Chapter 4 – Chap 4

When I eventually woke up, I felt someone’s arms around me. I would’ve started panicking, but then I remembered everything that happened last night. I blushed deeply, hiding my face in the pillow I was laying on. Me almost falling to my death, made me so much more emotional than I would’ve liked to be. I guess that makes sense. I just hope like hell Sean didn’t think I was weak or anything else because of it. Even though I was worried about what he thought of me, laying here in his embrace felt so comforting.

I turned to face him, already awake and smiling at me. He reached over and began playing with my hair. That was when I noticed the tattoo on his arm. It was a half sleeve and looked like a wolf, katanas behind it and ocean waves surrounding it. Before I even realized it, I had reached over and was tracing the ink with my finger. He chuckled.

“Morning baby.” He whispered softly, making me blush again. No one had ever called me that before. Shadow jumped onto the bed, giving me and Sean good morning doggy kisses before stepping back so we could still talk. I moved over, showing him the wolf tattoo that I had on my shoulder. It was a black wolf with blue eyes.

“Mine was a graduation present since my favorite animals are wolves and dogs. What’s the story with yours?” I asked him curiously. The smile on his face slightly faded. He sat up, facing away from me, and took his tank top off. At first I blushed, knowing he was completely shirtless now. But then I saw angel wings tattooed onto his back. They were big enough to be almost the size of actual wings. “Woah..” I whispered softly. He nodded and turned back to face me.

“A few years ago, before we even came to this state, I had a friend named Angel. We were close and best friends. Almost more… but then, a fire happened at the apartment complex we were living in. When we started to leave to get to safety, the floor above us started to break. We were almost in the hallway when the supports gave out. Angel pushed me out of the way, but ended up falling and getting crushed by the furniture in the room above us…” he explained. I reached over and hugged him, wanting to comfort him.

“Damn… I’m sorry.” I whispered softly. He leaned against me with a light sigh.

“So I got these tattoos in honor of him. He loved wolves and surfing, and collected swords.” He looked over at me and chuckled. “You kinda remind me of him.” He said before playing with my hair again. I looked over, and noticed the scar from where Carlos bit me last night.

“Carlos.. Is a vampire?” I thought out loud. Sean nodded and laid back with me.

“There was an old vampire hunter priest spirit that possessed him. After he weakened his body with the fall, he stabbed himself with a thick stick.” I sighed and nuzzled my head against him.

“Can we go one night at work without something crazy happening?” He laughed.

“Aww, but then your blog would be boring.” My eyes widened. I wasn’t expecting him to mention the blog.

“Y-You know about my blog?” I asked him curiously. He nodded and put my phone in my hands.

“Your phone was getting blown up about it, I had to put it in silent mode. I didn’t snoop, but I did find it on my phone. You’re kinda popular there.” He kissed my forehead. “I’m sure your readers will be happy to find out we’re together.” I nodded. He ended up taking Shadow for a walk in the backyard while I updated the blog. Once it was updated, I heard a knock at the door. I got up, and made my way downstairs. When I opened the door, I saw someone I didn’t expect.

 It was my best friend from high school. Her name was Cassandra, and after we graduated from high school, she moved to Japan to study the lore that her favorite horror game was based on. She also had a game design job over there as well for a small video game company called ‘Cherry Blossom Studios’. She hadn’t really changed appearance wise. Same long blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. Now before any of you ask why me and her never became a thing, think about Sean and I’m sure the answer is obvious. Not that she wasn’t pretty of course. She was beautiful and if I was straight, things between us might be a whole lot different. She was the only one that knew about my sexuality, but that’s because no one else really needed to know.

“Shane!” she shouted at me before giving me a big hug. I instantly hugged her back.

“Hey Cass.” I said softly before letting go of her. “What are you doing back here?”

“Oh the company moved to the US since most of the employees are American now.” She explained to me. I nodded in response.

“Do you still have those somewhat psychic abilities you loved to experiment on me with back in high school?” She laughed.

“Hmm, try me. Ask me something that I don’t know the answer to.” I thought for a moment.

“Alright, what am I thinking about right now?” I was honestly curious to see if she would get it right or not.

“You have a boyfriend now! And he saved your life last night! And you have a dog now too!” I blushed as my jaw dropped instantly. She was spot on accurate. Just then I felt an arm around me. I looked behind me to see Sean and Shadow had both come up next to me. Shadow ran up to Cassandra, happy to meet someone new and wanting attention.

“I have a feeling you’re talking about me and Shadow here. I’m Sean.” He said before kissing me on the cheek. I rolled my eyes as she giggled. I invited her in and we all hung out in the living room. We both explained to her the events that have happened at work, including last night. She seemed very interested.

“I’ll have to go through the attraction and see what’s up.” She said before grabbing her phone. I assumed she was looking something up. I looked over at Sean.

“Are we working tonight Ba- Sean?” I asked, mumbling at the end of my sentence. He chuckled before hugging me and nuzzling me.

“Come on Baby, you can call me Babe. You can call me something else too, but I don’t think you’d wanna do that in front of Cass.” He teased with a wink. I growled, hid my face in his chest and slapped his arm.

“Sean! Shut the fuck up!” I whined. Cass giggled as she watched us.

“But yeah, we’re gonna be open.  We’re also opening later because of the memorial for Kevin, Brock, and Carlos.” I looked up at him.

“Wait, that’s today? Where?”

“In the break room. There’s a separate memorial for their family members at one of the funeral homes in town.” I looked down.

“Damn.. I really hope nothing crazy happens tonight.” I mumbled and sighed. Cassandra put her phone down and started playing with Shadow again.

After a while, me and Sean had to get ready for work. We told Cassandra when the haunted house would be open, and left Shadow at home. I didn’t want him getting hurt. It was pouring rain when we got there. Thankfully, we were there early enough to sit in the car as we waited for it to subside.

“Hey… Sean?” I asked softly. He looked at me.

“Yeah?” I sighed and looked over at him.

“What do you like about me? Like what made you decide to make a move on me last night.” I really wanted to know what he thought of me. He smiled and leaned closer to me.

“Your personality. You have a big heart and a desire to get things done. You try to make things better, even if it gets you almost killed. Your looks are damn near perfect to me. The way your stubble and facial hair goes around your face. Those blue eyes that I can easily get lost in, like a peaceful ocean. And of course, that damned smile. Your smile can make my day better no matter what.” He told me in a soft soothing voice. “Shane.. Baby.. Is breá liom tú.” He then kissed me.

It was a much deeper kiss than last night. I closed my eyes and kissed back. I assumed that whatever he said was Irish. I had no idea what it meant, but I didn’t care either. We kissed like that for a bit longer before he pulled off. We both sat there, breathing heavily. I smiled softly.

“That was so sweet of you Sean.” He nodded and chuckled.

“Your turn.”

It took me a minute, but then I realized he wanted me to say what I liked about him.

“Well… Your eyes for starters. They’re so green and whenever I look into them I feel safe. Your protective personality. Whenever you helped me, you wanted to make sure I was before you even checked on yourself. Your ‘don’t give a shite what people think attitude’ Your soft and warm skin, as well as your facial structure.” I explained to him before sighing. “Sorry, that was probably really corny. See I’m new at this whole relationship thing and never even kissed a guy before until you kissed me last night.” I mumbled. Sean somehow managed to pull me close to him even though we were in a car.

“Not corny at all Shane. I know it came from your heart, and that’s what matters.” He said as he put his hand on my chest where my heart is. I could feel.. What I think is called butterflies in my stomach. It was the simplest touch and yet, it still managed to feel like so much more. Sean’s phone went off. He checked it and answered the phone. “Heyo Dad, what’s up?” I could hear Marley talk on the other end of the phone.

“Is everything okay? The memorials starting soon and you lads are running late.” Marley said, causing me to blush softly. I felt bad that we were running late to something as important as this.

“Oh shit, that time already? Yeah we’re fine, just waiting for it to stop pouring fucking wolves and tigers outside.” He said before hanging up the phone. I assumed that what he said was just another version of the ‘Raining cats and dogs’ expression. Sean and I went inside, only to feel underdressed. Because the memorial was at work, we thought we had to be in our uniforms. Everyone else was in some form of formal wear. Once the short sermon was over, I walked up to the picture of Carlos. I sighed and looked down.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you Carlos.. Even if you were a vampire..” I whispered softly. Sean wrapped his arms around me.

“Don’t feel too bad about it mate, you did your best to save the lad.” He said softly. I shrugged and rubbed my eyes. Despite the decent amount of sleep I got last night, my eyes were tired. I carefully started to move out of Irish Shane’s embrace, and made my way to the coffee area. I went to grab the K cup for my usual, but it wasn’t there. I sighed, reaching for a french vanilla instead.

“Sorry Shane, Adriana’s gonna restock on everything tonight. I guess with everything going on, people wanted more coffee than usual.” Marley said, slightly startling me since I thought I was alone.

“Oh heh, yeah I guess that makes sense.” I said, wondering if Sean told Marley about us yet. He smiled at me, putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I just want you to know, no bad judgement would be coming from me and Adrianna about you and Sean. We’re just glad he’s with someone who makes him happy.” I blushed deeply and nodded slowly.

“Errmm- Thanks Mr. Schmidt.” Sean came up to both of us.

“Oi Dad, you aren’t putting Shane on the spot or embarrassing me are you?” He asked. Marley let out a low chuckle.

“Not at all, just letting him know that things are all good.” He patted me on the back, hard enough to make me cough and stumble a bit. He then left the room, leaving me and Sean alone with the other staff members who were still taking part in the memorial. I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. I checked my coffee to see that it wasn’t black anymore. But when I sipped it, it didn’t taste like french vanilla. It tasted like my usual caramel vanilla cream set up. Actually, it was even better than that.

There was a quick staff meeting before work. Because of everything that’s happened, there are now a few new rules. Number one; If something seems weird, or out of place, let the security dispatch know immediately. Number two; do not investigate the problems alone. Bring at least one person with you. And finally for number three; No one, absolutely no one is allowed to go on the roof or in the elevator shaft.

While me and Sean went to go to our posts, I got shoulder bumped by our head of security. Fucking Nathan Ramirez. Nate for short. He thinks he’s somehow higher up than Marley, and is very cocky about it. You may have noticed that me talking about this specific coworker is more aggressive than how I talked about the others. That’s because Nate bullied and beat the shit out of me in high school. The guy is the literal embodiment of steroids and testosterone on crack. I’m not one to hold grudges, but the man was still to this day an asshole. He dumped the entire jug full of fruit punch at the opening night party for work. Ice cubes and all.

“Nice going Willnuts, you and your Irish boyfriend made us get new rules.” He spat after bumping into me. Sean growled ready to pounce on the guy just to defend me. I put my hand in front of him so he wouldn’t go after him just yet.

“Not my fault we’ve been attacked.” I said, trying my best to diffuse the situation at hand.

“Yeah, but if you would’ve stayed in your post, none of this shit would’ve happened. Always gotta be the hero don’t you? Isn’t that how you got your ankle busted in high school? Protecting Cass? Heh, maybe you were just acting straight so no one knew you were gay.”

“Leave her out of this asshole!” I yelled at him. Suddenly, I felt like I was unable to control myself. I felt this huge urge to bite and claw Nathan. Sean could tell I was uneasy. He grabbed my arm.

“Shane, don’t let him get to you.” He said, trying to calm me down.

“Heh, now you’re gonna let your pretty Irish sugar Daddy take care of you?” Nate teased with a smirk. I saw him pull something out of his pocket. His last comment finally sent me into a fury of anger that I never felt before in my life. Before I knew it I was on top of the guy, pushing him into the ground with a supernatural strength. I was shouting unintelligible things at him. I saw him move and then felt something stab into my skin.

I felt a fiery burning pain spread across my entire body within a matter of seconds. I cringed and howled. Suddenly I blacked out. When I woke up, I was still on top of Nathan. But now.. His jacket and shirt were torn, the shreds, bloody claw and bite marks all over his body. I so desperately tried to say something, but all the noises that came out sounded like barks and whines.

“Shane… Baby.. Look at me..” I heard Sean say softly. I turned to face him and stood up. That’s when I realized I was shorter than normal, and I knew something was wrong, and not just with what just happened. Something was wrong… with me.. Sean sighed and sat on the floor. “Shane, I gotta tell you something… something you need to know about you.. And me.”