Blood Ties (NaNoWriMo 2015)

Thirty-Eight

Damon and I spent the whole day playing cards and laughing.  I was happy to find that I was able to school him in three hands of Blackjack and Poker. When questioned about how I'd learned to play I told me of my Easter tradition with my mother where we'd gamble with candy as the currency and how I'd honed my skills so I wouldn't loose my chocolate bunny.

Eventually, I must have fallen asleep, but when I woke up, I was not on the couch, I was in my bed, covered and warm. What the-? I sat up eyes adjusting to the darkness of my room. Damon must've moved me, I reasoned, and then slipped out to get some rest.  I looked over at my nightstand, seven at night, I'd woken up early. I laid back against my pillows, wondering if I could possibly fight for another hour of sleep and then realized I felt far too awake to do it, upon my looking about my room, I'd also noticed the mess of playing cards and DVDs on the coffee table, no way was I going to sleep fitfully knowing that mess was present.

I got up and began organizing the DVDs back into their proper place as well as restacking the playing cards and returning them to their little box. I folded the quilt back over the top of the couch and smiled. Now it was clean and I could continue along with my night, without that pestering me the entire time.

Quickly, I dressed in some clean clothes, went through the basics of personal hygiene and meandered about my new room, wondering if I'd been lucky enough to have snacks stored somewhere. My stomach was growling like a junkyard dog. I lucked out, finding a stray granola bar in my nightstand and munched on that. My thoughts, still a bit sleepy strayed around from topic to topic. My first thought was how I'd beaten Damon at cards, something told me that he'd let me win. Back in the times he grew up TV wasn't invented, cards were probably a very common choice of entertainment then, his experience should have trumped mine. Or perhaps I was wrong, at least to an extent. He'd mentioned his dad wasn't so reliable when he was growing up, perhaps he'd been a gambler as well as a drinker and Damon abstained from both to avoid the legacy. That would fit.

Then there was Archie the crazy priest. Why had he freaked out upon seeing my scar? If he was in the room, shouldn't that have meant he'd known about what Damon had done? Or perhaps he'd just know the basics, Damon had saved a human life and not known how he'd done it. Then that mad dash down into the temple where he'd turned his blood blue after collapsing-how had he achieved it? I knew there was probably a chemical reaction somewhere that could bring about the change, but how had he pulled it off without my seeing it? I was less than a foot from him! And then all the chatter about my aura connecting to Damon's. It made no sense, I'd been here for nearly a month now, why had this guy chosen right then to drop all of that voodoo on me? Could he have been trying to scare me? Frighten me into leaving Lockwood manor where it would then be open season on Ember? Damon and I had both agreed there had been a traitor somewhere in that room, perhaps it was Archie.

The latest attacker, how injured Damon had been when I'd dragged him into my closet, that promise he'd sealed with a kiss...I felt my heart drop into my stomach at the memory. His cold, soft lips on mine, gentle hands pulling me just a little closer. The lilt of laughter in his voice afterwards as Damon promised to watch over me. Oh God. I flopped onto my bed, head suddenly very high up in the clouds. It had been a good experience, he wasn't a bad kisser at all, but what did that mean for us? Our relationship had gone through so many strange stages. At first I'd hated and feared him, then I'd learned to respect and admire him, then I even sort of considered him a friend and I enjoyed his company a lot. Was that kiss going to change that? Would it be a good change or a bad one? Would I welcome it? Could we even come close-? No! I thought to myself forcefully. No, it's not possible. As much as I liked Damon and as much as he seemed to like it me, it was impossible. He was a hundred year old vampire, I was an eighteen year old human. He was going to lead his coven in place of his father, I had no knowledge of the Twelver covens or the High Court, much less a place within either.

That kiss was was probably nothing, I reasoned, taking a cautious bite of my breakfast. He was hurt really bad before then, scared just like I was. He'd brushed death that day too. Maybe his adrenaline was still going and it clouded his mind. People did crazy things when they were buzzed on that didn't they? Doing impulsive things that normally wouldn't have occurred had they been in a clear state of mind. That sounded about right to me, but I was no doctor.

I heard my door open and shot up, wishing I had a lamp on my nightstand but breathed a sigh of relief once I saw it was Ife. As per usual, she was dressed to the nines, this time in a black dress and wedge heels. Her hair was done multiple little braids pulled up into a bun on the top of her head. She was carrying a McDonald's bag which would have brought my mood up considerably as I loved Egg McMuffins, but the solemn expression on her face stopped the chances of that.

"What's wrong?" I asked, getting up and taking the bag from her. I set it down on the nightstand and grabbed her hands in mine. "What happened?"

Ife whimpered and I saw a drop of blood run down her face from her eye. A crimson tear. "Johnathan Lockwood is dead."

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New chapter and I'm not sorry for the cliffhanger! What do you guys think is going to happen now that Johnathan is gone? Perhaps a good opening for the unknown subjects to take another shot at Damon and Ember?  I'd love to hear your thoughts so please do COMMENT and VOTE. W

Write on! =D