Shivering and rubbing my bare arms, I walked over to his closet and pulled down one of his dress shirts. It was long on me, completely covering my backside and hitting my legs mid-thigh, and cut the slight coldness in the air considerably. I glanced around his closet (that I'd soon be taking over) and looked for anything weapon-like. All I saw were clothes; Teren really didn't have much in the way of self defense.
I tiptoed back to the bedroom, not sure why I was being quiet, but feeling the need to be that way anyway. The red-orange light of the lamp outside flashed on various hard objects around the room - the TV remote, a particularly thick book he was reading on his nightstand, his laptop sitting on a chair tucked under his window. I didn't see anything great, but if we were going down tonight, we going down swinging. I settled on an umbrella propped up by his bathroom door and grabbed it. With a hand on my stomach, I decided that I'd do what my vampire fiance had requested of me, and stay put, for the children's sake. I backed into the bathroom, wanting an easier to defend spot and crouched low, holding my cheap umbrella like it was a sturdy baseball bat.
I don't know how long I waited, but it felt like an eternity. Teren could search every nook and cranny of this house in a matter of minutes, so the longer I waited, the longer I was positive something horrible had happened to him. As time ticked ominously by and my legs started protesting the rigid posture I was keeping them in, tears started stinging my eyes. It couldn't end like this. I couldn't have just made love to him and then lost him, all in a matter of moments. He was supposed to be mine forever. That was the deal. We were fated. We were destined to a long life of love, happiness, children and grandchildren. That was what getting through his hard changeover meant for us - that we were free to love each other peacefully, for the rest of my life. Not for him to be whisked away from me forever because he "heard something".
I felt the tears brimming as my overactive imagination started playing out the different scenarios where some intruder had gotten the best of him. In my head, I watched him die a hundred times over. I felt the tears travel down my cheeks as I listened for any sounds that he was okay.
Just as my arms were starting to shake from the tension I was maintaining in them, the bathroom door started to swing open. Panic and fear made me c*ck back my makeshift weapon and I swung it around as soon as the figure walked into my sanctuary. In my self-riled turmoil, I didn't even register who I was swinging at until he reached up and calmly grabbed the stupidly fragile umbrella. It bent a little as he yanked it out of my hands.
"What are you doing, Emma?"
Teren was standing right in front of me, half-dressed and tilting his head at me, like he thought I'd possibly gone mental in his absence. As I felt a sob rise in my throat, I started to believe that maybe I had gone mental. I brought my hands to my face, relief mixing with the icy edge of fear still lingering in my system. His eyes widened at seeing me on the verge of breaking down and he instantly had me in his arms, swooping me up to cradle me like a child.
"Baby, it's okay. You're okay. You're okay." He repeated it over and over while he walked me back to his bed. A hand continuously stroked down my back while he placed dozens of kisses along my forehead. I held back the stupid tears, but they were coming regardless. He laid me down and got in next to me. I embarrassingly cinched him tight when he moved to cover me with his blankets. Once I was safe and cocooned in his bed, my arms firmly around him, his hands came up to my cheeks. Sweeping his thumbs over them, trying to dry my concerned tears, his face took on a look of confused compassion. "Emma?" he whispered.
Between hiccups and stuttered breaths, I managed to get out, "I thought...something...happened...to you."
Understanding, he swept me into a tight embrace, his hands rubbing over my back again. "Oh god, I'm sorry, Emma. " He pulled back, searching my eyes. "I'm fine, baby. Okay?"
I nodded, willing my body to calm down. Before I could protest or stop him, he blindingly fast hopped out of bed and securely closed his heavy curtains. The room blackened as he held me in his arms again. He kept his eyes open, staring deep into mine, and the phosphorescent glow on the whites of his eyes became brighter as the room slowly became darker. That was another vampire effect - the glowing eyes. It was only apparent if they were somewhere really dark, say hunting their prey late at night, and had an almost hypnotic-like calming effect, to relax that prey into submission, as if they needed the extra help getting humans to submit to their power.
It did have a calming influence though and my mind started blanking as that light absorbed me into his peace. I felt my heart even and my breath slow to the low and long ones people take while they're sleeping. I was so relaxed, that if he had told me to close my eyes and go to sleep, I probably would have. But he didn't try any hypnotic parlor tricks on me - he knew better than that. Instead he twisted to turn on the lamp on his nightstand.
"Better?" he asked, as I blinked in the sudden brightness.
Taking in his back to normal blue eyes, I nodded. "Yes, sorry I freaked out."
He shook his head and kissed my nose. "I'm sorry I worried you. I just thought I heard..." His voice drifted off and he bit his lip. After a second he shook his head and sighed softly. "I must have been hearing things though." He shrugged. "I searched everywhere, inside and outside, but I couldn't find anything...out of place." He shrugged again and held me close, cradling my head to his chest. "I'm so sorry I worried you, Emma."
I nodded against his skin, amazed at how quickly I'd imagined the worst. "You didn't do anything wrong, Teren. I guess I'm still a little...frazzled...by what happened to us." I said that last part barely above a whisper, hating to even talk about it.
He pulled away from me, resting his forehead against mine. "I would never...let anyone harm you, Emma. You or the kids. Ever." He practically growled that and I relaxed as the strength in his voice gave me confidence. He wouldn't, and things were different now. He was different - stronger, and any hunter we encountered here on out, would have their hands full with Teren Adams.
I leaned up and gave him a soft kiss. "I know, baby. I feel safe with you." I whispered, as I laid my head back down on his chest.
"And you are safe with me," he whispered as I closed my eyes.
My earlier exhaustion crept up on me and, adding it to my emotionally draining last few moments, I was half-asleep when I responded with, "I know..."
Then I was fully asleep.
The next morning had me awaking with the scratchy stubble of Teren's jaw rubbing against my neck as he kissed me. He whispered that he had to go to work, but I could stay and sleep in a little if I wanted, since he'd run to my house and picked up some stuff for me...including another pair of underwear. I chuckled, thinking about last night and considering the fact that when he said "run", he probably meant that literally.
With a swift kiss, we parted ways for the day. Teren worked an hour before me and was a much nicer alarm clock than I'd had yesterday. I smiled as I stretched out on his luxurious bed and considered what waking up like this every day would be like.
After awhile, I got up and walked to the bathroom, still dressed in Teren's shirt. Flashes of freaking out in this bathroom came to me and I tried to push it back to the farthest part of my brain. As strong as I tried to be, what had happened to us had been traumatic and the side effects still showed themselves sometimes. I knew I wasn't alone either. As strong as Teren tried to be, when he said things like he had last night, the conviction in his voice betrayed his true fear. He was worried that he would let me down, that he wouldn't be able to stop someone from hurting me again. In a way, I suppose he felt like he'd let me down before. I didn't feel that way. There's no way either one of us could have been prepared for what that maniac had put us through.
I dressed for my day, smiling at the rose Teren had placed upon my stack of fresh clothes, and shaking my head at the tiny scraps of fabric he'd picked out for my undergarments. Still shaking my head, I put on the red thong with its matching demi-bra and garter belts (that's right, he picked out garter belts) and covered up all the sexiness with a relatively chaste looking long gray skirt and fitted black blouse. Fixing my hair and makeup, I was on the road, snacking on a bagel, in no time.
My day at work was as exhausting as my first day back, with Tracey asking more questions about life on a ranch, which, I gave her pretty honest answers about, since the day to day activities there really had nothing supernatural about them. As we conversed throughout the day, I considered telling her about the wedding. I imagined how excited she'd be, and how much of a help she'd be in the whole planning process. Of course, she'd be a bridesmaid and of course, she'd have an opinion on the dress. I held off though, wanting to tell my family first, and since tonight was our weekly dinner, I'd have the perfect opportunity to tell them.
I spent the rest of my shift daydreaming about dresses and flowers and Teren's magnificent body all decked out in a tux. Before I knew it, Clarice was grunting some sort of a goodbye, murmuring that she wished I'd get caught up already, and Tracey was calling out goodnight and telling me to say hi to my sister for her.
I called my sister before I left, making sure tonight was still on and letting her know that Teren would be late. She knew the real reason why he wouldn't be joining us for a meal, she knew exactly what Teren was, but she also lived with our mother and could let Mom know for me, thus sparing me a direct lie. As I pulled into the cafe a short while later, I called Teren, letting him know I was here and meeting with everyone, and telling him I wished he was here too.
He shared my sentiment and told me he'd wait an hour or so and then join us. I sighed as I hung up the phone with him and cracked open my car door. It wasn't that I couldn't handle being without him for an evening or anything, I just liked having him around, and wished he could partake in things that normal guys could, like dinners with the in-laws.
The hostess greeted me by name, told me she was glad I was back, and then actually gave me a brief hug. My family had been coming here for awhile and everyone knew us. I smiled that my absence over the past few weeks had been noticed, and I'd been missed.
I'd beaten my mom and sister to the cafe, so she ushered me back to our usual table and set me up with a glass of water while I waited. I sighed and took a long drink of my water, suddenly feeling parched. My eyes aching, I leaned my head back on the cushion of the bench seat and listened to the soothing jazz playing softly in the background.
I felt the cushion beside me compress and opened my eyes as I turned my head. "Rise and shine, sleepy." A horrifically scarred face smiled warmly at me and an ache went through me at how long I'd gone without seeing that face.
"Hey, Ash." I exclaimed as I hugged her eagerly.
My arms wrapped around her body and I noticed, but immediately ignored, the hard sections of her skin where the scarring on her face was continued. She had a lot of scarring, most of her body really. She'd barely managed to survive a horrid fire as a child, a fire that our father hadn't survived. The effects of that were lasting ones, even after dozens of surgeries, but her physical appearance was only that - physical. It did nothing to dampen her spirit or dissuade her of her dream of being a nurse in the burn unit, to help others go through what she'd painfully gone through. She was in her second year of school and nothing would keep her from that goal - not the stares, not the whispers, and not the lack of a love life. But, as she pulled apart from me and I saw the glow in her eyes, the same warm brown as mine, I couldn't help but see what Teren had very correctly informed me of once - she was happy. Despite all that life had thrown at her, she was happy.