He kept stroking inside of me gently as he drank from me, soft purring timbres emanating from his chest as he swallowed my blood in greedy sips. We were wrapped around each other, lost in our communion together.
"What in the fuck is going on?"
Chapter 8 – To Know is to Forget
We'd cocooned ourselves in bliss, completely unaware of our surroundings. Georgia, being her normal inquisitive self with no boundaries, had stumbled upon more than she'd bargained for. Her intrusion was unexpected and startling, causing immediate chaos.
Stefan withdrew his fangs from my neck and went into attack mode, streaking from the bed with his bloody teeth bared, grabbing Georgia by the throat. She fought against him, her dark blue eyes large and filled with unshed tears. Stefan's grip never faltered as he held her in place, his eyes dilated and unfocused.
Ignoring the blood that trickled down my chest from his bite, I frantically dove from the bed to calm the sudden commotion, hastily draping the sheet around me.
"Stefan, let her go. It's Georgia," I tried to reason with him, my voice getting louder as I spoke. Snapping my fingers in front of his face, I tried again. "Stefan!"
His eyes darted between Georgia and myself. His fingers gradually loosened their grasp on her and she staggered backwards, clutching her neck where his hand had been. Her head bobbed back and forth between us, her mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out.
She whirled around on her heel, turning to run and I panicked. Throwing my hands up in front of me, I let out a shriek. "No! Georgia, stop!"
She came to an immediate halt, unable to move. My inner shield had altered in some way, invisibly casting itself outward in my fear. It encircled her, effectively holding her in place. It felt as if an elastic web had stretched away from my body to securely wrap around her.
Stefan could only stare at me, his mind voice filled with awe. "Are you doing this, Josephine?"
I shrugged. "It appears that I am. I have no idea what's happening, Stefan."
Slowly approaching her, I kept my hands in front of me. "Georgia, I want you to sit down so we can talk, ok?"
Mentally directing her to the bed, I watched her unsteady gait as she moved under my control to awkwardly sit on the bed. I began to lower my hands and I could feel the strength of the shield waver slightly. Unsure how to manipulate it, I jerked my hands up and the power increased. My fingers were trembling under the effort it took to control my new ability.
"Josie, why was he biting you? And why can't I move?" Georgia whined. She looked as if she could burst into tears at any moment.
I ignored both of her questions. "Oh, Georgia. Why couldn't you just knock on the door like a normal person? This could have been avoided."
"Don't you dare put this on me! You need to answer me, Josie. Is he a va-vampire?" Georgia stuttered. She looked at Stefan with apprehension. He folded his arms across his broad chest and leaned against the wall, unashamedly naked. He was watching both of us intently.
He sent his thoughts to me. "If Georgia does not accept the truth I will have no choice to either kill her or force my will on her, erasing this part of her memory. It will be dangerous to remove so much, vackra."
"Georgia, I need you to listen and I need you to stay calm," I said softly to her as I crouched down beside her. "Yes, Stefan is a vampire."
She swallowed hard and a tear ran crookedly down her cheek. "Are you one too?"
I offered her an uneasy smile. "Only part," I corrected. "I found out about my parents during our impromptu trip."
"Why can't I move?"
I put down my hands and concentrated, focusing on releasing her. I felt my shield retract within me, the tension disappearing. "I was doing it. You can move now."
She moved one if her hands first, flexing and unflexing them, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at me suspiciously. She then bent her arm and shook her legs, making sure they still worked.
"How long have you known that he's a vampire?"
I reached across to smooth her long dark hair away from her frightened face. "Since the first night I met him."
"I just don't understand any of this, Josie. Did he do this to you?" Her southern accent became more evident and she jerked her chin towards Stefan. "What the hell does all this mean?"
I glanced over my shoulder at Stefan. He hadn't moved and was as still as a statue, his thoughts closed to me, giving me the control in what I chose to tell Georgia.
"No, Stefan didn't do this to me. I was born this way. When we were in New York I met my father. He's a vampire." I took a deep breath and continued. "My mother was human. Basically, I'm a mixture of both. Maybe it would be easier to think of me as a more durable version of the Josie you know."
"You won't get older? Or die?"
"We can both die, Georgia. Though we are much more difficult to kill," Stefan replied, his deep voice breaking into the conversation. "Now that you know, you now have three options."
Georgia crossed her legs and puckered her lips. "And what pray tell are my choices?"
"Option one is that I kill you. I would prefer not to do that since it would be upsetting to Josephine. Option two is that I can force my will on you and make you forget, which is potentially dangerous. Option three is that you can keep our secret and act like nothing has changed." Stefan ran his long fingers through his messy hair. "The choice is yours."
Stefan may be almost a thousand years old but he lacked the art of subtlety in situations like this. I rolled my eyes and grabbed her hand and squeezed it to get her attention. Her blue eyes were wary as she met mine.
"I'm still Josie, Georgia."
Georgia glared over my shoulder at the still very naked Stefan. If looks could kill and Stefan wasn't already dead, he would be now. Her mouth twisted into a sneer and when she looked back at me, her eyes were filled with contempt.
"Georgia … "
"No, Josie. It's my ass on the line and I need information. How old is he? How is he able to be out during the day? How does all of this work?" She was relentless, the questions coming out in rapid fire bursts.
"I am 33," Stefan answered. "Most of the things you read or hear about our kind are myths. Such as our supposed aversion to sunlight."
"Huh," Georgia said, considering his words for a moment. "Exactly how old are you in vampire years?"
Georgia made it sound like Stefan was a dog and vampires counted their ages my multiplying them by seven. She was an intelligent woman, but there were times I questioned her thought process. Of course, I'd been in her shoes recently. I could sympathize with her confusion and curiosity.
He chuckled as he read my thoughts and answered her. "I am 975 years old. We still count years the same way as humans do."
"I knew there was something different about you. I just never thought of he was a vampire." She chewed on her bottom lip. "Josie, you could've told me what was going on."
"I'm sorry, Georgia. I hoped you'd never find this out." I closed my eyes, focusing on her future. I saw her decision and looked at Stefan and nodded.
"We can trust her, Stefan. She won't tell anyone."
"How did you know what I was going to say?" Georgia asked, her voice raising an octave.
Yet another revelation to dump on her. I could tell she'd almost hit her breaking point so I chose to just make it as simple as possible. "I'm a psychic. I can see the future."
Georgia face hardened. "I feel like an idiot. That's why you didn't like to go out until you met him," she snorted loudly. "Does Anna know about this?"
"The psychic thing, yes." I said. "The vampire stuff, no."
"You could've told me about being psychic. I suspected something was up with you," she accused, chewing her lip again. "This is why you're leaving Bali with him! You wanted a clean break. I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but even I can figure it out now."
Inhaling a deep breath, I nodded sadly. "That's part of the reason. Stefan and I aren't going to age. There are...things that need to be taken care of in New York."
"So now you're headed off with Hunky." Georgia gestured to Stefan. "Were you just going to disappear?"
I studied my hands for a moment. That's exactly what we would have done and were going to do eventually. Stefan owned properties all over the world and it would be easy to disappear with his years of practice and wealth to assist us.
"Probably."
For the first time since I knew her, Georgia cried. And not just a few tears. She wept until her shoulders shook. I sat beside her and let her cry against me, not able to offer her any other consolation. "You can't just walk away, Josie. You're like my sister."
"I know. That's what makes this so hard, Georgia."
Georgia's relationship with her family was less than ideal. In her own words, they were mostly alcoholic rednecks that lacked any sort of common sense. She'd escaped to New York at the age of 18, putting herself through school and landing a position with a charity before getting the opportunity to start a division operating in Indonesia.
"You can come and visit us anytime," I assured her. As soon as the words left my lips, I realized how shallow they sounded. She'd cried because I was leaving and I'd offered her a place to stay if she decided to visit. I was no better at this than Stefan.