Page 51 of Claim the Twilight
I’m changing fast, running out of time. I push down on the panic that threatens to swell and consume me. If I can smell thesex, then so can Ezekiel and Ordell. What about Hemlock? Are his senses as heightened as his brother’s?
Orina shifts from foot to foot, her cheeks a little flushed. No doubt her new vampire senses have made her aware of the pheromones that cling to the air around her. I don’t envy her one bit. One man would be enough for me.
Edwin’s beaming face fills my mind, and my heart squeezes painfully in my chest, longing rippling through me like a mild current. His absence is a raw open wound that won’t heal until he returns.
Ifhe returns.
I give myself a mental shake. I won’t think that way. He’ll come back. He has to.
I glance up the track to the main road that leads to the Brimswood gates. “I’ll go check if Merry is out.” I’m not asking permission, so I don’t wait for it. I need to get away from them all, from the reminder of who’s missing and the dull ache of memory.
The busy night street-sounds go a little way to muting the rising turmoil inside me. I lean against the park wall taking in the world around me. Strange to see the relaxed faces and smiles of humans going about their evening. This part of town is known for its night life, and the streets won’t sleep till close to dawn.
Across the road, a young couple pushing a baby buggy passes an elderly couple walking arm in arm. They all slow to greet each other, the elderly woman leaning down to peer into the buggy while her companion engages the woman in conversation. Nothing strange here. Buggy rides often sooth irritable babies and help them to fall asleep, and it is a mild moonlit night, the buzz of life almost soothing, so why are alarm bells going off in my head? I look closer, blinking sharply when I note the harsh angles of the old woman’s face that weren’t present a momentago, and her hands…the fingers are longer? The nails dark and wickedly curved.
She’s not human, and now that I look at the man, neither is he. His skin is sallow, his eyes dark pits in a mournful face.
Ice rushes through my veins. I have no idea what kind of supernatural the elderly couple are, but I know that they mean the humans harm.
The old woman reaches into the buggy, and I step toward the curb. “Hey!” I wave both my arms above my head to get the group’s attention. “Hey! Get away from them.”
The human couple continues to laugh and smile at the old man, even when his head turns my way and his mouth elongates into a dark, horrific maw. The young couple keeps smiling as the old woman sticks her hand into the buggy.
“No!” I make to cross the road, but the loud beep of a horn forces me back onto the pavement as a night bus whooshes past, missing me by inches.
Heart battering my ribs, I scan the street across from me where the couples stood a moment ago.
There’s no sign of the elderly couple, but the mother and father are some way down the street. I make to step into the road once more.
“There is nothing you can do,” a male voice says to my left.
The human couple turns a corner, out of view. Gone.
I turn to the speaker and freeze. I’ve seen this man before. I know his face, the sharp line of his jaw and the high, flat cheekbones. Those eyes…The eyes of a hunter. I’ve seen them, up close and personal, but never with such clarity. Never in such material form.
“The monsters will feed while they cannot be seen by their prey,” he says casually. “An unfortunate side effect of the spell that saturates the air.”
I finally find my voice. “You.” It’s all I can manage.
He prowls toward me, loose-limbed and large, in modern clothing of jeans and a polo shirt that contradicts the otherness beating off his form. His eyes narrow into slits of intent. “You? Is that all you can muster?” he asks. “Surely you have more to say to the man you cursed and imprisoned.” His mouth turns down into a bitter arc. “You lying, cunning, deceitful?—”
“Whoa!” I hold up my hands. “Back off. I have no idea who or what you are. This whole familiarity act is beginning to piss me off.” My voice comes out with authority even though my limbs weaken. I force myself to hold my ground as he bridges the last of the distance between us and gently grips my chin. My skin sings beneath his touch, and I suck in air through my teeth, eyes narrowing to match his.
The world fades as he devours me with his angry gaze, and finally the fire in the depths of his emerald eyes dims a little, brows furrowing in confusion. “You…you truly do not remember me, do you?” He brings his nose close to my cheek and runs it across my skin, sending an unwanted shiver down my spine. His eyes flare. “What did you do?”
We need this creature, whoever or whatever he is, and it seems that he believes that he needs me too, enough to have saved my life. Maybe there won’t be need for a spell to trap him. Not if I can convince him to help me of his own free will.
“Look, I don’t remember you, and I don’t remember having magic. But you seem to know me…or think you know me. You called me a witch.”
His grip on me flexes, and his mouth inches closer. “Youarea witch. Magic or not, I smell that much on you.” He releases me suddenly. “You sacrificed it, didn’t you?”
I rub my chin to dispel the echo of his touch. “I don’t know. I have no idea who you think I am or what I did. But I’m willing to listen and to help you if you help me. Just tell me what you want.”
“WhatIwant?” He lets out a bark of laughter. “What Iwantis my power back. All of it.”
“You thinkIhave it?”
“You took it. You seduced me. Stripped me of my power and locked me in a fucking teapot.”
