MaxwellIt’s easy for me to keep my eyes off her when she’s across the room. However, it doesn’t stop my senses from getting on edge when I feel her response as she finally realizes I’m here, in the same building as her. It takes everything in me to stay at the table and not chase after her when she bolts. My feet shuffle in anticipation of her reappearance.Against my will I become even more rigid as she reenters the room, and my muscles twitch when she heads this way. Prayers sound in my head that she doesn’t confront me, at least not right now. Keeping my eyes locked on Eugene as she walks past takes every ounce of self-control I have in order to not to grab her swinging arm.Eugene seems oblivious to my inattentiveness as he talks about his bride. It’s always the same, compliment after compliment in order to make others jealous of his well tamed bride. My eyes might be on Eugene, but my ears are on Charlie. The tips of my fingers dig into my knees from a tight firm grip that squee
CharlieI tell myself encouraging and positive thoughts to help me get through my day. Nothing but relaxation and relief flow through me as I recline in my office chair with a coffee mug in hand. The silence of the empty office building adds to my comfort, although it doesn’t last forever.“Good morning, Charlie,” Morgan sings as she pokes her head into my office.“Must you say that every morning?” I say, annoyed.“It is morning and your name is Charlie,” Morgan retorts.“It’s how you say it, not why you say it, but anyways, good morning to you too, Morgan.”“Well, we have a big party on Saturday, so there’s a lot to do. I’m going to get to work at the front desk.” She ducks out of the open doorway.“Not so fast,” I yell, patiently waiting until she stands in the doorway again. “I need to talk to you about something. Sit down.” My index finger points to the chair that sits across from me.The discontent on her face as she solemnly drags her feet to the chair and restlessly plops herse
MaxwellWith my attention being put toward Eugene and The High Council, I don’t have time to see Charlie within the week. It feels as though every cell in my body is on fire knowing that she’s so close but yet so far from reach. I take the risk in trying to escape watching eyes to see her tonight at the dance club, recalling Juliet expects her to show up.Doing everything inhumanly possible, I try to convince Eugene to make himself comfortable in the hotel he’s staying at while I spend some quality time with my bride. He accepts my offer after much bribing and I instantly head out.Sitting in my usual corner, I search the dance floor. It’s later than I wanted to arrive, but when there’s no sign of Charlie or her friends, I take a breath of relief. There’s just something about witnessing her enter the large overcrowded room that pleases me.With what feels like eternity later, I see her friends, including Juliet, arrive and indulge themselves with drinks. They dance to the music withou
CharlieThe blanket snuggly around my head is the only escape from the loud ringing of my cell phone. I toss and turn, trying to find a comfortable spot again after being woken up. However, a shuffle of papers coming from the kitchen sets my nerves on edge. Someone’s in my house…snooping. As gently as possible, I slip out from underneath the blanket and tiptoe out into the hall.My teeth clench together as I watch Maxwell dig through my papers that I left lying out on my kitchen table. You want to play dirty, fine, I say to myself. Making my way back to my room, I throw on some clothes. With my nerves on edge and my senses spiked, I hear the soft click of my front door. Waiting a few extra minutes before following him, I remember to keep my distance several feet behind as I duplicate his fast paced walk down the unlit sidewalk.The night air has a slight chill and I’m thankful when he finally enters a hotel. It’s one of the fancier ones in town, which makes me slightly grunt in respon
Maxwell The sight of her perfectly still body in a music filled room is disturbing considering every other time I saw her surrounded by music she was dancing. Although, tonight she’s standing stick straight with her arms crossed over her chest. What a workaholic. Creeping up behind her, I can’t help but to admire her body in yet another skintight outfit. The black and white dress gives an illusion of extra curves to her hips. Careful to not touch any part of her, I lean in close. Unwillingly, the tip of my nose and lips brush her neck as my whisper startles her. “Oh, how I have missed you, Charlie.” Her shock and sheer stiffness disappointment me. All it does is push away any happiness I have in seeing her. The sound of hatred in her voice as she asks me how I found her makes anger of my own start to bubble to the surface. My reply of always being able to find her doesn’t make her any more content with my presence. When she accuses me of being in her house last night, I can only sh
CharlieThe early morning sunrise wakes me up sooner than I’d like. Entry after entry from that journal kept me awake after arriving home last night. No matter how awful that book makes him sound, I still can’t help thinking about him. No matter how much I want to force him away, part of me doesn’t want him to go.Jesus Charlie, get a hold of yourself.I get dressed as fast as possible, throwing the book in my purse. Hell-bent on a confrontation on my terms, I decide to head over to the hotel Maxwell is staying at. The cockiness that radiates off my body disappears once I enter the building. Since I kept that extra room key, I don’t have to enter through the front door and humiliate myself again.I hover outside room 218. He claims he’s not some movie vampire, but I only see him at night. Stereotypes are all I’m left with and the best-case scenario is that he’s here asleep, cowering from the sun. I insert the key card and wait for the blinking green light allowing me to enter. I find
MaxwellI ponder on what just went down. Did I ruin things even further than they already were with her? Or did I help her understand me, where I came from? How far I came and how far I’m willing to go. That journal, though. Do I wish that she didn’t come across it? Yes. But only because I should have been there to explain things. Now she has this image in her head that contradicts what I’m trying so hard to prove.That book has traveled many miles and several cities, but I don’t exactly know why I keep it. It doesn’t tell a version I’m particularly fond of. An old friend of mine repeatedly told me to burn it and never look back. The day I refused will come back to haunt me. Today is that day.A knock on the door breaks my concentration. The constant knock forces me to move even though I don’t want to. There’s only one person I want to speak with right now, but let’s face it, she wouldn’t knock.I slip a pair of pants on since I’m still in my undergarments. Looking at the ground with
CharlieNo matter how much I don’t want another work week to start, it does. There are plenty of things to occupy my mind, but one thing keeps blocking my judgment…Maxwell. The screaming children at the birthday party I had this past Saturday kept me on my toes, though. The cries from the children made my head hurt and made it completely impossible to think about anything. However, the birthday party might have kept my mind in check, but Juliet kept my emotions in check.She refused to call me about her talk with Wilson. She just sent an email that consisted of three words: you owe me. A few days later, I received phone calls from eager parents wishing to enlist their child for the party. She’s still angry with me for refusing to tell her anything about Maxwell, not as if I have a choice. I can’t flaunt a vampire in her face.After almost two weeks of surprising him in his hotel room, I haven’t seen him since. All I can do to keep myself from going insane is count down the remaining h
MaxwellThe moment I arrive at Benjamin’s, along with everyone else, I want to rush to Charlie’s room, but I stop myself. I can keep myself in check just a bit longer.“Maxwell.” Stella’s voice purrs behind me. She loops her arm around mine. “Will you sit with me?”“No.” I shake her loose.“Oh, do you think it’ll make you look bad. Poor Charlie dead and you’ve already moved on.”I twist around to face her so fast that I catch a flinch flash across her face. “I’ve not moved on and if I ever were it wouldn’t be with you.” I look her up and down, eyes narrowed, “I don’t remember you being so miserably clingy or so stupid and naive, scrambling to pick up peieces of a life that no long exists.”I leave her standing there to search for my seat. Grace claimed she marked one for me right in front. It’s not exactly where I want to be, front and center to the council’s probing eyes, but once Charlie comes out, front and center will be exactly where I want to be.Benjamin does his theartics like
CharlieThree firm taps rap against the door. I’m starting to despise these knocks. “Charlie.” A familiar voice calls.I rush to that stupid wooden door as if it were a lifeline. “Grace.” Her name comes out on my exhale of breath.The excitement from her arrival is short lived. “It’s almost time.” She makes the briefest of eye contact with me before looking down the hall. Left then right and left again. “Slyvester will get you when the halls are clear.” Before she leaves she squeezes my arm. “We’ll see you soon.”It feels like eternity waiting for Slyvester to come get me. Are there that many people? Or do they not care for being on time? I remember those that showed up late to parties or clients that didn’t stick to the timeline. Would the council allow such a thing?The knocks that finally bang on the door are heavier than the others. I open it to reveal the doorman. He lingers in the hallway quietly waiting for me. “Follow me,” is all he says before retreating down the hall.I’m no
MaxwellToday’s the day. The day that all of this ends. The day that Charlie and I can put everything behind us and move forward. Revenge for revenge, victory to be won. I know better than anyone that Charlie won’t be able to grow as a vampire with Daisy still lurking about, with Duke still on his high horse.It ends today.Someone barges into the room once again. It only takes a second or two to figure out that it’s Grace. This time she doesn’t catch me in an awful situation. Instead of an awful situation, she catches me in an awful mood. All the hateful thoughts, all the ways I could kill Daisy float around inside my head. My decades of loathing that have piled up towards Duke. It brings out a viscous side of me. I don’t even lift my head to meet her stare.“We have a problem.” The panic in her voice sends a jolt through my body.“Charlie?” I leap from the couch, my killer mood intensifies. “What did he do?”“Benjamin did nothing more than he already did, but this is...about Duke.”
CharlieI would love to sit and wallow in the room all day until it was time to leave and a small part of me believes that I could. But as the rest of the day goes by and the sun sets, the longer I’m left alone the more my mind races. Why is he leaving me alone for so long? Benjamin didn’t seem like the type to give anyone space especially after making them extremely uncomfortable.Against my better judgment, I decide to leave the confines of the room. Sneaking around the halls of the house is an excitable danger that I shouldn’t dabble with. Danger wasn’t something to toy with, especially when that danger involved Benjamin.Every corner I turn I expect to run into him, his glare and slick words that will take this as some sort of enjoyability, an invitation to include me, socialize with me, which is the last thing I want. There’s a darkness in him and it resides in someone else, it’s the same darkness that Maxwell had in his past and little bits are still in him today. It makes me sh
MaxwellThe knock on the door is a lifeline that I didn’t know I needed. Just the thought of Charlie alone with Benjamin this long eats away at me. How many hours has it been? How many more are left?I immediately answer it thinking it’s Grace coming back to offer dinner or lunch or whatever meal it would be or to tell she’s going to see Charlie...maybe to tell she’s come back from seeing Charlie, but it’s not Grace. “Stella.”She leans against the doorframe, blocking the threshold, blocking the door from being slammed shut in her face. I knew this would happen, I was just naive enough to hope it wouldn’t.“Are you going to invite me in?” She asks as she pushes her way inside the room.“No. I’m not.”“That’s fine. I invited myself in. You’re obviously depressed and lethargic, so I’m here to take care of you. I knew full well that I wouldn’t be taking no for an answer. You should know full well that I wouldn’t be turned away.” She prances into the space as if she owns it. “The Maxwell
CharlieBeing alone here is like playing house with an enemy. If you’re not watching your every move, someone is. There is no safe place. Benjamin may appear to be on our side, my side, but he only does things to benefit himself. I wonder what benefit he’ll be getting from this.Hours go by with me pacing the floor after Maxwell leaves. Sitting down feels like defeat or compliance and I’m far from complying. What was Maxwell thinking? What were either of them thinking?I debate about sending meaningless texts to Maxwell, but what use would that be. He won’t be coming back. It gets darker and before I know it starts to gradually get lighter. The rising sun brings an ache to my bones, a restlessness that only Maxwell can get rid of.A knock lightly taps at the door snapping me out of my fog. “Charlie.” Benjamin calls from out in the hall.I stay silent for a second, but I reluctantly let him in in the end, because where else would I be besides trapped in the room he picked for me.“I wo
Charlie As the sun rises so do I. It takes a great deal of effort to get my restless limbs to calm down. Maxwell’s arm pins me down trapping me in bed with him keeping me close, but I need to walk, I need to stretch my limbs. Slipping out from underneath him is a hard task and I wake him in the process. “Where are you going?” He moans, his hand groping for me. “To do some work. Calm my mind, work my legs.” I reply before leaning over to place a kiss on his mouth. “There’s always work to do.” I tease as I leave him sprawled on the bed. Being on my feet helps rid me of my restlessness and by time I drop down onto my office chair I have a newfound energy. An energy that lasts hours. It isn’t hunger or stiff joints that get me out of my chair it’s the tiny little beep of a text message. Grace: see ya tomorrow what? I reply back. Maxwell didnt tell you? youre leaving tonight when she doesn’t receive a reply back as quickly as before she sends another one oops I don’t reply back, I g
Second half of Chapter One!Maxwell While Charlie’s at work, I find myself bored. A useless human emotion. I laugh at the thought. I can hear her now, ‘like a lost little puppy.’ The thought brings a smile to my face. And then an abrupt, way too loud ring that fills the room wipes it away. My phone lights up on the coffeetable. I can see Grace’s number on the screen. I answer it after the sixth ring. “What’s so important that it can't wait Grace?” “What are you doing that’s so important? I thought Charlie was going back to work today?” “Nothing, she is at work, but I’m starting to despise your call, because you never seem to have anything good to say.” “That hurts, really...and it’s true.” She says thoughtfully, “because” she draws out the word and takes an extremely lengthy pause, “there’s a change in plans.” “How big of a change?” Was this really necessary? What the hell is going over there? Silence. “Grace.” I shout at her. The words quickly tumble from her mouth and at firs
Chapter One, Part One:CharlieIt’s been three weeks since Maxwell has let me leave the house. It’s been three weeks of trying to act normal. That odd, bizarre feeling of not feeling hungry, quicker reflexes, the inability to feel warm or cold. It’s still unbearable. Even in a room packed with people I still feel...different.Weaving through strangers whose heartbeats I can hear, feel the heat from their bodies and smell every single scent in the large open room. It takes nearly all my energy to come to stand beside Morgan. “I’m here.” I pant. She squeals with joy before throwing herself at me. “Out into the world at last. How’s Maxwell holding up? Like a lost super cute puppy?” I struggle to keep a smirk off my face, but I lose and it only gets wider and wider. He is lost. “He’s fine. Bored, but fine.” I lie. The couple of honor dance in the middle of the makeshift dance floor, friends and family surrounding them. Their slightly wrinkled skin and salt and pepper hair show their age