Chasing Wolves (completed)

Chapter 4 Isadora

Chapter 4

Isadora

It shouldn't be long now.

It's been a week since the wedding and I haven't left Rob's side once since I woke up. According to Lin he could wake up at any time and I want to be the first person that he sees, the one that explains everything to him.

I just have this feeling that if I stay by his side, if he can somehow feel my presence, that he'll pull through okay. I know the likelihood of him not making it is slim to none- but I just couldn't take it if he didn't.

Lin and Meg periodically drop in to visit me so I don't die of anxiety riddled boredom. They bring food (that I barely if ever eat), give me updates about what everyone's doing, and just entertain me with blessedly mundane chatter. Occasionally Meg will come in and force me to change my clothes. I usually refuse at first, but she always asks me if I want to stink when Rob wakes up, and I give in.

According to Lin, the morning after the 'wedding disaster', Lanny was buried under her favorite tree in the garden. Devastatingly, according to multiple reports from the both of them, Romulus hasn't said a word since, instead just aimlessly walking through the forest and only occasionally coming in for meals. I can understand what he's going through, yet at the same time... I have no idea. After my parents, and later Aunt Molly, died, I did the same thing. But if Rob died, the person I've known all my life, nearly twice as long as I've known my parents, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be so... subdued.

There's a rustling sound from the bed and I pay attention just in time to see Rob move his hand; clenching it into a fist before unclenching and returning to his previous stillness. Everyone who's had any dealings with Turning vampires (namely Lin, Meg, and Vlain) have all told me how bizarre it is that he only writhed for about an hour after first being bitten, instead of the usual days. They don't necessarily take it as a good sign but I do. He's so strong, so stubborn, he'll be fine.

It shouldn't be long now.

"Dee...?" I snap to consciousness at the use of my all-too-familiar nickname, amazed that I'd somehow managed to fall asleep. Standing from where I'd fallen asleep leaning against the foot of the bed, I walk towards its head and squeal when I notice Rob looking up at me. I barely register his now-red eyes, instead launching myself at him and crushing him in a hug.

Given that he's now a vampire (even though he's still weak, considering that he hasn't eaten yet), he isn't hurt nearly as badly as when I did this when he was human, only giving a small muffled grunt against my shoulder.

I sit back and take him in. He's alive! I don't know how to do this: should I just come out and tell him, get him to figure it out on his own, or something in between? Thinking of something, I take his hand in mine and squeeze, reassured more than words could possibly describe when he squeezes back. "Do you notice anything... different?"

He thinks a second and then hesitantly answers, "yeah... you're warmer... and everything's... brighter. Why is that?"

"Well, Rob, uhhh..." Wow, eloquent as always. Before I can think better I blurt it out and hope for the best. "Rob, you're a vampire."

He stares at me for a second and then bursts out laughing. I wish I could just laugh along with him, that this is a joke and none of it is real, but it is. After a moment of me not joining in he finally stops, looking at me like I must be insane. I wish I were.

"But vampires aren't real."

"Yes they are."

I lift my lip, purposely showing him my fangs for the first time (he accidentally saw them the night of Lin's birthday, when he was drunk in the alley and we'd just gotten back to the Complex from V Amps. I can still picture his confused, slightly out-of-it expression.) He shrieks in alarm and scoots back away from me, wincing in pain as the bandage on his chest pulls. He notices it for the first time and scratches at it absently as he turns back to me, terror and alarm in his eyes. "You're a..."

"Not entirely, but I'll explain later. What's the last thing you remember?"

He thinks back, "trying to get past Lin to help you. He's really strong. I never would have thought. He's not very muscular."

"There's a reason why that is and I'll explain that, too. Thank you for trying to help me, but there was nothing you could have possibly done and as you can see, I'm perfectly fine. Anyway, a Werewolf (yes, they exist too, that's what we were fighting) scratched you and you were bleeding out." I point to his bandage and he looks at it bemusedly, as if not believing that he got that from a Werewolf. If I'd woken up after a week to be told that I'm now a vampire because I was bleeding out from a Werewolf scratch, I would not be taking it this calmly.

"If it weren't for Vlain, who's actually my ancestor and the oldest vampire I've ever heard of, you'd be dead now. He turned you, which stopped the bleeding and healed your wound."

At this he slowly unravels the bandage and, just as I'd said, he's healed, the only proof that it ever happened being four slightly-jagged scars spanning across his pecs. He runs his fingers over them, barely able to spread his fingers wide enough, and looks back up to me. The terror is gone from him, replaced with awe and curiosity, making him resemble a child that just discovered something amazing.

With him now more accepting about everything, I explain everything that's happened, everyone that I've met, since I moved out of my house in New York, answering any of his questions.