Eternal Ever After (3 page)

I tossed the bags in the back and buckled myself into the passenger seat.

“So where do you live?” he asked.

That same pressing dizziness weighed down on me. I could swear his eyes glinted silver, but only for an instant. And I thought about this time I picked up a hitchhiker and the old man had turned out to be harmless and actually kind of sweet. I usually had good instincts about people, but I hesitated in telling Arie where I lived. Yet as he continued to look at me, I felt dizzy but oddly safe. He had been a perfect gentleman, and I had no clear reason for doubting him. But I wondered why he would go out of his way when he’d rejected me. And why was saying no to him so difficult?

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Doing what?”

I shrugged. “Driving me home. What’s in it for you? You have an aversion to asking me out. So obviously that’s not why you’re doing it.”

“I never said I didn’t want to ask you out. I said you
shouldn’t
go out with me. And in my day it was the gentleman who was supposed to do the asking.” His smoky eyes darkened as he looked at me almost as if he were undressing me.

Arie puzzled me. I wanted to ask him if he wanted me the way I was starting to think he did from the look in his eyes, then why the hell didn’t he do something about it? I bit my lower lip. “I think you’d better adjust to the twenty-first century then,” I said with more irritation then I had intended. “Go down to the light and make a right,” I said, pointing down the block. “At the third light, make a left.”

He nodded in the darkness.

“Okay, this is me. Thanks for the lift.”

Parallel parking faster than I’ve ever seen, especially with my car, he pulled into a narrow space. Arie dropped the keys in my lap almost like he didn’t want to touch me. Then he reached through the seats and grabbed the grocery bags before I had a chance to stop him. He walked me to my door and I fumbled unlocking it. I turned to him, hoping he might disappear like before so I wouldn’t have to invite him in. He stood so close I could feel his breath on my forehead and smell his leather jacket mixed with the smell of winter. When he was so near, it made me change my mind. Inviting him in was exactly what I wanted to do. Despite his rejection, despite everything sensible telling me not to, because damn it, I wanted him more than anyone I’d ever met in my entire life. And when he looked at me like he wanted me the same way I wanted him, I felt my disappointment melt away.

“Do you want to come in? I could make you coffee. But just coffee,” I said, and bit my lower lip.

His lopsided boyish grin turned my guts to twisted steel. “If you want me to come in, I will.” The grin vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and he looked all serious again.

I opened the door and, holding my breath, I rounded the corner to follow him. Without being directed he placed the bags of groceries on my kitchen table. I shrugged off my coat and tossed it over a chair. As I put the groceries away his eyes watched me with a teasing and possessive look that I found disarming. It left me a little speechless, and I busied myself with making the coffee. Supporting the impression of a roguish knight, he appeared dangerous, sexy, and out of place leaning against my kitchen counter. Yet there was something about him that made me feel protected and safe. I couldn’t begin to explain it even if I tried.

“Don’t be afraid, Holly.”

I searched his eyes. Finding his unflinching gaze able to meet mine, I handed him a mug of coffee and headed to the living room with my own. I flopped on my thrift-store sofa and crossed my legs, sitting Indian-style. He draped his lean body against a wall across from me, sipping the bitter liquid. A strange thrill coiled deep in my belly.

“So tell me…where are you from, Arie?”

“Europe.”

That explained the accent. “That’s a pretty big place. Where in Europe exactly?”

His mouth twisted into a smirk. “I’ve moved around a lot.”

“So you were a military brat?”

He paused to take a sip of his coffee. “Not exactly. Though my father was a soldier. I find it hard to stay in one place for too long.”

“But why?”

“Are you sure you want to know the answer?”

I gulped and looked down into my mug. Mystic walked lazily into the living room. He stopped a few feet from Arie with his tail sticking straight up and let out a snake-like hiss. Green eyes met gray in some sort of psychological standoff as Arie stiffened and looked with disdain at the cat. Suddenly, Mystic jumped up to a shelf on my bookcase, knocking books and a glass vase—from the bouquet of flowers Mrs. Ellis had given me at graduation—to the floor before bolting down the hall to my bedroom. The vase shattered into pieces of blue glass that scattered across the floor boards.

Abruptly, the aloof look in Arie’s eyes shifted to one filled with unscrupulous intentions. An impish grin rounded his mouth and without warning he took off like a whirlwind that swept up the broken bits of glass and straightened all the fallen objects. But his movements appeared so fast that they blurred together. When he had returned all the books to their original position, Arie stopped directly in front of me. His lips were so close to mine, I could feel a current that felt almost electric. It beckoned me to meet his lips with my own, and the sentimental vase was forgotten.

Pursing my lips, I tried to swallow, but my mouth felt like sandpaper.
My heart started pounding and I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I’d been holding. I jumped from the sofa, spilling my coffee. A part of me wanted to run, while another part of me felt stuck, my feet glued to the spot. The undeniable allure of sheer chemistry held me, despite my rising fear.

What are you?

The sinful heat that pooled in my stomach filled me with a desire like none I’ve ever felt. He moved so fast my eyes couldn’t detect the movement. Now he stood behind me, and without touching me, he leaned in toward my ear, whispering seductively, “Holly, I won’t hurt you.”

With unsteady feet I stepped backwards, accidentally brushing against his hand with my own. When I did, a vortex of images spun through my mind of a beautiful woman with long red curls dancing enticingly in a cage. The woman stepped gracefully from its confines and walked across a crowded bar. Arie sat at a table, which she stopped in front of, wearing only her smile and a pair of stilettos. He stood and ushered the redheaded woman to sit next to him in a long black booth. He kissed his way down her throat, biting the skin where he planted kisses, and licking the bites with his tongue. His mouth—there was something wrong with his mouth. Fangs lengthened and bit into the side of her neck. He began to drink her blood. Her lips parted in a smile while her hand trailed up his thigh.

In a flash the images were gone and I was breathing heavily. A knowing smile traced his lips and I felt relieved when he didn’t comment on my labored breath. It seemed like he knew somehow what had just occurred, but I couldn’t imagine how he would know about the Sight. The Sight worked in pictures, but it didn’t always have sound. It felt like I was watching a movie or television—a bystander on the outside looking in. But this vision felt like drowning and threatened to suck me in and drag me under.

“You need to sit down. Breathe,” Arie said as he guided me to sit on my sofa.

“You… What are you?” I said in a whisper.

“You want to know why I move around. Do you really want to know, Holly?” He brushed his fingers down my neck.

“Yes.”

“I’m a vampire.”

His words might have been more shocking if not for the Sight. I’d seen odd things my whole life and had come to accept things that were unreal to most people, but I couldn’t believe that he was a vampire like I’d seen in so many horror movies. I’d never had conversations with the undead, but I’d had plenty of experiences that showed me there were supernatural things in this world which defied explanation. Still, I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.

“You’re a vampire. Prove it.”

“Didn’t I just do that? No one moves that fast.”

“That might be true, but that’s not enough for me to believe you’re an honest-to-god blood-sucking vampire.”

Arie sighed. “Fine.”

He crouched in front of the sofa. He opened his mouth and fangs extended from his gums.

I inhaled sharper than I would have wanted him to hear. “Why are you here? Every day you stop by the Coffee Grind. I want to know why. What am I to you—dinner?” I swallowed.

Arie ran a hand through his dark wavy hair before turning to lean against the opposite wall with a perplexed look on his face. Again, it looked like he was grappling with something, but I didn’t know what. “Call it recreational curiosity. I meant what I said. I won’t hurt you. I can make you forget, if you want me to.”

So maybe he had been influencing me, if he could make me forget. Was that why I felt dizzy sometimes? And if he could do that with being a vampire, I wondered if my attraction to him was genuine. It had to be, at least in part. I’d wanted him long before I’d ever talked to him or felt that persuasive dizziness when I was with him. I also wanted to ask him how he knew about my gift, or if in fact he did, but I didn’t want to risk it if he didn’t. Experience had taught me it was best if I kept that piece of information to myself.

Besides, it might prove useful if Arie didn’t know I had the Sight. But if I invited him to stay, I could ask him more about what it was like to be a vampire. I found the whole thing shocking, a little hard to believe, and absolutely fascinating. If I was being honest with myself I’d wanted to know more about him before this. The way he handled himself, his manners, made me want him since the very first time I waited on him at the Coffee Grind.

“No, please don’t. Why don’t you stay for a bite?” I gasped. “I mean for dinner. I mean if you eat…food. Um, maybe we could order a pizza?”
Stupid, stupid, stupid. I sound ridiculous, babbling like an idiot.
The words fell out of my mouth and I tried to catch my breath.

“Great. I know a place near the Prairie District on South Archer that has decent delivery,” he said with an unreadable expression.

I sat in stunned disbelief with raised eyebrows. “Sounds…great.” I finally managed, but my voice sounded weak.

Arie grinned while whipping out his cell phone and dialing the number faster than was humanly possible.

“You love showing off, don’t you?”

“This is going to be fun,” he said with a grin.

I gulped.
Fun for who?

Arie rattled off an order but it barely registered as my mind spun in a hundred directions. I had about a million questions and I didn’t know what to ask first. He ended the call and we stared at one another. Steadying my breathing to keep from prattling off the string of questions that had been forming in my head, I focused instead on just one.

“You were influencing me before, weren’t you?”

Arie smiled. “Only a little.”

“Are you going to feed from me?”
Like you did to the redhead in my vision?

“No.”

“Then what do you want from me?”

“I want to know more about you, Holly.”

“Why?”

Arie’s eyes darkened. “Because you remind me of someone I used to know.”

I wanted to ask him who, but I thought better of it when I saw the same pained look on his face that I’d seen when he rejected me outside the Coffee Grind. Instead I thought it would be better to change the subject. Something normal. Something mundane. “Would you like some more coffee?”

Arie smiled, handing me his empty mug. I retreated to pour him another cup and gather my thoughts, but he followed me into the kitchen. He watched me pour him another mug. He had that look again—like half of him wanted me but couldn’t figure out if it was a good idea. And now I could understand how maybe it wasn’t. My fingers brushed his as I handed him the steaming cup, sending delicious heat down to my stomach. There it was. The undeniable desire filled the air between us, but now I wasn’t sure how I felt about it, with the revelation that he was a vampire.

“Arie, I—”

I didn’t have time to figure it out. He put his mug down on the table behind him and pushed me against the counter.
Yes.
I wanted to soak up all his pain, whatever haunted him, with every part of me that ached to be filled. He kissed me—a hungry, desperate kiss—as I wrapped my arms around his neck and curled my fingers in his hair. My pulse accelerated and then his hands were drifting under the edge of my shirt, under my bra, plucking so that my nipple tightened in response. I nipped at his lower lip and he groaned. I had no idea how long we stood there kissing each other as if there were no tomorrow, with his hands exploring my curves.

And then there was a knock at the door.

“I better go answer that,” I said breathlessly.

He groaned again as I went to get the door. Paying the delivery guy for our pizza, I thanked him before taking the warm box. I set it on the coffee table and turned to Arie, who had followed me into the living room.

“Holly, has your last name always been Ellis? Have you ever been married?”

“Yes. I mean no. Why do you ask?”

“Because I’m curious.”

It felt like there was more to it than curiosity but I didn’t think I’d get a straight answer out of him. “No, I’ve never been married, but my last name wasn’t always Ellis.”

“I’m just going to grab us some paper plates,” I said as I left Arie.

Dinner with a vampire. I could only wonder what would be for dessert.

CHAPTER 3

Stretched on my back under a towering birch, I soaked in the sunlight. The feel of the whispering breath of the breeze that billowed through the branches felt delightful on my skin. My curves were caught in the sunbeams that filtered through the canopy of leaves high above. The sun left trails of light that danced across my naked body. In the stillness I felt alone in the forest glade.

A beautiful figure draped in white and surrounded by light appeared from deep within the forest. She walked slowly and deliberately toward me—our eyes met, each entranced by the other. Then she smiled, radiating a sacredness and serenity that seemed to make the earth vibrate with a primal force that felt like a hum.