Immortal Love Book #2. Evil

4. "Trust me"

The wind was getting colder and colder as I saw it mess up Alexander's hair. He was still leaning on the wall behind him, but now he was looking at a dead point in front of him, like he was thinking about something. He was probably thinking about what we had to do next, and I was glad one of us was, because I didn't even know where to start.

Then, as I started trying to come up with a way to find Dennis, I realized something. I knew why I was interested in finding Dennis, but I didn't know why Alexander was. For all he cared Dennis could go ahead and murder half of the population and get himself killed. It was obvious to me that, under regular circumstances, Alexander would be glad to see Dennis dead, so why was he trying to protect him? I couldn't think of a reason that didn't involve him getting something in return, and that scared me a bit. I knew Alexander and I had been on the same side before, but that didn't mean we would always be.

"Wait," Alexander looked at me. "what's in it for you?" I asked. Alexander sighed.

"What do you care?" he answered my question with another question. I frowned. "If I help you save Dennis what does it matter what I get in return?" he asked, and he had a point.

If he helped me, I didn't care why he did it, but the problem was I couldn't see a parallel universe where Alexander actually helped me save Dennis. What if he ended up killing Dennis instead? Or if he was using this as a way to make me do something for him with my magic? I needed to know if he had an agenda.

"I just can't possibly imagine you'd care whether Dennis lives or dies." I said, and he smiled.

"I personally don't care." he said, confirming what I already thought; he had an ulterior motive.

"Then why do you want to save him?" I asked, raising my voice. Alexander stood up straight and took a couple of steps towards me.

"Because I just do, okay?" he said in an exasperated tone, but something told me he knew that answer wouldn't do it for me. I put my hands on my waist.

"Alexander." I called his name, because that would usually get him to really listen to me. He looked at me. "You can't expect me to believe that despite all the hatred you've demonstrated you feel about Dennis, you want to save him if he's in danger. Just tell me what you'll get in return, because if you don't, I'm gonna go crazy thinking of all the ways you could screw me over." I said honestly. Alexander must've picked up on that honesty, because he took a second to think. He seemed like he was considering telling me.

"It's Jacqueline." he said, and then everything made sense.

Alexander wanted to save Dennis because Jacqueline was still in love with him. It logically made sense, but it was difficult to believe that Alexander would swallow his hatred and go out of his way to help Dennis, and that he would do it for someone else. Dennis had told me Alexander was a 'bad vampire' and I couldn't imagine him doing anything for another person. But, despite of how crazy it sounded, I believed him when he said it was about Jacqueline, and I was never wrong about these things.

"She's been a little depressed lately, and it's because she doesn't feel Dennis anymore." Alexander, to my surprise, kept talking, raising more questions from my part.

"I didn't know she still felt him." I thought out loud. I knew there wasn't a point on getting jealous about Jacqueline and Dennis now, but I couldn't stop the sour feeling that invaded me when Alexander said Jacqueline 'stopped feeling' him, because it meant that she had felt him while we were together.

"I told you once before, the bond between a vampire and its maker is unbreakable." Alexander said, confirming what I'd been thinking. Jacqueline and Dennis had shared a connection even while we were together. I decided to push that thought away, because it didn't do me any good now. "But now it's like he's not ever there anymore, or so she says." he said, running his right hand through his hair. "I know what's going to happen to her if something happens to Dennis. It's gonna destroy her, and I can't let that happen. A long time ago I made a promise to protect her forever, and I intend to keep it." he said. It was like he was venting, and I wasn't gonna be the one to stop him. I could tell Alexander was genuinely worried about Jacqueline, which made me rethink everything I thought I knew about him, and it made me believe he really wanted to save Dennis, just to protect Jacqueline.

"That's sweet." I thought out loud.

"I'm not sweet." he said with his typical serious tone again. It was like he'd noticed he'd shared too much with me, he regretted it, and he was back to being his usual reserved self. I was just glad I had gotten to see a little of himself in that brief second he opened up to me, and that now I knew I could trust him.

"Okay, so what are we gonna do?" I asked, and Alexander gave me one of his condescending smiles. Well, he was really back to being himself.

"You are not doing anything." he said. I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to The Academy to let them know of a vampire that needs assistance, and they'll send their best agents to find him." he said. I crossed my arms on my chest.

"I thought you were part of The Academy." I said, unsure of why we couldn't just find him ourselves.

"I am, which is why I need to inform them of the situation and let them handle it." he said. I gave him a confused look.

"But what if they kill him?" I asked. I thought the whole point of this was not letting The Academy know because they could kill him.

"Stella," Alexander walked towards me until he was really close. He looked at me with his intimidating blue eyes. "I promise I won't let that happen." he said, and I believed him, but I still wanted to go with him.

"I want to go with you." I said, and a smile appeared on Alexander's face. "Don't look at me like that, I'm serious." I said, standing on my tip toes to be closer to his height.

"I know you are." he still had that annoying smile on his face, like I was being funny.

"You know what I can do." I said, and his smile disappeared. "I want you to take me because I want to help, and you know that I can." he smiled again, but this time it wasn't like he was making fun of me, it was like he was considering it. He then briefly looked at my lips.

"Okay." he agreed. I fell to my natural height again, surprised at his response. It usually took hours of convincing with Dennis.

"Really?" I asked, debating in my head whether or not he was messing with me.

"Really." he said, still looking down at me from a couple of inches away. "We'll go talk to Roxanne first. Meet me tomorrow at sundown at Dennis' house." he said, and then he disappeared like vampires liked to do, leaving me with my thoughts running wild, and my hair getting messed up by the wind.

______

Hi guys! I hope you're liking the story so far.

As always, thanks for reading. See you next year ;)