Consume (The Devoured Series) (9 page)

And anyone who tried to deny you,

must be out of their minds.

'Cause I came here with a load

and it feels so much lighter since I met you.

I just sat and listened to him, soaking him and his contentment into myself. I thought I was about to get hurt when they started talking about Angelina. I thought Eli was about to turn on the jealousy over Finn and her, but he wasn't jealous. He wasn't even angry.

I chastised myself once again for doubting him. He always pulled through for me, always ready to take whatever I dished, always willing to risk everything for me. Finn and Enoch were on this very train because Eli was trying to please me.

Enoch? Where was he? I peeked my eyes open and saw the seats across from us were empty. The train's lights were off and soft snores could barely be heard around us.

I sat up, suddenly apparently, as Eli jumped in surprise.

"Hey," he said and smiled. "Did you sleep well? You've been out for a few hours."

"Where's everyone?"

He shrugged. "Who cares? You want something? I can go and get you a soda from the machine-"

I ended his sweet announcement with a swift kiss. I climbed over onto his lap. It was the very first time I'd ever been in a guy's lap where I hadn't been put there by grabby hands. Eli huffed a surprised breath against my lips and laughed nervously as I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him like there was no one else there.

There was, though. There was a frigging train full of people, but it was dark and everyone was asleep.

His hands rested hesitantly on my sides as if he wasn't sure if I was even awake and knew what I was doing. I pushed one of his hands down to my hip, and brought the other up my cheek. That seemed to be a signal for him. The hand on my hip gripped and pulled as the one on my cheek caressed and made me feel infinitely loved and looked after.

And safe.

And his tongue was an entity all its own. I swear, once I opened my mouth to his, it was like another world was waiting there. He took over and gave me every kind of shiver, goose bump and moan I could imagine myself doing. When he pressed a finger to my lips, I realized he was telling me that I had to be quiet.

I nodded my agreement and he grinned, the moonlight from our window barely enough to see him, before he pulled me back to him and devoured me in the moonlight.

I felt myself shift; my beliefs and non-beliefs and comfort levels crashing down. What wasn't acceptable to me before was becoming something not only acceptable, but something I wanted. I let it all go and just felt everything. He sucked in that telling breath that told me I was giving him what he needed. Then he groaned against my mouth and pulled back. He touched my lips again, with his thumb this time, and smiled as he said breathlessly, "We've got to stop."

"I'll be quiet," I promised in a sultry whisper before kissing his neck. He groaned again and pulled back once more.

"You can, but I can't." He leaned in to whisper in my ear, "Do you have any idea what your tongue is doing to me?" I smiled slightly and waited for us both to catch our breath.

I was disappointed that we had to stop, but it could only go so far on a train anyway, right?

"What did I do to deserve that?" he asked as he leaned back and rubbed my arms.

"Nothing," I said, the grin unstoppable.

He thought with a frown and then smiled as if he understood. "Ah, you were awake and listening, weren't you? You little sneak."

"I love your accent when you say 'little'."

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to my ear. "Little." I groaned and giggled as he held me to him. "Are you satisfied that Angelina is history?" I nodded and felt him breathe deeply from my neck. "Good."

He leaned his seat back to recline a little. I thought that maybe I should get back into my seat, but he pulled me to lie on his chest. I sighed and rubbed the promise ring on my finger. It seemed to all be falling into place the way my mom always wanted for me. I smiled hugely against his shirt when Eli pushed my fingers away and took over the rubbing, like he understood that the meaning behind it, not just the ring itself, was precious and important to me.

"Thank you."

He lifted his head a bit. "For what, love?"

"For being exactly what I was looking for."

He sighed and kissed the top of my head. "You couldn't ever say anything better than that to me. Thank you, sweetheart."

I went back to sleep with his soft humming in my ear and his hands on me making me warm, safe and secure.

Eight

It was dark still. My head pounded behind my eyes and I was freezing. I opened my eyes to find I was alone in the train seat. I looked around, but saw no one. Not even any other passengers. I stood and peered over the seats, but saw no one. Hmmm.

I looked out the window and saw a red light way off in the distance. I squinted to see it as it got closer, my breath fogging up the glass. It was actually two red lights and they were moving quickly.

Eyes. They were eyes and the person careening towards me wasn't human. Angelina was laughing and her wild hair blew behind her. She stopped at the glass even as the train lurched on. She stared at me and I stared back in fright. She licked her lips and smiled before scratching her nails on the window. It began to crack with the movement of her nails and I tried to turn, but my feet seemed glued to the spot.

The window began to rattle and shake. Then it shattered, the glass blowing and cutting into my skin. I screamed in fright, but felt no pain. Then Eli's arms were around me and I felt really warm.

I opened my eyes again to find it was morning. The train was still moving, the sun peeking out over the horizon. Eli still had me on his lap and was looking at me strangely. I looked over to see our few neighbors looking around their seats curiously.

A quick look back at Enoch and Finn put my fear to realization as they both looked at me as if I were an idiot. Eli pulled me back to look at him. "Are you ok? You were just dreaming."

"I'm ok." I looked at the other train goers. "I'm fine. Thank you for your concern," I said sarcastically when they all just kept staring.

"You're sure?" Eli held my face in his hands. "You screamed."

"It was a bad dream, like you said. Angelina…well, she wasn't being nice."

"Angelina is gone, love," he said. "I have no doubts that she is as dead as a Devourer can get."

"I know." I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry."

He scoffed. "Are you kidding? Come on. Let's get some breakfast from the Café car."

"Please."

He gripped my hand as he shielded me from eyes that looked at me with pity, as if I had something wrong with me. I glowered at them making them turn away. We had to go down a couple of cars before we reached the one with food. And when he opened the pressure door, the smell of coffee hit me. I groaned aloud and Eli looked back at me, a chuckle on his lips as he led the way to the bar.

"What'll it be folks?" the guy asked, his crisp bowtie and white shirt ridiculous.

"Coffee first," Eli said, hooking an arm around my waist. "We'll go from there."

"You got it."

"What'll it be, love?" He placed a menu in front of me.

"Wow," I said and I scanned the pages. "They've got everything. What are you having?"

"A pile of pancakes."

"That sounds good," I agreed as I closed the menu and accepted the coffee from across the bar. I sipped it and didn't even care that it burned as it went down. It was hot and strong.

Eli told the man what we wanted and he instructed us to find a seat. We did and waited. Eli asked me if I wanted to talk about my dream. I said I didn't. My head still hurt though; the same pounding behind my eyes as in the dream.

I rubbed them with my fingers and Eli sat in the booth next to me. "What's up?"

"Just a headache."

"Must be a bad one. You're pretty pale all of a sudden, Clara." He felt my forehead and it stung for him to touch me. I hissed. He jerked his hand back and eyed me with a clinical eye. "What's going on?"

"I don't know. It just hurts." I tried to smile reassuringly. "I’ll be fine, babe."

"Here we go," the waitress said as she gave us our plates. "Matching orders. How cute."

I could barely muster a smile, let alone manage friendly banter. Eli took care of that for me though and carried on a light conversation with the older lady as I dug into my flapjacks. I closed my eyes trying to ease the headache away. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see the waitress holding out her hand.

I put my hand under hers and she dropped a small packet of Excedrin Migraine into my palm. "Your boyfriend said you could use these. Drink lots of water with them."

"Thank you." I opened the packet quickly and downed the pills. When I glanced back at Eli, he hadn't even taken a bite. "Eat, you. I'm fine."

"You eat," he rebutted. "I'm worried about you." He pushed my hair back behind my ear. "Not to sound like a jerk, but you don't look so good."

"I don't feel good, either." My stomach groaned, and not in a good way. "Ugh. I'm not even sure I can eat this," I said as I sat back. "You eat."

"I don't have to eat to survive, remember? I only came here for you, and if you're done, then so am I. Come on." He pulled me from the booth, lifting my cup of coffee to take with us, and throwing a few bills on the table.

"You look right peeked, honey," our waitress said as Eli wrapped an arm around my waist. I wanted to resort to sarcasm at her comment. Something like, 'Thank you, Captain Obvious', but refrained. I was very strange feeling in the emotional department, as well as the physical.

"Clara," I heard loudly in my ear and recoiled.

"What?" I said in irritation. "Why are you yelling?"

Eli tipped my chin up and looked at my face closely. I looked around the room without moving my head. We were no longer in the Café car. We were in a bathroom. I looked back up at him in question. I didn't even remember him bringing me there. "What's going on? Why were you yelling?"

He held my face gently and looked into my eyes. He looked upset, but wouldn't answer me. I just watched him. His face seemed to swim, as if I were drugged or something. I squinted to make it go away. He moved his thumb over my cheek before saying, "What is going on with you?"

But he wasn’t talking to me, he was talking
about
me.

"What's wrong, Eli?"

"I don't know, baby." He pulled me to him, wrapping me in the warm cocoon of his arms."You're scaring me though."

He sounded scared, too. I gripped him tightly. "I'm sorry."

He laughed and pulled back to let his forehead touch mine. "Only you would apologize for something like that."

"What's the matter? How did we get in here?"

He gulped. "You don't remember?" I shook my head 'no'. "You…passed out in the Café car. I picked you up and brought you in here and tried to wake you up."

"Why would I pass out?"

"I don't know," he hedged, too carefully. "But your eyes…"

"What?" I asked. I could have just turned to look in the mirror myself, but the way he was speaking scared me more than anything. I let him tell me instead.

"Your eyes are purple."

The gasp hung in my throat. "But I thought you said they'd be green, that they couldn't be purple-"