His Virgin Bride

Chapter Fourteen: Annalisa

“Grandma,” I say, jumping into the elderly lady’s loving embrace. She smiled before giving me a kiss on my cheek. “Eww, grandma,” I tell her with a pout. “I don’t like kisses.”

“Not even from your mama?” She says in response.

I shook my head childishly. “Not even from my mama.”

Grandma was showing me a bunch of old photos. “That was your father when he was your age,” She says and points to a faded face, but the photo was in black and white, so there was not much of it left. “See how much you look like him.” She tells me.

“Who’s that?” I ask and point to a bit of a girl's face, slightly off to a side.

Grandma sighs. “That’s Annie, your auntie.” She tells me, sadly.

“But I don’t have an auntie,” I protest. “If I did, how come I never met her?”

Silence.

Grandma doesn’t reply at first.

“Annie’s an angel now.” She finally replies after a moment.

The lightning was scaring me. Grabbing my favourite toy, I got out of bed. “Daddy, mommy?” I ask as I knock softly at their door. I hear footstepsbefore my father opens the door and goes on one knee in front of me. “I’m scared.” I tell him, nervously.

He smiles, and places a gentle hand on my head. “Don’t worry little one, everything’s going to be okay.”

I nod before I walk into their room.

“Little one,” I say finally breaking the silence. “Was that what you called my dad?” I ask him.

Henry chuckles. “Recognise it now?” He replies, turning to face me. “Joseph always did have good memory, but maybe Annalisa just continued to use it after I left her.” He shrugs.

“All this time,” I whisper, softly. “You’ve been following my family, haven’t you?”

Henry nods. “Paris, Los Angeles, I was everywhere you went, or more specifically,” He tells me. “Where your father went,” He runs a hand through his hair. “It was Annalisa’s last wishes to me before she parted this corrupt world.”

“But you never saw her again, so how could you have made that promise?" I ask him, confused slightly.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Henry replies, while taking a seat on the ground beside the hedge stone. “By the time I had finally returned to the human world, your father had grown up and was attending college on a scholarship. Annalisa had grown old, but she was still beautiful in her own way to me. When she saw me, she thought she was dreaming. It took a bit of a while for me to calm her down, but when I did, we had a proper conversation for the first time in decades.”

“Where is this going?”

Henry silences me with a glare before he continues with his story. “During my absences, my fears had come true. Annalisa truly did believe that I had left her, and she had moved on, but I left her so much more pain.” Henry sighs, looking down at the ground. “Annie had gone out looking for me one evening, but it was late, dark, and she was struck by a carriage. The driver was a drunken man.” He says, angrily. “It was then that Annalisa made me promise to watch over Joseph, all she had left, but I guess I've failed her.”

My fist clenches up tightly as I look at the ground. I knew what he meant. “So all this time, you’ve been trying to get close to me, just to tell me that you’re sorry?” I ask him, lowly. Controlling in the tears, and my anger.

“I never intended on meeting you personally, but when I heard your vows at the wedding, I knew that there was a chance you were Joseph’s little one.” Henry tells me. “And the more I watched you, the more I recognised a strong resemblance to Annie.”

“The aunt that I've never met?”

“Yes, she was rebellious like you.” Henry tells me, his eyes looking at me, analysing my expression, my reaction.  “Annie was quite a handful, but she loved to see Annalisa happy, and she was fond of me too. You could say she took to me as a father figure.” Henry says, proudly. “I was delighted by that.”

I bit my bottom lip. “But, what about the day my parents were killed?” I say, softly. “Do you know anything about that?” I ask him.

Silence.

“Henry…”

“Rogues.”

I look at him. “What?” I whisper, softly. “What did you say?”

Henry runs and hand through his hair again. “Rogues,” He says once more. “Your parents were killed by rogues. Vampires that came from rural areas, the peasants,” He tells me. “They were the ones that killed your parents.”

“What happened to them?” I say, softly, looking down at my hands. "The Rogues that killed my parents, did they get what they deserved?"

“I killed them.”

My eyes look back to Henry. “I thought vampires couldn’t kill others,” I protest. "That's why the Hunters were formed, to handle the crimes that the vampires wouldn't do."

“I almost killed you didn’t I?” Henry says. There was a hint of regret in his voice. “Besides, I’m a fiend. I’m allowed to kill whoever I want, just as long as I’m not caught.” He says, lowly, a smile on his lips as his eyes glinted slightly. I felt chills move down my spine. The way he talked about it, it left an impression that he loved it. That he was proud of it.

“So… they’re gone?” Referring to the Rogues.

“Yeah…” Henry says in reply. “And I guess it’s time for us to go,” I raise a brow, but before I can say anything, Henry brings a knife to my chest. I stared at him with wide eyes. “Goodbye, Princess.”

My back hits the cold ground, my eyes shut, and my mind blanks. I don't know what happened to me.

“Kris,”

I can hear someone. Someone familiar.

“C’mon, this isn’t funny.”

The voice sounded alarmed, like the person was panicking.

I feel two hands begin to shake my shoulder, my eyes slowly flutters open. “Chase?” I say, softly as I stare at my friend. “What are you doing here?” I ask him.

“What am I doing here? Why the hell are you passed out in a cemetery?” He exclaims in response. I looked around; there was no sign of Henry. “Kris, what happened to you?” Chase asks me. “What happened in the vampire dimension?” He adds, looking into my eyes.

I raise a brow. “What do you mean, Chase? I was kidnapped obviously.” I tell him as if it was fact.

Chase bit his bottom lip. “Kris,” He says after a moment. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but…” He brings out his phone and snaps a photo of me.

“What are you doing? You know vampires don’t appear in photos.”

“I know that,” Chase says. He passes his phone to me. “That’s why I want to know why you just appeared in mine.”

Oh my god.

“I’m human again.”