Twenty-Four

“What’s wrong, Liz? Why are you anxious and your heart racing?” I heard his strong voice right behind me. He became my shadow these last few hours.
“How do you know?”
“Let’s say I have an acute hearing. Answer me.” I sighed, glaring at him. Gosh, why did he always need to command everything? He sounded just like Dad.
“I just hope nothing happened to my sweet babe, that’s all!”
I found my way back to the spot I’d left my bike. My chest was constricted with worry, and if something had happened to her, I would get way upset. But thank Lord, there she was in all its glory, perfect! The way I left her about four days ago, behind all the bushes. I went straight to my saddlebags and retrieved a flashlight, illuminating his face. He blinked several times, and I chuckled.
“Stop that!” In the next minute, he was holding the flashlight, examining it. He had a fast move, and I needed to pay extra attention to him. “What are all these?”
“Well, that’s a flashlight, and this is my sweetness, my bike!” The look on his face was something. Man, he was rediscovering the world around him! “When was the last time you were awake, Grizzly?”
“Around eighteen ninety…” he said, more to himself in a silent voice, his eyes fixed on the bike.
“That’s over a hundred years ago, man, you’ve missed a lot!”
“Say that again!” He sounded in disbelief, his brows up to his hairline, and he seemed to count in his mind.
“What is it?”
“We’re in two thousand and…” It puzzled him. Confusion smeared all over his face. “No, something is wrong!”
“Sorry, Grizzly, it’s not. Come on, we don’t have the entire night. We need to move out of here.” I took my light back from him, getting the helmets. I was glad dad forgot his helmet with me on our last trip.
“But Liz, you don’t understand, I’ve never slept this long. Something happened.”
“It’s okay. We can figure out all this at home, not here. Come!” I tried to comfort him, he got restless, and I understood, it’s not everyday you wake up from a slumber and a century just flew by. “Put this on, it’s a helmet, and I’m sure you wore several before in your battles, different ones, but you did.” I didn’t stop to think about it. The entire situation was bizarre.
I put it over his face and strapped it on his chin. Then I moved to straddle my sweetness, and when I flared her up to life, listening to her husky purr, it was music to my ears. The feeling was amazing and washed over me, filling my chest with contentment, until I caught someone jumping back from it like the devil away from the cross, and a smirk curved my lips.
“I’m not going on that thing! What the hell is this?”
“Think as a horse, made of iron, and on wheels.” I grinned in a dreamy tone. His face turned into a grimace, and I couldn’t help but to annoy him a bit more. It was fun. He didn’t move, shooting a murderous look in my direction.
“How do you ride such a hideous contraption? It’s dangerous.” He barked at me.
“Hey! This is no contraption. Who says contraption?” I looked at him and shook my head. “Never mind. I told you already, think about an iron horse. It’s just like one.” I said, exasperated, blipping the throttle a little. She purred to me, and I smiled at him. I was going to hell, but I had already made peace with myself about that. Looking at him, he had crossed his arms above his chest, and his face was an ugly scowl. “What are you waiting for?” And I patted the seat behind me. He didn’t budge.
“Alexandra!” The commanding tone again. Oh, boy! Here we go…
“You know, maybe my dreams and the books were wrong about you. You’re not that fearless warrior, they told me about. What a shame!”
I finished my reverse psychology with a slight move of my head in disappointment, and that did the trick. His eyes glowed golden, flashing sparks at me. I could see in their depths, a little demon, challenging me back. In a jump, he was by my back. With a grin on my lips, I put my helmet on. I showed him where to rest his feet and got his hands with mine, bringing them to the front, making him circle at my waist. Lord, it was nuts, but it felt so right.
“Hold on tight to me, Grizzly.” He did, and when we moved, his grip got stronger. I knew inside my heart he was who he said to be, but it was ludicrous.
Crazy ludicrous! Everything around him must be terribly confusing, but we needed time to talk about it without our hormones getting in the way. Deep in my heart, I always wished him to be real, because my dreams were so lucid that sometimes I had the impression I could touch him, but I’d never imagined one day he’d be here in the back of my sweetness. Besides, we had other stuff to deal with. Someone wanted me dead! I had a clue why, but I never expected them to get suspicious of me.
Riding through the narrow path, I didn’t turn on my headlights until we were back to the road, heading south on Route 9. I loved the heat of his body glued to my back and the way he held on as his life depended on me, but with the passing time, he felt heavy on my back as if he let go of his weight. When I sped up, he didn’t hold me tighter. On the contrary.
Finally, I turned on route 448, then left on Sleepy Hollow road, going almost all the way up. Once again closer to my home, I turned off the lights until I was inside my garage. I lived by Rockefeller Park in a secluded area, kinda hidden from all eyes. My house was small, but it had all the comfort and modernities life could give me. Inside my garage, he let go of himself. Strange.
“Grizzly?” He didn’t move. “Vlad? What’s going on?” A while after, he moved, giving me space to get off the bike and take off the helmet. I turned to him and pulled his helmet off his head. His hair fell all around his shoulders. Gosh, he was handsome! But I must do something about all the hair on his head, the top priority on my to-do list. “What’s wrong?” His eyes were glassy, and I didn’t expect the staggering, though. He wasn’t himself and it worried me. Maybe the ride had been too much of an excitement. I held him, and he winced, staring down at me. “What’s wrong, Vlad? You’re scaring me.”
“I need blood, real human blood… Liz!” Holy shit, how didn’t I think of that? “All these days I’ve been living on animal blood, but they aren’t near enough, and if I don’t get it soon, I will fall into a deep sleep again. I can’t, not now that I found you. I’m not leaving you again.”
“Ok, I have ways of getting it for you. Hold on to me, can you go upstairs?” He got depleted of energy suddenly, like a battery. He nodded at me. “Why do you have to live on blood? What kind of curse did that traitor monk put you on?” I talked to him all the way to the bedroom, trying to distract him, afraid he would shut down. Once in the bedroom, he fell on the bed like a sack of potatoes.
“I’ve been cursed twice, long story!” His words came out sluggishly. Even talking became difficult.
“Such a naughty boy, weren’t you?” I heard him chuckle. At least my words amused him, but concern for him made my chest contort in pain. “How long do I have?”
“I don’t know, an hour or two.” Taking his clothes off, my eyes wandered over his body. He was fit, had some nice muscles there, and my cheeks were on fire. Now I was the one looking at him like a hungry wolf. Goosebumps took my body just to think about what that body had done to mine. A spike of adrenaline set my heart thundering when I noticed how pale he was. His skin had lost color, and he was freezing to the touch. I put heavy covers on top of him and got the heater running.
“Liz, I feel your anxiety… What’s wrong?” He was groggy, but even in this state, he could sense my distress.
“I’m just worried about you. Rest.” I tried to sound unconcerned, so he’d let go.
“I can’t sleep, I need to protect you.” His words were a growl.
“You couldn’t protect a dog if you wanted, Grizzly. You’ve done enough already. Let me protect you for a change, and don’t worry, I can protect myself. Please, rest.” I may be wrong, but I heard something like, *‘stubborn woman,’* in his mumblings. Then he was out like a candle.