Eternal Shadows (33 page)

Rhys froze. Literally. He became still as a statue, not breathing, not moving, not blinking. I suddenly worried that I should have kept that knowledge to myself. I shifted my weight, sitting on my knees though it hurt like all heck, and touched his face with my fingertips.

“Rhys, look at me. Please?”

The statue in front of me came to life. He shook, a tiny tremor, barely visible running through his body. He breathed. “Malachi? He did it? Why?”

I didn’t want to tell him. The truth would hurt him. I didn’t want him to know I had remembered the whole terrible night. But would a lie be worse? Maybe. “I don’t know exactly why. I didn’t really understand. He wanted her for himself. The locket he burned me with was a present, for Bryn, actually. He was just being selfish.” There, half the truth. I could tell Rhys Malachi had killed Eva to hurt him later, if it ever came up. Malachi had hurt me for the same reason. Chosen me for their exposure.

“I didn’t know he knew her,” Rhys said.

“Neither did I. I don’t remember him.”

He nodded against my hand, then took the washcloth from my neck. “The bleeding has stopped.”

“Small favors,” I said. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

I wanted to change the subject. No more talk of past lives and past deaths. We were both alive now. “My whole class saw what he did to me. He even threw one kid. He wanted to expose u
s—
said the Organization had authorized it. Did he succeed?”

“We’re not sure yet. That’s something we’ll have to deal with later.”

“Oh. Did he hurt anyone else? Is that boy okay?”

Rhys’s head dropped a bit. “I have to admit I was a bit focused on you, but I don’t remember any bodies.”

“That’s good.” Any of my classmates’ deaths would have been on my hands. “What about the others? Tabitha and Garrett and Henry?”

“Imprisoned. They’ll await trial.”

“That will go well.” About as well as the failed council meeting.

“The level of their attack should help our case.”

I nodded absently. I didn’t have anything nice to say about that. I’d almost been killed and the culprits might still get off. Vampire justice was not quite as well-sorted out as human.

“I feel gross,” I said after we had both been quiet for a long time.

“I’ll run a bath if that’s what you want.”

A bath? A tub full of water in
which I could sink into and not drown myself in after a night of being tossed into a pool and thrown through house walls? Didn’t think so. And I didn’t have the strength to stand long enough for a shower. Not without help. I didn’t want anyone but Rhys at the moment, but I also didn’t want this to be the first time he saw me without clothes. No thanks. I’d pick a better memorable moment later.

“Just help me get changed. I’m too tired for any of that right now.”

So what if getting changed involves some level of undress too. It’s different.

Rhys was so careful to help me change I almost screamed with impatience. Considering I couldn’t move my right arm though, things became a bit difficult. My poor ruined dress got ripped down the side in order to get it off.

Could have picked a better time to have my clothes ripped off, but what could I do?

We settled on an over-sized tee-shirt I had gotten on one of my many college visits that amounted to nothing. Rhys was a perfect gentleman throughout the entire thing. I was too tired to be either embarrassed or shy.

I sank into my pillow, sleep creeping up on me. Gianna would be coming, but who knew when? I was sure I’d wake up when she and Rhys set my arm, so there was really no need to wait up for her. I grabbed Rhys by the hand and pulled him close.

He kissed me. I hadn’t really expected that, but certainly didn’t mind. I wanted to draw it out, but my body betrayed me and I didn’t have the energy. My fangs didn’t even lengthen.

Rhys laughed lightly against my lips. “Perhaps you should just go to sleep, love.”

I grinned like an idiot. “That’s the first time you’ve called me that.”

“I promise I’ll do it again. You can sleep now.”

“I love you. Thank you for saving my life.” I let my eyes slide closed.

His lips brushed against mine again. “I love you. Thank you for saving mine.”

“Didn’t do anything,” I said sleepily. I heard him huff, then felt him pull away. I opened my eyes so fast I almost heard them snap. Before he could get too far, I reached for him. “Where are you going?”

He had stood, but sat back on the edge of the bed when I spoke. “I was going to go get cleaned up.”

“Stay.”

“I’m a mess.”

“So am I. Bed’s already wrecked. Get back here.”

He kicked off his shoes and climbed back in beside me. Anything other than lying on my back hurt unbearably, so I couldn’t hold onto him. I settled for making him put an arm over my waist. I set my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

“Love you,” I said again, succumbing to the call of sleep.

“For all eternity,” he said.

Chapter Twenty-S
ix: Love and Death

Damn sun.

I pulled my floppy-brimmed hat further down over my face. I was sweating in my long sleeved-tee and board-shorts, but I couldn’t make myself care. Even the sound of the ocean waves in the background wasn’t enough to ease my frustration. The sun made the thirst burn, and ever since the graduation party three weeks ago, Warren had been off-limits when it came to feeding.

Not that I had any desire to bite a living being ever. Not after I’d felt it for myself. Thank you, no. But that left me with nothing but donated or stored blood from a number of different humans as my source of sustenance. Yippee. Gross. At least now I appreciated Warren’s blood.

He had been back on his feet before me. Nothing but a concussion and a bruised back. The blood had been from a long gash on his hip where he hit and broken the porcelain tub. Lucky him. I’d been more or less tied to my bed for the better part of the week before Rhys finally relented and let me move around the house. Not that being bedridden had been all bad. Rhys had stayed with me constantly, tending to my every need and getting me whatever I wanted. Not bad at all. If I hadn’t felt like crap I would have felt like the Queen of Sheba.

My neck was scarred. Not too badly, but bad enough that I minded. Malachi hadn’t been gentle. Two ragged puncture marks marred the right side of my neck, the new skin still pink and raised higher than the rest. Ugly. I hated them. Almost as much as I hated the burn on my shoulder. The locket had forever emblazoned an oval-enclosed flower on my shoulder. Another scar. It had taken longer to heal than the bite marks. Gold had that affect, apparently. I wished I had killed Malachi myself.

My broken arm had healed in little more than two days once it was set. That had been nice. Two hands were better when convincing Rhys that only snuggling would make me feel better.

The breeze picked up, blowing sand into my face. I grabbed my sunglasses and put them on to keep the grains from getting in my eyes. I shifted, annoyed, in my new expensive beach chair. I didn’t have a watch on, so I had no idea how much longer my punishment had to go on for. Funny that suddenly going to the ocean was a punishment. It used to be one of my favorite things. Too bad recovery did nothing but increase a vampire’s need for blood, and too bad the sun aggravated that need.

“Oh, sit still and enjoy the day, Kassandra,” Millie said, lying on a towel next to me in her perfect little yellow polka-dot bikini. “And take off those ridiculous clothes. The point is to get some color back in your skin, not cook you from the inside out.”

“I want to go inside.”

She sat up like a jack-in-the-box and pulled the hat from my head before I could stop her.

“Hey!”

“Stop moping. You’re bringing me down. Now take off that shirt.”

I hoped my expression looked as deadly as I wanted. I threw my shirt at her once it was off. “Happy now?”

“Oh yes.” She stashed my protective clothing in her beach bag then lay back down. “Drink it in, Kassandra.”

“Bite me.”

“That’s what Brody’s for.” She grinned evilly.

“Ha ha.” I resisted the urge to fold my arms over my bare stomach. Didn’t need weird tan lines on top of everything else. I should have worn my blue one-piece instead of my bright pink bikini. I had thought it would help my mood. Nope.

Brody was swimming laps against the waves, had been for quite some time now. Millie pretended she wasn’t watching, but I knew she was. It was all for her sake anyway. I’d thought about going in the water, but my sun-protest was better accomplished on the beach.

I brooded for a bit longer, counting the long, bluish shadows made by the palm trees at the edge of the sand. When I had finished—27, by the way—I took to
kicking the sand at my feet, creating little sandy mountains, then toppling them in one swift motion.

Millie moaned and threw up her hands. “Fine. Go inside. Be pale and ghastly for the rest of your life. See if I care.”

I was off my chair in an instant. “Thanks!” I tried not to kick sand on her when I ran by, but by the sputtering I heard behind me, I don’t think I was successful.

I ran until the sand ended and I hit the stone walkway that led from bungalow to bungalow. The general owned this beach, so we were the only ones there. Total privacy. Leaning towards overkill if you asked me. There were enough bungalows for each vampire, or at least for each couple, and a separate, larger one for all the human feeders. Aurelia had picked this place as the family sanctuary a few centuries back, in case anyone needed a vacation, or in case of exposure.

The time had come. The graduation party had left us all on thin ice. The general and Cordoba had managed to deflect most of the damage, but the human authorities were suspicious. They weren’t thinking supernatural yet—or rather, they weren’t willing to believe the eyewitnesses—but they were thinking. One wrong move and we’d all be on the nightly news.
Vampires Real!
Suck on that. Ha.

So we’d disappeared. Not completely of course, there were still politics to be done in the human world, but we’d removed ourselves from the community our presence had almost decimated.

I missed home.

Footsteps caught my attention, and then a scent. Flowers. Olivia. We had more or less avoided each other ever since Rhys and I had gotten together. She came down the walkway, towards me, a red sarong tied around her waist to match the red and blue one-piece suit she wore. I heard her breathing stop when she saw me, then heard her exhale carefully and walk on with her nose towards the clouds.

This was ridiculous.

“Olivia.”

She stumbled to a stop when I said her name. Shock probably. Composing herself, she turned to me, not bothering with a polite expression. “What do you want?”

Be the bigger person.
I made that a mantra in my head. I clamped down on the pride that wanted nothing more than to throw her words back in her face. At least her scent was not the least bit appealing to me. The sun had made me thirsty. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

Ha ha! That stunned her even more. I could play this game.

Olivia’s mouth hung open with whatever rude retort she had planned, then snapped shut when she realized I hadn’t been antagonistic. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” I said again. It wasn’t as hard to say as I had thought it would be.

“What are you sorry for?” She crossed her arms over her chest. Defensive.

“That things didn’t work out the way you planned.” This was harder than I had anticipated. “I know you like Rhys, more than like him. It must be hard for you to see him with me.”

She scoffed.

“But thank you.”

“Thank you? What could you possibly thank me for?”

“For caring about him. I can’t change the way I feel about him, or the way he feels about me. I wouldn’t want to. But your presence kept him from being completely lonely before I showed up. So thank you. He values your friendship, I know that.”

God, she looked like a fish out of water. “I don’t understand.”

Jeeze, how much further did I have to go? I was already throwing her a thousand bones. One more couldn’t hurt. I guess. “Honestly, Olivia, he’s kind of dense when it comes to this kind of stuff. He has no clue you feel that way about him.”

She perked. “Really?”

Oh no. “Yes…” I hesitated to say it. I’d just dug a sand trap for myself.

I’d lost her. Olivia was completely submerged in her own thoughts now. “Then maybe I still have a chance. I could make him see.” She looked up at me. “I could show him that I’d be better for him.”

I groaned. “Good luck.” I patted her on the shoulder and walked away, leaving her to her delusions. That was the last time I’d try to be nice. I’d just caused myself further problems. The nice guy gets the knife in the back. Maybe it was time to tell Rhys how she felt and let him deal with it. Yeah, I liked that idea.

I wound my way around the stone path, letting my hand trail along the trunks and low leaves of the palm trees that grew at steady intervals. I passed Madge’s bungalow and heard low music coming from behind the closed door. She’d been reclusive ever since the party. Understandable. Rhys had explained to me what I had figured out on my own.

Madge had been in love with Malachi. He’d courted her after she was first turned, and for a while she had even believed in the Vampiric Freedom Organization with him. But the carnage they supported had been too much even for our hard-edged Madge, and she’d left the Organization. Malachi refused to come back with her, but she had never stopped loving him.

Not until that night.

We all left her alone. She was entitled to time to mourn.

I hopped from one path to another and started to circle farther around towards the northern end of the beach.

I smelled him before I saw him.

Warren walked casually towards me, dressed in swim trunks and a white tee-shirt, a canvas bag in one hand.

I stopped breathing. The deprivation of his scent lessened the burning desire in my throat for his blood. “Hey, Warren.” My voice sounded thin from the lack of air.

He smiled at me. “Hey, Kass. Headed back already?”

“The sun makes me want to eat everyone.”

“Oh. Well then, you’ll be happy to hear that Gianna cleared me as healthy enough to donate again.”

“Why do you get so excited about that?”

He shrugged. “So, do you want to?”

I clapped my hand over my mouth. “Nope.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“You have to convince me that my drinking from you doesn’t feel as hideous as Malachi drinking from me did.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?”

“Most likely, you can’t.”

“I guess you want this then.” He held up my thermos.

I could smell his blood inside. I couldn’t help it, I squeaked with excitement and grabbed it from him.

He laughed. “I’ll convince you.”

I clutched the thermos close and unscrewed the top. “Don’t bet on it.” Oh God, his blood tasted good. The thirst dimmed instantly.

“I think I might.”

I drained the thermos in one great chugging and put the top back on. “I still don’t want to bite you,” I said when I saw the smug look on Warren’s face.

“You’ll get over it.”

“Go get some orange juice.”

“I am a walking juice bar.”

“Ha ha. That line’s mine.”

“You’ll have to bite me to get it back.”

“I never bit you.”

“Suck then.”

“I didn’t think you had such a sick mind, Warren.”

He blushed. I won.

I cackled and started walking away, one victorious fist in the air. “Don’t challenge the master.” I heard him grumble to himself and walk away.

It would have taken longer than I had the patience for to walk at a leisurely pace. So, carefully listening ahead, and scenting for anything that might be in my way, I stretched out my legs, then took off.

The air whipped past me, creating a white noise littered with every other sound that existed here in this private paradise. Birds chirped, the waves crashed, and inside the small homes I could hear the sounds of everyday life. The bungalow entered my vision, and his scent reached my nose. I took a deep breath, and stopped.

Right at the door. Go me.

This was the second door we’d had since we had gotten there. I overshot the first time I tried this. At least I was getting better.

My final destination. In more ways than one.

He opened the door a second later. His scent stood out more here on this sand-covered heaven. The only soil to be found had been imported from inland and sat around the general and Aurelia’s bungalow in the garden. Everything else was sand.

The contrast of his dark hair to the light colored beach, soft green-blue ocean, and the seamless blue sky was such that I nearly forgot I needed to live and move every time I saw him. His eyes matched the sky just as well as they had in that memory of mine.

I decided I very much liked him on isolated tropical beaches.

And of course, my heart thumped once in my chest.

“I thought Millie convinced you to spend the day at the beach.”

“There was no convincing. Kidnapping would be more accurate. And I did spend quite a while there.”

“You’ve barely been gone an hour.”

“Really?” It didn’t feel like an hour. It felt like days.

“Yes.”

“Oh.”

“Are you staying now?”

“Yes. The beach is boring.”

“Of course.”

“I can think of better things to do.” I sprang up on my tip-toes, leaning forward until his body was the only thing keeping me upright. He wrapped his arms around my waist, tugged me inside, and shut the door.

Excellent.

Then he set me down and headed for the back of our little bungalow.

Not excellent.

I followed him past the wicker chairs and the plush couch that felt more like a cloud than anything else. I hopped over the little ottoman, and pushed aside the white curtain that separated the back porch from the rest of the home.