Chapter Nine

Helen left the boys to prepare lunch and Damian headed to Anna’s room to see how she was. He knocked and she gave no reply. He sighed and he went in. He saw her sitting in a corner of the room. She looked up at him and their eyes met. She looked away.

“You shouldn’t be here” she said to him.

“Well I am. It’s not like you can tell me what I should and shouldn’t do” Damian said.

“Well, I don’t want you here!” She said, slightly raising her voice at him.

“I don’t think you understand how this thing works. Fate demands that I stay here with you because for some reasons, fate put us together for life and I am not about to change that so I am staying here and there’s nothing you can do about it!” he said back to her.

She sighed but didn’t argue further. He sat on her bed, taking the whole room in. Her scent filled the air. She scented like bananas and strawberries all together. He could sniff her forever. An awkward silence hung around them.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Damian asked

She shook her head and looked away. Before she could, he saw a tear slip from her eyes. He stood up from the bed and sat beside her on the floor. He threw his hands across her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. He felt like she needed it.

“Hey, it’s okay to be scared. After all you went through, it’s more than okay to be afraid but you got to let someone in. You have to let someone help you. You can’t do it alone. You can’t pull through this alone. We didn’t give up on you then and we wouldn’t do that now. You have me and you have your brother. You have your mom. All of us wouldn’t stop until we are sure that you’re fine” Damian said.

She buried her face in his chest and cried till she slept off. Damian carried her to her bed and covered her up. He headed for the door. He took one look at her before leaving her room. He went out and met everybody staring towards her room. They must have heard all he said.

“How is she now?” Helen asked

“I don’t know. I sense fear more than hope. I’m trying to be calm, hoping she would feel some sort of calmness in this storm. She is asleep now. Let’s just hope she wakes up feeling better” Damian said.

“At least you put her to sleep. She wasn’t willing to close her eyes before. Being trapped in your own body can be a nightmare” Alex said.

“Let us just party for the best”

*****

This was how they met. Eight days after, she transformed to a wolf and she was perfect at it. Damian noticed something about her. She was just different from every other wolf or vampire even. She was just not any other girl. It didn’t take so long for him to fall in love with her. They had written the last exam for the term and he was waiting in front of her class to pick her up when he heard students screaming right outside the hall. He looked back and saw that everybody was running in that direction so he decided to check it out. There had been an attack and three senior students were dead. Nobody saw the attackers. They only saw the bodies.

He felt a tug on his arm. He looked back and saw Annabelle. He pulled her away from the crowd and led her to the parking lot. She was silent. He leaded against his car and looked at her.

“What’s wrong?” He asked her but she gave no reply.

“Did you see something? Were they vampires or wolves?” Damian asked. She shook her head.

“They were witches!” she said.

“Witches? Why would witches kill people?” Damian asked.

“I don’t know but Cassie was part of them”

“Cassie? Why would Cassie do this?” Damian asked.

“I don’t know and I have no idea. It’s almost like she was a different person. She told me to run and I did. I went back to my class and you weren’t there. I was going to go find Alex when I spotted you in the crowd. I don’t know where Alex is. He’s not picking up either. In going to look for him”

“No! You’re not. You’re going to stay here until we know what’s wrong!” Damian said.

He looked at her. She was still very worried so he decided to take her mind off things.

“I am going back to Cordina for the holidays” he said.

“Oh, I didn’t know that” she said.

“I was thinking, since we are trying to get to know each other and stuffs like that. I mean since you don’t want a relationship with me, maybe you can get to know where I stay. Would you come to Cordina with me?”

“Oh wow, I wasn’t expecting that. I don’t know. I would have to ask Mom and then Alex. I would think about it really” she said

“I know this might seem improper but I just have to let you know that I still like you” he said

“Like me?” she teased. “The last time we were at this, you loved me, bro!”

“I am not your brother. Don’t call me that. I know I said I loved you and I still do. I just think the word ‘like’ would make you more comfortable” Damian said, smoking at her

She sighed and then it felt like an arm went through her chest. She screamed!

“What’s wrong?” Damian asked

She couldn’t reply, blood started to rush from her nose and mouth. She fainted. She woke up in an unfamiliar room. She looked around. She met him asleep beside her. She touched his face. He was so handsome when he was asleep. He looked so worried, even in his sleep. She reached for her phone when she heard Alex’s voice.

“You are awake” he said

“I was worried about you” she said back

“I know but I’m alright. I can’t be easily taken down by witches. How are you? Damian told me what happened” he said.

“I don’t know. It felt like someone removed my heart from my chest. Damian was right beside me so it wasn’t him”

“Maybe it’s the side effects of the spell. I mean it’s just two months now” Alex said.

Her phone beeped. She looked at it. Damn, she was going to be late. She got up from the bed and grabbed her jacket.

“Where are you going?” her brother demanded.

“I have to meet up with mom. We have a mother- daughter date. I would call you. Tell Damian I am so sorry to leave him like that”

“I already heard that” Damian said, with his eyes still closed

She ran out the door and sped home. She got to the front door and she could tell that something was wrong. Her mom never leaves the door ajar. She always made sure it was locked. She picked up her phone to call her brother before walking into the house. She entered carefully saw her mother on the wing chair in the living room.

“Mom? Why did you leave the door open?” she asked her mother, whose back was turned to her but she got no reply.

She walked to face her mother and found out that she was bound to the chair she was sitting on. She saw blood all over her and she was about to run to free her. She kicked something and she looked down. It looked like a heart. She looked back at her mother and noticed her skin. She untied her and her body dropped. Tears started to flow from her eyes. She laid her mother down and cried. He called her brother but couldn’t form the words to say.

*****

After getting a call from his sister the third time, he knew something was wrong. He looked at Damian.

“Did she say anything?” Damian asked.

“No. The network connection isn’t even bad here”

“I feel this sadness, emptiness. It’s not me. It’s Anna. We have to go find her” Damian said as he stood up.

He left his house and Alex followed him. They decided to drive around so they took Damian’s car. The first place they decided to check was his mother’s house. Damian entered the house, then remembered there was a boundary spell, he was supposed to be invited but then he noticed that there was no effect for his entry. It wasn’t right except the owner of the house was dead. It dawned on him what has happened. He looked at Alex as tears welled up in his eyes.

“No, you can’t be serious!” Alex said as he stormed into the house and found Anna on the floor, Helen’s body on her laps.

She looked at him. Her face was almost red. She sniffed and cleared her throat.

“She has been here, for almost six hours. They came in, ripped out her heart and tied her to the chair. They weren’t here for her, were they? They were here for me! I should have been here” Anna said

Alex knelt down beside his sister and hugged her while she cried. Night fell and they took the body to the mortuary. They went back to Helen’s house and decided to clean the place up. It took a while but by the first announcement of daylight, they were done. It was noon when Damian walked to her room. She was in a corner, just staring at nothing. She didn’t notice him come in. He sat beside her and hugged her. He kissed her forehead. He didn’t know what to say to her so he said nothing. They heard a light knock on the door. She gave a come in. She saw her best friend.

“Hey, it’s so good to see you. I heard about your mom. Your brother called me. I am so sorry”

Anna looked at her and turned away. Hailey knew that Anna wasn’t going to let go of what she had done easily. Hailey was a vampire and she hid it from Anna because Anna wasn’t one of them. Hailey was convinced Anna was human until the signs started to manifest. Hailey wasn’t in support of this life and she didn’t want her best friends in harm’s way. Right from the very beginning, Anna thought vampires and werewolves were a result of someone’s imagination and she wanted it to be that way.

Damian noticed the tension between them and he stood up.

“Where are you going?” Anna spoke up

“I am going to getting something to eat. I will probably get a bucket of ice cream for you on my way back and I need to check up on Alex and Justin. I would be back in an hour” he said as he headed out the door.

Anna knew he was trying to escape. He knew he was giving her and her best friend space so they could talk things out but she wasn’t ready to talk. She just wanted to be left alone and Hailey wasn’t going to let her. The girls sat opposite each other, doing nothing but staring at each other. Hailey didn’t know what it felt like to come from such a complicated back ground. Her life was pretty easy. She was the daughter of two vampires. She was the only child too. Her parents were easy going folks and they were very peaceful people. They didn’t quarrel with anybody and they rarely fed directly from a life source. They always has sashes of blood in the house because they bought them not because they killed someone. Hailey had the perfect life and her best friend didn’t. There was no way she could relate to that kind of pain and she knew.