GOLDEN BLOOD

TWO DAYS LATER...

Paris came running into the mansion.

“Alex!” she exclaimed.

“Paris!” Alexander rushed, as soon as her scent had reached him.

She ran up to him, bubbling with excitement, “I remembered. I remember everything. You. Me. Us. Everything.”

“You remembered... How?” he said doubtfully.

“Does it matter how? Oh, Alexander, just kiss me.” And she took him by surprise, kissing him. She has never initiated a kiss on her own like this. It was unusual that she made such a swift move as if drunk with happiness.

“Umm... Paris, slow down.” He could feel something was off something different that felt more on the edge and uncertain than ever.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it... I... I’m just too excited.” Paris blushed.

“I understand, Angel. Do you also remember how you died?”

“Yes... it was the most horrible thing that happened to me.” Tears welled up in her eyes.

The spark in his eyes dimmed and filled with sorrow. “You died because I couldn’t save you, Paris.”

“Alexander. I’m sure you did everything to save me,” she moved closer, and ran her hands on his arms, then went over his broad shoulder and halted on his chest; it felt hard beneath the simple shirt he was wearing.

“I want to celebrate. Show me how much you love me, Alexander.” She said seductively.

“Mom, are you okay?” Paris called in the darkness while her own hands were tied behind her back.

“Mom...” she called again when she didn’t hear her Mother; she was hit pretty hard on her head.

“Paris,” Pauline moaned softly, gaining her consciousness back. “What’s going on? Where are we?”

“Oh, Mom you’re okay.” Paris’s voice came out all mushy and muffled. “I don’t know where we are. I’m worried.”

“Who was she?” Pauline asked.

“She has been trying to get to him ever since I met him.”

“Who? The man who came to see you after I just left for work.”

Paris couldn’t help but be flustered for being caught--her cheeks were flushed remembering what they did in the shower and then again in her bedroom.

“His name is Alexander and he is a Vampire, Mom.”

“A Vampire! I don’t know if your father, Aron, would approve of him.”

“I am in love with him, Mom. I love him very much,” Paris’s eyes filled with tears when she said that.

“I want to tell him that the girl he is with, it’s not me.” She started sobbing.

“Oh, honey...” Her mother’s words were touching, but Paris’s heart and mind were restless.

Four and a half minutes ago:

Melissa appeared in front of Paris.

“What are you doing here?” Paris asked her, her presence warned her of the imminent danger of this situation.

“Do you have to come back from the dead, Angelina?” It was more of an irritating accusation than a question.

“How do you know me?”

“I’ve been chasing Alexander all my life, then you show up and he falls in love with you.” Melissa has been stalking Alexander for centuries. She’d presented her heart to him more than once and Alexander kept refusing her love.

“Well, you’d cherish him far more than I have and now you have to go away.” Melissa said nastily.

With the desire to obtain Alexander, the sly she-devil transformed herself into Paris’s avatar—just by touching her.

“NO!” Paris understood her motive and she tried to fight her tactfully to discourage her from an attempt of fulfilling her mental desire, but Melissa made her paralyzed.

Pauline came from behind Melissa and before she could lash her, Melissa waved her hand in the air to shove Pauline; she flew across the room and hit her head on the kitchen counter.

“MOM!” Paris cried.

Melissa laughed loudly. “Now I’ll play his lover looking like you.”

~*~

Paris’s heart pounded with fear. ​​Nothing in her life had prepared her for the physical pain of losing her Mate.

‘If my love is true, he will sense that it’s not me.’ She prayed.

But it was absurd for Paris to even think nothing would happen. Whom was she kidding? What if he fails to recognize her? Then what?

Paris knows she could never blame him. Melissa was playing him, posing as her. Things were bound to happen. She knows how Alexander can’t keep his hands off of her.

‘Please be aware of the stranger, please, please.’ She hoped and prayed again and again.

There’s nothing she could do to diffuse the doubts in her mind and jealousy can be very fatal.

With each passing minute, her trepidation increased.

Paris tried not to imagine his hands all over her body; his mouth on hers, on her breasts, and between her legs.

“O God, please...” she whimpered softly. It was getting harder for her to stop visualizing them involved in sexual intimacy. She tried to shut it off, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.

‘He will make love to her, thinking it’s me.’

‘He will touch her, thinking it’s me.’

‘Kiss her. Feel her. Believe in her.’

‘And above all, he will tell her that he loves her, thinking it’s me.’

With her hopes, tears were falling.

‘Please don’t do it.’ Paris went on chanting a plea; it was as if she wanted her words to reach him.

Her heart pined for him. Expecting, this brutal curse to break.

Something didn’t feel right about the way Paris was behaving. Alexander hinted to Terence to see him in his office and excused himself.

“Try again and sense her?” Alexander asked Terence, his fists clenching and unclenching.

Irked with his Master for asking him for the same request—to sense Paris for the tenth time. Terence did it one more time to satisfy Alexander’s request.

“Without a doubt, she is Miss Noel, Master.” He confirmed.

“She can’t be?” Alexander was still doubtful.

“Is everything okay, Master?”

Alexander shook his head, he growled at the thought. ‘Whoever this person is? Can’t be my Paris.’

“What day is today?”

“Monday,” Terence answered him.

“Pauline, it’s her day off. She works the weekend and gets Monday and Tuesday off. Try sensing her,” he asked next.

Terence closed his eyes, and he opened them rather quickly. “She is bleeding and in some old factory up north.”

“Terence—” Before Alexander could say further Terence already vanished from his sight.

~*~

Meanwhile, Paris’s doppelganger had dismissed all her clothes and sprawled on his bed.

Dreaded Alexander stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Surprised.” She tried to be sexy but it wasn’t working on Alexander; not an ounce of it.

‘My Paris is a sophisticated woman; shy yet seductive. Nowhere near whatever this thing was.’ He thought dismissively.

She trailed her fingertips across his shoulder. “I’d miss you so much, Alexander.”

She eagerly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. This was becoming difficult for him to pretend; to be intimate with a woman who was not Paris.

She pushed him onto the bed and leaned over him. She was naked. It was torturous for him; his skin crawled with creep under the bare flesh beneath her; she was nothing like Paris.

The woman kissed him, indulging on his thick lips. Alexander issued a deep-throated sound of disgust. Feeling dreaded, he quickly swung her so he could be on top of her. His heart was pounding in his heart. He only lingered there—struggling to maintain his composure until Terence was in touch with him.

He tried his best, but his touch was weak and clumsy and that did not give her any joy. Frustrated, she attacked him, shoving him on his back, and straddled over him.

“Touch me!” She cried, and Alexander panicked. Desperate, she took his hands and pressed them on her boobs. But he didn’t close his fingers on them and kept them open. He was very uncomfortable and miserable. He shut his eyes tight. ‘I’m so sorry, Angel.’ His heart pleaded.

Alexander decided to burn the bed after this shenanigan.

“P...Paris, what triggered your memory?” he questioned, desperate for a diversion.

“How did it all happen?”

Alexander was trying to buy some time until Terence could find his Paris and move her to safety.

But this carbon copy wouldn’t budge. “Stop talking, just make love to me; it’s been so long...” She dragged the last word.

“Remove your shirt, Alexander.” She lifted the hem of his shirt, yanking the piece of material off him. She bit her bottom lips. He felt disgusted by her expressions.

‘My Angel is way sexier than this...’

The clone peered at him and placed her palm flat on his chest; she scraped her nails down the smooth slopes of his chest and his rigid abdomen. Laughing softly, the woman placed an open-mouthed kiss on his cold skin. Sickened by the movement, his large hand balled into a fist, grasping the bed sheet, as his knuckles went white, hating every second of it.

‘I’m a devoted lover to my Angel, my Paris. Only her.’

Paris’ look-alike was trying to turn him on, but Alexander wasn’t even mildly responding to her touch and kiss... when her hand went down to unzip him. Everything became tense inside him... more panic came over him. He felt the back of his skin twitch.

’Come on, Terence now will be a good time, buddy.’ He prayed, waiting for a signal.

Alexander made a quick move, he turned her on the bed, and clasped her hands over her head only so she wouldn’t be able to touch him. Nauseated. Displeased. Unhappy, he began to run his tongue up her throat, tasting her skin.

~*~

As if the universe had heard Paris whisper of help. Terence appeared in front of Pauline.

He freed both of them.

“Quick, I’m here to take you to safety. Please come with me, Miss Noel.”

“Is Alex okay? Is he safe?” concerned, she asked about Alexander urgently. Terence could feel her anxiety.

“Please hurry up, we don’t have much time.”

“Why the rush?” she asked him.

“He is in a very uncomfortable situation as we speak. And if we don’t move promptly, things will get improper.”

Tears rolled, and fierceness knotted in her gut.

“Let’s go.” He extended his hand for her to take.

“What about Mom?”

“I’ll take her home and be with her,” Terence assured her.

“Okay.” Paris placed her hands in his, and without wasting any valuable seconds Terence brought her to the jungle. They were both standing in front of a dark cave.

She plopped on a big stone behind her and began to cry.

“M-miss Noel, crying woman makes me very uncomfortable.”

“Well, you just have to deal with it.”

“I understand what you are going through, Miss. But you need to hurry. Please go in.” He raised his hand in a gesture that indicated to her to proceed and walk inside the cave.

“I’m not going inside, Terence. How do I know it’s safe?” she asked.

“It is the safest place on earth, and you’ve to trust me. The more you delay, his loyalty to you is at stake.”

A shiver crawled up her spine.

“He is with her... what do you think they’re doing?”

When Terence didn’t answer her question, the wave of pain came so quickly she barely managed to stand and choked a gasp. Her stomach rolled into motion sickness.

“Miss—”

“I’m fine... I’ll go inside now.” She said sadly.

Feeling abandoned and very much alone, she stepped over the entryway of the cave, it was cold and dark.

Pulse racing with apprehension, she strode in. The outside light revealed the dirt path, and soon the light went dim to dark as she moved deeper into the hollow den.

Tension chewed her. Jealousy burned her. She sat on a rock and clasped her face in her palm and began to cry.

The sound of her soft heartbroken sob echoed in the cave, and thousands of bats zoomed toward her and wheeled overhead.

She thought she would be all alone. Boy, was she wrong? Her hands were slightly shaking. She was scared, looking at the cloud of bats looming over her head.

In the dark, their eyes glowed red. They seemed to have no control over their flying—they were either frantic or upset since she’d invaded their home. As an outsider, she may have caused the stir.

“I’m sorry, I-I’ll leave.” She said, and when she was just above to walk away, some bats stood in front of her to block her way.

“Okay, you don’t want me to leave.” She took a small step back.

“It’s very nice to meet you all,” She said. “My name is Paris, and I’m an Angel.” Like a domino effect, all bats went calm showing their respect.

They tried to communicate with her, but she couldn’t quite understand what they were telling her, so they lifted her in the air.

“Oh!” She laughed as she felt a little wobbly, and unstable in the air. Then she spread opened her wings to steady herself, and the mammals went avid with awe, signifying her to fly with them.

“Oh, you want me to fly with you. Is that what you were trying to tell me, huh?” And Paris did, she flew so elegantly and gracefully. If only Alexander was there to watch all the excitement.

Flying also made all her worries soften for a while.

~*~

Once Paris was tucked safely in the cave, Terence sent Alexander a signal, and that was all he needed.

Anger, the furious emotion sustaining him from doing anything before—erupted. But. Alexander couldn’t hurt her, not yet, only because she still looked like his beloved Paris.

To change her into her original form. He shifted into an imposing figure, exposing himself to her; eyes glowed red, wings spread out wide.

“SHOW YOURSELF?” He asked her in a demonic voice, revealing his razor-sharp-pointed fangs—sharp enough to rip flesh—his lethal intent.

~xXx~