An Eternity of Eclipse (50 page)

At the reminder of one of the intimate “extracurricular activities” he wanted to do with me, Eclipse finally freed himself from the cage he was in.

“You know, I’ve tried to be a good boy today by giving you time to mull over your new quandary, but now that you brought it up, it seems only right that I be myself again.” He favorably eyed my high heels before returning his focus back to my face. His gaze was so sexually charged that it was hot enough to melt steel. “Have I told you that you look absolutely breathtaking today, Gracie?”

My cheeks flamed in reaction to his enticing words.

With his voice as rich as whiskey, he imparted me with mental images that were way too hot to envision on a Sunday morning. “I especially love that you’re wearing the shoes I gave you. It gives me a sense of pride to see that you’re enjoying one of the many gifts I will give you in life. It is such a big turn on that it makes me want to rip everything off of you
but
those heels. I want to toss you onto the nearest bed, throw your legs over my shoulders, and—”

“Holy eff,
okay
!” I shrieked out, desperate for him to stop tempting me. I could feel the beginnings of a nosebleed appear at all the suggestive images he embedded in my mind. Just the way he was looking at me was causing white-hot heat to surge throughout my body. In a panic, I immediately tried to keep my mind free of a naked Eclipse appreciating me and my heels in bed. “Okay. Okay. I-I don’t need to hear anymore. I’m . . .”

I struggled to find words in my disoriented state. All I managed to do was draw a blank.

The Demon chuckled at the scarlet flush that overtook my entire face. For a skilled predator like Eclipse, nothing was more rewarding than seeing his prey—the object of his affection—so flustered because of him.

“You what?” he prompted sensually, his rich brown eyes never relieving themselves from mine.

My eyes widened fretfully. In an effort to salvage whatever dignity I had left, I changed the subject. “I . . . you can’t keep distracting me.” I redirected my focus back to my book, my heart beating feverishly. “Just please leave me alone. I have work to do.”

“Hey,” Eclipse proposed delicately, pretending to not hear my last plea, “what do you say if we ditch the baby midgets today and spend some time alone?”

“Ditch the kids?” I repeated, turning to him once the shelter finally came into view.

He nodded, favoring me with a hopeful smile. “I have a lot of things I want to do for you and spoil you with. I could give you an unforgettable night, Gracie. If only you’d let me.”

I didn’t miss what he was insinuating. His words may have been innocent, but that carnal look in his eyes was anything but innocent. He wanted to put the moves on me and this in itself scared the living daylights out of me.

“If you haven’t noticed, I still get nosebleeds,” I reminded him in outrage, gaping at him like he had suggested we run around buck-naked. I hadn’t forgotten about my nosebleeds—I didn’t need a sequel to what occurred the first time he tried to kiss me.

“I’m not going to try and have sex with you, Gracie.” His appreciative eyes ran over my body. “But I’m sure there are other fun bonding things we can do that won’t result in your untimely death.”

“What happened to telling me not to tease you because you might lose control and kill me?”

“That was before I found out that a piece of your soul has been stolen,” he replied with slight bitterness. “I could control my desires then because I thought, ‘Hey, I’d get to sleep with her in no time when I turn her into a Demon.’ At that point, the wait, no matter how unbearable, was manageable because there was light at the end of the tunnel. Now that we’ve found out that a piece of your soul has been stolen, everything has been put on an indefinite timeline. As I’m sure you know, I’m not exactly the most patient guy in the world. Since everything in my life is screwing up, I might as well make myself feel better by fooling around with the woman I want, right?”

“Oh,” I began with a sarcastic expression, “so we’ll fool around until my nose starts bleeding, stop, and then try something new the next day until it starts bleeding again?”

A sly smile lined his mouth, bringing my attention to his supple lips. “Am I not worth a few nosebleeds?”

I shook my head, inwardly terrified because I was tempted to agree to anything he wanted.

“No,” I uttered, backing into the car door beside me. I knew what was good for me, and fooling around with Eclipse, basically fooling around with death, was not good for me in the least bit. “No way.”

“I could make it worth your while, Teacup.” As added persuasion, he bequeathed me with a sensual look that was so downright sexy that I could feel the beginnings of a nosebleed take form.

Momentary lapse in judgment found its way into me.
Maybe it wouldn’t hurt if I let him—

“They’re here! They’re here!”

The sexy, wicked smile that adorned Eclipse’s handsome face evaporated as soon as the high-pitched voices of the children came storming into our ears. The kids, whose small little figures finally appeared on the approaching sidewalk, sabotaged any seduction techniques Eclipse could’ve used on me. They were all giggling and waving happily at us as we drove towards them.

I thanked the fates for the kids and their overwhelmingly high-pitched voices. Hearing their earsplitting screams had saved me. Who knows what I would’ve done if they hadn’t interrupted “the mood” in time. I was grateful for them, but Eclipse, who was already scowling in distaste, did not appear as tolerant with the little ones’ presence.

“Hi! Hi! Hi!” they shouted excitedly, bouncing along the slow moving van once we finally came close to them. They were all wearing beanie hats, along with big puffer jackets that made them look like mini blowfishes. All wore different, brightly colored jackets that were rain proof in preparation for the gloomy weather. Looking absolutely precious, they continued to waddle alongside the van, blissfully unaware of Eclipse’s resentment.

“Bloody hell, their chipmunk voices are like nails on a chalkboard,” he complained under his breath, clearly not a fan of having anyone disturb him while he was putting the moves on a girl.

I agreed with his assessment of the kids and their annoying voices. Regardless, at that second, I couldn’t care less. I was more thankful that my nosebleed was stabilized with our new company. Relieved, I stared outside, cheerfully waving at the kids while expecting the car to come to a stop. To my horror, as we continued to drive past the curb and further and further away from Sanctuary, I realized in sheer panic that Eclipse wasn’t stopping to pick up the kids!

“What the flying pig are you doing?!” I cried at the top of my lungs, flabbergasted when he increased the speed of the van. Even OinkOink, who had been quietly napping in the back of the car this entire time, was whimpering in confusion after being woken up by my screams.

“Oh no! Where are they going?!” I could hear the kids’ bewildered voices. Their little faces were red as tomatoes while their tiny feet continued to bounce after the dust of the van.

“Eclipse, you shady ass Demon!” I exploded, my heart beating a mile a minute. I finally lost my cool. “Stop the car right now or I’m going to punch your face in!”

It was only at the threat of bodily harm that Eclipse bitterly conceded with his master plan to ditch the little ones. He begrudgingly brought the van to a complete stop. Once the engine became idle, he faced me. The sound of the children’s feet could be heard in the background as they ran closer and closer to the van.

After taking several seconds to assess my astounded face, Eclipse uncomfortably cleared his throat and explained, “I didn’t see them, Teacup.”

I scowled, seeing straight through his bullshit. “You didn’t see the baby midgets running after the car?”

He looked ready to embellish his lies. Unfortunately for Eclipse, when he saw the “don’t-you-dare-lie-to-me” glower on my face, he yielded with the lie and shook his head in exasperation. He stared indignantly at the rearview mirror. The excited voices of the children crashed like waves beside the van, indicating that they had caught up with us.

“As adorable as they are, those kids have the most annoying high-pitched voices that I’ve ever been damned to hear.” He paused, his eyes lighting up when an idea came to him. He gazed at me with enthusiastic eyes. “You wouldn’t mind if I gave all of them laryngitis for the day, would you? You know, just to keep them quiet?”

My jaw slackened. I gawked at him with incredulity. “You’re going to use your demonic powers on the children that I’m babysitting today?”

Once he deduced that there was no way I was on board with this suggestion, Eclipse cursed to himself. “I have an entire Kingdom that kneels before me in fear, yet I’ve been demoted to having to babysit kids who could rival hyenas with their screams. Fuck. Fuck my life.”

He sulkily unfastened his seatbelt and opened the door.

However embittered he was to hang out with these kids and their irritating voices, Eclipse was smart enough to mask this distaste towards his adoring fans.

“Hey squirts!” he greeted in his fake chirpy voice once he got out of the van.

He approached them in dark jeans that showed off the length of his legs, a white t-shirt that wrapped perfectly around his sculpted body, and white tennis shoes that made him appear more human than he actually was. With a charismatic smile that seemed to brighten up the gloomy skies above, he crouched down and extended his powerful arms out to them.

“Hiii Ashtray!” the kids cried with the utmost happiness, all stampeding towards him with adoration in their eyes. One by one, they all gave him a big hug as their greeting.

“Eclipse! I-I thought you were going to leave us!” Woo panted, his chubby face red from chasing after the van.

“Me too!” the rest of the children agreed. It was amusing to watch them stare confusingly at Eclipse, whose charismatic smile never faltered.

“The brakes didn’t work,” he easily lied before jokingly pinching their button noses. “Of course I wouldn’t leave you guys. Who could leave rugrats as cute as all of you?”

Just like smitten puppies, the kids giggled and nodded, believing Eclipse’s every word.

As a witness to all of this, I couldn’t help but laugh. Eclipse may have been annoyed by their voices, but one couldn’t ignore the genuine endearment in his eyes as he stared down at them. I rolled my eyes, recalling all the mean stuff he was saying about them. It was amazing to watch him suck up to them now that he was in their presence.

God, he’s so fake
, I thought with mild amusement. With that thought in mind, I put on my own fake cheery voice, stepped onto the stage, and acted right along with him.

“Hi kiddos!” I shouted, hopping out of the van. 

“Hi Teacup!” they greeted at once, running over to me with the same jubilation. They smothered me with big hugs. 

“Are you guys excited for the corn maze?!” I prompted, standing close to Eclipse once I was done hugging them.

Six little bobble heads bounced in confirmation.

“Okay,” I uttered, sliding the van’s door and helping them all in. “Let’s go then.”

One by one, Eclipse and I helped the kids in until we reached the last one and noticed how sad he looked. Unlike the rest of his friends, Sony did not seem as full of life.

“Hey Sony,” I called gingerly, assessing his unusually quiet state. “Are you okay?”

A forced smile appeared on his somber face. “I’m okay, Grace. I’m just tired.”

As soon as I heard his small voice, images of what his father did to me came deluging back into my mind.
It was still so hard to stomach that someone as wonderful as Sony had such a bastard for a father.
After these thoughts bombarded me, it didn’t take me long to surmise that his father may be the reason for his somber state.

Sony had always been a ball of sunshine, but the one dark cloud in his life would always be his good-for-nothing father. Although Sony wasn’t privy to the fact that I saved his mother and that his father tried to kill me, I had a good hunch that he must’ve at least known that his father found his mother—which was why he was so upset. For children like Sony, who had been relentlessly abused for such a large portion of their lives, hearing that their abusers were back in close range was one of the most horrifying things they could ever learn.

My jaw clenched in protectiveness. I wanted to tell Sony not to worry, that his father would never hurt his mother or him again because I had taken care of everything. Before we left last night, I had Eclipse move his father’s unconscious body to another city in Korea. We made sure that he had no I.D. on him when we did this. I wanted him to be alive—to perhaps stay in a vegetative state for the remainder of his life—and I wanted his presence to be far away from Sony and Mrs. Lee. That miserable excuse for a human being did not deserve to breathe the same air as Sony and his mother, much less reside in the same city.

I felt the inexplicable urge to assure Sony that his father would never hurt anyone again, but I didn’t know how to express it all.

My internal struggle proved to be irrelevant when Eclipse smiled at him and casually said, “Hey squirt, do you want to sit up front with me? Teacup needs to study, which means that she’s a bore right now. I need someone to keep me company up front.”