Chapter 18: The Vampire Pirate's Daughter by Lynette Ferreira

He puts his arms around my shoulders and then he shuffles closer to me. He holds my head against his chest and his heartbeat is thunderous. His heartbeat is so loud, so close it feels as if it could have been my own heartbeat. It reverberates through my body and for a moment I remember the sensation of a living body, of being mortal, the feeling of being so small in this enormous universe. I close my eyes for a short moment. It feels blissfully good.

“Amanda told us you were kidnapped, and you were being held for ransom. I insisted immediately we should phone the police, but Amanda was adamant we could not phone the police. We were going to leave, and then pleadingly she told us why we could not involve the police. I didn’t understand then that Amanda would really be as strong as they say until I saw her in action with my own two eyes before she ordered me to come and free you.”

“Aren’t you revolted?” I ask uncertainly.

“No, I actually think it’s cool... unless you’re feeling hungry.” He laughs a nervous sound. “Are you hungry?”

Offended I murmur, “No.”

“Don’t worry. Amanda explained everything. How you eat and how you are more civilised than the bedtime stories always describe you.” I feel him laugh and the sound escapes his mouth. “Although you hate garlic.”

I do not think it is funny. I am still in shock that I am sitting here cuddled into him, the boy I have a serious crush on. He knows who I am, and he does not think of me as hideous, an aberration of nature.

I hear scraping above us, and I say, “She is digging us out.”

“That is a pity; I would have liked to sit here with you for a while longer. Amanda did not explain how you are able to usually walk in sunlight, but just now when we were getting out, you hesitated?”

“We drink these big yellow pills and it builds up a resistance to the sun in us. The only thing is we have to drink it religiously every single day and I have not had any since I was brought here.” I ask panicked, “What if Ethan comes back. He will kill us.”

Softly he says, “Ethan cannot hurt you anymore, he is dead.” He adds dismissively, “Amanda killed him.” Andrew kisses me softly on the top of my head. “I cannot believe how soft you feel, though, I always thought vampires were as hard as a rock.”

“I am a half-breed. My dad was a vampire and my mother were normal, so I suppose that is why I am more … flesh-like.”

He says jokingly, “I am not saying you are as pudgy as me. I can feel you are solid, but you still have a softness about you.”

My hand is resting on his chest and I say, “You are not pudgy at all.” When the words leave my mouth, I feel mortified.

I feel his lips rest on the crown of my head, and he says softly, “Here in the pitch-black dark and with you unable to turn yourself around and look at me, I need to tell you something. When we are rescued, I might never have the courage to say it again.”

I do not tell him I can see in the dark. I can see every stone wedged around us, the muscles in his arm in front of my face and every tiny hair.

He says hesitantly, “Since that day in the café I have liked you. I never stop thinking about you and at first, it was more curiosity because you seemed so different from everyone else, so aloof and then the way you light up when you laugh, I couldn’t help liking you more and more.”

“You like me?” I ask sceptically.

I try to turn around to face him, but he holds me steady in his arms. “Sit still, Susie. You might dislodge something and bury us permanently.”

“But you always look at me so disapprovingly. Before the accident, you hardly ever spoke to me and then at the hospital, I was unsure, and I thought it was only because you banged your head so hard.”

He continues quietly, “I do not know what it is. You would think with people having so little time really, that we would try harder at being happy. We should be pulling those we love closer, yet inevitably, we always achieve the opposite.”

I want to tell him I have also liked him since the first time I saw him, but a torch light is shining down on me brightly. A gush of fresh air blows into the hole and I hear Andrew take a deep breath.

Moments later Amanda pulls me up out of the ground and I climb up over the cement rocks, bricks and wood toward the top of the hole in the ground.

The night air is refreshing. I feel free. I am so happy, and I forget to be apprehensive when Carmine rushes to me. She stops in front of me for a second and then her hands are around my waist. She holds me close to her, saying repeatedly, “I am so glad you are okay.”

I notice Andrew as he climbs up over the edge, with Amanda closely behind him. I want to rush to him, but I feel inhibited and then when Duncan takes me in his arms, I sink into him.


Continue reading Chapter 19/23

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