Reflection (Book #2)

Chapter Eight

"Dee. Wake up. I'm about to leave for work."

I groaned, rolling over with a yawn.

Ben kissed my lips. Just go back to sleep, okay? I'll be back before you wake up. I might take a nap when I get back."

"Be careful. I love you," I mumbled.

"Delilah!"

I groaned. "Dion, just leave me alone."

"I'm not dead, Delilah! But I will be soon. Do you really hate me that much?" Dion asked.

"I'm dreaming. Why can't I dream of something nice for once?"

"Are you going to save me or let me die?"

"You're already dead!" I screamed.

I woke up with a jolt, looking around. I shook Ben awake. "Ben, I'm freaking out."

He wrapped his arms around my back, tucking me into his chest. "What's wrong?" He rumbled in a deep, sleepy voice.

I was immediately comforted by the feeling of safety. "Dion keeps coming to me in dreams and saying he's alive."

"Dee, baby, he's dead. I know it has to be hard to let go of him because he was part of your life for so long, but he's dead."

"He said someone is going to kill him. He asked me to save him."

Ben kissed the top of my head, and squeezed me as tightly as he could. "Baya has probably already done something with his body, but I'll call and check with them. Maybe if they still have him, and you want to, we can go see him. That way you can be sure he's really gone."

I shook my head. "We don't have to do all that. It's just hard because it feels so real. Im sure he'll go away eventually. You go back to sleep for now. I'll take Alex to school, and when I come back I'll wake you up."

"Oh, I'll owe you my life," he said.

I kissed his cheek, and got up from the bed.

After I dropped Alex off at school, I drove slowly back home. I hadn't been truly alone, without feeling another person's vibrations in months. I crawled back into bed, and gently shook Ben to wake him up.

"Bite me," he whispered without opening his eyes.

"You aren't even awake!"

"So wake me up. Bite me," he said.

"Hmm," I considered, rubbing my hands up his bare chest. I pressed my mouth to his neck, then kissed down his shoulder. His heartbeat was so strong. His smell was overwhelming to me. "You smell so good to me. Your blood calls to me like an addiction," I mumbled. "I can't resist it." I bit down into his flesh. His hot blood spilled over my tongue. He pressed his hands into the wall above his head, groaning in pleasure.

When I stopped, he wrapped his arms around me, cinching me up against him. "I'm not an addiction," he whispered. "I can feel it, when you bite me. It's your love for me. The draw of my blood- it's to complete the bond, isn't it?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"What would happen if I drank your blood?"

"Not right now, Ben," I said, pushing away from him slightly.

He crushed me up against him. "I'm not saying today. You want me to think about the details, so you have to tell me. I need to know what to expect so I can consider everything and come to a final decision."

I kissed his cheek. "I'll tell you, but you need to eat."

He sat with his grilled cheese sandwich across the table from me. "Tell me."

I gulped, staring at the table as words formed in my head, drawing on memories I had tried to repress. "It starts like a fire, and moves all through your body. It's an indescribable pain. Your body changes in so many ways. A lot of your Safi organs are useless, so they disintegrate, and change into something else. Your digestive system is altered to be able to digest blood.

"Your heart will still beat, but much slower most of the time. You develop a hunger unlike anything you've ever felt. For me, it lasted a couple of days. When you wake up, you will kill, but it won't matter. In those moments, your body will be so desperate to quench the thirst that you won't even recognize it. I killed two women, and Dion finished the third. Baya allows a new vampire to do suicides for a few days.

"When it calms down, you'll find your rhythm." My heart fluttered for a second, thinking about my next point. "When the hunger wanes, you'll feel more attracted to me than you ever have. You won't be able to fight it. You won't be able to keep a distance.  It's very powerful."

He was staring into my eyes, his heart pounding against his chest. "And I'll feel you," he whispered.

I nodded. "All the time."

"I wish I could feel you." He reached his hand across the table, rubbing his fingertips up his arm. "You're afraid that I'll regret it?"

"I don't know what I'm afraid of. Maybe I'm afraid of messing it up again." I scoffed, pulling my hands into my lap and looking at the floor. "Dion was with me as long as I can remember. I begged him to give me a chance, to fall in love with me. I thought the only way I could keep him interested was to become Zuri. I gave up everything to be with him, even my human life, and he still broke my heart. I don't want you to think that you have to do that for me. I want us to have a relationship that is stronger than that.

"I know the strength, and the power, and the unrivaled connection is alluring, but you can't make that decision on an impulse. You have to be sure that you want it for yourself, and not to try to be something you think I want you to be." I stood from the table, and walked away.