Fateful (21 page)

“I’ve never known of anything that does work
against us where mortals are concerned, but if I can think of
anything…” A smug smile rested on his lips. “I’ll be sure to let
you know.”

“I feel like you’re withholding information,
Ethan. Are you worried I’ll use it against you? What if I’m stuck
face to face with Lucas, and you’re not around and—”

“Truthfully, Danielle, for you, even with
your extensive training, it would be like fighting off a Superman
with no weakness to a rock from his home planet. Not even during
the day, not even if the vampire was feeble with thirst. I’m sorry.
If Lucas ever managed to trap you—there would be no hope. But don’t
worry, I won’t let that happen.” She noticed Ethan was serious now
and no longer jesting.

“There’s nothing then…”

Ethan shook his head.

Danielle realized he must to be telling the
truth. Devastated at the idea of such utter weakness, the anger
returned and she said, “Would you mind getting off, or are you too
comfortable where you’re at?”

“Well, I am quite comfortable, but…” He stood
and offered a hand to her.

She took it and he helped her to standing.
“Thank you,” she said.

“You’re very welcome,” he said.

“Are you done tormenting me? I need to take a
shower.” Reaching for her shoulder, she rubbed the ache developing
there, her self-confidence battered.

“I’m done for now,” he said with mischief
dancing in his eyes. It seemed he was back to teasing her.

“Okay, good. I’ll see you later then,” she
snapped a little more angrily than she meant to. Hopeless! All that
sweat and diligence and she couldn’t defend against a vampire day
or night! The thought irked her, and she found herself stomping
toward the door.

Ethan suddenly caught her arm and pulled her
forcefully back to him. When her chest smashed against his, he
planted a kiss firmly on her lips. That potion of his seeped into
her lungs and she felt herself going limp. Releasing her mouth, he
slipped down to the side of her neck with his kisses. Danielle
shuddered and giggled. Was it his kisses or the magic that
instantly melted the frosty attitude she had toward him for winning
and showing her how worthless her skills were. But then again, she
realized as her knees barely held her weight, she was losing
another battle against him and her anger returned because of it.
She gave his arm another solid punch. “You’re such a … a …
manipulating … scoundrel! That’s not even remotely fair!” She knew
her attempt at insulting him failed miserably just from the look of
amusement on his face.

“I think I rather like it when you’re angry,”
he noted, a misbehaving grin now pulling at his lips.

“And what is the fascination with my neck?”
She ran a hand along the skin that still tingled from his
touch.

“That may very well be a vampire thing. I
can’t seem to resist that part of you.”

“Well, I really am going to go take a shower
now. I need to get out of these damp, grass stained clothes,” she
said while trying to look at the back of her top in the glass door
reflection. She figured it had to be streaked with green after he’d
tackled her.

“All right, later then.”

Danielle watched as he disappeared into the
landscaping the same mysterious way he’d come.

Chapter 12

Where Fairies Dwell

The next morning Danielle woke to the
sound of her phone vibrating. She’d just received a text. Reaching
for it, she pressed view and the screen lit up with:
I’ll take you to see the fairies today after your
morning classes. Dress for a hike this time. Love, Ethan

She could hardly contain her excitement
as she responded with
okay
and pushed her blankets aside. Tossing her legs over the edge
of the bed, she paused and groaned aloud. Apparently she was very
sore from that sparring match, and now she was going on a hike?
This is going to be one painful excursion, she thought, but she
decided seeing fairies were worth the pain as she forced her
muscles to move, showered and got dressed for school.

She’d finished with the ruins painting and
turned it in for credit. The teacher was very fascinated and wanted
to know where it was located. Realizing she probably should have
just said she made it up when she’d been forced to explain
repeatedly that she didn’t know. The professor wanted to put it in
the art show at the school galleries. But, having other plans for
this painting, Danielle didn’t want to do that. She offered a
compromise, telling him she would let it be displayed for a couple
days, but had to pull it early. The professor accepted her terms
with obvious disappointment.

When she finally got home, she raced to her
bedroom to get ready for the hike. She pulled out her chocolate
brown cargo pants, her red sneakers, and a white t-shirt. She
grabbed a hoodie in case it got chilly, pulled her hair back into a
ponytail again, and braided the loose strands.

The doorbell rang— Racing down the stairs,
she wondered if she’d ever be ready when Ethan arrived, only to
realize it wasn’t him this time when she saw Brianna letting Will,
her burly-rugby-playing-boyfriend, inside.

He took one look at her and said. “Wow,
look, it’s
Lara
Croft
.”

Brianna giggled. “Yeah, Will, and she can
kick your butt too.”

Danielle rolled her eyes. “Oh please.”

“That’s not your usual look, Dannie. Where is
Ethan taking you today?” Brianna asked.

“We’re going on a hike,” she said,
hiding her true thoughts.
Fairies!
Fairies! I get to see fairies!
If Brianna only
knew.

“Brilliant! Where to?” she asked.

“I don’t know. What are you two doing
today?”

“I have a rugby game. You need to come watch
us play, Danielle,” said Will excitedly.

“I’d love to.” Except for today, there was no
way she was giving up fairies for rugby. “When’s the next
game?”

“Next week,” he said.

“Okay, let’s plan for that then.”

The doorbell rang again; surely it had
to be Ethan this time. Danielle jerked the door open.
Yes!
“Hi, Ethan.”

“Hi, Danielle. You ready?”

“Yes,” she said far too enthusiastically as
she motioned for him to enter.

As he stepped inside, her gaze traveled over
his attire. He had on tan cargo shorts that came to the knee, and a
pair of brown hiking boots. With her gaze drawn to his thick
calves, she realized she hadn’t ever seen his muscular legs before.
He usually wore pants. Danielle’s perusal lifted to the snug
fitting t-shirt that showed off his sculpted chest, and finally to
the plaid shirt open over that.

When she took in his mouth which was twisted
into a grin with a roguish edge to it, she realized she’d been
caught eyeing him. Biting her lip, she felt herself blush when she
met his gaze. A soft chortle rumbled within his chest, and Danielle
knew her obvious attraction to him and her excitement about seeing
fairies were easy to read.

Will extended a hand out to Ethan. “Nice to
meet you, we should double sometime.”

“We should,” Ethan agreed as he shook Will’s
hand. However, Danielle knew he wouldn’t do it if they planned
something at night.

“Ready to go?” he asked Danielle.

“Yes, but what else do I need? Do I need a
backpack?”

“No, I’ve got everything covered.” Of course
he does.

She grabbed her hoodie from where she’d left
it on the banister, and tied it around her waist. “Is this enough?
Do I need my jacket?”

“Yeah, you’d better bring that too.”

She raced upstairs, snatched her jacket off
the bed and ran back down. She was trying really hard to resist
jumping up and down like Brianna does when she’s excited. Ethan
looked like he was about to burst out laughing at her
eagerness.

“Let’s go before you explode,” he whispered
so only she could hear.

Danielle took his hand and darted for the
door, calling over her shoulder, “See ya, Bri, Will…”

She didn’t even give them a chance to say
goodbye before she was out the door with Ethan in tow.

“Feeling a bit enthusiastic, Danielle?” he
asked calmly.

“Yes,” she squealed and started bouncing, but
that hurt her sore muscles, so she stopped.

He chuckled and shook his head.

She then noticed he didn’t have his Jaguar
with him, and was instead driving a green Land Rover today. “Is
that like the British version of a Jeep?”

“Yes, The Defender.” Pride glimmered in his
eyes as he spoke. “Doesn’t every guy need to have a nice
off-roading vehicle?”

“Oh, probably.”

Danielle was more than ready to get going,
she rushed to the Land Rover before him and clamored inside.

Ethan climbed into the driver’s side while
still laughing and fired up the engine. He put music on, something
more rocking than before.

“You like the
Foo Fighters
?”

Ethan smiled and began banging his head to
the beat.

“What happened to your usual instrumental
stuff?”

“I’m in the mood for rock and roll when I
drive this baby.” He gave the steering wheel a loving pat.

“All right. How long ‘til we get there?” she
asked before he’d even pulled away from her house.

“It’s about an hour drive, and then we
hike.”

“How do you know where fairies are? How do
you know they exist?”

“I met a sorcerer once, who told me about
them. I went to find them myself. After I became a vampire, I spent
a long time exploring the world, having way too much time on my
hands.”

“Couldn’t the sorcerer remove the curse from
you?”

“I wish,” he laughed. “The way the sorceress
cast the spell, made the curse pretty much unbreakable.”

“Is the sorceress who cast the spell still
around?”

“Probably, but she is evil. You wouldn’t want
to meet her. She might turn you into something worse than a
vampire.”

“Why is she evil?”

“I hear she never got over Benjamin.”

“Oh. What are fairies like?” Danielle just
couldn’t seem to stop with her insistent questions. She checked his
face to see if he was getting frustrated with her, but he appeared
just as calm and patient as usual.

“They’re like tiny little people with wings.
They are very social and playful, but they stay away from the
majority of society. They glow different colors, similar to how an
aura is different with each person.”

Aura? “Do I have an aura?”

“Yes,” he said.

“You can see it?” she gasped.

He nodded.

“What color is it?”

A smile spread across his lips. “Yours is
white.” He seemed immensely amused by that fact, probably because
he also knew it was her favorite color.

“What about yours?”

“I don’t know what mine is. You usually can’t
see your own aura, and most people can’t see them at all.”

She remembered her dream. “Yours is white
too.”

“Can you see it?” Ethan asked,
astonished.

“No, but I had a dream about you, and in it,
you were glowing white.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and Lucas was there, but he was
absorbing light instead of giving it.”

“That’s amazing, Danielle! I know Lucas has
no aura; he doesn’t give off any light because he’s evil to the
core.”

“So then he
would
devour light, like in my dream.” Danielle
shuddered. Just the thought of him frightened her.

“Do you normally have prophetic dreams like
that?”

“No, but it did help me see the difference
between you and him.”

Ethan reached over and took her hand. “We’ll
be there soon. Are you ready for a long hike?”

“I hope so.” She was worried about her aching
muscles, and didn’t really know how long she would last. “When you
say ‘long,’ how long is that, in curiosity?”

“That kind of depends on how fast you can
go.”

“I see.” She sighed and dropped her head back
against the headrest. Why did she have to kill herself
yesterday?

“You’re moody again, what’s wrong?” Ethan
asked, his tone attentive.

“I kind of overdid it yesterday. But I’ll try
to push through it.”

“We can do this another time,” he offered
softly.

“No! I want to see fairies today. I’ll-I’ll
just suck it up!”

He laughed. “Man! You’re stubborn!”

“Only sometimes,” she muttered.

“Seems I missed that one when I peered into
your eyes.” Ethan continued to laugh, shaking his head as he
reached to turn the music up a little louder. It wasn’t much longer
before he steered off into the forest. There was no road. The
terrain was very rough and there wasn’t much room for the vehicle
to pass through between the trees. Only an off-road vehicle would
have made it. He drove for another twenty minutes and then
stopped.

“Okay, now we hike.” He jumped out, hefted a
backpack and a canteen out of the back of the Land Rover, and then
put them on himself.

Danielle slid from the seat and began
checking out the surroundings. They were at the base of a small
mountain, with thick trees skirting it. It was relatively warm
where they were, but she could see dark storm clouds off to the
west, and the ground was damp from earlier rain. Everything smelled
fresh, like pine and flowers.

There was no trail at all to follow … of
course there was no trail to the fairies!

Ethan reached for Danielle, but she put her
hands up to stop him when she realized he meant to carry her again.
“Ethan, I’m capable of walking on my own.”

“But you said you were sore.”

“I’m tough, I’ll be fine. It’s just a little
more exercise which can’t hurt me.”