Chapter 10

Glen and Aurora’s house had not changed at all from when I last lived here. Alex and I looked around a bit as we made our way to Glen’s study. There was still quite a mess from the assault on Aurora. I would have to remind myself to clean up a little for Glen before Alex and I left, so that he would not have to leave Aurora to take care of this, or that he’d have to bring her home to this mess, or so they wouldn’t have to be reminded that someone had broken into and violated the sanctity of their beautiful home. It just was not acceptable.

“Raelyn, this place is so cozy and nice. I can see that you had a wonderful place to live growing up.”

“Thanks Alex. I am glad you say so; I know that is how I feel about it. I was and still am extremely lucky to have Glen and Aurora in my life and sort of like my parents. Even though they will never take my real parents place they are the closest I’ll ever have.”

As we entered the study I heard Alex’s breath catch in his throat.

“Amazing; I have an extravagant study at my home, yet this one beats mine any day of the week. This is most impressive, Raelyn.”

“Yeah I think so myself. That is why I use to always come down here to play. I know it must have driven Glen insane, but he never complained. I kind of miss being younger where I did not have to worry about so much.”

I knelt down on the floor to begin opening the cubby that I was so familiar with. Even though I was bigger now than I use to be as a child, I still got the excited feeling I use to get as a kid, when opening the cubby to climb in. I had just barely gotten my head and shoulders into the cubby when I saw the compartment door that I had always over looked as a child.

“I found the compartment Alex.” I yelled so he could hear me.

“Good let’s get that damn journal and get out of here. My instincts are telling me that the sooner we leave the better Raelyn. I have had a rather uneasy feeling since we walked into the door.”

“Okay okay. Give me a minute to get what we came for.”

I opened what I thought was a compartment door. However to my amazement behind the door was a narrow dark tunnel. I wonder why Glen hadn’t told me this. I slowly began to make my way into the tunnel. Little by little my rather long body inched into the tunnel.

Alex stood there waiting. He started to scratch his head and put his hands on his hips as I began slowly disappearing into the cubby.

When in the world is she going? Was the thought that entered his head as he started bending over to get a better look. Did she fall into a black hole?

“Raelyn, where in the hell did you go?” he said a little perturbed.

By this point I was over half way through the tunnel and coming up upon another compartment door.

“It’s not just a compartment, Alex; it’s a passage way leading to another compartment door. I’m checking it out.”

There was dim lighting all the way through the tunnel. As I approached the compartment door, my excitement grew. Too bad I had not thought to explore this as a child. It would have been so much fun to hide in, I thought to myself. The corridor should have been dark and damp; however it was dimly lit and rather dry. It must have been due to it being inside of the house. In all actuality it was a rather neat place.

Alex was on his hands and knees at this point, peering into what he must have thought was the abyss that had swallowed me whole.

“Raelyn, mon cher where in the world are you? I feel that this abyss has gobbled you up.”

“I am still here Alex. What does ‘mon cher’ mean anyway?”

“It means my dear one. And before you ask ‘j’ ador’ means I adore, because I will probably slip again and say that also. It is French. I try very hard not to speak in my native tongue; unfortunately I do so more when I am with you.”

“Oh, okay then. I think I like it better in French.” I laughed as I moved further away.

Alex just stared after her; finally he decided it was best if he followed her just to make sure every thing was okay. Boy was he wrong about that option.

Alex had no sooner gotten his head down to his chest through the entry way into the tunnel when he realized that he was stuck. You have got to be kidding me he thought to himself. This is not happening!

“Look what you’ve done now Alex. Nice way to look out for mi amore.” Dimitri spoke to Alex.

“Shut up now Dimi. I do not need your smartass remarks.”

“Man do I wish I was still alive to take pictures of this!” Dimitri chuckled.

“Fils d'une salope, Vous condamner, Dimitri!” Alex screamed in his mind. The foresaid meaning son of a b***h, damn it.

“Sorry Alex, but if the situation was reversed you would be cracking all kinds of jokes at me.”

“So very true, but at the same time if the situation was as dire as this one I would refrain as much as possible, Dimi.”

“Alright truce then. Although I have to ask, how do you plan on getting out Alex?”

“Of that dear cousin I am not too sure at the moment. Right now I need to concentrate, and as much as I love our beloved talks, now is not the time. Plus I do not want Raelyn to overhear us, okay?”

“Yeah yeah yeah. Take it easy. Besides I’ll tease you later. Right now I’m going to go back to listening to Rae, because she has found the journal. And I can hear your thoughts even as I listen to hers.” Dimitri giggled and disappeared again.

At that precise moment Raelyn picked up the journal for the first time.

“Raelyn, my love, I have someone here that desperately wants to speak to you. And he has some very important information for you.”

“Man is it good to hear your voice Dimi. Who could you have there that could possibly want to speak to me…..Dad?”

“Hello angel of mine. I have waited so long to be able to talk to you. I apologize it is under such dire circumstances though.”

“Daddy, is it really you?”

I was unable to get anything else out; another tidal wave of raw emotion was hitting me, this time it was that of losing my parents. I have tried for years to recall their voices without any success, and now I could hear my father as if he was right next to me. Just too much emotion to hold back by this point.

“Angel, you have to stop crying. I know none of this is easy for you. And I know it’s hard and hurts. But I need for you to be strong right now. There is not much time left.”

I took a deep breath and gathered myself the best I could. My father was right, there would be plenty of time later. Right now I need to focus on the journal, getting out of here safely and getting back to Alex’s house.

“Okay Daddy. I can do this. What do you mean not much time left? Am I not allowed to speak freely with you as I do Dimitri? Where is Mommy? How do I open this journal?” I sounded like such a little child at the moment but I didn’t care.

“There is trouble coming Raelyn, you cannot stay there much longer. Yes from this point on you can speak to myself just as you do Dimitri. However you will not be able to speak to your mother till the time arrives that you need her assistance and guidance. I know this is not fair, but that is the way our rules here are. Your mother is quite well and waiting anxiously for the opportunity to finally talk to you. To open my journal place your thumb on the front it the place that it fits, and do the same with your first finger. Once you do this you will feel a pin prick on each finger. The journal will take a drop of blood from each. As long as it is you placing your fingers there it will open. If it is anyone else it will turn that person’s hand neon green.”

“Now that we’ve gone through all this trouble you tell me that. Here we all were thinking that anyone could open it.”

“I could not risk anyone else knowing how it opened at the time. I apologize Raelyn.”

“Do you want me to try and open it now?”

“No Raelyn, it is time for you and Alex to get out of there as fast as you can.” My father and Dimitri shouted at the same time.

“Rae, my love, move your butt!” Dimitri fairly shouted.

“Angel, you have to move now. I will speak to you again once you get back to Alex’s. I love you my precious daughter.”

“I love you both so much. I’m going now. Talk to you both later.”

They were gone as quickly as their voices appeared. I carefully tucked the journal away in the small nap sack I was carrying and turned to head back down the tunnel. In doing so I felt the same uneasiness as Alex had felt. Something bad was coming, I could just feel it.

I was almost out of the tunnel when I noticed that there was something blocking the entrance. As I drew closer I realized what that something was.

“Alex what in god’s name are you doing?”

“What does it look like Raelyn. Please no more smartass remarks. I’ve already heard enough from Dimi.”

“That little punk could have told me. I’d have gotten to you a little quicker than now.”

“Yeah well I asked him not to.”

“Well have you tried to get out yet?”

“Yes I have tried everything I can think of.”

“Well how do you suppose we get you out of here?”

“I think that the only possibility is going to be having you push me out. Although I’m not even sure that will work.”

“We have to at least try. I do not want to be stuck inside of this tunnel until somebody figures out that we are missing. That in itself could be quite awhile, because Hailey, Fran, and your Uncle Paul know that we are searching for this journal in my bag.”

“J'espère que ceci travaille mon cher petit l'un. I am ready when you are, mon cher.”

“Damn it Alex” I said laughing “ you cannot speak in French and expect me to understand it silly.”

“My apologizes again mon cher. What I just said was ‘I hope that this works my dear small one.”

“You and I both Alex. I have to admit that the French version does sound better than the English though.”

It was an awkward situation for both of us. I was not sure how to go about getting him out of here in such close quarters. No matter which direction I went, it would put me within one or two inches from his face. I was not quite ready to be that close to Alex. The electricity between us already was enough, without going and adding lust and desire to it. Why were we continually ending up in circumstances such as this. Maybe it was fate, with Dimitri’s help, trying to intervene.

“Alright then, here goes nothing. Let’s try this.”

I knew as I said it that this task was going to be interesting and probably fun. I slid my bag around toward my back, and crawled the few steps I needed to, to be closer to Alex. I then gently placed my hands on each of his shoulders. Like I could even remotely hurt him with my hands, I was thinking as I did so. Alex’s body was a good bit cooler than mine, considering the fact that he is a vampire after all, but even with his body being cooler, there was an undeniable heat between us the moment my hands met his shoulders.

“Now I am going to count to five then I’m going to start pushing. What I want you to do is place your hands against the wall on each side of my shoulders. As I begin to push you I want you to push yourself backwards. I do not know if this will work but I hope that it does.”

“Whatever you say mon cher. I will do my best to get us out of here as quickly as possible.”

“Ready one, two, three, four, and five….”

We both began pushing. Alex’s shoulders budge maybe an inch and the next thing I know I’m bumping into his face. As this happened there were instant sparks, due to our lips touching as the impact happened. It was one of t hose rare moments that I have always read about, and only had happen one other time in my life, and that was with Dimitri.

Every nerve in my body was on fire. One part of my was scared by this, another was strangely excited, and another was feeling extremely guilty. I knew at once why I felt guilty, Dimitri. I have not yet been able to accept that it is okay to move on. Unfortunately the person in front of me was related to him, which made it even harder. The scared part was due to not knowing what to expect after all I barely knew Alex. And the excited part was the best part, I finally felt alive again, every nerve ending was wide awake and jumping. It was a feeling I have not felt since Dimitri died.

Instead of making the already awkward situation worse I just shyly raised my eyes to meet Alex’s and grinning slightly. I was astonished to see the burning in his eyes. It was a cross between rare hot passion and fire. My grin faltered immediately. A natural rouge instantly covered my face. Of course there was no where to hide so I had to just bare the humility until I could talk to Fran.

“I …I…I think we need to try that again”

“Which part mon cher? Because I’d definitely love to try the last half again at least a dozen times or more. Was it just me or did you feel the currents as well?”

Oh my how am I to answer that, I thought to myself.

“C’mon Alex now is not the time to joke around. We have to get you unstuck from here. We can discuss the other at a later date.”

“Mon cher, I am more serious now than I have been at any other point since meeting you. Although I do agree we need to get me out of here before we try that again. The next time I want to be able to hold you in my arms. ”

“Alex! Knock it off. We are not having this discussion while we are stuck in this forsaken tunnel.”

“I am sorry. Please can you find it in your heart to forgive my untimely approach to this sensitive subject?”

“Of course I can Alex. Let’s just concentrate on getting out of here for now, alright?”

“Deal, let’s try again.”

Once again I counted to five and began pushing. Thankfully it worked this time. Alex was able to crawl backwards now and exit the tunnel with myself following close behind. It was nice to see regular light again.

Upon crawling out of the cubby an overwhelming sense of something out of place hit me again. I looked at Alex and simultaneously we both spoke to each others’ minds.

“I don’t think we are alone any longer” we stated together.

Author's Note

*This is my first time writing for others to read, so please feel free to comment and/or critique. All feedback welcomed!*