Fade Away

2.
I absentmindedly looked out the window, trying to ignore the awkward silence in the car. I sighed when Chase began his rant again and I just curled up in the passenger seat, wondering what I had done to deserve to be stuck with such a git for the rest of my life. And the fact that my life is going to be extended for a couple of thousand years due to my fate to be a vampire didn't make me feel any better.
When we arrived at my house, I quickly got out of the car and rushed over to the door, unlocking it.
‘Maddie? What are you doing home early-’
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I cut her off. She faked confusion.
‘Tell you what?’
‘That I’m 70% fertile vampire! Or the high chance of me becoming a dom’s mate! Or the fact that you are not my real mother! Huh?!’
She avoided my gaze. She then looked at the door when Chase stormed into the hallway with a scowl on his face.
‘So you’re Maddie’s-’ ‘Mate? No. I’m not. There was a mistake.’ he cut her off, before starting his rant again to her.
I rolled my eyes and walked upstairs, before stuffing clothes, hair products and other necessities into 2 rucksacks quickly. I will leave the rest until Chase is in school or work, so I can bring more to his house, but for now, I didn’t want him to get mad at me or feel like I’m suffocating him by bringing drawers, wardrobes and posters. I don’t think they would fit into his tiny car, nor his petite apartment.
I lifted both rucksacks and brought them both downstairs, seeing that mum-sorry, Camille, had stuck earphones in her ears and was making tea for them both. ‘Ready.’ I said. Camille shot a grateful glance in my direction, but I ignored her. I know it’s rude, but she has lied to me my entire life. She didn’t even have the balls to tell me that she isn’t my real mother.
Chase sighed before brushing past me. You see, the doms are supposed to be extremely sweet and caring, carrying stuff for their mate and look after their mate like they are their life source. But oh no, I get the idiot who does the exact opposite.
‘Quite the charmer you’ve got there.’ Camille said, trying to lighten the mood. She sighed when I turned to leave. She grabbed my wrist ‘Look I’m sorry. I should’ve told you. But I…I’ve always wanted kids, but I can’t have them. You know that.’ she said trying to prevent the tears from falling. I sighed, hugging her.
‘I’ll be back for the rest of my stuff soon. And I forgive you. Bye.’ I said monotone, walking out the door.
I opened the boot of the car (or trunk) putting my rucksacks in, before getting into the passenger seat.
‘What took you so long?’ he said, gripping my hair in his fist. I blinked back the tears. This hurt. A lot. But I was bullied when I was younger, so I'm unfortunately used to it.
‘I was saying goodbye.’ I whispered. ‘What was that?’ he asked, gripping my wrists in his other hands to stop me clawing at his other hand. ‘I was…saying…goodbye…’ I told him. He growled, letting go, before smacking my cheek. I gripped my red hot cheek in my hand, unable to stop the tears that rolled down my cheeks, the tears stinging my sore cheek, as he started the car and drove to his house. I pressed my hand against the condensation on the window, before pressing the water onto my cheek, trying to cool it down. When we arrived, he dragged me out of the car by my hair, not seeming to care if the neighbours saw. I let him throw me onto the floor in front of the sofa, before throwing himself onto the sofa. I rolled over, moving my fringe from my eyes slightly.
‘Get me a beer.’
‘My bags-’
‘Get. Me. A. Beer. Don’t make me ask again.’ he glared at me.
I gulped and stumbled up. He kicked my back, pushing me into the glass coffee table, breaking it. ‘Move the fuck out of the way. I’m trying to watch TV. Oh, look what you’ve done now!’ he stood up, back handing me. I stumbled back. ‘I know you’re new to this, but you will do what I tell you to.’ he stroked my sore cheek, before slapping it again. I gasped at the pain. ‘Piss off.’ I muttered, lifting myself up and walking out the door. I heard him walking after me. I started to run towards Chris’ house, which is only a couple of minutes away. I don’t know why I tried to out-run a vampire, but I’m still over 50% vampire, so maybe it’ll give me a better chance than a normal human. I finally got to the door, knocking at it rapidly, continuously looking over my shoulder to see Chase almost at the house. Chris finally opened, but before he could speak, I shoved him into the house, shutting and locking the door behind me. I slid down the door in relief, until the doorbell rang several times. Chris looked at me confused.
‘I was just about to call you. What’s wrong? What’s that on your face? Wha-’
‘Maddie?! That was quic-what’s wrong?’
I covered my face with my hands, bringing my knees to my chest, trying to stop the tears that were falling rapidly.
I heard Alyssa shoo Chris away, before sitting beside me, pulling me into a hug. ‘Mads. What’s wrong?’ I slowly uncovered my face, showing her the hand print on my cheek.
She growled ‘Is there anything else?’ she asked, trying to conceal her anger. ‘I don’t know.’ I whispered. She slowly pulled me to my feet, lifting my shirt at the back, biting her lip slightly. ‘You’re bleeding. And you’ve got a couple of bruises.’ she whispered.
‘Ricky! Chris!’ she called. They appeared not a second later, Angelo followed not long after. ‘What’s-oh shit! What happened to you?’ I sniffled, trying to hide my tears. I shook my head, unable to speak. Angelo hugged me gently, before wiping my eyes, trying to calm me down. ‘Chase…’ I whispered. Chris and Alyssa growled as soon as the name passed my lips, but Angelo hugged me again. I weakly returned the hug. Chase continued to bang on the door. Alyssa and Chris’ attention turned to the door, probably about to to smash his face in.
I weakly grabbed their wrists. ‘No… I’ll have to pay for it later. Maybe for the rest of my life.’ I said quietly. Chris seemed to calm down a tad bit, but Alyssa still looked ready to kill.
‘She’s right. She may have to pay for it afterwards.’ Chris tried to reason with her.
‘You can go to hell if you think I’ll allow her to return to that motherfuckin’ rat bastard!’ (her actual reaction when I showed her the chapter :)) she growled. Ricky sighed, lifting her and walking away. She was kicking and clawing at him, but Ricky continued to walk into the living room with her. Chris sighed, I cuddled more into Angelo’s embrace. ‘Let’s get you cleaned up.’ Chris said, walking up the stairs, towards the bathroom. Angelo lifted me bridal-style, and carried me upstairs.
Chris was standing in the doorway when Angelo set me on the toilet seat. Angelo tied my hair back into a ponytail and putting in a hair band to pull away my fringe. Chris placed a cold facecloth against my cheek, making me wince. Angelo grimaced at the bruises on my back.
‘He really didn’t do that much. People go through worse-’
‘People shouldn’t have to go through that at all.’ Angelo cut me off.
‘You need to…uh take off your shirt.’ Angelo said awkwardly. Chris nibbled on his labaret, before making an excuse to leave.
‘You’ll need to lie down.’ I nodded and walked into the guest bedroom, taking off my t shirt and lying on the bed on my stomach. Angelo followed a few minutes later, with a basin, cloth and bandages. He began to carefully wipe off the blood on my back. I buried my face in the pillows to block out my groans in pain, but I knew that Angelo could hear them. He carefully bandaged them before kneeling down beside me, so we were face-to-face.
‘Is there anymore?’ he whispered. I nodded slightly, turning over, so I was lying on my back. Angelo, like the gentleman he is, didn’t look too far up (if you know what I mean). He gazed down at the yellow-black bruises sadly. Sighing, he said ‘I’m sorry you have to put up with this.’
I nodded. ‘Life only gives the hardships to the people it believes are strong enough to handle them.’ I whispered, finding comfort in his gentle stroking on my cheek.
‘Well said.’ Alyssa said from the doorway, startling us both.
‘Chase is gone. Chris told him to leave. And no, they didn’t fight.’ she answered my unspoken question. Angelo stood up to leave, leaving us privacy to talk.
‘So…What’s up with you two then?’ she asked with an eyebrow raised.
‘Nothin’ he was just bandaging the cuts on my back. Why?’
She scoffed ‘Yeah right. You two were so…’
‘So what? We both have ‘mates’ so nothing could ever happen between us.’ I said.
‘That’s not exactly true.’ Angelo said monotonously, from the doorway.
I frowned ‘What do you mean?’ I asked confused.
‘They had a mix-up. I don’t know who my mate is. She’s…she was snogging Devin.’
My jaw dropped to the floor. Wow.