by Safari Spell
“You know, I still don’t know how old you are,” I said.
“I’m legal,” he answered.
I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out at him. He scooped me into his arms and nuzzled, making me giggle. After planting a kiss on the back of my neck, he put his lips against my ear. The stubble tickled.
“Eighteen-hundred.”
My jaw dropped.
“Are you seriously telling me that you are almost two thousand years old? You’re too old for me!”
Tom chuckled into the microphone in the middle of his song. He was looking at us. He cleared his throat and apologized to the crowd, adopting his sad tone once again. Sage shook his head.
“No, honeysuckle. I was born in 1800. The year.”
Honeysuckle? He’d never called me anything but my name before. Oh, wait – we were already on pet names? I couldn’t imagine calling him baby or sweetie or anything so silly. He wasn’t actually twenty-five. He just looked it. But honeysuckle sounded kind of cute.
“What was it like living then?”
He glanced around and bunched his brows together.
“Hmmm…less clean. Lonely. Hard. But I didn’t have the typical life, you know. I like now much better. Now is good,” he murmured, kissing my neck.
“It is good,” I said, taking a soft breath and relaxing into the lips against my skin.
I looked back at him over my shoulder, and without a word, he took my hand and we left.
Walking down the dim street late at night was never something I would do on my own. But I wasn’t alone. I was under Sage’s arm. A group of loud teenagers chortled their way past us, loudly prodding at each other with stolen orange street cones.
Sage switched to the outside of me before they came by. It was a small protective gesture, and sure enough, there was reason for it. One of the guys tried to jump to grab a street sign and hang from it. He caught it, but his feet flailed around and almost hit Sage in the face. The teenager cursed and jerked his feet back so he didn’t hit him. He called out an apology. Sage just waved him off. I felt safe with him, truly safe. I could rest my weary soul in Sage’s arms.
“I love your body,” he said.
His hand tightened on my hip. I had a hard time maintaining my step. I never thought I’d be grateful for the curves I wanted to cut off with an imaginary knife. Sage’s appreciation made me feel so sexy – like less of a girl and more of a woman.
“Oh. You like it, do you?” I asked, cuddling my face into his chest.
“No, I said I love it,” he answered, his hands caressing even more.
“Oh, are we gonna try and out compliment each other now?” I said, swinging around to the front of him and walking backwards.
“I like it. I’ll start because we already know you like the hair on my face,” he said, pretending to grab and twist from his chin. “Otherwise known as a beard.”
I stopped us and put my hands assertively on my hips.
“Well, maybe I was nervous! You didn’t talk to me very much then. I was intimidated!”
He pretended like he was going to kiss me, but instead he picked me up from the back of my thighs and set me around his waist. I wrapped my legs around him, appreciative of a man who could pick me up and carry me around. It was nice being with someone that strong. I didn’t feel self-conscious at all for not being skinny like Bex.
“Maybe I just liked listening to you,” he suggested.
I don’t know how he could see where we were going with me perched up on him like that. Maybe he had a sixth sense being supernatural and all. We didn’t run into anything, anyway. I rested my cheek on my wrist and propped my elbow against his shoulder.
“I like your eyes, how I never know what color they are. Sometimes green, sometimes brown, but always hazel!”
He laughed.
“I like that you can admit what you’re not good at. Like ice-skating. It gave me a reason to hold your hand again.”
I had to kiss him after that. He stopped and brought a hand up to my hair. When we pulled apart, I hooked my arms around his neck.
“I like every single thing you say,” I said.
He focused on my lips.
“I like the way you kiss.”
The way he looked at me made my heart speed up. I stretched my hand back and forth across his shoulders and felt his muscles move as he walked. Inspired, he pushed us up against the shadows on the backside of the museum of Citizen’s Park. We kissed again, all lips and tongues and fingers everywhere. I giggled and put my feet down. He tried to kiss me again, so I put my hand into a knife blade against my lips like I was protecting my eyes from being poked. That made him laugh.
“Pretty please,” he complained.
With wide eyes, I nodded heavily and even moved my hand, but when he leaned down again, I squealed and bolted under his arm. He froze in that bending position with a crooked smile on his lips.
“Hey! Somebody stop that girl,” he called.
I ran around the building and down the stone path towards the river. I could hear him jogging up behind me. Even without his speed, he was faster than me. He caught me next to a Citizen’s statue. I squawked and kicked until he spun me around straight into a kiss. The world was wet and warm and I didn’t want to run again. There I was sated, happy. We held each other against the statue, him leaning back and opening his neck for me to bury my nose in for warmth.
“Remind me. Do you like poetry, Miss Gardin?”
I groaned.
“Ugh, I hate when guys recite me poetry. It’s so tacky.”
He pulled me close again; this time I could feel his lips form a wicked smile. He ran a finger down the length of my necklace to where it stopped at the curve of my V-neck. My chest seemed to plump under his fingertip, but he wasn’t looking there.
“She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry nights –”
I attacked him before his words set me on fire. There was too much skin and all else between us. I was slow to open my eyes, lingering on the end of a dream. With only a few fingers outlining the length of my neck to my collarbone, he walked me backwards slowly until I came against the metal bar railing lining the other side of the sidewalk. It was cold to the touch, but it did nothing to slow us down.
“More,” I begged.
Sage touched his forehead to mine.
“I think that I shall never see something as lovely as a tree,” he said, kissing the place between my neck and jaw. “A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed against the earth’s two beautiful breasts.”
“Those aren’t the right lines,” I playfully scolded.
He flashed a grin.
“Oh, they aren’t? I thought you hated poetry.”
“Well, I thought you were a poet’s poet. Hung out with the greats and taught them genius and all that.”
He placed his hands on either side of the railing around me.
“Well, I never said that, did I? Who’s your favorite? I might have known them.”
“Keats. If you knew him and didn’t save him, I’m breaking up with you right here and now.”
I took his coat collar in hand while he rested his hand over my thigh.
“Knew him,” he said, grimacing.
“No, you didn’t.”
He grinned.
“I did. And he liked dying, actually. Couldn’t convince him to stop once he started.”
I slapped his shoulder and he scooped me up again. I wrapped my legs around him, resting on his interlocked hands under me and enjoying being at his height.
“So this is what it looks like to be tall. A different world, huh?”
He looked up at me for once.
“You wear heels taller than me some days. I’ve seen them.”
“How else would you see me way down there? A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to get noticed.”
“Oh, I saw you.”
“Do you have eyes on
the back of your head you haven’t told me about?”
“No, just the normal two that like looking at you.”
He smiled as I slid slowly down. I meandered over to the statues and dragged my hand across them as I walked around. He followed. When I got to the last of them, his hand found my hip again from behind. I stopped, my own hand dropping from the cold concrete and taking ahold of the thigh of his jeans. His arm crawled across my stomach like a snake, encircling me in his heat.
“It’s cold,” I said, backing into him so there was no space between us.
He gently moved my hair and touched his lips down to my bare shoulder with a kiss.
“Come home with me.”
I rested my head back on him.
“I’m scared to.”
“Why?”
“Because this thing,” I said, pulling back my sleeve.
It’s what I wanted, too. But I couldn’t risk it. I’d already knocked him unconscious once, and Spencer was still missing. I always said I’d wait until I was married to have sex. I promised mom, promised myself. That was still my plan, too… but I never wanted to marry a vampire. And one had already started calling me his wife. But Sage was the one you wait for. Even my mother, dead as she was, could see that.
“I’m cold,” I told him again, shivering this time.
It was so quiet we could both hear my teeth chattering. I felt him start to take off his jacket and caught his hands. Oh, those precious freckled hands. The freckles were there, but they seemed fewer and fainter.
“No, I just want your hands. They’ll do.”
“Ok,” he said, holding me tight.
“Why do your freckles come and go?”
“You noticed that, did you?”
“I notice everything about you,” I said, blushing.
He felt so strong against me. I wanted to merge with his body and just live in it. Two souls, one skin. It felt possible in the world now. His voice was low, soft.
“Think of it like supernatural camouflage. Makes me harder to find. That’s kind of important for me, you know?”
I found it fascinating watching the freckles fade as I brushed my fingers across them. I guess the more I touched him, the less he wanted to hide.
“Then you came to the right place. Cypress, I mean.”
“Yeah, I did.”
His beard scruff tickled my neck as he kissed it. His lips were so near my pulse.
“Is it hard for you to kiss me there?”
I felt his head move from side to side.
“No.”
We looked out towards the dark river in front of us and listened to the white noise of the rush. He breathed in deep against my skin and lifted his head. I touched the place on my neck where he had been kissing.
“Is it terrible that I want to be yours?” I admitted, half-ashamed.
I couldn’t believe I said that to Sage. Even worse, he seemed to feel the same way. He loosened his grip on me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I want you to be free.”
“I am free, but I’m also yours. I think I’ll always be.”
His hands recoiled completely, so I turned to face him. The weather was cold, but not so cold as Sage was right then. He looked like he wanted to tell me something that was hard.
“No, you belong to yourself. I want you to understand that. It’s important. It’s why I’m risking my life. It’s the whole point of what I do, Talor.”
I pushed away.
“Belonging isn’t slavery, Sage. It’s called a relationship.”
He ran his hands through his hair.
“What is this? I thought you understood.”
“I just want to be close to you.”
His lips stretched into a thin line.
“I can literally feel everything you feel right now. No one else in the world can do that. How do you not feel close to me?”
“You can feel me. I can’t feel you. And I never will because of this thing I can’t wash off and you can’t heal.”
“Don’t do this.”
He reached out to me, but I moved back against the statue and crossed my arms.
“What am I to you, Sage? Just some girl you kiss?”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
I blinked hard and fast. I wasn’t going to cry now. He would just want to console me and not listen to anything I had to say. He came towards me, but I held him off.
“No, you’re going to listen to me. I remember the night I saw you with Valerie. It nearly killed me, Sage, and that was before –” I stopped, swallowing hard, “you ever kissed me and I wanted us to only belong to each other. So don’t judge me for wanting something special with you. Don’t you dare judge me!”
Every movement of his was sluggish to give me time to react. He brushed his knuckles against my arm, knowing I would jerk away. I didn’t want to be difficult; it was just the emotional response whenever he kissed me. They were true feelings, though. I never forgot that night. I knew it wasn’t his fault. He didn’t choose to be what he was.
But I was angry. Angry he couldn’t break the seal. Angry that I couldn’t give him everything I wanted – my heart, my body, my blood, even. I was a china doll he could barely touch, and I wanted him so much I would gladly break. I kept from crying somehow, maybe because he wasn’t touching me. But he knew how I felt, and it was all reflected in his eyes. He started talking to me like I was some animal caught in a trap.
“I wish I could say whatever you needed to hear. I wish that you were free to do everything you wanted to do. I want that kind of life for you. That’s what I’m fighting for. That’s what I mean. I never like feeding on humans. I don’t feel held back by you because we can’t do that. I feel free because it’s the only time I forget – because of you. I don’t judge you.”
I relaxed against the statue, unhinging my elbows from their physical fortress around my heart.
“This isn’t fair.”
“Nothing about us is fair.”
He took me into a tender kiss, lavish and desperate. It melted my anger, leaving my heart entirely his, whether he wanted it that way or not. Just then, Sage’s head snapped towards the walking path near the woods. He straightened, pulling me protectively behind him as his fangs extended. In that moment, I was afraid the Grigori had come and it was all over. The trees gave way after a furious rustling, swaying fight with invisible monsters. Soon the monsters weren’t invisible anymore.
29
It was Mannix. That was bad enough, but he wasn’t alone, either.
“Manky,” Mannix admonished, wagging a finger at Sage.
The guy with him was younger than Mannix; he barely looked old enough to drink – alcohol, not blood. He had a thick bundle of driftwood hair looped into dreads down his back. He crouched down and studied Sage. After he was finished looking him over, he turned his attention to me. His manner changed from speculative to submissive. It was a little hard to believe the switch.
“Good evening, princess. My name is Nico.”
There was that term again – princess. I hadn’t heard it in a while, but now it started making sense. Sage stood in front of me protectively, but we all knew they wouldn’t hurt me. I tried to move in front of him, but he wouldn’t let me.
“Sage, please.”
I held up my arm. It was visible, and the letters were illuminated. When they saw it, Nico and Mannix bowed the knee. I slowly lowered my arm, never expecting to see something like that.
“There will never be a time when it’s right for you to stand in front of danger for me,” Sage said simply, keeping an arm across me so I would stay behind him.
I wanted to call Tom, but he was half a mile away playing tearful songs for spare change. Not in the best state of mind for a fight, but still. Mannix and Nico paced the empty park, cracking their knuckles. Sage ignored Mannix and focused on the younger one.
“You
keep poor company, kid.”
“Is it true what they say about him?” Nico asked Mannix, concerned.
Annoyed, Mannix dropped his head back and sighed. Then he slapped his hands together and spread them out.
“It’ll hurt, but ya heal. Pull your socks up.”
Nico still looked nervous, but he nodded in agreement. Their eyes went black and fangs extended. Sage moved me back to the other side of the statue, never looking away from them. As Sage tensed up, a silver-blue fire began rising off his skin. I was touching him, and it didn’t burn me. It crackled bright in spurts, like when he drew in a breath he didn’t even need. He was building up energy or something, and that’s when I realized he might evo in front of me. I reached out and grabbed his arm. It was hard and cold, like something set in steel.
“Sage, don’t. Come with me.”
His eyes had already begun to change as he shed his shirt. His body was changing slowly, like he was fighting it. It was something I couldn’t recognize. Not like a dragon or a werewolf – things I’d seen before. He looked different, like something more human than animal. With that, he left me by the statue. I hid behind it.
When I looked back out, they were all three standing around, but now there was some poor woman with them. I looked harder and saw that it was Valerie. Mannix bit into her again, drinking so viciously that I was sure her throat would be torn apart. When he was finished, he let her drop to the ground. He gave a contented sigh and looked straight at me. Blood was dripping off his chin.
Not missing a beat, Sage took him by the neck and threw him. Mannix vaulted through the air and caught himself low to the ground, limbs spread wide and a maniacal laugh echoing across the empty park.
“Wanker,” Mannix hissed, touching his throat.
The wound was strange. It glowed with the same kind of light as the letters on my wrist. He and Sage became a furious blur, and I could only see what happened every few seconds when one of them stopped moving to slam the other into the ground. Nico joined in, adding his fists to the fray. I ran over to where Valerie lay lifeless on the grass, a gray sheet of ash already taking over her skin. I bent down and felt for a heartbeat, but I knew I wouldn’t find one. She was already gone.