Forbidden Embrace (6 page)

“
Yeah?”

“
Exactly how ticklish are you?” Nathanial jumps on me and begins to tickle me.

I start squirming and laughing…I could easily push him off but this is fun–it feels so normal. Lightly sitting on top of me, he instantly stops tickling me and slowly bends down to kiss me. I love feeling the weight of his body on top of me; it’s so comforting, like a big thick blanket on a cold winter night. The kiss sets fireworks off within my body again. His lips are as soft and gentle as a downy baby chick, moving in perfect synch with mine once again. Nathanial sits up and climbs off of me to kneel beside me, and I rise to my knees in front of him. Still kissing, we pause for a moment. He slowly runs his hands down my arms to my fingertips, intertwining his fingers with mine. Nathanial slowly lifts my arms above my head and then runs his hands back down my sides, without moving his eyes from mine. With a slow fluid motion, he lifts my shirt from my navel over my breasts and slips it off. I yearn for him, needing him more than ever. As he is slowly kissing me up and down my neck, I gently pull back and take his shirt off, tossing it to the floor next to mine. Running his hands down my bare back over my bra strap he whispers, “You are so beautiful. Your skin is so soft and creamy smooth. I’ve never imagined anything feeling so perfect,” he says as he slowly kisses my bare shoulder.

“
I love you so much Nate! You are so amazing.” I run my hands over his perfectly chiseled chest. Leaning forward, kissing his chest, I slowly move my hands over his wash board abs.

Gently he pulls me into him so that we are skin to skin as he holds me. My hair is up in a ponytail, and Nathanial pulls the pony holder out, letting my hair falls to my shoulders. I melt as he runs his fingers through my tussled hair. The feel of his fingers running through my hair and down my back is electric. Being so close to the man of my dreams is indescribable.

I wonder if this is it.
Are Nathanial and I about to make love for the first time?
My heart begins to flutter with excitement and nervousness.

“
Nate, have you ever done anything like this before? Have you ever had sex before?” I ask.

“
No! I had never really even kissed a girl, until you; unless you count Sara in my third grade class,” he laughs, “What about you?”

“
There was a boy I dated for a while when I was sixteen…he was my first kiss. He was really just a friend, as I had no intimate feelings for him. Once my family promised my hand in marriage to the Duke we had to refrain from seeing each other. Then, before my wedding I was Embraced and saved from being a baby-making factory for an old man. I guess now it is you stuck with an old woman.” We both chuckle.

“
I don’t think of you like that; to me you are the woman I love, and that is the only thing that matters to me. You know the old cliché…’age doesn’t matter’. I can understand that statement to its full extent now.”

He grabs me in his arms and holds me close. We start falling on to the bed, entangled with one another. I have never felt so much passion before–I never even thought anything like this existed. How on earth did I ever become so lucky to have found Nathanial? I never want this feeling to end. Then I start thinking,
are we really ready for this? Am I ready for this? My family has all explained what it’s like to have sex.
Alexander has explained the difference between human sex and
vampire
sex. He said it was exciting and exhilarating as a human, but as a
vampire i
t is like thousands of lightning bolts shooting through your body all at once. He explained to me once that it is impossible to control our strength during intercourse. That during intercourse as a
vampire
every feeling and sensation is multiplied by millions. The part I find real interesting is the connection he described to me. There is a complete connection during intercourse, and one can feel every feeling and thought of the other. No secret can be kept because the one you’re involved with will now know it all and know you like no other. There was no real way of explaining it. Alexander explained that I can seriously hurt Nathanial if we do have sex; that my thirst for his blood may drive me insane, and even be impossible to resist. Finally he told me that is what happened with Caspian and Ashley. After 30 years I finally found out what drove my brother; Caspian, away from our family; the full details of the night we found Ashley covered in blood, and Caspian destroyed over what he had done. It just seems like so much to handle, and I can’t help but question if we are really ready for such a step.

I want to share this with Nathanial, but I never want to hurt him. I’m strong emotionally now when it comes to my relationship with Nathanial…maybe we can do this and I might be able to control myself. Then I start becoming abundantly aware of his scent, his blood coursing through his veins, and his increased heart rate. I begin to question what is happening and if this is a bad idea…I don’t think I can fully trust myself. I have been told that since his blood has been planted within me from the day of his attack, I should be able to resist him, but I just don’t think I’m willing to risk it. I’m not ready for Nathanial to meet the same fate that Ashley did so many years earlier.

“
Nate, I don’t know if this is a good idea. I’m scared I might hurt you, or worse,” I confess.

“
Sophia, I know you’d never harm me. I trust you completely, but if you aren’t ready for this we can wait. I love you and I want the day we make love to be special, and memorable. I don’t want you to be scared or resent it. So never mind, we should wait until we are both ready and the time is right,” he comforts me.

We share so much passion for each other it’s hard to resist, but we have to for his safety. Maybe one day I’ll have more confidence in myself, but today is not the day.

I decide to change into my pajamas, so we can just fall asleep in each other’s arms. It’s the perfect way to end the night. I don’t sleep for long, but I enjoy cuddling up to him. He smells so good and I love watching him sleep, so peaceful and warm. When I’m in his arms I finally feel like I belong. Then my mind drifts to Danika. She has been fairly absent again lately, and with the family so wrapped up in training, no one has really noticed. I can’t help but think she’s up to no good. She can’t be anywhere near the fight, she’s far too young. I would like to know what she is up to; to have somebody watching her.

***

Morning comes and this means our last day of winter break. Ms. Edwina and her granddaughters arrive at our place early. We want to organize all of the potions and spells we will need in the fight against the Cerberus. This way the supplies are ready when we need them, since we’ll be at school most of the day. The arrangements with Nate’s parents have been set. They believe that Elijah and Florence have already left town and Isaac and Constance will be taking the rest of us in a few days, with the exception of Danika of course.

“
The Renata contacted me early this morning. The Cerberus are getting closer–we have to be ready. I think it may be time to store the potions and spells up at the clearing, rather than here at the house,” Elijah explains. “That way no matter where we are when this goes down, we have everything we need already at the clearing.”

“
We can use that safe in my room. I already made some camouflage for it. I can hide it well so that if someone does stumble near it, they will never find it,” Alexander confirms.

“
I have to ask, what is so special and magical about the clearing? It’s got to be more than the spells…I mean what will draw them there rather than into town? How can we know they will sense it?” Danika releases her concerns.

Isaac smiles and says, “We suspect that one of the leaders can sense powers and magical or supernatural energies, so if we all congregate there it should draw them to us.”

“
Also my dear, the clearing was once used as a magical ritual ground, and many of the area
witches
have chosen the area to cross from the mortal life into Summerland,” Ms. Edwina explains.

Danika looks even more perplexed now, “What is Summerland?”

Ebony sits next to Danika as Ms. Edwina continues, “Summerland is where we
witches
go upon our demise, our death until we are chosen to return to the Mother Earth.”

Potions and spells should be organized into different categories such as power enabling, protection, healing, freezing, binding, and enhancement. Matilda suggests we color code the vials as an extra safety measure. We have to ensure all enhancement potions were kept in different vials as to not throw them at the Cerberus…we don’t want to enhance their strength or powers. Ms. Edwina will control these during the fight. The girls also made her a protection broach; she can’t fight at her age, and we need her protected just as Matt and Nathanial are by their watch and wrist band. As she is very old and we fear for her, she will be put in a type of bubble for protection. The rest of us can’t use such protection because it does affect our powers as we suspected and we are unclear as to how it will affect us while fighting.

The girls made protection potions so that if one of us gets injured and needs time to heal, they can hit us with one and the Cerberus will not be able to get to us. This might help, but unless I am near the injured when the protection spell was thrown, I won’t be able to get to them either. That is why they also made healing potions to enhance the increased speed of healing. I feel confident that all our bases are covered. As
vampires
we can heal and regenerate, but the length of time depends on the severity of the injuries. My power or ability allows me to speed the healing process to only moments.

Nathanial is pleased. “Thank you for involving me so much in the planning, but I’m still not happy about having to stay home when you are risking everything.”

I feel bad because he has no one to talk to about all this. Matt has no clue about the supernatural and anyone else that does know has supernatural abilities. I can only imagine that it would be nice for Nathanial to have someone to talk to and confide in.

“
I've been thinking of confiding in Matt. He means so much to me, and was there for me when I first found out I was a
witch
. Everything that happened at school, with my powers, well he didn’t even react to it. He has been nothing but patient and supportive. I just don’t want him to think I’m a freak,” Ebony says nervously.

“
Wow, that was good timing,” I chuckle.

“
What was?”

“
I was just thinking about Matt not knowing and how it would be nice for Nathanial to have a friend to confide in.”

“
I guess great minds do think alike,” she laughs.

I encourage her, knowing how hard it is to have a secret like this. I have a really good feeling about Matt; there is just something special about him, and Matilda sees his and Ebony’s two souls fitting together. Alexander still can’t read him and although he finds it frustrating, he believes it’s for a reason. We all know he’s good because of his soul. When we first met Matt, Matilda said he has a white soul, something she has only seen once before.

“
Ebony, if you want help talking to Matt we can be there for you. It may be good for him to know that Nate is so understanding and accepting of everything, and yet still a mortal,” I volunteer.

“
That just may be the way to do this,” she agrees with relief. “I have plans with him...in about an hour. Why don’t you and Nate come with me? No better time than now. I think he should know before the battle; plus I should probably get this over with, before I lose all my nerve.”

“
Great. I can finally talk to a buddy about this,” Nathanial interjects.

“
What am I? Just some scary old
vampire
, I guess,” Alexander jokes.

Nathanial smirks. “Yeah, you’re absolutely terrifying.”

We all know he just wants someone to talk to that’s in the same situation as him, or at least a similar situation. Being in love with a supernatural being must be difficult. This way Matt and Nathanial can rely on one another for support when things are out of their control. I also feel that it adds safety to the situation for Nathanial, because now there will be two mortals that know about us. It protects him in a sense; with Matt knowing what is going on, they can keep one another from interfering.

Chapter 6

Confiding

Ebony, Nathanial, and I walk into her family’s manor and try to get comfortable. We need to prepare to let another mortal into our secret world. I can only hope that for Ebony’s sake Matt can handle this information.

“
Matt will be here shortly. I don’t even know where to start,” Ebony starts to freak out about spilling her secret to Matt.

She loves him and is scared to lose him, while on the other end, Nathanial is excited because he really doesn’t know much about
witches
. He’s asked me in the past to explain more of the history, but now he’ll have more of his questions answered first hand, from the
witch’s
mouth.

Matt is right on time…he’s always very punctual. Nathanial gets up and greets him at the door. Ebony and I just remain in the family room, while I continue to try to get her to relax. We can hear the boys bantering; I can hear every word, breathe and movement as if I was right next to them.