His head swam with the sent of blood. Not just any blood, but pure, sweet, innocent blood. Undertones of flowers. Coming from the beauty standing not a full ten feet away from him. His body was reacting as if he hadn’t fed in months. It moved of its own violation, pushing away from the counter. “Maybe I should look at that.” His voice came out husky. Every muscle in his body was tense. His movements were slow and jerky as he rounded the island. Her back was turned to him as she focused on stopping the little nosebleed.
Devon jumped, putting his hands up and shaking his head. “Daddy.” The little boy rushed forward, trying to put his little body between the two. Bram didn’t see or hear him. Every instinct built into him drove him toward the woman with her back turned to him. A loud thump broke through the haze he was under, and suddenly his son fell to the ground. Devon was holding his temple and crying loudly on the white and black tiled floor. His son’s cries finally did it. Bringing him mostly back to the chaos that had suddenly broken out in his kitchen.
The girl turned, looking surprised. “Are you okay?” She started forward, but Bram was already towering over him and knelt down in front of the child. The boy wrapped his arms around his father’s neck, crying into his shoulder.
“He just banged his head a little.” Bram said, turning. “Go ahead and clean yourself up, I’ve got him.” They made a hasty retreat to his room. Devon was shaking in his arms as he quietly closed his bedroom door behind him. The smell of blood lingered, even now he wanted desperately to turn back to the kitchen and burry himself in her. “You okay buddy?” His voice shook as he spoke, his words came out hoarse.
“I thought you were going to hurt her. Please, not this time, dad. I like her a lot.” His big round eyes came up to stare into his own. Shinning with tears. A little goose-egg was starting to swell up on his forehead.
“Did you hit your head on purpose?” Bram asked, gaining more control over himself now that they weren’t with her. Her smell was strong though, he could still catch whiffs of it here and there.
“Yeah,” Devon hugged him tighter, “I didn’t know what to do.”
“It’s okay buddy. I’m back. I’m sorry that happened.” Bram hugged him back. “But you know that when that happens your supposed to stay back. I can’t promise I’ll come back to my senses. What if I hurt you?”
“You won’t hurt me.” He sniffled into Bram’s shirt. “I had to protect her.”
A sudden, proud feeling exploded in his chest. It took over any lingering desire as he hooked Devon under the chin to have him look up at him. “You are become quite the brave little man, aren’t you? You did protect her. Thank you.”
A gentle knock sounded at the door, “Is Devon okay?” Her worried voice sounded from the other side of the door, but she didn’t open it.
“I’m okay.” Devon and Bram exchanged a look. They couldn’t just hide in here.
Bram sighed, trying to get himself ready, “You may open the door.” Devon frowned at him, clearly not thinking this was a good idea.
“Sorry, I just wanted to bring in some ice, it sounded like you hit your head pretty hard there, kiddo.” Devon left his dad’s lap and padded over to the door where she stood. “Oh, look at that. You must have, there’s a bump starting already.” Her slim finger, reached up, pushing his shaggy black hair out of his eyes.
Bram could still smell blood on her and felt his hands curl in the blankets under him. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his body in check. He didn’t usually react this strongly to the scent of blood, especially after just having fed. Not to mention it was barely a few drops. What was wrong with him? Her eyes met his, and he felt like he’d been slapped. Worry was clearly written all over her visage.
“Are you alright?” She asked, “You’re much paler than you were early. Is there anything I can get you?” Her voice was soft and full of concern. She stood, taking a few steps into the room. “Maybe I should call a doctor.”
“Stop right there.” Bram’s voice thundered, stopping her in her tracks.
Devon was now pulling on her arm, “Let’s go finish lunch. I’m okay now. Dad just needs some sleep.”
“Look, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m starting to understand why you can’t keep help around here. Maybe you should look at the way you’re treating people. Just because you have a nice fat checking account doesn’t mean that you can talk down to people. I really hope this cranky attitude is because you’re just not feeling well, but you quite honestly haven’t been nice since the moment I walked through the door. You’ve not even introduced yourself to me.” Devon whimpered behind her as Bram slowly got to his feet, taking one step toward her, then another. She didn’t back down though, pushing her shoulders back and placing her hands on her hips. “Do you even know my name?”
Bram found himself focusing on the pitter-patter of her heartbeat. His own going crazy listening to hers. This fiery little girl was boiling his blood in more ways than one. His hand clamped around her arm, and he threw the door open wide. Pulling her through it, Devon followed, now sobbing behind them. “Stop it! Let me go. You’re hurting me!” Izabella dug her heals in, trying to pull away from him, but it only made him jerk on her arm, nearly causing her to fall.
Devon was on his other side, now, pulling on the base of his shirt, “Daddy, please stop. Please.” He was crying uncontrollably. Bram didn’t care, he was already on the edge of doing something they would all regret, and this was far better than traumatizing Devon and killing the girl. He grumbled, pulling them both through the appartement and toward the entrance. Once there, he threw the front door open, pushing the girl out into the hall unceremoniously.
Anger raged in her eyes. Tears welling up as she glared at him. “It’s Izabella, you jerk!”
Bram slammed the door.
***
Izabella fell to her knees. Crying into her hands. Bram had terrified her. What the heck was wrong with him? She could hear him raging on the other side of the door but couldn’t hear what he was saying. Her hands and knees shook as got up, pressing her ear to the door. But she could only hear that he was yelling, the walls were far to thick for her to make out the words.
Turning on her heals, she ran downstairs, letting herself into Tyler’s apartment. There was a telephone on the wall in the kitchen, and she dialed Tyler’s number wrong three times before finally getting it right. He picked up on the first ring. “Hey, how’d everything go?” She could only cry into the receiver as he started shooting questions at her.
“I messed up so bad, Tyler!” She finally shouted. “He’s in a complete rage! And threw me out! But…but Devon’s still in there with him. I could hear him screaming. What if—”
“Stop. Calm down, Izabella. He’s not going to hurt Devon, okay. I’ll be there within 15 minutes. Just wait in my apartment and don’t go back upstairs.”
Could she do that? Could she leave that poor little boy with someone that angry? Was he going to be okay?
“Did you hear me? Answer me Izabella.” His voice had gone stern, and she could hear keys rattling on the other end of the phone.
“I should call the police.” She said finally.
“Don’t you dare.” Tyler growled. “Ten minutes. Don’t. Call. Anyone.” She heard the phone click off.
Hanging up. She stared at the phone. All she had to do was dial three numbers and someone who could do something about it would be there.