CHAPTER 14

The repeated knock on the door broke Nate's pacing inside his room on the first floor of their double storey town house. He rushed to his window and peeked at who was at the door. Once he confirmed it was Farian, he blurred to the door and let him in. 

"Where is she?" Farian asked, his eyes scanning the room. He spotted the bookshelf where the incident had happened. Her body wasn't there.

"In my room." Nate replied, pointing to the stairs at the far end of the room. 

"You moved her body?" Farian sounded disappointed. 

"I didn't have a choice, she woke up and I panicked." Nate explained, his voice shaky. 

A minute after Nate ended the call with Farian, he heard some sounds from where Amanda lay. He rushed to her, she wasn't dead. 

"Nate," she called weakly, her hand moving to her head. 

"Amanda, hey," he replied getting on his knees. "I am so sorry-"

"What happened?" She asked looking at the blood on her fingers from her head. 

He tried to help her sit up but she felt a very sharp pain on her lower left arm. A broken bone. 

Suddenly, all the happenings of that afternoon came rushing to her and she quickly pulled away from him. "You!" She cried with so much spite towards him. 

"What the hell was that? What the hell are you?" She started crawling away from him. Her heart pounding so hard, terrified of the ordeal. 

Using his speed, he blurred in front of her. "Amanda listen to me please. I can expl-"

"How the hell did you do that? You were right over there." She darted her eyes to where he had been less than a second a go. 

"Amanda, calm down," he pleaded, stretching his hand to pat her.

"Get the hell away from me." She was shaking, her eyes beginning to water. 

She grabbed a book and threw it at him. He caught it, his eyes fixed at her. He then looked at the book, having felt something wet on his fingers. Blood.

He looked up and saw the blood move down her face to her neck. His fangs grew again, with his eyes darkening. 

"Oh my God Nate!" She exclaimed, her eyes wide in shock of whatever she was seeing. 

He started moving towards her, in a slow motion, eyes fixed at her neck. 

"Nate," she called in a whisper. "Nate!" 

He didn't stop. She grabbed the book next to her and hit him across the face, making him snap out of it. She tried to get to her feet but couldn't, a pain on her left leg couldn't allow her. She looked at the spot and saw a glass sticking out. A vase that was on the bookshelf broke when she crashed and a pice of glass went into her leg. 

Realizing she couldn't stand, she quickly crawled away before Nate could recover. She only made it to the couch, where she tried to reach for her phone. She grabbed it and punched 911 but Nate got to her before she could press call. He grabbed a piece of wood that had broken off from the bookshelf and hit her, she passed out.

Nate led Farian up the stairs and into his typical teenage boy bedroom. She wasn't in the room. Then he heard some sounds coming from the closet on the left side of the room. Nate pulled the closet doors open and there she was, tied up with duct tape covering her mouth. 

Farian witnessed her eyes widen with terror when she saw Nate. The helpless girl tried to kick, struggling to free herself, trying to get herself away from Nate.

"What the hell?" Farian asked looking at Nate then at Amanda.

"I didn't know what to do." 

"So you tied her up?"

"What was I supposed to do? She would have escaped." 

"Escaped with that?" Farian threw at him pointing at the piece of glass sticking out of her leg. 

Farian then bent over and slowly removed the tape covering her mouth. 

"Please don't let him hurt me." She begged, her eyes red from all the crying. 

"He won't do anything to you." Farian promised in a gentle voice.

"No! You don't understand. His... his teeth, and .... his eyes, they change." She informed him in a quavering voice. 

"Everything will be fine." He promised, raising his hand to her head where her wound was. "Nate why don't you get her a glass of water." 

Nate turned and walked out of the room. Farian slid his right arm under her knees and the other on her back and carried her to Nates bed. He freed her hands from her back and examined her broken arm after she let out a soft moan when he touched the arm. "You're gonna be okay."

 "Nate, he...he's a mon-"

"Don't worry about him." He touched her chin and make her face him, looking into his eyes. "You are okay Amanda, just relax." He told her and she gave a nod, seeming under a spell. 

He went down on his knee and held her leg, touching the area the glass had torn through her skin. 

"How did you do that?" Nate asked, standing at the door with the glass.

Farian ignored the question, he then instructed him to get some bandages. 

Nate disappeared into his bathroom where he came out with a first aid kit and handed Farian a bandage from the kit. 

Farian held on the end of the glass and pulled it out then covered the now bleeding area with the bandage that started to get soaked in blood. 

Nate had expected Amanda to squirm because of the pain but she hadn't. Her face remained calm and relaxed, just as Farian had instructed her to be. 

Farian unexpectely bit on his wrist, making two puncture wounds where his blood started flowing out. "Drink," he said to Amanda looking into her eyes. 

"Hey, what the hell!" Nate exclaimed holding back Farian's hand. "Why are you giving her your blood? You can't turn her into a vampire!" He protested. 

"First, don't tell me what I can or can not do. Second, you made this mess, and I am trying to fix it. So if you are ready to take her to a hospital and explain what happened to her, I suggest you let go of my hand." Farian spoke with such a commanding coolness in his voice that always left Nate intimidated. 

Nate let go and watched as she sucked on his hand and swallowed before Farian pulled his hand back. 

The two left her on the bed and stood on a corner in the room, away from her earshot.

"Tell me exactly what happened here Nate." It was more of a command than a request. 

Nate told him everything, down to the minutest detail. 

"You did this because she broke up with you?" Farian sounded pissed. "You could have killed her."

"You think I don't know that?" Nate threw back. "What could I have done? Huh? It's not like I could tell her what I am." 

"What you could have done is let her go Nate, you let her go." 

"I love her." He replied in a whisper, as if ashamed that Amanda might hear.

"You don't do this to someone you love Nate." 

Farian didn't let him reply, he turned and walked to Amanda. He held her hands and got her to stand. Nate noticed the wound on her head and her leg were completely healed, same to her broken arm. He watched Farian take a step closer to her and the distance between his face and hers was mere inches. 

Farian her by the shoulders and squinted his eyes looking into hers. " Forget everything that happened here. You came over to have a conversation with Nate. You confronted him on his recent behavior, you had an argument and you both agreed to break up. You-"

Nate interrupted, pushing Farian away from her. "What! No, we did not agree to anything."

In a flash, his back was pressing against the wall, with Farian's hand firmly around his neck. Nate coughed, tapping on Farian's hand, trying to get him to let go.

"Listen and listen very carefully Nate. Don't you ever do something like that again. I could kill you before you can blink. And as of Amanda, you brought this on yourself, you are the one who pushed her, you hit her, you tied her up," he paused, letting it all sink into Nate's head.

"You clearly have anger issues and you almost killed her because of it, trust me, this is the best thing for her. Who knows what you will do the next time something like this happens? Besides, she broke up with you, remember? "

Farian let go of him and took a step back. "Believe it or not, I am doing this for your own good." He then walked back to Amanda, leaving Nate to attended to his hurt neck. 

Farian held her again, and was about to continue with his compulsion when Nate spoke. "Please Farian, don't do this," he begged. "I love her."

Farian sighed and went on.

"You confronted him on his recent behavior, had an argument. You wanted to break up with him but decided to give him a second chance. You both agreed to take a break from the relationship, work on things before getting back together." He turned to Nate who seemed to have recovered. 

"Thank you." Nate whispered. 

"Take as much time as you need away from him but eventually forgive him and give the relationship another shot." 

He let go of her and she gave a nod agreeing to the instructions given. He walked to Nate and looked in his eyes. "Don't mess is up." 

Farian blurred away, leaving the two teenagers in the room. As soon as he disappeared, Amanda broke out of the trace she had been in. She turned to him and spoke. "I'll give you some space, figure your shit out Nate." She turned and walked out of the room.