Page 16 of Resurrecting His Soul
When Ricardo heard Melina in Lisandra’s room, he felt something he hadn’t felt in—well, he’d been a vampire for so long he wasn’t sure how long it had been. Fear. Fear that he wouldn’t get to her fast enough. That Melina was going to be successful in her attempt to kill Lisandra. He still didn’t understand his yearning for her, but he knew if she died it would be the end of him. Hell, just thinking about her leaving and never getting to see her or hear her beautiful voice again felt like his chest was being crushed by a ton of boulders. He knew he would do anything for her, and for some reason she seemed to be willing to give him a chance. Seemed to trust him despite him warning her not to. A part of him had hoped she would run when he told her the kind of evil he’d been responsible for because he knew the longer she stayed, the harder it would be if he lost her. And he did believe that it would happen. Eventually she would wake up and realize she couldn’t be with someone like him. A monster. It was going to ruin him when that day came, so he was going to revel in whatever she was willing to give him until then.
Lisandra reminded him of the man he used to be. The man he was before he became a vampire. Before he was convinced that being a monster was all he had left. He wanted to be that man again, for her, and the more he was around her and got to know himself again as a person, the more he realized he wanted to be that man again for himself too. He was going to start by trying to be the man Lisandra deserved.
He waited for a little while after Melina left to give Allison and Lisandra time to calm down after Melina’s tantrum. It was a little after five when he went to knock on Lisandra’s door, but she opened the door before his fist made the connection with the wood. It was a good thing his reflexes were so fast, or he would have landed his first knock right in the middle of her forehead. She held her finger up to cover her lips and motioned for him to follow her into the hallway, then she softly pulled the door closed behind her.
“Sorry,” she said quietly. “Allison’s taking a shower to calm down and I didn’t want her to hear someone coming in and have her try to attack Melina again. She’s a bit overprotective.”
He smiled. “She is a good friend to have.”
Lisandra nodded. “Yeah, but things are different now. I feel like we’ve been transported to this whole new world that we don’t know how to survive.” Lisandra’s brows drew together and he could sense the worry rolling over her. “Protecting the people she cares about is a part of what makes her, her, but I’m just afraid that this time it might end up with her being the one bruised and broken. She doesn’t seem to care that Melina is a vampire. She still wants to put her out on her ass. Getting her to let me fight Melina on my own is impossible.”
He reached out and took her hand, then brought it up to his lips and placed a light kiss above her knuckles. When he met her eyes they were wide, but he could tell by the way her body was leaning towards him, and the way her breath hitched when his lips met her skin that she was not offended by his gesture. “You are not on your own, love. You have me and I swear I will not allow Melina or anyone to harm you, or your friend.”
A small smile turned up the corner of Lisandra’s lips and he had to muster all of his strength to keep from pinning her against the wall and crushing his mouth over hers. She was so damned beautiful when she smiled.
She chuckled. “Did you just growl?”
He shook his head briskly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.” He cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should do something a little more familiar. You were right to say you were thrown into a new world, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave everything from the human world behind.”
“Like what?”
“We could go on a proper date. Maybe a movie?”
Lisandra brushed her hair behind her ear and a small smile flashed back at him. But it was short lived. She glanced back at the door and when her eyes met his again, he could see worry there again, and something more. “I can’t leave her. I know that you think Melina can change, but I don’t trust her. Maybe she will learn to change, but there’s no way I’m leaving Allison alone here with her.”
Shit,he thought. Lisandra made him so nervous he was obviously not thinking clearly. When he got around her, he had a tendency to forget about anyone or anything existing outside of her. She was right. Melina couldn’t be trusted alone with any human, and with Allison it would be worse. Melina would want revenge after the way Allison had slapped her, and he knew she had not developed any kind of restraint when it came to those impulses. Not yet.
“She should come with us,” he blurted. Dammit. He really didn’t want a tag-a-long. He wanted Lisandra all to himself. He was on the verge of looking desperate, something he’d never been. Well, not as a vampire. The real shame was, he didn’t care. He just wanted to make Lisandra happy. He’d rather share her with her friend than not be with her at all, and the way her face lit up when he made the suggestion made him forget worrying about being desperate at once.
“I’ll work on convincing her.” Lisandra smiled and popped a quick kiss on his cheek. “Give me a half hour. She can be hardheaded sometimes, and she thinks she’s invincible, so convincing her she’s not just going to go off on her own might take some persuading.”
“I could always make her,” Ricardo smirked.
Lisandra laughed. “She’d kill both of us.”
“Damn straight,” Allison interrupted.
She stood in the open doorway to Lisandra’s room, looking intensely threatening with her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes narrowed on Ricardo. Despite the fact that she was staring down two vampires, one an admitted killer, defiance and confidence radiated off of her.
“I will go with you, but only because I’m tired of being cooped up in this house. I was thinking that I needed to do some shopping, anyway. Wearing the same outfit on repeat is getting pretty old, and I’d like to learn a little more about our new home. Even if it does turn out to be a temporary one.”
Ricardo’s eyebrows shot up. “Temporary?”
“I don’t plan on living in your house for good. If Lisandra makes the decision to make this a permanent living situation for herself, then I would like to have an idea about the prospects around town for jobs and a place to live for myself. So, I’d say heading to town while the two of you have a date night works out for me as well.”
“Allison, I was thinking you would come with us,” Lisandra chimed in.
Ricardo wanted to kiss away the frown lines between her brows. He knew why she was worried, and he couldn’t blame her. Even though he wanted time alone with Lisandra, he knew she was right to worry about her friend’s safety. “You would be safest with us,” he said to Allison.
Allison rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to walk on eggshells because you let that bitch stick around. I don’t plan on letting fear that she’ll attack me rule my every move or decision. You shouldn’t either.” She narrowed her eyes at Ricardo. “If she’s such a threat, you shouldn’t let her stick around.”
Ricardo felt a heavy weight on his chest. He knew she was right, and he couldn’t really understand why he wasn’t ready to kick Melina out of his life. There was the guilt he felt for the path her life had taken after he changed her, but it was a little more than that. He felt responsible for her. “I know it cannot make sense to you,” he said, “and it is hard to explain. In a way it is like she is my child, and I know I failed her. I took her life when I decided to change her, then I taught her to embrace the darker urges that come with this life. I owe it to her to try to make that right.”
Allison gripped her stomach and laughed. “I would love to see Melina’s face if she knew you thought of her like a child. Girl would lose it. She’s got it so bad for you.”
Ricardo just stared at her. She couldn’t know what she was saying. Melina did not think of him that way. “I am her maker. We have a unique bond, but there is nothing romantic between us.”
Allison shook her head, smiling. “Not on your side, maybe, but your little progeny never got the memo. She wants you, man.”
