by Amy Richie
“Eva.” He clicked his tongue and came back to sit on the bed. “I’ll be right there with you. She won’t hurt you. I promise that I will keep you safe.” He winked and smiled to lighten the serious mood.
I couldn’t help but return his smile. “I knew you were the hero of my story.”
He laughed and shook his head. “I am no hero, but I will protect you.”
“Nickolas?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think Dominick could be one of the werewolves?”
He brought his eyebrows down in a scowl. “Not likely.” I must not have looked convinced because he went on to add, “Neleh couldn’t possibly expect you to kill a werewolf.”
“You…you’re probably right.”
He leaned back against the wall and pulled me to his chest. Soon my breathing evened out and I was able to relax against him.
Nickolas didn’t say anything more as we sat there. Occasionally he would stroke my hair or back, but mostly he just sat silent and still. I wondered what he was thinking about. It was probably the same thing I was thinking about — my dream and what it meant.
Nickolas didn’t seem to think it was all truth, but I knew it was. Neleh really was trying to remind me that I was supposed to kill Dominick. I couldn’t imagine killing anyone. Something was just not clicking into place. There were missing pieces, important pieces that I wasn’t seeing.
First of all, who was David and how did he fit into all of this? And the two men that I remembered? And Reva? There were too many characters to my story. No matter how hard I tried to remember, only bits and pieces came back to me. It was making me feel sick to my stomach. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind.
As soon as I closed my eyes I saw a bright flash of light. I was sitting in a strange little room. Before too many images assaulted me, I opened my eyes again.
A single tear ran down my face but I made no move to wipe it away.
Chapter Sixteen
“The sun has come up, Eva,” Nickolas said after a while. “Worry no more about your dreams. There is little truth to them.” He kissed my forehead and scooted off the bed.
“Where are you going?
“I am going to split wood. You wash your face, straighten your clothes, and come join me. I’ll be right out front.” He went over to the bowl and carried it with him out the door. He was soon back with fresh water. “This is not to drink.” He laughed and shook his head.
It made my heart lighter to see him back to himself. I rolled my eyes. “I know,” I lied.
“It’s so you can wash up.” He laughed again and disappeared through the doorway.
I bounced off the bed, eager to hurry and join him. I splashed water on my face and put my shoes on. I couldn’t buckle them, so I just tucked the buckle in the top. I smoothed my hair back down and raced outside to join Nickolas.
As promised, he wasn’t too far from the front door. He was swinging a large piece of wood with a blade attached to the end. “What’s that?” I asked, sitting down on the ground near where he stood.
“An axe.” He smiled fondly at me.
I bobbed my head and watched, fascinated by the motion of the ax making contact with the wood. There was already a big pile of cut wood on the ground. “Why are you cutting firewood if we are leaving?”
“We’ll need it when we return.” He didn’t even slow down in his movements.
When we return. I liked the sound of those words. He intended for me to come back here with him. The thought made me smile. I loved this little house made of wood. It was so comfortable here. I leaned back a little so I could watch Nickolas.
The steady thump of the ax vibrated the air. I watched in awe as the muscles on his chest and arms strained against his shirt. He glanced my way often, winking when he caught me staring. I blushed and looked away.
I felt the whoosh of air when he sat next to me on the ground. “What are you thinking?” he asked, playfully nudging me with his shoulder.
“How nice it is here.” I smiled and looked away, suddenly embarrassed.
“Yes, it is nice here.” He gently pushed my hair away from my face. Why did my heart have to react like that every time he touched me? He laughed softly. It didn’t surprise me if he could hear my heart.
He stared at me for a long moment. My heart reacted loudly. I guess he didn’t even have to touch me. I closed my eyes and tilted my face to the sky. Neither one of us said anything. As the sun rose higher in the sky, we both laid down in the grass. I rested my head on his stomach. Every so often he would brush his hand along my forehead or my hair.
“Eva, you seem so content here,” he was the first to break our happy silence.
“I am content here.’
“Don’t you miss your family?”
I thought about his words carefully. No, I didn’t miss my family. I was really starting to wonder if I ever had a family at all. “I don’t remember my family. Right now, you are the only person I know.” I shrugged.
“And that doesn’t scare you?”
My eyes narrowed with confusion. I rolled over on to my stomach so I could see his face. “Scare me? You don’t scare me.”
“I’m not trying to.” He chuckled lightly.
“Then what do you mean?”
“I mean,” he widened his eyes, “aren’t you afraid that you might be all alone now?”
“Oh.” I felt my shoulders deflate. I let my chin fall to rest on his ribs. “Well I’ll…” my words faltered, “I’ll just…”
He brought his hand up to stroke the back of my head. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he said very softly.
“No, that’s fine.” I tried to sound indifferent. Realizing several things at once, I sat up quickly. He didn’t want me here. I was burdening him and he was letting me know as kindly as he could. I couldn’t let myself think he cared for me. He was being nice, that’s all. I would be on my own when he got me to the colony. I had to keep things in perspective.
My eyes pricked with tears when I also realized that it was too late for me; I already loved him. And he didn’t love me back; he just wanted to protect me.
The instant a single tear escaped the confines of my eyes, he was up on his knees facing me. “Are you crying?” He was horrified.
I shook my head, trying to deny the obvious. “No. I’m…I’m…,” but my lips were shaking too hard to talk.
“No, sweetie don’t cry.” He wiped the tears off my face with trembling fingers. “No, no, no, no. Sweetie, please don’t cry.”
It was no use though, once one tear fell, the others followed. “I just hadn’t thought about being all alone yet.” My voice broke twice.
“I didn’t mean it, Eva. You are not alone.”
“But I am.” I covered my face with my hand. “I am.”
“No,” he said roughly. He pried my face free so he could see me. “As long as I’m still breathing you are not alone.”
I hated that I was making this hard for him. He didn’t owe me anything. “You don’t have to say…” My voice was barely audible.
“Eva,” he took my face in both of his hands, “you’re part of me now. You always will be. As long as I am still breathing and your heart still beats, I’ll be here for you. I’ll take care of you my sweet Eva.”
The sweetness in his expression was too much, I had to look away. “Is that a marriage proposal?” I weakly tried to lighten the mood.
“As long as you never cry again — Ever.” We both laughed. Nickolas pulled me to his chest and let me finish crying.
“Do we really have to go to the colony Nickolas?” I sniffed.
“I think it is necessary.”
I sighed. “I know.”
“Come on, I’ll go make breakfast so we can be on our way.”
I reluctantly got up and followed him inside. He made me a small breakfast, according to him. It was still two eggs and a large piece of bread. I ate in solitude while Nickolas got our things ready to leave.
“Whe
n you are finished, come on outside. I’ll have your horse ready.”
My what? Did he say horse? Did he actually expect me to ride a horse?
Chapter Seventeen
“I’m not getting on that thing.” I crossed my arms across my chest. “No way!”
“Eva,” he scolded gently. “We need to get going.” He looked up at the still rising sun. “It’s a half days ride to the colony — for me.”
“But Nickolas,” I was aware that I was whining, “I can’t sit on that beast. It can’t be natural.”
“I ride every day.”
“You’re a vampire.” I raised my eyebrows and pursed my lips.
“And?” He mocked my own words.
I rolled my eyes. “What if that thing kills me?”
“They don’t bite.”
“I’m not afraid of it biting me. I’m more worried about it throwing me to the ground and smashing my head.”
“Then hold on tight.” He tilted his head. “This isn’t an option, Eva; you have to ride this horse.”
My blood ran cold at his words. ‘This isn’t an option.’ My face must have turned an alarming shade of white because Nickolas was suddenly by my side. He put his hands on my face. “Hey,” he said gently, “you know I won’t let anything hurt you, right?” My lips started to shake. “Right?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“There’s really nothing to be afraid of. I’ll be by your side the whole time.” His eyes searched my face, to see if I would cry again — probably. The world went strangely out of focus and I had to remind myself to breath. I reached up to touch his face but he ducked out of my reach, again.
I sighed and turned my attention to the horse. It appeared a lot calmer than Nickolas’s white horse. This horse was a ginger color with white on its nose and head. “Ok, I’ll ride your stupid horse.” He laughed. “But you’ll have to help me up.”
“Of course my lady.” He made a dramatic bow.
I put my nose in the air and walked past him. “What’s his name anyway?”
“Her name is Ginger.”
I shot him an angry look, well as angry as I could manage. It was hard to be mad at him when he smiled at me like that. “Ok, Ginger, you and I are going to be friends,” I cooed while stroking the white on her nose. “We’ll at least strike a deal. You don’t try to kill me and I won’t try to kill you. Deal?” The horse didn’t move; I took that as a good sign.
“Ready?” he asked with laughter in his voice.
“Yep.”
“Alright. I’m going to pick you up and you put your legs on either side of the saddle. Got it?” I nodded twice. In sure, swift movements he had me in place on the saddle with my feet in the stirrups. “You alright up there?”
“Yeah.” I kept my eyes on Ginger’s head.
“This is the reins.” He handed me two leather straps which I took without looking. “You need to keep tight hold of these. They make the horse do what you want it to. You know — start, stop, left, right — that sort of thing. Do you understand?”
He was teasing but I was much too terrified to utter more than a syllable at a time. “Yeah.” I moved my eyes to look at him for a fraction of a second and then looked back down at the reins.
He laughed and turned to walk away. “Hey!” Where was he going?
“Eva, I’ll be right back, I’m just going to get my horse. If you’d rather, I could run beside you.” He looked at me until I nodded. “You do want me to run?”
“No.”
“Just stay right here, I’ll be right back.” Did he really think I was planning to move? “No,” he answered my silent question, “I don’t expect you’ll be moving.”
A growl rumbled low in my throat to show him how irritated I was with his mind reading crap. It didn’t faze him though, I heard him laughing as he walked away.
As soon as Nickolas was out of sight behind the house, Ginger took two steps backwards. In my effort not to scream, a sequel came out instead. Startled, the horse took two more steps back and then a few forward. This time I couldn’t stop the scream.
“Just stay calm,” Nickolas called. He was rounding the house, sitting on his white horse. “She’s a real gentle mare. She won’t throw you.” I looked up with terrified eyes at his amused look. “You just have to…”
But I didn’t hear the rest of what Nickolas was going to say because at that precise moment gentle Ginger reared up on two legs and sent me crashing to the ground. My screams scared us both. Ginger bolted, and I — still holding tight to the reins — was forced to drag along behind her.
I thought I heard Nickolas swear and then, as suddenly as it had started, the ground stopped moving. I kept my face buried in the dirt while Nickolas scanned my body with his fingers. When I heard him sigh I knew I wasn’t broken.
“Ow,” I moaned.
“Damn it, Eva. What the hell were you thinking?” Was he angry at me? He turned me over and began peeling my fingers from the reins. I didn’t see Ginger anywhere. “Why didn’t you let go?”
“Y…you told m…me not too,” I stuttered.
“That only applies when you’re actually on the horse. Once you’re on the ground, you let go.”
“You didn’t tell me that part.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly while I tried to sit up. Pain throbbed in my forehead. When I brought my hand to my head I was shocked to feel the sticky goo. “Oh!”
“You’re bleeding from your elbow too,” Nickolas said in a low voice. “We’re lucky you didn’t get more seriously injured.”
We? I had to remind myself not to smile. It wasn’t right to get so excited over the slip of a pronoun.
“We’ll have to get you cleaned up before we head to the colony.”
I wondered if it would be difficult for him to smell my blood. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”
“I’ll tell you what’s not a good idea.” He scooped me up into his arms. “It’s not a good idea to go into a colony of vampires with blood dripping down your face.”
“Good point.”
“Yeah.”
“But are you sure you can handle it?”
“Handle what?” He still looked very angry.
“Are you ruled by your instincts?”
He scowled down at me. “No.”
Why was he so angry with me? It wasn’t like it was my fault. I had told him I didn’t want to ride. And then it dawned on me. He wasn’t angry with me, he was angry at himself. For not protecting me. But it wasn’t his fault.
“I promised that I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
Our eyes met. His held an inner torture. “It wasn’t your fault,” I managed to whisper, “the horse…”
“That horse has had many female riders. Why would she react that way to you?”
Many female riders. The words echoed back to me. Despite the fact that I was bleeding and being carried into an empty house by a vampire or the fact that I had survived the terror of Ginger — I still felt the disappointment squeeze at my heart.
Before I had time to berate myself for being so foolish, he spoke again. “She belonged to the couple down the way. I bought her this morning for you.”
I chanced a quick look up at him. He wasn’t smiling, but the corner of his mouth was twitching. I was relieved. At least he would forgive me soon.
It didn’t take long for Nickolas to bandage me up. He was surprised that it wasn’t too bad. It took a lot longer for me to convince him that I was alright to go to the colony.
“We’ll probably just have to wait until tomorrow.”
“But you said we needed to go today. When will the wolves attack?”
“They figure at the new moon. Three nights from tonight.” He was obviously torn about what to do.
“Could we walk?”
“No.”
“Then it’s settled.” I clapped my hands down on my lap. “I just know now to let go of the reins if I hit the ground.”
He
looked at me as if I had grown a second head. “Are you serious?”
“How else are we going to get there?”
“You’re not getting back on that horse. Besides, it’s probably back to the farmer’s house by now.”
“I could stay here and wait for you.”
The look again. “There are werewolves running around these parts. Searching for mates. Absolutely not.”
I bit my cheek so I wouldn’t smile. “Then what do you suggest Sir Nickolas?” He put his head down into his hands. I could tell that he was rejecting all his ideas. “It would be so much easier if you had a porter,” I exclaimed wistfully.
“A what?”
“A porter. A device used primarily for transportation. Runs on generated energy produced by the sun but stored in batteries called Holens. It can travel speeds up to 200MPH. Just lock in your coordinates, sit back and enjoy the ride.” When I was done with my rant we both stared at each other, shocked. “I have no idea where that came from.”
“Regardless,” he said with narrowed eyes, “we don’t have a porter.”
I bit my lip. “So how will we get to the colony?”
“I could carry you.” Was he being serious? “Yes. It wouldn’t be difficult. You could ride on my back.”
“No way. Go find Ginger.”
“If that horse comes back here, I am going to shoot it and cook him for your supper tonight.”
My lip curled up in disgust. “It’s a her.”
Nickolas laughed.
Chapter Eighteen
I watched in silence as Nickolas paced the length of the small cabin. He looked at me and then back at the door. Several times he opened his mouth to say something but then changed his mind and snapped it shut again.
“Nickolas, why don’t we just…”
“No.” He cut me off — again. “Eva, I am trying to figure this out.” He kneeled down in front of me. “We need to get to the colony before the rain starts again.” He spoke so seriously.
“We could…”
“We just have to figure out the best way to go.”
“We…”
“Obviously, you can’t ride alone.” He got up and started pacing again. I sighed and sat back in the chair. “And we can’t run. Well, you can’t run.” He didn’t even glance my way so I couldn’t be perfectly sure if he was talking to me.
