I nodded. “I was told it was a permanent spell but that others couldn’t make it work because they didn’t have my kind of power. I just pray that my power holds up.” My voice was becoming weak, and my legs started to shake.
“We pray as well.”
“Perhaps we could discuss more of this another time. You know where to find us if it is only temporary. It took a lot of AubrieAnna’s energy and power to help you this evening. You are all in our thoughts in hope that this worked and will last forever. If you will excuse us, I should get her into the house for the rest of the evening. We will hear from you all soon.” Sebastian spoke for me, and his strong arms gripped my elbow as he led me toward the house. I tripped a few times before he gave up and scooped my weak body into his arms.
When we were safely in the house, he laid me down on the couch and threw a blanket over me. I had broken out in a cold sweat and was shivering immeasurably. My teeth clanked and clattered together, and even though my eyes were open, I could no longer see anything. A gentle knock at the door startled me and I tried to sit up, but Sebastian shoved me back down. Heels clacked softly on the floor. They stopped behind the couch. I wanted to see who it was, wanted to know who it was. I tried to force my vision back into being. It was no use. Huffing out a heavy breath, I closed my eyes and turned my head.
“She’s not doing well, is she?” It was Mrs. Summer’s voice.
“I don’t think so,” Sebastian replied.
“AubrieAnna, can you hear me?” she asked me sweetly.
I nodded.
“What’s wrong? I might be able to help you a little,” she offered.
I opened my mouth to tell her I couldn’t walk, see, and I felt like I was freezing to death, but nothing came out. It didn’t matter what I tried. I couldn’t do anything. I was helpless. Frowning, I attempted to shrug my shoulders to tell her I couldn’t say anything, but they wouldn’t move. My body became heavy and everything seemed out of focus, fuzzy. Sounds that I could normally hear were faint, and my breath was labored. It felt like I was dying.
“I don’t think she can speak. Is there any way you can get her into a dream state? I could speak with her there,” Mrs. Summer said to Sebastian.
“I don’t think so. But if I can get into her thoughts, I might be able to . . . ” his voice faded out. I could no longer hear anything, feel anything, see anything, smell anything, or say a word. My body was failing me.
There was a soft push in my mind, and I was unable to put up a solid wall to prevent whatever or whoever it was. I wanted to sleep now, to give in to the underwater feeling, but the pressure in my brain wouldn’t go away. AubrieAnna, my love. Sebastian. He was in my brain. Sleep, I wanted sleep.
Go away. I want to sleep. Please, just let me sleep, I begged him.
I will as soon as we get some information to Mrs. Summer. She wants to help alleviate some of this so you can get better soon, he soothed.
No, I want to go to sleep, I whined back.
I know you do, but tell me what’s wrong first. Please? Then you can sleep. I promise, he pleaded.
Fine, I grumbled back at him.
Now tell me what’s going on with you.
I can’t see, I can’t feel, move, hear, smell, or speak. I can’t do anything. I feel like I’m dying. Am I dying? I thought softly toward him.
I don’t know. Don’t fall asleep yet. I will be right back. Okay?
Okay.
There was a small shove and he was out of my thoughts. If I was dying, I couldn’t fall asleep. I didn’t want to leave him behind, leave him all alone without me. My soul ached. I wanted to cry, to sob, but nothing happened. I felt a small pressure point again as he pushed himself back into my thoughts. Good news. You aren’t dying, Sebastian sighed happily.
Then what is wrong with me? I asked.
Your body is putting everything you don’t need on reserve. It has to replenish all of the energy you pushed out and into the spell. Your power is also running a little low—every part of your supernatural abilities. The spell took a lot out of you. In a way, your body is shutting down, but not completely. It’s still running, your heart is beating, you’re breathing just fine, and you are twitching every time I touch you. Mrs. Summer is going to give you a small jolt of energy, but it’s going to relax you more deeply and put you into a deep sleep. She said that’s all you can really do right now. But I promise I will be here when you wake up. I love you, AubrieAnna. See you when you wake.
I love you too. And with that, I was officially under the darkness that I needed to let my body replenish itself.
At first, there was just blackness, and then dreams in all colors and varying degrees of strangeness filed into my subconscious. I tried to wake up a few times, but my eyes wouldn’t cooperate. Eventually, when I would regain consciousness, I could feel soft sheets and squishy pillows under me and I could hear birds chirp and other sounds. Helios tried to lick me out of my much-needed coma a few times, and it almost worked, but I would fall back into my endless slumber. I was getting impatient, I wanted to wake up, there were other things I needed to do. I kept fading in and out of consciousness, and I was able to feel, hear, or move a little bit more each time. But when I finally woke up, I was happy.
Gray light filtered into my vision. My vision was back, and it felt amazing to be able to see again. It was definitely going to be one of the many things I would try never to take for granted again. I stretched out my shaky limbs and yawned, and the sound that came out of my mouth made me giggle in excitement. Sebastian had held up his promise and was happily standing by the bed. Pure joy and happiness welled within me as I looked over his face. With strong facial features but soft eyes and lips, he was the most perfect man—or vampire—that I had ever seen. I smiled and reached out to hug him tight because I never wanted to let him go.
Sebastian brought me breakfast in bed. Toast, blood-soaked scrambled eggs, blood sausage, and a big glass of room-temperature blood covered a small tray. The smell of my breakfast tickled my nose, and my stomach took that moment to growl hungrily. It didn’t take long for me to devour what was on my plate and guzzle the contents of my glass. After he took the empty tray away, he ran a nice warm bath to get my day started. Sounds of rushing water from the tub faucet trickled from the bathroom and pricked at my ears. I smiled with excitement and jumped out of bed. My legs wobbled underneath me but I forced them forward, ready to catch myself if necessary.
The brightness of the lightbulbs in the bathroom stung my eyes and felt overly hot on my skin. Looking away, I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping the stinging and burning would somehow stop. I felt my way along the wall and flicked the light switch down, turning the lights off. Darkness swept the room, although the gray light of the day seeped in from bedroom. My skin tingled back to a cool state, and I sighed. Feeling slightly overwhelmed at my body’s new sensitivity, I sank down to the bathroom floor and stayed there.
“AubrieAnna? AubrieAnna, are you okay? Wake up!” Sebastian’s voice cut through the darkness and shattered the quiet that had settled over the room.
My cheek was cold from lying against the floor. The lights were still off, and Sebastian was kneeling in front of me with a worried look on his face. Confused, I slowly sat up and looked around. I was still in the bathroom, the bathtub had finished filling up, and there was a small drool spot where my cheek had been. At some point, I had passed out. Who knows how long I had been there or how long I would have been there. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself up off the floor and into a standing position.
“AubrieAnna, are you okay?” Sebastian was gripping my arms, holding me upright.
“I’m not sure.” I cocked my head to one side and listened to the wildlife outside.
“You’re not sure?” He raised an eyebrow and looked at me strangely.
“I need to go outside.” I turned and headed outside.
The air was crisp and cool. Leaves had fallen off most of the trees and begun rotting on the ground. Different smells
attacked my nostrils, and I sniffed in various directions. Earthy, vegetable, flowery, nutty, and rotten smells all covered the scent I wanted most, meat. Vampire instincts that I had never dealt with before washed over me, taking over my thought process. All I wanted was food. Food that was alive, with a beating heart. Without missing a beat, I sped off into the woods. It didn’t take me long to catch up to it. My gums ached and sharp points pricked my lips, drawing small drops of blood. I licked it up quickly and started stalking.
He smelled like roast beef that had been cooked to perfection. A deer stepped on a twig a few feet from him and his head snapped up at the noise. The deer caught a glimpse of me and ran. Curses flew from my prey’s mouth as he pulled his gun down. He was hunting, just like me, but he had no idea he was being hunted. The poor man had lost his chance to catch and kill his prey, but I wouldn’t lose mine. My lips pulled up into a gruesome smile, and I walked toward him.
A hard body slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. I couldn’t catch my breath, and I choked for air. Sebastian had run after me and tackled me away from the man I had been hunting. My mind took a moment to catch up with my jumbled thoughts. I was hunting. Not only was I taken over by instincts I didn’t even know I had, but I had almost gave into them, and I had almost killed an innocent man. The horrifying thoughts that ran through my mind terrified me. Tears ran down my cheeks as I sped off toward our home.
I slammed the front door shut behind me. The tears were pouring down my face as I sobbed. Sebastian came into the house and I turned to him and yelled, “What is wrong with me!?”
“I’m not sure. Let me go make a call and I will let you know what’s going on.” His voice was sad, and he stepped outside to make a few calls.
“Oh, God,” I sobbed as I sank to the floor. My hands shook as they covered my face. “I’m a monster. I am a freaking monster.” Helios chirped at me and rubbed on my legs, trying to comfort me. “What if I try to eat you, Helios?” I looked at him with blurry eyes and cried again.
My sobs were so loud that I hadn’t heard the door open again. “I know what’s wrong,” Sebastian’s voice said, calm, even, and cold.
“What?” I peeked up at him with blurry eyes.
“Mrs. Summer had to give you something that would activate your vampire cells to be more aggressive so you could heal faster. Once you satisfy the needs of those cells, you will be back to your old self again.” He bent down and kissed my head.
I perked up at the thought of being back to normal again, but then the thought hit me: “How do I satisfy my vampire cells?”
“You have to feed on something that’s alive.” His eyes glimmered lightly with his words.
Sebastian went out and left me with strict orders to stay put. Almost two hours had passed when he walked through the front door carrying a grungy rat. My eyebrows cocked in confusion and he shrugged. It was clear he didn’t want me to go out hunting, but he also wanted my overdrive vampire DNA to go away. With a deep breath, I held my hands out for the rat and he placed it carefully in my palms. I stared at the small shaking animal in my hands, and my heart sank as I watched his fearful eyes. Closing my eyes, I shook my head and bit the rat as gently as possible. Warm, salty blood flowed into my mouth, and I drank it hungrily. Once there was no more left in the small body, I felt my need for fresh blood wane slowly until it was no longer there.
I bickered back and forth with Sebastian for a few minutes over burying the rat. He wanted to toss it in the trash at first, but when he saw how bad I felt about ending its life, he gave in to my wishes. We stood outside with our heads bowed in the misty air, burying the rat. In my hands I held two sticks that I had tied together with string in the shape of a small cross so the rat would have a grave marker. My heart reached out to the little being that had helped me. I sent a silent prayer to the gods and thanked the rat one last time before we headed back inside.
The house was warm, and my body shuddered at the change in temperature. Sebastian went to work on the door to our hidden library and office space while I sat on the couch and cuddled with my cat. An hour passed, and I was bored and incredibly restless. I shifted the way I sat, stood, paced, sighed, and complained before I gave up and decided I was going to go to Clamora’s warehouse. It was time to put the protection spell over that place so Luke could stay there safely. With my mind made up, I ran upstairs, got dressed, and then told Sebastian where I was going. Of course, I didn’t tell him why I was going there, just that I was going, but he nodded and continued on his work.
Chapter 19
“Luke, I’m going to need your help soon.” I spoke with my back to him as I cleaned up my mess from the spell.
“For what?” His voice was hesitant.
“It’s a long story, but I need you to promise that you will keep it a secret.” I turned to him then, hoping he would see the seriousness in my eyes as well as hear it in my tone.
“I can’t promise to keep a secret until I know what it is,” he replied. Luke was still hesitant, but I had him curious. “If you tell me and I agree to help, or even if I don’t, I might be able to keep it a secret,” he offered.
“I need your blood for a spell,” I answered simply.
“What kind of spell?” His voice let me know he knew it wasn’t for something ordinary.
I sighed. “It’s a spell, well a potion really, that will help me pass as a shadow so I can get in their world to save Clamora.” I pushed the words out really fast in one breath and looked down when I finished.
He didn’t say anything at first. His eyes just stared at me and his teeth caught his bottom lip and chewed it restlessly.
“Are you going to help me?” I asked.
“Yeah, I will, but what about the fact that my blood is really bad for vampires?”
“I’m not just a vampire.” I forced my head up and looked down my nose at him.
“Right, I forget about that sometimes. So when do you need it?”
“As soon as I can get it safely without anyone else knowing about it. I am going to try to get away from Sebastian for a long enough period of time so I can do this without him knowing what I am doing right away.”
“Well, you have my number. Go ahead and give me a call when you’re ready.” Luke turned to walk out of the room and paused at the doorway. “AubrieAnna, you really are one crazy girl.”
“Thanks, I think.” I smiled and he walked out of the room, leaving me alone to finish cleaning my mess.
When I had everything cleaned up, I packed my supplies into my car and drove home. Silver rays cut through trees and lit the road. The moon was full and bright. It was strange how different everything felt to me. Nature was more alive, vibrant, and loud. Whenever there was a fire or someone wanted to carve their initials into a tree, the trees called out, begging for help, asking to be healed. Elements that surrounded me every day flew through my spirit, bringing it higher and higher, filling me with the sensations of the world. Fire flicked at my will and kept me warm. Air was always tingling in my veins as it pumped through my bloodstream. The earth collided with my nose so every smell was always a delight. I continually felt an urge to run barefoot through the grass and dirt, while water soothed me in the most calming way and stormed on with my energy. And my spirit—my spirit scared me sometimes. It reached out toward other souls around me, touching those who needed a boost to get through the day or to get past their wicked, harmful thoughts. But it always kept me going, it always filtered back to me, and it continually kissed and cared for Sebastian’s soul more than anyone else’s. My vision had grown stronger than ever, so I was able to see the pure beauty in everything. My hearing was more acute too—I could hear the subtle pitch tones that those with average hearing wouldn’t be able to notice. Life had gotten better in some ways, but harder in others. I was okay with all of it. I was happy.
I pulled into my driveway and wiped at my cheeks. Tears had begun to fall slowly. Laughing at myself, I parked next to Sebastian’s car and ran inside. He was st
ill hunched over, working on the door for our hidden room. I raced toward him and tackled him to the floor. Happiness overflowed from me to him. We laughed, and I kissed him hard. His green eyes smiled at me and glowed joyously. I smiled and laughed again. “I love you, and I’m happy with our life, no matter how scary it’s going to get, I am happy. You make me happy; your love makes me happy. My abilities make me happy. The way I can feel and see and hear so much more than the average person or supernatural, it’s amazing! And I happily accept the burden that comes with these gifts. I love you, Sebastian, and everything else that is beautiful in this world.” I kissed him again, breathless from my proclamation of joy.
He laughed and kissed my nose. “I’m happy that you’re happy, and I love you too.”
We kissed some more, then I let him up off the floor and sat down on the couch, watching him with a smile stamped on my face. His shoulders moved gracefully with every slam of the hammer, with every drill of a screw, and with every measurement. There were times where it still got to me, knowing he was mine, knowing that I was his. This was definitely one of those times. Happy tears drifted down my cheeks and I swiped at them in hope that they would stop. Sebastian heard my soft sniffles and turned around so fast he startled me. I smiled at him and waved away his concerns; after all, they were just happy tears. The barrier in my mind was pushed and gave way to his. When he decided that there really was nothing wrong, he kissed my forehead and whisked away the remaining tears that were streaking out of my eyes and down my face.
Two hours later, the secret room’s new door was almost completed and Sebastian was showering. As I waited for him to finish up in the bathroom, I sat back against the pillows and looked outside at the now cloudy night sky. The stars were being snuffed out by dark clouds, and the moon was being forced behind the ominous entities too. My ears picked up the faint squeak of metal from the shower handle being turned off. Water stopped flowing, and steam escaped when he opened the door. His dark-tinted skin looked darker with the white towel wrapped around his waist. I felt my cheeks get warm as I watched him walk to the dresser and grab a pair of plaid boxers. He changed slowly on purpose, knowing my eyes were on him. I groaned and flopped down into the pillows facedown, turning away from him and his glorious body. His laugh filled the room and he quickly pounced on the bed next to me and kissed me hungrily.
Chasing Shadows Page 29
