The Count Sister - RE-WRITING

Chapter Thirty-Four (Part 2)

CONTINUED....

Armanthia had been awake for hours. By the time it reached two in the morning, she unwrapped herself from Luka’s arms and went upstairs and took a shower. She didn’t bother having it warm; she wanted to stay awake now. She felt like she needed to stay awake. She wasn’t sure if it was some sort of punishment she was giving herself or in fact if it was just her subconscious trying to reach out and tell her all of it was real and she could do nothing about it.

  She sat in the tub and began to sob into her hands. She brought up her knees and leant against them. The cold water pelted her skin but she didn’t mind the pain, she craved for it. She wanted to feel something other than the mourning loss of her little sister.

  There was a knock on the door. Armanthia sat up quickly but didn’t make haste to turn off the water. “Armanthia?” Cyrus. “Armanthia, Luka said you’ve been in here a while, are you alright?”

  She slowly turned off the water, reached over for the towel on the rack and wrapped it around her body. Her hair was a tangled mess, so she quickly wrapped it in her hands and threw it away from her face. She felt it dripping against her back but she slowly unlocked the door and opened it.

  He looked exhausted. He had been upstairs for hours with Aubrey, Armanthia knew it had taken him a while to finally get her to sleep and leave the room. Armanthia hadn’t even looked twice at it when she came upstairs; she had made a straight line for her own room. She couldn’t stomach looking at that dead body. Because that’s all it was now, it wasn’t her sister anymore, just some empty body. No personality, no feeling or life; just a body that had once contained her sister’s soul.

“You think I would?” She asked bluntly. It wasn’t a hard question, she had wanted to sound strong but instead it came out broken and full of sorrow. She knew Luka was following her around because he thought she’d commit. She had said it in a mad panic when he had held her away from the body; she had claimed she wanted to die. She didn’t, she just said it in the heat of the moment. Now because of that comment; Luka had gotten Cyrus; the man of the hour, to check on her like she was a little child. “He does right? He probably thought I’d got the nearest razor and slashed my wrists right open, huh?”

“Army…” Cyrus opened his arms and she didn’t know why but she fell right into them. He wrapped his warm body around hers and she felt him kiss the side of her temple and she began to cry. She wasn’t even aware she had started until he began shushing her. This night had been the longest one on record, a lot of things had happened at one-hundred miles an hour and now Armanthia had no idea how they’d piece things back together.

  Everyone else had managed to sleep apart from Armanthia. It had taken Lamia a while but eventually the pain had subsided and Alex had taken her to bed and slept beside her the entire time. Violet had not even said a word. She had not mourned. She just went into a guest room with Dimitri and Isaac and slept beside them.

  “How’s Aubrey?” Armanthia finally calmed her tears and pulled away. He stroked a wild strand from her face and smiled slightly.

“Finally asleep,” He yawned and covered his mouth. He apologized weakly but it only caused his yawn to become more powered.  “It took her a while though.”

“You should get some rest,” He hesitated when she said that but she lightly laughed it off. She knew he was hesitating because he still had the same suspicion that Luka had. It had taken her a lot of persuading for him to allow her to shower alone. “Don’t worry about me, I’m just going to get ready, get a drink and get some sleep. I’ll get Luka to sleep beside me.”

  Cyrus smiled at that. “The lady’s man will love that.” For just a second, it was like everything was normal, but it was gone as quickly as it came. “Get some sleep, Army. Love you.” He kissed her forehead and walked away slowly. He looked just as tired as she had been hours before.

“Yeah,” She sighed. “Love you too.”

   When she came downstairs, she looked quickly in the room; Julian was sleeping behind Gwin, spooning her body closer to his. She was still regenerating. She dreaded the moment when she woke up. She knew that Lamia would either tell her or Armanthia would; either way they would have to prepare to relive the pain all over again. Gwin had just become a member of their family and already she had lost one; just like she lost her real parents.

  There was a gentle knock at the front door. Armanthia cursed quietly, held a hand to her chest and walked slowly towards the door. She was wearing a large jumper that went half way down her thighs and big fluffy socks. She only wore boxes beneath her jumper but that’s what she normally slept in.

  She leaned over and looked through the spy hole and nearly sobbed all over again. She covered her hand over the spy hole and leant her head against the door. Why was he here, of all people? She unlocked the chain, turned the lock and opened the door slowly. “Jake,” She chocked. “Now’s not a good time, okay?”

“I know,” He moved his left hand from behind his back and produced a bunch of white lilies; the flowers of death. She sobbed again and used one sleeved hand to rub away the falling tears. “Don’t ask me how I know because it’ll just freak you out.” He continued to talk even though she was trying her hardest to tell him to leave. He was making her feel weak; she wanted nothing more than to be held by his strong arms. He was wearing a white shirt that was partly open, his black tie loose around his neck, even his trousers looked crumpled. She sniffled and caught a waft of his smell; he smelled like paper and ink, Amanda had told her he worked part time with his father in a paper firm.

“I was working late when I suddenly felt like you needed me,” He rubbed his forehead with his other hand and sighed. “I know it’s weird, but I just had to see if you were alright otherwise I’d have been up all night worrying.”

  She reached over and took the flowers from him. There were only five of them; they were bundled together with, what looked like, toilet paper. She placed them on the table beside her and looked back over at him. “Something’s happened…to…” She cried more this time and he didn’t even hesitate, he pulled her from the doorway and straight into his arms.

  She had never been held by a human before; in fact if Armanthia had told her past self she probably would have been punched in the face. She clung on to him though; she clung onto him as if it was natural.  “It’s okay,” He whispered against her cheek as he kissed it sweetly. Her body tingled against his touch and she buried her face in the crook of his neck breathing in his sweet sent. She sighed against him and he tingled against her. “I’m here, whenever you need me.” He pulled away too soon, she wiped her eyes. She saw him lean in and she didn’t move as his lips touched hers quickly.

“You should go,” She sniveled, wiping her nose with her sleeve. “I just need to be with my family, you understand?”

“Of course,” He didn’t look hurt by her question; he smiled and took her hand in his. “Call me, when you’re ready, okay?” She felt a napkin being pressed into her hand; she looked down at it and saw his number written in ink. It had bled through the napkin but she clung to it, just like she had to him. She looked up once again but he was already climbing in his car. “Good night Army.”

  He jumped in, and she watched him drive off before closing the door. She stuffed the napkin into her boxer short pockets, locked the door and leant against it. She wanted him back so badly; he made her feel different, warmer. It was impossible to believe that he could be it; her one true mate. She wanted to believe it so badly. She closed her eyes tightly and slid down the door. Her knees brought up close, she wrapped her arms around them and rested her head on them; crying once again.

   She felt Luka approach; she heard his bare feet on the wooden floor. He was never far away from her; she knew he had been watching her and Jake a few moments ago, she felt him like she could feel her heart now, pounding against her chest like a hammer on nails. He slid down beside her. They didn’t move at first, but surely enough, his arm wrapped around her back and pulled her in. She was pulled like an anchor towards his chest, and she clung to him; dreaming sweetly of Jake and his sweet, sweet touch.

....................................................................................................................................................................................Yeah i added Jake in this, i hope you like that part. I wanted something to spark between these two i dont know what yet. Though my friend wants Luka and Army to get together...I'm still debating...What do you guys think? Anyway, the next one is up too...keep reading...