Legacy (Endlessly Book 2) (7 page)

I directed a thought at Verloren:
Aren’t you worried about Jason consuming my virus?

He smiled.
No. It’s funny when he’s mad and now you might get in even more easily. That’ll piss him off.

I looked back at Jason. Behind him stood the demon, watching us leave.

7 Poisoned Recipe

I dried my arms with a dishtowel. The blood had come off easily, except where it had gotten under my fingernails. I leaned against the kitchen sink and watched Verloren shuffle through CDs in the living room.

Can I listen to AFI?
I asked. After he nodded I added:
Do you find it odd that the demon has not said one word since he got here?

He dropped the CD
in the player and sat back on the sofa. “I think he’s waiting until he figures out what it is he wants. I have a pretty good…” Verloren’s voice trailed off. He dropped the CDs and his eyes rolled back into his head. His hands jerked up to his temples. I ran to him.

“
Are you all right?” I gripped his wrists and squeezed, trying to make him look at me.

As I dug into his mind he started sobbing. All I found were pain and darkness. A thudding sound, like an axe pounding wood, echoed through my head, followed by the sound of strange laughter. Verloren’s eyes rol
led aimlessly for a moment and finally fixed on mine. He gulped air, calmed himself, and gave me a weak smile.

He ran his thumb across my cheek and wiped it on his
pants. I hadn’t even known I was crying. “It’s okay.” He pulled me into his arms.

“What is it?” I gasped.

I’m not sure. You know how it works. It’s a good indicator that something is going to happen, but I can’t make out the pictures.
He stared at the coffee table, trying to recover the pictures, but they wouldn’t come. I could hear his mental struggle and his tense breaths.

“All I
saw was pain, then it went dark,” I told him.

Moments passed, then suddenly something changed. It was like wind shifting. Something was off. A door opened in my brain. I tried to close it but it wouldn’t shut. Like the link Verloren and I share, it was unbreakable. It caught us just
as we both had our walls down. We both felt it.

As panic took me I cried and clung to him. This was the portent he’d seen.

“What is it?” I cried.

I don’t know.
He ran his hand through my hair, struggling to find words that would calm me. His touch soothed and stimulated me. As my mind wandered, so did my hands. Verloren chuckled, but it sounded stiff and empty. He felt tense.

“Sorry,” I said, restraining myself.

“Sometimes you pick the oddest moments to try and seduce me.”

He kissed me. I laid my head on his chest where I could hear his breath and heartbeat. I kept my calm demeanor as I wondered what had happened. The far end of the connection had felt almost as confused and scared as I was. Then I understood the source: Jason. I slammed my wall up, causing Verloren to flinch.

There was a faint knock on the apartment door. I wiped the tears on my face and knew I’d better wash it. I headed for the bathroom while Verloren got the door.

Looking in the mirror made me laugh. My face was streaked, as if I’d worn a thick coat of mascara to bed. I spl
ashed warm water across my face and applied cleanser. From the living room I heard Jason’s voice. He wanted to talk to me. I ignored his thoughts in favor of Verloren. Verloren’s mind was confused.

I found the two of them in the kitchen. Verloren had his back to me as I approached. Jason had just gotten out of the shower and his wet hair would’ve made him look monstrous except for his eyes. He was terrified. Before either of us sp
oke I felt another mental shift and understood. Jason dropped his gaze to the ground. Verloren’s stare moved from me to Jason and back again.

“I know what happened,” I said.

A moment after I said it the truth hit Verloren. It was as if he’d been stabbed. “The connection…” he murmured, “like our connection. The virus… and emotions…” Verloren’s breaths were quick and he bit his lip.

I pulled him to me. “It’s not like what we have, Verloren. Soul mates, remember? Nothing can interfere with that. I love you more than anything in this world. The connection to Jason
… It’s nothing like ours. It’s more like a brother-and-sister thing.”

That was my version of the link, but when I probed Jason’s mind I knew he couldn’t see it that way. Through our new bond Jason saw the whole of my feelings for Verloren. What we’d shared in our private world was now on display for the werewolf. My words and feelings were a
vailable instantaneously to him and whatever Verloren shared with me was also visible to Jason. The situation was a perfect recipe for poisoning our love.

Jason cleared his throat. “Uh… yeah. Brother-sister…” He forced a smile but he couldn’t cover up the truth. Jason’s love for me guaranteed an unbreakable connection. “We can talk about this later,” he mumbled. “I’ll… uh..
. leave you guys alone.” He turned and let himself out.

Verloren’s eyes had glazed over. He closed them, then leaned his forehead against mine, before sobbing: “There is nothing I fear more in this world than losing you.”

Then you have nothing to fear. You’re stuck with me until the end of time,
I told him.

“Or until I die,
” he said.

“Don’t say that!” Dark tears blurred my vision. “Why would you say that?”

Verloren shrugged, but there was nothing casual about his expression. He looked terrified. “It’s just… the visions. They worry me.”

I knew what he was saying
and my chest ached at the thought of a world without him. I suggested we watch a movie to get our minds off of things. I cuddled up to Verloren on the sofa and, as the movie droned, I kept nodding off. Verloren would kiss me, waking me as he broke the kiss. He laughed. “It’s like living with Sleeping Beauty.”

Finally I fell asleep for a
while. I woke up to a knock on the door and Verloren kissing me fiercely. As the knocking continued I pushed Verloren away.

“We better answer that,” I breathed.

I left him moaning and answered the door. Even before I opened it I knew it was Lex and Jenny.

“Are you ready for some fun?” Jenny chirped.

Verloren’s thoughts echoed in my head:
I thought we were about to make our own fun.

Lex looked me up and down. “You might want to bring a jacket.”

“Where are we going?” I asked

“Flying,
” Jenny told me. “Down to the beach.”

I glanced back at Verloren.

“You can bring him if you want. I’m taking Jason,” said Lex.

Jason’s name stuck to our thoughts like a remnant from a troubling dream.

“As long as he’s not afraid of heights.” Jenny smiled at Verloren. “We’ll meet you outside.”

8
tin man

We dressed for warmth. Verloren helped me put clothes on and I teased him with my observation that he wanted to do the exact opposite. Most of my clothes were spaghetti top sundresses or halter tops and skirts. With them I could dress myself and fit my wings and tail.

What jeans I owned had their backs slit for my tail, and
were modified with a button at the top. I never had trouble with them. My t-shirts and sweatshirts were modified in the same fashion: two long slits up the back creating a flap in the middle that would lie between my wings and a button on each side to keep it in place.

It was the usual scene in the common room. Aubrey was reading. Coylene and Fabi were talking. A stereo was playing The Used at low volume. I thought to myself:
Someone has good taste in music.
I almost ran over Verloren trying to get to the mudroom, until I saw the demon. He leaned on his pool stick waiting for Cory who was trying a difficult shot.

In the mudroom Verloren grabbed his leather motorcycle jacket, reminding me of how he missed his bike.

We’ll get it here for you somehow,
I thought, handing him my oversized trench coat.
I’d like to go for a ride. I’ve never been on a bike before.

“That won’t be as fun as what you are about to do,” he said, folding my jacket and zipping it up inside his coat.

We left through the steel door and climbed the dark steps. Lex and Jenny were laughing at Jason and Josh horsing around. Now I understood why the concrete room below the tree was so big. I watched Verloren get a running start before he jumped up toward the hole. The full moon was barely a sliver through the thick foliage of the trees.

“Oh wow!” Lex said when she saw me. “Can I see the back of your sweatshirt?”

When Jason saw us his smile vanished, but he kept himself composed. I turned around, allowing Lex to run her hand along the bottom, seeing how it was attached.

“That’s pretty cl
ever,” Jenny said, peering over Lex‘s shoulder.

“Wish we’d thought of something like that,” Josh added, pulling off his sweatshirt.

Jenny and Lex followed Josh. The girls wore the familiar bikini tops under their sweatshirts. I glanced back and saw Josh had already shifted. His skin resembled Lex’s in her grotesque form. It was gray-hued, thick, wrinkled, and rough, like that of an elephant. His face caved in and lengthened and his wings spread wider and thicker than Lex’s. His talons protruded, twisted, gnarled and broken.

Jenny and Lex shifted at the same time. This time I noticed more pitting and thickness in Lex’s skin, while misshapen teeth jutted from her mouth. Jenny’s spine twisted, contorting her entire body into a hunched, lopsided form. Her face was as flattened as the others, but her body and skin were far more beat-up. Her condition looked painful, but if it bothered her she didn’t let on.

The grotesques looked nothing like their former human selves, but they were easy to identify by their builds and gestures.

Josh turned and extended his massive wings. He squatted, then jumped, and flew through the trees. I could hear the soft thrum of his wings above us. Jenny followed his lead.

Lex handed her sweatshirt to Jason, then wrapped her arms around his chest from behind. She was almost his height and didn’t have to strain to reach his ear.

“I won’t drop you.” Her voice was deep, rough, and inhuman.

Lex extended her wings. Instead of jumping she let her fast-beating wings lift them both through the branches and up into the night.

“I haven’t done this before,
” I told Verloren. “I don’t know if it’s such a good idea for me to take you, maybe we should have Josh or Jenny—”

He stopped
me. “I know you can do it and I’m sure you won’t let anything happen to me.” Moonlight sparkled in his eyes. Cradling my neck with his warm hand, he pulled me close and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his chest, stretched my wings, and broke away from our kiss.

As he ran his thumb along my jaw I felt his heartbeat m
atch mine. His life was my life and it terrified me to put that in jeopardy.

“Here goes nothing,
” I said.

As I beat my wings our feet left the ground on the first pump. We soared through the trees.
We flew faster than the others and that scared me. I was terrified my wings would beat too slowly and we would fall. As I spiraled up into open sky Josh glided by, lit by a full moon.

Verloren gripped me tighter. I slowed my wings and cl
utched him to me as if he were a lifeline.

I need to breathe, love
, he thought.

“Sorry,
” I whispered, loosening my grip.

Josh’s thoughts directed me.
It works the way your instincts tell you it works. The faster you flap your wings, the faster you go. At a certain angle you can glide on the wind. The opposite angle will catch the wind, slow you down, and help you land. Let your instincts take over.

I watched Lex take off heading west with Jason in her grasp. Josh and Jenny played, diving, snarling and laughing. Theirs was the same inhuman voice we’d heard from Lex.

I looked down and recognized the marking of the underground palace. A mirror caught moonlight from a treetop. That covered the palace entrance.

The others laid their bodies flat, like super heroes, and sped off. I flapped my wings quickly, following their lead. Verloren leaned his head upside down, exposing his throat.
From that position he could see the others ahead of us. I grazed his Adam’s apple with my fangs as I tried to catch up. He laughed. I caught up to the others in no time.

You’re very fast,
Jenny thought.

Before I had accustomed myself to this new experience, I saw the moon reflected in the ocean waves. As the others descended I followed their lead. The trees ended abruptly at a cliff above the beach. Rocks gave way to sand which melted into the ocean. Jenny and Josh landed first with a thump. I watched as Lex and Jason touched down gently.

My stomach did a somersault at the thought of hitting the ground with Verloren. “I’m worried I might hurt you when we land,” I said.

“Nothing can hurt me when I’m with you,” Verloren replied.

“Just slow your flapping!” Josh yelled from below. He’d already shifted back to human form.

I slowed my wings too much. We hit the sand hard and I fell forward onto Verloren. I grasped for him, hoping he was all right.

Verloren laughed and the rest joined him.

“That’s not exactly the landing I had imagined,” I said, pushing myself up from the sand.

“No? I thought it was perfect.” Verloren playfully grabbed me, then cradled my face in his warm sandy hands and kissed me.

We forgot the world around us until Jenny cleared her throat. My cheeks tingled. Verloren grinned at my embarrassment.

We brushed off the dry sand and followed the others down the beach. The others collected driftwood, and I got the fire started. Once it was going we all found places around it and settled in for storytelling and jokes. It was a nice way to get to know these new people.

I practiced flying, giving special attention to my landings. The gargoyles each gave me tips. I quit when my wings started hurting. Like any other muscles, these needed rest and proper conditioning.

Jason’s presence made for an emotional roller coaster. He maintained a facade of normal behavior toward the others, but I could see and feel every thought and emotion he had.

We flew, rested, and chatted for hours before our exertions caught up with us. As I rested my head on Verloren’s shoulder I yawned. The sound of the ocean was hypnotic.

Josh stood and stretched. “I’m turning in,” he said. “Your guys’ tent is over there behind that rock, by the cliff.”

“What? A tent?” I asked.

Lex answered: “Yeah, we often camp out here. It’s such a great place to fly. We pitch the tents behind the huge rocks to protect against the elements. I enjoy sleeping on the sand.” She gave Jason a look.

I watched Jenny disappear behind a large boulde
r on the north end of the beach while Josh strode in the opposite direction. Lex stood, her hand in Jason’s. He kept his seat and looked up to her. “I’ll be there in a minute,” he said.

She smiled and nodded at him. He watched to see where she disappeared, then turned and stared at me.

Verloren stood and looked down at me with a loving smile. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. “I’ll leave you two alone to talk.”

“No, you can stay,
” I told him.

“No. Th
is is between the two of you,” he said. He brushed the hair out of my face and walked toward the tent.

You’ll listen whether you like it or not,
I called after him.

I opened my mind, channeling the conversation to Verloren, while keeping his thoughts blocked from Jason.

“So?” Jason said.

“So,” I said, “we now have a strong connection so I can go into your brain even when you’re blocking me. I can do that with Verloren, but his mind is stronger.”

Jason sulked, pushing sand around with his shoes as he shoved his hands deep into the hoodie’s pocket.

“Not only do I have easier access to your thoughts, I can feel your emotions. You’re in closer contact with my feelings too.” I could hear the coldness in my voice, but I had to make this perfectly clear.

I needed to take Lex’s advice: like a Band-Aid, just rip it off and get it over with. For a moment the only sound was the crash of the waves. Jason inhaled, and continued to stare at his shoes.

“That fucking sucks,” he finally said.

I could feel his emotions tightening in his throat. “You knew there would be a connection,” I said, “and Hania told us that… emotions… make that connection strong. You knew how you felt. You didn’t have to do it… but you did it anyway. Now you know that nothing is ever going to happen between us. You can feel it. I love him. I love him in ways you couldn’t understand before, but now, with your new access to me, you can. Even if Verloren and I were not together, you’re a werewolf and I’m a—”

“Yeah, I fucking get it already,” he snapped, meeting my gaze.

“Then what do you want from me, Jason?”

“I don’t know.”
He looked into the fire. “Something… I just feel like I need something from you. Or… or… that I need to be… I don’t know…” His face flushed red.

Another long silence.

“How does Lex feel about it?” I asked.

He shook his head and grinned. “It’s just sex between me and her. She knows that. We both know it. Eventually she’ll find her soul mate—or her next flavor of the month.” He stared into the fire. “She’s not the one.”

“Same old routine then, huh? Use ‘em and lose ‘em.” I watched him.

“That’s my concern,” he said. “With you, I just wanted to confirm that there’s some kind of fucked up psycho connection between us. I wanted to make sure I’m not losing my mind. Thanks for letting me know.”

“If that’s all then I’m going to be bed.” I stood and turned.

“Ash, stop,
” Jason said, pushing up from the sand.

I turned to see him staring at me.

He fidgeted. “I just want you to know… that… that I… that I think that maybe… I might be in lo—”

I shook my head at him. “Don’t say it. You don’t mean it. If you say it, it will make it real. If it’s real, then it will only hurt you that much more.” As he bowed his head, I said: “She’s out there
, Jason. You’ll find her.”

He looked as if I’d hit him. “Maybe I don’t want to find her.” His whisper was almost drowned o
ut by the sea. He stared at me. “I’m… here,” he finally said, then he headed for his tent. Before he reached the rocks he spoke. His voice was loud enough for me to hear over the waves. “I’ll always be here.”

Like a brother,
I thought,
just keep being the smartass brother.

As I made my way to the tent I recalled how The Wizard of Oz had given the tin man a heart. Had the wise wizard
known a heart always comes with pain? Jason was rejecting me. I turned toward my destiny, by Verloren’s side.