A Whole New Me Read online

  Chapter 8

  Azalea didn’t think it was possible but she hated Halloween even more now. She managed to get out of one sticky situation just to be plopped right down into a whole brand—flippin—new one. She could barely even remember what happened after the car screech and doors being pulled off of its hinges, she had closed her eyes at that point. But when she opened them they were in a high speed chase.

  Azalea looked over at Llorel and he looked as calm as could fuckin be. What the flip is he so calm about?! She yelled in her head. His foot hit the pedal harder and the car stopped and Azalea hadn’t been prepared for it. She immediately grabbed on to Llorel’s arm and he very forcefully removed her hand.

  “I’m sorry Mr. I don’t like to be touched, maybe you should think about that when you don’t warn me that you’re about to stop the flippin car!” she snapped. She wasn’t even mad that he hit the brakes so un-expectantly she was mad because he made a big ass deal about her touching him when they were in the situation that they were in! Forget his OCD butt! She was beyond pissed now. The calm look that he had worn on his face so proudly was quickly replaced with anger. Good now he knows how the freak I feel, she thought as she placed her head against the car window.

  Llorel got out of the car and ripped the door off of the gorgeous car that was following them. Azalea watched from a far as Llorel pulled the man out of the car. Llorel wrapped his one arm around the man’s neck and kicked him in the back of his legs. They buckled beneath the man and now the man was on his knees in front of Llorel. Llorel very forcefully brought the man’s head clean off his shoulders and a second later his headless body was engulfed in flames and as if that wasn’t enough Llorel sat the head on the ground and looked right at her before bringing his foot down on top of it, brain juice scattered everywhere.

  Llorel gestured for her to get out of the car and hop into the dead man’s car. Azalea hopped out of the confines of the car and quickly ran around the mess in the middle of the street. Llorel hopped in and put the car in drive as she buckled up.

  “Oh my, insert bad word here, God,” she said as realization hit. “I’m an accomplice to murder and now I’m in a getaway car, but not just any getaway car no it had to be a stolen getaway car from THAT MAN YOU JUST KILLED!” she shouted as she shook her head in disbelief.

  “Would you like to walk instead? You better get used to it now because that won’t be the first death you witness, and hopefully I won’t be out there fitting by myself next time.”

  “I hope you don’t expect me to help you kill people, because I don’t mind crushing those pretty little hopes of yours.”

  “If you think you’re just along for the ride you better think again. If you don’t help me I don’t mind crushing that pretty little head of yours.” Would he kill me like Jaiden said he would? “Did you think about a thing that I had told you back at the house?” He asked cutting into her mind babble.

  “Actually I have. The whole imprint thing was a joke right? I’ve seen the impacts of an imprint before.”

  “Really?” he asked sounding almost shocked.

  “Yea, it happened on Twilight between Jacob and Renesmee—”

  “I’m not talking about a damn movie, this is for real.”

  “Well I’m glad that I only know because of some dang movie, this stuff shouldn’t even be real! But anyway according to the books and movies imprints usually only occur between vampires and humans and I want to let the record show that I am not no, insert bad word here, leech,”

  “Couldn’t you just say the damn word? I think saying a bad word or two is justified in this situation won’t no one judge,” he said sarcastically.

  “I am not a flippin vampire so there for no imprints exist over this way in the vicinity of my direction.”

  “Demons.”

  “What?”

  “Demons can also imprint.”

  “So you’re telling me Demon’s the things that nightmares are made of are real?” He didn’t answer he just continued to look at the road and drive. Azalea let out a big sigh out of frustration.

  “What else do you think you know about imprints?” he suddenly asked.

  “Well another thing I’ve learned about an imprint is that an imprint can occur once a vampire sucks a human consorts blood, and again may the record show that I aint never had any leech stick their teeth in me and live to carry out the imprint, besides if someone sucked my blood I would know.”

  “No you wouldn’t you were too young to know,” he said quietly. Oh my gosh this conversation is actually happening I am actually having this crazy conversation! She thought. Azalea’s blood was about 350o right about now and it had nothing to do with Llorel’s presence.

  “What do you mean I was too young to know?” she nearly growled. “Do you mean to tell me that I have indeed been imprinted on?”

  “With me; yes.” Azalea could tell that her face was a mix of red for anger and green for disgust.

  “So which one are you?” She was nearly afraid to ask because either way she wouldn’t be happy with either answer.

  “I’m a vampire.”

  “You’re a vampire?!” Azalea’s body shook with fear and disbelief.

  “Calm down if I was gonna kill you I would have already done it.”

  “But you’re not real,” she protested.

  “I may not be alive in a technical sense of the word because technically that was taken away from me the moment I was changed but I am most certainly real.”

  “NO YOU ARE NOT REAL!” she screamed hoping that she would somehow wake up… my dream? “Fudge!” she screamed.

  “Swearing is not going to land you in jail; seriously the way you talk is not normal.”

  “You do NOT get to preach to me about normal, this, this CRAP is not normal! None of it is!

  “So what was with the sudden out-burst?”

  “You were in my dreams—”

  “Oh, so you dream about me huh?”

  “They were nightmares,” she growled, “and you were a vampire but so was I, so they had to be just dreams,” she explained.

  “Not necessarily if this imprint is broken the change will happen faster.”

  “WHAT?!” she screamed in frustration. “Hold up, wait one flippin minute, you said the change would happen faster meaning it is already happening just not as fast as it could? WHAT THE FLIPPIN FUDGE MONKEYS LLOREL, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME THIS BEFORE NOW?!!!” This was too much.

  “Look I’ll explain later, right now we need to focus, besides the less you know the better.”

  “The phrase is the more you know the better, not the less,” she spat.

  They drove for about 20 more minutes before she noticed the airport up ahead. “Where are we going?” she asked confused.

  “New York.”

  “New-what?” she asked shocked. He stepped out of the car and didn’t even plan on turning around to open her door. She hopped out of the car and made sure to slam the door really loud.

  “Are you really that naïve?” he asked as she approached him. She snatched the pass port out of his hand and looked down.

  “Janae Erie? Really? What’s with the fake name anyway?”

  “I was gonna go with Head, Head Erie but that’s not believable now is it?”

  “If I had gray hair, a saggy chin, shriveled up skin only then will this be believable.”

  “What’s wrong with the name?”

  “It’s an old lady name, Janae Erie? I mean come on do you truly believe any ones gonna believe that?” She looked back down at the passport as she spoke, “and then you got me down for 20 years old, don’t none of this match up. I have an old lady’s name, but I’m supposedly supposed to be 20 when I really look like I’m 15. I can’t pass as any 20 year old with a name meant for my grandmother.”

  “Trust me you can,” he said walking ahead of her, she mocked him behind his back and immediately felt like a kid. She ran up to catch up as the gap between them grew.

  “I
f you want to pass for anything remotely human you might wanna un-elongate your strides,” she said reaching over and taking his passport. “Taimere Young? I can see you as a Taimere if you were more built and had a handsome face,” she teased.

  “Look I didn’t make the passports ok just go with it.”

  “Ok but I have a question.”

  “Of course you do,” he said silently to himself but that didn’t stop her from hearing him, she rolled her eyes though and asked anyways.

  “Is this some type of getaway, what will happen if someone notices us?”

  “This isn’t a getaway we just need to go somewhere quiet without any interruptions so that we can talk.”

  “That’s what a getaway is Taimere.” He looked at her as if his face was drawn in her direction.

  “It’s not a getaway everyone there will know who I am and they will know who you are, we’re not hiding…technically.”

  “What do you mean technically?”

  “Well in a way we are hiding from the people who are chasing us.”

  “And how exactly will the “people” at this “place” that’s not a “hideout” going to know me? I’m pretty sure I’ve never met any of them.”

  “Just because “you” never heard of “them” doesn’t mean “they’ve” never heard of “you”,” he said mocking her with the quotation marks. “And that was very rude of you to use quotation marks around the word “people” when referring to them, they may be vampires and other things but they are “people” just like you and me.” Oh crap I think I hit a nerve, she thought.

  “I didn’t mean to offend you or your people.”

  “If that’s your way of apologizing then I do not accept it. And they are not my “people” we may not be a classified group but we should still be treated like everyone else,” he snapped

  “Whoa hold up Llorel—”

  “No I need you to listen to me for once,” he said stopping on a dime and turning to face her. “This is the exact problem my “people” are having now. Before yall didn’t even know we existed and because yall didn’t know yall treated us like you would treat anyone else, but just because we’re different we get treated like we’re not worth the same airs as everyone else. You are just like your got damn mother it sickens me. Let’s go before we miss our flight.” He turned around and left just like that not even giving her a chance to defend herself.

  The lady took their passports and thoroughly checked them. “Are yall together?” she asked.

  “No she’s a bit bias and so if we don’t meet her standards then we are not worthy of being her mates.”

  “That’s not what she meant, she was asking if we were attending the same flight,” Azalea said rolling her eyes at him.

  “Oh well in that case, yes.” He smiled and there wasn’t even a hint of embarrassment in it. She handed them their passports back and they were seated on a first class air plane.

  “This is a bit much, how do you afford all of this?” Azalea asked as they took their seats toward the middle of the plane.

  “I go around stealing from old people and the dead like all the rest of my “people”,” he said as he took the outer seat letting her get the window seat.

  “I’m serious Taimere.”

  “And you’re assuming I wasn’t?” Azalea could tell he was definitely still angry with her.

  “I know you’re not serious, I mean you can’t be that cold and heartless can you?”

  “Can I? You’d be surprised the stories you “humans” conjure up, now get some sleep Janae we’ll be here for a while.”

  “How in the world do you expect me to sleep?”

  “Talk your way to sleep, it seems to be working on me” he said resting his eyes shut. “If it helps there are some pillows so you can feel more comfortable,” he said without even opening his eyes. I don’t need pillows, I don’t need comfort, what I need is a small dose of normal. After about 30 minutes of procrastination and bird watching Azalea finally drifted off to sleep, she just wished that it was a peaceful one.

  The dream was different from the last one Azalea had been having, it was like she was watching the after and now it was time to see the before.

  Azalea was in what looked like a mansion. It was dark; the only light had come from candles that were going down along the hallway. She walked into one of the many rooms and saw that everything was draped with white sheets. She walked farther into the room and the only thing that wasn’t draped in a white thin sheet was a mirror.

  A young man entered the room, Azalea was tempted to hide but he didn’t even notice her. The man centered himself in front of the glass and had the most meaningful glare in his eyes. The man studied himself a minute longer until a knock had erupted and pulled his attention away momentarily.

  “Come in” the man had said turning his attention back to the mirror.

  “Ummm… Narcissus, Mrs. Gold is in need of your presence” the man spoke before exiting the room. Narcissus took one more meaningful glare at his reflection and then headed for the door. Azalea followed Narcissus out into the hall and into a room that was draped in gold. The room was so bright her eyes had to adjust rather quickly. On a beautiful gold sequined lounge chair sat a young woman.

  “Hello dear,” Narcissus had spoken. The woman had looked up and ran circles around her tummy.

  “Narcissus I’m pregnant,” was all she said, no Hi, how are you? She just went straight in for the kill. Shock filled Narcissus round glassy looking eyes.

  “Marigold you can’t be,” he said in a thin broken whisper. When she spoke for the second time Azalea noticed them; fangs.

  Azalea woke up dazed and confused.

  “You still got some time go back to sleep.” She looked over and everything that happened up until now flooded her mind, she laid back a moment.

  “There’s no mother freakin way I’m going back to sleep now.” She looked over at Llorel so he could tell by the way she glared at him that she was dead flippin serious.

  “It was just a fuckin dream Janae, nothing to worry yourself about.”

  “Did you see the dream? I don’t think so, so please don’t tell me what I can and cannot worry about.”

  “Fine then don’t go back to sleep” was all he said.

  “Didn’t plan on it,” she said rolling her eyes and sitting up a bit straighter. Llorel gave a loud agitated sigh before opening his eyes. He fished for some sunglasses before getting up and leaving. Azalea also let out a sigh herself realizing that she really needed her notebook; she didn’t feel like starting a whole new one. How in the world am I gonna survive in New York without it? We don’t even have luggage, she thought to herself.

  Llorel came back with a couple of yogurts, bananas and a pint of orange juice.

  “Here eat something.” He sat the food on a pull out tray.

  “I’m not hungry.” After that dream the slightest things have to potential to make Azalea sick to her stomach.

  “Fine but the plane will land any minute and after you hear what I have to say you may never want to find the time to eat again.

  “Fine.” Azalea knew he was about to unload some heavy shit and she didn’t know if she was completely prepared for it. “Lea’s gonna flip when she hears about this, she’s obsessed with all kinds of myths, but the mere mention of vampires… she would blow her top off to be in my position.”

  “Too bad you’re position isn’t up for grabs.”

  “Yea well I wish it was because I’d give it up in a heartbeat,” she said in a low whisper.

  “Well this aint no walk in a park for me either sweet heart. Ready yourself for the land.” Azalea did as she was told and they were off the plane and in New York in no time at all. Azalea hopped into yet another stolen car and they drove for about 40 minutes in silence. She could tell Llorel was still mad at her about the comments she had made, she never meant to hurt his feelings, and truthfully she didn’t even think it was possible. She would have thought you had to have som
e type of feelings in order to get them hurt but still she felt bad for upsetting him. I think he went back to ignoring me, but I can’t go back to ignoring him back; not now. The last thing I need right now is his silence, she thought.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I knew you wouldn’t last” was all he had said.

  “That’s not answering my question.”

  “Questions you seem to have a lot of.”

  “Wouldn’t you?” she asked as he pulled up to some kind of mansion. “Whose place is this?” It couldn’t be his place, she thought. He didn’t even bother with a witty comment he just stepped out of the car and strolled gracefully to the door. Azalea struggled to keep up with his un-human like pace and nearly stumbled up the stone made stairs.

  “Hello master Jones,” a guy dressed in a butler’s attire addressed Llorel.

  “Is master Williams here if so can you tell him I’ve arrived” Llorel said to the man.

  “Will do, you two wait in here.” They followed the butler man into what looked like a foyer, which was really a long never ending hallway with spiral stair leading to the second floor. Soon after being led into the foyer they heard voices and footsteps coming down the hall.

  “Aww Llorel it’s nice to see you have made it, and right on time might I add. Who’s the lovely lady?” he asked with a very genuine smile. Azalea didn’t expect someone so young to be so very well respected. He looked like he was maybe 19-20, she expected a 40-60 year old man.

  “This is Mary’s daughter William.” The way Llorel said this was as if there was some unspoken words in-between there, you know like when you pull your friend aside and give her that agree with me face and once they get the message they all go “Oh” and that’s exactly what William just did. William very leisurely stuck out his hand. Azalea looked down at it questionably, but not wanting to be rude she took his hand in hers and gave it a firm shake.

  “It’s very nice to finally meet you Ms. Green; I imagine you must have a lot of questions.”

  “Please don’t get her started,” Llorel said rather rudely.

  “Please call me Azalea, no Ms. And no Green.”

  “Oh the Queen of the garden.” The moment he spoke it Azalea’s thoughts automatically went to Jaiden. She still had her phone so maybe she’d call him, if he even wanted to hear from her. “Let me show you two to the guest room,” he said leading them down the hall.

  “Umm… excuse me guest room? As in one?”

  “Yes ma’am and it is right here,” Williams said pushing open the door. The room wasn’t too far from the front door, it was only one hallway and a flight of stairs away so if need be she could start planning her escape, after she got her answers of course. As uncomfortable as she was with their only being one guest room, this just so happened to be a rather fine room, big enough for a family of elephants to sleep in.

  “If you have any questions or concerns you know where to find me master Jones, and I hope everything is to your liking Ms. Green.” There he go again with the Ms. Green crap, did we not just go over this? Is everyone going to refer to me as such? She thought to herself.