by Ana Calin
“I don’t—”
“That’s beside the point, listen.” His amber eyes glow in the dark. I’m bewitched, I can’t look away. “The Lord Protector suspects there’s something buried deep inside you, a consciousness that, somehow, how can I explain, someone that isn’t you.”
My smile washes off my face. “You mean like... Like I’m possessed?”
“Something like that, yes. There’s no other explanation as to why the Lord Protector wouldn’t sense special powers in you when he first tapped into your chemistry, even though you managed to do something as big as open that portal. That could only mean that your real essence is hiding in the underlayers of your personality. Like—”
“Like split personality,” I murmur. “Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Like I become someone else after nightfall, or—”
“Or for short moments at random. Whenever that... entity decides to surface.”
Resentment against Maverick wells up in the pit of my stomach.
“So Maverick basically drugged me with his herbal tea to make me feel at home, had me tell him the story of my life and fill his place with my energy, as a means to track down this entity.”
“Yes.”
“And when he was done getting what he wanted, he bared his fangs at me like a wolf and showed me how much he actually despised me.”
“Oh, I think those feelings won’t last for long.”
“Why not? If he’s anything like Gordon, he must consider himself well above mere mortals.”
“Because no matter what he’s going to discover about you tonight, he won’t be able to miss what I already sense—the sweet essence deep inside you that can shake even a supernatural to the core.”
My heart beats in my temples. I’m lost in his amber eyes that glow brighter with every word that leaves his angel lips, his whole face lighting up as he smiles.
God almighty, are any of your angels as beautiful as him? I could stare at him forever without asking for anything in return. I love hearing him, enjoying his voice that melts my core. I wish that my skin would have its own memory, so that I could forever recall his arm around me, its weight, its warmth, the creamy feel of his shirt. I wish he’d kiss me. At least once, to feel the burn of his lips on mine.
And then I see it. The flicker in his eyes that says he’s about to do it; the tilt of his head that I’ve seen mortal boys do when preparing to kiss a girl. Silas seems as awkward as them, and I think I see his chiseled cheeks flush. But it can’t be. This isn’t some teenage boy trembling before his first kiss, it’s a millennia old demigod assigned with keeping the mortal realm safe.
You’re getting your hopes high again, Lucia, and You. Should. Not.
CHAPTER IV
Silas
What are you doing, Silas? The fuck are you doing?
But I can’t hold back. My hands clench around her small delicate shoulders when she tries to step back, preventing her from putting distance between us. Forcing her to accept my closeness. What in the cursed realms is happening to me?
She parts those pouty lips, those lips that look and smell virgin, like a rose in bloom. The need to taste that mouth takes over me, even though every fiber of my body tightens, screaming for me to keep the cool head I’ve had fixed on my shoulders for thousands of years.
But the thirst grows, crawling up my throat, burning me. I lower my head close to Lucy’s, thirsty for her lips, and feeling guilty. She won’t be able to resist me, because I’m using my supernatural luring abilities on her. This angel face is only a mask, something I inherited from two beautiful and equally dark-hearted parents, but I’m an ancient bastard who knows exactly what he’s doing.
Lucy gives in to my arms, hypnotized with me, allowing me to pull her close. She rises on the tips of her toes, her young breath touching my face. My lips sink into the plump hotness of her mouth that’s so sweet and enveloping that I lose a groan. My big hands travel from her shoulders to her back, threading in her wool cardigan and pressing her to me possessively.
All the realms stop spinning. The essence of those sweet lips coats my taste buds, sparking back to life senses that have been long dormant. I want to pull her into me, make her part of my body if I could. At least that way I’d know she would forever be protected. No demons could get their sooty claws on her.
I part her lips, my tongue slipping inside her mouth. I’m dying to explore her completely, to take possession of her sweet little tongue, but I don’t want to scare her. She responds to the slow but hungry strokes of my tongue, but I can tell this is the first time her mouth unites with that of a man. She’s nineteen, and she’s never been kissed before, because mortal boys were too scared of the dark power swirling around her. Mortals feel a creepy kind of danger from her. But she’s a masterpiece, a work of art.
I push her against a tree, shoving my tongue deeper inside her mouth, losing my head as I kiss her passionately. To my delight, instead of trying to push me away she threads her fingers through my hair, giving in to passion.
I feel a powerful urge to pop her khakis and slip my hand inside her panties, feel her virgin arousal on my fingers. To slide my hand between her folds, be the first man to tease the swollen bud of her—No!
I pull back swiftly, looking down at her face that’s in awe, her small pouty lips bright red from my kiss, her cheeks hot.
“I’m sorry.” My voice is thick with desire. Fuck, how could this happen? “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”
“No, Silas, please,” she says, her voice sweet and tender. It infiltrates like the call of a nymph through my ears, luring me close.
My hands rest on her hips, and I push my groin into her lower belly. She gasps when she feels my erection. She has never felt a man grow hard for her, and the fact that I’m her first turns me on like crazy.
“I want you, Lucy. There’s nothing I crave more than to lay you down on a bed of roses, pop your pants open and slip my fingers inside of you, prepare you for my girth. Then I’d lower my head and taste you before I pushed my thick, hungry cock inside of you.”
She gasps, but not like a woman taking offense. Like a woman turned on by what she’s hearing.
“Do it, Silas,” she pleads, and the way she breathes betrays how much she wants me to.
“No, I can’t do.” The muscles in my arms flex, begging to pull her close, but I resist, keeping the distance between us with my hands on her hips. “I have to be honest with you from the start, it would be nothing more than one and done, a hit and run thing.”
The blush of infatuation wipes off her face, her cheeks regaining some of their porcelain hardness. She feels scorned, and it makes her look insanely sexy. I avert my eyes, because I can’t take this attraction, not without crushing my lips against hers again.
“I’m a demigod, Lucy, you’re mortal. It’s forbidden and, if we’re honest, insane.”
“Oh, I see, the human girl is too little for you.”
“The human girl is too young for me, first of all. Try to understand, Lucy, you’re nineteen, while I’m thousands of years old. It’s gross, if you think about it.”
She crosses her arms over her chest. She’s angry, ashamed, humiliated, and I hate it, but there’s no other way to do this. I can’t let her get her hopes high.
“Have you ever been in love, Silas?”
I can’t tell her the truth. That it’s almost impossible to make immortal men like me feel sexual arousal. And yet here I am, feeling things for her. But I don’t say anything, I just stand here, looking down and feeling the anger in her crystal blue gaze.
“Let me tell you something then, Silas. You, me, this right here, it was special. It was my first kiss, and I thank you for it, but don’t think that just because you’re a supernatural, you’re unforgettable.”
Her words sear my heart, and when she spins around, starting on the dirt path toward the mansion, I grab her arm.
“Lucy.” I pull her to me and lift her up, crushing my lips against hers. “Lucy
, there’s so much that stands between us,” I whisper among hot kisses. “Life and death, my position as guardian of the realms, and we’ve barely just scratched the surface.”
She cups my face with both her hands, drinking my kisses. By all realms, the way she savors my lips, it’s an exquisite sensation. I want to see her take delight in all of me, I want to hear her moan with ecstasy. As a magical creature I can shroud her in such pleasure when I pierce her virginity that she won’t even feel the pain. But can I do that to her? Can I take her virginity and make her fall in love with me even though we can’t possibly have a future together?
I pull back from our kisses, still giving her small pecks because I can’t break away from her completely.
“Please, try to understand,” I whisper, resting my forehead against hers. “It’s for your own good.” With that, I wrap my arms around her, pushing my essence through her clothes and though her skin. I get to see her widening eyes as she feels the cells inside her body turn to stardust. We both disappear into thin air, all that’s left of us is a fine spiral of sparkly dust.
Lucy
“WHAT IN THE WORLD—” I disengage from Silas and look down at myself. I’m still not done reforming inside my room at the mansion, sparkles still swirling around my legs.
“Did we—”
“Teleport, yes.”
“Jesus.” What an experience! I swear I just understood the concept of a quantum leap. We disappeared from one point in space and reformed in another without actually travelling the distance.
“But... where have we been during the one second it took to...” I can’t even finish the question, and I don’t even need an answer anymore. I stare at Silas’ face, my mouth open, as I contemplate the greatness of what I just realized—during that second, I was everything, and everywhere.
Silas smiles down at me. “It’s quite something, isn’t it. The experience.”
“I saw you do it before, when you just imploded into sparkling dust in the library. It was mind-blowing to watch, but actually experiencing it, it’s insane.”
“It’s also proof that you’re truly a supernatural. If you weren’t, I wouldn’t have been able to drive my essence into you, and basically turn you into part of my own body.”
“You mean—?”
“Yes. You and I were one.” His face glows, as if this experience was special to him as well.
I lower myself down onto the mattress. I’m exhausted, and stunned.
“Oh, God.”
Silas takes a few steps away. “I’ll let you rest, it’s been a demanding day.”
“Every day has been demanding ever since I met you.”
“And the following days won’t be any easier. You’ll need your strength. Teleportation takes a toll on the body.” With every word he takes one step further away from me.
“Silas, wait, what about—?” What about us? But I can’t finish the question. Here I am again, feeling just like that night when I stood before Chase with the lipstick smeared over half of my face.
Silly, humiliated. The desire to hurt them back churns in my chest.
“We cannot be, Lucy,” Silas repeats. “And I told you why. The age gap, my job in the realms, your own uncertain position.”
“If my position were different, say if I was the daughter of some great magical aristocrat, would you then consider me as a partner?”
“Do you see any daughters of aristocrats on my arm?” He spreads his arms and looks around himself to make a point of the empty space.
“Still, I imagine you’re spoilt for choice. That’s why you won’t take me. You’re afraid you’re missing out on something better.”
His face changes, as hard and forbidding as if he were carved from stone. “That’s humans, Lucy, not supernaturals. We don’t tick like that.”
I clench my teeth, keeping back all the accusations I want to spit at him. I desperately need him to stay, fight me if he must, convince me that it really isn’t me, it’s him. But he goes ahead and does something very human—he turns around and leaves.
He was kissing me passionately only minutes ago, and now he has left me alone, prey to my pain. Tears threaten at the corners of my eyes as loss punches me in the chest, starting a tornado of emotions. What is wrong with me? No man wants me, human or supernatural. I pace my room, hands pressed to my aching heart when I realize I can feel something outside—the very fabric of the night. I can feel it ripple beyond my window like a magic veil, calling to me.
The membrane.
Compelled, I walk to it.
The Lord Protector
THE GROUND IS SHAKING like it’s about to split open when I reform deep in the Thorny Forest. The warlock is bent over the black stone well, the sacred water raging inside of it.
“What the hell is happening, Maverick?”
The warlock’s eyes are black like crackling coals, fixed on the water, his thick arms spread out as the liquid bubbles. It looks and feels like a damn volcano about to erupt.
“I was testing the new girl’s essence, Your Excellency, when the membrane started to shake. The rip she caused, it wants to open up again.”
I hurry over, the black shadows of my Grim Reaper form floating behind me like a cape. I spread out my arms and put pressure on the sacred water, forcing it back into stillness. My power is enough to restore the balance of the membrane for now, but I feel the demons will try again.
“The demons are bold to try and break into the Thorny Forest.” I frown at the now still well, the ground silent under my feet. What is it that gives them such audacity, such strength?
“It’s the girl, Your Excellency. Her presence or—” He stops as a possibility hits him.
“Or what?”
“When she first ripped the membrane, on Halloween, she’d just been through something emotionally charging, hadn’t she?”
“Why is that important?”
“Tonight she’s been through more. I gave her a tea to loosen her up and make her open up to me, but when the effect wore off she got mad because I’d tricked her. Not that I give a damn, but I’m pretty sure the emotion was particularly strong on her part.”
“If simple emotional charge were enough to stir her powers, she would have wreaked havoc in the mortal realm long ago. I think her magical abilities have more to do with a witch’s becoming of age, which tends to happen on Halloween nights.”
“But you didn’t even sense a special ability in her. You didn’t track anything beyond fortune telling inclinations.”
I furrow my brow. “What did you get out of her essence?”
“I haven’t had enough time with it. The ground started to shake, the water gurgled, I got disconnected. All I got was a thread, and the witching hour is compromised. I’ll have to continue probing tomorrow night.”
“Tell me more about that thread.” I pace slowly around the well, my shadows rippling behind me.
“Her essence seems to be tightly related to her emotions. It’s the reason why I brought them into the discussion. When her emotions get charged, it’s like a muscle gets pumped up. Magic wells up in her proportionally to her emotional arousal.”
“Interesting.” I fold my arms across my chest. “But her emotions would have to be particularly powerful. They were on Halloween, because the poor girl almost got raped. What happened with you was nowhere close. It shouldn’t have been enough to amp her up.”
The warlock keeps silent, but his mood shifts. I narrow my eyes at him, examining the grim expression on his face.
“Is there something you’re not telling me, Maverick?”
His square jaw hardens under the shade of his stubble.
“I won’t pry it out of you, warlock. Speak.”
“I think she is in love with Silas. And he’s falling for her, too, but he’s resisting it.”
My first reaction is to scoff, then to grin, then I burst into laughter. “Silas cannot fall in love, not even in lust. He’s much too hardy for that. He’s been around for millenn
ia, he had countless women in his first centuries until he became a block of ice.”
“No one is more aware of that than me, Your Excellency, but I saw something different tonight. The way he protected her, the way he wound his arm around her and led her out of my hut.”
“You think something happened between them tonight, something powerful enough that it amped up the girl’s emotions?”
Maverick’s jaw crunches. He doesn’t like what he’s about to say any more than I do. “Maybe he took her virginity, deep in the forest.”
My lips draw in a hard line. That Silas would get involved with the girl, it’s inconceivable.
“If he did, he’s going to know my wrath. I promise you that.”
Maverick cocks his head. “You would punish him? The demigod of warfare?”
“Getting involved with the girl is pure folly. If he did that, he’ll have to pay.”
“But he’s one of your best men. You don’t want bad blood with him.”
“I can’t let any supernatural get away with something like this. If I loosen my grip over my own soldiers, what reason will the others have to play by the rules? Soon we’d have chaos, and what we do can only be done on the foundation of order.”
I turn my back and start on the dark path twisting through the woods. “Dive into her essence tomorrow, and bring me the results as soon as you have them. The minute you have them, not a second later.”
The warlock remains an oasis of light behind me, while I sink deeper into the forest. The bushes rustle with beasts scurrying out of my path, sensing the rage that simmers just beneath my skin. My fists ball like hammers, my shadows flaring behind me as I make my way through the woods. My bare chest glints like metal in the night. My flesh has grown adamant from anger that Silas has gone against my command.