Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2) (20 page)

“He’s out of control! He tried to hurt Eli
but I stopped him.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed, or worse,
you could have ruined the plans I had for you, and over a silly guardian angel.”

“You talk as if they’re worth nothing.”

Lucian smiled at me, exposing the very tips
of his fangs.

“That’s a whole new topic you aren’t going
to want to get into right now.”

Slowly I sat up.

“Anna, give us a moment.”

Without hesitating she walked out the door,
closing it behind her. I didn’t like being alone with Lucian. I could tell he
was frustrated with me. He adjusted his long black robe and sat beside me.
Subtly, I hugged myself.

“Did you know that I was married a long
time ago?”

I kept my eyes on the floor. I tried to
imagine him happy and in love but I couldn’t. When I looked at his face I couldn’t
see that. Whatever humanity he had was gone.

“But she was taken from me …”

“By a vampire?”

It just doesn’t make sense, why would he
become a vampire if his wife was killed by one?

“No. By a guardian angel.” His black eyes
glazed over like he was reliving some sick past memory.

“Guardian angels don’t kill goddesses,” I
stated.

“No, they don’t. She wasn’t killed, she
fell in love.”

I swallowed hard. His wife fell in love
with a guardian angel and left him. The pieces of the puzzle I’d been trying to
complete since I first arrived at Sage were slowly being pieced together.

“That’s why you made goddess and guardian
angel relationships forbidden,” I whispered to myself.

“Well, I can be a very possessive and
jealous man.”

I ignored the fact that his statement
sounded like a threat.

“What happened to them?” I asked
hesitantly.

“I was turned into a vampire and I hunted
them.” He smiled to himself, like he was proud. “Now ask yourself, is it worth
it?”

I pondered whether to choose my next words
carefully or to just say what I feel.

“I think you can’t choose who you love. I
also think there’s nothing wrong with loving someone who isn’t the same as you.”

“You’re brave,” a voice behind us scoffed. It
was a familiar voice, even though it was decidedly cold. I ignored it.

“I also think it would be foolish for one
man to think he has control over something so big.”

Lucian’s cocky smile straightened into an
impassive line. He closed the distance between us before I could blink. He
wrapped his long cold fingers around my throat and I gasped for air. Hunter
dashed over to us and tried to pull Lucian off me but Lucian shoved him across
the room and into the wall. Hunter growled loudly and Lucian hissed back before
setting his sights back on me.

“Just because I’m using you doesn’t mean
you’re my only option. You’re plan A. If this fails I have a plan B, C, D, E,
and I’m sure you know how the rest of the alphabet goes.”

A coughed spluttered out of my throat and
he let me go. Lucian rose from his seat and walked over to Hunter.

“If you so much as raise an eyebrow at me
again I will end you as quickly as I created you. Do you understand?”

Hunter nodded sheepishly and Lucian exited
the room. Hunter zipped over to me, his cool fingers nipped my skin as he
tucked a dark lock of hair out of my face. I was too dazed to recoil from his
touch.

“Can I take you to your room?”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to go to my
room. I need air, I need to breathe. I feel so imprisoned here.”

“I know just the place.”

Hunter took me by my wrist. I tried hard to
picture him as the boy I cared about before his changes but it wasn’t working.
Gently I pulled from his grasp.

“I’ll come with you but please don’t push
anything. I’m not ready to reconnect with you on the level we used to share.”

His lips twitched into a smile. “I’m happy
with that.”

In the moonlight I could see the red tinge
of the maple trees that lined the walkway by the eastern garden. By now all
warmth had left the air, leaving nothing but a cool chill behind. When the wind
blew, a few leaves glided down onto the grass like drops of blood. How could a
place that was supposed to be so terrible be so serene? This place is meant to
be hell on earth, isn’t it?

A cold breeze brushed gently against the
tress, making the leaves shiver under the glowing moon. I resisted the urge to
hug myself in fear of it making me appear weak.

“Look, Ruby, I never intended on this happening.
I —”

“I know,” I interrupted. “It isn’t your
fault. It’s just a shock to my system, you know… I thought you were dead but
here you are, still technically dead but at least you’re okay.”

He smiled and leaned against a slightly rotten
fence post.

“A smart girl once said, what’s wrong with
caring for someone who isn’t the same as you?”

For a moment I didn’t recognize my own
words, they sounded foreign to me.

“Yeah… bu — I —” I exhaled in defeat.

I did truly believe we don’t get to choose
who we love, our heart chooses for us. Why has mine chosen two? That isn’t fair
for anyone.

“You’re a vampire, Eli is a guardian angel …
I’ll be forever alone.”

“I know Eli would give everything up to be
with you and so would I.”

I remembered the night Eli told me he wouldn’t
run away with me, for my own safety.

“I don’t want to have this conversation
right now,” I groaned, my head pounding hard against the back of my skull. “A
relationship with anyone is the last thing on my mind right now …”

Hunter took a few steps toward me; I felt
my muscles tense instantly.   

“Your heart is racing, it’s slightly
distracting.”

I rubbed the whistle around my neck with my
thumb, ready to blow it at any second.

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Surely you can smell me.”

“Oh, I can smell you; it’s the sweetest,
most delicious scent I’ve ever smelled in my life, but I won’t hurt you.” He
brushed an index finger along my arm. “Don’t be scared. You can trust me.”

I hope so.
I wanted to head back to the house now. I wasn’t even
a full vampire and I had craved Eli’s and Tay’s blood. I couldn’t imagine what
my blood was doing to Hunter. Every time he swallowed hard or bit his lip it
put me on edge. Who knew when he was going to snap?

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“The night I saw you, after an animal
jumped out in front of the car … Your skin was normal. I know that means you
killed a goddess or god.”

“I did.”

I flinched at his words.

“But they were elderly, one was in a coma.”

“That doesn’t make it okay…”

“I know.” A sadness filled Hunter’s eyes. “Lucian
made me do it, he said it was the only shot I had at making you comfortable
enough to talk to me.”

It was obviously less scary talking to a
pale Hunter with black eyes than it would be talking to his real self … with the
translucent skin and pulsating veins. Hank’s face flashed through my mind and
my spine rattled in fear. At least he was gone now.

“Can we head back?”

“Sure.”

We strolled back through the garden and
into the house. Immediately, I locked eyes with Eli, who was leaning against a
wall with a drink in hand as Liam stood in front of him, chatting and laughing
away. Eli walked away from Liam, his intense eyes burning into mine. He
definitely wasn’t happy with me.

“Ruby, can I speak to you for a minute,
please?”

Hunter winked at me and disappeared into
thin air.

“Are you crazy?” His voice was low and
stern.

“What are you talking about? You told me to
be more of a friend to him.”

“Yes, I did, but I didn’t expect you to run
off into the darkness with him.”

“I didn’t run off. I needed to get some
air.”

“What you did was stup —” His words caught
in his throat as his eyes fell onto my neck.

“Did he do that to you?”

“Do what?” I asked, rubbing my neck.

I couldn’t feel any kind of bite. I winced
in pain; it felt like I had a bruise.

“What happened to your neck?”

“It’s no big deal.”

“Did Hunter do that to you?”

I shook my head.

“Tell me who did it, Ruby. Who are you
trying to protect?”

“I’m trying to protect you. Lucian did this
…”

Eli turned abruptly and I grabbed at his
arm desperately until he turned to face me. “Let it go, we’ll deal with it
later.”

Eli ran his fingers through his hair in
exasperation.

“Why are you so on edge?” I asked.

“C’mon.” Eli pulled me back out into the
garden.

A sinking sensation filled my stomach. It had
to be something bad if it had Eli so on edge.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. I don’t think
I’d ever had the chance to ask him that before. It was always the other way
round.

“Aleksandrov is going to help us.”

“What? When? How?”

“When we leave for our first assignment at
Gerald Harbor in three weeks… Aleksandrov, other wizards, and half of the
school’s guardians will be there.”

Hope, excitement and happiness filled my
stomach.

“He’s doubled up on charms to protect the
school. If we can make it back there, we’ll be safe. However, we can’t risk it.
We need to draw Lucian away from his minions. We need to kill him, just to be
safe.”

I was worried that if I spoke, it would be
in a high pitched excited squeal, so instead I nodded.

“There’s something we need from you as
well.”

“Anything.”

“You need to be able to use all of your
elements and your sun power. You’re our secret weapon, Ruby.”

I nodded again.

“Let’s go back to the party.”

Ugh. Another party. Was it going to be like
this every night? I didn’t go to my room to put on a dress; I didn’t have to
energy to. Instead I joined Eli and Lucian at the dinner table and we ate the
exact same way we did the first night. When it was over, I crawled back to my
room and climbed into bed, still in the pyjamas I wore last night and trained
in today. Oh well, dirty or not, I still happily welcomed sleep.

Bewitched

Here I was again, watching red and white
rose petals float down from the twilight sky. I glanced down and I was wearing
a long
,
white gown, a
wedding dress. My gaze met smiling faces as they watched me in awe.

The walls of bright green mossy trees that
surrounded us were so surreal, so beautiful. In the branches nestled a dozen scarlet
tanagers, their deep red feathers standing out against the vibrant green moss.
For every two scarlet tanagers, there was one white dove perched perfectly in
between them.

“Are you ready, dear?” an old man in a
white robe asked.

I glanced beside me and met Eli’s handsome
face. I smiled at him. He was so perfect. Now he was going to be my husband.

“Yes.”

The robed man began to speak. His mouth
moved but no words came out. I strained my ears, I could hear the birds flutter
their feathers and guests shuffle in their chair but I couldn’t hear the
priest.

“I can’t hear you,” I said but he made no
sign that he could hear me, either.

The distinct sound of sticks snapping and
leaves hitting skin filled my ears. I crouched down, holding my ears. Why was
the sound so deafening?

“I object,” an emotionless voice called.

It seemed like I was the only one to hear
it. I searched the surrounding bushes but I couldn’t see anyone.

Then they stepped out from nature’s cloak,
it was Lucian and Hunter. They both stared at me, crazy-eyed. No one else could
hear or see them, only me. One by one, they tore the throats from my unknown
guests before dashing up the aisle to the altar where Eli, the priest, and I
were standing.

“Eli!” I screamed, but he couldn’t hear me.

He turned and smiled down at me. ‘I love
you,’ he mouthed before Lucian broke his neck and he fell into a lifeless heap.
Hunter was feeding on the priest and I was left curling into myself. My dress
was splattered with blood and dirt. Through my tears I looked at the trees. Crows
were devouring my beautiful birds.