Destined (Vampire Awakenings) (23 page)

   The anger that s
eized him was swift and violent;
it
caus
ed
him to react before he could think as he seized hold of her arms. “Don’t talk about her like that!” he hissed, drawing her up so that her eyes were even with his. Jess’s eyes widened in surprise,
and fear as she stared at him,
Stefan clenched his jaw and forced himself to release her. “Be out of this house tomorrow.”

   Jess’s eyes filled with tears as she spun on her heel and raced out of the room. “Fine!” she shouted over her shoulder as she pounded up the stairs.

   Stefan stood silently, his eyes resting on the screen. He suddenly didn’t want to go anywhere near it, anywhere near her.
Shit,
what had she done to him? The anger that had just seized him was so unexpected, so out of character, that he was absolutely stunned. For a moment he had been ready to rip Jess’s throat out just because of what she had said.

   He took a deep breath to steady himself before striding over to the screen and ripping it back. She was gone. For a moment he contemplated going after her, finding her, talking to her, and much
much
more. Then, he changed his mind. He needed time to think, time to sort through his jumbled mess of emotions. He was beginning to realize that it was much more than a desire to
only
have her in his bed, but something more, something that he wasn’t sure he wanted. He was actually beginning to care about the infuriating witch.

   It was the first time he had allowed himself to care about anyone since he had been a child. He had vowed never to let it happen again, but now, somehow she had managed to wedge her way under his defenses. Maybe she had the right of
it;
maybe they should just stay away from each other. His entire existence had been nothing but death and destruction. An existence that Isabelle could not even begin to fathom
,
that didn’t even come close to the hap
py peacefulness of her life
. His had been an existence that he had every intention of never letting her know about. Growing closer to her may just be the biggest mistake he ever made, but something about her kept drawing him to her, something about her made him determined to posses her.

   The best thing for her, probably for both of them, would be for him to leave, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Not yet anyway. Maybe in a little bit. He just wanted to be near her for a little longer. He frowned as he thrust the screen back into place. For the first time h
e began to realize that when Isabelle
was near, the darkness that had been haunting him, the loneliness that he had experienced since destroying Brenda
did
n’t tearing at him anymore. For the first time since he had been thrust into
t
his dark existence, there was actually a little bit of peace in his soul.

   And it
was because of
her
.

   Confused, angry, and extremely disgruntled, he returned to the couch. He lay awake for a long time before sleep finally claimed him. And then, the dreams started
again
.

CHAPTER 11

   Isabelle managed to avoid him, and everyone else, for most of the next day. She was scared that Ethan would sense her humiliation, and discomfort. That the stooges would make some comment about her staying at her parent
’
s house, and she was petrified that she would run into Jess. Her own self hatred was enough, without having to see Jess’s hatred on top of it.

   She got up before the sun rose, knowing that Aiden would be leaving early in the morning. She wanted to say goodbye to him before everyone else got up. She managed to corner him by the bathroom as soon as he
rose
. She had ended up in tears by the time that they had broken apart. The tears had shocked them both. She hadn’t cried in years, and it fully made her realize just what an emotional mess she had become.

   He had promised that he would be back soon to visit, and had pleaded with her to stop crying. Although he was too much of a man to cry, he had been as reluctant to release her as she was to release him. When she had finally managed to let him go, she had turned and fled from the house. She knew that her absence from his departure would be remarked upon later, but she didn’t care.

   It had been years since she had gone to the tree
house, but that was where she sought her sanctuary. She sat in the tree for hours, watching the sun move across the sky as she tried to sort through the mess of her jumbled emotions. As the sun began to set, she realized that she hadn’t even come close to figuring out how she felt. She wasn’t sure that she ever would.

   She refused to cry again, no matter how much she wanted too. Crying was not going to solve her problem, and she was already disgusted with herself for being weak. With a resigned sigh, she climbed wearily out of the tree house, tired, and emotionally drained. She reached the ground and wrapped her arms around herself to help ward off the cold chill that permeated her entire being. Kicking
miserably
at the ground, she made her way slowly down the path, and back to the house.

   She couldn’t avoid him
forever;
she couldn’t avoid all of them forever. She was just going to have to deal with it, and take everything as it came. She couldn’t keep living like this. He would be leaving soon, Jess would be leaving soon, and then it would all be over. That thought didn’t give her the reassurance that it used too, but she refused to l
inger over the reason why. She c
ouldn’t
allow herself to
be alone with him anymore, that was all, and no matter what she was feeling for him, it didn’t matter anymore. She didn’t even like him!

   That wasn’t entirely true, she admitted to herself. She did like him, a little too much for her peace of mind. Isabelle sighed tiredly as she climbed the steps and opened the screen door. Everyone had come back from working on the house, and they were now gathered in the living room, watching a movie. They all turned to look at her when she entered. “Where hav
e you been all day?” Ethan inquired
.

   Isabelle shrugged absently. “Around.”

   “You missed Aiden.”

   “I said
goodbye to him this morning.”

   She moved forward to lean against the doorframe. She stared blankly at the action movie that they
all
turned back to watch. She found her gaze traveling involuntarily toward Stefan. He was sitting in one of the
recliners;
his feet
were
propped up, his gaze intent upon her. It took all she had to break his stare, and turn away.

   “Where’s Jess?” she asked as she moved toward the fridge.

   “She moved out!” Ian called
to her
.

   Isabelle froze with her hand on the handle. “What?” she asked in surprise, her heart leaping painfully as a bubble of hope bloomed forth. She quickly shoved it aside. “Why?”

   She stepped back to peer into the living room again. All heads were turned toward Stefan. He looked at her, his face hard, and his eyes distant. “We broke up.”

   Isabelle’s eyes widened in surprise as his gaze burned into her. She swallowed heavily, her emotions swinging rapidly back and forth like a pendulum. For a moment she feared that she would be sick. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and swung the fridge open. She needed to sort through her emotions. She was also hungry, and in desperate need of a shower to ease the chill in her. She grabbed a bag of blood, and headed for the stairs.

   “I’m going to take a shower so don’t even think about flushing the toilets!” she yelled over her shoulder.

   “Would we do that?” Jack
call
ed innocently. Isabelle ignored their laughter as she made her way up the stairs.

   “Why does she do that?” Stefan asked the minute that Isabelle was gone.

   “Boss us around? Because it makes her feel better,” Ian answered absently, his gaze riveted on the
TV
.

   “It makes us feel better,” Ethan answered
with chuckle
. “It keeps her happy, which in turn keeps the rest of us happy.”

   “Yeah, Isabelle can make your life a living hell if she’s mad at you,” Mike supplied.

   Stefan quirked
a
n
eye
brow as he stifled a laugh. He knew first hand just how miserable she could make someone’s life when she wanted too, but all of that was going to change tonight. Jess was gone, out of the house, and Isabelle no longer had any reason to fight him, or herself. He began to harden as he thought about all of the wonderful things that he was going to teach her, and do to her.

   “I already figured that out,” he said
softly
. They all shot him questioning looks that he chose to ignore. “No, why doesn’t she feed in front of you?”

   Ian and Ethan exchanged a quick smile. “Because we used to tease her
about it
when we were younger. We told her that she was ugly when she did it, that she looked like a freak, and all kinds of other stuff. She hasn’t fed in front of anyone since she was eight,” Ethan explained.

   Stefan was surprised to find himself highly irritated with them. All he could picture was a small Isabelle, in pigtails, crying over her brothers taunting. It was something that had obviously affected her. His jaw clenched tightly as his hands curled involuntarily into the arms of the chair. It didn’t matter that they had all been children, or that they had all taunted and teased each other, all he could think about was the pain that they had inflicted upon her. He wanted to tell them that it wasn
’t funny, but he bit his tongue, they didn
’
t need to suspect any of his attentions toward her.

   He had never felt so protective, or defensive, of someone. He really was growing to care for the girl, he realized with a mixed feeling of awe and dismay. No matter how much he had never wanted it to happen, it was actually a pleasant realization he decided.
It was a
thought that helped to ease the torment of his dark soul
,
a
soul that he had no intention of ever letting her glimpse.

   He was determined to protect her from all of the unpleasantness of the world, including himself. He would have her, she
would
be his, but she would never know anything about his past. It was the only conclusion that he had come to in the long, discomforting night. She helped to ease his torment, because of that he wanted her more than any other woman he had ever met, but he had also vowed that she would never know the darker side of the world, or himself.

   He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, a small smile cross
ed
his face as he thought about what tonight would bring.
H
e just had to get the little witch to concede to his will, but he was certain that it wouldn’t be hard. He was beginning to understand why she had been staying away from him. For all of Isabelle’s bluff and bluster, inside she was scared, and frightened of being hurt. He could, and would, ease that fear.

   The screen door swung open again. He opened his eyes, tensing as Jess came into the house. He had spoken to her
a
little this morning as he had helped her carry her stuff out, but he hadn’t expected to see her again, and he didn’t want to see her now. They all turned to look at her, their eyes wide in surprise.

   “I forgot my toothbrush.” Before Stefan could stop her, she was heading up the steps.

   Isabelle was coming out of the bathroom, dressed in one of Ethan’s old T-shirts, with her clothes tucked under her arm when Jess stepped into the hallway. She instantly tensed as Jess’s hate filled blue eyes landed on her. For a moment
Isabelle
couldn’t breathe from the force of the
hostility that radiated from the girl
.

  “I hope you’re happy now!” Jess
hissed.

  
Isabelle blinked at her in surprise
, taken aback by the waves of hatred beating against her. She had never thought it possible for someone to hate her as much as Jess had grown too.
“Jess, I didn’t want this,” she whispered.

   Jess snorted angrily. “I seriously doubt that.”

   “I really didn’t!” she protested. She wanted to tell her that nothing was going on, but she wasn’t going to lie to her. There was something going on, she just wasn’t sure what it was yet.

   “Don’t for a moment think that you’re special, you’re just like all the other sluts he’s been with. He’ll use you and toss you aside t
o
o, you’re...”