In this life

Chapter 16 - Rosie 2016

As Daniel sat forward with his head in his hands I felt compelled to try and comfort him. All my fears had left me and my heart swelled with utter sadness. I crawled over to him and touched his shoulder. I had no words.
He took a deep breath and stood up as if to mentally brush himself down.
"That was a very long time ago" he said with one hand on his hip and the other in his hair, scratching the back of his head as he turned to face me. He raised his eyebrows and kept his lips tight. "I don't know about you but I definitely need a drink" he headed for my kitchen.
I watched him walk away, my heart was bleeding for what he'd been through.
A drink sounded good. I followed him in to the kitchen and reached down a bottle of whiskey my Dad had given me. I held it up on offer to Daniel. He smiled and reached two glasses down. I poured a large measure in each and we drank in silence.
"So.... what did you do after.... After what happened...?" I asked cautiously.
"Well..." He shrugged "As the dawn came up I collected my belongings and went to war" he took a mouthful of his drink "What else could I have done?"
"Oh, Daniel.. I"- I put my glass down and moved towards him, he let me come close, so close that I was almost touching him. Without lowering his head he looked down at me, with so much love in his eyes, grateful I was there. I reached up and kissed him. I felt his body relax as he kissed me back. As I pulled away he gently stroked my cheek and smiled.
"So... H-how... did you know you were turned into a vampire?" I asked stepping back, remembering, suddenly becoming fearful again.
"I didn't at first. It took a while. I figured the sheer agony I felt in my veins was due to grief... I felt angry. Guilty. Guilty at how I couldn't save them... I couldn't save her... She was just ripped from my arms..." He closed his eyes tight and shook his head "Once I was at war and people started dying, there was a lot of blood...." He looked straight at me "I'm sure you can work the rest out for yourself..."
"How did you manage to feed off people without the soldiers around you noticing?" I asked trying to piece all the puzzles together.
"I only used the bodies of the recently dead, enemies mostly....I guess I was just lucky that even if someone did notice, they never spoke up" he looked down at his glass. "The more I did it, the stronger I became"
"So... the graves in Aversham?"
"My friends. My brothers. My lifeline..."
"Oh..." It made sense "And.... how do you survive now...?" I was afraid of his answer.
"Rosie, there are always going to be bad people that don't deserve to live. That won't be missed. Murderers.... Rapists..." He looked at me.
My eyes opened wide and I took another step back. My hand came to my mouth. "Like those guys who attacked me.....?" My voice was almost a whisper.
Daniel slowly nodded. It dawned on me that only one of them got away. Daniel had simply discarded the other two...
"Oh my god...!" My hands started to shake. I didn't know what to do with that piece of information. My boyfriend was an murderer... A cold blooded killer!
I picked up my drink and finished it.
We stood in silence again.
I was terrified. But the only person I wanted to be with, to keep me safe, was Daniel. I filled up my glass again and drank it in one, it burnt my throat and made me cringe as I swallowed, but it helped.
"Rosie" I looked up as he spoke my name "do you believe in reincarnation?"
"I... I don't know," I shook my head, my mind was racing, I couldn't think straight "I've never really given it much thought" I frowned at the odd question "But then, the same could have been said about vampires I guess" I offered a small nervous laugh.
"I want to show you something..." He reached into his back pocket and took out his wallet, from it he took out a small piece of folded paper that looked very old and warn and handed it to me. I took it and looked at it. It was a photograph of Daniel, standing by the front door of a farmhouse with two young girls in front of him and his arm around....me! I looked up at him, confused.
"Who? I, how? I don't understand... Who is this?"
"You"
"But...." This was insane. I rubbed my aching forehead.
"Shortly before this photo was taken she... you... had agreed to become my wife" he looked at me trying to gauge my reaction looking for any clue as to what I was thinking.
I stared at the picture. They looked so happy. Totally unaware of the tragedy that would unfold before them.
"The night you made your wish... I heard it Rosie... Like you were calling for me...I had to come... Do you understand that?"
"But....if this was me....I mean...I, surely I'd remember...?" This was too much. My head hurt and I was tired and this was more than I'd ever considered to be possible in the realms of reality. There was so much information and emotion going round in my head. I gave him back his photo and walked to my bedroom. I needed to lay in the dark and just think this over.
I climbed on my bed and curled myself up into a ball, tears started forming in my eyes. I wished this had never happened. What was I supposed to do now?! Silently I let the tears fall and hugged my pillow.

I lay there for ages thinking of everything that had happened. I decided that if I believed that Daniel was a vampire... If that was even possible! Then by default I had to believe in what he'd told me about it being me in that photo. I thought of how I'd felt the first time I'd seen Daniel on the balcony in the club. There was something that drew me to him. He was a total stranger, yet I wanted to go to him. The look in his eyes as we saw each other pulled me in to a familiar place, that felt like home. A place of passion, of love and of danger. He made my heart race without saying a single word.
What if what Daniel had said was true and we were together in a past life...my past life...Daniel was still living that life. Yet he was a vampire, so he wasn't alive...was he? More tears fell.
I wanted the Daniel from before I knew all of this to come and comfort me, the magical Prince Charming Daniel I had wished for. I didn't want the psycho killer vampire that was in my kitchen. But... that killer in my kitchen was the man who had swept my off my feet. He was kind and gentle. He was romantic. He was sexy as hell and he wanted me.
I'd always felt there was a danger about Daniel and I'd loved that about him. I always wanted to know him better and for him to let me in. Now he had... Could I really walk away from that? My heart wouldn't let me.
I wiped my eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, I walked to my kitchen.

Daniel was sat on the floor with his back resting on the cupboard behind him. He was resting his arms on his knees, with his head low. He looked up when he heard me coming. He looked at me, quietly waiting for what I was about to say. His expression was that of a man about to get his heartbroken, again.
I walked to him and held out my hand. The looked confused but took it and stood up, he didn't break eye contact once.
"You made a promise to never hurt me..." I started.
"I'd never" he confirmed with genuine honesty.
"I made you a promise once too... a promise to love you always, in that life... and the next" I continued. Ever so slightly Daniel tilted his head listening intently. "And I intend to keep that promise. In this life" I put my other hand to his chest. "Daniel, after everything... I should be running for the hills, but..."
He looked at me with a glint of hope in his eyes, he was holding his breath.
"I can't" I looked down at my fingers on his chest, sighed and looked back to his eyes "I love you Daniel. I always have done, from the first moment I saw you"
Daniel inhaled slowly and squeezed my hand.
I leaned into his body and he wrapped his arms tightly around me. We stood holding each other as the dawn started to break outside.