5.29 Ready [Charlotte]

Millie gasped, throwing herself at the vampire. “Yes, yes! A thousand, no, a million times yes!” Tears began to fall from her eyes as she held onto Zander tightly. “I can’t believe you want to marry me…”

 

“Why wouldn’t I?” He murmured. “I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

 

“I’m a mage, and you’re a vampire,” Millie answered, as if it was obvious.

 

“Soon, Moonlight Falls will be a place where that doesn’t matter,” He answered. “And, if it isn’t, there are plenty of places we can go.”

 

“I don’t really want to think that far ahead into the future,” She mumbled against his chest. “I just want to think about us, right now.”

 

Zander stroked her hair lovingly. “We’ll be alright. Your family is working really hard for our future.”

 

“I know, and I love them for it.” She planted another kiss on his lips. “I just wish my sister was here to see this. Me getting married, I mean.”

 

“Astra?” Zander asked.

 

She nodded. “I miss her, a lot.”

 

Zander stroked her hair lovingly. “I know, but I’m sure she’s happy.”

 

“I hope you’re right. I haven’t heard from her in two years, I’m not even sure she knows about dad…I mean, Declan.” She frowned.

 

“You need to stop worrying,” Zander said. “This is our moment. You deserve to be happy.”

 

She nodded, reaching for her pocket. “Then, I’m going to have to call my other sisters and tell them the news!”

 

Zander sighed, running his hands through his hair. “Is Charlotte going to be my sister now?”

“You forgot what family you’re marrying into, huh?” Millie teased. “But, don’t worry. Char will be a good auntie once we have our kids.”

 

“Which won’t be soon,” Zander said.

 

Millie shrugged. “We’ll see what happens!”

Adeline tapped her fingers impatiently against the table. “No,” She mumbled. “This isn’t right. I need something else.” How hard could it be to find a pure vampire’s weakness? There had to be a book out there somewhere that could tell her what to do. She had already looked for people, but there weren’t any purebred vampires besides her and Altiere left. Days like this, she felt the pressure on her shoulders intensify.

 

“Ms. Gray, should I bring in the next batch of books?” She turned to the quiet fairy who held a stack of scrolls in his arms.  His name was Erik Holloway, he was the town’s bookworm. She had met him on one of her first excursions to the library. He knew a vast amount of trivial knowledge, and just about where every book on the shelves were located. Being a librarian, she imagined, wasn’t fruitful, but he seemed as if he was enjoying himself.

 

“I…” She tapped the desk once again. “It is going to be another one of those days, so I suppose so.”

 

“Is there any way at all, I can help you?” He asked kindly. She could sense the pure intentions from the fairy, but she could not involve someone innocent in this game. She saw how dangerous it could be.

 

“No, not at the moment, but you can bring the next batch of books around. Vampire lore,” She answered. “Anything and everything you’ve got.”

 

“May I ask what the fascination is?” He questioned, plopping a pile of heavy books onto the table.

 

“Healthy curiosity, my dear.” She let out a small breath. “I am,just curious…”

 

Erik wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t press the issue any further. “I could help you, if you told me what you were looking for exactly.”

 

“Nothing specific,” She said, eyes never leaving the book.

 

“Oh, er…well…” He found himself increasingly nervous around the vampire. “I…”

 

Adeline flipped through the book absentmindedly. “These are stories, do you have anything more informative?”

 

“You know, they say Moonlight Falls was built upon stories,” Erik said. He quickly looked away in embarrassment.

 

“Yes, but isn’t every civilization?” Adeline asked.

 

“No, I mean, quite literally,” Erik said. “I don’t know how valid this information is, but there are ancient scrolls that talk about legendary story tellers. They wrote things down in books that would come true. Like prophecies.”

 

Adeline raised her eyebrow. “You mean to tell me, someone could write something down, and the story would come true?”

 

“From what I could translate from the ancient texts I found, it was more like telling the future. They were called seers. They would see a vision and write it down. I don’t know if those visions came true. But, I know that those seers are the same ones who built Moonlight Falls up.”

Adeline pushed the chair out and beckoned for the male to keep talking. “Tell me more.”

 

“I don’t know much more,” Erik said. “Every time I get close to solving something, there are missing pages. Nothing from those times are complete collections.”

 

Adeline drummed her fingers against the desk once again. “When I was younger, my cousin came over and asked my dad about a book. I don’t remember the exact details other than my cousin complaining that the ending was torn from the binding of the book.”

 

“How old is the book?” Erik asked. “Was it written in English?”

 

“I…I’m not sure.” She frowned. “I’d have to ask him, but…” She tilted her head to the side. “Is there some importance to that?”

 

“It’s worth a shot,” Erik said slowly. “If we could find the ending of the manuscripts in my possession, we could learn a lot about the seers.”

 

Adeline’s eyes lit up. “If the seers were real, by chance, would they be able to predict a future this far ahead?”

 

“I would assume so, yes.” Erik nodded.

 

She bolted from her seat. “I will be back as soon as I can! I need to talk to my father!” She ran for the door, wanting to confirm her suspicions of the book in question. “Don’t go anywhere Erik!”

Jeff groaned, rolling over. The bed was empty, yet again. Was Charlotte even home? The house her grandparents had gotten for them was too quiet. They had asked Millie and Adeline to come stay with them, but neither had ever stayed home long. Adeline was constantly locked up in the library, and Millie never left Zander’s side. Jeff had felt a pang of jealousy watching their happiness unfold. At one time, that was him and Charlotte. But now, he couldn’t get the girl to look at him for more than two minutes. The only time she had wanted anything to do with him now was when she was upset, and needed physical intimacy. Each time, it had all felt the same. Empty and hollow. Never had he felt such a coldness from another being. yet, he still held on, because seeing her smile was his goal. He wanted to make her smile once more. He got out of the bed, slid on his boxer shorts and headed to the stairs. “Char? You still here?”

 

She didn’t answer. Running his hands through his messy hair, he casually made his way own the stairs. Looks like he would be eating breakfast alone once more. He didn’t know what was wrong with her, he imagined she had shut down at the loss of her dad, but he couldn’t figure out what to do about it. He stopped upon hearing her voice. She was somewhat animated, a good sign.

 

“Dad’s house?” She asked. “Yeah, Mills. I can meet you there. No, Jeff is busy today. He can’t come.”

 

Jeff raised his brow. “I’m not busy today, actually. What’s going on?”

 

She glared at him. “I’ll see you at Dad’s house, Mills. Goodbye.”

“Mind your business,” She said coldly.

 

“It is my business, I was invited somewhere you don’t want me to be,” Jeff said.

 

“It’s family business,” She stated.

 

“And I’m not family?” Jeff demanded. “Char, we live together. We’ve been dating for two years.” There were good times amongst those two years. Times where he had felt like he was the luckiest man in the world. Times that kept him holding on to the broken girl.

 

“That doesn’t make you family. You will never be family!” She was yelling now, a scene he never wanted to get used to.

 

“Are you kidding me?” Jeff asked. “We have been through so much. I love you.”

 

“I don’t care,” She said angrily. “If you loved me, you wouldn’t have done this to me!”

 

He could see her visibly shaking. That vulnerable girl was hiding beneath the anger. She wasn’t angry. She was afraid. His voice was gentle as he spoke. “Baby, what did I do to you to make you so angry at me?”

 

“It doesn’t even matter.” She turned to walk away, but he stopped her, holding on to her arm.

 

“It matters to me,” Jeff said. “In this life, you’re all I have. I would give up anything to see you smile, you know that.”

“If you want me to be happy, then why did you do this to me?” She asked, tears forming around her eyes. She wrapped her arms around herself. “Why?”

 

“Charlotte…” Jeff’s voice trailed off. “Please tell me what you’re talking about, babe.”

 

“Don’t babe me! You’ve ruined my life!” She struggled to break free from his grasp, but it was strong. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight this time. The first few months with Charlotte were great, they were affectionate to a point that made them both comfortable. But then, she had continued to become lost in her self, and  taken their relationship to the next level. That’s what they had wanted, what they had both wanted. Those first few nights were magical, but now he could barely say two words to her without her getting angry.

 

“Tell me how I’ve done that. I’ve been here for everything!” Jeff felt himself getting angry and he couldn’t control it. “I risked my life to save you, I haven’t done anything to hurt you!”

 

“You got me pregnant!” She shouted. “I am pregnant because of you!”

 

Jeff froze. Pregnant. Did she just say, pregnant? “That’s great news, babe.”

 

“Great news?” She demanded. “Great news? You just gave me the opportunity to turn into my mother!”
“Is that what this is about?” Jeff asked. “Your mother?”

 

Her eyes were full of tears but she gave it her all to glare at him. “That blood runs in my veins, and you’ve screwed us both by bringing another one into the world!”

 

“No,” Jeff said. “That’s not right. That baby will be nothing like her. You will be nothing like her.”

“I’m already like her!” Charlotte yelled. “I can’t feel an ounce of sympathy for anyone but myself!”

 

“That isn’t true,” Jeff began. “That baby, you care about what happens to it. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be so angry.”

 

She shook her head wildly. “It will happen. Take it, and just leave. Both of you!” She stopped yelling when she felt his arms wrap tightly around her.

 

“I’m not Declan,” He mumbled. “I’m not leaving. And you’ll be a fantastic mother. Our baby will be the luckiest vampire human ever. We’ll raise him or her together.”

 

She shook her head but hugged him tightly. “No. It deserves someone better. Not me. I’m not ready for this.”

 

“Yes you are,” He whispered sweetly into her ear. “You are.”

 

“The war. My family…”

 

“This gives us a reason to fight ten times harder. For the future of our child.” Jeff kissed her forehead and smiled brightly at her. “You’ve just made me the happiest man in the entire world, you know that?”

____

Shout out to ViolinCat who created Erik for Adeline! Thank you! 🙂