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That innocent question should had been gut
wrenching. Her shelter, the guy who promised to always be there,
left her when she needed him the most. But still the biggest chunk
of her emotions were unattainable.

“He’s not coming. I needed a break from
everything including him.” It was the darkest of lies, but the more
she thought about it, it was for the best. She did need a fresh
start. Maybe it was a good thing . . .
Yeah right.

“I bet he will still be here. He’s all about
you.”

“I told him not to come.” Her hand went to
the bite on her neck. He couldn’t come. A monster like him can’t
enter a holy place, a church. “We need to change, we have to be at
the church in an hour.”

Left alone again, she fingered a black dress
that Catherine had laid out for her on the very spot Trucker had
slept on their last night together. Thinking about how her life had
changed since the day Trucker walked into the drug store brought a
new round of tears. Trucker, Jake, and Catherine were adamant that
the wreck was an accident. Larry’s warning was a fluke, just bad
timing. Julie was not so sure. Still even knowing what she had
already lost and the possibilities of what she was yet to lose, she
craved Trucker. The thought she might not ever have his arms around
her again was too much.
Snap out of it, Julie Emison because of
YOU, dad will never get to hold mom again either.

Julie didn’t care how she looked that day.
Her world was crumbling away. Who cares if she had on make-up or
every hair was in place? Julie dressed, and glanced in the mirror.
It was not her clothes, her hair, or her appearance in general that
caught her eye. It was his bite. He didn’t heal it. He left a
visual reminder of what a monster he truly was. She quickly pulled
her hair around her neck covering it up. She didn’t need a visual
reminder that Trucker or his kind were monsters, placing an urn
full of her mom’s ashes in the cold dark earth was enough to prove
that.

Julie noticed the bandages falling off and
exposing the marks of the very wreck that stole her mom’s life. All
she wanted to do was cover them up, and pray they went away. She
gathered up her supplies and headed to the bathroom. She slowly
pulled the gauze off her many stitches. She was grimacing when Dan
walked in.

“Want some help?” Her dad’s eyes were almost
swollen shut from the tears, but he still gave Julie the sneaky
grin he always flashed when he got something by Ellen.

“Yeah, I do. This isn’t easy, being one armed
and all.” She held up her cast arm and smiled.

He started removing each bandage, amazed by
how they seemed to be healing. “So, I guess it’s me and you now.
All that coaching your mom has gave us over the years will come in
handy.” He was trying to be lighthearted, but the enormity of it
all hit them both.

“Daddy, I know it’s too soon, but she wants
you to be happy.”

He rubbed the ointment over each of her
incision. “I know. I just don’t know how it’s possible.”

“Me either.” Round three of the tears came
again, moistening each freshly placed bandage.

Dan worked on her face in a comfortable
silence as Julie envisioned what their life should’ve been.

“You’re officially mummified.” He slapped the
last piece of paper tape on. “It’s not as good as mom would’ve done
but it looks . . .”

“Perfect,” Trucker mumbled as he walked in
the small bathroom.

Julie’s eyes caught his and she felt
resentment that he was there. It was a moment between her dad and
her, he suddenly felt like an intruder in her life. No humanity,
left her more wishy-washy than Trucker was at any point. She didn’t
belong in his world. He couldn’t handle pain, well, neither could
Julie anymore. She gripped Dan’s hand.

“Dad, I need to talk to Truck. Can I meet you
at the church?”

“Mom’s downstairs. You can ride with her.”
Trucker’s eyes never wavered from Julie. This was it.

Dan slapped Trucker’s shoulder. “I knew you
would be here. Take care of her.”

“Yes, sir,” Trucker said, his eyes still
lingered on Julie.

Julie took the three steps separating them.
Trucker ran the pad of his thumb over the biggest bandage, then
pushed her hair away from her neck and caressed the bite. His eyes
closed as his teeth scraped over his upper lip. He bent over and
placed fast, soft licks over the bite. Julie regretted him healing
it. Something told her that was the last thing he would ever give
her.

It was all too much for her. Julie walked off
and headed to the living room, sure he would follow. She took a
seat on the couch. As he walked passed her, his body brushed
against hers giving them both the same chills they experience the
first time he walked in her home. He took a seat beside her. She
moved to the far end of the couch, careful not to touch him again.
She didn’t need to mess with the few feelings she had. He never
appeared more dashing to her than he did at that moment. She
noticed, under his sports jacket, he had on a T-shirt for the first
time ever. She braced herself knowing it was a trick to fool her
into staying with him.

“Angel, talk to me.” He tried to smile, but
she could read his moods as easily as he read hers.

“You left me last night. I needed you and you
left me,” Julie stated.

He closed his eyes. “That wasn’t me, but . .
.” He opened his eyes, theirs met. “My demon side was in complete
control. Even that side wanted you safe.” He reached out to touch
her face. She pulled back. “That was the worst pain I’ve ever
experienced. Thinking anybody especially my father could do this to
you. I lost it. The horrible evil in me took over and I couldn’t
find myself. I was totally lost in the evil. I was wrong.”

He pulled her legs over onto his lap and
started lightly trailing his fingertips down the length of them.
She yanked her legs out of his lap, still trying to keep her
distance. He reached for her again. She instinctively jumped
back.

“Are you ever going to touch me again?” he
asked.

“I want too.” One single teardrop fell from
her eye.

He carefully laced his fingers through hers.
“What’s stopping you?”

“My heart.” She knew it would burn, but it
was the truth. “Will you take a walk with me?” Julie wanted out of
that house and into the fresh air, his aroma was thick and clouding
her mind. She stood up, never letting go of his hand.

“You’re leaving me.” His head dropped and
shoulders slumped. “No, you can’t. Please, I love you.”

“Walk me to church. It’s not but a half of a
mile.” Julie calmly said, pulling at his hand.

He stood up and his eyes widen in fear.
“Angel, first I want you to feel something.”

Confused, her eyes tightened, a shiver ran
along her spine.

“Have you ever heard the saying if looks
could kill?”

“A few times.”

“The look I saw in your eyes, it tore a hole
so deep in my chest my heart expanded to fill it.” He placed her
hand over his heart. She felt the soft flutter of a heartbeat. “Mom
always said one day a great love would melt my heart.” He twirled
one of her curls around his finger. “She was partially right, love
did, but it was the fear of losing that love.”

Julie could stand there forever in that
moment, but she had already lost too much in his world. What more
could she stand? She motion for him to go with her outside.

“Angel, if you ever want to, all you have to
do is tell me to leave and I’m not welcome here anymore. Then I
couldn’t come back without an invite.” The pain in his eyes cut
through her.

“I would never tell you that.”

Chapter 24

They walked hand in hand down the back road
leading to the church holding Ellen’s service. It took them back to
walking together in the woods at his house the day she found out
his family’s secret.

“Angel, my dad had nothing to do with that
wreck. Jake has investigated every lead. He deemed it an
accident.”

The fact Jake confirmed it was an accident
helped ease some of the guilt, but Trucker’s world was still full
of danger. Even he has killed.

“Your mom told me, but would you tell me
about her, the girl who died?”

Trucker shook, his fist got painfully tight
around her hand, informing Julie he was aware of which girl she was
talking about.

“Her name was Cassie. She was beautiful and
full of life. Her hair was full of curls too. She was the girl on
the missing poster at the Drug Store. Do you remember?” He reached
to touch her curls, but she hit his hand away with her cast. He
tenderly stopped her and stroked her fingers hanging out the tip of
the cast.

“Yeah.” She barely nodded her head. “Did you
love her?”

“No, I meant it when I told you that you are
the only girl I’ve ever cared about. I didn’t hate her and that’s
saying a lot for me then. You have changed me in ways that you
can’t even imagine.”

“You told me you never touched a human, but
me, since you changed. Did you lie about that too?”

“Angel, I’ve never lied to you and you’re the
only person I can say that to, too. Cassie wasn’t a human. Only she
didn’t know it. So many of my kind breeds with humans. The children
are unaware of what they are, so they never fully change. However,
they are unpredictable, a true wild child. I thought she was
perfect. It gave me a taste of the human world without the
drawbacks of humans. She was a distraction that’s all.”

They arrived at the parking lot of the
church. He stopped, gripped her hand, holding it in place over his
heart. She felt the soft cotton of a new T-shirt and the thump of
his heartbeat.

“Is that why you don’t want me, to bond to
me, because you’re scared you’ll hurt me?”

He placed his hand on her cheek. The feel of
his skin brought waves of pleasure to her.

“I’ve never wanted anything more than to bond
with you, but I love you and you’re not ready. I’ve already taken
so much from you. Your first kiss. Your virginity. I made you turn
your back on humanity. I’ll never push that on you. I’ll wait as
long as you need because that is what love does. But yes, I’m
horrified of losing control with you. I could hurt you, even kill
you with a simple touch. I still haven’t got over her death. If I
were to hurt you, I would never get over it.”

“Don’t say that.”

“I love you.” He stroked a bandage on her
face.

“I love you and will always love you. Nothing
will ever change that. It’s just too much. I’ve already lost too
much.”

“Angel, please don’t lose us too.”

She saw the tears form in his beautiful blue
eyes and finally there was not a trace of evil in them.

“That’s the hardest part because you were
never fully mine anyway.” The words hurt her as they were coming
out, but not near as much as they hurt him.

“No, please don’t think that. I’ve been yours
since the day I first laid eyes on you.”

“I can’t take it anymore.”

“Baby, my soul is not only yours, but you own
my heart now too.” He pressed her hand hard against his chest. “I’m
not evil anymore.”

“Maybe not on the surface or even in your
heart, but somewhere inside of you it’s there and always will be. I
can’t change that and neither can you.”

She fell in his arms, his massive hands
stroking her, grabbing at her. She wanted to commit his smell to
memory. She laid her ear on his chest to hear the faint echo of a
melting heart. A heart full of great love for her, but also a
vessel for pure unadulterated evil
.
She stood on her tiptoes
for one last kiss.

“I have to go in now. I know you can’t.” She
paused. “Bye Truck, I don’t regret loving you. I just can’t
anymore.”

She turned her back on him. He hesitated, and
then followed each step she made. At the church door, he pulled her
flush against his body. After one swift kiss on the top of her
head, he left before Julie had time to take a breath. She stood
there long after he disappeared.

Julie finally walked into a church full of
caring, well-meaning people. It was a tidal wave of chaos. Julie
was pressed against soft stomachs, hard stomachs, and engulfed by
the smell of cheap perfume. Everyone chattering, ‘it is such a
shame, it’s hard to make sense of such a tragedy, the good Lord
works in mysterious ways.’ Julie’s mind was in a whirlwind. She was
trying to feel, speak to everyone, and appear human herself. Her
mind was a mix of so many things she couldn’t make sense of any of
it. She darted her eyes around trying to curb the most recent rush
of emotions. It seemed every person in their small community was
there. The sanctuary overflowed. Julie had to laugh to herself.
After all, her mother always loved being center of attention.

Catherine had worked hard to get the memorial
service together while Julie was in the hospital. She had the
florist wrap the alter and baptistery in a thousand twinkle lights.
The front of the church was covered in bouquets of pink and white
roses. It was more like a garden wedding or even an elegant tea
party than a memorial service. Julie made a mental note to thank
Catherine for doing so much for them, and wondered if Catherine
would ever speak to her again now that Trucker and she had both
gone their separate ways.

Julie spotted Dan standing in front of a
picture of Ellen. Catherine had enlarged and scattered about a
dozen of them around the church. Dan was crying loudly. Julie
walked up to him, placed her arms around his back, and put her head
on his shoulder.

“Daddy, I’m so sorry.”

He slid his arm around her. “Baby girl, how
can I live without her?”

“I don’t know.”

Their pastor, Brother Terry, informed them it
was time to start. Julie took her dad’s hand. They walked hand and
hand, and took their seat. Julie glanced around. Tori and her mom
were sitting three rows behind her. Tiffany was standing in the
back with Gene. Gene had on a suit. He looked quite different, than
his normal jeans and t-shirts. All of Ellen’s co-workers took up at
least the last ten rows. Catherine was waiting for them on the
front row holding Sea.