Chapter 23: The Vampire Pirate's Daughter by Lynette Ferreira
He reaches for me and he asks inquiringly, “Can you not feel it, the feeling this was meant to be? I know it with such certainty, and I know you know it as well. I have never felt this way about anything. I have always had the feeling I belonged nowhere, until that day I held you in my arms and I unexpectedly had this sense of belonging, a feeling of promise for tomorrow. Susie, I love you.”
I smirk, “Love? You say you love me, but do you even know what you are saying? It would never work between you and me because I live forever, and you will eventually die.”
“We all eventually die, even you. Look at what happened to Shayne. I bet nobody ever expected that. Besides, I have been thinking, you could turn me.”
I gasp. “Never! It is not allowed and if I did, we would be hunted forever by my community until they find us and dispose of us in ways you could not even imagine.”
He takes me in his arms, and I hear the doof-doof of his heart again. That sound will stay with me in the years from now, in the imagined dreams I would weave around what could have been.
Pulling away from him, I add, “My world is a completely different world from that which you are used to. Only recently…” I laugh sarcastically. “Before you were even born, we could never come out in the day. Is that not just too far away from anything you could ever imagine? You would never adapt in my world, even if I was able to turn you.” I must hurt him so he will forget this entire episode, so I say, smirking, “You would not survive the turning, you are too weak.”
He pulls me abruptly to him and then I see him bring his face closer to mine. I see his full lips and then I feel them on mine. He moves his lips against mine firmly and I open them under his. His hand moves around my waist and he holds me close to him, pulling me tightly into him. I know what he is saying is true, I also felt it when I first saw him, and I started contemplating mortality. I know I am supposed to be with him, to love him unconditionally and completely, but I cannot allow him to think about me, cannot allow him to come after me. When I leave, it will have to be over between us.
Amanda clears her throat as she walks into the room and he pulls away from me. Amanda suggests, “Perhaps you two would like to talk outside on the veranda.”
Embarrassed, I turn away from Andrew.
Silently he takes my hand and we walk out onto the veranda. The moon is full, and he leans against the railing looking up at the sky. “It would not be so bad to only live at night.”
“Everybody always wants the whole package; nobody is ever happy with just a part of the deal.”
He reaches for me and then he pulls me against his chest again. “I understand Amanda needs you now that Shayne is gone. I cannot even imagine loving someone for that long and then they are just stolen away in the blink of an eye. If it was me, I would have been devastated, knowing what I feel for you now. Next year, I will leave here, and I will find you.”
“No, Andrew. You must not come looking for me and you must find someone else. Please!”
He laughs dismissively. “From that day at the café, there were so many things I wanted to say for so long, but the words always seemed to get lost before I could say them. I never thought I would be able to say any of this to your face, to actually come to you and hold you in my arms.”
I sigh. “You are not listening. You don’t understand the full complexity of the situation.”
He brings his head down to mine and near my ear, he whispers, “You have not yet noticed my obstinate streak. I am determined and anything is possible.”
In a halo of moonlight shining down through the tightly packed clouds, where every cloud has a silver lining, I give him my heart entirely. There is the possibility he would meet another and stubbornly I hope he does.
A WEEK LATER when Amanda and I leave on an aeroplane to France, Andrew and Carmine come to the airport to say goodbye.
After we have checked in and our bags disappear on a conveyor belt, Amanda says we had better start going up to the boarding gates.
I notice Andrew looking at Amanda nervously and then I see Amanda smile at him reassuringly. Andrew takes my hand and he leads me away from Amanda and Carmine. In a quiet corner, away from everything and everybody he stops.
Softly he cups my elbows and turn me to face him.
I look up at him sadly while he pulls a little red velvet box from his pocket and then smiling tentatively, he holds it out to me. “I bought you a going away present.”
“You shouldn’t have; I didn’t get you anything.”
“It is just something small.” He hands it to me anxiously.
I take it from him, feeling guilty.
He watches me worriedly as I lift the lid off the little jewellery box. Inside, there is a gold chain with a golden heart and I immediately notice my name engraved onto the heart. I lift it from the box and then look up at him again. “It’s beautiful. Thank you.”
He takes it from me. “Let me help you put it on.” He turns it over and smiling he shows me the flip-side. I see his name engraved on the back of the heart.
I turn away from him and I lift my hair. He drapes the necklace around my neck and then I feel his breath on my skin as he fastens the clasp. He softly kisses the back of my neck and I feel the same delicious warmth as always spread itself through my body.
I turn to him again. I rest my hands on his shoulders, standing close to him, while he looks down into my eyes, smiling demurely.
He holds the chain softly between his fingers and then he lets his fingers trail down the chain. Softly his fingers brush against the rise of my chest until the heart-shaped pendant is nestled between my breasts, safely resting against my skin.
He leans closer to me and whispers close to my lips, “Now when you meet someone else, they would have to get through me first before they can get to your heart.”
I want to remind him I do not have a beating heart, but I did not want to spoil the moment.
He says, “I need you to know I will never let you go. I love you, Susie.”
I lean into him and I rest my cheek against his chest, hearing the booming of his heartbeat as if it is my own.
This is the end of Book Two and we hope you enjoyed reading this story so far!
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