Page 4 of Resurrecting His Soul
“When I wake up, you have to tell me how you saved me.” He flinched, but didn’t say anything. “I know you think I’ll be mad, but I promise you I am more open-minded than you might think. Whatever it was, I am happy to be alive. I just need to know.”
His face fell, and he sighed. “Yes, Lisandra. As I have said, I already planned to tell you. Now rest.”
They would have to talk about his need to boss her around when she woke up too. That was not a path she was ever going down again with another man, not that he was going to be a regular part of her life in the future. Rubbing her chest, she didn’t want to think about the ache that thought had caused there, so she decided to focus on someone who would be in her life. She met his eyes. “And then you’re taking me to find Allison. She’s going to be furious I haven’t responded to her texts, and I need to see her.”
“Fine,” he said, but his expression made her think that it was anything but fine. Something a lot like sadness crossed his features, but she didn’t have a chance to study him for long because he quickly walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Before allowing herself to fall asleep, she thought that it was a shame to see sadness marring such a beautiful face.
ChapterThree
Lisandra
When Lisandra woke up, she felt amazing, not like she had almost died. Moving beneath the sheets, she felt the fabric against her skin, but it felt different from any blanket or sheet she’d slept under before, like she felt each individual thread when it grazed her skin. Looking at the blankets, she was able to discern every separate strand of cloth, the way it was woven together, and see each separate thread move when she ran her hand over the material. She heard birds, bees, and even a squirrel moving through the branches of a tree somewhere outside, but when she looked around for a nearby window, she realized it was across the large room. Still, she could see the very creatures she heard so well, and she could make out the details of the wings on the bee while it flew just outside the window.
Without a doubt, these new heightened senses had to be linked to whatever Ricardo had done to save her life. He’d made it clear that whatever it was would change her. Curiosity had her wanting to explore her new senses, but she needed to talk to Ricardo first. Pulling the blanket off herself, her eyes were drawn to the blood stains that still lingered on her bare skin. First, she needed a shower, and then she needed to talk to Ricardo. She hopped right in the shower, wanting to get the remaining blood and sweat of the previous day off. Just like the rest of the house, the bathroom was a dream. It had a large Jacuzzi tub in one corner, and a stand-up shower big enough to hold at least four people without ever touching each other. Lisandra decided she would have to take advantage of the tub later when she wasn’t in a rush to find Ricardo and pull some answers out of him. She needed to know what was going on with her, and she needed to call Allison and let her know that she was okay. Leaving her behind had been so hard, but Allison had always had her back and tried to keep her safe, and she’d been determined to do the same for her friend. Honestly, it was Ricardo’s insistence that staying would put Allison in danger that had convinced her to leave with him far more than his insistence that it would make Lisandra herself safer.
It didn’t occur to her that she had nothing to wear until she got out of the shower. She found a towel large enough to cover her body, and wrapped herself tight, ready to go find Ricardo. Maybe he had a t-shirt or something. When she stepped back into the bedroom, her clothes from the day before were folded on the end of the bed she’d slept in. Holding her shirt up, she sniffed it expecting it to smell, but it had been washed, all traces of her blood gone. She’d never found a stain fighter good enough to remove so much blood, but she was just happy to have something to wear so she wouldn’t have to wander around a strange house in nothing but a towel. Just thinking about being in front of Ricardo wearing only a towel made her cheeks heat up.
Like the sheets, her clothes also felt different against her skin. Everything felt different. She walked back into the bathroom and took a real look at herself in the mirror. She expected to find a scar on her neck where she’d been attacked, but her skin was perfectly unmarred. Her face was smoother than it had been, even before puberty and acne had set in many years earlier. She could not remember a time she looked so flawless, and she wasn’t wearing a drop of makeup. Her eyes had always been green, but she was certain they weren’t the bright green emeralds that reflected back at her, and she could make out every individual eyelash, which were longer and thicker as they framed her emerald eyes. Her arms, which had been thin, were toned and defined, and she knew it went deeper than looks. She felt the strength coursing through her like it was something concrete that she could reach out and touch, weaved perfectly throughout her body and mind.
She was distracted from her new appearance and body when she heard someone moving around the house and she followed the noise. When she found Ricardo sitting at a table in the kitchen, on the opposite side of the house of the room she’d slept in, she was surprised she’d heard him at all. The house was massive, and it was crazy to think she’d heard him from so far away. But it wasn’t just that she had followed the sound, she had felt something pulling her towards him, a strong connection like nothing she’d ever experienced. When she saw him sitting at that table, a feeling of belonging settled over her soul, which of course made no sense at all, but she couldn’t deny the contentment that came over her the moment her eyes landed on him. In the morning light, he was more handsome than she’d thought the day before, even from his profile. Watching him, she got lost in her own thoughts, wondering what it would feel like to have his stubble pressed against her skin.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
With a jump, she pulled herself out of her own head and moved over to the table where he sat. She noticed he hadn’t turned to see her walk into the kitchen, but he obviously knew she was there. Maybe he felt the invisible line pulling them together, too, or maybe he just had exceptional hearing, like what she had woken up with.
Pulling out the chair across from Ricardo, she took a seat without taking her eyes off him. “I feel great. Better than I can remember feeling, ever, actually.”
Ricardo nodded. “Yes,” he said. “That is normal.” He didn’t look at her, instead looking out the window, and she had a feeling he was intentionally not looking her way.
“Normal? Nothing about this is normal! Not for me. Everything is better. Clearer. I feel stronger. I could hear you from across the house. I can see better than I ever thought possible.” She waited a moment for him to respond, but he still wouldn’t turn to look at her. She slapped the table in front of her. “Would you look at me!” Ricardo turned to look at her and his pupils dilated, and his smell changed. What was that? “Ricardo, I can smell you. Not in a, you’re a smelly guy way, but more like I can differentiate your smell from every other smell in this house. And just now, when you finally looked at me, that smell changed slightly, grew stronger, in a good way.” Heat climbed up her chest and she pressed her hand there and took a deep breath, reveling in his scent. A low growl rumbled from Ricardo’s throat, and holy hell why did she think that was hot? She shook off that thought, wanting to get everything off her mind while she had his attention. “I can smell the unique scent of the soap used to wash my clothes. The cedar used to build this table. I can smell everything, hear everything, and see every fiber of the shirt you are wearing right now. And I look different, and I can tell by the way you’re looking at me I’m not the only one who noticed how much better I look now. Tell me. How is that possible?”
Ricardo reached across the table and put his hand over hers, and she felt his touch like electricity dancing over her skin. “First of all, you are not more beautiful now.” She tried to pull her hand away, but he held it in his, not letting go. “You misunderstand. Yes, you look different, but you were already beautiful. That has not changed.” She sucked in a breath, temporarily lost in his sapphire gaze, but she couldn’t let herself get sidetracked by compliments, so she pulled her hand away and sat up straighter. Ricardo sighed and pulled his hand back, and the emotion she’d seen in his eyes a moment earlier was replaced by something darker. “To save you, I had to do something that is going to have a big impact on your life, and I will understand if you’re upset.”
“Ricardo, I am glad that you saved me. I knew the minute I woke up something was different. I just need you to be honest with me.”
“You feel different because you are different. You are no longer human. I had to give you my blood to save you. It was the only way. The reason you were so exhausted after wasn’t because of the blood you lost; it was because your human body was dying.”
“Dying?” Lisandra sounded choked.
“Yes. If you just pay attention to yourself, you will know. Notice you do not hear your heart beating.” He reached across the table and took her hand again, then pulled her arm straight across the table so her arm was on display and ran a finger over her skin. “Your skin is paler than it was just two days ago. It’s because your heart isn’t pumping your blood. It isn’t what’s keeping you alive, not anymore. You could stop breathing and it would have no effect on you. We only breathe because it is natural to us. A habit, but not a need.”
Lisandra sat back and allowed his words to seep in. She’d known she was different from the moment she woke up, but hearing just how different was a lot to take in. She pressed her fingers against her wrist, trying to find a pulse, but there was nothing, just like he’d said. She couldn’t hear it either. Holding her breath, she expected the burn that came when your body was trying to remind you to breathe, for her body to force her take a deep breath after a few moments, but minutes passed by without any discomfort. She knew in her heart what it meant, what he was trying to tell her, but she needed to hear him say the word.
“What am I?”
“You already know.”
She stood so fast her chair slammed down on the floor behind her, and she leaned over the table until they were nearly face to face. “Just tell me.”
“You’re a vampire, just like me.”
Hearing him say it out loud made it real for Lisandra. She had so many questions, but she wasn’t sure she wanted all the answers. An overwhelming feeling that she was not going to like them stifled her voice. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. If only she hadn’t let Allison convince her to stop at that damn carnival, then she would still be human. She shook her head. No, she wasn’t going to do that. Wasn’t going to blame the one person who had always been there for her, not when Allison had just been trying to cheer her up; after Allison had left her family and home behind so that Lisandra wouldn’t have to be alone when she’d finally escaped her ex. This wasn’t Allison’s fault.
Lisandra’s eyes flew open and narrowed on Ricardo. “Why did you have to save me?”
“You’d lost too much blood.”
“From a bite, right?”
