Awakening

by Warneke, A. C.

  “I see,” he said slowly, obviously having difficulty figuring out what to say. His tongue darted out and moistened his lips as he hedged, “But I’m not a vampire.”

  Tilting her head to the side, she asked, “Then what are you?”

  “What if I told you that I was an Apocritum?”

  It took a moment for his words to sink in and when they did she laughed; she couldn’t help herself. “Please don’t tease me; I’d have an easier time believing you were a Calix….

  “Although,” she frowned, her fingers moving from his hair and caressing the back of his neck, distracting him from their conversation. Her eye lashes lowered as color stained her cheeks and she avoided his gaze. “I thought that Calices were… you know.”

  “What?” he asked with a grin as her cheeks reddened further.

  “Um, impotent,” she muttered, since he was the exact opposite of impotent. “That they could only have sex with an Apocritum while he fed off of them. So, if you’re not a vampire, what are you?”

  Instead of answering her question, he laughed. Leaning his head forward, he placed a gentle kiss on her lips, squeezing her in a hug. “It’s not important.”

  It was kind of important but she only had a few hours left and she didn’t want to ruin it by discovering her generous and sexy lover was a demon or something even worse. Returning his hug, she caught his ear lobe in her mouth, lightly biting down on it. “I’m going to miss you.”

  “I know,” he sighed. “I hope you’ll reconsider?”

  “I can’t,” she murmured, running her tongue along the ridge of his ear, tasting him. “I have a new job, and, well….”

  He sighed heavily, “Then let me hold you in my arms tonight and pretend we have forever.”

  “Yes,” she whispered, not wanting the night to end. Ever. As a tear slid down her cheek, she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him with everything that was in her. She was going to have no regrets. And if her heart was breaking a little it was worth it. Time with Adam was a priceless gift, too soon over but never to be forgotten.

  *****

  Celeste woke up with a blissful smile curving her lips, unable to remember a single moment when she had felt so safe, so loved. Adam's strong arms were wrapped around her, his hard body was pressed against the length of her back, and his erection was pulsing against her naked butt; she wanted nothing more than to return to the oblivion of sleep and wake with him in the morning. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, not caring that he was a vampire or a demon. Not caring that he would drain her dry and there would be nothing left of her.

  Wriggling her bottom, she smiled as Adam's arm tightened around her middle, pulling her further into the heat of his hard body. She couldn't believe how much she had experienced in just two days, how much she had changed, and it had everything to do with Adamanteros. She couldn't imagine behaving the way she had with anyone else, including Adam's equally gorgeous twin brother. It was as if she had waited her entire life for this one perfect moment.

  Try as she might, she couldn't go back to sleep, no matter how desperately she wanted to return to dreamland. There was something pressing at the back of her consciousness, not allowing her to fade away. Groggily, she disentangled her body from Adam's strong embrace, instantly missing his warmth as she sat up in the bed and pushed the strangled mass of hair from her eyes. Blinking blearily, she looked around the lavish apartment, unable to distinguish the furnishings in the low light, only knowing that they had been just as extravagant and beautiful as his home in the country.

  "Celeste!" a voice called out in her head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Kim.

  Startled by the sound, she jumped, falling off the bed into a naked heap of flesh and bones on the floor. Sitting up, she scrubbed her hands over her face, coming abruptly back to reality and to the fact that she couldn't stay with Adam. She had a million responsibilities and as much as she enjoyed the sex and the biting and Adamanteros she didn't truly want to lose herself in that way. Or any way, really. Unfortunately, if she didn't get out of there while he slept she knew that she would never go and she would be lost.

  Quietly, she made her way around the dark room, gathering up most of her clothes and putting them on, not caring whether or not they were inside out or with the tag in front. Her eyes kept drifting to the bed where Adam slept the sleep of the completely sated and her heart ached with the knowledge that she was never going to see him again. She sat down in a chair, sliding her shoes onto her feet, keeping her gaze on Adam, praying he would wake up and stop her, grateful that he remained asleep.

  Swallowing against the tears that tried to choke her, she stood up and hesitated; should she kiss him goodbye or was that too much of a temptation? If she stayed she would lose herself in him completely and she wouldn't care; her friends would go home without her and someone else could have her job and she would be a slave to the pleasure of Adamanteros's embrace.

  Guilt slammed into her and she pressed a fist against the cold, hard knot in her stomach as she thought about her best friend, about what Kim would go through if she disappeared without a trace. God, Celeste was a terrible friend and Kim deserved so much better. Swallowing against the bile, she turned her back on the masculine perfection of Adamanteros and left the haven of his bedroom, the safety of his apartment.

  The building itself was very cool; at least it had been when Adam had been by her side. It was structured with a central, spiral staircase that was open to all seven levels of the building, with landings that led to the individual apartments. It was almost hive-like in its design, with warm colors and art deco flourishes that made the whole thing like something from fantasy. Strangely, there were no elevators, just the central spiral stairs that connected all of the floors.

  Standing at the railing, her heart inexplicably racing in her chest, Celeste looked over the edge into the bottomless blackness below. No light emanated from any of the rooms, including Adam's, and she briefly wondered how she was going to make her escape, why escape suddenly seemed necessary. She wasn't running away from Adam, she was running from the cold vibes that echoed within the building's walls, the hidden eyes that watched her every move.

  Nervously, she glanced over her shoulder as she held onto the railing, making her way to the landing and the stairs. Icy tendrils wrapped around her limbs, her throat, as she hurried down the stairs, her pace increasing with each step she took. Round and round she went, further into the unending darkness until she thought she was running straight into hell. Her palms were slick, slipping from the railing until she clutched the metal lifeline with both hands; her skin was damp and her messy hair was sticking to her temples, her forehead. She had to get out of there before the darkness ate her soul.

  An uneasy giggle escaped, the sound harsh and alien in the darkness and she immediately clamped a hand over her mouth. She should have stayed in Adam's bed; it would have been better to spend the rest of her days basking in his warmth than to die in this hostile cold. She was on the verge of turning around and making her way back up the dark stairs when there was a faint glimmer of light and she almost cried out in relief. No longer walking, she skidded down the last two or three stairs and sprinted through the lobby, pushing through the doors and sliding to a halt in the warm Parisian night.

  Street lamps illuminated the surrounding area, bringing her back from the edge of madness; she was certain that had she stayed another moment she would have lost her resolve and returned to Adam. Slumping against the wall of the building, she took a moment to calm her racing heart and replenish her wheezing lungs.

  How was she ever going to find her way back to the hostel?

  On shaky legs she began walking away from Adam's building, wanting to put as much distance between her and the brick structure as possible even though it was taking her away from him. If she walked long enough she would find a kind stranger and be able to ask him where her hostel was, if she could remember its name. If not, she would hope that Kim got he
r stuff packed and she could meet the girls at the airport and hope that Kim wouldn't be incredibly angry with her.

  After nearly fifteen minutes of walking, oblivious to the pre-dawn nightlife around her, a car screeched to a halt next to her. Her heart stuttered to a halt in her chest as she hoped Adam was going to jump out and bring her back home with him. Turning, her heart jolted back to life as Kim hopped out of the backseat of a taxi, crossing the distance between them and taking Celeste in her arms. Relief ripped through Celeste as she hugged Kim with everything that was within her.

  "Thank God I found you," Kim breathed, doing a quick once-over as she led Celeste back to the waiting car. Making sure Celeste was strapped in, she shook her head with a mixture of hurt and relief, "Thank God you're safe."

  "I am so sorry, Kim," Celeste apologized, grateful to have such a dedicated friend. She had to swallow over the lump of guilt that threatened to choke her before she could ask, "How did you find me?"

  "I don't know," Kim answered slowly, her look of bafflement quickly replaced with a look of righteous fury. Turning her blazing blue eyes on Celeste, she growled, "Don't ever run off like that again, girl; do you hear me? What on earth could have possessed you to run off like that, leaving a stupid note behind? God, what were you thinking?"

  "I wasn't thinking," Celeste pathetically admitted, knowing how silly her words sounded in the face of Kim's hurt and anger. All of the sudden, moisture sprang to her eyes as she realized she was never going to see Adam again. Choking back her tears, she met Kim's eyes, "I left him."

  Kim's eyes squeezed shut as she grimaced, taking Celeste into her arms and comforting her even though Celeste knew Kim would rather be strangling her. "Let's get back so we can finish packing and get to the airport."

  Celeste nodded her head, no longer able to hold the tears at bay. "I am sorry."

  "I know."

  Chapter 5

  Today is the first day of the rest of my life.

  “Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that load of crap and you just might believe it. Or not,” Celeste muttered as she stood in front of her mirror, staring at the face that had been staring back at her for twenty-three years. She should at least look different; God knows she felt different. Everything seemed to be… more; brighter, louder, harsher, prettier.

  Stepping off the plane at the familiar Saint Paul – Minneapolis International Airport a few days earlier was when she first noticed the changes, when the florescent lighting seemed to burn her eyes with its cruel, unnatural glare. Shielding her eyes with her arm, she squinted, trying to keep up with the other three girls without actually being able to see them. Then there was the smell of hundreds of people, individual smells that tried to blend together but failed miserably creating a hodge-podge of pleasing and disgusting odors. Maybe being bit by Adam did cause her to change, just not in the usual way, unless it was normal for whatever type of being Adam was. It was all very strange.

  Opening her mouth, she looked down her nose to see if fangs had sprouted yet; then she would have the proof that she was different. She wasn’t sure whether it made her feel better or worse when she saw that her mouth was still fang-free. He said he wasn’t a vampire; he had been insistent upon it. Could he have been a Calix? But didn’t Calices have fangs all of the time?

  Adam didn’t have fangs all of the time; she would have noticed something like that. His face was branded into her memory and if she closed her eyes she could recall it with perfect clarity. Doing so now, she saw his obsidian eyes, his lips parted in a smile as he talked to her, those cheek bones that she had licked with her tongue. Hmmm, Adam tasted good…. Dear God, she was getting off track.

  She focused her thoughts back to the memory of his mouth, making the imaginary Adam open wide as she peered into it: nope, no fangs. But she distinctly remembered being bit and in so remembering the memory brought a smile to her lips. Hmmm, being bit while in the throes of passion; her legs trembled as she stood there. She forced her thoughts to return to less pleasurable topics before she collapsed and hit her head on the corner of her desk, knocking herself out and bleeding to death.

  There was a tugging at her thoughts, forcing her to take a dispassionate visit back to the sex dilemma. Perhaps not too dispassionate since she had to squeeze her thighs together to alleviate the ache had taken up residency between her legs. Figuring if she was going to have to deal with the issue of sex and Adam at the same time, it would be best to sit. So she sat down, crossing her legs in front of her and trying to remain dispassionate when thinking about Adam. Closing her eyes, she let her thoughts drift back to the hours they had spent together….

  There had been a moment when she could have sworn Adam and his brother were communicating telepathically but she hadn’t heard of any supernatural being with that ability. Of course, she was a human and not privy to the secrets of the supernatural world, no matter how many books she had read. Maybe he had been honest when he jokingly said he was an Apocritum; maybe….

  Celeste raised her head and met her eyes in the mirror, seeing the dawning realization in the hazel depths. Memories began to creep into her head of the time she had spent with the man. One that had stood out was the whooshing feeling she had when they were going from the dining room to his bedroom and the return trip the next day. The trips had taken different amounts of time; she had even realized it in those moments, but his lips would cover hers and it didn’t really seem all that important.

  A Calix could not teleport; but an Apocritum could; even if it was illegal to transport a human. But then, a human wasn’t supposed to be aware of the change, at least according to all of the mythologies she had read. At this thought, she frowned. A human wasn’t supposed to be aware of the change. Oh, damnation. Adam was an Apocritum and he wasn’t the one who was different….

  She was.

  The face in her mirror had lost all of its color as her eyes widened. Swallowing hard, wanting to deny the possibility that she was the one that was different, Celeste found it difficult to move. Her hand fluttered up to her throat where he had bitten her. Already the marks were fading, much quicker than she would have expected. That is, if she were human. Hell, of course she was human; what else could she be? A wretched sound escaped her throat and she realized that it was an attempt at somewhat hysterical laughter. She got the hysterical down; the laughter – not so much.

  Again, Celeste opened her mouth and stared at the reflection, almost willing fangs to be there, to prove that she was Calix; or Thraell at the very least. It sure as hell beat the alternative of, well, of not being human. There were still no fangs. She jabbed her fingers against her teeth, prodding them into becoming sharper. Still they were just her normal teeth, no pointy bits at all.

  In the reflection, she noticed her hand had begun to tremble; surely that was a human reaction. Wasn’t it? Hell, not only was her hand trembling, her entire body seemed to be shaking violently, trying to deny the truth. It was almost as if she had been dumped in ice water and then sat in front of an air conditioner set at full blast. Suddenly she was so cold; colder than she had ever been before.

  Clenching her chattering teeth together, she tried to stand up but failed quite spectacularly as she twisted and fell flat on her face, sprawling out across her floor. Well, legs were pretty much useless. Pulling herself across the floor on her belly, she reached the edge of the bed. Curling her fingers into the comforter, she yanked and pulled the blanket off the bed. As she sat there and shook, she managed to wrap the bulky thing around herself so she could huddle on the floor, trying to calm down.

  She knew she did the right thing when she left Adam, of that she had no doubt. Deep down she had known that he was an Apocritum, she just hadn’t wanted to admit that. A relationship with him was impossible; humans were insignificant in the greater scheme of things, barely living more than eighty years if they were lucky. Adam had thousands of lifetimes behind him, and a thousand more in front of him. Hell, a million lifetimes or more. She couldn't help but wond
er if he was looking for her; he could drink his fill from her and not change her. An Apocritum would want to keep someone like her; it might have been Adamanteros's only reason for wanting her to stay with him. Her teeth clattered together as she contemplated that fact.

  Adam was an Apocritum, and she was the one who was something else. Damn.

  Her bedroom door opened and Kim stood in the doorway. The smile on her lips faded as she looked down and saw the pallid expression on her best friend’s face, the same best friend who was wrapped up in a down comforter on the hottest day of the summer so far. Immediately, she went to Celeste’s side, placing her hand on her forehead, “Are you all right? What’s wrong?”

  “He… he… he….” She managed to sputter, her wide eyes rolling up to see Kim kneeling beside her. If she weren’t so scared, she would be laughing at the expression on her friend’s face; the mounting concern. After all, it’s not like she was dying; just not human.

  “He who?” Kim asked, pressing the back of her hand to Celeste’s face, her cheeks, noting the coolness of Celeste’s skin which indicated that there wasn’t a fever. Pressing two fingers against the girl’s throat, she noted that Celeste’s pulse was a little fast, though that wasn’t really cause for concern, at least not yet.

  “A…A…A….”

  “Adam?” Kim supplied the name, arching an eyebrow. Celeste had specifically said she did not want to talk about him for a little while and Kim respected that. But now, Celeste was bringing it up and it had only been four days. And her friend did not look so well.

  Celeste nodded, relieved that Kim spoke the name and wishing her tongue would work. “P…P…P….”

  “Paris?”

  Celeste frowned and shook her head. “P…P….”

  “Problem?” Kim asked, frustrated with the strangle hold on Celeste’s tongue. She hated guessing games.