"Changed" Chapters 6 & 7

Ch. 6 Nicholas

We continued walking down the random street, completely lost in our own trains of thought. Finally he stopped walking and I looked over at him to find a gleam of excitement in his gray eyes.

"Hey, do you want to run?" He asked me, with a huge grin on his face.

"I thought we weren't allowed to run in public."

"Well, there aren't many people on the street as it is, so it won’t be hard to avoid bumping into anyone. Also, earlier you weren't running as fast as you could. You were still running like a human, only slightly faster. It was just enough to cause anyone you passed to be suspicious. If we both run at top speed, we will be almost invisible." he explained.

I looked around the nearly empty street we were on and thought about it for a second. I can’t grasp moving that fast.

"Don’t worry, if you hold my hand the whole time, I’ll make sure you're moving fast enough. It will be fun. Trust me."

I did trust him. Finally I met his eyes again and smiled big. That was all the assurance he needed. Then we were flying. Nicholas held my hand the whole time as he promised he would, and I kept the impossible pace with ease. The buildings and cars weren’t even a blur now; a blur usually means you can at least make out shapes. We were moving so fast that all I could see were colors as we streamed by. All of a sudden he stopped and I looked around. We were standing right in front of a building that had a bright red cross on the front of it. I looked up at him, questioningly.

"Grocery shopping," he explained, almost full out laughing at his explanation. He led me to the side of the building and told me to wait where I was. Then he disappeared and I was alone for the first time since I met him. Before I had time to even think about where he had gone, he was back. His body looked abnormally large under his light jacket, but I couldn't think about that for long. I finally noticed his body; how everything that had happened today deterred me from staring at his perfection, I still couldn't be sure of. He was wearing light blue jeans that fit him perfectly, and black shoes. Although I knew there was something in his jacket that was making his chest look bulky, I could still see the size of his arms. His arms. I remembered what it had felt like to have them wrapped around me.

Suddenly Nicholas grabbed my hand, breaking my reverie. "Lets go," he almost asked. I smiled in answer to him and we were off again. In less time than it had taken us to get to the "grocery store" we were in front of his apartment.

He led me into the main lobby, up the elevator, and back into his magnificent apartment, all the while walking at our normal pace. I followed him into the kitchen and watched him as he reached his hand into his jacket to reveal what "grocery shopping" had meant.

"You stole blood?!" I exclaimed.

"Don’t worry Charlie, it’s not a rare type and they had plenty. I thought you had enough to digest for one night and I could take you hunting tomorrow. But for now, I don't want you to have to be uncomfortable for any longer," he said as he reached in and grabbed several more pouches. Like the last time, he opened one, and the scent of it filled my head. After heating it in the microwave, he handed the cup to me and simply said, "Drink." I hadn't even needed that prompting.

After having devoured 3 more pouches, I still could have drunk more, but I found I didn't really want to. I looked up to see him smiling at me from across the island in the kitchen.

"There, how does it feel to be full?" he asked

"Much better," I said.

Then there was a look on his face, as if he was remembering something. He walked over to me and held out both of his hands to help me into a standing position. Then he wrapped his arms tightly around me, as I did the same to him.

"When we were in the alley outside of the Red Cross, you were thinking about hugging me. I couldn't at the time because of all the blood pouches in my jacket. I thought it would kill me to deny that hug from you and me. But here I am, with you,” he explained.

Then I felt soft pressure on the top of my head, I looked up to see if he had really just kissed me. My head wasn't even tilted back all the way before Nicholas put his fingers under my chin to help it the rest of the way. No sooner was my head back, than his lips were on mine for the second time tonight. I didn't think kissing him could get any better than that first time, but it did. We stood in the kitchen like that for a long time--I think. It’ so hard for me to keep track of time when he is kissing me like this.

Suddenly I felt Nicholas pull away from me slightly and chuckle. "The feeling's mutual Charlie. So, we have the whole night, what do you want to do?"

Then a question popped into my mind, something I hadn't thought about yet. "Yes we can sleep, but we can never be physically tired. Sleep, for a human is a way for their body to rejuvenate itself, and for their minds to work out the events of their day. For us, we just fall asleep, and wake up. Nothing happens in between. And we can't dream," he added in what sounded like a slightly wistful way. Then he began again, "When I was a human, I didn't think much of dreams. Like most people, I guess, I didn't dream every night and it wasn't that big a part of my everyday life. Now after having lived so long without the ability to dream at all, I realize how much I liked having them as a human," he explained to me.

"How long have you been alive, exactly?" I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer to that question, but I had to ask.

He just looked down at me for a second, nodded his head and led me into the living room. We sat close together on the black leather sofa, both hands clasped together as he began his story.

"I was born in England in 1692. My father was a nobleman, and my mother had been born into wealth as well. I lived a pretty plain life. Happy, but plain. I met a woman named Abigail when I was about 20, and in 1715, when I was 23, we were engaged to be married. I was so happy of the news; I went to the local town to celebrate in one of the pubs. It wasn't that I loved her. I had never known real love for another woman in my mortal life. I celebrated because I was expected to get married, and I was fulfilling my parents' wishes. That was all I could hope for out of that life. At the pub, I easily became intoxicated. At one point, I remember my eyes scanning the old pub and noticing a beautiful woman sitting alone in a corner. I thought it wrong for a woman to be there alone, but since I was by this point inebriated, I didn't think on it for too long. I continued to have my fun until about midnight, when I decided to retire to my own home. I left the pub, and began my walk back. It was late April, and the weather was chilly at night, but in England, it always feels that way. Suddenly I noticed a dark shrouded figure standing in the middle of the road in front of me. They looked up and I recognized it as the beautiful woman from the pub. She had unnaturally gray eyes and long, thick, wavy red hair."

I gasped, "Elizabeth."

"Yes, Elizabeth. She looked up at me and smiled. 'I have been watching you for some time now, Nicholas,' she said, 'and I really don't think I have the patience to wait anymore." she took a step closer to me. I had been raised to respect women, but also to think them inferior to me." He paused to give me an apologetic smile before he continued, "But for some reason I took a step back from her advancements. I couldn't deny, even then, that this woman was extraordinarily beautiful, but something about her told me I should run. However, I found myself rooted to the spot as she took another step closer to me. 'Do not fear me, Nicholas. I never want you to fear me. We will be lovers soon, and you will share this life with me. I have been searching for a companion for a long time, and it seems that you will be it.' Then she closed the gap between us, stretched her neck toward me, and bit my throat. I woke up at her home somewhere in France, where she explained to me what she was."

"You and Elizabeth are...'companions'?" even though I thought I knew the answer to my question, I still needed to ask, to be sure.

"No. We were companions. We were in love for a very long time. About a century. But things fell apart between us. She found new companions, already made vampires. I was the only one she has ever changed, and by her own admission, the only one she will ever change. We have not been in love for over two hundred years, but as you see, she loves to live in the past. She still welcomes herself into my apartment whenever she wants, and tries to dig up old feelings. I haven't wanted her in so long, and I know I never will again. I can hear your thoughts and I need you to know that Elizabeth and I are over. I don't want my past to have any effect on our future."

I sat there quietly for a long time, trying to digest the news I had just heard. It explained so much about this afternoon. Of course Elizabeth would hate anyone that Nicholas brought home, especially if she still harbored feelings for him. How can I be sure that he doesn't continue to feel something for her, deep down? To be honest, I didn't know what it was like to actually know my maker. To have a relationship with him or her. I could only assume it would be a powerful bond, not easily broken.

"You are right in a sense. The bond Elizabeth and I have won't ever be broken. She brought me into this life, and I owe her for that. I will always care for her. I will always want to be a part of her life, but not in the same way. I will never want to be with her again the way I--" he paused

"The way you what?" I asked, no, pleaded for him to continue.

He sighed before continuing, "The way I now want to be with you." he finished.



Chapter: 7
“Hold you in my arms, I just wanted to hold”
(Muse)

I didn't know what to say or how to react to what Nicholas had just said to me. Should I tell him how I feel? Well he can hear my thoughts...shouldn't that be enough?

"I can hear you thoughts Charlie, but it would be really nice to hear what you really think out loud." The look in his eyes broke down all my walls. I couldn't deny him.

I sighed, "To be completely honest, Nicholas, I don't know what to think. I’m having all these thoughts and feelings stream through me at rapid fire, but I know they shouldn't be. I know there is no possible way that I could feel so strongly about you after only one day. What I do know is that this could have been one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever experienced, but it hasn't been. I also know that I like being with you and I don't want to go anywhere." I finished suddenly before anything else could fall out of my mouth. I looked up at his face, hoping that my rant had satisfied him.

"It feels so much better hearing it come from your mouth. Come on," he said standing up and offering me his hand, "You still haven't had the grand tour.”

I stood and let him lead me to the staircase at the far side of the room we were currently in. We walked up the stairs and onto the first floor landing. He turned to me, "You already know where the bathroom is. The only other room on this floor is the library," he explained as he turned the handle on the second door.

He held it open, allowing me to walk in first. I stepped into the center of the room and spun around, trying to take everything in. In the very center of the room there was a small round table and two large, brown leather chairs. Every inch of the walls was covered in shelves with books of all sizes and colors. I thought of my own small collection of books I had in my dorm room, and realized how pitifully small it was.

"Charlie, I have been collecting for hundreds of years. How could the collection not have accumulated so?"

I just nodded in agreement, walking over to the left side of the room. I began to scan the books, searching for a title I recognized. I couldn't find one, partly due to the fact that most of them were in a different language.

He laughed, "You picked the wrong section to find a title. Those are all foreign books. Some of them in their original languages some translated into English already. Are you ready to see more?"

I nodded my head and followed him out the door. He walked up the second flight of stairs onto the third floor. There was only one door on this level of his apartment.

"There used to be more rooms, but I would rather have larger spaces with fewer rooms than feel cramped," he told me as he opened the door in front of us. "This is my bedroom."

I walked into an enormous room, the first thing I noticed were the large windows on the left wall reaching from the floor to the ceiling, just like the downstairs. The walls were cream colored and there wasn't much furniture, just what was necessary. It kept with his admission of not liking to feel cramped. I could tell the beige rugs were very thick from the way my sneakers sank into them as I walked across the room. There was a very large, expensive looking stereo system against the far wall with racks and racks of C.D’s lined up along the right side of it. To the left of the system was an overstuffed deep yellow, almost gold colored couch that was a little longer than a love seat. In the very center of the room was an enormous king sized bed, with its dark cherry wood headboard resting against the right wall. The bedspread and pillows were all a dark maroon color, reminiscent of red wine.

"Even though I don't get much out of sleeping, my bedroom is my sanctuary. It fits me. I love to just sit in here, listening to music or looking out my window at the view this apartment offers me," he explained serenely.

"It’s beautiful, of course. Everything you own is beautiful."

"The view out my bedroom window used to be my favorite, until today," he said quietly and I could see him looking at me from my peripheral.

I looked down at my feet, not able to meet his eyes. How did he always seem to know just what to say to make me feel uncomfortable?

"I’m sorry, Charlotte," the apologetic tone of his voice made me look up into his eyes. "I never meant to make you feel uncomfortable. I guess I’m used to speaking my mind too often. Ever since I was changed, and realized I could read minds, I’ve felt...almost guilty. I do not find it fair that I can hear everything that everyone is always thinking. It’s intrusive. Since I can’t do anything about what I hear, I try to make my thoughts known to others around me as often as I can," he explained.

"That is incredibly..." I was at a loss for words. Wow, that was new for me, "decent," I finished lamely.

I saw him chuckling at me as the room melted away. I found myself standing in an elevator. Looking around, I noticed that the button for the seventeenth floor was lit. When the doors opened onto that floor, I stepped out, somehow knowing that was what I was meant to do. I looked around the room I was now in and saw many tiny cubicles. All of them were devoid of their normal occupants-- except for one all the way in the back of the room.

I wouldn't have noticed the man sitting there had it not been for the brightness of the desk lamp he had on. I walked closer, trying to get a better look at him. I couldn't see his face because it was bent over his desk as he scribbled furiously across a lined sheet of paper. The words there were blurred, so I couldn't make out what he was writing. Suddenly his head shot up and he looked right at me with a worried look etched onto his old face. I froze. Then I remembered that in my last vision, people couldn't see me. Having that knowledge, I looked behind me, trying to find the source of the look on his face. The only thing I saw was a long row of clocks lined up on the wall behind me. The one that read "New York City" underneath indicated it was 11:45. P.M. I guessed. When I looked at the man again, he was hunched back over whatever it was he was writing. As I watched him, trying to figure out what he was doing, the scene in front of me melted away again.

All I could see was maroon. Was this another vision?

"Charlie?" I heard Nicholas' concerned voice sound from somewhere above me. Then I felt the soft carpet under my face and realized I was lying on the floor near the bed. The maroon I had seen was the comforter that had been draped over the bed, reaching down to the floor.

I sat up to see Nicholas bending over me trying to help me up further. This time I let him help me. I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to figure out what I had just seen.

"Charlie, I think you had another vision. You were standing there looking at me one second, and the next thing I know, your eyes clouded over and you fell to the ground. I would have caught you, but without the help of reading your mind to see your intentions, you caught me by surprise. Are you okay? I’m so sorry I let you fall." It sounded like someone had hit fast forward, all his words were running together in my mind.

He chuckled from where he sat on the bed next to me, "Well you couldn't have hit your head too hard if you haven't lost your sense of humor."

"How long was I lying there?"

"Not even long enough for me to walk over and pick you up. It couldn't have been more than a couple of seconds. Why?"

"Its weird… the vision I had seemed to last at least five minutes."

He sat there and thought for a second, "I suppose it’s like a dream. How a dream can feel like it takes hours, but you were only asleep for minutes," he guessed.

"Yeah, maybe."

I sat there, so lost in my own thoughts that I barely noticed Nicholas get up and left the room, returning with some sheets and a pillow. I was surprised he hadn't asked about my vision yet. Probably because he heard it in my head already, I reasoned.

"Well yes, I did hear it in your head, but like all other things, I like to hear your account of it. Your mind can only tell me your thoughts, not your feelings. And I wasn't going to push for any information you didn't want to give up. I was waiting for you to tell me when you felt comfortable doing so," he answered my thoughts.

"Oh, I never thought of it that way. Sorry for making assumptions," I apologized as I saw him spread one of the sheets out on the couch, place the pillow at one end, and throw the other sheet on top of the first one. He walked over to sit beside me again.

I took a deep breath and began telling him my vision. When I got through the events of what had taken place in my mind, I began to speculate, "I think it was a newspaper office of some kind. That’s what I usually think of when I see a row of clocks on a wall like that. I really wish I could have seen what he was writing," I said, frustrated at the limits of my vision.

"I think your assumption of a newspaper office is very possible. As for your not being able to read what he was writing, maybe you aren't meant to yet."

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, completely lost.

"Well there are two reasons that you might not be meant to see them, the first being that maybe you simply have to find out on your own," I made a face at this explanation. He smiled and continued, "The other reason may be that whatever the man was writing about hasn't happened yet, like the events leading up to it can still be altered and so you won’t see what he wrote until the series of events is irreversible."

I thought about his theory for a minute. What he said made sense, not that I liked it. What good do visions do me when i couldn't even see everything in them? I stood up then and started walking over to the couch that Nicholas had made into a bed for me. "I think I’m going to go to bed now. You were right about the not tired thing, because I’m not. I just think it’s a better idea to fall asleep before anything else happens today."

I was half way to the couch when I felt his arm around my waist, preventing me from going any further.

"Where do you think you are going?" he asked, with the smallest hint of indignation in his voice.

"I just said I’m going to bed," I answered, confused.

"Yes, I know. But I sincerely hope you don't think I would make you sleep on the couch. The couch is mine, and the bed is yours. You are my guest and I intend to treat you that way," he finished.

I shook my head, turned around, and began walking over to the bed. For the second time I felt his arm wrap around my waist, holding me in place.

"What now Nicholas?" I asked.

"I just thought you might want to sleep in something other than jeans. I wanted to stop you before you got comfortable on the bed, so I could go find you some clothes," he said innocently.

"Oh," was all I could say.

He smirked at me, and walked over to a door I hadn't noticed before. It was to the right of his bed and as he walked over to it, I saw him flip a light switch before entering. Oh god, if he needed a light switch to navigate his closet, I don't think I want to see how big it is.

I heard him laugh from the depths of his closet. He returned holding a pair of thick black sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. I took them from him, and he turned to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I asked, the tiniest bit of fear making its way through to my voice.

"I just thought you would like some privacy while you changed, I wouldn’t want to be accused of spying again," he teased as he walked through the door and closed it behind him.

I stared after him, trying to think of something witty to say in response. When nothing came to me fast enough I settled for an angry grunt, and proceeded to change. When I was done I walked to the door just as he was coming back in.

"Much better right?" he asked, looking me up and down.

"Yeah, yeah. Goodnight Nicholas." I said as I started towards the bed again.

For the third time tonight I felt his hard arm wrap around my waist. I whipped around, the anger apparent in my face and voice, "You know Nicholas that is getting pretty irritating. What is it you want now?" I snapped.

His face turned from amused to slightly wounded in a flash, "I was just hoping for goodnight kiss," he said quietly, averting his eyes from mine.

I just stood there looking at him, trying to decide if he was serious or not. Then I started laughing, I couldn't help it. He looked up at me with confusion and slight anger at my lack of sympathy. This only made me laugh harder. Finally he said through gritted teeth, "Exactly what is so funny Charlotte?"

I composed myself enough to answer, "You...should...have...seen...your...face...,” I took a few deep breaths, only allowing a few small giggles to escape. Finally I asked, "So, about that goodnight kiss?"

I could tell he was still angry, "No, that’s okay, I think you have wounded my ego enough for one night,” with that he steered himself around me and made for the couch.

"NO, wait Nicholas! I’m sorry! I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, please don't be mad," I pleaded.

I took a few steps after him, and reached for his wrist. He turned around quickly, a look of annoyance on his face. I stopped short and just stared. Suddenly his face broke out into a wide smile, "You should have seen your face."

I stared at him in shock, then I went to push his shoulder, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. I looked up to yell at him, but his mouth stopped mine from making any noises at all. I pushed my body closer and wrapped my arms around his neck. I felt him reach up and run his hands through my soft hair, while the other rubbed my face softly before cupping it in his palm. For all I know, we could have stood there kissing like that for hours.

All too soon he pulled away from me with a sigh. The look in his eyes was hard to place. Definite excitement, mixed with....regret?

"Have I mentioned how perceptive you are?" he asked as he leaned down to softly press his lips to mine once more. Then he turned to the enormous bed I would be sleeping in and pulled down the covers. I just stood there, not knowing what he expected of me.

"Hop in," he said with a smile.

I did what he asked, and climbed into the middle of the large, soft bed. Once I had laid my head on the pillow, he pulled the covers up around me. Then he kissed me on the forehead and said, "Goodnight Charlotte, I’m really glad I met you today." With that, he turned around and headed for his makeshift bed. I saw him pick up an I-pod from on top of the stereo and slip the earphones in his ears. "So you can have your thoughts to yourself tonight," he explained.

I purposefully kept my mind blank before I heard the loud classical music blare from his earphones. Then, I practically screamed in my head, God, can he be any more perfect?!?