Chapter 10: Decisions

I let my eyes travel from Chris’ brown eyes to his perfectly plump lips. At that moment, I wanted more than anything to feel his lips on mine, to taste them, bite them. I looked into his eyes again, and I realized that he had the same thoughts as me.

I closed my eyes and I felt his lips brushing mine. And then, I saw my mom; she was happy, and she was laughing with the father of the boy I was about to kiss. My eyes snapped open, and I sat on the floor.

What was I thinking? I mentally cursed and scolded myself. I shouldn’t have let my guard down that easily. Admittedly, Chris was hot as hell, but he was out of my reach. He may end up being my family!

“Tell me a memory,” I told him, trying to sound unfazed by what was about to happen.

“What memory, Ophelia? Are you okay?” he asked, and I could sense that he was confused and a bit irritated.

“A memory of your mother,” I clarified, and I heard him sigh.

“We were about to…”

I didn’t let him finish that sentence, “We were about to make a huge mistake. Your dad and my mom are dating. We can’t, and we shouldn’t be doing this or anything like that,” I stated, my voice void of any emotion.

“And what if they break up?”

“What if they get married?” I countered back, and he stayed silent. “Imagine what people will say if they learn that I’d made out or slept with my step-brother.”

“Ophelia, you shouldn’t care about what people will think; you should care about what you want and need.”

“Imagine what will our parents think of us. I can’t do that to my mom. She’s in love with David, with your father; I can’t ruin her happiness for a kiss,” I told him truthfully.

“I’ve never met a girl like you,” he sighed and lied down once again.

“And you never will. I'm one of a kind,” I chuckled.

“So, what’s going to happen with us?”

“We are going to be friends,” I said nonchalantly.

“Friends?” he asked laughing.

“Oh, come on, don’t tell me, you think that a boy and a girl can’t be friends?!"

“You mean that you are completely unattracted to me and that you see me as your brother?”

“That’s right. You’re smart, after all,” I said sarcastically.

“And you’re a liar.”

“Whatever makes you sleep at night,” I rolled my eyes at him, and then lied back again.

“I discover this place the first time my dad brought me up here. I was mesmerized by the stars. Back then, I was trying to find the brightest, because I thought that this one was mom watching me from above,” he said after a few moments of silence.

“Did you find it?”

“Uh, look at them; I can’t decide,” he shrugged.

We spent the next hour or so trying to find the brightest star, or just naming different constellations. Eventually, I got very tired, and Christopher almost had to drag me back to our room. It was late, but I was grateful as I managed to catch a few hours of dreamless sleep. My brain shut off all the unsettling thoughts.

The next two days passed by in the same pattern. We went for snowboard or ski, we ate together, saw a couple of movies at the cinema. I bought small gifts for my grandparents, and we made sure to take a lot of photos to show them. Despite that dream and its aftermath, I had a really great time. David promised that he was going to bring us back again next year; Chris and I rejoiced when we heard that.

We were like a happy family, and I was sure that the people around us thought the same. Sometimes our wishes and deepest desires come true; I couldn’t be more thankful that David and Chris came into my life and became my family.
I was sad that we had to leave from that little heaven, but on the other hand, I was dying to know what my grandpa had discovered about that nightmare. On our way back, they were all very talkative, and I was somewhat lost in my thoughts. I was reliving repeatedly that nightmare, not because I'm masochist, but because I couldn’t let myself forget any details; not before I’d paint everything.

David drove us to our house very late that night. It was impossible to meet my grandpa at this hour. Only the thought that I had to wait one more night drove me crazy. I wasn’t sure why I was acting this way for a complete stranger. Something inside me told me that he wasn’t just a stranger; that our destinies would be intertwined…

I helped my mom unpack and do some laundry. She went to bed and I was supposed to do the same, but I gave up after I spent half an hour turning in my bed. I turned on all the lights in my room, I put a new canvas on my easel, and grabbed my palette and my favorite brushes. I started painted or drawing memories of that nightmare. I designed the mansion and the limousine; I made a portrait of the middle-aged man and his son; I painted the red flames that consumed everything around them.

The door of my room burst open, but I didn’t even turn to look at my mom. “Angel, are you going to wake up? Your grandparents are here,” she said, and that’s when I reacted.

“Here? Where?” I said, and she jumped startled when she finally noticed me behind the easel.

“Tell me that you catch some sleep and that you didn’t stay up all night drawing…” she said with a stern look on her face.

“Mom, please don’t start right now. Can Papa Peter come here so we can talk?” I said with pleading eyes.

“You have to get dressed and eat something before you do all the talking.”

“Okay, I’ll dress up. Now please call him.”

She glared at me before she exited the room, and I started getting dress quickly. The door opened once again, and this time I almost run to my grandpa’s open arms. He embraced me into a bear hug; relief washed over me.

“How are you holding up, angel?” he asked me and kissed the top of my head.

“I think I’m better now. I’ve been painting all night.”

“Can I take a look?” he inquired, and I simply nodded.

He looked carefully at the paintings, a hard look on his face. I wish I could read his thoughts; that silence was suffocating me.

“When did you see that nightmare, Ophelia?”

“On December 24th. When I woke up it was almost 3 am.”

“I searched everything that happened these past few days, but nothing like what you saw was reported officially at the Police,” grandpa stated.

“So, it hasn’t happened yet!? That means we can save them; we can prevent this. We just have to find them,” I exclaimed, and a smile formed on my lips.

“Ophelia, nothing was officially reported, but I used my connections in the Senatus, and I’ve learned that there was indeed an explosion and an attack against one vampire,” grandpa continued, and I felt all the blood leave my face.

“He is dead, isn’t he?”

“The man you saw isn’t dead, not yet, but he is in a very critical condition. Three other humans lost their lives, though.”
I couldn’t help the small smile that spread on my lips, and at the same time, my heart sank for the three humans that were killed. “Are they going to turn him into a vampire?”

“It is against their rules since the Senatus hasn’t approved Jack’s transformation. Robert, his father, asked permission to turn him. The procedures, that must be followed, require Jack to wake up. And that’s impossible, because he will be in immense pain and his heart will stop beating,” my grandpa explained, and I was speechless.

There was a series of tests and evaluations you had to pass if you want to become a vampire. Forever is a very long time, and vampires aren’t fond of rulebreakers, especially when they are going to be blood-thirsty killing machines.

“There is no hope…” I muttered.

“I'm sorry, angel,” Papa Peter whispered to me and patted my back.

“Why did I see these dreams, grandpa? Why it’s so painful? I don’t know him; I've never seen this man before…”

“I wish I could answer these questions, Ophelia. I am shocked by your paintings, too. The portraits are split images of the men I saw in the photos; even the mansion is exactly the same,” my grandpa muttered confused.

I looked him flabbergast, while a chill ran down my spine. This was very weird.

He advised me to forget all these and concentrate on my studies. They even hid the paintings from me; no one ever mentioned this event again; they didn’t tell me if Jack had survived. I’ve learned from the news that Jack King, the only child of Robert King and the heir of King Enterprises, passed away a week after a tragic explosion.

In that week our destine was sealed; the decisions every one of us took affected the fate of the whole world…