not how I want to tell her.
“I think it is best if I just book a flight home,” Keri continues, my silence being taken as an admission of guilt. “Obviously you have been lying to me, and our type of relationship can’t last on lies. I thought I knew you, Bentley. I thought this time was different…”
God, the pain in her voice is breaking me.
“I thought we had something special. I was wrong.”
“No, you aren’t wrong. What we have is something special, something really special.”
“You’ve been lying to me. Even if they are lies of omission, they are still lies. If I can’t trust you, I can’t submit to you.”
“I need you to listen to me now, Butterfly. What I am going to tell you is not going to be easy for you to hear,” I begin.
Erik blurs from the room. He knows we need to be alone for this. Keri is focused on me, she doesn’t notice his departure.
I can feel her heart racing, hear it. She is afraid. This is not how this was supposed to go. Damnit, girl. This is hard enough.
“I am going to explain everything. I just need your trust for a few more minutes. Please, listen until I’m done talking, and then I’ll answer any questions you have, okay, Butterfly? Can you do that for me?”
“Yes, Sir.”
She slips back into my submissive girl. “Good girl,” I praise her. I need her to calm down, to hear what I’m going to say. I walk over to her chair, pull it back, and then kneel before her. Taking her hands in mine, I start what will surely be one of the hardest conversations we will ever have. I make sure to look her in the eyes before I speak the next words.
“I am a vampire.” I pause, watching her face. She holds it still, emotionless. Her training as an investigative journalist has surely kicked in. All that time having verbal bombs dropped on her and being forced to remain professional is helping camouflage her reaction. I hate it. I want an authentic reaction out of her. Since I am not getting it from her facial expression, I turn to her thoughts.
Vampires do not exist.
“Yes, vampires do exist. The reason I am only out at night and go to sleep at dawn isn’t because of work, but because the sun’s rays kill us. I need to rest, to recharge, during the day. That is the real reason you can’t ever get hold of me during daylight hours. Not because I am working or on international calls.” I pause again to study her.
Her face has gone white, all color drained from it. Closing my eyes, I lean forward, listening intently to her thoughts.
Is this a joke? Why is he telling me all of this? Is it a prank? Is he trying to push me away? Is it some Halloween thing? Has he lost his mind? He seems to really believe what he is saying. Vampires. Do. Not. Exist. Her thoughts are running a mile a minute, chaotically taking multiple paths at a time. I would laugh, if the situation wasn’t as serious as it is.
“Sweetheart, we—vampires—do exist. No, it is not a Halloween thing, a prank, or a joke. I haven’t lost my mind. This is real, Butterfly. Tomorrow, I want to take you downstairs at Club Toxic. I want to take our relationship to the next level. I want you to know everything because I love you, and I want to share all of eternity with you.”
“How did you—”
“I can read minds. It is one of my powers.”
“If you can read minds, what number am I thinking of?”
The age-old, what number am I thinking question. Humans are so very predictable. I listen to Keri debate with herself over what number to settle on.
“One million, five hundred and ninety-three thousand, six hundred and eighty-eight point two three four six seven zero eight five two…” I recite the numbers out loud in succession as she thinks them.
“B-b-but, vampires do not exist.”
“We do exist, Keri. Let me show you.”
“What do you mean, show me? What are you going to do, drink my blood?” She laughs.
I stand up and blur to the other side of the room and then back to her side, then I do it again, going upstairs and grabbing her small stuffed rabbit off her bed. She starts to sway in her chair. I blur across the room to catch her before she falls. That must have been