Seem to Stop My Breath

It’s Biblical How Fucked My Sleep Can Be
Gerard’s Point Of View

A week after the wedding, everything had calmed down and the girls promised Cassie that they’d take her dress shopping for the ball in three weeks. I promised her we’d start with wedding arrangements after the ball because right now we were finalizing everything and even with her help we were far behind. Cassie was the only one that needed a serious wardrobe addition. I got dressed as I usually do ever Saturday afternoon and headed to the main part of the house to find Ana, Mikey and Pete in the living room. Patrick was curled up on a couch in the corner. The doorbell rang and I expected it to be Chrissy and Andy. As I opened the door, it wasn’t them and I was shoved roughly against the other door. Cassie’s father’s hand was around my throat, the other one was pinning me to the door.
“Where is she?”
Dumbstruck I stare back. Mikey Pete and Patrick come to my aid pulling him away from him. It takes all three of them to hold him back.
“Cassie? She’s at home.”
“No she’s not, she’s here.”
“No she isn’t, if she was here, I would tell you.”
“Then where is she?”
He looked at me as if trying to see if I was lying. After what seemed like an eternity of silence, Patrick finally spoke.
“Uh sir, why do you think she’s here?”
“She said something about dress shopping, but hasn’t answered my phone calls all day. Dress shopping with you.”
“Sir,” Mikey interrupted, “when was the last time you talked to her?”
“Four Days ago.”
“Shit” I muttered. Now that I thought about it she hadn’t called in awhile. I quickly dialed her number and listened to it ring. Everyone started at me knowing what I was doing. Four rings then a voicemail. “Hey it’s Cassie, I’m not answering my phone right now for some reason, but if you leave a message I’ll get back to you in 24-48 hours. Thanks” Cassie always answered the phone when it was me.
“Cass babe, um, haven’t heard from you in awhile just making sure you’re okay. I might stop by to check up on you okay?”
“Well?” her dad stared me down again.
“Cassie always answers my phone calls.”
More silence.
“I have an extra key to her apartment in my room. I’ll go get it.”
Patrick mouthed “dumbass” as I ran up the stairs to my room. I opened a small box on my dresser and grabbed the keychain with our picture from when we first started dating. Something seemed wrong. I couldn’t tell what. I sprinted down the two staircases back to the entrance hall to find everyone standing nervously. We piled into two cars and headed into the town to go to Cassie’s apartment. We all crowded into the hallway as I checked to see if she had any mail. Some magazines fell out of the box along with some bills. Not enough to be a several days worth of mail. Mikey and I sprinted up the stairs to the second floor and I pulled her keys out of my pocket. I knocked first, hoping that someone was in there. No response. I shoved the keys into the keyhole and turned the doorknob.
“Cassie?”
My voice echoed through the apartment, not a good sign. Her keys sat on the chair by the door, next to her purse. By a completely open window a bottle of water sat, with only a few sips out of it. Water had attempted to evaporate out, but the plastic kept it from doing so. Large droplets of water were stuck to the inside of the plastic bottle. It had been there for a couple of days.
Everyone piled into the apartment living room. Mikey and I ventured down the hallway to her bedroom. The door was closed. With one last glance at Mikey I shoved the door open. Her bed was perfectly made; on the white wall a message was scrawled.
“You should have never let the mortal out of your sight, she’s ours till you give us what we want.” mikey read out loud.
“What could they want?”
I froze in fear. I had nothing they wanted. Pete and Ana came in, with Patrick not far behind, Cassie’s father brought up the rear. He never got in the door though. I had turned around to see his face when someone grabbed him and slammed the door to the bedroom closed. The five of us ran to the door but heard a laugh behind us.
“We’re not going to hurt the old man, he didn’t want this to happen, and he’s an innocent.”
I spun on my heels and found myself face to face with Brian, a member of the Forus.
“She’s an innocent too, she didn’t hurt you. She barely knows who you are.”
“A secret you shouldn’t have kept from her Gerard.”
“I kept nothing from her.”
Brian laughed and walked around the room.
“I think the message written in her blood was a nice touch, kinda brought a personal strike home if you know what I mean.”
We stared back at him in silence. Appalled at the fact that he was treating Cassie like rabid dog, I could barely speak.
“What do you want? She’s of no use to you. Killing her can’t bring Kyle back.”
His eyes widened and went back to normal so fast I was sure I had imagined it. He rolled his eyes as he headed to the open window.
“I do believe that’s where you’re wrong Gerard, you should know by now blood is thicker than water, but blood is a tricky thing. Blood is a life giver, without it, we’re useless. However, there are ways to introduce blood to old dead tissue. The thing is, very few covens hold that secret. Yours is one of them. The mortal is ours till you find it and give it to us. She might live if you get it to us before we get it from another coven. If not she’s the blood that will be spent”
He crawled out the window in one sweeping motion. He seemed to hover at the window for a second.
“Oh and Gerard, do hurry, she looks weak, and I don’t know how long she’ll last.”
With those final words he disappeared. Cassie’s dad rushed into the room. He looked like he was about to tell us what happened to him, but realized something had happened to us too. I heard very little of the conversation that went on between the Cassie’s father and the rest of the group. They didn’t know she was a vampire. It must not be that evident. I mean we said keep it a secret, but she’s good. She does have fangs though, what would happen when they realized. I stared at the message on the wall. I sighed and traced my finger over the thin letter on the wall. Some of the congealed blood flaked off onto my finger. Mikey appeared at my side, completely still.
“Is it her blood?”
I glanced in his direction and made sure no one else was watching. I sniffed my finger then quickly tasted it. I immediately started to tear up. I had only tasted it once before, and the memories it brought back made me realize what kind of trouble I was truly in.
“Yes” I choked out.