I stood to leave and she shot me a panicked look. “I won’t go far,” I reassured her. I waited in a small room at the end of the hall until the exam was complete and the nurse fetched me from where I waited. I returned to Chansey’s side, returned her hand to mine and raised my free hand to cover my eyes in an effort to hide my anger from her.
The physician returned and reported Chansey’s physical exam was not consistent with that of a rape victim and we both sighed with relief. She explained Chansey would need to be hydrated with IV fluids and observed for a few hours before she could be discharged to home.
Several hours later, she was discharged and I drove home slowly while Chansey slept in the passenger’s seat. It was early morning when we arrived home and I hated to wake her, but didn’t know what she would want to tell Anna and Grady. I gently placed my hand on her shoulder to wake her as I softly said, “Chansey, you’re home.” She opened her eyes slightly and I asked, “What do you want me to tell Anna and Grady?”
She closed her eyes again and said, “They left on a trip yesterday, so they’re not home.”
I carried her from my truck to her bedroom and placed her in her bed, prepared to stay by her side as long as she needed me, before I would return to my place in the shadows.
Chapter 21
I spent the day watching Chansey sleep off the effects of the drug Julian had given her and I closely observed her for adverse reactions to the hypnotic. Many hours passed as I watched the rise and fall of her chest and I wondered if I should wake her.
I leaned forward and buried my face in my hands when I thought about how difficult it would be to leave a second time, actually a third, and I contemplated answers I didn’t have for the questions Chansey would ask me. I heard the rhythm of her breathing change and I lifted my face from my hands to see her awake and looking at me. “You’re awake. How do you feel?” I asked.
She placed her hand to her head and said, “I feel like I’ve been on a month long drunk.” She reached for her hair and added, “I must look a mess.”
“You look perfect. It’s been hours since you had anything to drink, can I bring you something?”
“Yes, I feel parched. A glass of water would be wonderful.”
I brought her a glass of water, then watched her empty it in one large gulp. “Would you like more?”
“No, that is enough for now.”
“You’ve been asleep since I brought you home early this morning, so I’m glad to see you awake because I started to worry,” I confessed.
“When I woke up, you looked so stressed. Is something wrong?” she softly asked.
I smiled at her, attempting to disguise the pain I felt in my heart and less than convincingly said, “Nothing is wrong, you’re okay, so everything is good.”
“You’re lying,” she accused.
Her accusation caught me off guard, leaving me without a reply.
“You’re thinking of a lie to explain away what has happened and how to tell me you’re going to leave me again.”
I rose from the chair at her bedside and walked to the window, turning my back on her as I said, “You’re right, I am going to leave, but I don’t know what you think happened.”
She continued, “Please don’t pretend what happened wasn’t real.”
I continued staring out of her bedroom window as I lied again, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You once asked me what I was and now, I’m asking you the same question. What are you?” She hesitated, waiting for my response.
I gave her the only response I thought could explain away what had happened. “Julian drugged you with a powerful hypnotic. You are easily confused and it’s not your fault.”
“I used Crosby to make you jealous. Did it work?” she confessed.
There is no way she should know I was with her all this time. I was so careful and I stole her memory of the morning we spent together. “It’s the drug talking.”
“We both know better than that, so try to explain how you’ve been gone, yet never left my side for a moment. Try to convince me I imagined you in my bedroom every night since you went to New York.”
I couldn’t form the words to convince her of anything because I was completely and utterly speechless as she continued, “You said that it was a tragedy I would never know how much you loved me. How could you think I wouldn’t remember?”
I wanted to confirm the things she said, but I had to deny it or forever condemn her. “You know you have incredibly vivid dreams.”
“It wasn’t the drug and it wasn’t a dream!” she argued. “Do I need to repeat the entire conversation between us for you to realize I remember everything?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I lied.
“There hasn’t been a day in my life I didn’t feel you coming for me.” She placed her hand over her heart. “It is what I have always known deep inside, right here. I felt the restlessness of my wait vanish the first time I laid my eyes on you, that’s why I was so distraught when I thought you didn’t like me. Can’t you see I knew all along?”
I felt my protective wall tumbling and saw all attempts to prevent the inevitable were in vain. I turned from the window to face her and surrendered to the the ordained bond between us, trusting in the promising words of Sebastian. “Do you know what I am?”
“I know you’re no ordinary man,” she replied.
How could I say the words? Her potential response terrified me, but I walked to the bed and sat next to her. “You can’t imagine how impossible this is for me because I can’t bear to see myself as a monster in your eyes.”
Chansey leaned in and placed her hands on my face, forcing me to look into her eyes as they begged me to trust her. “Please, don’t hide from me.”
I prepared to say the words that would forever connect and condemn us. “Don’t fear me because I would never harm you.”
Chansey took my hands in hers and said, “Curry, I know you would never bring harm to me.”
I attempted to pull my hands from hers, but she tightened her grip. I wasn’t brave enough to look into her eyes as I told her, “I was made a vampire in 1850 when I was 26 years old.” I waited briefly and lifted my eyes to see her reaction, but found no fear or disgust.
“Is it true that vampires drink human blood?” she asked nonchalantly.
I admitted, “It is true, I did drink th
e blood of humans for many years, and although I don’t require it for my existence anymore, that’s not the case for other vampires.”
“I don’t know what it is you mean,” she said, confused by my contradicting words. “How can vampires need blood for survival, yet you don’t require it?”
“I’m going to start at the beginning, when I was a mortal man, because this is a complex tale. 161 years ago, this was my home.” I gestured at the house with my hands and said, “I walked these grounds when there was nothing here and I began construction on this house in 1849, choosing everything about it and the surrounding land.”
“I believe that has to be one of the coolest things I have ever heard,” she said.
“Although I was born a vampire in Pascagoula, my human birth was in New Orleans, where my family lived and raised me.”
“How did you end up in Pascagoula if you were from New Orleans?” she asked, curiously.
“My trade was shipbuilding. It’s what I grew up around and my father had his own business in New Orleans, so I relocated here to start my own shipbuilding buisiness. Shrimping was a booming business and the demand outnumbered the supply and I started small, but within three years, had a prospering business.”
“My brother, Sully, continued working for our father, but he was growing restless, and even then, New Orleans had plenty of trouble if you knew where to find it. He had begun to keep undesirable company and I worried about him, so I asked him to come to Pascagoula and partner my business with me. My parents were so grateful to me for taking him in and away from the things he had become a part of, but none of us could have imagined the turn of events his arrival would bring.”
“What happened?”
“He was no longer the Sully I knew and I didn’t like the person he became. He often traveled back to New Orleans and stayed for extended periods of time, leaving me without a partner for our thriving business. I came to enjoy his disappearing acts, but the last time he returned, he brought an uninvited house guest. Her name was Marsala Dauphine and she was his mistress. I immediately felt something was wrong with her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it because I had no reason to notice that I didn’t see her during the day or witness her eating meals. I only noticed Sully wasn’t himself when he was with her.”