chapter four
Emma woke up with a very bad headache, her head was pounding as memories of last night came rushing back. She looked around, she was alone in the room. She ran straight to lock the door thinking that would stop Martel from coming in. As she turned her back she saw him sitting at the dining table with one of his legs on top of the other, she panicked. She ran back towards the door trying to open it, but it was stuck. Martel laughed shaking his head. "What makes you think I want to hurt you, Emma? we have been living together for weeks now, don't you think if I wanted to hurt you I would have hurt you way before now?" he said. He stood up and walked towards her, Emma could not move, her legs were shaking with fear. Even though what he said made sense to her she was still scared, who wouldn't be?, she thought. She was a lover of scary movies and novels, but never for once did she think vampires were real, she always thought vampires were fictional characters in movies and novels. She could not believe she had been living with a vampire in a hotel room for weeks. "Yes I am a vampire, but am I a monster?, did I wish to be like this?, am I happy to be alive watching everyone I love die leaving me behind? No, no, and no. I was turned on my birthday by my ex-girlfriend on my twenty-sixth birthday many years ago. She was turned the night before by a guy she cheated on me with, she didn't know what was wrong or how to control it, so she ended up biting me," Martel said.
He looked at Emma straight in her eyes waiting for her to say anything or react, but she just stood there staring at him with lots of thoughts and questions running through her mind. She could tell he was hurt by the way she was reacting, but she didn't know what to do or say, she needed time to process everything she had witnessed and heard since last night. This was the man she was starting to have feelings for, the man she shared the same bed with every night for three whole weeks without him ever trying to hurt or take advantage of her. The man who made her feel safe around him, it was hard to believe he would hurt her even though his presence terrified her now. She walked back to the bed and sat down. " I need some time alone, we will talk about this when you get back from work, I'm sure I will be a lot calmer and better then. I just need some meds because I hit my head hard and my head aches so bad," she said. Martel nodded, he went back to the table and came back holding a bottle of water and pain relief medication. " I bought it knowing you would be needing it. You can order food before taking it," he said. He handed her the water and the medicine, picked up his office bag, and left immediately.
Emma finally got out of bed late in the afternoon after spending almost the whole day sleeping, she felt a lot better and the headache was gone. Her stomach was screaming with hunger, so she ordered food. Twenty minutes later she heard a knock on the door, she rushed to open it expecting her food only to see Martel holding her tray of food. "Here is what you ordered ma'am," he said smiling handing the tray of food to her. "I saw the waiter on my way up, she told me it was for you so I decided to bring it up for you." she thanked him as she collected the tray of food and walked straight to the dining table to eat. " Why are you back so early?, came to check up on me to know if I ran away?" she asked. Martel smiled and walked up to her. Still focused on her food she felt Martel's hand on her shoulder, she startled a bit. She turned around to see him laughing. "What's funny?." she asked faking a sad face. "You should know it's going to take a while for me to adjust to the fact that you are a vampire you know? but I am good because I know you won't hurt me, I know you would have hurt me way before now if you wanted to." Martel nodded and walked towards the wardrobe to bring out a file. "I came to check on you and also to pick up some documents that I forgot to take to work earlier. I am going to come back late today, there's so much work to do in the office so don't wait up for me," he said. He walked towards the door, "I am glad you didn't run off on me, we will talk better tonight if you are still up when I get back. I won't be going to the office tomorrow, we will have time to go shopping." He stepped out closing the door behind him.
A knock on the door woke Emma up, she looked at the clock, it was eight thirty p.m. She opened the door hoping to see Martel even though he told her earlier that he would be returning late today. She saw a waitress with a tray of food, a can of juice and a note on the side of it, she held the door to let her in and thanked her, after the waiter left she picked up the note to read. "I can't make it back tonight, something very important came up. I ordered something nice for you, I will be back first thing in the morning." Emma was all smiles as she read it, she dropped the note and opened the plate to see a hamburger with fries and ketchup on the side. He knows me too well that I don't know if he's trying to bribe me or not, but I do not mind she thought.
It's been three days since Martel left for work and hasn't returned, Emma kept getting food delivered to her room three times daily, even when she didn't order. She was worried about Martel, he had never left her alone for a day not to talk of three days, he didn't call or leave a message for her, and she had no other means of reaching him except through the hotel phone. She stayed by the phone next to the bed expecting his call as she did not have a personal phone after her phone was taken from her during the kidnap. She kept hoping he was not in any form of danger, even though she tried to doubt that anyone could hurt a vampire when they themselves were deadly and a threat to humanity, but she had a gut feeling deep down that all was not well with him. She didn't want to think he was capable of abandoning her pending when she got tired and decided to leave on her own, she kept asking herself wondering what she would do if he never returned. She couldn't speak Spanish, she had no money, no passport, no phone, and no means to travel back home or to pay for the hotel. She was deeply worried.
Three days turned to five days and still Martel had not yet returned, no call or note from him to show that he was ok. On the fifth day, she asked to see the manager who spoke very little English, from the information she gathered, Martel was the owner of the hotel. This was not the first time he had left the hotel to come back after days or weeks, the only difference was this was the first time he left without his guest and without calling him to ask how everything was going in the hotel. It was why he made sure she always got food delivered to her room because that was what he would have wanted him to do. He assured her that If anything came up he would make sure he let her know, he also told her not to be scared and that he will definitely come back. Emma felt a little bit relieved after talking to the manager, but her guts still told her that all wasn't well with him. She was going to wait, pray, and hope that he was ok.