Chapter 6

Erin slowly opened her eyes. She let out a sigh as she registered her body snugly tucked into her soft, soft bed. It was a wonderful, calming feeling. She never knew that her bed was so.. So not her bed!

Erin's eyes flew wide open as she surveyed the room she was in. She didn't recognize this room because it wasn't her room! Where was she? How had she gotten here??

  "You're awake."

Erin jumped as she heard the voice. She knew that voice. But it wasn't possible. That couldn't be Julian Ferrari.

She sat up on the wide bed and allowed her eyes to register the dim lighted room. It was then she saw him, seated on a sofa right in front of her. He was shirtless and looked like he had just came out of the shower. He looked.. Incredible. Shut up!

"Erm... What.. What am I doing here?" Erin asked in a low voice.

"We can start with you actually telling me what you were doing outside your house in the midnight?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

Erin mused as the events of the night before came back to her memory. So it had truly happened? She had truly been chased by a shape-shifting monster that had almost eaten her alive?? She remembered how he'd been cut into two by the man in front of her. How had he known that she was there and in trouble?

"First tell me how you found me? How did you know I was there at that time?" Erin frowned, her eyes questioning as she glared at him.

Julian chuckled, standing up from the sofa and moved towards her and eased on the bed. Erin unconsciously pulled herself deeper into the bed as he came close.

"You could say I've been stalking you. But I knew I had a good reason to. You almost got yourself killed. Had I not been there, the demon would have eaten you." Julian stated as-a-matter-of-fact.

Erin's mouth hung open. He was right. She was lucky he'd been there to save her. "Thank you. You saved my life."

  "I was wondering when you were going have the decency." Julian said with a small smile at her.

"Decency for what?"

"To say thank you for rescuing you." He replied, the smile wider.

Erin glared at him. "I still have questions. How do you know that it was a demon? And how were you able to kill it so easily?"

Julian sighed and moved closer to Erin, so close that Erin could smell his soapy/manly scent. She felt the air in her lungs dry up as she waited for whatever he was preparing to do.

"You are just a young girl who moved here to have a normal life, but what you saw would change your life."

"Well, it can't be unchanged. So you can as well explain it to me." Erin said.

Julian smiled at her and raised his hands to her face. He gently stroked her cheek and looked deep into her eyes. Erin was drowning in those black pits and she didn't know how to get out.

"You're so beautiful," She said before she could think better of it. She quickly clamped her mouth shut but she knew it had gotten out judging by the expressive smile on his face.

  "With my power of compulsion, I will make you forget. That way, you'll be safer." He said, his fingers still caressing her chin gently.

Erin didn't know what that meant but she just couldn't bring herself to react. It was like she was completely frozen. With a determined gleam, Julian grabbed her face and brought it closer to his, she could see the deep color of his eyeballs and every pore on his face.

  "You will do as I say." He commanded, still staring heavily at Erin. "Starting from this second, you will forget about everything that happened to you last night, you will forget what you saw, you will forget how you got here, and you will go home and stay indoors."

   They stared at each other wordlessly. Julian looked at her, waiting for his words to have the effect of compulsion on her. Usually, after a person had just been compelled to do whatever he told them to do, their eyes would retract and become a dark pit before they would blindingly nod their head as a sign of them being compelled. Julian was still waiting for this to happen to Erin.

  "Why would you think that I'll just forget? Was that supposed to be a request or a command?" Erin asked, her eyebrows turned down in confusion.

Julian sucked in a breath. She wasn't compelled. It didn't work. He steadily jumped up on his feet, desperate to take a little space from her.. Whoever or whatever she was.

In all of his years as a vampire, he'd never had his power of compulsion fail on any human. Not even the ruler of the entire state. He realized that if she could not be compelled, it meant trouble. It wouldn't take long for supernaturals to find her out with her abnormality.

Even without the abnormality, she was already being hunted. Just few days of her arrival to the area. Julian remembered when he'd first met her, there had been something about her. Something that made him wary of her. Yes, she was completely human, the sweet tingly could testify to that.

But apart from that, she'd seemed like she was hiding something.. Dangerous. Something that was likely a threat to him and his kind. Now he understood his wariness of her and why he had immediately ran away from the conference meeting. Her mind was immune to him and his kind.

  "Hey.. Is something wrong?" She had gotten up from the bed and now stood in front of him. He held his breath as his eyes scanned her soft features.

  "How old are you?" He asked, his voice formal and distant. Although, yesterday, the moment he'd left the meeting, he'd asked his men to provide every information they could about her, the uploaded and even the hidden one. Nothing had seemed abnormal, and she was supposed to be 22, but he couldn't be sure of—

"I'm twenty-two years old." She replied, stopping his erratic thoughts.

"Oh.. You have any family?" He asked again.

Erin paused to stare at him, unsure.  "Well... No, I don't." She was lying, Julian noted. "It's just me," She finished with a nervous chuckle.

  "Who is the 14 year old boy staying with you then?"

Erin's eyes widened and her mouth hanging open. "What? How–how do you even know about my..?"

"I know things about you, Erin Dexter. And I know in fact that you're lying through your teeth right now." He told Erin, a smirk on his fine lips.

"Look, I know that you're my boss's boss at work, but I don't see why you should know personal things about my life! So yes, I lied. And.. I have to go. Thank you for saving me from..." She raised her hand up in an attempt to explain what it was, but failed.

"Whatever that thing was. But I have to go home now. My brother will be looking for me now."

With his jaw clenched, Julian turned to her. He needed to approach the situation with caution. He gave her a warm smile.

"You will need to go by transportation. Let me drop you home?"

  Erin glanced at him, hesitation clearly written all over her face.

"I'm not one of the monsters, if that's what you are wondering."

"I... Suppose I could use a lift. Thank you, Mr Ferrari."

  Julian nodded wordlessly with a wide grin.

                           

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