Sweet Cravings (17 page)

Sang took a seat next to me and surveyed my kitchen. It was a small room and connected to the living room, and it had a four-seat, round table in the center. I had a cappuccino machine beside the sink and a fan on the ceiling. The wallpaper was white with puffy yellow flowers. I hated yellow, but it was the way the apartment had been originally made, and I couldn’t alter it as stated in my contract. The wallpaper had grown on me over time, and I couldn’t imagine the kitchen without it.

I looked at Sang and then the clock and it was nine at night. Tomorrow we’d be going to see if we could stop the distribution of NEXUS. I really didn’t get why Darius wanted to stop it so eagerly, but the thought of going into an unknown house frightened and excited me at the same time. My life had been pretty boring before I was changed into a vampire, and as I yearned for my old life, I also appreciated the new one and the people I got to meet because of it. Like Sang, for example.

“Lily.” He spoke my name while rubbing his eyes. “If anything strange happens tomorrow, I want you to get behind me or leave, okay?”

I paused before answering, “I’m not gonna leave without you, and I’m not gonna let you be a shield for the useless princess. I can handle things on my own if they get rough.”

His crimson eyes bore into mine, and I admired the otherworldly beauty of them. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Man, you’re just so cute! I love it when you’re all determined and stubborn!”

“Sang? Why is Darius coming along? Isn’t he still a little weak from…you know?”

“He is, but he insisted on coming. He wants to deal with the person in charge of NEXUS personally, which I have no qualms about. I’m actually really excited to see Darius beat the snot out of whoever it is, especially if it’s Vex, and we already know that Nyx is involved, so that’ll be fun.”

“I don’t know…I have a strange feeling about tomorrow.” And I did. I couldn’t shake it off either—this feeling of unknown dread. Like something awful would happen.

I yawned and stretched. Sang asked, “You’re tired?”

I nodded.

“Then go to bed, silly. You go change, and I’ll change out here.” He gave me a wink, and I walked into my bedroom and got into my blue flannel pajama top and pants. He had brought a change of clothes for tomorrow, his own pajamas, and a blanket and pillow. I waited a bit so I wouldn’t rush him. I set Lacy on my pillows and placed some stuffed unicorns on my nightstand. I felt an icy cold touch on the back of my neck and nearly leaped through the roof.

“Ha-ha. Scared ya.” Sang smiled, showing his fangs.

“Yeah, you sure as hell did!” I yelled. I had thought it was a zombie. I still had nightmares about that zombie I’d seen and put to rest. I still couldn’t believe they were real, but then again, vampires and shifters were real, too.

And I was one of them.

I crawled under the covers while Sang stood there watching me and hugged Lacy as I rested my head on the pillow. Sang stepped close to me as I pulled the blankets up to my chin. He leaned down and brushed the bangs from my forehead.

“Good-night, Lily,” he said softly and planted a tender kiss right above my eyes. “I love you.”

I blew him a kiss as he exited my room. “Love you too, Sang.”

I loved him. But I loved Darius too, loved them in the same kind of love. Was it possible to feel like this? Was it possible to be in love with two men at once? I couldn’t tell one that I didn’t love him because that would be lying. They both meant so much to me. Both had hijacked their way into my heart. I loved both Darius and Sang. And that was that. I hoped.

A little girl stood near the street in the cold winter chill, her breath escaping her lips in tiny white puffs, and tears dripping from her eyes and splashing into the snow as she cried and cried and cried. The house in which she lived in was nothing but burned timbers, her brother dead from the smoke and flames. That was earlier in the night, and now the girl was shivering alone, grieving the death of her brother as he was all she’d had, and tried to trudge forward so she could find somewhere she could sleep.

Her name was Grace, and she wrapped her small scarf tighter around her neck. The scarf her mother had made her months ago before she and her father had died in the first fire. She thought herself cursed. Her cheeks were flushed and puffy from crying, and she was so cold from the snow she couldn’t feel her fingers any more. She was scared and frightened and so lonely in that darkest of nights. It felt like an eternity before a stranger, a very peculiar stranger, stopped beside her and wiped her tears away with his warm fingertips.

She glanced up, and his face was shrouded in shadows from his oversize brown hat and scarf, but she could see his eyes, as dark as the starless night sky itself. Grace tugged on the man’s pant leg and asked for his name.

“I’m Vex,” he replied. “What’s your name?”

“Grace.” She sniffled and began to brighten up a bit. “You have a neat name, mister.” She shuddered from a blast of cold air that blew past them. “Brrrrr…”

“Grace. What a pretty name. And what are you doing out here in the middle of the night, Grace?” he asked tenderly.

“I’m all alone,” she said. “My parents are gone. MY brother is gone. The fire, the fire, it took them! They’re gone, and I’m all alone!” She began to sob again, and Vex touched her shoulder gently.

“I see. So someone did survive that awful fire,” Vex murmured to himself. “Grace,” he began, “You can come with me if you want.”

The little girl and her strange silver locks nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes! I want to go with Vex!”

He smiled and lifted her onto his shoulders. “Come then, Grace. We’ll find a lodge to sleep for the night. But before we go, your name will be Nyx from now on, all right?”

She nodded and gave him a quick “Yes”. And he walked off, and the blustery storm soon covered his tracks with heavy snow—two hundred years ago in London.

“If I can just find a reason to stay by his side…” came the voice of the older Nyx. I know he’s gone crazy searching for her, but what about me? Does he truly care for me as I do him? I have everything I ever wanted, and yet his visits are becoming longer in between, and he barely talks to me. What am I doing wrong, if anything at all? What can I do? NEXUS seems to be the only thing really connecting us now, and it scares me. I’m scared I’ll lose him. I’m scared I’ll lose him again.

“I can’t let anyone ruin the drug we worked on together. I can’t. I can’t and I won’t. I need him by me and maybe, just maybe, he needs me.”

Malice started to overtake her voice. “And that Lily. Oh, that Lily! What does he see in her that isn’t in me? Why does he want to kill her so much that he can’t see me? I will kill her then. Yes, then he’ll recognize me again. Yes, I will kill Lily. Me.”

There was so much hatred, so much anger, it overwhelmed me, and I had to shield myself from the sheer intensity of her emotions. However, a crack appeared in the shield, and I started to drown. Started to drown in Nyx’s sorrows and hatred, and it suffocated me, overcame me, and plunged me into black, scalding water in which I couldn’t escape.

I screamed as I woke with a start. Cold sweat covered my body and made me sticky, and I shuddered as I thought about my dream.

Sang rushed into my room and beside my bed. “Lily! Are you all right? I heard you scream.” He took my hand in his and caressed it gently back and forth.

“I’m okay,” I said. “I just had a really weird dream. It was like I saw into the past and heard thoughts from the present. Sang, I think Nyx wants to kill me just like Vex does.”

He gave me a reassuring pat on the back with his free hand. “No one will ever dare hurt you. Not as long as I’m around.”

“I know, but she sounded so determined, as if her whole life depended on it. Sang, I’m scared of tomorrow. Do we really have to go?”

He took a moment to think and replied, “Yes, we have to go. It’s what Darius wants, and without us, the mission will be a failure.”

“Mission? That’s what you’re calling it?” I chuckled lightly.

He smirked. “See? I just made you laugh. Everything will be okay. I promise. We’ll have Darius with us, and he’s so cool when he really gets into something. I promise everything will be okay.”

I swallowed hard and laid my head on his shoulder. He got on his knees so it would be easier for me, and he rubbed my back gingerly. I smiled through the tears and nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck.

“You smell so good,” I commented softly.

“I know I do.”

“I could just…take a bite out of you now.” I sensed the hunger rising inside me and beginning to rage against my body. I let my fangs slide out and punctured Sang’s shoulder quickly. I began to drink his blood as if I was drinking a fine wine, with tiny sips and some gulps, and he let me do it so willingly that I felt rather bad, but at the same time glad that I could sate the hunger. He threw his head back and moaned slowly, hands grabbing onto the fabric of my nightshirt as I continued to suck the blood from him.

Finally, the hunger died down, and I pulled off him and slumped into my bed with a pant. Sang’s eyes were distant as I peered into them, and I snapped my fingers. He sputtered some incoherent words and jerked his head up.

“Where were you?” I asked.

He replied with an air of laziness, “In paradise.”

The days were getting shorter and shorter, and a lot colder, so I decided on wearing a pair of jeans and a thick fuchsia, angora sweater with matching boots, a knit hat, and a scarf. Sang had the same idea, only his clothes were red, and he wore sneakers instead of boots. I thought it was cool that we had nearly identical fashion senses.

After I cleaned the fishbowl, I let Sang feed Mr. G, and he giggled the whole time like a little boy as the goldfish lapped up the raw meat hungrily.

“Did you know that they can go weeks without food?” I told Sang.

“Wow, I never knew that about goldfish! I’ll go get myself one and it’ll be Mrs.—”

I stifled a laugh and corrected, “Not goldfish! Ghouls. Ghouls can go weeks without eating.”

“Oh, cool,” he remarked while staring at Mr. G as if he were a priceless artifact. I hoped it was a he, or I’d be offending the poor little thing.

We got into the car and went to McDonald’s for some easy breakfast. We both ordered hotcakes and coffee, although Sang liked his black, and I liked tons of cream in mine. I let the car sit in the parking lot as we ate inside, never saying a word, just looking at each other as if it were only him and me in the whole wide world. It was so right, so good to know that Sang shared my feelings and when we were finished eating, I pecked his cheek and ruffled his hair as he often did mine. He gave me a loving gaze, and I reciprocated the expression.

I broke the silence. “So now we go to Darius’ place?”

He stuffed the last hotcake in his mouth and replied with a muffled, “Wesh.” Which meant “yes.”

We stood up and went outside to my car. I climbed into the driver’s seat and Sang took shotgun. Then I realized I’d forgotten how to get to Darius’ mansion!

I asked, “Can you drive? I forget how to get there.”

“Sure thing, pancake,” he said, and I got out of the car and switched places with him. He drove us to Darius’ mansion in about five minutes, and I tried to remember street names and landmarks, but to no avail. I could remember how to get to my apartment
from
Darius’ place, but not how to get
to
Darius’ place.

“I can’t wait to see Alice,” he exclaimed. “I’ll polish her and clean her out and give her lots of love.”

I mumbled, “Oh, boy. How exciting.” I almost never cleaned or polished my car. I was just too lazy and didn’t care that much. Maybe I should do something in the coming days.

I knew that Darius wanted to go at night, because he said it would be better with fewer humans out. Sang told me that Darius burns up in the sun easily and prefers the night over the day. I accepted both of their explanations and just prayed Nyx wouldn’t kill me. That was my biggest fear.

As Sang rolled around the curve to the entrance of Darius’ home, I saw someone standing in front of the doors with a black parasol above his head. Sang parked, and I almost choked as I realized who it was.

It was Darius. With a parasol.

Wow.

We got out of the car, and Sang immediately went inside, but as I followed, Darius blocked my way and held up a hand. “I wish to speak to you, my dear. Please come with me.”

He handed the parasol to Lawrence and walked inside with me trailing behind. Darius quickly strode into the living room and shut the door, and then took a seat in one of the recliner chairs. I sat on the nearest couch and examined him closely.

He was in a pair of skinny jeans with a long-sleeved, dark navy top and black combat boots. Was he not cold? ’Cause it was freezing outside. He seemed unfazed by everything, sitting with a blank expression, but as his gaze settled on me, it changed, and I couldn’t explain how.

“Will you dine with me for a bit, my dear?”

I wanted to go and be with Sang, but something inside urged me to spend some time with Darius, and I gave in to that urge.

“Yeah. Sure,” I answered.

He smiled faintly and stood up. My eyes followed him as he opened a cabinet beside the eighty-inch television and then came back to the coffee table. He set two bottles of red wine, some scarlet roses, and a candle in the center on the table. He then went back and picked out two tall glasses and placed them beside the wine bottles. I was disappointed he didn’t get any sweets, but this was nice too.

He lit the candle with a match and popped the lids off the wine, and then poured a generous amount into each glass and gave me one. I accepted it and took a sip, and it was sweet but bitter at the end. It tasted good, and I realized that it must be of high quality since Darius had expensive tastes.

He quietly sipped at his glass and kept it in his hand as his amber eyes locked onto mine. “I do not want you to be afraid of tonight,” he said. “I saw your dream, and it was terrifying to you, but I beg you to trust me and not be frightened of such a thing. Thoughts cannot harm you physically, am I right?” He rotated his glass in a circular motion, the wine splashing against the rim.