Two seconds later, he was stripping and jumping into the pool, disappearing under the water and resurfacing just in front of me.
I bit my lip, careful not to draw blood as I stared at Max, trying to resist the urge to throw myself at him, because that was exactly what I wanted to do. After all, the probability that someone might come knocking on our door was huge. Our lives didn’t leave much for personal time, and I wanted to make the most of what little we had.
Eventually, Max reached out and circled his arm around my waist, bringing me closer to him. He brushed his fingers over my hips as he slowly made his way to cupping my head in his hands. “God, you’re beautiful.”
“God doesn’t exist, but I’ll take it as a compliment.” I took a step closer and sucked in a sharp breath as our bodies touched, a raging fire radiating where my skin pressed against his with no chance of diminishing any time soon.
Leaning down, he kissed me. My body trembled as his hand moved down to my breast, an aching desire within me growing with every brush of his hand, touch of his lips, and caress of his tongue.
My heart ached for him in a way I’d never experienced before, and then it hit me. I did love him. I was in love with him.
Cupping my ass with his hands, Max lifted me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He carried me across the pool, up the steps, and into the bedroom, leaving a trail of wet footprints.
Leaning over, he gently laid me on the bed then climbed on top of me. I was so ready for this and hoped no one was about to bust up our little party.
He placed a kiss on my jaw then brushed his lips down my neck and over my chest, stopping once he reached my belly button.
Max’s gaze raised to mine, and I nodded, giving him my approval. Hell, I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted a guy before.
He reached over to the bedside table where he’d conveniently left a condom.
I wiggled my brows. “Rather presumptuous of you to think you were getting lucky tonight.”
“I’ll stop if you want me to.”
“Hell, no.”
Max laughed as he tore open the packet then slipped it on. “That’s what I thought.” He kissed me briefly before pulling away. “But if you’re not ready, I can wait. You mean far too much to me, and I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything you’re not ready for.”
“Do I need to beg?” I asked breathlessly. “Because I’m not ashamed to tell you how much I want this.”
“How much?” He brushed his lips across my jaw then nibbled on my earlobe, sending my insides into a gooey mess.
“Stop fishing.”
“Stop resisting.” He left a trail of kisses down my neck before moving onto my collarbone.
A soft moan escaped my lips. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. I…”
“Go on,” he encouraged, teasingly. “Tell me.”
“I…”
“Love. You,” Max finished for me.
“I…love you.”
His lips were on mine as the last word left my mouth, and he eased inside of me, connecting with me in a way I’d dreamed of for so long. Every brush of his lips and thrust of his hips cast me into a fantasy world where there was only him and me, the world wasn’t going to hell, no one was missing, and the war had already been won.
My dream had to end sometime; we all had to come back to reality. And when we did, it wasn’t the magical fantasy land I wanted to run away to. It was the cold, hard truth of how screwed up the world was.
“What do you think your element is?” Max asked as we made our way down the stairs to meet the others after we were summoned.
“Earth,” I replied without hesitation. “It’s what I’m most connected to.”
When he stepped onto the ground, I jumped onto his back and wrapped my arms and legs around him, hanging my head over his shoulder.
He hooked his arms under my knees, securing me against him. “Did Nessa say what’s involved in this spell?”
“Nope. But I bet there’s blood. There’s always blood in the good spells. Well, at least the ones on TV. I haven’t had a chance to look at any of the good spell books yet.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have been so preoccupied in getting me into bed.”
I barked out a laugh and slapped my hand against his chest. “Not nice.”
He twisted his head to the side to look at me as best he could. “You loved it.”
I pressed a kiss against his cheek. “I love you.” Apparently, once I’d managed to say it out loud for the first time, I kinda opened the floodgate, and I now had no problem confessing my feelings to him.
“Aww, isn’t that sweet,” Mason said, making me roll my eyes for the millionth time that day.
He caught up to us, slowing down to walk beside Max. “Sounds like you two have officially moved to the next level.”
I whacked him across the back of his head. “Ew. Gross. That is not something I wish to discuss with my baby brother.”
Mason laughed. “Well, I didn’t mean that, but thanks for the update I really didn’t need. I was talking about you finally admitting the way you feel about Max.”
Of course, he wasn’t. He just liked to embarrass the hell out of me. It was something little brothers did just to piss off their older siblings. He was gifted in the art.
“Anyway,” Max said, trying to change the conversation to something a little less uncomfortable. “How’s your room?”
“It’s amazing,” Mason said, falling into Max’s trap. “It even has a pool and everything. But they gave us a king-size bed instead of two twins. The bed doesn’t separate, so one of us is going to have to sleep in the hammock outside. We were in the middle of negotiating when Nessa called.”
“You know, you could just sleep together in the bed,” I suggested. “If you both feel so insecure about your manhood, you could put a pillow between you.”
“My manhood is just fine. I can’t say the same for Finn. But that doesn’t mean to say I want to share a bed with him.”
“This coming from the boy who used to crawl into his big brother’s bed anytime there was a storm.”
“I was four years old,” he said, getting a little exasperated.
Max laughed. “I miss sibling interaction.”
I fell silent, remembering what he’d said about his family. I wished there was something I could’ve done for him, but I didn’t have the ability to raise the dead. Bringing them back from the Shadow Realms was entirely different.
“Wait,” Mason said. “You have brothers and sisters?”
“Had,” Max corrected. “I lost them a long time ago, and now, it’s just me.”
“I’m sorry to hear about your family.” Mason put his hand on Max’s shoulder. “But you’re not alone. You have Kali and all of us. And one thing I can tell you about my sister that I’m sure you’ve already figured out, once she loves someone, there’s nothing on earth that will get in the way.”
Max’s lips tipped up into a grin. “I’ve kinda noticed that stubborn streak in her.”
I kissed the side of his cheek, loving the way my brothers so easily accepted Max and my relationship. I always knew Mason would be on my side, and I was pretty sure Finn would try to kick my ass if I hurt his friend. A complete one-eighty from the threats he’d made to Max when I’d first arrived. I could now see the torment I threw into their relationship and could appreciate how much Finn had done for me. I just wished he hadn’t been so overprotective and maybe…
Nope. Everything happened for a reason. And without his overbearing ass, I wouldn’t have gone behind his back and figured out who I was. Then, I would surely have been possessed by a demon come my eighteenth birthday.
Arriving where the others were waiting for us, I slid off Max’s back and stood beside him, looking at the pentagram made out of dirt, salt, and who knew what else Nessa had prepared in advance. We were deep in the forest, surrounded by trees that were hundreds of years old. The magic in the land hummed under my skin, furth
er confirming my affiliation for the earth element.
“Come here.” Nessa held her hand out for me to take.
I looked nervously up at Max, who gave me an encouraging nod. “This isn’t a blood ritual, is it?”
“Why? Does your own blood make you queasy?”
I shrugged. “Guess not.” I took her hand and stepped inside the circle.
“Good.” She moved her other hand from behind her back, producing a dagger that unnaturally shimmered under the morning rays.
“Where do you want to slice me?” I asked, strangely curious as to why I was so willing to inflict pain upon myself.
“Your hand will be fine.”
And there proved my point that witches always seemed to go for the hands when any part of your body would bleed just as well and not hurt as much during the time it took to heal.
Me? I didn’t have that issue. I healed in a matter of minutes.
Holding out my hand palm side up, I barely winced as Nessa sliced the knife across my skin, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
She handed the knife to Liam as she took a small bowl filled with herbs and murky water from him. “Now, take this”—she pushed the bowl toward me—“and when I give you the go-ahead, I want you to drop your blood into the bowl and tell me what you see.”
I took the bowl from her as she stepped out of the pentagram. Everyone stood around the outer circle, watching, waiting to see what I was. I appreciated the support, but I hated being the center of attention.
Trying to ignore their stares, I focused on the bowl, and when instructed, I lifted my hand over the bowl and let my blood drip from my palm into the water.
Almost immediately the blood began to move, snaking its way through the mixture, turning the water into a shimmering blackness that reflected white with the light. “This can’t be right,” I said. “Something must’ve gone wrong.” I shoved the bowl toward Nessa so she could see.
22
Nessa shook her head slowly as she stared at the bowl.
“What is it?” the others asked in unison.
“It’s black but also light,” Nessa said, her brows drawn together in confusion.
“So, she’s a spirit elemental,” Kade said, matter-of-factly.
When we all snapped our heads in his direction, he added, “You know, the fifth element. Fire, earth, water, air, and spirit.”
“Where did you hear that?” Nessa asked. “There are only four elements.”
Kade shook his head. “No. One of Lana’s books spoke of the elements, and there were definitely five of them.”
Eyes wide, Nessa glanced down at the bowl then up at me. “Holy shit. You’re a spirit elemental.” She shook her head in bewilderment. “All this time we thought there were only four elements in this world while the Society knew there was a fifth. I mean, I understand there were legends of more elements in the fiction world, but we never thought them to be true. Hell, we didn’t even know the impact the elements could play on each of the descendants.”
“No wonder they were so far out of our league,” Liam said.
She nodded. “No wonder they kept this information to themselves.”
Nessa passed the bowl to Finn, who was standing next to her, and the others crowded around him to get a better look as she kicked the salty dirt, forming a break in the circle. “Now we have to hope we have the other four elements.”
“When will we know what the others are?” I asked, hoping we wouldn’t have to wait long. I was impatient at best.
“We should know soon enough.”
“Does that mean minutes? Hours? Days?”
She shook her head and smiled. “I would imagine we should hear from them before nightfall.”
Sunset was hours away. We could literally fly back to Australia and almost make it back again before the last of the sunlight was swallowed up by the night sky.
“Until then, why don’t you all relax because this very well could be your last chance before we take on the demons?”
I knew what she was saying was right, but I still didn’t like the idea of wasting a whole day.
“Come on,” she said. “You’re in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I’m sure you can find something to do.”
I was about to turn and leave when I realized I knew nothing about the element I supposedly was able to control. “What exactly is a spirit elemental?”
Nessa looked to Kade.
“From what I could understand, you gain your power through the living and the dead.”
“Which is why you thought you were an earth elemental,” Max said, more to himself than to me.
I drew my brows together in confusion. “How so?”
“Well, you said that you draw your magic from the earth. And the earth is living, neither fire, water, nor air is living, so those elements mean nothing to you.”
“Then wouldn’t that make me an earth elemental?”
“Not necessarily,” Nessa jumped in. “Max is right. You were drawing from the life of the earth, but that also means that you can draw your power from the dead.” Her eyes lit up as a thought popped into her mind. “Which could mean that you have a connection to the other side. It would explain why you gained your powers so young.”
“It would?”
She nodded. “Leave it with me, and I’ll see what I can learn. Go have fun for the day, but keep your phones on you,” she said as she headed back up the trail toward the rooms with Liam following closely behind her.
Having fun wasn’t something that appealed to me. We’d all been awake since the night before and figured it would be best to get some rest because we weren’t sure when we’d next get a chance to sleep.
But first we needed to eat, so we headed to the dining area, which was more like a hut with a few tables and chairs. The view was spectacular, which made up for the lackluster furnishings. In the distance was a waterfall spilling into a river running through the hills of the forest. Exotic parrots sat on the railings, waiting for one of us to throw them some food, which, of course, Mason and I did. I couldn’t let the little things go hungry—even though we’d always been taught not to feed them human food. But fruit was okay—right?
The food was delicious and like nothing I’d ever tasted. But it wasn’t blood. And I craved the warmth of it as it ran down my throat, filling the void in my soul that only blood could satiate.
I once again hoped that when the demons were eradicated from this world, my thirst for them would disappear as well. The thought of having this hunger and never being able to feed would be unbearable.
Mason threw a grape at my face. “What are you thinking about?”
I picked up a handful of grapes and pegged them at his head. “None of your business.” I wasn’t upset with him. In fact, I was grateful I had him as a distraction to bring me back to reality. I wouldn’t trade my annoying little brother for the world.
Mason laughed. “Well, how about you get your head out of your ass and take Nessa’s advice? The world will still be fucked up in a couple of hours from now, so stuff having a sleep. We can do that on the plane. Let’s go have some fun now.”
“I’m in,” Kade said.
Finn broke a crusty bread roll in half. “Me, too.”
“Count me in,” Max said, picking up a glass of freshly squeezed juice made out of local fruits that I couldn’t name if my life depended on it.
Sighing, I leaned back in my chair. “I guess that means I’m in, too.”
We finished up breakfast then piled into the hotel’s complementary Jeep, only just managing to squeeze the five of us in. Finn drove, and Mason rode shotgun, because he was the most fragile of us all. I really needed to remember to ask Nessa for the spell Orphelia had used to give the other hunters the abilities of the vampires.
Mason was part of our crew and needed the protection.
I happily squeezed in between Kade and Max but was relieved when we reached our destination so I could get out and stretch.
; I’d always thought Bali was all about the beaches and was surprised to find their forests were just as beautiful, if not more. We stood before a large rock pool complete with its own waterfall. There wasn’t another soul around for miles, which was just the way I liked it. People freaked when they saw my eyes and fangs, and I wanted to forget I was different for a few hours—pretend I was just a normal human having fun with my boyfriend and brothers.
This time, I didn’t strip naked. I left my bra and panties on and dived into the warm water.
The boys soon joined me, cannonballing into the water. We laughed, mucked around, and even jumped off the top of the waterfall. As much as I didn’t want to waste a day doing nothing, I was happy I’d decided to join them.
I swam over to the edge and sat on a rock just under the surface of the water, watching the boys try to make a swing out of a bunch of vines they found on a nearby tree.
Max looked over at me then brushed his hands together, getting rid of the tiny pieces of leaves sticking to his skin. “I’ll be back in a moment,” he told the boys before diving into the water and swimming across to me.
“You didn’t need to come over to me,” I said. “I’m fine just sitting here watching you guys have fun.”
He sat beside me, right leg bent and arm leaning on his knee. “I know. But I wanted to.” Max snaked his other arm around my waist then lifted me off the rock, moving me between his legs. “It’s nice to see you having fun.”
“Believe it or not, I used to be fun. You know, before all this vampire shit.”
He pressed a kiss against my bare shoulder. “I believe it.”
Melting into his arms, I leaned back against him. “Do you think the world will go back to what it was like before them?”
“Before the vampires?”
I nodded.
“I don’t think we can ever go back. It will be a new era. And history books will have some lie about the vampires dying out or that the government finally came up with a cure and got rid of the vampires for good.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that sounds about right. They never tell the truth in history books.”
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