Eternally Yours (9 page)

Him and his really appealing lips.

Soft-looking lips.

His tongue slips out to wet them, making them even more tempting. Delectable boy.

I lean forward.

He leans forward.

And my wings start flapping and thrust me backward onto my butt.

His laugh echoes around us, bouncing off the rocks around the waterfall base.

“I guess we should work on getting a feel for your wings. Your mind controls them, mostly. After some practice you'll understand what I mean. Until then your wings are going to do all sorts of crazy things on their own.” 

I hate that my wings picked such an inopportune moment to think for themselves. I'm so mad that I could rip them out right now. Why couldn't they have thrust me forward instead of backward?

“Okay, so what should I think to get them to work right? Let’s try to fly.”

He scratches his head, thinking. “I just think about the place where I want to go. For example, I look up and tell myself to go to the top of that waterfall, or to fly up a few feet, or even to just get in the air and fly around.”

“Hmmm. Okay.” I tap my finger on my chin.

“Just  feel your wings connected to your body in the back of your mind. You’re their master, they listen to you. Know that, and command yourself to lift off the ground a little ways.”

“Okay.” Lift off the ground a few feet, I think. Nothing happens. I try shutting my eyes and doing it. Lift. Off. The. Ground! Just a few feet! I add. I slowly open one eye and then the other, and look down at Shadow!

“Awesome!” He grins.  “Good job!” He laughs with happiness for me.

“Oh my gods!” I exclaim. “What do I do now?”

He flies up to join me and grabs my hand. “Let’s go for a fly shall we? Head up to the clouds?”

He tugs me along before I can even tell myself where to fly to, but luckily my wings are flapping in sync with his. Maybe now they know that he’s where I want to be, so they follow him. Unlike earlier, I think maliciously.

We soar through the sky gracefully, and he checks on me frequently. He asks me how I’m doing and if I need a break every few minutes. I shake my head every time because this is so amazing! I don’t want to ever come down, or put my wings away. We fly along in silence, lost to the beautiful environment here. The trees are lush with green leafs, reflecting the golden rays of the sun. There are vines hanging down all throughout the forest with pink and yellow flowers budding on them. The birds are singing and the sound of the water rushing through below is all music to my ears. I feel like I’m in a dream.

He starts singing something softly in a language that I don't understand which must be the
demon
language. Even without understanding the words I'm transfixed by his voice. It's so melodic and beautiful, the most mesmerizing sound I have ever heard. It's haunting, really.

“What are you singing?” I ask softly.

“Just an old lullaby my mother used to sing to me, but it doesn’t sound near a beautiful as it did when she sang it.”

“I think you sound amazing, I could listen to you all day and I don't even know what you're singing.”

Abruptly, a deep, familiar voice speaks to me telepathically, “For you, I’d sing all day,
Bayla
.” I gasp at the shock of it.

It's strange how much it sounds like Shadow. I have no idea what '
Bayla
' means, but I quickly glance at him and he's already looking at me, questioningly. I don’t know if I should mention the crazy voice inside my head or not. So I just put on my best innocent smile. He raises an eyebrow at that and looks back to the scenery.

Out of the blue, the air stirs next to me and Shadow roars in agony.  I jerk my head to see what’s wrong and notice a red arrow sticking through his side! It hit him from the front of his ribs and came out the back. There's blood pouring out of him and I instantly panic. My mind is reeling in chaos and causes my wings to take me on a wild, uncontrollable ride. They're tipping me to each side crazily. Shadow grabs my hand and pulls me underneath him, saving me again. Always looking out for my safety and not his own.

“It’s the Hell Horde, I don’t know what’s going on, but they shouldn’t be loose. Just be as still as you can and I’ll get us to cover!”

“But you’re hurt! Are you okay?!” My wing sticks out sideways right in front of his face.

He moves my feathers out of his face with his free hand and gently pushes my wing back behind him. “I’ll be fine, just be still. The more you move, the harder it is on me.”

If that’s the case, then I'll be as still as a statue. I’m holding on to him as tight as I can and we are zooming through the air. Fast. This boy has some serious power. And that turns me on. But I can’t think about that right now with these unpredictable wings. Arrows keep whizzing by us, and he is dodging every one of them.

“There’s a cave I know of that we’re going to hide in, almost....there.”

I can tell that his strength is waning. Blood is seeping out of his side drenching me, which I don’t mind, but we really need to make it to that cave or we won’t make it back alive and no one will ever know the truth about the world outside the walls.

I look around, frantically searching the woods for the evil Hell Horde. I see something dark, reddish-black, and really ugly, with two horns and a tail with a triangle shaped end. I can’t even tell if it has eyes because the eye socket is so black. It hides beside a tree and pulls back a glowing red arrow...

“Look out! There's one to the right! Duck!” I shout.

He doesn’t move fast enough and it pierces his wing.

“Mmpph,” is all I hear from him.

His eyes are glowing and blood is dripping off his fangs and out of the corner of his mouth.

“Oh my gods, what can I do?” I'm panicking.

“Don’t…know... Are we…losing them?”

I look around and don’t see any, but we're going a lot slower. I find it hard to believe that we are losing them.

“Yeah, I think so,” I lie. “Are we almost there?”

“Yeah, it’s straight ahead...” He's really out of breath. He's wheezing now, and coughing up more blood. We're basically falling now, going down really fast, and headed straight for a waterfall.

“Uh Shadow? Shadow!” I'm hysterical! All I do is point straight ahead at the waterfall over and over.

“It’s...okay...” he rasps.

I shut my eyes and scream just as we hit the water, and go through the water. I brace for impact against a rock wall but instead we hit a dirt floor and skid to a halt. Dirt fills my mouth and nostrils, and I cough and spit, gagging at the disgusting taste. The cave he was talking about! It’s behind the waterfall!

It’s almost pitch black inside, but a little light filters in through the waterfall at the entrance. I can hear Shadow’s breath sawing in and out from wherever he lies. We must have separated after impact, each skidding different ways. I probably let go when we hit the ground because I know he once again took the brunt of our impact, protecting me. I search for him in the darkness and see two red eyes glowing few feet away.

“I'm glad your eyes are glowing because I can't see in the dark you know.” I say as I try not to stumble, finding my way over to him. He doesn’t respond to my witty remark and when I get close enough I can hear him rasping and struggling to breath
e
.

“Oh, gods. Shadow?”

“Lantern,” he breathes. “Wall,” is all he can manage to say.

I get up and walk with my hands out in front of me. When they hit something cold and solid I assume I've made it to the wall. I bend down and feel along the wall for the lantern.

“Aha! I found it.” I click on the battery operated lantern and walk back over to him. Now that I can see, he's in worse shape than I imagined. His lips are purple and his skin is not its beautiful tan color. It is so pale it’s taken on a blue tint. His eyebrows are drawn down and he's shivering uncontrollably.

“Should I take it out?” I ask, nodding to the arrow lodged through his side.

“It’s...poisoned...”

“So, what should I do? Tell me! I am doing something! You have to be okay! What do you want me to do? What should I do?!”

“Take...arrow...out...then go get....Lilith. Need...blood.” He moans in pain at the same time a violent shiver racks his body and he spits up the blood he needs to badly.

“Okay, okay.” I look around for something to put in his mouth, so he can bite it when I wrench the arrow out. I don’t want him screaming to alert the Hell Horde where we are. I untie my small bag from my waist, throw my old shirt and shorts off to the side, and roll it up. It's actually really hard to get it behind his fangs because they're so long right now. He eventually helps me maneuver it into position.

“Okay, on three?” I ask.

He squeezes his eyes shut and nods.

I go ahead and break the arrow off at the head careful not to cut myself with the poisonous tip, and then grab the back end of it. We're lucky the tip went all the way through, because you can’t pull an arrowhead back through the body.

“One...Two...Three!”  With a hard yank, I pull the head and the rest of the arrow out of his ribs. He groans loudly into my rolled up purse, just as I anticipated. Blood is pouring out of the wound in a steady flow so I put my hand on it to staunch the blood flow. He looks even paler now and I wonder if I even have time to fly back and find Lilith. I don't know where to look, or which way to go to get back. I don’t think I can fly back by myself with these uncontrollable new wings either, but I don’t tell him that because I don’t want him to panic.

“...Lilith...” He begs on a whisper.

Just him wanting her, needing her, as much as he does right now hurts me deeply. Jealousy is rearing its ugly head and I’m seething with fury.

“Shadow, I don’t want you to panic, but I don’t think I can fly back without you, much less in time to bring someone else here with me. And then she would see your wings. Is there not anything I can do?”

He tries to lick his lips, but I can see that his mouth is too dry because it doesn't wet his blood-crusted lips at all. He looks so pitiful and it breaks my heart into a million pieces. If he wants blood, the least he can do is take mine. I would rather him take mine than hers anyways. I kneel down and take his shaking hands into mine. I look him in the eyes and let my gaze linger on his pale face, then to his irresistible lips.

I look back at his glowing ember eyes, asking an unspoken question.

When he closes his eyes and doesn't shake his head, I take it as permission. I have my answer. I think I've always had my answer, but I've been too scared to admit it to myself.

I lean down just enough to brush my lips to his. Then I kiss him. And it’s like magic. Right here in this moment, I feel like we belong together. I’ve spent what feels like a lifetime dreaming of a moment like this. His lips are so sweet, and I'm lost in this moment with him. His hand somehow finds the strength to rise to the back of my head to pull me closer as we kiss like nothing is wrong. His kiss is hot and fervent but yet he is gentle and not overbearing. Even in this I can tell he is being selfless, thinking of my pleasure. He is such a giver.

After a while we're both breathing heavy and my body is singing with need. I want more, more, more. I have to have more of this addicting
demon
. I hesitantly swipe my tongue out hoping to touch his, but instead of his tongue, I get his fang. It's a lot sharper than it looks because it cuts my tongue badly. I flinch and my blood fills both of our mouths. He moans loudly and tightens his grip on my head. His other hand comes up around my waist and presses my body closer to his. Now we're pressed tightly together from our legs up to our mouths. I notice a red haze behind the darkness of my closed lids and open my eyes to find two ember irises returning my half-lidded gaze. He releases my mouth, and kisses down my cheek to my neck. I moan, shocking myself. I notice him trembling and shaking and in the back of my mind I remember that he is not well and needs blood.

“Shadow…if you need…blood…” I tilt my head even farther, exposing more of my neck.

He moans. “I tried…gods I tried…to not need it. I’m sorry, Alexia. I can’t hold back any longer…”

His fangs are in the column of my neck, between my shoulder and throat before I ever feel the bite. It’s the most erotic thing I could ever imagine and I can’t find words to describe this amazing feeling. It's nothing like the little skin healing technique from earlier but I can't wait for that part to come either. I feel like I’m merging into him, becoming one. I can’t think coherently. All I know is that I have lava going through my veins and ice through my heart. Hot and cold, fire and ice. All of my skin is puckered, hair standing on end. Each languorous pull lulls me into a state of bliss and vaguely wonder why he sounded sop anguished right before he gave in and bit me. At this point I would beg him not to stop, ask him to drain me completely.

This is my last coherent thought, before darkness pulls me under.

Everything is fuzzy. I hear something that sounds like flowing water in the back of my mind. It sounds like I'm underwater and someone is calling my name from above, trying to pull me up, but it’s all so blurry I can’t really make it out.