Chapter Twenty Nine - Part Two

Maxwell

Charlie’s stiff fingers curl around mine. I have to pry my hand out of hers in order for me to fetch a chair so I can sit beside her. Keeping my eyes on her lifeless body, my heart breaks as I cross the room to carry the bench to her bedside. I know she’s not dead, but seeing her like this is worse than I thought it would be.

I sit on that bench or pace the room for hours in the dark. My anxiousness makes my extremities fidgety in anticipation. All I can think of is how angry she’s going to be when she wakes up. Forcing myself to stay seated, I put my head in my hands in disappointment. The blame of this whole unfortunate situation rests on my shoulders. Waiting and patience are not my strong suits, which just makes this even more unbearable.

Vibrations from my phone run down the length of my leg. As quickly as possible I pull it out of my front pocket, allowing the screen to partially light up the room. My voice comes out quiet as if I would wake a sleeping Charlie. “Grace.”

“How’s Charlie?”

“Oh, you know, just dead for a while.”

“Lovely. Well, I have some more not so great news.” She stammers over her words as she tries to figure out how to say what she needs to inform me about. “It’s about Daisy.”

That name causes my hands to ball into fists as well as thoughts of if I ever see that woman again I’ll kill her. “What about her, Grace?”

“She showed up today seeking sanctuary along with forgiveness for what her vampire made her do. She graveled at Benjamin’s feet saying you would seek revenge for her being one of the conspirators in Charlie’s death and that this was the only place where protection would be given to her.”

“She did what?” I holler into the phone. My voice echoes throughout Charlie’s room.

“She told them about Henry’s long thought-out plans of killing Charlie, because of vengeance. She made it sound as if he used her like a pawn in his plan…there might have also been something mentioned that he threatened her life if she didn’t kidnap Charlie. She went on to talk about how awful Henry was with numerous feedings and outrageous things he asked her to do. The High Council looks upon her as a victim in this.”

“A victim…a victim. She wasn’t forced into anything and Charlie almost died because of her.” I’m appalled at how she’s so effortlessly playing everyone, just like Henry did.

“I’ve requested a hearing for all to hear what she has to say and there’s only one way to get the truth out there and you know what that is.”

“Charlie.”

“It’ll work out perfectly since she thinks Charlie is dead. Eugene will help me get everything to come together.”

“Benjamin is not informing her that Charlie is alive?”

“Benjamin owes me, so when I asked him to withhold that information he agreed. Only him, Eugene, and obviously myself know she’s a vampire now.” Grace sounds quite pleased with herself.

“Duke,” I blurt out, almost forgetting the reason Henry found us in the first place. “Tell Eugene to keep an eye on Duke. One of our dear council members helped Henry track us down.” I can’t stop myself from staring at Charlie’s lifeless body, thinking about how she looks quite dead right now all because of Duke.

“What a coincidence. Duke offered to watch over Daisy. He’s supposedly helping her get accustomed to being a vampire. Don’t worry. She’ll get what she deserves, just like Henry got what he deserved.”

I didn’t hear the last part of what Grace said because loud impatient knocks bang on the door. “Grace, I got to go.” I hear her question why in attempt to find out what’s wrong, but I just hang the phone up and debate about leaving Charlie’s side.

The knocks get louder and increase in number. Whoever is there isn’t pleased...but who? I decide against better judgement and leave Charlie to answer the door. They’re angry, I’m angry, but I’m sure they’ll regret it more than me.

Thankfully, the sun is already setting allowing me to not be burned by any light that would seep across the doorway. The door over swings as I open it and it slams against its hinges. “Dave.”

“What are you doing here?” His skepticism and authority in the matter is sickening. “Where’s Charlie?”

“She’s out.”

“Her car in the driveway.”

“She went out with Morgan...in Morgan’s car.” I hope to God that Morgan is not at work.

“Where were they going?” He asks as if it’s of his importance to know where Charlie is and what she’s doing.

“I don’t find that any of your business. You can call Charlie and if she answers, she answers...if not.” I shrug my shoulders as if his petty emotions mean anything to me.

He steps closer to me, almost over the threshold, his finger in my face. “I’m on to you.” He eyeballs me for several seconds. “And I won’t let you have her.”

“I already have her. Dave.” I cockily lean against the door. “It’s pathetic how much you try. She chose me and there’s nothing you can do to change that.” I bit my tongue to keep the rest of my words from exiting my mouth.

What he doesn’t know is that I got rid of him once and I can do it again...if I need to. I little coercion or bribing of the right person, timed just right. It’ll appear like an act of betrayal. Did Dave cheat on Charlie because this so-called client fell in love with him? Maybe. Maybe I suggested to said client of a potential opportunity that they could benefit from.

Either way, Dave messed up. Trusted the wrong person, overlooked Charlie resulting in her slipping away. Slipping into my hands.

Dave rushes forward. “I’ll wait here for her.”

My hand slams against his chest stopping him as if he slammed into a brick wall. “No you won’t. You don’t like me. I don’t like you. There’s no way in hell I’m staying here with you.”

“Then you can go.” He pushes against my hands, but he doesn’t get anywhere. Feeble human.

“I don’t think so.” I give him a firm shove and he tumbles backwards barely staying on his feet. He nearly falls down the steps. If only. “See ya around Dave.” I tell him as I shut and lock the door.

I give Morgan a quick phone call asking if Dave knows where she lives and if he happens to call that Charlie is with her but unavailable to talk at the moment. I’ve always been able to cover my tracks. Now, letting Charlie in on the situation makes things a little more difficult seeing as she always seems to figure things out. But there’s no way she’ll find this secret out. It’s too important.

I go back to Charlie’s side to find her fingers twitching. Immediately, I kneel by her side cupping her hands in mine. Her fingers are no longer stiff as they now lie loosely over her stomach. Her eyelids flutter just the slightest bit as her lips part. I let out a sigh of relief as she finally starts to wake. Eagerness makes me tangle her fingers with mine as I wait for her to open her eyes. “Charlie…Charlie…love, open your eyes,” I whisper.

I know she hears me because she begins to shuffle and stretch her limbs. A groan escapes her mouth as she protests to waking up, but within seconds she bolts upright. Her wide eyes look at me, at her lap, and then back at me. Her mouth drops open in efforts to comprehend what happened.

“Charlie, how do you feel?” I ask.

Without speaking one single word, she yanks her hands out of my grasp and brings them to her chest. “I’m dead,” she declares loudly. In a rush she jumps out of bed and begins pacing the room.

“Charlie, you just need to relax, everything is going to be fine. The sun is already down, so we can go out if you want.”

“Hollow…I’m hollow,” she says as she bangs on her chest some more.

“You’re the same as before you went to sleep.” I try to usher her out of the room, but she stubbornly refuses.

Unexpectedly, she takes two large strides over to the bed and collapses on the mattress. “I might not feel different, but I am. I just have to be, because this isn’t normal.” She slaps her hands over her face.

“Just relax, we can get through this,” I say as I walk up to her slowly.

“I am calm,” she yells back. A disbelieving look crosses my face; she corrects herself in an instant. “Fine…I’ll try to calm down.” She pulls herself to her feet and stands face to face with me.

Without even thinking, I start to rub the length of her arms. “How about we just stay in and watch some movies? You can call Morgan later and tell her your leave starts now.”

Charlie just nods her head in acceptance, keeping to herself. Everything from the way she stands to the fact that she can’t look me in the eyes is everything I need to know that she’s not comfortable in her new skin. “Come on.” I slip her hand into mine and lead her into the living room.

She drops onto the couch as she allows her legs to give out. Her head bounces from the impact. I sit as close to her as I can get. Her body still warm. I’ll never admit that I’ll miss the heat of her skin against me. Soon we’ll be the same and that’s all I ever really wanted. I flip the remote in my hand showing off. “So what would you like to binge this evening?”

To her amusement I bring up Netflix. Nothing like some secret learning to impress her with my ability to blend in and change with the times.

She stares at me unfazed by my words. Her face is expressionless until out of nowhere a laugh breaks through her tight lips, filling the room. She tries to cover her mouth to hide her beautiful smile or to block out some of the noise, but it just gets louder as her smile gets bigger.

“What’s so funny exactly?” I ask, amused by her change of attitude.

“Just the fact that we’re going to pretend to be normal people and have a movie night.” Her laughs get louder.

“There’s nothing wrong with trying to be normal or above average. First off, we are normal.” Just then I come across the perfect show. “Here we go. Dracula. Perfect.”

“Perfect?”

“I find it fitting.”

“I find it a little much. Give me that.” She snatches the remote out of my hand and keeps scrolling though. “Something spooky or something spooky?”

“Something spooky.” I agree with a slight smile on my face.

She starts the show and within a couple minutes I see her begin to fidget. Something’s bothering her.

Unexpectedly she blurts out my name. “Maxwell.”

Without hesitation, I answer. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry for being mean, cold, heartless. Where do I stop? I never told you this, but Henry rubbed my unappreciative attitude in my face.” The words continuously roll off her tongue, “He went on how he thought it was amusing that he had a willing exceptional bride and you had…me. I just need to tell you I’m sorry for being rude and for all the hurtful things I said to you.” It’s not until she’s spoken everything that’s been on her mind that she takes a deep breath.

“I know Charlie, but Henry didn’t have the perfect bride he thought he had. At this moment she’s graveling to Benjamin for sanctuary.”

“What? She’s still alive? Sanctuary where?”

“Daisy was here with me when you were…I could have killed her, but I didn’t and she escaped before we got back. She’s in Austria, preaching her lies to Benjamin and The High Council as she believes you’re dead and I’m out to get her. Grace is requesting that an event be made out of her sudden appearance and that, my love, this is where you come in. She thinks The High Council is going to save her, but with your personal testimony she’ll be prosecuted to degrees she never knew. As soon as Grace or Eugene inform me of the date, we’ll leave to have another pleasant trip in Austria.”

Charlie remains mute as she thinks about what I just said.

She mindlessly clicks on Dracula to please me or in some stupor, but her eyes remained glued on the screen as she curls into my side, resting her head on my chest. We sit here like this for hours, watching nonsense on TV and being completely quiet.

Out of no where she asks a questions, a question I didn’t think would ever come out of her mouth. “What happens when I get hungry?”

“We’ll talk about that when I find out who our donors are. Right now you just need to rest. Can you do that for me?”

She nods her head as she looks into my eyes. “I don’t know what I would do without you, besides still be alive,” she jokes.

“Very funny, Charlie, very funny,” I reply with a kiss to the top of her head. A few strands of her hair stick to my face. I can’t help but smile at the fact that now I truly have my vampire bride I’ve been waiting for.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's it Vampire Bride readers. The complete first book. Stay tuned for the continuation, but until then check out my current work, Fool Me Once, an exclusive story here on AnyStories! I love hearing and connecting with readers, so feel free to find me on Facebook: https:www.facebook.com/klnovitzkeauthor , Instagram @onebookishlife and Twitter @kl_novitzke. I also have an exlcusive story called Vision, a stalker thriller on Dreame. My first writing home was Wattpad, so you can find me there too!