Eternal Shadows (20 page)

We were going out? That didn’t quite sound right. Too…human. Things like this had to be far different for vampires, right? Centuries were involved. Millennia. It wasn’t like Rhys had asked me to prom and we’d see where the summer went before we both went off to college in the fall.

Not that I’d had plans to go to college this year anyway. With all the strange politics going on in the world, my father had decided it would be best to keep me close to home.

Didn’t matter now.

I was distracting myself.

I needed to talk to Rhys more. But I was terrified. How would I even begin the conversation?

I took my time washing my hair, let the conditioner sit for far longer than necessary, and scrubbed my body two extra times. I hoped I had gotten all the bruises and scrapes off. Then I hoped Millie could duplicate what she had done today for when I went back to school tomorrow.
Oops
.

The water was cold when I finally got out. I dried off, threw on the sweats and tee I had brought in with me and started toweling dry my hair.

I was so caught up in my thoughts I didn’t sense him in my room until I saw him sitting on the edge of my bed.

Clean and dry, he watched me patiently. I missed the image of him wet at the bottom of the stairs, but there certainly wasn’t anything to complain about when he was dry either. I snapped out of my shock and tossed my towel into the corner.

“Hey,” I said.

“Enjoy your shower?”

“A little.” I shrugged one shoulder then grabbed my brush and started pulling it through my hair. “How long did Millie grill you for?”

“Long enough.”

“You don’t think she suspects anything, do you?”

“Only that I’m irresponsible and up to no good.”

“Oh. Nothing out of the ordinary then.” I braided my wet hair, secured it at the end then bravely made my way over to my bed. Like it was the most natural thing to do, I plopped down on the mattress beside him. “So now what?”

“Whatever we want.”

“Not gonna lie, I’m a little out of my element here.”

He laughed lightly and took my hand in his, tracing the lines on my palm with a finger. “So am I.”

“I find it hard to believe a vampire as old and as good-looking as you has never done this before.”

He shrugged and the quick movement made his finger tickle my palm. “Girls your age and of your level of attractiveness often manage to find boyfriends before now and you claim to have never done so.”

“A little different. You don’t know how to read those, do you? You’re looking at my hand so intently you’re beginning to freak me out.”

“I apologize.” He went to release my hand, but I quickly put it back where it had been in his. He looked at me as though for permission, then went back to his examination of my palm. “No, I do not know how to read the lines, but Aurelia does. I’ve often wondered how accurate they really are.”

“Can’t you just ask Aurelia then? It seems she would have plenty of experience to back up her opinion.”

“I have. She swears by it. Claims she can tell everything she needs to know about a person just by looking at their hand.”

“Hmm.” I thought about that, studying my palm along with Rhys. Sara and I had gotten readings done once at a fair. The woman had told me my life line confused her, strong and deep until about halfway down my palm, then faint and long all the way to my wrist. She probably wouldn’t have been so confused if she had known about the existence of vampires.

I grabbed Rhys’s right hand and turned it over so I could see his life line. The first part was much like mine
, clear, but short. His, too, continued on faintly until it reached his wrist, but unlike mine his line was frayed and whiskered. I wondered what that meant.

“Do you know how to read palms?” he turned the question around on me.

“No,” I said. “But I had mine read once. I was trying to remember what she had said. Had the possibility of finishing my life as a vampire been known, the whole reading probably would have gone over better.”

He took his hand from me and touched my face. The pressure from his fingers increased as he wiped something away. “You missed a bit of one bruise,” he said, wiping the remains on his jeans.

I rubbed at my face subconsciously. “Millie really did a number on me. And she’ll have to do it again tomorrow.”

“Which reminds me, you have homework I’m keeping you from.” He moved to stand.

I wrapped my arms around his middle, holding him back. “You don’t have to leave.” It was more of a plea than a statement.

He sat back down, but looked reluctant. “I thought the plan was to be discreet?”

“Not a problem.” I got up and closed my bedroom door, locking it. Then I grabbed my backpack, which had miraculously made it upstairs at some point, before going back to my bed. I pushed Rhys lightly by the shoulders. “Sit there,” I commanded, aiming him towards the headboard. He scooted back as directed, watching me quizzically.

I ignored all my inhibitions and kept moving, taking out the books I needed and tossing them on the comforter. Notebooks followed, along with my favorite colored pens and a mechanical pencil.

Satisfied I had everything I needed, I climbed up onto the bed and positioned myself in front of Rhys, using him as a comfy back support. “You keep an ear out,” I told him. “If you hear anyone coming I’ll hop over there with my homework.” I pointed to the other end of the bed. “That’s your job. I have math to concentrate on. If we get caught, it’s your fault.”

His arms wrapped around my waist and I felt him chuckle against my neck. “I think I can manage that.” He kissed my throat just below my ear.

I shivered. “I’m not going to get a lot of math done if you keep that up. Not that I like math better.”

His chest rumbled with laughter against at my back. “Sorry.”

“You could help, you know. You’ve got to be better at this than me.”

“Millie is the math expert if you want help.”

“Nevermind then.” I opened my book to the appropriate page and started on the first problem. Thank God we were on trigonometry. I was good at that. Wouldn’t need so much of my concentration.

I had more than a little to spare for Rhys.

Chapter Seventeen: Delicacy

Cordoba was due to arrive on Friday.

Aurelia had returned on Wednesday with the news that Julius’s old friend would be coming to discuss the matter at hand. The house had erupted in activity after that. Preparation. Everything was preparation for something. The house staff cleaned every inch of the house, and Anne warned me afterwards not to make a mess of things they had already perfected.

Not a problem. I had plenty of excuses to keep me out of the house.

Rhys being first and foremost.

Every morning before school Millie came in and tortured me with her stage-make
-up. Thankfully, every day I was a little less battered and bruised. Healing. Once she was satisfied I met Rhys out front at the car and we were off to school.

School was still school, of course, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel. And along the way a sea of tiny lights lined my way. The other girls still stared, which was annoying, and all through class Rhys kept his distance at the back of the room, but in the halls my life was bliss.

Fleeting touches that lingered just long enough, disguised as motions to keep me in an optimal protecting position, or as a gesture to get my attention. And when we could, stolen moments in the unused stairwells at the far corners of the school. A lot of kids used these locations as make-out spots, but it was always touch and go. We had the benefit of listening for heartbeats to make sure we were alone.

I’d never liked being a vampire so much.

The bloodlust didn’t even bother me anymore. I told Rhys he was far too distracting. If he kept it up, I might forget to feed altogether.

He promised to provide me with delicious human morsels before that ever happened.

After school we delayed going home. Rhys had been fully chastised for taking me so far away from the house on Monday, so that meant no more lessons in the woods, but we came up with plenty of other things to do. Like going to the very edge of the park that was only a mile from my house and practicing with the coin. I had gotten very good at the whole trick. Tuesday and Wednesday were some of the very best days of my life. Human years included.

Then the general remembered something he wanted to pick up for his good friend before he arrived on Friday. Other than himself and Cade, both of whom were very, very busy—no one knew with what—Rhys was the only one who knew where to go to get this gift. So…

Thursday sucked.

Millie went to school with me in his absence. Now the boys stared. The girls wanted to know why Rhys hadn’t come with me. I told them he had important business to attend to. Sara seemed to know that something more was going on, since I was mopey all day, but didn’t say anything.

Unfortunately, Millie picked up on that too. And she didn’t stay quiet.

“What’s wrong with you today?”

“Nothing,” I said, examining the lingering bruise she had painted onto my face that morning in the girls’ room mirror. I had a cut on my lip now too, but that one was real, and had been my fault. Rhys and I had gotten a little carried away while kissing goodbye the night before and our fangs had come down a little farther than we had anticipated.

He’d put the kibosh on our farewell after tasting my blood in his mouth. Apparently we both needed a bit more self-control. I would have argued differently, but Rhys looked upset over the whole cutting me thing, even though I had clearly cut myself on him. It wasn’t like he had bitten me or anything.

I told Millie I had bit my own lip when she saw it this morning, swollen and not healing as quickly as my other injuries had. A setback of vampire injuries, it turned out.

“Missing Rhys?” she pressed.

“What’s the correct answer?”

“Oh come on, Kassandra. You’re allowed to miss him. You spend almost every waking minute with him.”

“Then, sure, I miss him.” I arranged my hair over my bruised temple, as any girl with an ugly injury would, then turned back to her. “I guess I’ve gotten used to his lurking presence.” I headed for the door.

Millie laughed an
d buttoned the jacket of the gray suit she had chosen to wear for bodyguard duty. “I could lurk more, if it will make you feel better.”

I heard something else in her voice. Suspicion and amusement. I hesitated before going back out into the hall. Did she know? We’d been so careful, there was no way anyone had seen us. “Let’s just get through astronomy so we can go home, okay?”

“Fine, fine.”

I practically ran the whole way home, hoping Rhys would have returned already. No such luck. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing chess with Warren in my room. He beat me the first game, and I asked for a rematch just to kill time.

“Are you thirsty yet?” he asked, sliding his bishop across the board. I could have clipped him off with my rook, but that’s what he wanted. I shifted my king instead.

“Nope.”

“You’re lying.”

“How can you tell?”

“Because you claim to be a good lair, and so when you don’t put the effort in it’s obvious.” He tapped a pawn forward. “And you haven’t fed since yesterday.”

“I had the thermos with me in school.” I studied the board, wasting more time.

“A snack, not a meal.”

“Good God, Warren, we’re talking about the blood in your veins here!”

He shrugged. “My job. Your move.”

“I know it’s my move.” I ran my queen along the board, taking the bishop that had been hunting my king.

Warren remained unfazed.
Crap
. He’d wanted me to do that. I couldn’t see why though. He shifted his other bishop one place.

Double crap.

Check.

I stared at the board, trying to see his next move as well as plan mine. No matter what I did I was, at the most, two moves away from checkmate.

“You suck.” I moved my knight, hoping for a miracle.

Two moves later I flicked my king over in defeat.

“Good game,” Warren said.

“I’m never playing with you again.”

“Wow, that’s the weakest threat I’ve ever heard from a vampire. No ‘I’ll drink your blood and suck you dry’?”

“You’d like that. You’ve been trying to get me to drink all night.”

“Like I said, my job.”

“If I’d won, I probably would have bit you in my victory dance.”

“Let’s play again then.”

“Ha ha.” I peeled myself off the floor and threw myself onto my bed, staring out the window into the dark night. I’d been listening for hours, waiting for the first sign of him, but all I’d managed was to psych myself out three times. Once when Madge left to go hunting (gross), again when she’d come home, and lastly when Cade had gone outside and started pacing up and down the driveway.

He continued doing just that. Waiting for what, I had no idea.

I felt Warren sit on the edge of the bed beside me. “What are you so anxious about?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re really on a roll with the bad lying tonight.”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I’m waiting for Rhys to get back.” The sixpence had sat on my desk all day. Looking at it just made time go slower.

“Didn’t he go on some errand for the general?”

“Yes.”

“Then it could be a while before he gets back.”

“He has to get back before this Cordoba guy shows up tomorrow.” I started counting Cade’s steps. Fifteen towards the house, fifteen back. Repeat.

“Do you need him for something?”

Heck yes. “Not really, I just—I guess he makes me feel the safest, being the one to save my butt every time and all.”

“I’m sure you’re safe inside the house.”

“I know.”

He joined me by the window, adjusting his glasses on his nose. “What do you think Cade’s doing?”

“Waiting for Rhys? I don’t know. I’ve never seen him pace like that before. Have you?”

“Never.”

The smell of his blood suddenly coated the air, fresh and clean. My fangs stretched in my mouth. I groaned. “Warren…”

He held his wrist up to me, blood pooling around the small wound he had created. “I’ve been eating and drinking all day, just for you.”

I held my breath, trying to resist. My throat burned. “You eat and drink because if you don’t you’ll starve to death,” I quipped.

“You know what I mean.”

I jumped off my bed, trying to will my fangs back into their smaller state. Warren followed me. “Who put you up to this?” I knew he would never force me of his own accord.

“Rhys.”

Dammit. I guess with all the time we’d been spending together he would have a good idea of the last time I had really eaten. Good thing he wasn’t in the house, I would have chewed him out.

I bounced in place for a moment, testing my resolve. I lost. “Fine. Give me your damn wrist.” I put my hand out, waiting.

I really hated this part of my new life.

Warren, however, looked relived as I drank. I wondered what Rhys had said to him.

I drank until the burning in my throat receded, then wrenched my mouth away from Warren’s wrist before I could drain him dry. I was always surprised by how much clearer everything seemed just after I had fed straight from his veins. So much different from sipping cold blood in a thermos. I felt stronger, more alive, like all my senses were on overdrive. My mind suddenly felt sharp as a tack, like I could win the game if we sat at the chessboard again.

God, I hated this.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face while Warren wrapped up his wrist. As soon as I stepped back out I heard the car pull into the driveway. I recognized that sound. I’d spent enough time riding in the vehicle over the past few days to know its engine among others.

A surge of elation shot through my otherwise lethargic veins. I took off out of my room and down the stairs. Warren called after me, but I ignored him.

The cool night air felt like bliss on my heated skin. I skidded to a halt on the cobblestones that led up to my house and enjoyed every millisecond when my heart beat once in my chest.

Rhys.

It was silly to be so in love with someone after such a short time, but I didn’t care. It didn’t feel like it had only been—what? A little less than a month since I’d been turned? That couldn’t have been right. It felt more like an eternity. Like things had always been this way.

I had opened my mouth to call out to him when I realized something was wrong. Cade had joined Rhys at the car, opening the back door. A series of harshly whispered words passed between them so quickly I couldn’t decode the sounds fast enough to understand. And then Rhys finally looked over his shoulder at me.

He went pale. “Kassandra.” He rushed over to me, grabbing me by both shoulders. “What are you doing out here?”

His anxiety distressed me. I’d thought he’d be as happy to see me as I was to see him. “I heard you drive up.” Something was definitely wrong.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” he said, pushing me back towards the house. “Go inside and wait in your room. I’ll be up to see you as soon as I finish out here.”

I dug my heels into the ground, making it impossible for him to continue guiding me without hurting me. He stopped. “What’s going on?” I said. “Did something happen?”

“No. Everything’s fine, just—” He glanced over his shoulder. “You shouldn’t be out here. Please go inside.”

He looked so tortured, I nearly agreed, just to clear his handsome face of all those tight lines. But then the wind shifted, and I caught the scent of something so exquisite, so fine, my brain forgot almost everything else.

Rhys’s grip on me tightened.

“What is that?” I asked, trying to peer over his shoulder.

He shifted, keeping the car out of my view. “Did you feed from Warren tonight?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Just answer me.”

“Yes. You shouldn’t bully him like that, by the way.”

“I didn’t bully him. Now go inside.” He gave me a light push, hardly more than a nudge.

I fell back two steps, but instead of getting me to the house, I could see around Rhys’s shoulder. I could see what Cade helped out of the backseat of the car.

A young woman, with long blonde hair the color of sunlight, dressed in an indecently thin white silk dress. It was her scent which clung to the air like the fragrance of the very best, mouth-watering cuisine. My throat burned again, but not uncontrollably. The woman, probably no older than twenty or so, floated out of the car with the grace of a vampire, but I knew better. I could smell her blood. She was one hundred percent human.

“What is that?” I demanded, afraid of the answer my brain was putting together. Rhys had gone to get a gift for Cordoba. The human woman was getting out of Rhys’s car.

“Go inside, please.” His third try wasn’t getting him anywhere. I struggled against his hold, trying to get a better look. Cade had the girl by the hand and was leading her towards the other side of the house.

“Rhys, what’s going on?” The wind shifted again, carrying her enticing scent over to me once again. My fangs lengthened. Instinctively, I pulled against him.