“Gavin,” I mimicked with my own annoyance.
He exhaled over a laugh. “You really need to define it?” he asked, sounding sincere.
My unwavering gaze met his. I waited.
I wasn’t sure what spurred it, whether it was me latching on to a stable, committed relationship I’ve never had before or if it was just needing to know he wasn’t going anywhere, I did need this.
And we both understood the dangers of the physical aspect, but the cat was out of the bag now. There was no going back. The lust and attraction elicited physical responses, which were what got us in trouble, but love, that went beyond the physical, and neither of us could deny it anymore. He even admitted to wanting us to be together. We were past denial, or at least, I hoped.
I waited oh so patiently while he mulled over his careful response in his head.
He angled his head slightly away from the road to meet my eyes. “Girlfriend seems like the wrong word for you. It doesn’t come close to describing what we are.”
“So what word does describe it?” I badgered.
“I don’t know. Together,” he supplied. “We’ll always be together. We’re connected in a way no two people are, and there is no one else I’ve ever wanted to be with in the way I want to be with you. We may be hot-headed and irrational. We may fight and scream at each other, but that’s the kind of passion you can only get from something great.”
“Like love?” I hedged.
He smiled at me with so much warmth, my eyes stung with building tears. “We may be okay when we’re apart, but we’re perfect when we’re together. It’s all I have for now. I’ll come up with a better word eventually.”
All the love I had for this man exploded, hurling me out of my seat. I grabbed the back of his head in both hands and planted my lips firmly against his.
He hesitated, but his resistance dissolved when I bit his bottom lip playfully. A deep, throaty moan sprang from his chest and he yanked me into his lap. His tongue invaded my mouth, teasing and exploring.
He ended it abruptly and gently pushed me back, peering around me to see the road. He held me still with a solid arm braced around my waist. We both took several calming breaths. I closed my eyes and rested my forehead on his shoulder.
“Lucy, you should move before I pull the car over. If that happens, it’s hard telling how many forests will be demolished. Or worse, how many people will cross our paths.”
A curse slipped from my lips. He was right. I couldn’t believe how foolish I was. Well, I was reckless by nature, but when it came to hurting people at my own hand, I had been working harder at caution.
I slid off his lap slowly and achingly before I slunk back to my seat and unrolled my window, letting the frosty air clear my thoughts. We remained silent for the rest of the drive, trying to compose our naughty impulses.
The city skyline morphed into a sprawling town filled with a hustle and bustle I hadn’t seen since leaving St. Louis. Gavin parked the car in an expansive parking lot and glanced at me expectantly. I spied the building and the myriad of people entering and exiting before glancing back at him. He waited for my reaction.
“We’re seriously going to see a movie?” I asked, glimpsing the marquee and giant movie posters plastered to the side of the complex.
He grinned mischievously. “Like two normal people.”
“On a date?” I added.
When I turned back to face him, he wore an unreadable expression. “I just wanted to give you a normal experience. I don’t want you to ever forget that you fit in both worlds. You can be human. You can be vampire. It doesn’t matter as long as you remember to keep living.”
“You’re too perfect sometimes. It’s kind of obnoxious,” I joked.
“Well, you didn’t let me finish. I was going to suggest that we find a seat in the back like two horny teenagers,” he said. He leaned into me and dropped his voice. “Then again, you always like me more when I’m bad, so if my sweet side gets on your nerves, I’m sure getting dirty in a dark movie theatre would get you really hot and bothered.”
“Funny,” I retorted flatly. “And I wouldn’t go so far to say you had a sweet side.”
He pulled away laughing. “So what’s it going to be? Action or romance?”
I blanched until I figured out he was referring to the movies. He smirked knowingly.
“Do you really have to ask?”
I sauntered toward the theatre without waiting for his response. He snuck up behind me throwing his arms around me. His solid weight against me sent warm shivers rushing down my back.
He breathed close to my ear. “Action it is.” I couldn’t see his face but knew he wore the same arrogant half grin I either wanted to slap or kiss.
We ended up sitting in front to avoid temptation. After the movie ended, we waded through the masses and snuck around a couple trying to calm their crying baby. I noticed their other two kids nearby playing on the handicap railing. The boy kept pushing his little sister off the bar. Her cries went unnoticed by their preoccupied parents.
I glanced around to make sure no one else watched, and I waited for the girl to look the other way. As I passed, the boy sensed me staring and caught my eye. He stuck out his tongue.
Big mistake. Going full on vampire, a menacing hiss escaped my throat. His eyes went big at the sight of my growing fangs and lightening irises.
He freaked out and ran to his parents crying. The girl looked around in confusion, and when she caught my gaze, I had already changed back to normal. I shrugged and gave her an easy smile. She hesitated but eventually returned it with a bright grin of her own.
Gavin cleared his throat to get my attention and threaded his fingers through mine. My nerves sparked to life at the simple contact. “I think you scarred him for life,” he scolded.
“Hardly. He’ll forget all about it when he gets older. Adults have that annoying way of rationalizing what they can’t explain, so he’ll convince himself he imagined it,” I explained. “But for right now, yeah, he’ll think twice about being mean to a girl.”
I spied him in my peripheral vision shaking his head at me. He heard the remnants of a smile in my voice. “I pity any guy who’d dare to cross you.”
I squeezed his hand and rammed my shoulder into his. He staggered back but tugged me into him. His fingers grazed my jaw and wound through my hair. His thumb smoothed over my cheek, and he pressed me back against the car. I hadn’t even realized we were already there.
“We should get back. They’re going to want to discuss our next move,” he said halfheartedly.
“I know.” Determined not to ruin our perfect day just yet, I continued, “Thank you for bringing me here.”
“Have I earned a second date?” he asked. My heart tripped over his use of the D word.
“Only if you promise to throw me against a wall after it,” I answered, biting my lip.
“I can guarantee it,” he growled.
One day, we would both learn to separate our different hungers and be able to manage the lust without it resulting in mass destruction and blood loss. When that day came, we would go on a second date.
He led me to the passenger side and helped me inside. The same struggles we faced on the drive here followed us on the way back to the mansion. Rolling down the windows, we stifled our desire. I replayed our date over and over in my mind, savoring the memory for as long as possible.
We pulled into the drive and sat in a brief bubble of peaceful silence before reluctantly heading inside. The wind rustled through my hair roughly. We made it back right before the predicted snowstorm hit. Walking through the door, the thick cloud of tension that permanently surrounded the house engulfed me.
Gavin sensed it too and nudged my shoulder. “You okay?”
“I’m good. Back to work,” I said cheerily.
†
The others watched me carefully. I stared at my reflection in the polished wood grain as the weight of their eyes bore down on me. We had all gather
ed around the massive table in the formal dining room. Every seat was occupied and people lined the walls. Even Helen remained silent, waiting for my plan.
“Where are the others?” I asked, not looking up. I took a mental headcount when I stepped through the doors and noticed a few house members were absent.
“Lee, Carly, and Carrie are securing the perimeter before the storm sets in. We need to be sure our motion detectors and outer spotlights can withstand the weather,” Helen supplied.
We had motion detectors?
My eyes lifted and scanned the crowd of somber faces. I decided to begin with the least controversial plan. My gaze landed on one particularly frightened set of eyes.
“Sophie. I think it’s time you shared your knowledge of the Sword of Michael with the rest of us. We can’t ignore its crucial role in a potential power play.”
Her cheeks flamed from the attention, but she cleared her throat and launched into teacher mode. She explained the power of the Sword, holding everyone’s rapt attention.
“One source placed its disappearance sometime in the fourth century, but most claim the First have it. I did some digging and found an older text that said a copy was made. I believe the First were tricked into stealing the copy from the relics of an old monastery in Italy. I think the real one could still be there.”
“What makes you think the First don’t have the real deal?” asked Nick.
“If you had a weapon that could kill any enemy and gave you the power of an archangel, would you still be hiding in the woods?” she quipped.
A grin crept over my face. Girl came out of her shell when she was in her element.
“So it’s still being held in this monastery?” I asked.
“I think so,” she confirmed. “I haven’t found anything that says otherwise.”
“Good enough for me. That’s where I’m going,” I replied.
A throat cleared behind me and I smiled wider. “Where we’re going,” I amended.
A choking sound came from Allison’s direction.
Gavin’s smooth voice sailed over me. “I’ll make arrangements to leave as soon as the storm clears.”
Now that the first issue was settled, I braced myself for the next. “I want all of you gone once the storm blows over.”
The expected uproar ended the silence as my decision was met with boisterous protests. I pushed my chair back to stand. My palms fell flat against the smooth surface as I leaned in.
“Staying would mean suicide.”
“We aren’t running!” someone shouted from the back of the room. Several others joined in the argument until they no longer paid attention to me. Instead, they clashed with each other, and I sat back down to wait out the pandemonium.
Some decided the conversation was over and got up to leave. I wiped my hands down my face in frustration. The chime of the doorbell cut through the chaos.
Who used the doorbell?
A piercing scream broke through the noise and silenced the entire room. Gavin and I flashed to the source, pivoting around Allison, who stood frozen in shock at the door.
I sucked in a breath and recoiled from what lay in front of me. On the welcome mat, a severed hand perched, holding a precariously placed note between the fingers.
“Oh my God,” Allison breathed. “What does it say?”
I didn’t have to bend down to read the one word scrawled elegantly across the paper.
Soon.
18
When Keepers waded through the forming crowd to get a peek at the spectacle, shrieks of dread and shock sounded all around. Someone dropped to his knees beside me.
“No. Oh, God. No. Nononono.” I recognized Brody’s voice. “That’s the bracelet I gave Carly,” he cried.
When I glanced back, I saw the dainty chain around the delicate hand. My own hand moved to my charm bracelet out of instinct. My fingers traced over the Chi Ro coin.
I sprinted off the landing, hitting full speed once my shoes touched pavement. I heard Gavin flank me until we neared the end of the driveway. Neither of us needed to say a word. In perfect strategic harmony, we broke away to round the edge of the property in opposite directions.
A mantra drove me faster and faster.
She had to be alive.
She had to be alive.
Please be alive.
I watched Gavin approach me after making a full circle. We fanned out further into the forest, but even without the blustering snow, I knew we wouldn’t find anything. Message received.
They called the shots, and we weren’t going to Italy until this was finished. Knots coiled around a ball of dismay forming in my stomach. They found me. It was starting.
Brody waited by the door. He peered at me through desolate eyes. I shook my head in an answer to his silent plea. His head dropped in defeat, and I put a hand on his shoulder, knowing it couldn’t console the grieving and brokenhearted.
Someone had already removed the hand from sight, but everyone still stood in the foyer with their eyes trained on the floor where it once lay. Since when were the assassins into mutilation?
“Now what?” someone whispered.
“We fight the fuckers!” Nick shouted. A mask of rage I’d never seen fell over his face.
The crowd roared to life, chanting for vengeance. The decibel level grew, and I winced in pain. The shouting nearly burst my sensitive eardrums.
“Shut up,” Brody screamed, followed only by the sound of gusting wind. He turned to me. “Lucy,” he begged. “We aren’t going anywhere. This is our home. We’re all family and we’d all die for each other.”
As I searched their faces, I was touched be the stand they took together. Apparently, none of us were immune to the crushing weight of responsibility. We all knew the day would come when we’d have to fight. It always did.
It seemed my vow to Holly’s ghost was still intact. I have experienced more humanity as a vampire than I ever did in the blink of my semi-mortal life.
Meeting each of their gazes, apprehension cloaked me, clinging tight like wet clothes in a rainstorm. I gasped for air I didn’t need, asphyxiated by doubt. Fear crept in next, clamping down on my chest with a vice grip.
The more human I felt, the more imperative it became to succeed. I couldn’t fail this. I couldn’t fail the group or their trust in me, not after becoming so attached to them. I’ve only just begun to accept that I couldn’t take responsibility for the safety of the entire world, but this right here was my fight. These were my friends, and I wouldn’t fail them this time.
“Everyone out!” Gavin’s voice boomed through the entryway.
I watched, in awe, as bodies fled and scattered like ants in response to that voice. I crossed my arms and stared directly into his eyes in challenge.
“Why is it everyone is so eager to obey you?” I asked, unafraid of the backlash.
“Not everyone,” he replied drily.
“Is it that annoying, commanding tone of yours or just your overall domineering tendencies? You love to boss people around, don’t you?”
“You don’t get anywhere by being passive. You have to know what you want, then demand it.”
“Oh, yeah? And where is it you want to go? What is it you want that makes you so bossy?”
His eyes darkened and he stepped closer. “My home,” he answered.
“Which one?” I stood my ground.
“Lucy, I have several houses around the world, but only one home,” he whispered softly, coming so close his shoes grazed mine. He cupped my face gently. “And I’m looking at it.”
I may have swooned a little just then.
His thumbs rubbed soothing circles across my cheeks as he continued. “I see the determination in your eyes, but I still sense your fear. You don’t have to do this. We can find another way. I can’t stand the thought of losing you, but I know you’re perfectly capable of saving yourself. If you’re scared or you don’t want to do this, I will support you.”
I laughed halfheartedly. �
��You mean you’re not going to tell me what to do?”
“I gave up on that a long time ago. You’ve proven to be immune to my domineering tendencies,” he claimed with a wry grin.
I observed the colorful landscape paintings on the wall behind him before meeting his eyes again. “I can’t. I can’t leave them stranded. I won’t walk away from anyone in trouble.”
His lips curved up further. “That’s what I thought.”
†
I perched on the roof for the remainder of the night, vigilantly scanning the forest for any sign of movement. No one was allowed out tonight. Gavin crouched along the roofline at the opposite end of the house. We were the only night guards on duty while the others rested.
When dawn washed away the inky horizon, Gavin approached from the steep gables behind my turret. His smooth voice was carried across the frosty air. “When was the last time you slept?”
What a legitimate question.
“What day is it?” I asked absently while trying to straighten out my time here.
“Sunday. Does that honestly help you figure it out?”
“No. Just curious. I have no idea when the last time was I got a full night’s sleep.”
“You’re going to need it. I can only assume they won’t draw this out much longer. They may have used last night’s… stunt to learn our defenses. They must know about the motion detectors because they evaded them, but they also would have used their time to plan their attack carefully. We need to be ready for anything.”
I looked directly at him, absorbing some of his apprehension into me. “Right. Rest. I’m on it,” I said, hopping up to shake out some of the stiffness in my legs. Maybe sleep would cure my overextended frustrations.
Gavin followed me down the stairs to my bedroom and left me to rest. I made a quick trip to the kitchen for dinner, or breakfast, and then headed back to my room on heavy feet. My body immediately responded to the idea of sleep with fervor. Fatigue settled into my limbs, and I made light work of changing into a pair of sleep shorts and a tank top before plopping into the heavenly, layered softness of my bed.
Blinding Light (The Bloodmarked Trilogy Book 2) Page 26
