In My Veins (10 page)

“Yes...”

“How did you become a vampire?” I said
suddenly believing him more. I made him look at me, “Someone didn’t bite you
did they?” I felt both worried and scared for him at the thought.

He shook his head sadly, “It was a curse
brought upon my family.”

“A curse? How so?”

“Yeah,” he said starting to run his
fingers through my hair. I took that as a good sign. He was easing up to me again.
“My great-great grandfather was in love with a gypsy. Gypsies were and still
are everywhere. My grandfather fell in love with one of the gypsy daughters. But
his family already had a marriage planned out for him. Marriages were planned
back in those days. The gypsy was pregnant and after she found out she assumed
he was using her she went into a complete depression, stress, and rage causing
her to lose the baby.”

“How awful…” I thought of the poor girl
feeling abandoned by the man she loved and having to go through the misery of
losing her child, “How did the curse happen though?”

“After she lost the baby, she placed a
curse on all the Carmichael men from my grandfather and after.”

“So curses are real? Wow…” I mumbled, “What
exactly is this curse?”

“From our thirteenth birthday or
whenever we hit puberty, we will become…a monster. She didn’t specify what type
of monster…so we may vary sometimes. But we usually end up looking vampirish. I
guess that was the monster of choice those days. We have to find true love to
break the curse. If we find someone who truly loves us for the monster we are
by our fifteenth birthday as a monster, the curse will be broken. If not… we’ll
be stuck as a monster permanently and forever.”

“Fifteenth? You’ll be twenty-seven in
August. You’re way past fifteen.”

“No not my actual fifteenth birthday but
the fifteenth birthday of being cursed. So my twenty-eighth birthday will be
the last chance I have.

“It will be broken for all of you?”

“No… just the person who finds the
love.”

“So… is it going to be broken for you?”
I asked looking up at him now. I loved him. He knew it, so it should be gone.

He looked down at me and smiled, “You
have to
see
all of me. You have to see me as a monster… then we’ll see
how you feel.”

“Show me.”

He furrowed his eyebrows, “Not today...
I think that was enough for today.”

“Wait… so is that why you really don’t
want me to see the gypsy psychic?” I hated bringing her up but I had to know.

I felt him tense up again, “Yes. Gypsies
can sense us. They hate us because they know of the legend. Well not all of
them… but she did. They try to prevent whoevers with us from falling in love
with us. They scare off the girl before we can tell them our story.”

I suddenly felt extra guilty for seeing
her.

“You saw her again didn’t you?” He said
plainly.

“You can read minds too?” I half-joked,
only expecting him to say yes.

He laughed, “No… I just know you.”

“I’m sorry…Tiffany wanted to see her and
I went with her. It’s no excuse but that’s what happened. Lana kind of just
threw the reading at me.”

“It’s okay… please just don’t see her
anymore.”

“Okay.”

“You know… she actually saw me coming
before we knew each other.” He said.

I looked at him curiously, “What are you
talking about?”

“We met each other at Lotus Dragon.”

“You’re right! Why didn’t you tell me
earlier?” I asked.

“I didn’t want it to encourage you to
see her again.” He said still running his fingers in my hair.

“She said something about you having a
tattoo. Do you have them?” I asked.

He laughed, “Um… a few on my back.”

“I want to see!”

“Later.”

I groaned, “Tease.”

 “So… are you scared of me?” he
hesitated.

“Should I be?”

He held my face to his with both his
hands squeezing my cheeks and forcing my lips to pucker like a fish. “No. I
would
never
hurt you.”

“Then no.” I attempted to say.

He smiled and gently kissed my puckered
lips. He released my face and sighed, “it’s getting late…I think you should go
to bed now. I’ll stay on the couch.”

“But---”

“No buts. It’s better that way tonight.
The blood thing is still too fresh…” He said, “If you hear or see anything
weird just say my name and I’ll be there before you know it.”

I nodded and gave him a passionate kiss
goodnight hoping that would make him not want to sleep on the couch,
“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight beautiful.” he said longingly
as I forced myself to walk away.

I couldn’t sleep. How could I after what James told
me. As much as I wanted him to be here I was thankful he wasn’t. It gave me a
chance to think. Alone.

I stared at the ceiling fan that I had
on highest speed and thought. I repeated everything he said to me in my head
countless times. He calls himself a monster. He says he likes blood. I should
be running away. I should be thinking he’s insane.

But there is no way he’s serious. Is it
even possible? I thought
I
was going insane from seeing the ‘monsters’
during my attack. But now…who am I to doubt it?

 I closed my eyes and forced myself to
drift off to sleep.

My eyes shot open at the first sign of
light that drifted into my bedroom. I don’t know how I felt it, but I knew I
wasn’t alone. My bed was empty. But someone else was in the room with me.
Without moving, I used my eyes to scan the room. I looked by the window and
there was nothing. My eyes drifted to the closet and it was closed as usual. I finally
decided I was being paranoid and sat up on my bed. I looked next to me and saw
James on the floor leaning against my night stand. He said something about not
going to work today, which was a rare for the man who never gave himself a day
off, so I didn’t want to wake him. Plus, he looked so cute sleeping so
peacefully.

I took a quick shower and got ready but
he was still asleep. I felt bad that he had to sleep in such an uncomfortable
position but he had to be exhausted for even being able to sleep in a weird
position like that. Deciding a big manly breakfast would be the best treat for
him I got started with cooking before I woke him.

As the food finished cooking I went back
into my room and sat in front of him on the floor. He looked so peaceful and
that same boyish charm he has only when he lets go and truly laughs was shining
through his slumber. I wondered what he thought of while he was awake that made
it such a rare sight to see. I had to roll my eyes at the fact that even in his
sleep he looked perfect. His facial scruff was still the perfect amount of
shadow, his hair was never out of place, and a jawline that any male model
would kill for.

Wondering how much of a light sleeper he
was, I blew on his face to wake him. I smiled as his steel blue eyes met with
mine.

“I guess asking if you sleep is off the
list of questions I have for you.” One hair fell out of place and dropped to
his eye. I couldn’t help but smile at the moment of imperfection. He still
looked hot. I brushed it away with  my fingers and leaned forward to give him a
quick kiss.

He smiled and looked around my room taking
everything in, “What time is it?” he asked trying to sound as normal as
possible and not the usual sleepy voice. He failed. I loved so morning voice.
Deep and velvety.

“Half past ten. I knew you were off
today so I let you sleep in. I felt bad that you were sleeping here, of all
places. But I couldn’t carry you. And if I woke you, I wasn’t sure if you would
go back to sleep. Plus, that’s what you get for sneaking into my room in the
middle of the night pervert.”

“Pervert?” He laughed and crawled his
way to me making me slide back on the rug. He was on top of me as he started
tickling my waist, “I swear if you don’t let me go…no breakfast for you!” I
said in-between laughing and screaming. I hated being tickled. It was close to
torture in my opinion.

He laughed, “Threatening a guy with
food? Wow. You’re just cruel.”

“Only when it comes to tickling. So…come
on, lets go eat.”

Since neither of us had work that day. I
thought it would be the perfect opportunity to harass him with questions about
what he said yesterday. I had millions of them and most of the questions were
ridiculous. I knew I needed a full day with no interruptions to get through
them and for him to answer honestly.

Questions like:
Do you have vampire
friends?
Is there some vampire association? Do you have
any super powers? Can you teleport?
We have Italian a lot…so does it
hurt when you eat the garlic? Does it hurt when you eat anything? Do you have
x-ray vision? Do different blood types taste different? How many people have
you bitten? What happens when a mosquito bites you?

“What are you doing?” he asked looking
at me inquisitively. I looked down and realized I was covering myself up with
my cardigan. If he does have some sort of x-ray vision I needed to work out
more.

I nervously laughed, “Oh…nothing. Just
thinking.”

“About?” he probed as he took a bite of his
bacon. I smiled as I remembered his comparison of blood and bacon.

“Do you… have x-ray vision? Because I
need to know.”

He almost choked on his food as he
laughed. I crossed my arms and frowned, “Can’t blame a girl for asking…” I need
to be warned before someone sees me naked. Getting my legs waxed and such. “Because
a boyfriend with x-ray vision can make things awkward. And if there is anyone
else like you out there…and they could see me?” I shivered at the thought.

“I told you blood is like a treat to me
and you worry about me seeing you naked?” he asked.

I shrugged. It still didn’t feel real to
me. I was still waiting for him to start laughing and say that he couldn’t
believe I thought he was serious. Maybe that’s why I was avoiding the serious
questions.

He sighed, “No… nothing like that. Just
sharpened human stuff. My hearings better than normal, my eyesight’s better
than normal, I’m faster, sense of smell is stronger than normal. Stuff like
that.” I could tell he was uncomfortable about talking about these things. Any
trace of doubt I had that increased over night was quickly disappearing the
more he explained and the more I saw how much he hated talking about it.

“That makes you a vampire? No immunity
to garlic or ability to become a bat. Rip-off.” I joked trying to lighten the
mood.

“Vampires are glorified. In the end of
the day, they’re just a monster. I’m just a monster.” He said bitterly staring
at the food then looking up at me with a forced smile, “Look… after what I told
you yesterday…if you want to see other people I understand. But…I can’t leave
you knowing you’re in danger. I will still watch over you.”

The word
‘break up’
gave me a
twisty feeling in my stomach and I knew that would never be an option in my
opinion. “I don’t want to break up with you. This would be the stupidest reason
to break up.”

“I think finding out the guy you’re
seeing is a monster is probably the best reason to break up, baby. And for
future reference, if he says they are without showing you proof. They’re
probably insane, run the other way.”

“Stop calling yourself a monster. You
don’t look like one, you might be gifted with sharpened skills and want to bite
me occasionally… but your still you. You’re not just ‘some guy I’m seeing’. And
some people are into that kind of stuff. What’s the big deal?”

He smiled, “I won’t bite you.”

“Damn.” I smiled back.

His smile faded and he darkened again,
“But I do look like a monster… you just haven’t seen it yet…you’ll realize soon
enough.”

“Show me now. I can handle a sharp tooth
or two.”

He shook his head, “No… I don’t want you
seeing me as that…yet.”

I stared at him trying to see how on
earth he could think he looks like a monster when he looked up to meet my gaze.
He smiled and had a forced smile, “You look extra beautiful today.  What
are you up to?”

“Tiffany… she wanted to talk about her
date with Daniel.” I said not really wanting to go and would much rather spend
time with him and continue with my million questions. I noticed he looked kind
of disappointed too. “I want to cancel though. Could we stay in?”

He smiled, “Of course, but talk to her.
I think she already hates me because she thinks I ‘keep you to myself’.”

“David talked to you?”

“Yes.” He smirked, “I’ll clean up; you
go change into something more comfortable.”

“Okay.” I said walking to my room. I
looked at the table of pictures I had in my tiny hallway to my room and noticed
the picture of James and me was face down. I looked back towards the kitchen
but James wasn’t looking at me. He was washing dishes and his mind was millions
of miles away.

Shrugging it off as someone might have
just bumped into it, I put the picture back to its original position and went
back to my room to change.

*
*
*

It had been two weeks since James had
been basically living with me. His things were still at his house so he would
still have to go back to his home every morning before work but he would always
come with me after my work to sleep at my house. I thought it was a waste of
his time to do all this but he refused to let me be alone.

Since he did all the major production in
Los Angeles, the city that lives on production, it seemed he did every job
possible. He was off to work a lot. And even when he was off, he was working
from home or on the phone talking about whatever needs to be done with whoever
takes his place when he’s not there.

Every day was the same. He slept in my
house. Woke up in my house. Went to his house to change and get ready for work.
Picked me up from work and then we spent the rest of our night together. It was
weird, but it worked.

Tiffany and Daniel had also been dating
for two weeks. Apparently their first date together worked out great. Tiffany
and her big mouth agreed to go to the cabin with Daniel, James, and Chris. James
didn’t want to go on their annual cabin ‘camping’ trip with the guys because he
still hasn’t caught the monster that has been attacking me. I felt bad that James
was canceling something he had always done with his best friend and cousin to babysit
me. I was going to somehow convince him to go, but Tiff already volunteered us
in anyway.

“You and I both know
we
don’t
camp and neither of us have been skiing before.” I said as I looked through the
racks of the snow clothes and cringed. I picked up a cute black yoga tracksuit
zip up sweater with a sequin design in the back. If I must rough it up in a
cabin, I’ll do it in style. I don’t care if I’ll be freezing to death with the
thin material. Plus, it was more of an excuse to cuddle with James and I will
look good.  

“I used to camp all the time! We’re
going to be in a cabin, how bad could it be.” she said.

“You camped once. In a fully stocked RV
when you were six.” I mumbled, “The fact that we’re even shopping for clothes
to go roughing it up in a cabin is a sign that we should rough it up in any,
way, shape or form.”

“It won’t be so bad.”

“RV camping and roughing it up with
three guys in a tent is as bad as it gets.”

“I know you’re right.” She groaned, “But
sorry, I just started my relationship with Daniel. We’re still fresh. I want to
spend as much time with him as I can.” she vented.

“I’m going aren’t I?” I vented back.

“You are. And as a treat, I won’t nag at
you for not coming to yoga Mondays for three straight months.”

“You said you wouldn’t nag. But you just
technically did.” I winked.

She smirked and handed me a really cute sweater
knowing it was my style. “This doesn’t clear you from forcing me to do this,
missy.” I said and grabbed it going to the cashier, not even attempting to go
to the long line of the dressing room to try them on.