Beautiful Nightmare

by Stotz, Chrystie Q.

  I did have every intention of going for a walk, a really long walk. I wondered around a while, making sure that everyone I passed noticed me. I don’t know how long I was walking when I found it, but eventually, I came to a door I recognized. The door I actually was looking for. I didn’t bother knocking, just walked in. It may have been rude, but no one was there, and I knew it.

  I made myself at home. I knew exactly where I would go. I wandered through the rooms until I reached his bedroom. His huge, incredible bed called to me. I climbed up and lay down, just relaxing, wishing I had this bed at home. My bed was really comfortable, but this bed, I don’t think there was a bed made that could beat this one for comfort. It was so relaxing, that even though I wasn’t tired, I could have fallen asleep right then. Now that I was away from everyone, I could think. No distractions, no guys, no fights. Just think and hopefully come up with a way out of this mess. If only I knew where to start. So much had happened over that last few months, where did I begin?

  “I really hope you were planning on calling me,” I heard someone say from the end of the bed.

  I sat upright quick, a smile sliding across my face.

  “It is almost cruel to come back to my room and find you in my bed.” Devlin continued as he walked around the side.

  “Sorry, I was going to call for you. But your bed got in my way, it’s just so comfy and… I just needed a place to hide away for a while. Where no one would find me.”

  “I found you.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t care if you find me.”

  “You need to stop flirting with me, Trystessa. I just might take it the wrong way.”

  “Take it however you want.” I said falling back on the bed and looking up at the sparkling ceiling. Screw it, why the hell not.

  I felt the bed move and turned my head to see Devlin sitting beside me, his eyebrows raised.

  “You don’t want me to do that.”

  “I don’t say things I don’t mean.” I looked back at the ceiling.

  I heard foot steps coming from the other room and Devlin got up and walked over to the open doorway.

  “Is everything all right in there, Captain?” When I heard the deep, gravelly voice, I knew it was Roman. I’m sure Jax was right at his side. I was quickly becoming acquainted with those two guards; they were never very far from where Devlin was.

  “Everything is fine,” Devlin answered, his hand held, waiting, on the door. “I wish not to be disturbed. Set up post outside. I will come out when I am ready.” He didn’t wait for a reply, he simply shut the door.

  “You wish not to be disturbed, huh?”

  He didn’t respond, just a slight twitch of his lips as he walked back toward the bed.

  I watched him as he gracefully walked toward me. It was so animal like with a barely contained fierceness just under the surface. His green eyes so bright they seemed to glow and swirl in the light. For the first time since meeting him, I noticed the three rings in his eyes, a deep hunter green ring around the outside, a vibrant green middle and an almost neon green around the pupil. Amazing. I turned my head to look back at the ceiling. I couldn’t watch him. He was so beautiful… and he knew it. At least, he knew I knew it.

  He laughed slightly, like he heard what I was thinking, and sat beside me on the bed again.

  “You are blushing, Trystessa.”

  “Trystie. Please call me Trystie. And I’m not blushing, I’m… hot.”

  “You might get away with that with others, but not someone who can smell it.”

  I blushed again. Caught out.

  He chuckled softly again, and dropped it. Thank god. “Why did you come to me?”

  “I told you already.”

  “Besides your story for needing to hide, you said you were going to call for me.”

  I heaved out a heavy breath and sat up. “Are there some kind of markers or signs that tell you who you are to be with?”

  Completely thrown by the randomness of the question, he only stared at me, mouth handing wide open. He tilted his head slightly to the side. “Yes, there are. For the Fae, at least?”

  “And they would be?”

  “Some of the markers?”

  I nodded and he moved a little closer.

  “Well, for example, it can be a look, something in his eyes. It can be the way a touch feels. It can be something you just know, instinct, when you look at them. It’s a feeling so strong you can’t deny it. It will always be something that happens when you interact with each other, a reaction that happens only with that one person and no one else. It will never happen with anyone else. It will always happen with that one person and will never go away.” His gaze was off in the distance for a second, he seemed lost in his thoughts, but suddenly his eyes focused and he continued. “This is why bonding is so important to us. It means we have found the person we are destined to be with. These markers, as you call them, are what we look for in people from the time we are children. One would be extremely lucky to find the other. Most the time, it doesn’t seem to happen.”

  I turned away and thought about what he said, falling haphazardly against the mound of pillows. Could it be possible? Maybe what Halo said is true. Maybe his bite is his marker. He killed those other girls because he couldn’t control himself, but with me… it felt good. Not just on his end, but mine as well. Am I the one person that he couldn’t hurt? I don’t know. He said he never even felt the need to do it to anyone else. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady my spinning head.

  “Devlin?” I didn’t turn to see if he was looking, I didn’t open my eyes. I waited for him to reply. When I heard him respond, I continued. “If you bit me, would you kill me?” What was I thinking?

  He grabbed both my shoulders hard. Shocked by the sudden jolt, I threw open my eyes to see him very close, a very serious expression on his face.

  “Why would you ask me that?” I would think by the way he had grabbed me that he was angry at my question, but looking at him now, to my surprise, I only saw true confusion.

  I sat up and faced him. “Would you do it if I asked?”

  “That’s a really bad idea.”

  “Please, I understand I am asking something totally unreasonable, but I… I don’t know. I just need to know.”

  “No.”

  “You won’t kill me. I know you won’t.” He gawked at me, utterly unconvinced. Was I doing this on a whim? Hell, yes. Did I know I was putting myself in possible danger? Absolutely. But either way, I wanted to know what it meant. If he was the only one who could explain, the only one I can experiment on, so be it.

  “The guards, they are right outside. If you hurt me, I’ll yell and they will be here before anything bad happens.”

  I reached up and cupped my hand against his cheek. “I trust you.”

  His eyes locked with mine. “This is a bad idea.”

  I shrugged and dropped my hand. “Maybe, but I know you won’t hurt me.”

  “It’s not hurting you I’m worried about.”

  “You don’t want to? I thought vampires loved blood.”

  “Oh, I want to. Believe me.” I watched as his eyes flicked down to my throat and back again.

  Something flashed quickly in my mind, a reminder, a hint, but I lost it before it formed. It felt important, but to what? I don’t know. I completely lost my train of thought when Devlin reached out and took my hand.

  “Are you sure about this? You know how… intimate it is. I need you to be certain you are okay with that. With me, I mean.”

  “Devlin, I asked you. Not the other way around. I know what to expect if it’s the same. Stop worrying and do it. I asked for it, it will be my fault, whatever happens.” Looking at his face, now I was concerned. Maybe he didn’t want this. “I need to ask, but, are you sure you are okay with this. I really don’t want you to try it if you think…”

  I didn’t get the chance to even finish my thought. Devlin placed a finger over my mouth, shushing me while he leaned down to lightly
kiss my throat. I felt his plump, soft lips travel over my skin, starting directly over my rapidly increasing pulse, up toward my jaw. I will admit, for someone who asked for this, I was incredibly tense. Until I felt the hand that was wound in my hair trail caressingly down my back. When he reached my waist, he grasped the ends of my shirt. He pulled away to look me in the eyes.

  “I don’t want to get anything on this,” he whispered and lifted it over my head. He made a noise low in his throat before the shirt hit the ground. I didn’t even have the chance to take a breath before his mouth was over mine.

  I don’t know what I expected from this. I guess I thought it would be uncomfortable or weird, but strangely it felt like… home.

  At this point I decided now was as good a time as any to get a glimpse of this guy’s body. I may be young, but I wasn’t blind. He had wide broad shoulders and a thin tapered waist. The way his shirts fit… I couldn’t wait to see what I already tried to imagine was there. When would I get another chance? Oh yeah, right. I’m pretty sure once you’re bonded, it’s frowned upon to even look at someone else. Maybe, it wasn’t even possible.

  Bonded. Shit.

  I lost my parents. I lost Kamdyn. I guess, if you want to look at the positive, at least I can’t lose Halo. Once the ceremony is over, I would never be alone again.

  I growled and deepened our kiss. My hands found the ends of his shirt and tore it away. I pulled back, glancing down and hissed in the absence of words. Damn, why did he need to look so good? This would probably be a lot easier if he didn’t.

  I put the brakes on, on my thoughts and without thinking, I pulled him hard against me and together we fell against the bed, Devlin landing on top of me.

  We laughed as we landed harder than we should have, but the laugh died in his throat as his hands continued to explore. They quickly found the button to my jeans and flicked them open.

  “Don’t want to get anything on these, either,” he said, tugging them off.

  “Are you sure you’re not just looking for an excuse to remove them?”

  “Oh, I have reasons to remove them.” Then he fell back on me, his hands warm and soft against my skin.

  “Aren’t you straying from the game plan a little?” I asked a little breathless.

  “Do you blame me?”

  I looked down at his exposed chest and hard stomach. Nope, I guess I couldn’t. At the same time, I reached for his pants, unbuttoning them and pushing them off with my feet.

  All I could feel everywhere was his hot skin on mine. Just the feel of him was incredible, but something was telling me this needed to stop. This couldn’t go further, even if my body was screaming otherwise. I pulled back and had to bite my lip. “Now, Devlin.”

  His eyes found mine and something about them looked as if he was tugging at my soul. He smiled down at me, a different smile then I had seen on him before. But I didn’t have the chance to try and figure it out. The second my mind tried to go there, Devlin bent over me and finding the pulse in my neck, he bit.

  There was no pain, no pinch as his teeth pierced my flesh. Instead, there was a searing heat the coursed through me, dragging a cry from my lips. He echoed it, but he didn’t stop. It pulsed through me, like adrenaline in my veins. I waited, breathless, for the feeling to change. For it to turn into what we feared, but it didn’t. I expected Devlin’s bite to be different from Halo’s, but I thought, considering the rarity of the bite, it would turn into pain.

  But this, this was very different, stronger. It felt like… power.

  Just when I was getting used to the sensation, it began to change. A heart stopping, breath taking feeling that made my eyes flutter closed and pull him closer. I felt the shudder that ran through Devlin and knew that I wasn’t experiencing this feeling alone. The feeling was just inconceivable; it would have felt wrong to experience it alone. An upsurge seemed to burst suddenly from within me, wrecking havoc on my body. Finally, when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, Devlin slowly pulled away.

  He held himself steady over me, his eyes closed, and I watched as he licked his lips and another shiver ran down his body. I watched him as he fell over onto his back, beside me. I watched as he took deep breaths until his breathing evened. I watched him until I saw his eyes open. And I don’t know why.

  When his eyes opened, his head fell to the side to look at me as if he could feel me looking at him, but he didn’t speak. I looked deep into his swirling emerald eyes and… something was different. It wasn’t a physical difference, but something I could feel looking at him. I knew he was different now, we were different now. But how?

  “Is that what is supposed to happen?” I asked.

  “Wouldn’t know,” he said turning his face toward the ceiling. “I have only done it in battle.”

  “Oh,” I got a quick flash of Devlin in battle. A war waged on around him. Screaming and grunting, the clang of weapons and the spray of blood. I saw as he lunged for someone, then the vision disintegrated. I blinked hard and turned my head away.

  “Is that what it’s like… with Halo?” he asked after a few silent minutes.

  Suddenly nervous, I could only answer, “No.”

  “No? Explain, how was it different?” I could hear the surprise in his voice, but there was also something else. Was it satisfaction?

  I let out a deep frustrated breath. How can I explain this when I don’t even understand what happened? “It felt good with Halo. But it felt nothing like that.” I watched the slow smile creep on his face and turned away, thrilled with the sudden silence.

  “Shit,” he exclaimed beside me. I turned back to look in his direction to find him sitting upright staring across the room.

  My heart hammered in my chest. “What’s wrong?”

  He turned himself toward me and reached for my hand. I let him take it, trying hard not to immediately pull away.

  “That was extraordinary, the best thing I have felt in my life.”

  Watching his face, I couldn’t help the smile I felt spread across my lips. “So, the problem?”

  He caught my gaze and held it. “I can’t not do that again.”

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Devlin brought me back to my room. When I walked in, I expected to be ambushed by Halo with a million questions. Instead, Halo was no where in sight. The rooms were quiet. As I walked through, I noticed a girl sitting in a chair off in the corner. When she saw me enter, she quickly jumped up.

  The girl was much shorter then everyone else I had met here in the sithen. She was probably shorter than me by at least a half foot. She had medium length light brown hair, lightly bronzed skin and hazel-brown eyes. She didn’t look as petite as the other females I had seen here. Actually, she looked the very opposite of most that lived here. She was very… plain. There was nothing wrong with her appearance; she was still a pretty girl. But she wasn’t plain like I felt plain compared to the sidhe’s exotic beauty but plain in the very sense of the word. There was nothing about her that stood out.

  “You must be Trystie,” she said as she came to her feet.

  “Umm… yes. And you are?” I couldn’t help looking around the room a little anxious.

  “I am sorry, my lady,” she said dropping her head and going down to her knees. “Please forgive me.”

  I looked around again, nervously. “Don’t do that,” I said seeing no one else in the room. “Please, get up.”

  Her head still bowed. “I am required…”

  “No, just get up and tell me who you are, why you are in my room.”

  She stood, but stayed where she was. “My name is Tilli. I was assigned to be your lady in waiting. There is a dinner tonight in your honor. The King has sent me to get you dressed. You will sit at the high table with the King before the entire court.”

  My head began to spin and I felt light headed. What the hell was going on here? A dinner in my honor? I grabbed the nearest chair to steady myself. “Where is Halo?”

  “He offered to go to another room and g
et ready so you could get ready here.”

  I looked down at my outfit and lifted a shoulder slightly. Good thing Devlin didn’t want to get anything on this. Isn’t he thoughtful? I laughed silently to myself.

  “Okay, well, I’m as ready as I’m going to get, so let’s go.” I turned to walk back toward the door. Tilli jumped forward and grabbed my arm.

  I looked down where she had grabbed me and she dropped her arm quickly, averting her gaze and apologizing.

  She cleared her throat. “I... You can’t go like that. This is a formal dinner.”

  “Well, Tilli, I don’t have anything formal.”

  “That’s all right. The King has picked out a dress for you.” She walked out of the room. I heard a door open and then close. When she returned she had a beautiful full length, deep red corset dress. Red and black lace trickled down the tight bodice and spilled on to the bunched fabric of the full shirt. Gorgeous.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked looking at me.

  “Very,” I couldn’t take my eyes off it, afraid to touch it.

  “It will look breath taking on you with your dark hair, red highlights and green eyes. Not to mention your skin tone. This dress was made for you. Come on, I’ll help you into it. Then we can get to work on your hair and makeup.” Before I could protest, she took hold of my hand and pulled me toward the big bathroom.

  It took a half hour to get in the dress. The corset was nearly impossible. If Tilli wasn’t here, there was no way I’d get into this dress alone. With all the loops in the back and the strings that all needed to be pulled tight, I couldn’t even imagine the sight my struggle would look like. When she was done, I could barely breathe. Once the dress was on completely, Tilli made me avoid all mirrors and flicked me, hard, when I tried to peek.. “Not ‘til you’re totally done,” she kept saying. I just wanted to see.