Wraithsong (21 page)

“
Yes, and it was a fiasco,”
I say, remembering every detail. I haven’t even seen Savannah since
I told her to stay away.

“
So you know how powerful
your flair can be,” he says.

“
I guess, but I wouldn’t
mind experimenting some more with you.” I don’t know where that
sentence came from. ‘Experimenting some more?’ I don’t even know
what I meant by saying that, but the thought excites me.

Anthony sighs. “Don’t go
there. You’ll regret it later when you remember that you don’t
trust me and that you’re mad at me.”

“
I’m not mad at you,” I
say, innocently, and I’m not. He mesmerizes me.

“
Well, not right now you
aren’t.”

“
This is strange,” I
say.

“
What?”

“
I thought that we were
immune to each other?”

“
Yeah, I thought so, too,”
Anthony says, gazing into my eyes.

“
I’ve always found you very
attractive, Anthony, even before I knew who you really were or
before I touched you. You’re the first guy I’ve ever been attracted
to,” I admit.

He breathes slowly. “Thank
you for the honesty, but you might not want to say more. Sometimes
in the beginning it’s hard to think straight, and your Huldra side
will be all that drives you.”

I don’t understand why he’s
being so difficult. I run my fingers through his sweaty hair. It’s
so sexy.

“
We should go,” he says,
trying to pull me with him off the dance floor.

I resist. Looking at him, I
press my body close to his. It’s as if I have no control over my
own actions. These feelings are so foreign, and normally I would be
extremely embarrassed about the way I’m acting, but not
tonight.

“
Sonia, I know what you’re
going through right now, and it’s best if I take you home,” Anthony
whispers in my ear. “In fact, I shouldn’t have brought you
here.”

I like how his newly shaved
skin feels on my cheek. I want to kiss him. I laugh a little at the
forbidden idea. “Did you know that I find you extremely
attractive?” I kiss him gently on the cheek, trying to whet his
appetite for more.

He stiffens up. “That’s
what I’m talking about; your Huldra side is taking over, so we
should go.”

“
Are you taking me back to
your place?” I giggle. Giggle? I’ve never been this giddy in my
entire life, but it feels wonderful, like I’m being drugged by my
desire for him. He awakens the dormant Huldra in me, and I want to
have him, to control him and for him to be mine—forever.

“
Yes, we’re going home, but
I’ll be lecturing you, not bedding you,” he says angrily and leaves
me standing alone on the dance floor. I laugh as this has all
become a game for me. Then I see Tyson across the room, standing
with a group of his football friends. I’m surprised I hadn’t
noticed before how attractive he is. He’s wearing a white dress
shirt and the top two buttons are undone. His hair is messy—I would
love to run my fingers through it. His lips look blood red and I
bite my lip as I saunter over to him. All I can think about is
enveloping my lips around his, taking his hands and putting them on
me. I take his hand and he smiles as I walk backward, pulling him
onto the dance floor.

“
Sonia,” he says, his eyes
intense and willing.

I let him pull me closer
and we start swaying to the music. “Kiss me,” I say.

Tyson leans forward and I
close my eyes. I feel Tyson’s breath on my face, but before our
lips touch, his arms release my body. Opening my eyes, I see
Anthony punching him in the face. Tyson falls to the floor, but
Anthony is quick to pull me with him.

“
Anthony!” I say, feeling
bad for Tyson as I look back at him. “Sorry!” I say to Tyson who’s
still recovering from the blow. Maybe Anthony is jealous and that
makes me smile. I wasn’t trying to make Anthony jealous; I just
wanted someone to kiss me—that’s all, but I don’t have the time to
explain that to Tyson.

“
We’re leaving now!”
Anthony yells. “Get your stuff.” Back at our table, I pick up my
purse. I begin writing a quick note to Ashley on a napkin, saying
that we needed to leave.

“
You can text her when
we’re in the car,” Anthony says.

“
All right, all right, Mr.
Grumpy,” I say. He’s so hot when he’s angry.

Anthony hauls me with him
outside and pays the valet before we jump into the car.

“
What was that all
about?”

“
I just wanted someone to
kiss me and you didn’t want to kiss me, so I thought I’d find
someone else.”

He scowls. “Forty minutes
as a human, Sonia, that’s all you have. Let me tell you what’s
going to happen.”

“
Why do you have to be so
serious? I just want to have some fun,” I say.

He shifts gears and speeds
down the dark road. “Yeah, but I’m not going to let that happen.
You’ll despise me later if something happens between us because
you’ll understand that this isn’t what you really want, and that
you’re not thinking straight.”

“
I
am
thinking very straight, thank you very much.” I see his
resistance as a challenge to overcome and know he’ll give in to me
eventually.

“
At midnight, you’re going
to lose your human eyes.”

“
Are you telling me I’m
going to go blind?” I tease.

“
Stop making this into a
joke. You’re going to see every human as they are, their soul and
all. You’ll be able to see their aura, and what virtues and values
they possess—everything. From the moment they were born to what
brought them to where they are in life. If a person is patient,
you’ll be able to see that. If a person is afraid, you can see that
too.”

“
So you’re saying I’ll be
able to tell just by looking at them what type of person they are
and if they possess certain character traits?” I say.

“
Exactly!”

“
And I can read their
past?”

“
Yes.”

“
So…can you see my
character traits, Anthony?” I ask, my hand making its way over to
his thigh. He grabs my hand and abruptly moves it back to my lap
again. I huff. He is making this very difficult.

“
Your human ones, yes, but
once you’re an adult, and lose your humanity, I won’t be able to
see them anymore.”

I almost feel sad, but
losing my humanness seems like such a trivial thing in this moment
when Anthony is so close to me. “So will it be like losing a part
of me?”

“
Yes, but what you gain in
return is so much more awesome,” Anthony says.

“
Tell me about my human
side.” I lean toward him and run my fingers through his hair,
tugging on it gently. He doesn’t stop me, but I see that his
knuckles turn white around the steering wheel.

Taking a deep breath, he
says, “You’re loving, kind, considerate, and slightly moody
all
the time. You’re
also very conscientious.”

I nod in agreement. “Did
you pick up on my discipline too?”

“
Yes, very.” Anthony laughs
for a moment, but then he grows serious. “Your aura is one of the
most beautiful ones I’ve seen.”

I smile and let my fingers
glide underneath his shirt at the base of his neck. My heart
quickens. “Tell me more.”

He glances at me briefly.
“The first time I saw you, and saw your aura, I knew that I was
standing in the presence of someone special.”

“
But you were so…rude to
me,” I say, remembering our first meeting in the greenhouse where
he called me an albino.

“
I didn’t know how to act.
I was angry with Maureen for wanting me to spy on you and
eventually harm you, so I wanted to keep my distance.”

That’s plausible. “What
happens after I lose my humanity?”

He stops at a red light.
“You can pick and choose which character traits, talents and
virtues you want to appropriate from humans, so it’s extremely
important that you select carefully. You don’t want to pick up
traits that you’re not sure you want because you’ll never be able
to get rid of them.”

“
So it’s as if I’m building
myself up again from scratch?”

Anthony’s eyes squint. “Not
really from scratch. You’ll still be you and have all the
personality traits and virtues you’ve acquired throughout your
life, but you’ll be able to add to your virtues at will, and in a
manner of seconds.”

“
It’s like a second chance
at life!” I’m excited about my forthcoming experience. “So can I
steal stuff from you?”

“
No. Huldras can’t take
from other Huldras or Huldus, unless they kill them. The only thing
you can give away is…”

“
My fifth Huldra gift.” I
finish his sentence.

“
Exactly.”

“
So what
have
you
appropriated from humans?”

“
Today, I appropriated
self-restraint,” he says and smiles smugly.

I give him an evil look.
“From who?”

“
A priest—you wouldn’t know
him. The sensual urges are the strongest urges a Huldra has right
after she enters adulthood. That’s why they’ve all gotten such a
bad reputation, but think about it, did your mother have any of
those tendencies?”

“
No, so she must have
appropriated virtues from other humans,” I say.

“
Yes.”

“
So when we appropriate
these virtues, do the humans we take them from lose those
strengths?”

“
Yes, so it’s important to
know how to appropriate the right amount. I only appropriated about
ten percent of this priest’s strength because that was all I
needed. The trick is to not get greedy and take more than you need,
for if you do, both the human and you will suffer,” Anthony
says.

Now I’m curious. “How do
you do it exactly?”

He turns into his
subdivision and drives through the gate. “You’ll know. I actually
have an apprentice priest meeting us at the house. I told him you
were interested in learning about his life. He’s a twenty-one year
old virgin, so I think he’s perfect for the first test.”

I slouch back in my chair
and grumble. “This should be interesting.” I point to the clock on
the dashboard. “Twenty-seven minutes to go.”

* * *

Back at Anthony’s house
and with twenty-four minutes before midnight, Anthony and I change
into more comfortable clothes. I slip into the new jeans he picked
up at the mall, and a scoop-neck dark gray floral-patterned
t-shirt. Anthony looks handsome in his dark jeans and thin white
linen short-sleeved shirt. My urges have mellowed a little, and I’m
able to somewhat decipher between my Huldra urges and human urges.
Having some physical distance between us lessens my desires, I
figure. I tell myself I can resist him if I want to, but that’s a
big
if
.

“
The apprentice priest will
be here in a few minutes,” Anthony says. “His name is Karl, and I
know him from soccer. He helps coach some of the kids.”

“
How did you get him to
come at such a late hour? Wait, did you use your flair on
him?”

“
A Huldus
flair is called
might
, and yes, but it was an
accident a few weeks back. I try not to take advantage.”

“
Except for now,” I
challenge.

Anthony rolls his eyes, but
doesn’t answer me.

We sit down in the living
room and Anthony turns on the TV. “What do you want to
watch?”

“
I’m not a big TV fan.” I
sit down next to him. “Anything, really.”

Anthony flips the channel
to a soccer match and we watch for a few minutes. Being so close to
him again, smelling his cologne, feeling his warmth, I can’t resist
reaching out and taking his hand. The skin-to-skin touch causes my
urges to come back in full force and before I know it, I
have
to have him. I lift
my leg up and straddle him where he sits.

He grabs my upper arms as
if to restrain me. “Sonia—no.”

But I’m not having it. I
look him in the eyes and lean down so close that the tip of my nose
touches his, and then I lick my lips.

Anthony hesitates for a
moment, but then he gets this wild look in his eyes and I know he
wants me too. Placing his hands on my shoulders, he lifts his chin
up and presses his lips against mine. Softly at first—almost too
soft. Then he moves his lips across mine and the kiss comes to
life. He grabs my hips, and then slides his hands up to my waist,
then to my back and then to my face.

“
Anthony, I want you so
bad,” I say. “I know I shouldn’t, but I just can’t stop.” All my
hesitation, my anger and my distrust—gone.

“
I want you too, Sonia, but
not like this. I won’t let it go any further than this,” he says
between kisses.

“
Good, because I won’t…be
able to…stop.”