The Difference Between You and Me - Chapter 19

This chapter is dedicated to Urprincess. =)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I blinked, and a small swallow sounded deep within my throat. I was scared. ‘W-w-what are you t-talking about?’

His eyes glinted, that strange, feral glint I recognized so much; Vincent had it, too.

He was only millimeters away from me, coming closer, closer…I stepped away from him even further and my back came into contact with his wall, and he moved even further towards me and put his hands on either side of the wall beside my waist. I was trapped.

‘Don’t you know the whole story, Colie?’ He purred in my ear, his chestnut-brown hair sweeping across my shoulder as he edged ever closer towards me. ‘How exciting for me.’

I tried - and failed, of course - to push him away from me, by planting my hands on his hard chest and pushing. He didn’t budge an inch.

His lips trailed small butterfly kisses from my ear to the edge of my jaw, and I whimpered when his tongue flicked out and ran over my pulse. He liked that. I tried to push him away from me again, trying to pour all of my anger and frustration that I felt towards him in my hands, but he only looked me in the eye, green into blue, and rubbed his forehead against mine. I realised that my hands were still clutching at his thin, white vest-top, and I hastily let go, and Zane smirked and brought my hands up to his chest again. I’m guessing that maybe he liked me touching him.

‘Just - just tell me, then.’ I whispered. Even though I said the words, I was not completely sure that I meant them. I loved Vincent, and even though I’d like to think that this story Zane was about to tell me would make Vincent look no better or worse, I was still on edge. I needed Vincent to be innocent in all this. I guess you could say he was my rock.

He stared me in the eye for a long time, as if trying to decipher whether or not I would actually listen to him. I put on my most sincerest expression and waited.

‘Okay,’ he said finally, his arms still on the wall either side of my waist. ‘I’ll tell you.’ He took a deep breath and started. ‘Did you know that me and Vincent were best friends when we were human?’

I gaped. What? I shook my head blankly. Zane smirked, but this time it wasn’t humorous - it was bitter. ‘Yeah, best friends. We met in infant school. We were best friends all the way through high school.’

I blinked. I didn’t know that either. I thought they had always just been enemies for a reason…that, up until now, I didn’t know.

‘When me and Vincent went to college-’ he caught my expression. ‘-yes, we went to the same college. Anyway, when we went to college, I met Rhysa.’ He said the name softly, carefully, like he was taking quietly to someone else in a room in which a baby was asleep. ‘I fell in love with her,’ I twisted uncomfortably. I thought Monsters didn’t have feelings. But then, what if he wasn’t always a monster. ‘She was studying bio-chemistry, and I was studying biology - so was Vincent.’ He took a deep breath and continued. ‘I began to see more and more of Rhysa - she was in mostly all my classes - and in the end, she fell in love with me, too. Or,’ his lips twisted bitterly. ‘That’s what I thought.’ A feeling of dread was beginning to settle in the pit of my stomach. ‘Things were amazing for a while. I’d never been in love, and it just felt...wow. Rhysa knew that Vincent was my best friend, she had met him a couple of times, but then…something happened,’ he turned and looked out of the window, and he sub-consciously fingered his talisman necklace. ‘She started avoiding me, or rather, I just didn’t see her that much anymore. I would ask her what was wrong, I would ask her every time I saw her - but she wouldn’t tell me. Until two months later. It turns out that she had been in some of Vincent’s classes, too. She had seen him there. She had fallen in love with Vincent.’

I gasped. What? It might be superficial to feel jealousy at a moment like that, but I’m telling you that that particular emotion was surging angrily through my veins.

‘But I thought she didn’t know him!’ I blurted out.

His eyes narrowed mockingly. ‘No, she didn’t know him. Well, I’m not sure she loved him, more of a big crush, but it was sure big enough that she couldn’t be with me anymore.’

And then, for the first time ever, I felt pity for the man standing opposite me. ‘Oh, Zane…’ I breathed, smoothing out his vest-top, trying anything, anything at all, to comfort him.

He stroked a tendril of my hair. ‘I was angry,’ he murmured, sounding preoccupied. ‘I – I went to confront Vincent. I thought he loved her, too.’ He placed the lock of my hair behind my ear. ‘He – he didn’t know about her feelings for him. He was…shocked. Yes, I guess he was shocked. He didn’t even really know her. He didn’t return any of her feelings.’ I hoped not. ‘After Vincent, I went to Rhysa. I – I was pretty torn up over it, but she said that it d-didn’t matter. She didn’t love me like she used to.’ I think my heart was breaking for him. ‘I didn’t get over it for…a long, long time. But when I did…I was different.’ I knew what he meant; he had turned into the emotionless monster. ‘I…I saw something that questioned my belief in everything. Someone, whom I now know was named Makess Junio, was drinking…drinking blood… from…from my Rhysa.’ He gulped, and in his eyes I saw the fury, the immense guilt that I didn’t think he had ever gotten over. ‘I…I couldn’t stop him – I – I was too sh-shocked.

I didn’t know what was happening - I thought it was a nightmare, but it wasn’t and all I could do was watch from behind the alley as he drank…and drank…and drank,’ he pushed his face into my neck, breathing deeply. ‘I - I knew what he was – right then, I knew it. All the…all the blood. There was so much blood,’ he whispered, and his forehead nuzzled against my shoulder. ‘I knew - I knew he was looking for people to turn, to change – I saw him at the top of buildings, watching down on everybody. I - I wanted to get him back for what he did to Rhysa, my Rhysa. It was a common myth back in those days that the first ever vampire could only be destroyed by his first ever fledgling.I I wanted to be the fledgling- the one who destroyed him.’ He swallowed and continued, me still securely trapped between his arms. ‘Vincent knew nothing about any of this - only that Rhysa had been killed. He wouldn’t have believed me if I told him of Makess Junio - no, Vincent was a Science guy through and through. So anyway, I planned to plant myself in the same alley that…that….Rhysa-’ he said the name painfully. ‘-had been killed.

Sp that he would change me. But he didn’t come, he wasn’t there, but Vincent,’ his mouth twisted bitterly. ‘Vincent, oh, so innocent Vincent, was walking home. He got turned instead of me.’ I realised that Zane sounded angry by all this. Surely no one would voluntarily want to become a vampire? ‘I never saw Vincent again, until recent years,’ Zane told me. ‘But I did get turned into a vampire by Makess Junio, but I couldn’t destroy him because I wasn’t the second made vampire. I was the third.’

I gasped at how unfair and irrational Zane was being. ‘But Zane, you have to understand! Vincent didn’t want to become a vampire - he hates himself because of it! He hates everything about it!’

Zane hissed, and all so suddenly, he looked every bit the predator he was - cold and intimidating - terrifying. ‘It doesn’t matter.’ he was furious, that much was crystal clear. ‘He took everything away from me! The girl that I loved, my chance to get back at that filthy monster, and I come third. Not second-made, like I planned, but third.’

I sighed. ‘Zane, you’re not being fair. How was Vincent supposed to know all this? All he was doing was walking home - is that a crime? He didn’t ask your girlfriend to fall in love with him - that was her choice. He hates being a vampire. He would do anything to undo what he is.’

Zane growled, and I could see that it angered him to see things on the rational side of this particular situation. He hated Vincent, whether it was ration to or not. ‘It doesn’t matter anymore,’ he said in a deathly low voice, his previous beautiful green eyes empty and hollow. ‘He took Rhysa away from me, now I’ve got you.’

And then he was crushing his lips to mine with a ferocity that could only be called animalistic. I tried to push him away from me - I didn’t want it - but that only made him more determined, and I knew I wouldn’t get anywhere if I refused, so I did the only thing that would put me through it; I pretended he was Vincent.

My hands tangled in his thick, silky hair and he became suddenly more gentler, softer. He pulled me tenderly into his arms, one arm securely looped around my waist, while one hand clutched at the side of my hair. His lips moved slower against mine, and I marvelled at just how much like Vincent he felt. They both had the slight indent on the lower lip, both had high, clearly defined, sharp cheekbones. Both of their hair was silky, lustrous and thick, and maybe if my eyes were open I would have been able to see the difference, but my eyes were closed, as was his, and I couldn’t feel the difference.

‘You’re driving me insane,’ he had removed his lips from my mouth, and was planting small butterfly kisses on my neck, my throat. I whimpered - but this time it was in pleasure - yes, pleasure Just remember that he’s Zane, Colie, I told myself desperately. Just remember who he is.

But…but I found myself knowing who he was and still enjoying his sensual assault.

‘Zane,’ I whispered, as he nibbled on my neck. I leaned my head against the wall, closing my eyes and arching back my throat. ‘Zane.’

‘I can make you mine.’ He whispered into my ear. ‘You’re almost there.’

I shook my head. I didn’t want to be his.

Eventually, he was the one that pulled away from me, and he pulled me into him and held me in his arms, and I was surprised by how gentle he was being. I pressed my head against his shoulder. I didn’t protest when he picked me up bridal-style and placed me in the centre of his bed. He stared down at me, and I looked up at him, neither of us saying anything.

Then Zane said quietly, ‘I’ve got something for you.’

I frowned and shifted into a sitting position. What could he have for me? He walked swiftly out of the room, and then came back just moments later holding something that I had forgotten all about.

‘Iva!’ I squeaked in joy. She jumped down from Zane’s arms and leapt onto his bed, purring wildly and swishing her tail, letting me stroke her.

I grinned and hugged her. Finally. I was so glad to have something form home, something familiar, something that I wasn’t totally confused by.

‘Where did you find her?’ I smiled up at Zane, and for once, he was looking…normal. He wasn’t glaring or smirking or looking furiously angry. He just looked like…like Zane.

He shrugged and allowed himself a small smile. He sat on the bed near me. ‘She was eating a dead mice outside your window.’ I winced, and stroked her head. ‘And I figured that you might want her to keep you company.’

I glanced up at Zane, strangely touched and warmed. I started blushing, goddamn it. He smiled and reached up to brush my cheek, and my grip on Iva tightened.

He only stared at me, and I quickly turned my head away, my min already in too much of a mess. I think he could tell that I was confused by his kindness to me, because he said softly, ‘I’m not a monster, Colie.’