“We are so screwed,” Adam said as we pulled up in front of the apartment building.
“I would like to say that we are.” I waited as the driver opened the door and helped me out of the back. Adam handed me my shoes and I decided against putting them back on. “Thank you,” I said as he bowed and started to walk around to the front of the limo. He was the strong silent type. I don’t think in the last three times I had been in the limo he had even spoken a word.
“Well. You might want to pull your hair down, otherwise they are going to ask questions,” he said, pulling on what was left of my French twist.
“Yeah, and you might want to wipe the lipstick off your face,” I laughed, pulling a makeup removing wipe from my bag. I don’t know what made me pack them in the first place.
We cleaned ourselves up in the lobby before getting into the elevator.
“What is happening to us?” I wondered aloud.
“I don’t know. I would be lying if I said I didn’t like it.” He hung his head and looked at me with curious eyes.
“What about Rose?” The elevator had stopped at our floor and we walked out, stopping right outside.
“I like her too. I don’t know if you can deal with the jealousy. I would like to be able to figure this out.” He touched my face.
“I will do my best.” I couldn’t believe I was saying it. I was actually going to give him time to decide what he wanted. That gave me time to figure out what was going on with me. In less than a year I had managed to move from Wesley to Aaron and now to Adam. I was starting to feel like I was suffering from a severe codependency.
Chapter Thirteen: Blast from the Past
“How as it?” Shawn said the moment we walked in the door. Rose and he were sitting on the couch playing a racing game on the Xbox. He paused the game and looked at me with smiling eyes.
“It wasn’t so bad,” Adam said, putting his jacket on the chair and walking around to sit beside Rose. She gave him a huge smile and leaned her head on his shoulder. I felt nothing.
“Yeah, Mona went out of her way to do this great reunion just to find out that all of us had changed so much over the years.” I put my shoes down by my bedroom door and pushed Shawn over to sit by him.
“She always does.” Shawn smiled and put the controller down.
“When did you meet her?” I leaned back on the couch and felt the dress rise a little at my hips.
“I have known Mona for quite some time.” He coughed. There was something that he wasn’t telling me about our stepmother. “So. You had a visitor while you were gone.” He changed the subject.
“Who?” I asked, my pulse increasing. I found myself praying that it was Aaron but I knew better.
“Peter, the Reaper.” Shawn grinned, he knew what I was thinking.
“What did he need?” I looked confused.
“He wanted to let you know that he was able to convince more Reapers to join the fight.” He glanced at Adam and Rose and rolled his eyes. “Can you tell these two to get a room?” He threw his thumb over his shoulder and pointed. I laughed and stood up.
“I’m going to change into something less … red,” I said, walking into my room and shutting the door. I felt the jealousy kick in at that point. I didn’t hate Rose. She didn’t know that there was anything going on with me and him.
I threw on my yoga pants and a black t-shirt and sauntered back out into the living room. Adam and Rose had disappeared and Shawn was sprawled out on the couch smiling at me.
“Don’t hate the player. Hate the game,” he teased, glancing toward the closed bedroom door.
“So how many more Reapers was he able to procure?” I asked, ignoring his remark.
“He said there were twenty-five more.” He sat up. “That brings us to a total of seventy-five Reapers. The numbers keep growing. They are fearing a huge famine if the hybrid army wins.”
“You would think they would be happy. All those lost souls in the world.” I slumped down at the end of the couch.
“Yeah, but those souls are spoken for. You don’t think Miranda made all those creatures without thinking once about making sure she claimed their souls?” He frowned. “If anyone in the hybrid army dies during battle the person who has Claim on their souls will become stronger.”
“But I Claimed the were-vamp’s soul when I destroyed him,” I interjected.
“Only because his soul was unclaimed.” Shawn sighed. I had a feeling this was not a conversation that he wanted to dive into explaining to me.
“He was part of the hybrid army.” I looked at him questionably.
“He was part of an offshoot. None of those creatures were actually created by Miranda; they were part of a group of scientists playing God.” He groaned.
“Well I guess that makes sense,” I shrugged, letting him off the subject.
“The numbers are increasing at the manor,” Shawn pointed out.
“More murders?” I asked.
“You have no idea. They are becoming bolder. Lashing out now at pretty much anything that gets in their way. I mean there were already stories of them nearly wiping out entire clans of Purebloods and attacking colonies of carriers and hybrids. If they do not join they die,” Shawn explained. There was a fire in his eyes. “Now that you have Rose we can start field training. Well, more advanced field training I should say.” He shrugged at me.
“So there is going to be more work when we get back then,” I moaned. “You know, sometimes I wish that my father had never told me what I was.”
“You know there are times when I wish my mother never died.” He looked at the floor. “It was one hundred years before she came to me.”
“How did that work?” I questioned. This was something that I was hoping he would share.
“I was lonely. I think that is what brought her out. To this day I think that she was always with me. There were so many things that pointed to a happy haunting.” He smiled.
“What did she tell you?” I looked back toward the closed door and frowned.
“She told me that everything was going to work out OK.” He let it go at that. Nothing else said; he just left me hanging on wondering who his mother was. “She’s finishing his tattoo,” Shawn said, laughing, when my eyes wandered toward the door again.
“Oh.” I blushed.
“You know, sometimes I hate being in your head. There is so much questioning going on in there. Did you know that you question just about every move that you make?” He seemed content with another subject change.
“I do not.” I objected.
“Oh, but you do. Oh, Wesley how I love you, or do I love Aaron? What is going on with me and Adam? Questions, questions, questions.” He laughed. “You are not codependent. It just happens that all three guys in your life have managed to grow feelings for you in the same matter of time.”
I crossed my arms and huffed at him. “Is it wrong of me to wonder these things?”
“I didn’t say that it was. I think it’s natural for us to question our relationships. I just don’t think it’s natural to always question our relationships.” He hit me softly on the arm with his foot.
“So when are we going home?” It was my turn to change the subject. I didn’t want to hear about all the things he had pulled from reading my mind.
“Soon. Enjoy the fact that you get time off. Helen and Krista are working their butts off trying to master their dark side.” He put his hands behind his head. “Besides, this place is protected. Oh, that reminds me.” He sat up, reached into the side table, and pulled out a red amulet. “Wear this when you go out.” He tossed it at me.
“What is it?” I turned it over in my palm. It was exquisite workmanship.
“It’s walking protection.” He leaned over and touched the red jewel. “The witches left it in the mailbox of all places. There is one for you and one for Rose. Pretty much wear this and they can’t touch you.”
“But how is that possibl
e?” I rolled the amulet around some more and then put it on my neck. The red gem began to glow softly once it hit my skin.
“I don’t know the mechanics of magic. You would think that I would after knowing my mother was a witch, but that is one part of my blood I have not exactly mastered.” He smiled meekly. “Just make sure you have them on. We don’t need another repeat of this morning.”
“Yeah, how much of that did you hear?” I felt a pull in my mind trying to force me to remember.
“Most of it. Well the parts that you actually thought about. I have not mastered full body GPS.” He laughed. “I know that John was there and that you were trying to mask the fear. I think you did a good job of that actually. Dad told me the rest.”
“He said you were about to take off when it started,” I said, feeling the calm effect overwhelm me.
“Yeah, well I wasn’t sure what it was. I just felt cold, like something was wrong and you had this thought, a memory I should say and the image that you had in your head just infuriated me.” He shivered.
“What did you see?” I asked. I didn’t remember thinking anything that was a memory.
“It was dark and you were tied to a dumpster, bloody.” He shivered again and ran his hands through his hair. “The image was so horrid and I felt everything that you did that night.”
“I didn’t realize that I had thought of that.” I gave him a weak smile and felt the dread of the memory run through my skin.
“There are a lot of things you don’t realize you are thinking. I’m sure I have lived through yours and Wesley’s relationship one hundred times,” he laughed. He wrapped his arms around me. “I may not have wanted a little sister at first, the thought that my father had another child really pissed me off. When I saw you though, it was different.”
“I’m glad I have you as well.” He felt a tear fall down my face.
“No need for tears, Dawn.” He patted my back. “What we have is definitely different.”
“What a touching family moment,” Rose said sarcastically, walking out of the bedroom.
“Nice of you to unlock your lips from Adam’s and make an appearance,” Shawn said, laughing as he let me go. Rose looked at us, not impressed.
“It’s done,” she smiled.
“You finished it?” I asked, excited. I had been longing to see Adam’s new tattoo.
“Yup. Come and see.” I was on my feet in a heartbeat and in Adam’s bedroom. He was lying face down on the bed with his shirt off. I felt my breath catch in my throat.
“What do you think?” he asked me, muffled by the pillow he had his face on.
I looked at the beautiful tattoo of all the elements intertwined together in one beautiful circle that took up about six inches of his back between his shoulder blades.
“Absolutely beautiful,” I breathed, wanting so badly to touch the red skin around it but knowing full well that it would probably make him cry out in pain.
“Is it Tweety Bird?” he teased.
“No silly. It’s amazing.” I wasn’t lying. This was in fact a beautiful piece of work.
“Well shit, I asked for Tweety,” he said. At his lame attempt at a joke my eyes burned.
“Here,” I grabbed my phone and took a picture of the artwork and laid it down on the bed near his face. He raised up on his elbows and looked at the photo in approval.
“Hey, that’s pretty awesome,” he said, pushing himself up further and looking at Rose. There was a longing in her expression and I wondered if it was because of his morals.
“Yeah. I like that,” Shawn said from the doorframe. He smiled briefly at Rose. “You do good work.”
“Thanks,” she blushed. She was a modest woman, I knew that much. However, her work was amazing. For a second I swore I felt a burning on my back and brushed it off. It was probably another ball of fire running up my spine.
“I may have you work on the one that is fading on my back,” Shawn said, and I turned to look at him.
“You have ink on your back?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s been a century or two and it fades more each year.” He looked at me like he was proud of himself. “Now I know the art has changed a lot since I got it done. Yours would probably stick more to the skin.”
“Well, hell, I’ve learned all kinds of shit today,” I said. I shrugged, amazed that my brother had a tattoo. How old it was wasn’t an issue at all. It showed a carefree side of Shawn I had never thought he had.
“It would be an honor I’m sure,” Rose smiled. “All right, I need to get it covered.” She shooed us out of the room and shut the door again.
“Well that was comforting,” I groaned as Shawn threw himself back on the couch.
“I think I’m going to sleep here tonight. You have any extra pillows?” he asked; he was obviously worn out.
“Yeah.” I walked back into my room and pulled a feather pillow off the bed. I threw it to Shawn and he pushed it under his head and shut his eyes.
“Good night Dawn. I would suggest you head to bed. You are going to be woken up in a few hours.” He giggled and I rolled my eyes, turning around and heading into the bedroom and lying down on the down mattress. I contemplated turning the TV on in the room but decided against it. I could never sleep if the TV was on, and the few times that I did I had been incredibly worn out. I lay there instead and waited for sleep to come. That is just what it did, it snuck up on me and knocked me out cold. It wasn’t until I felt the bed move that I was aware I had been sleeping.
“Shh,” the voice next to me said, putting their fingers to my lips.
I couldn’t see in the dark but it wasn’t Adam lying beside me. I felt my heartbeat increase as fear spread through me. What if the protection spells hadn’t worked? I looked down at the glowing amulet. What if the jewelry was a fraud?
“I got permission to see you,” the voice spoke and I nearly fell out of my skin.
“Aaron?” I whispered. I clenched my chest; the pain was dull. It wasn’t the pain of the missing Claim, it was the pain of a heart that was sick of being void.
“Who else?” The voice laughed.
“Why are you here?” I asked, rolling on my side to face the blob of darkness.
“I had to see you.” He sounded different.
“I thought you felt nothing for me,” I said, wanting to touch him, to feel him, to know him as I had only known him a few months earlier.
“I find myself longing for you, but not in the way that you would expect.” There was a muffled laugh.
“Oh.” I raised my eyebrows.
“Yes. Though I feel that the love I once had for you is questionable I know that the lust I had was not.” Aaron’s shadowed hand reached out and stroked my cheek. I closed my eyes, happy for the contact.
“Edmund said you were happy. That you found another girl,” I said, trying to bring my thoughts back to earth.
“I am happy. I feel that you are unaware of what I have become,” he said softly.
“Nobody has told me anything,” I groaned. “It’s been killing me.”
“Maybe I should say nothing. Keep you in the dark. That way you do not fear me.” Aaron sounded like he was teasing me but at the same time I thought there was some truth to the whole thing. I think he really did not want to tell me.
“I could never fear you,” I said softly, wishing he would just tell me.
“Why did you Claim me?” he asked me out of nowhere.
“I didn’t mean to.” I felt like weeping. I had never been asked this. Not even Wesley had asked me why I had claimed him.
“How do you not mean to?” He was quite inquisitive.
“You said you would sell your soul. My blood kicked in.” I felt the tears forming and I was going to have to hold them back.
“I know I meant it then. I don’t have a soul anymore.” There was sadness in his voice now.
“How can you say that?” I demanded, my heart pounding.
> “Because they took it.” He was mournful. He sounded like how I felt after John had abused me.
“Who took it?” I asked, wishing that I could see his face.
“Those that came to my house. They murdered my soul. Left only the living shell.” He touched me again and I felt the same longing again.
“I want to see your face,” I demanded reaching into the darkness. “Can you hurt me?”
“I don’t think so. I think you are safe.” I could sense he was smiling.
“Can you show me?” I felt the fabric around his flesh.
“Turn on the light,” he answered me, not moving.
I rolled over and turned on the lamp next to the bed. He was pale and his eyes were the clearest blue with a ring of gold. He smiled at me, his teeth white and reflecting the light, however I saw no hint of fangs.
“You are stunning,” I said, amazed by what the transformation had done to him. He didn’t look alive but he didn’t look quite dead.
“I forgot how beautiful you are.” He looked at me differently though. There wasn’t that same love that had been there before his family was brutally attacked. There was definitely something completely different about the way he looked at me.
“What do you feel?” I asked him.
“Lust.” He looked like he wanted to pounce on me.
“No love?” I felt heartbroken.
“No love,” he confirmed. “The only reason I can remember how I felt for you is because you are not human.”
“I see.” Heart clenching, I fought the desire to kiss his lips the way I had before.
“I have frightened you,” he said, rolling away from me.
“No, I just wish that there was something there still.” I wished. I had known Aaron so much more than I had ever known Wesley.
“You avoided me more than anything.” He laughed softly.
“I avoided being alone with you,” I corrected.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because I couldn’t control myself. There was a need in me to own you. To devour you. It brought out the darkness.” I closed my eyes.
“It didn’t seem so the last time we were together.” He rolled back toward me.
The Wardens Boxed Set Page 63