move from?”
“From quite a ways away,” I laughed. “So I don’t know anyone. What’s your name?”
“Jason,” he answered shyly, his cheeks still pink. His blue eyes were glued to mine now. He was hanging on every word. This would be so easy. I sighed. I grew tired of this process. Boy after boy after boy.
“Well, Jason. I love the water. Would you like to take a walk with me?”
His surprised gaze flickered over mine. “Really?” he asked, then quickly followed up with, “Yes. I’d love to.”
Nice save, I commended him silently.
I felt badly for him, actually. It was clear that he was painfully shy. This would be like taking candy from a baby. I laid my hand on his arm and the moment that I did, he was consumed with wanting me. I knew because that is what always happened. I knew because his eyes glazed over and became slightly unfocused.
I led him through the throngs of people and found that I slightly enjoyed the stares. At the very least, these kids would be talking about Jason tomorrow. They would wonder who the hot girl was that he had been with. I could at least do that for him. It was a small thing, but it was something.
I walked just far enough away from the water that I didn’t get wet and I stared at the moon as we walked. I just needed a little bit of isolation. Just a little bit further.
“Why me?” Jason asked curiously, bringing me out of my thoughts. “Why did you choose me?”
I smiled. “Because you seem sweet.”
He blushed again and fell silent, but stayed very close to my side. I looked behind us. There was no one in sight now so I wasted no time. I pulled him behind the nearest clump of brush. It was bristly and dry, but it would hide us from any straggling party-goers.
“Let’s sit, okay?” I suggested as I tugged him to the ground.
But rather than sit, I pushed him softly onto his back into the sand and straddled him. His eyes widened and he fell slack as he waited for my next move. His hopeful breath froze in his throat. I reached out a hand and stroked his cheek, bending to whisper into his ear.
“You really are sweet, aren’t you, Jason?”
He nodded, unable to speak. My close proximity was working its magic. I kissed his cheek and he closed his eyes.
“I need to tell you something, Jason, alright?” He nodded slowly with his eyes closed. His hands were laying limply at his sides- his inexperience showing itself. He wasn’t even trying to touch me.
“You will probably fall asleep here in a little bit. When you wake, return to the party. You won’t remember anything that happened here.”
His eyes opened, un-focused and slightly confused.
“I won’t?”
“No, you won’t.”
He looked disappointed, but the confusion soon clouded his face once more.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered as I kissed his neck. “I’ll make it worth it.”
He smiled slightly, still lost in his haze.
Bending, I grazed his lips with my own and then inhaled, just a little. One small mouthful was all it would take to put him to sleep. And I was right. He was out like a light.
I picked up his wrist. Running my nose along his forearm, I inhaled. He smelled sweet, like a child. He couldn’t be more than seventeen. And he wouldn’t remember a bit of this. He would recall the walk by the beach, but after that, his memory would fade into nothing.
I sank my teeth into his arm and sucked. Warm, sweet blood filled my mouth and in his sleep, Jason moaned. I couldn’t help but smile. It was a sexual experience for mortals when I drank their blood. I figured it was the least I could do for them.
I swallowed and then drank more, enjoying the taste, the warmth and the texture. I hated that I liked it, but I did. The curse made my body crave it. However, what I enjoyed the most was the strength that I felt returning to my limbs. I knew that mouthful by mouthful, my color was returning. After I few minutes, I was full. I gently laid Jason’s arm across his stomach and wiped my mouth.
His face was innocent and peaceful as he slept blissfully unaware. If I had to guess, I would guess that the experience had simply given him an erotic dream. And when he woke, he would only remember those sensations. Not the experience.
Sighing, I slipped out of the brush and back onto the beach. Jason would wake in a while and he would be perfectly fine, so I attempted to assuage my eternal guilt. I had only done what I had to do to survive. Like always.
As I walked, I noted the strength returning in my legs. I felt so much better now. I always put this off as long as I could. I allowed my energy to dip too low because I hated doing it. But it was done now for a while and I could bask in the afterglow.
I skirted around the bonfire and the partygoers and was just slipping into the shadows when someone called my name. I startled. There was no way that Jason was awake yet and I hadn’t even told him my name.
I spun, only to find Brennan striding toward me. Apparently, he’d been at this party and I hadn’t even seen him. The moonlight bathed him in ethereal light and I sucked in my breath. He was as handsome as I remembered.
“It’s you,” he breathed when he was two steps away. I was speechless. For the first time in a very long time, I didn’t know what to say.
But it turned out that words weren’t necessary. He stopped in front of me and before I could even react, he pulled me to him and his mouth came down upon my own, strong and soft at once.
Electricity jolted through me, snapping through my fingertips and toes, and stiffening my spine. I wanted to melt into this man, this boy… but I knew if I succumbed, he was done. He was giving me the most gentle, sensual kiss I had ever experienced and I found that I never wanted it to end.
But I ended it. Pulling away, I breathed raggedly as I tried to pull myself together. He reached out for me, but I stepped back. He couldn’t touch me right now. His life depended on it.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked, his eyes slightly glazed. “Ever since the hospital, I’ve seen you in my mind. I want to be near you...I have this driving need to kiss you…and I had no way to find you. When you touch me… do you feel that?”
My eyes flew to his and found them to be full of confusion, desire and torment. He had only just met me and I was already torturing him. It was unfair.
“Do you?” he asked again, reaching for me once more. “Do you feel it too?”
I moved away, farther this time and stared at him hesitantly.
“Yes,” I admitted. And then I took off running.
Chapter Three
“Wait!” Brennan called from behind me, but I didn’t stop.
I flew as fast as I could while still appearing mortal. If I wanted, I could literally blur into motion, but that would give me away as being something other than a normal human, so I stretched my legs out in long strides and ran normally instead.
The beach sand made it difficult to run, though, and before I knew it, he had reached me, grabbing my hand.
“Stop,” he insisted, electricity shooting through my forearm at his touch. I yanked my hand away.
“What is going on?” he asked. “I know you feel it, too. And I’ve never felt anything like it.”
“Me neither,” I admitted, but he stared at me doubtfully.
“Really? Because there is something about you… something different.”
The moonlight reflected from his hazel eyes, making them seem golden. I found that I longed to reach out and touch him. When I said that I had never experienced such a feeling before, I hadn’t lied. I felt drawn to him in a very strange way.
“Can we just go somewhere and talk?” he asked, his brow furrowed. “I won’t touch you, I promise.”
I fought the urge to laugh. Did he think I was scared for myself?
“What’s funny?” he asked, his brow furrowed suspiciously.
“Nothing,” I assured him. “It’s not funny. I’m just… not afraid of you.”
“And why would you be?” he asked calmly
. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to figure this out. I’m confused.”
I always had a hard time classifying his age group. They were so close to manhood, but still possessed the innocence of boys. He was man-sized, built like a man and had the face of a man but his expression was slightly vulnerable and sweet, like a boy. As I stared at him while he stood uncertainly in the moonlight, something inside of me crumbled, like a wall falling down. I couldn’t help it. I nodded.
“Okay,” I whispered. “We can talk. I live near here.”
Without waiting to see if he would follow me, because I was certain that he would, I turned and walked quickly towards my cottage. I heard his soft footsteps behind me and almost sighed, although I wasn’t sure if it was from relief or disappointment.
Something pulled me to him, something invisible but inexplicable. It was there. And something that I had learned long ago was that just because you didn’t understand something, didn’t make it less real.
Climbing the stairs, I still felt him behind me. I had a feeling I would be able to sense his presence anywhere. It was like an electrical field next to me, a magnet drawing me to him. If there was ever a time when I needed my mother’s advice, it was right now. She always knew everything. Surely she could explain this.
Unlocking the door, I switched on a lamp inside, illuminating the room with a soft glow.
“Please,” I gestured him forward. “Come in.”
Brennan stepped inside and looked around. “Nice place. Do you live here alone?”
I knew he was probably wondering how I paid for it. At the oldest, I looked like a college student. Glancing around, I did realize that it looked posh. Expensive furniture and rich woods, paired with modern touches like metal and glass made it chic and trendy. But I didn’t have anything to do with the fashionable décor. It had come to me fully furnished. I simply had to make a rent payment every month. And that was easy to do when you were the daughter of the goddess of witchcraft. Conjuring things, like money, was child’s play.
I nodded. “Yes, I live here alone.”
There was a brief flash of relief on his face and I realized that he had been asking for another reason: To see if I had a boyfriend. For a reason I couldn’t explain, that knowledge filled me with joy and caused my heart to flutter.
“Please, have a seat. Get comfortable,” I encouraged him, motioning toward the soft leather couch. He settled onto one end and I sat on the faraway opposite end, perched nervously on the edge.
“How old are you?” I murmured. He glanced at me, amusement apparent on his handsome face.
“Why do you ask?” he teased. He certainly didn’t have Jason’s shyness issue. Brennan seemed at home with anyone and he wasn’t intimidated by me.
“Just curious,” I answered with a shrug.
“No specific reason?” he raised an eyebrow. I fought the urge to say, Yes, because I’m 1,000 years old and I want to see exactly how much I might be robbing the cradle. But of course I didn’t.
And robbing the cradle? I suddenly had the urge to do a face plant into my palms. Robbing the cradle would imply that I had plans to seek a relationship with him. And I didn’t. Did I?
Did I?
I shook my head. “Nope. No specific reason.”
“If you say so,” he grinned. “I’m eighteen, if you’re still curious. I go to college in town.”
Long pause.
“And you?” he finally prompted. “Now would be the time when you shared a little something about you.”
“Oh.” I looked at him blankly, observing the way his t-shirt stretched across his muscled chest. I hadn’t actually had a conversation with a mortal in a while and certainly not in this context. I wasn’t sure what to say and fiddled with my fingers nervously.
“So, where are you from?” he prompted with a grin. “How old are you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
I glanced at him sharply and he laughed. I had forgotten how appealing his laugh was. It was impossibly smooth yet husky at the same time. I swallowed hard.
“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I had to throw that last one in there.” He was sprawled on his end of the couch, perfectly at ease with his arm stretched along the back.
I consciously forced myself to relax. I was being stupid. There was no reason to be nervous. After taking a deep breath and then another, I smiled.
“I’m eighteen, too,” I answered. And I did look eighteen. “I’m not from here and no, I do not have a boyfriend.”
“Well, now we’re getting somewhere,” Brennan grinned. He smile was beautiful and every time he smiled, it threatened to bowl me over at the knees. He was the epitome of the term ‘golden boy’. Golden hair, butterscotch eyes, tanned skin. And I was sure that he was athletic. You could just tell.
“Do you play football?” I asked conversationally, remembering my social skills. He nodded.
“I do. Linebacker. But we’re skirting the issue.”
“The issue?”
He scooted down the couch toward me and I lunged to my feet, backing away.
“Why are you running from me?” he asked, his eye growing serious. As they did, their color shifted from butterscotch back to hazel. Odd. It seemed they reflected his mood. But that wasn’t possible. Was it?
“I’m not running from you.”
“Yes, you are,” he said quietly, as he stood. His tall frame cast a long shadow against the wall and my gaze flickered toward it and then back to his face.
“Have I offended you somehow?” Brennan asked seriously. “Because I didn’t mean to.”
“No, of course not,” I answered weakly.
My knees suddenly felt weak at his close proximity and I ached to have his hands lift up and touch me. I could practically feel the warmth emanating from him and I wanted to lean into it, into the palms of his masculine hands. My body almost moved toward him subconsciously and I had to fight to remain still.
What was wrong with me?
“Why am I so drawn to you?” he asked curiously, taking another step toward me, his question telling me that he was feeling the same.
And this time, when he approached, I didn’t move away. I couldn’t. I couldn’t find the strength inside of me to step away from him. I clenched my fists at my sides and stood firm. I was not weak. I could do this. I wouldn’t hurt him.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. My palms were growing clammy from my efforts, but I couldn’t relax.
“But you feel it too,” he observed, his eyes flitting to my fists. I was sure my knuckles were white from being gripped so tightly.
“Yes,” I whispered.
He took a final step and lowered his head, covering my mouth with his. Colors exploded behind my closed eyelids and sensations that I couldn’t even describe filled me up. My knees almost buckled and my heart throbbed, almost painfully, against my sternum. I wanted him. With everything in me, I wanted him.
But it was more than that. As his large hands splayed across my back, pulling me closer to him as he deepened the kiss, it was as if he completed me. He was something that I hadn’t even realized was missing, but now that he was here, I never wanted to let go of him. It felt silly to even think something like that, but it was true.
I also felt an unbelievably strong inclination to take his soul. I wanted to consume it, inhale it and keep it inside of me. That startling desire pulled against my need to be near him and I fought to overcome the dangerous thoughts. I could do this. I wouldn’t hurt him.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him closer. It would be so easy. All I had to do was inhale. It was as easy as breathing. And I so, so wanted to. My chest practically ached from the urge.
But with an inner strength that I didn’t even know that I possessed, I held my breath and loosened my arms. His tongue was in my mouth, his heart beating loudly against my chest. And with a start, I realized that our heart beats had synchronized. They were beating together. I could feel my pulse in my ears, roaring like a crashing waterfall.
&nbs
p; Being with him felt so good, better than anything ever had in my entire life.
He finally pulled away, breathing raggedly.
“What was that?” he asked hoarsely.
I fought to regain my composure and walked away from him to the windows, where I stood in the light of the moon. It would strengthen me and by the gods, I needed strength right now.
He stared at me for the longest while, silently appraising me.
“You’re beautiful, you know,” he said softly. “But that’s not it. That’s not the reason that I need you.”
“Probably not,” I confirmed. “There’s a lot about me that you don’t know.”
“I don’t know anything about you,” he laughed, breaking the tension. “I know that you’re eighteen, you live alone and you don’t have a
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