Ineffable Plan

I spent over an hour in shower as I let the steaming hot water pour over me. I was so embarrassed and I just wanted the memory of the morning to wash down the drain. Once I was done, I turned off the water and reach outside the tub for my towel. After quickly drying my hair and my skin and wrapping the towel around myself, I pulled back the curtain to find Aaron sitting on the closed toilet seat with his legs crossed and that book in his hands.

“What the hell, Aaron?” I squealed. “What are you doing in here?”

“I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“Couldn’t you have waited for me outside of the bathroom? I could have walked out of the shower without a towel, you know?”

He smiled up at me.

“Perv,” I shouted as I walked out of the bathroom and into the bedroom. Aaron followed.

I grabbed some clothes and placed them on the bed.

“Can you please leave so I can get dressed?” I asked.

“I thought you said you trusted me.”

“Just because I trust you, doesn’t mean I want you to watch me get dressed. Aaron, what’s gotten into you?”

He ignored my questions. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I won’t leave you here, or anywhere else, by yourself. It’s not safe.”

I sighed. “I’m guessing this has something to do with that book.”

He nodded.

“Fine. Can you turn around at least?”

He did and I quickly got dressed.

“You can look now,” I shouted. “So, now will you tell me what’s going on?”

Aaron nodded. I took a seat on the plush carpet floor and leaned against the wall, making sure I was seated next to the heating vent. Aaron sat next to me and threw an arm around my shoulder.

“I love you,” he whispered before kissing me.

“I love you, too. Now quit stalling.”

“OK…” He started. “How do I explain this? Well, let’s start with what you do know.”

“I know you and you’re brothers are vampires,” I offered.

Aaron frowned. “We’re talking about you. What do you know about you?”

“As of yesterday, I know that I was adopted,” I said quietly.

Aaron nodded contemplatively. “Go on.”

“That’s it.”

“Oh. Ok,” he said tapping his finger against his chin. “Well then we’ll start with your parents; your birth parents. I don’t know who they were, but I think I know why they gave you up.” He looked over at me cautiously.

I nodded for him to continue. “They were scared. They thought something was wrong with you, they might have even thought you were dangerous.”

“What!”

“It’s just that…When your kind is born, or at least this is what legend says, you’re usually…different.” He looked at me again.

“Different how?” My eyes searched his for some clue of what he meant. “What do you mean my kind?”

“Your ears were probably pointed, like elves’. You haven’t completely outgrown that have you?” He said flicking the end of my ears playfully. “Your eyes would have been a much brighter gold than they are now, like liquid gold. Now they can at least pass for normal. But the most shocking thing to your parents would have been your skin. Your skin would have been the most brilliant golden brown. I don’t mean just fake bronze tan gold, but like a bullion of gold in skin form. It’s hard to describe. People say that you were the most adorable little thing they laid eyes on, chubby cheeks and dimples.”

I sat staring at him, obviously confused. “What people?”

“The ones that saw you. The seers,” he said dismissively and continued. “There was also the mark.”

“Mark?”

“Intricate markings covering your right arm. A series of thinly-lined designs. It looks very much like a tattoo.”

I nodded. “Is there anything else?”

He continued. “There would have been the screaming, of course, very reminiscent of a siren or banshee, whichever name you prefer, but that wouldn’t have lasted long. You were probably very hot, like fire. It must have been a pain trying to hold you.”

I stayed quiet for a while after he was done. I could feel him looking at me but I couldn’t bear to face him. Despite all the things he was saying about me, I still couldn’t understand why my birth parents would just dump on the streets in the middle of a night. I was a defenseless newborn; their own flesh and blood, no matter how freakish I looked. My birth mother still carried me for nine months. How could she have been so cold and heartless? She left me to die.

“I don’t understand,” I whispered softly. Aaron moved closer to me and wrapped his arms around me tightly. “If I was so horrible then why would my adoptive parents taken me in? I couldn’t have been that bad. I couldn’t have looked that different. They must have thought I was human otherwise they wouldn’t have taken me in.”

“By the time they found you, you probably did look like any other normal child only breathtakingly beautiful. That hasn’t changed either,” he whispered the last part. “If your birth parents had waited an hour or so you would have changed. It’s a built in mechanism; the adaptation.”

“So the way I look now, isn’t really the way I’m supposed to?” I asked. I was now sitting on Aaron’s lap, snuggled into his chest.

I felt him nod. “You’ll still basically look like you. Very little has changed, just enough for you to pass as human. When you go back to our world you’ll see. Your skin will be gold again and so will your eyes. Your ears will point back to their original shape. The markings will return…I can actually show you those now, if you want.”

“Your world?” I looked up at him with question eyes.

“Our world,” he corrected gently. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to, but I figured you would want to see it. It’s really beautiful. It reminds me a lot of you. Whenever I’m there you’re all I can think about, although things aren’t much different when I’m here. I think about you an awful lot wherever I am.”

“What? Where is our world?” I said as I felt that warm feeling spread throughout me at Aaron’s words.

“I can’t explain. I don’t know how. It’s not here, though. Another dimension? Does that make any sense to you?” He asked. I couldn’t help but smile a little at Aaron’s excitement.

“None of this makes sense to me,” I mumbled into his neck.

He laughed. “I know.”

We fell into silence again.

“Seers?” I asked when I remembered what he said.

“They’re like fortune tellers, only they don’t see the future, only the present. They only see the most important things. They saw when you were born and a few seconds after but that’s it. That’s why no one knows where you are. At least, they didn’t before. They might now. We’re not sure if this was an event big enough for the seers to pick up.”

“This?”

“Us finding each other,” he said while looking directly into my eyes. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. Aaron had that effect on me. The look in his eyes was enough to make my heart burst with happiness. No one has ever been this happy with me.

“Finding each other?” I mused. “You make it sound like destiny.”

“It is!” He shouted excitedly. “It is. I know that to you, because you’re from this world, this going to sound cheesy but we were meant for each other. I mean, literally made for each other. Like two halves of one whole. You’re not getting it! You don’t believe me!” He yelled sliding me off him, so that I was sitting on the ground again.

“Aaron? I’m sorry. I just…I don’t…I don’t know.”

He moved so that he was on his knees in front of me. “In the other world, “he started slowly, “Soul mates mean a lot more than it does here. Everyone is made for someone else and everyone believes that because it’s hard not to. Let me prove it to you?”

I nodded. He stood up and put out his hand for me. I grabbed it and let him pulled me up. Then he sat on the bed.

“Come here,” he said softly.

I walked over to him and went to sit on the bed next to him, but he pulled me onto his lap. “Still trust me?”

I smiled and nodded.

“Even after I yelled at you?”

I nodded again.

“I’m sorry. It’s just frustrating for me. It must be a million times more frustrating for you. I’ll try to be more patient.”

Aaron pulled my face closer to his and gently pressed his lips to mine. Moments later, Aaron parted my lips with his tongue. We continued to kiss for a while longer until he pulled away slowly. My eyes fluttered open and I stared up at Aaron. I was now lying on the bed. Aaron smiled wistfully at me before leaning down and kissing my neck.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Seconds later I felt what I now knew were his fangs pierce my neck. Just as quickly as they went into my neck they were pulled out and I felt Aaron gently sucking on my neck; sucking out my blood. I sighed contentedly as Aaron’s hand made small circles on my side. I didn’t know why he apologized, this felt lovely.

Sooner than I had hoped, Aaron pulled away, gently licking the bite. “See?” He said as he moved his hands from my sides.

“See what?” I asked still staring at him. I had gotten hopelessly lost in his eyes.

Aaron laughed. He placed his hand in front of his face, blocking my view.

“Hey…”I complained drowsily.

“Will you just focus? Look at my hand.” He said laughing.

I did. He’d gotten a tattoo. It ran from his fingertips to his shoulder, spiraling around his arm.

“When’d you do that?” I asked. My speech was now slurred.

“I didn’t. You did,” he answered smiling. “You’re blood. It proves that we’re meant for each other. Only your blood does this to me.”

I frowned. “If you say so.”

Now it was his turn to frown. I watched as he brought his hand to his face, wrist up, and I winced when he bit into it.

“Aaron…” I groaned. “Don’t do that. You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Open,” was his answer, as he brought his wrist to my lips. “You only have to drink a little bit. It’s not so bad.” He cooed when I locked my lips closed. He was staring into my eyes again and I felt my jaw drop slightly. Immediately the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. I frowned again and swallowed one mouthful before pushing his arm away.

“That wasn’t very nice,” I mumbled as I rolled over onto my stomach and wiped the blood off my face using the sheets.

“Oh!” I exclaimed in surprise as I felt that heat I was beginning to expect whenever I was near Aaron. It started in my stomach and spread quickly throughout my body, settling in my right arm. “What did you do?” I whined lazily.

Aaron pushed me over so that I was on my back again. He brushed his fingers across my forehead, pushing away any hair that had settled there. “Do you see, now?” He questioned as he laced our fingers and brought our hands up to my face. My eyes widened in surprised. The same ‘tattoo’ that laced his arms was now on mine too.

“They’re identical,” Aaron pointed out. “They should stay visible for a while this time considering how much blood we both drank.”

“Mmm…” I grumbled as I tried to move closer to him.

“Tired?” He asked with a goofy knowing smile. I closed my eyes and nodded.

“Do you believe me now?”

I nodded again.

“Good.”

“I love you,” I mumbled against his chest.

Aaron stopped gloating long enough to respond. “I love you, too.”