Finding Obscurity (19 page)

Sam kicked his legs out, making the swing rock. “Are you scared of
all this?”

“I don’t know. Some of this stuff is just way too out in left
field for me to grasp. I don’t know whether to be scared out of my mind, or
stand up for myself. Did you read the letter too?”

“Yeah. I know you feel pressure about it saying you were supposed
to save the world or something like that, but just take it day by day. You
can’t save the world in a day, Lily.”

I snorted sarcastically. “I can’t even control my powers, and yet
somehow, I’m supposed to be this great savior who will change things. I’m a little
overwhelmed at this news. What if I can’t be who they want me to be?”

“Lily, you’ll never be destined by what happens in your life but
how you chose to let it affect you. Just be
yourself
and the rest will fall into place.”

“Sam, you said you already met your quota for the month with these
words of wisdom.” I leaned into him playfully with a smile.

 
“I know, but I think after
a day like today, you deserve all the words of wisdom I offer.”

“True, Sam. Very true. What do you make of all this?”

“Well, for starters, you’re a freak of nature.” He held his hands
up in surrender when I glared at him. “Not in a bad way! What I mean is that
you shouldn’t have ever been born – even though I’m glad my best friend was
born. But if what they say is true, then it means some bad juju is coming your
way if people find out. I know if at least a few people know, then we are on
the verge of your secret being revealed. It’s human nature to tell a good
friend, who tells his or her good friend, and then before you know it, everyone
knows.”

“We aren’t talking about your average humans, though.”

“Lily, it doesn’t matter. Everyone has that urge to find out a
secret and spread the gossip around like wildfire, even if they mean to or not.
It just takes that one person to tell the wrong person.”

I sighed and looked out over the grass swaying in the breeze. He
was right, and wondered how long it would take for my secret to come out into
the open. It reminded me of the game “telephone” most girls played, where you
started out with a sentence, whispering it in the ear of the person next to you
and so on. But by the end of the line of girls, the sentence had totally
changed. The problem was that when it all came out about who I was, I didn’t
know what people would believe. “Sam, what if they think I’m some evil
monster?”

“We’ll meet it head-on, just like everything else we do.”

“That’s why you’re my best friend, Sam.”

“And I wouldn’t want to have it any other way.” He smiled and put
his arm around my shoulder, watching the grass in the open field with me as we
relaxed in comfortable silence.

A short time later, Dad came outside to see Sam with his arm
protectively over my shoulder and our feet moving against the ground to keep
the swing moving. He had a glass of sweet tea and handed it to me. “Lily Pad,
are you okay with all this?”

“The sweet tea?” I smiled when he gave me a look. “Dad, I’m
gonna
have to be. What choice do I have?”

“I wish I could’ve saved you from all of this.” He ran a hand
along his receding hairline. “Susie… well, she can be stubborn, but I want you
to know that I never gave up hope that you would come home.”

“Dad, I’m not…”

He held up a hand, cutting me off. “I know you won’t stay, but at
least let me know how to get in touch with you so we can get together more than
every ten years or so.”

“Of course, Dad.” I stood up from the swing, causing it to sway
erratically and wrapped my arms around his pudgy waist. A hand touched my hip,
and without the electric charge, I knew it wasn’t Blake, so I turned to see
Ashton.

“Liliana, even though I don’t want to break up this happy reunion,
we need to head out.” He looked up at the sun sinking behind the horizon. “It’s
getting late and we need to go back now that we have more than enough answers.”

I looked up in question to the man who raised me. He gave me a
tight squeeze before releasing his arms. “Go.”

“I’ll call you when we make it back home, okay?”

“Lily Pad, I’ll wait by the phone. Until next time,” he said as
Blake walked out the door with the aged letter in his hand. He kissed me on the
forehead before heading back inside the house.

“Are you guys ready to leave already?” Sam yawned. “I love this
swing and could sit here for a few more hours.”

“I think we’re all worn out and need to get some rest before we go
back to Indy.” I yawned, catching it from Sam.

Ashton wrapped his hand in mine as we made our way towards the
front of the house and to the driveway where the car was parked. Once we were
all buckled in and backing out, I glanced back up at the house that I grew up
in and waved at my dad in the doorway, watching us go. Susie was nowhere to be
seen, but I expected that much out of her. I knew it would never change,
especially after today. At least I got to make amends with one of them, and
learned to start moving past the horror of losing my sister, knowing it was
never my fault. Now all I had to learn was how to live with my new life, now
that I knew who I was. I also had to learn to live with the knowledge that
somebody was determined to make sure not a soul ever found out.

The hotel near the interstate was a large chain that was
well-known, and we waited in the car as Blake checked us in. Sam was already
asleep in the backseat, and I yawned again, leaning my head against the
headrest.

Ashton squeezed my hand gently, catching my attention. He looked
in the rearview mirror, making sure Sam was still snoring softly in the
backseat. “We need to talk.”

Uh oh.
“What about?”

“We’ll wait until Sam and Blake check into their room and then go
downstairs for some dinner. I also think I owe Blake an apology at some point.”

“Yeah, I think you do.”

“I still think he may know something, even if he doesn’t realize
it.”

“What do you mean?”

Before he could answer, Blake waltzed out of the hotel with
plastic key cards and opened the car door, waking Sam out of his stupor. “We’re
on the second floor and I was able to snag us adjoining rooms.”

“Good. Is there a back entrance?” Ashton asked, pulling away from the
checkout overhang.

“Yeah, go around the back of the building and park. There should
be a door in the back that can only be entered by a key card,” he said, holding
up the little plastic keys for emphasis.

We parked near the rear entrance and unloaded our small bags.
Blake inserted the key card, letting the door open with a beep. Something made
me shudder as we crossed the threshold. I glanced, now that I was safely behind
the glass, and scanned the parking lot, because I felt like I was being watched
for some reason.

“What is it?” Ashton asked.

I jumped. “Nothing. Just making sure I didn’t forget anything.” I
shrugged and walked past him towards the elevators.

I knew I had lied to him, but there was no point in worrying about
it right now, especially since I had my very own bodyguards, including Sam.
Sure, he may not seem like he had a fight in him, but I knew that along with
being a runner, he also took martial arts training, and had for years. Not that
he advertised that to anyone, but when you work at a bar and leave late at
night, it’s a good idea to be prepared. Little did he know that those skills
might come in handy
soon.
 

 
We found our rooms, and
after a small whispering argument between Blake and Ashton, it was decided I
would bunk with Sam while they shared a room together. I know both of them were
disappointed that there would not be any alone time with me. I was somehow
relieved, because I was just too exhausted to listen to them have a pissing
match over sleeping in the same room as me, and to them, Sam was a safe bet.

Sam burst into the hotel room, inspecting every nook and cranny,
before jumping on the bed with the mattress bouncing beneath him. “Do you care
if I shower?”

I shook my head, and he made a hasty retreat to the bathroom. There
was a knock on the door and I opened it to Ashton frowning at me.

“Don’t ever open the door without looking first.”

“How did you know I didn’t?”

“Because your footsteps didn’t pause before you opened the door. I
know you didn’t look, and there wasn’t the telltale sound of your hands
scraping against the door when you looked out the peephole.” I must have given
one hell of a crazy expression, because he sighed before pointing at his ears.
“Super hearing, remember? You have to be very careful. Next time it might not
be me waiting for you on the other side of this door.”

He was right, but I was feeling stubborn, so I pointed at my head,
letting the lie spill out of my mouth. “I knew it was you anyway. Freaky
superpowers, remember?”

“Liliana, you are such a bad liar. You don’t know how to tell the
difference without touching anyone yet.”

“How do you know that?”

“Blake told me. He’s the only other person I know who can do that,
but
you
can’t let anyone get close
enough before you know if they mean you harm.”

“I can take care of myself,” I grumbled.

He shook his head at me. “Are you ready to grab a bite to eat?”

 
“Sure, I’m hungry.”

I opened the bathroom door slightly, waving the steam out of my
face, to let Sam know that Ashton and I were going out for a bite before
closing the door. I grabbed the key card to make sure I could get back in
again.

Ashton took my hand and led me toward the elevators, pressing the
button for bottom floor. “There’s a diner next door to the hotel. We can talk
there.”

“What is so important that nobody else can hear?”

“There are things I don’t want Sam or Blake to know just yet.
Things about who I am, and things about your possible past that worries me.”

“That sounds bad.”

He chuckled and squeezed my hand. “Don’t worry; it’s not all that
bad.”

The little diner was a small brick building with huge glass
windows and a neon sign announcing Waffle Paradise. Right now it was empty but
for a few people sitting in a booth towards the front. We seated ourselves in
the back booth near the restrooms to assure some privacy. After the waitress
promptly took our order, I sipped on some coffee.

“You know I wouldn’t put you in danger, right?” Ashton asked,
taking a sip of water.

“Of course. What kind of a question is that?”

“There are some things you need to know about our kind before we
go any further.”

“Okay…”

“We find one person to match with, and once we find that person,
then we will stop at nothing to protect them – even if means risking our own
lives to do so. We usually find another vampire to do this with, but every so
often we find a human, which through some gruesome approval, we can turn into
one of us. However, never in our history, had any of us ever matched with a
Conjurer. Finding out that the person who turned me had also done so was a
shock. Now, I find myself in the same predicament, except you aren’t just one
of them, but one of us, as well.”

“Ashton, are you saying you think you
matched
with me?”

“I don’t think I did.” He reached across the table and grabbed my
hand. “I know I did.”

I sat back in the booth and stared at him. His aqua eyes were
sparkling as he smiled and I looked out the window towards the hotel, thinking
this through. I knew Jeffery had mentioned the “matching” thing to me the night
I found out what Ashton was, and I ran. Honestly, I didn’t really know him that
well, and I was certain that he had been holding some secrets from me, but I
was now doing the same, in some respect. Especially the feeling of being watched
when we arrived at the hotel.

“Are you going to say anything, Liliana?”

I met his eyes again and saw a slight fear that I may reject him.
The waitress dropped off our food and I munched on a fry. “I’m not sure what to
say. Sure, I feel very deeply about you, but we’re talking about forever love
here, and I have had only heartbreak and pain for the past ten years. Just
today, I learned how to let go and forgive myself for the car accident that
took my sister from me. I have a close friend in Sam, and Blake is a friend in
a way, too. I never thought it would happen so fast.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘in a way’ about Blake?” He
scowled.

“Blake, well, he’s close to me, too, but nothing compared to the
feelings I have towards you at all. I know the emotions I have about you are
closer to love, but with Blake, it’s… complicated. I know I don’t love him, but
there’s still something there. It’s only fair if I’m honest about this,
Ashton.”

“But do you love me?”

Did I love him in a way that would mean forever? Was there even
such a thing? For most of my life I had never experienced what I had with
Ashton – but was it love? “Love is a very strong word.”

“I love you, Liliana, and nothing, not even Blake, will get in the
way of what we can have together.”

“What about everything we learned today? Somebody, or several
people, are already onto me and want to kill me. Wouldn’t
us
being together make things worse?”

“Nothing worth having is ever easy. I’ll fight to the ends of the
Earth to keep you safe. Speaking of keeping you safe, I would like to propose
something.”

“You’re not proposing marriage, are you?” I squeaked out.

“No! You’re worth much more than a marriage proposal inside a
diner.” He waved his hands around, showing me said diner as if we weren’t
sitting in it. “I know a way to keep you safe, but I’m not sure how this would
react with you being two parts of a whole.”

 
“What do you mean?”