Chapter 8

Back at my apartment, I cleaned myself up and put on some soft fuzzy pants and a loose cotton t-shirt.

I was still raging as I lit some candles around the apartment in an effort to help myself wind down for the night. I know I was frustrated earlier that he hadn’t texted me back all day, but in hindsight I really didn’t know why I had gotten so angry over something so… not worth getting angry about. And when he suddenly showed up to save me after not talking to me all day, it just got so much worse. I should have been grateful that he cared enough to protect me right? Instead I was just furious.

About half an hour after I got home, he knocked on my door. I almost decided not to answer it, to ignore him as he had ignored me. But now that I had let him into the apartment, I was pretty sure if I didn’t answer, he would just find another way in. I could remedy that by spelling him out again, but I didn’t think I would have time before he just decided to enter on his own.

I took a deep breath and went to go let him into the apartment. He watched me as we sat on the white cushy sectional in my living room.

“Why are you so angry? All I did was save your life,” he prompted.

I shook my head. “Why? You ignored me all day today, and now you want to show up when you thought my life was in danger?”

He looked confused. “I didn’t ignore you all day, I was out hunting so I would be satiated before spending time with you tonight. I was on my way to meet you at the salon for the end of your shift when I saw you walking along and being followed by that man.”

It was a perfectly valid reason. And now he was looking at me like I was one of those girls so obsessed with their man they get mad every time they don’t text back right away. Which… I guess technically I was one of those crazy girls today. The idea left a bad taste in my mouth.

“I…” I shook my head again, finally starting to see sense and calm down a little bit. “I don’t know why I’m so angry lately. I’m just a little angry all the time now.” As I spoke the words, I realized their truth. When I first moved down here, I was a wreck. And then I got settled, but now I’m just….

He searched my eyes. I let him see me for a moment that felt like forever. I wanted to squirm as he kept looking, for what I didn’t know, but I held my ground. Then he finally broke the silence by asking, “What were you really going to do to that man?”

“I was going to freeze him solid, and then shatter his body into millions of pieces and wash away what remained into the sewer.”

He blinked. “That might have been a better way to ensure there wasn’t any evidence, but how is that mess easier to clean up than a head, a corpse, and a bit of blood?”

I rolled my eyes, “Trust me, with my powers it would have been easy.”

“Could you really have done that with your powers?” he wondered.

Instead of answering, I decided to just show him. I grabbed a package of ground beef out of the back of my freezer. It had been in there far too long and was freezer burnt anyway, so it wouldn’t be a complete waste. You couldn’t really afford to waste food when you only made a little more than minimum wage.

I went to the door, and then he got up to follow me outside. I went around the back of the apartment building right to the edge of the pavement where there was some brush before the ground led down into a large creek behind it.

I dropped the package on the pavement, and he watched as I put my hand out and with a quick flick of the wrist, it froze solid from the inside out. I was so powerful it happened in an instant, and my control was so perfect that the ground around it did not freeze, nor did the package of meat freeze to the ground.

I gestured to him to pick it up, and see for himself. He gave out a whistle. “Damn. And you can to the same to the human body?”

“I’ve never tried it, but in theory, I am powerful enough to do it.”

He looked like he wanted to ask me something else, but decided to wait as he set the package back on the ground so I could complete my demonstration.

Once he stepped back, I thrusted my hand out. The package shattered, practically exploding, into millions of little ice chunks. I then swooped the ice chunks into the air with my powers, and tossed them down into the creek, where I felt the water slowly carry the pieces away as well as some little bits getting stuck in places, caught on rocks and branches.

“You see how easy that was?” I made my point.

He nodded, “Alright, it would have been easier that way.”

Once we were back inside the apartment, he asked what else I could do with my powers. I put up one of my hands and closed it into a fist, summoning water out of thin air, encasing my hand in it. I made it fly around the room, changing its shape and freezing it, then changing its shape in ice form, and sublimating it from ice into vapor. I could even create a nice misty breeze if there was enough water vapor in the air.

“I can create storms, but those are a lot harder to control.”

“You’re amazing,” he said, completely astonished by my control and abilities. “I guess you can handle yourself, but it’s better when I do it,” he said slyly.

I smacked his arm. Prick.

“Why? So I can help enable your serial killer habits?” I raised my brows at him teasingly.

He put on a shocked and offended face. “I’m not a serial killer!”

I just gave him a look that said Really? Are you sure?

“Okay,” he conceded, “technically yes, all vampires could be considered serial killers. But to be fair, we weren’t always, at least not while we were still human, and we have to in order to live.”

“Oh really? You have to kill them to live, or just drink their blood? Are you sure you don’t enjoy hunting humans?”

“You have a point, I’ll give you that. But we aren’t evil. At least, most of us aren’t. Generally speaking, we don’t kill for sport,” he defended himself.

I put my hands up, but I couldn’t help the sly smile on my face. He pounced on me then, flinging us both onto the sectional, pinning me beneath him. “If you don’t stop smiling like that, I may just have to lick that smile right off your face,” he said sensually licking his lips.

I thrashed a little, and he ground himself against me, groaning a little. I clawed at his hips, looking for a way to tease him a little, when I felt something in his back pocket.

I pulled it out, and saw it was a badge. When I opened it, I realized it had belonged to the man in the alley. The man had been a private investigator.

I stilled, staring at the ID. Had he been sent to find me? I started to panic. Suddenly Dax’s weight was crushing, and the walls were beginning to close in. The temperature in the room began to drop.

Dax got up off me, sitting up on the sectional next to me and pulling me up with him. He noticed the sudden change in me.

“I took it off the man from the alley’s body. I was going to dispose of it later,” he explained.

The temperature in the room continued to drop. I was spiraling, and the room began to darken, bringing me back to that place….

Dax began to shake me. Snapping me out of it.

“Marianna,” he said in a firm voice, “you’re safe. You’re here with me.”

I could only nod my head. He pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me and tucking me into him. He was breathing deeply, and as his scent slowly took over my senses, I began to match his rhythm.

The room began to warm again, and my breathing evened out as it tried to keep rhythm with his.

Our breathing was nearly aligned, and I began to fall asleep. Right before I slipped into the peaceful darkness, he said, “I’m going to protect from whatever this is.” I didn’t know if he was talking to me or himself, but I almost believed him as sleep finally pulled me under.