Darkness (34 page)

I slid across the floor in my T-shirt and underpants, reeking I assumed, and slipped my arms around his chest and melted against his body. He hugged me back and kissed the top of my head. I felt so awful, physically and mentally. The whole time he was the only one who could understand my pain. We shared that same pain. He’d lost his family just as I had. We had almost the same amount of family left. Him, with a crazy brother and me with an absent father. He had Hayden, but so did I. And we had each other. And that was all that really mattered.

The darkness always faded when I was with him. The hurt was less. He was my light, my happiness. How could I not see that before?

He gently pressed his cool lips to my cheek then whispered, “I love you Delaney. I will love you until I take my final breath.” I knew he meant every word.

Chapter 48 - An Irritable Vampire

Oliver was pretty ticked off for the next few days. He was short with me and not very sensitive to my woes. I couldn’t really blame him. I had mindlessly brought it on myself. But, oh did I feel bad. I’d sworn off drinking forever multiple times as I ran for the toilet over and over again; and I’d also sworn that I would never wander off into the night without Oliver. He scoffed a bit at my ramblings and at one point he’d reminded me that promises were for those who can’t keep them. Needless to say, that reminder only made me feel worse.

It was days later when Carter finally showed himself. He strolled through the front door of his and Oliver’s apartment with Felix close behind him. I was curled up on the couch under my fleece, still feeling like I was fighting for my life.
Okay, that may be a bit dramatic.
I was feeling better but I was still living off of applesauce and white rice: the only things I’d been able to keep down besides little sips of water. Oliver was sitting on the floor in front of the couch with his back to me and his laptop on the coffee table. He looked up from his computer when they entered the apartment and I heard a faint rumble come from him. I muttered something like “get over it” and he shot me a dirty look over his shoulder. We were still having moments–we weren’t on the best of terms but I knew we’d be fine. We were both frustrated and irritated with each other and we just needed a little time to get back to ourselves. But, I was getting a bit tired of his grouchiness and the overprotective thing seemed like it was headed to a whole new level. It didn’t help that I seemed to have the longest hangover in the history of the world. Not that I personally had any comparison.

Felix headed into the kitchen and I heard him rummaging around in the cabinets and the refrigerator. I figured he was just there as Carter’s back-up in case Oliver totally lost it on him. I wasn’t too worried about it though. But I did figure it was a good move on Carter’s part to have Felix there. Just in case…Carter perched himself by my feet on the edge of the couch and I heard that growl start to form from inside Oliver once more but he didn’t look up this time. He didn’t even acknowledge Felix when they’d first arrived. Oliver was pissed and holding a grudge. I thumped him lightly in the back of the head and he jumped to his feet, shooting me the nastiest look I’d ever seen. He scooped up his laptop and headed off towards his room. Carter bounced to his feet then and immediately rambled out an apology. “Hey dude, I’m sorry about the other night.” He ran a hand through his messy blonde hair and then shoved both hands into the front pockets of his worn out Levis. I glanced up at Oliver to see him stop, but he didn’t turn around. Carter continued, “I know what I did was wrong. It was wrong and stupid and totally not safe for me to take her out into the night.” He hesitated for a moment and then, with what seemed like a lot of effort, he said, “I’m well aware that I cannot protect her like you can and that I’m not as strong as you, but I
can
protect her.” Oliver turned around then but didn’t say a word. His eyes bore into Carter’s. Carter shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other then stared down at the floor. In a real quiet voice he said, “I’m sorry I kissed her.” Okay, I have to admit that stung a little. I knew he didn’t mean to hurt me, but for some reason it was kind of like a smack across the face. Carter took a deep breath, looked up at Oliver and then he continued, “I had no right to be with her and especially no right to make a move. I am truly sorry and I hope you can forgive me and we can move past this. It won’t happen again.” I watched a little of the tension fade from Oliver. His eyes never left Carter’s as he stood silent for way too long in my opinion. Then he finally nodded and Carter visibly relaxed.

“I accept your apology, but I still stand by what I told you before. If you ever touch her or put her in danger, I will end you.” Oliver turned back towards his room with his laptop still in his hands and closed the door behind himself. I found myself pondering the order of Oliver’s threat. So was taking me out into the night where the worst could happen less of a crime in his eyes than a simple kiss that meant absolutely nothing? I suppose everyone has messed up priorities sometimes.

I nodded. “A little. I’ve been eating white rice and applesauce. It’s all that sounds good but I imagine that once this is finally over I’ll never eat either of those things again.” Carter chuckled and I heard Felix’s deep throaty laugh coming from the kitchen. “Glad I can amuse you two while I feel like death is hovering over me.” I was joking when I said it but as soon as the words left my lips I regretted them instantly.
Lilly
. The guys had gone silent. I smacked myself mentally and changed the subject. “Where have you two been?”

“Here and there,” Felix answered in that booming voice of his. I noticed a hint of humor in his tone and sat up to peek over the back of the couch at him. He smiled mischievously and I gave him a questioning one eyebrow lift. He stepped closer to the couch and kept his voice low. “We were hiding out to avoid the wrath of Oliver. He’s pretty ticked off at me too since I didn’t stop the two of you from roaming off the other night.”

I rolled my eyes and flopped back down onto the couch. “Thanks for letting me take the brunt of it,” I said rather sarcastically. “I’m totally feeling the love, guys.”

Once Carter was ready for work he and Felix left. Oliver had stayed in his room until they were gone. Once the front door closed behind them I heard the creak of Oliver’s bedroom door and he was soon out in the living room with me again. He was sitting at the coffee table once more with his back to me when he said, “You upset me.”

I rolled onto my back and groaned. “What did I do now?”

“Your attitude towards me seemed to get worse when
he
came in. And you thumped me in the head. What the hell was that about?” He glanced over his shoulder at me.

I sighed. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t think. I just don’t think you need to be a jerk to him.”

He turned his body so he was facing me. “I have every right to act any way I want to the both of them. You are
my
girlfriend and he crossed the line. How do you expect me to take it when you act differently when he’s around and you are rude to me?”

Damn it. I was really wishing time reversal was a real thing right then. I sighed again and rolled onto my side to face him. “You are reading way too much into this,” I said as politely as I could. “You know there is nothing to worry about. I just don’t want any more trouble between any of us. I’ve already got to try to figure out what I did to make Kiera so mad at me. I don’t need you adding to it.”

He smiled a little. It was really faint but it was there and I felt myself smile back. Then his faded and he said, “I love you Laney, and I will protect you from anything and anyone. I won’t let anyone touch you or harm you. I beg you not to let yourself be put in that type of situation again.”

I nodded and whispered, “I’m sorry.” And I was. I was so truly sorry.

He very softly kissed my lips, then he pulled back and his beautiful emerald greens lingered on my mouth for a moment. Then he turned around and went back to whatever he’d been doing on his laptop.

Chapter 49 - Full Moon

It was the night of the full moon and I had finally recovered enough to function. Things seemed to be getting back to a sense of “normal” and Oliver was being more tolerant of Carter. But things still weren’t back to what they had been, and deep in the pit of my still somewhat queasy belly I feared that things might never get back to what they once were. And that scared me–as did sitting idly waiting for the unknown. Carter, Felix, Oliver and I were all on edge. None of us knew what to expect and we were all anticipating the worse. We waited out the setting sun in Oliver and Carter’s apartment. It probably wasn’t the best place for us to be but Felix assured us he’d taken every precaution necessary. It turned out Felix was rather knowledgeable in the medical field and he’d had plenty of experience with strange and unusual situations. Although, he did say this was his first experience with this type of situation. Apparently there had never been record of anyone with a vampire line that had been bitten by a werewolf and survived to the next full moon. I was hoping with everything I had that Carter would pull through the night with minimal anything. Again, I had no idea what to even try to expect.

As the sun settled behind the distant hills and night began to consume the sky, we all sat around the apartment full of tension. Oliver and I sat at the dining table with Felix. I sat there not by choice but because Oliver and I had come to an agreement that if I insisted, which I did, on being there for Carter on the night of the full moon, then he insisted he be within inches of me and I was to keep a good distance away from Carter. So even though I desperately wanted to go sit next to my friend, who was on the couch watching TV, and hold his hand to comfort him, I instead would sit at the table and stare at him from afar while listening to Felix and Oliver argue over their Scrabble game. Felix had a tendency to use words only he had ever heard of. I opted out of playing, seeing as playing against two vampires seemed pointless. It wasn’t a matter of who would win, it was which vampire would win. And at that moment winning seemed to be favoring Felix and his mysterious words.

I was on the edge of my seat waiting for something, anything to happen. Every little cough and move Carter made caused us to jump, but nothing appeared to be happening and he told us we were all being totally paranoid. It was hours into the night when Carter slumped to the side of the couch and we assumed he’d fallen asleep while the TV continued to show mind-numbing infomercials. Something didn’t seem right; he’d made no noise and I wasn’t hearing that familiar faint snore that resonates from him when he sleeps. The Scrabble playing vampires didn’t seem to notice a change in the air, but I did. I slowly got up from my seat and in mid-sentence Oliver stopped his argument over Felix’s new word and watched me as I rose. “What is it?” Oliver asked as I stared across the room at the couch. He and Felix’s eyes followed my gaze. Felix was on his feet next, faster than should’ve been possible for any living creature. He crossed the room with inhuman speed and I tried to follow but Oliver held me back. I struggled at first but it was no use. Felix kneeled in front of the couch and looked down, and I watched his expression for any kind of sign. He examined Carter for what seemed like forever and then he smiled a little and patted Carter’s upper arm. Then Felix rose gracefully and smiled at me. “It seems the full moon has triggered something rather interesting in our friend here.” He motioned for me to join him and after a moment’s hesitation Oliver finally released me and followed me, rather closely, to stand beside Felix. I looked down at my friend lying there motionless on the sofa and tried to figure out what Felix had been talking about. Carter’s eyes were open and staring straight forward. He was huddled into himself and his body was completely still but there was something different, something I couldn’t…I leaned a little closer to him and his eyes shifted to meet mine. I felt Oliver’s hand grasp my upper arm like he was ready to jerk me back in an instant if anything happened. I examined my friend without touching him and what I discovered was both interesting and confusing. His coloring was an odd color, like a bluish or a grayish-silvery color and that baffled me. I leaned a little closer and noticed dark hair on his arms, darker than the sandy color I was used to seeing on him. It was the hair that was giving him a different tone and it wasn’t just on his arms, it was also on his head. Although it had only been minutes since he’d slumped to the side of the couch, his hair seemed to be a little longer and it had that same coloring throughout it. It seemed impossible. How could something happen so quickly? I had no knowledge of werewolves and no idea how quickly or slowly they could change. So maybe this was a werewolf norm…Just before I straightened, I met Carter’s blue eyes again and I saw them searching mine. It seemed almost like he was trying to figure something out.