The Seventh Sister, A Paranormal Romance

by Z. L. Arkadie

  “No, by all means, be free,” he whispers, grinning with shining eyes.

  I’m looking around for my pajamas, but then I remember stuffing my last clean pair in the hamper, which is in the laundry room. So I dive back on top of the bed and pull the covers around me.

  He’s fighting against laughing hard and soon so am I. I did look ridiculous trying to hide myself. No one has ever seen me this close to being in the bare, not even Deanna.

  “Listen,” he whispers and then looks at my door. I’m sure he knows I’m not alone. “You look hot, but I have bigger problems than wanting to bang you, at least right now.”

  “Wow, now that you put it like that.”

  He’s lying beside me, looking up at the ceiling at first and then he flips on his side. “But can we, you know?”

  I sigh hard, and pull the blanket off of me. It’s a really fast movement, but he’s behind me, pulling me into him. Even with the heater blowing out hot air, I feel warm and comfortable in his grasp. It’s like our skin on skin not only soothes the cold but the heat too.

  My eyes are getting heavy again but I manage to ask, “So how did it go with your girlfriend?”

  After a long thoughtful pause he says, “She’s scared of me.”

  “But does she believe you?”

  He takes another long pause.

  “Yes.”

  “Will you ever see her again?”

  “Not like this.”

  “Not like what?”

  I flip around to face him.

  “No,” he rephrases. “I’ll never see her again because this will never change, I guess. Have you ever heard of a cure for being a vampire?”

  I swallow hard, saddened by his predicament. “I haven’t,” I’m barely able to say.

  I think his eyes are tearing up. This moment of his seems private so I flip back around to face the opposite direction.

  After a moment, he pulls me in closer to him, but this time I feel different about it because his hands are sliding up and down my arm and he’s throbbing in other places.

  “You’re soft,” he whispers.

  I don’t know what’s happening inside of me.

  “That’s the first time I ever heard that,” I say, trying to lighten the moment. I want to forget how his hard body, pressing against my backside tickles my insides.

  “I bet you’ve never been kissed,” he says and then puts his lips on my bare shoulder and kisses it.

  I swallow hard. Tell him to stop, I shout within myself.

  “Why do you think that?” I ask instead.

  He chuckles quietly. “It’s true isn’t it?”

  I don’t respond because it is true.

  I’ve seen couples with their mouths pressed together sometimes at school. I heard it happens a lot on television and in movies, but I barely turn on the TV and never head to my local theater and if I watch a movie, it’s on DVD. I’ve heard kissing being called suck face once, and that’s exactly what it looks like to me, defined as the unsanitary act of two people actually sucking the other’s face off.

  My stance against kissing has started to change recently. Surely if Derek would’ve put his lips on mine after we had lunch together in the tight classroom, I wouldn’t have resisted. I sort of wish he did it now. When Vayle asks, “Can I be your first kiss?” my mind ventures back to that very moment.

  I turn to face my bed partner again and am taken aback by the lust in his eyes.

  “This is all of a sudden, don’t you think?” I whisper.

  “Not for me. I can’t stop thinking about how it will be to be with you.”

  “But your girlfriend?”

  “I know,” he says and there’s that pain again. “I can’t control what this is I feel for you. I want you all the time. I think I’m even jealous of that runt who walked you to school yesterday.”

  “I thought we weren’t going to talk about him.”

  “Do you like him?” he quickly asks.

  I shrug in the dark.

  “That’s not an answer.”

  “I don’t know,” I say and cast my eyes down.

  “You do,” he concludes.

  “I said I didn’t know.”

  “I can feel that you do.”

  I frown suspiciously at him.

  “You don’t get how connected we are to each other yet, do you?” he continues to say. “If that guy wasn’t around, you probably would.”

  “Maybe,” I say, agreeing. It’s true I’m consumed by this desire for Derek. I absolutely, unequivocally love to share physical space with him. As a matter of fact, if it were Derek I was lying next to right now, I’m sure I would’ve said yes to that kiss right away.

  Not that I don’t want to kiss Vayle too, because I do. But my heart feels like it’ll betray Derek by doing so.

  “What is he anyway? I know he’s something.”

  “He’s a Wek.”

  “A wreck?”

  I chuckle a little bit as I know he mispronounced it on purpose.

  “No, a Wek, no r.”

  “And he likes you too.”

  “I don’t know,” I sadly admit. “He seems to like everyone. I think it’s his nature.”

  “Maybe that’s what you’re attracted to, his nature and not him.”

  “How are the two separate?”

  “Kiss me and you’ll see.”

  I hesitate. It’s obvious he’s putting the moves on me. And it’s obvious I’m falling for it. It would be nice to have some sort of clarity on how I feel about Derek.

  I love how Derek likes everyone and how everyone likes him. He genuinely cares to listen to stuff I’d have little or no patience to lend an ear to. He’s gorgeous. He’s chivalrous. And he can really kick butt at the same time.

  “You’re like the apple, you know?” I say with a coy grin.

  “Forbidden fruit.” He’s giving me that wicked smile of his as he presses a finger against his lips “Here, Zillael, put your mouth here and I’ll do all the rest.”

  I don’t hesitate because the mission is to get it over with, to finally be kissed and then prove to myself that what I feel for Derek isn’t romantic but pragmatic.

  Our lips touch and the next thing I know he’s on top of me, and we’re kissing, actually sucking face. He’s being very gentle with me to my surprise because his desire is so strong; I can feel it consuming me. Every touch of the tongue and compression of the lips is sensual.

  “You taste sweet,” he breathes between kisses. “It’s been a long time since I’ve tasted anything sweet.”

  We’re looking into each other’s eyes as we’re doing this. I haven’t completely let go although my body wants to. His hands skillfully caress parts of my body, my back, neck, even nipples where his mouth slides down to.

  A breath escapes me because of the way it feels when he does that. Then his fingers are beneath my panties and touching me even more. I find myself grabbing on tight to him as I cry out after a rush of pure pleasure builds up and then explodes down there.

  “Shush,” he says gently.

  I look at the door. I cried out loud enough for Deanna to hear me if she were still up.

  “Are you still a virgin, Zillael?” he whispers while kissing my mouth. He still hasn’t moved his hand either.

  “Yes,” I breathe.

  I can imagine how timid I look because these physical feelings have immobilized me. This pure sexual sensation is very new to me. The image of Derek that remained stuck in my head before the vampire started this exploration of my body is foggy now. I’m still very confused about how far I want Vayle to go.

  He kisses me even more fervently, but I do notice he’s moved his hand out of my panties.

  “Damn, you’re a virgin,” he mutters after one last kiss to my shoulder. “Oh damn,” this time he says entirely different.

  He pulls back.

  “What?” Now I’m alarmed.

  “What’s this?” He’s rubbing a finger in circles around a single area on my up
per back. Without looking I know what he’s referring to.

  “Birthmark, why?”

  He sits straight up and reaches an arm over his shoulder and touches his back. “Look.”

  I twist around him to see a birthmark that looks exactly like my own and in the same spot as mine. It’s formed in a perfect half-moon shape.

  “Strange,” I whisper, still inspecting it. I think this new discovery has calmed our lusts, or at least masked them.

  He lies down on his back again, staring up at the ceiling. But as soon as I lie back down on my side, he turns to cradle me in his arms.

  “Are we done?” I ask.

  “Yeah,” he answers.

  After thinking about it, recalling how we were just all over each other, I start laughing. What’s funny is he starts too.

  Finally we simmer down.

  “I still want you so damn bad,” he says, breaking the silence. “And your first time will be with me, but you’ll be over the Wek by then.”

  I crack a smirk. “You sound pretty sure of yourself,” I say.

  He pulls me in closer to him. “I can’t wait,” he whispers in my ear and then gently lifts my hair to kiss the back my neck.

  I turn my head to face him and kiss him on the lips again. I love how he tastes my lips with his warm tongue but I have to turn away and face forward. He’s right. The haze has lifted away from the picture of Derek in my head and now I see him more clearly.

  When I fall off to sleep, Derek is still with me. We’re walking to school again, he’s holding my hand. I ask if he forgives me for kissing Vayle.

  “Of course,” he sings.

  “I think I wanted him in a sexual way, and really bad too. Is that okay?”

  “Of course,” Derek says again.

  “Do you want me in that same way?”

  He runs a finger across my lips and then lowers his to kiss them. But it’s a soft, quick kiss.

  “See,” he says, sounding unaffected. “It means nothing to me.”

  I feel extreme residual heartache after hearing my mother yell my name and waking me up.

  Both Vayle and I are at first shocked to see her. Her usual blue eyes are glowing orange, and the pretty soft features of her face have given way to hardness.

  “Mom?” My pulse is racing.

  “Selell?” Deanna growls, stabbing Vayle with her eyes.

  I don’t know why, but I spread my arms out in front of him, protecting him from her.

  “Mom, wait,” I say.

  In her mind, it’s too late. She’s moving swiftly around the walls. She’s like a blur. When she’s done, all the curtains over the windows are all pulled. I never pull them because I like it dark inside.

  It’s not a sunny day, but all the light from the rising sun flows in through the windows. I do believe that was her attempt to kill Vayle on the spot, but when he doesn’t burn her mouth and eyes are agape.

  “Mom,” I shout louder and finally she looks at me. “Please.”

  “Get away from him now, Zillael,” she orders me.

  “No, but calm down so I can explain.”

  She looks crazed. It’s insane.

  “What are you?” she asks, more like orders Vayle to answer.

  He glances at me before saying, “Vampire, I think.” He genuinely doesn’t sound sure of himself.

  “You should’ve burned,” she says.

  “I know,” he and I say at the same time.

  “It’s because of me, we think,” I say.

  Finally, her eyes turn blue again, and I sigh with relief.

  “Move,” she orders, looking at me.

  I’m still splayed in front of him, but only now do I realize that his arms are wrapped around me as well.

  Vayle doesn’t budge until I say, “Okay.”

  I slowly separate from him and when we’re apart, she does that blur movement thing and now she’s in his face, sniffing him.

  Vayle and I watch her, confused.

  “You are a vampire,” she confirms. “But I don’t understand why you didn’t burn.”

  “So you were trying to kill him?” I sound horrified.

  “Yes,” she answers bluntly and then side-eyes me as she mutters, “for your own good.”

  Then out of nowhere Mr. Lux appears in the doorway holding that sword of his at his side. It looks like he’s postured to start the fight at any time.

  At the moment, I’m reacting to a couple of things at once, but when Derek rushes up behind Mr. Lux and his eye s fall over my scantily clad body, getting myself covered becomes my first priority. I scramble for a blanket on the bed and pull it up over me.

  I think it’s only when I cover myself that Deanna takes notice that I’m only wearing a pair of white cotton bikini cut panties and a white cotton full-coverage bra. I keep it simple. What’s odd is her eyes just sweep over me and that’s the total of her reaction. I would think a parent, especially a mother, would lose her mind. Deanna doesn’t, and for the first time, it’s crystal clear to me, she’s truly not my mother.

  “Look, Lux,” she says to him precisely, meaning the curtains being pulled from the windows and Vayle there beside me untouched by the sunrays.

  Mr. Lux looks from the windows to Vayle and then disengages his sword

  Derek hasn’t taken his eyes off of me since he showed up, and I can’t stop trying to figure out what that expression he’s wearing on his face means. I’ve never felt so apologetic my entire life, although I’m not sure if I have to be so remorseful because he doesn’t look mad or hurt, just blank.

  Chapter 7

  Strangers in the Fog

  We’re all in the living room, the area with the most windows, and all the curtains are pulled. I’ve been given time to put on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, and now I’m standing beside Vayle in the middle of the living room. He’s still under scrutiny, and I dare not leave his side, not when Mr. Lux, or Lux without the mister keeps his hand close to that deadly sword of his.

  I also already told Deanna about the birthmarks and now she’s behind Vayle, lifting up his shirt studying the mark on his back.

  “Derek, come see this,” she says.

  Derek, who still hasn’t said anything yet, hesitates before walking over.

  “Look,” Deanna says and then lifts my shirt to show him that I have the same mark.

  When Derek touches me in that spot, I find myself catching a breath. Although Deanna is holding my shirt up, he takes it by the hem and gently lowers it.

  “It’s the sign of the sun,” he concludes.

  “Elaborate,” it sounds like she’s ordering him.

  “One of the sisters shares the light with a Selell. Zill shares the sun with this one.”

  “So they’re linked?”

  Derek takes a long time to answer that. “They just share the sun, that’s all.” Surprisingly, he sounds defiant. I’ve never heard him speak in that tone before. “And we don’t know why yet,” he finishes saying.

  “I think we’re linked,” Vayle says to my surprise, sneering at Derek, who sneers back.

  “I don’t think so,” Derek counters.

  “I do,” Vayle insists. “It makes sense. That’s why we have such a physical connection.”

  “That’s what you Selell’s do best, right? Seduce? But seducing her kind doesn’t give you a connection, it makes you a creep.”

  There’s a long continuous growl trapped in Vayle’s throat. Derek steps up to him, and now they’re standing nose to nose.

  I’m in an awkward position, standing right beside this showdown.

  “Hey,” Deanna cuts in, and she sounds really stern. She commands their attention. This is definitely a side of her I’ve never seen before. “The light connection with the Selell, you’re talking about Cl’auta mean?”

  “Clarity?” I ask, using a highly inquisitive tone.

  Derek, Mr. Lux and Deanna snap their attention to me.

  “Gon me du lej?” Deanna says to me.

  “Yeah,
I can I understand.” She just asked if I understood her. But it was more like, do you now hear in English.

  Deanna takes me by the shoulders and looks me dead in the eyes. “Zillael, you’re ready.”

  “Ready for what?”

  “Vampire,” she asks, still looking into my eyes. “What do you know about the Life Blood?”

  Vayle and I give each this quick but confused glance.

  “What’s Life Blood?” he asks.

  The next thing I know Deanna his him by the neck and is squeezing. Even with her slender five-feet, four-inch frame, she looks so powerful, as if her hand can crush his neck into mush.

  “I’m going to ask you one more time. What do you know about the Life Blood?”

  I’m just bewildered to see her like this. Where’s my petite, blond mother who couldn’t hurt a fly but can negotiate extra life between a snake and a ferret?

  “I’m not going to remove your hand from my throat because Zillael loves you,” Vayle says past clenched teeth.

  “Mom, can you stop please?” I beg her.

  She looks over at me and without debate she puts her hand down. That was too easy.

  “I don’t know much about being what I am,” Vayle admits.

  “This just happened to him last year,” I add in his defense.

  “Wek,” Deanna calls.

  “It’s true,” Derek confirms.

  “Do you know the name of the vampire who did this to you?”

  Sadness colors Vayle’s expression. He says, “No,” but I don’t believe him.

  “You know a human can’t become a vampire unless they sacrifice their blood. Did you sacrifice your blood?” Deanna asks, continuing her interrogation.

  “I don’t know, maybe,” Vayle answers and he looks so confused trying to recall.

  “What happened?” I finally ask. My tone is very tender, and when I take a glance at Derek, he’s staring at me again.

  “It was my birthday, and there were these strippers and Dan must’ve slipped me something. I can’t remember the rest.”

  Deanna nods like she knows the scenario all too well.

  “You were drugged,” she concludes. “And I heard three Selells were trying to feed on you, which means you were changed by an old generation vampire.”

  “What does that mean?” I ask. I’m getting comfortable because it sounds like nobody in the room is going to attempt to kill Vayle. I walk over to the couch to take seat and Vayle does the same.