Protection (Book #1)

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen
I relaxed on the bed next to him and looked up at the ceiling. "Ben?"
"Yeah?" He said, lifting his head up.
"When is the last time I fed?"
"When I got the hickeys. So... two nights? Do you feel okay? Are you sick?"
"Benjamin, I don't get sick. I feel fine, I'm just hungry. I thought that was it. Normally it affects me differently. I think I know what's happening. I'd like to feed first and then I'll explain?"
He nodded and I leaned over. I sunk my fangs into his neck and he groaned, pulling me up against his side. "You feel weak. I can feel it seeping into me," he pressed, sounding out of breath. He shuddered and I pulled away.
"I'm sorry. You shouldn't be able to feel that."
"I think I'm becoming very aware of your body, like you're part of me."
"Don't say that."
He jolted upright so he could stare down at me. "Why do you always get upset about everything I say? Do I say everything wrong? Am I doing something here?"
I growled, rolling my eyes at the ceiling. I jerked upwards so I was nose-to-nose with him. "You have an inherent ability to say the wrong thing at the precise wrong moment to shut me down or hurt my feelings. It's actually mind-blowing!" I seethed. "You have no idea what you do to my soul, and yet you manage to wreck it all in a single sentence."
"What did I say?"
I dropped back against the bed. "Nothing. You didn't say anything."

We were growing used to our routine. We argued, we ignored each other, and then we got over it because there was something we needed to do. Things were easily brought up and forgiven. We trained every afternoon once I woke up, and then we typically argued about something because our conversations in the basement, for one reason or another, were always heated. His immaturity made it much easier for him to forget an argument and go on about his day.
I even made it through a few days without the nightmares. It seemed as if when we worked out more strenuously, I didn't have any dreams at all. I was elated to go without them, but I wasn't sure Ben actually noticed a change.
The bruises on his chest had finally healed and he was showing his chest to me in the kitchen when the phone rang. I laughed and pointed at it. He picked it up, frowning. "Hi," he said. "Good. How are you? So... Okay... Sure... Yeah, that sounds good." He turned and smiled at me, but wrapped the cord from the phone around his neck and pretended to suffocate.
I giggled quietly.
"Okay. See you soon." He untangled himself from the phone cord and hung it up, so I glared at him as he turned around to face me again.
"Is Wesley coming over?"
"Yes he is. It's New Year's Eve."
"Shit! I didn't cook-"
"They will forgive you!" He laughed, pushing me towards the bedroom. "You need to get dressed. As cute as you look in those short shorts you sleep in, you should put on pants."
"Just a few minutes ago you were trying to undress me."
"I know. Nothing ever goes my way." He planted a kiss on my forehead and turned away, resolutely leaving me to fend for myself with the closet. I pulled on a pair of distressed skinny jeans and a white shirt. In Ben's company I continually found myself doing things I hadn't done in so long that I forgot how to do them. I hadn't celebrated New Year's since I'd been changed.
I was happy to see Wes and Cata. I hoped they might be a catalyst for good in my relationship with Ben. Maybe if we spent more time with them, we might argue less. I was feeling guilty that I always nagged on him about his every word when he opened the door.
"Jeez, are you ready yet?"
I laughed. "Yeah, I'm ready. Hey, I'm sorry about-"
He shook his head. "It's okay, Dee. I'm not upset. You have apologized sufficiently." He smiled. "Hopefully they don't bring weed. I don't need you high."
I laughed. "Are you sure? I don't remember it being a problem. If I recall correctly, you were pretty happy just to play with my hair and talk dirty."
"You didn't stop giggling for an hour. Your hair is getting longer. It's already starting to cover your ears," he said, and he reached up to twirl his fingers in it.
"I used to cut it every week when I lived in my apartment. I'd like to let it grow out now. When it gets to my shoulders I want to dye it red, like I said before."
"That sounds pretty."
"I think it will be. They're here."
"How do you know that?"
I laughed. "I heard their car." I walked to the door to greet them, and found that they were carrying a smaller bag from the liquor store. "Hi, it's good to see you again!"
"Sorry it's so last-minute!" Cata gushed.
I shook my head. "Don't worry about it! I didn't get to cook!"
"That's okay! We don't have long anyway! I have to work tomorrow morning!"
"On New Year's Day?" I asked incredulously.
Wes and Ben laughed. "Yes, we work mostly year round," Wes said. "We get very few holidays. Winter Solstice is one of them. Cata is working on a sensitive case. I'm going into work a little later, so I'm not so worried about how long I stay out."
"What are the plans?" Ben asked with a smile.
"The two of you are shockingly lame, so we're going to get you drunk again, and hope it leads to a fun place." Wes laughed and pulled out a bottle of tequila.
I rolled my head around on my neck. "The last time I had that stuff, I was nineteen, and I puked as I walked home."
"At a party?" Ben asked, as he sat beside Wes and Cata who were already sitting on the couch.
I shook my head, smiling dazedly at the wall as I lived for a moment in the memory. "No, a bar. I had a fake ID." I slid down into the same spot I'd sat during our Winter Solstice celebration at the end of the couch.
"What bar?"
"It's in Michigan," I whispered, reaching for the bottle. I sipped the devil straight out of his glass jar, and Ben was stunned into silence momentarily. Unfortunately, the quiet didn't last long.
"You were in Michigan when you were nineteen? Did you grow up there? Why were you sneaking into a bar anyway? And what made you move here? Wesley, did you know her birthday is coming up?"
I smiled at him and pushed the bottle into his hand, wrapping his other hand around it. "You need some of this, too, I think."
He sipped at it and passed it to Wes, then looked back at me. "Are you going to answer my questions?"
"I did grow up in Michigan, and I was there when I was nineteen. I didn't sneak into it. I told you I had a fake ID. I moved here hoping to change the way things were going for me. My life has been threatened since then, so I must have been successful."
"What day is your birthday?"
"January second," I said, trying to recall what my birthday had been before.
"So you'll be twenty-eight in two days?"
I nodded.
Wesley passed the bottle back to me. "You deserve another drink for that."
I smiled. "Thank you!"
Ben smiled at me. "Does aging feel any different being Zuri?"
I slid the bottle into his hands. "You know how you look in the mirror and ask yourself if you look any older every year? I look the same every year."
"Isn't it at least the slightest bit admirable?" Cata asked, leaning forward from her seat on the couch so she could see me better. "I'm going to grow old and get wrinkles. I'll be significantly less attractive in another ten years, but you'll always be a hot, young woman."
I stared back at her, feeling the alcohol starting to take effect on my brain. "You will always be beautiful. Anyone who tells you differently is an imbecile. I have a different appreciation for wrinkles and gray hair. I'll never change. I'll never have anything new to offer. If you run into me twenty years from now, I would gush over how great you look, but I would be forty-eight and still look nineteen."
"So you don't know how gorgeous you are," Wesley whispered, looking at me with wide eyes.
I chuckled. "I believe Ben has come to the same conclusion. If you could all grasp that I'm unable to look in mirrors and see myself, maybe you could understand that I've become incredibly humble over the previous decade."
Ben shook his head. "I don't think it's at all related to your reflection. I bet you were always this way."
I rolled my eyes. "Are we gonna drink or just sit around talking about me?"
Ben smirked. "Let's get drunk." He took a gulp from the bottle and handed the bottle to me. "Drink up. You need to sleep well tonight. I have big plans for tomorrow."
As I came up from my heavy gurgles at the bottle, my buzzed brain was drawing blanks. "What are you talking about?"
His smirk grew darker. "What were we talking about before Wes called me today?"
I rubbed at my forehead. "Oh!" I finally whispered.
He nodded happily, passing the bottle back down the line. "I think you've had enough Tequila for a little while."
"I love Tequila," I grumbled, squeezing his forearm to portray how strongly I felt about it.
"I know. That's why you shouldn't have any more for maybe an hour or two."
"I love you, too."
"Okay. I love you, too," He said back, patting my hand on his arm.
"You two are such lightweights," Wesley proclaimed, chuckling at us.
"I never drink," I protested defensively. "But I definitely am feeling drunk right now." I held onto Ben's arm and rubbed it slowly, enjoying the feeling of his skin against my fingertips.
"Cata, have you made any progress on your case?" Ben asked.
"Not yet, but I have this feeling like we're just about to break through on this one. I've had some really good information come through this past week." She smiled at Wesley. "How are you guys doing?"
I stared on blindly, swimming in a sea of Tequila.
"I have nothing to go on. These clues are so confusing. I'm so mixed up on this one. I'm waiting for something to come in that clears everything up and links things together so I can figure something out."
I stood and pulled Ben up with me. "That's enough about work. Dance with me."
Cata said "I'll turn on music."
It wasn't until I heard a voice coming out of a speaker that i realized what she had said. I gasped and pulled away from Ben to look for the source. "Oh my God."
"Not that, too."
Tears poured down my cheeks. "There is no music."
"Baby, they never left us. We have always had music, and television. Plastic Tupperware still exists. Cigarettes are available. The Revolution changed so many things, but they didn't leave us here without entertainment."
I stood up and ran to our room as quickly as I could.
Ben appeared in the doorway, sighing. "It's okay. She'll turn it off. What's going on?"
I shook my head, still crying. "You have no idea. I don't want to talk. I just..." I couldn't breathe. I was out the front door and standing by the creek before Ben had a chance to notice I was gone. I kicked at the ice and broke a space wide enough to fit my feet in and grab a handful to toss on my face.
"Dee? Where are you?" Ben shouted from near the house.
"I'm over here," I said. "Go back inside. I'm not going anywhere. I just need a few minutes."
"Are you okay?"
"I'll be fine," I answered curtly. I listened as he reluctantly went back in the house. The feelings coming off him told me he wanted to help, but didn't know how. I closed my eyes, praying in Swahili to the water, asking it to cleanse me of stress and keep me calm. So many things i believed were being proven untrue.
It was as if my entire life had been a lie- Dion's lie. I took a few deep breaths. When I stood, I swore I smelled something familiar, but not immediately recognizable. I rushed back in, leaning against the door.
"What was that about?" Wes asked.
"Is someone out there?" Ben asked.
"I'm not sure. I smelled something. It's probably nothing."
"Something is going on with you two," Cata blurted. "Like you're magnets."
I gulped.
"What do you mean?" Ben asked her.
"It seems like you... can't resist her. It's obvious why she can't resist you. You're her life source, but... something has changed. If she goes somewhere, you go. Do you ever spend a moment apart?"
"You know, don't you, Delilah?" Wes said.
All of their eyes turned to me. I prepared to stand, but I sighed. I was incredibly tired of running. "Dhamana ya moyo," I said curtly.
"That's a new one," Cata quipped.
"It is not even remotely funny," I answered.
"What does it mean?" Ben asked.
I gulped again, looking into his eyes for solace. "Bonds of the heart." My heart jumped in my chest. "You and I... Our bodies, our souls, they're linked to each other's, by blood- your blood."
"That's why I can feel how you feel now."
Wes gaped. "You feel her?"
"It goes much deeper than that. We... can't be apart. We'll get sick if we're apart too long. If one of us decides to leave, the feeling it will cause them is much worse than you can imagine." I felt nauseous, so I shook my head and stood. "I've been trying to tell you this all day, and right now it's the last thing I want to talk about." I walked to our room and laid in bed, curling up in the fetal position.
"Cata and Wes are leaving," Ben said from the doorway. He sighed. "Talk to me. Please."
"I don't want to talk about this-"
"But its a good thing," Ben pleaded. "If I can feel you, I can protect you better."
"You have no idea." I rolled away.
He climbed into the bed behind me, wrapping his arms around me. "So tell me. Give me an idea."
"It is not good, because I will protect you before I protect myself; but you... will protect me before yourself."
"That's no different than it was before. I will die to protect you."
"I don't want that. I want you to be alive and well. You are no good to me dead."
"Then turn me into a vampire."
"Absolutely not. This conversation is over."