Aven's Dream (23 page)

“When you were gone, you said that someone else had been watching me,” I said tentatively. “Someone who
owes you
. … Do you have a Renfield, Will Kincaid?”

Will frowned, maybe because of my reference to
Dracula
.

“I have peers and compatriots, but these two I would classify as friends, family even.”

I sat up.

“They’re like you?”

He nodded.

“And they know about me?” I asked with a spike of dread.

“Yes. One of them was watching over you in my absence.”

Will reached out and stroked my cheek softly as I stifled a yawn.

“Sleep,” he whispered.

Stretching, I felt Will’s arms tighten around me. A second later, a yipping sound made me jump. I turned to find Darcy sitting at the side of the bed, just like at home.

“I could get used to this,” Will whispered in my ear.

“You stayed all night?”

I studied him. He was already dressed.

“I left once. You didn’t stir.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised.

I usually never slept well in an unfamiliar place.

“You sleep very deeply,” he smiled.

“What time is it?”

“A little before six,” Will answered. “Would you like to stop at the bakery in town on the way to school?”

There wasn’t much reason to keep food in
this
house, I realized.

“Do we have time?” I asked.

“Always so concerned with time,” Will said, bringing his fingers up to brush my cheek. “I’ll have you to school on time. Why don’t you get ready, and I’ll make sure Darcy is settled.”

I nodded and pushed myself up. Before I could launch myself off of Will’s bed, he drew me to him.

“Thank you for last night,” he whispered against my ear, his voice suddenly full of emotion.

I had no idea what to say, silently wondering how many girls or women Will had been with in more than two centuries. Logically, it made sense that there had been others. More than two hundred years was a long time to be alone. It was more than twenty decades than I had even been alive, I thought with a shiver. I could have been one of many whose lifetimes passed in the blink of an eye for Will. The thought made me ache with a strange sense of loss, but I told myself it didn’t matter as I reached out to touch his hand. I couldn’t ask for anything more than the present.

Will was all I wanted.

As soon as I reached the bathroom, I felt a rush of gratitude that I hadn’t worn my clothes from the day before for very long—since I would be wearing them to school. Looking around, I laughed. What would the real world look like after the past twenty-four hours? I was in the middle of combing out my hair when I remembered that Sean was going to show up at my house to pick me up. Bursting back into the bedroom, I grabbed my phone from my bag. The last thing I needed was for him to show up and find me missing. Then his mom would call my dad—and it would be bad. Will appeared, watching me curiously as I texted Sean.

“Sean was going to pick me up,” I explained.

Will nodded, his expression unworried.

“Are you ready, then?” he asked.

“That depends,” I said teasingly.

“On what, may I ask?”

“Our mode of transportation.”

“If you prefer, we can take the car. But it’s not raining, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

I squirmed.

“The motorcycle is a little conspicuous.”

That, and I was still terrified of it.

“The Aston isn’t?” Will teased.

“Actually, I think
you’re
more conspicuous than your car.” I looked down. “It
is
going to be strange showing up at school with you, though.”

“Why?” Will demanded, an edge of defensiveness leaking into his tone.

“Look at you. Allison Monroe would sell her soul for five minutes with you, and you show up at school with me? It doesn’t make any sense. I was invisible here until I met you.”

Will gave me an exasperated look.

“You are far from invisible, although perhaps a bit nearsighted if you haven’t noticed the looks from the boys around you.”

“Right,” I laughed.

“You’re not very perceptive for an empath. The world’s energy crisis would easily be solved if humankind discovered a way to harness the energy of adolescent boys’ lust.”

“The world running on the power of horny teenage guys?” I laughed. “I guess you could put them all on hamster wheels.”

Will’s expression lightened, and before I could register his movement, he was inches from me. His hand shot out, and he touched my cheek lightly.

“Why did it take me so long to find you?” he whispered.

I smiled.

“Maybe because I hadn’t been born yet.”

“You’re quite impertinent this morning.”

“I prefer saucy.”

His hand moved from my cheek to the back of my neck before very softly tracing the length of my spine. I sighed and closed my eyes. When his lips touched mine, they were gentle. Then Will reached out with his other arm and drew me closer. Before the kiss could turn into something that would ruin my ability to concentrate for the rest of the day, I pulled back. Inhaling, I tried not to lose my balance.

“You are
not
allowed to do that before school. You’re probably melting my brain.”

Will grinned charmingly.

“You are very difficult to resist.”

“
You
should talk! My brain goes haywire every time you look at me, not to mention kiss me.”

“Am I truly not allowed to kiss you before school, then?”

“Not unless you want me failing math,” I muttered. “I’m not that far off as it is.”

He sighed.

“Breakfast then, and only one of us will arrive at school satiated.”

I glared at Will before following him downstairs with Darcy trailing behind us. As we approached the doors, I saw that there were dishes with dog food and water.

“He’ll stay here. We’ll come back for him this afternoon,” Will said.

I gave him a wary look.

“I’ll have you both back home before your father returns,” he assured me.

The glass entrance of the house slid open, and he led me around the house to a large building that had remained hidden from view the day before. As the steel doors opened, a light clicked on, and I saw a dozen or so shiny and very expensive-looking vehicles. I stared in disbelief. It could have been the showroom of an exotic car dealership. Some of the cars were classics in pristine condition; others were brand new. Some had foreign plates.

“Oh my god, you
are
taking your inconspicuous vehicle to school, aren’t you?” I laughed.

Will smiled as he walked to the Aston Martin, tossing our bags in the backseat before holding open the door for me. We drove for a while in silence as I tried to prepare myself for showing up at school with Will. By the time I glanced at the speedometer, I had to wonder why he never worried about the possibility of being pulled over by the police.

“Have you ever gotten a ticket driving like this?” I asked.

Will turned to look at me, his expression alone illustrating what a silly question I had asked.

“Do you think I can’t talk my way out of a ticket?”

Will looked away from the road to stare into my eyes for what seemed like a reckless length of time. My thoughts spun away from me, leaving me speechless, and he laughed quietly before turning his eyes back to the road.

“Point taken,” I growled.

As I watched him, his appearance rippled slightly, giving me a glimpse of how he had appeared the day before—indescribably beautiful, but unmistakably alien. His demonstration of his power made me wonder why he tried so hard to fight what he
was
. Not that I wasn’t grateful for his restraint, but I was curious. Will’s
nature
, as he had put it, made me wonder about the man from Mr. Blake’s classroom.

“Will?”

He turned again to face me.

“I know about you now, which is a huge relief.” I looked at my lap. “I even know what to call myself finally. But you still haven’t told me anything about the man from Mr. Blake’s classroom. Like why he’s after you, what he wants with me. Am I just a pawn to him? A way of getting to you?”

Will’s expression had hardened into stone, and he looked back out the windshield. I felt our speed increase and glanced at the speedometer. Our speed had gone from terrifying to freakishly insane, and the roads were still slick from the storm with debris everywhere. I reached out and touched Will’s shoulder.

“Hey, I need to get to school in one piece! I’ve got college applications to work on, and I can’t do that if you go flying into one of these trees.”

Feeling him ease off on the accelerator, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Vehicular accidents in my presence should be the least of your concerns,” Will said. “My perception and reflexes are much keener than those of a human.”

“Okay, fair enough. Then tell me something about my biggest concern.”

I watched his hands flex on the steering wheel.

“His name is Vladimir Fidatov. A creature of vast darkness and cruelty.”

“And you said he wants to …
destroy
you?” I asked, trying to keep the tremor from my voice.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I dropped him to the bottom of the ocean nearly a century ago.”

“You did?”

“Yes.”

“And he’s still …
alive
?”

I frowned, not sure if
alive
was the best way to describe what Will was.

“Containment, imprisonment—these are as close as our kind comes to death. We exist more so than we
live
.”

I stared at him, not sure what to make of this.

“Then you can’t … die?”

“Not from your perspective, but imprisonment can be a similar fate—nothingness for an eternity.”

“Wow. Then when you say this guy—Vladimir—wants to destroy you, what did you mean?”

“He wants to take away the one thing I thought it was impossible for me to find in this existence.”

I stopped breathing when he looked over at me.

“
You
, Aven.”

I turned back toward the window as I tried to absorb this new information. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed, but when the car stopped, we were in town, parked in front of the bakery. Will got out and disappeared before I could say a word, and less than two minutes later, he opened my door and handed me a large pastry box and a plastic to-go cup of orange juice. I opened the box and laughed when I discovered that he had bought one of each type of pastry the bakery offered. He looked at me expectantly.

“I take it you can find something you like,” he said humorously.

“I think I’ll manage.”

I picked up a chocolate croissant and took a bite. Will smirked.

“I should have known you would choose chocolate.”

“Maybe if I give the rest of these to Ms. Kluman, I won’t flunk Trig.”

By the time we pulled into the student parking lot, my stomach clenched. The car’s darkly tinted windows felt reassuring in the anonymity they provided, but the thought of walking to class with Will was making me seriously edgy. He parked and walked around to open my door. As I got out, I tried to convince myself that nobody would notice the difference from the week before when Will had started escorting me from class to class like some kind of bodyguard.

Then Will slipped his arm around my shoulders as we began walking, and my brain went into a full-on panic mode. A few students I recognized from later periods turned as we made our way toward Ms. Kluman’s room. At the door, Will handed me the pastry box. Then, before I could stop him—like that was even a possibility—he leaned down and kissed me.

Stunned by his unequivocal breach of our agreement from earlier in the morning, I glared at him before stumbling dizzily into the classroom. Nearly every student in my honors Trig class was a junior, since most seniors taking honors and AP classes were in Calculus this year. Which was good, since I wouldn’t see any of the people currently gawking at me.

When I reached Ms. Kluman’s desk, I set down the box and tried to smile, knowing the woman couldn’t stand me. One of the downsides to being an empath, I thought with a jolt. Reaching my seat, I waited for the final bell to ring so I could find out my grade on last week’s quiz. Unlike the day before, class seemed to take forever. Will was outside waiting for me when the bell rang, but six minutes wasn’t really enough to savor the time with him. By the time I got to Health Sciences, Lizzie was waiting by my desk, her eyes bright with anticipation. I frowned as I walked up to her.