In My Veins (15 page)

The door opened to reveal a shirtless David.
I felt my ears heat up at the sight of his tanned abs making them both look at
me. He was beyond built. I realized they both probably sensed how I felt. I
smiled mischievously and shrugged, a girl is allowed to look if the abs are
there if guys can do it with boobs.

“Mind putting a shirt on?” James demanded
more than requested.

“Do I need to remind you that you came
to my home.” He said with a smirk as he opened the door wide enough for us to
walk in. James dragged me into the almost empty living room. Besides the flat
screen, small sofa, and a few weight lifting stuff that was it, it looked like
it was just moved into. I wasn’t as surprised as I should be that David didn’t
have that much furniture.  He seemed like the type of guy that just didn’t
care.

David came back with a shirt on and
glared at James, “What are you two doing here? And like that.” He said as he looked
at James up and down making me look too. I had not realized he was still red
eyed and vampirey. His shirt was ripped up too and he definitely looked like he
just kicked ass moments ago. “Ready to finish her up and brought her here to
share?”

Wide eyed I stepped behind James. I knew
he hated me.

James angrily whispered something I
couldn’t hear making David laugh. James started speaking a different language
to David that I didn’t understand. I had never even heard the language before
and I thought it was so pretty until I got frustrated from not understanding it.

After a few moments it sounded like James
was asking about something and looked stressed out. I wanted to know what it
was so I could comfort him. They weren’t arguing so I knew it wasn’t about him.
They occasionally looked at me, and it was obvious they were talking about me
which was even more annoying.

I cleared my throat trying to get their
attention. But they didn’t pay attention. I did it again but louder and finally
got them both to look at me, “English please?”

“Fine… I’ll do it.” David said and
looked at me. “You better be worth this. I swear if you do to James what my ex
did to me, I’ll come and take all your blood myself.”

“David.” James warned him.

He rolled his eyes and went back in his
room and I made James turn around. “What was that about?”

“I was asking him for help. He’s going
to stay with us at my house.”

“Wait… what?” I didn’t feel comfortable
being in the same room with him for five minutes. Living with him I would
probably go insane from paranoia.

“It’s safer.” He said simply then got closer,
“Baby please trust me. I will never let anything bad happen to you…” he said as
he caressed my cheek. I pressed my face into his hand and was about to pull him
forward but was interrupted by David.

“Please don’t be lovey dovey while I’m
staying at your place.” David groaned. He had a duffle bag and had his dark
blonde hair styled to bad boy perfection. It looked longer than the last time I
saw him. “Want to sit around for a bit? I’m sure you’d scare my neighbors with
that look…” He said to James.

James frowned and sat on the couch. I
sat close by him and avoided any eye contact with David. James put his arm
around me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

James was focusing on the swirls in the
wooden floors and I looked up at David who was leaning against the wall across
from us. He looked sad as he watched us. We made eye contact and I quickly
broke it by looking at my hand that James was holding.

He looked so sad as he waited to change
back. I tried to talk to him to get his mind off of things, hoping that would
help bring him back. I asked him about the language they were speaking and he
told me it was Scottish Gaelic. He said his father’s side makes sure they all
know it so that they could talk to each other if necessary.

After a little over an hour, James was
finally back to himself. His change was in the blink of an eye that it wasn’t
even noticeable till we realized he was back to normal.

“Took you long enough…” David said
making James narrow his eyes at him. “I thought you two ‘loved’ each other and
all that stuff. Why aren’t you permanently normal yet?”

James ruffled his hair and groaned, “I
don’t know…”

“You need a drink man.” David said,
“Let’s go…call up Daniel too.”

I looked at James and he looked
extremely stressed and exhausted. I never condone drinking, but he’s a guy, it
might help him to hang out with his guy friends and let loose a little.

I nudged him, “Go… you’re starting to
stress me out too. You look exhausted...”

“I’m not leaving you alone. And we were
supposed to go to your parent’s house and mine too…” He demanded.

“She can come with us and bring a
friend.”

“Yeah… you haven’t been out for fun in a
long time…” I said and brushed his now messy hair away from his eyes with my
fingers. “We can go to our parent’s house another time.”

We finally convinced him to go but
compromised that we went to Lucianna’s Pub. He felt more at ease in a place he
knew well. Tiffany made it and so did Daniel.

I sat with Tiffany and chatted with her
as James talked with the guys. His arm was around my waist the whole time a
mixture of protectiveness and adoration. Tiffany whispered to me about Daniel
and I felt bad that I knew James and David could hear her. But it wasn’t my
secret curse to tell. Daniel wasn’t hearing the thoughts so it didn’t bother me
too much.

“So… how are things with you and James?
He’s still hogging you.” She whispered to me, “But girl, I don’t blame you.
When he stood up to get the drinks, those jeans look a-ma-zing on his
butt. Ask him what he does.”

David laughed and I tried to hold back
the laugh too. I looked at James and he couldn’t hide his big grin.

“What’s so funny?” Tiffany asked.

“Nothing…” I said embarrassed. James
kissed my cheek to add onto my awkward blushing. Getting an irritating poke in
my eye I groaned, “My eye’s getting watery… I think I got an eyelash in it or
something.” I mumbled standing up. “I’ll be back.”

James grabbed my arm and shook his head,
“I don’t want you going alone.” he whispered.

“I’ll be fine… I’m a big girl.” I kissed
him and escaped his grip since he couldn’t do much in public. I could feel his
eyes on me as I walked into the restroom. I’m sure if it was socially
acceptable or if he didn’t own this restaurant he would come after me.

After freeing my eye of its eyelash
misery I finally made my way out of the restroom. I knew James was probably
worried way more than necessary so I tried to hurry out. I felt someone grab my
arm and I was assuming it was someone I knew until I saw him. A random guy in
his late twenties.

“Hey baby.” He slurred, clearly drunk,
“You here alone?”

“I came with my boyfriend.” I snapped at
him and tried to pull my arm away.

“How about you leave with me.”

“Leave me alone…” I said annoyed.

My eyes met with James’s and I was
thankful he was coming towards us.

“Come on baby girl, gimmie your number.”
He slurred as we played tug of war with my arm.

James stepped in-between us and pulled
his hand off me. “She asked you to leave her alone didn’t she?”

“Who do you think you are man?” he said,
“I found the fine piece of ass first.”

James grabbed the guy by his neck and
laughed, “She came with me you idiot. She’s
my…
girlfriend. Apologize to
her.” He demanded.

“For what!” He choked.

“For harassing her and referring to her
as ‘a piece of ass’. Apologize asshole.”

“I’m fucking sorry.” He said as James
dangled a good few inches off the floor.

I grabbed James’s arm, “Baby it’s okay,
let’s just go…” I whispered.

“Say you are sorry, and mean it.” James
said through his teeth. His eyes flashed red and the guy noticed.

He looked at me and looked like he was
going to pee his pants, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

James clenched his fist, holding himself
back. I could tell he was tempted to punch this guy. And as much of an idiot he
was, he didn’t deserve to be under James’s wrath at the moment. And the more
the guy looked at me the more anger radiated off of James.

I pulled him back and he finally gave in.
He followed me back towards the table staying close behind so no one would have
a view of my ‘behind’.

“Baby look at me.” I said turning around
and making him face me before we reached the table. “Take a deep breath.”

Confused he did as I said. I stared into
his eyes and slowly got on my tiptoes, regardless of my stilettos I was still
short next to James, and pressed my lips to his. “Your fangs are showing baby.”
I whispered against his lips.

His eyes shot open and he looked in
panic, “It’s not obvious.” I assured him and pecked his lips with a quick kiss.
“But I think the guy noticed your eyes. You need to calm yourself down.”

We went back to the table quietly. James
looked down, avoiding any eye contact with the people who saw the fight between
the two. David looked at us, sensing we were stressed out still. I’m sure he
could probably hear what went on anyway. I’m sure he could ‘sense’ David’s
teeth too. I had no idea what they could and couldn’t do and I wasn’t even
going to try to figure it all out.

David sighed, “For a bunch of people in
love, you guys are downers. Let’s go back to your house.” He groaned.

Chris came over a little after we got home to help
us brainstorm ideas of how to prove our love to each other. Sadly going to the
restaurant didn’t help James’s distress. It only made it worse.  His
misery was adding onto mine and I was starting to think there was more to his
worry than he was letting on.

 “How about you two get matching
tattoos? That proves love to some people.” Chris suggested making me groan.

“How does that prove anything?” I asked
but still tried to think of some tattoo ideas in my head just in case.

 “You two could get married.” David suggested.
Well I wouldn’t be against it but I wouldn’t want to force James into it
either.

“No.” James said immediately making my
heart squeeze.  He looked at me and gently held my chin, “I don’t want you
being stuck with me if I’m like this forever. As soon as I can get this curse
gone… I promise you---”

“It’s okay.” I cut him off suddenly not
wanting to hear the promise. I still felt a little hurt by his quick rejection.

“Have a baby.” Chris said making James
stand up. He was about to hit him but I pulled him back.

“I’m not okay with marriage you really
think I want to drag a kid into it?”

David laughed, “You got to at least try
the suggestions before turning all of them down James.”

I got so desperate that I took my phone
and started searching
‘way’s to prove you love someone’
. I didn’t think
‘way’s
to prove you love someone that is cursed’
would come up with much so I left
that part out. But when I even tried that as my search, I came up with nothing.
At least nothing that was actually legit.

“Why don’t we ask Lana?” I hesitated.

James glared at me, “She wouldn’t want
to help. She would want to make it worse.”

“She might know what to do. Or at least
give us a clue…”

“Who’s Lana?” David asked.

“It doesn’t matter…” James mumbled.

“James…” I started.

“Karina.” He said my name as if it was
the end of the conversation.

I glared at him, “James please…if it
doesn’t work what will we have to lose? We have no leading ideas or any direction
of what we should do…”

“If you guys want me to help with this
Lana person, keep me in the loop.” David said sounding annoyed.

“Lana is some gypsy psychic Karina has
met with. Twice. I met her once, she doesn’t like me.”

David scoffed and looked at me, “Told
you she’s not worth it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him but he glared
back and his eyes flashed a metallic red color creeping me out. I scooted closer
to James even though I was getting mad at him too.

“David please…” James said only making
him laugh. “Fine…let’s go in the morning.”

“Really?” We all asked unison.

“Want me to come?” Chris asked.

“No. It will be just Karina and me. I
don’t want you guys getting mixed up in her voodoo. I don’t trust Lana.”

*
*
*

I was lying in bed alone. He was still
up talking to David about everything. He made me leave the door open just in
case. I said he was being paranoid but once I was in the room without him even
the smallest of shadows had me jump. So I kept my eyes closed.

When I did open it, I kept my eyes on
the open door. Light was reflecting into the room and I could hear David and
James talking in the distance. I tried to focus on what they were saying but at
the same time I wanted to talk myself out of it to give him some privacy.

“…don’t stress too much. You’d hear if
anything was wrong.” David whispered so I wouldn’t be able to hear.  James
was better at the whispering since I could only hear his voice but not
understand what he was saying.

“It’ll get harder… you’ll only get
angrier and start craving blood more. You said you’ve tasted her?...That’s even
worse…” David whispered again, “And it will get harder to change back every
day… it’s a sign that you guys need to hurry up.”

“…we had until my twenty-eighth though.”
James said.

“We have hope till our fifteenth year…
it gets worse the closer we get.” I started to wonder how much time David had.

I ignored the rest of the conversation,
hating where it was going. I wanted to help James. I wanted to help David too.
I couldn’t blame him for being so bitter anymore. I wondered what his
girlfriend had done to him…

Moments later I heard footsteps in the
room. I knew it was James for some reason so I wasn’t worried. I think I had
come to memorize even his walking rhythm.

I was pretending I was sleeping still
even though I was sure he could tell I wasn’t, but I didn’t feel like talking.
It felt like he was distancing himself from me already. I felt the mattress
shift as he got in next to me. I was facing him and I had to squeeze my eyes
shut so that I wouldn’t open them and look at him.

He put his arm around my waist and I had
to force myself not to show any signs. 

He lightly laughed, “I know you’re not
asleep.”

I smiled and fluttered my eyes open. His
eyes met with mine and he smiled sweetly, “I’m sorry…” I whispered.

“For what…?”

“Saying we should see Lana. I just
really want to help you.” I frowned.

“I know baby… it’s okay. We’ll see her
tomorrow, it won’t hurt I guess.”

I cuddled into his chest and sighed at
the familiar and comforting warmth of his arms wrapping around me, “James…”

“Yes, baby?”

I felt embarrassed for even suggesting
it with James in the house and the heat in my face and ears was radiating off
my skin, “Um… what about… you know.”

“I know? What?” he said pulling away to
look at me. He was smirking, I’m sure he could tell how embarrassed and nervous
I was.

I drew imaginary doodles on his chest
with my finger and avoided any eye contact, “Maybe if we---”

He stopped me by putting his finger on
my lips, “Before you go on. I have to stop you.”

“Why?” I said getting annoyed. I wasn’t
even sure why I was so annoyed about it, I should be happy I found a guy that
doesn’t just want me for my body but never wanting my body wasn’t exactly the
best compliment either.  “Is it because I’m a virgin?”

“What? No…” he assured me, “It has
nothing to do with that. It’s…trust me baby, I want to. I want to
so
bad...”

“Then why haven’t you even asked? I feel
like a slut always hinting at it.”

“Don’t feel like that. It’s normal and
natural for you to want to but what I am is not natural. I can lose control at
any moment and I don’t want to lose control with you. I’ve tasted your blood. Being
around you like this has me on edge and I don’t think I could handle being with
you like that.”

“Is that really it?”

He smiled, “Yes. That’s really it. Trust
me… once the curse is gone…” he let the sentence fade as he trailed kisses down
my neck. He paused midway to my collar bone, his lips lingering on top of my
skin. He was so quiet and still that I started feeling my heart beating out of
my chest…and neck. He pulled away quickly and he looked like he was in pain,
“See.”

“What if I let you---”

“No.”

“Have you ever?”

“Yes.”

“Sex or biting?”

He hesitated, “Both.”

“Oh…” So he wasn’t afraid of losing
control with the other women he dated. I tried to ignore the pang of jealousy.

He kissed the top of my head, “I’m
sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry… just because I’m
experience-less doesn’t mean I’m naïve. I didn’t expect you to be like me…”

He sighed and pulled me close to him
when I didn’t say anything else. It was a silent plea that I didn’t run away. I
wasn’t going to but I couldn’t help but feel jealous that he wasn’t able to
‘control’ himself with the other girls. It was stupid and I know I was probably
reading it twisted.

He pulled away and cupped my chin and
brought his lips to mine, “Don’t over think it.”

“I’m trying.” I forced myself to smile
and do a fake yawn, “Finally sleepy.” I cuddled into his chest so I wouldn’t
have to look at him anymore and sighed.

“Goodnight beautiful.” He whispered.

“Goodnight…” I mumbled.

*
*
*

James was nervous as he got ready. I was
half asleep when he suggested that we go to my parent’s house before going to
Lana. I agreed half-heartedly. I think he was thinking the worst possible
things that could happen from seeing Lana. I’m not sure why I felt nervous too.
It wasn’t the ‘I’m nervous he’s meeting them’ type of nervous, more nervous
about the day in general. There was a pit in my stomach making me feel like
something bad was going to happen today.

 I acted asleep as he got ready. I
counted the minutes he was in the shower. How long he took to style his hair.
He stared at the closet for a good thirty minutes before deciding on jeans, a
black V-neck and a blazer. I loved when he was casual dressy.

I tried not to swoon from the fresh
smell of his cologne or soap or whatever made him smell so irresistible when he
walked by and kissed the top of my head and fix the blanket that had flown down
to my waist.

I got ready quickly, rushing through my
shower and doing my quickest cutest hair style and my makeup with my usual look.
 I walked into the kitchen to James pouring two cups of coffee.

He turned around when he heard me
approaching and smiled. I wrapped my arms around his waist inside of his jacket
and loved the feel of him against me, “I like this outfit.”

“I guess this outfits a winner. I was
thinking about changing it…”

I smiled, “Don’t be nervous about
meeting my parents. They’re going to love you.”

He smiled but I could tell he didn’t
believe me, “How do I look?” I asked doing a little twirl.

“Gorgeous like always.” He said and pulled
me closer to kiss me good morning.

“God… I really regret saying I was going
to stay here.” David groaned coming into the kitchen. He grabbed one of the
coffees as I pulled away from James.

“That was for Karina and me.” James said
to him.

David shrugged and grabbed the other one
handing it to me, “Make yourself another cup. We’re the guests.” He said to
James making me laugh at the surprised expressed on his face.

I smiled and took a sip of the delicious
coffee, “Really good.”

“Perks of having a friend who owns the
coffee shop. He taught me everything I know coffee wise.” He smiled proudly.

I handed him the cup of coffee and he
took a sip as well. Making David annoyed even more; I ended up on James’s lap
sharing the cup of coffee and a bagel with him. Something about sharing a
morning coffee that says, “I will do anything for you, even share my much
needed morning caffeine”. 

We drove to my parent’s house first for
tea. I told him not to take anything, but he stopped by a pastry shop and
bought some flower as well knowing that my parents were kind of old school.

My mom greeted us first. The same
surprised look that most people get among seeing my mom and dad, I look nothing
like them. Thanks to the beauty of hair dye, my mom had natural looking blonde
hair and my dad was a bald intimating looking man. But like I knew they would,
James and my parents hit it off immediately.  

I tried not to cringe whenever my dad
would bring up something embarrassing and I would elbow my mom to tell him to
stop talking.  I noticed James looking at my childhood pictures and smiling.

I showed him around the house before we
went, “Why aren’t there any teen pictures. I’ve seen pictures of you as a baby,
toddler, late teens and now…”

I blushed, “Awkward stage. Burned the
pictures.”

“You’re lying.”

“Okay I didn’t burn them, they’re
hidden.” I laughed.

“I’m sure you looked beautiful.” He said
kissing my cheek as I hugged her from behind.

After looking around we chatted with my
parents some more and left. As we were leaving my mom hugged us both and
whispered in my ear, “He’s handsome. Definitely a keeper!” I could tell James
was holding back his smile as he said his goodbyes.

“You know… you being able to hear
everything is starting to get annoying.” I mumbled in the car.

“Sorry baby…” He laughed.

“But…my parents liked you a lot.” I said
happily, “I was so nervous…”

“Why you thought they wouldn’t like me?”

“No I knew they would. I just… you know…
first guy I’ve brought home…” I said shyly.

“You’ve dated before though.”

“Not serious enough to bring the guy
home to meet my parents. They weren’t worth the nervousness.” I half joked.
They really weren’t and I was thankful there would be no more ‘first meetings’
with our families.