I quickly squished that feeling. “I don’t need you looking out for me. I can do that myself.”
“Fine,” he answered simply. “Pretend I’m not here then.”
He might as well have asked me to grow wings and fly. Ignoring him was like trying not to breathe — impossible. But no way was I going to tell him that.
“What do you want from me?” Three nights of no sleep, of one chaos after another and loss pressed into my shoulders, deflating them, caving them in, and any strength I might have had, dwindled and flickered like a dying light. I would have happily fallen asleep standing up if it were an option. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
A sort of sadness passed over his eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. “If it were that easy I would. Also,” he stared down into his lap, his brows furrowed in contemplation, “because you shouldn’t be alone,”
The thought to ask what he meant crossed my mind. I even started to open my mouth. Instead, I shook my head and turned away. If he were still there in the morning, I would ask then. I crawled into my sleeping bag, drawing the worn material all the way up to my ears.
“Fine. Stay. I don’t care,” I rolled onto my side and closed my eyes. “But don’t think I’m going to share the bed!”
Chapter 10
Broken splinters of ice ripped through exposed flesh as jagged bits of rain whipped at the long, white nightgown. Unseen demons howled in the darkness, slamming against the tiny figure perched on the terrace wall, toes peeking over the lip, arms outstretched open wide as if preparing to embrace the rumbling sky. Dark hair billowed, a long, wavy cape at her back. The cutting winds slapped the strands over tear-stained cheeks.
“He won’t stop!”
Waves leapt against the cliff side, razor-sharp arms reaching for the white bird preparing for flight. Like hounds, they yapped at her feet, anticipating fresh meat. She drew in sea salt, filling her lungs with freedom, closed her eyes and broke the chains shackling her.
“Fallon!” Hands grabbed me, yanking me back, away from… what? The dream was already a distant memory, faded like an unsalvageable photograph, yet still my heart had stuffed itself into my throat, smothering the scream already lodged there.
I woke up bathed in chilled sweat. My eyes flew open, a gasp clinging to my lips. I stared up into blue eyes, unsurprised to find Isaiah inches from my face, his hands bruising my shoulders, pinning me to the mattress as he leaned over me, practically on top of me. He was breathing hard, almost burning the skin on my face with every puff. His eyes were wide, dark and intense. They bore right into me, but the attention behind them was a million miles away.
“What is it?” I whispered, startled by my concern for him rather than the fact that he was still holding me captive.
“Shhh!” he whispered back, turning his head ever so slightly to the side, seemingly listening.
I strained my ears as well, trying to hear what he was hearing, but all I heard was the night; the buzzing of the fluorescent light outside; the soft snoring of the people next door; the rumble of an eighteen-wheeler passing the motel; the soft chirp of crickets; the whistle of the wind through the trees, and that’s where it was, the soft ribbon of words, lacing through the breeze in a whisper.
“Isaiah…”
He pressed a finger to his lips, silencing me. “They can sense you,” he whispered into my ear, tickling the side of my face with his hair. “Keep very, very calm.”
I nodded my head that I understood, which I didn’t. But it was all the reassurance he needed to move back, breaking contact between us. I sat up as he got to his feet and moved soundlessly to the window he’d been sitting under. He lifted the corner of the stiff curtain and peered out. For five solid minutes, he became a statue, scarcely breathing. I held my own breath, waiting for a signal from him to as much as blink.
“Let’s go!”
Absorbed in my own thoughts, in the murmured voices seeping through the faded wallpaper, I jumped at his unexpected instructions. The bedsprings jingled and the tarp crackled as I leapt off in a hurry. I had just enough sense to grab my mother’s ashes off the nightstand when he took my hand and dragged me into the bathroom. Inside, he closed and locked the door behind us and turned to the shower wall.
“There’s no way out this way,” I told him, in case he hadn’t noticed that the four-by-four cell didn’t even have a window.
“Cover your eyes,” was all he said, not even waiting for me to do it when he drew back his right leg and kicked at the tiles.
I yelped before I could stop myself. My arms flew up to cover my head and face. But whereas most people would have stopped there, he drew his leg back a second and then a third time. The wall cracked beneath the assault and came crumbling down like a house of cards. The noise, I was sure, could be heard for miles. There was no doubt in my mind that whoever was out there heard it.
“Come on!” he shouted, grabbing my wrist and yanking me over the mound of broken wall and tiles through the hole he’d created.
“But my things!” I cried, stumbling on a chunk of plaster.
“Forget them!”
I clutched my mother’s ashes closer to my chest just as I was forcibly dragged into the night. The hole in the bathroom led us somewhere behind the motel and a dense wall of trees.
“Can you run without shoes?”
I squeaked a laugh. “As fast as you? Not a chance… even with shoes!”
“Get on!” He turned his back, motioning for me to climb on.
“But…” I held up the tin box in my hand.
He took it from me. “Get on!”
He had to stoop in order for me to latch my arms around his neck. I hooked on and jumped, gripping his narrow waist with my knees. My squeak caught in my throat as he took off like a bullet before I was even properly in place. The wind sliced past us with the cutting force of a blade. It whistled in my ears. My hair whipped across my face, obscuring the blur of trees and night lashing past us at inhuman speed.
“We need to talk about this talent of yours!” I shouted over the rush.
If he heard me, he made no comment, and I didn’t get the chance to say anything else when he veered right, making a sharp turn down a sloping hill and across a wide meadow. My arms tightened around his neck, and I was sure I was choking him, but he never complained.
Suddenly, after what I was sure was miles between us and the motel, he slowed to a jog and then stopped. “The highway is just through those trees,” he said, gesturing with his chin towards the long, shadowy blur in the distance. “My bike is parked on the other side. I left it there in case something like this happened.”
“You knew this would happen?”
His shoulder jerked beneath my arm. “I like being prepared.”
“Then why are we stopping?” I asked, breathless even though I wasn’t the one who had just run a marathon in under ten minutes. “Do you need me to get off?”
He shook his head. “I want to know why they’re not chasing us.” He stopped and turned his head as far as he could over his shoulder and glanced behind us. “They knew the minute I broke the wall that we were running, but they didn’t follow.”
“Maybe we were wrong?” I supplied, hopeful.
“No,” he murmured, an edge in his tone. “I know they were there.”
“So you think it’s a trap?”
“I don’t know,” he started forward again. “I don’t sense anything, and everything smells the same, but I am not going to stick around here.”
He didn’t run again, but resumed onwards at a brisk pace. Even then, one long stride from him was like three jogging steps for me. Yet I was never jostled.
“How are you able to run so fast?” I asked.
“I ate all my vegetables as a child,” he replied smartly.
“I still don’t think you’re human,” I told him, meaning it.
He turned his head slightly to the side. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was grinning just from
the light tone in his voice when he spoke, “I thought you had it all figured out. That you knew all my secrets already.”
Despite the flush creeping into my cheeks, I found myself grinning at his teasing. “I’m working on it. You could make it easier on me and just tell me.”
His chuckle was soft and husky rolling through the night. “Maybe I don’t have any secrets to tell.”
I snorted. “Right, because it’s normal to run as fast as you do.”
“Athletes do it all the time,” he pointed out.
“Not that fast!”
A pause splintered between us, lasting a second too long before he said, “Does it bother you?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “Not nearly as much as it should.” I contemplated my next question before asking, “You’re not something overly cliché like a vampire, or a werewolf, are you? Because I have to be honest, I won’t be impressed.”
There was absolute silence for several long heartbeats while I waited for his answer. Then I got it, in a deep, husky sound that filled the whole meadow with a hypnotizing roar. He actually stopped walking and doubled over a little. His entire back vibrated against my chest, sending a warm tingle shooting down to my stomach. I giggled, addicted by the belly rolling laughter emanating from him.
“Is that a no?” I prompted once he’d calmed down a little.
“That is a definite no,” he straightened, clearing his throat. “I wouldn’t want to be overly cliché.”
I shrugged. “I have nothing against vampires and werewolves. It’s just…”
“They’re overused?” he supplied, the grin present in his voice.
“Yeah,” I mumbled, feeling my cheeks prickle. “It’s just everywhere right now, TV, books… movies. I think I would have lost all respect for you if you had been.”
He cleared his throat, the laughter still very present in his voice when he said, “Then I’m glad I’m not.”
“What are you then?” My smooth delivery missed its mark.
“Nice try,” he resumed walking. “No personal questions, remember?”
“That isn’t fair!” I cried, affronted. “You know absolutely everything about me. I think I have the right to know something about the guy who’s been following me around my whole life. I mean, realistically, I shouldn’t even trust you.”
“Why do you?” he asked quietly, all serious now.
“I didn’t say I did,” I pointed out. “But you did save my life more than once, and my mom did know you, even if she didn’t like you,” I hesitated a second before adding, “and because you’re the only person I have right now. It’s a stupid reason, and probably dangerous too, but as it stands I have no idea what’s going on, or why I’m being hunted. I think I need all the help I can get.”
He was quiet for a moment, maybe mulling my words over before answering, “I don’t make promises very often, but I promise that I will always protect you, even if it means from me. Keeping you safe is my only mission, and I never fail.”
“Why?” I whispered, throat oddly tight. “Because my father’s paying you?”
He shook his head. “Because there is nothing more important than you.”
I had no idea how to take that statement because I was pretty certain he didn’t mean it the way my overactive imagination did, with heart fluttering excitement.
“I heard them,” I murmured after a moment, changing the topic. “I don’t know how, but I did. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but… Is that normal?”
“What’s normal?” he remarked offhandedly. “People who claim to be normal are the biggest bunch of freaks I know.”
I chuckled at his philosophy. “Yeah, but come on, even you have to admit this is crazy.”
He shook his head. “This is an average day for me.”
“Those guys, the ones chasing us, who are they?”
“It’s hard to explain.” That was laughable.
“Well, I don’t think anything will surprise me anymore.”
The soft rustle of his feet as he cut a path through the trees echoed around us as we made our way to the highway. For a long moment, I really thought he was going to avoid my question. He had a habit of going unnaturally quiet when he didn’t want to answer something.
“They manipulate fire,” he said unexpectedly, “and have a core body temperature of three hundred degrees.”
“What does that mean?” I asked, still not understanding how exactly those things could handle open flames like that.
“It means that they have the ability to control fire the way most people can touch their nose with their tongue or walk and chew gum. Their bodies are generated to protect them from heat.”
I still didn’t getting it. “How is that even possible?”
We reached the deserted highway and quickly crossed to the other side. “The same way most people are born with the five senses. They are just lucky enough to possess six.”
“You mean like ESP?”
He shrugged. “Something like that.” He paused for a moment as if contemplating his next choice of words. When he spoke again, he seemed even more uncertain. “The human brain is an intricate system of mazes. It is capable of things that most can’t even comprehend. Some are able to control and use a larger portion of their brain, others not so much; this is one of those cases.”
I considered this carefully before answering, “So, they’re like mutants?”
Humor lightened his next words. “I wouldn’t call them that to their faces, but yes.”
“Wow…” I whispered, resting my chin on the bend in my arm, grazing the side of his face with mine in the process. “Does that mean you’re like them?” I kept my voice low to avoid deafening him.
He didn’t answer, nor did I expect one. I could almost see the No Trespassing sign pop up between us.
“The bike is just a bit further,” he said instead, a direct avoidance of my question.
I nodded that I understood. The night was actually kind of beautiful when we weren’t running for our lives. I oddly felt more at peace there amongst the towering trees then I ever did being cooped up inside any motel room. There was a certain amount of freedom that crept its way through the pores of my skin, filling my system with a need to tear through the tranquility, and become one with the sounds and shadows. The temptation drummed through my marrow, in time with my heartbeat. The unbridle desire enflamed my blood.
“Let me down,” I whispered, wiggling.
He obliged without question, setting me down gently.
My feet sunk in rich soil, seeping soft and moist between my toes. The warmth leached through my heels, penetrating into my blood stream like a fast shot of adrenaline. I took off running without any premeditation. I bounded through the night like an elk through a maze, letting the sweet jolts of pain bolt up my legs with every hard pump. I zigzagged through the trees, leaping over risen roots and jetting rocks with no effort at all. It was as if I knew where it all was, where I needed to duck, jump, or swerve to avoid slowing down.
The forest cracked and Isaiah lunged out after me. His blue eyes seemingly glowing in the darkness in a way that should have seriously freaked me out. Instead, the challenge in them only made me push harder, even though I knew he could beat me easily if he really tried.
The drive was irresistible. The rush. The power behind the chase. I laughed. I didn’t know why, but once it started to pour out, I couldn’t stop. For the first time in a long time, I felt alive! I felt… free! It was beautiful. I never wanted to stop. Then the cramps sunk their talons into me and I hit the ground hard with my knees. The pain knotted like warring snakes in my gut, coiling and tearing at my insides with a vengeance that stole the breath from my lungs. I could scarcely cry out when Isaiah fell down beside me and gathered me up into his arms.
“Breathe,” he murmured soothingly into my damp temple.
“Can’t!” I squeaked, mortified to have him see me like this, but unable to do anything about it.
I shook my head, tears spilling from my lashes. “No! I ate!”
“A handful of fries doesn’t construe as eating,” he replied evenly.
I dragged a stream of air in through my nostrils, willing the pain to subdue, even a little, just enough to get me to my duffle bag. “I don’t have anything else,” I rasped, squeezing my eyes closed. “I left my duffle—”
“No,” his large hand cradled the back of my head, guiding my face towards the crook of his neck. “Not that kind of food.”
Confused, I frowned. “What…?”
He ignored my confused croak and pressed me closer to the sooth, toned column of his neck. The vein beating under the thin layer of skin brushed my lips, warm and pulsing with life. It beat in time with my heart until it was all I could hear.
“Isaiah…?” I shook with the losing battle raging inside me.
“Do it!” His breath hit my ear hot.
The pulsating melody of his blood drummed in my ears like the call of a siren. I was drowning even before I could think of saving myself. There was no need to think, or question my desires. The demon knew exactly what it was craving and had no aversion staking claim. The pinch behind my canines was brief, as was the quick, sharp pain that followed. I felt the clumsy prick of fangs against my bottom lip; it was a momentary jolt of annoyance before I found what I yearned for in the inviting vein beating just for me.
His guttural groan of my name nearly shattered the thin thread of restraint I was holding on to. I released my own moan of pleasure as I sunk happily into the warm bliss. His blood was like liquid ecstasy flowing into my system. The high was unimaginable. Neon lights of life flashed behind my closed eyelids, surrounding me with a pleasure no one should ever experience outside of heaven.
“Fallon…” The sweet plea rang in my ears like bells. “Enough!”
No! I wanted to beg. My arms around him tightened, clasping his shuddering body to me selfishly.
“Mine!” I heard myself rasp against his warm skin.
The fingers in my hair tightened. “Yours. Always,” he confirmed his voice dark with husky pleasure. “But you have to stop.”
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