Two Halves Series (26 page)

William watched me with fervor, wordlessly taking in my full transformation. I felt the corners of my mouth stretch upward, aware of the solitude painted on my face. My glee must had shone through my eyes and showed in my every movement. At last, my hunger was satisfied.

I pushed aside the branches over the door and entered the green aerie. The momentum of my heart picked up.

“Lie down,” he whispered.

I obeyed, stretching on the wooden floor as first stars sparkled in a velvet-black sky through an opening in the canopy. Speechless, I stared. I could never have imagined a place this picturesque and couldn’t have dreamt of anything more beautiful. The stars glittered in bliss, dancing in front of our eyes.

“Take a deep breath,” William instructed.

I did, and a potent, sweet fragrance filled my lungs, touching each nerve. My exhale felt as if I’d lost strength.

William lay down beside me. “Another one, deep,” he said again, almost whispering.

I submitted into the oasis and the dense air worked its way through my blood vessels straight into the veins, feeding each organ and each cell. I let my breath out with reluctance. “What was that? I can feel it working its way down to the smallest cell.”

“You’re getting all the serums at once, without chemicals.” He clasped his hands under his head.

My brows pinched in a mild frown. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

He shook his head. “Your body adjusts and learns to know which pollen to react to. You must have felt this before, working with the orchids.”

I remembered the camping trip eight years ago and how the smell of jasmine, rose, and lilac nearly carried me to the pond’s edge. “I think I did. The first time was when I found my blue orchid.”

“How do you feel?” William propped himself on his elbow.

“I can feel the pollen inside me, like it’s trying to work with each muscle and organ. It’s heightening my senses.” I curled my knees up.

“These orchids are pollinated by moths, so their smell is stronger at night.”

“Did you plant them here?” My head lolled to the side. William’s eyes reflected the full moon.

“Yes, with my parent’s help.” I heard a hint of sadness in his voice. “This is our oasis. The demons could never find it. To them it’s as if we were invisible. It’s our little paradise.”

“But I thought the cabin was invisible to them. Isn’t it?” I asked.

“It is, but if they knew about it, they could find it.
This
place is special. The flowers protect us and shield us, the same way the serum shields our living cells.”

I let out a long, slow exhalation.
Amazing.

William rolled onto his back, took my hand, and held it tightly, twining his fingers with mine. My thoughts flew toward my lustful dreams of him.

It was a long time before we stopped to catch our breath, breathing through slightly parted, engorged lips. William squeezed my hips tighter with his hands. “I could kiss you all night,” he murmured.

“You just may have to,” I replied.

His hands travelled up my bare back to untie the black bow of my dress. I took his hand before he pulled the knot apart. “Come with me.” We walked toward the loveseat against the far wall of the club.

He smirked. “You know you’re not leaving tonight without taking that dress off.”

With his face so close to mine, I kissed the tip of his nose in acknowledgment. Our bodies never parted as we made our way to the sofa.

“You’re lost in thought,” William noted.

I turned my head toward him and tried to sound casual. “Do you think there is a difference in the way vampires and humans kiss?”

“I wouldn’t know.” He turned on his side, propping his head on his elbow.

I closed my eyes. “This place is absolutely sinful.”

“You’re reading my mind, Sarah.” He wasn’t referring to the forest. His voice fell to a whisper. “Sarah.”

I turned to face him, and his eyes locked mine. Sparks of passion flew between us, and the lust I knew too well exploded inside me like fireworks.

“I don’t know how long I can control myself around you.”

“Then don’t.” I ached with a longing as deep as his.

“But . . . I’ve never . . . what if—”

“It’s okay, William. I’ve never either. We’re safe. We’re protected here. You said it yourself. No one can—”

His lips pressed hard against mine, silencing me. All I heard was the synchronous thumping of our hearts.

Pum.

The warmth of his mouth invited me to open mine, letting him find me.

Pum-pum.

We explored each other, giving in to intuition. My body, firmly pressed against his, seemed to melt under his heat, like butter on fresh toast.

Pum-pum, pum
—

At first his fingers tiptoed against my body and just as the pulse surged through my veins, his palms slid flat and he held me tighter, guiding my hips against his.

Pum-pum, pum-pum.

With a gasp, we pulled away from the long kiss to look at each other, our heartbeats building to thunder in our chests.

I won’t be able to stop,
I read on his face.

I won’t try to stop you
, I answered with my eyes.

William’s enlarged irises, the sparks in his eyes, showed no doubt of his full desire and passion. Before I could take a breath I was in his arms, and this time, I did not want him to let go.

Pum-pum, pum-pum, pum
—

William’s lips heated, eager with excitement. His hands danced on my back toward my neck, his fingers gently tangling into my hair before sliding back down to my hips. The delight, my pleasure—they were excruciating. I wanted to taste more than just his lips.

Pum-pum, pum-pum, pum-pum.

“Arghhhhh!” we screamed, and pushed each other away.

I clenched my hands and crossed my arms over my chest, trying to stifle the pain in my heart. “What’s happening!” My jaw tightened, and I squeezed my eyes. Tears streaked my cheeks. I prayed the throbbing would end, but it didn’t.

William curled on the floor in a fetal position on the other end of the platform. I knew his agony was just as torturous as mine. “I don’t know,” he wheezed, squirming and rolling from side to side on his back. “It hurts more to know we have to keep away.”

“William!” Sharp daggers of pain pierced me, as if cutting off each vein and artery that led to my heart. We were not meant to be together, yet we could not be separated.

My toes were still curled when the pain begun to ease off. We sat in tight balls of misery on the floor at opposite ends of the tree house.

“This is the reason we cannot be together,” he said through gritted teeth.  William tried to stand but fell down. “We . . . will . . . die. Our hearts will be torn from our chests. I’d rather stay away from you than know I’m the reason you died.”

“We’ll figure it out. You said we were created for a reason. We just need to find that reason, first. What if we can change the—” I stopped.
The spell. If the spell did not have any side effects, could we be together?

Instantly, everything became clear. How could I have missed it before? Castall’s spell was too powerful. It gave us gifts beyond what it was meant to give—powers that made us too strong. Our abilities unbalanced the equilibrium of the underworld. We could overpower the demons and warlocks. Even if we didn’t want to, it could happen. And so we’d been cursed.

It made perfect sense. We were half human, half vampire. There was no warlock in us, so how could we have the skills we did? We were only meant to have two halves—there was no space for a third. This imbalance we created could not be allowed. Someone in the underworld had cast a curse to make sure we couldn’t be together. Not that way. Not now.

No. Not yet
.

I looked at the sapphire that circled my finger. William crossed the room toward me and I held my arm out. “This is the truth. Show me what I want to know.”

On command, the ring displayed an image from the past—and it wasn’t what I expected. We were not under a warlock’s spell or a demon’s curse. We were intoxicated by a potion, one that had been tampered with. Brewed underground in a witch’s pot, the mixture that gave us our gifts came with a price of pain.

“Look at those herbs and how they shine. They shouldn’t be there,” I said.

“How do you know?” William asked.

“I can feel it. Sort of like you can sense stuff, I guess. Someone tampered with the potions meant to give you courage and me the dreams. Someone does not want us together.” I nodded toward the image. “Look closely.”

“I believe you.” William sat on the floor behind me and stretched his legs out on either side of me.

I shook my hand and said to the ring, “Who did it? Show me who did it.” Nothing happened.

“It won’t show you.”

I turned to him. “Why not?”

“They probably cast a protective spell.”

“Of course.” I lowered my hand, rolling my eyes. At that moment, I vowed I would figure out a way to counteract the cursed potions and bring the equilibrium back. We could not rest until we lived like a man and a woman should.

“It makes perfect sense. I told you we were stronger together.” He smiled, trying to reassure me.

Someone wanted us apart, and their plan had worked until now. Now things were going to change, because I wasn’t about to leave my other half.

William pulled me toward him and held me from behind, gently kissing the back of my head. Our hearts behaved, beating almost at their normal pace. We could bear the minimal zaps.

“You have to teach me everything you know,” I said.

He nodded.

“I guess our rescue mission is becoming a quest.”

“We’ll figure it out,” he said. “Let’s get back to the cabin. We have a long day tomorrow.”

I let him help me up, and we began climbing down. Near the base of the tree, William leaped from branch to branch to land on the ground.

“At least we don’t turn into bats,” I joked.

William’s eyes filled with guilt.

I gaped at him. “We could?”

“Oh, come on, Sarah—you’d believe that?”

“You liar!” I laughed. “What about unicorns? Do those exist?”

“Well, I haven’t seen one, but you never know,” he teased. “Follow me.”

My gaze flew back up at our tree house. I didn’t want to leave. The pollen infused me with the confidence and power I lacked and now I needed it like drug. Finally, with a sigh, I turned to follow William—and froze. “I wouldn’t go this way if I were you,” I warned him.

“I always go this way. It’s a shortcut,” he answered over his shoulder.

“Well, I just got this funny feeling that you’d trip over a rock and—”

Thump
. William plunged to the ground and landed hard, hitting the side of his head on a rock. He lay still, not moving.

My heart leaped into my throat. I rushed to him. Blood streaked the side of his head. “William! William! Are you okay?” I asked breathlessly, shaking him by the shoulders.

“Ouch.” He grimaced. Rolling onto his back, he frowned up at me. “I wish your warning was more specific, like ‘Watch out for the rock.’” He grinned to take any sting out of the complaint. The small gash on the side of his head had stopped bleeding and had almost healed.

“You’ve got to stop doing that!” I punched his arm in exasperation.

He threw a wounded expression up at me. “What?”

“Banging your head on rocks and asphalt!”

He ignored my concern and said, “You just had a premonition!”

“Is that what it was? I thought it was a gut feeling,” I said, absently rubbing my stomach.

“Maybe that’s what it’s supposed to feel like. Was it the orchids?”

I shrugged.

“You’re a tough nut to crack, Sarah,” he teased, “but one I want to crack—soon.” The sultry look he gave me made me shiver. “It’s getting late. We’ll sleep downstairs tonight.”

I offered my hand. He took it, and I pulled him from the ground. It didn’t take much effort. It still seemed funny to me, pulling a grown man to his feet without having to flex.

Skipping across the clearing toward the cabin, I imagined my parents’ room. Warmth swept through my body as my blood bubbled with excitement. William unlocked the entrance to the chambers below by punching a four-digit code into a keypad embedded into the side wall. The marble at my feet cracked open, then dropped ten inches before sliding horizontally into the surrounding floor to reveal a staircase spiralling downward into darkness. The panel slowly moved aside. At full thickness of the floor and its supporting joists, the door to the basement was most likely bulletproof and fire resistant.

Light filtered up the entrance well as we descended. Sconce cones on the side walls illuminated enlarged photographs of bright orchids native to the rainforest outside.

“Does Agubab take care of all this when you’re not here?” I asked, sliding my fingers across large pots of phalaenopsis orchids that decorated the chamber.

“Only when someone is scheduled to arrive—he’ll see the larder is stocked and there’s clean linen on the beds, things like that. The home itself is self-sustaining. Generators provide electricity, and timers turn the lights on and off for things like the plants.” He gestured at the pots of orchids. “And water the plants. The cabin isn’t vacant too often.”

He led me to a set of double doors and swung one open. “You can sleep in your parents’ room. I’ll be a whisper away,” he assured me. “Good night.”

William remained on the threshold, leaning against doorframe. His eyes told me he didn’t want to leave, but he kept his distance. I naturally glided toward him. He leaned in to kiss me on the cheek, and the blood raced in my veins.

William looked like he fought against an invisible force that kept him at my side to step away, but reluctantly, he did. His cheeks sagged.

“Good night,” I whispered back.

“Don’t let the bed bugs bite.” He smirked.

Frost wrapped around my spine.
Does he know?

Chapter 13