Page 20 of To Crave Darkly
He was talking in fucking riddles. Tears sprang to my eyes. I thought this place wasn’t real. How could I feel so much pain? The fire of a thousand needles stung my chest, branding me with a pain that was linked to the man in front of me. Too much. Black spots danced around my vision. I was going to die. Wait, could I die? If I was already dying somewhere else, was my soul dying?
Just as the pain became too much to bear, it stopped. As suddenly as it had started, it was gone. A warm heat swirled in my chest, cocooning my heart in its warm glow.
“Do you feel it?” Orion’s voice was elated and breathy. His hand was over his heart as he spoke the words and I instantly knew that whatever I had done by giving him a name meant we were now bonded. Heart to heart.
What the fuck was I supposed to do with that?
“Oh, Lori, you are more than I could ever have hoped for.”
“What does that mean?” I yelled but he just laughed back at me. I jumped to my feet and started to walk away. I wanted to get as far away from him as I could.
“You can’t escape,” he called after me, his laughter echoing on the breeze. He was right. The further I walked away from him, the hotter the link between us burned. It wasn’t going anywhere. Whether I liked it or not, Orion was now tied to me. And it was my own fucking fault.
My feet stopped and my shoulders slumped. I just wanted to go back to my life before I knew vampires were real. I was happy then; my life wasn’t much but it was mine.
A sob broke from my lips as my knees crumpled beneath me. I wiped the tears away in frustration. I knew I was being stupid and feeling sorry for myself, but I thought the current situation was a suitable reason to shed a few fucking tears. I’d never felt so helpless.
I heard Orion approach, but I didn’t need my ears to know he was near. The link pulsed in my chest, like it was calling to its other half. This was going to take some getting used to.
Orion knelt down in the sand with me and his hands framed my face. He gently tipped my head up and forced me to look at him. I thought I would see glee or triumph at what he had made me do, but all I saw was sorrow and guilt. He was such an enigma, and I didn’t have the first clue as to where to even begin to unravel him. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to, but as I looked deep into his eyes, I felt a longing that had me yearning to reach out to him. I didn’t know if it was something to do with this new bond, but I felt like I knew him. I was just being stupid. I’d never met him before in my life, surely I would remember someone so intense.
“I’m… sorry.” The words sounded awkward in his mouth. “I have waited for you for so long and I am not a patient creature.” His words seemed so sincere, and I longed to believe him but despite this connection we shared I didn’t know if I could trust him.
“You took advantage of me. I don’t want this.”
A flash of anger crossed his expression, but he suppressed it. That fleeting glimpse of it was enough to make me tremble though.
“Lori,” he breathed resting his forehead against mine, “please believe me, this wasn’t how I planned this at all. I…”
A bang sounded in the distance. It sounded like an explosion but when I looked over Orion’s shoulder all I saw was the peaceful sandy beach. Odd.
“Lori, look at me,” Orion demanded.
I obeyed without hesitation.
“Good girl,” he whispered. “We don’t have much time.” He looked upward to the sky and frowned. I followed the line of his gaze and watched as the sun disappeared behind a large grey cloud. It looked like a storm was heading this way and I was still in the bikini. Great.
“What’s going on, Orion?”
He smiled. “I do really love that name, Lori. It’s a gift I never thought you’d give me.” A crack of lightning lit the sky, adding an ominous touch to his words. This was all starting to feel overly dramatic.
“I don’t understand. Who are you?”
The wind started to howl around us. It pulled at his hair, twisting the locks into disarray. How had I not noticed how blonde it was? How angelic?
“I am your destiny and you are mine. Our time has run out here, but I will always find you, Lori. You won’t be able to hide from me.” His fingers traced the spot on my chest above my heart and I felt the caress all the way to my soul. I didn’t doubt his words. I might not understand what I had done but I knew we were irrevocably linked and there would be nowhere I could go that Orion wouldn’t find me. I didn’t know whether to be thrilled or terrified at the thought.
Another crack of lightning filled the sky. This storm seemed to have an uncanny way of adding a sinister weight to his words. Panic started to creep in; that lightning was getting too close for comfort and the wind was turning ferocious.
“You’re not making any sense!” I shouted over the noise of the storm. “What’s happening?”
Orion got up to leave and started to walk away from me. I ran after him. Nothing made sense and I needed answers. Lightning struck again as I reached him. It seemed to be within a few feet of me now; the next one would hit me for sure. The chaos of the storm seemed to reflect the raging confusion within me and I didn’t want to be left alone, all adrift in the sea waiting to be drowned. Not when I had so many questions.
I clung to Orion in desperation and begged him not to leave me. I still didn’t know who he was, he still scared the shit out of me, but he was the only other thing I knew to be real in this place.
“My sweet Lori, my Queen. I do not belong here, but Iwillfind you and Iwillmake you mine. Thanks for the trip to the beach.” He placed a brief hard kiss against my lips that burned me to the core. It felt like he branded me as his and it was a kiss that promised fire and sin and a whole host of wicked things.
He strolled to the water’s edge like he didn’t have a care in the world, like he belonged in a place surrounded by carnage. He continued to walk into the sea, peeling his shirt off as he went further into the crashing waves. I got a clear view of his back before he disappeared into the water. Something glimmered along his upper back in the light of the storm. His skin wasn’t perfect there but before I could get a closer look I got struck by lightning. Pain radiated through my body and I screamed as I felt thousands of tiny knives shred my soul to pieces. I was being ripped from wherever this place was. As the world faded to black, I just hoped that I would make it back to the land of the living.
