In My Veins (8 page)

After
five minutes of walking I realized I was over reacting. And I was freezing.
And
it was getting late and everything was making me jump.

I looked around and laughed at myself as
I walked down the people-less street. Now I was the paranoid one. L.A. isn’t
exactly the type of city where a lot of people are walking around at night. It’s
more of a car city. Cars zoomed by one by one occasionally honking and stopping
when the one before them stopped. A few drove by and yelled out obscene things
to me and I could only cringe and pray that they didn’t stop the car.

I sighed and decided I should find a
short cut home. I looked down an alley. Enter the scary alley and make it home
ten minutes earlier but in movies that’s where all the bad things happen to the
stupid girl that goes in the alley thinking it wouldn't happen to them.

Or I could walk through the city and
make it home even later and possibly get kidnapped by one of the X-rated
yelling men.

Either way it was scary.

Taking a deep breath I started walking down
the dark alley, regretting the decision the moment I reached the middle.

“Typical.” I mumbled to myself.

I looked back to where I came from to
see how far I really was and it was pretty far. I sighed and decided I had to
keep going. As I turned around to continue walking, before I could even process
what was happening, I was thrown against the walls.

My vision went blurry for a second from
hitting the wall but I looked up and stared straight in its fire colored eyes
the minute the blur passed. It was the monster again. It was definitely him.
The same jet black hair, snow white skin and electric eyes were staring at me.
He smiled revealing sharp his fangs as he walked towards me and squatted in
front of me. His eyes were frozen onto mine and I couldn’t move. My body felt
paralyzed.

“Your boyfriend was very stupid to leave
you alone.” He said as my mind tried to place where I had heard his voice
before. If it wasn’t for the slight growl I would probably be able to
concentrate and figure it out. His face got closer and I stared at the red color
and felt even more paralyzed.

 “Any last wishes before I finish you
off?” he smirked.

I closed my eyes and could feel him get
closer and smell me as a low growl escaped his throat. I thought of the only
thing I want to think of if this is my final moments alive. James.

I wish I didn’t over react and I was
with him. I would probably be in his car by now, maybe he would have come in
tonight for some tea or something and we could have cuddled on the couch and
watched mindless television.

I opened my eyes when I didn’t feel any
pain and realized that thing was even closer and moving his head towards my
neck again.

Oh my God. It is a vampire…
I thought to myself as I felt his nose touch my neck. He inhaled my scent up
close now and a low growl vibrated in his chest sending a chill down my spine. I
felt his mouth open and just as he was about to bite me he was pulled away and
slammed against the wall across from me.

The other monster. I didn’t feel right
calling this one a monster but I wasn’t sure what they were. He stood in front
of the creepy one and growled at him. A scary deep animalistic growl that
clearly said, ‘get the fuck away’.  The scary one glared at him and jumped the
wall to the other side. The nice one looked back at me and I stared wide eyed.
Was he going to finish what the first one started with me? I guess as far as
dying from a monster goes, I’d prefer it was him over the other one since he
seemed nicer.

But then again his niceness would kind of
be a moot point if he was only saving me so he could eat me instead.

He was about to jump the wall too but I
finally got myself to stand up. “Wait!” I yelled surprising us both.

He stopped with his back facing me.

I hesitated and moved closer to him. I put
my hand out to touch him and realized I was shaking. I was scared of him but I
was drawn to him too. I touched his shoulder and made him turn around.

I stared into his red eyes. They were
the same color as the mean one but they didn’t scare me like the one before
him. They did the complete opposite. His eyes went down to my chest like the
one before him did and he looked into my eyes again.

“Thank you…” I squeaked. 

He stared at me and didn’t say anything.
I stared at his eyes again and felt the familiarity. He looked so much like
James. As if my hand had a mind of its own I was touching his slightly scruffy
face. He felt like James. My heart was telling me it
was
James. But my
head was telling me that was impossible.

He started leaning back, almost as if
he
was afraid of me. His skin was so warm. For some reason that surprised me. I
was expecting him to be cold if he was a vampire.

“Who are you?” I finally got myself to
ask.

He remained silent but kept his eyes on
me. They looked so sad.

Why won’t he talk to me?

Last time he told me to run away so I
know he can speak. I forced myself to pull my hand away and before I could say
anything he jumped the wall and disappeared.

I heard someone running down the alley to
me and I realized it was James. So it couldn’t have been James.

My knees felt weak and my head started
spinning. I looked at him as he ran towards me and I fell on my knees and everything
went black.

 “Sorry man, I didn’t know you had a guest.” My eyes
wanted to shoot open at Chris’s voice but I was too exhausted. I felt a breeze
on my legs and arms around my waist tighten. I could feel the person who was
holding me move. It was James.

The feel of his arms and the scent
of his cologne were all too familiar. I cuddled into his arms some more, not
able to wake up and listened to him and Chris. I was in a state of sleeping
limbo. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or awake.

“She was attacked again.” James
whispered to him.

“Do you think it was David?”

“It’s possible. I didn’t see it…”
James whispered and suddenly stopped.

I felt myself still,
are they
talking about the attack.

Remembering the attack from last
night and suddenly awake, I stumbled out of the bed away from him and screamed
from the top of my lungs.

I looked at the bed and saw a wide eyed and
shirtless James. I looked around the room and realized I wasn’t in my room and
being in his arms wasn’t a dream. I was okay.

“Baby, are you okay?” he asked getting
out of the bed and squatting next to me. “You passed out last night, I brought
you here.”

I remembered last night’s events and
nodded as he wrapped his arms around me. I was okay.

I was lost in his warmth that I almost
forgot that he was shirtless and I was pants-less. I pulled back and raised my
eyebrow, “Where are half our clothes?”

“I normally sleep pants-less too but
figured…”

I smacked his arm and he flinched before
rubbed his arm. He had a mischievous smirk as I looked down to see I was
wearing one of his t-shirts. It barely covered anything. I looked up at him
wide eyed. “I swear I didn’t look… that much.”

I raised my eyebrow at him and pushed
him onto the ground.  I brought my lips to his as his hands pulled my body to
his.  He rolled us over so that he was on top and he started to kiss me all
over my face making me giggle from the ticklish scruff.

“You have no idea how glad I am you’re
okay.” He whispered and started to kiss my neck. I stretched so he would have
better access, “I think I have an idea.”

I was about to tell him about the attack
when I heard someone clear his throat from above us. Chris’s voice from before.
I turned around and saw none other than Chris smirking in the doorway. “Sorry
to intrude on you love birds but I needed to borrow one of James’s shirts. Not
the one you’re wearing, no worries.”

I looked at him wide eyed as I felt my
face heat up.

“Chris…” James said in a warning.

“What?” he asked innocently, “I’ll be in
your closet. Carry on.”

I hit James’s arm, “Awe! What was that
for!?”

“Do me a favor. If this happens again, I
don’t care if I’m wearing leather pants and a medieval corset that’s cutting off
my circulation, leave me in them.”

“Leather pants and a corset?” he smirked
at the idea.

“James!” I yelled and heard Chris
chuckle as he came out of the closet.

We ate breakfast together… with Chris.
Chris had a playful smirk the entire time so I could only stare at my bagel. I
looked at James and he was smiling to himself too. Chris kept eyeing both of us
curiously and I had never wanted to read minds more than I did that moment. He
was dying to ask why we were together. But I’m sure he was assuming one thing.
Not a big deal… if that was actually the reason we were together this morning.
But I didn’t fail to notice actual worry cross his face when he saw us
together.

They both looked at each other they had
a silent conversation. James smiled reassuringly at him before Chris looked at
me. “So… what happened to you?” he asked me while pointing to my arms.

James and I looked at my arms. I hadn’t
noticed they were bruised. He grabbed it and looked around my arm. I heard the
low growl again making me eye him curiously.

“Last night…when that vampire monster
thing threw me against the wall he grabbed my arms…” I said and looked at
Chris. He was wide eyed and looked at me like I was insane, “I meant mugger…”

James rubbed my back to comfort me, “Is
that why you fainted baby?”

I nodded, “I think I was just exhausted
and that topped it off…”

“What happened to the
mugger
?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know…the same
person saved me that saved me last time.” I half whispered, I probably sounded
insane.

“Person?” he asked his hands stopping.

“Yeah…person.”

“Who was this other person? Did you have
a good look at him?” Chris asked.

I shrugged again and stared at my food.
“I’m not sure. He seemed warm though. And nice.”

Chris and James stared at each other
like I was insane. I forced myself to smile, “He saved me twice. I think I’m
just being sentimental.”

James didn’t say anything. He was
avoiding looking at me and I found it weird. I took his hand to get his
attention and whispered thank you when he finally looked. He was wide eyed and
Chris’s mouth was wide open.

 “For…what?” he asked nervously.

“You saved me too.” I said squeezing his
hand.

“How…”

 “I’ve been feeling like such a stupid
damsel in distress these past few days. I’m sorry you have to keep protecting
me.” I whispered.

“I didn’t do anything though…” He said
in denial as I went back to my food to pick at my toast. I didn’t have an
appetite but I needed to eat so I forced myself to take small bites. I thought
back to the second one that reminded me so much of James and the fact that he
was hiding something from me didn’t sit right with me.

“You brought me here didn’t you? If you
didn’t come after me… I would still be in that alley. And that first mon…mugger
would come back after me.” I mumbled.

My heart sped up again at the thought of
that monster. Why was this the second time I saw it? It couldn’t be a
coincidence. Whatever or
whoever
it was, is after me.

I looked up and saw James give Chris a
look telling him to leave. Chris nodded and I quickly looked down before they
noticed I saw their little exchange.

“I’ll meet you at work and I’ll see you
later Karina?” I looked up at Chris and smiled, “Bye Chris. Pleasure seeing
you.”

“The pleasure was all mine.” He smirked
mischievously.

“Chris…” James warned him. Chris laughed
and went out of the home.

After I heard the door close James took my
hand to get my attention, “I think you should probably stay with me for a
while…”

I looked at him and considered it for a
nanosecond before declining the offer, “I can’t stay with you. My family will
go ballistic. I don’t want to put my life on hold because of that person. They
haven’t even met you yet---” I mumbled the last part to myself.

“I could meet them… and they don’t have
to know you’re staying with me it’s not like you live with them let alone near
them.”

“I can’t lie to my family James…”

“Then… I can stay with you.”

Well that’s not a horrible idea.
It’s not completely putting my life on hold. And it’s not completely depending
on someone else. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“More than anything. I can’t sleep
knowing something bad could happen to you and not being able to be close to
you. I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

He smiled approvingly, “If you want me
to meet your family… I’m up for it. Whenever you’re ready.”

“I’d love for you to meet them…” I said
happily.

*
*
*

Deciding I definitely needed some girl
time I took a shower and got ready to go for some coffee with Tiffany after
James dropped me off at home. He had to go by his office today but I had the
weekend off. But he was going to be back tonight…because of our new agreement.

Something was suspicious though.

My mind kept going back to the second
vampire thing that reminded me of James. Or maybe it’s vise-versa. Something
about his eyes… but that would be impossible. James doesn’t have red eyes.
I
think I’m going insane.

We were meeting at Tea Bean again.
Daniel’s coffee shop was our hangout spot now. It had a nice vibe and perfect
view of the handsome owner for Tiffany.

She was there before me of course. And
to my surprise, she was actually chatting with Daniel already. Tiffany, being
the confident fun loving yoga queen that she is, becomes a shy giggling mess
around Daniel. I don’t blame her though, I think I would have the same side effect
too if I had not met James already.

“Hi.” I said to both of them as I sat at
our usual table. She had already ordered my favorite latte and was staring at Daniel
as he talked about Arabica coffee versus Colombia coffee. If you didn’t know
her as well as I did, you would not now she was not even paying attention.

“How are you doing?” he asked me as he
finished.

“Great how are you?” I smiled.

“Wonderful.” He looked back at the door,
“Is James with you today?”

“Nope he’s at work.” I answered.

He smiled and went back to the other
customers that had entered giving us our privacy so we could talk.

“So… how are things with your lover
boy.” She asked.

“I should be asking you the same thing.”

She beamed, “Isn’t Daniel hot.”

I shrugged, “Yeah I guess. But I only
got eyes for one.”

She rolled her eyes, “You really got it
bad. Can’t even notice Daniel’s hotness.” Daniel looked up at us with a mischievous
smile. “Oh my God. Do you think he heard?!”

“I know he did.”

 “So embarrassing…” she mumbled with her
face buried in her hands. “Change the subject please. Talk about James.”

“What can I say? Nothing new…” I
contemplated telling her about the monsters. But felt like I shouldn’t. One or
two people thinking I was crazy were enough. “We got in a fight…well an argument.”

“When?!”

“Yesterday.”

She quickly calmed down and looked at my
face trying  to see any signs of distress. That’s my best friend, knows when to
be serious and when I needed her attention, “Why? Are you guys okay now?” she
asked concerned.

“Yeah we’re fine. He really doesn’t like
Lana the psychic lady. I wanted to see her again but he is
really
against it. I have no idea why though. He won’t tell me and I have a feeling
it’s much more than just not liking psychics.”

“That’s weird… is it Lana or psychic
gypsies in general?”

I thought about it, “Not sure...”

“Maybe he’s hiding something from you
and is scared the psychic will tell you.”

“I highly doubt he believes the psychic
is legit to worry about that. I’m not sure if I do either. One minute she has
an accent the next she doesn’t. And she told me she’s not a psychic, she just
reads coffee.”

“Okay then maybe he’s scared it’s going
to show up in the coffee.”

“I really don’t think so. I think he
just doesn’t like
her.
” But I did feel like he was hiding something. I
looked at Daniel who was behind the barista counter drying some containers.
Deciding to keep it safe I started to whisper, “If he was hiding something,
what could it be?”

“You tell me.” She whispered back, “Is
there anything that puts him on edge? Makes him act suspicious…”

I thought about it and could only come
up with one secret that I caught. He kept his entire career as an artist a
secret before. “No idea.”

“You’ve been to his house, have you seen
anything that seems like it doesn’t belong in a millionaire young bachelors
home? Maybe another girlfriend leave behind a watch? A secret child leave
behind a toy car? Secret career of a porn star? Maybe he’s married and that’s
his second house?”

“Tiffany.” I cut her off, “Seriously. I
think all this coffee’s getting to your head. Next time we’re doing frozen
yogurt.  If he was married or had a kid I think you would see it on your
stalking search engine.”

Determined to change the subject I
brought up one of her co-workers that annoy her and listened to her as she went
on about the latest trouble she caused.

I ended up leaving the girl talk more
confused.

Is James hiding something from me? And
how bad is it?