Beginnings (The Trifectus Series - Book One) (9 page)

As I finished, we heard a faint howl in the distance.

“Oh no, a werewolf,” I said.

“Don’t worry, my love,” he said smiling.  “Werewolves have a howl that can be heard ten miles away.  That one was also faint.  We will be safe.”

“You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about you,” I said.

“As have I about you, dear.  I think about you every second of every hour.  Thoughts of your beautiful, glowing face radiate through my mind as if I was looking right at it.  I love you, Juliet LaVoe.”

Was this happening?  Did he just tell me he loved me?  A thousand thoughts and emotions rushed through my body as I tried to not to scream out loud.

“I love you too,” I said as my cheeks turned as red as the blood he had just drank.

He put his arms around me and whispered into my ear.

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

Finally.  The moment I had been waiting for had finally come.  The man I was in love with just asked me to be his.  In this moment, nothing else mattered.  I was on top of the world, and my smiling face was proof of it. 

“Yes,” I whispered softly.

We kissed under the shining lunar rays.  He rested his forehead against mine, and whispered in my ear.

“Forever.”

We walked inside to see everybody standing there smiling.

“It’s about time,” said Emma.

“Oh now, Emma, be nice.  We are just glad he finally did it,” said Rosa.

“Welcome to the family,” Rosa said.

I was a part of their family.  They accepted me and weren’t pushing me away as I had feared.  It made me think of my own family.  They hadn’t accepted me as much as James’s family had.  I couldn’t remember that last time my father gave me a sincere, true hug. 

I looked at my watch to see that it was almost time to leave. 

“Oh, look at the time,” I said.  “I have to get going soon so my parents don’t freak out.”

I was sad.  All I wanted to do was go get all of my things and come live with them.  I wanted to run away and never have to hear my father talk about how horrible vampires are and how they need to be exterminated. 

“We better get going,” James said.

“It was nice meeting you,” Maria said with a smile.

“Please come back soon.  You are welcome here anytime,” Michael said.

I smiled as I said my goodbyes.  James, Emma and I walked out to the car.  It was so dark outside.  The pitch-black darkness shadowed the other houses and objects all around.  We got in the car and I looked at the front door.  They were all standing there smiling and waving at me.  We pulled out slowly. They got smaller and smaller the farther away we got.

“I hope you had a good time,” Emma said.  “We don’t have many visitors.”

“Oh?  Don’t you have family anywhere else?” I asked.

“No, all of our families died a long time ago.  You know we aren’t all related, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, vampires aren’t really ever related.  The only rare time is when a vampire has a baby, but that doesn’t happen often.  Other than that the only new vampires are from the bites.  You have to leave your real family behind, if you have any.”

“That sounds horrible, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.  It actually works out pretty good.  It would be too hard to be around your real family anyway.  With the ages we live to, also, having a vampire family makes sense.  You don’t have to outlive them.”

“Well, when were you born?”

“1985,” she said.

“Well then that makes you 45 years old!  You don’t look close to that!” I exclaimed.

“Well, duh.  I was bitten when I was 15.  I pretty much will stay looking like this forever,” she said.  “It can be a drag, though.  I still can’t get into R-rated movies.  I tried telling the guy I was 45 but he didn’t believe me,” she said, smiling.

“Well, when were you born, James?”

Did I even really want to know?  If Emma was 45 years old, I couldn’t imagine what James was.  He seemed so much more mature than she was.  He seemed as if he had been like this a lot longer.

“I was born in 1846, bitten in 1863,” he said.  “I was bitten during the Civil War.  I was a soldier in the Union army.  I was badly injured when I got bitten.  I didn’t know who it was or where he came from, but I was able to heal and try to figure out this new life.”

I couldn’t believe my boyfriend was 184 years old.  I might as well have been dating my great-grandfather. 

Just as I was about to ask him more, something ran across the road ahead. 

“Juliet, get down,” James said.

The figures stopped in the road as they saw our lights.  It was them: the werewolves from earlier.  They were staring straight at us. 

Just as they were staring us down, the sound of a semi honking his horn around the corner scared them off.  Did they have any idea who James and Emma were?  Could they smell me and were they stopping to have a bite to eat?  Whatever they wanted, it didn’t matter anymore. 

“I can’t stand those feral dogs,” Emma said angrily. 

“Why do vampires and werewolves hate each other so much?” I asked.  “Wouldn’t you guys get along since you’re both hunted by humans?”

“Vampires and werewolves have a long history together,” said James.  “There used to be a time when we all got along.  Emma and I weren’t alive for that.  In fact, nobody that I know of was.  It was an ancient time.  There were no problems between any of the races.  It all changed when the wolves killed one of our own. We went from living together in peace to killing each other when we had the chance.”

I had never seen James so angry before.  It was something he was very mad about, and I knew I shouldn’t have asked anything.  He scared me when he was like this.  It made me wonder if he could control his temper if something ever happened.

As we pulled up to my house, I saw my father looking out the window.

“9:57,” I said.  “Right on time.”

“Thank you for coming over tonight,” James said.  “I hope you had a good time.”

“I had a great time,” I said, smiling.  “I hope I can come over again sometime soon.”

“Anytime,” said Emma as she hugged me.

I got out of the car and waved goodbye as they drove away.  I smiled as I turned around and realized where I was.

“Well, back to reality,” I mumbled.

I walked in to my father standing right in front of the door.

“Who was that boy in the car?” he asked.

“Emma’s brother.  He drove me home.”

“Well, I want to meet him,” he said while puffing out his chest and pulling his pants up.

“Why?” I asked.

“If some boy is driving you around places, I think I should be able to meet him.”

“Emma is 15.  She can’t drive.  You guys won’t let me drive so her older brother had to drive me home.  It’s bad enough he has to take time out of his day to drive me around, but now you want to harass the poor guy?” I shouted trying to get him off the trail of wanting to meet James.

“Well—uh—fine then,” he said as he stomped off into the kitchen.

I went up to my room and lay on my bed.  I sat there thinking of everything that happened tonight.  Now, I had a boyfriend and a second family.  I was in love.  I had not only a second family, but also people that understood me and accepted me.  Things were just now starting to fall into place.  I started to yawn and drift asleep.  My mind was still racing from what had happened.  As I fell asleep, thoughts of James filled my mind.

I woke up to a beautiful day.  The sun was shining through my window, birds were chirping, and the same smile that was on my face the night before was still there.  Today just felt different.  I felt like a new girl. 

I decided to clean that day.  I always clean when I’m in a good mood.  I don’t know why, but the smell of wood cleaner always makes my day better.  I turned on the radio and my favorite song was on.  I couldn’t help but feel that today was my day. 

“We interrupt your previously scheduled radio programming for a special news bulletin.  In the early hours of this morning, werewolves were spotted in North Cherryton.  We have a witness to describe what happened,” the narrator said.

“Yeah, um, well, I was getting ready for work.  My boss keeps making me come in early even when I say I don’t want to and I really don’t understand it.  Why do they think they can—” the man said as he was interrupted.

“Sir, please stick to the facts of the story,” the narrator said.

“Right.  Anyway, I was outside loading up my truck when I saw them.  There were four of them.  They were mighty big creatures and I hadn’t seen anything like them before.  They were in their full forms, and they looked right at me.  They stared at me for a few seconds before they took off, like they had somewhere to be,” the man said.

“You said there were four?” the narrator asked.

“Yup, four of em.  One didn’t look like he belonged, though.  Kind of like he was the new guy and he was being pushed around a little,” the man said.

“Interesting,” the narrator said.  “If any more reports come in, we will broadcast them here first.  Now we continue with your previously scheduled programming.”

As the music started coming back on, I started worrying.  There were only three before.  Even last night in the car, we only saw three.  Was this a whole different pack of wolves, or did they recruit someone?  My mind immediately went to Derek.  What if James and his family were wrong?  What if he was able to transform fully and he was a threat?  I had overheard him talking, and it seemed like something he might do.

I had to talk to James about this.  I knew that when I saw him at school tomorrow, I would have to talk to him about all of this.  I was just hoping that he wouldn’t think I was crazy.  After all, I am dating a vampire.

Chapter Five

Death

The next day I knew I had rush to school.  I couldn’t wait until lunch to talk to James.  What if I was right?  What if Derek was a part of this and someone got hurt?  He needed to be stopped, and I was going to make sure he was.

As I got to school, I pushed people out of the way to get inside.  I looked the hallways for James but couldn’t find him anywhere. 

“My locker!” I shouted.

James was always at my locker.  It was like a homing beacon to him and he always knew to find me there.  I ran through the hallways and turned the corner to see he wasn’t there.  I was panicked, but knew I had to get my things anyway for class.  I opened my locker and got my books.  As I closed the door, I heard someone say something.

“Boo,” said James, smiling.

“I’m so glad I found you,” I said.

“Well, me too,” he said.  “I couldn’t stop thinking about you last night.”

“Did you hear about the wolf sighting last night?” I asked frantically.

“The ones we saw?”

“No.  I heard yesterday some man saw other ones.  This time there were four of them out roaming in the early morning.”

“This isn’t good.  They must be trying to form a pack,” he said while putting his fingers to his chin.

“I think it was Derek,” I whispered to him.

“Derek?  Why Derek?  He isn’t that level, and besides, he’s never shown aggression.”

“What if you were wrong about him?  What if he really is to that level but doesn’t show it because he knows you would do something?”

“I’ll talk to Troy about it.  He knows all about trapping and hunting wolves.  If he says there is a chance then we will check it out.”

“Just be careful,” I said looking into his eyes.  “I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt.”

“I will.  I would never do anything to hurt you,” he said looking into my eyes.

As he was about to kiss me, somebody came and interrupted us.

“What is going on here?” asked Brittany.  “You think you can just come and steal my man?  I have liked James for a lot longer than you have even been here.”

“Leave her alone,” James said.  “She and I are dating.  I have never liked you,  Brittany.  You’re mean and cruel.”

I watched on as James defended me.  It was a side of him I’d never seen before.  He is usually very quiet and nice to everybody he meets.  He even has been nice to Brittany even though she was obsessed with him. 

Brittany stormed off in disbelief.  She was finally out of the picture.  Finally I could focus on building a relationship with James and not have to focus on somebody trying to rip us apart. 

The bell rang as James let go of my hand.  He kissed my cheek and walked away,  his cool kiss still lingering on my porcelain skin.

I went to class smiling.  As I walked into history class, I saw Mr. Quigley getting another video ready.

“Today we will be learning about the werewolves and their history,” said Mr. Quigley enthusiastically.

The entire class groaned as he fumbled with the disc. 

“I know how much you guys would rather hear my beautiful voice instead, but this is important.  With the recent spotting I thought it only fitting to show you more about them,” he said.