Read The Huntress Book 1 Memories Online

Authors: Mihaela Gheorghe

Tags: #romance, #vampires, #vampire, #romance vampires, #love vampire, #vampire and mortal romance, #vampire adventure romance

The Huntress Book 1 Memories (7 page)

BOOK: The Huntress Book 1 Memories
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He kicks her. Mom doubles up with pain.

A haze is clouding my eyes. Despite the cold,
heat goes through me from head to toe. My ears are clogged. I began
to tremble, hoping to detain my rage. But I fail.

I sunk into him with a forearm to his neck.
He opens his mouth, shocked and with his breathtaking cut. His eyes
are almost removed from their orbit.

“She is not the parasite here!” I hiss among
my clenched teeth. “She's not an animal here! She's sick, do you
understand? Sick! And if you ever, ever hit her again, I will kill
you!”

His face is increasingly getting purple. He
has oxygen no longer enough. I think I would feel so good to see
how I drain the life out of him, slowly.

The idea scares me though. I release him. He
slips and he falls down like a sack.

I stop paying any attention to him, and I go
back to my mother. I put a hand on her forehead. It's much warmer.
Maybe a little too warm. But perhaps it's because of the clothes I
covered her with. At least she was warm up. I stare at her. I think
she’s the only person in this world that inspires me affection.
Perhaps there were times when I blamed her, or when I was angry
with her. However, I know she did everything she could. And perhaps
it was not necessarily the best, but the how she could. But at the
idea that she would be dead, I shudder with horror. My heart beats
strongly, and in my throat I have a knot that I can barely swallow.
And me, imagining dresses and other nonsense! Ridiculous!

I watched over her. I do not know for how
long and it does not really matter. When I saw her opening her
eyes, I was so relieved that I smiled. It was dark already.

“What's with all these on me?” she asked
me.

“It seemed like you needed some heat”.

She stood hesitantly.

“Mother, what is it? Are you sick? Don’t you
feel fine?”

“Nonsense.” she said, making a vague gesture
with her hand.”Of course I’m just fine.”

But her voice is very hoarse. Her paleness
turned into a red lit. Her eyes shine unnaturally.

“Are you sure?” I insist. “Because you surely
don’t seem”.

“I'm sure.” she says. Go, get out and enjoy
the snow. It's Christmas Eve!”

I clicked my lips. What to tell! Big
deal!

The snow fall intensified. It's so dark that
if I did not know my path with my eyes closed, I would not see
which way the river was. Snow creaks under my feet. The sneakers
that I got from Kyrya are already wet and my feet are pretty cool.
But I have not yet begun to starve with cold. Anyway, I need to
clear my mind a little.

I clear some snow on a stump as much as I
can, then I sit down and look into the void.

Since Sky told me about dresses and corsages,
I kept thinking only about that. Eventually I am only 16 years, to
17. I was a little sarcastic, I know, but I cannot help it. Just
once, to see what it's like to feel in the most beautiful dress
ever! Only to satisfy my curiosity. So, if I can make a wish,
perhaps that would be. To have a princess dress. But as I said, my
wishes never came true. And they never will.

Perhaps the snow creaked again. I do not
know. But when Dane came literally out of nowhere, I was convinced
that I didn’t hear any footsteps in the snow. Or maybe I was too
absorbed with my thoughts to hear him. So it's no surprise that I
flinched when I heard him talking.

“I am still surprised how you can stand the
cold, moisture and frost.” he says.

“You said something like that once.” I
smile.

“That doesn't mean I'm less surprised.”

He has his particular voice that calms down
involuntarily.

“You know that it's past midnight?”

His question has nothing to do with the
discussion. But as a matter of fact, this is pretty much the way
all our discussions are. With questions with no link between them.
So all I can do is shrug with a total indifference.

“So?”

It follows a moment of silence.

“Why aren’t you at the Ball with the
others?”

Again, an unrelated question. But this time I
was the one who asked it. But he did not respond. Instead, he asks
me something else.

“You know it's Christmas?”

I answer as the first time. I only shrug and
say:

“So?”

He approached me. Like every time he does
this thing, I strained, being about to move to a retreat.

“Don’t do that.” he says.

Somehow, his tone sounds like annoyance,
somehow frustration.

“Do what?”

“You think I do not see how you retire
whenever I take a step towards you?”

The discussion becomes too personal and I
start to dislike it.

“Oh, that.” I say carelessly. “I think it's
an instinctive reaction. Not necessarily when it comes about you. I
think I do that with everyone.”

He is silent for a moment, and then he
continues.

“That's true.”

And then silence again. But he takes another
step towards me. The movement was very smooth, like he floated.

“You know you're weird, right?”

Dane slightly frowned. I can see suspicion in
his eyes.

“What do you mean?”

“Hey, come on! Your movements are too lined,
and sometimes you're so still, that you look like a statue. As if
you haven’t anything human. “

My words are followed by a tense silence from
him. His question is just as tense.

“You think so? I had nothing human in
me?”

He sounds wounded. Therefore, I rush to
disagree.

“Gosh, no! You misinterpreted what I said!
Forget about it! But if it does you any good, let me tell you that
at least from my point of view, you are perhaps the most human I’ve
ever known. And your brother as well. And I am convinced that your
whole family is the same.”

“I think it's the most beautiful thing you've
said since we met!”

He seems pleased about my words. But, how
Dane is now very near me, I see myself forced to stand. I breathe
in my hands. I wag one foot to another to take the chill off me a
little. Neither of his side, I feel any heat emanation. Perhaps he
is as frozen as I do, although it does not appear so. He speaks
again, with that tone from the start, soothing.

“You know I said it's Christmas?”

I breathe once more in my hands, before
answering.

“Yes, so?”

“You have no wish for this Christmas?”

I laugh at the absurdity of the idea.

“I'm not the type who makes wishes.”

“Okay, but if, for example, someone wanted to
give you a gift, you get to receive it.... in the Christmas
spirit?”

Then again, I laugh.

“Can you be you serious?”

“I assure you I am very serious.”

“If you say so...”

But he insists.

“Tell me, would you receive it?

“I do not know. As I have not received any
gift, ever, I don't know how it is and if I should get it or not.
But, for all this talk about is hypothetical, because it snows so
pretty, because ultimately, it's Christmas, and most of all, I
repeat, because we talk about assumptions, I suspect that yes, I
think I would receive it.”

“So, let's say, that if I would have got you
a Christmas gift, would you receive it?”

Dane is too serious, and I realize that he
never spoke hypothetically. He does what he does and he puts me in
embarrassing situations.

“I do not know.” I say a little harsh. “But I
hope you did not do such a thing.”

He sounds mad again.

“You don't know what you're talking about!”
he says. “It is obvious that you have never cared for anyone and
that you never wish to offer something. Because if you did, you
understand that, by receiving a gift from someone, you're causing a
great pleasure, in the first instance, to the giver himself.”

“I don’t have to hear all these! How do you
know that I didn't want to give?” I start criticizing at him. “Just
because I couldn't do all this, it does not mean that I don't know
how it feels the need of giving!”

“Then, if you do know what I mean, why don’t
you accept?”

“Okay, fine!” I shot at him.” I will, are you
satisfied?”

He loosens his features into a smile and I
can see his dimples again. He takes out from his long garment a
large box. I stare.

Because I was expecting a small thing, not a
big box. He gives it to me with satisfaction. Unwillingly, I put my
hands behind my back.

“What... What is this?” I ask.

Still smiling, he responds.

“Open it and look for yourself.”

I look at him. There were yellow sparkles of
joy in his eyes. A rather awkward moment passes before I find my
courage to take the box. I lift the lid and I take my hand to my
mouth, as in shock.

The most beautiful dress I've ever seen it,
or I've ever imagined, glitters under my eyes. I'm thinking that
maybe I’m dreaming. With an almost unnatural respect, I pet the
gossamer material with a finger. I jump when Dane leans and pulls
out that wonder of its abode.

I'm sure my pupils dilate when they see it in
all its glory. The bodice is made only of shiny silver stones. They
all are like small mirrors and they shine to every move.
Immediately beneath it, yards of fabric turn blue ink velvet. No
sleeves, no straps.“It’s... It's beautiful…” I manage to
babble.

“Then... Will you accept it?" he asks me
again.

I make a concession.

“Look,” I say. ”Not as you wish and not as
mine. Okay? I mean… I receive it for now, since it's Christmas. But
afterwards I'll give it back to you.”

I can clearly see that he doesn't like
that.

“Well…, what would I do with it?” he asks
me.

“Well, what would I do with it?” I paraphrase
him myself.

In some ways, he understands. That's what I
always appreciated him. That in one way or another, he
understood.

“You put it a little beside you.” he urges
me.

“I think I'm going to do more than that.” I
say pretty excited. “Wait here for a moment.”

I take the dress between his fingers and I
disappear into the darkness.

Perhaps it would have been better to put the
dress on me over all the clothes I wore already. And not
necessarily better, but definitely warmer. However, I took off my
clothes and I got the dress on me. I just wanted to have a big
mirror that I can see myself in it. Because I know, that dress
makes anyone, even myself. Suddenly I am eager that Dane sees
me.

“Well, what do you think?”

I appear in front of him. The snow falls over
my bare shoulders, over my thin, bare arms. I have my sneakers on
my feet. My joy is slightly reduced when I see the expression in
his eyes. His irises glow yellowish orange, more orange. That light
makes me feel bad. It instinctively makes me want to run away.

“Stop looking at me like that!” I yell at
him.

He then looks at me with bewilderment.

“Like what?”

“Oh, I cannot stand it when you look at me
like that!”

“Like what?” He repeated the question.

“That's it! I do not know how and in what
way, but I know I don’t like it!”

“And I ask you ‘like what’?”

“Like... Like... Like… I see sometimes, some
students at the school that look this way at some of the
girls.”

“And why do you think they look like that at
them?”

He speaks softly. His tone is lower and a
little hoarse. It makes my heart beat a little faster.

“I... I think they are looking at them to...
I think they would do something to them.”

“Something bad?” He insists.

I hesitate a bit.

“Not necessarily bad. But it's a look that I
hate. And you... You look at me like that sometimes. I prefer that
look of yours as if you're thinking about something tasty to eat.
Because there are times when I look at me that way too. I do not
like it, but it's better than when you look at me like you do it
now.”

He turns his gaze toward me.

“You're very skilled to read people’s eyes.”
he says softly.

His tone is thoughtful and gives me the
impression that he suffers. This softens me slightly.

“Look, can’t we just no longer arguing
over?”

“I'm not the one who argues here. You are the
one yelling because you don't like how I look at you.”

“Please, let's change the subject.” I ask
him.

He seems to think over for a few moments, but
then he denied with a movement of his head.

“No, I don't want to change the subject.
First, you got upset when I told you that I think you are
beautiful. Now, you mind that I look at you in a certain way. You
know what? If you could see yourself as I see you right now, a
thin, white creature wrapped in this dress, with snowflakes that
sparkle in your hair, with bright eyes arguing with me, you would
realize that indeed, you are not only beautiful, you're
ravishing!”

I cover my ears with my hands to not to hear
him, but he removes my hands by force.

“No, you will listen to everything I have to
say! You do not understand how I look at you? I look at you like I
want to kiss you, to caress you, to touch you, to walk my hands all
over your body and skin...”

“Shut up! Just shut up!” I'm trying to
interrupt him.

But he just shook his head and he continued
stubbornly.

“You still didn’t get it? I watch you as I
desire you, as I'd like to lov …”

He suddenly shut his tirade. He released my
hands and he turns away from me. He sighs. Then he talks again.

“I know you don't like it. I often felt it
inside of you. That's why you have seen me just looking at you as
you say I did. Because sometimes I can hold back, sometimes not.
And tonight ... you were too much for me to be able to control it.
And let me tell you, that I do control myself a lot when I'm with
you.”

 

/
’I didn’t realize then what he wanted to
say with that. Later, I understood. But then...’/

BOOK: The Huntress Book 1 Memories
7.01Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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