Seeing Red (The Dark Love Series) (18 page)

             
I force myself out of bed and drag myself into the living room. I instantly stop. My jaw drops, and my eyes grow wide. There is a beautiful brunette with pale skin and dark eyes sitting on the couch next to Lilah. It's Caroline. It's my sister. She looks more beautiful as a vampire than she did as a human. I look up and see William pacing back and forth. Something must be wrong.

             
I stand still. Everyone stares at me. Caroline rises from the couch and makes her way toward me. It looks like she wants to smile and cry at the same time. “Nina,” Caroline says in almost a whisper. Tears instantly fall from my eyes.

             
“Lynns,” I cry. She grabs me quickly and hugs me.

             
We stand here for a few minutes just hugging each other and enjoy the company of one another.

             
“What are you doing here? I thought you ran away. I thought you never wanted to come back here again,” my mouth starts talking before my mind can think about the words.

             
“I'm here now, and that's all that matters. Leaving was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life. I did it to protect you, Nina. I missed you and mom so much. How's mom doing?” Caroline asks me with tears in her eyes.

             
“Mom's doing better. She misses you every day,” I admit.

             
“I miss her too,” Caroline says.

             
I wipe the tears off my face and look around. Andrew's still nowhere in sight. “Where's Andrew?” I ask.

             
Every falls silent. “That's why we're here. I think you should sit down, Nina,” William informs me.

             
“What's going on?” I ask as everyones continues to stare at me.

             
Lilah clears her throat. “I think you should listen to William and sit down.”

             
I shake my head quickly. “No! Tell me what's going on!” I demand as I continue to search the room, waiting to see his beautiful face. “Where's Andrew?”

             
“The Brothers have him,” William breaks the news to me.

             
I feel a lump in my throat, and the room starts to spin. Beads of sweat start to form on my forehead. I fall to the ground and start crying. My whole world starts to fall apart right in front of my eyes.

             
Tears stream endlessly down my face. I scream as my vision blurs from my tears. I feel my heart starting to break. My Andrew. They have my Andrew. “Is he alive? Please tell me he's alive. Please. William. Lilah. Someone answer me,” I yell out.

             
“He's alive, for now,” Julian tells me.

             
“The Sulivic Brothers took Andrew prisoner. They locked him up in a cell with silver holding him down,” William announces to every one.

             
Tears fall down my face faster. “Please tell me you have a plan to get him out,” I stutter out.

             
“Yes, I have a plan to get him out quickly, without the Brothers knowing. I've been spying on them for months now. I know their routines. I'm positive I can get him out without alerting the Brothers or starting a war,” William informs us.

             
“I'm coming with you,” I announce as I stand tall and wipe away my tears.

             
William's eyebrows rise and a small smile appears, and disappears instantly. “Wait, are you serious?” William asks.

             
I nod my head. “Yes! I'm going with you!” I shout.

             
William shakes his head. “No, I don't think so! Are you crazy?”

             
“William, I'm not taking no for an answer.
I didn't ask you, I'm telling you. I'm going with you,
” I inform him and start to put my shoes on.

             
I finish putting my shoes on and look up to see William standing right in front of me. “What?” I ask him.

             
“I'm really sorry, but Andrew would want me to do this,” William says.

             
“Do what? What are you talking about?” I ask in confusion.

             
“Again, I'm really sorry for this,” William says as he picks me up over his shoulder.

             
“Put me down right now, William! Now! William!” I yell as I hit his back. “Put me the hell down right now!” I keep yelling.

             
“You're not going!” William shouts at me.

             
He carries me into Andrew's room and sets me down on the bed. He grabs my hand and places a metal handcuff around my wrist. He then attaches it to the bed post. “You've go to be kidding me!”

             
“It's too dangerous for you to go. I'm sorry I had to do this, but you left me no choice,” William says.

             
“Okay! The joke is over. Uncuff me, please!”

             
William shakes his head. “Not going to happen. I'm sorry.”

             
“William!” I shout.

             
“Caroline is going to stay here with you. You two can catch up. We should be back with Andrew before the sun rises,” William tells me, and walks out of the room. He's such an asshole. How dare he handcuff me to the damn bed?

             
Caroline walks into the room with tears forming in her eyes. “I'm sorry, Nina. It's for your safety.”

             
“It's fine. Leave it to William to have the bright idea to handcuff me to a bed post.”

             
Caroline smiles and I do the same. “You've changed.”

             
“I have?” I ask in shock. I don't feel like I've changed.

             
“You look happy,” Caroline admits.

             
“Andrew makes me happy.”

             
“You seem like such a strong person now,” Caroline observes.

             
“I wake up and I want to give up every day, but I don't. Instead, I tell myself to stay strong and hold on. It has helped me so much. Being strong is the only thing I have left. Without it, I would just crumble and fall into severe depression again,” I confess.

             
“How's your,” Caroline pauses. It's almost like she doesn't want to say the next word. “Your depression?”

             
“I finally found a way to cope with it,” I admit.

             
“How?”

             
“I sat in my room one day. I was staring at my door, just waiting for someone to walk through and help me, help me get rid of the pain, the sadness, the hurt I felt inside.” Tears start to fall down my face. “The door never opened. I sat and cried for hours and hours. I finally told myself that enough is enough. This sadness has to be put to an end. I finally found my happiness with Andrew. Without him, I would probably still be depressed out of my mind.”

             
“How do you cope with it, with the depression?” Caroline asks as tears fall down her face.

             
“I just face it head on. I look depression in the face and make it clear that this can't go on any longer. I just make sure to remind myself every day to stay strong.”

             
“Is your depression finally gone?”

             
I shake my head. “My depression will never be gone, and I'm okay with that. Every day it gets easier to fight off and to cope with. Don't get me wrong, some days I will feel sad for no reason. Some days I'm just not strong enough to fight it off, but I keep looking toward the future, and I remind myself to smile, because life is such a beautiful thing.”

             
“You're such a strong person, and I look up to you for that. I want you to know that,” Caroline confesses to me. I can't help but smile and cry at the same time.

             
Caroline hugs me softly. Tears fall down my face faster. It feels so good to have her here with me right now. Especially in the time I need my sister the most. It feels even better to have her sit here and tell me she looks up to me for being such a strong person.

             
“So,” I clear my throat and wipe away my tears. “Why did you leave? The truth.”

             
Caroline takes a deep breath. “Two reasons. The first one is because I didn't want you to change yourself into a vampire-healer to save my humanity. I couldn't live with myself if you did that just for me. I left because I wanted to protect you from that.”

             
“And the second reason?” I ask.

             
“The second reason is because William and I both knew that the Brothers were going to come back hard with their revenge. We knew they were going to come back for you to kill you. We decided to pretend to run away.”

             
“Why didn't you tell me? I could have played along with it instead of worrying about you every minute you were gone,” I cry.

             
“It had to seem as real as possible. The Brothers aren't easily tricked. We had to tell you we were running away. We needed to be five steps ahead of the Brothers, and the only way to do that was to make them think we were gone so we could spy on them. We were looking out for you and Andrew the whole time. We studied their routines. We scoped out their hiding places. We know everything that they know.”

             
“Where did you go?” I ask.

             
“Nina, we never left. Each hotel room or place we stayed, we only stayed there for a couple of days, and then moved to the next spot. We were only a couple towns away. We always stayed close to you, so we knew we could protect you if you need us.”

             
“Wow,” I say as I shake my head. “You did all that to keep us safe?”

             
“You're my sister. Andrew is William's brother. We wanted to protect our family, and this was the only way. I missed you every day I was gone,” Caroline admits to me.

             
I hug her tight and catch her scent.

             
“You should sleep, Nina. I will have Andrew wake you up as soon as he gets back.”

             
“What if he doesn't come back? What if they kill him? Lynns, I can't live one day in this world without him.”

             
“He will come back home safely. You have to have hope and faith. Andrew will be home by morning,” Caroline says, as she tries to comfort me by rubbing my back.

             
Tears start falling down my face and blurring my vision. “If Andrew doesn't come home, I will never have happiness again. He's the love of my life. He's the reason for my smile, my laughter. He's my happiness, and I can't lose him.”

             
“Let's cuddle and fall asleep together. I bet you they will be back before the sun sets,” Caroline smiles as she climbs into bed with me.

             
Caroline cuddles up to me and we both start to fall asleep in the presence of each other. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time. I finally have my sister back.

Chapter 21

My Love

Dear Diary,

              They've taken not only the love of my life, but my happiness as well. Andrew's my love, my life, my other half. I wouldn't be able to breathe without him. I wouldn't be able to function without my other half. Life as I know it would be over. I need him back. I need to feel his touch again, his soft lips against mine. I need my forever back.

Love, Nina

* * * *

My eyes open quickly as the front door slams. I try to jump off of the bed, but one of my hands is still handcuffed to the bed post. I try pulling as hard as I can, but there's no point. My hand begins to throb in pain. “Andrew!” I yell. “Andrew!”

             
Caroline wakes and is on her feet quickly. “They're back,” she says and disappears.