“And if you lose?”
I asked, feeling scared over the possibility.
“I don’t plan on
losing,” he said stubbornly.
“Things don’t always
go the way we plan, Vance! I’d rather live a life on the run than have you gone
completely!”
“You’re going to
have to trust me, Portia,” he said quietly, searching my eyes.
I dropped my hands
from him and flopped back over onto the pillow in defeat.
“I don’t like
this,” I sighed. “I’ve had the tiniest exposure to dark magic today, and it
almost consumed me. I can’t allow that to happen to you.”
He reached over
and took my hand in his, massaging my fingers with his own.
“I love that you
care so much,” he said with a small smile. “But I managed to escape his
influence once before. I’m banking on being able to do that again. I’m stronger
than I was then.”
“Well, I hope that
you’re right this time, Vance.” I knew I was going to have to trust him because
I couldn’t force him. “I can’t live without you. You know that, don’t you?”
He stretched out
next to me and gathered me up into his arms.
“I’ll never leave
you, Portia, and that’s a promise. Please try to understand me.”
We eventually had
to agree to disagree on the subject, tabling our discussion until the meeting
with the coven that evening. Grandma had called another get-together after my
experiences of the afternoon and the previous night.
After much
discussion, everyone agreed things out of the ordinary were definitely
happening. Since no one had actually spotted Damien Cummings, or any of his
followers, we were all cautioned to just be extra careful and alert toward
anything that might seem unusual somehow.
Grandma reminded us
that there was safety in numbers and whenever possible to travel with
companions from the coven when we were out and about. My dad said he would
alert some of the neighboring covens to the possibility of a demon cult being
in the area and ask them to keep watch also.
When the meeting
was adjourned, I rode back to my house with Vance on his motorcycle. He stayed
silent until after we were safely behind closed doors in my bedroom, steering
me over to the bed.
“Sit down,” he
said with a sigh. “I have something I need to tell you.”
“All right,” I
replied, feeling nervous butterflies in the pit of my stomach. “What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been
keeping something from you on purpose.” He looked at me a bit warily. “I didn’t
want to upset you.”
“Tell me,” I
responded with a little too much force.
“It’s about Shelly.
She hasn’t let up. She’s been all over me at school.”
“All over you how,
exactly?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Hugging me in the
halls, rubbing up against me whenever she gets the chance, she’s even tried
kissing me again.”
“Apparently a
broken nose wasn’t enough to get my message across,” I grumbled.
“She seems to be
doing remarkably well with her nose,” Vance commented. “Other than some slight
bruising beneath her eyes and a piece of medical tape over it, she looks almost
normal. Well, at least her ‘new’ normal.”
“So does all this
attention turn your head?” I asked, and he snorted.
“It’s quite
annoying to be honest with you. I wish she’d grow up.”
I giggled at that
comment. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to step up my game then.”
“How do you intend
to do that?” he asked, his interest piqued.
“I have an idea in
mind.”
Instantly, he was
in my head probing around until he found what he was looking for.
“You don’t play
fair do you?” he said with a chuckle.
“Not when it comes
to you,” I returned with an innocent looking smile.
“I like this
idea,” he said, his eyes lighting up. “I can’t wait to see it in action.”
When we pulled up
at the school in the morning, I took a deep breath and prepared to get a lot of
stares.
“You look great! Don’t
even worry about it,” Vance said with a reassuring grin.
I threw my
thigh-high-leather-booted leg over the motorcycle and stood up. I looked down
to straighten the pleats of my black micro-mini skirt over the two inches of
white fishnet tights that were showing. Smoothing my hands over the
black-and-white-striped, scooped-neck shirt, I reached down and pushed the
sleeves of my leather jacket to my elbows.
Removing my
helmet, I shook out the luxuriously curled hair that had been piled beneath it.
Then I put on my giant silver hoop earrings I’d carried during the ride in my
jacket pocket.
“There. How do I
look?” I bent over to look in the bike’s rearview mirror.
I checked my
carefully applied make-up, which was much heavier than I had ever worn it
before.
Vance made a low
whistling sound next to me.
“You should be a
felony, baby. It’s got to be a crime for a girl to look this good.” His eyes
trailed up and down my body as he spoke.
“Shelly’s always
felt superior to me when it’s come to looks. She doesn’t think I’m worthy of
someone like you. That’s why she’s always flaunting herself when you’re around.
I’m just giving her a dose of her own medicine.”
“Well, you always
look good to me.” He smiled. “But today you’re going to knock their socks off!”
“I look like a
hooker.” I laughed shakily.
“Sometimes a guy
might not think that’s a bad thing,” Vance said with a boyish grin. “Remember,
baby, it’s all about the attitude. Work it.”
He gave me a
playful slap on the rear, grabbed my hand and led me toward the school.
“How long do think
it’ll be before I end up back in the principal’s office?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll
protect you.”
I laughed. “You
didn’t think I was going to wear this get up all day, did you? This skirt is a
serious violation of the dress code.”
“You’re going to
change?” He sounded deflated.
“Just a little. I’m
swapping the skirt for a pair of skin tight leather pants before first hour.”
“Skin tight, huh?
I think I can live with that.” He gave a grin that flashed his dimples. “I
can’t wait to see how those look on you.”
“You’re such a
guy.”
“True. But that’s
why you love me, right?”
“Only one of the
reasons,” I replied with a smile. “It’s definitely a plus for you though.”
This morning
turned out to be a basic repeat of Shelly’s dramatic entrance into the school
after her makeover. People stopped in the busy halls just to stare at me.
Vance squeezed my
hand for support as he led me through the throng, until he stopped right in
front of Shelly at her locker. He turned and grabbed me up into his arms and
kissed me with such intensity I thought my lungs might burst before he stopped.
“You’re right,
Shelly,” I said, running a red-painted finger down the side of my lips. “He
does taste like butter and honey. And I’m going to taste him again, and again,
and again.”
Vance gave me a
wicked grin, right before he plastered another scorching kiss on my lips.
I heard Shelly
give a loud huff as she pushed by both of us to get away, but I didn’t see her
expression since Vance was commanding all my attention.
The crowd in the
hall broke up, and I could hear laughing and whispering in the background.
“Dude, that was
harsh,” Brad’s voice broke in, followed by a short laugh. “She deserved it
though.”
Vance quit kissing
me and glanced over at Brad.
“Sorry. I know you
have a thing for her, but I couldn’t take it anymore,” he explained with a
slight shake of his head.
“No apology
necessary. She needed to be knocked down a notch or twelve,” Brad responded.
“I agree
wholeheartedly!” I added. “How are you by the way, Brad?”
“I’m all right.”
He smiled at me. “It’s nice to see you back at school. And, I might add, you
look smoking hot today!” He looked me over with new appreciation lighting in his
expression.
“Hey! Take it easy
there, Brad,” Vance said, narrowing his eyes at him. “I might have to beat you
down a bit.”
“No worries.” Brad
laughed, blowing off the fake threat. “I know she belongs to you.”
“You have it all
wrong.” Vance smiled, looking back over at me. “I belong to her.” He squeezed
both of my hands.
“Well, the two of
you are lucky. Don’t take it for granted,” Brad said, continuing on down the
hall.
“I’ll never let
that happen,” Vance said in a whisper directed only at me.
The following
Saturday was one I’d been greatly anticipating. I felt we needed a break from
everything and had planned a little surprise for Vance.
When I discovered
his yearbook, I vowed to keep my promise to him about getting a camera and
taking some pictures. I’d gone to the bank and drawn out some of my money I
earned from working at Grandma’s store. I gave the money to my mom, asking her
to purchase the nicest camera she could get with it.
I had the camera
now, all gift-wrapped in a small box. It was making a nice little bulge in my
jacket pocket while I was sitting astride the back of Vance’s motorcycle,
zooming up to our special place in the canyon. I asked him if he would take me
there, but I hadn’t told him why, and I hoped he hadn’t picked up on any of my
thoughts racing through my head.
We soon reached
our parking place and trekked off to the big rock that overlooked the creek. The
trees below us that still had leaves were in various stages of yellows, reds
and browns, though lots of dead leaves blew around on the ground, littering the
forest floor and crunching under our feet as we walked.
“So what’s up your
sleeve?” Vance asked casually as we stood holding hands looking out at the
scene before us.
“What do you
mean?” I asked innocently.
“I mean you’ve
been acting like a giddy school girl all morning. I figured something was up.” He
smiled at me.
“You peeked into
my head, didn’t you?”
He shook his head.
“No. I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”
I released his
hand and wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on my tiptoes to place a
light kiss on his lips. He returned the favor with a little look of amusement
on his face.
“I have a present
for you,” I said, rubbing the end of my nose against his.
“Really?” He
seemed genuinely surprised. “What is it?”
“It’s in my pocket.
But you have to find which pocket,” I said with a devious smile.
He grinned widely.
“I’m up for this task, but are you sure you are?”
I just laughed at
him and I didn’t remove my arms from around his neck when his hands began
moving over me. I sighed in disappointment when he located the bulge he was
looking for rather quickly.
“That was way too
fast.”
He smiled. “Guess
you’ll have to hide it better next time,” he said as he pulled the box from my
pocket. “Wow. It’s wrapped and everything.”
I released him,
stepping back to give him a little room to open it.
“You do know my
birthday is a long way off still, right? It’s not until April.” He laughed, and
I nodded.
“I know. Open it,”
I said impatiently, eager to get on with it.
“All right.” He
gave a sly grin, and he began to remove the paper very slowly.
I knew he was
trying to taunt me. “Just rip it off!” I almost shouted, grabbing for the
package, determined to do it myself.
He jerked it out
of my reach with a laugh before I could grab it though.
“Take it easy!” he
teased, with a shake of his head, clicking his tongue. “Who knew you could be
so impatient!”
I rolled my eyes,
letting him play his annoying little game with me. He kept shaking the box and
offering absurd guesses, before carefully opening another bit off the package. After
what seemed like an unreal amount of time, he finally removed the paper
completely.
“You got me a
camera!” he said, looking at the box in true surprise.
“Yep.” I smiled. I
was very excited I’d been able to keep it secret from him. “I told you before
,
I’d work on getting you some new pictures of me. I thought maybe we could take
some of us together.”
“I like that
idea,” he said, snaking an arm around me and pulling me in for a quick kiss on
the lips.
“I even put the
batteries in it for you,” I said, laughing, when I pulled back.
“Well then that
deserves another kiss.” He kissed me again, but I pushed him away when he
started getting too intense. “Hey! Come back here,” he said, reaching for me.
“No. You’re getting
distracted!” I went running away from him.
He, of course,
chased after me, and soon we were romping and climbing through the woods and
cliffs, taking candid shots of us laughing playfully together. After a while of
being crazy and impulsive we found a colorful spot in a grouping of trees. We
placed the camera on a fallen log and set up the timer so we could take several
posed shots.
When we were done
we collapsed in a heap on a pile of soft leaves. Vance looked so handsome lying
there, propped up on his elbow staring at me. I took the camera and snapped a
few more pictures of just him. I wondered if the lens would be able to capture
the love I could see in his eyes and the emotions he was conveying to me there.
I lowered the
camera to look at him.
“I love you so
much,” he said, continuing to stare. “I wonder how I ever lived without you.”
“That doesn’t
matter anymore,” I replied, running a hand down the side of his chiseled face. “We
have each other now.”
“I know, and it
makes me really happy. I could never leave you, Portia.” He wrapped his arms
around me, pulling me down next to him, and he kissed me.
“I wouldn’t let
you,” I said, laughing, when he was done.