Eternal: Chapter Two, Part 3

It had been a couple of nights since I had fallen, and I decided I wanted to take Drei with me. I wasn’t sure if he’d be willing, but during the day, after I was sure Valetta and Mitchell were asleep, I slipped into the living room.

“Drei, can we talk?” I whispered, sending the words on a breath of air to his ear. He stirred in my mapping, carefully leaving the room so he didn’t disturb Mitchell.

“Yes?” he asked, standing before me a moment later.

I wrapped my arms around him, burying my face in his shoulder for a moment, breathing him in. It wasn’t until then I realized how much I did miss him—his faint flowery scent, and, when he held me closer to him, his touch.

Kissing the top of my head, he murmured, “You wanted to talk?”

“I miss you;” I didn’t want to let him go for anything.

“I miss you, too,” he said slowly, sadness lacing his voice. “I did not think it would be appropriate for us to—”

“I don’t care what Valetta said to you; I don’t even care if she supports us, Drei.” I held his faintly violet eyes with mine. “I love you, and that’s worth everything.”

His lips found mine for a moment, leaving me breathless—quite a feat considering I didn’t have to breathe anymore.

“I want you to come flying with me.” Drei gave me a look that suggested I hadn’t had enough sleep or enough nutrients or something. “I’m serious. Will you?”

“I am not sure that is possible,” he said, kissing my forehead.

“You can leave like you always do, but come back after an hour and they should be gone. Then we can go. They won’t know,” I promised, practically begging. Now that the question was put forth, I wanted him to say yes; I wanted him to promise we could do this together after he had left alone and hurting for the past week. “Say yes, please.”

He smiled wryly. “I spoil you too much.”

“You don’t spoil me nearly enough,” I teased, kissing his lips.

“Tonight, then?”

“Of course.”

“You should sleep now. I am not sure I want to fly with you exhausted,” he said, smirking.

Nodding, I left his embrace, feeling better but still somewhat empty without him near me. I had spent nearly a year alone with him, falling asleep in his arms. This broke habit, and he was a wonderfully terrible addiction.

“Abriel,” he called from his bedroom door. Turning back, I widened my eyes at him questioningly. “I cannot wait.” We smiled at each other, joyous and secretive, before parting for the rest of the day.

Sliding back into bed, I decided my next request of him would be about switching our sleep schedules so we’d be awake during at least part of the day. After all, you can’t run a movement in the dark. Then no one knows what’s going on.

Vampiric: Chapter Ten, Part 1

Chapter Ten: Blood Thirst

Caroline tried to make me speak to her. From the minute she arrived back from the club she was outside my door begging me to listen. I wanted to yell at her, to tell how much I regretted her in my life, but I knew those words wouldn’t be entirely true. They were anger blowing everything out of proportion. So I laid there pretending to be asleep until after she gave up for the night.

For a couple of weeks, I avoided her. The thought of speaking with her filled me with inexplicable fury. I would wake up before her and leave for work early, then return after she had turned in for the night. At work, I listened to what she needed done and left before she could mix personal with business. I didn’t need to hear what I couldn’t trust myself not to respond rashly to.

Nights were an escape of sorts, though I knew my dreams weren’t helping to make things better. At least, I believed them to be dreams. Who knew? Drei was in all of them. Similar to the times before I had met him, he would slip into my room and lie beside me. He never spoke, but I assumed that was because I didn’t know what he would say. I had given up on imagining what he would say. But I knew it was him from the scent ingrained in his skin, the gentle way he tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed my temple. The way his fingertips trailed down my arm to lace between my fingers.

When I woke up, half-expecting to find him there, I was greeted by the gently swelling curtains. Since New Year’s, I had started sleeping with the window cracked open, letting the chill winter air wrap around me. It felt soothing and calming, helping me believe I would be ready to face her soon.

I even avoided Ian when he tried to speak on her behalf. He always felt so depressed when I walked away. For whatever reason, that depression clung to me, causing guilt to slowly grow alongside the dissipating anger.

One night as I was leaving work, Ian stopped me. “Get in;” he bobbed his head in the direction of his vehicle. When I didn’t budge or meet his gaze, he said, “We need to talk.”

“Why should I talk to you?” I asked, staring past him, incapable of finding an excuse.

“Because you’re doing the same damned thing he did to you.”

Meeting his eyes, I wanted to argue—felt the need to argue—but the words wouldn’t come. They were stuck in my throat. He was right.

I climbed into the passenger seat and steadied my gaze outside. He didn’t say anything straight away, trying to find the right words to start. I could feel his uncertainty and hear his struggle.

“Forget the flourishes and fancy way of talking around things,” Ian said suddenly, glancing at me. “What did she do to deserve this? Especially from you?”

“She talks to you?” I asked, staring through the windshield so I could watch him on the edge of my vision. I knew it was time to tell someone, even if it was Ian and not her.

“Yes.”

“Did she ever tell you she kissed me?”

He glanced at me, then did a double-take as if he thought he had misheard. “Kissed you?” he asked, sounding as though it grew more ludicrous as he repeated it. “You’re kidding.”

“No. She doesn’t know he saw. And neither would you. So neither of you would know that’s what started it.” I inhaled deeply, trying to steady my voice and keep the swelling emotion at bay. “Then she started calling all the time for my job, needing to see me…and it made things worse. It made him doubt me. Gave him reason to believe I didn’t love him anymore.”

“But why now?” he questioned, his loyalty to Caroline overriding his pity. “You could have held that against her five months ago when you first split.”

“Because then I could ignore it. She was helping me so much, but—” The words I had escaped me and nothing came in their stead—just empty strands of thought searching for something to hold onto.

Ian laid a hand down to stop me wringing mine. “What was it about that night?”

That night. I had avoided thinking about it, though rather unsuccessfully. “The way everything he did reminded me of Drei. Of our relationship when it was still working for us.”

“But why take it out on her now?”

I wondered if there was a reason he wanted to know it all, if it was his way of helping me prepare to talk with her or something else. The more I said to him, the less I felt angry and the more I felt like I could do this. I could tell her and it would be okay.

“I’m not trying to,” I said softly. “I was trying not to take it out on her.”

“Why this way?”

Shaking my head, I admitted, “Silence was better than saying something I’d regret.”

He pulled to the curb by the apartment building. “Talk to her, okay?”

“I don’t know how to start that conversation,” I whispered, shaking my head.

“And you think I knew how to start this one?” he teased, offering a knowing smile. I gazed at the silent building, knowing she was inside, possibly still up waiting. “Tell you what. Start with, we need to talk. See where it takes you.” Again, he was right, but this time I was grateful for his opinion.

My arms wound around his neck. “Thank you.”

“Go on. Putting it off only makes it worse.” After a moment, he grinned and added, “Good luck.”

As I climbed out of the car, I could have sworn I felt a kiss on my cheek. Glancing back, Ian winked at me and I made a mental note to ask him about that later on. I suspected while he knew our secrets, there was one of his own he should share—with me at least.

Vampiric: Chapter Eight, Part 5

Despite Ian sleeping in the living room, and my promise to Caroline to stay healthy, I still couldn’t sleep. I honestly did try. The first couple of days after our conversation, I would lie down and close my eyes, wanting sleep to come. But it didn’t. At least not without Drei. And though I didn’t mind seeing him in my thoughts—not dreams since I wasn’t sleeping—I couldn’t stand to see him the way he appeared: furious and uninterested. I always opened my eyes before he started shouting at me about lying.

Instead, I used Ian’s presence as an excuse to experiment more. The first was a staircase of air down to the rooftop garden. I had used air to move objects, and even force people away, so solidity wasn’t a problem. What I wanted to see is if I was capable of concentrating while moving. The only problem I really had was that the staircase had to wrap around the enclosure to be tall enough to reach from my window to the garden three stories down. Though this did take a lot more concentration to hold it together, I worked with it for a few nights until I almost completely lost focus and fell a story.

In an attempt to make the trip shorter, I tried an elevator like form. Walking onto a platform of air, I would move it downward until I could step off. I used that mostly, though there was something else I was curious to try. Part of me was certain it wouldn’t work, though that didn’t stop me from wanting to try sometime. It just wouldn’t be soon.

Once in the garden, I would sit there, noticing how it didn’t quite smell like him. There weren’t enough kinds of flowers, nor were they in the right proportions. Nothing could compare to that scent. It was strange how he hadn’t been near his garden in years, but the odor was stained into his skin; it defined him. I wondered if I was the only one who smelled it or not, and if that was just memory or if he really did still radiate that luscious scent.

When I worked up the courage, I would also go down to the park and walk around, occasionally finding a grove or some enclosure to lie down in. Often times I would close my eyes and imagine he was beside me. That he wasn’t angry and he still loved me. It was those times I fell asleep and finally dreamed that something was right in my life. I would dream when I woke up, I was really just falling asleep to a nightmare.

The nights when I did sleep, I would wake sometime after sunrise and return to the apartment. Both Caroline and Ian were gone by then, so I would change and take a cab to work.

“What were you doing?” Caroline asked the first time it had happened.

“Sleeping.”

“Seriously?” She leveled her gaze at me, a slight threat behind her bronze eyes.

“Really.” She left it at that and didn’t ask again, content I was at least trying to comply with her request.

It wasn’t long until I finished re-filing everything in her office. I quickly became accustomed to her calling me in to explain where something was. We were all three extremely busy over those two weeks prepping for the next broadcast. Usually we had a month or so in between, but to set one up in half the time ended up being a lot more work than expected. Caroline even hired more help for between the broadcasts—granted it was only two more people who only knew their job.

She had me helping her research more information for her next speech. It was a pleasant distraction from the nightmare. We would sit up in her office sharing strange and bizarre bits of information that wound its way into our research. Occasionally, we even shared a laugh and would then pull Ian upstairs to join us.

It was weird to laugh again. There was still a hole where my heart had been, and I was still hurting, but by some miracle, I could laugh. Maybe it was a sign that I was reaching that point where it would stop hurting as much. I could hope, right?

Vampiric: Chapter Six, Part 7

More time passed, and more wounds crisscrossed my arms. At first, I had tried to block his slicing, but it was taking far more energy than I had thought possible. I couldn't sleep at all; who knew what else they might try. Despite knowing I couldn't last much longer, I still tried to avoid the knife; each time, though, it was easier for him to slice through any attempt I made against it.

“That was the longest spike we've had,” the feminine voice said.

“Good. Then we'll go a—”

Screams erupted from the darkness, cutting the man off. He stared off in the direction they came from as though trying to find the source of disturbance. The air seemed to fill with a floral scent. Then a black figure stepped partially into the light, its long coat brushing the toes of its polished shoes.

“Step away from her,” its low voice growled, dangerous and threatening. My heart fluttered in my chest—weary, excited, relieved, and so many other things simultaneously.

The man ran toward Drei, the knife out ahead so as to stab him. I knew he didn't stand a chance; I'd seen Drei take out two armed thugs before. The man went flying, crashing painfully into what sounded like a good deal of metal; his knife fell at Drei's feet, harmless.

“Drei,” I whispered as he appeared at my side, undoing the straps holding me and pulling away the sensors.

His hands touched my face, ensuring I wasn’t some illusion before his forehead met mine. I reached my hands up to cover his, afraid to believe he was real. I would have squeezed his hands if my arms hadn't felt so weak.

“Thank God.” He kissed my forehead and inspected the rest of me, his eyes catching on the wounds and various states of dried and wet blood running across my arms.

“What did they do to you?” he queried softly, a hand lightly brushing over my wounds before pulling me into him.

All of the tears I had held at bay while that madman cut me burst forth. I knew we had to be going, but I couldn't move. He had come. He was here, holding me tight. I didn't want him to ever let go again.

Without asking, Drei lifted me into his arms, cradling me so gently. Silent tears continued to stream down my cheeks, my arms wrapped around his neck in assurance he really was here. We weren't safe yet, but I fell asleep anyway. Just knowing he had come, he had kept his promise, was enough for me.

Elemental: Chapter Twelve, Part 4

We sat on the couch, the fire dancing until it died down, diminishing into a pale spiral of smoke. Drei held me, my arms wrapped around his waist, and we didn’t need to say anything. Words would have ruined the understanding existing between us.

As the sky outside lightened—a misty gray with hints of indigo—Drei sat a small box on my knee.

“It was intended for Christmas,” he explained softly. “I was uncertain how Nick would have reacted.”

“Thank you,” I said, remembering how I had been grateful when no second mystery gift appeared while Nick still questioned everything.

“I believe it is more fitting as a birthday gift. It is Valentine’s Day.”

It hadn’t occurred to me my birthday was here. The last weeks had been such a whirlwind of information, travel, and emotions, I had lost track of the days except in reference to each other. But if he said it was Valentine’s Day, I was probably the worst person to contradict him.

Opening the box, I found a golden centipede bracelet with chalcedony insets, a match to the angel necklace he had gifted me before.

“Drei,” I gasped, facing him and his contented smile. “It’s gorgeous.”

“It is no match for you,” Drei said softly. He kissed my forehead. “You have grown beautifully this past year.”

“You aren’t just saying that because I finally realized I had what I wanted in front of me all along?” I asked, slightly concerned my words weren’t as specific as I had intended.

He laughed. “The end is not something to judge growth on,” he reasoned. “It is the journey you examine to find the character revealed. Your character is bright and heartwarming.”

“Now you’re just flattering me,” I said. He meant every word though I couldn’t fathom how considering the messes I’d made.

Drei stood, gently pulling me to my feet, smoothing my hair back. His slightly warm hand rested a breath longer on my neck than necessary—not that I was complaining. “You need sleep,” he said before removing his hand. “Valetta and Mitchell have planned a special party for you; do not tell them I spoiled the surprise.”

“Drei,” I joked, lightly hitting him.

The space between us was so awkward in the silence that followed, it was hard to believe we had ever been apart. Being close to him felt natural. From the happiness and longing radiating about him, I knew he felt the same.

“I’d better get some sleep,” I said, moving to leave, only to be stopped as he enveloped me in his arms again.

I didn’t want him to let go; I didn’t want myself to let go. But the door opened behind us and we sprang apart, worried at being caught so soon in our revelation.

It was only Mitchell. If he could have blushed, I imagined he would have; he quickly turned his back to us as though knowing he had interrupted something important. Drei sneaked a kiss to my cheek, then whispered to have sweet dreams. I didn’t need to admit they would be sweet without the worry of destroying an existing relationship. They would be sweet because I wouldn’t wake up feeling guilty.

As I shrugged into my coat, Mitchell smiled approvingly, saying, “It took you long enough.”

“But I got there,” I replied, pleased when he nodded, smirking.

“You are learning…and on your own.”

I felt like I was walking on air—which may not have been an exaggeration. It had all fallen into place after all. I still had questions, but there was time. And with Drei’s love in my heart, I felt like there was nothing—not even the unknown challenges ahead—I couldn’t face.

End Book One

Elemental: Chapter Twelve, Part 2

“Now you boys sleep tight,” I said before leaving the room.

Our new camp was larger than the previous one, the cabins older but roomier. Instead of two rooms, these had four. The lake itself was also larger, extending past the horizon. Mitchell informed me that Drei had planned this location for his new camp, and had been checking on it for the last several years, ensuring it really was abandoned.

While Mitchell and the other vampires were settling into the new environment or returning the rental vans, Drei and I were left to tuck everyone in. It hadn’t yet occurred to me there might have been an intended purpose for that. Initially, I just thought it was accidental.

“What if we aren’t tired?” Mikael asked from his room, quickly followed in agreement by Danny, Derek, and Josh—a newer addition to the group who had fit in immediately.

“If you don’t sleep then I’ll have to send some cold air this way until you’re all too freezing to get out of bed,” I said with light humor.

They giggled at the mental image of them blue with icicles dangling from their noses, but stayed put and made no other complaints. Though I was joking, subconsciously, they didn’t want to risk it.

“Good night,” I whispered, leaving the cabin. They were my last group and, though it was chilly outside, I realized Drei and I were the only ones around. I wasn’t sure if the timing was ideal, but I knew I probably wouldn’t have another chance like it.

I caught sight of his silhouette disappearing toward the cabins we hadn’t yet filled—some of them probably reserved for the vampires.

“Drei,” I whispered, sending the word to his ear.

He whirled around, startled at first, but then beginning toward me when our eyes met. I met him halfway, feeling the cold settle into my bones through my coat.

“Yes?” he questioned softly, glancing around to guarantee no one else had stirred. “Is everything well?”

The words vanished from my mind and I wondered if I had misjudged the moment. It didn’t seem like forgetting the words would happen in the ideal moment, but I had to say something. He was expecting it now.

“How did your sisters die? Ashlyn and Avery?”

Drei looked away from me, the set of his jaw revealing his refusal to reply, whether because of pain or just my not needing to know. After a hard moment of silence—in which I doubted Valetta had told me the truth—Drei said, “What do you really want to ask?”

And just like that, the words came. “What are we?”

“How do you mean?” He gazed at me again. His amethyst eyes were intense, as if he knew what he wanted me to be asking, but wasn’t sure I was.

“Together;” the anticipation welled in my chest. I couldn’t bear to meet his searching gaze; whatever information they held, I didn’t want to read. I wanted him to tell me, to say it aloud.

In his logical voice, he began, “Vampire law forbids any relationship between mortals and vampires, and lately they have been less lenient in their rulings. Lily is the youngest of us, turned in the 1920s, before the Council decided we needed more order to survive.” He cast his gaze off to the half-moon wavering above; I couldn’t tell if it was for strength or for locating those elusive words. “We are especially barred from elementals, the risk of distraction too great to truly understand until the damage is done.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” I whispered, feeling the tears well in my eyes. I didn’t want to know we couldn’t be together without him getting into trouble with this council, whoever they were. All I wanted to know was if he loved me; if I had tortured myself trying to forget him for nothing.

“You are shivering,” he said gently, pulling me into his arms, wrapping his jacket around us both. I was hesitant to wrap my arms around him, despite my longing to do just that. It wouldn’t feel right or acceptable until I knew, and he was more than reluctant to let me know.

“Why are you avoiding the question?” I asked, looking up at him, struggling not to let his comforting arms or familiar scent distract me. I wasn’t sure if either was on purpose, but, if they were, I didn’t want them to succeed; all of us, it seemed, had suffered too long from this omission. “What are you afraid of?”

Drei’s pale fingers brushed a wisp of hair out of my eyes. He looked down at me with such a sadness in his amethyst gems, I was certain he wouldn’t answer me, just as he hadn’t answered about his sisters. He had a way of locking away anything painful, as though it would make life easier for others to be ignorant of injury.

“Secrets hurt, Drei,” I said, resting my head against his chest. “My whole life was a huge mystery I never knew about. Please, don’t add to the pain my parents caused me.” My throat constricted, stopping me from opening my heart further. Stopping me from giving away everything before I knew if he would replace it.

He held me tighter, a hand tangled in my hair. Before, he had always been so cold when we touched; now he seemed to radiate warmth. In this wondrous whirlwind, that was the one thing I couldn’t make fit in with something else I had allowed to make sense.

“I believe you are the one I have been waiting for,” Drei whispered into my hair.

Elemental: Chapter Seven, Part 4

Nick disappeared for a couple of days. He hadn’t left the camp because he was always there for breakfast and supper; he just wasn’t around the rest of the day. When I asked one night where he was running off to, he replied it was a secret. And, of course, I was too stubborn to admit I missed his company or to provide any decent answer as to why he should cease running off. I wanted to tell him to stop going away and just talk with me, like we had been doing, or join in the game du jour. But my lips refused to emit words.

The fourth day into his disappearing act, Nick scared me half to death, sneaking up behind me and shouting, “Boo,” in my ear. He fell over laughing, his hair mussed and a grass stain on the knee of his jeans.

“Don’t do that again,” I commanded, a hand still covering my poor heart, my pulse slowly returning to normal.

Nick sat up, laughter still playing behind his eyes; “Sorry, I just couldn’t resist.”

A few of the children were watching us, expecting some kind of trouble that distracted them from the game.

“You’re back early today,” I stated, trying not to be angry with him still.

He waved a hand dismissively at Mikael, Kora, Derek, and Xenia, who had begun the climb towards us. Nick smiled as extra assurance that everything was well, and they ran to join back in the chaos of a game I didn’t know the rules for.

“I want you to come with me,” he said in response to my earlier statement. “You’ll love what I’ve found.”

“Not today,” I replied, indicating with a tilt of my head the reason before us. “I don’t abandon responsibility for just anything.”

“It isn’t just anything;” he smirked secretively. From behind his ear he pulled a small blossom of lilac. “I don’t have the fancy tricks of flying flowers or anything,” he admitted, taking one of my hands and setting the bloom in my palm, “but there’s more where that came from if you come with me.”

“Not today.” I was intrigued by the lilac, though. Part of me wanted to go, but I was still holding out against him.

Our conversation repeated in a similar fashion over the next week. Different blooms were pushed into my palm with a plea to join him, that the children were fine without me. But I declined, later to add the bloom to a bowl of water in my room, the petals floating elegantly as they slowly wilted.

The eighth day he asked, I agreed.

“I’ll go if you watch over them for a week; I might need a break.” Being in charge of watching over them wasn’t eventful, but it was like watching a TV show or something. Interesting and mind numbing in the same instant. It didn’t require much work except for the occasional accident or conflict, and even those were few and far between because the older children were handling most of it lately.

 Nick pulled me to my feet, a puppy that finally receives his walk.

He never let go of my hand, half-pulling me along a path and through trees where the way wasn’t marked. It didn’t slow him, as though he saw landmarks I failed to see. When the trees thickened he treaded more carefully, pulling branches and tall grasses out of the way for me.

“You’ll love it,” he said, and I knew then exactly what we were coming up to. The flowers had been a hint, but the scent that hit me was undeniably familiar: the same blend of essences that seemed to follow Drei everywhere.

Though I was expecting something spectacular, I was nowhere near prepared for what I saw as we cleared the trees. The colors, the disorganization, the heavenly scent and sheer mass of flowers caused me to lose my breath. It was stunning, and, strange as it was, seemed to give me a sense of peace.

“I knew you’d love it,” Nick replied to my poorly hidden gaping jaw and wide eyes.

“It’s gorgeous,” I managed in a choked whisper.

He took my hand again, leading me carefully through the flowers so I could see which I recognized—mostly the common ones: lilacs, violets, bluebells—and touch those I didn’t. There were paths laced through the field, little more than the width of my foot. In the center was a grassy area, soft and lush, where Nick and I sat for a moment.

“How?”

“I was exploring those days I wasn’t around. And I just happened across here and knew you’d love it.”

“Is the path marked?”

“To here? Of course. Subtly, though. I haven’t figured out all of the symbols, but if you pretty much go in where we did and go straight, you’ll smell the flowers when you’re close.”

“So who marked it?”

Nick shrugged. “Does it matter?”

I shook my head, feeling warm in the sunlit area. It felt like summer here with the trees trapping heat and the flowers in full bloom, staring at us, wondering what would happen.

“We have to get back for dinner,” I said suddenly, not meeting Nick’s eyes, afraid I wouldn’t have the courage to leave them.

I stood up, dusting off my pants, and Nick led me back through the woods, a satisfied smile on his lips the entire way. It wasn’t until I noticed how much I looked at him, or how easily we made each other smile, or any number of other things we shared, I knew what I wanted to do next.

“Meet me there tonight?” I inquired, knowing how it must sound to him, hoping he didn’t take it the wrong way.

He stopped mid-step and faced me. “Really?” The time I hadn’t kissed him ran through his mind, a caution I might be stringing him along again.

“We can spend time together there, and don’t have to worry about anything else.”

“Or anyone else,” he added, expressing his own thoughts. I knew he meant Drei.

Though Drei hadn’t been around much, he disliked Nick and disapproved of my spending time with him—Valetta’s words, not mine. While his fears were rational, I wasn’t too worried and I hoped he would stop worrying as much as I knew he was.

“So?” I pressed, needing a definite answer. No way was I sitting around all night for someone who wasn’t coming. Then again, I would have deserved it. At least the first time, anyway.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he replied, grinning crookedly.