The Vampire Mate

Chapter 12

I've been waiting for Damien to come home from his 'job' for three hours, well all day really but I've been sat here on the sofa waiting for him for three hours. I haven't eaten or slept all day but none of that is a concern anymore - not until I get answers. For these past three hours, I've been thinking over and over every little aspect of Damien. His changing eyes, his strength of over one hundred men, his speed, he knows what I'm thinking, where I am.

The thought of vampires being physically and absolutely real is still practically impossible to me but maybe there is something else to it. Or maybe my ignorance has just clouded over my vision so much that I've been making excuses for him being completely different this whole time. I'm ashamed to say that I believe it was the latter.

Everything he had done which was out of the ordinary I hardly gave a second glance, I just classed him as weird because he could do things that I've never seen any other human do.

And if not just Damien who isn't human, who else? My biggest guess would obviously be his family. Mind, I haven't seen them so anything like I've seen Damien do but both his brother and father are perfectly pale with their perfectly clear skin and Alex is just as icy cold Damien is.

I hear the lock on his office door open upstairs. The sound echoed through the house just like my currently racing heartbeat and, if he really was a vampire, he surely would be able to hear it and know I was present in the living room.

After the noise of his door shutting, the room filled with a thick cloud of tension making it a lot harder to breathe. Each and every single footstep he took got louder and louder as he came closer just like the sound and feeling of my hammering heart. As he got closer my heart beat would beat more rapidly as if it were a stallion.

Strike one: he never goes to work.

I see him standing in the middle of the upstairs bannister and chose that as a good time to start 'interrogating' him.

"How was work?" I question him after taking a deep breath. He looks down at me from his spot as his face twists into a mixture of thoughts and emotions. You're a monster, I say in my head to test my second theory. His face shows a large smirk as he jumps over the bannister and onto the floor about a meter and a half below him.

"You stayed up for me?" He asks me so observantly, but I ignore his question since this was an attempt to change the subject.

"That was quite a jump," I state referring to the high drop from the bannister with a nod.

"I'm quite the monster," he winks at me still playing with the legendary smirk. My breathing catches in my throat, I would say that's impossible, but it wouldn't be for him. Nothing seems to be logical or impossible to Damien.

Strike two: he knows what I'm thinking.

All of this couldn't be a coincidence, he could actually read minds - something humans only dream of doing. Knowing this I could use to my advantage. It just means I can't think of what to say or he will know I'm up to something. Not that I think about my words carefully anyway.

I stand up from my seat so I'm more level with him. I have no idea what I was planning to do to get answers from him, but I was certain that I was going to find out everything I want to know.

"When you beat up Robbie," I swallowed as the horrific image of Robbie's swollen body popped into my mind, "you were at the other end of the school. How did you get there so fast?"

"I'm a fast walker" he shrugged liked it was nothing to him, like almost killing someone like that was something he did on an everyday basis. Please God no.

"You never get to the dinner hall early, you always wait."

"I was extra hungry that day." He nears me and keeps his soft blue eyes focused on my neck before they flicker back up to my eyes briefly. I know what he is doing. If this is the only way to prove my suspicions... then so be it.

I hold the razor blade tighter in my hand and walk closer to Damien tilting my head casually to the side as if I was going to kiss him. If I think about what I'm doing this won't work at all so my plan was to think of nothing.

"Are you hungry now?" I ask in a hushed voice. My face was inching near his in a way where his mouth was almost touching mine.

"Slightly. Why are you asking me these questions?" His voice broke slightly as if he was finding it harder to speak. The close proximity between him and myself must have the same effect on him as it does me. I put my empty hand on his cheek and my other behind his neck to bring him closer.

"Just curious," as the last word leaves my mouth, I cut down my hand with the razor blade behind his neck and gasp from the sharp stinging pain. I feel his body stiffen against mine and my back is slammed against the wall. When I open my eyes after the hard impact I'm met with Damien's red ones as well as some accompanied fangs.

Strike three: he likes blood... and he has fangs.

"Life lesson, Juliet, if you bleed in front of a vampire you'll get killed." He warns tightening his hold on my arms and pushing me further into the wall.

"Then why am I still alive?" I smugly ask. In the corner of my eye, I see something start to move towards us when I realise that must be Alex. He begins to run faster, and all of the friendliness is drained from him leaving behind a bloodthirsty demon. Damien opens his mouth to respond but is interrupted when he has to turn around to stop Alex from launching at me. Damien catches Alex mid-air by the throat and pins him down to the ground with all of his weight.

Oh shıt, was this really worth it Juliet?

"Juliet, in the bottom drawer, get the blood!" Damien shouts for me whilst Alex struggles under him. In a panic I run into the kitchen and, just as he said, the bottom drawer was filled to the brim of blood pouches from the hospital labelled with different blood types. I pick up the first one I see and cringe at its warmth and squishiness before I hand it over to Damien who bites the top of it as if it wasn't someone's blood and feeds it to his brother. I suppose it's natural for them since it's their food.

Alex's muscles calm down and he hungrily grabs the pouch to feed it to himself. Alex, the kindest person I know is a bloodthirsty God knows what that could drink my blood when he so desired. A chill slivered down my spine and I'm guessing Damien knew what I was thinking since he looked at me with sad blue eyes, almost disappointed, whilst getting up from on top of his brother.

"Sorry Juliet," Alex starts, "I guess now you know our secret..."

I cross my arms and lean on the counter next to me looking down. "Yeah," I sigh. How am I supposed to take this? I've been so stupid and ignorant to this whole town that I thought I was just going crazy but in reality, I'm surrounded by things I've always thought were fake.

"Scared?" Damien asks.

"Honestly?" I look up at the both of them.

Alex has a small hopeful smile on his adorable face like he always wanted to tell me and didn't want it to change anything. Of course it wouldn't, he is one of my closest friends and the first nice person I met when I moved. Damien looked guilty but it didn't lessen the intensity of his eyes boring caves into mine. I don't think I had ever seen him look guilty before, I didn't think he could feel anything but hatred and anger if I was honest. Both of these boys wouldn't hurt me, I just couldn't see it. They have already proved that they would protect me, Damien when he nearly killed Robbie and Alex when he was trying to get me away from it. Did I have a reason to be scared of them? "No." I shake my head making Alex's smile widen as he runs over to pick me up and hug me. I tightly hug him back hoping I'll never see a look of worry like that on his face and loving being in his arms again until I start gagging. "Alex, holy hell, you reek of blood" I cough.

He apologises and runs upstairs to the bathroom with vampire speed making the whole room fill with a cold gust of wind. I was taken back by the speed he ran at and it was now crystal clear how Damien got to me so quickly. I wonder if running that quickly exhausts a vampire like it would a human?

"I guess you have a lot of questions," Damien says breaking the awkward silence that had stayed when Alex left. He was so right about that. I follow him to the sofa without saying anything else since he probably already knew the answer. We both sit down, me opposite him, as Damien sits back and puts his feet on the coffee table preparing for a long night.

"Do you sparkle?" I ask as my first question wasting no time whatsoever.

Damien lifts up his head and raises an eyebrow at me. "Not in my lifetime I haven't." He answers after mumbling how much of a long night this is going to be. Alex comes back still chirpy like before and sits next to his brother who currently looks like he wants to kill himself.

"Juliet, there is something important you need to know," Damien starts as he gives Alex one of those 'stop being happy' looks, "like any other race, vampires have a leader and with a leader comes laws that are punishable by death..."

"What? I thought when you went today you were going to sort it out!" Alex cried out angrily with his contagious smile long gone.

"Going where? Sort what out?" I ask diverting my eyes between the two of them.

"Each vampire has their own ability, some are considered dangerous and are made illegal. I have the ability over minds - I can read thoughts now but eventually, I'll be able to wipe memories, cause migraines and make the brain collapse fully killing the host. Because of the way my ability can evolve if I meet my mate I will be killed, I am forbidden to know them, and I have to work as an elite guard for the king."

"Mate? What like a friend?" I ask, "oh, so that's why you have no friends."

Before responding Alex erupts in laughter and slaps Damien's knee a few times in the process, "no that's not what mates are but you're almost there with his lack of friends. A mate is someone who you're bound to for life. Destiny has its way of bringing them together so when Damien does find out who his mate is, he will problem have to kill her or move country to reduce contact. They're one of the most important things to a vampire."

"Nobody trusts me because they think I have sworn my loyalty to the king." The bitterness dripping from Damien's voice showed he hated the king and the topic of this just got him more and more annoyed. Why would people think he is loyal to the king if it is crystal clear how much hatred he has for him "Abigail reported you to the king. The king thinks we have committed a crime by letting you know about vampires and other supernatural species and this is punishable by death... for you. Earlier, I told the king that we saved your life in a fire but, because that's not when you apparently found out, he won't accept it."

"Wait so you're telling me this so called 'king' wants me dead because of what Abigail said?" I scream, mainly at Damien. So many things are running through my head that I don't know what to say to him. Do I start with the why the fųck did you not tell me this or the I didn't do fųck all why should I die? Who is going to look after Mia? She will be distraught! She'll lose her big sister more than she already has. Before the move, we basically only had each other when our Dad was at work.

"Oh, there's more," Alex says glaring daggers at Damien just like I am. It is taking every muscle and every nerve to not lash out at Damien. How could he not tell me this! I'm supposedly going to die, and it was kept a secret from me. Even Alex knew and didn't tell me.

"You have until Saturday until he comes. I've already told your dad the situation and there might be a way to save you." Alex looks confusedly at Damien whilst I just sit with my mouth open. I supposedly have three days left to live and even my dad knew. Did he already know about this vampire bullshıt or was he just being told like this?

I lose it. I jump up from my seat and leap onto Damien before slapping him in the face as many times as I could using all of my anger as strength. He grabs both of my arms and holds them away from my face.

"Even I think you deserved that, Damien," Alex states watching me lash out on his brother. As much as I struggle there was no way I was going to get my arms back from Damien, so I just glare at him making sure to put all of my emotion into the stare. His eyes were a pool of red and his jaw was clenched so tightly he could probably not only cut butter but the person's hand who is holding it.

"Do you think I want this, Juliet? I tried to get your life back, but that king likes to make everyone suffer!" Damien shouts angrily in my face. I use my knee to kick his stomach, but it hurt me more than him.

"I don't know, Damien, you haven't exactly been fond of me from the start! Do you actually want me alive?" My voice turned into a quiver at my question. I didn't want to know the answer. I'm scared to hear it.

"Bloody hell get out of my sight." Damien stands up and I fall from the ground. I don't move just so I could get on his nerves. He roughly picks me up by the arm and drags me up the stairs before picking me up and throwing me on the bed in my room.

"Oh, and for the record, you dying would be so much easier for us." He says and slams the door shut.