Eternal (Eternal series)
Page 25
“Emma, wait!” Destry said as he strode deliberately toward the place where she had disappeared into the darkness. He reached out and grabbed her arm. The electricity flowed wildly through his hand and into her body where their skin met. He let out a sigh and let go of her arm but stepped around so she was facing him. The light was very dim but she could see the light coming out of his eyes, she could see his soul, it glowed just as strongly as it always had when he looked at her.
“I’m sorry I did that, it was mean, but…I didn’t want you to touch me. I’ve avoided touching you since you got here. I had decided that it was better that way. The strange electrical current thing that passes between us, it just makes it harder for me to leave. Do you understand that?”
“I don’t want you to leave,” Emma demanded. “Do you understand that?”
Destry’s face contorted. He shook his head. “I don’t want to leave Emma. It’s not an easy thing for me. But I can’t keep doing this, and you have to stop doing this to me. If you love someone else, and you don’t see me that way, then you have to let me go. I can’t stay here with you if I can’t have you. It’s killing me!” Destry breath was heavy. He was fighting to control his emotions. He didn’t want Emma to see how much this was hurting him. He didn’t want to hurt her with that knowledge. He loved her too much.
Emma reached toward him slowly, waiting for him to pull away again. When he didn’t move, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly and cried. This is exactly what Destry had been trying to avoid. He didn’t want to hurt her. He pulled back a little, letting her arms stay on his shoulders. He reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. “Please Emma,” he begged, “just let me go so that neither one of us has to feel this way anymore.”
“I want to feel this way for the rest of eternity,” Emma whispered.
“What?” Destry said perplexed, she couldn’t possibly be enjoying this pain.
“I love you Destry, and I want to feel this way for the rest of eternity.”
Destry’s eyes got big and he looked as if he’d just woken up from having cold water dumped in his face. “What?” He said again.
“Oh my heck Destry, have you gone deaf? I said I love you and all you can say is ‘what’?”
Destry was more confused hearing it the second time than he had been the first but he didn’t want to say ‘what’ again and unleash Emma’s wrath. So he just stood there looking dumbfounded.
“Do I have to do everything to make this relationship work?” Emma said teasingly. She reached up on her tip toes and kissed Destry’s lips softly. She leaned back and looked at his face. He looked a little drunk and confused, but he was finally smiling. “Oh come on, seriously? You’re just gonna stand there like a brick wall after I told you I love you?”
Destry snapped out of his trance. “What do you expect me to do? I’m not sure if I’m awake or if I’m dreaming.”
“Trust me, we are both wide awake. And as for what I expect you to do…well that’s pretty simple, I expect you to kiss me back Destry.” Emma’s voice was thick.
Destry’s grinned, his smile so beautiful she thought her heart might stop, as he bent over and brushed his lips gently over hers, and then pressed them more fervently as they began to move together in a hypnotic rhythm.
Emma responded with her own anxious fervor, and mirrored his movements flawlessly. They were in perfect sync; an electrical current surged between them. They were truly one—linked souls.
After a long moment Destry finally pulled back, his breathing was heavy, and he looked elated and a little dizzy. Emma could relate. His kiss had that effect on her too. She laid her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat against her cheek. He suddenly grabbed her up in his arms and swung her around. When he finally set her down on the ground he still held her tightly and peered into her chocolate brown eyes with surprise, he seemed pleased with what he saw there.
“I love you so much Destry!”
“I love you too, Emma,” he said, with so much love in his voice that Emma knew beyond any doubt that this was right. This was meant to be; it really was their destiny.
Emma hugged him tightly and looked up into his eyes, his deep blue sparkling eyes. She could see forever in those familiar eyes.
“Do you think that you could give me another chance?” Emma asked hopefully.
“I told you I wouldn’t give up on you, you’re worth the work, remember?”
“That’s good, because I don’t ever want to be without you again.” Emma said seriously.
“I don’t understand. What’s happened to you all of a sudden? What made you change your mind?” He asked in awe.
“It’s a long story,” Emma smiled up at him.
She could see him clearly now, like she'd cleaned the haze away from her eyes for the first time and really looked at him and he was the most perfect and beautiful thing she had ever seen. The best part was, now she knew Destry was hers, and would be forever.
“Speaking of long stories,” he interjected. “What was that one you were trying to tell me last night…something about an angel?”
“You are my angel,” Emma squealed, perfectly content, “and I will always love you, I promise... forever and a day!”
As Emma said these words she heard an unfamiliar voice say:
“Not if I have anything to do with it!”
Here's a look at book two
in the Eternal Series
Enticed
For it must needs be that there is an opposition in all things.
If not so, righteousness could not be brought to pass,
neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad....
Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be
that he was enticed by the one or the other.
Chapter 1: WARNING
A shower of caps rained down from the sky. Graduation day at last. A whole new life unfolding, full of endless possibilities.
The student body began dispersing slowly through the crowd of anxiously awaiting family members. Emma searched the crowd for her mom and Cody and of course for Destry.
As her eyes scanned the muddle of faces, she felt an odd feeling come over her. A strange crawling feeling moved across her skin causing goose bumps as it washed over her entire body in a cold wave that made her shiver involuntarily.
Emma looked to the edge of the crowd until her gaze met up with a strange pair of eyes. The word strange worked on two levels in this instance; one, Emma didn't know this strange woman who appeared to be staring at her intently. And two, her eyes were strange in and of themselves. Even from this distance, Emma could see that they were flat black, and they looked angry.
I'm just being crazy, Emma thought, what reason would this woman have to be angry with me? She doesn't even know me. She was sure of that. In a town this small you begin to know every detail of every face.
This disturbing woman must be looking at someone else. That was the only reasonable explanation, although Emma couldn't deny that those unsettling eyes appeared to be focused directly on her. Not on her exactly, but staring straight through her, piercing her like a hot blade and searing a hole into her very core.
It was odd that one pair of eyes could capture Emma's attention so fully, after all, there were hundreds of faces in the crowd, but this face was different than the rest.
The dark haired girl's features were cold and sleek, catlike almost. Emma tried to look away, to simply ignore this stranger's stare, but was captured in those eyes and frozen in place.
Whoever this mystery woman was, there was no denying she was beautiful. Shimmering ebony hair flowed halfway down her back and whipped wildly around her face as if it were caught up in an imaginary breeze. It danced around her in a hypnotic motion and seemed to lick at the air though there was no breeze. In fact the air seemed especially thick and still at the moment, hard to breathe in.
Emma wondered why no one else seemed to notice the dark woman
or looked in her direction. She should have drawn a lot of attention, being such a beautiful stranger in this town full of ordinary people.
But she didn't.
Emma began to wonder if she was the only one who could see her. Maybe she was hallucinating. Would a hallucination have this much power over her senses? Emma couldn't even blink to test her theory. She was her prisoner.
The dark woman seemed delighted by Emma's predicament, and raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her as if they shared an inside joke together. An unsettling smile pulled up the corners of her exquisite deep red lips, conveying her obvious pleasure at the strange effect she had over Emma.
Just then Emma felt another pair of eyes on her. From her peripheral she could see Destry walking towards her slowly through the crowd.
He probably wondered what she was doing standing there like an idiot.
The wild woman's stare suddenly changed direction, turning to Destry.
Emma wanted to scream to him, to warn him of the upcoming silent assault she'd fallen victim to that was now aimed directly at him, but she couldn't find her voice.
Emma watched in helpless horror as the woman followed Destry’s movement with her empty eyes.
Emma felt the anger rise up, filling her with unimaginable rage. She couldn't stand to have this strange woman look at him. It made her sick in the pit of her stomach. Something about her was not right, not natural.
She shouldn't be here at all.
Emma didn't want her anywhere near Destry.
Overcome with the intense desire to protect Destry from this dark woman, Emma fought with all her might to break free of the invisible clutches that held her.
Someone walked in front of the dark figure then, blocking Emma's view of her for a fraction of a second. And then she was gone, vanished into thin air, the spell she’d had over Emma broken.
Emma couldn't even catch a glimpse of the back of her moving away through the crowd. She was just gone.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Preface
Chapter 1: EXISTENCE
Chapter 2: NEW BOY
Chapter 3: LONGINGS
Chapter 4: DESTINY
Chapter 5: COMPROMISE
Chapter 6: CHOICES
Chapter 7: FLESH AND BLOOD
Chapter 8: INVITATION
Chapter 9: PROM
Chapter 10: REALMS
Chapter 11: RUMORS
Chapter 12: COMPLICATIONS
Chapter 13: DREAMS
Chapter 14: SEEING
Chapter 15: DECISIONS
Chapter 16: KNOWLEDGE
Chapter 17: OPTIONS
Chapter 18: ALONE
Chapter 19: DESIRES
Chapter 20: CONDITIONS
Chapter 21: TORN
Chapter 22: CAUGHT
Chapter 23: BATTLE
Chapter 24: SPECIAL
Chapter 25: ANGUISH
Chapter 26: MONSTER
Chapter 27: CONFESSIONS
Chapter 28: MEMORY
Chapter 29: TRUTH
Excerpt from Enticed