Enchanter (21 page)

“You weren’t exactly an angel, either.”

He laughed. “Well, I was guarding my heart. God knows I
didn’t want you to see just how much your beautiful smile took my breath away,
or how much I wanted to hold you against me and kiss you until we needed to
stop for air.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever want to stop kissing you,” I
admitted.

“Me neither.” And to make his point, he pulled me in for
another mind-blowing kiss before reluctantly pulling away. “It’s the best
feeling in the world.”

“It is,” I agreed. “But it can’t go on.”

Brandon drew away so that he could look at me. His
expression was one of puzzlement and concern.

“Leah—”

“I think it’s better that we don’t continue on with this.” I
managed to pull myself away from him, although I never wanted to leave the
warmth of his body. “You have a destiny to fulfill, and it doesn’t include me.”

He tried to reach out for me, but I pulled out of his grasp.
“Leah—”

“You’re special, Brandon, much more than I could have ever
imagined. And you have a mission in life. It is your job to protect us from
those things out there.”

“I know that, but—”

Now was my chance to stop being selfish and think about
someone else. “And that girl, whoever she is, is destined to be with you.”

We
had no future together, but
he
had a
destiny to fulfill. If I hung onto him, he would hold on too, I could already
see it in his eyes. But this was not about me; it was all about him and what he
had to do. Brandon needed to realize how important he was to mankind and I
needed to make him see that he had no future with me whatsoever.
And it
was best to do it before we got more attached to each other.
“How can I
pair up with someone I don’t love?” he protested as he took two steps toward
me.

“Don’t you see how important this is? You two are the last,
which means that if you pair up and have children, there will be others like
you who can fight these things and win.”

“I will lose you,” he whispered, his eyes reflected a
torrent of sentiments that nearly broke my heart and caused me to shut my trap
and not say another word. But I had to push him away, because he would not do
it himself.

“You can’t lose what you never had.” The words stung. I
could tell they affected him more than what I would have liked, but he needed
to understand that his world was made up of something more important than just
me. “I’m not important here, Brandon, you are. Besides, up until four days ago,
I wasn’t even a factor to consider, or am I wrong?”

“No, you weren’t. But four days ago you were just the girl I
secretly loved, the only girl who’s owned my heart, even though she never knew
it. We were strangers then, and now…”

“I’ll be content to have your friendship, Brandon. That I
don’t want to lose.”

The look of defeat that crossed his features forced my
insides into tight knots.

“I don’t think I can move on that easily. Not after these
last few days. How can I?”

“Are you saying that you’d rather be with me than fulfill
your destiny?”

“I’m saying that I’m being asked to make one of the hardest
decisions of my life, but I only want to be with you. The rest… Now I
understand why my ancestors chose love over duty.”

He was making it so hard for me to push him away. So hard in
fact that I wanted to take back everything I had said to him.

“Brandon, you can’t make the same mistake they did, because
the future of your people depends on you and this mystery girl. You are meant for
something greater than me. Before you had no problem accepting what was.”

“There was no you before, now there is.”

“I’ll still be here, Brandon, but not in the way you want me
to be. Besides, whatever you thought could happen between us probably wouldn’t
have happened. I do like you, but your feelings for me are a lot more complex,
and I’m not sure I would’ve been able to return those feelings. What if you got
your hopes up and then nothing happened between us? You would have lost it all
for nothing.”

It was hard for him to accept that fact, but I could see
resignation hit him as his blue eyes lowered. He walked to his bed with both
shoulders slumped and sat with his back to me, his head lowered into his chest.

Great, now I feel like the worst person in the world!

“We can still be friends.” I was killing the moment, but I could
not stop myself from speaking. “As a matter of fact, I can help you in your
search for
her
.”

“How do you know I haven’t found her already?”

“You would’ve told me.”

“That much is true,” he admitted. “I have no idea how to
find her though.”

“Why don’t you ask your parents?”

“My parents were killed in a car accident three years ago,
Leah.”

Stunned, I could only gape at his broad back. After a few
silently awkward moments, I strolled toward him and placed one hand over his
right shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

“That’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” I was relieved he did not shrug my hand
away. “I’ve known you longer than anyone else. I should have known. I should
have been there.”

“It doesn’t matter.” But it did, and I knew it.

“What did your parents tell you about the Giver of Life?” I
needed to change the subject. Things had gotten way too gloomy. Not the mention
the fact that now I felt like a complete jerk.

“Not much.” Brandon stood and sauntered over to the side of
the bed, where his shirt had landed moments after he had removed it from his
succulent body. He picked it up and forced it on immediately. After covering
that magnificent-looking chest with it, he turned to face me. “They didn’t
really explain things too well, but they did say that when the White Veil
lifted, I would find her.”

“What in the world does that mean?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Couldn’t they have made things easier for you?”

“Well, they were on their way here to meet with the man who
knew where the girl was when they got in the car accident.”

Damn it, me and my big mouth!

“Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry.” I was mortified.

He waved me off as if he understood that I had not meant to
say something so stupid “They also said that I needed to find her before the
soul devourers got wind of her.”

“Why?”

“A female Enchanter who is also a Giver of Life is amongst
the rarest of our people. She can do things others cannot. If she is the last
one left alive, our enemies will go after her. They’ll want to acquire her
abilities before she mates.”

“Why before she mates?”

“To make sure that she doesn’t procreate, and because her
essence is stronger when she’s pure.”

“That sounds like we’re in for a lot of trouble.” My comment
forced a smile out of him.

“I’m used to trouble. Being an Enchanter, trouble is part of
my daily life. But with you, things are different. So tell me, after all I’ve
told you, are you still sure you want to help? I mean, this isn’t really your
fight, so you don’t have to get involved.”

“After what I witnessed tonight, I think this has gotten
personal. Besides, I’m a possible target, so what better way to protect myself
than to be with the one person that can protect me.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he tried to argue.

“I have you to keep me safe,” I insisted.

He nodded. “You’ll have me always.”

****

After a brief breakfast at Brandon’s apartment and a quick
run to The Blue Flame restaurant – whose name I now understood – to retrieve my
clutch, Brandon drove me home. I was not particularly fond of having to walk
into my place wearing clothing that was two sizes too big, a pair of slippers
that clearly did not belong to me, and with my actual garments inside a plastic
bag, but I had no choice.

The second Matt laid eyes on me, I was sure he would have a
million questions to ask, but at the moment I could care less. I was a lot more
worried about the quiet atmosphere inside Brandon’s car than anything else. Throughout
the previous night, Brandon and I had behaved pretty awkwardly around each
other. After our long conversation and his confessions, I found myself weary
around him.

There were moments when I wanted to jump into his arms, kiss
him, and reassure him that all would work out eventually. There were others,
however, when I just wanted to run away and never see him again. Before uncovering
his secrets I had just been getting used to the idea of spending more time with
him and allowing room for a possible relationship between us. Unfortunately,
that was never to be now. He was not free, and although technically he had never
been to begin with, I was not aware of that fact until last night.

Brandon’s destiny, his entire ancestry’s lifeline, depended
on him finding this girl with whom he was expected to— okay, so I could not
think it. Anyway, they belonged together and I had to act as if none of it
affected me. Much to my disappointment, it was troubling me much more than I
wanted it to. Sure, when I woke up I shrugged everything off and pretended that
everything was fine, but the more time passed the more my insides twisted
painfully.

Boy, this whole not-being-selfish deal sucks!

After listening to Brandon toss and turn on the couch for
half the night, I got up first thing in the morning and decided to prepare
breakfast for him. True, I never cooked for myself, but after he saved my life
the day before I figured it was the least I could do.

Once I emptied my bladder and brushed my teeth and hair, I
quietly opened the door of his bedroom and walked out to the living room. There
the sight of my handsome companion greeted me. Brandon was sleeping on his
right side, his breath steady as he peacefully lingered someplace I could never
see. My heart constricted at the sight, but I shrugged all emotions away and
continued on to the kitchen. After a quick inspection of his fridge, I settled
for a stack of pancakes and fried bacon followed by fresh coffee.

Surprisingly enough, Brandon slept through the whole thing
and only awoke after I nudged him. Then again, he did spend most of the late
evening hours trying to find comfort in sleep and if he felt anything like I
did, I was pretty sure his night had been as lousy as mine. He was however,
pleasantly surprised when he opened his eyes and found freshly-made food
waiting for him. It was not something he was used to, but cooking was not something
I normally did either.

Sharing a meal with him that morning was oddly satisfying, yet
somewhat uncomfortable. We could not keep our gazes off each other, but we could
not find a suitable topic of conversation. The night before had unbalanced
whatever we’d had – or had started to have, anyway.

After washing the dishes we headed outside to Brandon’s car
and I was absolutely stunned by the sight that greeted me there.

My mouth dropped open. “What the hell is this?”

The car was undamaged. As if the windows had not been
smashed in, and the passenger-side seat along with the carpet had not been
stained with my blood.

“I casted a spell to restore it.”

I stared back at Brandon as if he had grown a second head. “You
can do that?”

“If it’s fairly recent, yes.”

“Too bad you couldn’t fix the seatbelt before last night.”

“I’ll be getting a new one soon.”

Shaking my head, I climbed inside as soon as he unlocked the
doors.

After a quick drive by the restaurant to pick up my
forgotten clutch, which, fortunately for me, still had my cell inside, we
headed straight for my apartment complex. Unfortunately, the silence inside the
car during the short trip was deafening. Brandon and I had chosen to remain silent
for the rest of the ride, which proved to be one of the most uncomfortable
silences I had ever experienced.

He was so close, yet, he could have been miles away for all
the good that did. Every time I caught him looking at me through the corner of
my eye, I wanted to turn around in my seat, wrap my arm around his neck and
kiss him. And I came close to doing so several times, but I opted for digging
my fingers in the seat to keep myself from doing just that.

He belongs to someone else…

Unable to take the uncomfortable quietness any longer, I
turned in my seat so that I was halfway facing Brandon, and eyed him carefully
as I spoke, “Does Dmitri know who you are?”

Brandon tensed up immediately.

“Yes, he knows.”

“Does Mia?”

He reluctantly said, “Yes.”

Why the next question slipped out of my mouth I was not quite
sure, but something about the way his fist clenched around the steering wheel led
me to believe that he was waiting for me to ask it, so I did. “Are they human?”

Brandon’s knuckles got even whiter as he gripped the
steering wheel. “No.”

His response did not surprise me as much. After everything I
had witnessed the night before, I was open to the possibility that anything
could be real.

“What are they then?”

“Vampires.”

I flinched as if he had slapped me.

“Huh?” I could tell Brandon did not want to talk about it,
but he was not going to lie either. “Vampires? You mean I was in the presence
of real-life vampires last night?”

“Leon is not a vampire.”

“Oh, my God, Brandon.” Dmitri had poured me a glass of wine
from the one bottle that the couple, the blonde, and he were not drinking from.
Now it made sense.

Oh, God, was that blood?

“You weren’t in any danger.”

“In any danger? Did you see the way Blondie was glaring at
me?”

“She wouldn’t have dared to—”

“Jesus! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

“What difference does it make? You wouldn’t have believed me
if I had.”