Chapter 10 - A Sneaky Visitor

Last night, after Amanda had that horrific dream, she decided to sleep again but found that she couldn’t. Her mind raced, her adrenaline pumped, and her heart doubled its workload at the mere flash of pictures in her mind of that grotesque scene.

Fear gripped and chilled her and it was nowhere near detaching itself despite knowing Cord wouldn’t do such a thing. She trusted him. She was certain she was safe with him, but a part of her—that witch part which screamed defense—made her want to keep her eyes open the rest of the night.

It was only at the strike of five in the morning when her eyelids drooped and finally, she allowed herself into the world of dreamless sleep again.

Cord, after stealing a last glance at her sleeping form, left the room with Jonathan replacing him.

“Good morning Ms. O’Malley, ” he greeted when he first saw signs of the woman waking up two hours later.

Amanda, after orienting herself of the time by glancing at her cellphone screen, sat up. Thirty minutes before nine, it read.

“Good morning, Jonathan. Has Cord already left?” she asked, wanting to make sure if the inadvertent culprit for her lack of sleep had left.

“Yes, Miss. He didn’t want to wake you, so he left without saying goodbye.”

“I see. Just like yesterday, ” Amanda mused. She rubbed the sore spot of her right hand and remembered what happened last night.

Before having that frightening dream, she remembered two nurses telling her they needed to take the intravenous line out. With a nod, one nurse did it and now, Amanda was finally free of the constraining material.

The patches attached to her chest were also taken out, making her look exactly like an ambulant patient ready for discharge.

The first thing she thought of after all such connections left her was, finally, she could go to the comfort room without needing Noman to assist her. That was exactly what she wanted to do now and so she stood up, but not before asking Jonathan a vital question.

“Had you rest well?” she asked, pointing her attention to him, who now stood at the threshold of the balcony door.

“Yes, Miss, ” was Jonathan’s quick reply. “And I had my ration this morning if you know what I mean.”

Amanda knew alright. She just couldn’t bare to actually speak it.

“You don’t need to worry about me attracting your nurses for it, ” Jonathan furthered.

This made her chuckle unintentionally.

“You’re a blunt one and a joker too, ” she remarked.

“Says my North Wing buddies too, ” he shrugged his shoulders. “Well, I’ll be off to my post, Miss.”

Amanda nodded, “You do that, ” she said just as she rounded her bed and went for the bathroom door.

It was past ten minutes when she emerged from the bathroom all fresh from a bath with a few droplets of water running down her shoulders.

She expected the room to be empty, or at least not nurse-related, but she was dead wrong.

“A pleasant morning, Cait, ” said a familiar stranger who leisurely sat in the leather seat. A pleased grin was clear on his face as he stood up and made a grand bow in front of her.

“Mat—” Amanda uttered but quickly paused after seeing him place a hushing finger against his mouth. She rolled her eyes heavenward.

But of course, it was typical. He didn’t want for a certain someone outside the balcony to notice him. But how had Jonathan remained so oblivious of the mage’s presence was a mystery.

Maybe Matteo created a blinding spell on him? Or a shield spell so that the vampire wouldn’t feel his presence in the room?

Whatever it was, the spell was indeed working and for that Amanda knew that Cord would be displeased.

“Matteo... is this really you?” she neared her bed, unconsciously making a wall between the two of them.

Matteo found her first reaction unsettling, but still he flashed a wide smile.

“Yes, in the flesh, ” he replied.

He noticed her eyes moving from him to the balcony door and realized why.

“Don’t bother with your vampire bodyguard, ” he started and then went back to sitting. “I placed a spell on the door so that he won’t know of my presence.”

Amanda heaved a breath. She thought as much it was the case. Cord wouldn’t just make Jonathan her bodyguard if he was a weakling. The mage was just too powerful for him.

“How are you, Cait?” Matteo asked, cutting her from her musings.

She folded her arms to her chest and frowned.

“Well, that’s a stupid question coming from you. You almost had me killed!”

“Had you killed?” he parroted with a confused brow. “I’m pretty sure you weren’t on deathbed when you released your powers that day in the North Wing, Cait.”

Amanda quickly shook her head. “No, not that incident. What I mean is during the race!”

Matteo scrunched up his nose. “I’m not sure if I get what you mean.”

“In the race, remember? Where you there or not?”

“I’m the Vice President of your father’s company, Caitlin. Of course I’d be there both to see the race car’s performance and see you race.”

“Yet you made me look like a looser. What the hell, Matteo?” Amanda flung her arms midair feeling frustrated all of a sudden. “You weren’t supposed to distract me!”

“Distract you, Cait? What do you mean?” Again, he acted clueless.

This had Amanda backpedaling and considered the facts once again.

She looked down the floor and crossed her arms to her chest.

“Okay, I’ll rewind myself. Quick question, did you or did you not give those visions to me during the race?”

She heard Matteo make a disbelieving noise at the back of his throat and then saw him shook his head.

“I don’t mess with you during a race, Cait, you know that already. So why would I distract you? Why would I put you in a life-threatening accident? I even feared for your life when I saw your F1 flipped and crash-landed, ” he explained.

“Fair point.” Amanda let out an impatient huff.

Matteo stepped closer to the bed and placed a hand on the foot railing.

“What are these visions you are talking about?” he pressed, landing a grave look on Amanda.

The latter decided to cut the conversation. What use was there to talk further about this when it wasn’t Matteo who did it? If he was lying, then shame on him but if he was telling the truth, then that would be a big problem. It meant that Cord was right, and that someone who caused the visions was an unknown entity they needed to be on guard of.

And this brought her to the final conclusion too. Cord certainly wasn’t overreacting when he placed a bodyguard for her safety.

“I prefer not to talk about it, ” she stated, successfully cutting herself from her reflection.

Matteo stepped again, but this time, it was to round the bed, aiming to get closer to her.

“Hey, I might be able to help out.”

Amanda was quick to raise her hand to stop him. She was still feeling cautious with him after all.

“You’re acting as if you didn’t have any transgressions yourself towards me. Remember last week?”

Matteo lowered his head as if ashamed.

“Oh, that, ” he sighed. “Would it be too late to ask your forgiveness, Cait?”

Forgiveness came easy for Amanda. Who was she to harbor ill feelings toward a person? She’d do that, yes, forgive him and give him a second chance even. But she could never forget what he did and because of that, she’d forever be heedful with his actions.

“What happened, Matt?” Amanda furrowed her brows. “How did you survive my crystal blast? How did you survive the silver bullet? I was so sure you were dead.”

Matteo didn’t press his advances. He could see how wary she was, so he decided to sit back in the leather chair instead.

“Yes, I received a fatal injury from the bullet, Cait, ” he answered once settled. “You know that’s a mage’s weakness and yes, I could have died from it, but I was saved in the nick of time by a family member.”

“A Vitalis family member?” Amanda clarified. There were many vampires in the North Wing during that time. Anybody who was his accomplice could have saved him.

“No, Cait, yours, ” but Matteo answered instead and she could see that he wasn’t joking.

“What do you mean mine?” she asked, gnashing her teeth. “I have none except for my step-father who is as normal as my doctor in this hospital.”

Matteo shook his head.

“No, Cait. I’m talking about a certain family member I know you’d very much like to meet.”

“Who?” Amanda raised her chin. She felt her pulse quicken. ‘Who could this family member be?’ her mind raced. Her mother never introduced her to any other family members other than her mother’s twin sister and she had been long dead before Amanda was born. Way, way dead.

The sound of the door opening captured both of their attention and they immediately turned their faces to the person who stepped inside.

Amanda expected it to be the nurse, but she was wrong.

“Oh my Lord, Mattie?!” was Noman’s immediate reaction once he saw him. His eyes rounded and the bag of papers he brought with him almost fell to the ground.

“Hi Noman, good to see you again, ” was Matteo’s simple reply, hiding the disappointment he felt. He stood up, smoothed out his pants and then turned to Amanda.

“Let’s talk again, Cait.”

And with that, he vanished after a circle of symbols appeared on the floor where he stood.

Noman arched an eyebrow towards Amanda, feeling partly surprised and partly irked by his rude behavior. Did he not want to speak with him? Did he hate his presence so much that he had to literally vanish on the spot?

Well, whatever.

“How?” was Noman’s question after tossing his thoughts away. “Your bodyguard is literally behind that door.”

Amanda shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know how he didn’t sense him. Matteo said he cast a spell. It must be strong.”

Noman placed the bag of papers on the table and neared her.

“Sneaky bastard. He didn’t hurt you again did he?” he asked, frowning.

“No, we just talked, ” Amanda replied.

“About what?”

“About how he survived last week’s fight.”

“And?”

Amanda decided to sit on a stool nearest hers and reached for an apple that Noman had placed on the bedside table the other day.

“He said a family member took care of him, but he didn’t say who, ” she answered after taking a bite.

Noman lightly scoffed.

“Maybe he is just playing mind games on you, Cait. Matteo is trying to get your attention again I’m sure.”

“Please don’t tell Cord about this, ” she requested after remembering him. “I can’t have more bodyguards in my room. One is enough.”

“And apparently that one seemed oblivious of your visitor, ” Noman pointed out.

“I don’t blame him, Dom.”

“Then I suggest you put poor Nathie inside the room.”

“Nathie?” Amanda’s brow rose, taken aback by the pet name her best friend just gave to her bodyguard.

Noman disregarded the silent question floating inside the room and decided to open the balcony door.

“Hey, come inside, ” he gestured a hand to him. “You’re frying yourself there.”

Jonathan angled his head to the side like a worn out puppy and said, “If Miss O’Malley wishes me to come inside then I’ll do so.”

“Sure she does, right Cait?” Noman called in whilst giving her a silent threat through his eyes.

“Yep, ” Amanda replied. She sure got his message.

And with that, Jonathan stepped inside the room.

Noman closed the door whilst ogling at Jonathan’s back.

“Hmmm, that’s better, ” he said, agreeing with himself as his eyes traveled down the vampire’s ass. “More for me to see.”

“Dom, behave yourself, ” Amanda chastised after she took another bite of the apple.

Noman, in response, walked to his bag.

“I am, ” he said. “Look I have my papers here to busy myself.”

Amanda rolled her eyes heavenward.

“Whatever you say.”