Escaped the Night (46 page)

Uncle Dane walked over and gave me a k
iss on the head. “You’re in safe
hands
. Good night
,
Shanntal
.”
He
turned, walked down the hall
and
disappeared into his
bed
room.

I looked over at Jayce. “Clearly, you’ve won over the family.”

“Clearly I have.”

We stayed up for a while with Kaleb and Kael. The four of us sat in the livin
g room chatting. It was nice
hanging
out like normal people did. Granted one of the guys was constantly glancing out the window
,
but other than that, this
was what I considered
to be
normal.

Kaleb let out a yawn
followed by a
stretch. I
felt
the same
way
. Totally beat. The lack of sleep
over the past few days
was really starting to catch up.

“Kael,
are
you okay on first watch?” I asked.

Kaleb looked over at me. “What? I’m fine. I can take first watch.”

Kael let out his famous laugh. “Dude, you look like a zo
mbie.”
Making a creepy face,
he
stu
ck his arms up in front of him
l
ike a zombie would
and mockingly took a few steps towards us
.

Kaleb sneered in protest.

“I’ve
got first watch
covered
. Get some sleep while you can.”
Kael returned to his normal pose.

“I’ll be back in a sec,
” I said to Jayce.

I
led the way and Kaleb
followed
me
down the basement stairs.
Uncle Dane and Auntie Steph had set
everything up. The arrangement
was quite welcoming
, a couple
cots with
nightstands, bedside lamps, even a dresser and
some photos in fancy frames
. This
didn
’t feel like a basement
at all
;
more
like a bedroom.

“Not too bad,
”
I said to Kaleb. I would’ve slept
comfortably down there if I hadn’t had
my own bed upstairs.

“Not bad at all,” h
e said,
let
ting
out another big yawn.

“Kaleb?” I asked
as he was lying down on
one of
the cot
s
.

“Shanntal?” h
e said
,
trying to fight off
another yawn.

“I just wanted to t
hank you for talking some sense into me.
”

“Anytime.”

“
I’m
also
sorry for all the pain
that you’
ve felt because of me.
I never meant for you to carry this burden.”

“It’s okay.”

“
I wanted to let you know
,
I’m really glad yo
u stepped up and made me shut my big mouth before I caused us any more grief
.”

“Y
ou’re welcome. Now, do me a favor?
”

“Sure, anything you want.”

“
Shut up one more time
and let me
get some
sleep.” He
pulled
the blankets up around him.

“Kaleb!” I pushed him in the chest
.

He groaned.

I
leaned down and hugged my friend. “Seriously, thank you
,
” I
pulled back the blanket and
whispered in his ear. I
wished him a good night
’s
sleep and gave him a kiss on
his cheek.

I headed back upstairs
to be greeted by Kael and Jayce
.

“You
gonna tuck me in
,
to
o
?” Kael asked
sarcastically
.

“Only i
f you want me too.”

“Perfect, I’ll wake you up when I’m
ready to get some sleep…
ha-ha!”

“I dare you to try it, muscle boy.”

“Oh, look who’s talking tough.”

“You know I am,
” I said
,
flexing.

His awful sense of humor was starting to grow on me. He was boisterous
and loud on the surface, but
sweet and sensitive on the inside. You just had to look past the layers of
muscle to see the caring guy lurking inside
.
At first,
I
had
some
apprehensions
about
him joining us
, but
now
I was glad he decided to do so
. I couldn’t imagine
anyone other than him being with us
now
.

“Okay
you two, before this turns into
some kind of
wrestling match
… I think Shanntal… that
you
umm… you should say good night and get some sleep while you can. No offense, but you look a mess.” Jayce
waved his hands in the air as he outlined
me from head to toe.

“N
ice! Real nice!”
I snapped with
my nastiest tone.

“Ohhhh!”
Kael
laughed
.

I
was mad. After everything I’d just been through, of course I looked a mess. He didn’t need to point it out. I
started
heading to
my room. “Good night
Kael
.”

“You’re in trouble now,
” Kael
giggled as he
warned
Jayce
.

“Jayce,
”
I snapped.

“I’m sorry. I d
idn’t mean anything bad by it. I j
ust
meant
you look like you need some sleep
.”

I shot him the dirtiest look. He needed to stop
talking
now because he was digging himself into a really deep hole.

“I didn’t mean it like that.
It came out wrong.
” Jayce
followed me to bed.

Kael
harassed
Ja
yce the entire way to my room. Even
as the
door
closed
,
I could still hear Kael
laugh
ing
from
the living room.

“Sorry
I
offended you.
I didn’t mean it in a bad way,
you
just
look
super
tired.”

Jayce
was lucky that I
really
was as tired as I looked. “Forgiven
this time
,
but
don’t
ever say it again!”

I
placed my head on the pillow and pulled the blanke
ts up tight. Wow,
this
felt so
good. I hadn’t slept in my own bed for quite some time now.
Jayce climbed
in bed beside me. He wrapped his
strong
arms around
me
and snuggled
his body
up close.
Instantly, my mood changed
,
because t
his was my version of
happily ever after
. I turned over
so I could
look
at
him
. There was ju
st enough light
that I saw
the outline
of his face. “I’m so happy
you
’re
here. I
really did miss
you
, probably
more than
you’
ll
ever know.”

“I’m here now.
I’m not going anywhere.”

I snuggled up closer.

“
I love you
,
Shanntal
,” h
e said.

“I love you more,
” I said back.

“Impossible.”

“Then
,
I’ve done the impossible.” I kissed him
gently
on his lips.
“Good night
,
Jayce.” I rolled over and w
e both drifted off to sleep with our bodies
pressed
close together.

We were right where we needed to be. Right where we should be.

Named

~ Chapter Eleven ~

The shadowy figure
app
e
a
red
seductively
through the lingering mist.
Struggling against myself,
I took a few steps
forward
, but
n
o matter how hard I tried,
I couldn’t
c
ome up with the inner strength
needed to repel him.
I shivered
from his undeniable presence as h
e reached over
,
locking me in his
embrace
.

H
is icy touch
met my
skin. As h
e
dragged
his fingers
over my body, it made
it
more
difficult f
or me
to warm
myself
. Eventually,
new icy blood coursed
its way throughout my frightened pale body. I was left with a foreign excruciating pain that I hadn’t come across
in
any of our previous encounte
rs. This time
my reaction to his pre
sence completely intensified.
I moaned
in agony
as the changes took
place within.

He was strong, way
more
powerful than I was
,
and m
y will put up no match for him.
I
surrendered
because n
o matter how har
d I t
r
i
ed I
was
n’t
able to
stay away. He had total control
,
with the exception of one thing
,
and it was
by far
the most impo
rtant part
: My heart;
it belonged entirely to Jayce.
He couldn’t
have that
piece
of me
because it
was
completely
taken and I’d never ask for
it back, nor did I ever want to.

Despite
what was
happening
and
the unbearable growing pain
inside,
I was able to shift my thoughts to Jayce. I pictured his dark hair and deep brown eyes, his pe
rfect smile, muscular body and
Celtic
tattoo
. I loved his
great sense of styl
e
. He rocked
the faded blue jeans and black t-shirt like n
o one else. Pairing
up with black and white skater shoes, he stole my breath away.

Thinking of Jayce gave me the will to find some
buried strength
required to force my attacker away. I shoved the vampire off me with all of my might.
It
didn’t amount to much
, only enough
to give me
a brief break
.
The vampire simply overcame me and to my dismay,
pulled me in close
as he
dra
g
g
ed
his icy fingers
back
over my neck and down my shoulders. He leaned in
and
whispered in my ear, but I
wasn’
t
able to
hear
clearly, h
i
sses and growls took the
place of
words.

He
teased along my mouth
before maneuvering down
to
wards
my neck. Agonizing icy shocks hurt my skin as he moved back and forth
. He placed a hard kiss on my mouth
, leaving behind a salty taste
up
on my lips
. It was a strange flavor
, one
I didn’t know well
.
Strangely, t
he
unknown
flavor
managed to help
to
ease
my pain from the
inner radiating chills. He moved seductively
over my body and
I was rendered
useless again. None of my will or resentment was enough to keep him away
. I stood locked
in his
deadly
grasp
,
feeling weak and powerless.