Always & Forever 2: On The Road

Chapter 14

Life was still just hell with Stella for Noah. He still suspected Stella had killed the woman from the news and Noah remembered his deal with Stella before he had left with her.

"Break up with your girlfriend."

"Or else what?"

"I kill Katherine and frame Ethan for the recent killings." Stella answered.

"I will kill you before you lay a finger on her." Noah warned.

"I have an army behind me, I would not do that if I were you." Stella warned.

"I won't run away with you."

"I don't trust you'd actually break up with her and leave." Stella said.

"Fine," Noah sighed in defeat. "I'll do it as long as you promise to not hurt or kill Katherine."

"Deal."

"You can't hurt or kill anyone else either." Noah added.

"Fair enough." Stella agreed.

"Then I will do it."

Noah thought about the memory as he sat in silence as Katherine drove a stolen white Honda. If I can prove she betrayed the deal then I have a reason to leave and see if Katherine still loves me. But Noah considered the idea that even if he came back into Katherine's life, she could still deny and turn him away after what he had done to her. If she turns me away, I will leave her be but my love will never die. I will always love her.

"You're quiet again." Stella commented.

"I have nothing to say." Noah whispered.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"I don't believe you." Noah mumbled.

"Believe me about what?" Stella giggled.

"I still believe you killed Maggie Stewart." Noah answered.

"Well, I didn't." Stella huffed.

"I would not put it past you."

"I was not always like this." Stella mumbled.

"Selfish and pure evil?" Noah snorted.

"Have I been selfish?" Stella responded. "Yes, but there was a time where I was happy, truly myself... good." Stella answered and sighed softly.

"But every time I have asked about your past, you shut me out." Noah responded.

"You haven't been so open either." Stella argued.

"I believed you were dead for years, you disappeared." Noah pointed out. "You forced me to dump Katherine, then you blackmailed me."

"What I mean by me being selfish." Stella said.

"So, tell me," Noah sighed in defeat. "What were you like before you became this person?" Noah asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"I was human in the year 1777," Stella started to say. "I was sixteen, born and raised in London."

"What else?"

"One day I was walking alone in the park near my childhood home after I had my errands, I forget what they were." Stella explained with a small smile. "Well... I saw a tall, slender man with dark brown hair caught that had caught my eye as he walked towards my direction and he met my gaze and I saw that he had dark brown eyes and dimples on his cheeks and thin, small lips." Stella explained some more. "He looked about seventeen or eighteen but he was eighteen, at least he was forever eighteen." Stella finished as she sighed.

"He was a vampire." Noah mumbled and slowly nodded.

"Right." Stella gulped and nodded.

"What was his name?"

"His name was Anthony Stevens."

"How did you find out?" Noah asked and his lips parted.

"It was six months after we had met," Stella answered. "We courted in secret because my mother and father said I was not allowed to court anyone until I was seventeen and I was just about to be seventeen and I wanted him to meet my father as the one I love but he refused, we argued and out of anger his fangs appeared." Stella explained.

"Were you scared?" Noah asked as his eyes widened.

"Of course, I was."

"Then what happened?"

"He said he was sorry and I forgave him." Stella sighed.

"How did you two break up, did he die?" Noah asked.

"People were killed on a regular basis," Stella responded with a frown. "Rumors spread, people suspected a vampire but I knew it was Anthony." Stella explained.

"How do you know?" Noah asked and raised an eyebrow.

"He never said so, kept denying it when I asked," Stella sighed. "But I had a gut feeling, he offered to turn me so that we could run away together."

"And you agreed?" Noah responded.

"Yes, I did," Stella sighed and rolled her eyes and looked back at Noah. "But that clearly never happened."

"So, what happened?" Noah asked.

"He turned me in his cabin and he took me out hunting and the next night, I went in secret to say goodbye to my family, I was trying to kill time and I fed on someone on the way and cleaned the blood off of my face." Stella responded.  "Meanwhile Anthony said he had errands to complete in the town, never said what but he said that and went away and we were planning to leave that very night." Stella said and stared at Noah. "He warned me that when I turned, I couldn't go back to my childhood home unless I was invited in so, I went home but only to see my front door already open and I saw my parents, dead, face down in the foyer from the outside." Stella explained and looked down at the table.

"I'm so sorry." Noah mumbled and frowned at her.

"The worst part of it was that there was no way to get in so that I could hug them." Stella said and looked up at Noah and teared up.

"Did you confront him?" Noah asked and furrowed his eyebrows.

"I heard someone yell the word vampire and I turned around to see a mob and the one who pointed the finger was Anthony." Stella responded and she bit her bottom lip, fighting the tears that wanted to come out.

"He framed you for their deaths." Noah mumbled as his face fell.

"I was nearly killed but I ran away as fast as I could without turning back." Stella said as a tear fell down her cheek. "People knew there was a vampire and he framed me so that no one would suspect sweet old Anthony Stevens." Stella said sarcastically. "I had forgotten that I had blood on my dress."

"I am so sorry he did that to you." Noah whispered and his face fell.

"I was not born evil, I'm just broken." Stella softly cried. "But then I met you and I believed in love again."