The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (7 page)

“
We’re not connected, you
and I.” Cristian snapped at me. I smiled at this lack of control
and crossed my arms. “There isn’t any possible way that we have
anything in common.”

“
Who’s Michael to you?” I
asked, suddenly. Cristian stopped and suddenly stared at me. I
wanted to smile at his childish face, but I stopped myself and
remained calm. “Who is he to both you and Justin? I saw the
reactions on your faces when I mentioned his name.”

“
And, why did you say it
to begin with?” Cristian questioned.

“
He was thinking about me,
talking to me as if I were there with him. He does it often, but he
doesn’t know that I can feel him.” I replied and turned back to
him. “He doesn’t know that I know about him, about you. What you
are, or pretend not to be, either way, it’s not a secret, not
anymore.”

* * * * *

Justin looked up as Cristian walked
towards him. He shook his head and looked away from him. Cristian
stopped and looked up at the sky where Justin was
looking.

“
What are you doing?”
Cristian asked.

“
I told you, she intrigues
me.” Justin replied. “What’s it to you, anyway? You have her little
friend to play with.”

“
I’m not playing.”
Cristian replied and looked over at him. “Are you?”

“
Oh, it’s all just a game,
Cris. Think about it, ever since men and women were created, it’s
been a big game of chase, the men chase the women. So, what’s
changed except now it‘s the vampires chasing the
victim.”

“
Are you going to harm
her?”

“
What do you care?” Justin
said and stood up. She’s just a girl, like all the others, and
sooner or later, they all end up the same way.”

“
You’re
disgusting.”

“
Oh, but so aren’t you.”
Justin said and opened his arms. “Would you like to start a
comparison game, Cristian, about how you and I are the same in
every way?”

“
She knows what we
are.”

“
So what!” Justin
shrugged. “Does that mean I’m supposed to run and hide? What’s
going to happen, who’s going to believe her if she runs to someone
and tells them that she’s seeing vampires. They’ll lock her
up.”

“
Answer me one question,
Justin.” Cristian said, softly, as he looked at him, staring him in
the eyes, Justin crossed his arms. “Do you care about
her?”

“
That’s just
preposterous!” Justin laughed. “I’ve known her for only two weeks,
my friend. How do you care that fast?”

“
You didn’t answer my
question.”

“
She intre...“

“
I know, she intrigues
you, but you’ve never been that way with a woman
before.”

“
What way?”

“
I saw the look in your
eyes when you held her in your arms, Justin. I know she means
something to you.” Cristian argued.

“
Yes, sooner or later,
she’ll mean lunch.” He smiled, and then it faded. “Now, leave me
alone, I don’t want to talk about her anymore.” Justin
sighed.

He turned away from Cristian and looked
at the woods. He listened as Cristian sighed and walked away.
Justin looked at the sky as he thought about Sage and the way he
felt when he kissed her, when he touched her skin, and the way she
looked at him with such confidence. He didn’t want to admit to
himself that he cared about her, and he certainly didn’t want to
tell Cristian, the noble young man who thought he had to save
everyone from Justin, that he felt anything.

Justin stood up and followed Cristian
quietly as he headed towards a house. Justin felt the three girls
in the same building then followed Cristian’s presence to a certain
floor. He pinpointed the apartment window and sought out Sage’s
sleeping mind. She was dreaming about him.

He levitated up to her window, which
was slightly open, even with the January weather. He opened it more
and slipped in. Cristian was in the living room talking to Taryn
about how he didn’t believe Sage should be left alone in the woods
anymore. Justin smiled at this, and wanted to go out there and tell
them that she shouldn’t be left alone in the house if it were for
her own protection.

He moved slowly over to her bed and
bent down beside her. She slept in a light pink tank top and white
panties, and the covers seemed to have been thrown on the floor at
the end of the bed. He reached out and touched her, as she lay on
the bed with one hand on her bare stomach and the other on the
pillow behind her head. Her skin was cool, which meant that he was
probably hot. Her breath quickened as he gently ran a hand down
over her whole body, then stood and leaned over her. He looked at
the innocence of her face as he leaned down and kissed her on the
lips.

She moved quickly, sitting up, and
looked at him, wide-eyed. Justin backed away from her, then turned
and headed for the window.

“
Don’t go yet.” She
whispered as he opened it to jump out.

“
A vampire in your house
is dangerous, Sage.” He whispered, the turned and looked at
her.

“
I don’t get you.” She
said again, and then knelt on her bed. “You think you’re big, bad
and untouchable, but you’re not.”

He came at her and pinned her down on
the bed, on his hands and knees, he towered over her. She reached
up and touched his neck, then his chest and arms.

“
Don’t touch me.” He
snarled at her. She smiled up at him and grabbed the bottom of his
shirt, then pulled it up all the way, to where his arms stopped it.
“You’re putting yourself in danger, Sage.”

“
If you were going to hurt
me, Justin, you would have done it by now.” Sage replied and put
her hands on his bare skin. Justin took a deep breath as he looked
into her eyes, then he slowly closed his. Kissing her was nothing
like this. He could feel her power, through her finger as she ran
her hands over his hard stomach. She touched his muscles on his
back, tracing them; then she put her hands on his side and pulled
him down to her.

“
You’re pushing your
luck.” He whispered as his body touched hers. She smiled and
nodded. “Don’t you know when to stop?”

“
I’ve been stopping myself
my whole life, Justin, stopping the power in me, stopping my
heritage, stopping the feelings I’ve felt towards just about
everyone.” She whispered and looked at his softening eyes. “I don’t
want to stop what I feel when I’m near you.”

“
What you feel is danger,
Sage, trouble that you don’t need.” He answered her.

“
If you didn’t want
something, if you wanted to stop this,” she paused and touched his
face, “you wouldn’t keep coming back for more, would
you?”

“
You came to me first,
Sage.” He whispered.

“
Yeah, and it’s been that
way until now.” She replied. “What are you doing here, now,
Justin?”

He got up and moved away from her,
leaving her laying there on the bed. “I came to try and stop this.”
He whispered and looked at the ceiling. “Cristian was right, though
I would never admit to him that he was ever close, but I feel
something for you, besides the intrigue, besides the fact that I’d
like to get into your head and find out what attracts you to me. I
wanted to find out what this is and stop it before it goes any
further.”

“
You can’t stop your
heart, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Sage laughed at him. He
looked at her, quickly, and shook his head. “Why can’t you let this
go?”

“
I’m a vampire, Sage.” He
snapped, and then listened to the approaching footsteps. “It’s
Bobbie.”

He said softly and backed into a dark
corner as she knocked and opened the door. Bobbie looked at Sage,
who was lying with her eyes closed. Bobbie shook her head, walked
over, and closed the window, never noticing Justin, who was only a
foot away from her. He watched her as she walked out of the room,
then he walked over to Sage, knelt by the bed, and kissed her
softly on the cheek.

“
Don’t come looking for
me, Sage. I don’t believe you could find me, even if you
tried.”

He walked over to the window and opened
it slowly. He suddenly felt hands on his face and he stood
straight, turned and looked straight into Sage’s eyes.

“
You’d be surprised who I
can find.” She said and stepped back towards her bed. Justin smiled
at her confidence, and he climbed out the window, leaving a bit
more confused about what he was truly feeling for her than when he
arrived.

I looked at the ceiling, then curled up
in a ball on the bed and closed my eyes. I liked the danger that I
felt from Justin, but it was the surge of power that I got every
time that I touched him that made me wonder about how much more I
could take. Touching his bare skin seemed to bring it on more.
Though I admitted that I enjoyed touching his hard body, I knew
with or without the feelings, that I would still be attracted to
him; there wasn’t a doubt about that.

Chapter 4

February 14, Valentine’s
Day,

I looked out the window of my
classroom, all of the trees were covered in snow and little red
heart ornaments hung from their branches. The ground was blanketed
in white and, in the quad, there was a heart, several feet wide and
ten feet long, spray painted in red, with an arrow through it, and
the words “Happy Valentine‘s Day”, written in a circle around
it.

“
Are you going out
tonight?” Taryn asked. I shook my head, looked at Cristian,
quickly, and then back at Taryn.

“
Nah, you never know what
kinds of whacko you might meet out there.” I whispered. “I think
I’ll just stay inside, where it’s safe.”

“
See that you do.”
Cristian warned me. I smiled at him and shrugged.

We all went back to the house, where
the girls got dressed and left me to sit there on the couch, but I
had other plans. Once everyone was pretty much gone and probably
where they were supposed to be, I got dressed, in black jeans, a
dark blue shirt, and my work shoes, which were black, and then
grabbed my brown leather jacket from the closet, and headed out the
door.

It shouldn’t be that hard to find
Justin in the woods. If he hunted there, he should live nearby, but
as I looked through the snow-covered woods, I was beginning to
think that I had been mistaken.

I stood under a tall oak tree, stripped
of its leaves, and looked through its branches up at the stars. I
shook my head, kicked the snow for bad luck of getting lost, and
crossed my arms over my chest. I sighed, loudly, then closed my
eyes and pictured Justin in what he was wearing the last time he
had answered my sudden cry for attention only two days
before.

Bobbie and I had fought, ferociously,
over the fact that I wasn’t letting go of Justin. Bobbie didn’t
like the sudden interest I had in him and made it clear to me that
she didn’t like how I had begun to act since we had met. I had run
out of the house, to the bleachers at the school’s ball field and
sat there most of the night, calling out to Justin.

He had arrived quietly, standing ten
feet to left, watching me without a sound until I looked over in
his direction. Despite the cold, he wore blue Dockers dress pants,
with black shoes, a white dress shirt, totally unbuttoned, and a
pale blue tank top underneath it. He stood there, one foot on the
upper bleacher, the other on the lower with his hands in his
pockets.

I don‘t remember much about that night
except that he held me tightly to him and all I could feel was our
connection, but it didn’t seem like he was going to come this
night. I sat down, pulling my coat under my bottom and pulled my
knees up to my chest. I closed my eyes and put my head down. People
were going to be upset when they found out I was missing, when they
arrived at home later that evening.

I opened my eyes and looked around the
brightly lit room. I sat up slowly, removing the covers, and then
slowly stood, looking at the elaborate furniture, the priceless
paintings and shook my head. Where the hell was I? The door creaked
and I turned to look at the young man who stepped into the
room.

“
Ah, you’re awake.” Justin
said softly. His face never changed, never smiled. I looked over
his attire, dressed in tan dress pants, and a pullover shirt, with
the top three buttons undone, he looked quite handsome. “I thought
you might need some rescuing tonight.”

“
I had only been calling
you for an hour.” I said softly and continued to look at the stuff
that filled the room. “Is this your place?”

“
No.” He smiled and I
looked at him quickly. I hadn’t been expecting that kind of answer.
“He was, well, lunch.”

“
That’s disgusting.” I
said and watched him shrug.

“
Yes, so I’ve been told.”
He looked over me and winked. “I’m sure my dear friend, Cristian,
doesn’t know that you’re here with me.” Justin said softly as he
sat back and watched as I looked around.

“
Do I still intrigue you?”
I asked suddenly.

“
Why would you ask
something like that?” He questioned.