Is it wrong to love a vampire?

Chapter 42

Aly repositioned the unnecessary ice pack on his face. 'I'm really sorry about that. I thought you were someone else.'

'Now I know you've got a mean punch.' He chuckled.

She rolled her eyes. 'You didn't need to scare me to find that out.'

He threw the ice pack onto the table and kissed her head. 'I'm sorry for scaring you.'

Aly knew how much he meant those words.

He quickly pulled her into his lap and curled his arms around Aly. 'I'm proud of you.'

Aly blushed. 'Shouldn't we be leaving soon?'

Chad scoffed. 'We're fine. Trust me.' His arms squeezed tighter across her chest and he nuzzled into her neck.

Aly played with the rusty strands of his hair, feeling the dryness through her fingers. Her warped home had shifted ever slightly back to something she loved.

The first time she ever walked through the old carved wooden door, she was shivering and covered in blood, most of it her own. Everything looked bigger then, scarier. Nate directed her to a shower and he carefully offered her new clothes but Aly chose to stay in her blood stained ones. She had seen the carnage her new captors had unleashed on her old ones. She knew how deadly the man with the red eyes had been on her own family.

For an eleven year old, she had seen too much death.

Nate was waiting on the landing when Aly finally emerged and he made no comment on her clothing choices.

He knelt down and asked her again. 'What's your name?'

The only other thing he'd said to her was 'You're safe here.'

She didn't feel safe, couldn't remember what it felt like.

She knew now what Nate had meant, this defiled house felt like safety. Chad's arms wrapped tight around her and his breath tickling her ear was safety.

Her first night here felt hollow and she was plagued with nightmares of the man with red eyes devouring her. It was days before she opened her mouth and uttered her name in a crackly distorted voice.

Chad smiled, a lopsided toothy grin. 'Wanna go see the water?'

Aly nodded her head quickly. She hadn't seen the sun since she left home.

'Would you like to change first?' Nate asked reassuringly.

Chad shrugged. 'If she wants to go like that, who cares?'

Nate bored holes into Chad's face as he stood up. 'Come on Aly, let's go see some waves.' Chad held out his hand for her.

Internally Aly beamed, she'd never had a nickname before. She instinctively reached out and put her translucent hand in his tanned skin. She decided to always be tanned like him as they headed for the light.

Aly opened her eyes looking directly at the blood stain in the foyer. 'Did I ever say thank you?'

Chad's head perked up. 'For what?'

'You saved my life.'

Chad shrugged. 'Nate did it. I just tagged along.'

'But Nate wasn't the one who took me to the beach in blood-stained clothes.'

Chad laughed, remembering the moment. 'You were so pale, I could almost see through you. You needed that sun.'

'And look at me now.' Aly laughed, gazing into his hazel eyes.