Obsessed

34

This feeling was something else entirely. Love was too weak of a word to describe it. It was something else entirely.

I leaned back eventually, and looked up into his eyes.

"What about the witch? Think she might know something?" I asked him.

"Hmm, maybe. We don't really associate with witches much. They hate us. The one that Sam contacted for help was one that used to come over a lot. A junkie. She agreed to help us only if we helped them. In this case, that was us biting her, then feeding her our blood."

That news surprised me.

Colby had left that part of the story out.

"You fed her your blood too? Why?"

He poked his tongue into his cheek, and watched me for a second. "Because that was the deal. Sam and I feed on her together, until she was almost dead, then we both give her our blood to heal her. They have a sick kid over there...no cure. He can't be more than 20 but he's dying. Rotting from the inside out because of some stupid dark magic thing that they did. I fucking hate witches man..." He moved his arm from around me and scrubbed his face with his hands. "But I would do anything to help you come back to me, so we did it. I'll contact her. They said we were cool, so hopefully they mean it. I'll see if she knows anything. Kind of wanna check on that kid anyways."

I couldn't help but smile at him. He actually cared about what happened to the kid. I could feel it strongly.

It was pouring off of him in waves.

Stress, worry, apprehension, and a yearning to know if he could help.

"You're such a softie. My big bad softie."

He rolled his eyes at me, and scoffed. "Not a chance." He replied. "Anyways, do you want to go back inside? Drink a little more with the girls?"

I shook my head. "Not really. I don't want to deal with all of that emotion again just yet, if I don't have to. There are a lot of vampires in there, and I can feel every single one of them from here. If I go back in there...it's going to be too much. I know it."

"So what do you want to do then?" I bit my lip, chewing it for a second before a slow grin crossed my face. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

I stood up, a little wobbly from drinking but not too bad, and took his hand, pulling him up with me. "How about that first date you promised me a while back? Our real first date?"

He creased his forehead for just a second before his eyes shot open wide in realization. "Oh! Really? Now?" I nodded, enthusiastically. "Let's go! I gotta go get my keys. Be right back." He disappeared. "You coming or what?" He asked, standing next to his Corolla.

Fucking vampire speed. I rolled my eyes and walked over to the car.

"Oh wait." He said in a disappointed tone.

"What?" I asked.

I was excited about this and his tone was telling me that something bad was about to happen.

"I forgot, we can't go on our first date."

I huffed out a breath, ready to close the car door that I had just opened. "Why not?"

The sad look on his face disappeared, replaced by my favorite smile, and those damn dimples. "Because I already paid for your food at that chicken salad place. That was our first real date I think. Because I bought you food."

I snatched the door open and sat down in the car. "Get in the damn car, you clown." I said, laughing.

Before long, we were headed out of town, towards the San Gabriel Mountains outside of Los Angeles. It was dark out, but the city lights illuminated everything, giving me a small outline of the huge mountains in front of us.

"This is beautiful. I can't believe I haven't came here before." I breathed out.

"It is. I can't believe that I haven't brought you here before now."

I admired the scenery as we got closer and closer, oohing and aahing like a tourist should. When Colby put the car in park, I was all but jumping out of it. He laughed when I got tangled in the seatbelt.

"Anxious?" He taunted me.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, not even caring.

I watched as he popped the trunk and took out a picnic basket. An actual picnic basket.

"When in the hell did you put that in there?" I asked in amazement at this incredible man.

"When I came back with the keys." He said with a soft smile. "Do you wanna hike or you want me to run us to the top?"

"I wanna hike! What's the point of coming if I don't get to enjoy it?"

He grinned and nodded, before wrapping his arm around my waist. "That's my girl. Let's go."

We headed up the trail, taking our time and going a normal human speed.

Colby had to keep catching me because I kept staring up at the sky or trying to see the top of the mountains, and I would end up tripping.

"Will you just watch where you're going love? You're making me crazy and you can see the stars and stuff when we get up there."

He was right, of course, but I didn't let him know that. I didn't reply, and kept walking, looking around at the woodlands, and listening to the animal noises, instead of looking up. After about an hour and a half of hiking, Colby swooped me up in his arms.

"Heey!" I exclaimed, taken by surprise.

"If we don't hurry, we won't have any time here. You can come back during the day to experience the trails. Deal?"

I made a face but agreed. "Deal." I said begrudgingly.

I inhaled just as he sped off. Another couple of minutes later, and he stopped so abruptly, my hair, which had been flying in the breeze, now just automatically dropped. He set me down gently on my feet, and then opened the basket, bringing out a blanket.

Colby lay the blanket down close to the edge, but far enough away to where my clumsy ass wouldn't kill myself.