His hand ran lightly up my arm and came to rest against the side of my face. Max pulled me closer to him until there were only millimeters between us. His eyes stared deep into mine and I lost my train of thought for a moment. As his lips brushed mine, I remembered.
“Why,” I asked quietly.
Surprised, Max pulled back and gave me a questioning look. “Pardon,” he said.
I moved away from him and stood up, pulling myself from his grasp. When I turned to face him, he appeared almost irritated. “Why,” I asked again. “Why did I want to find you? Why did I need to see you?”
Max seemed to relax at my question, resting his arms on the edge of the fountain near his hips and leaning back. He smiled serenely at me. “You know why, Kitty,” he said.
I screwed up my face at his answer and shook my head. If I had known the answer myself, I wouldn’t have had to ask him. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him waiting for another answer.
Max only grinned at my glare, then sat up and leaned forward. His face turned serious and he searched my eyes as he spoke. “You and I,” he began slowly, “belong together. We are destined for each other, Kitty. That is the way it is supposed to be and that is why you needed to see me, as I needed to see you.”
I continued to glare at him, confused once again by conflicting feelings telling me that he was right and that he wasn’t. Looking into his eyes, I saw his sincerity and suddenly seemed to forget all the good reasons to doubt him. I dropped my tight protective stance and took a wary step forward. “You needed to see me,” I said and took another step towards him.
Max nodded at me and then reached out his hand to me. I had a sudden flash of him in my bed, with the same look when I was reaching out to him. I shook the fuzzy thought out of my head and stared at Max. “Do you believe in déjà vu,” I asked quietly as I stretched my hand out to meet his.
As soon as our fingertips touched, Max grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. I stumbled forward with an embarrassing yelp and ended up against his chest. He held me tightly around the waist with one arm, destroying any attempts I might have had at running away. With his other hand still holding mine, he slowly began pulling me lower. His eyes captured mine and I couldn’t seem to move away.
When our eyes were almost level, Max stopped pulling me down and held me closer. His hand released mine and it moved up to caress the side of my face and neck. His thumb lingered over my bottom lip and then took a firm hold of my jaw. In an instant, Max had tilted my head to the side and pressed his lips softly to the skin of my neck. I closed my eyes and relaxed into his arms, forgetting any negative consequences I might have once considered. A small gasp caught in my throat as I felt teeth graze lightly over skin. And something inside me wanted more.
Unable to resist, I moved and straddled Max’s lap, resting my knees on the edge of the fountain. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and couldn’t help but slide one hand up to run my fingers through his hair. I loved his touch and I loved touching him. Every caress left me desiring more. At my movement, Max seemed to catch his breath for a moment, and then he pulled my face down to meet his. I opened my eyes to look at him and his eyes seemed to question mine. He looked unsure, almost confused, and I couldn’t understand why. I ran my fingers through his hair again and touched my lips to his. He kissed me back without hesitation and I began to feel a little strange.
I suddenly noticed a familiar sound, a light pitter-pattering coming from outside and I smelled the freshness of rain. A memory flashed through my mind of golden hair and violet eyes. And I remembered. “Sam,” I said as I pulled back from Max.
Max gave me an odd look in return and pointed at himself. “No. Max,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. I climbed off of Max, and moved to step away, but he caught hold of my hand.
“Kitty, what’s wrong,” he asked sweetly, as he tried to pull me back to him.
Part of me wanted to go back, to continue whatever it was we’d started, but the other half of me knew the truth. I was angry at myself for giving in to Max so easily and I was annoyed at him for manipulating me. I felt violated and apprehensive. How could I have done this to—?
“Sam,” I said again, feeling more miserable. I could feel my cheeks burning and tears starting to swell in my eyes. I was so ashamed that I’d forgotten him. I pulled my hand out of Max’s grip and looked around the washhouse.
Outside the rain was getting heavier, forming a white haze around the surrounding buildings. I put a hand up to my face and wiped the hot tears away before they fell. I looked back over at Max, who was now glancing worryingly from me to my chest and I remembered the pendant.
“Who’s Sam,” I heard Max ask as I went to pull the pendant out of my dress.
I ignored him and fingered around the chain until I found the clasp. It didn’t take long for me to find it and then rip the necklace from my throat.
“No,” he yelled as I dropped the whole thing on the ground.
“Deal with it,” I said, as I raised my foot up. Then with the heel of my boot I smashed the pendant into tiny, little pieces. Almost immediately I began to feel a bit better. More myself than I had been. I looked back up at Max who was now standing next to the fountain. I’d expected him to be furious, irritated or at least upset. But he was none of those things.
He smirked at me with his arms crossed tightly across his chest. “I guess we’ll be doing things the hard way from this point onwards,” he said.
I couldn’t help but look surprised. For some stupid reason, I thought that it would be all over once the pendant was gone. I thought that Max would leave me alone. It looked like I was wrong.
“You know, it’s a shame,” said Max as he began to pace around me. “I was really enjoying playing the caring, soul mate role. But now, you’re stuck with the real me.”
Instantly, his eyes glowed hot amber and his face contorted into a gruesome snarl, baring long, sharp canines. After a moment, his face returned back to normal. “Pretty, isn’t it,” he said.
For some reason, his true face didn’t scare me, even though I’d expected it to do so. If anything, it was his arrogance that was beginning to get to me. I turned on the spot, mirroring him as he circled me. “Well,” I said, finally feeling more like myself, “I don’t think that ‘pretty’ is quite the right word. I was thinking more along the lines of ‘hideous’, ‘repulsive’, and even ‘ugly’.”
He glared at me and then grinned smugly. “You didn’t seem so repulsed a few moments ago,” he said.
Now it was my turn to glare and cross my arms over my chest. “Oh, really,” I said. “And I’m sure your that little pendant had nothing to do with me wanting to be friendly with you.”
He stopped where he was and his grin widened. “Friendly,” he said. “Is that what you call it? I would have called it trying to jump my bones.”
I snarled back at him in disgust. “Trust me, Max,” I said. “When I’m trying to jump your bones, you’ll know about it.”
Max just laughed at me and continued pacing around me. “There’s another thing you should know, little Miss Kitty, and you won’t like it,” Max began. He stopped pacing again and took a couple of small steps towards me, but I held my ground. “While the pendant aims to suppress your good side and all its desires, ensuring that anything evil inside you has a chance to excel, it doesn’t form new feelings for you and definitely doesn’t make you act on them.”
I felt my face heat up at his words and I somehow knew he was right. Deep down inside me, in a place that I refused to acknowledge, I had feelings for him. Although I was certain that they were only obscure feelings at best.
Max took another step towards me and leaned in, until his face was closer to mine. I glared at him and raised my upper lip at his closeness. Max just smiled at me and looked into my eyes. “Just you think about that, Kitty,” he whispered. “I know you. I know who you really are and what you can be. And I know what you rea
lly want. Don’t think that you can hide that side of you forever.” He straightened and grinned arrogantly at me. “Evil is in your blood, Kitty, deal with it.”
As he repeated the words I’d said to him earlier, I had a massive urge to hit him. But, before I could even make a move, he sprinted away out into the rain. “I hope you like your room, Kitty Bloom,” he called back over his shoulder and he was gone.
I looked outside into the white haze of heavy rain, in shock. Max had been the one to decorate my bedroom. There was no way, or was there? Surely, he was only joking. My mum had organized it for me, hadn’t she? How would I ever feel comfortable in there again?
“I hope you get pneumonia and die,” I yelled into the empty rain. Of course, I knew Max wouldn’t get pneumonia. He was a vampire, after all and vampires couldn’t get sick.
Six: A Shower with Sam
I was feeling pretty stupid about heading off into the rain. I’d managed to wait a couple of minutes under the shelter of the washhouse, hoping that the rain would stop or at least get lighter. But, those couple of minutes was all I lasted. Once Max had left me, I kept getting the creeps. I was so sure I could feel someone or something watching me. I just couldn’t sense where the feeling was coming from, inside the washhouse or out in the rain. If I had to guess I would have said both. So, I decided to make a run for the safety of my new house, hoping, of course, that it was still safe.
The problem, however, was that I couldn’t quite remember how to get back there. And that’s why I was feeling pretty stupid about heading off into the rain.
I was now officially soaked through. My clothes were stuck tight and sticking to my skin and my long, burgundy, black hair was flattened in a heavy, wet curtain down my back. I was sure that the rain was getting heavier. It was getting harder and harder to see even just a few meters in front of me; the white haze of rain was that bad. I knew now that I probably should have paid more attention to where I was running when I’d left Mum and that I definitely should have paid more attention to where I was heading when I left the washhouse. I had to admit it. I was totally and utterly lost.
Through the thick, glowing glare of rain, I saw something in the near distance. A tall, dark shape was pretty much all I could make out. But, I could have sworn it looked like a person.
Not caring about how friendly or not friendly this person might be—even though I probably shouldn’t have—I called out. “Hello,” I yelled. There was no response. The rain was pelting down and creating such a thunderous roar that I hoped they just hadn’t heard me. “Hello,” I yelled again, as loud as I possibly could. “I’m lost and I could really use some directions.” Once again the figure in front of me didn’t answer, but it still seemed to be coming closer.
“So, you need my help, do you,” yelled a deep, male voice from the direction of the dark form.
I wasn’t exactly sure how to answer that. If the figure in front of me wasn’t all that friendly, then I probably wasn’t doing the right thing by becoming indebted to him. I stood where I was and pondered my options for a moment. It seemed as though I was pretty screwed either way. I either chose to stay cold, wet, alone and lost or hope that I’d manage to get some directions from a nice passerby. Hopefully before he tried to kill me.
“Yes,” I called out again. “I need your help. Please.” As I asked for help, it occurred to me that a person wandering around out in killer rain was probably not the best person to trust in this situation. I’d just about decided to make a run for it when the figure stepped closer and became clearer.
“Did you miss me,” he asked. It was Sam.
“What are you doing out here,” I asked, surprised, but still overjoyed to see him.
“Would you hate me if I told you I’ve been following you since the washhouse,” he said, nervously.
I took a step closer to him trying to see his face better in the continuous downpour. “Have you,” I asked, slightly irritated and a little unsure whether or not to believe him.
Sam gave me an embarrassed smile. “I had to keep an eye on you,” he said.
I thought about that and wondered whether keeping an eye on me might have also included spying on me while I was with Max. I seriously hoped not. “So, let me get this straight,” I began slowly, as I let my simmering annoyance show on my face. “While I’ve been wandering around completely lost, you’ve been following me and keeping an eye on me?”
Sam dropped his eyes from mine and seemed to consider his answer. He opened his mouth before he spoke, still searching for the right words and then looked at me with a worried frown. “Yes,” he answered quietly.
With a frown, I put my hands on my hips and took another step towards him. However, my aggressive stance probably would have looked slightly more intimidating if I hadn’t been dripping wet and resembling some sort of drowned rat. “And you didn’t think in all that time,” I said, still irritated, but slightly thankful for the rescue. “That you could have announced yourself and maybe—I don’t know—pointed me in the right direction.”
Sam bit his lip and looked away from me, then ran his fingers through his thick, wet mess of a fringe. I watched him carefully while I waited for an appropriate answer. But, as I waited I saw the level of disappointment on his face. It looked as though the punishment he was internally giving himself was much worse than anything I could ever have come up with. And I wasn’t really that mad at him. He’d still come through in the end and that was all that mattered.
I dropped my hands from my hips, all my hot annoyance destroyed by his look of failure and cooled by the chill of the rain. It was my turn to look away from him. “Thanks,” I said, under my breath.
Sam’s head spun to look at me and I didn’t have to see his face to know that he was surprised.
“Thank you,” I said again, warily looking up at him.
His face was total confusion and disbelief. I looked sincerely up into his eyes and my heart seemed to ache. His violet eyes looked so sad, so defeated, but yet somehow filled with a brief light of hope.
“Look, Sam,” I said, finding it hard to get out what I wanted to say. “I’m glad you were with me, keeping an eye on me, even if you didn’t help me straight away. I owe you so much more than you realize right now. I’m just happy that there’s someone out there looking out for me. And I’m really glad that that person is you, Sam. Okay?”
He was clearly shocked by my words. He seemed so unsure about how to take them, how to take what I meant. I saw him swallow deeply and clench his jaw tight. A mixture of sadness and relief appeared in his eyes and then he looked away. When he looked back up at me a moment later, he was back in control and smiling weakly.
“Come on,” he said, with a little catch in his throat, “let’s get out of this rain.” He put his hand out to me and I took it without hesitation. His skin was cold and slick with water, and although I was still shivering from the icy rainfall, just the touch of his skin against mine seemed to add a little comfort and warmth to my body.
Sam led me down a small alleyway off the large one I’d been travelling down and held my hand tight. It was only a couple more alleys before he pulled me to a stop. We stepped gratefully under a small awning of a nearby house and Sam removed a brass key from his pocket. He tentatively released my hand and went to the dark green door in front of us. Turning the key in the lock, Sam then twisted the door handle and pushed the door inwards. He waved his hand in an invitation to enter and partially bowed his head in mock elegance. “Welcome to my house,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow and had to stop myself from letting out a laugh at his formal invitation. When I didn’t make a move to enter, but just kept looking at his posture with an overly amused smile, he frowned at me and straightened. Then, he stuck his thumb out and pointed inside the front door. “Get in, would you,” he said, sounding more like himself. “Or do I have to throw you over my shoulder again and carry you in?”
I smiled as I moved to step inside, but couldn’t help myself and e
nded up laughing as I stepped over the threshold. Inside Sam’s house, it was warm and cozy. There was a rosy fireplace already burning softly in the small, dark lounge room and the kitchen in the opposite room was full of rich, golden brown colors and smelled faintly of baking. In front of me was a narrow staircase, brightened by a white skylight, which led to the second floor.
I hadn’t realized that I had paused in the small entryway until Sam had hung up his drenched, black leather jacket on a hat stand and began to step around me. He walked past me to the bottom of the stairs and kicked off his boots. Then he turned to face me with a lopsided smile. “This is the Chateau Sam,” he said. “Let me give you the tour.”
Now only in a soaking, transparent, white singlet, dark denim jeans and bare feet, Sam took a couple of steps to the kitchen. “The kitchen,” he said, seeming quite proud. He took the small number of steps needed to take him to the beginning of the lounge room and turned to face me again. “The lounge room,” he said, trying to remain serious. He walked back over to the bottom of the stairs and pointed up. “And the bedroom and bathroom are upstairs. Here ends the tour.”
Deciding to play along, I turned in a small circle, feigning serious interest. “Nice, very nice,” I said. “But there is only one problem.” I turned to Sam and walked very close to him, until there was less than a foot between us. He gave me a curious smile and met my eyes.
“With one bedroom,” I said, innocently, “what do you do if you have guests over?”
His smile widened, and then he put his hand over his mouth and cleared his throat. I grinned at his reaction, but before I could have another go at him, he quickly changed the subject. “You’re welcome to the shower first,” he said, timidly. “If you want one that is. And there’s a dryer down here if you’d like to use it. You can borrow some of my clothes while you wait for yours to dry.”
At my puzzled smile, Sam cleared his throat again and ran his fingers through his fringe. “That’s only if you want to, I mean.”
Innocently Evil (A Kitty Bloom Novel) Page 6
