FicWad

I wait with forced patience as he begins to speak. All I can say is this better be good or someone's ass is getting kicked, well, I'm going to try to batter him anyway.

"It began three years ago when we were living in Italy," he says and runs a hand through his hair.

"Wait," I interrupt. "You lived in Italy?"

He nods. "We have to move around a lot, you see, so humans don't get suspicious of us. I mean, it would be unusual when everyone around us aged and we didn't. Anyway, we were living in the city, when one day Mikey came home and told us there was another coven nearby. Naturally, we were all pretty excited, very rarely do we bump into our kind. We tend to keep within our own families.

Mikey told me he had met a girl our age-I'm talking vampire age, and she wanted to introduce us to the rest of her family. Of course we all agreed. That night, a car arrived to pick us up and we were driven to a castle deep in the woods."

I raise my eyebrows. "Sounds very cliched."

He nods and continues. "That's what I said, but the rest of the guys were just glad they were going to meet others like us. When we finally reached the entrance, a creepy looking butler opened the door for us and led us inside. Yeah, they had a butler and everything. He never spoke to us once.

Inside, the castle was so dark and gloomy, even we could barely see anything clearly. The butler-who Frank kindly nicknamed Lurch, after the Addam's Family, led us into a dining room which thankfully was brightly lit and that's when I saw her," he pauses and glances at me. I try to keep my face composed and expressionless.

He sighs wearily. "She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen in my life." I inhale sharply and try hard not to glare at him. The feeling of jealousy burns through my veins. I hate this creature with a passion already.

I think he sees something in my eyes because he reaches over to stroke my hand. "I'm just being honest with you, Stella. I want to tell you the whole truth." I appreciate that, so allow him to touch me.

"She had long black hair and the palest skin I'd ever seen, but that's not what got my attention. It was her eyes, they were the lightest shade of blue I'd ever seen. Frank thought they were creepy, but not me," he sighs. "It was love at first sight. At least that's what I thought it was.

There were others in the room but I hardly noticed them. I only had eyes for her, but she never looked my way, which really annoyed me. She knew I was watching her but ignored me purposefully. I would later learn she enjoyed playing little games like that.

Mikey's friends introduced us to the coven and I found out her name was Ava Drabek, the others were her brothers and sisters. Their parents lived in England. The eldest brother, Michael, told us to make ourselves at home.

I tried to talk to Ava but she acted like she never heard me. It was very frustrating but I never stopped trying. I couldn't understand why she was being so difficult."

Probably because she was a bitch, I thought viciously, and ripped some blades of grass out with my hands, then I felt bad. What had the poor grass done to deserve being killed like that?

"It went on like this for hours. I would try to talk to her and she would move away from me. I followed her like a little puppy," he admits, looking embarrassed. "At one point, she even told her sister, Bella and they had a good laugh at my expense. That's when I lost my temper and decided she wasn't worth it. I told the others I was leaving and started to make my way out of there. She grabbed me outside in the hallway," he peers away into the distance awkwardly and refuses to look at me.

I clear my throat. "What happened then?"

"Well," he gulps nervously. "She, erm...kissed me." I swear, if he could blush, he would.

"Hmm," I say calmly. I cross my legs and channel my inner Yoga goddess. "What happened then?" I hum.

"She....led me to her....bedroom." He whispers the last word but I still catch it.

Slut! Slut! SLUT!! I think furiously. "Well, she didn't waste any time did she?" I say dryly. Gerard does nothing, just sits and watches my reaction. I sit in my calming Yoga position and try not to throw my shoe at him. "Was that the beginning of your beautiful relationship?"

"I moved in with her the next day."

I raise my eyebrows. "Hmm." I'm pretending I am Madonna-except without the scary body-builder arms.

"She had her own wing in the castle-it was insane," he continues. "At first everything was great. I had never been happier, we spent all our time together. We Hunted together-I converted her into a vegetarian for awhile. There was even talk of marriage. But then I began to notice alarming changes in her behavior. For instance, she didn't like it when I wanted to spend time with my family. Now, I didn't mind being with her, but she wanted me with her every second of the day. She would throw a fit if I left her-it was maddening. It started to cause arguments between us. It all came to a head one fateful day.

Frank came over and we were just relaxing when she suddenly burst in and launched herself at him. I jumped up and dragged her off him-it wasn't easy, she is very strong. Anyway, her brother Michael jumped in and pulled her into the corner away from Frank. You can imagine how upset he was, he wanted to fight her even though she was a girl. It took a while to calm him down. He can get pretty mad when provoked.

I asked Ava why the hell she attacked Frank. Her response shocked me, she said it was because Frank was in love with me and she needed to kill him to get rid of the threat."

"WHAT?!" I yell.

He rolls his eyes. "I know, I know. For some strange reason she got it into her head that Frank and I had a thing going on-it wasn't true, of course. Strangely, she kept calling us Frerard. I had no clue what she was talking about, I thought she had lost her mind. It's only recently Frank told me he put the whole thing in her head because he didn't like her.

We got into a huge argument, Frank kept butting in and calling her a "crazy-ass biatch,"-that didn't help matters, trust me, especially with her brother there. He eventually lost his temper and tried to snap Frank's neck, he was a big guy. Obviously, I wasn't going to let someone hurt Frank."

"What did you do?" I ask. He has a dark gleam in his eyes which is making me shiver.

"I lost my temper, and I ended up nearly killing him."

"I thought vampires couldn't die."

"A vampire can destroy another vampire. You just have to get mad enough, and I was plenty mad," he murmurs. "Mikey and Bob showed up out of nowhere and broke it up. I'm glad that they did, otherwise who knows what could have happened?"

"What did Ava do?" The crazy-ass biatch, I think. I suddenly love Frank.

"She started screaming hysterically. It was deafening, but Frank thought it was hilarious and joined in with her. She didn't care, just screamed louder. She could have woken the dead.

Now, I don't condone hitting women but I was forced to slap her to bring her to her senses. I apologized immediately but she tried to claw my eyes out. Stella, the girl was insane." He shakes his head at the memory. "I threw her off me and she landed on the floor, then she went for Bob, which is always a bad idea. She tried to bite him and he pushed her away, it was a gentle shove but she went flying into a wall. I decided we needed to get out of there before the other family members arrived."

"Whoa," I breath. "How come she was so insane?"

"We did some research on the family and found out that she had been admitted into a vampire asylum for a number of years."

"Vampire asylum?" I ask in disbelief.

"Yep. For the crazies. And Ava was the craziest girl I'd ever met."

"What did you do then?" I ask, thinking compared to this Ava chick, I'm relatively sane.

"I knew she wouldn't leave me alone. I sensed stalker tendencies in her so I decided we needed to move. So, we left Italy abruptly and moved to France. We were only there for three weeks when she turned up in Paris, more insane then ever. She stood outside our house and started yelling and screaming-Frank wanted to throw a T.V at her.

We all went outside and she burst into tears-fake tears as vampires can't cry. She told me she was pregnant."

I gulp and stare at him.

"Relax. It was a lie, vampires can't get pregnant," he assures me. "Anyway, Ray dragged her inside, we couldn't risk some human hearing her screaming at us, could we? Inside the house, she actually tried to stab Frank with a knife, I mean, that wouldn't have hurt him or anything, but still, its not polite, is it? Trying to knife someone?

After that, I tied her up and demanded to know what her problem was. She cried about how she couldn't live without me and stuff of that nature. I told her she was out of her mind and we could never be together and then it got ugly. Well, uglier.

She somehow managed to free herself from her restraints and leapt though the air, landing on poor Frank. It was shocking really, the lunatic was trying to rip him limb from limb-that's another way you can really destroy a vampire. Anyway, we all jumped in and dragged her off-it wasn't easy, it took me, Bob and Ray to pull her off.

We threw her in the basement and locked the door. Mikey called her family and they came that night to take her away. Her sister Bella assured me Ava would be re-admitted into the asylum, for life this time as she could easily expose vampires to the outside world.

So, they had her locked up and that was the last time we heard of them. We moved to Germany and I decided to stay away from women in general for awhile. Everything was great, until one day, Michael contacted Mikey and informed him she had escaped and was searching for me. He told me to be aware because she'd convinced herself I had a new girl in my life and was coming to kill her.

We all became alert and stayed on the look-out for her scent. One day I came home to an empty house to find the psycho sitting in the living room. Luckily, I was the only person at home-Frank was no-where to be found and the rest of the guys were out for the night. I quickly informed her family and went inside to try to talk to the nut.

It was actually very disturbing. She didn't scream, didn't shout. In fact she barely moved a muscle, she just looked at me and said theses chilling words:

"If you ever replace me with another woman. I will hunt her down and rip out her heart."

She didn't utter another thing after that. Not even when she was led away by her brother and sister. They took her back to the nut-house and that was the last time we ever heard from them again.

It's been two years now since we moved to Knives and she's still locked up." He falls silent and waits for me to speak.

Honestly, I'm speechless. I can't believe how loopy this ex of his was. "Well, you certainly know how to pick 'em," I joke after an age of silence.

He looks at me seriously. "I had no idea at the time she was so unstable, if I had known I would have stayed away."

"That's what happens when you don't think with your brain," I say, my previous sarcasm returning a little.

He sighs. "I made a mistake and suffered the consequences, okay?"

I watch him as intently as he is staring at me. "So you haven't been cheating on me?"

"Never. I love you more then anything, Stella."

That does it for me, I get up and rush over to him. I jump into his lap and throw my arms around him. "I love you too, Gerard," I cry, feeling more happy then I've felt in a long time. "It's great I don't have to kick your butt!"

He chuckles and leans in to kiss me. As our lips touch I realize this is our first proper kiss, one that is real and means something. With that thought running through my mind, I kiss him harder.

"Whoa, easy there tiger. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself," he smirks.

I ignore him and ambush his lips again. I can feel him smiling as he returns the kiss softly. Suddenly, he pulls me away from him. I give him a questioning look.

"We need to talk about Jacob," he says, all trace of humor gone from his face.

"What about him?" I say carefully.

He takes a deep breath. "Stella, I don't want you to see him anymore."

"Why not?" I ask with a frown. "He's my friend."

Gerard stiffens a little but continues. "He's dangerous."

"What? More dangerous then a coven of vampires?"

It's his turn to frown. "You are safe with us."

"I'm safe with Jacob," I hit back sharply, aware this may turn into an argument.

"You don't know him as well as I do," he says vaguely.

"I know him better then you do, Gerard. I've known him longer then you have."

He peers into the distance mysteriously. "You don't know everything."

"I know enough to know I like him.....as a friend, of course," I stutter, blushing.
He looks at me, his eyes slightly narrowed. "I don't want you to see him again."

"I'm sorry. But it sounds like you're trying to tell me what to do," I snap, my anger rising.

"Stella, I know what's best for you," he replies patiently.

I jump up, seriously mad now. "I'm not a child Gerard." I yell. "And there's no way in hell I'm letting some man tell me what to do."

"I'm not "some man", Stella. I'm your boyfriend and I love you. I just want to keep you safe, that's all." He gets up and takes a step towards me.

"I am safe around Jacob. He would never hurt me," I say stubbornly.

"I don't want to argue with you, Stella," he says softly.

I take a deep breath. "Neither do I. Can we please change the subject?"

He nods and takes my hand. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?" He leads me across the meadow and into the forest, we come into a clearing and sit on a tree stump. I snuggle into his chest and he kisses me gently on my forehead.

"This is nice," I comment lazily, feeling calmer.

"I know."

I yawn quietly. "Are you tired?" he asks me quickly. "I could take you home."

I shake my head then remember something which makes me sit up straighter. "You mean take me home in the trunk of your car?"

"Yeah, about that," he begins slowly and runs a hand through his hair.

"If you ever kidnap me again, I'll never speak to you again!" I warn him.

"Erm, okay," he agrees and I go back to hugging him.

"I still love you though," I murmur.

"Not like I love you," he replies.

We spend the rest of the afternoon talking and getting to know each other properly without any interruptions. To my surprise, I discover Gerard has a macabre sense of humor and just loves watching horror movies. Then he starts asking me a million questions about myself. He questions me about my likes, dislikes-simply everything, even stuff that shouldn't really interest him, does.

Before I know it, night has begun to fall and he suggests we should begin to make our way home. I turn on the CD player and the gentle sounds of Debussy fill the air.

"You listen to classical music?" I ask him in surprise.

He shrugs. "Yes, now and then."

"But I thought you only listened to heavy metal and stuff?"

"I've been around a very long time, Stella. There was a time rock music wasn't even around yet."

"Oh, yeah." I stare out of the window absentmindedly.

"Does the age difference bother you?" he asks softly.

I turn to look at him. "No," I assure him. "What's a hundred years anyway?"

He laughs. "You are one strange girl."

"Yeah, and you love this strange little girl," I tease and poke him in the ribs.

"With all my heart," he says seriously.

Before I know it, we're sitting outside my house. Did I mention Gerard drives like a lunatic? Well, he does and I love it. Anyway, I give him one last lingering kiss goodbye-he promises he'll join me when my dad falls asleep, and drives off into the night.

When I get inside, I find dad hasn't even returned yet. It makes me wonder what the old man does with his time. I mean, he can't be fighting crime all the time. He might even have a girlfriend for all I know.

I run to my bedroom and check my phone for messages. I gasp when I see I have fifty missed calls and as many texts, all from Jacob. The last one was sent about two minutes ago.

I'm way too much of a chicken to call him and tell him I've spent the day with Gerard, so I send him a text asking what's up. Within a few seconds my phone beeps.

Where have you been all day? I thought you'd been kidnapped.

I burst out laughing. If only he knew I had indeed been kidnapped. But I'm not going to tell him that.

It's a long story. xx

That will have to do until I meet up with him.

I want to know. Now.

I frown, why are all the men in my life so damn stubborn? Well, two can play at that game.

I'm tired. Will tell you tomorrow. xx

It's two minutes before I get a reply.

Fine. Tomorrow. It better be good. I'll pick you up at 8 AM.

Eight in the morning? Is he crazy? I text him that thought but his phone is now mysteriously switched off.

I sigh. I wonder how Gerard is going to react when he finds out I'm going to meet Jacob tomorrow? And how is Jacob going to react when he finds out I spent the whole day with Gerard?

My life is soooo complicated.

Ooh, what is gonna happen when she meets Jacob? Or will Gerard manage to stop her?...