Chpater 6

The next day, I woke up to find my bed empty and a tray of food on the bedside table with a note that read:

Annabelle, you've been asleep for a whole day, please eat something.

--xoxo, Stella

I groaned loudly, feeling weak as I got into a sitting position.

The stupid vampire with her stupid neat cursive writing and her stupid hugs and kisses.

I lifted the lid of the tray of food and noticed it wasn't breakfast. It was lasagna. I found another note on the fork that read:

I know you like lasagna, so eat up.

How does she know I like lasagna? I thought. Stupid creepy stalker vampire! Why does she have to be so annoyingly good looking?

Then I remembered our little make-out session from the day before and felt my face heat up. I stared at the food, pondering whether to eat and be eaten or go on a hunger strike, but then my stomach growled on cue.

"Oh, fuck it," I said as I grabbed the fork and ate my lasagna sloppily.

When I was done, I laid back down on the bed, staring at the ceiling until I heard muffled shouting coming from outside the room. I made my way to the door and pressed my ear to it, eavesdropping.

"Did you have to bite her right away?! Jesus, Stella, you could've killed her!" I heard a male say.

"She's alive, isn't she?" A voice I recognized as Stella's replied.

"Barely! You knocked her out cold! I mean, are you out of your mind?! She's a fucking siren Stella, a SI-REN," he pronounced the word in syllables as if he were talking to a child, "You more than anyone knows that if you want to feed from a siren, you draw its blood, and drink it from the blood bag, somewhere far away from it, so you don't get the impulse to go back for more. You don't bite the siren!"

"Calm down, Jace, I, unlike other people, have excellent self-control."

He laughed coldly, "Yeah, that explains why you bit her," He replied sarcastically.

"You know what, I have nothing to explain to you. She's fine, and that's all you need to know."

"Stella... you do know she's mine, right? If you bite her again, I swear, I'll--"

"You'll what?" She cut him off, her voice full of anger.

"Nothing, my dearest sister. Now, go check on that... thing... already."

"She's not a thing." I heard her say softly this time.

"Oh my, Stella, are we getting attached to the little bugger? I'm sure going to have fun with this."

I heard a menacing growl and the sound of steps drawing nearer.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap," I muttered under my breath as I ran over to the bed and got under the covers.

I heard the door slam shut and a loud grunt. I could imagine Stella pulling her hair in frustration.

She then sighed and said, "All right, get up, Annabelle, I know you're awake."

I sat up and gave her a sheepish smile, "Morning."

"More like afternoon," She said as she sat on the bed, "So... how much of that did you hear?"

I tried to play dumb, "What are you talking about?"

"I know you were eavesdropping," she said as she looked at me pointedly.

I put my arms up in mock surrender, "All right, all right. I heard you arguing with someone."

"My brother."

"Huh," I said, "So what exactly is a siren?"

"Oh crap, you heard that?"

I nodded.

"It's... complicated."

"Too bad, 'cause you're explaining it to me now," I patted the spot on the bed next to me.

She laughed at this and said, "You think you can order me around? You clearly don't know who you're talking to."

"I'm talking to the annoying vampire who bit me."

She raised her eyebrows and said, "You didn't find me annoying yesterday."

I instantly blushed and looked away from her, "That was... I was high."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason why you jumped me," She said. Sarcasm practically dripped from her words.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Momentary insanity, you know? Stockholm Syndrome," I added.

The annoying vampire simply laughed and shook her head.

"Look, Stella, could you please tell me? I mean, I don't want to get you into more trouble, but... I'm confused... and... scared." I said the last words barely under the frequency of a whisper, hoping she wouldn't hear.

Her smirk disappeared and was replaced with what looked like remorse.

She sighed and moved closer to me, wrapping an arm around me protectively. My body reacted before my mind could process what was going on, and I snuggled my head into her chest, hugging her tightly, feeling safe in her arms. I then thought about the only other pair of arms that could make me feel that way, Gabriel's, and felt tears build up in my eyes. Flashes of our life together clouded my mind and were followed by thoughts of my friends, my crazy little redhead, Angie, and my family. Before I knew it, I was shaking in Stella's arms, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill over.

"Please don't cry," She said as she rocked me back and forth in her arms, hugging me tightly and kissing the top of my head.

I lifted my head up to look at her, confused at this act of kindness. She wiped a tear away from my cheek.

"Your eyes look beautiful when you're crying," she said absentmindedly. I recognized the all-too-familiar phrase that my mother used to say when she saw me cry because my eyes looked bluer, and broke down into sobs, burying my face in her neck, "Shh," She shushed me and hugged me tightly, "Please stop, you're killing me."

I lifted my head up and frowned at her. "Why do you even care?" I said, putting as much venom into my words as I could.

Her eyebrows furrowed like she was asking herself the same thing, "I don't know," She said softly, "I just do." Then she placed a chaste kiss on my lips, closed her eyes, and put her forehead against mine. My breath hitched when she kissed me, and my heart sped up at her sudden proximity. Yet, somehow, the familiarity of this intimate act didn't strike me as odd or uncomfortable. It only left me with a sense of Deja-vu that vanished like the fog I'd felt around my thoughts since I'd woken up in this place slowly increased.

She opened her eyes and smiled warmly at me, turning my insides into mush. She then wiped the remaining tears off my face, her forehead still against mine, her big, grayish-blue eyes boring into mine, and her lips inches away from mine.

My heart felt like it was going to burst, my stomach was twisting and turning, and my lips were tingling with anticipation. I tried to fight the feeling, I really did, but it was like fighting a magnetic pull between us. I closed my eyes and ran one hand through Stella's silky hair, settling it at the back of her neck and pulling her closer to me.

She kissed me ever-so-softly as I drifted up to cloud nine, my sadness replaced by bliss. She wrapped her arms around me, hugging me to her, and my body responded with a sudden feeling of warmth at our bodies being pressed together.

We fell back into the bed, lying on our sides, and she pulled away, placing a soft kiss on my forehead, arms still wrapped around me. She pulled me closer to her, and I put my head on the nook on her neck, in the same position I had fallen asleep the day before. I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling that came with her closeness, hugging her body against mine, and inhaling her intoxicating scent.