Forbidden Blood

Chapter 10: Clara

I wake up in the middle of the day lying next to Vincent. He is asleep, breathing in a slow rythym. His shirt is off, and I see his bare chest. The blankets are covering my body and his. I look over to see all of our clothes on the floor, and I begin to remember what went on last night. The visions come back to me quickly. I remember not being sure that I wanted to do it, but then I did. We kissed, and his hands roamed my body. He reached around, untying my dress, and I took it off, leaving it on the floor. I remember being scared at first, but then I wasn't. We didn't do anything dangerous. But I think we almost did. It could have been worse.

I lift up the covers further to cover my entire body and try to fall back asleep. Instead, I stare at Vincent. I look at his face and study his features. He has dark hair and eyelashes that are quite long. His jawline is very hard, and I can see the veins in his neck. I look at his arms, and the muscles show so much strength. I take my hand and gently run it through his hair. It is so soft and sleek. I feel movement in him and jerk my hand away, trying not to wake him. He opens his eyes, looks around, and then shifts his gaze towards me.

"Hey..." he whispers.

"Hi." I reply. He lifts his hand and tucks some of my hair behind my ear. He brings it down and traces my jawline, stopping at my chin. I smile, my head resting against the pillow.

"Are you okay?" he asks, looking worried.

"I'm fine, I just usually wake up during the day and sleep during the night; not the other way around."

"You'll get used to it sooner or later," he smiles, "it's hard at first." He closes his eyes and breathes a sigh.

"Vincent, I..."

"What?" he opens his eyes again.

"I--I'm sorry." He props himself up on one arm.

"What for?"

"For, well, you know... last night..." I pause, waiting for him to answer.

"What about last night?"

"It wasn't right." He frowns.

"Who says what's right or wrong? And besides, we didn't... well, you know."

"Our kind aren't supposed to be together. I've made a huge mistake." I turn my head. He looks at me.

"Hey, if you made a mistake, I made it, too." he strokes the side of my face, drying my tear. "We're in this together now. There's no going back; you can't change the past."

"But we still did something we weren't supposed to. A witch should never let a vampire get this close to her."

"What's the worst that will happen?" he puts his hand on my bare arm. "You've already been exiled, you're here now, and no one's going to give it a second thought."

"I will."

"I know you will, but no one else will. Trust me. They don't have to know what we did. It can just be between us."

"I don't know if I can handle that; the guilt will eat me up inside." I whimper, feeling awful.

"It's up to you. I'm telling you, the other vampires aren't going to mind if we do this kind of thing." He pauses, waiting for me to say something. I stop, trying to put into words how I feel.

"Every instinct in my mind is telling me not to want this. But every nerve in my body needs to be with you." he stays silent for a minute, then speaks again.

"I don't want you to do this if you're afraid to be with me. But let me tell you something." he hesitates, "Vampires don't always kill witches when we see them; sometimes we just let them go. We don't like picking fights against your kind unless we absolutely have to... You don't really pose a threat to us. We just usually have this 'presence' that makes you fear us. That's what we do." He runs his hand through my hair, looking at it as it falls through his hand.

"Then why does Ilan hate me so much?" I question, looking into his brown eyes.

"I didn't say all of us like the witches; we all have our own opinions. Some of us hate them, like Ilan, some of us like them, like Rina, and some of us don't really have an opinion." He looks at me inquisitively, as if he's studying me. I think about what he just said.

"It's just really hard to grasp all of this when all I've been taught is to hate your kind."

"Do you think you can try and understand?" Vincent furrows his brow, looking at me.

"Sure." I take a breath and look away.

"Hey, it's going to be okay." He rubs my arm, leaning in closer. He kisses me softly on the forehead and leans back, closing his eyes. "Will you be okay if I try to fall asleep?"

"Yeah. That's fine." He smiles and closes his eyes. I listen and watch him as his breathing transforms into a soft, light rythym. I lay awake, thinking to myself.

I try to comprehend everything that Vincent has told me. It doesn't make sense that all this time, I've been taught that the vampires hate us. What Vincent said has obviously proved this wrong. Did the witches know about this? If they did, why would they keep this a secret from us? Something just doesn't add up.

Before I know it, I've drifted off to sleep. I wake up again, but this time nearer to dusk. When I open my eyes, Vincent is awake. His arms are behind his head and he is staring at the ceiling. He looks at me when I turn on my side.

"We have to get up soon if you don't want anyone to know about this."

"No, it's fine. Not unless you want to." he shakes his head.

"The others won't mind, I promise."

"Okay." I smile halfheartedly. He kisses me again, this time on the lips. I kiss him back for a few seconds and then break away.

"Vincent, I think there's something I need to do."

"What?" I take a deep breath, pondering my decision.

"You know how you said that the vampires don't really hate the witches?"

"Yeah."

"The witches don't know this, or, at least if they do, they never told us."

"What do you mean? I'm sure there's some witch out there who knows."

"There isn't. It doesn't make sense. We've been taught our whole lives to hate you and to fear you, but if you aren't really going to harm us, then why were we taught that? What if there's something they aren't telling us?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but I need to find out what it is."