Innocence - Chapter 11

Aden picked me up in his shiny yellow Mazda RX-7 exactly at six. He always surprised me by being on time. It wasn’t just a minute or two; it was on the exact second.

It took me about two hours to pick out my outfit. When I finally chose, I was wearing a light grey sweater and some simple jeans. I was going to wear dressy clothes but I didn’t want to look over dressed. I looked like an average girl, which is what I wanted. I don’t like to stand out much.

When I opened the front door I noticed Aden’s clothes. He wasn’t in his normal baggy pants and a t-shirt. He was wearing nice brown pants with a normal t-shirt and his brown leather jacket that he only wore on occasions like this
.
“Don’t you look…weird.” I said, snickering at his pants.

“Thanks,” he said smiling brightly at my expression. “You look nice too.”

I grabbed my coat off the rack and headed out to the car. He was already there holding the door open for me. I got in and waited for him to shut the door. He didn’t. I looked up to see him staring at me.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing.” He said and shut the door. He had a grim expression on his face, like he was worried. When he got in the car he started it, but did not move.

“Tell me.” I said sternly. It didn’t sound as sternly as I hoped, but it was good enough. He looked at me with his bright green eyes and sighed.

“It’s Trevor. He is just in a bad mood. I’m not sure if you should be coming over tonight.” He wasn’t looking at me. I reached out and grasped his cold, hard hand.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me. Trevor is always in a bad mood lately.”

He looked at me with his sad eyes and said, “I always worry about you.” I didn’t know what to say so I just looked at him curiously. After a moment he let go of my hand and backed out of the driveway.

On our way there my phone rang. It was Mike. “Hello?” I said into the receiver.

“Hey! How are you Candace? I miss you so much.” Mike said on the other line.

”I’m okay. I miss you too. I umm…I have to go. I am going…out to dinner. Can I call you later?”

“Sure…don’t take too long.” Mike said playfully.

I hung up before he could say goodbye. Aden was watching me from the corner of his eye. I looked away from him to watch the trees pass by.

“So…who was that?” Aden asked casually.

“Mike. He is just an old friend from Atlanta.” I said, still looking out my window.

“Is he the one that gave you that ring?” he asked not looking at me.

“Yes.” I said simply.

“You really like it don’t you? You never take it off."

I didn’t answer. The truth was I couldn’t take it off. It pained me every time I did. We didn’t talk the rest of the way there, which wasn’t very long.

Before Aden opened my door he said, “Don’t take anything my brothers do personal, okay?”

“I never do.” I lied.

I think he noticed because he was scowling at me. He opened my door for me and led me to the front door. He opened the door and I stepped inside.

His house was the same as mine, only green. Everything was different shade of green. There were plants everywhere, which made me feel like I was in a forest.

Aden stepped in after me and closed the door.

“You like it?” he asked.

I smiled and said, “It looks oddly familiar.”

“All the houses look the same on the inside on this block. That means yours and mine.” he said with a chuckle.

I looked back at the stairs and standing in front of me was Trevor. He was half smiling, half grimacing. “Hi Candace.” he said.

I jumped back in surprise. Aden caught me and started to talk so quietly I couldn’t hear him.

I knew he was talking to Trevor secretly. Trevor gave me a dirty look and disappeared.

I was so confused. I was pretty sure that Aden told him to leave me alone or something like that. I was glad. Trevor scared me sometimes.

“Mom!” Aden called leading me towards, what I thought to be the kitchen.

“Yes Aden! In here!” A small voice called from somewhere down the hall. I followed Aden into the kitchen and saw a very tall, slender woman at the kitchen sink washing an apple.

She turned around to look at us. At once I saw her green eyes. They were brighter than Aden’s ever were. Her hair was the same dirty blond as well. She had the most beautiful face I had ever seen. She looked to 35 or so.

“Why, hello Candace. I see you have come for dinner.” She wiped her hands on her apron and shook my hand. “I’m Amy, Aden’s mom.”

Her grip was firm but not in a mean way. I’m pretty sure that she didn’t know her own strength, considering. “Hi Amy, I’m Candace.”

“What’s for dinner?” Aden asked.

Amy looked at him. “Don’t you know?” she asked.

“Well I don’t.” I said.

Amy smiled at me and said, “Of course you don’t honey. We have salad and fruit.”

“All for me?” I asked astonished. I totally forgot that they only drank blood.

“We will eat as well.” said Aden.

“Oh okay. So where are the others?” I asked.

“I have no idea. Why don’t you go look for them Aden. They were in the woods some where. Candace can help clean the fruit.” She looked at me and winked. I had no idea what it was for.

Aden studied his mom’s face for a second then turned to me. “Are you going to be alright here for a few minutes without me?” he asked looking straight into my eyes.

I nodded and he kissed my forehead. Like always, he sent shivers down my back. In an instant he was gone.

I looked back at Amy. She was sitting on one of the stools near the breakfast counter. “So, what do you want to know?” she asked me. I had no idea what she was talking about.

She read my expression well. “I mean about us. As people…or vampires.”

“Oh…well…I don’t know.” I said. I had no idea what I wanted to know.

“Aden won’t be back for at least ten minutes.” she said. “Come sit.” She patted the stool next to her. I sat down and a question popped into my head.

“Are you Aden’s real mother?” I asked as casually as I could.

“Yes.” she said sweetly. “His father bit all of us.”

“All of us?”

“Yes. Aden, Trevor, and myself. You see, Nicolaus was bitten a few weeks before that. He was out hunting deer for the winter. He didn’t come that night so in the morning my father went to look for him.

"He found him about a mile away from our home, bleeding from his neck. We cared for him as much as we could, but when he fully transformed we couldn’t contain him. He nearly killed Aden first. Aden turned into a vampire before Nicolaus had bitten me and Trevor.

"Life was horrible those few months.” She paused before continuing, “Eventually we were a bunch of vampires living in a small village. We left a few days after Trevor transformed. We made a dicision to never harm a human again. Eventually we got to where we are now.”

When she finished her story I asked, “Do you age when you become a vampire?”

“No. Why?” she asked curiously.

“Well…you look to young to be Aden’s mother, unless he aged.”

“That is because if you are a woman and become a vampire, you sort of go through more changes than the males. The females have their features altered to make the look younger than they really are, and more appealing to their prey.”

“Only the females?” I thought Aden looked amazing. Did he really look like that when he was human?

“Yes. I suppose you could say the females are the real predators.” She smiled at me and went back to the sink.

I followed and said, “Are there any other vampires around here?”

“No. There are some in Wisconsin though. Otherwise they are mostly in Europe.” Amy gave me a knife and an orange. “Would you peel this please?” she asked.

“Sure.” I answered.

As I peeled the orange I thought of Aden. He was so amazing to me. Everything he went through. I suppose it was a hundred years ago.

“Ouch!” I yelled. I wasn’t watching what I was doing and I cut my finger with the knife.

I froze.

I was in a house surrounded by vampires. Amy came to my side and said, “Come here.” She dragged me over to the sink and ran cold water over my finger.

I looked up at her and she smiled, “I’m fine don’t worry about it.”

“I’m so sorry!” I said frantically.

“It’s fine sweetie. I’m fine. I’ve dealt with blood before. You should be worrying about yourself. It isn’t that deep so we can just put a band-aid on it. Amy wrapped a towel around my finger and left the room. A moment later Aden appeared in front of me.

“What happened? Are you okay?” Aden asked frantically. He looked at me with scared eyes.

“I’m fine Aden. I just cut myself.”

“How? Where is Amy?” He strode over to me and carefully prided the towel off my finger. I could see that his eyes were a dark green.

“How did you know I was hurt?” I asked curiously, looking at my finger bleed onto the towel.

“I could smell it. The blood I mean. I came as fast as I could.”

“I’m fine Aden.” I said, trying to convince him. “Your mom says I’m fine.”

“Where is she?” he asked sternly.

“She went to get me something for this.” I held up my hand in front of him.

“Why?” he asked almost to himself. Amy walked through the kitchen door and came over to me. She put a small gaze wrap around it and said, “Aden leave.”

Aden had walked to the other side of the kitchen. “I just need a moment.” He replied.

“No. Go in the dining room with the rest of them. We will be out in a minute.” Aden hesitated for a moment then left to the dining room.

“Will he be okay?” I asked staring at the closing kitchen door.

She smiled weakly then said, “Yes honey. He’s fine.”

After Amy cleaned me up we headed for the dining room with plates of salads and fruits.

When I sat down next to Aden and grasped his hand, Trevor got up abruptly and left the room.

Aden gave me a small smile and whispered “Jealous.” I squeezed his hand tighter.

We ate dinner together like a real family should. Talking about school and Amy’s work. We also talked a little about Aden’s father and his past.

After awihle, Aden stood.  "We should probably get you home.  It is getting pretty late."

I thanked Amy for the food and she invited me back in a few days.  I told her I would be glad too.

Aden lead me out to the car and opened the door for me.  He seemed a little out of it.  We drove home in silence.  He stopped in front of the large marble steps, and waited.

I didn't get out.  I sat there, in the front seat and watched Aden.

When he realized I wasn't getting out, he turned to me.

"What is it?' I asked him.

He looked out the front window, thinking if he wanted to tell me.  Apparently he decided he did.  "I am kind of scared.  Scared for Trev.  He has been acting really wierd lately, I just don't know what to do."

I put my hand on his arm which made him stiffen, but I didn't take it away.  "I think you need to let him figure it out for himself.  I can talk to him if you want me too."

'No, it's fine.  I guess your right."

I smiled.  "Of course I am."

"You always are."

"So will I see tomorrow before school?"

"I hope so, I am picking you up."

I smiled.  "See you in the morning."

I kissed him on the cheek and turned and left quickly.  I didn't look back to see his reaction.  I ran inside and closed the door behind me.