Chapter Four: Get It Together!

"You what?" Quintus shouted.

"I couldn't help myself, Quin. I couldn't walk away with her believing our time together was only a dream," Bash replied.

"No! Of course, not! You simply leave the poor girl, not only to discover she's been in a relationship she didn't know really existed, but also, to learn the existence of vampires with no one there to help her through the shock!"

"Well, when you put it that way—" Perhaps Bash hadn't considered it all the way through, but it was too late to go back.

"I’d hoped I taught you more respect for humans!" Quin ran his hands through his short blond hair in frustration.

"I respect humans!"

"What you've done shows little respect and even less self-control, Bash. Act your fucking age!"

There were few that could talk to Bash the way Quin did and live to tell the tale. Bash was ancient, but Quin was even older. Quin and Bash had gone through the ages together. While they were the best of friends, their relationship was more than that.

Quin had taken Bash under his wing when the newly made vampire was abandoned by his two-bit sire. He became his acting sire in Sebastian’s sire's place.

"Humans are our food and without them, we'd starve. Respect is the least they deserve. You know I don't approve of your hunting humans to begin with. We're past that. There are humans aware of our existence and they volunteer to let us feed. If you'd listened to me and fed off a donor, you wouldn't be in this mess!" Quin continued to rant.

"We can't all feed without excitement like you do, Quin. Do you think I meant to fall in love with her?" Bash asked rhetorically.

"I warned you to walk away sooner, Bash! I knew the moment you stopped having an interest in feeding on other sources, that you were in over your head. But did you listen? No!"

Bash rolled his eyes and threw himself onto a plush chair in their sitting room as Quin paced in front of him. He sighed in defeat.

"You're right! Is that what you want to hear? You don't understand what it is to fall in love. You've never been in love. It makes you a bloody idiot!"

Quin stopped pacing. "You were aware the pact we made would never allow you to continue seeing her. So why did you risk it? Why did you risk falling for her?" His tone softened, and he took a seat on the couch next to Bash.

"I don't know. My emotions for her developed too quickly. I've never been in love before. The feeling is more intoxicating than anything I've ever experienced. I realize I should have stopped, but I've never felt such a lack of control. I watched her nightly. On nights I didn't visit her, I’d track her until she got home. And even then, I’d stay near her apartment and listen until she fell asleep. She's the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on." Bash’s resolve visibly weakened as he reflected on Gaia.

Quin was right, of course. Bash had left her in a horrifyingly vulnerable place. But he had to stay away. Margaret had taught him what happens when a vampire grows too attached to a human that they don’t intend to turn. Bash hadn’t even been “in love” with Margaret. He loved her as family, like a sister or a daughter. To watch her age and die was sheer agony.

Bash perceived he would never be a good sire, and he resented being turned for a long time. He could never condemn someone as his sire condemned him, even less someone he loved. Margaret had asked, begged even, for Bash to turn her. He couldn't do it. Not when their kind was in constant danger.

"I see you think I don't understand, Bash, but I do." Quin sighed. "We both have our reasons for not siring, but I expect we both recognize the biggest reason is the immense responsibility that comes along with it. I understand it's difficult to put aside your instincts and desires and consider what's best for the human. How do you plan on fixing this?"

"Fixing it? I plan on staying the hell away, is how I plan to fix it." Bash couldn't understand what part of the plan, Quintus didn't understand.

"That was before you did such a fucking stupid thing as revealing yourself. So now, how do you plan to fix it?" The amount of judgment in Quin's hazel eyes was enough to make Bash want to crawl into a hole and not come out for the next thousand years.

Bash huffed, "Fine! What do you suggest I do, wise one?"

"I suggest you go back tonight to explain yourself and answer her questions." Quin’s expression dared Bash to disobey him.

They both knew full well, Quin’s suggestion was less of a suggestion, and more of a command.

"What if she doesn't want to see me?" It was a possibility Bash ached to imagine. Sure, he wanted to stay away for their own good, but he also wanted her to miss him as much as he was sure he'd miss her.

"It doesn't matter. You'll show yourself and offer an explanation. Am I clear?" Quin meant business. The stern manner in which he stared at Bash, told him not to push the subject any further.

"As you wish, Sire," Bash replied in contempt.

"Watch yourself, Sebastian. Now, go to sleep before you develop the bleeds."

Bash stood without another word and made his way through their modern, light-tight, mini-mansion to his bedroom. The high gates and land that surrounded their property, made it so no one ever questioned why they kept every shade pulled during the day.

When Bash got to his room, he slammed the door shut and let out a roaring scream. It was bad enough he had to walk away from Gaia, but having to go back after he'd thought he'd made a clean break, pissed him off beyond belief.

Bash wasn’t even sure he could sleep. The bleeds weren't fun though, and he recognized he needed all his wits about him to confront Gaia that night. He had just fed sufficiently, and unnecessarily losing blood would do him little good.

The bleeds occurred when a vampire didn't sleep during the day. Named that because it caused a vampire to bleed from almost every orifice.

Bash quickly showered before slipping between the silk sheets of his king-sized bed. A bed he'd never shared with anyone besides a few female vampires he'd taken during their gatherings and the brief fling with their human servant, Elena. That was just sex, though. In the time since he'd met Gaia, he'd fantasized about having her in his bed. He wanted her there beside him forever, as foolish and impossible as the thought was.

Bash fell into a restless sleep as he thought of Gaia. If vampires were able to dream, he’d dream of her.

****

"Gaia, now that's crazy! You're trying to tell me the vampire you've been dreaming of, actually exists? Listen to yourself! Are you sure you aren't into some shit you aren't telling me about?" Matilda shifted in the seat next to Gaia.

After Gaia realized the possibility that Sebastian was real, she’d nearly fainted. Mads forced her to sit and gave her bottled water to sip on from her bag.

Gaia still felt sick to her stomach. She touched the bite on her neck once more.

"What if I'm still sleeping and I don't realize it?" she reasoned.

Mads reached out and popped her across the cheek.

"Ouch! Why the fuck did you do that for?" Gaia screeched.

"It hurt, right? Then you aren't sleeping, bitch. You're wide ass awake. Just like me."

Then it hit her like a bolt of lightning. Of course! She was so fucking stupid! Pain. Gaia felt pain when she was with Bash. It was never a dream!

Gaia was such a damn skeptic, she had convinced herself despite the evidence of pain, that her time with Bash was a dream. Perhaps she didn't want to admit it was true. To admit it was true, meant accepting vampires were real, and that was just silly, or so she had always thought.

It was much easier for Gaia to imagine this was all a figment of her imagination. As she sat there, she was still trying to justify it not being real. Not only was it hard to accept that Bash was an actual vampire, but she also had to accept that Bash had wanted her to assume it was all fake.

That pissed her off royally.

That lying piece of shit! Gaia fumed internally. He could have told me at any moment I wasn't dreaming. He knew I believed it wasn’t real!

"Gaia! Earth to Gaia!" Mads snapped her fingers.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just picturing how I'll kill him if he shows up again," Gaia replied.

"So, you're sticking to the whole 'your vampire is real' story, then?"

"Mads, you know me! If there was a logical explanation that didn't involve a vampire, don't you think I'd tell you?"

Matilda sighed. "Yeah, I guess you would. This is just so unbelievable!"

"You're telling me! Mads, let's leave and go back to my place. Let me show you the mess left behind from last night. Plus, I can't deal right now with school or my job, and I don't want to be alone." Gaia hoped Mads would agree to play hooky for the day and help her process the whacked disaster that was her life.

Mads pulled Gaia into a hug. "Yeah, G. You know I won't leave you if you need me."

"Thanks—" Gaia sniffled as she cried into Matilda's shoulder.

She composed herself enough to call into work sick before she and Mads gathered their things to leave. Gaia replaced the scarf around her neck before they left the room. As they walked off campus towards the bus stop, they ran into Oliver, a film major who Gaia had had some Gen-Ed classes with and had tutored in the past.

Oliver was tall, well built, with light brown hair and light brown eyes. His bronzed skin spoke of his part-time summer job as a lifeguard. Definitely hot, but he wasn't Sebastian. Mads had been after Gaia to go out with him for months.

"Hey! Aren't you ladies looking lovely today. Are you going to head off so soon?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, an emergency came up and Gaia agreed to help me," Mads lied.

Good ole, Mads. What would I do without her?

"Ah! I see. Hey, Gaia. There's this local film festival happening on Sunday. I've got a project being shown and was wondering if you'd like to join me for the screening." Oliver smiled down at Gaia with bright confidence.

Gaia knew he could have asked anyone else to go with him. There wasn't a shortage of girls after Oliver. So, she figured turning him down, wouldn’t be a big deal.

Before Gaia could open her mouth, Mads answered for her, "She'd love to go. We really have to be off now, though."

Oliver glanced at Gaia, but Gaia was too shocked to say anything.

"Okay. I'll text you tomorrow for your address and with more details. And on Sunday, I’ll pick you up," Oliver said before he waved goodbye and continued towards campus.

Mads dragged the still dumbfounded Gaia to the bus stop.

"What the fuck did you just do, Mads?" Gaia shouted once she came to her senses.

"I got you a much-needed date with Hottie Ollie. You're welcome!" Mads smirked.

"You realize I'm in the middle of a crisis, right? I don't have time to deal with Oliver or dating!"

"Take a pill, Gaia. You need this sense of normal if the shit you're telling me is true. Now, take a deep breath and relax." Matilda rolled her eyes and popped in her earbuds.

Gaia wanted to strangle her. When they finally made it back to Gaia's apartment and Mads saw the tub and sheets, her jaw hit the floor.

"What the actual fuck, Gaia?" Matilda stared at the still wet bathroom.

Gaia whimpered. "Help me clean this mess up, please."

"Yeah—Sure," Mads replied.

They mopped up the bathroom floor and cleaned the tub before stripping the sheets off the bed and replacing them with clean linens. Mads did the dishes while Gaia took her bloodstained sheets down to the building's communal laundry room. She scrubbed out the stain most of the way and hoped the machine would do the rest.

When they finished, they plopped in front of the TV and binged some Grey’s Anatomy on Netflix to keep Gaia's mind occupied. In the evening, they ordered Chinese takeout.

As they waited for their food to arrive, Gaia asked, "Do you think I'm nuts?"

Matilda shook her head. "No, G. Something is definitely going on, and I realize you wouldn't have worked yourself up if you had a logical explanation for it. That doesn't mean there isn't one, though. Whoever this guy is, vampire or otherwise, you need to stay away from him. He's clearly a master manipulator."

Perhaps Mads is right. Maybe there is an explanation, and this guy is just some crazy con artist.

Gaia's heart broke at the notion. She loved him. No matter who he was. Getting over him and coming to terms with it all, would not be easy.

Gaia calmed as she and Matilda ate their food. She wouldn't let the guy into her apartment anymore, and she'd start carrying a small pocket knife as well as her pepper spray with her on nights she came home after dark. Bash never seemed to show until sunset, anyway.

At ten o’clock, Mads told her she had to be heading home for the night.

"Are you sure you don't want to come and stay at my place tonight?" Mads asked as she grabbed her bag.

"Yeah. I'm sure. I have some homework to get done. Tomorrow I'll stop by if you'll be home," Gaia replied while she followed Mads to the door.

"I'll be home after work in the morning. Just text me. Promise you'll call me if you need me tonight, okay?"

"I promise. I'll walk you out so I can grab my laundry and bring it up."

Gaia walked Mads to the entrance of her building, gave her a giant hug goodbye, and thanked her once more for her help before heading to the laundry room. She put her dry sheets in a basket and walked back up to her apartment. She dropped it by the door before securing the lock and deadbolt.

Suddenly, a cold hand came over Gaia’s mouth from behind to muffle her startled scream. Strong fingers curled around her waist, pulling her backwards, away from the door and into the living room.

"Promise me you won't scream, Gaia, and I'll let you go," It was Bash’s voice whispering in her ear.