The Forbidden: A Huntress Novel (The Huntress Series Book 1) (22 page)

“No rash decisions here. We can’t just walk into your manor tonight, this kind of situation is delicate. We need a plan.”

“Does this plan consist of us carrying him out of the manor? If that’s the case, then yes, this is a delicate situation.”

“That’s where Violet comes in. To remain inconspicuous we need to become invisible.”

I groaned. “Oh no.”

“Oh yes. We can’t do this without her.”    

“Did you not just see what happened in the sitting area?”

“Actually I’m quite aware of what happened. I was involved. You are one nervy huntress, taking on a fight with a house filled with vampires.”

I scowled. “Yeah, well your little friend seems a little too friendly with you.”

His lips twitched into a smile. “Are you jealous?”

Yes, I was very jealous…but I wouldn’t admit it to him.

“No, and I’m not even sure if I can trust your sister. For all I know she will make me go poof when she hex’s me.”

He leaned down and placed his hand on my stomach. The coldness of his skin went right through the fabric. My body shook as his touch sent a shiver right through me.

“She will not harm you, and as for the jealousy issue, I’m not convinced that you didn’t attack her because you became possessive.”

I scowled and folded my arms. “The next time she touches you inappropriately you can tell her to keep her hands to herself.”

“Lyla and I used to date. Of course that doesn’t give her a reason to act the way she did tonight.”

I scoffed and shoved him away. “You and her? No wonder she was acting so promiscuous, she was trying to lay claim to you.”

“I will talk to her about it. Although, I think she got the message to stay away loud and clear tonight. You really don’t have to worry about her or anyone else for that matter, you’re the only woman who appeals to me.”

“You better do something about her, or I will. She won’t have any hands left to feel you with when I get done with her.”

He snickered and rolled on top of me. “And you said you weren’t ruthless.”

He brushed his lips against mine as I placed my hands on either side of his face. I parted my lips even further letting him claim my lips.

“Well some people deserve to see that side of me.”

He grabbed me underneath my arms and pulled me farther on the bed, where he placed me on his pillow. He laid beside me as I rested my head on his chest.

“I have to go home soon.”

“Don’t ruin the moment. Just let me hold you for a little while.”

I intended on staying awake while he slept beside me, but I had gotten too comfortable laying in his arms that I drifted off to sleep myself.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Opening my eyes, I looked around the room. The blue curtains were open letting the room fill up with light.  Lucas was still asleep beside me. Careful not to wake him, I slowly peeled my limbs from his. Laying in one position all night sure left my body aching and cramped.

Walking over to his oval shaped mirror on his wall I rubbed away my running eyeliner and combed my fingers through my hair. At least I will look somewhat presentable when I arrive at the manor. I’m sure everyone is wondering where I’m at, but most importantly who I am with.

Taking one last look at Lucas, I smiled and quietly shut the door behind me. Walking down the steps I stopped in my tracks as a teakettle went off. I closed my eyes and groaned. Violet is awake, she was last person I wanted to face right now. Hopefully I will be able to avoid her if I make it out of the house without her realizing I am awake. I crept down the steps and quickly tip toed to the front door. Opening the door, I gasped as Violet stood before me with a coffee cup in her hand.

“Tea?” She held the cup out for me to take.

“Don’t you mean blood? And how did you get outside so fast, I thought I heard you in the kitchen.”

“I like tea in the morning. I was in the kitchen, but me being a witch and a vampire I have very sharp senses. I knew you were awake the second your eyes fluttered open and I also knew you would try to leave before I noticed your presence. I went out of the backdoor to surprise you when you tried to leave.”

I took the cup and examined inside even smelling it to make sure it was safe to drink. Violet and I aren’t on good terms and I was comfortable drinking anything she made me.

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t poison you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You tried to kill me last night, why wouldn’t you try to poison me.”

She grabbed the cup from my hand and took a drink. “There, If I poisoned you, then I just poisoned myself. Why don’t you come sit with me and we could attempt to carry a conversation. One that doesn’t involve a battle in the end.”

“Trying to make amends, are we?”   

She gave an apologetic smile. “I was a very bad girl and broke my promise. I don’t do broken promises so now I have to make it up to Lucas.”

She began to walk forward knowing that I would automatically step back away from her.

She smiled, gave her hand a swift wave behind her and the door began to slowly shut.

I followed her into the sitting area noticing that everything we broke during the fight was fixed leaving the sitting area neat and tidy.

She poured herself a cup of tea and sat down beside me. She picked a blue-berry muffin up and held it out for me. “Breakfast?”

I shook my head. “You eat human food?”

“Yes, I love human food just as much as I love blood.

I sipped on my tea watching as she devoured her muffin. As our eyes met, she gave a smile then cleared her throat.

“I want apologize for the way I acted. I know we are enemies, but I did promise my brother that you would be safe with me.”

“Don’t worry about it, if you were attacking one of my reapers I would have interfered also.”

“So you stayed all night. I was quite surprised considering what you are.”

I gasped. “Oh, we didn’t have sex.”

Her brows rose in surprise and a smile slowly crept on her lips. “I wasn’t talking about sex. I was surprised you stayed all night without wanting to run away from our world.”

I bowed my head as heat warmed my cheeks. “Oh.”

Oh god, please kill me now! Let’s just jump to another topic to spare me from anymore embarrassment.

She placed her cup on the glass table. “But now that you bring it up, why haven’t you consummated your union?”

I choked down my tea as I looked away from her gaze. “Is it necessary for you to know if we did?”

She sighed. “When two soul mates meet it is a necessity for them to consummate their union so their souls can finally be one. It is tradition, if you don’t have sex within a certain time it brings bad luck to the relationship.”

“What kind of bad luck?”

“Death to one of the mates.”

I bit down on my lip trying to keep from laughing. I didn’t believe in that superstitious crap. More than likely it was just another myth that the people here are stupid enough to believe.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about that our souls have been made as one already.”

“Good.”

I stood and placed my cup on the table. “I really should be going.”

This was by far the most awkward conversation I have had with anyone. Half of the reason was because neither of us could see past the enemy part. No matter how hard she tries to play nice my guard will always be up with her. As for the other half, well I never would have thought I would be in Lucas’s house drinking tea with his sister and discussing when I had sexual relations with her own brother.

“I could help you get home.”

“Should I even trust you with magic around me?”

“Well considering I could do this to you.” Her eyes looked down at my chest as she held her hand in front of me clenching her hand into a fist.

I gasped as I held onto my chest as she squeezed my heart. I couldn’t breathe and so much agonizing pain shot through my chest and down my arm.

She put her hand down and closed her eyes while taking in a deep breath.

The pain slowly faded as I gasped for air and rubbed my chest.

“I think you can trust me. I would have already killed you if I wanted you dead. A little magic to help send you home will do you no harm.”

I glared her way. I couldn’t believe how much power she wielded inside of her. She was responsible for almost killing me by a heart attack. If she ever did want me dead I wouldn’t have a fighting chance. She could kill me in an instant and that didn’t settle well with me.

“Fine, but don’t you ever do that to me again!” I snapped.

She shrugged and stood. “Fair enough, come with me.”

The kitchen seemed like it was the only simple part of the house. There were no floating candles and no sparkling chandelier. The walls were beige and went well with the creamy white cabinets and the kitchen island. It was just normal and after having to deal with Violet and her magic, normal was what I needed right about now.

I sat down at the squared dining room table and opened up a thick, brown leather book.

“That’s my spell book.”

I turned the pages reading the different ingredients to spells that was written throughout the book while Violet began opening up the cabinets taking out the ingredients that she would need to get me home. Putting a pot on the stove, she poured red liquid in the water then added a pinch of these small green leaves.

“What is that?”    

“Just herbs from my garden.”

“And the liquid?”

She grinned and sighed. “I’m not sure you’ll like that answer.”

“It’s blood, isn’t it?”

“Not human, it’s my own. My blood is the main ingredient to make any potion of mine work.”

“Do you expect me to drink it?”

“It’s the only way the spell is going to work.”

I stood up and shook my head. “No way. Not going to happen.”

She narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “And why not?”

I smiled. Oh, boy. She was getting sassy and for some reason I found it comical.

“Your blood isn’t turning me into an immortal.”

“You have to be infected with my venom to start the transformation, then I would have to feed you my blood to fully turn you. So, drinking this potion is harmless.”

She looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

My brows furrowed as I looked up also wondering why she was smiling at the damn ceiling. “What are you doing?”

“Your lover is awake and is coming down the steps as I speak.”

Moments later Lucas came walking in the kitchen running his hand through his hair. I was impressed with her skills.

“Oh, you’re good.”

“Getting along?” His brows raised as he cut his sister a look.

“Yes, I was just explaining to Athena that my blood will not affect her if she drinks any of my potions.”

“Why are you making a potion?”

“To send her home.”

A warm smile kissed his lips as he leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips. “You were going to leave without saying goodbye?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to wake you, you looked so peaceful.”

He ran the back of his hand down my face. “Do you have to leave so soon?”

“I have to get back before anyone notices I am gone. It’s unusual for me to spend the night away from the manor and I can’t use Brody as a cover up because he lives there.”

He exhaled as he raked his hand through his hair. “You said our relationship wouldn’t remain a secret.”

“It’s not, but there is always a time and place to reveal my betrayal.”

“Fine,” He said dryly.

I stood and wrapped my arms around him leaving a kiss on his neck. The coldness of his skin touched my lips as the hair on my arms stood from the chill that took over.

“Don’t be angry or frustrated with me. I love you and you will not be a secret forever because I choose you over them.”

He gave a half-smile. “Okay,” He breathed.

I narrowed my eyes. He didn’t believe me, I could see it in his eyes and even in his smile. He had hope that I would reveal him, but with that hope surely came a lot of doubt.

“Okay,” I breathed.

I refrained from saying anything else. I figured that it was best if I let it go. He will see in time that I am telling the truth.

I sat back down and turned a page in the spell book noticing that one of the pages was ripped out.

I gasped and my eyes widened as I remembered the same beige colored paper Taylor had found in Aubrey’s closet. Lucas knew where the paper came from, but he was shocked to see it in my possession. Suddenly all the missing pieces came together.

I brought my hand up to my mouth as the bile made its way up my throat. Aubrey was a vampire, she had been in the manor, and she was a part of our world. It was a lie. His love was a lie. I was the bait to bring my father and my hunters down. He had to make me love him to get inside. How stupid could I be to fall for a vampire and think that he actually loved me back.

I closed my eyes as tears streamed down my face. Lucas, the one that I loved so much had betrayed me.

I stiffened as he placed his hand on my shoulder. “What’s wrong?” He actually sounded genuinely concerned…he was a very good actor.

I smacked his hand away and stood from the chair. “The paper that you took from me belonged to your sister. You were helping Aubrey this whole time!”

He closed his eyes and let out a breath as he ran his hand through his hair.

“Let me explain.”

I held onto my chest, feeling my heart shatter into a thousand pieces. 

“You manipulated me to kill off my hunters. You never loved me. Everything that we did together, every word you said to me meant nothing to you!” I cried.

“She didn’t have access to my book. She must have ripped the page out without us knowing.” Violet said.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m supposed to believe that.”

“Athena, you were meant to be with me. My love for you is real. Please hear me out before you leave and decide that you don’t want anything to do with me.”

His eyes were begging and pleading for me to listen, but my trust in him was running thin and I didn’t know what to believe.

“You don’t have to explain anything because I know exactly what you were planning to do.”

He placed his hands on my shoulders and sat me back down in the chair as he kneeled on the floor in front of me. “Six months ago I had Aubrey become a reaper to kill off your hunters because you were killing off too many of my kind. Violet had casted a spell on her to make her appear as a human so your kind wouldn’t know who she really was. That was six months before I even knew you were my soul mate. After I found out about you I ordered her not to harm you, but I didn’t trust her to listen so I sent Brody in to protect you from her.”

My mouth fell open in shock. “Brody?!” I said in disbelief.

“He’s my best friend. I needed someone to go inside and keep an eye on Aubrey to keep her from hurting you. She became obsessed with killing you. She knew you were the best huntress. She thrives off of a challenge and attempting to kill you would have made the ultimate challenge for her. She was saving you for last until you pissed her off by asking Brody out. She has always been interested in him and she felt threatened by you. You were taking someone that belonged to her and she couldn’t let that happen. Brody told me that you were next on her list so I had him kill her. Please, believe me. My intentions were not to hurt you. I really do love you and I don’t want to lose you.”

Now that I know who Brody really is to Lucas it makes me feel horrible about what happened between us. I feel obligated to tell Lucas that I almost had sex with his best friend when we ended our relationship.  It will matter so much more to him because Brody is his best friend. He trusted him with me. I had to tell him, but I wouldn’t do it now. I’m not ready to fight with him again.