Free Vampire Books: Vampire Bite – Chapter 19

“You’ll be safe,” Casper whispers in my ear.

He’s on his feet in less than a second and I feel a gentle push of air as he moves away from me.

And then he’s gone.

Another blur comes into sight and the shape of Alfie materialises out of the darkness – and I cannot believe how relieved I feel – such a surge of warmth – I feel overwhelmed – like his goodness is radiating from him. 

But my plan has failed … I was so close to getting to the point.  And I feel a surge of fear – how will Alfie react to what I’ve done?  Will he understand?  Or will he get it wrong – and leave me?

This could be the last time I see him.

He gets down on his knees as I start to get up, and pulls me into his arms, breathing me in.  “Thank God, you’re still alive.  She’s alright!” he shouts.  “Sammy and Mathew are just over there – I wanted to talk to you first.  What the hell were you thinking?”  He sounds angry and concerned and hurt all at once.

“I—” 

It suddenly occurs to me there’s a chance it could still work – that I shouldn’t say it now – that Casper might be listening. 

“Can we talk about it at my place?” I say, trying to give him a significant look and hoping he can see more than I can.

“Yes, there is nothing I want more than getting you back there right now.” 

It sounds like he’s clenching his teeth as he talks – trying to hold in his temper.  I’m not looking forward to the conversation we’ll soon be having.

“Get on my back,” says Alfie.

“I can walk!”

“Yes, I know – but I want to talk to you as soon as possible – and this will be a lot quicker.”

I roll my eyes and he turns his back to me and bends his legs.  I jump on and wrap my arms around his shoulders, he grips me under my legs and straightens up.

“Hold on tight,” he says, and starts running.

Cold air rushes against my face and my hair blows out behind me as Alfie leaps forward with huge strides.  It’s very different from being carried by Casper – with Casper it was like being carried by a cool rock – I was firmly fixed in his grip and it was almost like flying as it was so smooth.  It’s not as smooth with Alfie – I feel the impact of the ground as he hits it and there’s a rush in my stomach with each leap.  I clutch onto him as tightly as I can.  He’s also warm, not cold – like he’s the polar opposite of Casper.  Alfie is good and caring – and Casper is cold and calculating.  Casper wants to kill.  Alfie wants to save people.

I love Alfie.

Oh my God – I do – I love Alfie!

Wow.

I grin to myself on his back.  I love him!  I’ve never felt this way about anyone.

Casper is delusional – I am not meant to be with him!  I don’t want to be with someone who is cold – who is actually dead.  Who is evil.  However beautiful he might be. 

I want to be with someone who makes me feel good, who makes me feel I can do good things, who can help me do them.  Someone warm and Alfie-like.  Alfie.  I really do love him.

Please let him understand what I’ve done.

Alfie stops at the end of the path to my house and gently lets go of my legs so I slide down his back.  I can’t help it, but just seeing him, being with him – I feel so happy.  A silly grin spreads across my face as his brothers come to a halt beside us.

Sammy looks from my grinning face to Alfie’s angry face and puts his hands up and steps back, laughing.  “Right, Mathew, I reckon we should leave these guys to talk.”

Alfie looks at me, and even though he can see me grinning, the anger doesn’t leave his face.

Mathew raises his eyebrows.  “Too right.”

“Wait,” says Alfie.  “Can you get Mark home – I want to talk to Ava alone.”

Mathew nods.  “We’ll wait here.”

I unlock the door to the building and Alfie follows me silently up the stairs.  When I open my door Mark lunges towards me from the sofa.

“Ava!  What the—?  How—?”

“I’m alright, Mark,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Don’t you dare roll your eyes at me, Ava – you could have been killed!”

The grin falls off my face.  “But I wasn’t – and even if I was – if it had saved other people – it would have been for a good reason!”

“But—”

“Stop,” Alfie says.  “I need to talk to Ava alone.  My brothers are outside – they will make sure you get home safely.”

Mark turns to me.  “Is this what you want, Ava?”  He sounds hurt.

“I need to talk to Alfie.  I’m sorry Mark – sorry that I put you through this.  I will ring you tomorrow.”

“You promise.”

“Yeah, I do.  Err … this is Alfie by the way.”

“Yeah, we met when he came here looking for you,” Mark says, looking at Alfie now.  “Thanks for getting her back.”

“Not a problem,” Alfie says, his mood dark.  “I’ll walk out with you and introduce you to Sammy and Mathew.”

Mark pulls me into a hug before he goes.  “You better never do anything that stupid again.”

I just hug him back and don’t promise anything of the sort.  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I say.

I wait for Alfie to return, a smile playing on my lips.  I know it’s completely inappropriate, considering the circumstances, but I’m happy to be here – to be alive – to be with Alfie.  To love him.

He returns with a scowl on his face, and for some reason – in my completely loved up mood – I find it adorable.  I step forwards and wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head against his chest.

“What are you so happy about?” he says.

“This probably isn’t the best time to tell you…”

“Tell me what?”  He sounds worried.

“Ok … I … can’t help myself.  I realised something tonight.”

“What did Casper make you realise?”

“It wasn’t him … or maybe it was him … in a way.  But it’s you.”  I lean back so I can look him in the face, and beam up at him, even though he looks confused, hurt and angry.  “I love you.”

His eyes widen.  “You do?”

“Yes.  I love you so much,” I say, and I hug him again.

“You’re not just saying this to make me forgive you?”

“Nope.  I.  Love.  You.  Very much.”

He sighs.  Not the response I was hoping for – but what can I expect after what I just put him through.

“Let’s sit down,” he says.  “Tell me everything that happened tonight – and everything – and I mean it – that made you decide to do this.”

I smile at him, and raise my eyebrows – in what I’m hoping is a cute expression.  “I can do that.  I meant well.”

His lips twitch – almost into a smile.  My declaration seems to have made his anger dissipate – but I can tell he’s still not happy.  There is a little crease between his eyebrows showing he’s still very worried – about my feelings for Casper, if I’m not wrong.  So I decide that’s where I should start.

“Nothing happened.  With Casper that is.  I didn’t let him kiss me.”

“You wanted to kiss him though.  Didn’t you?”  It’s more of a statement than a question.

“No!  Well – and don’t worry! – there is something about him that’s very compelling – as I’ve told you before – but, inside me – I didn’t want to.  I always remembered that he’s a killer … and that you’re good.  My feelings for you are stronger.  They won out.”

“Why did you do it, Ava?  I know – Mark told me – but tell me – in your own words.  Please.”

I explain to him my reasoning in detail, and as I talk to him he looks at me with a sad expression on his face.

“You’re wrong, Ava,” he says, when I’ve finished.

“What do you mean?”

“It wouldn’t be worth your life.  Your life has more meaning than that.  You can save people without dying … without sacrificing yourself.  There’s so much more you can do … so many people you can save, can protect.  Alive.  If you stay with me we can do so much together.”

“I want to.”

“To what?”

“To stay with you.  I love you,” I say, my face breaking into a wide smile again.

Alfie laughs, his sadness now dissipating too.  He gently grabs my shoulders and pulls me towards him at the same time as leaning back, so I’m lying on top of him on the sofa, and he kisses my face, and my lips.

“I love you too, Ava.”

“I love you,” I say again.

“I love you,” Alfie says.

We both burst out laughing, and then I lay there while he hugs me.

“And anyway … you were wrong about something else too,” Alfie says.

“What’s that?” I say, propping myself up on my elbow so I can look into his gorgeous eyes.

“Something happened tonight – that’s why it took so long to get to you.  There is another way of ending this – and soon.  Tomorrow night in fact.”

“What way?”

“The bloodsuckers have challenged us to a battle.”

“Are you serious?  What happened?” I say.

“Me, and Sammy and Mathew – we were ambushed tonight – by three bloodsuckers.”

“And you fought them?”

“Yep, but we weren’t getting anywhere – we were an even match.  In the end banter went down … and … well … they have challenged us.  Fight to the death.  All of them – against all of us.”

I sit up, and Alfie copies me.

“But … surely they wouldn’t challenge you unless … unless they felt confident they would win?”

“Yeah, but bloodsuckers are confident bastards.  Delusional though – we can take them on no probs.”

“Not that I don’t have confidence in you, but don’t you think that werewolves are pretty … err … confident in themselves too?”

He chuckles.  “Yeah, we are a bit, aren’t we?  But we have good reason to feel sure of ourselves – our numbers are greater for one.”

“But do you know they are for sure?”

“Yeah, no way they’ve increased numbers that much recently – and if they had they wouldn’t be able to control them – new bloodsuckers are pretty wild.”

“Does Mic know?”

“Yeah, Mathew rang him there and then – we’ve accepted.  It’s gonna happen.” 

He grins.

“You seem very happy about this,” I say.

“You’re not?!  It’s awesome – we can end this tomorrow, or – he checks the time on his phone – actually today – it’s way past midnight.”

“I’m worried, that’s all.  About you.”

“After what you did?  That was a whole magnitude greater in the danger stakes.”

“Yeah well….  I guess my plan won’t work now.”

“Shit no – it’s not gonna happen!  And now it doesn’t need to either.”  He looks at me seriously.  “Ava … it’s not so much what you did – even though it was madness!   I get that you thought it was the only way … that you were actually trying to help … but it’s that you lied to me about it.  That hurts.”

“You get why I did though?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m really sorry I hurt you.  I will try not to do it again.”

He lunges for me and starts tickling my waist.

“Stop!  Stop!” I scream.

He stops, his face close to mine.

“Ok, ok – I won’t do it again!”

He strokes the hair away from my face.  “It’s hard to stay angry at you.  I can’t believe I’ve nearly forgiven you.”

“I wasn’t sure you would,” I say.  “I thought I might lose you.”

“Not going to happen,” he says, and leans in to kiss me on the lips.

His lips meet mine and I kiss him back, finding it hard to stop – but there’s something I have to ask him.

“I’m coming with you, right?”

“Where?”

“To the battle, duh.”

“No way!”

“I thought you were going to say that!  I can’t have you out there fighting and not know if you’re safe.  I might be able to help!”

“It’s werewolves and bloodsuckers only Ava.  I won’t be able to protect you.  I’m sorry.  You can’t come.”

“Will you ring me?  As soon as it’s over?”

“’Course I will,” he says, and kisses me again.

He breaks away and looks into my eyes.  “I’m glad you love me too, ’cos I love you so much.  You freaked me right out going off like that!”

“I do love you too.”

His lips are back on mine, kissing me slowly, and again, more deeply.

He breaks away again, and kisses my cheek, and my neck.

“The sun is rising,” he whispers.  “I’ve got to go soon.  Mic says we all have to return to prepare for tonight.”

“Can you stay a little bit longer?” I ask, running my lips along his jawline, and sliding my hands under his t-shirt.

“That I can do,” he says, and kisses me again.