Ineffable Plan

I woke up the next morning to murmurings around me. The side of my face was pressed into Aaron’s warm chest. One of his hands was running up and down my arm and the other was tangled in my hair. I kept my eyes closed and focused on listening to the voices in the room.

“Is she going to be okay?” I heard Julian ask.

“She is fine,” Aaron assured him.

“So it is her?” Jeremy asked.

I felt Aaron nod.

“So this means…” Ryland’s voice trailed off.

“Yes,” Emmanuel said.

I felt Aaron’s hand slide around my waist, holding me against him protectively.

“Well then she better stop pretending to be asleep and get to reading that book. We can’t have you running around completely clueless, Justine.”

I opened my eyes and was met with four smiling faces looking down at me.

“Shut up Julian,” I mumbled as I buried my face back into Aaron’s chest.

“Go away, guys. I’ve got a lot of stuff to explain,” Aaron said to his brothers and I heard several footsteps walking away.

Aaron got out of bed a put out a hand to help me up.

“I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?”

I nodded. “I have to use the bathroom first,” I said as I walked out of the room.

A few minutes later I walked back into the room and Aaron caught my arm.

“Huh?” I said as I turned around to face him.

Aaron took a step forward and kissed me. This kiss was different than the kiss he gave me last night or the night before. This time it was burning with passion. One arm wrapped tightly around my waist and the other laid flat against my neck. Ours lips moved feverishly against each other and I had to force myself to remember to breathe. Soon Aaron’s tongue was brushing against my lips and I opened my mouth to let it in. My skin burned as Aaron’s hand swept across my lower back and stomach. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. I felt Aaron’s chest vibrate as he growled against me. His hands were now at my sides tracing soothing circles that seemed to radiate heat throughout my body.

Suddenly he broke the kiss and stared into my eyes. “Justine, I love you,” he breathed as he touched his forehead to mine.

“I love you too,” I whispered back.

He smiled and kissed me gently before letting go.

“Come on. Let’s sit.” He sat at the chair in the room, pulling me down on his lap. “So where do I start?”

“Start with whatever’s easiest to explain.”

He nodded. “It’ll be easier if I gave these back to you.”

I furrowed my eyebrows. “Gave what back?”

He nuzzled his face in my neck for a moment before whispering ‘do you trust me?’

“Didn’t I already answer that?”

He nodded his head again. “This might hurt. I’m sorry,” he whispered.

I gasped as I felt something sharp pierce my neck. There was a second of white-hot pain, but I was soon distracted as images flashed through my head. I sat there frozen; my eyes wide open from shock, as the images whirled around my head. After about a minute, the pain was gone and the images stopped.

“Oh my gosh,” I whispered.

Aaron was looking up at me with concerned eyes. “Are you okay?”

“What was that?” I asked, still whispering.

“They’re the memories that I took from you. They’re the night of the first frat party you went to, when we first met, and the night of the Halloween party, the night before Mary tried to hurt you. Do you remember now?”

I thought about it for a moment and I did. It was all there. All the memories I’d forgotten because of the alcohol. “You kissed me!” I said accusingly. “Twice! Why didn’t you say something?”

“You don’t understand. You didn’t forget because of the alcohol, I took them.”

“What?”

He took my finger in his hand and passed them across my neck. “Look.”

I looked down at my fingers. There was blood on them. I gasped and put my hands over the spot again. Aaron must have seen the confusion on my face.

“Justine,” he started softly. “I bit you. I bit you because I’m a vampire.”

“What?”

“I’m a vampire. Mary wasn’t so far off the mark,” he said laughing slightly.

“No you’re not,” I stated shaking my head. “No you’re not.”

“Justine…” He said softly.

I stood up and walked to the other side of the room, staring at the wall in front of me. I couldn’t understand what was happening. I was panicking and it was becoming hard to breathe. I felt my throat tighten and I knew the tears would soon follow. My mind was racing. Why is he saying this? Why is doing this? Is he trying to get rid of me? He doesn’t love me.

“That’s not true. I do love you, Justine. More than anything.” Aaron was suddenly by my side, startling me. He turned me around and stared at my face. “Justine, I need you to believe me. I know that there’s a part of you that already does.” He smiled a little. “I can hear it.”

I breathed deeply and looked up at Aaron. He was wearing a weak smile. His eyes looked so sad and I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“So you’re a vampire, huh?”

His smile widened and he nodded. “Are you okay with that?”

I shrugged. “If you’re asking me if I still love you, the answer is yes.”

“Good, because I love you.”

There was a pause until he spoke again.

“I’m guessing you have some questions. You know, about me being a vampire and everything else.” He asked.

“I’m hungry.”

Aaron scrunched his eyebrows at me. “What?”

“I think I’ve learned as much as I can handle before breakfast. Can we get something to eat before you tell me everything and I mean everything? Because I still want to know everything, I just need a minute to adjust to this first,” I babbled.

“Okay. Whatever you want,” Aaron said as he pulled me in for another hug. “It’ll be easier to explain the big stuff with my brothers around anyway.”

“You being a vampire aren’t the big stuff,” I mumbled and I felt him laugh.

“No, baby love, there’s so much more.”