His to Guard

1

Jules

Being on the run from a vampire hunter on your own is one thing.

Being on the run with a human at your side who has no idea about the dangers around them… That’s a whole different situation. Especially if it’s a human you care for, a human you don’t want to lose…

Seeing the hunter outside the club threw me off. I thought we were okay, I thought I was safe, but now he’s here and I’m pretty sure he’s after me.

Like these last few weeks weren’t stressful enough, with Lance all but trying to lock me up and kill me with the venom he must have gotten from the hunter and me moving in with Sean.

I’ve been pretty safe for years, but not anymore. Everything comes together now, and I can’t escape anymore.

I take Sean’s hand, hoping that it grounds me, hoping that it helps me to focus on what we’re going to have to do next.

The first bus took us to the train station, and now we’re taking a bus to the edge of town before we’ll get on one that will actually get us to Sean’s place. It’s convoluted, but that’s the idea. That way it’s harder to spot where we’re actually going.

“Jules?” Sean squeezes my hand a little, his voice quiet.

I look his way, the frown on his face, the worried look in his eyes. Fuck. “Yes?” My voice is quieter than I expected it to be. I keep looking to the front of the bus, hoping that nobody we know will get on, especially not the hunter or Lance…

“Are you okay?”

Am I? Really? But I nod. I’m good enough. Considering the circumstances we’re in… I guess I’m as good as can be expected.

“Let me know how I can help.” There is that strength in his voice again.

I really like it, but it also frightens me, because if he acts like this, honestly trying to help and protect me, I know that it’ll be harder for me to protect him when I have to. When I’ll have to leave him, when I know that I can’t stay, just to keep him safe.

“Thanks. I will.” I squeeze his hand a little, and then look out the window again.

A hunter… here. Not just any hunter, a very specific hunter… The same one who was after Rowan before, who hurt us all so badly. The guy who almost killed me, the reason why Rowan gave his life to make me a vampire so that I could keep living.

How am I supposed to fight the hunter this time if Rowan couldn’t even beat him? But, most of all, I can’t let the hunter do the same thing to Sean as he did to me, as he did to Tyler and me. I can’t let the hunter hurt Sean.

Fuck. Tyler. Of all the people I could be thinking of, why do I have to think of him now? Why do I feel like I need to check up on him? I can’t. I left that life behind for a reason. I can’t put him in danger, I can’t leave any traces that lead back to him.

I really can’t.

But what if the hunter already got to him? What if the hunter went for Tyler first?

No. I would know. I would know if the hunter got to him, if the hunter used him as bait to get me. Me leaving Tyler and our parents behind keeps them safe. Not having contact with them is how I keep them safe, no matter how much it hurts. No matter how much it still hurts to not be able to talk to them. Their safety is more important than any selfish wishes I have.

This is for the best. This is the only way to keep Tyler safe. If he isn’t in my life, the hunter can’t hurt him again.

I don’t want the death of another person on me, especially not my twin brother… definitely not that of my twin brother.

Keeping Sean safe without revealing what I am or what is exactly going on will be hard enough. It’ll be enough of a task to keep him out of trouble and to keep him out of the claws of people who may want to hurt him, who may want to use him to hurt me.

Jace was right… Dating someone who doesn’t know about vampires, or all the other creatures who live at the fringes of our society, it’s complicated. It’s going to be so hard to keep it all a secret from him and keep him safe at the same time.

Great. But I can’t let go now, not anymore.

I chose this myself and now I have to keep going, I have to see this through to whatever end there may come.

***

The bus stop is dark. We’re standing at the edge of the city, next to a business park, and all the buildings around us are dark and closed this late at night.

“Five minutes until the bus arrives.” Sean looks up from his phone and I nod.

“Thanks.” Five more minutes and then we’ll finally be on our way home again. Finally.

I just want to lock the door behind us and hide away from the world, not get back out again. But I know that that’s not a good idea and I know that it’s not going to help our situation in any way. Also, we still have to go to work and classes and everything. Hiding away, no matter how tempting it sounds, it’s not possible.

“Are you cold?” Sean steps closer, wrapping me in his jacket.

I’m not cold, but this is still nice. And being so close to his body makes me feel like things can’t really be that bad, can they? Not when this feels so good.

“You know what…” Sean sounds thoughtful. “Ever since I met you, strange things have been happening.” He doesn’t sound upset though, just curious and pondering.

“Like what?” I turn, putting my arms around him and standing closer, my head on his chest.

“Meeting you that first time… You looked like a bat when you rushed out of that office. All black jacket and clothes, like you were about to fly off.”

I can’t help smiling a little, yeah, a bat would be an appropriate way to describe me, though he doesn’t know exactly why yet.

“And then in class, first seeing you again. And then preventing you from burning your hand with the coffee, that was interesting.” He lets out a low laugh which makes my body tighten, so sexy. “And just… I don’t know. Talking to you. And then you asking if you can crash at my place… I don’t know…” He tightens his arms a little. “It’s made coming back here a lot less dull, let’s keep it at that.”

“Dull?” Because I don’t think anything could be dull with Sean around.

“Yeah, dull.” There is a smile in his voice. “I hated high school. I hated hiding who I was, I hated hiding everything about myself. I was scared I’d have to go back to that, just to survive here. But you’ve made it a lot easier.”

Easier? He really has no clue in how much danger I’m putting him by staying at this side, by staying close to him. “Glad to be of help.” I’m just glad that he’s here at all, I’m just glad that he’s not run away from me yet. He has no idea how much that has helped.

My phone buzzes and I check it. I’ve blocked Lance’s number, so it can’t be him, but I still jolt every time my phone buzzes or rings.

It’s a message from Liam. ‘We’ve arrived home safely. Where are you?’ Liam and Jace live together, or, well, they share an apartment. They say it’s because it’s cheaper and that it’s easier to find a place for two people than just one, but I think they just don’t like living on their own.

I look up, at the darkness around us. ‘Business park on the northern side of the city. Bus home should be here soon.’

“Liam and Jace?” Sean’s voice rumbles in his chest.

“Yeah. They got home safely.”

“Good.” Then lights fall on us and I see the bus come around the corner. “Time to move.” He lets go of me, and I involuntarily shiver. Even though I wasn’t cold, I still liked his warmth around me.

We get on the bus, and luckily we’re the only ones here. It’s just us and the driver.

“Late night, guys?” He sounds amused.

“Something like that.” I can hear how Sean tries to sound cheerful, but I know he’s tired and this can’t be easy on him.

We sit down at the back of the bus, this way, even if people get in, we can easily see them. It’s quiet around us, just the sound of the bus and the wheels on the road, but no other voices.

“Has this happened before?” Sean sounds serious and it takes me by surprise as I was listening to the calm.

“Has what happened?” Because, I’m not going to reveal anything that he’s not asking me about specifically, fine line to walk here.

“Being followed by dangerous people?” The edge to his voice doesn’t surprise me this time.

“Yeah…” How much can I get away with? I told him that Rowan, Tyler and I had been jumped by random guys, so that’s not an excuse I can use again.

I can’t muddy that story, because if he starts pulling on any threads, it will all unravel and reveal a much darker truth than I want him to know about.

“When?”

I shake my head, not a question I can answer easily.

“Before or after you got attacked? And you… When you lost…” I glance his way and he looks really pained, his heart beating loudly. He doesn’t want to talk about or ask about this either. He really doesn’t.

“After.” My voice is barely above a whisper.

“Why?” As he looks at me, his voice almost breaks, and I wish I could stop that pain already.

“I…” Why? Why would someone, or multiple someones, target me? Why me? I’m a nobody as far as Sean is aware. “My ex… He…” How can I explain this without ruining my memory of Rowan, without making him seem like a bad guy?

“Your ex, the guy who… when you were jumped?” He can’t seem to say the word. Death, dying, died.

“Yeah.” I look at my hands, suddenly not sure I can even explain anything right now.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked. I shouldn’t have. It’s not the right time or place.” Sean puts his hands over mine, tightening his grip a little. “Sorry.”

“No.” I shake my head, putting one of my hands over his, it’s curiously comforting. “He was a good guy, but… his family, they were involved in things that put a target on his back.” That makes sense, right? Vague but it makes sense. Good. “They knew he was involved with me, and that put a target on my back too.” Close enough to the truth.

Just swap ‘his family’ to ‘vampires’, ‘things’ to ‘being a vampire’ and ‘involved with me’ to ‘turned me into a vampire to keep me alive’ and you’ll have the right story.

Which is a totally different story.

Fuck.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that must be.” Sean takes a breath. “Have you thought about going to the police?”

The questions of someone who doesn’t know, at all. “They won’t listen. It’s been too long ago and it’s not like they’ll do anything unless something actually happens to me. Just a random person scaring me isn’t going to get me anywhere with the police.”

“Right.” Sean falls quiet.

I glance up at him again, but he’s looking at the front of the bus, not seeing anything, just thinking. At least he accepts my answer. At least he accepts what I tell him, that’s going to have to be good enough right now.

I can’t tell him the truth, not when the danger is still so high, not until I know that he won’t just kick me out.

I need a little more time until I can tell him, until I’m sure that it’ll be fine, that he won’t hate me.

“I’ll be here, no matter what you need from me.” Sean’s voice is quiet, low, and he pulls my hand up a little, kissing the top of my fingers. “I promise.”

My heart skips a beat, while I can hear that his is still steady and strong.

I tell him about something scary that happened to me, I tell him that I’m in danger, that he potentially could be in danger too, and all he seems to do is grow stronger. Become a knight without even putting on airs. He’s something else. He’s definitely something else.

Anyone else would have fled if I told them this, anyone else would have at least gotten a little scared or worried. But he was worried when he didn’t know, now that I told him at least something, he seems to be comfortable and stronger, more steady.

Curious.

Very curious.

I don’t know if it’ll be good or if this will just put him in more danger, but at least he’s not running away, and the way he looks, the way he’s thinking, he doesn’t seem to want to run either. He seems to be coming up with a plan to protect me.

And that means I need to do the same. I need to come up with a plan to protect him too.

Because, if I lose him… If he ever gets into the same situation as I got into… I can’t save him. Rowan could save me because he was a born vampire, but I’m already a rarity. I’ve not even heard rumours about being able to save Sean if it came to it, so I can’t ever put him in a situation that could put him in that much danger. I won’t be able to turn him into a vampire to keep him alive, even at the cost of my own life, so I can’t put him into a situation where he could die.

I need to come up with a plan. To get the hunter away, to stay safe, and to keep Sean safe too. All of that, and make sure I keep on top of my work and on top of all the things with college.

And how am I supposed to do that? Right…

Great…

I don’t think I’ve got enough hours in a day to even do that. But I’ll have to.

For my sanity, for Sean’s safety, and maybe even for my own future.

I need to do this.