Azure (Drowning In You) (12 page)

“Good, huh?” Kai gave her empty plate a pointed look, his eyes twinkling.

“It was awful,” she said, licking her fingers. “I see you hated it, too.”

“It was terrible,” he agreed, checking the fish bones for any left-over meat. “Never had worse in my life.”

“So, good, good?”
Dimitri
approached them, rubbing his hands over his pot belly. “Best fish in
Crete
.”

“I believe you,” Olivia said.

“And now dessert.”
Dimitri
gestured at a waitress and she arrived bearing sweet gifts and a small bottle of
Raki
.
Dimitri
served them the
Raki
himself. “We make it,” he said proudly. “Our own grapes, our local press.”

“Best in
Crete
,” Kai said, raising his shot glass and winking.

“Best in
Crete
,” Olivia echoed, since it seemed to be the slogan of the restaurant, and gulped it down.

The world quieted, the colors mellowed. Whoa, this was good stuff indeed. The thought crossed her mind that Kai shouldn’t drink and drive — but maybe he had in mind to go down to this beach afterward.

Hey, his shot glass was still full. He hadn’t even touched it.

She was sipping her second shot when Kai left in search of a bathroom.
Dimitri
watched him go and turned to her.

“Good boy,” he said and grinned widely. “Big trouble. American mother. But his father, real Cretan.” He nodded. “Big trouble,” he repeated.

“What do you mean?”

“Old people, old traditions. Old fears.”

And old magic.

She suddenly felt way too young for this place.

Big trouble indeed
.

***

“Are you sure you can drive?” she asked.

“Positive. I didn’t drink.”

Oh right
. And she’d finished the small bottle. Figured. She slipped into the truck and pulled on her belt. “I feel like someone hit me over the head.”

“
Raki
. Food. The sun.” He nodded. “You can doze while I drive. The place I’m taking you is not around the corner.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine.”
Don’t fall asleep in a car with a stranger. Basic.

He looked so calm and assured, and the glance he gave her was mellow like honey. “Trust me.”

She wanted to. “Okay.”

“Listen,” he said, “I’ll only bite you if you beg, how about that?”

“Bite? Is that what the old people think you are? A vampire?” A very hot vampire, his eyes dark and full of mirth.

“No.” He revved the truck. “Besides, you wouldn’t want a Greek vampire near you. They’re quite unlike the ones in
Hollywood
movies.”

She stifled a yawn. “Then how are they?”

“Living corpses feeding on people. Long nails. Bulging eyes.
Vrykolakes
are not a pretty sight.”

But you are.
“
Vrykolakes
?”

“You’d know one if you saw it.”

“Now I’m reassured.” She settled back in her seat, her lids heavy. “Actually, what if you clipped your long nails this morning to deceive me?”

“Then you stand no chance.”

That was exactly what she feared, and yet she couldn’t help smiling as she sank into sleep.

She was woken what felt like seconds later by a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

“
Liv
. We’re here.”

It was a creek buried in vegetation. Birds sang overhead in the branches and the water hummed as it trickled among the rocks. A small green pool formed below a tiny waterfall.

“Oh my god, it’s beautiful.” She jumped out of the pickup and walked on the rocks to the pool’s edge.

“Last one in is a loser,” Kai said, pulling off his t-shirt, and she thought the sight of his washboard stomach and wide chest would never get old. “It’s quite deep,” he said before bomb diving inside and splashing her.

She removed her salt-stiffened clothes and her sandals. She stepped into the pool carefully. The water was like ice, but it was welcome in the heat of early afternoon and she sank into it, shivering. She plunged under and when she surfaced, her head was clear from the cobwebs of sleep.

“How do you know this place?”

He swam close to her, his dark head sleek like an otter’s. “We’re in
Atis
’ territory. My family’s.”

“Did you use to come here as a child?”

“All the time.” He was nose to nose to her now. “One of my favorite spots.”

He put an arm around her and spun her lazily around, like a merry-go-round among the green and brown of the foliage and branches. “Do you like it, then?”

“
Hm
.” She didn’t want to speak and break the fairytale magic. It was as if her past was melting away. “It’s cold, though. I bet you chose the places with the coldest water to bring me today.”

He snorted by her ear, sending
goosebumps
on her skin. “Maybe I have.”

“Why?”

“I need the cold dash when I’m near you. I might ravage you otherwise.”

She turned around to face him. His hand was a warm weight on her hip. “Biting and all that.”

“Definitely biting. You’re delicious.”

Heat rolled down her spine. “So all that talk about wanting to see me smile was a pretext?”

He drew back, turning serious. “No, it was the truth.” His breath smelled of cinnamon and sugar.

“Are you...” She tried to collect her thoughts. “Are you happy here?”

“I am now.”

He dived under, coming up at the edge of the pool and pulling himself up on the rocks.

Well, she thought, gaping at his glistening torso, that was an effective way to stop the conversation. She’d completely lost the thread, watching muscles bunch and shift in his shoulders and his back as he stood.

Damn, he lived here. Soon she’d be on the other side of the world, where guilt awaited her. Nothing resolved. Nothing ending.

She climbed out and he returned to sit by her side with a bottle of water. He offered it to her and she took a sip.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just want to know more about you.”

“And I want to know about you.” He touched her chin, wiping off a droplet. “I want to know why you’re sad. Is it because of the fight with your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” It came out heated and she sighed. “Not anymore.”

“But you want to go back to him.”

“No, I don’t.” She felt the truth of it in her bones. “It was a mistake, being with him. I’ve made lots of mistakes.”

“We all do.”

They sat for a while in silence. Her feet splashed in the pool.

“Kai, do you think the gods — god — forgive us?”

He gave a rueful smile. “I think gods are more forgiving than people.”

“I made an error in judgment. A horrible one.” Her voice thickened, her throat closing up. Damn, a year later and the pain was fresh like a bleeding wound.

He was silent, head tilted to the side; listening. “Can’t be that bad.”

“It was.” She nodded to herself. “I thought I saw things clearly. I thought I knew... how others think, what goes through their heads, how they’d react. I thought I was being supportive in my own way. I thought it wasn’t my role to hold someone’s hand to stop them from jumping off a cliff.”

“Did you push them off the cliff?”

“What?” She flinched. “No.”

“Then it wasn’t your fault.”

“It was. I should have been there. Should have held her hand.”

He didn’t ask who. God, she wished he did so she could tell him the rest, the whole horrid story. She had to wonder again why she was opening up to him of all people. Maybe it was because soon she’d be away and he’d not be around to keep judging and hating her for her mistakes.

“There’s this place I go sometimes.” He reached for her hand, clasped it. “Helps me think. The old gods are closer there. It’s not far from here. Come.”

“A temple?”

“Of sorts.”

Why was she going along? This was stupid. She didn’t believe in old gods and magic, didn’t think she’d find there what she needed.

But she got up anyway and followed him to the truck, pulling on her clothes.

“Hey, Kai...” She waited until he climbed in and closed the door. “What mistake did
you
make?”

He shook his head and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “That’s the big joke. I still don’t know.”

***

They drove a way up a hill among vast orchards where white houses peeked out through the green. The sound of trickling water followed them — rather, they were following the stream uphill, toward its source. They entered a village and drove past the coffee house where elderly men sat playing cards and backgammon and staring openly at them.

An old woman was feeding an army of cats on her doorstep. She looked up as they drove slowly by and started shouting something in Greek. Olivia caught the word ‘
navagio
’
. She was sure she’d heard it somewhere but couldn’t recall what it meant.

They bypassed the small square with its fountain and playground, and wound among stone-built houses and past a chapel.