Scorned (6 page)

Dark clouds moved in across the sky around
three o’clock. My aunt’s house is perched on a hill overlooking a
valley, so I sat on the front porch to watch the rain come in. I
wrapped myself in a fleece blanket and tried not to shiver. It was
really far too cold for this, but I love the rain.

“
Hello, LeKrista.”

Roman’s voice spoke into my mind. The
blanket slipped from my shoulders when I jumped and I shivered.

What the hell?

“
Come to me.”

An image of my backyard flashed before my
eyes and the front yard disappeared. I blinked and it was there
again.

What the hell is going on?

“
I am in your backyard, LeKrista,”
Roman chuckled in my head.
“Come to me, please.”

I think it was the polite request that got
me to walk around the house. Roman stood beneath the edge of the
trees. The corner of his mouth was tilted up in a smirk and he
balanced all his weight on one leg. A thin sweater stretched across
his broad, muscled chest and when he saw me he crossed his
arms.

“What the hell?” I asked. “How did you do
that? What are you?” I stopped several feet from him.

“I fully intend to answer your questions.”
His voice rang with humor and I couldn’t help but notice how sexy
he was. That was the point wasn’t it? He was showing off.

As if hearing my thoughts, Roman’s face
split into a grin. “Would you like to come somewhere with me?”

I blinked. “Don’t you know what happens to
women who get into cars with strange men?” I asked. I meant it to
be funny, but I was completely serious.

Roman’s eyes danced. “I assure you, I have
no intentions of getting you in my car.” I caught the double
entendre and ignored it. “You have questions, and I have answers.”
Roman held out his hand to me. I covered the space between us and
took it without thinking. He pulled me against him with no effort
at all. His strong arms tightened around my waist and the world
melted around me. I cried out and clutched at Roman’s clothes for
dear life. Slowly, I noticed was that the world was not melting
away.

“
We’re flying,”
Roman said into my
mind.
“I won’t let you fall.”

I tried to say something. I opened my mouth,
but no sound came out.

“
How?”
I tried, and heard Roman’s
answering chuckle.

“
So many questions, my sweet.”

My sweet?

The wind sped around and through me like I
didn’t exist at all. I wondered for a moment if we had
dematerialized. If, somehow our atoms had been displaced and our
bodies were just moving through the air as dust particles. Would
our bits and pieces be left behind? Would I come out on the other
side to find I’d lost an arm? I closed my eyes and let the wind
pass through me and decided I liked the feeling.

Wouldn’t it be funny if I was ten pounds
lighter afterward?

I was disappointed when the flight was over.
We came to a jarring, abrupt halt after the exhilarating flight and
I was out of breath.

That’s strange.

I smelled salt water a moment before waves
crashed gently around my ankles. Night birds chirped and something
tangy and sweet assailed my senses.

“God, what is that smell?” I gasped. It felt
like my lungs had forgotten how to take in oxygen.

“Can you not breathe?”

I looked up into Roman’s worried face and
frowned. No, I couldn’t. I meant to say it out loud, but the words
caught in my throat as my vision passed Roman to the most beautiful
display of diamond stars I’d ever seen.

I fell in slow motion and landed on my back
in the sand. The world swam around me, the diamond stars wavered,
flickered, and went out. I could only feel deep sadness at the
loss.

I don’t know when my lungs decided to start
working. I woke to Roman giving me mouth to mouth. Roman’s fearful
face leaned over me, haloed by a crown of those diamond stars.

I didn’t dream them.

I pulled at the air greedily and I pushed
myself into a sitting position.

“Are you certain you’re alright?” Roman was
worried. “Do I need to fetch a doctor?”

“No,” but my voice was still breathless.
“Are you a witch?”

He snorted. “Hardly.”

“Did we dematerialize?”

“No.” There was a frown, maybe confusion in
his voice.

“The wind didn’t pass through us?”

“Is that what it felt like to you?”

I nodded. “Yes.”

He was quiet for a moment, thoughtful,
before he answered. “I’ve never heard of that before, but I suppose
it is different for everyone. Perhaps that is why you lost your
breath. Perhaps that is why you felt...”

“How did I feel?” I asked then wished I
could take it back. I felt his amusement in my head, but he
otherwise ignored the awkward moment.

“Would you like to stay here by the ocean,
or would you rather go up to the bungalow for some tea?”

I glanced up at the silvery moon that hung
low over the water, its reflection a glowing twin orb disturbed
only by the breaking waves that crashed on the beach at my feet. I
turned to find torches burning a path to the door of a thatch
roofed bungalow where flickering candlelight could be seen through
the windows.

Roman smiled mischievously, pleased with
himself.

“We can go to the bungalow.” I tried to keep
the excitement out of my voice.

Roman stood in one smooth motion and swept
me up into his arms.

“Um...okay.” I didn’t protest because I was
still having trouble catching my breath. He carried me quickly
across the sand and over the threshold into the bungalow. There was
a bed in the far corner, overlaid with a gauzy material that I
assumed to be a mosquito net. The bedspread was a deep blood red
that shimmered faintly. Gold strands twined through the fabric and
shone in the candlelight. Tons of pillows covered the top half of
the bed in matching red, black, and gold. Above the bed golden
gauze waved over a window.

The floor was made of smooth slats of wood.
On the other side was a sitting area; two richly upholstered
armchairs that matched the red, black, and gold decor, and a love
seat. These all faced the bed, arranged around a coffee table that
held a steaming tea kettle. There was no source of heat with which
to make the tea.

“Would you care to have a seat?” Roman
motioned me to the sofa and took his own place across from me in
one of the arm chairs.

“This is nice.” I don’t think there could
have been a bigger understatement. The bungalow reeked of seduction
and comfort.

“You have questions, Miss Scott,” Roman
began as he settled into his chair. “Please, do not allow me to
dominate the conversation.”

What a gentleman.

“You can fly.”

“Yes.”

“What are you?”

“I think,” he tapped his full bottom lip
with his finger, drawing my attention there.

Oh, he’s good at this game.

“I think that may be best left for another
time.

I poured myself some tea. “You want
some?”

“No, thank you.”

The kettle was light, even though it was
full of tea. I poured my little teacup as full as I dared, and
dumped sugar into the steaming liquid. When I looked up, Roman’s
eyes, danced with amusement.

“I’m not a fan of tea,” I told him. “I use a
lot of sugar.”

“I see that,” he nodded. “I will have to
keep that in mind. Just out of curiosity, of what are you a
fan?”

“Hot chocolate.” I blew on the liquid. “And
big artistic mugs.” I sipped at the tea, proud of my ability to
keep a straight face. “The other day at the store. You caught my
beer.”

Roman nodded. “I have a slight gift of
foresight. It’s not very strong, but I saw the box breaking. You
cried. I did not want you to cry.”

“You saw me crying, and this bothered you.”
He nodded. “Why?”

It took him a moment to answer, as if he
wanted to get the words exactly right before he gave me his answer.
“It hurts me to see women cry. Physically.” He touched a place over
his heart and a pained look furrowed his brow.

“Who is Lucretious?” I was hoping to change
the subject and wipe the pain off his face, but he went still and
turned cold eyes to me.

“How do you know this name?”

I shrugged. “Is that important?”

“Incredibly. Have you spoken to him?”

“Not, really, no. I saw him with a woman.
Her name was Perdita.”

“What did you see?” Roman’s voice was calm,
but tense.

“Not much.”

“It’s important!” he almost shouted. “What
did you see?”

I told him about the two visions, leaving
out the intimate details. “She told him they were summonsed to some
meeting tonight.” I shrugged again.

Roman nodded. Thunder rumbled in the
distance, and I turned to look out the window. A faint cloud was
outlined by the reflection of the silvery moon. Nothing too
menacing until lightning lit the horizon.

“I should get you home,” Roman said. “Your
family will wonder where you are.”

I couldn’t hide my disappointment. The only
thing missing was my Pierce and this would be a perfect moment.

“You like the rain.”

“Yes,” I answered.

“I watched you. In the rain with your,” he
paused, “boyfriend.”

That seemed to bother him. “Yeah. You ruined
that.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all.

“So, you are the one whose eyes I feel. Stop
stalking me.”

Roman grinned. “Too late.”

There was no remorse in his voice, only
fierce satisfaction. It should have scared me.

“Come. We must go.” Roman stood and I
followed suit. He led me back down to the water where clouds were
loomed near.

“Can we wait a moment?” I asked. “I like the
rain.”

“LeKrista...” I was afraid he was going to
tell me we had to leave. Instead, his fingers brushed mine and I
looked at him. Something stirred inside me. A dark place woke and
nudged at my soul, asking to be let in. It had always been there,
but never this strong.

I felt the first drops of rain on my face
and felt the dark place recede.

“Come.” Roman wrapped his arms around me.
“Let’s get you home.”

The rain came down as we melted into
nothingness.

I was fully aware that I was seeing through
Lucretious eyes this time, and that I was asleep in my bed at home.
Our minds were separate, but I knew what he was thinking and
feeling. He wanted me here. Perdita was there next to him. She
looked bored as hell and a little pissed off.

The room was a stone cavern, dimly lit by
torches placed around the room. It wasn’t very impressive on a
decorative scale. Lucretious placed his hands on a large stone
table and brought my attention to the others in the room. There
were thirteen of them, including Lucretious and Perdita.

“
Why was I not alerted to this
meeting?”

I recognized Roman’s voice immediately and I
felt Lucretious’ alarm.

“
We had a few things to discuss with
Lucretious,” a man at the head of the table said.

“
What are you doing?” Roman asked and it
took a moment for me to realize he was speaking to his
mind.

“
I don’t know what you’re talking about,
Creator.”

“
You know very well what I am talking
about,” Roman insisted. Out loud he said, “I see. Well, I will sit
in on the discussion.”

Lucretious’ anger grew until it leached into
my mind and filled me with a rage I’d never known before. The dark
place from earlier in the night rose up to choke the life from my
body.

I woke shouting and my chest heaved as I
forced air in and out of my lungs. The darkness consumed me and my
vision clouded and went dark. I fell from my bed and stumbled
across the floor to the bathroom from memory. It took several tries
to get the shower going and I fell into the tub without undressing.
The hot water hit me and the darkness flailed and snapped. It
squirmed in my stomach like a dying snake and slowly receded. I
stayed there a long time. When the sun began to peak through the
window, I turned off the water and wrapped myself in a towel. On
autopilot, I dialed Pierce’s number.

“Hey,” I said when he answered. “I’m headed
your way.”

I pushed curfew and left Pierce late that
night. He walked me to the front door, but didn’t step outside
because he was in his socks.

“Let me know when you make it home.”

I smiled. “I will.” I put my arms around him
and gave him a quick goodbye kiss. When our lips touched, a current
passed between us and shocked me. Something flashed behind my
eyelids and was gone. I jumped and pulled away.

“Yeah, I felt it too.” Pierce kissed me on
my forehead and sent me on my way.

I made it halfway home before I was stopped
by a horrific accident that spanned the lanes on both sides of the
road.

A red BMW made it to the middle of the
intersection before it was plowed by a truck coming from the
opposite direction. The truck forced the car across the road into
the oncoming traffic.

A cop knocked on my window and I jumped.

“Everything alright?” he asked.

“I think I should be asking you that.” I
tried to smile.

“Heh. I guess so. Bad accident here. You’re
going to have to turn around. You can cross the median here.”

The only other way to get home was to go all
the way back around to the other side of town. I thanked the
officer and shot Pierce a quick text to let him know what was going
on. My new route took me through downtown Greenville and up Wade
Hampton Boulevard to 276. From there I got on Sandy Flat road. It’s
dark and backwoods and creeps me out at night.

As I passed the quarry my car slowed to a
complete stop, bringing home all of my nighttime fears. There was a
little lake that, by daylight shown emerald green, but by night was
as black as pitch. Several years ago, a man shot himself and died
in that lake. I’m not one to believe in ghosts, but it made the
whole eerie situation that much more creepy. I looked down at the
gas needle. It was on empty.