by M. Leighton
Bo’s lips thinned, a clear indication that he didn’t like my reasoning, but it didn’t stop him from coming to my aid. I knew he was the one person I could always count on to help me.
“Alright, let’s go. But you need to promise me you’ll let me take care of this. I saw the girl as she left. She’s mad and she’s dangerous.”
“I know, Bo. That’s why we have to go now.”
Without further hesitation, Bo took my hand and we raced away, speeding over the thick grass of my yard. The sun had set and dusk was stretching across the streets and lawns like dark, yawning mouths gobbling up the last bits of light. We flitted from shadow to shadow, clinging to the gloom as we tracked the fetid stench of Aisha’s dying flesh.
Night had all but fallen when we reached an old abandoned barn. It sat on the back property line of a large farm that lay at the outskirts of my subdivision. I’d crossed the wide field surrounding the rickety structure dozens of times. That summer, Drew and I would meet some of our friends to go swimming at the river that ran across the property. We’d played in the water for hours on warm days—before, in what seemed like a different life.
Now, I would never see that field in the same way again. I could smell Aisha’s horrible stench as we drew closer to the barn.
At the front of the structure was a big wooden door that hung crookedly off one hinge. Bo and I slipped quietly through the crack, stepping into the deeply shadowed interior. He stopped and scanned the darkness. I did the same. All my senses were wide open and stretched out before me like so many fingers, feeling the air and the ground around me.
My eyes stopped on an old, defunct piece of farm equipment. It looked like a big, rusty tractor with sharp metal teeth attached to its front end. There were about ten of them, each tooth easily as thick as my arm. They curved upward like the tines of a pitch fork.
A figure stood in front of the old tractor. It swayed gently back and forth, rocking from one foot to the other. It was Aisha. I could see that her arms were stretched high over her head. Draped across her hands, lying perfectly still, was Trinity.
She was conscious. Even in the dark, I could see that her eyes were on me.
Bo and I stood perfectly still and watched Aisha. It appeared that she was looking right through us, but I wasn’t fooled. I’d seen that look before—on Summer. Aisha knew we were there and it would be a grave mistake to assume otherwise.
I’d never wished so much in all my life that I could read another person’s thoughts than I did right then. I desperately needed to know what Bo was thinking, how we could work together to see that Trinity wasn’t hurt.
But there was no need for that. Both Aisha and Trinity had made up their mind and we were too late to stop them from proceeding. Aisha wanted Trinity’s life and Trinity was willing to give it. I knew it the instant Trinity opened her mouth.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
That single word sent my heart into a panic and my legs into action. Simultaneously, Bo and I launched ourselves across the room toward the couple.
At the first sign of our movement, Aisha turned toward the machine behind her. With a cry that brought chills to the skin all over my body, she threw Trinity’s body onto the sharp teeth of the tractor.
The echo of air leaving Trinity’s punctured chest rang through the still barn long after the sound of her breaking bones had faded. It hissed inside my head like a cobra of death.
Within a fraction of a second, Bo and I were upon them. I lost all thought of anyone and anything else, however, when I stopped in front of Trinity.
I bent and gently lifted her broken and bloodied body from the tractor’s tines. It was clear that one sharp point had ravaged her heart. As I turned with Trinity in my arms, I saw Aisha’s headless body fly across the room and hit the wood-plank wall on the other side of the barn. It barely even registered; I just knew it was one less thing I had to worry about, one less thing to distract me from my dying friend.
As I laid Trinity on the dirt floor of the barn, I heard Bo’s heavy, labored breathing from somewhere to my left. But it was soon drowned out by the failing beat of Trinity’s heart and that’s what I focused all my attention on.
I settled her on her back as gently as I could and then I knelt at her side, taking her hand in mine. Trinity rolled her blue eyes toward me and I saw her chin tremble with emotion. Though she was trying to be brave, I could plainly see the fear in her eyes. And the regret.
“It’s okay, Ridley. I want to go.”
Trinity’s face blurred as my eyes welled with tears of sadness that spilled down my cheeks. I knew in that moment that there was only one thing I could give her that would make a difference, one thing that would ease her suffering.
I leaned down and whispered into Trinity’s ear, “I forgive you.”
Trinity squeezed my hand and when I leaned back she was smiling. The gesture assured me that I’d done the right thing, that I’d given her the one thing she needed more than life—forgiveness.
Then, with the last breath leaving her body like a sigh of relief, Trinity’s hand went lax in mine and she was gone.
“Omigod, Trinity,” I moaned, bringing her limp hand to my mouth.
I bent over her lifeless body and I cried. I cried for Trinity. I cried for the loss of a friend I’d known most of my life. I cried for the tragedy that she’d brought to so many of those around her. I cried for the forgiveness she’d never win from the others. I cried for the person she became only a short time before her death. I cried for her violent death and the guilt that caused her to give up so easily. It was for that Trinity—the self-less, truly remorseful, honestly sincere Trinity—that I grieved. It was the image of her limp yet peaceful body that I would carry with me for the rest of my life, however long that life might be.
After some time, Bo squatted at my side.
“Let me take you home. I’ll come back and take care of them.”
“What do you mean ‘take care of them’?”
“I’ll bury them. They were your friends and they deserve that. Besides, there’s no reason for people to know what went on here. It would only cause more hurt and confusion.”
He was so good to me—so considerate of me and of others—that I ached with love for him.
“Do you want me to help?”
“No, baby. You need to rest. All this stress is burning through your blood. You’re beginning to fade and soon the thirst will be unbearable. I’ll get you home, come back and take care of them and then go feed so you can drink when you get up.”
I knew without a doubt that Bo would take care of everything, including me. I could feel love pouring off him in waves and I closed my eyes for just a moment to bask in it, to let it wash over me and carry away all the sadness, like dirt from a river bank.
Finally, I nodded and let Bo help me to my feet. Before he led me from the barn, he pulled me close to his chest and wrapped his strong arms around me. It seemed as though nothing could hurt me, not even a hurricane, as long as I was in his arms.
After a few minutes, he kissed me gently on the forehead and led me from the carnage in the barn. We kept our run to Sebastian’s at a leisurely pace, Bo ever-aware of my needs.
When we arrived, I was reminded of our houseguests. I had forgotten all about them until we passed the den on the way to the back bedroom. We didn’t even pause, however, just kept right on going.
Once we reached the bedroom, Bo bent and scooped me up, much as he’d done the last time, and carried me to the bed. Tenderly, he deposited me on top of the duvet, settling my head on the mound of pillows.
“Rest,” he commanded softly. “I’ll be back soon.”
I watched him go. When he shut the bedroom door, I tried to put him and everyone else out of my mind. I don’t know how long I lay there before I realized that my attempts at rest were futile. It must’ve been quite a while, though. I could feel my thirst gaining ground and clouding my mind. My thoughts rocked between physical need and the relivi
ng of the surreal events of the last few hours, days, and weeks.
In many ways, my entire life seemed surreal. Well most of it anyway. Some parts felt much more unbelievable than others. Unfortunately, it seemed that the painful parts were the ones I remembered most clearly, the ones that felt most real.
Each time I would try to push away the most bothersome memories in favor of the more pleasant ones, they would claw their way back to the surface of my mind and drag me back down into what felt like the depths of despair. There, they would swirl angrily with my ever-increasing thirst, each feeding on the other, growing more and more dominant of my thoughts.
Finally, tired of fighting, tired of thinking, tired of being awake, I turned on my side and I let the pain pour out of me in great heaves of agony. Tears streamed from my eyes, wetting the pillow beneath my cheek. Eventually, I cried myself to sleep, relieved to feel the comfort of oblivion carrying me away.
Almost as soon as I drifted off, something woke me. I wasn’t sure at first if it was a noise or the delicious scent of sandalwood and human blood. The smell was so intense, I knew the source had to be close.
The strength of the heavenly scent in the air coupled with my unpreparedness for it made my thirst increase exponentially. My throat burned like I’d swallowed acid. My chest ached with want of the sweet blood. My limbs stung with icy heat.
The last thing I was aware of was the prickling of my elongated canines against my lips. They were already prepared to penetrate flesh in order to satisfy my incredible yearning. My focus was singular. My need was violent.
When the doorknob to the bedroom twisted, it echoed in the silence, drowning out the drum-like thumping of my heart. I watched breathlessly as the wood panel moved toward me, opening just a crack to reveal Cade’s handsome face on the other side.
Then, as if by merely thinking it, I was standing in front of him, taking him into my arms and burying my teeth in the deliciously-scented skin of his neck. Somewhere in the back of my mind, it registered that not only did he not resist, but he wrapped his muscular arms around me and held me close as I pulled long gulps of his thick, warm blood into my mouth and let it pour down my fiery throat.
Almost immediately, I felt it singing in my veins and saturating my tissues, warming them, revitalizing them. The gift of his blood was bringing me back to life.
But then, all too soon, Cade was torn from my grasp and I found myself eye to eye with Bo.
“Get him out of here,” he called sharply to someone over his shoulder. I didn’t see who. I couldn’t take my eyes from him, from his thunderous expression.
He looked angry. But he also looked worried and tired and hungry and delicious all at the same time. Without taking his eyes from mine, Bo reached behind him and slammed the door shut. I saw the change in him as his pupils widened. The deep, rich brown of his irises didn’t fade because his thirst had been satisfied. No, it was hunger that I saw. Hunger for me. Hunger for my soul, for my love, for my body.
Desire rippled through me at the look on his face. I almost forgot that I still needed blood, that I still ached for something other than Bo himself.
I could see intent in his eyes as he watched me. He wanted to take me, to satisfy the passionate hunger we’d felt for what seemed like an eternity already. He was as tired of fighting it as I was.
Rather than tearing my clothes off and whisking me away on a wave of sensual satisfaction, Bo tore open his wrist and held it to my lips. Without hesitation, I touched my tongue to the trickle and lapped it up, reveling in the taste. I closed my eyes to savor the flavor. There was no comparison to blood that came from Bo. Not even Cade’s delicious fluid could compete with the sweetness that pumped through Bo’s veins.
As I suckled greedily at his wrist, Bo walked me backward to the bed. When the backs of my knees hit the mattress, I stopped. Bo took his wrist from my mouth and covered my lips with his own.
He wanted me. Badly. I could taste it as plainly as I could taste his blood. And, somehow, it was even more delicious, even more irresistible.
When I felt his hands at my waist, I didn’t hesitate to lift my arms as he pulled my shirt up over my head. Then his lips were on mine again, devouring me.
His hands roamed up and down my back until they stopped once more at my waist, coming around to my belly. I felt his fingers working loose the button and zipper of my jeans.
He leaned back to look at me and then dropped to one knee to pull off my shoes before he eased my pants down my legs. Obligingly, I stepped out of them. Bo’s eyes never left mine as he stood.
Bending, he swept me up in his arms and laid me gently back on the bed, my head resting once more on the mountain of pillows. The stimulating rasp of velvet against my naked skin sent a cascade of chills skittering across my chest and belly.
Backing away, Bo reached for the hem of his own shirt and peeled it off, revealing to my starving eyes the pale, smooth skin that covered his muscular chest and stomach. When he reached for the button of his jeans, he paused. My eyes flew to his and I saw the blaze of my own desire reflected there, scorching in its heat and intensity.
The grate of metal teeth drew my eyes back down. I was immediately mesmerized by the play of muscles in Bo’s arms and abdomen as he unzipped his jeans and bent to remove his shoes. When he straightened, he didn’t take off his jeans. Instead he crawled up onto the bed and took my foot in his hand, pressing his lips to the arch. His eyes didn’t leave mine as he licked and nipped his way up the inside of my leg.
When he laid my leg back on the bed, he trailed the fingers of his other hand up the inside of my right thigh, gently spreading my legs so he could stretch out on his belly between them.
Heat swept through me as I looked down at Bo’s burning eyes where he hovered only inches from the place I needed him most. As I watched, he pulled his lips back from his razor-sharp teeth and then drove them into the tender skin of my groin. A shower of fire and light exploded inside me and I closed my eyes and let the pleasure consume me.
I could barely breathe, the sensation was so incredible. The intimacy of it, the bliss of it was so intense that all thought was washed away by wave after wave of ecstasy.
When Bo’s mouth moved from my leg, I felt his lips graze my left hand. I opened my eyes a crack and saw a golden band encircling my ring finger. My befuddled mind wondered over it for just a moment before it returned to Bo as he kissed his way up my body.
Stretching out atop me, Bo nestled his hips between my thighs as his mouth covered mine. I tasted the delicious flavor of my own blood when he slid his tongue between my teeth to tangle with mine.
Shifting his weight to one side, Bo’s knowing fingers teased a trail from my throat to my shoulder where he eased my bra strap down. His lips followed the path with feathery kisses all the way to my breast. I couldn’t hold back a moan as his skilled tongue adored every inch of flesh he revealed.
A liquid heat began to bubble just below my navel. I knew instinctively that this was our moment. This was our time—the right time.
Reaching behind me, Bo unclasped my bra and quickly dispatched the material. He leaned back, his eyes roving over my bare breasts causing a flush to spread across my chest.
“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered reverently. “Perfect.”
He bent his head and sprinkled hot kisses all the way from my throat to the flat of my stomach and on to my navel, where he dipped his tongue inside. His fingers slipped beneath the band of my panties and he worked the silky material down my legs until he was once again at my feet.
Tossing my last piece of clothing aside, Bo slid from the bed and stood, worshipping me with his eyes as he pushed his jeans down his legs. He straightened and stood perfectly still as I raised myself onto my elbows to memorize every detail of his flawless naked form.
I felt as though I would burst when Bo set one knee on the bed and crawled back to me. He eased himself down between my legs, covering my body with his. The feel of his skin shifting against
mine sent a gush of steamy desire pouring through me.
Every nerve in my body was screaming out for his touch. I ached in ways I’d never ached before, ached in places I’d never ached before. I was alive with need.
When I opened my mouth to beg, to plead with Bo to put an end to the unbearable want that flooded my body, he smothered my plea with his lips. His kiss was deep and fiery with passion. It drove me to the brink of a need so desperate, a desire so overwhelming that it stole my breath.
Bo’s lips left mine as he positioned himself over me. With an intensity that seemed to singe my very soul, he gazed unblinkingly into my eyes, and in that time, a space no longer than a single heartbeat, our thoughts were one. In my head, I heard a word as if we’d both spoken it aloud.
“Forever” echoed through my mind and through my heart as Bo joined his body to mine in one smooth motion.
With that one action, in that one moment of the most intense ecstasy I’d ever experienced, he sealed our fates. He sealed our fates, our bodies, our lives, our love and our future.
We delighted in each other’s bodies for what seemed like hours before we rested. It was as my body was floating back down to earth from the clouds that I became aware of Bo rubbing my ring finger. Slowly, I opened my eyes.
There, poised over me with his weight resting on his forearms, was Bo. He had my hand in his, brushing his thumb back and forth over the empty space below the knuckle of my left fourth finger. When he raised his eyes to mine, there was still passion in them, passion I could clearly remember us slaking only moments before. Or had we?
Bo opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it with a snap of his teeth. When I saw the wetness of my blood still glistening on his lips, I became even more confused, different memories colliding in my mind and wrestling for the truth, for reality. Raising my head, I glanced down between our bodies and saw that my bra was still intact, still hiding my nakedness from Bo’s gaze.