Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 2

    I wake up in my bed. My body feels exhausted. I look over and see that he is not there. Wait! What have I done? I sling the covers and try to stand but I fall to the floor and my head spins like a top. Ooookay....I slide out of bed and head toward my bathroom. I open the door and...BIG mistake. He is standing there...naked. I squeal and slam the door. He took a shower in my house! In MY bathroom. I slide down the wall beside the door and cover my face with my hands. What have I done? Suddenly the door clicks open and he steps out. I could feel his eyes on me. He leans down and touches my shoulder. I flinch to his touch. "Ash?" I look at him and feel embarrassed. One because I didn't have any clothes on and two because of last night. "Are you okay?" I nod. He has got pants on. Thank gosh. He takes my hand and a wave of calm washes over me. He leads me to the bed and we sit down.

    "Am I going to be okay?" I asked quietly, but that felt so selfish. "Are you okay?" I ask worriedly. He nods his head and looks forward as he sits next to me. I look forward into my dim room and smell him. I feel my heart quicken as memories of him flashed by my eyes. He had always used that shampoo. Rhyan found my dad's shampoos. Mom could never bring herself to throw any of his things away so she kept it all in a secluded room in our home. As I sit deep in thought I am surrounded and brought to him in a tight hold. I panic and struggle a little before I notice he is hugging me. I instantly stop fighting his embrace and go slightly limp. "Thank you." He whispers quietly in my ear. His breath flows over my skin and leaves goosebumps. "I-uh-um-yeah." I stutter as I struggle to make conversation.

    "What happened last night?" I pull away slightly and look him in the eyes. He smiles and simply says, "You saved me. I almost killed you but you have recovered remarkably. I am in debt to you Ash. Thank you." He kisses my cheek and I flip shit. "Oh hell!" I fail my arms around and freak out. "That is a first kiss? With some guy I know nothing about? What?" I shriek. He simply blushes and laughs.                   "That hardly counts as a first kiss. You didn't kiss me back. You are still safe from my undead grasp of love." He smirks and laughs as he wiggles his fingers in a funny way. Making me blush uncontrollably.

     "No I have never kissed a guy. So what?" I yell and blush more. "It's a step I though someone as beautiful as you would have done a long time ago." He laughs. I get slightly angry. "NO!" I grow silent.     

    "I've always been the wallflower. I've never been seen as beautiful or attractive. I'm just weird I guess." I smile and he jumps."I don't regret it though. I have way more important things to worry about than boys or parties. I'm just kinda antisocial." I fiddle with my fingers as I talk. "I'm just reserved. I don't really have friends except Amethyst but she is in Florida right now on vacation." I realize how much I have been rambling. "Oh! But enough about me! I want to know about you!" 

     He smiles and nods his head. "I am Rhyan Victor Lemreer. I am 20. I have been this age for over two hundred years. I had turned twenty in the spring of 1753. During this time , Voltaire had left the court of Frederik II of Prussia and I was one of his many young advisers. I was an apprentice from France at the time. He was so angry with them though he did not show it. He was a very kind and mysterious person. One night he had came into my chambers beaded with sweat and the lurking smell of liquor under his breath." He looks down and grows silent. After a few moments he lifts his head and begins to speak but his voice is different, "I was celebrating my birthday alone and he came in and began to yell at me,'Ces imbéciles!' He was so angry, and he said, 'Après tout, je l'ai fait? Je vais leur montrer! Je vais leur montrer un véritable monstre de la nuit!' The next thing I have to remember is him grabbing me and...made me drink his blood and bit me hard." He shows me scars the size of my palm on his wrist. Ragged and deep, my slim fingers trace over his pale skin to them. He continues to talk in a hurt voice. "I couldn't breath. Or scream. There was no one to stop him. I was in shock. Dying. Then I wake up in a sewer, covered in blood. I tried to leave but the light hurt my eyes so bad I had to wait until nightfall to leave. I was wondering aimlessly, lost in Paris. I-I.. attacked someone." He swallows hard and stares at the cold floor. He had the look of pain in his eyes. "I killed an innocent woman because I couldn't control my thirst. It is so overwhelming. So painful. Such a horrid existence." He shakes his head, making his hair fall into his face. "Such a pathetic excuse of an life." His voice fades and cracks. "I...killed...sooo many people..." He starts to shake.