The hands of the mounted wall clock moved with the speed of a
turtle. Kian couldn't help but stare at it in fascinated disinterest. Soon,
Jessa had said. That had been six hours ago and he'd since come to the
conclusion she had no concept of time.
"Coffee?" Remy lisped coyly.
His head snapped up. Remy stood in the doorway, one hand braced
against his hip and the other holding a steaming mug.
"It's Italian," he continued, ignoring the fact that Kian
hadn't responded. "I don't keep that disgusting swill Americans call
coffee in this house." He shuddered delicately.
Kian wondered briefly how he pulled off the delicacy with such a
large, imposing frame, then dismissed his curiosity when he realized Remy was
still staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
He shook himself. "No," he replied, "but thank
you."
Remy shrugged. "Suit yourself. Cameron lives off it. Her drug
of choice and all."
Kian tucked that snippet of information into the back of his mind
for later use. "I don't know what could be taking this long," he
offered conversationally, sighing. "I'm really not all that hard to
find."
Remy paused in the middle of taking a sip of coffee. "I
believe Jessa sent her to Erin," he replied, lowering the mug. "She
charges by the hour."
"Lovely," Kian murmured, in a tone that didn't sound
lovely at all.
"She's very good at what she does," Remy reassured
him. "In fact, she should have
figured out that you're here by now and Cameron should be getting home…"
A key rattled in the lock and the door swung open. "Now,"
he finished, as Cameron glided through the door. "Ma chère, it took you long enough."
She was staring at Kian in surprise. "I forgot to bring
something to burn," she admitted. "We tried something else and found
your apartment instead. You weren't there."
"No, I was here," Kian answered, looking amused. "A
lot of effort for nothing, wasn't it?"
"I wouldn't say nothing," she murmured distractedly.
Memories of Kieran's kiss assailed her, threatening to overwhelm. Her eyes slid
shut, but all she could see were those dark violet eyes burning darkly at her.
She snapped them open again. "What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't let it end like that," he said. "And the
threat of being staked seemed unimportant compared to seeing you."
Remy rolled his eyes. "Cameron, the boy's in love with you and
you threatened to kill him. Where are your manners?"
"Drowning in the Atlantic next to yours," she replied
sweetly. "Don't you have someone more pressing to harass?"
"Not particularly," he shrugged, dropping down on the
plush couch and slumping into the soft cushions. "Ruining your day was the
only thing on my 'To Do' list."
"How lucky for me," she muttered, crystalline eyes
shooting warnings at him.
She walked away from the doorway, finally coming to a stop in front
of him. He blinked, alarmed, and when she sat sedately on the couch next to
him, he picked up his coffee mug and stood up. The look in her sky eyes was one
he preferred her to direct at someone else.
"Actually," he said with a quick glance at his expensive
silver watch, "I seem to remember promising Xanthe and Damalis a day at
one of those trite human movies. It started about an hour ago, if I have the
time right. I'm going to find them and see if we can catch the late one."
"Have fun," she called as he disappeared down the
hallway.
His voice floated back like memories in the lazy summer heat.
"You owe me."
She bit her lip, trying not to send a biting retort in response.
Kian levered himself out of the chair, stretching his cramped muscles.
"Are you leaving?" she asked, surprised once again.
He laughed. "No, I'm moving," he responded. "The
couch looks much safer with you on it than it did when Remy was sitting
there."
He lowered himself to sprawl next to her, his long legs stretching as
far as they could before the coffee table got in the way. He wore khakis again
today, but these were a darker color and in the cargo pant style. Her eyes
traced the lines of those khaki-covered legs silently, simply looking.
"Why did you threaten to kill me?" he asked quietly.
"I was scared," she admitted. "You look just like
Kieran did and when you touched me…"
He smiled gently. "Alarming, isn't it?"
"Almost more so than being stalked by a pack of rabid 'wolves.
Except that you can escape them. This…" she sighed. "It just
stays."
"It could be worse," he offered. "You could be stuck
with someone like my brother. Although I think Fate may be too kind to do that
to anyone with any semblance of humanity."
Cameron glanced at him quickly, deciding now was not the time to
inform him otherwise. "Fate does strange things to people."
"Too true," he agreed. He hesitated, then took her hand
in his, wrapping his warm fingers around hers and sending shivers darting down
her spine. "Cameron, I won't let him hurt you this time."
Those words were like ice washing over her. "I don't think you
can stop him," she answered succinctly, pulling her hands away. She idly
pushed a strand of pitch dark hair away from her face.
"I can try," he
said, reaching for both of her hands this time and pulling her to face him. His
purple eyes glinted with all the emotion and fury of a winter storm, just as
fierce, but protective instead of destructive.
"You can," she affirmed. She smiled humorlessly.
"I'm safe for now, though. I -- I saw him right before I came home. He's
given me until my next birthday to die on my own."
"How generous of him." Kian stroked one finger gently
over her palm. "Maybe if I took you away, somewhere he wouldn't think to
look… Maybe you would be safe then."
She shook her head. "Kieran would find me. He made a promise
that he's kept. Do you really think he'll break it now?"
"No," he sighed. "But I can hope."
And that was the thing. Neither of them could give up hope that
something would work out this time. It was all either had.
"We have months to figure out a way around it," she said.
"We'll find a way."
He nodded, disentangling one of his hands from hers and reaching up
to trace the curve of her bottom lip. The motion was poignant, sensation burying
itself deep into her heart and touching her already raw emotions. The brush of
his thumb against her mouth sent shivers racing through her once again. She
raised her hand and ran it through the silky strands of his burnished hair.
He seemed to understand. His other hand disengaged from hers as
well and he drew her forward to rest in the comforting cradle of his arms. ~You
are safe~ he reassured her, tightening his hold just briefly.
She sank into him, relaxing, allowing herself to trust for these
few brief moments. In Kian's arms, she did feel safe. His broad chest was warm
against her cheek and his stroking hands soothed her with startling ease.
Sighing contentedly, she slid her gaze up to find him watching her,
a protective light gleaming fiercely in his eyes. He seemed to hesitate
slightly, then his mouth dipped down to meet hers. She welcomed this
affirmation of what she'd found, this sealing of a promise neither had voiced,
but both had agreed to. She tilted her head up, dark hair falling back over his
arm in riotous waves.
It was nothing like kissing Kieran.
The gentleness was there, but instead of being overwhelmed, she was
simply… joined. Where Kieran invaded, Kian became a part of her. They were two
halves made whole, like the pieces of a puzzle laid to form a single picture.
His mind was not shadows and jagged edges, but soft colors and smooth planes.
Kian had his shadows, too, but they did not consume him.
She sighed happily against his mouth, lost in the serene recesses
of his mind. When one of those shadows grew, moving toward her like lightning,
she was completely unprepared. It swallowed her in its darkness, eclipsing the
quiet serenity she was floating in and ripping her away.
Somehow, she and Kian became separated. She sailed into the dark
void of his mind while he remained behind, oblivious to anything but the kiss.
In these shadows, memory waited.
It was raining.
Torrents of drenching water plastered her clothes to her body. They chilled her in the cool night air and she
shivered uncontrollably. She could find no escape from the beating drops. A
hand grasped her arm roughly, dragging her through the sinking mire while she
struggled to keep pace.
The raindrops fell too thick to see through and the person who led
her was only a darkened blur. The hand yanked her to the right, pulling her
under the leafy canopy of a tree. She shook the water out of her eyes and
pushed her hair off her face. Her vision cleared. Shocked, she stared at the
face of the last person she expected to see in this memory.
It was Kian. His face contorted with anger, complete with flushed
cheeks and eyes burning with all the hate of a betrayed lover.
Which, in a way, he was.
"Why?" he growled, shaking her none too gently. Even
through the disgust shining from his eyes, he looked… shattered. As though the
pieces had scattered so far apart that they could never be found and repaired.
Now those lavender eyes were pleading for a way out or for some excuse that
would erase the incriminating evidence.
She yanked herself out of his grasp. "Why what?" she
gasped, tears springing to her eyes as blood flowed back into her arm. She had
no choice in what she said or what she did; she could only follow the actions
and feelings of her past self as this drama played itself out.
He eyed her coldly. "Kieran." He spit the name out
distastefully. "I'd have thought you would know better by now."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she answered,
her voice equally cold and as distant as a shooting star. She tossed her
dripping hair back and met his eyes proudly.
"Yes, you do," he accused. The self-assurance and
certainty in his voice made her long to hurt him the way he was hurting her.
She shook her head, sending drops of water flying in all
directions. They fell like crystals on his rapidly drying skin. "If I
knew, do you think I would be asking?"
Those darkly lashed violet eyes narrowed. "I think you're
playing a game you can't win." He reached out to grasp her upper arms, his
fingers digging into her already tender flesh. "If you're trying to use
him against me, it won't work."
"Use him against you how?" she cried, trying not to
flinch. The stinging pressure of his fingers was making her head cloud with
pain. It hurt.
"As if you don't know," he replied sullenly. He let her
go, shoving slightly as he did.
She stumbled, barely managing to catch herself before she fell in a
graceless heap. "I don't!" she insisted. Tears threatened to fall at
any moment.
He rolled his eyes. Impatience lined every plane of his face.
"Don't try to tell me you're not involved. Giacinta already told me
everything."
The tears spilled over. "I don't know what you're talking
about!" she shrieked. Her fists clenched into tense white balls at her
sides and her fingernails dug into her palms. The pain only made her angrier.
"Who is Giacinta?"
Short laughter exploded from his chest. It complemented the pouring
rain, echoing its wildness and its untamed power. "You can't kill me,
Camryn," he continued. She doubted he'd even heard her. "You are a
part of me! Kieran is only using you to get at me," he finished. His
expression was pained.
Her eyes softened. She swayed toward him, full of compassion and
understanding. "I don't know about any plot to kill you," she said
achingly, "and I don't know anyone named Giacinta. Kian, I love you."
"She told me you'd say that," he replied grimly. He
turned away, pain radiating from every gesture and dripping from every word. He
stared through the branches of the tree, where the rain beat against the leaves
in careless abandon.
Her expression tightened and her eyes narrowed, hurt by his
statement. That he'd believe someone over her, his soulmate, when he could see
into her soul… "If you need the truth
that badly, then look. I can hide nothing from you. You said it yourself: I am a part of you. But, don't -- don't -- base your accusations on what
someone I don't even know has told you."
He smiled sadly. "She told me you'd say that, too. Don't you think
I know there are spells that can hide things? That can make me see what I think
I want?"
"Not if you don't let them!" she snapped. "The
soulmate bond is stronger than that! Haven't you figured it out by now?"
He ignored her. "There's only one thing to do, Camryn."
Another shout of short, bitter laughter. "It's almost ironic, considering
that I've been trying to stop this for thousands of years, don't you
think?"
Terror coiled like an oiled snake in the pit of her stomach.
"Kian, why won't you just listen for a minute! You know I didn't do anything! Listen to yourself!"
"I can't hear myself anymore," he whispered sadly.
"I've been broken too many times and the pieces… they just don't
fit." He reached out, tracing the edge of her lower lips with so much
gentleness she thought she would cry. The gesture was highly reminiscent of the
kiss that had brought this memory to life.
She opened her mouth to protest or to convince him otherwise, but
then shut it abruptly. Kian was in no state to listen. Determined and
terrified, she racked her brain to find some solution or some way to make him
see. Her eyes brightened and she reached out, cupping his jaw gently in the
cradle of her palm.
It was the wrong thing to do.
She had thought that once you had shattered so far, you couldn't be
damaged further. She had thought that the dust of memories past would settle,
so tiny and swept so quickly away. She hadn't expected the chasm in his eyes to
widen and crack, revealing a void that was curiously empty.
He slipped away from her hand slowly. His fingers tightened on her
jaw, drawing her closer, and his lips moved to hover by her ear. She felt his
warm breath skate over the skin of her neck. And then she heard the last thing
she expected to hear.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
One hand gently caressed the nape of her neck, tilting her head
back with such sweetness that she didn't realize what he was doing until it was
too late. The pale skin stretched before him. Not even a second passed, then he
sank his teeth into her throat.
She waited for the lightening and the warmth to envelop her, but it
never came. Only darkness. She could feel blood being drawn from her body. He
drank and drank and drank… And finally she felt herself slipping away to where
she was one with the darkness instead of only encompassed by it.
Another life…
Then the darkness receded, leaving her to stare into Kian's worried
violet eyes. No longer shattered, they still somehow seemed broken, as though a
part he was not even aware of was missing. "Are you okay?" he asked,
worry evident in his voice.
She was breathing heavily and painfully, the air entering her lungs
like fire.
It took her a minute to catch her breath. "You bastard,"
she hissed, when she could finally bring herself to speak again.
Shock painted itself over his face. "What?"
She laughed, but wanted to cry. The tears would not come. "You
don't even know, do you?" she asked. "You don't even remember what
you did."
"Cameron…"
"Get out!" she snapped. "Get out and don't ever -- ever -- come back." She stood,
turning her back on him and walking away.
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