by Chase Connor
My magic.
I didn’t know how I knew that was what was happening. Something inside of me, something ancient and primal told me instinctively.
Lucas stared into my eyes, trying to wordlessly comfort me as dull green light leeched out around the seal our hands created on his chest. Bit by bit, the light seemed to glow brighter and brighter, filling the shower, then the bathroom, growing brighter until all I could see was that green light. I couldn’t even see Lucas inches in front of me, but I could feel his hand holding mine tightly to his chest.
Lucas was drawing magic out of me and into his wound.
A gasp escaped my mouth, but I couldn’t see Lucas. I was blinded by the green light that was so bright that I finally had to shut my eyes or risk going blind. Wincing, I didn’t fight Lucas holding my hand against his chest as my magic leeched out of me and into the wound. I didn’t know if him drawing magic from me was just a matter of “borrowing” or “taking.” Would the thing he was doing steal my magic from me, or was he just…using it?
What the fuck?
Lucas knows how to use magic?
Why didn’t I remember this?
I had my memories, too.
When it no longer felt like my skin was being tugged at, I let my eyes open to slits. The green light was slowly fading, and Lucas’ form was coming back into view, the falling water starting to become visible as well. Slowly, I let my eyes open at a pace with the light fading away, creeping back to hide away beneath our hands against Lucas’ chest. My eyes went to my boyfriend’s—and for the briefest of moments, they were not green. They were brown. Lucas stared back as the light slid back under our hands, then he slid his hand off of the top of mine.
He blinked.
His eyes were green once more.
They hadn’t changed to brown and back to green for real. It was a vision. Like my boyfriend, sometimes I just knew things.
I just stared at Lucas, my hand still held against his chest, neither of us saying a word. Finally, I let my hand slide from his wet skin as the water continued to cascade down around us.
“Your eyes,” I said.
“They weren’t always green,” Lucas said.
I nodded as though that was the most rational thing I had ever heard in my entire life and turned my attention to his chest. There was absolutely no evidence that he had been bitten. His skin was intact. Perfect. Just as it had been before. I didn’t bother staring since I knew I wasn’t seeing an illusion, nor was I confused or crazy.
“You know magic.”
“I know how to use magic,” Lucas spoke in a small voice. “I have none of my own.”
“Did you…take…some from me?”
“No.” He shook his head softly. “Just borrowed it. I promise.”
Nodding again, I glanced at his chest for the briefest of moments.
“Did you just heal the wounds, or…”
“I was never going to turn into a werewolf, Rob.”
My eyes shot back to his.
“But we don’t want Jason to know that.” He gave a cautious smile. “If those guys weren’t his pack…then we need to know who they were, right? If they think I’m going to turn…maybe they’ll show up. Right? If they really were his pack, and he’s lying to us, we need him to believe that they did what they set out to do.”
My head nodded of its own accord again.
“Would you have turned into a werewolf if you hadn’t just done that?” I asked gently.
“No.”
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “I’m immune.”
“I can’t nod again,” I said it aloud. “This is weird. Even for me, babe. Why don’t I have this memory? Why don’t I know this about you?”
“I never told you.” Lucas turned his eyes from mine. “I’ve never told anyone. Except…grandpa.”
“Right.” I shrugged.
The water was slowly getting cooler. We were using up all of the water in the hot water tank.
“Don’t be upset.”
“I’m not upset.” I shook my head. “I’m…confused. Why wouldn’t you tell me, Lucas?”
With a sigh, he reached behind himself and shut off the now cold water, then he turned back to me, and his hand went to my chest.
“You’re not the only one here who’s trouble, Rob.” He sounded defeated. “And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to make more trouble for you. Not back then. There was already…so much. And I would have told you as soon as you came back, but…”
“You weren’t yourself.”
“I wasn’t myself.” He agreed.
“You seemed to think you were going to be a werewolf earlier.” I frowned. “I mean, you upchucked all over the place.”
Lucas cringed. “Not because I thought that…I just couldn’t imagine having cravings for meat. Especially human meat or something.”
Together, we stood in the shower, which was no longer running, and stared at each other, slowly getting cold without the hot water to keep us warm. It was probably less than a minute that we stood there, staring at each other, with Lucas’ hand against my chest, but it felt much longer. When I could no longer take the silence and curiosity, my lips parted once more.
“Is tonight the night we unpack everything?” I asked gently. “Or…do we want to make love for only the second time as two people who have loved each other for a very long time—and actually remember it?”
Lucas’ expression softened further.
“I remember that night.” He choked out. “You were so brave.”
“So were you.”
“I really thought I’d never see you again, Rob.” He gave a pained sigh. “Will you hate me forever if I tell you that I let you go into that basement, truly believing that you were lying about coming back to me?”
I shook my head slowly.
“There is no way he is going to come back for me,” Lucas whispered. “That was the last thought I remember having. I thought you lied to me to make me not be sad to see you go. It didn’t make me hate you. It just made me sad anyway. And, maybe, a little proud. You were my boyfriend, and you were going to take that risk…”
“I was proud to be your boyfriend,” I replied. “I am proud to be your boyfriend.”
“I missed you so fucking much, Rob.”
“Oma kept an eye on you.” I smiled gently. “But I missed you so fucking much, too.”
He smiled. “She did, didn’t she? I think…I mean, I’m not sure…but I think I wanted to be around her because something inside of me told me that being around her meant that I would know as soon as you got back. Or at least, pretty quickly after.”
“I guess that was something you just knew.” I teased. “And you were right.”
“I don’t think I ever really forgot you.” He said. “At least, my body didn’t. Maybe my mind was scrubbed, but something way too deep to be scrubbed away didn’t forget you. It never would have forgotten you.”
“Hey,” I said, “if you’re trying to get into my pants, I don’t even have them on, babe.”
Lucas laughed and glanced down.
“We should probably get out of the shower.” His eyebrow raised. “It’s kind of cold in here.”
I glanced down at my junk.
“Hey!” I leaned forward quickly, wrapping my arms around him.
Lucas did his best to pretend to get away, but my lips found every inch of his face as I kissed him over and over and he laughed uproariously there in the cocoon created by my arms around him. Maybe we had some unpacking to do. Eventually. But Lucas had his memories back. And he wasn’t actually going to turn into a furry, fearsome creature at the next full moon. Unpacking could wait until after we had taken time to become familiar with each other’s bodies again. Now that we both remembered them fully.
The room was cold.
Bitterly cold.
And I had no memory of the room.
But that didn’t keep me from opening my eyes to find that I was lying on the bed
in the middle of the room.
It wasn’t apparent at first, due to my confusion at waking up in a strange room, chilled to my bones, but I wasn’t even in Lucas’ house. In fact, I wasn’t sure whose house I was in, actually. The room did not look familiar—but it looked somewhat familiar at the same time. Maybe because it looked like a child’s bedroom—the dark shape of an overflowing bookcase in the corner. A desk for homework along one wall. A toy chest that was overflowing. Cartoon sheets of some kind that I had kicked off in my sleep.
With my child-sized feet.
I gazed down at my body only to find that I was not staring at my body but that of a child—or a very young teen. Maybe a tween? This revelation should have sent a shock of terror up my spine, but I was getting used to the odd things in my life. Instead of screaming out in shock or panicking in any way, I sat up cautiously and swiveled my hips to let my legs dangle off of the side of the bed. Giving a quick glance around the room, looking for any sign of danger, I lowered myself to the floor.
Icy cold floorboards slapped against my feet, and I winced, though I made no noise. It was dark, I had no idea where I was, and there was no way for me to know if there was anyone else in the house. Would someone come to investigate if they heard me? And if someone did come to investigate, would they be dangerous? Harm me in some way? I let my feet adjust to the cold of the floorboards as I scanned the room slowly with my eyes.
Just a typical tween’s room.
Nothing unusual.
Other than the darkness.
Nothing looks normal in the dark.
As I stood there, my feet adjusting to the cold and my eyes adjusting to the darkness, my ears began to pick up the voices.
Beyond the door positioned at the opposite side of the room, someone was talking. Low and rumbly, the voices sounded muffled and hollow. My feet began to move without me willing it, and I found myself being drawn towards the bedroom door. The cold was pervasive, making my feet—well, the feet I now had—feel like blocks of ice. It pushed through the cotton of the pajamas I was wearing. It slid over and around my body, doing its best to compel me back into bed. To forget the voices and the door.
Suddenly, I found myself in front of the door, my hands reaching out to brace myself against it as my ear moved towards the cold, smooth wood. My ear connected with the icy surface, trying to hear the voices better. To try and figure out what it was they were saying.
The voices became louder with my ear pressed against the door, but I still couldn’t make out what it was they were saying. After a few moments, listening to what sounded like two voices quarreling or, maybe, debating, I crouched down next to the doorknob. I leveled my eye to the keyhole and looked through into the room beyond.
What I saw…was I really seeing this?
In the room beyond, seemingly lit by fire or candlelight was a pile of raw bones, gleaming white and splattered with blood. Sat upon what could only be described as the “throne” of bones was a hooded figure.
I knew that figure.
As if he knew I was watching, the hooded figure’s head turned towards the door.
Red eyes peered out of the hood and into the keyhole.
Then I was falling backward.
“Wake up, babe.” Lucas’ voice sounded muffled. “You’re having a dream, Rob.”
Red filled my vision as my eyes flew open, and I jerked awake in bed. A second later, the ceiling of Lucas’ bedroom came into view, illuminated by early morning sunlight streaming in through the windows. Jerkily, I looked around, checking the room for the hooded figure and those red eyes and the throne of bones. All I found was Lucas, in bed next to me, propped up on his elbow, smiling down at me like I was a dullard.
“Good morning, crazy.” He smiled wickedly.
“What the…”
“Bad dream?” He suggested.
Again, I found myself glancing around the room, making sure that I was really in Lucas’ bed, and the sun had washed away the darkness of the dream. Lingering in the back of my mind, I could practically see the room like an aura superimposed over the view of Lucas’ bedroom in his house. My first instinct was to tell Lucas about the dream, to explain how it made me feel. Something in the back of my mind told me that doing so would sound crazy. At the very least, it would not be received well. So, I kept my mouth shut, closed my eyes tightly and shook my head gently, clearing my vision, and chasing away the thought of the dream.
“You okay, babe?” Lucas had a furrowed brow when I opened my eyes.
“Yeah.” I gave a shaky sigh, then smiled. “Weird dreams because of a weird night, I guess.”
Lucas grinned. “It wasn’t all weird. Some of it was good.”
“There were some pretty good parts.” I agreed, propping myself up on my elbow so that my lips could reach his. “Did you sleep well?”
“I always sleep well with you beside me, Rob.”
The expression on his face let me know how stupid he thought the question had been.
“Same here.” I agreed once more.
Lucas’ eyes lingered on me, hungrily taking me in as I laid there beside him.
“Don’t you have work?”
“Yes.” He grumbled. “I wish I didn’t. But grandpa will be fit to be tied if I am not on time. Last week I was a few minutes late—because I had to run a mower down to Fremont. He about tore me a new asshole when I showed up at the store.”
A laugh escaped my throat, and Lucas silenced it with a kiss before he slung his legs over the side of the bed and slid away from me. He walked around and stood at my bedside, looking down at me, completely nude, creating a problematic situation for both of us. Grinning up at him, I attempted to act innocent.
“You better go,” I said, reaching up to push my hair back on my head.
Lucas reached down, his fingers finding their way into my hair. His fingertips massaged my scalp, and I couldn’t help but notice the proximity of my face to a particular part of him.
“Is there something you needed before you left?” I bit my bottom lip playfully as I gazed up at him.
Lucas groaned with frustration and his hand fell away from my head.
“I don’t have time.” He moaned.
“You underestimate my skills and overestimate your staying power.” I teased.
“Rude.” He leaned down to kiss me again with a laugh.
His lips lingered on mine for a moment, then he pulled away with another groan and stepped away before he could be dissuaded. I watched his bare backside as he went to his dresser and began finding his clothes for the day. The sun was barely over the horizon, and golden light was shining through the window, illuminating one of the many parts of him I loved. Lucas had a nice ass, there was no denying it. Every time I saw it—clothed or not—I wanted to grab ahold of it, give him a squeeze. Use those handfuls of him to pull his body roughly into mine.
I had to shake my head to chase away the tempting thought.
“It was weird that Jason was out on the peninsula last night.” Lucas state blandly as he pulled a pair of underwear out of the top drawer.
“It would be weird if it was a coincidence.” I nodded to myself. “It is fucking gross since we know he followed us out there. I thought that after I gave him that money that he’d—”
“Why did you go to his house, Rob?” Lucas sighed, turning to me finally.
Lucas bent and pulled his underwear on, but his eyes were on me.
“To give him the money for Katie’s funeral.” I frowned. “Okay. And maybe to threaten him a little. Once I got my memory back and knew what I was capable of, I figured that maybe he needed a warning. Oma wouldn’t let me outright kill him so—”
I stopped when I saw the look of horror on Lucas’ face as he stood there before me in his underwear.
“What?”
“He…he’s a threat, right?” The realization that I had said too much dawned on me. Lucas had his memories back and knowing that fact made me feel comfortable speaking more openly than I s
hould have been. “He serves—well, his pack serves…you know.”
Lucas’ expression softened, but he didn’t look any less horrified at the casual way I discussed contemplating murder.
“He doesn’t know that,” Lucas said. “You said he doesn’t have his memories back, so—”
“For now.” I shrugged as I sat up in bed, letting my legs dangle off the side. “It’s only a matter of time. I figured that we didn’t want him to keep growing the pack in the meantime, right?”
Lucas frowned.
“Look.” I sighed. “I know you’re kind of against harming other living creatures and all, but—”
“This is more than Lucas is a vegetarian, babe.” Lucas gave an incredulous laugh. “You were seriously considering fixing a problem with…murder. Doesn’t that seem…batshit crazy to you?”
“Is there any way I can answer that without admitting I’m crazy?”
Lucas shook his head.
“It was just a thought,” I explained. “You, me, and Oma know where this story is headed. I was just trying to think of some things that might turn things in our favor before it’s too late to try. That’s all.”
“Murder is not one of those things, Rob.”
“Not even, like, a little?” I grinned impishly.
“Not even a little.” Lucas couldn’t help but crack a smile.
I rolled my eyes.
“I probably wouldn’t have done it anyway.” I was chastened. “I mean, it was merely a thought. Okay. Maybe I had a plan formulating in my brain, but I hadn’t gotten to the charts and graphs stage of the plan.”
“Don’t go past the ‘thinking it’ stage, babe.” He replied before turning to his closet. “So…you didn’t go to…just see him?”
Lucas ducked into his closet, and I let a frown overtake my face as I considered what it was that he was getting at with his question. It took longer than I was proud to admit before I figured out what Lucas had meant. The frown on my face was replaced with a wide grin.
