Intertwined

CHAPTER 10

Aden sat at his makeshift desk and stared down at his homework, an English paper about why William Shakespeare’s plays were still relevant in modern society, wondering why he’d fought so hard to attend public school. He wasn’t spending any extra time with Mary Ann, he was no closer to finding a way to get the souls out of his mind and into bodies of their own, and he was more confused than ever about Shannon and the wolf, whether they were one and the same or separate entities entirely.

Since that afternoon in the forest, when Aden had bitten the werewolf’s leg, Shannon had been avoiding him, even glared and snarled at him despite their first-day-of-school truce—proof he had to be the angry shape-shifter. But Shannon hadn’t once walked with a limp—proof he couldn’t possibly be the shape-shifter.

Quite simply, Aden was confused and miserable. His teachers weren’t exactly fond of him, but he hadn’t made any new friends and the only one he had was currently avoiding him. There was no time to talk at school and she raced away from him and into the forest the moment the last bell rang.

He knew why, too. She feared him. She feared what he was, what he could do. How could she not? He was a freak.

He shouldn’t have trusted her.

Perhaps following Mary Ann that day in the cemetery had been a mistake. Elijah had warned him.

You should ignore her, Caleb said, sensing the direction of his thoughts. Treat her like crap. That’s what really gets a girl’s attention.

Don’t listen to him. He was a lecher in another life, I just know it. Disgust practically dripped from Eve’s voice. Girls respect boys who treat them well.

“Still think you know her?” He dropped his head in his upraised palms, Shakespeare forgotten.

I’m sure of it. I have a few ideas percolating about when we might have seen her, but I’m not yet ready to talk about them.

Aden caught the hidden meaning to her words and moaned. Eve was planning to take him back, to travel into a younger version of himself—today’s mind in yesterday’s body—so that he could revisit the past with this new knowledge. The only reason she hadn’t already done so, he suspected, was that she hadn’t decided on a specific day. That’s what was “percolating,” he was sure.

“Eve,” he began, then stopped himself. Stubborn as she was, she might take him back in time tonight if he irritated her enough.

She hadn’t forced him to time travel in years, and they were all grateful. He’d just have to solve Eve’s mystery for her. Before she resorted to using her “gift.”

“Lights out,” Dan suddenly called.

Grunts and groans filled the hallways, followed by the shuffle of feet. Sighing, Aden pushed to a stand and switched off his lamp. Darkness flooded his bedroom. He didn’t kick off his shoes but lay in bed just as he was. He was tired yet restless. As always. Part of him expected Dan to peek inside the room and check on him, and he waited several hours, the covers drawn to his chin to hide his clothing. Those hours dragged by, alone and uninterrupted.

Silver lining: his companions fell asleep from boredom.

Finally, when he was confident the others in the bunkhouse were sleeping, he moved to his window and climbed outside. The nights were getting cooler, fall well on its way. Sophia and the other dogs slept inside with Dan and Meg, so he didn’t have to worry about their barking waking the entire ranch.

As he’d done every night for the past week, he maneuvered through the forest toward the clearing Victoria had led him into. Lack of sleep was making him cranky, but he’d rather have the chance of seeing her again than the promise of slumber. Where was she? Why hadn’t she returned to him?

Despite the fact that she drank blood—and would drink his—and despite the fact that she could turn humans into blood-slaves, whatever those were, he wanted to see her again. Needed to see her.

Gradually he became aware of a murmur of voices—and for once they weren’t coming from inside his mind. The closer he came to the clearing, the louder they became. Excitement hit—had he finally found her?

He positioned himself behind a thick stump and listened. One speaker was male, one was female; their actual words, however, were too muffled to decipher. But he soon realized that the female wasn’t Victoria. This one’s voice was too high.

Excitement gave way to disappointment. He would have left them to their business, whoever they were and whatever they were doing, if he hadn’t known a vampire female liked to traverse the area. They could be vampire hunters, for all he knew, planning to kill her.

He didn’t know if people like that truly existed, but he wasn’t taking any chances. He slinked out of the shadows and edged closer.

One of them might have said, “Kill.” Perhaps, “Pill.” The other might have replied, “I could.” Perhaps, “I’m good.” Either way, they weren’t out there planting roses.

Just a little closer…A twig snapped under his boot. He froze. Waited, not even daring to breathe. The voices tapered to quiet.

What should he do? He couldn’t leave until they did, just in case Victoria showed up. And he couldn’t—

Someone tackled him from behind, sending him face-first into a bed of brittle leaves. The impact startled him, but he was able to roll to his back, then roll again, pinning his attacker under him. He punched the brute in the stomach.

There was a grunt of pain, a whoosh of air. Aden jumped to his feet, intending to grab his daggers, but as he peered down, he saw who had rammed him and froze. “Ozzie?”

“Stone?” Ozzie stood, spit out a mouthful of dirt. “You’re following me now? What, are you trying to get me booted from the ranch? Well, good luck with that, ’cause I won’t go quietly.” Without any other warning, he kicked Aden between the legs.

Utter pain radiated through him, hunching him over, making his skin feel like fire and his blood like ice. He wanted to vomit. Dear…God…

As he gasped and sweated and combated the nausea, rage boiled inside him. Low blow. Low freaking blow. When he was able to breathe again, Ozzie was going to be sorry.

“Let’s see how well you can tattle on me without any teeth.” Ozzie pounded his fist into Aden’s eye. Bad aim? Then his lip. Okay, not so bad.

His head spun. His rage intensified, spilled over, filled him up and gave him wings. With a growl, he launched forward and grabbed the boy around the waist, propelling them both to the ground. Crack. Ozzie’s skull connected with a large rock, stunning him.

Aden propped himself on his knees and just started swinging. Boom, one fist slammed into a cheekbone. “That’s for my first T-shirt.” Boom, his other fist connected with an eye socket. “That’s for the others.” Boom, he connected with Ozzie’s chin. Blood sprayed. He didn’t care, was lost to the rage, determined to inflict as much pain as possible. “That’s for my nuts!”

Snarling, Ozzie pulled his legs from under Aden, bending and anchoring them on Aden’s chest. A hard push had him flying backward. He hit a tree and sank to the ground. A pile of leaves softened the impact.

What’s going on? Eve suddenly demanded, groggy but loud.

Doing his best to ignore her, he hopped up and once more launched forward. He slammed his head into Ozzie’s throat. As Ozzie hunched over, gurgling, Aden kicked him in the stomach without a second’s thought. One thing he’d learned over the years was that there was no honor in fighting. You did whatever was necessary to win, even kick someone when they were down—especially when they were down—or you suffered.

He joined his hands and bashed them into Ozzie’s temple. Ozzie swung to the side, dropped to his knees. A plastic bag fell from his pocket. His head remained bowed, one hand clutching his middle, the other covering his face to protect it.

“Get up! Fight me! Isn’t that what you wanted?” This had been a long time coming, and now that they were punching it out, Dan not here to intervene, Aden couldn’t stop himself. He settled his weight on one leg, leaned forward and slammed his fist into Ozzie’s jaw. “Come on!”

Again, the impact sent him flying. Ozzie quickly righted himself and came up swinging. “Yeah, it’s what I wanted. What I’ll do.”

Aden ducked, jabbing the dreg in the stomach yet again and forcing more of that needed oxygen out of his mouth. He raised his leg to do it again.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

The female voice was followed by the click of a gun. Slowly he lowered his leg and turned halfway, not letting Ozzie out of his sights but eyeing as much of the girl as he could. She was shorter than him by at least a foot, slight and trembling. And she was aiming a pistol right at him.

He could take her, even panting and sweating as he was. No longer was he in pain, his adrenaline simply too high. Hurting a girl, though, was not a prospect he enjoyed.

Because it’s wrong, Eve said, as if reading his mind.

He won’t have to hurt her, Elijah said. This is going to be okay.

How is a chick with an obviously itchy trigger finger gonna turn out okay? Caleb shouted.

Run, Aden, Julian commanded. Just start running.

Aden stepped backward.

Stay still! Elijah growled, and he froze.

Run, Julian commanded again, and he took another step.

Stop.

“Quiet!” he shouted, covering his ears.

“You be quiet! And move another inch, and I swear to God you’ll be eating every one of these bullets. Now who the hell are you?” the girl snarled. She was cute, despite the gun, with a short cap of blond hair. Her bottom lip was cut, as if she, too, had recently been in a fight.

“It’s okay, Casey,” Ozzie said, surprisingly calm as he stood. His words were slightly slurred, his jaw already swelling. “He’s from the ranch.”

She didn’t lower the gun. “You always tear into the guys you live with?”

“Yeah, I do.” Ozzie bent down and swiped up the plastic Baggies he’d dropped. “He’s not a cop, and he’s not gonna narc. He knows I’d stab him in his sleep if he tried.”

Aden knew a dime bag when he saw one. So Ozzie and the gun-wielding Casey were here for drugs. “For someone who just lost, you sure sound confident about what you can do to me.”

Ozzie stiffened. Casey straightened her aim.

Maybe he should have kept his mouth closed. But from the corner of his eye, he’d caught a glimpse of Victoria, gliding toward them, silent as a ghost, and the words had slipped out.

Neither Ozzie nor Casey even glanced in her direction.

Aden would have known she was there even if he hadn’t spotted her. Power radiated from her, enveloping the area, charging the air so much it crackled. As she closed the distance, her skin seemed whiter than ever. So white it glowed. Her dark robe was swaying in the breeze.

Told you it would be okay, Elijah said, smug.

Another gut feeling proven to be valid. At this rate, Elijah would soon be able to predict everything.

“You will not shoot him,” the vampire said in that raspy voice of hers, suddenly in front of Casey. She waved a hand near the girl’s face, opal ring catching beams of moonlight and casting rainbow shards in every direction.

Casey froze, so still Aden couldn’t even see her breathing.

“You will drop the gun and leave, your memory wiped clean of this event.”

There was no hesitation as Casey obeyed. The gun plopped harmlessly to the ground; she turned and walked away, never once glancing back. Aden was both in awe and embarrassed. Victoria’s powers were greater than he’d realized. And he’d just been saved by a girl. He should be the one doing the saving.

“What the—” Ozzie began.

“You, too, will leave, your memory wiped clean of this event.”

The dreg’s eyes glazed over and he, too, turned and walked away.

“I need him to remember,” Aden said. Otherwise, when they both awoke with bruised and battered faces, Ozzie would know they had to have fought, but wouldn’t know he’d lost to Aden. Aden wanted him to have that knowledge. To be afraid of coming after him. Afraid of retaliation.

Reluctant, Victoria nodded. “Very well. I shall return his memory to him by morning.”

“Thank you. For everything.” Aden’s gaze slid over her. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and the long, thick length of it hung over her shoulder. Her lips were pink rather than their usual red. “How’d you find me?”

“You’re bleeding,” she said rather than answering. Or maybe that was the answer. As she spoke, her eyes began to darken, black pupils overshadowing blue irises. Closer and closer she floated to him. But she stopped herself just before reaching him and backtracked. Looked away. “I shouldn’t have revealed myself.”

“I’m glad you did.”

Her gaze returned to him. Or rather, to the blood trickling from the bleeding cut on his lips. “I can stop the bleeding, if you’d like.” Her tongue flicked over her sharpening fangs. “It…it won’t mean anything. It’s just something I can do.”

He wasn’t sure how she planned to stop it, but he found himself nodding.

“I won’t…will try not to…hurt you. I’ll be gentle. Won’t be an animal.”

He wasn’t sure whether the words were meant for him or herself, but once again she approached him. And then her mouth met his, pressing softly, gently, utterly warm, her tongue once again flicking out and wiping the crimson beads away.

He stood very still, savoring the feel of her, that honeysuckle scent. He had to fist his hands at his sides to keep from grabbing her and holding on forever. Where she licked, he tingled…ached…but it was a good ache. Don’t stop, he thought. Never stop.

But stop she did. She raised her head, eyelids at half-mast, expression blissful. “Delicious.”

“You can have more if you want it,” he croaked out, tilting his head to reveal more of his neck. If this was how he would feel when she bit him, he was ready.

“Yes, I—no.” She shook her head and backtracked again. “No. I can’t. Why did you let me do that? Why would you ask me to do it again? Have you no sense? Do you want to be my blood-slave? Addicted to my bite, unable to think of anything else?”

“I won’t become addicted,” he said, praying it was true.

“How do you know?”

He didn’t have an answer, so he ignored the question. “Does being bitten hurt?”

Her shoulders relaxed slightly. “I’m told it can feel quite wonderful,” she said—and then she disappeared.

He blinked, tried not to panic. Looked left, right.

“But liking it will be the least of your worries,” she said from behind him.

He spun.

Victoria had one shoulder pressed against the trunk of a tree. “You shouldn’t tempt me to do it, you know.”

He sighed. “Would drinking from me once cause me to become a slave?”

“No. It takes multiple feedings. But I will not bite you.” There at the end, her voice rose with determination. “Ever.”

“All right.” He studied her, doing his best to keep his heartbeat under control. She looked ready to bolt and never return. Dropping the subject seemed wise. For the moment. No reason to tell her that she would indeed bite him, whether she changed her mind or not. “How did you move so quickly?”

“All of my kind are able to do so.” With barely a breath, she added, “What are you doing here, Aden? This forest is dangerous for humans.”

Why was the forest dangerous for humans? When he realized what he’d just pondered, he shook his head. It was weird being referred to as a human. Even though that’s what he was. “I was looking for you. You left so quickly the other night and I have so many questions.”

“Questions I probably can’t answer.” She plucked a leaf from the tree, crumpled it in her hand and dropped the pieces. They floated to the ground, twisting and twirling.

Curious as he was, he couldn’t allow himself to give up. Rather than push, however, he decided to ask something innocent, something easy. Hopefully, answering him would become second nature to Victoria so he could then tackle the tougher questions. His doctors had used that method on him a time or two.

“Why do you wear robes? I would think you’d want to wear something modern and blend in.”

“Blending in has never been our goal.” She shrugged. “Besides, robes are what my father prefers.”

“And you always do what he says?”

“Those who disobey him end up wishing they were dead.” She turned away. “I should go.”

“Don’t,” he rushed out, stepping toward her. “Wait. Stay with me. Just a little longer. I’ve…missed you.”

That’s not treating a girl like crap, Caleb suddenly piped up.

We’ve talked about this, Eve said. Your crap theory is crap.

Aden’s jaw clenched. “Please, Victoria.”

She stopped, faced him. A thousand different emotions seemed to fight for dominance over her features. Hope, regret, happiness, sadness, fear. Finally, hope won. “Come,” she said. “I want to show you something.”

She held out her hand. He wondered what had caused such turmoil inside her, but he didn’t hesitate to close the distance between them and twine their fingers. The heat of her skin nearly singed him as she led him through the forest, deeper and deeper, the trees thickening around them.

“You’re so hot,” he said, then, to his horror, felt himself flush. “I don’t mean you’re pretty. Wait. You are. Pretty, I mean. Beautiful. I just meant your temperature is hot.” Could he sound any lamer?

“Oh, sorry.” She jerked from his hold.

“No, I like it.” Apparently, he could. He twined their fingers again. “I was just wondering why you’re so…um, hot.”

“Oh,” she said again, relaxing against his hold. “Vampires have more blood than humans. A lot more. And not just because of what we consume. That’s why our hearts work at a greater speed.”

They rounded a corner. He didn’t recognize the area, the leaves hanging from the branches so bright a red it almost looked as though the trees were bleeding. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

He hated adding to the distance between him and the ranch, just in case Dan awoke and came gunning for him, but he didn’t protest. Being with Victoria was worth the risk. Any risk.

His ears perked when he heard the nearby rush of water. “There’s a river here?”

“You’ll see,” she repeated.

They broke through a tangle of foliage and what could only be a bathing pool came into view. Boulders were stacked at one side, water cascading from them, bubbling and frothing at the edges. His jaw dropped.

“This was nothing more than a puny pond when I arrived,” Victoria said. “I worked all week to stack the rocks. Riley, my bodyguard, rerouted the water for me.”

Riley. Her bodyguard. He must be the boy Aden had seen her with that morning at the ranch. Which meant they weren’t brother and sister. Worse, they probably spent a lot of time together.

He studied the stones, using the time to tamp down a suddenly blast of jealousy. There were too many to count, all so large no one her size should have been able to lift them.

“You both did an amazing job,” was all he said.

“Thank you.”

It’s so peaceful here. I never want to leave, Eve said.

Maybe she brought you here to make out with you, Caleb said hopefully. Who knew being nice could pay off?

Uh, I did, Eve replied.

Argh! “Guys. Quiet, please. I’m begging you.” His companions grumbled but did as he’d asked.

Victoria’s focus whipped to him. She was frowning.

“Not you,” he told her. “If you want to know who I was talking to, though, you’ll have to trade me for the information.” There. That was how he’d get answers out of her. If she was curious about him. But if she was and he told her the truth, would she decide he was too weird to hang out with, as Mary Ann apparently had?

“I would be willing to trade,” she said, and he wanted to both cheer and curse. She faced the water, her back to him. “We can do so while we swim.”

Wait. What? “Swim? With you?”

She laughed. “Who else? I’ve come here every night. You’ll enjoy the water, I promise.”

“But I don’t have a suit.”

“So?” Without turning toward him, she tugged the robe from her shoulders. The material slid to the ground, and once again his jaw dropped. Never had he seen a lovelier sight. She wore a lacy pink swimsuit—the first time he’d ever seen her in color. First time he’d ever seen a girl so bare in person. She was as white as snow all over, her body perfectly curved, all lean muscle, smooth planes and hollows.

Am I drooling? he wondered.

Dear Lord in heaven, Caleb gasped out. I know, I know. I’m supposed to be quiet. But the words slipped out because—and I could be mistaken here—I think my tongue is hanging out. Never mind that I don’t actually have one.

Aden hated that his companions were seeing her like this. Hated it so much a red sheen of jealousy hazed behind his eyes, and it was far greater than when he’d thought of her and her muscled bodyguard together. All the time. Okay. The red expanded, thickened. He wanted to be the only one to enjoy her. Now and always.

Victoria waded into the pool, droplets splashing, water swallowing her up, not stopping until she reached the center, submerged all the way to her shoulders. Slowly she whirled around, grinning. “Are you coming?”

Hell, yes. The jealousy thing he could deal with later. Aden stripped to his boxers and waded in. The water was cool and caused goose bumps to break out over his skin. He took it like a man, though, and pretended he loved it. No way did he want her thinking he was a wuss. Well, any more of one.

His feet touched in the center, the waterline coming to his shoulders, as well, but he was taller than her and realized she couldn’t possibly reach the mossy ground. Still, she seemed unperturbed by her swishing feet, the water not even rippling.

They circled each other, their gazes never wavering.

“Ready to trade?” he asked. He was willing to do anything, even blab about himself, to learn about her.

She hesitated only a moment before nodding.

“First, maybe we should set the rules.”

“Like?”

“Like, rule one. You’re a girl, so you go first. Rule two. You’ll ask me a question, anything at all, and I’ll answer it. Rule three. I’ll ask you a question, again anything at all, and you’ll have to answer it. Rule four. We have to answer truthfully.”

“Agreed.” No hesitation. “I will begin then. So…who were you speaking to earlier when you said ‘quiet’?”

Of course she’d chosen the most embarrassing question to kick things off. But then, his luck would have permitted nothing else. “I was speaking to the souls trapped inside my head.” Hopefully she would leave it at that.

Her eyes widened. “Souls? Trapped in your head? What do you—”

“Nope,” he said with a shake of his head. “It’s my turn. Who do you drink from? And more importantly, do you have many blood-slaves?” In his head, the questions continued. Were those slaves male? And what would he do if they were?

“That’s two questions, so you will owe me. The answer to the first is humans. The answer to the second is no. I have none. I prefer to drink from my prey only once.”

Thank God. “I know you drink from humans, though. That’s not what I meant.” He thought back to the last few newspapers he’d seen, the last news at nine he’d watched. “There are no articles about recent attacks in the area. No news stations blaring stories about possible vampire sightings. Nobody but me seems to know you even exist. I don’t understand how that’s possible if you and your family are, uh, eating many meals.”

“There’s a reason for that, but you will have to trade me for it.” The last was said in a singsong voice. Seemed the vampire was using his own strategy against him. “Now it’s my turn. What do you mean, souls are trapped inside your head?”

Yep. His luck sucked. “Souls, personalities, other humans. There are four and they’ve always been with me. At least, as long as I remember. We’ve played with a bunch of different theories about how they got there, and the best we’ve been able to come up with is that I drew them into me. Kind of like how I apparently drew you, only I absorbed them inside my head. They talk all the time.” He hurried on before they could protest. “Each possesses an ability. One can time travel. One can raise the dead, one can overtake other bodies, and one can see the future. Usually when someone’s about to die.”

“That means you can do these things, as well?”

He nodded. “And now we’re even, question-wise.”

Her head tilted to the side, her expression thoughtful. “You are more powerful than we realized.”

And that was not a good thing, he mused, judging by her hardened tone. But she wasn’t running, wasn’t eyeing him as if he were nuclear waste. That was miles above what he’d expected. But then, she was a vampire.

“I wonder how my father will react to that.”

Aden wondered, too. The man had wanted to kill him merely because of the wind he and Mary Ann had created. This was a thousand times worse. “Maybe you should, I don’t know, not tell him.”

“You’re probably right. So, tell me more about them, these souls. You said they talk all the time. Are they loud?”

He shrugged, and the water rippled. “Most days, yeah. That’s why most of the world thinks I’m weird. Because I’m always telling them to be quiet or, worse, conversing with them. And now, you owe me.”

She reached out and threaded their fingers, almost as if she craved contact as much as he did. “People might think you’re weird, Aden, but they think I am evil. Maybe I am. I survive on blood. And at first, when I learned to take it, I was too eager, unable to stop myself, and hurt innocents.”

He heard the guilt in her tone, the sadness, and hated that she’d experienced the emotion. He only wanted her happy. And if that made him the wuss he didn’t want to be, well, he’d freaking be a wuss.

Which brought him back to the bodyguard Riley. Was Aden the only one who wanted her happy? Surely not. After all, Victoria had once told him that Riley was jealous of him. He hadn’t understood at the time. But maybe Riley was jealous of the time Victoria spent with him. Jealous, as a boyfriend would be.

Why did she need a bodyguard anyway? he wondered darkly. “Talking about how people view us is depressing. So let’s talk about Riley. Is he also your boyfriend?” Every part of him felt like Victoria was his. If she said yes…“You have to answer truthfully. Remember, you owe me.”

She laughed. “No. He’s more like a brother. He irritates me, which is why I sneak away from him whenever possible. What of you and the girl I’ve seen you with? Mary Ann?”

“Friends only,” he said, though he wasn’t sure the friend part was even true any longer.

Victoria’s thumb traced his palm. “What kind of person is she?”

Before he could stop himself—not that he wanted to stop himself—Aden brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it. “Sweet. Kind. Honest. She knows about me. Well, knows a little about me. She watched me possess the body of a werewolf, so there was no hiding it from her.”

“Vampires and werewolves? What have you gotten yourself into? Werewolves are dangerous creatures,” Victoria said huskily. “Vicious killers.” Her gaze fell to his lips. “Beware of them.”

“I already am.” Maybe he’d go hunting, find that werewolf and get rid of it before it could hurt someone. Namely Mary Ann. Whether she liked him or not, she was a good person.

Closer and closer Victoria eased toward him, closing the small gap between them. “Before, you asked about the humans we drink from and why there are no reports of people being bitten. You saw the way my voice affected your friends, yes? Just as it affected you when first we spoke. Well, when we bite a human, we release a chemical into their systems that makes them even more susceptible to our suggestions. A drug, a hallucinogen, I guess you could say. Once we are finished with them, we send them on their way and they forget they were ever reduced to a meal.”

If he had to have strange powers, Aden wished they could have been more like hers. That voodoo voice would have made his life a lot easier; he could have sent certain people (cough Ozzie cough) away with no memory of him.

“Are you dead, like legends claim?” He’d lost track of who owed whom an answer. But then, trading information was no longer his goal. Touching her was. He wrapped his free hand around her waist and splayed his fingers on the small of her back. She didn’t seem to mind. “I mean, did you die and someone turned you into a vampire?”

“No, I am not dead. I live.” She lifted his palm to her chest and pressed. Her skin was as hot as before but underneath, he could feel the steady rhythm of her heart. It beat faster than his, faster than anyone should have been able to survive, racing to a finish line it would never reach. “My father, he was the first of us. You might have heard of him. Vlad the Impaler, some call him. During his first life, his human life, he drank blood as a symbol of his power. So much blood it…changed him. Or perhaps he simply drank infected blood. He has never been sure. All he knows is that he began to crave it until it became all that he could stomach.”

Talk about the ultimate punishment for his deeds. “How many of your kind are there now?”

“A few thousand, scattered throughout the world. My father is king to them all.”

King. The word reverberated in his head, making him cringe. “That means you’re a—”

“Princess. Yes.” She stated it so simply, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

A princess. Suddenly Aden felt even more inadequate. She was royalty, and he was poor, stuck at a ranch with kids too wild for civilization. She was the daughter of a king. He was parentless and considered mentally unstable.

“I should probably go,” he found himself saying. Why couldn’t Elijah have shown him this? Knowing what she was would have saved him the trouble of caring for her—only to lose her.

Confusion darkened her features. “Why are you leaving?”

Did he really need to spell it out? “I’m a nothing, Victoria, a no one. Or should I say Princess Victoria? Should I bow, too?”

His sneering tone had her swimming backward, out of his reach. “You didn’t care that I was a vampire, yet my station bothers you. Why?”

“Just forget it,” he said, turning. His hands felt like ice blocks without her fiery heat.

Before he could blink, she was in front of him. Back in his arms. “You are beyond irritating, Aden Stone.”

“So are you.” He knew he should release her, but couldn’t force his hands to obey this time.

“Because I am a princess, I have spent most of my life sequestered. Rules and regulations are mine to follow, more so than anyone else, for I must always act with the decorum such a title demands. I must be everything the people want me to be: polite, polished and above reproach. Then you summoned us and we came to observe you. I saw how you kept yourself separated from those around you. I saw the loneliness in your eyes and I thought you would understand how feel. And then, when you first looked at me, every time you’ve looked at me, really, I felt your excitement. It causes your blood to flow so swiftly.” Her eyes briefly closed, as if she were savoring the memories.

“Tonight,” she continued, “you asked me to stay with you. You’re the first person to want to spend time with me, to talk and get to know me. Do you know how irresistible that is? Riley is my friend, but it’s his job to watch me. And with him, I can never forget who and what I am. But with you…I feel normal. Like any other girl.”

Being normal. It was a desire he knew well. And that he made her feel that way was astonishing.

“You do the same for me,” he admitted. “But I’m—”

“Irresistible, as I said. I should stay away from you, but can’t. So now I will be the one to ask you not to go.”

He didn’t know whether to laugh or sigh. As long as she didn’t see him as a nothing, he would try not to, as well. “I’ll stay.”

Slowly she grinned, and it lit her entire face. “Good. Now. What were you saying about me? About the way I make you feel?”

“Just that I feel normal when I’m with you.” And I think you’re the best thing to have ever happened to me. He cleared his throat. “So what else happened when your dad became a vampire?” he asked, pretending they had never veered off course. Pretending, for them both, that they really were normal. Despite the topic of conversation.

She must have realized what he was doing, because her smile brightened. “He ceased aging, his body strengthened exponentially. His skin lost all remnants of color, becoming an impenetrable shield.”

Aden recalled the way she’d laughed when he’d mentioned cutting her with his daggers. I can’t be cut, she’d said. “Your skin can’t be broken?”

She shook her head. “Not with a sharp object, no.”

That would be both a blessing and a curse. A knife couldn’t hurt her, but no doctor could operate on her if needed. Was it ever needed? “Do you ever get sick?”

“Once,” she hedged, then sighed and released his hand to pluck at the fingers. Some contact was better than none. “Aden.”

Clearly, the newest question made her uncomfortable. “If your father ceased aging, does that mean you’re almost as old as he is?” he asked, and she relaxed. “No, wait. You can’t be. You told me older vampires can’t tolerate the sun and you can tolerate it.”

“Yes, I’m younger than he is. I’m only eighty-one years old.” She tangled a hand through his hair, clearly liked the feel, and did it again. “But don’t think I have looked as I do now all that time. My siblings and I age slowly, very slowly. Our mothers despaired of ever getting us out of the terrible toddler stage.”

He remembered the few toddlers he’d encountered at various foster homes. The tantrums, the “all mine” mentality, and the way they drew on everything, even his walls. “Where’s your mom now?”

“In Romania. She was not allowed to travel with us.”

He wanted to ask why, but didn’t want to have to answer anything about his own parents. So instead he said, “Eighty-one. Wow. You’re like my grandma. If I had one.”

“What a terrible thing to say,” she said, but was smiling again.

“In all your eighty-one years, you must have had a lot of boyfriends, huh?”

For some reason, that wiped away her amusement. She looked away guiltily. “Only one.”

Just one? And why the guilt? “Why so few?”

“He’s the only boy my father has ever approved of.”

Which meant her father’s approval mattered to her. Sadly, approval was not something Aden was likely to get. So how long did he have before Victoria gave up on him? How long before she left him, never to return? How long until she started dating someone her father did like?

As the questions hammered through him, a sense of urgency overwhelmed him. He had to show her how good it could be between them. Had to bring a vision to life—before it was too late.

“I told you I see the future, yes?”

She nodded reluctantly, probably confused by his sudden subject change.

A tide of nervousness swept through him. Just say it, tell her. “I’ve seen us together.” Good. Now for the rest. “I knew you’d come to me before you arrived.”

She stilled, frowned. “Wh-what did we do? When we were together?”

He didn’t mention that he’d seen her drink from his neck. He didn’t want to scare her away. She was skittish enough about being with him. “We…kissed.”

“You and me, kis…sing.” The last was uttered on a wispy catch of breath. “I want to, oh, God, do I want to. But I can’t. I’ll end up feeding from you, and I refuse to let you see me that way.”

Was that the only thing holding her back? “You’ve already tasted my blood, and you were able to walk away.”

“I almost didn’t,” she admitted.

“So what if you can’t this time? I can take it.”

“You can, perhaps, but I can’t stand knowing that you will have seen me behaving like such an animal.”

Victoria? An animal? “I would never think that of you.”

Her arms circled his neck, her elbows resting on his shoulders. Sharp white fangs peeked over her bottom lip. “Aden,” she said, then sighed. “What am I going to do with you?”

“You’re going to kiss me.”

Still she resisted—but the determination she’d exhibited earlier was fading. “I could scare you. I could horrify and disgust you.” Before he could reply, she pushed away from him. She spun around, refusing even to face him. “We should go.”

Waves lapped at his chin, and he fought his disappointment. Soon, he told himself, they would kiss. She would bite him, and he would prove to her that such an act didn’t disgust him.

“You can’t leave yet. It’s my turn to ask you to stay and your turn to relent.” He didn’t want them to part unhappily. When she thought back over this night, he wanted her craving another like it. “Besides, I have one more question for you and you owe me an answer.” Truth or not, he didn’t care.

She didn’t look back, but she did nod stiffly. “Ask.”

Slowly he inched toward her. “What do you think of…this.” He scooped a handful of water and chucked it at her, drenching her hair.

She was sputtering as she whirled around. Droplets fell into her eyes, catching in her eyelashes. “Why did you—”

Laughing, he tossed another handful. This one hit her dead center in the face.

“Why, you little…human!”

Before he could blink, she had him dunked under the water. When he surfaced, she was laughing, and the sound warmed him body and soul. Like children, happy, carefree children, they played until the sun began to rise. Splashing each other, dunking each other. She won, of course, because she was infinitely stronger than he was, but he’d never had so much fun.

Aden, honey, Eve said, speaking up for the first time in hours. Her voice actually surprised him. The souls had behaved and he hadn’t even realized it until now. You have to go back. We’ll be lucky if Dan is still sleeping and doesn’t catch you climbing through your window.

She was right.

But day’um, I wish I could feel what you feel, Caleb said. I didn’t even mind the forced silence. You were pressed against boobs. Several times!

He barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes. “If I don’t return, I’ll be caught.” He reached out and smoothed the wet hair from Victoria’s temple. “I want to see you again, though. More than just once a week. I want to see you every day.”

Her smile faded, but she nodded. “I can’t promise I’ll be able to sneak away tomorrow, and as I’ve told you before, you’d be wise to stay away from me. But…I’ll try. Either way, we will see each other again.”