Be Careful What You Wish For

When I woke up, I let my hand wander around the mattress, searching for Vic. When I realized he wasn’t in bed with me both relief and disappointment flooded through me. I rubbed my eyes and stared at my ceiling, waiting for them to focus and be able to see. When I had my vision back, I rolled over and saw Vic sitting in my computer chair. He was flipping through a thick black book. Next to him on the desk was a large silver platter of breakfast foods from different parts of the world.

“I’m trying to do something nice for you because I know you’re still upset with me although I don’t know why. It could be anything and that’s confusing.” he explained, not bothering to look up from whatever he was reading.

“What’s that book about?” I asked, avoiding the conflicting topic and also generally curious.

“It’s not necessarily a book. It’s a photo album. I found it in your mom’s closet earlier. I just wanted to see you happy again and you look happy in these.” he said, slowly turning a page.

I rose up from the bed and made my way over to where he was sitting. I stood behind him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, kissing him on the cheek. His temperature was higher than normal and the skin to skin contact was uncomfortable. I used one hand to rub his shoulder in comfort and the other to turn the pages. We stayed like that for a moment until I came across a picture that made me do a double take.

“Is that you?” I asked, pointing to a photo in the bottom corner of the laminated page.

“Yeah, when you were about ten when the vampires started looking for you. I was always in the background, making sure none got close to you.” he explained and I stared at the picture.

I moved his hand out of the way and picked up the older print. It was a picture of my parents and I in front of Cinderella’s castle at Disney World. We went there for our first family vacation after my mom got her master's degree. I never noticed how directly Vic had been staring at me until now. Honestly, I’d never even noticed him in this picture before.

He had that same tired expression on his face. He didn’t look angry as he had in those flashbacks. He didn’t look the way he does now. Now he seems peaceful and even happy, once you move past the overprotectiveness. Back then, he looked practically dead from exhaustion. He must have constantly been in the shadows, watching over me.

“I can’t believe how oblivious you were back then. You never seemed to notice me or even sense someone was watching.” he said, gently taking the photo from my hand and placing it back in the slip.

“How long did you do that for? Why didn’t you just reveal yourself?” I asked and he closed the book, stepping towards me. I took a step back unconsciously, he frowned and then sighed.

“Up until you were thirteen then I was certain they knew not to touch you. I wasn’t going to tell a little kid about what was going on. It would have traumatized you.” he said and I absorbed the information for a moment, it did make sense.

Although I was still wary and offended over being called oblvious. I must be oblivious though since he’s tricked me into thinking that he’s as innocent as he plays himself off as. Maybe I’m just not as intelligent or observate as I once thought.

“You were touching me earlier but just now you backed away. Why? What have I done? What can I do to make it better?” he asked firmly but his voice was gentle, letting me know he wanted to help but he wasn’t going to push for an answer.

“I don’t like to think about it and honestly, I’m not ready to talk to you about it. I don’t think I’ll ever be. You can’t do anything to make it better anyways.” I said to him sadly.

I couldn’t bring myself to talk to Vic about the fact that I had seen him murder for sport. He would be wanting to know who told me. What worries me is that he may lie if I confront him. If he lies, all trust will be broken and then I’m not sure what I’ll do. I couldn’t imagine spending the rest of forever with some psychopath who kills for fun and then lies about it.

“I’ll try and respect your wishes by not bringing it up again but if this is going to put a strain our relationship then you have to tell me. Whatever problem it may be, we can work through it together.” he reassured me, taking my hand into his and proceeding to lightly kiss the back of it.

“Anyways, as somewhat of an apology, I brought you breakfast in bed.” he said to me while holding the tray and smiling.

I laughed due to the fact that I hadn’t been in bed for approximately twenty minutes. I took the tray from his hands and sat on the bed with it in my lap. The warmth from the food radiating onto the tray felt good against my skin. I began to eat whatever was on the platter. There was fruit, breakfast meats, waffles and foreign things I had never seen before. No matter what it was, it all tasted delicious.

“So, what’s the agenda for today?” I asked, stuffing my face with something that had dark chocolate shavings on top.

“Oh y’know, try and make sure you don’t die. Same old same old.” he replied, sitting next to me. I smiled a bit at his loose sense of humor. I appreciated his effort to try and lighten the mood and be kinder than normal.

“Okay, smartass. But seriously, what’s the plan for today?” I said. wiping my mouth from the crumbs on my face.

“I have to go to help out with the carnival set up. So, you’ll have to come with me. We’ll be back later tonight though.” he told me, lacing our fingers together. Even though I was still nervous and wary around him, I allowed him to hold my hand. I couldn’t help but feel protected and looked after with his touches on my skin.

“Okay. Let’s go then.” I said. Jumping off the bed and breaking his grip on my hand. He frowned but didn’t say anything and without a word, we were back in his tent on the new grounds.

“You can either come with me and wait in the stands why we get things set up or stay with someone from here.” he gave me the two options and I decided to pick the first one.

We walked off so that he could work. We left the small area and went out into the large open field. Most of the ground was covered in ice and snow, although it was only about two inches high. Vic made a large wool coat appear and handed it to me, I smiled at the gesture and put it on my body. His scent and heat lingeried on it.

I sat in the snow and tried to preoccupy myself with making snowballs while Vic helped out the crew. I would look up every once in a while to see him assembling one metal rod to the other. The veins from his arms were visible from where I was. I gawked for a moment and imagined what it be like for those hands to rip off my clothes and him have his way with me.

I tore away from those thoughts after flashbacks of what those arms had helped do to those girls. I wonder if his target is only females. Probably not but for my own selfish sake that would be better. I attempted to go back to my peaceful snowball making ways but couldn’t manage to do so. The thoughts of him taking others lives had already entered my brain and was there to stay.

The more I revisited those images, the sicker I became. I thought of Justin and his offer from last night. I didn’t want to accept it. I had strong feelings for Vic, that may be messed up due to the situation but I didn’t care. He mattered to me in a way I couldn’t explain because I had never felt it before. I knew I had to find out what happened from his side. I just had no idea how to do so.

While I was stuck in my trance of both self pity and questioning my options, I noticed someone walking past me. He nearly hit me with the objects he was carrying. I saw it was Jaime and sprung up. I ran to catch up to him. I had been meaning to talk to him since what happened.

“Wait up, Jaime!” I shouted and ran towards him. He didn’t stop though and I picked up the pace til I was beside him, struggling for breath.

“What, Kellin?” he snarled at me, throwing the equipment on the snow covered ground.

“I just wanted to say thank you for getting me out of there.” I said to him and he merely rolled his eyes.

“Don’t mention it. Literally. Don’t bring it up around Vic or anyone.” he said coldly, breaking his concentration on the tools for a moment to stare me down. I looked away first, feeling uncomfortable.

“Why? He’d be happy to know you helped me. He’d be grateful.” I said in confusion, not wanting to push him but also plain curious. He closed his eyes tightly and breathed out deeply in annoyance.

“Just don’t, okay? If he knew Ryan took your blood and kept it in a vile, he’d flip. He doesn’t need to know they sold you either. He would become very upset to say the least.” he explained and finished piecing the rods together and placed his creation on the ground.

“Okay, I won’t. Promise.” I reassured me and he nodded. He went to leave but I knew I had to talk to him more. I didn’t want to due to the fact that he hates me but I decided to push forth and ask.

“I need to know something about Vic.” I started and he stopped in his tracks.

“So, why don’t you ask him yourself?” he countered and I felt myself becoming annoyed with his entire attitude.

“You know he’ll just shut down. He doesn’t want me knowing everything because he wants to protect me.” I replied a bit more snarky than before but I saw a small amount of understanding flash in his eyes.

“What is it?” he asked in that same uninterested monotone that almost made me want to back out. Almost but I had to know.

“Did he ever go through a dark period where he did bad things?” my voice failed on me and I knew how pathetic I sounded. Jaime raised an eyebrow until realizing what I meant.

“As I said before, ask Vic this kind of stuff.” he said sternly, letting me know this conversation was over.

He walked down to the others and I stood in the cold. I wasn’t sure what I felt in my chest that made me feel weighed down but whatever it was strong. Without having been conformation about Vic, I knew that it was true. I sat in the snow and put my head in my hands. Vic. My vic was a murderer. A stealer of innocent blood and human lives.