C23 Eli

She. Is. Beauty. One day God looked at himself and said, how can I put perfection in humanity? Then God masterfully created Amelia Rose and beamed her into her mother’s womb. Next, he told Eli, she is for you, but you will have to wait for her, earn her trust, and deserve her. A century passes, and I finally find her, but I do not deserve her. Not yet. What little confidence I had built up with her was gone now. Thanks, mother. I have to explain. I have to show her that my family doesn’t dictate my life. At least not anymore.

Her lilac perfume interrupted my thoughts. She loved the smell of flowers, but she wore lilac the most. I knew she would make her way to the library. My heart rate sped up, and my skin heated, signaling my sweat glands. Panic started rising in me, so I sped to the bathroom. I rubbed my hands through my hair and yanked the strands just enough to hurt. I wanted to scream, but I punched the air a few times instead.

I clenched the sink as I stared into the mirror. Dark eyes, sweaty bunched-up forehead, my fangs are craving to rip through something, anything. Me. My fangs are craving to rip through me. God created magic and gifted it to me, and I was hiding in the bathroom. Am I a man, or am I a monster? I splashed my face with water, straightened my clothes, gave myself one last look over, and walked out to find her, my Amelia Rose. If I am ever going to deserve her, I need to remember what it was like to be a man; strong in body AND mind, confident. She needs to see me as more than a project. “Get it together!” With another deep breath I was ready to earn her.

“We should talk.” She dropped the book she was reading and pressed her back against the bookshelf. I stepped closer, pulling in her gaze. She wasn’t afraid. Startled, but not scared. A small smile crept up her lips, but she dropped her head quickly to hide it and pressed her fingers together. I lifted her chin close to mine and whispered, “Please?” She nodded. “Hold your breath.” When we arrived at my house, I set her down on the couch in the living room to catch her breath. She never holds it. I tried to hold back my laughter, but it was simply too funny watching her gasp so dramatically.

“I would never force or manipulate you into anything you didn’t want to do. My family no longer has power over me. I stopped letting them train me a few decades ago. I guess I always knew there was something I could do about it. I just didn’t know I had the strength for it until you. I forgot what it meant to be a man until I met you. I want to be a man again. One you deserve. I want you, Amelia Rose.”

“I can’t be a vampire, Eli.” She stood up and walked away from me, her heartbeat rapidly drumming in my ears.

“What?” I stepped closer.

“I don’t want to be a vampire. I can’t do that.” She turned back around to face me. “If you and your family can’t accept me as a mortal, then you need to let me be Eli, please.” She had my gaze locked in and refused to release it.

“I don’t want to turn you into a vampire.”

“I heard what you said. I may have just met you, but I know a brewing plot when I see one.”

“It’s true. I am plotting.” Her eyes flooded with tears, but she held them in tight like a dam. She looked down at her fingers tightly pressed together again. If I can win her over, it will be my new life mission to keep her too happy to fiddle with her fingers that way. I laid a hand over hers. “I don’t want to turn you into a vampire; I want to turn myself into a mortal human again.” She dropped her hands. I watched her chest rise and fall faster and faster. I gently laid my hand on her cheek; she leaned into it. “I want to grow old finally, and I want to do it with you. I’ve been looking for you for a long time.”

The hairs on my arms rose, and tingles rippled down my body from my fingers. I want to kiss her. My stomach turned and twisted in knots, but I felt confident and bold, so I went for it. I pressed my lips to hers gently, savoring the moment, letting the electricity build up. My eyes closed, and her body melted into my tight embrace. Then we pressed harder, desperately needing to be closer. She opened her mouth slightly and let my tongue have its way. My hand slowly glided up her back, leaving prickles on my fingertips.

My hand caressed her cheek, the touch like static electricity. We were both panting and heaving. I wrap my other hand around her waist and pull her closer, gently at first. She wraps her arms around my neck, and our lips crash land again like airplanes racing to the same landing lane. I walk her back against the wall without taking a breathing break. I will earn her love every day.

After catching our breath, still leaning against the wall, she asked, “Can I ask you some personal questions?” I nodded, knowing I couldn't keep my secrets from her much longer. In truth, I wanted her to know everything anyway. I just feared the threshold of her kindness was coming up fast.

I wanted to rush in and engulf her in ecstasy, but the rapid pulsing of her heart had slowed, steadied. She was relaxed with me, a monster trying to be a man again. The veins in her neck throbbed, mapping out her body. They bulged thicker, more brutal, louder the longer I stared at them. I stumbled backward, nearly falling. Panic swelled in my stomach and crawled into my throat, but it refused to crawl out. My chest heaved high and low, high and low, faster and faster. The memory of my fangs sinking into her skin, the taste of her blood swimming along my tongue, they flashed across my mind. I glimpsed her face before I jumped to my feet to bolt.