Deceived (35 page)

Charles walked over to Holly and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’re just trying to understand what happened. No one is accusing you of anything.”

“Gwen was not involved with Ian
Despereaux
,” Aiden spoke up. “If you wish to condemn her without a fair trial, than the war you’ve been itching for will happened.”

The group of vampires surrounding Aiden stepped forward,  fangs down and eyes blackened. One word from
him
and they’d attack.

Dorian stood guard over my body while everyone waited for the other to strike first. It was frustrating not being able to speak for myself, but I was happy to have these two men to speak on my behalf. Whether or not their chivalry could save my life was the big question.

“If what you say is true, I think a trial would be the best way to settle this matter. We do not wish to fight if we don’t have to,” Charles stated. Charles seemed like the more level headed of the group, the others looked more than willing to fight. 

“This is ridiculous!” Holly stomped her foot. “She tried to kill me, and last time I checked, it was a death sentence to harm a council member.”

Charles smiled sympathetically, “I’m having trouble understanding exactly what happened. We cannot sentence Gwen to death until all the facts are clear. Does everyone agree?” He turned to the remaining members.

Time slowed as I waited for the verdict. Their stillness made my nerves twist as I held my breath. One head slowly nodded followed by several more agreeing nods, joyful relief soared through my soul.

“Gwen Sparks will go to trial,” Charles stated.

Three days passed after that horrible night. The NAWC members returned to Moon, but not before placing a tracking spell on me—should I feel the need to flee. The trial was scheduled for two weeks from now. Although I should have been nervous and afraid, I knew I was innocent. The only emotion I felt was impatience. I didn’t like that Holly had two weeks to plan a counter attack. Knowing her, she’d find a way to kill me before I had a chance to tell the council what really happened. Charles surprised me by stepping up and defending my right to share my side of the story. During my entire stay in Moon, he’d been passive. I was happy in the end he found his voice and spoke up for me.

Two soft knocks on my front door pulled me from my thoughts. I placed the coffee carafe I’d been filling down and opened the door. Aiden stood on the other side of the threshold, his hands stuffed in his pockets and uncertainty on his face.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

I regarded him for a few moments, still not sure whether or not I should trust him. I spent the past three days going over every little detail of our relationship.  Those three long days had been filled with tear stained cheeks and a piles of snotty tissues.

“Come in,” I told him as I walked back to the coffee pot. I wanted to forget his involvement with Ian’s plan, but the sensible part of my brain wouldn’t allow me to. I needed answers to help me understand.

Aiden pulled out a chair and sat at my kitchen table. I kept my hands busy, filling the coffee tank with water, the filter with grounds and  washing down the counter. I could feel Aiden’s stare penetrating my body as I avoided making eye contact with him.

“Gwen, please sit down,” Aiden said.

Closing my eyes, I took a moment to suck in a deep breath. I walked to the table and sat, my muscles tense. Somehow I found the courage to make eye contact without my eyes welling with tears—small victories. I kept my arms crossed so Aiden couldn’t reach for me. “Okay, what do you have to say?” I asked in my best faux confidence tone. I knew Aiden wasn’t fooled, the swelling of my eyes was evidence enough I’d been crying recently.

“I was greedy, Gwen. When I heard about the plan, that you could possibly accept the vampire virus, all I thought about was spending eternity with you. I didn’t share Ian’s interest in the plan, I promise.” He tilted his head, his blue eyes watching me with remorse. I reminded myself not to get lost in those aqua pools. It was too easy to lose myself in his beauty rather than pay attention to the person underneath.

“You can understand how that’s hard for me to believe, right?”

“I do, but I’m hoping you’ll give me the opportunity to redeem myself,” Aiden’s lips curved in a sad smile.

“You’ve lied to me twice, Aiden,” I began and then paused when my voice began to tremble. “I need time to think about things, to get my head in order. As much as I’d  love to believe you, to believe this is some sort of nightmare that I’ll wake up from, I can’t. Things have changed.” My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes. “Please just give me some space for a while.”

Aiden nodded, his lips tightening. “I’ll give you whatever you want, my Gwen,” he said as he stood and placed a kiss on top of my head. “But I’m not giving up. You’re worth fighting for.” Without another word, I watched Aiden leave.

Another day passed before another unexpected visitor showed up. The apartment felt empty and sad lately. Fiona stayed in Moon to be with Ethan and study spell casting, so the bubbliness she supplied was missing.

“Hey,” I said to Dorian as I opened the door.

“Hungry?” He held up a pizza box and stepped past me into the kitchen. Shutting the door behind him, I scowled at the back of his head. I didn’t need Dorian further complicating my life. My brain was trying to sort through the drama with Aiden, it didn’t have the power to analyze my feelings for the Angel of Death too.

“Not really,” I said as I followed him into the living room.

“Mind if I eat? I’m starving.” Dorian sat on the couch, grabbing a piece of pizza and the remote.

“Make yourself at home,” I said sarcastically. “What are you doing here?”

The channel settled on
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein
. Dorian laughed at something silly Abbot had done. I didn’t want to scrutinize the fact he chose one of my favorite movies, but not a lot of people watched movies from the forties.

“I heard Fiona stayed in Moon,” Dorian said, bringing his gaze to me.

“Yeah?”

“So, you have a room free. I need a place to stay for a while.” His eyes roamed over my apartment. “It’s a little small, but it’ll do for now.”

“Hold up,” I said as I sat down in my favorite overstuffed chair. “You’re not staying here.” There was no way I could sort through my dramatic life with Dorian on the sidelines. Not to mention the connection that strung us together by some invisible tether I had yet to understand.

“Look at it this way, I’ll continue to teach you, and my payment will be room and board. Holly isn’t going to allow you to rat her out to the council. You need me.”

I grumbled and thought about turning him away. I knew my life was in danger and any night one of Holly’s henchmen could show up to silence me forever.

“Fine, but we’re just roommates. Nothing sexual will be taking place between us, got it?” I gave him a pointed look.

“We’ll see,” he grinned.

Read on for a special preview of

Stephanie Nelson’s next Novel

Taming the Wolf

Coming in the spring of 2012

The wolf’s yellow eyes watched me with determination. Its back arched, sending the hackles to stand on end. Sharp teeth gnashed at the air as it snarled a threat at me. My body froze despite my rapidly beating heart.

The beast took slow calculated steps around me, snapping and growling in my direction. I mimicked its movements as my eyes shot in different directions looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. The landscape of
the Big Horn
Mountains did not offer much other than a few downed branches or palm sized rocks—useless against the creature this size.

I bent down very slow
ly
and
reach
ed my hand towards a limb never taking my eyes off the wolf. I grasped the branch tight, anything was better than nothing. The wolf snarled again, my body shook in
response
. Its angry, vicious face was only about four feet away from me, one leap and I was a goner.

I held the branch between us with both hands so tight my knuckles turned white and ached. If I wanted a chance at escaping, I had to stand back up. My legs shook, my
muscles screaming
in protest as I carefully rose a little at a time, so I would not trigger the wolf to attack.

When I was straightened, I shuffled my feet backwards to gain ground between the wolf and me. However, with each step I took away from it, it moved forward
baring its teeth and emanating low growls
.  Another step backwards and a loud crack echoed under my foot like a bell in a boxing ring. The wolf charged and I screamed. I ran left, hearing the heavy crash of whe
re
the wolf landed behind me. I zigzagged through pine trees and decaying branches, not caring as they whipped my face. The wolf chased behind me, its
growls
taunting me. There was no way I could out run a wolf—we both knew that.

Whirling around another batch of trees, I came to a cliff with a good four hundred foot drop. My eyes shot to the bottom and then to the wolf. It sauntered through the tree trunks, as if it knew I was out of space. Maybe it was fear playing tricks
with my mind
, but I saw a glint of victory in its yellow eyes. Our gazes locked. I now knew how the gazelle felt when the lion had it in its sights. A million useless thoughts rushed through my mind.
How long will it take them to find my devoured corpse? Will they even find me? I’m about to be eaten alive. Did I mail the electricity payment? I need a drink.