My Stepbrother's a Vampire!

7; The Agreement

(Sorry I didn't post last week! I had a test to revise, which I hope I aced. The chapter's here now, and don't forget to read the little note downwards!)

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I wake to the face of an angel with the eyes of a demon.

Groggily, I fight against the lingering mists of fatigue that press against my body. I realize I am laid flat down upon a soft, familiar surface; my own bed. Apart from a slight throbbing within my cranium, my body feels physically content, as if I have just had a deep-rooted massage.

Alec sits right by my torso, on the edge of the bed frame. He is peering down at me, and as my eyes slowly open, a small smile spreads across his face. Early morning light streams in from the window, bathing his face, giving his skin a sunny glow. It appears he has recently had a shower; the dark curls of his hair are matter with moisture.  But, as if water alone cannot wash the misdeeds of his heinous crime, his eyes are still the colour of obsidian, dim with sin and iniquity.

"Good morning," he wishes quietly once I have fully roused. He shifts a little away from me so that I can sit up. "How do you feel?"

"Fine—" I speak too soon. A wave of nausea sweeps my body, radiating from all the corners of my body and collecting in the hub of my skull.

I clutch the side of my hide and wince. "On second thought, I have a massive migraine. Why does my..." I trail off, recalling my last moments of consciousness. I passed out, because of Alec's revelation. That he...fed off of George's blood. I blanch at the imagery which is triggered by the thought whilst my subconscious screams and hides for cover behind a sofa.

It's as if Alec can read my mind—or rather my expression—because the smile melts from off his lips as reaches over towards my bedside cabinet.

He hands me a glass of water and a painkiller. "Drink," he instructs.

I oblige and swallow down the pill. When I place the glass back, I notice the red numbers my alarm clock displays. It is 6.00 A.M.

"Is my mom not back yet?" I ask curiously. When Alec shakes his head, I frown.

"She called right after you passed out," he informs me. "She and Richard checked into a hotel after their meal. We'll see them later today."

"I wonder what they're up to," I mutter lowly.

Alec's smile returns. "I imagine falling deeper in love. You know, sometimes I get the impression you're not as happy for Carrie you'd like to be."

I grimace slightly at the vampire. How does he know me so well? "It's not that I don't want to be happy for her. It's just," I rub my hand up and down my arm. "I thought she was happy. With me." Alec gives me a weird look, and I grimace. "Not like that. If she's happy now with Richard, does that mean she was unhappy before?"

Alec gazes sympathetically at me. "Not at all. Your mother was happy with you; it was just a different kind of happiness. Her heart has made room for Richard also."

I shrug one shoulder. "If you say so."

My alarm clock abruptly begins to blare, having reached the time I usually get ready for school. I move as if to climb off my bed, but Alec doesn't shift to make way. Instead he leans in towards me.

"Why," he whispers, his voice a gravelly, exotic timbre, "are you sitting here, so calm, as if you are not conversing casually with a monster?"

My response takes a while; both in formulation and execution—Alec's breath is warm and spicy and it scatters my mind frame. At the back of my mind, my subconscious wonders what the fragrance his mouth emits is. Blood? My subconscious recoils, bringing out her crucifix and necklace of ginger cloves.

"I don't think you're a monster," I say truthfully. He makes as if to disagree but I only raise a finger. But because I have misjudged the distance between us, it lands right upon his chiselled, luscious lips. The nerves in that finger experience a deeper sensation, and Alec looks down at the contact.

My voice wobbles a little, but I continue. "If you were a monster, you would've hurt me. And killed George. You did not kill him, right?"

Alec nods.

I inhale deeply. "Okay then. But for future reference, let's make an agreement, okay?"

Alec smiles a tad, amused. "Go on," he mumbles from behind my fingers.

"Don't hurt or, er, feed off of anyone again."

Alec laughs deeply and raucously.

"I can't make any promises."

 ***

 P.S: This chapter was a little stale, I admit, and I apologise for that! But I promise, from this point onwards, the action, attraction and magic will progress and make itself evident. So please, keep reading!