When I woke up on Saturday morning, I thought back to over everything
that had happened over the last few days that seemed to make every-
thing a bit more entertaining in this town; only if that’s what you want-
ed to call it.
To say that mum was mad when I said that dad was back in town
and possibly back in our lives would have been an understatement. She
was absolutely livid. I believed that she was going to use some sort of
violence to make me say what I knew about him being back, but she
didn’t. I thought that she didn’t want to know any more about this. And
things with Nathaniel were strange. He was fine until yesterday when I
spotted him talking with Alex and now everything had changed.
When I asked Alex, he said it was nothing, but he had a guilty look on
his face, like he said something that he wasn’t meant to and he didn’t
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want me to know about just in case I did something that didn’t end
nicely, like me punching him in the face and breaking his nose.
Today, I planned on asking Nathaniel what is problem was as I
planned on surprising him at his place. I left a note for mum telling her
where I was and made my way to his place. Everyone was home, which
was shocking. It was the weekend and I thought that they would all be
out.
I knocked on the door twice and waited for someone to answer it.
“Brianna, we weren’t expecting you today,” Bethany said in surprise
when she opened the door and saw me standing there.
“I know, but I thought I would surprise Nathaniel for a change since
he has been the one doing since we became friends and now a couple,”
I said and smiled at her.
“Well come in, dear,” she said and stood aside. “I’m sure Nathaniel
will love to see you today. He hasn’t been himself all morning.”
The house on the inside was breathtaking. Every wall was a pale
white and the decor matched, and if it wasn’t white, it was another pale
colour. You could tell that they put a lot of time and effort into this
house. I stood in the entrance way, feeling overwhelmed at what I was
seeing.
“Nathaniel’s room is second on the left. Just knock twice and wait
for him to answer. He doesn’t like it when people walk in without him
answering for some reason,” she said and walked back into the kitchen.
I found his room and knocked twice like I was told and waited. He
almost ripped the door of the hinge and looked down at me in shock.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“I wanted to see you,” I replied. “Is there some law against that?”
“Well, that is perfect as I want to talk to you about something any-
way,” he said and led me over to his bed.
His bedroom didn’t look like a normal teenager’s room. His bed was
placed over on the north wall with a desk and laptop in front of it. I took
note of his covers and noticed that they were a light blue with nothing
on them. His closet was over to the side on the east and next to that
was another door. It seemed to have class and was spotless. I sat on his
bed and looked over to him, seeing that he was looking down at the
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wooden floor.
“What do you want to talk about?”
“I spoke to Alexander yesterday, but you know that as I heard you
ask him what I wanted to talk to him about,” Nathaniel started.
“You have never really talked to Alex before, so why the change in
heart now Nate? I mean, I had seen it in your and Alex’s eyes that you
wanted to do some harm to each other, and now you are talking to each
other. What is going on?” I asked, getting worried.
“He told me something that was interesting and that he thought you
had already told me, but you didn’t and I don’t even know if you
planned on telling me anyway.”
“What did my cousin tell you Nathaniel Pryor?” I demanded, my
temper starting to get the best of me.
“He told me about your father, Brianna! Why didn’t you tell me the
truth about him? I know that he left when you were eighteen months
old as he couldn’t handle the fact you didn’t look like him, which was
stupid and Alex said that he never had any interest in you. That man we
saw at the pub the other night was Saul, wasn’t it?” Nathaniel asked,
getting upset.
I didn’t say anything. I just stared at the ground, upset by the fact
my cousin told him about my father when I didn’t want him to. Another
thing that ran through my mind was the fact Alex wasn’t going to come
out alive once I was finished with him. I would bury him alive and make
sure no one knew where he was buried.
“Answer me Brianna!” Nathaniel yelled, getting off the bed and
standing in front of me.
“I was going to tell you everything when I was ready! Alex had no
right to tell you that when he clearly knew that I planned on telling
you,” I yelled back, tears running down my face.
“That doesn’t make up for it Brianna. I am meant to be your boy-
friend and yet, you can’t even trust me enough to tell me about your
father,” he said and walked towards his bedroom door.
“You want to know why I didn’t tell you about my father Nathaniel.
It was because I was afraid of getting hurt by someone I loved, but I did
anyway!” I screamed, making him stop walking.
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He turned around and gasped when he saw what state I was in. I
collapsed to the floor and started sobbing uncontrollably. He ran over to
me at vampire speed and held me to his chest, rocking me like a small
child.
“I’m sorry Brianna. I shouldn’t have said anything,” he whispered
into my ear.
“Mum had waited most of my life for that man to come back to us,
and when we both never want to see him again, he shows up again all
thanks to Augusta and her wicked ways.”
“I know,” he repeated over and over again into my hair.
“I have to go,” I said suddenly and got out of his embrace.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to have a talk to Alex, and I have to do it now before I forget
or worse. Augusta could get to him first and do more damage.”
“Let me drive you,” Nathaniel said and grabbed his car keys.
“No, I need to go by myself on this one Nathaniel. I need to think. I
might come back later if I feel up to doing it,” I said and placed my hand
on the doorhandle.
“Stay the night Brianna. Mum won’t care since it is just her and me
tonight,” Nathaniel said, making me stop and turn around so I could
face him.
“I thought everyone was here?” I asked.
“No, they are gone with Jack to Melbourne for the night. They just
took Bethany’s car since it is bigger,” he said, his eyes begging for me to
agree.
“Fine, I will stay. I will be back later,” I said and walked out of his
bedroom and into the living room.
“Is everything alright? I heard you and Nathaniel yelling,” Bethany
said from the dining table.
“Everything is fine. I will be back later,” I said and walked outside.
I knew Alex would be at the general store so I made my way over
there. He wasn’t getting out of this lightly, and I was going to make sure
of that. When I walked into the store, I found him by the magazines and
walked over to him, trying to hold back the screaming and violence that
I really wanted to unleash on my cousin.
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“Ow! What was that for?” he cried when I slapped him across the
back of the head.
“Why the hell did you tell Nathaniel about my father? You knew that
I was going to do it and yet you had to open your big mouth Alexander.”
“Because I thought that you would have told him about that man by
now. I knew that your father was back in town and I didn’t tell you,” he
admitted, looking away from my glare.
He was now making me even angrier than I was before by admitting
this. I clenched my fists so I wouldn’t punch him in the face and tried to
take some deep breaths so my temper wouldn’t get the best of me.
“Why did you do that for?” I growled.
“Because I knew that it would have upset you. Nathaniel asked a
few questions about the man in the pub where he took you out for din-
ner and I had no choice but to confirm it was him, thinking that you had
already told him, and give him a heads up on what might happen now.
I’m sorry Brianna.”
“I thought mum was going to kill someone when I told her that he
was back, but she didn’t. I have never seen her so mad before.”
“Well for Aunt Marie sanity, I hope he doesn’t hang around long.”
“I’m worried about her. I know dad caused her a lot of pain in her
life time and I’m scared that she might do something dumb so she
doesn’t have to see him.”
“I better get back to work, but I will see you at school,” Alex said
and walked away from me.
As I made my way back home, I’d hope that Bethany called mum
and told her that I would be spending the night there. Well, that’s if Na-
thaniel told her. When I walked through the front door, I was surprised
to see Bethany sitting on the couch, comforting mum.
“What is going on?” I asked.
“Nathaniel told me what was going on and I thought that I should
come here and see if Marie needed any help with anything,” Bethany
said.
“Oh did he now?” I asked feeling upset that Nathaniel told his
mother what was going on.
“Don’t be mad at him, Brianna. He was just worried about you and
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your mother. He really cares about you. I thought that I would never see
that day when he found happiness with someone that was made for
him. Not after what happened when he was human,” she whispered.
“Did something happen? Amylia said something, but she wouldn’t
go into detail as she said it wasn’t her story to tell.”
“Yes something did happen, and I can’t tell you either. That is some-
thing Nathaniel will have to tell you, and by right, he will tell you as he
now knows about your father. Relationships aren’t meant to be based
off lies.”
“I’m going to go pack,” I said and walked off to my bedroom.
I didn’t have a clue what Nathaniel had planned for us, but knowing
him, it would be something that would take me by surprise. When I had
finished, I walked back into the lounge room and was informed by Beth-
any that she is going to be staying here for a while and that I could make
my way over and spend time with Nathaniel.
As I walked there, I kept on thinking about if we had another fight
like before. I did know that Nathaniel would want more details on my
father, but I wasn’t ready to go that far yet. Maybe once he told me
what his human life was like, then I would tell him everything.
Just as I was about to knock on the door, it opened and I was pulled
into a hug. I inhaled Nathaniel’s scent and tried to look up at him, but I
couldn’t since he had his arms wrapped tightly around me. I was scared
that if he didn’t let me go, he would slowly crush me to death, as I could
feel my lungs being pressed against my rib cage. I could already feel my
breathing becoming restricted from the lack of hair flow.
“I believe that you are happy to see me,” I said, muffled into his
chest.
“Of course I am,” he said and kissed my forehead before letting me
go.
He grabbed my overnight bag and walked into the living room with
me following, trying to get as much air as I possibly could. He placed the
bag on the couch before walking back over to me with a smile glued
onto his face.
“Is Bethany still at your place?” he asked when he stopped in front of
me.
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I nodded before answering. “Yeah I think she plans on staying there
for a while. Thanks for telling her about what is going on, by the way.”
“That means we are alone for a while and I’m sorry about telling her
that, but I thought she should know and help keep your mother compa-
ny. What do you want to do?” he asked and wrapped his arms around
my waist. “Because I was thinking that we can watch a movie.”
“I was thinking more along the lines of you telling me about your
human life. I want to know what Nathaniel Norwood was like before he
became a vampire and a Pryor by one single bite to change everything.”
“Tomorrow,” he said with a hard tone in his voice.
“How do I know that you will keep your word though? I mean, you
say stuff, but then the harshness in you comes and ruins it. You are still
hot and cold Nate.”
“At least I admitted after a while that I was a vampire while you
were gutless to say anything about your father,” he fired back.
“Because of Mrs. Franklin; if she didn’t do anything, you would be
still denying the truth that you and I both know I had figured out. And
don’t you dare bring my father into this Nathaniel.”
“I can if I want to Brianna.”
Shaking my head, I grabbed my overnight bag and stomped out of
the room, making my way up to his bedroom.
“Where are you going?” I heard Nathaniel ask from the entrance
way.
“Away from you,” I spat, not looking behind me even though I could
feel his eyes burning holes into my back.
“Is that what we are going to be doing the whole time you are here
is fight over dumb things that have no meaning?” He asked, but I didn’t
stop walking
“You tell me Nathaniel.” And I slammed his bedroom door.
I couldn’t understand why he was making me so mad. Maybe it was
the fact he went behind my back and asked about my father when I
wanted to be the one that explained everything to him, and both of
them knew that, and yet, they both did the unthinkable or maybe it was
the fact that I hid this from him and that I wanted to be the one to tell
him and no one else. Something was making me mad, and I had no idea
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what it was.
Two hours later, I was looking out the window when a knock on the
door distracted me. It was either Nathaniel or Bethany standing there,
but I wasn’t going to answer it.
Nathaniel called my name from outside the door, but I didn’t an-
swer. Acting like a child wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and I knew
that, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. The fifth time he called my
name; I opened the door and waited for him to start speaking. He
looked at me with a strange expression and waited for me to start talk-
ing, but I wasn’t going to do that.
“I don’t want to fight with you,” he finally said when he realised that
I wasn’t going to say anything until he spoke.
“Well, I don’t want to fight with you either, but we are,” I replied and
walked back over to the window.
“Not if we sit down and talk about what is bothering us,” he said.
“I’m mad at you and at Alex,” I stated.
“What are you mad about?” he asked, appearing next to me.
“You went behind my back and asked about my father to someone I
call family. Alex knew that he was betraying my trust, and yet, he still
told you. I was working up to telling you about it, but he got there be-
fore I could. You should not have asked when he asked if you knew what
was going on!” I almost shouted, but I kept my emotions under control.
“Look, I am sorry Brianna. I wanted to know what was going on, and
as I said, I thought that you weren’t going to tell me anything,” Na-
thaniel pleaded.
“You better hope I can forgive you,” I muttered quietly.
“Brianna, don’t be like this. I said I was sorry.”
“Can we just not talk about it anymore?” I asked.
Nathaniel nodded and grabbed my hand. I could see regret in his
eyes, and that made me melt just a little more. Bethany called out to us
when she got home, making him go down to meet her. I made my way
down there after a while. The first thing I had noticed was Nathaniel
was nowhere to be seen, and that it was just me and his mother.
“Where did Nate go?” I asked when I walked into the kitchen.
“He went to the shop I work at, but he didn’t say what he was get-
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ting,” Bethany said, not taking her eyes off the carrot she was chopping.
“Do you have any idea when he will be back?”
“He shouldn’t be long. Not with you here.”
It was quiet between us as I had no idea what to say. I had never
been around a vampire before, besides Nathaniel and I were feeling
nervous. I walked over to the dining table and sat there without saying a
word.
“I hope I’m not making you feel nervous or anything,” Bethany said,
walking over to where I was sitting.
“No you aren’t,” I said and smiled at her. “I just have no idea what to
say.”
“It was like that with Dakota, Amylia and I when they first came into
the family. We didn’t know how to act around each other, which led to
fights between the men, but two weeks later, everything was fine,” she
said, with a hint of a smile on her face. “It was more Nathaniel and
Chase that clashed to begin with and let me tell you, I am glad that they
decided to become nice to each other. I don’t think I would have been
able to handle fighting all the time,” she finished.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Nathaniel chose to walk
through the front door. When he saw me, he raced over and dragged
me into standing up and giving me a tight hug.
“True love,” Bethany said and left the room.
I pulled back and wondered what made Nathaniel act like this. May-
be he was trying his hardest for me to forgive him and thought lavishing
me with affection was going to work.
“What is with all of the affection you are giving me?”
“Because I thought that you would have left when I went out, but
you didn’t.”
“I’d said that I would stay over, didn’t I? I wasn’t leaving because
over some fight that we had over what my cousin had told you.”
He grabbed my hand and took me back to his bedroom, but kept the
door open. Nathaniel pushed me down on the bed and lay next to me.
His bed was so comfortable; I could have gone to sleep. I was looking
forward to sleeping tonight.
“I’m pretty sure that you are going to like the place I am taking you
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tomorrow.”
“Where is it?” I asked.
“That will ruin my surprise,” he murmured and kissed me lightly.
Being surprised I could handle, but if he had any more ideas that
involved attention, I wasn’t going to be happy. I looked over towards
Nathaniel and saw that he was looking up at the roof in his own world.
A flash from the door caught my attention, making me look over
there. Bethany was standing there with a smile on her face and a cam-
era in her hand. Nathaniel lifted his head to look at her, but didn’t say a
word.
“You could have got us in a better shot,” he muttered after a while.
“What I got was perfect Nathaniel. I am glad that you aren’t fighting
anymore. I didn’t like to hear all the yelling and screaming.”
Bethany left the room, and I turned to Nathaniel. “How can you hear
what people are saying through walls?”
“Vampiric hearing,” he stated. “We can understand what people are
saying when it is a small space or are close to us, as well as thoughts.
When we speak under our breath, no human can understand, but a
vampire clearly can.”
Hearing all of this made me start to feel left out. Nathaniel was fast-
er, stronger, and better at everything that I could ever be or do. He was
perfect, and I wasn’t. I was just a plain human with no special qualities.
“Why do you have to be so perfect for?” I asked.
“Brianna, I am nowhere near perfect, but that’s the thing. My beauty
lures you in, like it has with every other girl in this town. The beauty I
carry is from the venom running in my system, waiting for me to attack.
You have seen what it did to Augusta since she knows she can’t have me
because I belong to you.”
“Nate, I haven’t lived here long, but I can tell that she never had a
good bone in her body. She likes to ruin things for wealth and power,
and she will be trying to ruin everything once she finds out that you
know about my father, and you haven’t left me because of it.”
“She can do whatever she wants, but nothing will ever tear me away
from you because I lo- I mean, because I care for you deeply.”
I picked up on his slip straight away. He almost admitted that he
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loved me, but changed his words. I didn’t say anything about it as I
didn’t want another fight with Nathaniel. Suddenly, he got off the bed
and walked over to his desk, opening the draw up.
“Close your eyes,” Nathaniel said, walking back towards the bed with
something behind his back, hiding it out of my view.
“What are you giving me?” I asked with my eyes shut.
“Something that I think you would like to see.”
He placed what felt like to be a piece of paper in my hands. I opened
one eye and saw that it was blank. I looked up at him confused as all
hell. Why would he be giving me a blank piece of paper for? He mo-
tioned for me to turn it around and I did, seeing what was on the other
side.
“Oh my god,” I breathed.
“Since I haven’t been sleeping much since you have entered my life, I
decided to put my time to good use and draw a portrait of you,” he said,
but I wasn’t paying any attention to him. My eyes were glued on the
drawing.
“How did you get it so perfect?” I asked and traced over my nose
that he managed to draw so perfectly.
He pulled a picture out of his pocket and handed it to me. He had a
picture of me that was taken on the first week. How did I not know
about that? I looked up at him, speechless and in a decent amount of
shock.
“We took it in secret,” Nathaniel said, as if he were reading my
thoughts. “Amylia hid in the shadows so she wouldn’t get caught taking
the photo and gave it to me after school, so I could study it and get eve-
ry detail right so it wouldn’t look stupid and so I wouldn’t make myself
look completely stupid.”
“That is so stalker like and so creepy,” I managed to say.
“I know, but I couldn’t help it. I thought that I would never have a
chance with you, so I needed something that would keep me sane and
that happened to be it. I knew you were my soul mate in music on your
first day, and I had to know you better, but we kept on fighting. Once
we started to get along, I was willing to just be friends, but deep inside,
that wouldn’t have been enough. I wanted to be your everything Bri-
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anna. I wanted to be the one that you would come to when you needed
comfort, to give you happiness and to give you my cold, dead heart that
I yearn for it to start beating again.”
By the time he finished his speech, I was crying in silent. Getting up
off his bed, I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his
waist, crying into his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed
my forehead. He whispered something, but I couldn’t understand what
it was as he spoke so fast.
The whole night, Nathaniel was glued by my side, and Bethany had a
strange look on her face. I wondered how mum was going, alone at
home and in her own thoughts. The situation with my father had shaken
her up, but I just didn’t know how much. Nathaniel tightened his grip on
my shoulder, making me look at him and briefly smile.
“Yo