Nightmare

Zacky looked at me like I had just spoken a foreign language to him, confusion masking his features. “What?” He managed to get out.

“I’m not going with Tristan,” I repeated.

“Babe, you kinda have to. That’s the reason why you’re here,” Zacky pointed out.

“I don’t care,” I said. “I’m not leaving you and the guys to live with him. What do I even know about this guy? For all I know, he could kill me as soon as he gets his hands on me.”

“That won’t happen,” Zacky assured me.

“How do you know?”

Zacky closed his mouth momentarily, and I could see the look in his eyes that he really wasn’t sure, but was hoping that it was true. “He just wouldn’t,” he said. “You’re too important to this world, and he knows that.”

“I’m not going.”

“Starr, you have to… why do you not want to go so much? Tristan is the Prince of Vampires; he’s all-powerful here. You should be looking forward to being with him.”

“I’m not leaving you,” I whispered.

I saw a small smile form on Zacky’s full lips before he pressed them to mine momentarily. Apparently, he liked my response, but almost as soon as that smile appeared, it vanished, with him now having a look of guilt.

“You don’t mean that,” he said softly.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Zack, I don’t want to leave this house, leave you, to go somewhere else, where I don’t know what’s going to happen to me. Since the moment that you brought me here, you’ve helped me so much that I can’t even explain it.”

“Starr, you don’t—”

“Zacky, when you’re with me, everything makes sense,” I cut him off. “I’ve never felt like that before. My life has always been chaos, calamity, and craziness. But you made that stop, and I don’t know how, but you did. And I don’t want go back to feeling lost in life.

“I like the fact that understand what’s going on, not feeling like I’m some sort of whack-job who can’t sleep because of her nightmares… with you… I understand. I know what I’m supposed to do, who I am… I don’t want to lose that.”

Zacky gently ran his thumb over my cheek, biting lightly on his lip ring. “Starr, you know who you are now; that won’t change just because I’m not there.”

“That’s not all,” I said.

“Then what else is it that’s bothering you?”

I looked away with a sigh. “I don’t want to leave you, Zacky. I like being with you, around you. I don’t want to leave here and never see you again… I actually care about you.”

I felt Zacky’s lips press against my temple, kissing my skin softly, before hugging me tightly to his chest. “I don’t want to see you go either,” he told me. “But you have to, Starr. I wish you didn’t have to, but you do.”

I hugged him back, my arms around his torso, my head resting on his chest, my mind wandering. I didn’t want to leave Zacky. I didn’t want to be away from him at all. I cared about him, just as I had told him, and I wanted to be with him.

“I care about you too, Starr,” he whispered. “You mean a lot to me; but I can’t change what is said. Tristan expects for me to bring you to him on Halloween. I can’t oppose him.”

I nodded. “I understand.”

“I’m sorry that your life has to be like this, Starr,” Zacky suddenly said. “When you were a kid you never slept because of your dreams, and now you can’t even life the life that you tried to make for yourself… you have to be here in the underworld, surrounded by vampires and demons, not having any control of what you are to do or what you have to become… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I told him softly. “It is what it is, Mr. Vengeance.”

Zacky gave a light laugh. “It’s strange to hear you call me that.”

“Call you what?”

“Vengeance.”

“That is your name, is it not?” I asked.

“Yeah, it is,” he said. “Well… not my real name. That’s the vampire name I took to remove myself from the human world. My real name is Baker.”

“Zack Baker?” I felt a small smile cross my lips. “That doesn’t sound nearly as menacing as Zacky Vengeance.”

I could tell he was smirking. “It isn’t.”

“I’ll have to Google your name next time I’m on my laptop to see what I can find out about your human life,” I said.

“Why do that?” He asked. “Why not just ask me now?”

I bit my lip, thinking about it. What would I like to know about Zacky and his human life before?

“Where were you from?” I asked.

“California,” he said, running his fingertips along my skin. “Today’s Huntington Beach.”

“Wow, Cali boy. Never would have guessed that… so what did you do when you were alive?”

“I loved playing guitar,” Zacky said, clearly reminiscing. “I learned when I was thirteen, teaching myself how to play, but did it backwards, left-handed… music was so important to me back then—it was all I ever wanted to do. Practice playing to get better.”

“Are you any good?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’m an average player.”

I could instantly tell he was lying. Never did Zacky ever humble himself, so that meant he was amazing, if not close to it. I traced the tattoos on his chest, loving the feeling of his skin against mine, again thinking about having to leave him to go with Tristan.

“This is so unfair,” I whispered with a sigh, closing my eyes.

I thought that maybe if I closed my eyes I would be able to wake up and find out that this was all a dream. That I had just been having a wonderful dream where I had met the most perfect guy in the world, starting to feel things for them that I didn’t even think was possible. If it was a dream, I understood that.

“It isn’t meant to be fair, Starr,” Zacky’s voice sounded after a few moments. “God never intended it to be that way.”

“The hell with that!” I screamed, sitting up.

I knew that Zacky wasn’t expecting that sudden outburst, but he remained emotionless, just staring at me.

“I don’t care about any of that, Zack!” I continued. “I don’t believe in God! I’m not a Christian! I’m Wiccan! God has never showed me any reason to believe that he existed, he made my mother not want me, leave me, like I would end up being the reason for the apocalypse! God doesn’t determine my fate…” I lowered my voice. “Only I do; and I am not going with Tristan.”

Zacky smirked, reaching out to touch my arm.

“What?” I asked confused.

“You look sexy when you’re mad,” he said simply, pulling me to him, and into a kiss. “But in all honesty, Starr, you shouldn’t turn your back on religion.”

“Why not?” I whispered. “God hates us, Zacky,” I recalled what he had told me. “God hates our souls.”

Zacky bit down on his lip rings lightly, as if thinking deeply about something. “You just said us…”

I nodded, understanding exactly what he was getting at. “Yeah I said us… You and I are the same, Zacky. We’re both children of the Underworld.”

I saw a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he pressed his lips to mine once more. As I stared at his face, I saw a look of wonder, like he was thinking about something that meant a lot to him, but wasn’t sure what it all meant.

“What are thinking?” I asked softly.

He sighed. “About what you said… you said us.”

I laughed lightly, seeing that he was basically repeating himself now. “Yes, I said us,” I clarified with a smile. “What about it?”

“You consider yourself the same as me?” He asked.

I nodded. “Of course. Like I said, you and I are the same.”

“But you’re also to be the queen of the underworld,” Zacky reminded me. “You’re different.”

“That means nothing,” I told him. “I may end up being queen, but I see myself here with you. We are no different, Zack. It’s us, and only us.”