Take Me Under

“My life is complicated, Jess. I don’t expect you to fully understand it, and I don’t want you to sit here and try to. It’s too much to take all at once.”

I didn’t know then, how right he was.

“Jess…did you hear me?”

I couldn’t even talk at that moment. What did he expect me to say, exactly? What is anyone supposed to say when they hear news like this?

“Jess?” He questioned again.

“I heard you. Wha--what do you mean?” I finally started.

This was a plausible question at its best, I think.

“I’m a vampire, Jess. In the literal sense of the word vampire, I am a vampire.”

“Adam, stop messing around. We’ve been together for nearly three years. Wouldn’t I have noticed something like that by now?”

I’m lying right now, in case you didn’t notice. Truthfully, I have noticed a few things about my boyfriend. I wasn’t going to tell him that, though, because even with all the things that were weird about him, I never once would have guessed he was a…vampire.

“Jess, I know this is all hard to take in right now. But it’s the truth.”

“Okay. So, you’re a vampire. What now?”

“Now…I don’t know. I just couldn't keep hiding this from you. I know I’ve lied and hid this for longer than I should have, but I just wanted to protect you, baby.”

“Protect me? Adam, I left everything for you. I did everything I could to disobey my parents just for you. I hated them for trying to keep us apart. The moment I turned 18, literally the moment, I was out of there. I did so much for you, I’ve told you everything there is to know about me, and you’ve kept something like this away from me? I can’t even believe you right now.”

I turned the other way and began walking, heading toward the front door, dead set on exiting and running as far as I could away from him. My head wasn’t clear; my mind was racing with thoughts I never imagined in a million years would be there. He lied. Our entire relationship is a lie, and now I’m the one who has to pay for it.

Suddenly, he was in front of me again. I jumped backward in complete shock, and gasped louder than I think I ever have.

“What…you were just…”

“I know. I don’t have time to explain right now. There are more important things to discuss.”

“Oh yeah? And what would that be?”

He didn’t answer. He just looked at me for a second, as if he was unsure if he should say anything or not. At this point, it wouldn’t bother me if he just stood there and said nothing whatsoever. It would give me more time to get away from him.

“There are…people.” He said, finally.

“Adam, there are over 3 billion people living in this world.”

“Babe, just listen to me. There are people out there that are like me. I know all of this sounds crazy, but it’s true. There are others, too; others that…aren’t exactly like us. The others…they’re here in town, and they’re looking for me. They’re looking for me to get to you, Jess.”

I stood there dumbfounded. Well, he got my attention back at least.

“Wait. They want me? Why do they-- what did I do?” I asked him, completely shocked by this turn of events, on top of the other bombshell he just dropped not even five minutes ago.

“They want you because you’re with me. They want you because…because they’ve seen our future. They’ve seen you turned into a vampire. And…and they…” He stopped suddenly. If that wasn’t off putting, I don’t know what was.

“Adam, just tell me.”

“They saw you, pregnant, with my child; my son. They said he’s going to grow up to be one of the strongest creatures ever to walk this earth. That’s why they want you.” He replied hurriedly. I guess he could tell the anger coursing through my veins at that moment. If he didn’t right now, then he would after my next statement, that’s for sure.

“Well, you know what? I’m thinking they need a tune up on their powers, or whatever you vampires have.”

“What?”

I scoffed, straightening up into a more serious stance. “Adam, I won’t be having any of your children, ever, because there is no us anymore. If there’s no us, then there’s no ‘creature’ child. Right?”

I was being such a bitch. If you were in my shoes, you probably would be too. Right now, I didn’t give two shits what happened to Adam. I held so much resentment for the man who, not even 20 minutes ago, I loved more than anything in this world. Now? Now I just wanted to be as far away from him as humanly possible.

“Jess, you don’t mean that. I know you don’t.” He said, his voice quiet, but no doubt forceful.

“I don’t? Well, if today is opposite day, then yeah I’m playing the cruelest prank ever. Adam, it’s not opposite day, and I’m not kidding. I can’t be with you. I can’t be with someone that seriously just called the child we were going to have together a creature.”

“Jess, you don’t under--“

“No, you don’t understand! You don’t understand that I have told you everything. Through our whole relationship, you were the one person that I could go to for anything. Any problem, any secret, anything I needed to confide in someone, it was always you. I thought for so long that I was the same for you. Now I’m finding out I was sorely mistaken. I can’t be with someone who can so easily just lie to someone they claim to love. I can’t do it.”

“How can you stand there and tell me that I claim to love you, when you’re the one who clearly doesn’t love me if you’re willing to throw away the future we could have all because I was trying to protect you?”

“I do love you, Adam, and don’t ever doubt that. But, for once in my life, it’s just not enough. It’s not enough this time. I’m sorry. I can’t live my life looking over my shoulder, or worrying about my children’s safety because daddy has enemies that like to run around murdering the competition.”

Even through all this, I did still feel bad for him. The look on his face was…indescribable. I could tell just by the way his eyes gazed into mine that he regretted not telling me sooner. I can even admit that if he would have told me before, I definitely wouldn’t be as pissed as I am now.

“I’m gonna start packing up some stuff. Anything I leave behind, I’ll just have my brother come pick up. Is that okay?” I asked him. He scoffed at me. It wasn’t like a scoff you would get from someone who pities you, it was more of a scoff similar to what you would hear from someone who’s about to break down and cry.

“Jess…Jess, please don’t do this.” He pleaded.

“I’ll take that as a yes then.”

I wasn’t trying to be horrible to him, I just didn’t want to make it harder than it had to be. It’s hard enough as it is to treat the situation like it was so easy to sit here and listen to the pain spewing from his voice. This was all I could do to not hurt him even more than was necessary, even though all he has done to make it come to this. I couldn’t do that to him. I love him.

I moved toward the stairs and began climbing. I wasn’t going to pack all my belongings now, just the stuff I needed. He wasn’t following me, surprisingly, so I hurried along with packing my stuff; a couple days worth of clothes, my toothbrush, hair straightener, etc. I texted Richie, my brother, just to make sure it was okay that he come and collect my things for me. He said yes, of course, and when I was done with what I had to do, I slowly made my way back downstairs. Adam still stood in the same spot, looking down to the floor with an emotionless expression on his face. He looked up at me when I approached him.

“I’m sorry.” He voiced almost silently.

“I know. I know you didn’t want this to happen, but this is what needs to happen. That’s all I can say right now.”

“Where are you gonna go?”

“Back home, I guess. Even though I still, and will probably always, hate my parents for what they did to me, I think its best that I go there for now. After that, who knows.”

“Okay.” He sighed.

“I’ll, uhm…I’ll be in touch. If you still want to be friends or something, we can do that.”

“Friends? Jess, how can anyone possibly stay friends with someone they want more than anything?”

“Adam, I love you. I’ll always love you. Nothing will change that.”

“I love you too.”

I stepped closer to him, moving my hand to his cheek and stepping on my tip toes to press my lips to his. His pressed back to mine; his hand rising to rest on my lower back. It got heated pretty quickly, as it always did, and that’s when I knew I had to stop before my own self control went out the window.

I pulled away from him and quickly made my way to the door, stopping to look at him one last time, before I turned the knob, opened the door, and quickly left behind the man I so desperately loved.