Chloe and I made it to the bookstore she wanted to visit. It didn't take long before she runs ahead of me to be engrossed in the selection of books available throughout the store.

  Thankfully, she's able to contain her excitement enough to choose a book and start mindlessly reading.

  I leave her to her reading and walk down one of the aisles to choose a book to read. I read a book seemingly at random because I didn't even bother to check its title.

  However, as I opened the book to its first few pages, all I was greeted with were blank pages.

  Confused, I looked at its cover only to realize it was just a book with a solid black cover.

  "Did someone really put an empty book here for sale?" I asked no one in particular.

  I flipped through the book once more to confirm that there was really nothing in it besides the blank pages. However, this time I did land on a page with words.

  When are you going to tell her more about us, Princess? (:

  Shocked, a shiver down my spine, I accidentally dropped the book. And as if on cue, a familiar presence grabs my body from behind with his arms.

  Kayden holds me tightly to his body, my body completely frozen from fear.

  "Hey, Princess," Kayden whispers in my ear in a way that elicits goosebumps on my skin, "You haven't forgotten about me, have you? You know I still think of you even when I'm dead, right?"

  I want to speak, but no words come out.

  "No words, huh?" Kayden smirks. "Maybe I can get some words out of you, like how I used to."

  He pushes his right hand down inside my pants, and I can't even get my body to flinch away. I close my eyes so I can get over what happens next quickly.

  "Come on, don't close your eyes now. I want you to show her how much you love being with me," Kayden taunts me.

  Before I realized the feeling of his hand inside my underwear, I see Chloe looking at me, tears flowing from her eyes. And instead of her sympathetic gaze, she looked back at me with overwhelming disgust.

  Despite the absence of my voice, I tried once more to shout one last word.

  ...

  ...

  "Chloe!!" I screamed. I awake in my bed, reeling from the sickly nightmare.

  As I pant heavily, I hear the smartwatch on my left hand going off. I already know it's telling me about my elevated heart rate.

  This is exactly why I've been trying to avoid sleeping, but my body doesn't like that idea so much, so it's only a matter of time before I collapse into a deep sleep on my bed like I did yesterday.

  And what's worse is that despite my blurry vision, I can make out my transformed fingernails that have become razor sharp.

  I grit my teeth in annoyance and accidentally cut my lip on my now sharp, jagged teeth.

  Sigh.

  I do my practiced breathing exercises, which causes the smartwatch to stop beeping once my heart rate decreases, and my teeth and nails to revert to normal.

  Oscar practically begged me to bring Chloe to my place instead of bringing her to Toronto, where he's living at the moment. He reasoned he could rest easier knowing she's in good hands, but even if I ignore his obvious attempt to get Chloe and me together, I'm terrified of having a nightmare while she's around.

  Yeah, she's a vampire, but that doesn't mean I can't accidentally hurt her either.

  Trying not to think too much about everything, I grab my glasses from my nightstand and put them on so I could see the time on my watch.

  4 AM.

  Great. I might as well just start my day now.

  I stand in the ward's lobby waiting for Chloe and doing my best to make sure I seem as much myself as possible. The last thing I want is to have her worry about me when she's been looking forward to today.

  I hear a beep on one of the doors in the lobby, indicating security has unlocked it. Chloe exits and excitedly makes her way to me, pulling along her purple suitcase behind her.

  "Ash!" Chloe waves to me before letting go of her suitcase and jumping to hug me in a strong embrace, "I missed you so much!"

  "It's only been a day," I laugh.

  "I know," she confirms innocently.

  We held each other for a few seconds before letting go.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  "Are you ready to go?" I asked her.

  Chloe wore an oversized purple sweater that matched her suitcase and sneakers, along with a pair of black leggings, making her at least ready to walk into the somewhat chilly autumn weather of Barrie. Although some crazy folks here might consider 8 degrees celsius to be t-shirt weather.

  "Yes!" Chloe runs back to grab her suitcase by its handle, "Did you already call the Uber?"

  "Uber?" I questioned before realizing what she meant. "Oh! No, I'm driving."

  "You drive?!" Chloe's face lights up. The sound of the suitcase's wheels rolling against the tiles of the lobby's floor echoes behind her as she follows me toward the hospital's exit.

  "Uh huh. Unfortunately the transit here is from the stone age, so getting a car was kind of a priority to me."

  For now, I'll leave out the part where Oscar got it for me a month after Kayden died as a 'grieving gift'.

  Chloe and I walked to the parking lot until we reached my black Honda SUV.

  "Whoa!" Chloe admires the car, "Are you like a CEO, Ashtyn?"

  "More like a Graphic Designer who knows a CEO," I laugh.

  "Oscar?" Chloe giggles.

  "Oscar," I confirmed as I opened the trunk to load in Chloe's suitcase. We're seated inside the car not too long after, Chloe now in the passenger seat.

  "Alright. Ready?" I asked, pressing the Start button for the engine and holding down the brake pedal to disengage the safety. The car's dashboard lights up as the engine simultaneously starts. The car's Bluetooth radio automatically connects to my phone, which resumes playing Sleep Token on the speakers throughout the entire car.

  "Oh my god! You like Sleep Token too, Ash?!" Chloe looks at me with delight.

  "I do, yeah," I nod with my hands on the steering wheel. Seems like we at least have the same taste in music, which makes me happy that we have some common ground. "They were my favourite band to listen to...after Kayden died."

  Before I realized it, I ended up talking about Kayden, something I was at least trying to avoid for today.

  "Oh, I see."

  "Hey, don't be sad for me," I encouraged, "You've been discharged. We can finally go on our date."

  I tried my best to steer the car's atmosphere, pun unintended, between us into something positive before it became a ship of depression that I have to deal with all the way home.

  "Yeah!" Chloe cheers.

  "We can stop at my place first and then go. Does that work?"

  "Yep!" Chloe nods before her face changes into a sudden realization, "Oh..."

  "What's the matter?"

  "It's just, umm," Chloe sheepishly looks down in her lap in embarrassment, "I didn't get to drink a blood pack before I left."

  "Oh," Before I say anything else, I take my hands off the steering wheel and roll back the shirt sleeve on my right arm. I extend my bare arm towards Chloe, balling my fist to reveal the veins, "Here. Bite whenever you're ready."

  Instead of obeying, Chloe narrows her eyes at me in suspicion.

  "What now?" I asked, unsure why I'm the target of her accusatory gaze.

  "You did that too naturally," Chloe points out.

  "Yeah, I've given my blood to Oscar on a couple of occasions," I explain.

  Now Chloe is pouting, as adults apparently do too. And although childish, I understood why she was now upset.

  "Don't be such a baby," I roll my eyes. "Oscar and I don't see each other that way."

  At least that's the conclusion I'll make considering he's interested in me more being his sister-in-law than his wife. And that's before you even add that Oscar is already taken by another vampire.

  Chloe doesn't budge on her pouting.

  "Fine," I sighed, "I guess I'll just keep my blood."

  "No, wait!" Chloe grabbed my arm when I begun pulling it away from her.

  Ha, gotcha.

  "Let's make this quick, okay?"

  "Okay," Chloe nodded before biting down and puncturing my arm. It's normal for people to flinch or even scream from a vampire bite, but according to Oscar, the vampire saliva coating their fangs acts as a numbing agent. Basically meaning there's little pain to their victims, but it wouldn't matter for me since I have a high pain tolerance.

  As Chloe drinks my blood, her expression turns blank as she notices something while she's feeding.

  She looks at me, puzzled, "Ash, you're a demi-human?"

  "Oh, you could tell?"

  "Yeah, the flavour in your blood is different from normal human blood."

  Now that I think about it, I'm sure Oscar would have mentioned something like when he drank my blood as well, but it wouldn't be something I keep to the forefront of my mind considering it's been a long time since he tasted my blood.

  "Yeah, I'm-," I spoke but just as quickly stopped myself. "Actually, is it okay if I tell you later?"

  "Sure!" Chloe smiled.

  "Thank you." I'm glad she's so understanding. It's not something I would like to dive into right now.

  I grabbed some wet wipes from a packet I had on the centre console so Chloe could wipe the blood from her mouth as needed, and so I could clean the leftover blood from around the puncture marks on my arm. I'm not sure if Chloe noticed the puncture marks on my arm instantly healing, as I didn't bother to roll back down my shirt sleeve.

  Regardless, I relaxed myself as I put my hands back on the steering wheel.

  It takes a while before we arrive at my cozy apartment in Barrie South.

  "Feel free to make yourself comfortable," I invited Chloe inside the apartment as I opened the door with her suitcase in tow.

  "Wow..." Chloe examines the interiors as she gives herself a self-guided tour.

  What first became amazement trailed off into verbal disappointment as Chloe did quick glances from room to room.

  "Um, it seems a little..." she tries not to offend as she makes her way back to me.

  "Bare?" I finished her sentence and placed her suitcase in the living room.

  Yep, I'm practically winning awards for minimalist design since I haven't changed much of the apartment from when I moved in.

  That's because I haven't had the motivation to sort mine and Kayden's stuff that's in storage. And every time I think about doing it, there's a part of me that feels like it'll just be a painfully suffocating experience.

  Personally, I think the apartment is cute as it is. It doesn't need me to ruin its aesthetic.

  "Y-yeah- I mean, there's nothing wrong with how it looks!" Chloe tries to be reassuring.

  "Haha, it's okay. You're right. I'm not one for decorating much."

  "Don't you have stuff you like to collect?" Chloe asks as she turns her head both ways as if making sure she didn't miss anything during her inspection.

  "Not really," I shrugged.

  I actually spent most of my money getting things Kayden wanted, so spending money on personal hobbies wasn't really an option.

  I'm not sure if I failed in my objective to seem like my usual self because Chloe looks at me with that particular look of concern written all over her face.

  "Ashtyn?"

  "Hmm?"

  "We don't have to go out today," she smiled sweetly at me, "Would you like to just stay home instead and spend time together?"

  At first, I wanted to protest her new change of plans considering how much she was looking forward to our bookstore date. But then the memory of the nightmare I had last night flashes in my head like an omen.

  I bit my tongue, remembering the heartbreaking look of despair on Chloe's face in my dream.

  If she continued and asked if I wanted to never go to bookstores for the rest of my life, I would genuinely consider her offer.

  Chloe awaited my response, and while looking into her red eyes, I understood what she was trying to tell me without using words.

  It's okay. You don't have to be strong all the time for me.

  "Okay," I gave in to her soft, affirming smile.

  "Good! You look like you need some cuddles!" she smiled brightly before reverting to her more timid demeanour, "I-I mean, if you want to t-that is."

  Admittingly, her quickly waning, but cute, confidence was enough to get a giggle out of my depressed soul.

  "You know what? I would love that."

  End of Chapter 4