Chapter 28 - The Meeting of Two

Chapter 28 - The Meeting of Two
A lie.

Yes, it was but at least it would guard Matteo’s pride.

Amanda looked anywhere but him. She didn’t want to see how he would react. He had already passed first base, and to suddenly cut him off was a sure blow.

“I see...” he sighed, but there was a tinge of annoyance mixed there. He stood up and sported a very hard erection clearly visible under his loose pants.

Amanda, not expecting this to greet her, blinked thrice, unable to take the view.

“I am your soon-to-be-husband Cait. You should be more willing next time. I certainly don’t wish to rape you.”

His eyes were cold, lifeless, and because of this, Amanda shuddered. She tried to muster up a reply, but failed, feeling her throat truly dry. It left her a feeling of dread.

Seriously? He wasn’t considering that right? They were just starting this relationship. They were just starting to know each other intimately. Was he that impatient?

“Oh no, Cait,” Matteo swiftly sat again, depressing the mattress but this time, even closer to her. He cupped her cheek and looked at her with a partly repentant face, his mage senses telling him she was afraid. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right.”

“No, it didn’t,” Amanda agreed bluntly, shooting a bitter look at him.

“I’m sorry. Raping you would never be on my list.”

“Yet you said that still.”

“Because your earlier actions say you don’t want me to touch you anymore.”

“Because of these pictures in my head!” Amanda rebutted, giving him a helpless look. “It’s too much Matt. Who is this man? Why do I have these visions?”

Matteo painstakingly evened out his breathing. He was all ears on her, but his focus was set on the vampire master wanting to kill him right then and there. Even though the necklace was around Amanda’s neck and even though he had cast a locking spell on her memories, the damn vampire still managed to leak into her consciousness.

“Forget about those visions, Cait. Forget them all. They are just useless attempts to make you confused. You’re here with me. I will guard you. You don’t need to trouble yourself.”

He kissed her on the lips, putting pressure on it with his tongue hoping she’d relent and allow him to continue with his ardor, but Amanda didn’t kiss him back. She pulled her head away just as he withdrew.

“I better get my own room Matt.”

“No, stay here,” was Matteo’s answer after a barely-audible growl. “Until you’re ready, I won’t force you. But Caitlyn,” he paused and traced her bottom lip, looking at it would solid obsession, “make it fast. We will wed after the Grand Prix, three days from now, and when our vows are made, I won’t stop.”

Amanda felt a lump in her throat forming. He was this serious and she understood it. At least he gave her time. Maybe by then, she’d be open to his touch.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll be in my study.”

Amanda cautiously nodded.

Matteo kissed her again, one that was chaste and short, and afterwards, he left the room without a backward glance.

“God, what is happening to me?” Amanda murmured to herself right after the door slammed shut. She tucked herself in bed again, but this time the action didn’t give her much comfort. Looking at the ceiling, she continued to probe on the void in her heart and how it all connected to the visions in her head. After awhile, no answer appeared but she sure felt as if these were not just random pictures, they were a memory of a past.

“Who...who are you?”

By morning, Amanda was greeted with a flash of lightning. Despite the barrier surrounding the premises, she knew there was a large storm brewing in the sky. She straightened, turned to look at Matteo’s side of the bed and found that he was indeed lying next to her last night judging from the fresh crease of his pillows.

It relieved her somewhat that he kept his word. He allowed her space and that pretty much touched her heart.

She got up and went for the bathroom. There she found fresh new clothes folded in the counter with a handwritten note.

‘For you, Cait. I’ll see you downstairs.’

She was elated to see that Matteo got them for her. At least she’d be able to look presentable again.

Thirty minutes later, she was out of the room wearing the attire Matteo prepared - a knee-length black dress with sleeves and a good V-dip in the neckline. The amulet was still around her neck. She never took it out even when showering as per Matteo’s stern instruction yesterday during the tour. She of course asked him why, but he just left it as it was, saying it would protect her from the vampires.

She proceeded silently to the kitchen counter and watched Matteo who was working something in front of the gas stove. His back was to her so he never realized she had arrived until she audibly cleared her throat.

Unexpectedly, a bluish light appeared where Matteo stood and in a split of a second, he disappeared out of her view.

“Good morning Caitlyn.”

To her surprise, Matteo was suddenly behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist so tightly that she could only twist a little to see his smug profile.

“Matt!”

“You slept well last night?” he asked.

Amanda contemplated on it for awhile. Maybe she did if she didn’t count how late she returned to sleeping after he woke her up. Not to mention how she had gone over and over again about the man in her visions. But he didn’t need to know that.

“Uhm, yes I did,” she lied.

“Good,” Matteo placed a kiss on her temple before rounding the counter and continued working on his bacon-and-egg breakfast.

“Let’s eat. I know you are starving.”

Amanda forked on her vinaigrette-sprinkled lettuce and watched Matteo do the same with his fresh cucumber. She waited until he chewed on them before releasing the words that had been bugging her since last night, “Noman isn’t answering my calls, Matt. I’d like to go out and see him. Check what he has been up to. Maybe he is just in the apartment.”

Matteo’s reply came as quickly as Amanda expected it to be, but it was unfortunately a negative.

“No. You can’t Cait. Not without me by your side.”

She sensed he’d be too possessive of her. Why would he create a barrier around the beach house if he didn’t? But she was undaunted.

“Then, can we go there?” she asked with hope in her eyes.

Matteo gazed at her and shook his head. “I’m expecting a guest today, so we can’t go there yet.”

Of course, he couldn’t say that he placed a sleeping spell on Noman the other night. It was probable that he’d still be in that state, especially that he was just a human. Humans get affected for days, even months.

“Who is it?” Amanda’s curiosity spiked up. She didn’t expect him to have a guest, let alone allow someone to enter beyond the barrier. It definitely got her asking who this visitor was.

But Matteo just smiled on her way and tipped her chin with his finger.

“His visit doesn’t concern you so you don’t need to know who he is, Cait.”

Amanda, although disappointed deep inside, just shrugged her shoulders.

“Right,” she murmured and continued on picking at the contents on her plate.

Matteo noticed her unusual behavior so he straightened in his seat and dropped his fork.

“Caitlyn, please don’t be disappointed.”

Amanda dragged a good look at him and answered straight to the point, “I’m not. It’s just that I’m not a prisoner here Matt. I have the right to do things my way.”

“You have the freedom to do anything. Just, you are not allowed to leave the beach house without me.”

Amanda frowned. “Since when have I become a kid you needed to babysit?”

“Caitlyn...” Matteo sighed and leaned close to their table, his eyes glued on her, “You are my bride. I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t,” Amanda assured. “I’ll be here forever with you Matt. You already own me. Where could I possibly go if not with you?”

There was a smile that broke from Matteo’s lips after hearing this. Truly, it made his heart warm after hearing her say those words, but still, he couldn’t take any chances.

“Later, Cait,” he said, “we will discuss this again later.”

“Alright, later it is then,” Amanda agreed, but feeling her appetite gone, she stood up from her seat taking her plate with her. “Go tend to your guest. I will just be in my room until then.”

Matteo stood up too and reached for her shoulder. “Yes, wait for me there,” he said and then planted a kiss on her lips - a kiss that Amanda didn’t reciprocate.

It was in a corridor going to her second floor room when Amanda tried calling her best friend again. Her thumb pressed heavily on the touchscreen only to receive the same response.

“Noman, dammit, why are you not answering my call!” she cried after the screen showed the disconnected call. It wasn’t like him to leave her hanging. It wasn’t like him to not check on her.

There was something wrong and Amanda was determined to know what it was.

“I don’t need Matteo to chaperone me,” she murmured under her breath, pausing in the opening of another hallway going to her room. She glanced at a connecting stairs ahead, an alternative route going to the back of the house.

“I will see Noman whether he likes it or not.”

With determination, she waltzed forward going to the stairs, not planning on telling Matteo of her decision. What for when she knew she’d be stopped on the spot.

The barrier in the back garden looked like mercury in rainbow colors up close. She gaped at it the moment she arrived, admiring the energy it was showing. She then tried to touch it, hoping it wouldn’t send an alarm signal to its creator. Luckily, it didn’t. It even surrounded her hand like it was trying to be petted.

With a deep breath, one foot stepped forward through the barrier and then another, until Amanda was fully out of the beach house vicinity, out of the cobblestoned pathways, green grass, salty waters and sand. She smiled at the success of it and mentally patted her back.

From where she stood, she saw concrete roads up ahead and moving cars going to wherever their destination was; their headlights on since the atmosphere of the sky was basically gloomy.

“Yup, I’m in reality alright,” she cheered with a nod of approval. “Now, to find Noman.”

With a stretch of a hand, a taxi immediately drove to her spot.

“Oh Caitlyn! You’re finally back!” exclaimed a middle-aged woman with a short bob. She smiled widely at her, so Amanda returned the favor.

“Hi, Madame Margot, well uhm, yeah, I’m back,” she replied whilst stopping at the base of the winding stairs. “Is Noman inside his apartment? I can’t get a hold of him and I seem to have lost my card key.”

The landlady shook her head. “Well, I haven’t seen him this morning and yesterday too, so I can’t really say. But you’re welcome to check his apartment. Just wait, I’ll give you an extra key.”

She disappeared into her room and came out after a minute with the said object in hand.

“Here, don’t lose it this time.”

Amanda gave her a sheepish smile. “Right, thanks Madame.”

“It’s good to see you again, Cait.”

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too Madame.”

Amanda climbed up the stairs into the second floor, her heartbeat speeding up. She reached their room number and swiped the card key on the machine. When the apartment door opened, Amanda’s first instinct was to call for him.

“Dom?”

She stepped inside and scanned the readily available living space after turning all of the lights on. There was no sign of him however, just some unfinished and rotten pack of cheese sticks in the coffee table and a bottle of empty Heineken.

“What the... where is he?” She continued in his bedroom leaving nothing unchecked. She even went to her own room just in case but Noman was absent on both.

“Dom, where are you?” Opening up her sense of hearing, she listened and listened intently for any sound, anything at all to say that he was inside the apartment, but no sound could be determined, except for the ticking of her wall clock and a sudden swoosh of the wind.

But weird, the windows were closed and she didn’t turn on the ceiling fan, so why was there a feeling of cold wind hitting her skin?

“Hey, if you are hiding from me, you better show yourself now because I’m not in the mood to play games.” Amanda walked to her bedside table and placed the card key, cellphone and coins next to the unlit lampshade. “I am totally worried for you, Dom. You basically didn’t answer my calls and- holy shi...” Amanda’s speech was cut off when she turned and saw an intruder before her.

But not just any intruder. A man.

And this man was not Noman. He was a stranger. A stranger. Yet to Amanda’s wide-set eyes, he was familiar. Very familiar.

Amanda sensed an aura of superiority leaking out of him. She gave him a once-over, but a once-over that turned to a deeper examination of his features. He just stood there, tall and cool, with a long coat that touched his ankles and a metal cane in one hand. Clean-cut, aristocratic jaw. Face that was symmetric, handsome - really handsome - but pale. His eyebrows were well-shaped. His nose well-defined. His haircut seemed off though, having an uneven cut in the bangs and long strands tied into a low ponytail, resting on his right shoulder.

What disturbed Amanda the most was his eyes, red ones that seemed to penetrate her soul and yet having an ability melt her. They were looking at her with such depth, such longing that Amanda couldn’t understand.

Amidst his unexplained presence in the room, she thought of him not a threat until she felt it.

Strong darkness surrounding him.

In an instant, her pupils constricted and her nerves stiffened.

“Amanda...” Cord whispered, stepping one foot cautiously towards her. “I finally found you.”

“You... you!” Amanda’s nose flared and in a split-of-a-second, both of her hands were wrapped around his neck.