by A. L. Larsen
He smiled at me and said, “Why Miss Harper, what are you suggesting?”
“Not skinny dipping, I’m not insane. Someone could come out here any minute. But you know what? Underwear’s not all that different from swimwear.” And with that, I stood up on the pool deck, shook the water off my feet, and quickly shucked my jeans and t-shirt, then executed a perfect dive into the deep end of the pool.
When I surfaced, Alastair was still seated on the edge of the pool, watching me and smiling. “Will you be joining me?” I asked.
“I still don’t know if I can swim.”
“So, find out the hard way. And if you start to drown, I’ll rescue you.”
“Alright.” He got up and pulled off his dark blue t-shirt, tossing it on a nearby lounge chair with my clothes. His Levi’s were next, and then he walked around to the far end of the pool, dressed in nothing but a pair of black and dark red plaid boxers, and climbed up onto the diving board. He was incredibly beautiful, his body strong and lean, broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist. I knew I was flat-out staring at him, but I couldn’t help myself.
He hesitated, biting his full lower lip, and peered over the end of the board into the water. Then he looked at me and asked, “Are you really qualified to save me if I sink like a rock?”
I smiled at that. “I worked at the pool every summer during high school. As a life guard, even. So yes, I am actually qualified to save your bacon if you prove to possess rocklike qualities.”
Alastair bounced up and down on his toes a few times, experimentally trying out the diving board. He swung his arms back and forth, clapping his hands in front of him on each upswing, and then he grinned and said, “I’m tempted to dive in. But the problem is, I’m thinking about it. Which means I can’t just go on autopilot and rely on my instincts to take over. Plus, what if I really don’t know how to swim? What if I get partway into the dive and then realize I can’t do it?”
“I told you I won’t let you drown, Allie.”
“I know. And I trust you to save me. But,” he added, “what you can’t save me from is me making an utter and complete arse of myself if the dive goes pear-shaped.”
I smiled and said, “I love that Britism, even if it doesn’t make a lick of sense to me. Go ahead, quit stalling. Execute a perfect pear-shaped dive, then come over here and kiss me.”
“Alright,” he said, and stepped back to the base of the diving board. “Here goes nothing.” He ran to the end of the board and bounced off, hugging his knees to his chest as he cannonballed into the pool with a huge splash. In the next moment, he was grabbing me around my waist and kissing me, treading water just like I was.
“Aw,” I said with a grin, my arms around his neck, “I was looking forward to seeing your pear-shaped dive attempt.”
“You must not have been paying attention, because that was most assuredly pear-shaped.”
“In that you were shaped like a pear when you hit the water?”
“Exactly.”
“Yeah, ok,” I smiled, and kissed him again.
He floated on his back and I did, too, holding hands and watching the turbulent night sky. The fast-moving clouds overhead were illuminated by the steady glow of Las Vegas, the city noontime bright even at night. The breeze had picked up slightly but it really wasn’t cold, and the pool itself was nice and warm. The thought of staying in the water with Alastair all night held a lot of appeal.
“So, not surprisingly, turns out you can swim,” I said, glancing over at his profile, which was just above the surface of the water.
“Apparently.”
“Figures. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing you can’t do.”
“That’s quite the vote of confidence.”
“It’s just a statement of fact. You really are like a superhero. Strong, capable, courageous….”
“Oh, I’m not courageous,” he said.
I flipped upright and began treading water again. “Sure you are. How are you not courageous?”
He flipped upright too, treading water right beside me and still holding my hand. “I’ll tell you how. There’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you for days now, and I haven’t found the courage to do so.”
“Really?” I said with a smile. “Well, now you have to say it.”
He smiled at me, the pool light casting reflections across his handsome face. “Do I?”
“Oh yes. The rules of conversation clearly state that you must now proceed with whatever topic you’ve introduced,” I teased.
He pulled me close, and I wrapped my arms around him. “Who makes these rules?” he asked, tilting his head and smiling at me. “Because I need to talk to them about filing a cowardice extension.”
Just then, we were plunged into total blackness. “Ah. Saved by a power outage,” Alastair joked, hugging me to him. “Probably be just a moment before the generators kick in, I assume. May as well enjoy it while it lasts.” And his lips found mine, his kiss deep and tender at the same time. Moments later, the generators kicked in with a loud click and a whirr.
“Let’s get out of the pool,” I said, taking his hand and towing him toward the shallow end. “Just in case that happens again. Dark water is super creepy.”
We grabbed towels from a large stack and I wrapped up quickly, self-conscious in my wet bra and underwear now that I was out of the water. “The wind stopped,” I observed as I rubbed at my wet hair with another towel.
“Hey,” Joey called out as he burst through the door to the pool area, “I was wondering what happened to you guys.” He reversed direction suddenly, turning his back to us and exclaiming, “Oops. Were you skinny dipping?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “we’re wearing underwear. And that’s just like wearing a bathing suit.”
“Uh huh,” Joey said, his back still to us.
We got dressed quickly as I asked, “What did you do with Athos?”
“I didn’t do anything with him. He’s around here somewhere,” Joey said.
“You two should have stuck together. A good rule when everyone’s trying to kill you is don’t wander around alone.”
“That’s a good rule in theory,” Joey said, rocking back on his heels. “But it kind of falls apart when you try to pair me with Manly McMuscles.”
“Aren’t you ever going to run out of nicknames for him?” I asked, coming up behind Joey and attempting to net him with my wet towel.
He dodged the towel effortlessly, even though his back had been to me, and turned around with a big grin. “Not likely. There’s so much to work with, between his ridiculous degree of muscle-boundness, his leather wardrobe – and I haven’t even started in on his lovely locks of lusciousness yet.”
Athos came through the door just then, and Joey said, “Well, if it isn’t Hulk Bulkin.” I shot Joey a dirty look and he said, “Fine.”
“We need a new plan,” said Athos. “Because wandering aimlessly around the hotel for days on end is getting us nowhere.”
“Agreed,” I said. “I’m going to go up to the room and shower off the chlorine. After that, we can try to brainstorm a less lame plan.”
I was freshly showered and dressed in clean jeans and a t-shirt, dragging a comb through my wet tangle of hair when my cell phone rang. I took a look at the caller i.d., and answered with, “Hey Bryn. How are you?”
“This isn’t Bryn. It’s Augustine,” the shaky voice on the line said. “Luna, something terrible has happened.”
“Augustine, what is it? Are you ok?”
“I’m fine. But Bryn’s in the hospital.”
“Oh my God! Why? What happened?”
“He did something really stupid. I can’t believe he even attempted something like this.” His voice cracked and he drew a deep breath.
“What happened? Was it all the alcohol he’d been drinking?”
“No. I mean, not directly.”
“What happened, Augustine?”
“He decided he needed to go see Philippe. Right then
. He decided that getting on a plane would take too long. So he tried to teleport himself to France.”
“He can’t do that, can he?”
“No! Of course he can’t do that. At best, he can teleport himself a couple blocks. Not halfway around the globe!”
“Well, why on earth did he think he could do that?”
“Because drunk people make really, really bad decisions. He decided it was possible to teleport anywhere he wanted to, that it was just a question of building up enough power, accessing more than just his personal energy.”
“So what did he do?”
“He tapped into the city’s electrical supply, drew directly from the power grid.”
“The blackout. Did he do that?”
“Yes.”
“Oh God, did he electrocute himself?” I sunk down onto a corner of the mattress.
“No. It was worse than that.”
“Worse than electrocution? Augustine, what’s wrong with Bryn?”
“He’s in a coma. Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“That’s what the doctors think is happening here at the hospital. And I can’t explain to them what’s really happened. I can’t explain that he left his body behind and teleported his essence out in an insane, drunken attempt at going to see his selfish jerk of an ex-boyfriend.”
“He…wait, what?”
Augustine said, “Bryn transported himself out of his own body, essentially.”
“Oh God. I’m so confused,” I said, pressing a hand to my forehead. “Wait, hang on one minute. I want you to explain this to Alastair and Joey.” I leapt up and threw open my bedroom door and raced down the hall to the living room, where everyone was gathered. I hit speaker phone and told my companions, “Bryn’s in the hospital. Augustine’s on the phone. Are you with him right now, Augustine?”
“Of course. I haven’t left his bedside, and I’m not going to.”
“Tell everyone what you told me,” I said as I dropped down shakily onto an ottoman.
“Bryn decided to teleport to France. His body stayed behind. He’s…more or less in a coma now,” Augustine said.
“He tapped into the power grid. That blackout earlier was Bryn,” I mumbled, hugging myself with one arm while holding the phone out in front of me with the other.
“So his mind and body separated?” Joey asked, wide-eyed.
“Essentially, yes.” Augustine sounded weary.
“You were supposed to be taking care of him, Augustine!” Joey yelled, shock turning to rage in an instant. “You know he can’t teleport that far. Why didn’t you stop him?”
“You think I didn’t try?” Augustine’s voice was thin and pained. “You can’t stop Bryn when he decides to do something, he makes sure of it. He immobilized me with a quick snare spell so I couldn’t do anything but watch as he told me what he had planned, watch as he drew a million volts into his body, and then watch as he launched himself into the universe.”
“Are you sure that’s what happened?” I asked. “Are you sure he didn’t actually electrocute himself?”
“I’m sure. I watched his essence leave his body and hang in the air a moment before shooting off into the ether.”
A loud banging on the hotel room door made all of us jump to our feet. “What is that?” I asked.
“Um, I’m guessing Bryn’s protection spell just went down,” Joey said. “Augustine, we’re going to need to call you back.”
“Wait!” Augustine yelled. “I need all of you to come to the hospital. I’m going to try to work a spell to reunite Bryn and his body. We’re at Cedarwood Memorial on the east side.”
“May take us a little while to get there, Augustine,” Alastair yelled over the noise as Joey darted from the room and the banging got louder. Athos sprang into action too and started piling heavy furniture in front of the door.
“I’ve been researching spells as we’ve been speaking,” Augustine said. “I haven’t found the right one, so I don’t need you here in the next five minutes. But I do need you here soon, because the minute I find a spell, we need to use it. The longer we leave Bryn hanging out there somewhere in space, the harder it’ll be to put him back together again.”
“We’ll get ourselves there,” Alastair promised. “See you soon.”
I hung up and shoved the phone in my pocket, then ran to my room, quickly stuffing my feet into my boots and pulling on a jacket. The little serpent knife was sitting out waiting for me, and I grabbed it and clutched it tightly as I ran back into the living room. Loud voices and yelling could be heard out in the hall. Athos appeared beside me and said, “I barricaded every door to both suites, but they’re not going to hold for long. We need to get out of here.”
“Brilliant deduction, Ath, but we’re on the top floor and totally cut off,” Joey grumbled, appearing beside us with a long knife in each hand. He handed one knife to Athos though, even as he mocked his suggestion.
“No we’re not. We can’t go down, but we can go up,” Athos said simply.
Alastair, who was calmly contemplating the situation, scratched his bottom lip with his thumbnail and said, “We could bust through the ceiling to the roof, but that would only buy us a few minutes. We’d be every bit as cornered up there as we are in here.”
“We’re not going to the roof,” Athos said. And then he picked up the big leather ottoman and threw it out one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, which shattered into a million pieces and rained into the fountain below. “Two of the four of us can fly. We’ll carry the other two. The biggest threat right now is the Order, and it’ll be easy for them to catch up to us when we’re weighed down like that, so we’re not going to try to outrun them. We’re only going to try to make it past the Strip, out into the desert, and then we’ll land and fight them. They’re the only ones that can follow us on wing, the rest of the hunters won’t be able to catch up.”
“That’s a great plan, except for one thing,” Alastair said. “I have no idea how to transform into my angel half.”
“You’re kidding,” Athos said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I’m really not.”
“But it’s like breathing. It’s not something you can actually forget,” his half-brother insisted.
“Nevertheless.”
“You might have mentioned that before I punched a hole in the window,” Athos said. “The Order’s going to come flying through there any second, you know. And I like our odds of defeating them a lot better on open ground, rather than hemmed in like this with a couple hundred other hunters about to break in here.”
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Alastair said.
Athos stuck his head out the open window, then said, “Ah, so that’s why they’re not up here yet. Several dozen vampire hunters are trying to take them out. Probably see the Order as too much of a shoo-in for your bounty. We caught a break there, but it’s not going to last. So come on, brother. Make with the wings. Like this.”
Athos quickly shucked off his leather jacket and t-shirt as Joey muttered, “Ugh.”
And then Joey, Alastair and I all shielded our eyes as the room flooded with blinding white light. Joey and I turned away from him, and Alastair straightened up and said, “I’m telling you, I don’t know how to do that. So take Lu and Joey and get out of here. I’ll fight as long as I can and take out as many of the Order as possible so all of them won’t come after you.”
“Take Joey! Yeah right!” Joey exclaimed, turning to face Alastair while holding up one hand toward Athos to shield his eyes. “I’m staying here and fighting with you, Allie, not running off like some total wuss. And I’m sure as hell not getting whisked off by your total nug of a half-brother, I can tell you that right now!”
A loud cracking sound reverberated through the hotel room as one of the doors to the suite gave way. I stared at it in a panic as it banged again and again against the wall of furniture piled against it, then turned to Alastair and yelled, “Allie, do what you do when you light y
our hand up. Only, don’t hold back, totally give in to it. You can do this, I know you can!”
“Lu, go with Athos. Get out of here,” Alastair yelled over the noise from the hallway.
“No! Come on, Allie! Don’t think about it. Just transform!” I yelled.
“What if I can’t turn it off again? What if I lose myself to that side of me?”
“Is that what you’re worried about?” I yelled as a heavy piece of furniture crashed to the floor near the door where the mob was breaking through. He nodded, and I yelled, “You won’t lose yourself. I won’t let you!”
“Go, Luna! There’s no time!” Alastair yelled, and Athos started to reach for me to fly me out of there, but he backed off quickly when I pointed my little knife at him.
“I love you, Alastair,” I yelled as another piece of furniture fell. “And I’m not leaving without you. So either we stand and fight together, or you transform and fly us both out of here!”
Alastair had been standing between me and the demolished doorway, and he ran toward me now with a look of intense determination. He grabbed me in his arms and ran toward the smashed out window.
And he leapt out into the night.
Chapter Fifteen
For a moment, there was only the cold, and the wind rushing past us, and the dark.
There was falling.
And Alastair, his arms strong and secure around me.
I pressed my eyes shut a second before the world erupted into blinding white light, and the whoosh of powerful wings stirred the night.
Lifting us.
“I love you too, Luna,” Alastair said, his mouth close to my ear. “I wanted to say it earlier in the pool, but I chickened out.”
I pressed my face into his shoulder, my eyes still tightly shut, and said with a smile, “I knew you could do it.”
“Transform into an angel, or gather the courage to tell you I love you?”
“Both.”
He chuckled and tightened his grip on me, and I wound my arms more securely around his neck. Something incredibly soft brushed my hands, and my heart leapt.
“Aren’t you going to look at me, Luna?” he asked gently.