Devotion and Desire

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Lilly’s POV

When I woke I was alone and the blankets were cuddling me with such warmth I didn’t want to move but there was this blinding light that seemed to burn my eyelids. When I opened my eyes I was greeted sunlight. I sat up to see the curtains were pulled away from the window letting all the morning sun in.

Then my eyes landed on William.

He was standing in front of the window looking out.

“I forgot how bright it can be.” I sat up in bed and watched him for a few minutes before he turned around, “It almost burns.”

“It does that,” I sighed with a bit of fear, “How many of the Dandies now can roam in the daylight?”

“Just me. They don’t get the pleasure of it.” He turned back around to face the window, “They’re waiting for the new formula.”

“Is my brother working on it or are you?”

William looked over his shoulder, “I can’t exactly use him can I?”

“I was just wondering.”

William chuckled lightly before walking away from the window, “I want you dressed in a few minutes. I want to go outside.”

“Nothing too special out there, just more people and a bright sun.”

His face became deadpan and I knew then if I wasn’t out of bed in a few seconds he’d drag me regardless, “I don’t care, I want to go out.”

I pulled the covers off of me, “And do what exactly?”

I saw a genuine smile on his lips as he headed towards the door, “I hear there is a fair. I’ll be downstairs.”

When he left I stared at the door a little dumbfounded. It was his first day in sunlight in god knows how many years and the first thing he wants to do is go to a fair, hell, I couldn’t judge him but it was weird. Then again William was this uber creep and it was all starting to fit together. Though, I was a tad afraid he might be a little unstable around so many humans. I know he could handle himself but there was still a fear.

Hell, he could be planning an attack and I wouldn’t know.

I got dressed as quickly as I could and attempting to make myself people friendly and less of the monster I looked like. I wanted to be comfy but decent. I didn’t remember a fair here. Not recently in the past. I was almost dreading if we had to travel. Could you see William Beckett, leader of the Dandies, on a fucking bus? Ha.

I reached downstairs and William looked like a giddy child ready to go to Disneyland or something with how he was trying to stay as still as possible, “You ready to go?”

I nodded with a yawn, “Sure.”

He held out his hand practically asking if we could hold hands. As much as I would like to refuse I needed to keep this acting up. Inwardly cringing I took his hand and we headed out into the bright sunny day in this Chicago suburb. I noticed William had now pulled on a pair of sunglasses and it made me actually look at him.

He wasn’t in his usual style.

He was rocking a v-neck and jeans.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Yeah, where the hell is William and what teenager’s closet did you raid after you killed him?” I stepped in front of him, “A V–neck? I mean really?”

“I can change if you want me too.”

I shook my head, “No it’s fine. It’s just weird having you be somewhat normal.”

William brushed past me, “I figured it would be easier if I tried to fit in.”

“That’s kinda hard you know,” I followed him to the sidewalk, “What are we even doing? No offense, but you don’t look like the kind of guy who likes fairs.”

I could barely make out his eyes under the sunglasses as he looked at me, “I was human once.”

We continued to wonder down Chicago for a bit letting William adjust to the daylight scene. We ended up going to a small restaurant so I could get some breakfast which was kinda hard since it was getting closer to lunch time. But I wanted pancakes and was going to make William get me some regardless.

Though, I wasn’t too sure about all of this of William being out in the day. William was a creature of the night that caused havoc among humans and now he could roam in the day? He really couldn’t feed off of anyone because someone noticing was pretty probable. But this idea of him out in public was still bugging me.

I looked out of the window at our table to see the people walking by. I was almost hoping to see one of the guys or my brother. There was a tug at my heart for Pete but I knew the chance of seeing one of them was slim. They didn’t know William could walk in the daylight.

But I could hope.

William eventually used what ever vampire skills, which he called flattery, to get out of paying for my meal and we were on our way. We actually took a cab to some location I wasn’t really paying attention and was soon greeted with fairgrounds.

The man wasn’t kidding.

“You weren’t kidding.”

He smirked slightly and intertwined our fingers with me cringing as we walked up to the ticket booth. This couldn’t be happening right now, “William, are you serious about this? What is this? You never take me out anywhere and now you want me to go to some fair with you?”

“Taking you out on a date wouldn’t kill either of us.”

I stopped in my spot and he let go of my hand with his body half turned towards me, “Stop it.”

His eyebrows furred in confusion, “Stop what?”

I bit my tongue so hard I thought I would chop it in two. William was doing this as test. This had to be a test to see if I had really started to like him. I did this to myself and now I had to lie in the bed I made.

“Lilly,” He moved to stand right in front of me, “What’s bugging you? If you want to go home we can.”

I didn’t say anything because I felt this anger that was all for me burning my insides. William pulled me into a hug and I, sadly, clung to him. I didn’t know how long I could handle this lie. I was trying so hard just to stay safe and to keep the people I loved safe but this whole idea of loving William was just too hard for me.

I just had hatred. He took my family away, killed my brother making him into a monster, tortured me, hunted me, marked me, and now told the whole vampire world I was soon going to be married to him. When was this going to end? I knew the longer this brewed the more power William would have. He was old and had knowledge and I was afraid of what he was going to do with that concoction my brother had.

“Lilly, I’m sorry for what I’ve done; I’m just trying to make it up to you. I want you to trust me.” He cupped my cheeks making me look at him, “We’ll fix this and I know you miss your brother but he’s fine. I won’t touch him. The others not so lucky.”

I sighed, “I know William. I trust you.”

He pecked my lips, “I also am sorry for calling you a conniving shrew.”

I smirked and leaned up for another light peck as I was getting back into the act, “Jerk. You owe me some cotton candy for that.”

“I can do that.”

He started to lead the way and I spoke again, “You have to actually pay for it this time.”

He looked back at me with a playful smile, “Sure.”

x-x-x-x-x-x-x
David’s POV

My voice rang out as I stared at a couple of the Dandies on our porch waiting for Pete to come down, “Pete!”

Pete appeared next to me glaring at the two vampires standing in the morning sunrise, “What do you want?”

One spoke softly, “William is making an offer today. Be at the fair that is a town away at three in the afternoon. Be there or you won’t see Lilly again.”

Pete looked over at me, “How can William be in the sunlight?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. I know I’m not missing anything.”

Pete shook his head not quite believing me. He went to ask the two vampires how it was possible but they had left quicker then they had come. Pete closed the door and insisted we checked all my works making sure we weren’t missing anything. I though I had kept a decent record on my stock of my concoction. But I hadn’t checked in awhile.

Everything seemed in the norm except a few of my notes where missing. The pages didn’t seem to fit right but I couldn’t really tell. I hadn’t really been one to organize especially after being turned.

“Is anything missing?”

I frowned, “I can’t really tell.”

“Well get it fucking organized.” He turned away from me, “Be ready to go to that damn fair or whatever.”

“Do you think she’ll be there?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Hey Pete?”

He looked over his shoulder, “Yeah?”

“Did you hear anything weird about her in the bar when you went last night?”

I could see Pete’s skin crawl with anger, “Yeah, there is a rumor that they’re getting married.”

My sister getting married to William? That had to be just a rumor. She couldn’t even like the guy if she wanted to. I sighed as I started cleaning this mess. I was worried for her, I knew she could hold up her own but she was still my baby sister.

We will get William, I was sure. We were going to take him down and destroy the Dandies. It wouldn’t be too hard even if they could wake in the day. They couldn’t do a mass killing without being seen! It would be disastrous for them.

Regardless of what happens we were going to get Lilly safe.

No matter what it took.
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