Milk Nights [19] Half-Life
I think I was dreaming. I was flying over the water and sliding across the cobblestones like ice over glass. The air pressed thick around me and breathing didn't seem to be necessary anymore. So I stopped. I didn't move, I didn't blink, didn't breath.
It was like a vacation from life; from the suffocating honesty of life and it's "slings and arrows", whatever that meant. So I just glided and drifted and lacked care and purpose.
And then, I took a breath.
---
"Riley."
Oh, it was Jake. I opened my eyes but saw nothing, only blackness before me.
"Am I blind?" I asked, trying not to panic, but probably obviously failing to sound as such.
"Oh, no… sorry." Jake said, moving away from me slightly. A light switched on somewhere to my left and my eyes squeezed shut with the presentation of it's burning brightness. My eyes immediately began to water and I brought my hands up to rub them.
"Where are we?"
"London."
"London!?" I gasped, shitting up suddenly. "We're in London? What happened to the boat? What happened to me?" I rambled. It seemed any composure and self-control I had once possessed had flown completely and utterly out the window. But then I found Jake's heavy hands on my shoulders and his big brown eyes looking into mine….. I took a big breath and calmed myself down.
"Why don't you just change me already so I don't have to traverse the world in constant panic attack mode?" I tried to say as smoothly as I possibly could.
Jake rubbed both his hands slowly over his face and then looked at me with a defeated… look. "At this point I don’t think it really matters."
"What?" I asked, not really accepting his answer. "And why not?"
"Jezebelle has taken it upon herself to…" he gave me a look that dripped in pity. I hate it when people give me looks like that, drives me up the wall.
"Do not look at me like that." I warned him. "Don't beat around the bush either."
"Jezebelle is territorial… to put it mildly." He sighed. I could tell that this was the last thing he wanted to talk about. "We where put together early in life and she's made it her mission to… make sure what she views as hers stays hers."
"So basically, it doesn’t matter what my life or death status is, she's got a vendetta." I translated.
"Basically."
"You're still going to have to change me you know."
"Why are you so ready to hand your life over to a bloodthirsty, half-life?" Jake suddenly bit, sounding angrier then I had ever heard. "You don't understand what it's like to be confined to twelve hours of darkness, to have to hole up when the sun comes out. Hell, I've never even seen the sun! And to top it all off you have to kill to live! You have to take the lives other human beings just so you can see another useless night. Why are you so ready to surrender yourself to that?"
I didn't say anything. I knew what he meant. I knew, but I didn't understand. As I was, I possessed the capability to walk through the days and nights as I please, unconcerned with their effects on my very existence. And though I kept my diet mainly centered on the consumption of Lucky Charms and milk, which certainly wasn't the only thing I was allowed to eat. I wasn't going to lie, blood gave me the willies, and the idea of consuming it for sustenance put me a little over the edge. I guess Jake was right it was a half-life. But it was that, or no life at all.
I stood up from the bed I had awoken in, and walked steadily to a curtained window. I slipped a finger in a split of the fabric, and moving it slightly over discovered a faint gray light lay beyond it; the gray light of a foggy London. I could imagine the slick city beyond the curtain, but I didn't dare risk taking a look for fear of exposing Jake to it damages. I imagined what it would be like if I was him. I wondered what it would be like to never be able to see the sun. I mean, I knew what it was like to 'bask' in its presence, but I don't think I ever really took into account what it would be like to purposefully avoid it.
"I think I could handle vampirism a little better then a permanent hole in the ground with my name on it." I bit back, managing my most serious glare, which I directed in Jake's direction. "If you're really concerned with my well-being you'll stop trying to dissuade me. I'm having enough doubt in myself without you to drill this situation in any deeper."
It was Jake's turn to be silent, even if momentarily. And it was momentarily. "I'm sorry." He said, a few moments later. "I just want to keep you alive."
"I'll be alive." I sighed, still facing the closed curtain. "I'll just be living your dreaded 'half-life.'"
I didn't hear Jake get up and move across the room, I never expected to hear him. I did feel him drop his hand on my shoulder and press into it so I would turn around and face him. I was slightly reluctant, but I didn't want to fight with Jake. So I turned around and was immediately enveloped by his cool, yet comforting arms. I suddenly felt the urge to cry, but that was something I was equally, if not more so, opposed to doing. But Jake, being Jake, knew without me even saying anything.
Slowly he moved his hands from around my shoulders to entwine with my hair and the juncture of jaw and neck; my weak spot. He lifted my head up and dragged his thumbs over my cheeks, smoothing away tears I hadn't realized I had released. "I do care about your well-being Riley."
I forced myself to look up at him. "Why?"
Jake brushed his second kiss lightly over my mouth. His second pass was firmer and I couldn't help but react to it. I also couldn't help but be disappointed when he pulled back after a brief moment. "Because I can."
"That, Jake, is really lame excuse." I let out, resting my forehead against his chest. I calmed immediately when he pulled me tightly into him.
"It's going to be okay."
"I hope so." I whispered. And I really did.
A/N: Short, I know, but a lot quicker then the last update. So I wont say anything more. Yay for 'filler' chapters. Not really... but yet, they're so convient on my part.
Did you like this story? Make one of your own!
