Ignite (Circle of Light Book 2) (5 page)

The feeling I got from it was unsettling, but I didn’t push the topic at all.  I guess that it would be better left alone for the time being.  There has been so much drama lately that I don’t think that I could handle very much more.

We walked for a short time.  Eric had given me his coat, but I was feeling the cold bite at me through it.  It was just way too cold to be walking any type of distance.

“I’m tired of walking and I’m getting really cold.”  I told him.

“Do you have your phone?  I must have left mine in your room.”  He asked me.

I knew that I didn’t have mine.  Calling our parents for a ride was pretty much out of the question now.  Traffic was…well, nonexistent.

“I don’t think I can walk much farther.  I need to warm up.  It’s too cold out here.”

Having said that, Eric turned to me and told me that he could get us home a lot faster than walking.  I looked back at him and I was certain that the look on my face made him question his own sanity. He really was crazy.  I was sure of it.

“How are you going to do that?”  I asked.

“Easy.  We‘ll go home the way we came.”

Before I could even reply to his silliness, he took my hands and we began to move through the air.  I watched as we passed everything.  The surprising thing about it was that it wasn’t cold.  The air seemed to cover us.  It protected us from the harsh winter cold.

It took no time at all until we were back at my house.  We stopped a short distance from the sidewalk to be sure that no one seen us come out of nowhere.

We quickly walked to the house and went inside.  It was still early, but both of my parents had already gone to work.  That was good in a way because I wasn’t in the mood to be around other people.  I only wanted Eric and honestly, if it was not for what had just happened, I would choose to be alone for a while.  I needed time to think.  I needed to sort through all the things that I had been told today. 

Eric followed me up the stairs to my room.  He immediately started searching for his phone.  I pulled out a pair of fresh pajamas and changed, not caring that he was in the room with me.  What did it really matter?  We were going to be married in less than two weeks and he had already seen me naked so I didn’t see the point in acting like it was a big deal anymore.

As I slipped the shirt over my head, I heard him dialing his phone.  I was not paying attention to who he was talking to.  The only thing I heard was him asking whoever it was if they could come straight over.  The person on the other end must have agreed because Eric quickly gave them the address and closed his phone.

“Who was that?”  I asked trying not to pry in case it was not something I needed to be concerned with.

Eric told me that it was a friend of his. One that he thought I should meet.  Now that I knew about everything. 

“Who is it?  Or should I say, what is it?”

He smiled and replied, “Your about to meet your first vampire.”

Chapter 3

Eric stood there searching my face for some kind of response.  I didn’t have one to speak of.  I was more baffled than anything I guess. 

I was told about them, but to be meeting one so soon after it was brought to my attention was a little much.  This was something I was just going to have to deal with.  It was going to happen anyway.  There wasn’t any getting out of it.

“Should I be worried?”  I asked him.

“No.  Not at all.  He is the best.  I think you two will get along just fine.”

His reply worried me a little.  It blew my mind that all this was real and to beat it all, I was right smack in the middle of it all. 

It was no time until I heard the doorbell ring.  Eric headed to greet our visitor and I made my way down into the living room.  I wonder if it was going to be like everything I had seen on television.  Was I going to have to invite him in before he could step in the house?  Just in case, I went to the door and stood beside Eric.

My breath was taken away from me instantly.  I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing.  I had been expecting him to look like some dangerous thing from the movies, but that was not the case at all.  He was gorgeous. 

The paleness of his skin was the only thing that was even remotely close to anything I had ever seen on television.  His hair was the palest shade of blonde that I had ever seen in my life.  It was difficult at first to distinguish between blonde or white.

His eyes were a strange violet color.  They burned into mine.  The intensity of our gaze caused me to blush.  It was almost as if he was looking into my very soul.

He did not frighten me at all.  As far as I could tell, he seemed nice enough.  The stories are all right.  He is extremely attractive.

“Are you going to let me stand out here all day or what?”  He asked with a smile.

I was completely ashamed of myself.  I had been so captivated by him that I forgot to ask him to come in.  I suppose the stories about that part are true.  Vampires had to be invited in.

Eric showed him to the living room.  “Can I get you anything?”

“No.  I think I’m good for a while.”  He replied.

“This is Bailey.”  Eric introduced me to him.

“It is an honor to meet you my Queen.”  I am Silas.

“Pleased to meet you as well Silas.”  I replied firmly.  He had a certain pull to him.  He knew how to keep your attention on him and nothing else.  I thought that was a bad thing.  I mean they are unnatural and extremely dangerous predators.  To make it so easy to be near them made no sense to me.  It was a sure fire way to get yourself sucked dry, but I guess it did help them stay out of harm’s way themselves.

Silas sat on the couch and asked Eric if this was a good time for him to explain to me about his kind.

“This is as good a time as any.”  Eric answered him.

Silas began to tell me about his life before he had become what he is now.  He lived in England.  He was almost near his twenty first birthday.  He avoided talking about any type of family he might have had.

“It was a very long time ago. One hundred years, to be exact.” He told me.

I was under the impression that he didn’t remember a lot from his human life.  That or he was not very willing to share that bit of information with me.  It was probably still painful for him to talk about to anyone.

As his story went on, I felt his regret about some of the things he has said he had done.  He had killed several people and a few of them had actually been willing donors.  He hadn’t quite mastered the art of controlling the amount of blood he took when he feed.  The thirst must have been too great.

Silas joined the Circle of Light many years ago.  He said that they had helped him with learning to control himself and that if it had not have been for Earth King he would probably have already been dead. 

That was because whoever was responsible for making him what he was, just left him.  He didn’t have anyone to teach him how to live.  Figuring out how to survive on his own without being discovered, had been very difficult for him.  There was no one there to teach him how to hold onto his humanity.

The Circle of Light had numerous other members that were vampires.  That was a big help to him.  They later came to him, explained all the rules of the Circle, and asked him if it was still his wish to remain with them.  He agreed.  They had become his family.

Eric asked Silas several questions about the creature that had come for him.  The conversation was not one that I cared to hear when it reached the point of Eric describing what that thing had done to him.  I was appalled by the thought of the creature.

“It was like he was in every part of my body.  Right down to the cells of my tissue.  The pain was unlike anything I had ever felt before in my life and he made me see things and hear things that I was positive were even real.” Eric said as he stared at the floor.

Silas nodded his head.  “I understand what you are trying to tell me.”   The idea of the pain that was inflicted on Eric must have brought back some terrible memory to him.

I sat there quietly and listened to them.  Silas had mentioned something about a creature that had been sent to cause a war between the Circle of Light and the Dark Union many years back.  Unfortunately, from the way he talked, it worked and many lives were lost on both sides, but the Circle of Light had been triumphant.

He said that it was kind of demon made from the souls of the innocent people the Dark Union had killed.  One that was hard to kill.

Great, now there are demons running around trying to kill everyone.  My day was getting better and better every minute.  If I listened to much more, they will be telling me that fairies and unicorns are real too.

Silas, being what he is, turned to me and said, “Yes my Queen, they do exist.”

I put my head in my hands and gave up on any notion of ever having another normal conversation with anyone again.

Both Eric and Silas were laughing.  I looked up at them and they were looking dead at me. 

“What's so funny?”  I asked.

“Nothing really.  It’s just that with you being Eternity Queen, one would think that your knowledge in these matters would be, well…better.”

All I could do was glare at Silas.  It was not my fault that I didn’t know anything about any of this.  I had never been even close to dreaming that I would be having this conversation with anyone.

“She has fallen into this rather quickly.”  Eric told Silas.

“Oh, I see.  I meant no disrespect.”  Silas said as he dropped his head.  “I hope I haven’t overstepped any boundaries my King.”

“Don’t worry.  You are free to say whatever is on your mind as long as no disrespect is intended.” Eric told him.

Silas was right. I had been thrown into this and expected to hit the ground running.  That would have been a better description if I had given my opinion on the matter.  I wasn’t trained on how to use my powers.  It came bit by bit.  Mostly, I learned what I needed to know by being in very scary situations and whatever Eric taught me.  Especially the ones where people were trying to kill us.

I was still struck by the sight of Silas.  His voice was unbelievable.  It sounded as smooth as velvet with just the right amount of bass in it.  Unlike Eric’s, which was more angelic and somewhat rugged.

I began to feel ashamed of myself for having been paying so much attention to Silas in the first place.  I mean, well, he was extraordinarily dangerous, but his beauty was enchanting.

That was purely his nature.  He was supposed to be this way.  If he had looked normal, like the boy next door type, he would probably end up starving to death because no one would want to come around him, but he didn’t seem to be having any trouble in that area.

Eric asked him several more questions, but I wasn’t exactly sure what they were about.  I was having some trouble concentrating with Silas around.  He drew me to him without very much effort at all on his part.  Or, it seemed that way to me at least.

I could tell from the way Eric’s thought pattern had become erratic, that he was becoming somewhat irritated by my silent fascination with our new vampire friend.  I hated that, but I couldn’t help it.  This was completely out of my control.

Forcing myself to get up, I excused myself and left the room.  I wasn’t sure where I was planning on going.  All I knew was that I had to get out of the room with them. 

As soon as I was out of the living room, I felt a gentle wave of composure come over me.  The magnetism of being near Silas had obviously wore off.  For Eric to be angry with me over him would break my heart.

I probably shouldn’t worry about that right now.  I thought that it might be a good idea for me to linger around the house until he decided to leave.

That didn’t take long at all.  A couple minutes after I left the room I heard them saying their goodbyes to each other.  Of course, I was polite and managed to walk with Silas and Eric to the door, without any disruptions.

“I do think that the Dark Union is up to something.”   Silas told us as he took another deep, piercing look at me.   “I‘ll do a little snooping around and see what I can come up with.”

“Thank you so much, Silas.  We do appreciate your help on this matter.”  Eric told him as Silas walked out the door and down the sidewalk.

Out of nowhere, I heard Silas saying something and, of course, it was telepathic in nature. 
He cannot hear me my Queen.  Do not worry. 

I could tell that he had caught on to the way Eric was feeling before I had left them in the living room.

Silas, what do you want?
  I asked trying to be as polite as I could, but I still made sure that he heard the annoyed tone in my voice.

Nothing.  I just wanted to say that you are the most beautiful of all the Circle of Light.  I meant no disrespect by that either, my Queen.  Please do not be offended
, he said to me with a new tone in his voice. 

I thanked him for the compliment and wished him well on his task of gathering information for us. 

Be safe
, I said, and quickly closed our mental connection. 

Eric stood there at the door with his arms folded across his chest and it was clear that he wanted to say something.  I don’t think he had actually intended on being nice about it from the look on his face.

Jealousy was never one of my favorite emotions.  It was quick to turn into rage.  I knew that first hand, because I was a slightly jealous person.  Eric was green with it as the saying goes. 

He had gone as far as to block me from his mind.  Such a childish thing to do on his part, but I understood it.  The truth is that I would more than likely do the same thing to him.

Instead of pushing the matter any farther and risk ending up having an argument with him, I kissed him on the cheek and went into the kitchen for a drink.  A little distance right now would probably do us both some good.  That would give him a little time to calm down.

I was a little hurt by his reaction.  Trust was a big thing with me and now I was not so sure that Eric trusted me as he should.  I trust him.  His heart is pure and his intentions are good the majority of the time and I was sure that he would never even dream of messing around with another girl.  I just wished that he were that sure about me.

Tears came to my eyes as I thought about Eric.  How could be so angry with me over something so simple and unimportant?  What could I do?  It is not as if I had actually done anything wrong.  I guess it really didn’t matter anyway.

The trees outside the window in the kitchen moved as the breeze blew through them.  All I could do was sit there and stare at them.  I wondered if I had really done anything that would have made Eric mad, but it was no use sitting here dreaming up something I might have done.  I didn’t need to do that to myself.  Eric would just have to come around on his own.

It was not long until I saw my mother's car pull into the driveway.  She sat there in her car, talking on her phone.  Business as usual, I told myself.  There was no need in worrying her over a silly lover s quarrel.  It would only make her nervous about the wedding.

Come to think of it, if Eric was going to act like this there probably should not be one anyway.  The thought of that tore my heart into a million pieces.  I couldn’t t not marry Eric. He was the one.  They only one I ever want to be with for the rest of my life. Not Silas.  Not Joe Blow down the road either.  Just my Eric.  My sweet Eric.

Mom was still sitting in her car when my phone rang.  It was her.  She told me that an emergency meeting was called at her office.  One of the big clients was having some sort of issues.  Who knows?

She had to go back to her office and see what was going on and, as usual, she informed me not to worry and that she would probably end up getting in late.

“Don’t wait up sweetie.  I love you.”  She said as she hung up the phone.

Great.  That was just my luck.  Eric is mad at me.  Mom has to go back to work and Dad was at another conference.

Mom pulled out of the driveway.  As I watched her drive off, I saw Eric walking around his yard.  I felt abandoned.  Left to sit here alone, wondering about everything.  Questioning everything.  Right down to being scared that Eric was going to call off the wedding.  Even worse.  What if he wouldn’t ever talk to me again?