Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series)

by Schmidt, Cheri

  “We must eat, as before?” asked Casanova. He said it like the very idea made his stomach squirm, but Ethan was fairly certain the vampires had enjoyed the chance to actually taste food when that was something that had been lost to them for quite some time. Slowly Ethan realized the Frenchman was probably more concerned with its effect on him than the taste of it.

  “Yes,” said that male fairy in green. “But you need not worry about being drugged ... again. It is for your well-being that you consume some magic-touched food while here.”

  “Perhaps we didn’t think this through,” murmured Merrick. Ethan figured the huge vampire was terrified at the idea of turning into something as dainty as a fairy and he stifled the urge to laugh.

  “Everything you consume will be quite healthy for you. Trust us,” said Alora in a tone that spoke of her patience wearing thin.

  All of the guards began arguing at once and Ethan measured what he saw in Alora as she reacted to it. By the pinkening of her little cheeks, he could see she was growing quite wroth with the guards. The little fey was getting angry faster than when he’d argued with her. His head tipped to the side as he pondered why. He’d marked a hesitation before the word healthy, and he wondered if they were telling little white lies again. When nothing came to him, Ethan decided it didn’t matter. “We trust you,” said Ethan as he moved forward and selected a juicy-looking peach. Knowing Alora as he did, he knew from past experience that it wasn’t productive to argue with her. His teeth sank into the flesh of it and he savored the slightly tart and sweet flavor. Swallowing, he collected what looked like a pomegranate and tossed it toward Merrick, who caught it easily. With a scowl, the vampire considered all sides of the fruit before he sniffed at it. His curious eyes lifted to Ethan, who said, “We don’t have any choice but to trust them, and I mean to make the best of it. If it means an existence of bewitched confusion, then so be it!”

  It seemed his words and actions had stunned the guards into silence. After a moment’s hesitation, Danielle, Max, Nadia, and Cedric joined him.

  “This tasted just as delicious as before,” Cedric said after he finished off a pear and tossed the core of it into the woods. “That hadn’t been dusted with some of your fairy, sparkly stuff, had it?” As he spoke, he’d inspected his finger as though he figured his hands would be covered with glitter.

  Safe, uneventful days passed by. Ethan felt secure in the idea that nothing could harm them here. The fairies had been right. The food hadn’t made him feel loopy and confused as before, so it seemed they were telling the truth about that too.

  Over the past several days, life here had been relaxing, but also slightly boring without the electronic advances they’d grown accustomed to. Ethan could remember his Victorian life, and then his Edwardian life, and so on, until things like television and computers had been invented. He’d liked the simplicity of the past, but he’d favored technological luxuries more so. Ethan nudged a low-hanging branch out of the way as he made his way to the waterfall they’d discovered on one of their many hikes. The hikes were nice. It was very beautiful here, but watching a movie and munching on microwaved popcorn had also been quite nice.

  Earlier in the day, Danielle had said she planned to be here after lunch. After taking a nap, he’d decided to join her. Drawing closer, he noticed Danielle standing with her back to him at the edge of a thicket of trees. She had her easel set up in front of her, a palette of wet paints in one hand and a paintbrush in the other. She was also dancing, her cute little backside was swaying with a rhythm he couldn’t hear. He wondered about that until he got close enough to see the black earbuds tucked into her ears. Ethan wondered how she’d managed to keep her iPod charged without a place to plug it in.

  The water rumbled as it rolled over the edge of the cliff and crashed into the pond below it. This was the second time she’d painted this scene. He could see that she’d chosen a different angle than before, but he also knew she was running out of new scenes to paint. The land they had to explore here was quite limited and the fairies insisted they never cross the boundary lines which were marked with a ring of tall brown mushrooms. They were prisoners in paradise, he would suppose....

  A blade of sunlight cut through the canopy of leaves and made the mist coming off the water glow. This entire place was so saturated with fey magic that it practically hummed. His soul hummed when he looked at his wife. He watched as she dipped her brush into a dollop of black paint and twirled the brush with the bristles against the palette, effectively creating a point and removing any excess acrylic. She bent forward, and he knew she was adding her signature to the piece. Ethan was admiring the view, because she was still bouncing to whatever it was she was listening to.

  Movement from above distracted his thoughts from all the different ways he could kiss her, and his focus caught onto a spider dangling from a shimmering web. Neither large nor small in his book, its eight legs wriggled in all directions as it inched lower. Ethan’s head rocked to the side, and his eyebrows rose. It seemed like it had looked at him when its little pincers twisted his way before redirecting to Danielle, as though the main focus in its minuscule life was to land on her. Quickly Ethan grabbed the web just above it and tossed that and the spider away from Danielle.

  She would have shrieked in horror had that thing touched her. Spiders had been the first fear she’d confessed to him. Those had been followed by Lucas and snakes. Later he’d learned of her concerns about getting lost and her loathing for doctors. Danielle may have been fond of fairies, but she still feared creeping things of any kind, it wasn’t just spiders, Lucas, snakes, loss of direction, and doctors that distressed her peace of mind. While she would normally be wearing some sort of pretty skirt or dress, here she always wore long pants, long sleeves and tall boots. She was clearly trying to protect herself from anything that could quietly creep into her space.

  Finally closing the gap, Ethan wrapped his arms around Danielle’s waist. She jumped and swung an annoyed look at him as she yanked one of the ear buds out. “Sneaking up on me again, are you?”

  “Every chance I get,” he replied. It was his typical response, and she laughed, which was her typical reaction. Her eyes crinkled at the corners with the happy sound and he rewarded her with a tighter hug. Closing his eyes and burying his nose into her shoulder, he breathed in the scent surrounding his wife. That wasn’t typical at all. She smelled like a fairy, and he wondered if his fragrance had become just as fruity and floral as hers had. Secretly he missed the aroma of pumpkin pie on her from her bath products. He missed that along with electronics and the home that he’d designed for them.

  Ethan lifted the iPod from Danielle’s pocket and asked, “How are you still able to use this?”

  “Cedric,” she said.

  Ah, that explained it. The geek was a crafty fellow, and wouldn’t likely survived exile amongst fairies without some sort of rigged power. “How is he doing it?” he asked, because now he was curious.

  “I think he’s got a solar power source for his laptop. At least that’s what it looked like to me. It was like a briefcase, but it opened up with solar panels on the inside.”

  Ethan considered that, his eyes lifting to the thick canopy of leaves blocking all but one shaft of sunlight. Besides here at the waterfall, all of the fey land was cloaked in shadow. “Where does he get enough light for that? It’s too dark here.”

  Danielle laughed before saying, “It’s not too dark on the rocks just above the beach.”

  Instantly concerned about what mischief his wife might have gotten into while he napped, he asked, “You’ve been there then?” Looking for mermaids?

  “Only to give him my iPod so he could charge it for me,” she said. At her nonchalant response, a silence saturated the crisp air around them, and he knew she understood his fears for her safety. Had mermaids surfaced, Cedric couldn’t have saved her from them. As though she also knew his thoughts, she released a breath and added, “We were too far away for mermaids to be a pro
blem. So relax. Plus, we stayed on fey land.” She leaned into his chest, and aimed a repentant look at him. “Totally safe, I promise.”

  “Hmm. Does he have internet too?” he asked, veering the topic away from danger. He would love to get some time on the internet just to escape the monotony of fairy camping.

  She nodded. “He said something about needing to remain in contact with the outside world ... just in case.”

  Right, just in case someone figured out where they were hiding. A reminder of the many things hunting her disturbed his thoughts for a moment before he shoved them away and refocused his attention on his wife.

  He propped his chin on her shoulder and peered at her creation. With a border of tall trees dotted with varying shades of green representing leaves and moss, the waterfall was painted in streaks of white and dark blue. Rocks meandered through the landscape, but even those were covered in a speckling of green. She’d captured the sunshine by touching gold paint to the edge of many leaves, tree trunks and stones. Ethan hadn’t noticed the fairies around them, flitting about the plant life, until he saw that she’d drawn them too. While green and white were the main colors, pink, purple, and blue added a pop of unexpected interest. She could sell this, like she had so many others, but he didn’t want her to. The funny thing was that even though she’d listed many of her pieces for sale, he knew every last one remained in the possession of one or more of the vampire guards protecting them. Ethan knew the independent side of his wife wanted, and needed, to make her own money, but none of those who saw her work could let her truly part with it. Of course she knew many of the guards had done this, but Ethan suspected she didn’t know to what extent.

  Ethan spared a moment or two of distraction as he watched the little sprites attend to wild-growing flowers and then, ignoring them, he whispered near her earlobe, “Would you fancy a swim?”

  A shuddering breath left her lungs, probably because his breath had tickled her. “I don’t have my swimsuit.”

  “Do you need it?”

  He watched as her gaze followed a brunette fairy dressed in sweet pea petals. “We’re not exactly alone.”

  “That’s not exactly news to me,” he murmured, noting how husky his voice had gone. “Forget they’re here. Plus, they appear to be too busy with their fey business to pay much attention to us,” he said, gathering her hips between his palms and directing her toward the edge of the pond. She resisted and he recalled the new fear he’d just witnessed in her. The fear of deep water. “Look, darling,” he said, turning on Mr. Darcy, “It’s shallow. We will not encounter anything untoward in this place. I promise.” Ethan stripped down to his boxers and waded in so he could show her it was only about chest deep. It was not lost on him that the real Mr. Darcy might not do what he’d just done. It wouldn’t have been proper to shed his clothes in such an outdoor location. Not that Ethan particularly cared any longer, he decided, as he rejected the thought crossing his mind. The result had been worth it.

  Danielle was half smiling at him, but her eyes kept wandering farther in where the pool was made deeper by erosion as water fell from the cliff above.

  Ethan twisted to consider it and then turned back to her, his hands skimming the cool surface of the water. He looked down. The pool was so incredibly clear he could see the bottom and was able to avoid treading on the broken stick laying there. “There’s nothing to worry about, love. Trust me. Join me.”

  Still smirking, she placed two fists on her hips. “There could be some magical urchin lurking in there that we should avoid.”

  His eyes caught onto a fairy zipping past several feet behind Danielle. “If there was anything to worry about, the fairies would have stopped me by now. Besides, this is their land. Nothing can harm us here.”

  She laughed softly. Her head tipped sideways causing her hair to cascade down in a waterfall of shimmering brown. “I guess you’re right.” As she spoke, her fingers moved to the buttons on her pants, and she nudged her shoes off. With a resigned sigh, she peeled the green pants off, and as each creamy inch of her skin was revealed, he found himself bewitched all over again. Ethan swallowed, taking the time to ogle her sweet body as she disrobed, knowing his smile had turned wolfish. He wasn’t going to hide it. It wasn’t long before her hoodie and shirt joined the pile of clothing on a rock beside her, and Ethan was able to fully admire her pink, lacy knickers and bra.

  It wasn’t a widely known fact, but many men like the color pink, especially in the form of knickers on their women. It was just one of those things guys secretly fancied: lace curtains, rose embellishing china, girly colors.... They were the feminine touches that proved one had a woman of his own, to sweeten his world, because if he lived alone, he certainly wouldn’t decorate with lace and florals, or the color pink.

  Biting that kissable pink lip of hers, she gingerly made her way over the small stones before entering the water. Goosebumps sprang up all over her exposed skin as she did, and she gasped out, “This is cold!”

  Laughing at the tortured look on her face, Ethan captured her hand and yanked her against his body for warmth as she got used to it. “It’s not too bad really, how does it feel now?”

  “Warmer, I guess.”

  His gaze locked with hers and he studied the way the shards of lighter brown in her eyes caught the sunlight and bounced it back at him like slivers of bright gilding. “Kiss me,” he said with the huskiness returning to his voice, not that he could help it with the way he felt about her....

  The next day, they went on a run for exercise. Max and Nadia had joined them, also wanting to remain physically fit.

  “I’m surprised to admit that I kind of like it here,” said Nadia as she ran between Max and Danielle. “Even though I do miss many things, like shopping for clothes, and shoes, and dining in restaurants, and attending the theater, and...”

  After negotiating his way over a small fallen tree, Ethan looked across his wife at Nadia. “I miss meat.” The food here had consisted of fruit, nuts and some breads, and it was getting about as old as blood had when he’d been a vampire.

  Max groaned in agreement and added, “A thick juicy steak would be nice right about now.”

  Ethan imagined slicing into a succulent filet mignon, but then his mind shifted to sushi, and other foods he’d fancied. “Or a spicy salmon roll, or a nice hot curry with chicken...”

  Max rubbed his stomach as he ran; sweat was soaking his beige t-shirt. “Or one of those American cheeseburgers with crispy bacon, and a side of greasy onion rings.”

  Ethan felt his stomach grumbled in agreement at that idea.

  “Or some of Sophia’s hors d’oeuvres!” added Nadia as she leapt over a clump of bluebells, her long layers of black hair flying in a breeze.

  “Oh, yeah! I loved those little cookies she would make, especially those lemony, buttery ones that melted in your mouth.” Danielle flipped her ponytail around when she looked back at Ethan. “How could I forget chocolate cake? Do you think we could get the fairies to make something like that? Or do you think they could gather the ingredients so you could?”

  Ethan blinked and laughed as his hand went out to steady himself against a tree when his foot landed on a loose rock. “Darling, you know that has eggs in it. These fey don’t eat anything with any animal product in it, nor would they serve that to us.”

  Her shoulders slumped but she kept running. “Right.”

  They were climbing a gentle hill, jogging their way around trees and other kinds of plant life. Perspiration ran in a trickle of moisture down his spine. His t-shirt was soaked just as much as Max’s was, but he liked it. Danielle had told him about this runner’s high when she’d encouraged him to run with her in conjunction with their sparring sessions. She’d been right. He quite liked the feeling that kept him going once he’d pushed passed his fatigue. His heart pumped at a faster rate, his lungs labored, and his muscles burned. Ethan knew he’d ache later, but it was all worth it to maintain his health as a mortal. In his soul, Ethan
knew he’d fully embraced this weakened state. In some instances he did miss the strength the curse had given him, but the advantages he’d gained when becoming mortal were well worth the sacrifice and Ethan wondered why he forgot that at times.

  His gaze followed his wife’s very fine ... cargo pockets as she ran ahead of him, and a half smile overtook his mouth. But it slipped loose, because she was the reason he occasionally forgot his intentions. Actually, she was the “why” to all of his questions. Danielle was why he wanted to be mortal, why he wanted to be a father, and why he missed being a vampire.

  Danielle stopped in a small clearing, and turned to face them, her chest heaving with her breathing. “I say we spar now.”

  Gasping out a chuckle, Ethan braced his hands on his legs as he bent forward to catch his breath. “Now? Really?”

  “Ooo! Yes! I want to learn some of your tricks, Danielle.” Nadia was bouncing with excitement and Ethan’s lips thinned at the sight. Where did this girl get her energy?

  Ethan noticed Max was gaping at her too. The knight shoved back his sweaty brown hair. “You can’t be serious.”

  “This is the perfect spot, I think,” Danielle said as she moved to the open center. Nadia followed her, then captured Danielle’s arm and leaned forward to whisper something into her ear.

  Ethan shared a look of suspicion with Max. “We might be in trouble,” he said.

  “I fear you are correct,” replied Max while giving his calves a good stretch.

  “We don’t have any sparring gear with us,” tried Ethan as he rolled his shoulders to ease the tension there.

  Her hands landed on her hips again and she gave him a withering look. “We haven’t used sparring gear in ages.”

  He shrugged his shoulders at that because he had no argument for it.

  Danielle dropped into what she called “guarding stance.” Nadia studied Danielle’s pose and then copied it by bending her knees slightly, and lifting her fists up to guard her face.