A Kiss For You

by Rachel Van Dyken

  "Did you just…" My words felt funny. "…slow down my heart?"

  "I'm a vampire, love. What did you expect me to do? Bite you into silence?"

  Yeah, that's exactly what I expected; it's what the books had said.

  "Don't believe everything you read. Besides, I'm not the least bit hungry." He winked and took the next exit toward Lake Washington.

  "So…" He drove the car like a maniac. Turns weren't just turns. It was like he was jerking the car so hard the steering wheel was about to come off. "Tell me you believe me."

  "Believe you?"

  "About your purpose?"

  "What is my purpose?" I asked. "I mean, sir, or… um…" Crap, I'd drawn a blank on how I was supposed to address him. He was above me; I needed to show him respect.

  "Ethan." He sighed heavily. "Damn, do they brainwash you that much these days?"

  "These days?"

  "We haven't called a number up in fifty years." Ethan shook his head. "Pity that Cassius would do it now. Then again, after looking at you…" He licked his lips. "…I'd probably do the same damn thing."

  "What?"

  "Home!" Ethan screeched the car to a halt in front of a gigantic, fenced-in mansion overlooking the lake. A few men stood outside the gates. When they magically swung open, Ethan sped inside then turned off the car. "Come on."

  With no other option but to follow, I quickly got out of the car and followed him to the door.

  Two men with the same-colored eyes but darker hair glanced from me to Ethan and back again.

  The first spoke. "Apologies, my lord, but she… you cannot bring a breeder into the house! Not if you want to live through the night." He leaned forward and sniffed. "She's marked!"

  "Stay out of it, Ben." Ethan gripped my hand and jerked me into the house.

  "Breeder?" I repeated. "What did he mean by that?"

  "Silence, human." Ethan continued pulling me through the house until finally stopping in a gourmet kitchen. "I don't know what to do with you yet. I don't suppose you'll take kindly to the doghouse out back or the nice water bowl with the name Scratch on it?"

  My mouth dropped open. "A dog? You're going to treat me like your dog?"

  "Joke." He smirked. "But good to know you're opposed to sleeping outside."

  My knees threatened to give out. He must have noticed; in an instant I was in his arms being carried to the nearest chair.

  "Humans," he whispered into my hair. "So fragile."

  It didn't register I was in a vampire's arms. In fact, nothing was registering. Nothing was making sense, and I wasn't sure if I was even allowed to ask questions. It wasn't my place. My mom had made that clear.

  I was terrified of doing the wrong thing — and suffering for it.

  The room felt warm again. Warm and familiar. I looked up just as Stephanie and Alex rushed in the room.

  "Your scent is all over the thing." Alex shook his head. "It's not enough."

  Ethan hissed. "I've had her for fifteen minutes. He freaking marked her. What do you expect me to do?"

  "Try harder," Alex clipped then turned his cold blue eyes toward me. "Sorry, little one, but this day's going to get a hell of a lot worse before it gets better."

  "I'll do it," a third gruff voice said.

  "Mason…" Ethan nodded. "…do your worst."

  Mason grunted then held out his hand to me.

  I didn't take it.

  "Hell, Ethan, what did you do to her?" Mason rolled his eyes. "She's petrified."

  "She's human," Stephanie pointed out.

  "S-sorry." I shook my head. "I'm sorry that I'm scared."

  They all stopped glaring at one another and instead turned their full focus on me.

  "Fear attracts immortals," Mason said plainly. "It would be good of you to stop shaking."

  "Slow her heart." Stephanie slapped Ethan in the chest. "Hurry."

  Rolling his eyes, Ethan focused in on me, and slowly my racing heart went back to normal.

  "Mason," Alex barked, "hurry."

  "Right." Mason took a step forward. "We won't hurt you… but it will hurt."

  "What?"

  "Just…" Ethan cursed and looked away. "…stay as still as possible, human."

  "She has a name," Alex grumbled, earning a fiery look from both Ethan and Mason.

  My breath hitched when Mason leaned down, gripping my shoulders, and softly nibbled on my neck. It felt good — until a slicing pain followed the nibbling.

  I shrieked.

  He didn't let go.

  When I was about ready to pass out, he pulled back, his eyes completely black. "It didn't work."

  "Shit." Ethan ran his hands through his hair.

  "You have to do something." Stephanie looked toward Ethan. "He'll find her if you don't."

  "What the hell do you expect me to do?" Ethan roared. "Bite her?"

  The room fell silent. Didn't vampires bite?

  Isn't that what the text had said?

  Alex exhaled loudly. "I'll try, just don't get all pissed off when she melts into a puddle on the floor."

  "Oh please." Stephanie rolled her eyes.

  "Focus." Alex snapped his fingers in front of my face. "Let me try to at least smother his scent with mine."

  His lips descended.

  And I was being kissed — by a siren. Something the texts described as indescribable ecstasy.

  I was too afraid to feel anything except for heat and desire.

  My heartbeat picked up again. My body went damp and hot as his mouth moved against mine.

  When he pulled back, it wasn't with a satisfied smirk but one of hopelessness. "I'm so sorry, little human."

  "He'll come for her," Stephanie whispered, her eyes flickering to Ethan. "If he takes her—"

  "I know," Ethan barked. "Don't you think I'm well aware of our own prophesy?"

  "Yet we play right into it… every century," Alex muttered. "I thought… for a second, I thought this one would be different. It felt different, right?"

  The room fell silent again.

  "What…" My voice was hoarse. "…what am I really doing with you? Why was my number called?"

  "Oh dear…" Stephanie plopped down into a seat. "Ethan didn't explain that?"

  "Again, fifteen minutes," Ethan muttered under his breath. "And she's human. It's not like her capacity for learning new information has evolved."

  I glared at him.

  Mason chuckled.

  "Honey…" Stephanie reached her hand across the table and placed it on mine. "Whatever your family has taught you is a lie. You aren't here to teach us or do anything of the sort. You're… you're a breeder."

  "A breeder," I repeated. "Like a horse?"

  Mason laughed harder. Well, at least I knew werewolves weren't out to kill me.

  Ethan swore and sat down on the other side of me.

  "We call numbers every fifty years to breed. Immortals cannot procreate with other immortals," he explained. "Humans are chosen based on their scent, strength…" He coughed and looked away. "Physical appeal."

  "But I'm ugly," I blurted. "To you I'm ugly. We're ugly, we're nothing, we're—"

  Ethan shook his head slowly. "And that's the greatest deception of all." His hands moved to my chin. "To us you're not ugly. You are absolute perfection."

  "To a Dark One," Mason continued, "you're life itself."

  Genesis

  My breath hitched in my chest as I stared at the strangers around me. What did that even mean? Life itself? I was nothing. Why would I be taught humility and self-hate my whole life only to be told by the very ones I was supposed to fear that I was life itself?

  "Jealousy," Ethan said softly, "quickly turns to envy. Envy is a dangerous thing because you end up wanting so desperately what you'd never been given in the first place. The greatest sin an immortal can commit is to laugh in the face of what we are… and want." His eyes were sad. "He wants you."

  "To kill me?" I whispered hoarsely.

  "No." Ethan cupped my chin
with his smooth fingers. "He wants to possess you, and believe me when I say you'll like every part of that possession — until he leaves you. Dark Ones always leave, and you'll die."

  "Maybe she's different," Stephanie said in a quiet voice.

  "You'd be willing to sacrifice another?" Mason roared, slamming his fists onto the table. It split down the middle right in front of me.

  Gasping, I slid my chair back and nearly fell out of it.

  "How many times have we said we'd stop testing the prophecy?"

  Stephanie looked down at her hands. "It's the only hope we have."

  "Hope," Alex muttered. "What a sad, pathetic little word."

  "We aren't letting Cassius have her." Ethan's green eyes flashed as he released my chin. "We won't repeat what happened last time."

  "What happened last time?" I asked, knowing I'd probably regret the answer.

  Mason's entire face crumpled with pain as he let out a howl and ran out of the room.

  "Shit." Alex stared after him. "It's going to take hours to get him to come out of his state now."

  "I'm so sorry." I held up my hands. "I had no idea—"

  "Of course you don't," Ethan snapped. "You know nothing."

  I am nothing.

  I hung my head.

  "Be easy on her," Stephanie said in a calm voice. "She's been brainwashed for quite a while."

  "Will he be okay?" I asked in a small voice. "The wer—" I was about to say werewolf and had to stop myself. "Mason? Will he be okay?"

  "After he runs." Ethan hung his head. "Maybe if he eats something other than berries and the damn pinecones I keep finding in the upstairs bedroom."

  Stephanie's lips pressed together in a small smile. "He finds comfort in the outside."

  "Yeah, well, he's ruining my wood floors," Ethan grumbled.

  "You live together?" I blurted.

  All eyes fell to me. "All immortals live together in one sense or another." It was Ethan who kept answering my questions. "And you didn't offend Mason as much as remind him of what should have been… what could have been."

  "Oh." I swallowed against the dryness in my throat. Shock must have been wearing off as I could at least feel my body again, though what I felt was shaky and weak.

  "Ethan…" Stephanie glanced between us. "I know you don't like the idea, but it's really the only way."

  He chewed his lower lip; fangs descended from the top of his mouth. "I know."

  "It's the only thing we haven't tried." Alex put his arm around Stephanie. "It won't be so bad, will it?"

  What were they talking about?

  And why was I suddenly feeling rejected all over again?

  "It won't be so bad," Ethan repeated. "It will be absolute torture… hell rising to earth… and you ask me to do this still? Knowing what you know?"

  The two of them hung their heads but said nothing.

  It was on the tip of my tongue to ask when the entire temperature in the room dropped.

  I saw my own breath.

  "He's close." Alex cursed. "Do it now!"

  Ethan's green eyes met mine; they flashed then went completely black before he said in a low gravelly voice, "I'm so sorry."

  All I felt was pain.

  As black overtook everything.

  "I love you so much." The woman danced in the field, throwing her hands up into the air in excitement. "Say you love me."

  "I love you." Ethan grinned. "Always, you know this."

  "Say it again!" She laughed and threw herself into his arms.

  I felt everything he felt, like it was me. He wasn't just elated, he was… perfect. Life was perfect. The universe was at one with him and his mate.

  "The hour grows late," he whispered against her temple. "Shall we go back to the castle?"

  She pulled away and pouted. Her dark hair fell in loose waves all the way down to her waist. "Catch me first."

  "Too easy."

  "Do it!" She laughed than took off ridiculously fast.

  Laughing, Ethan chased her into the forest.

  It was impossible not to laugh with them, not to experience the love firsthand. It was so beautiful I wanted to weep, but I couldn't feel my face or any part of my body. Maybe I was dead. But at least I'd seen true love once. It was something I'd never forget — the way he held her, the way their hearts beat the same rhythm.

  The scene changed.

  She was in a large bed. The curtains were pulled back from the window, letting in the moonlight.

  "A daughter." She held the baby up in her arms and grinned. "Ethan, we have a daughter!"

  Ethan's face was pure awe as he took the small bundle in his hands and whispered against the baby's head. "So perfect."

  "She is."

  "We did it," Ethan said with tears in his eyes. "I cannot believe after all these years—"

  The temperature in the room dropped.

  "Quickly…" Her eyes were fearful. "Take her away from here."

  "He would never harm a child." Ethan shook his head. "We can trust him."

  "We can't!" she cried. "You've seen what they are capable of."

  "Leave it!" he roared. "I will protect us."

  The door to the room burst open as Cassius casually walked in, his eyes scanning the room with a cold detachment that caused me to shiver.

  "So…" Cassius tilted his head; it looked animalistic. "You defy me?"

  "She's half human," Ethan said. "You know the rules."

  "The rules…" Cassius grinned. "…and you've broken them."

  "No." Ethan shook his head. "That's impossible."

  The woman in the bed started to cry softly in her hands.

  "Maybe you should ask your wife where her loyalty lies."

  "Ethan…" she sobbed. "I'm so sorry! It was the only way! It was the only way!"

  Realization dawned in Ethan's eyes as he fell to his knees. "Tell me you didn't do this, my love… tell me!"

  No more words were spoken.

  I felt like my heart was breaking right along with his.

  Cold green eyes met mine as if he truly knew I was there, in that heaven or hell, in the dream.

  "Awake!" he screamed.

  I jolted up from the bed in a cold sweat and confused, who carried me there? Ethan hovered over me, Stephanie rocked in the corner, and Alex paced the floor.

  "It worked." Alex paused his walking, still not looking at me. "Thank God, it worked."

  "Of course it did," Stephanie agreed; her eyes held such a deep sadness, my heart clenched in my chest. "Ethan…"

  He shoved away from the bedside and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

  "He won't hurt you." Alex gave me a sympathetic smile. "Just… give him time."

  "Time?"

  Stephanie nodded. "To get used to the idea."

  "The idea of what?"

  "You're his new mate." Stephanie stood, just as the sound of a man screaming in agony pierced my ears. "We'll leave you now."

  Genesis

  The door clicked shut, leaving me completely and utterly alone. I pulled the blanket up to my chin and gave another jolt when another guttural roar came from somewhere in the house.

  Ethan.

  The minute I thought his name, I reached to my neck to see if he'd bitten me like Mason. Nothing but smooth skin met my fingertips, though my entire body still felt frozen — as if Cassius had marked me with a frigid temperature or something. But that was crazy.

  In fact, the whole scenario was crazy.

  I'd left every belonging I'd had with my mother, thinking I'd probably see her after I met with the immortals — she hadn't given me reason to believe otherwise.

  I had no cell phone.

  No money.

  Absolutely no identification.

  And, up until this point, I'd thought I'd been chosen to work for some secret society that hated me — but needed me desperately.

  Instead, I'd been scared within an inch of my life.

  And bitten twice — or at least I a
ssumed twice.

  My fingers grazed my neck again.

  Nothing.

  Another yell, this one hoarser than the ones before, as if Ethan was losing his voice.

  I shivered and watched the flames flicker in the fireplace. The room they'd put me in was extravagant. I was lying in a king-sized bed with sheets that felt like silk against my fingers. A flat screen TV was positioned next to the fireplace, and pieces of artfully chosen furniture in tans and brown were scattered around, making everything look like I'd just stepped into Pottery Barn.

  You know, if Pottery Barn included screaming as their background music.

  Was I just supposed to wait until Ethan was done having a nervous breakdown? I mean, what was the protocol? My stomach growled on cue, reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything all morning.

  Well, maybe if I starved to death, they wouldn't have to worry about me anymore. It seemed I was causing more trouble than anything.

  My teeth chattered.

  Why couldn't I get warm?

  With a huff, I moved away from the bed and went to stand in front of the fireplace just as the door to my bedroom jerked open, nearly coming off the hinges.

  Ethan stood in the doorway, blanketed in the warmth of the fire's glow. My breath hitched in my chest, even though I tried to stop my physical response. It was impossible — and embarrassing — knowing he probably heard my racing heart.

  His hair was loose from the ponytail, falling around his sharp cheekbones and jaw.

  His nostrils were flared as if he smelled something horrific.

  And when I opened my mouth to speak, he held up his hand and hissed at me.

  Freaking hissed.

  Like a cat.

  I held my tongue and stared at the fire, thinking that was probably the best option for me at that point.

  Get warm.

  Funny, my entire life had been about rules, memorization, planning, and now I had one goal in life — to get warm and stay that way.

  It was all I could allow myself to focus on. I was pretty sure if I let myself fully think about what had just happened to me, I'd have a nervous breakdown. After all, I was only human, something that was impossible to ignore with someone like Ethan standing next to me.