normal however she still wore a small scowl. She stormed out of the study without another backward glance nearly bumping into the twins.

"Err...what's-?" I began looking at the twins for help. Both of them pursed their lips and glanced at each other before returning my confused gaze.

April said quietly, "It's your girlfriend Aileen. She...umm...had a kind of a rough history with our family and no one hates her more than Aria."

"Most of us already moved on over that but not Aria." Ashley continued while shrugging casually. "It's still a sore topic for her."

I fell silent, I didn't know what to say. Fifteen minutes later, Aileen burst through the door leading to where I stood. For a split-second, she stood there wide-eyed, fear and concern etched on her soft face. Then, she flung herself at me almost knocking me down, her arms wrapped tightly around my neck and pulled me into a suffocating hug. She hastily blinked away angry and worried tears that were threatening to make an appearance as she released me, scrutinizing my whole self. Dawn and April were lurking out of sight with slightly wary expressions. I caught them and nodded.

"Are you okay Lucas? Why didn't you tell me, I've been extremely worried about you!"

My brain seemed to function optimally again as I stared deep into those attractive and familiar hazel eyes searching her expressions.

"Then why have you not said anything about you knowing all about this?" I asked her quietly.

Aileen's face fell and her jaw tensed slightly. She looked away and walked over to a window that allows a view of the backyard, twisting her fingers nervously. Although I felt hurt at being left out, betrayed even and she does look kind of adorable when she's twisting her hands, I couldn't stay mad at her for long. After quite a long stretch of silence where we both just stood wherever we were, Aileen spoke, barely louder than a whisper, "I just didn't know how to break it to you and I wanted to keep you safe, I'm a hunter Lucas. The main reason is because that I didn't want to ruin what we've got going on right now... I wanted to tell you so badly but I was terrified of how you'll react," -she finally locked eyes with me- "I love you and I don't want to lose you, I can't." Aileen broke down into tears and I rushed over to her side immediately.

Holding my trembling girlfriend tightly in my arms, I murmured soothing words in an attempt to calm her down while stroking her long delicate brown hair. I finally succeeded after ten more minutes; Aileen asleep in my arms as I carried her back to the bedroom where I spent the night recovering from the ambush. I watched as she slept peacefully, snuggled to my side with her mouth slightly open. I smiled as I tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear. I spent the rest of the night by her side and soon drifted off to sleep with one arm around her shoulders and the other placed reassuringly on her hand.

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