by Moore, E. M.
I smiled and shook my head. The tension in the air lifted. Leave it to Connor to bring me back to the present. I looked up to find his turquoise ocean eyes on me. He winked, and I immediately felt relief from the tension I’d put on everyone. This was my job after all. I did have to get better at fighting, at being able to protect them. And I needed to be able to protect them against vampires, too. I would be going up against superior strength and other abilities. That couldn’t be an excuse.
Though they said it didn’t matter if I “passed” my training or not. It mattered to me. Zeke, the other trainee who hated me, made it clear he thought I was lesser than them. Samuel didn’t always help either. I wanted to prove myself not just to those two, but to the four guys in front of me too. They deserved me giving them my all. “I’ll try harder,” I said, staring at Christian with what I hoped was a determined expression.
He nodded once, but Stephan was there, quickly comforting me. “You are doing so great, Ariana. Seriously. You’ve improved so much in just this last week.”
I smiled to myself, happy they thought so. Call me crazy, but I hated that all the other trainees—and even some of the other vampires here—thought the Ravanas only brought me in because they wanted to drain me. Since I was going to stay in their world, they needed to see me as their equal. Call it pride, but I wasn’t going to accept anything less than that. Half the trainees looked at me as if I was a charity case or the Ravana prince prostitute.
“She did great today, too,” Connor offered. “We worked a bunch of judo throws. She definitely got the nuances down.”
I shrugged, acting as if it was no big deal even though my stomach filled with butterflies at the compliment. Old Joe had shown me some judo throws so it wasn’t outside of my slim knowledge of martial arts.
“Great,” Stephan said. “So, we done today?” He moved behind me and put his hands on my shoulders, his thumbs immediately digging into my sore muscles. “Ariana looks wiped and I thought we could get something to eat.”
Nic immediately stood, making his screen go dark, and putting his cell phone in his pocket. All that boy did was eat. It was no wonder. He needed to fuel his abnormally large muscles. He winked at me. “I see that face. I’m a growing boy.”
Christian smirked. “Actually, you’re not growing. Not at all.”
“You know what I meant. Let’s hit the pizza place downtown.”
Anticipation rose up inside me. Downtown? I had yet to set foot outside The Fort since they brought me here. Whenever it was mentioned before, the guys kind of all looked at me as if they thought I would run away at the first chance. I couldn’t blame them really. I’d thought about running away when I first got here. If it hadn’t been for Christian, I would’ve. But that was before I met them.
The rest of the trainees went out from time-to-time too. This place wasn’t like boot camp as I originally thought where drill instructors told you when to get up, when to eat, when to work out, and you didn’t have a life of your own. Well, they kind of did tell you when to work out and when to eat—if you wanted Fort food—but if you didn’t, you could go off the premises and mix into the human world. It once again showed me that the humans who were here wanted to be here. They weren’t being forced to do anything. Every single one who left the place, came back.
Christian looked at me questioningly. I had a sense he never told the other guys I tried to leave that one day. None of the others had spoken up before and said we should just stick around here. It was only Christian. In the past days, we’d had food brought in or ate in the cafeteria with the rest of the trainees. The guys didn’t like that though. They were stared at the whole time, making the whole thing uncomfortable. We’d pretty much only done that the one time and afterward, Connor said he wouldn’t do it again. He preferred to eat in peace instead of being a spectacle for people to look at.
It wasn’t really the other trainees’ fault. They were something to look at, but besides that, none of the vampires ever mixed with the humans when we were in training. It supposedly was different when we got assigned to a family, but as of right now, none of them were used to it. If situations had been reversed, I would’ve been staring too. In fact, I usually did stare. Trust me, it couldn’t be helped.
Connor immediately whooped and moved toward the metal door. Everyone else followed. Decision made, I guessed. I stayed behind, wonder filling me. I peeked at Christian who stayed next to me and then slowly started walking after his “brothers.” “Ride with me, okay.”
I nodded, though he didn’t really ask a question. It was more of a demand.
Christian called out. “I’m going to take Ariana in my car. See you guys there.”
They all waved behind them as if they didn’t have a care in the world. I looked up at Christian and gulped. His face was taut, his eyes pulled together with that ever-present thinking face. I hoped I could get him to trust me. I decided right then and there I was making it happen. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but I would erase the little incident about trying to escape and make him see that this was the only place I wanted to be. Right here with them.
8
Christian led me to a back parking lot outside the main building in The Fort. A Jeep was just pulling away, loud voices and cheers rose up from it and I recognized it right away as the rest of the guys. They were too cute for words. It seemed I wasn’t the only one looking forward to getting out of The Fort for a while. I’d been doing nothing but training nonstop since I got here. I’d even woken up early in the mornings to run the obstacle course. The guys didn’t even know about that one. They were there for my extra training in the evening, not the extra hour I put in before breakfast before the sun was even up.
Christian snickered at his brothers and then pointed to a two-seater black sports car backed into a parking space. “Here we are.”
My eyebrows rose. Was he serious? I had never set foot in something so nice before. I trailed my hand along the hood before heading toward the passenger seat. Christian was right behind me. I reached out to pull the door open myself, but his hand was already there. My fingers bumped his, and he looked up and smiled. “Where I’m from, women don’t get their own doors.” He smiled, and my body settled in a little more. He pulled the door open and offered his hand to me. I took it, his hand swallowing my own as I held onto it while stepping into the car. A soft thud sounded as he shut the door behind me, but I was still staring at all the different technology in the car. There was a screen, a bunch of buttons and knobs. It had been a long time since I’d been in a car. If I needed to go anywhere that was a longer distance than I could walk, I took the bus. Busses didn’t look like this. The last car I was in certainly didn’t look like this either. It was a rundown old Pontiac that belonged to one of my foster families and as soon as I’d gotten in it, I’d had a panic attack.
I froze mid-way toward reaching for the center console. My throat immediately dried, and a cold chill numbed my body. I didn’t like cars. Not since the accident. I took a deep breath, then two. I still stared at the dash as all the little lights lit up when Christian started the car with a push of a button. I thought he was talking, but all I heard was the sound of wind through my ears. My mind was far away. Far, far away.
Christian’s fingers moved over mine. I blinked, looking up at him. His mouth moved, but I still couldn’t concentrate enough on what he said versus what my mind was playing out. His mouth formed my name. “Ariana.”
I shook my head, not understanding.
He turned in his seat. His body fully toward me. I recognized concern etched into his beautiful features. The strong lines in his face were even tighter with worry. His gray-blue eyes were dark as he stared at me. His hands took both mine in his own. They moved up my arms and then to my shoulders, then behind my neck where they stayed and rubbed little circles. Little by little, his voice became clearer and clearer. “Hey,” he said. “Ariana. Are you okay?”
I blinked, a small smile coming over me as I realized I could h
ear him again. Relief washed over me. I’d been stuck in my head. Stuck in my own head for way too long. Without thinking, I reached up and grabbed his forearms, then leaned my head against my own fist. I breathed in and out until the world came back to me. I was in Christian Ravana’s car. He told me he would never let anything happen to me. Never. And I believed him. None of them would ever let anything bad happen to me again.
“Hey, hey,” he said, the circles in the back of my neck getting more earnest. “You’re okay.”
He was right about that. I was better than I’d ever been thanks to them.
I let out one more whoosh of air and then looked up at him, immediately regretting putting the panic in his eyes. “Sorry,” I said lamely. I sat up straighter and tried to pull my hands away from his, but he caught me in time, making sure my hands stayed exactly where they were. “I’ll be fine,” I assured him.
He gave me a wary look as his thumb made idle circles on the back of my neck. “You want to talk about it?”
I shook my head. The Ravanas didn’t need to know about all my issues right off the bat. They’d be throwing me back into the human world with a good riddance. “No, I’m fine. Really.”
He let me pull away this time and sit back in my seat. I started to pull my seatbelt on and he took it from me as I moved it around to my side and clicked it into place. Then, he took my hand and held it in his own. With his left hand, he put the car in Drive and then moved it back to the steering wheel, so he could maneuver us out of the parking lot.
“You can have your hand back.”
He shook his head. “I don’t need it as much as you do.”
I smirked. Sounded about right even though I didn’t want to admit it. Since I’d had a major freak out as soon as I got in the car, I knew Christian wouldn’t have the conversation with me he’d wanted to have when he told me to ride with him. It was up to me to bring it up. “How far away is this pizza place?”
“About ten minutes. Why? You hungry?”
“Famished.” It was a never-ending feeling since I’d gotten to The Fort. The more I worked out, the more I wanted to eat my face off. “But that’s not the reason why I asked.” He looked over at me curiously and then put his eyes right back on the road. I was grateful. A momentary tick of panic had started to set in. I kept my eyes down on our joined hands and took another deep breath to calm myself. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to me. He’d promised. “I know why you wanted me to ride with you, Christian.” My voice was thick around his name. It was the first time I’d called him by it. These relationships were so new, yet, so easy all at the same time. For instance, I felt nothing wrong about having his hand cover mine. It was the most natural thing in the world. “You didn’t tell the guys I tried to run away, did you?”
The corner of his lips tipped up as the car swayed to the left. He’d taken a right onto another road. He must have been a good driver if he could handle all that with just one hand. Vampires had superior reflexes, but it was still awe-inspiring. “You’re so very perceptive.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked, genuinely curious. It seemed that the guys shared everything with one another. It was curious he would leave this out, and I wondered why.
He took a quick peek at me and then right back to the road. I didn’t get near as much panic from his momentary glance away from driving as I did the first time. “Honestly? Because I don’t think it matters. You’re here now.”
“You think they’d be upset if they knew I tried to leave?”
Christian thought for more than a few moments. He was always taking his time answering my questions and I really appreciated that. I wanted his most genuine answer. “No. It’s not that.”
Hmm. That wasn’t what I thought. “Then what?”
“I don’t want them to worry.”
“About me leaving again?”
He shook his head more quickly this time. “No, that’s not it either. Worry about losing you.”
“But I’m not going to try and leave again.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You’re missing the point. That’s not it at all. Worried that they could have lost you.”
I didn’t know which came first. My hand tightening around his or his around mine, but we were clinging to one another more tightly now as his words set in. Again, the fear, the worry crept into me. What was so special about me? I’d been basically told my whole life that I was worth nothing, but still, these four vampire princes thought I was something. I didn’t want to ask why. Every time the question popped into my head, I tamped it down. There were some questions even I didn’t want answered. I was sure the answer wouldn’t feel as good as this feeling. The feeling of being wanted, secure, and safe. Whatever lame excuses that would pour from Christian’s mouth about me being special might ruin this whole thing.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked.
More than okay. I nodded and relaxed back into the seat of the car and ventured a brief glance outside the window. We were in the country. Trees and old houses meandered by us. I saw kids playing in the yards with dogs. Some in their bathing suits while jumping through a makeshift fountain made by a garden hose. A smile played over my face as Christian’s thumb smoothed over my skin.
Soon, though, those trees and old buildings were replaced by shorter brick buildings that were closer together. Signs announcing grocery stores, lawyers, and dentists cruised by as we made our way into a small town. It was even smaller than the one they’d saved me from. My stomach growled, and Christian laughed. “We’re almost there.”
“Where is there anyway?”
“Santorini’s. It’s a pizza place.”
“No,” I said, smiling. “I mean, where are we?”
He answered without hesitation. Maybe I wouldn’t have to prove my loyalty to him after all. “Pennsylvania.”
Whoa. That was interesting. Samuel had taken me from Virginia. I was now two states away in the country instead of the wannabe tourist town. It was pretty here. Quaint. The kind of town I used to grow up dreaming about finding a nice family to live with in. Of course, they’d have a huge farmhouse I could explore with a dog and acres and acres of land. I used to want that more than anything.
I looked up at Christian who deftly maneuvered another turn, and then surprised me by stopping. I looked around to see that we were parked in an angled parking space in front of a row of linked businesses. A swaying sign in front of the tan-colored brick before us read “Santorini’s”.
“We’re here,” he said.
Movement caught my eye out front. Stephan knocked on the hood two times and waved me forward. “Come on,” he mouthed.
Christian slowly pulled his hand away from mine. “You’re sure you’re alright?”
I nodded quickly and went for the door when again, it was pulled out of my grip. Connor was there, hunched over and smiling into the pretty black car. “What took you guys so long? I’m starving.”
Christian rubbed his hands across the steering wheel, clearly appreciating the woven leather. “You know how I baby this car.”
Connor rolled his eyes and helped me out. We walked toward the building and I heard the locks click into place on the sports car as well as the short beep of the alarm. “What?” Christian asked from behind me.
It was Nicolai’s husky voice behind me that answered. “Like anyone’s going to try and steal it here.”
Connor put his arm around my shoulders and steered me into the restaurant. Immediately, the fresh smell of pizza made me swoon. The food at The Fort wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t the kind that made your mouth water either. It was more like fuel.
Suddenly, I had a thought. I turned toward Connor as we walked down a short row of booths to a larger table where Stephan already sat. “You guys can eat this?”
Connor moved closer, his lips brushing against my ear as he answered. “Pizza? We love pizza.” He pat his own pockets. “That doesn’t mean we don’t bring our own condiments.”
I could o
nly imagine. It was probably blood in an old ketchup bottle. I shook my head and laughed.
He leaned into me. “Hey, don’t knock it until you try it.”
I clearly wasn’t a vampire because the thought of tasting blood made me want to gag like any rational human. I was sure they all felt the same way before they were turned. “How was the changing process for you?”
“So many deep questions, Princess. Can’t we eat first?” He reached up and touched my cheek when I frowned. “It’s kind of personal. That’s all. I’m sure we’ll all tell you someday.” His lips brushed the sensitive part next to my ear, sending my mind spinning.
I barely even realized I was scooting into the round booth until my thigh landed against Stephan’s. He gave my knee a quick squeeze and smiled at me before pulling his hand away. “You’re in for a treat.”
9
The funniest thing about the whole meal was how the guys clearly flustered the waitress. We had two extra pizzas on the increasingly smaller table because she’d written down the wrong orders and even tripped over her own feet bringing us our drinks. It was almost comforting to know it wasn’t just me. The guys thought it was hilarious even though they never showed her that. They helped clean up the spilled drinks and told her repeatedly to stop apologizing about the pizzas. After asking us if we needed anything else, she turned around and walked straight into the next booth.
I cringed, then waited for her to walk away. Her feet eating up the floor between the public area and the Employee Only area. “That would’ve been me,” I said.
“Totally you,” Nic agreed. “You don’t realize how stinking cute you are.”
I had my mouth open to take another bite of pizza, but that was the furthest thing from my mind now. The guys all kept eating, housing down the pizza we’d ordered. Even Nicolai, who’d said what he’d said to turn my world upside down continued to eat as if nothing happened. I swallowed, reminding myself to keep calm. These guys were my friends. Really, really good friends who pledged to take care of me and didn’t mind holding my hand, massaging my muscles, or throwing their arm around my shoulder. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was on the inside, I would think it was weird, too, but it just wasn’t. I shrugged off Nicolai’s comment and continued to eat.