Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) (17 page)

“But ghosts don’t really
do
anything.”

“They can but choose not to. Be on guard for
flying objects and you should be fine.”

“You’re a great help. What would I do without
you?”

“You would die, Addison,” he said softly.
“You would die.”

She said nothing, but her reaction was
profound and powerful—as if all light and joy had drained from her,
leaving her completely empty, as cold and void as he had been for
centuries. Since the time he understood redemption was impossible,
so he stopped reaching for it.

That was the moment Rhyse broke.

Without warning, he felt himself change,
weaken. Lose. He shook with the weight and speed of his
transformation, unable to tear his eyes from the being at fault.
Rhyse’s strength and power remained as they were, but everything
else was different.

And, as much as he told himself he wished it
hadn’t happened, that he’d never met her or tasted her blood, in
truth he would have it no other way. If anyone found out, if anyone
knew how excruciatingly human he felt,
so
many would
perish.

Rhyse stumbled back a step and then
disappeared without a word. But nothing could’ve topped his last
ones: ‘
You would die, Addison
.
You would die
.’

True hopelessness sucks. For a moment,
Addison wanted nothing more than to curl up into a fetal position
and hide in his bed for the rest of her life. It was a long moment,
and the desire would probably never be too far from her conscious
mind again.

She’d been lucky so far. No one had found out
what she was because
she
hadn’t even known what she was. But
luck always ran out eventually, as did the will to keep fighting.
She was so tired of being afraid and things always getting worse,
not better. Was it even worth it?

It wasn’t as if this was the first or second
or tenth time she’d thought she was going to die. What made this
one different and
so
much more depressing was because, for
once, she’d thought she had a chance to
live
. What screwed
her up had been believing something good might happen and then
taking the three-mile drop back to reality. Ironic, because there’d
never been a better reason for someone to kill her.

But this time, she had
him
. And he was
strong and powerful and seemed to think she could do something for
him. Somehow, she forgot she was an idiot to hope for anything
better and that it wouldn’t always be like this.

He left her alone for a while. Long enough
for her to figure out that she wanted to keep hoping. For her mom
and for herself. She wanted to
live
, and there was only one
way that was going to happen.

“Rhyse!” She found him in the library again,
facing the window, his back to her. “You were right—I need…you.” It
was beyond horrible to know how much, almost as bad as knowing how
much she
wanted
him. They both knew she was lying every time
she claimed not to be interested, but he was waiting for her to
admit it. Being patient with her, allowing her to be the one to
decide.

Vampires—let alone their king—didn’t respect
seers. But she was dat vitae—something new to him, a novelty.

“Why are you helping me?” she asked.

It took him a minute to answer and when he
did, he seemed far more irritated than he’d been before that minute
had passed. “Because
you
will help me.”

What could she possibly do that he couldn’t?
“I don’t think that’s the whole reason.”

“I want my position back and my enemies dead.
Is that a satisfactory enough reason for you?”

“I’m a pain in the ass.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Then why do you put up with me? Why not
stick me in the dungeon and find someone you can do your
mind-control shit on?”

“In part, I do not know.” Only his lips
moved. “In another, I cannot express it.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

His eyes met hers, holding her—but not with
anger, with care. Like you would cradle a wounded animal. “May the
powers help me, there are brief moments when I enjoy having you
near me.”

“Oh.”

“My admission does not mean I will not kill
you if necessary.” He walked back to the window, his voice as cold
as the frost beyond it. “And of course, you have not yet spread
your legs for me, and that is something I look forward to.”

“You’re going to be looking for a while,
then.”

“I will wait. If it takes forty years, I will
wait.”

She laughed. “In forty years, I’ll be a
senior citizen.”

“And you will still be the most beautiful
creature I’ve ever gazed upon.”

After coughing to cover her shock, she rolled
her eyes, thankful he wasn’t facing her. Because there was no way
he meant that, and he would’ve enjoyed the depth of her blush. “Ha
ha. Vamps only want young and tight. Not wrinkles or imperfection.
You may think I’m good enough to fuck now, but give me a few years
and I guarantee you’ll lose interest.”

“I have been surrounded by perfection for
hundreds of years. Yet I have known you for a matter of weeks—less
than a blink of time for me—and I have never wanted anyone more.
You are beautiful and…tight, as you say, but so are millions of
other women. Women who would not deny me. Women who would not
frustrate me. Yet here I stand. Waiting to hear you say yes. Do you
think I would do that for a simple fuck?” He shook his head. “If I
wanted only to fulfill a need, I would choose someone who is far
less trouble. What I want is more than to own your body for a few
nights.”

“So you want to…own my body for, what, a long
weekend?”

One of the most annoying things about him was
his ability to be still, to say nothing, and let her mind go to all
the most horrible places it could.

“No, Addison.” When he finally turned, he
didn’t look at her—he looked
inside
her, making her feel
more exposed than she’d ever been. “What I want is to own every
part of you. Every part.”

The way his mouth remained just a tiny bit
open was dangerously appealing, bordered by lips that she was dying
to feel. Would they be cold because he was dead? Hard like the rest
of his body…and his mind? Or would they have just the right amount
of give, as soft as they looked from a few feet away, until she
didn’t want soft anymore, and he kissed her like she imagined he
made love. Hot intensity—

Oh, shit.
She blinked and shook her
way back to reality. What the hell was she doing? She wasn’t that
stupid. It was probably the altitude messing with her brain. The
altitude, and him.

“I need to go home,” she said. “To be around
normal people, do something other than this for a while. Please,
Rhyse. Or I’m gonna lose it.”

After a pause, he said, “The city is too
dangerous for you still. I can take you somewhere else, near
humans, where there is less of a chance we will run into
supernaturals. But only if I deem your shield strong enough.”

She spread her feet apart and bent her knees.
“Bring it, Vamp.”

He stared at her long enough to make her
uncomfortable. Then really uncomfortable. Then really, really
uncomfortable.

“Are you reading my mind or imagining me
naked?” she asked impatiently.

“Have I never told you how good I am at
multi-tasking?”

She gasped and turned bright red without
losing eye contact. It was tough. “Multi-tasking is impossible.
Scientists have proven it.”

“The same scientists who believe telepathy
and the supernatural do not exist?”

“Are you saying you don’t believe in
science?”

“Of course not. I am simply proving that
scientists are sometimes wrong and that I can do an assortment of
other things while imagining you naked.”

“Can we just get back to the test?” It was no
use. Her thoughts bounced from one thing to another. If he could
catch one of them, he’d be
way
ahead of her. She focused on
his face—the sharp angles offset by the soft curve of his lips, the
way he was still looking at her as if he couldn’t wait to take a
big bite out of her neck for another taste of her blood.

What the hell?
“Well…?”

He nodded solemnly. “You cannot stop thinking
how attracted you are to me. Wondering if being with me would
compare to all the fantasies you have had of us being together, my
body on yours, your hips curling to force me deeper into you.”

“Whoa, were you off!” Although now she
couldn’t think of anything
but
that. “First, I thought about
how your clothes are always perfect even though I’ve never seen a
dry cleaning bag around here. And then I wondered if you use a
really expensive shampoo or if it’s just part of being undead that
keeps your hair so healthy.”

He sighed. “Mine was far more
interesting.”

“Did I pass your test?”

“You have earned a short break. A very short
break.” He spoke as he walked to the door. “When clothes are left
in plastic, they become musty. All senses—including smell—are
heightened in my kind; therefore, I choose my toiletries not by
price but by scent.”

He turned around slowly. “And I look at you
as I do not because I want to taste your blood, but because I find
you incredibly beautiful and fascinating.” He cocked his head to
the side. “Although, I suppose if you removed the blood from your
assertion, it would be accurate. I would very much like to taste
you.”

Her mouth dropped open. But not to speak,
because she couldn’t think of a single fucking thing to say.

“You need more practice, Addison, and more
discipline.”

What she needed was a way to burn off all
this sexual frustration. Or she was going to combust.

After a few more exhausting hours of
bickering and training, Addison gave up. She couldn’t concentrate
at all anymore. Of course, he chastised her for that because danger
didn’t wait patiently until she was ready to focus and blah, blah,
blah.

She wasn’t stupid and she wasn’t a baby, even
though she slammed the bathroom door behind her like a petulant
child. But she
was
tired, homesick, and possibly
experiencing a slow, drawn-out mental breakdown.

He didn’t understand because he wasn’t even
close to human, but if he kept drilling and pushing her, she would
lose it permanently. Maybe that’s what he was going for—to drive
her completely insane so supers wouldn’t
dare
look inside
her screwed-up head.

After an hour of peaceful alone time, he
phased just in front of her.

“Stop doing that!” she snapped, her hand over
the heart that had almost burst. “I’m not immortal.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“A few hours ago. Why?”

“I do not want you to vomit.” He grabbed her
waist, spun her around, and pulled her against him.

She’d have to ask him about these travel
arrangements because feeling as much as she could feel when their
bodies were smashed together wasn’t conducive to clean thoughts.
Although it did give her extra incentive to block him out of her
mind. In the time it took her to blink, they were somewhere else.
Somewhere warm and humid.

“Where are we?” In an enormous house with
huge windows and brightly colored walls, furniture, and accents—way
too cheery to belong to a vamp.

“My home in St. Lucia.” Of course he had a
home in St. Lucia. Why wouldn’t he? If Addison had an exorbitant
amount of money made over a couple centuries, she’d probably have a
home in St. Lucia, too. She went to the window and looked down onto
a long slope. The moon was high, making the water shimmer and
providing enough light to see a hotel in the middle of a fishing
village at the base of the mountain.

“Impressive. Do you bring all the people you
kidnap here?”

“I am not your jailer, Addison. If you would
truly prefer I bring you to the city, I will.” He walked away from
her, going outside. “You can pretend you are a seer and enjoy your
freedom right up until you are killed. I hope six or seven minutes
of freedom is enough for you.”

Stepping carefully to avoid muddy areas, she
followed him into a forest of tropical fruit trees. It smelled
incredible. The sweetness of exotic fruit mixed with the fresh,
earthy scent of a very recent rain.

“Seers aren’t free—they’re owned by the
collective whether you admit it or not. We’re drafted, told what
job we’re best suited for, and we do what we’re supposed to.”

“I think I preferred your company while you
were asleep.”

“Yeah well, if I could, I’d tie you to my bed
again.”
Damn it.
Insults don’t work when they sound that
kinky. “You’re the Prime. Why don’t you change things?”

He picked a mango off one of the trees and
handed it to her. “The politics of our world are not simple.
Different factions, different needs, different methods of attaining
those needs. The system we have today is the best answer to all of
that. Yes, there are drawbacks and not everyone gets what they
want. However it is much better than it used to be.”

“Are you serious?” she asked, wiping the
mango juice from her chin. “Not everyone gets what they want? I
think everyone is pretty happy with what they get. Everyone except
the seers.”

“We all have our jobs to do, our roles to
play.”

“Around a hundred and fifty years ago—you may
remember ’cause you were probably there—slavery was abolished in
the states. Which side were you on?”

When he stopped and turned, he looked
offended. “The inequality and injustices of the human world have
absolutely nothing to do with me.”

“Then what about the inequality in the
Heights? What about the seers?”

“The seers are not slaves. They hold key
positions that allow our world to exist without inflicting
incredible damage on the human world. Would a human trash collector
consider him or herself a slave? Of course not. Seers are paid,
choose their own place of living, their own mate and, with the
proper visas, can travel anywhere in the world.” He started walking
again.