You're the Light on the Dark Side of Me

"You need to rest.” Shannon said sounding concerned.

“But there’s so much I want to know!” I whined as I glanced at him and my brown eyes met his light hazel, while he was smiling tenderly at me.

“I have an eternity to tell you everything you want.” Shannon laughed as I instinctively hugged him tightly.

“I’ll still be here tomorrow.” He whispered against my ear as he placed his arm tightly around my torso.

“I missed you… I really did, Bro.” I said hugging him as tightly as I could. “Please, don’t disappear ever again. Promise me that.” I said seriously as I looked into his eyes.

“I promise.” Shannon said as I smiled. Something told me that he was being honest, that I should trust him. Once I opened the door Misha was outside and I froze up as his light blue eyes stared into mine.

“Paty, you may recognize him, he’s Misha and he will be your personal bodyguard, butler… Well anything you need, he’ll get it for you, alright?” Shannon said as Misha gave me a friendly smile as I nodded. “I’ll speak to you tomorrow, now I need to feed and rest.” Shannon said as he closed the door behind my back, leaving me alone with Misha.

“Thanks for saving me.” I said a bit awkwardly as Misha shook his head.

“No need to thank me. It was my job.” He smiled. “Did he tell you about us?”

“A couple of things to help me understand where I am and who I am with. I hope you don’t mind but I need to ask, how old are you?” I asked as Misha chuckled as we began walking down the hallway.

“I was turned 100 years ago.” He said and I waited for a further explanation but nothing escaped his lips so I immediately perceived that I needed to gain his trust.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I observed that the hall seemed to be endless. All the doors were different but beautiful and highly detailed.

“To get you something to eat. I know that you’re starving.” Misha said with a chuckle.

“How do you do that?!” I asked in shock as my stomach grumbled.

“First of all, I heard your stomach growling." He said with a chuckle "And I suppose that Master Shannon told you that all the vampires have abilities and when we are turned, we are better at a certain ability. In my case, my best abilities are smell and telepathy because I can talk to both humans and vampires through my mind and I can also hear their thoughts.” Misha explained “Don’t worry, I can control this ability and I will not read your thoughts. I have no interest in invading your privacy.”

I kept looking at him as he opened a dark blue door and let me in first. “This will be your bedroom. I’ll show you around the mansion tomorrow.” Misha explained as I observed the comfy king sized bed and then noticed that there was small table with two chairs and a meal on it. I immediately sat down and began eating desperately as Misha sat in front of me.

“Are you supposed to watch me all the time?” I asked raising an eyebrow. I love my independence and privacy, so having someone with me 24/7 was going to be something difficult to get used to.

“Yes, until Oliver is caught.” Misha explained as I shivered at the mention of the name and looked at Misha.

“Does my blood smell that tasty?” I asked a bit disgusted.

“It does smell very tempting but I have my very own human and she has my favorite blood.” Misha said smiling genuinely as I became relieved but curious.

“How does that work?” I asked as I ate some bread.

“Having humans? Well, let’s see every case is different.” Misha explained patiently “In my case, I stopped Ilea from killing herself and from then on she developed romantic feelings for me as I did for her.” Misha said with a genuine happy smile “Then I had to tell her the truth and she immediately volunteered.”

“Does she live here with you?” I asked.

“Yes, you can meet her tomorrow if you want.” Misha said as I nodded affirmatively.

“And she doesn’t mind for you to be here?” I asked a bit confused.

“It’s my mission, so she understands.” Misha said with a small smile.

“But, if you have your own human, that means that I will be someone’s human too?” I asked petrifying a bit.

“Only if you accept and want to be.” Misha said.

I nodded still processing all the information in my head “And am I in danger?”

“We believe so because Oliver is a vicious vampire. He likes to have different humans and that has never been a problem. Recently he’s been killing, so we don’t know what he’s planning.” Misha said with a distant glance.

“I’m just going to change.” I informed as I went into the bathroom, took a quick shower and changed into a new set of clothes I found in a drawer of the room.

“Do you really have to stay here all night?” I asked lying inside of the bed.

“Yes.” Misha said as I felt horrible for being his reason to stay there, like if he was babysitting me.

“No, you don’t. Go to Ilea.” I said with a soft smile as Misha quickly appeared by the side of the bed and tucked me in.

“Don’t worry. Sleep well.” He said with a comforting smile as I frowned but decided to go to sleep.

I opened my eyes lazily as the sun was shining through the curtains of the room. For the first time, I noticed the space and I saw that it was basically in the shades of white and blue ‘Shannon planned this room for me’. I wondered.

“Good morning.” Misha’s voice echoed as he was leaning against the door.

“Hey Misha.” I smiled softly as I got up and went into the bathroom, then I ate some breakfast and changed my clothes. “Can you show me around?” I asked as Misha nodded affirmatively.

Shannon’s mansion had two floors and apparently the place I woke up in the first place was the Dungeons and it was under the ground. There were gardens, a lot of rooms with various functions, a giant ball room and an equally large dining room, there was the garage and the library. Once I saw the mansion from the outside, I was blown-away. It was very Gothic but beautiful in its way.

“Misha!” I heard a female voice call and a woman approached, embracing Misha sweetly in her arms.

For the first time, I saw Misha smile genuinely, his posture changing as he turned around and kissed the female softly.

“Ilea, this is Paty.” He introduced as I waved and she waved back.

“It’s good to meet you after all that commotion that you caused.” She chuckled as Misha placed his hand softly over her lips while I froze in my spot.

‘Commotion?’ I thought raising my eyebrows as Misha and Ilea started whispering to each other. Apparently, she had spoken too much.

“Oh look, it’s Tara!” Ilea said excitedly as I turned around and saw another girl approaching us with a tall guy with her. My expression turned into wide surprised as I recognized him

“Matt.” I said quietly, my eyes wide as he hugged me tightly.

“I’m so sorry for everything Paty.” He whispered.

“Are you? … You know.” I asked a bit nervously.

“Yes, I am. This is my soon-to-be wife, Tara.” Matt introduced.

“Hi!” Tara said happily as she stepped forward and hugged me as I hugged her too. “Are you new here?” She asked.

“Yes, I am.” I said smiling at her as Misha and Ilea joined our conversation.

“Are you Shannon’s human?” Tara asked.

“No, I’m not anyone’s human.” I said awkwardly as her smiled faded a bit, like if she wished that I was Shannon’s human.

“She’s under my protection.” Misha said as Matt understood immediately and Tara glanced at them a bit confusedly.

Apparently, every vampire needed to ‘handle’ their human and Misha loved Ilea, so he gave her complete freedom, which was why she had left to walk around the mansion. I was sitting in the front garden, observing the fountain on a corner as I was trying to assimilate the new life I was going to live.

“Can I join?” Tara asked as I glanced up and nodded. “Sorry for the questions earlier. I didn’t want you to feel awkward. It’s just that having a new girl around is always exciting.” She explained.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad… I’m just numb. This is all really awkward and unbelievable to me.” I said calmly as my eyes kept observing the fountain.

“I bet. You don’t have really someone to cling on, I had Matt.” Tara said smiling lovingly. The simple mention of Matt’s name, made her eyes sparkle.

“Why were you so happy when you asked me if I was Shannon’s human?” I questioned.

“I honestly want Shannon to have a human. We’ve never talked much but I will always be grateful to him for allowing me to marry Matt. I just think he feels lonely and it would be good for him to have someone.” Tara explained as I nodded silently.

“Ilea said that I caused a commotion. What was she talking about?” I inquired as I turned my face
to look Tara in the eyes.

“I’m sorry Paty. But there are things that only Shannon can explain.” Tara said without hesitation.

“I understand. I’ll ask him.” I said nodding my head.

“But do you know him?” Tara asked curiously.

“Yeah, I met him a long time ago.” I said biting my lower lip, gathering all my strengths not to cry.

“Are you okay?” Tara asked with concern as she rested her hand on my shoulder.

“I’m just a big mess.” I stated “I love Shannon’s brother, Jared. But then, he died and I haven’t been myself ever since.” I said tears slipping down my face.

Tara sat there in silence and she inhaled sharply before speaking “I know that this might sound weird, because we don’t know each other, but I’m here for you Paty.” Tara said as I looked at her and she was smiling kindly “You can count on me, I know that it won’t be easy so I’m here if you need to talk.”

I hugged her quietly and thanked her a million times. I had a good feeling about Tara, she seemed like a really nice girl, who could actually be my friend and make Matt happy.