The Last Kiss

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Completely entranced by the book that Josie had left beside her bed, Lindsey pasted the rest of the day without much care. Normally she was a fairly fast reader but with her headache, she took her time. She had never really taken the time to read such ‘smut’ as she tended to call it. It sure wasn’t Shakespeare but then again, Lindsey wasn’t the type of person that read that sort of thing either. Come to think of it, she really didn’t read much at all. Of course she had reasons, she was busy with the house and well...well, she thought, her glum mood she had been in. Lindsey sighed out loud, she sort of enjoyed the book she was reading. For some odd reason it seemed to be helping with her headache. Mostly because she wasn’t getting annoyed about not being told about what had caused her veins in her head to pulse harder.

Straining harder to read, she noticed that the sun was starting to make its great descend. Leaving the great city of London to the spoils of nightfall. Picking up her head, Lindsey glanced at the clock and then looked outside the window taking note of the time. It was getting dark, in a way this excited Lindsey, mostly because she knew that meant Ashton would be coming to see her soon. Instead of calling for Josie to light candles, she decided to wait it out. The plan was to read until she could no longer see the book, which wouldn’t take very long.

She was right, it hadn’t taken long for the sun to disappear, leaving her completely in the dark and to find something else to do. Thumbing her fingers together, she looked around the room and wondered what she would do to fulfilled her time. Sitting back and relaxing, Lindsey tagged the page she last read. Then she set the book on the table leaving her with nothing more to occupy her time. She sighed loudly, “oh, what to do now?”

“I suppose you could talk with me, if that is to say, you don’t mind my company?” Ashton asked.

Shocked, surprised and maybe just a little bit jumpy. Lindsey held her breath for a moment before she forced herself to breath again. “When did you come in? Oh, um, what I mean is my lord, I did not hear you come in.” She tried to cover her mess but she didn’t think she could fool Ashton.

He smiled at her sudden loss of words, she had been very forward with him. Truth be told he liked not having to hide around petty social standards. He enjoyed being able to talk as himself and not having to watch every little word he said. Lindsey was someone he could be himself with, well almost. There was still his big secret that he still hadn’t told her. Looking at her sweet face, he saw that now was not the time for such a shock. But then again, he wasn’t sure if there would ever been a perfect time to speak of such things. Thinking in his head, he started to shake his head, no, now would definitely not be the right time.

With a broad smile on his face, he said, “I have been standing here for a only a moment. At first I did not want to disturb you because you were reading and then I started to wonder what you were waiting for.”

“What I was waiting for?” She knew exactly what she had been waiting for, him.

“Yes, I promise its not a trick question,” he teased.

“No.” Searching for the best way to avoid the truth, she finally said, “I don’t think it is either. I was waiting on Josie to come light the candles and start the fire.” She had lied and she was almost sure he knew that she wasn’t telling him the truth.

“Oh, well, you are in good luck, my lady. I can light the candles and the fire for you and you wont have to call upon your maid,” he said. Knowing she could have rang long ago for the maid, Ashton decided not to point that out at that moment thinking to himself there had to be a reason she had not. He could only hope she had been waiting for him, knowing well that he had almost counted the hours going past in his sleep.

“Thank you, my lord,” she said.

Noting the formal tone of her words, he looked at her, then finished lighting the candles in the room. With all the candles lite, he then started with the fire since there was a chill in the room. Thinking to himself, he could only hope the chill wasn’t because of him or the feelings floating in the air. The way Lindsey was acting toward Ashton proved that she was angry and he had a sneaking suspicion of what the problem was. Having already spoke with Josie before going to Lindsey’s room, Ashton knew she would be upset about the doctor. He was more than right, she was not only angry about the doctor but he felt as if she was mad about something else. But what?

This bothered him very deeply, all the way down to his very core. Lindsey did not seem this angry or upset when he was watching her read but it was almost as if he was the source of the problem. Ashton could hear the anger build in her voice when she had spoken to him. But why? Why would she be this angry at him? Had he done something that he was not aware of?

Staring at the fire, Ashton didn’t even hear Lindsey speaking to him, nor had he noticed that she had moved from the chair.

“Frank for your thoughts,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Close to jumping out of his own skin, Ashton turned and looked up into the bluest eyes he had ever seen. For some reason, tonight Lindsey’s eyes looked even bluer than before. Stumbling for something to say, Ashton said the first thing that came to mind. Her eyes.

“Their beautiful.”

“What’s beautiful?” Lindsey had no idea what on this earth he was talking about.

“Your eyes, my sweet, they are beautiful. It seems tonight they are full of the stars that light the night sky,” he said, while sweeping a few loose strands of hair.

Lindsey blushed.

Right then he wanted to kiss her even more than he had when he was just watching her read. But he also saw that something had changed, her mood. Lindsey didn’t seem angry at him anymore, instead there was a different emotion. Love. Ashton was entranced with this vision. He had never seen this sort of look. Well, that wasn’t true, he had seen it before but never directed at him.

Seeing the thoughts change in Ashton’s eyes, it looked as if he could devour her that very instant. With her
pulse racing she asked, “Ashton, are you alright?”

The spell had been broken. He started to blink once
again having not noticed that he had even stopped.
Swallowing the lump in his throat, he forced his words, “um, yes, im quite alright. Are you alright?”

Lindsey giggled softly at the return of her own question. “Yes, I am feeling much better now.”

“That is most certainly the best news I have heard in some time,” trilled that she was feeling better. But he wondered did she still not remember anything that had happened before.

Lindsey watched Ashton’s face, it had changed from lost to happy to concern in a matter of seconds. She had never seen such a thing from a man. Even with Robert, once he was in a mood it would normally take days for it to change. Not mere seconds. One thing Lindsey could say about Ashton was he was very emotional not in a feminine way or a bad way. It wasn’t as if Ashton kept his feelings on his sleeve but they showed in his eyes. Just then she knew exactly how to describe the man gazing at her. He was honest.

That was something that Lindsey hadn’t seen very often among men or even women for that matter. Ashton was the type of man that would never hurt a woman, nor would he lie to her just to take her to bed. He let himself be seen for the man that he truly was and seemed to be proud of it. Lindsey found this type of honesty very sexy in a man. She blushed at the thought of the two of them together. Pushing past the feelings of lust, she suddenly felt stupid. Why did she feel like she had never been with a man before?

Fact was, she hadn’t acted this silly over a man before, not even her husband Robert. Suddenly Lindsey’s hands started to shake as she remembered that Robert had come to visit her the night she had wrote to Ashton. It was Robert, he was the one to blame for all her pain. Terror clouded Lindsey’s face as more details came back to her. She was staring off into the bitter nothingness with tears just barely holding back when Ashton startled her.

“My dear, what is wrong?” He wondered.

“I remember,” she mumbled.

“You remember what exactly?” Ashton had hoped in a way she would never remember but he knew she would have to at some point.

“Robert hurting me. He was very angry and drunk. I had went to bed after I wrote you a letter and Josie came knocking at the door shortly after I feel asleep. She hid in the closet and I confronted him. He was yelling and screaming for you.” The tears that Lindsey had fought so hard to hold back fell free. “He was looking for you, saying you had cheated him.”

Not being able to bear anymore of what had happened Ashton quickly grabbed Lindsey up into his arms and hugged her close. His arms were so tight around her she could hardly breathe but that didn’t seem to matter at that moment. After all the darkness she remembered, she felt safe in his arms. Ashton was the person Robert was angry that night, by all means he had caused her pain. But that was unfair to Ashton, in truth it wasn’t his fault he had won the game. It wasn’t his fault that Robert was a drunk that couldn’t play cards very well. No, she could never blame Ashton, instead it was right the opposite, he made her feel safe.

Ashton on the other hand, felt very much ashamed.

Ashamed of himself for letting her get hurt by a man he had beaten in a petty card game. Thinking harder he wasn’t only ashamed, he felt guilty and angry. His guilt grabbed onto him very hard, he should have prevented this from happening to her. The was anger not only directed at Robert but also at himself. If it had not been for the card game Robert would have never gone to the house looking for him. With his emotions a mess, the only thing Ashton could do to help himself was to hold her tight. Keeping Lindsey in his arms would be the best way to protect her and not ever let anything like this occur again. Never again he thought to himself.

“Never!”

Pulling back away from the comfort of Ashton’s arms, Lindsey looked deep into his eyes, “never what?”

Not even noticing that his words were spoken aloud, he drew her closer to his chest again, “never again will anyone hurt you. I wont allow it. I swear!”

The words echoed inside his head, ‘I swear’. Yes, he would swear to anyone or anything that would listen at that moment. Lindsey would never be hurt again, he would kill or be killed before that day would come. Ashton’s anger grew deep inside, almost eating away at his heart. Robert will pay for what he has done. He will pay dearly.

“You must promise that you will not hurt him,” surprised she was even strong enough to ask.

“What! Why on this earth would you not wish for him to be punished for his crime?”

“Because....,” she thought for a moment, not even sure herself the reasons. “Because he has my children and if he were to find out tha,” she broke off trying to find the right words to express what she felt.

“He might find out that I love you and harm your children, is that what you are thinking?”

Taken back by the sudden confection of love, all thoughts and reasoning flew from her mind. She could only think of the words that seemed to flow off his lips. He loved her. Even though she felt the same for him, she never would have thought that he returned the feelings. But he had said it and Ashton wasn’t the type of man that would lie about such a thing. It was true, he loved her.

“Oh, Ashton, I love you too. However, I was thinking that if Robert knew that we had any sort of relation he would come after me. Not stopping until I was dead. He told me once,” she found it hard to repeat the threat that Robert had made. Clearing her mind, she knew she must tell Ashton if only to make him understand the danger. “He said that I would always be his, no matter how many women he was with. That if he found me with someone new, even after the divorce, that he would kill me and the children.”

Finally, free of the words tears started pouring down her face. There was not even a chance of holding them back, the thought of him hurting her children was too much to endure. Knowing what Robert was capable of doing made it that much worse. It might be different if it was a mere threat to scare her but Lindsey knew that he had murdered before, just never knew who. She had been told by a letter she received one day soon after they had became married. Back then, she thought, she was still too blinded by her love for him, that she burned the letter and pushed it out of her memory. If only she hadn’t been so dim-witted she might have seen him for the monster he was.

Reading her thoughts, Ashton knew he must tell her, if not all at least part of the truth that he was hiding. Taking in a deep breath trying to built his own courage, he brought Lindsey closer to him, since he had no idea how she would react.

“My sweet, there is something I must tell you,” he finally said.

Since Ashton was holding her so tight once more, she just able to view his eyes.

“How can I say this,” he said mostly to himself. “Lindsey there are things from your past that I already knew about,” not even blinking Lindsey waited for him to continue. Thinking he had better explain about the letter first and would then decide if she was ready for the entire truth. “I wrote you a letter right after you had wed, about Robert. A warning of sorts, about his character. Do you remember?”

Searching her eyes for any type of sign or hint of what she was feeling at that moment. Then the emotion flooded to her face, there was no way she could hide what she felt. She was truly lost and confused by what Ashton was saying. The look on his face begged for an answer, something Lindsey wasn’t sure she had. She had been sure that she had never met Ashton before but here he was telling her of a note he sent her long ago.

“The letter? It gave no mention of who had wrote it.”

The only thing he could wish for in that moment was that with the truth being told to her that she might some how understand or at least not misjudge the reasoning.

“You did not know me at that time and I wasn’t sure if you would understand a complete stranger giving you stories of your new husband.” He explained.

He was right, she think the letter was true but she quickly learned the truth about her beloved Robert. Thinking back, she only wished she would have taken the letter to heart and left Robert then. No, she wouldn’t have, she couldn’t have. If she would have left her husband then, she would not have had her beautiful children and that was the one thing in life she never would regret. Just then something struck her oddly, how did he know her back then?

Looking deep into his eyes, she asked, “how did you know about me all those years ago?”

Ashton was now faced with the question he was still trying to avoid. His heart was torn in two directions and neither proved to be good. Fact was it was either the truth or a lie. Lindsey had said he was honest and found that she loved him more for it. He smiled at himself, times like this he loved some of the powers that came along with being of his people.

Snapping back to the present time, he saw her waiting for an answer.

Ashton sighed and went with the only thing he could say, the truth.

“Lindsey,” he sighed again, “I have known your family for years.”

Still seeing her confusion he continued, “your great-grandpapa was a very dear friend of mine.”

The confusion that was held in Lindsey’s eyes disappeared and replaced with the signs of her being completely lost. Half dazed by his words, Lindsey asked, “you mean my grandfather?”

“No, I said it correctly the first time.”

“But...but how can that be, your not much older than myself and grey-papa died long before I was even born. I was told stories about him by my mother before his death.”

“Yes, I know when he died. I was there.”

This statement made Lindsey a bit dizzy with shock, “impossible!”

Taking a deep breath again, Ashton knew he would not be able to take back his words now, he must move forward and tell her everything.

“There is something of the utmost importance that I must explain to you and I know it will be very hard for you to understand a great deal of it but you must know,” he said.

Since any type of speech had left her, she nodded.

“My sweet, I drew my first breath here in London, in the year of our lord of one-thousand five hundred and forty-two,” he paused for a moment, hoping she wouldn’t swoon. “My mother died giving me this life and my father was William Manning. I adopted the name of Ashton some years ago, making it seem as if I was just a distant relation of the family. In truth, I am the only one left of my family line and have been for a great many years.

My older sister passed trying to give life to her first child. Unfortunately the child wasn’t strong enough to make it past the second night. Shortly after my father passed also from high fevers, although I happen to think it was a broken heart. At eight and twenty, I had no family left and tried to drown my sorrows in port. It was that very same year that I was attacked by what one might think of as a monster,”

Ashton paused for a moment, seeing how Lindsey responded so far.

Gasping at the thought, Lindsey found it hard enough to believe what she was being told but she also felt sadness for Ashton. Having lost all her family in much the same way, she was very understanding on him being sad. Holding back the tears she held her gaze at Ashton’s eyes, taking in everything he said to her.
The fact that she hadn’t gotten up and ran out yet was a good sign. Taking another deep breath, Ashton began once more.

“The night was very black, no moon shone outside. Not that it would matter much, I was once again in the pub drinking more than my fill. The bar-keep tossed me out, saying I had more than my share. Trying hard to keep upright, I stumbled down an alleyway and it was there that I first caught site of a man hovering over a woman’s body. Being out of my right mind, I confronted the man but when he turned and looked at me I saw flames in his eyes. That was when he turned his attentions to me, attacking me and making me what he was,” taking a moment to regain his strength. Holding back his own anger he pushed forward in his story, “in his rage and my stupidity we fought for a moment but he won. He swooped down and bit me on my neck, thinking it was a type of fighting method I bit back. I could taste his blood in my mouth, just as he stole my own, making me weak as an infant. That was when he saw that I had tasted his blood also, he laughed so hard. He started to quickly mumble something about being a cursed and that by drinking his blood I had cursed myself too.

At the time I had no idea what in the world he was talking about but he took no time in blurting out that he was a vampire. Stunned, I called him a fool and ran off, not even looking back. Shortly after that, I saw changes in myself like not being able to deal with the sunlight and not wanting to eat any type of food. Instead there grew a hunger for blood, I hated myself but I couldn’t help myself. I needed blood to regain my strength, so I could track the man down and kill him,” noticing that Lindsey’s expression had changed he stopped for a moment.

Then it occurred to him that he should explain that he had never killed anyone.

“I know what your thinking and no I have never harmed anyone in my life just to feed my own needs. Murder was something I could never bring myself to do. Yes, I needed blood but I have found other ways of getting it. Taking great care to never harm anyone,” trying to remember where he was in the story, Ashton saw that so far Lindsey was not angry with him, nor was she scared.

“How did you know what I was thinking?” Having finally gaining the courage to ask.

Ashton smiled, “that is one of the gifts of being a vampire. I can read the thoughts of a person and I can even implant thoughts, if I wish too.”

Lindsey gasped in sheer shock but finally relaxed again and listened to Ashton as he continued telling her how he knew about her. She felt emotions that she ever even knew she had as he explained everything to her. For the most part it was unbelievable but then again, it all made perfect sense to her. Ashton filled her in on all the things Lindsey didn’t know about him, holding nothing back. In truth, for Ashton it felt good to tell someone that he felt so close to, even loved.

“I have one more question?”

“And what might that be,” Ashton asked.

“You said that you took the name Ashton to make it seem as you were a family relation, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Then what is your given name,” she asked.

“Hmm,” he thought for a moment, “it has been so long since I’ve used the name but it’s Orgill.”

Lindsey tightened her lips forcing herself to keep the thunderous laugh she held in her throat from escaping. Ashton saw the blood rushing to Lindsey’s face he could tell she wanted to laugh and who could blame her.

“Go on laugh at it. I don’t blame you. It is a truly hideous name and I can only say in my parents defense that it had been my great uncle who had begged for a namesake.”

Lindsey was unable to contain her laugh any longer. Her laughter filled the air and even gave Ashton a reason to start laughing as well.

“Oh my darling, it is no wonder you would want to change your name. If it’s all the same to you I will continue to call you Ashton.”

“That, I might say, is some of the best news I’ve heard,” he chuckled.

Before either of them noticed it was the dawn of a new day. Ashton sense the sun rising and knew that he had better be off to sleep. Tucking Lindsey into bed Ashton leaned down and gave her a kiss on her cheek. For some reason Lindsey was still not afraid of Ashton. She knew she should be terrified but she could only love him. He had taken a chance and told her about himself, intrusting her not to go running out of the house like a mad-woman. After Ashton left the room, she tugged the blankets up around her and started to think about everything he had told her. It didn’t matter to her that he needed blood to survive, all she knew was that she loved him with all her heart. She loved Ashton.