But when I realized Sabrina couldn’t hear the whisperings I did my best to ignore them.
As I came upon the entrance point, I closed my eyes, focusing on my surroundings to make sure no one was around. When I was sure I was alone, I touched a charred looking rock. It shuddered and then the cave entrance appeared.
I stepped inside. Immediately the whispering started. I smiled, happy that at least someone… or something thought I was amazing. In the cave I wasn’t a disappointment. Here I wasn’t expected to do something or be something other than who I was. It was refreshing.
“This place rocks. Like literally.” It wasn’t my voice but that of a guy. Deep. Sensual. Earthy.
I swung around surprised I’d been snuck up on. That’d never happened before. The guy stood near the entrance to the cave. He was gorgeous. A dark-haired, total-movie-star hottie. Like one of the actors or singers I’d seen in the entertainment magazines from the human world. He was tall, tan and muscled. He wore a short sleeve white button down with the sleeves rolled up. Each of his wrists were decorated with intricate black tattoos, like cuffs, but his were tribal with what looked like an eye in the center.
My first instinct was to kill him. But he was too pretty to hurt. “Who are you?”
He clasped his hands behind his back and took a step forward. “I’m Laeddin.” Another two steps closer.
I swallowed. “How did you sneak up on me, Laeddin?”
He chuckled. Two more steps. We were toe to toe. I had to look up to see his face. His eyes, twin pools of glorious aquamarine, focused on my face, my body, and my hair. He was amused. “This… is my home.”
“Your home?” I answered. “You live in a cave?” I shook my head, trying to make sense of it. “I’ve been coming here for years. I’ve never seen you before.” I took a step back. “You haven’t been stalking me, have you?”
Laeddin copied my step so we were still close. “I thought you were stalking me.” He smiled.
“Where do you sleep?” I looked around. It was empty except for the gems and a dirt floor. “On the floor? It’s dirty. But you don’t look dirty. You look gorgeous.” I clamped a hand over my mouth, shocked I’d said that aloud. My other hand touched his arm, felt the delicious shape of his bulging bicep. “And perfectly clean. I mean look at your shirt, the way it clings to your chest and shows off the shape of your—” I pressed my lips between my thumb and first finger. I was rambling, saying things I shouldn’t have been saying. It was a problem I had, talking too much when I was nervous, but I couldn’t help it. “I-I’m terribly sorry,” I muttered.
He pulled my hand from my mouth. “It’s okay.” His gaze kept slipping from my eyes to my mouth. It was very disconcerting and sexy.
I licked my lips. “What are you?” I asked, and then blushed. Humiliated. “Sorry.” I turned away.
“I’m a genie,” he supplied. I felt him come up behind me. He placed his hands on my bare shoulders. I shivered at the warmth radiating from his palms. My wings fluttered of their own will and my face turned redder. “Your wings are magnificent.” With the tips of his fingers he stroked them.
I wasn’t sure whether to be okay with him touching my wings or not.
No one except my parents was allowed. “Uh, thanks.” I faced him. “So you’re a genie?” I blinked. “What’s a genie?”
He took my hand. “I’ll show you.” The dirt floor and gem encrusted walls disappeared. In its place was a room befitting any palace. A giant chandelier hung from the ceiling and twelve billowing curtains all in different pastels were strung from the center to the edges of the walls and then hung down the walls. The floor was covered in a thick white carpet. I was barefoot and rubbed my feet across its surface. “It’s so soft.” I gave Laeddin an incredulous look. “Is this real?”
“Of course it is, Jasmine.” He brushed a piece of hair from my eyes.
In one corner, there was a gigantic four-poster bed. Gauzy white curtains hung from it. The bedding was also white and encrusted with what looked like white and black diamonds. At the foot of the bed was a sleek black trunk. I walked over and touched it, sure it would vanish between my fingers. It didn’t. The surface was solid, shiny, and sleek.
“This is where I sleep,” he said, his voice seductive.
Five
I stepped away, crossing my arms. “I’ve been coming here for years. Why didn’t you reveal yourself before?”
He looked away. “I enjoyed listening to you and the pixilette, Sabrina, talk. Sometimes I can get a little lonely.”
The idea that Laeddin, a strong and handsome man, felt the way I did immediately softened my heart. “Don’t you have any friends?”
He looked at me, his eyes sad. “I’m not allowed to leave until such time as my master requests it.”
“Oh, and who’s your master?” My heart began to beat rapidly.
“You are, Jasmine.” He came over and took both of my hands in his. “I am yours to command.”
“You are?” For some reason that made my heart speed up and my face get hot. I tried to pull away but he held me fast.
“Yes. And I can grant you three wishes.” His eyes flickered to my lips.
“Really?” My mind whirled out of control at the possibilities. Most of my wishes were selfish. “I can ask for anything?”
“Well, sure. Anything within reason.”
I wanted to snort. “What does that mean?” I walked over to the bookshelf and scanned the titles. There were titles I’d never seen before and several I had, like Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
He came over, pulled Wuthering Heights from its place and started flipping through the pages. “I can’t bring anyone back from the dead. I can’t kill anybody.” He turned and touched my cheek. “And I can’t make someone fall in love.” He caressed my jawline with him thumb.
“What can you do?” I tried to smirk. He smelled delicious, like exotic spices and oranges.
“Why don’t you tell me what you want and I’ll let you know if it’s possible.” His thumb touched my bottom lip.
I inhaled and fell back. He caught hold of my arms and pulled me close. My body touched his and I turned into a gooey mess. I was surprised at the way my body reacted to him. I couldn’t think and that was irritating. Well, okay, it was delicious, but kind of irritating too. It was important I be able to think.
He led me over to the bed. My heart raced faster. I sat, internally admiring how soft yet firm it felt. When Laeddin moved to sit as well, I flinched and quickly stood. If he had salacious intentions, I wasn’t ready. He was gorgeous, but I didn’t know him and wouldn’t be doing anything with him on his bed.
“So what is it you want?” Laeddin asked, disappointed.
Great, now I’ve upset him, too. He’d better get in line, I thought.
“Jasmine? I’m serious. I must grant you three wishes. Please?” He got off his bed.
My breathing had just started to calm down but the closer he got, the faster it became. “You seem anxious about it. Why do you have to grant me three wishes? Will you explode or something if you don’t?”
Laeddin chuckled. “Maybe not explode.” He crossed his arms, and I noticed the tattoos on his wrists. “But as I said before, you’ve been my master a long time already and there is an urgency that builds within my body the longer you go without wishing for something.” He closed his eyes a moment. “It’s painful almost beyond comprehension.” His bright aqua eyes seemed to shine with the pain he’d been hiding. “That’s why I showed myself.”
He acted guilty, like he was sorry he hadn’t resisted longer. For some reason seeing him like this made me feel guilty, too.
“Please.” He gritted his teeth.
“Okay. All right.” I tugged at my left wing, working to calm myself. Laeddin seemed to notice what I was doing and smiled. For some reason I was mortified and stopped. “Ugh. How about my wings? Can you get rid of them?” I asked, embarrassed.
Laeddin seeme
d deeply surprised. “Why would you want that?” He touched the same spot on my wings as I had only moments before. “They’re beautiful.”
“Why does everyone say that?” I stomped over to the bench at the end of his bed, sitting furiously. “They might look pretty and they are fun to use when I’m flying but… there’s no one else like me.” That was the part that hurt the most. Sure there were plenty of other vampires. But I was the only one with wings. “Because of these,” I stretched out my wings to their fullest. “I’m not allowed go into the human world at all. No movies. No high school. No… ugh! Living.”
Laeddin’s eyes beamed as understanding flashed through them. “So you want to go into the human world, live like a human girl?”
“Yes.” I clapped. “Is that a wish you can grant?”
He took my hands. “Yes, by Allah, it is.”
I jumped up, excited. “Okay. I like it.” An image of my mom and what she would do when she found out flashed across my mind. “But what about my parents? Can they stop my wish? Can they make it so I have to come back?”
Laeddin nodded. “It’s possible.”
All the joy left my body.
Laeddin noticed and took my hands. “If you’re specific, you’ll be fine.”
I thought about what I believed living in the human world meant. There should be parties, trips to the local mall, good times at the movies, and hanging out at a friend’s house. “How should I word it?” I asked, coming to stand near him. His scent was consuming, scrumptiously intense.
“I can’t tell you exactly what to say.”
My face fell. “Give me a suggestion, then. Sheesh!”
“My suggestion,” he paused and chuckled. “Would be to word it like: I wish to go to high school in the human world without my wings showing and without my parents being able to bring me back to Sharra. Or something like that.” Laeddin stepped away and went over to a small table where a bowl of fresh fruit appeared. He took a purple grape and tossed it in his mouth.
I started to pace, thinking about exactly how to word my wish. When I felt like I knew, I said, “I’m ready.”
Laeddin swallowed the food in his mouth and cleared his throat. “Then I am too.”
I grinned. “Laeddin, I wish to go to high school in the human world and live like a regular teenage girl without my wings and without my parents being mad or being able to stop me.” I paused. “Is that good?”
He thought it over a moment. “That works.”
“Yay! So what happens now?”
“Now comes the magic.” He clapped his hands together once. The black tattoos circling his wrists suddenly glistened the color of sunny gold. When they stopped my wings vanished.
“Oh, wow. That was fast.” There was a quick pang of loss. They’d been part of me almost sixteen years. But I shook off any regret. Life would be better without them. I moved closer and stood on my tiptoes. “What about school and living like a human?”
He clapped his hands twice and we were no longer in the cave that was his home.
Six
“Where are we?” I asked when the smoke cleared.
The room was dark, but I was able to make out empty shelves and pictures hanging on creamy walls. Lamps and furniture were covered in white sheets. Several inches of dust coated the room.
“This is the house your mom grew up in.” He pulled the sheet off the couch and rolled it into a dusty ball. Thick dust puffed in the air. Laeddin coughed, and tossed the sheet on the floor.
“Really?” I’d always wanted to see my mom’s house but she’d never let me. “And my dad grew up in the next house over, right?” My uncles teased that their house was a sprawling mansion while my mom had lived in a shack. She’d laughed but it was obvious there were some painful memories. For that reason I hadn’t pushed her to come. Occasionally she would share a good memory, but it wasn’t often.
The room Laeddin and I stood in was definitely small though. Smaller even than my bedroom in the castle.
“That’s right.” His words brought me out of my thoughts. “I believe a couple of Dorian’s brothers and Professor Pops still live there, including some of your cousins.”
“You know we aren’t really related?”
“No?” His eyes danced with joy. I wondered if he was as excited to be free of his cave as I was to have escaped Sharra.
“Professor Pops adopted the seven brothers.”
Laeddin pulled a sheet off the TV. “Yes, I knew that.”
I wanted to ask him how, but figured it had to do with his genie powers and so didn’t bother. I was too excited. “I can’t wait to see them.”
“Yeah, about that?” Laeddin pulled a sheet off a high back chair. He wadded the sheet and tossed it, averting his gaze.
“What?”
He moved over to the couch and patted a pillow. Dust erupted in the air like a puff of smoke.
“No one can know who you are.” His eyes connected with mine. They radiated sympathy, but also finality.
I felt my mouth drop. “But why?” That totally sucked.
“Because if they know who you are they could tell your mom and dad, which would ruin your wish.”
I sank into the overstuffed chair. That made sense. I wanted to live like a typical teenager, but if my uncles or Professor Pops knew who I was they would have to tell my mom and dad. Of course they would, because their loyalties were to them first and foremost. My uncles had shared enough stories… sleeping out on something called a trampoline, hanging out until all hours. I knew what the brothers, Pops, and my mom and dad meant to each other.
“You get it, right?” Laeddin rested a hand on my shoulder, filling the air around me with his scent.
“I guess so.” I took a small breath. “At least you’ll be here with me.”
Laeddin cleared his throat.
“Wait, you won’t?”
He knelt beside the chair. “Think about it. How would it look if a teenaged girl and unmarried guy lived together? People might get the wrong idea.”
I jumped up and started to pace. “I’ll be all alone. Where are you going? I don’t know what to do. I need help. I can’t do this without you. Besides what if I want another wish?”
He stood. “What do you suggest?”
I tried to pull on my wing like I usually did in stressful situations and then remembered they were gone. For some reason it made me sad. “I don’t know. But you can’t leave. You can’t,” I cried, full of desperation.
Laeddin snapped his fingers. The tattoos around his wrists lit up momentarily and suddenly the entire room was dust free and totally clean. “That’s better.” He snapped his fingers again and a figurine appeared in his hand. He set it on the empty glass shelf. “Look, it’s your twin.”
When I was young, my mom told me about a movie in the human world called Aladdin and that they chose my name from that movie. She said I looked a lot like the animated character. Cindy, my mom’s best friend, snuck me a book about the movie. For weeks I read it at night after my parents tucked me in. I knew the characters’ names by heart.
Another snap of Laeddin’s fingers and the tiger, the genie, the monkey and the boy from the market appeared on the shelf next to Jasmine.
I came up beside him and touched the ceramic figurine. “My mom told me my stepmother had dozens of these when she lived here. She also said that her stepmother was kind of a cookoo crazy collector.”
Laeddin laughed, bringing me out of my thoughts, and I joined in. It eased my stress. Now slightly more relaxed, I reached past my namesake to pick up the figurine of the tiger, Raja. “What if you became my tiger?”
“I might scare the neighbors or get shot. Tigers aren’t exactly indigenous to the area.” His bright eyes glittered with humorous sarcasm.
“Fine,” I huffed. “You’re right.” Behind the Jasmine figurine and the tiger was Aladdin and his monkey, Abu. “A monkey?”
“Again, I’d be shot or taken to the nearest zoo.” He faced me. “Why an ani
mal? How about your twin?” Suddenly looking at him was like looking in the mirror. He’d changed into my exact duplicate.
“Whoa. That’s cool.” I touched his face. “Okay, more freaky than cool. I don’t know if I could deal with this.”
He switched back to himself. “Well, I look too old to go to school. I guess I could play your father?”
“Gross,” I said, trying to contain the strong attraction I held for him. It wouldn’t do for him to play my dad when my body responded to him the way it did.
“Why gross?” He reached out and grabbed my waist, pulling my body against his.
I stopped breathing. My mind stopped thinking. Everything froze and all that was left was Laeddin, his lips, and his very sexy body touching mine.
“Jasmine? What’s wrong?”
I pushed him away. He was toying with my emotions. He obviously knew what he was doing. “Nothing. Just no to the parental idea.” I meandered into the kitchen and opened a cupboard. It was bare, as were the rest. I flipped a switch but the light didn’t turn on. I tried to call upon my power to turn on the light but nothing happened.
“No wings. No magic, remember?” Laeddin walked into the kitchen.
“Right, a regular teenager with a craving for blood.”
“Correct,” Laeddin smirked.
I pulled open the refrigerator. A pungent odor wafted out. “I’m going to need electricity and groceries and…” I spun in a circle. “I’m going to need a lot of stuff.”
“Nasty.” Laeddin wrinkled his nose at the smell. He snapped his fingers. The smell instantly vanished. Fruits and vegetables appeared on the refrigerator shelves; as did the light.
“Nice,” I said, taking an apple and pressing it to my lips. Before I bit, I asked him, “So I’m regular, right? I don’t need blood to sustain me anymore?”
Vampire Wishes Books 1-2: Vampire Lies and Vampire Secrets Page 3
