Forever (Book #3 in the Fateful Series)

by Schmidt, Cheri

  “She’s right about what, exactly?” Ethan asked. “That you’re French? That’s your excuse for overstepping your bounds?”

  Casanova grinned. “You don’t need to be worried about me, or any of the others. We’re not a threat to you because we’re not here to seduce your wife, even if she is trés bellé.”

  Ethan’s stance took on a threatening edge as he braced his feet shoulder width apart, his hands fisting at his sides, but he said nothing in response to that.

  Still grinning, it was clear Casanova had noticed the change but ignored it. Casanova’s dark eyes rose as he perused Ethan more closely. Lifting a finger and drawing a small circle in Ethan’s direction before dropping it, the French guard noted with a hint of amusement, “Your eye is twitching. Have you been eating too much sugary fairy-food?”

  Ethan blinked. “I’m probably just sleep deprived.”

  “I supposed that’s a mortal weakness then. The twitching thing.”

  Gaping now, Ethan blinked again.

  “You probably have some rare disease that causes it. The twitching, I mean.”

  “Thanks, man.” There was nothing grateful in how Ethan said that as the two words practically oozed sarcasm.

  “We all die sometime, my friend,” Casanova said in a cheerful tone.

  “But not you,” Ethan ground out.

  “Well, of course not. I’m a vampire, and proud of it.”

  Ethan’s eyes narrowed on the guard.

  Casanova groaned and rolled his eyes. “Look, we want to be here to protect you, both of you. I do have other things I could be doing besides camp in the woods with fairies and mortals.” The vampire suddenly captured Ethan’s face between his palms and kissed the air beside each of Ethan’s cheeks. Ethan nearly fell on his backside when the guard released him. “It’s an innocent and simple French thing to do ... very much like the way I guard your dear wife. Being a Brit, and my national neighbor, you should know this. Or is your brain also addled by this unfortunate disease that is plaguing you with random bouts of twitching?”

  “Shouldn’t you be leaving?” Ethan folded his arms as his weight rolled to his left foot. “The sun is setting, and I don’t want a cursed man around my wife.”

  Again, Casanova laughed. “It wouldn’t matter here.”

  Confusion clouded Ethan’s expression as his eyebrows lifted. “Why not?”

  This was the first time Danielle had ever heard Casanova sigh. “I regret to confess that the curse is weakened while we live here and eat that too-sweet diet the fairies feed us.”

  Ethan’s mouth twitched and Danielle wondered if he found that humorous. “You’ve lost your super powers?” he asked, sounding a little too hopeful.

  “We don’t need blood either.”

  “They probably didn’t want you ... consuming any of the wildlife while on their land,” commented Ethan with a hint of victory in his tone.

  “They said as much, yes.”

  “Do you miss it?” Danielle was prompted to ask even though she secretly wanted to ask if he still craved it.

  Casanova looked back through the opening in the leaf-curtain wall. It certainly seemed like the sun had sunk beneath the horizon because it was so dark outside and lanterns had been lit along a path that disappeared into the trees. They usually came back here each evening after the fairies had danced for them and the fire had burned down to pale orange embers. Inside their room, two wall sconces always remained lit on either side of the bed because the magical bedroom had no windows. When the vampire turned back to them, he said, “I—,” he swallowed, “I don’t necessarily miss blood, but I am growing tired of the need to chew everything I consume. The fangs—”

  “I remember how it works,” Danielle said, not wanting to hear him describe how the fangs drew the blood along with the being’s life-force into you. And she hadn’t exactly liked how it felt when they came out and jabbed her in the lip. She barely resisted another shudder of repulsion. Thoroughly curious now, Danielle lifted her gaze to Casanova’s to test the magic there. Her eyes rounded. “I’m not affected at all.”

  “She means by your good looks, not the curse magic,” said Ethan dryly.

  “Thanks for clarifying,” responded the vampire, his tone equally dry. The silence after that became awkward and that’s when Casanova began backing out. “It’s been fun, mes petits. I’ll run along now and eat fairy cakes against my will with the other vampires.”

  Danielle laughed at the image that had just popped into her mind when he said that. She saw all of the big burly men sitting around a fairy-made table dining on teacakes with their little pinkies sticking out.

  His sable eyebrow kicked up at her. “I’m serious. They really force us each night because they don’t want the curse revived.”

  “It’s not permanent, is it?” asked Ethan.

  “They said it wasn’t.” The words came out slow, and it was apparent that Casanova was remembering all of the times the fairies had twisted the truth.

  After watching Casanova disappear into the dark woods, Ethan brushed a hand over the leaf curtain. The action caused it to magically close so that they were alone in their bedroom without doors and windows. He turned to face her. “Were you bitten by any of the spiders?”

  Her eyes shot to his and she noticed the worry darkening the blue. “No. Why?”

  “The fairies think they were sent for you and could have been spelled so that their bite would affect you in a different way.”

  Danielle swallowed at the new sense of panic rising from her stomach. Had she been bitten? Her skin prickled with renewed awareness, but it didn’t feel like anything had gotten into her clothes. “I—I really don’t think they bit me.” At least she really hoped not. Looking down, she didn’t see how that was possible with boots that came up to her knees over a pair of jeans. Ethan had brushed them off before they got too far past her knees. An involuntary shudder rolled over her at the change in topic.

  “Let me check,” he said, reaching for the hem of her sweater.

  At his physician-like tone, she groaned. “Please tell me you’re not turning into Dr. Deveroux again.”

  “Just let me examine—”

  Her hands gripped onto his to stop him from taking off her clothes. Inside, she was suffering from an intense urge to rip her own clothes off to check for spiders, she just really didn’t want Dr. Deveroux doing it. “Examine? Really? Don’t go there, Ethan, or I swear I’ll punch you in the face.”

  A nervous laugh escaped him, like he thought maybe she was joking, but he wasn’t quite sure if she was or not. Danielle wasn’t joking at all. “You may not have felt it,” he argued, and with that, he was reaching for her sweater again, a look of determination tightening the line of his mouth.

  It might have been instinct, or it might also have been pure irritation with Dr. Deveroux, as usual, but she blocked his hands and stepped back. If he’d tried to seduce her out of her clothes, that would have been one thing, but when he only meant to play doctor, that was quite another. And it was not cool with her, it never was, and he knew this. Ethan knew how much she hated doctors and how much she especially hated it when he acted like one ... checking her pulse, examining her.... So not going to happen!

  Ethan’s hands fell to his sides and he frowned at her. “Danielle, this is serious.”

  “Look, I’ll get dressed for bed, and I’ll check myself.”

  “But you won’t—”

  “Fine!” she said, tossing her sweater onto the flowery chair next to their bed. “You can check my back.”

  He allowed her to dress for bed on her own, the smart man that he was. Of course she knew he’d watched her closely as he also changed into his pajamas. She could feel his eyes on her as she turned down the bed linens, but paused when she felt Ethan brush her hair from her back. His lips touched the skin between her shoulder blades.

  Turning, she lifted her lashes to peer at him. “What are you doing now?”

  All innocent, he grinned,
and she was reminded of how she’d thought he looked like an angel when they’d first met. “Kissing you,” the angel said. When she gaped at his change in tactics, he continued. “Don’t you prefer that over Dr. Deveroux?”

  She definitely preferred Angel Ethan over that alter ego. “You’re finally catching on,” she commented.

  “I didn’t see any bites. I feel better now.”

  “I told you I was fine.”

  “There were so many spiders. It’s natural for me to worry.”

  “There were a lot,” she conceded, resisting another shiver. “Why, do you think...? Are we not safe here anymore?”

  Ethan sighed and his eyes danced away from hers.

  Oh, no. “What is it?”

  After a long pause, he returned his gaze to hers, his fingers nervously fiddling with the string on his pajama pants. “I think we are safe here for now, but the fairies fear it might not last. We might have to move again.”

  Danielle felt her heart sinking at his words. Where would they go? Would Lucas find them? Her fingers tangled in her hair for a moment. When she dropped her hands, she turned and climbed into bed. The fragrance of gardenias filled her nose as she did. Danielle twisted and watched Ethan join her. His blond hair swept down over his forehead before he settled against the pillows, wrinkling his nose. “I will confess, the smell of flowers is beginning to wear on me,” he said, shoving his hair back out of his face before he removed his glasses and set them on the nightstand beside their bed. The metal frames clinked against the wood.

  “We might have to move again?” she asked, attempting to steer him back to that topic.

  It worked. He frowned as he pulled the bed linens up to his waist. “We’ll stay as long as we can. I promise.”

  “Even though everything reeks of flowers here?” she asked, teasing him.

  He laughed, his eyes crinkling up with the happy sound. “Yes, even though I smell like,” he sniffed at his arm, “a girl.”

  Just as they did every night since falling into the fairy ring, they dreamed of their forgotten life together. They always had the same dream at once, or memory, of the same point in time. And just as before, there were only sights and no sounds.

  Danielle was laying on her back staring up at a blue sky that was dotted with white clouds. She didn’t need to turn her head to the right to know Ethan was there beside her. Looking at him, her gaze traveled over the glow of light that saturated this place and caught his hair on fire with a halo of gold, again reminding her of how she’d first thought of him as an angel. A smile touched her mouth, because he was still her own personal Gabriel.... Danielle rolled and snuggled against his side, but she couldn’t feel it, nor had she made the conscious decision to do that. As with all of these dreams, it was more like subconsciously acting in a silent memory. No speech, no sounds, and no physical sensation.

  Ethan was busy talking about something. At times he would lift his hands for emphasis. She studied his features, and his expression. What was he talking about? she wondered. For a moment, she stared at his mouth trying to read his lips, but they were moving too fast for her to distinguish any words.

  She closed her eyes for a moment and then reopened them.... After blinking away the sleepiness, her vision focused on a pair of blue eyes staring into hers. Noting where heat from Ethan’s body seeped into hers, Danielle realized she was curled around him, just as she had been in the dream. In a morning-raspy voice she asked, “What should we eat to turn up the volume in those dreams?”

  The question earned her a smile and a chuckle. “That’s a great question. We should ask the fairies about that.”

  “I mean it’s nice to know we knew each other but, not being able to hear what you’re saying is driving me a little crazy.”

  With a yawn, Ethan stretched and groaned out an agreement.

  Danielle rolled back to her own side of the bed and regretted doing it as soon as she did. It was kind of chilly this morning. Feeling goose bumps spring up all over her body, she returned to snuggling with her husband. His warm arm enveloped her. “What are we going to do today?” she asked.

  As his fingers lazily sifted through her hair, he murmured, “We could just stay here all day.”

  “In bed? All day?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “I’d get bored,” she replied.

  “Ouch,” he responded.

  Ignoring that, she said, “I think I want to find a new place to paint. Somewhere high.”

  His body tensed and the arm he had around her tightened. Immediately she knew there was something he didn’t quite like about her idea. Angling her head up, she tried to read him, but he’d closed his eyes. His throat worked as he swallowed. “You mean to say, somewhere high where you can see the ocean and possibly catch a glimpse of mermaids?”

  Danielle bit into her lip and touched his face, trying to get him to look at her, the shadow of growth on his face prickled at the palm of her hand. “We’d be so far away they’d look like ants to us.” When he didn’t respond right away, she added, “We’d be totally safe.”

  The answer was slow in coming as his body tensed some more. “We can’t risk it. Not after what happened with the spiders.”

  Oh, lame-sauce, she wanted to say but didn’t. “Fine, we’ll run again and spar.” And I’ll flatten your overprotective butt to the ground, she thought.

  “No sparring, though,” he said, sounding slightly weary.

  “Why not?”

  “I still ache from the last time.”

  A grin tried to overtake her mouth and she bit her lip again. She had been pretty rough on him. Rewarding his whininess with a punch to the shoulder, for which he grunted, she said, “All right, we’ll run and not spar.”

  Trees blew past them as the four of them ran again. As usual, Max was sweating buckets, but he still managed to look like a medieval knight who’d just won a battle of swords against an army of equally muscular warriors. Nadia was having trouble keeping up with her husband. Her long black hair hung in wet strands that stuck to her cheeks and neck. She shoved some of them back and kept going even though she was panting for air. Ethan was doing his best to keep up with Max, but Danielle was a little worried because Ethan looked kind of pale, and she wondered if perhaps this meatless diet wasn’t exactly helping him. Maybe they needed to get out of here, after all. With her eyes touching on her husband and friends, guilt pricked at her contentment. They hadn’t seen any more spiders, but whoever it was who’d sent them could figure out something else ... like snakes. She stumbled on a lose rock and landed hard on her knee.

  Ethan grabbed one of her arms, and Max the other as they helped her up.

  “Are you okay?” asked Nadia, concern shining brightly in her vibrant green eyes.

  “What were you thinking about?” asked Ethan. “I’ve never seen you trip like that.”

  “Just stuff...” Really, did he expect her to repeat her worries in front of the others? When the lame answer made his eyes narrow, she added, “I’m fine. Totally fine.” She rubbed at her knee. It was only scraped a little bit beneath her sweatpants, and probably bruised. As the men released her, her gaze snagged on Ethan’s and she nearly groaned at what she saw there. Her fall had awakened the ever-annoying Dr. Deveroux. Hoping to chase him away, she turned and resumed her path up the hillside they’d been traveling, making sure she didn’t limp at all. “Let’s keep going.” They were totally lost, but she didn’t care, and she hoped if she pretended like pain wasn’t stabbing through her knee with each step, he’d let his concerns go.

  The sound of water crashing against the shore filled her ears just as they broke past the dulling barrier of leaves and undergrowth. Ethan’s hands landed on his knees as he bent forward to catch his breath. While her husband looked extremely tired, a cautious anger flickered to life in his gaze. When she realized they could see the sea from here, she understood why. Oops, she’d just traded Dr. Deveroux for Mr. Overprotective. Danielle watched as his gaze touched on the
ocean before sliding back to her. “Is this where you’d wanted to paint?” Ethan asked, his tone heavy with suspicion.

  “No, of course not! I had no idea this was here. I swear!”

  After straightening, his fingers curled around her arm. “Well, we’d best be leaving...”

  A strange, but beautiful sound filled the air. Danielle’s eyes shot to the water as she tried to figure out where it was coming from, but she saw nothing. Before she could ask Ethan about it, a heavy blackness engulfed her senses and rendered her unconscious.

  Danielle’s fingers curled around a handful of something gritty and loose like salt. “What?” Wondering where she was, she looked down and watched tan granules of sand sift through her fingers.

  “How the bloody hell did we wind up here on the beach?” bellowed Max.

  She noticed all four of them were there, all lying on the sand not far from the water’s edge. Ethan was struggling to get to his feet. “We need to get away from here,” he said, casting a look at the water like the tentacles of some sea creature were about to snag them into its deadly grip and drag them in.

  But just as he’d straightened slightly, his hand lifted to his head and he swayed as beautiful strains of bewitching singing began. Danielle watched in a sort of dazed horror as he moved toward the water in a trance-like state. She found herself doing the same, and Max, and Nadia. The ocean water soon swept over her toes just before sliding back out with the tide, soaking the bottoms of her pant legs. There, a few feet out in the water churned something very much like what she’d seen while on the fairy boat, but she couldn’t recall exactly what it was. It did seem like last time she’d been frightened of whatever it was. This time, she didn’t feel that way.