I couldn’t believe this. He’d only just met her. They hadn’t even conversed for more than fifteen minutes. How can this be true?! Well, I wasn’t letting him make some moronic mistake and actually date her. No way. Not a chance. No –
Oh.
I couldn’t do that. I would be a hypocrite. I would contradict everything I was trying to prove to Charlie by refusing to let him see the vampire again. But it was....wrong...it was.... I couldn’t explain it but it wasn’t right for Charlie to date her. What if she hurt him? What if she broke his heart like in my dream? What if he was killed?
These thoughts and more raced around in my head and suddenly I knew the suffering Charlie had been enduring for the past two years. But I didn’t want to let him see her. I felt like wrapping Charlie in bubble wrap and locking him in a missile proof room so she couldn’t get him. I wanted to defend him from her and, to put it plainly, I wanted to kill her. I didn’t want her near Charlie, simple.
But I knew it would hurt him more to be apart from her. I knew what that pain felt like and I’d hate to inflict it on him.
“Wait here,” I said to him and I stood up and ran outside before he could ask why. I stood in the doorway and scanned the forest. She wasn’t at the edge. She’d have heard me coming and ducked inside.
“I know you’re there!” I shouted to her. “I know everything so you better come out!”
Two wide gold eyes appeared in a tree. They blinked once and then a face appeared.
“You will hurt me,” she called to me. “I can sense that.”
Sense? Oh, she meant because I’m Charlie’s daughter and that. Well, I wasn’t going to hurt her right at this moment in time. I’d wait a couple minutes or so.
“I won’t hurt you,” I said, smiling.
“You’re lying,” she said and she disappeared back into the leaves.
I stood there for a second or so and then ran across to the forest. I stood at the bottom of the tree I knew she was sitting in and looked up. I couldn’t see her but I knew she was there.
“So maybe I do want to hurt you,” I said to her. “You can’t blame me. You’re stalking my dad.”
I heard a slight rustle of leaves and her face popped out above me
“I love him,” she said simply. “I can’t be blamed for that.”
Damn. Why did she have to feel the same? This could all have been ended neatly if she didn’t like him. But I was only fooling myself in hoping she wouldn’t like him back. I knew she liked him. She wouldn’t stalk him for anything else.
“We need to talk,” I told her. “Some rules have to be set.”
“Rule number one – no drinking his blood?”
Funny.
She pulled her head back into the leaves and I tried to climb the tree to her. She was almost at the top and balancing steadily on a branch. I rather clumsily made my way up, slipping and falling until she had to grab me by my shirt and hold onto me til I sat on a branch across from her.
“Thanks,” I said, dusting myself down. “I didn’t really climb trees when I was younger.”
“Keep practising and you’ll be a pro,” she smiled radiantly. “It’s not so hard after a few climbs. Being a vampire makes it even easier as you can’t hurt yourself when you fall.”
I stared at her for a few seconds until I realised something.
“I don’t know your name,” I said. “I’ve been calling you ‘the vampire’.”
“Contessa Rodriguez.” She held out one pale golden hand. “But I’m usually called Tess.”
“Kayla.” I shook her hand, not flinching at the coldness of it.
“Wait,” she said, studying my face. “You’re not-? You can’t be! Hold on.”
With lightening speed moves she let go of my hand and sliced my arm open with one of her nails. I gasped and kicked out at her. I struck her in the face and she fell out of the tree. I grabbed onto a branch before I fell out with her. When I was firmly on a branch I looked down at my arm. It was already beginning to heal, the gash nothing more than a thin red line.
“I knew it!”
I spun round to find Contessa’s head behind me.
“You are her!”
I stared at her in confusion as she pulled herself up and sat next to me. She gazed at me with excited eyes.
“You’re Kayla!”
“And you’re Contessa,” I said slowly. This was the slowest vampire I had ever met.
“No,” she shook her head. “What I meant was that you’re Edward’s Kayla. You’re his fiancée.”
Oh. She knew Edward?
“We go way back, him and me. We used to travel together in the forties. There was this one time when this guy found out we were vampires and-”
I tuned out. They travelled together? I looked at this beautiful young woman, someone no man could resist and imagined her only being friends with Edward. It didn’t happen. Every time I thought of them together I could only see them kissing or holding hands or holding each other or...worse. I couldn’t see a scenario where they weren’t doing anything else. Jealousy rose up before I could make sense of the situation and suddenly I hated this vampire even more.
Contessa stopped mid-sentence and looked at me.
“It wasn’t like that,” she said. “It was never like that. We just travelled together for company. He was going through a rough time and needed someone to share that with. It was nothing more and never will be.”
That was weird. She just answered my thoughts. I know I’m used to Edward doing it and Charlie as well but this was a stranger. And I didn’t like it that she had such easy access to my thoughts.
“Are you telepathic?” I asked.
“No,” she answered.
Then how did she know what I was thinking? You can’t answer someone’s thoughts and not be telepathic.
“Are you lying to me? You’ve answered my thoughts twice but you’re not telepathic? How does that work?”
I knew she was being honest. You could tell on her face and from her thoughts. But what you couldn’t read from her was how she could read my thoughts. It scared me. This vampire knew what I was thinking yet she wasn’t telepathic and I didn’t tell her. I had to get away from her.
“No, wait, let me explain,” she said, pulling me forward for I was nearly over the branch. “You don’t understand.”
“How are you answering my thoughts?” I asked her. “You’re not telepathic so what kind of mind trick are you playing on me?”
“I know you’re scared but just listen-”
“I am not scared!” I shouted. “I’m freaked out! I want to know what the hell kind of special ability you have before I decapitate you and burn your head!”
Contessa backed away from me. She knew I was serious. I was serious. What the hell kind of thing was she up to? How could she know what I was thinking when she wasn’t telepathic?
“I can sense your thoughts and feelings!” she said loudly. I stopped in my bid to flee and looked at her.
“Sense?” I said calmly in contrast to my freak out two seconds before.
“Yes. I can sense what you’re thinking and feeling,” she answered. “Not complete thoughts or accurate readings of emotions but they’re pretty good. That’s how I could answer you’re thoughts and know that you wanted to hurt me.”
“Oh.” That changes things. Wow, did I feel embarrassed. I just threatened to kill her over nothing. Yay.
“You were just trying to protect yourself. I won’t take it personal.”
Okay so Contessa seemed really nice. She’s understanding and excitable and she has a really good ability. Kind of Edward and Jasper mixed together in a big pot and the product is Contessa. I guess I could let her date Charlie.
“Oh!” she squealed and unexpectedly threw her arms around me. “You like me!”
Very excitable.
So after a little discussion with Contessa in which I set a couple of ground rules I agreed for her to go in and see Charlie. She had a smile plastered on her face from the moment I said she could when we were sat in the tree. We walked back to the house together and she seemed nervous which I usually never saw in a vampire but she continued to smile. I thought it was rather cute. It was like a first date.
“Dad?” I called from the hallway. “Dad?”
There was no answer. I left Contessa in the hallway and walked through to the living room. Charlie was still sat on the floor. I had been surprised that he hadn’t rushed out to the forest when he had heard me shout on Contessa. I thought he might have tackled me to the ground and shout at me for shouting at his beloved vampire.
“Hey,” I said, touching his arm and sitting down next to him. “Why don’t you stand up and look presentable. You don’t want anyone seeing you like this do you?”
Charlie looked at me with those big sad eyes again.
“Like what?” he replied, glumly.
“Like a big emotional wreck,” I answered. “Come on, dude. You’re a man! Straighten up, soldier! Get some balls!”
He was so startled at what I’d said that he forgot to look sad.
“Yeah, that’s right,” I said. “I know how to be tough. Now stand up.”
He remained sitting, still looking at me in shock.
“Stand up I said!” I stood up and hauled him to his feet. “Now you need to look good.” I started to faff about with his clothes, trying to get creases out and make him look smart. “You need to not look so shocked or so sad. There’s someone here to see you.”
A smile broke out on Charlie’s face. He knew who was here. He ran a hand over his hair to smooth it down and then straightened up and puffed out his chest.
“There we go,” I said, smiling too. “I think you might have a chance with her.”
Contessa walked in at that moment, sensing from me that it was her cue. Charlie heard her footsteps and turned around. I saw his cheeks go slightly red and he grinned from ear to ear.
“Hello,” Contessa said, shyly.
“Hi,” Charlie replied, also shyly.
I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room to leave them to their shy greetings. I got as far as the stairs and then couldn’t resist sneaking back. I stood in the doorway and watched them stand there grinning at each other.
Offer her to sit down, Dad. I mentally told him. She may be a vampire but it’s still gentlemanly to offer her a seat.
Charlie after hearing my thoughts offered Contessa to sit down on the sofa. She glanced at me and smiled and then sat down. Charlie stood for three seconds then realised he could sit too and took the seat next to her.
Ask her about her life. It’ll keep you two occupied for a couple of hours.
“So, you’re a vampire,” Charlie said, trying to sound casual. “That must mean you meet interesting people.”
“Oh yes,” Contessa said. “I once met this guy, Billy Shakespeare, he was called I think. Great guy although he could really have done with a breath mint though.”
Contessa launched into her encounter with Shakespeare and Charlie listened attentively. I thought that he could handle it from here so I skipped on up to my room feeling happy for once.
“Holy shit!”
Rosalie was sat on my bed.
It was enough to scare anyone.
“Hello,” she said, politely while looking at her nails. “Edward thought I should come apologise to you.”
At that exact moment my cell phone rang. I flipped it open already knowing who it was.
“I can explain,” Edward said, quickly. “I know that she is the last person you want to see right now-”
“She is more than the last person I want to see right now,” I said, angrily. “I would rather go through excruciatingly painful experience of having venom coursing through my bloodstream again than see Rosalie. I’d rather hold a conversation with Loren than see Rosalie. I’d rather-”
“I get it, Kayla,” Edward said. “But please. Let her apologise. Alice sees great things happening if you’re cooperative.”
“Alice can shove her visions where the sun doesn’t shine because I am not speaking to this peroxide blonde air head.”
“Kayla.”
“Edward.”
He sighed. “Please do this. For me?”
I didn’t want to see or speak to Rosalie. I thought I made that quite clear to Edward. She hadn’t been very nice to me and I hadn’t been nice to her but what I did wasn’t as bad as what she did. But she was Edward’s sister. I didn’t want to have a feud going with one of Edward’s relatives as they could last a long long time. Also it might cause some sort of rift between them and I didn’t want that.
“Fine,” I agreed. “But if she says anything out of hand Edward I’m throwing her out of my window. And you can foot the bill for a new one.”
He chuckled. “Thank you, Kayla. This means a lot to me.”
“I know it does and that’s the only reason why I’m doing it.”
“I’ll see you later tonight. I think you have a lot to tell me.”
“Bye,” I said, sadly and ended the call.
Rosalie looked up from her perfect nails and stared at me with her cold eyes. Again she was wearing a simple purple lace top and jeans and she still managed to make them look more than simple and radiate beauty.
“Talk.”