A Twist of Fate: Chapter 7, Part 1

The next day Alexa was in the bookstore looking for a new pair of sweatpants; when she was depressed she had tendency to shop. Asher was walking by when he spotted her through the window and entered the store without her noticing. He sneaked up behind her. "Where's your fiancé?" he joked.

Alexa jumped in surprise and turned around to face him. "He's not my fiancé. He's nothing to me."

"It definitely didn't seem that way last night. You could cut the tension with a chainsaw."

She rolled her eyes and sighed with frustration. "Nick is just...a special case, but nothing more than that."

Asher crudely grinned. "So, are we gonna have a double session to make up for last night?" He saw the hesitation in her eyes and could tell she was deliberating the proposition. He persuaded her more, "I mean, if you are with that Nick kid or something, then that's-"

"No! No, I'm not with him," she stated, louder than she intended. Alexa then reluctantly replied, "I'll be at your room in an hour."

"Excellent," Asher declared, before walking away from her. On his way out he gave another female a flirtatious glance that Alexa did not see.

...

That night, Alexa had a strange nightmare. It was pitch black, but she could see as clear as day. She was in an unfamiliar place, a tomb it appeared to be. She felt compelled, drawn to walk to the altar, and noticed that she was barefoot and there were puddles of dark liquid covering the floor beneath her. But oddly enough, with one sniff of the air, she could tell that it was blood and even more bizarre, the smell aroused her more than it sickened her. Her attention returned to the altar where someone lurked in the shadows. A pull, similar to magnets, attracted her to the unknown source. Alexa only saw a flash of gold and a long sharp fang before the creature attacked her, causing her to wake up abruptly. Her body was drenched in sweat, she was panting intensely, and her mouth was extremely dry. However, her focus was on the door because a split second after she awakened, she saw the black-haired woman again staring back at her with her gold eyes. The unidentified female vanished before she could blink twice. Alexa looked over to Hilary sleeping in her bed, without a care in the world. She curled up into a ball, wrapping the blankets tightly around her body, and prayed for sleep and a happy dream. As slumber claimed her again, Alexa realized what she had seen before her nightmare ended: a pair of flaming gold eyes.

***

A week went by with no word from Nick. Alexa wanted to forget he had ever come back into her life, but she could not help but feel regret for letting him go again. She decided to go for a walk down the street into town, hoping to blow off some steam and maybe relax. When she reached the park, she noticed a gorgeous blonde-haired woman sitting inside the gazebo, staring at her. Alexa felt so uncomfortable by such a beauty eyeing her down as she strolled around the park to the point that she went to confront her. She proceeded cautiously, formulating her argument in her head. Upon entering the gazebo, she realized that the woman had the same pallid appearance as Nick. The mysterious woman continued to stare at her inquisitively.

"Hi," Alexa began. "Do I know you or something?"

The female remained silent, still looking at her intently.

Alexa continued on, "Because you've been staring at me like we've met before." Again, the woman did not respond. Ok, either this chick is deaf or she's insane, she thought. Alexa just couldn't catch a break. She sighed exhaustively and turned around.

"I do not understand Nicolaus' infatuation with a human that gives up so easily."

Alexa spun around after hearing the beautiful voice to see the female smirking at her. She knows Nick, not a surprise. "Well, he's given up on me before," she retorted.

"You humans take every little thing to heart. No wonder there is so much unnecessary havoc and destruction in your world." The woman stood and began to circle Alexa.

"Who are you?" Alexa demanded to know.

The female merely giggled. "Is that false authority I detect? Alexa, I watched my parents get murdered before my eyes and I could not do anything to stop it. I have assassinated masses of people since then; your demands have no effect on me."

Alexa became nervous by the female's presence. "Why are you here?"

"You have no idea how much Nicolaus has jeopardized to be with you. It is still a danger now, but my brother still cannot stay away from you."

Alexa realized who she was. "Your brother? You're Seraphina, aren't you?"

Phi smirked. "So, Nicolaus has told you about me. He must actually really care about you, then."

"If what you say is true, and that the risk now is as great as the risk before, then he never should have left me if he truly cared," argued Alexa.

"I see you are just as stubborn as the rest of your kind. You do not know how lucky you are to have someone like Nicolaus in your life. Just remember the time will come that he will move on, with or without you." With that, Seraphina shimmered away, leaving Alexa dumbfounded in her place.

***

Maximilian observed the gym from the roof of a neighboring building until the human for whom he had been waiting exited. She carried her gym bag and walked with such unworthy confidence. Max's upper lip curled with revulsion; she was perspiring from her workout and Max could detect the faint scent of his brother from Nicolaus' blood still circulating in her blood vessels. I cannot believe Nicolaus would throw away his life for this...thing, he thought. Max leapt from the roof and landed remarkably gracefully, directly in front of the female. He watched her gasp in shock, not knowing where he had come from or who he was. But then, he saw her quickly examine his features and, strange enough, she seemed to relax.

"You must be Max," Alexa stated.

He was outraged by her audacity to speak to him as if they were on the same level. "You will not be so informal when addressing me. My name is Maximilian. And you must be the human nuisance to our family."

Alexa gripped her tote bag tighter as her aggravation increased. "That's rich. Your family drops into my life, but I'm the nuisance. Yes, it all makes sense now."

Max flashed a devious smirk while moving closer to her. "It would be wise to not be so facetious and disrespectful to a vampire. We are not known to be forgiving." His fangs glistened in the light.

She stood her ground, but was a bit frightened by his threat. "What do you want from me?"

"Personally, I want nothing more than to drink your blood and kill you, as I normally do with humans," he replied nonchalantly, enjoying the slight shiver of fear from Alexa. "Yet for some inane reason, my brother has developed an inexplicable attraction to you and he has gone against our wishes to be with his-human. But, why is he still not with you?"

"I don't want to be with him. He left me-"

"On direct orders," Maximilian cut her short. "Look at what his carelessness has done. He exposed our family and he was ordered never to see you again. Nicolaus crossed the line when he came to you last week; he basically denounced his title, which means he gave up his own family for you. How do you not comprehend the severity of the situation?"

Alexa, frustrated, bit her bottom lip. She could not believe Nick left his family just to be with her. "But how will our being together make anything better?"

"If he has you, then we might be able to make some sort of compromise. However, he will not speak with us until you come to your senses and stop being difficult. As much as it sickens me, he loves you and you clearly love him according to your thoughts. Quit being stubborn." He smirked again and shimmered away.

Her mind was racing with everything Maximilian and Seraphina both said to her. Maybe she was taking her grudge a little too far. Nick apologized and explained and he was giving up one of the ultimate sacrifices just to be with her. What am I doing?! Alexa smacked herself in the forehead. She jogged the rest of the way back to her room and showered. After getting dressed, she sat on her bed, took a deep breath, and dialed Nick's phone number. It rang this time, but instead of answering, he shimmered into her bedroom holding his phone. He stared curiously at her on the bed. "Hi," she greeted him nervously.

Nicolaus remained cautious. "Hello. Why did you call me?"

"I just want you to know that you made me feel so special...and then you really hurt me, worse than any person in my life," she began.

He looked at her intently, silent.

"You proposed and then you left the next day. I was absolutely devastated and I never thought I would be able to recover from that or even forgive you. But..."

"But what?" he questioned expectantly.

Alexa stood and began to pace, without making eye contact with him. "I don't know. Your brother and sister tell me you've given up everything and that I'm an idiot for not granting you a second chance and I want to be with you, but I'm afraid you'll leave again and-"

"Alexa," Nicolaus interjected, stopping her in her tracks. "You do not have to feel obliged to explain yourself to me at my family's expense. I would much rather have you make the decision yourself and not because you were pressured," he stated simply. "As far as leaving you, I promise I would have never left in the first place if it was not necessary. But I can promise you that I will be by your side for as long as you will have me, if you choose to do so."

She looked down at her feet without a clue of what to say. She had been unkind and cold to him since he returned. Alexa felt that she could not simply run into his arms and everything she said or did, would go away. As soon as she thought this, Nick lifted her chin gently and gazed into her eyes.

"It is as simple as that," he said comfortingly with a warm smile.

Alexa took Nick into her arms immediately in an emotional hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered as the tears streamed down her now blotchy cheeks.

Nicolaus had missed the way her body molded against his so perfectly. He let go of her loving embrace to get down on one knee and took out the pouch containing the engagement ring. She stood there beaming excitedly while crying at the same time. "Will you, Alexa Cornelius, marry me and spend the rest of our lives together, as my wife?"

She nodded and barely managed to say, "Yes." Alexa watched Nicolaus place the ring on her left hand.

Moving almost too fast for Alexa to see, Nicolaus picked her up, placed her in bed, and positioned himself on top of her.

She smiled affectionately, loving the feel of his body pressing down on her. Alexa placed her hands tenderly on both sides of his face and traced his lips with her right thumb, parting his lips enough to see his elongating fangs.

Nicolaus closed his eyes and tried to focus on controlling himself. Alexa's body heat was radiating incredibly overwhelming blows of her scent and the natural release of venom to his mouth did not make the situation easier. Before he could prevent it, Alexa made the first move and grazed her lip from the bottom of his neck and over his Adam's apple, then dragged her tongue from directly above his Adam's apple, to the nook of his neck, and up slightly behind his ear, where she began to nibble gently on his ear lobe. She was dangerously arousing his beast within, but he did not want to stop. Nicolaus growled and ran his fingers through her thick black hair getting a handful and tugged her head back a bit forcefully. There was much he wanted to do to her in that moment. Ravish her completely and drink her dry.

Alexa gazed into Nick's ravenous eyes. She knew she should be frightened by the way he was staring at her and how rough he had been, but there was some strange aura between the two of them that assured her everything was alright. She remained held down by her hair that he still clutched, but kept her hands wrapped behind his neck. "I love you," she breathed quietly.

He moved into her neck, while still restraining her from moving away. Everything in his body told him to sink his teeth into her artery and drink until her heart stopped. Nicolaus inhaled her fragrance before moving his mouth to her flesh...and planting a soft, electrical kiss. He heard her gasp with pleasure and continued leaving shocking kisses all the way up to her lips.

She pulled him in for the kiss and teased her way between his lips with her tongue. Their tongues reacquainted during the kiss, passionately massaging and playfully flicking, and their bodies were in complete unison once again pertaining to their breathing and heartbeat.

Nicolaus separated his mouth from hers a fraction. "My heart belongs to you, Alexa," he whispered.

She smiled, and requested quietly, "Don't leave me."

"I will stay with you always. I promise."

~~~

"And after this surge, mother and father will surely burn you alive for your first mistake," Silas stated derisively to his older brother.

Keiran hissed, scaring the already-frightened human male servant before him. "I was not the fool who decided to leave it in the hands of the moronic de Alemania's, was I? No, I believe that was you."

Silas scowled at him. "Well, the Throckmorton's agreed, too. And you did not seem to scream your dislike towards the idea."

Victor entered the room and chuckled. "Children, settle down. Nothing has happened yet. We can still take care of the lingering threat." He turned to the whimpering human male on the floor. "Besides, only one person will burn." His eyes went black and viciously flames engulfed the male's body. The human shrieked agonizingly as Victor mercilessly destroyed him with the fire. Then, the body stopped moving altogether and the remains crumpled together into a heap of melted fat and ash. Victor directed his attention back to his brothers. "Make that two."