Legacy (Endlessly Book 2) (9 page)

I always dreaded Lex’s absences. She alway
s returned with tons of clothes and took it upon herself to use me as a life-size Barbie. She, Jenny and Sarah liked to play dress-up, but it wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t that into it to begin with, but what really annoyed me was the clothes.

One spring afternoon I stormed into the apartment, my wings already flapping in rhythm with my rant. Verloren stood at the sink, drying empty blood containers.

“You see what they keep doing to me?” I shouted. “This is bullshit!” I stood with my arms crossed. Wind fluttered from my trembling wings.

The girls had just hijacked me for the umpteenth time, and coerced me into trying on a new outfit. This ti
me it was a backless mini dress and neck-breaking high heels. They had applied goop and spray to my two-tone hair, then spread a few pounds of eye shadow and lipstick on pertinent parts of my face. Even now I heard the giggling from Jenny’s apartment. My cheeks grew hot at the sound.

Verloren set a container on the counter, raised one eyebrow, and grinned.

“Don’t you start,” I warned him. Dark tears clouded my vision. “Please,” I begged, “go out and buy me some real clothes. They took all my other stuff, and now they’ve left me looking like a hooker.”

Verloren fought the urge to
smirk. Instead he approached me and dropped to one knee. In the light of his pale blue eyes my anger died.

His hot fingers trembled as he gripped my calf. With his other hand he pulled off one of the awful shoes. “Next time tell them these shoes don’t suit you.”

Hot breath rippled across my skin as he kissed my knee. I dropped my arms. I melted. He placed my bare foot on the floor, cradled my other leg, and removed the second shoe.

“Then, tell them your soul mate is not much taller than you, so there’s no need to make him feel any smaller in your presence.” He kissed the top of my foot.

We heard a knock. Girls were giggling outside. Verloren ran his cheek along the side of my calf. I ran my hand through his hair.

“Too bad about this expensive dress,” Verloren said.

“We’ll deny any knowledge of it,” I whispered.

The dress didn’t survive.

10 fighting dirty

Later in the evening, after Verloren had helped me recover some of my original clothing, we lay on the sofa watching television. Ed lay in my lap sleeping. He had taken to visiting us at least once a day whenever Aubrey was gone. I enjoyed the furry company. I missed my dog, Pogo, and I was glad he was in good hands. Ed was my substitute. He would paw at our apartment door until we let him in, then lounge on our sofa or in my lap.

I was petting Ed when I heard a commotion from the game room. Someone had arrived. “Fabi and Aubrey are back!” I c
ried, jumping up so quickly I almost knocked the poor cat to the floor. “Sorry, Mister Fuzzy Pants.”

Ed shook his sleepy head and
ran for the door, knowing Aubrey was nearby. Verloren followed me down the hall. Everyone but Sarah had converged on the game room. Ed ran directly into Aubrey’s waiting arms.

Everyone lounged in the chairs ex
cept Aubrey. She paced and nuzzled with Ed while reporting to us everything was normal in the human world. Fabi brought us up to date on other hidden homes like our own. Everything seemed fine in those places as well.

“Some are still reluctant to be
lieve the Quatre is dead,” Fabi told us. “They’re skittish and not really sure what to do.” She glanced at Lex. “It’s especially confusing for some of the guards.”

“I can see why,” Josh mumbled.

“The Quatre is all we’ve ever known,” Jenny explained.

“Other places have been abandoned,” Aubrey put in. “It’s hell getting them cleaned up. The worst part is usually the rotting food in the fridge.” She punctuated her comment with a gagging noise.

“No, the worst is when they’ve been abandoned with humans still locked in cells,” Fabi muttered.

Aubrey nodded.

The guys were already playing games over at the television.

“Fuck you
, dude!” Cory yelled, throwing down his video controller. “Jason, you’re an asshole! Stop killing me on purpose!”

The next sound to pierce this childish banter sent a chill down my spine. Jason’s la
ughter began normally before the demon joined in. Something in their combined laughter gripped me and, suddenly, I wanted to laugh too. For no sane reason I had an almost irresistible compulsion to collapse into hysterics. My body shuddered as I fought the urge. Verloren gripped my hand. I noticed Josh twitching and was sure he was battling the same feeling. It passed as quickly as it had come on.

That was downright fucking scary
,
I told those around me.

They all nodded.

Aubrey crossed the room to the video trio. Ed flattened his ears. As they neared Jesse Ed growled. Aubrey stopped and stared at the fluffy cat. Ed eyed the back of Jesse’s head. Aubrey followed the cat’s gaze.

What’s wrong?
I asked her.

Aubrey thought:
Ed doesn’t like Jesse, and he really doesn’t like that Jesse spends so much time talking to Cory.

Verloren twitched. I knew he had just seen a vision.

What is he talking to them about?
I asked her, letting Verloren hear the conversation.

Ed doesn’t know. He can only understand me. But he can just tell that Jesse’s up to no good.

Verloren frowned and moved closer to me. Though he was blocking his thoughts, I could still feel the disturbance in him. I looked around. Sarah was still missing.

“Where is Sarah?” I asked everyone.

“She took off for a couple of weeks,” Lex replied. Her gaze shifted to Fabi, then back to me. I understood. Sarah was on an extended hunting trip, not to be spoken of in front of Fabi.

“This place will be almo
st deserted in a couple of days,” Jenny said.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Sarah’s already gone,” said Lex. “Aubrey takes off again tomorrow. Me, Jenny and Josh are leaving for about a week. The only ones left will be you two, Cory, Jason, Jesse, and Fabi.”

As Lex told us this she didn’t seem to notice Jesse’s head twitch.

“Why are you, Jenny, and Josh going?” I asked. I tried to keep panic out of my voice.

Jenny leaned toward me and whispered: “We just need a break.”

I know you’re worried about us leaving with the demon still here,
Lex thought, as I opened the conversation to Verloren.
I don’t want you to worry,
she went on.
Fabi will be here to counteract his thoughts. Sometimes it’s just too much for us, and it’s really taking its toll. You’ve seen how distorted our bodies are getting. I don’t want my shifting to get painful. That’s happening to Jen with the way her spine has twisted. Normal shifting is becoming uncomfortable for her. A rest will actually reverse some of those effects.

When I thought about it I hoped it might be better with less people. Then something else occurred to me.
You’re not taking Jason?

There was an awkward look on her face.
Er… no. We’re not really together, which is all the more reason to take a break. Don‘t get me wrong, I like him, but it’s more a friends-with-benefits relationship. It will do both of us good to get away from each other. We both knew it wasn‘t permanent, and lately he just doesn’t seem that into me.

I wondered if
that was my fault. Jason wouldn’t turn down guilt-free sex because of our strange connection, would he? Maybe he was just getting bored with Lex, though I would never say that to her.

Despite the possible silver linings, the thought of all those people leaving made me anxious. I yearned for Fabi’s reassurance, but she was leaving the room, headed for her apartment. My chest tightened, and I started biting my lip. I wondered if Verloren and I could stay at the beach until enough of our friends returned. Couldn’t we pack up a few things and camp out till everyone got back?

“No, Ash,” said Verloren when he saw my lip. “Stop it, love.” He ran his thumb from the bottom of my chin to my lip, then licked the thumb.

“What?” I asked.

When he repeated the action, I realized I’d pierced the skin of my lip—always a sign of my anxiety.

Please don’t worry,
Verloren told me.

But the gargoyles are leaving,
I thought,
and it’s just going to be us and the werewolves and Fabi.

We’ll be fine. You underestimate your strength.
He revealed these thoughts while struggling to keep the rest of his mind concealed. His eyes twitched and fluttered. Another vision. He labored to hide it from me.

I wish you would stop that,
I told him.

They’re nothing to worry about.
He forced a smile, touched his nose to my collarbone, then slid it up my neck to behind my ear.

My breathing sped up and my heart raced. His body mimicked mine
. “You’re trying to distract me,” I whispered.

His warm breath bathed my neck. “Can you blame me?” He ran his warm fingers along my necklace and stopped at the rock he’d given me.

If it’s nothing to worry about why are you hiding your thoughts?

You don’t have to worry about thoughts from the past,
he projected,
and if they’re from the future, what I’m seeing isn’t set in stone. It can change. Don’t worry about things that probably won’t happen. We don’t know what those visions mean.
He ran his hand through my hair, touched his lips behind my ear, and grazed my skin with his teeth.

Sexual enticement was a power every dragon had, but I’d never had to use it on Verloren. Now he was fighting dirty; two could play at this game. Using all my energy I pulled at him. He gasped as desire filled his body. He gripped my hair and eagerly bit my neck.

The girls on the opposing sofa weren’t sure what was happening. They saw me push him away, and noticed when his teeth tore my skin. His hands shook. He grabbed my waist and jerked me up against him. He tried to kiss me but I pulled away, taunting him. He panted. One of the girls giggled.

Are you going to tell me?
I asked him.

“Please,” he whispered, licking blood from his lips. He lunged toward me, trying to kiss me.

I fell back on the sofa, grabbing his shoulders to stop him. He hovered over me, still pulling, trying to kiss me. I eased him back, but he gripped my waist, yanking at me with all his might. I didn’t budge.

“Well?” I demanded.

Anything,
he thought.
I will tell you anything. I don’t care, just let me love you.

Heat rippled through his body. I had
never used this power so openly and now I found the effect on him was scary. He was right, he would do anything. Finally he opened his mind. I saw blurred, unreadable visions. A strange popping led to a dark ending for every vision. Something was going to happen and it wasn’t going to be good. I nodded at him. He stared, panting, and kept pulling on my waist.

The girls giggled at our apparent explosion
of sexual yearning. I realized my power had also affected every man in the room, though the others only received a faint echo of the dose I gave Verloren. In my embarrassment I quickly shut it off. Before I could say anything Verloren scooped me up and carried me down the hallway. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“That wasn’t fair,” he said.

“Yes, it was,” I said. “You know I would never deny you.”

“But even the thought that you might… it was crushing.” He kissed me, filling my lungs with fire.

From down the hall I heard Jenny say: “I’m glad she doesn’t affect me like she does the guys.”

Murmurs and laughter followed us until Verloren slammed our apartment door.

1
1 unfamilar voice

The next day people began to leave. All the usual thoughts and noises died down throughout the afternoon. I stayed in our apartment. All through the afternoon I monitored Jason’s and Cory’s thoughts, but found nothing out of the ordinary.

When Ed pawed at the door, and I didn’t even notice, Verloren caught on. He let the cat in, and Ed leapt into my lap. I yelped in surprise, as my mind lost its hold on other people’s thoughts.

Verloren sat beside me and soothed Ed. “Where are you today?”

“Listening. Making sure Jesse isn’t up to something.”

“Maybe we should go and stay at the beach tonight,” he suggested. “You might relax if we put some distance between ourselves and him.”

“Good idea,” I said. “With the warm weather I won’t have to worry about getting too cold.”

Verloren set Ed on the floor, kissed me below my ear and whispered: “I’d never let you get cold.” He bit into my neck and raced through my thoughts.

I gasped and felt my cheeks flush. He broke from the bite, kissed me, and I tasted my own blood. Though I was hungry for more than a kiss, I broke away. “You’re still trying to distract me.”

“Is it working?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Good.”

He stood and tried to pull me up from the sofa. I tugged back. I wanted him on the sofa, but he wanted a trip to the beach. I let him win.

It was a nice day even though the sun wasn’t shining. The overcast sky looked as if it might let loose a downpour at any second. I liked the clouds. Though Verloren still had to wear sunglasses on cloudy days, he suffered less. This was especially true at the beach where clouds blocked sunlight that would have reflected off the water. Sunny days at the beach are a vampire’s nightmare.

We left the compound
and walked through the forest. A light breeze raised scents from the earth. Smells of decaying wood and blossoming flowers mixed in a dance of life and death. As we passed textured sword ferns I ran my fingers over them and lost myself in the subtle forest sounds.

At the beach Verloren seemed content to sit in the sand and watch me fly. I dipped low, and pretended to run across the waves. “Look,” I called. “I’m walking on water.”

He laughed.

Whe
n Verloren lay back I knew the sun was too much for him, but soon he found relief in the waning day. As the sun set the clouds disappeared. The sky turned deep pink then orange. Evening fell.

Seve
ral broken rocks jutted feet above the waves. I flew to shore, scooped up Verloren, and carried him out to a rock. He laughed the whole way there. We stood on the rock, hand-in-hand, facing the shore.

“Not a sight people usually see,” I shouted over the sound of crashing waves.

No, it’s not.

The last sunlight bathed the cliffs in orange. It cast deep shadows between them, making the cliffs appear to be aflame.

Verloren looked at me. I could barely see his eyes behind the sunglasses. He let go of my fingers and moved his fiery hand up to my neck. His other hand went to the small of my back.

He crushed my body against his and kissed me.

A moment in time… our moment.

In that instant emotion overwhelmed me. As I opened my mind to him tears spilled down my cheeks. My love was more than my body could contain. This was a time and place I could never allow myself to forget. I wouldn’t. I promised myself that. As I gazed at Verloren I knew he was a part of that promise.

That night we slept more peacefully than we ever had. The next morning I woke up to tapping. When I opened my eyes, I saw raindrops were pelting our tent.

I woke Verloren. “We’re going to get soaked.”

He grabbed for his sunglasses. “Want to race?” he croaked sleepily.

I giggled. “That’ll be quite a sight.”

“What?”

“A naked melanin-challenged man running down the beach wearing nothing but sunglasses.”

“And no one but a dragon-vampire to see it,” he said.

We dressed quickly. The rain turned into a downpour just as we reached the woods. The foliage protected us for a few moments, but then water made its way through. We ran al
l the way back to the entrance and got drenched.

The mudroom door was open, letting us go in without buzzing. We entered laughing, then noticed how quiet it was. As silence replaced our laughter we stripped off our wet clothing. We walked through an eerily empty game room. For the first time in my memory both televisions were shut off. We heard nothing from the gym either. I reached out, but there weren’t any thoughts for me to hear.

“Do we have the whole place to ourselves?” I asked, following Verloren down the hallway to our apartment.

“We should be so lucky.”

He opened the door for me, and I headed for the bedroom. “I can’t wait to take a hot shower.”

Verloren made a strange sound. I turned to see Cory pushing the door shut with his foot. His arm was
wrapped around Verloren’s neck and he held a large gun to his captive’s head. Verloren’s hands gripped Cory’s forearm, but Cory leaned back far enough that Verloren’s toes barely touched the ground.

“What the fuck! Cory that’s not funny. Don’t even play around like that!” I tried to get a grip on Cory’s mind, but it had no effect.

An amused voice came from behind me. “If you want Verloren to live, you will do exactly what I say.”

I spun around. Jesse appeared in our bedroom doorway. He pointed Verloren‘s gun directly at its owner.

Jason stood behind him. He hung his head in shame.