Beautiful Nightmare

by Stotz, Chrystie Q.

  “What is it? Are you okay?”

  No.

  “I… I’m not important. Don’t worry about me. Don’t care about me. Just… do me a favor and forget about me, please.”

  Still, I couldn’t look at him.

  “Trystie, what are you saying?”

  He sat forward and tried to take my hand.

  I moved it away.

  His voice got quite, trying to push aside his panic. “I can’t just…”

  “Damn it, Kamdyn! We can’t be together. Okay? You are better off without me. So much better off. So just do as I asked, please, and just forget me. I need you to do this.”

  I was still reluctant to look up but I got a glimpse of his expression, as his mouth dropped open in surprise.

  “Don’t do this. I’m better with you. How could you say that? You know how I feel about you and I know how you feel about me.” He tapped his forehead hard with his fingers. “You can’t just walk away.”

  I looked up then and met his eyes for the first time since he arrived. And I saw exactly what I didn’t want to see. The pain and the panic behind his expression, and I could see how he felt about me. He was pushing the emotion at me so hard, I could almost feel it. He wouldn’t give up. He won’t just let me go.

  For a brief second, looking in his eyes, I almost forgot why I was doing this and jumped across the table into his arms. I would do anything to make that expression go away, to make the pain go away and show him this was the last thing I ever wanted to do. But I knew I couldn’t, not without sacrificing his life. So with that, I would walk away, knowing he would live.

  As much as I believed that I was all cried out with nothing left to shed, I was wrong. A single tear escaped. The trail hot and heavy along my cheek.

  I saw an emotion flash across Kamdyn’s face as he watched the tear fall.

  I quickly threw up a tighter mental shield, wiped the tear away and stood, tearing my gaze away from him as quickly as possible.

  “Please, Kamdyn. I can’t do this. Please understand. I… I have to go.”

  I felt the hot sting of tears in my eyes and taking all my strength left not to look at him one more time, I ran for the door.

  I could hear him calling, begging me not to leave, as I flung open the door and ran toward the parking lot. I stepped off the curb just as Kamdyn opened the door, running toward me. I could hear him getting closer, using a speed no human could ever duplicate. And as much as I wanted him to catch me, I knew it wouldn’t be good if he did.

  Unaware of my surroundings, I heard the loud purr of an engine. Jerking my head up I saw Halo pull to a stop in front of me.

  Resisting the urge, again, to glance back one last time, I jerked open the car and jumped in as the sleek car took off.

  Later, that evening, I had gotten my tenth call, twenty-somethingth text and a loud knock on the door; I had had enough.

  I wrote a text to Kimber, telling her I was spending the night at a friends, waited for her reply and shut off my phone.

  Halo sat quietly in the corner of my room since we had returned. He hadn’t asked how things went with Kamdyn and, to my relief, didn’t make things worse by talking. As stupid as it sounds, I was grateful for his presence, which totally made no sense because if it weren’t for him, this wouldn’t be happening.

  He remained quiet even as I threw things across the room and into my bag. I could feel his eyes on me, following my every move. At least he didn’t question me. I think I would have lost it.

  To my surprise, he still said nothing even as I threw my bag over my shoulder, grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him out the door.

  Halo’s house was on the other side of town. Pulling down his driveway brought back the same eerie I got the first night Jayson drove me down my driveway. Only with out the darkness enveloping me. But when we cleared a small bend and the house came into the view, I swear you could hear the sound of my jaw dropping. His home was beautiful. Beyond beautiful. Like my home, it was set back far in the woods at the end of a very long driveway. The house was completely made of stone and literally looked like a castle.

  As we approached, an eight-foot high iron fence opened slowly. As the car crawled passed the fence, I could see the entire property was enclosed by the same iron wall, giving his property the look of being in a different world.

  The house had a huge stone porch along the front, surrounded by a snow covered garden and small ponds. The house itself looked to be at least three stories high with beautiful story high windows and colorful window pane accents. Surrounding the front entrance was a wall of glass cathedral ceilings with two large staircases leading to the other levels. A very large, dark chandelier hung down low from the ceiling, wrapped in ivy and lightly illuminated the foyer.

  I dragged my eyes away when Halo’s hand swept down my cheek and under my chin and with a soft chuckle. He pushed my jaw up, closing my gaping mouth.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled

  “I take it you like it.” His smile was confident and breathtaking and, I hated it but, it made me want to smile.

  “It’s so beautiful and… I don’t know. It has an almost old-world feel. I love it.” I said turning my gaze back to the house. “You live here alone?”

  “Not anymore.”

  I wiped my head around to look at him, but he was already out of the car.

  Grabbing my things, I jumped out after him.

  I caught up to him and tapped his shoulder. I didn’t wait for him to turn around. “Halo, I can’t live here. No matter how much I like your house.”

  He didn’t respond, just kept walking.

  After unlocking the door, he led the way toward the massive staircase. He said nothing as he carried that same maddeningly beautiful expression all the way up the stairs to the second landing, turning left and stopping at the first door, his brilliant eyes flashing as he turned to me.

  I was sort of disappointed at him skipping the “grand tour”, which I felt cheated out of. If the inside was a gorgeous as the outside, in the middle of winter no less, I didn’t want to miss out. But leave it to Halo to overlook the rest of the house as unimportant and go directly to the bedrooms.

  I hitched my bags up, adjusting the heavy weight and, only for a moment, was almost appreciative.

  “This is my room,” he said as he opened the door to reveal an enormous room. There was a four-poster bed against the far wall, nicely seated between two large windows. To the right, I saw an open door. Peeking in further I saw it was a very large walk-in closet packed with more clothes than I’ve seen in some stores. Taking a step back I saw further beyond the closet door was another door, partially open. Being the nosey person that I am, I walked into the room and opened the door. Inside was a large white marble bathroom, complete with a large glass shower.

  “I’m more than willing to share.”

  I jumped at the sound of his voice, not realizing how close he had gotten to me. I turned around to see his bright purple eyes focused intently on me. Without moving my eyes from him, I slowly walked around him and out of the room without a word.

  Once I got into the hallway, and felt more comfortable, I turned around to face him. “This isn’t exactly a one bedroom house, Halo. So if you don’t mind, I would like my own.” I turned my head and looked around, quickly examining the interior of the house. Picking up my hand, I point to the hallway on the other side of the staircase, the other side of the house. “Preferably, on that side of the house.”

  With a rather large smile on his face, given my comment, he turned around and continued past his door, down the hall, in the opposite direction I wanted him to take me. I rolled my eyes, resituated my bags on my shoulder again and followed.

  He stopped about twenty or so feet away and reached for a door on the opposite side of the hall from his.

  Could he have picked a room closer? Our doors are almost on top of each other.

  “This one will be yours, than.” he said, waiting for me to open the door. “Make yo
urself at home.”

  I reached for the handle, hesitated, than slowly turned it. I’m not sure why, but I guess I expected Halo to be – I don’t know- cruel, and give me a bedroom the size of a broom closet. His way of saying, “If you won’t stay in my more then spacious room, you can always make the closet your own personal space.” But to my surprise, the room was just as big, if not bigger, than his.

  Awed, I walked in and, dropping my things to the floor, spun around, taking it all in. I was acutely aware of Halo’s smug expression from his perch against the door frame.

  There was a large canopy bed against the right wall, black and deep purple fabric wrapped around the columns and draped dramatically across the canopy. A fluffy black comforter covered the bed with purple and white pillows piled in mounds. On either side of the bed there were built in bookshelves rising from the floor to the high arched ceiling, both filled with books.

  The wall on the left was the same as in Halo’s a room. The first door led to a very nice sized walk-in closet, roughly it was the size of my bedroom back in Florida. I closed the door and moved toward the other, the one I knew belong to the bathroom. Even though the rest of the room was very similar to Halo’s, the bathroom was definitely different. Definitely better.

  The bathroom was dramatically done in black marble, the walls painted a light grey. Besides the normal bathroom stuff, there was a frosted glass shower, large enough to fit at least five people. I stared at the shower for a while. It was beautiful, and huge. What in the world would anyone want a shower that big for?

  Um… never mind. Don’t think about it.

  I turned around to look at the rest of the room when I saw it. The best part of the room. The part that immediately made me think of my mom. At the other end of the room, set under a cove of big windows, was a white claw foot tub. My mom had always talked about wanting one. I couldn’t wait.

  Taking one last look around the bathroom of my dreams, I walked back out into the bedroom. That’s when I noticed the wall to my left, as I reentered the bedroom, wasn’t just a plain wall, it was a wall covered by thick giant curtains.

  I glanced quickly back to the doorway and saw Halo had followed me into the room, but was now leaning casually against the wall just inside the door watching me with amusement. And with a beautifully wicked smile, he nodded once.

  I turned my attention back to the thick fabric, trying my best to ignore the hard beating in my chest, and grabbed two fists full of material and whipped them open to expose… an entire wall of glass, from floor to ceiling.

  I gasped.

  I saw the vast forest surrounding his vast property. I noticed a very large and exotic in-ground pool situated to the left of my window and what I could only assume would be beautiful gardens strategically placed around the pool and bordering the forest. Looking over his estate into the dark woods, I could see the full moon just peeking over the tops of the trees and just below those trees, small pond sat at the border of his acreage, the moons reflection rippling in the surface.

  I felt arms wrap around my waist and weight lean on my shoulder.

  “I knew you’d love it,” he whispered in my ear, his breath teasing my skin.

  I didn’t respond.

  Instead, I pulled myself free of his arms and turned to face him.

  “Don’t get all excited. I do love it, it’s the most beautiful room, most beautiful house, I have ever seen. But I’m not staying here long.”

  “Trystie, I thought we had an agreement.”

  With a shock back to reality, and all my excitement gone, my face fell. “We do. And I’ve done exactly as you’ve asked.” I felt the pressure of tears building. I swallowed hard and pushing them away I look a step toward him. “But I am only here for tonight, just so I could get away… from everything. So I’m not doing anything against our agreement.”

  “Well, I guess not technically,” he said, taking a step even closer. I had to fight every impulse not to step back. “You see, our deal was for you to leave Kamdyn, to break his little heart. And what better way to do that than to see the love of his life, with me.”

  He reached his hand up to trail his fingers gently down my neck. “And I did tell you,” he leaned down and put his lips on my skin. “I was going to make you my princess.”

  I felt his teeth graze my neck, lightly, almost playfully – if that was possible- and I knew what he was doing.

  He was trying to scare me. Trying to make me freak out so he could enjoy fighting me into submission. Because he knew, in the end, I would give in to keep Kamdyn safe.

  But it wasn’t going to work. Not on me. I’m not playing that game.

  I reached up and, putting both hands firmly against his chest, I pushed.

  “I’m not scared of you, Halo.” I let and smile slide onto my face that was anything but sweet and nice. “And you already know what that does to me.” I cocked my head slightly to the side. “So stop toying with me, because it won’t work.”

  Then I stepped around to get my bags and headed toward the bathroom.

  “I’m hungry,” I said standing in the doorway. “But I need to take a shower first.” My eyes shifted quickly toward the bedroom door and back to him again.

  He didn’t say anything, just stared at me as his grin got wider, flashing sparkling white teeth. Suppressing a shiver, I started closing the bathroom door. Just when there was only a crack left, he cleared his throat.

  “There is just one more thing.”

  I eased open the door, a bad feeling consuming every inch of me. But I ignored the feelings, pushing everything aside to show him my best, confident, I-honestly-don’t-care-what-you-have-to-say expression, but said nothing.

  “Unless you want me to continue my nightly “runs”, than we need to talk about that beautiful neck of yours.”

  His mouth curved into a teeth bearing, gorgeous smile.

  He heart went wild, hammering loudly in my chest. The illusion of my confidence immediately evaporated.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Standing under the hot spray of the shower, I tried to wash away Halo’s words, words that clung to my skin like sopping wet clothes. Stubborn, tight, wet clothing that, no matter how hard you struggle, they just won’t peel away from your flesh. When he told me he would give up chasing down and hurting those girls, I guess I thought it more of a hobby or something he did… to be evil. I had no idea that it was more or less a necessity. As he had explained, a little more graphically than required, when he’s out of Faery, he needs “it” for strength.

  Kamdyn had briefly, and as best he could, explained something similar. That living your whole life in Faery, than coming here, you constantly feel drained and lost, like a piece of you is missing. Which is why most don’t voluntarily leave.

  A sharp pain shot through me at the thought of him. That all I had planned to share with him was no longer possible.

  I had to let him go.

  Holding on to what should have been, to what could have been, wouldn’t do anything but cause more pain.

  Shutting off the shower, I pushed my hurt far away, deep behind a locked tight and sealed shut vault. Unfortunately, it was something I was all too familiar with, therefore, almost easy.

  I didn’t want to do it, any of it, but it needed to be done.

  Dressing quickly, throwing some hair products in and finger combing my hair, I left my room and began my search for Halo.

  You would think in such a big house it would take a while to find him, but oddly enough, I found him in the second place I looked. I guess mostly it was due to my nose, which I followed by the smell of something wonderful downstairs. When I found the kitchen, I found Halo, standing in front of the stove, his back to me.

  He had changed his clothes while I was in the shower. He now wore a pair of very nicely fitted, black jeans that hung very low on his hips and a tight black tank top, showing off the defined muscles in his shoulders and back. His shining dark hair was down and brushing lightly across his n
eck and shoulders. Even from behind he was beautiful to look at and before I could stop myself, I had started to quietly walk up behind him. When I stopped, I was way too close. Just as I was about to step back, the lights in the kitchen caught just right on his hair. Noticing now, that his hair was almost black unless you caught it in the right light. In that light, his hair was a deep mahogany, a glowing red. Blood red.

  Great, I can add that to the ever growing list of Halo’s abnormal exquisiteness.

  I unconsciously reached up to touch it when Halo swung around, a immoral smile playing across his lips. “How long you gonna stand there and not say anything?”

  I quickly put my hand back down. “I… umm…sorry.”

  He let out a short laugh. “You can’t sneak up on me, Trystie. I heard you coming a long time before you found me.” He turned around gracefully, taking hold of a large steaming spoon. The other hand braced underneath, so nothing fell to the floor. “Open up,” he blew lightly on the spoon, than brought it to my lips.

  Flavor exploded in my mouth. I closed my eyes, savoring the exquisite taste and found myself licking my lips hoping a drop remained.

  I opened my eyes to see Halo beaming at me, his confident eyes sparkling. As much as I really wanted to hate him, for some reason, looking at him, my heart told me I shouldn’t. I couldn’t.

  “Good, huh?”

  “Delicious.”

  He turned back around to stir something. “I love to cook and I’m good at it. I’m glad you approve.”

  I went up on my toes to peek over his shoulder when he moved, fast, too fast, capturing my shoulders and pushing me down.

  “Uh-uh, no peeking. Go sit down.”

  I rolled my eyes dramatically and turned around, muttering about such inhuman qualities being very unfair, and headed back toward the huge glass table across the room. I stopped before I reached the table, thinking to myself how completely… disturbing this event is.