Authors: M. Leighton
I fought off the urge to go throw myself into his arms for that comment. I knew I needed to keep a safe distance when addressing this subject.
“You know I love you, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you make me feel…well…I really want…”
“I know,” Bo supplied, saving me from further embarrassment.
“I don’t want you to think that I don’t want- but we can’t—”
“Ridley,” Bo said as he slid off the bed and crossed the room to me. When I didn’t raise my head, he put a finger beneath my chin and lifted. “We should wait. You have other things to worry about. Don’t give it a second thought.”
His eyes said so much as they absorbed me into their depths. He knew that I was concerned about our physical relationship getting out of hand and he understood. I should’ve known he would, but it was a relief to me nonetheless.
Bo brushed his lips across mine, causing my body to react instantly. I’m sure he could smell my heated blood.
He smiled widely, almost as if he’d done it on purpose. “I never said it would be easy, though.”
That devil.
CHAPTER FOUR
I laughed nervously, excitedly. “No, it won’t be easy.”
I felt a little more comfortable after that tension-breaking laugh. I finished packing my bag and closed the window, and then we both crept to the door to listen closely for signs of Mom stirring around. When the sounds of her soft snoring drifted through the house to our ears, Bo and I made our hasty and silent exit through the front door, locking it safely behind us. I didn’t want anybody sneaking in on Mom, after all.
As we crossed the yard, Bo slipped the strap of my bag off my shoulder and I saw his lips twitch with the barest hint of a grin.
“I’ll carry the bag and give you a head start. First one to the house wins,” he taunted.
“Wins what?”
“You don’t need to worry about that since you’re not gonna win.”
“Is that right?”
Before he could even answer, I took off like a shot, opening up to the power I could feel simmering just beneath the surface in my altered body.
I darted across yards and streets, dodging trees and dogs as easily as if it was broad daylight. I leapt over fences and flew around swimming pools as gracefully as if I had wings. I moved between shadows as if I’d suddenly become part of them. In a way, I guess I had. I was a creature of the night now. Darkness was my new comfort zone.
As I ran swiftly and effortlessly down the long street that led to Sebastian’s, I reveled in the feel of the wind whipping my hair and kissing my cheeks. In that moment, I’d never felt more free, never felt more
carefree
. I was barely even aware of the squeal of delight that erupted from my bursting chest until a tiny sound teased my ears. It was an answering chuckle, one that I recognized. It was Bo and he was gaining on me.
I pushed my legs as hard as I could, but it was no use. Bo was fast!
I felt the brush of something against my cheek. Somehow, Bo managed to give me a feather-light kiss as he whizzed past me. It was as if I was hardly moving.
When I reached the front steps at Sebastian’s, Bo was standing on the stoop, leaning up against the house beside the front door, arms and ankles crossed.
“Not bad for your first time,” he said cockily.
“I think you cheat,” I announced, mounting the steps.
“How did I cheat? You left before me, remember?”
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure you did.”
“You’re just a sore loser,” he kidded with a grin, reaching out to wind one arm around my waist.
“Maybe you put a spell on me. Maybe you’re a vampire
and
a warlock.”
“A spell? What kind of spell?” Bo’s voice dropped to a silky purr and his eyes dropped to my lips.
“Some kind of love spell.”
“Why? Were you thinking about things other than running?”
The air felt suddenly thicker and sweeter. Much sweeter.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“Well then maybe I need to do a better job with my potion next time.”
“Potion?”
“Yeah, it’s a delicious cocktail that I brew up just for you.” Bo leaned in, his lips only a couple of inches from mine.
“Delicious?” I was mesmerized, tantalized.
“Mmm,” he murmured as he traced my bottom lip with his tongue. “Want a taste?”
All I could manage was a tiny nod.
Slowly, excruciatingly slowly, Bo lowered his mouth to mine. He teased my lips apart by rubbing his gently back and forth across them. I was breathless with anticipation as I waited for him to deepen the kiss. But he didn’t. Instead, Bo straightened.
“Maybe I’ll just save that for another time. I think you’ve had enough potions for one day,” he said cheerfully.
Despite his casual attitude, I could sense the desire in him. He’d reacted to me as intensely and as immediately as I had to him. I could smell it. I could feel it.
“You suck,” I muttered, still in the throes of his attentions.
Bo laughed, a deep rich sound that sent a shiver racing through me. “Maybe later.”
With that, he took my hand in his and we walked through Sebastian’s unlocked front door.
Even though we’d only left there a short time ago, walking into Sebastian’s house was like participating in an exercise of suspended disbelief. It was surreal to think of the events that had transpired there and the truths that had been uncovered inside the four walls of the structure.
I stopped in the foyer to look around. Though I’d been inside the house more than once and walked its halls for hours, it still felt as though I was stepping into it for the first time. Maybe it was because I hadn’t really known Sebastian at all. Maybe it was because so much had happened in the rooms above my head. Maybe it was the nearly-imperceptible ghost of darkness and malice that greeted me at the door. Whatever the reason, I was immediately uncomfortable.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Bo was tugging me slowly forward, taking in the gorgeous details of the house as he went, seemingly unconcerned.
“He won’t be back. He showed his hand earlier. Right now, he’s got nothing, which puts us on equal footing. We just have to be the ones to find a way first.”
“A way to what?”
“To kill him before he kills one of us.”
“But you’re the boy who can’t be killed. It’s impossible for him to kill you, right?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“But I thought—”
“I know that’s supposed to be the case, but something makes me think that he’s found some sort of loophole.”
I thought of Lucius talking about the letter Iofiel, Constantine/Sebastian’s wife, had supposedly sent him. It was suggested that she’d found some way for Sebastian to kill Bo if he could manage to stay alive long enough. The problem was, even if that were true, we had no idea what was involved in such a feat. Therefore, we had no way to defend against an attack.
“Since all this legendary stuff is obviously true, that means that you should be able to read something important on my skin, right?”
Bo’s eyes slid to me for a fraction of a second before darting away again.
“Supposedly.”
“Well, have you been able to see anything on me? Ever?”
“I’m not sure,” he answered without looking at me.
Though I had no reason to think he would lie to me, no reason for him to even try, I got the unshakable feeling that he wasn’t being entirely truthful.
“Bo, if you know something, tell me.”
“I don’t know that I do. It’s just something I…suspect.”
“And? What is it?”
Bo paused in his perusal of Sebastian’s house to look at me.
“Those couple of times that you got upset, you know when I was fighting Lars and when Sebastian was staking me?” I nodded. “Well, I thought I could almost see something, but it’s like your body just wasn’t capable of…handling it I guess. Like it literally cracked under the pressure of it.”
“What do you think that means?”
Bo shrugged, resuming our walk down the hall.
“Just makes me wonder if it will be different now that you’re a vampire. That’s all.”
That one postulation gave me so much to think about, I had to abandon the theory entirely just to concentrate on what Bo was saying. I’d have to pick it back up later.
“Who’s room was this?”
We had reached the end of the long hall that held both Lilly and Sebastian’s rooms, a hall which, at first glance, appeared to dead end. However, that was not the case. The hall extended a ways past Sebastian’s room, at which point it looked as if it stopped. I’d never explored it that far, never realized there was anything down there. But there was.
There was a darkness on the left side of the hall, against the wall, that looked like a shadow upon casual inspection. But it wasn’t. It was a short hallway that jutted to the left, just off the main hall. At the end of it was a bedroom.
Bo stopped in front of the open door. At first glance, it appeared to be a fairly dark and sterile entrance to a tiny bedroom. Only that was just as deceptive as the way the architecture concealed the small hallway.
Once Bo and I stepped four or five feet into the gloomy interior, the room spread out before us in a suite that was easily discernible as the master quarters. Though I’d never been inside Sebastian’s room, I didn’t think it was possible that his space could be as large and grandiose as this one, not with it being situated between this room and Lilly’s.
The ceilings were high, as they were in the rest of the house, and the floors were covered in rich wood planks polished to a gleaming shine. Centered atop an enormous, plush Oriental rug was an oversized bed with two ornately-carved posts at each of its four corners. A deep red velvet duvet covered the thick mattress and dozens of decorative pillows were piled at its head. There were no windows in the room, a fact that I found very peculiar, yet there were matching velvet curtains hanging on the wall as if they were framing two openings. Only they weren’t.
Although the room was richly appointed, by most standards I think it would’ve been described as creepy. For some reason, though, it didn’t bother me. In fact, as I walked around the large space, trailing my fingertips along the top of the dresser and tracing the carved footboard of the bed, I felt oddly comforted. It made no sense and I would’ve felt silly trying to explain it to someone, but it was true nonetheless.
“Hel-lo? Ridley?”
Bo’s voice penetrated my otherwise-engaged mind and I jerked around. He was still standing at the door and, by the look on his face, he’d been speaking to me for some time and getting no response.
“What did you say? I’m sorry.”
“I was asking you about who all lived here. Whose room was this?”