“You mean you can hear them?” I asked, straining my eyes and ears for any sign, but getting nothing.
“Yes.” He continued to stare at me.
“Can you always hear like that?”
“No. It’s something new I’ve discovered. I’ve always been attune to you and your thoughts. I never really noticed if I focused hard on someone else I could sometimes hear what they were doing. I think it must be one of those powers I assimilated from my father. One I didn’t know anything about.”
Suddenly I had a flashback of Damien holding me in his grip, leaning over me.
“I hear you two when you’re together. You know that, don’t you?”
he’d said.
Chills washed over me as I realized how much he’d probably been spying on us.
“What is it?” Vance asked, noticing my pained expression.
I couldn’t speak it, instead opening my mind and showing him the memory.
His jaw clenched, flexing, and his eyes flared. He stalked off, walking over to a nearby tree, putting a hand out to lean against it. Every muscle in his body was clenched as anger coursed through him.
I didn’t move, instead letting him deal with his emotions. It made me ill knowing Damien had actually intruded on our private moments together. I felt violated.
Vance pushed away from the tree and moved back toward me. He grabbed my face and tilted it up toward him, gazing deeply into my eyes.
“Listen to me, Portia,” he said, his voice laced thick. “He will never touch you again. Do you understand? I don’t care what I have to do … he will never touch you. I hope he enjoyed the show, because that’s all he’ll ever have of you.”
I nodded in reply before moving to lay my head against his chest.
“I don’t know how this power works for him, but it seems to come and go for me. I don’t know if it’s because I’m new to the power or if there’s something which fluctuates within it. If it’s the same for him, then perhaps he wasn’t always able to hear.”
“Maybe,” I said, hoping he was right. “Unless he had the cave bugged or something. He could’ve been watching us the whole time, not to mention the times we were sleeping, or even unconscious from blood loss.” A gripping panic overtook me as I spoke the words out loud, thinking back to times when neither of us had been aware of our surroundings. “Oh my gosh! He could’ve done anything while we were ….”
Vance grabbed me roughly. “Don’t even go there, Portia! Put it out of your mind.”
I couldn’t even speak as I battled with myself, pushing away the thoughts that were threatening to overtake me.
Vance remained silent, but his mouth was pressed in a firm line, and I realized we both knew the possibilities of that were great.
I wanted to lash out at something violently. “Enough,” I said moving from Vance as I felt the intense anger growing inside him too. “We’re accomplishing nothing by pursuing this line of thought. Let’s just focus on developing whatever new powers of yours we can discover, and anything else that’ll give you an edge when we face him again.”
I walked down the path as I tried to cool myself, but when I realized he wasn’t following after me, I turned around to look for him.
He was standing in the same spot, fists balled beside him, jaw clenched. His eyes were flaming, and a slight breeze ruffled through his hair. I could hear the thoughts running through his head. Bad thoughts—ones which were cultivating a garden of hateful vengeance inside him, and I knew he wouldn’t be appeased until he saw his father completely annihilated.
He looked like a destroyer, a demon angel, bent on obliterating everything in his path and I felt more than a little terrified. I could feel the bloodlust that rippled through him, coursing through his veins, spurring the sheer desire to kill and to keep killing.
I was suddenly very glad we were away from the others, because I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to contain this man before me. He was almost unrecognizable as the thoughts of merciless slaughter whipped through his head.
I’d deluded myself. I thought keeping him fed was all he’d need to stay in control. I’d forgotten to take into account his natural tendencies for destruction, and he was going to lose it right now in this very moment.
“Vance,” I called, rushing toward him, and his gaze flickered toward me as his features changed, his demon mask sliding into place, reflecting the warring emotions inside him.
He turned away in the direction we’d come, and I reached out to grab him by the arm, desperate to save the lives of those in his path.
“No, Vance,” I said fervently. “Bite me instead.” I whipped my long hair away from neck, and he yanked me to him, sinking his fangs into my throat.
He drew hard against me, gulping down great swallows of blood, and I heard a gasp rent the air. I glanced toward the trees and saw Brad and Shelly standing there.
“Quick,” I spoke with a rasp, and Vance didn’t hesitating in his feeding. “Get the others out of here.”
It was cold.
Opening my eyes, I discovered it was dark as well. I groaned and tried to roll over, but my body was aching.
I was outside still, on the ground, and I had no idea how long I’d been there, whether a few hours or days. Vance had fed from me until I lost consciousness again.
“Vance?” I called into the darkness surrounding me, but all that answered was silence. Not even the noise of a cricket broke the stillness, nor did any breeze stir through the branches. There was nothing.
I stretched my muscles out, trying to remove the stiffness from lying down for an extended period of time, before I tried standing. I had to lean against a tree for support, still feeling terribly weak over the blood loss.
Silently wishing for some form of lighting, I stumbled forward, trying to get a bearing on which way I was facing. It was completely dark though, so I concentrated on the cabin in the woods and commanded my body to evaporate to it.
Amazingly it worked, but I still found myself collapsing in an exhausted heap in the middle of the kitchen floor.
“Vance?” I called out again, only to be greeted by more silence.
I tried to connect with his mind. I could feel him, my body telling me he was somewhere close by, but the barriers were firmly up.
His hearing was improved, I reminded myself.
“Please, Vance. If you can hear me, come help me. I’m so weak and tired.” I tried to appeal to some of the tenderness for my well-being inside of him.
Nothing.
“Vance, I need you,” I whispered again.
I crawled toward the small set of stairs which led to the bedroom, eventually finding my feet as I continued on, gripping the wall as I made my way. I stumbled across the room and fell onto the bed in a heap.
Shuddering, I pulled the comforter around me, trying to get warm, while I tried to listen for movement through the house. My eyelids soon grew heavy once more, and I drifted off to sleep.
“I’m leaving.”
His voice woke me up, and I opened my eyes to find him throwing some things into a duffle bag.
I glanced toward the door that led to the stairs and could see the light of day shining up from the kitchen below.
“Where are you going?” I asked, trying to tap down my rising panic.
“Anywhere you aren’t,” he said, continuing to pack roughly.
I sat silently, watching as he moved about the space. “What did I do?” I finally asked in a small voice.
He stopped and turned to look at me with an incredulous stare. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No, I’m not. I want to know why you’re so angry with me you’re willing to leave. I’ve been trying to help. Honestly. I’m doing the best I know how.”
He dropped the duffle bag on the floor and stomped toward me.
“
You
haven’t done anything. That’s precisely the problem. You’re constantly having to make sacrifices on my behalf—offering your blood to feed me, not to mention keeping everyone else protected.” He grabbed me by the chin, turning my head from side to side, checking me over. “It’s not right, Portia. Your health is suffering because of it.”
He dropped his hand and sat next to me on the bed before he bit into his wrist, offering it out to me. “Come on. Drink up. You need it.”
The smell of his blood called to me, making my mouth water in anticipation, but I reached out and healed his wound instead.
“What are you doing?” he asked, perplexed.
“You can’t berate yourself for feeding from me and then expect me to do the same to you. The street goes both ways. If this is going to be a problem for us then we need to sit down and figure a way to fix it. I’m sorry, but I don’t think you running away from me is the answer.”
He didn’t say anything, so I continued. “What’s the alternative, Vance? If you leave, you’ll have to find another blood source elsewhere.”
“I don’t care,” he grunted.
“I do. And I know you do too. You’ll never be satisfied by someone else. How many people will you kill when you try to fulfill that longing?”
Again he was silent.
“Separation doesn’t work well for either of us. We both know that. I wish there was an easy answer to this, but the fact remains—you’re a demon. Demons need blood. If you’re worried about drinking too much then we can see if there might be some spells that will help to dampen your cravings somehow.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t want to dampen it. I love the way it feels. It’s addictive and wonderful—you’re addictive and wonderful. I want to drink every last drop, every time I touch you.” He sighed heavily. “I’ve turned into a freaking serial killer, only I’m killing the same person over and over again. And it’s the person I want to protect more than anything in the world.”
“Oh, Vance.” I wrapped my arms around him, wishing I could do something—anything—to help him.
Thinking of our earlier plans, I visualized being at the waterfall we originally intended to go see. Our bodies dissolve away together, reappearing at the very spot.
I collapsed, in my weakened state, and he caught me before I hit the ground, gently laying me back in the thick ferns that surrounded us.
He bit into his wrist again, holding the blood to my lips. “Drink some, baby. You need it.”
I did, closing my mouth over his wound and taking just enough that I began to feel his power move through me—strengthening me. Then I pulled away, healing him as I did.
“Why did you bring me here?” Vance asked, lifting his head to look at the massive, roaring waterfall plunging from the cliff face next to us.
“Because, I want you to see something.”
“What’s that?”
I sat up and draped my arms around my knees, and he moved next to me.
“I want you to see there’s still beauty in the world.” I glanced over to find him staring curiously at me. “There’s more to life than demons and bloodlust. There’s more than hunting down sadistic killers, and trying to plot our next move. There’s more than revenge.”
He swallowed hard, turning to look at the scene in front of us.
It was magical, this old forest, weaving a spell of its own. Everything was untouched, clean, and beautiful. The tall ferns were growing up around half rotted logs that had fallen who knew how long ago. The water was clear and pure looking, tumbling from the cliff into a gorgeous, rippling, aquamarine pool before continuing on its merry way, singing as it rushed over the rocks in its path.
“Do you remember when you first saw me?” I asked, trying to steer his mind back toward happier times.
He grunted. “Of course I do.”
“Why did you fall in love with me then?”
He sighed. “Because I connected with you. I could feel you—your emotions, your thoughts. I knew without a doubt what a good person you were. I wanted you in my life.”
“And what about now, Vance. Am I still the same?”
“No,” he said, his eyes clouding over. “I’ve corrupted you … tainted you.”
“Are you tainted and corrupted?”
“How can you even ask that?” He yanked a fern out of the ground, shredding it into little pieces. “Look at me! I’m the very definition of evil!”
“You are not,” I argued.
“Really? How do you figure?” he replied in disgust.
“Vance, did you break up your parents?”
“No.”
“Did you make the choice to become a demon?”
“No,” he grumbled.
“Have you been out willfully killing innocent people?”
“Yes,” he replied, whipping his head to look at me. “I do it to you—regularly I might add.”
“So you’re telling me you wake up in the morning and start devising ways you can kill me?”
He gave a huff. “No. I could never do that. I don’t ever want to hurt you.”
“That’s exactly my point, Vance. You’re the victim of unfortunate circumstances—things other people have forced upon you. This is not the life you would’ve chosen for yourself, yet you still try to make the best of the situation. That’s you … the real you, pushing his way to the surface and refusing to be dominated by something he doesn’t agree with. The fact you would even consider leaving to protect me, tells me you’re still in control. Yes, you have moments where you falter—we all do. That’s part of our human nature, but look at us, and I mean really look. Do you see everything we’ve been through? It’s been horrible. But guess what? We’re still trying to conquer. We haven’t given up yet. I need you to continue to be the man I fell in love with. Push aside the demon and the need for revenge. Who are you, Vance Mangum? Who do you want to be? And where do I fall into those plans?”
He got up and walked away from me, moving to stand at the edge of the pool. He stood there for a long while, before he looked down at his feet, scoping out a smooth rock to skip across the water.
I didn’t go to him. I sat back and enjoyed watching him in nature, doing normal things. I tried to imagine our current lives and situation away, pretending there were no such things as witches and warlocks in the world. We were just normal people, here on a date together.
He moved after a while and began making his way around the edge until he reached the cliff wall. He crawled over several boulders, and turned to flash me a grin before he disappeared behind the waterfall.