Immortal Dreams (16 page)

He sits silently on the other end, and then I hear a harsh breath.

"L.A.?" he asks, making my heart slap my throat.

"What?" I release with a crackle, my mouth drying.

"You're in L.A.?  I can be there in a few hours.  Don't leave.  We'll discuss this in person, and I'll show you how much I care about you."

"How do you know where I am?"  I shiver as excitement and dread fills me at once.

"I just traced your phone.  Money affords someone more than a nice house.  I'll be there soon."

"Kane, don't.  We're about to leave.  Please stop this."

"Then call me when you get to where you're going, and I'll follow you then."

"No, I won't call, and I'm switching off my GPS.  Just forget me."

"That's impossible.  I'm coming to you whether you like it or not.  Now, you can stay there, or I can come find you at your next place.  You'll call me again, Alyssa.  You want to be with me just like I want to be with you.  Admit it.  This chemistry between us isn't something people find everyday.  I know better than anyone that it's not."

I swallow my heart back down, and then I shake my head.

"It's not something someone finds everyday, but it's also not good for you." 
Or your life.
"I'm sorry, Kane.  I won't be here when you come."

I hang up, quickly rushing into the room where Thad is packing.

"Yeah, I heard.  Loverboy is persistent, I'll give him that."

I don't have time to be aggravated with the fact he was eavesdropping.  Damn immortal hearing.

"We were going to leave tonight anyway, weren't we?"

"Yeah.  No worries, pretty girl.  Just grab your stuff, and we'll meet the others at the next rendezvous."

He offers me a wink, and then I narrow my eyes.

"I don't want to catch any more lizards down my shirt."

He starts laughing, and then he moves over to where I am, letting his thumb trail over my lips as he stares down at me.

"I would have gone for a snake, but I thought it'd be too much of a pun.  Grab your stuff."

He kisses my forehead, and I roll my eyes while heading back to my room.  I peek out to see him walking out the door, heading to the elevator, and I capitalize on the fact he's out of earshot.  I wave my hand over the phone, using my magic once again.

"Are you really going after her again?" Amy bellows.

"Of course I am.  Stay the hell out of my way and out of my life!" Kane berates, sounding furious.

There's silence for a minute, with the exception of drawers opening and shutting in the background.

"You really do hate me, don't you?" she whimpers, and I hear him sigh hard.

"Amy, I'm not the one for you.  I've told you this countless times - even before Alyssa came into my life.  I hope you get your shit under control, really, I do, but it's not my responsibility, it's yours.  Acting out every time I'm with the girl I
want
to be with only pisses me off.  Excuse me, I have to holler at Zee."

I hear his feet shuffling away, and I start to end my use of magic.

"Kane still mad?" asks Sierra, and I decide to be nosy and tune in instead of tuning out.

"Very.  What's so special about some blond girl?  Does he miss being a normal guy that much?" Amy scoffs.

Normal?

I suppose being insanely wealthy has its drawbacks.  It'd be hard to appreciate the small things and know when someone actually likes you for you.

"Amy, he’s right though.  You can't keep doing this to him.  He's not responsible for you.  You're responsible for you.  You'll find someone who loves you the way he loves Alyssa."

Loves?  He doesn't love me.  Slow down the wedding march, Sierra.

"He doesn't love her.  He barely knows her," Amy snorts.

Bitch.

"He does, or he wouldn't be in a frenzy to find her.  Just leave him in peace.  He'll never forgive you if he loses Alyssa, and then you won't even have his friendship."

"If I wanted his friendship, I wouldn't have told him I love him."

She loves him?  Shit.

"If he loved you, you wouldn't be sitting here scheming up ways to get him.  You have to stop crossing that line.  If you back off, he will eventually come around.  Right now, you're on a slippery slope.  Soon, you might not be able to stop from making a mistake that you'll have to live with after you've sobered up."

Sobered up?  Drugs?  Booze?

"I-"

"I need my phone," Kane murmurs, interrupting whatever Amy was going to say.

Crap.  I want to hear more.

"Be careful, and call us when you find her.  I'd like to know she's alright," Sierra murmurs genuinely.

"I will, in the meantime, stay on standby.  I might need some help finding the sons of bitches after her."

"You know we'll help in any way we can.  That's what family is for."

"Just... if she says... when I-"

"We'll accept her," Sierra says comfortingly, and I get sick.

When he what?  What will I say?

"I think it's stupid, and I won't accept her, no matter how long she stays," Amy spews.

Stays?

"It doesn't matter if
you
accept her or not.  You're the only one here whose opinion I don't give a fuck about," he growls, and then I lose the connection.

"No," I mumble, waving my hand over the phone, but nothing happens.

Shit. 
He must have called someone else, or they called him.

"Ready?" Thad calls from the living area, and I drop my head back momentarily while sighing in exasperation.

"Yeah."

Ready for my life to make sense.

The rough winds scrape across
the house thought to be abandoned deep in the woods.  Crackling out its strength, the fireplace warms the room.

I've gone from cold weather to hot weather so many times that I'm finally getting sick.

"You okay?" Thad asks as he sits down beside my shivering body.

"Yeah.  I think I'm getting a cold."

"Can't you do a healing spell or something?"

I laugh in the middle of a sneeze while shaking my head.

"Sure, if I want to end up crippled for all eternity.  Healing spells have to be done by very well practiced witches.  Not even Frankie can pull off a healing spell.  My mom is the only one I know to successfully do it without side effects."

"Did not know that," he murmurs while wrapping his arm around my shoulders, and I eye him suspiciously when he feels too close.

"I'm sick, not desperate."

He smirks, and then he leans over to my neck, making my breath hitch.  I feel his breath on me, warming my skin, and the warmth suddenly travels through the rest of my body, relieving me of my chills.

"Wow," I murmur while wiping my nose with a tissue.  "Any cure for the sniffles inside your breath?"

"Let's find out," he says before pressing his lips to mine, and I sneeze while laughing as he draws back with a look of disgust.

"I think you did that on purpose."

I shrug, feigning innocence, and he rolls his eyes while leaning back and letting his head rest against the couch.  My phone buzzes, and he rolls his eyes.

"That boy never takes a hint, does he?" he grumbles under his breath.

I glance down, realizing it really is Kane...
again
, and then I put the phone back down.

"He'll forget me eventually," I strain out, trying not to show the truly devastated emotion teetering on the edge.  "Can you give me a minute?"

"I'm exhausted.  Please don't make me move," he groans while stretching out.  "You can listen in.  I swear I won't judge or comment."

He closes his eyes while breathing steadily, but I put the phone down instead of listening.  Just hearing Kane's voice would probably make me cave and beg him to come risk his life just so I can have his arms around me.

Selfish bitch.

"Sorry to interrupt, but the warlock needs your help ciphering a code outside," one of the night stalkers murmurs.

"Tell him I'll be there in a minute, Rain."

Rain's eyes glow blue momentarily, as if he's taunting me, and then he smirks before walking out.

“Remind me why you have night stalkers in your party," I grumble, a chill spreading throughout me.

"Because they can subdue the dark users better than anyone.  Not to mention, they're some of the strongest beings in existence.  Why exactly are the two of you mortal enemies?  I've never understood it."

I sigh out as all the stories my mother told me when I was growing up suddenly rattle around in my mind.

"They have the ability to hold us down, making our powers worthless.  In the old days, they lived solely off our blood and essence.  Draining a witch kills most blood-thirsters, but to a night stalker, we're worth fifty humans."

"How do you build up resentment over something that happened centuries ago when you're so young?" he chuckles out.

My lips tighten, and then I pull my shirt down to reveal a spot along my collarbone.

"What?" he says with a devious smirk.  "Finally willing to let me show you what an
animal
I really can be?"

Though his witty little pun is humorous, I'm not exactly feeling the urge to laugh.  With a heavy sigh, I wave my hand over the spot to reveal the blemish I masked long ago.

The red, savage scar reveals itself, and his eyes widen in disbelief.

"Bloody hell.  When did that happen?" he gushes while running his finger along the mark.

I pull my hand back over it, making the skin pull smooth, and the scar vanishes once more.  I let my collar pop back into place and turn to face him.

"It happened when I was seventeen.  One day I went for a walk, but a night stalker had been tracking me, waiting for me to slip up and step out of the protective circle I was living in at the time - my overprotective mother's circle around our farmhouse coven.

"Obviously I didn't expect him, and he pinned me down, using his powers of subduing.  My blood became his meal, and little by little, I felt my life slipping away.  He fell between my legs, lifted my skirt, and all I could do was lie there, stunned by his hypnotism.  I thought... For a minute, I worried he was going to do more than just feast on me, but he didn't get the chance.

"After he dug his fangs in the second time, my mother showed up.  He got away, but it's doubtful he lived, considering the wounds he sustained.  I spent three days in a healing room, barely surviving the attack after he drained me almost dry within minutes.

"So don't say it's something that happened centuries ago.  Not everything has changed.  You know as well as I do, night stalkers still love a good witch meal, they just clean up better than they used to."

"I thought that attack was just the rumor your father started in order for your mother and you to live freely.  And I thought you were like eight or nine when it happened."

"No.  I was ten the first time I was attacked, and that's when they told everyone Airis Devall had died."  I pause, motioning to the other side of my neck.  "It didn't scar like the last one.  That night stalker's venom was weaker, meaning a smaller scar, and he met my father's wrath fairly quickly.  He was a fool to even come into Drackus's home."

He lets out a heavy, harsh breath, and then his fingertips trail along my collarbone as he pulls my shirt back down.  My breath hitches as his lips find the hidden scar, and he drags them across it on his way up to my neck.

I start to push him away, but he pulls back on his own.

"Just so you know, there's not a night stalker here brave enough to touch you with me around.  They know what I'd do to them, and most of them remember how very ruthless I once was.  You're safe."

I would smile if that didn't sound so morbid and a little... scary.  Too bad a changer is nowhere nearly as strong as a night stalker.  I would feel comforted if I knew he really could take on a night stalker as old and seasoned as Rain.

I lean into him, my eyes growing heavy, and then I shake my head.

"I'm stronger now.  You haven't even seen all I can do because I'm scared I'll end up like my father.  I hold back because I have to; not because I can't do more.  I almost dread my immortality."

"Why?" he muses, his fingers strumming through my hair.

"Because I'll be even stronger.  That's the real reason I don't like using magic.  I'm afraid I won't know when I've gone too far... just like him."

He nods, his hand sliding down my back now, and it almost feels like he's trying to comfort me.  In my wildest dreams, I never pictured a changer comforting me.  Sadly enough, he's the closest thing I have to a friend right now, and I really need a friend.

"There are few things left in the world that scare me.  I've seen hell try to rise above ground, but I lived through it.  Your dad... honestly, he scares the shit out of me." 
Well, the comfort is gone. 
"But it's not because he's powerful; it's because he has no reservations about using his power against anyone who crosses him.  The council may have condemned him to the lost lands, but you know as well as I do he can leave at any time - and does.

"He stays there most of the time though, never using his magic outside the fields, but only because he doesn't want to make things harder on your mother.  He doesn't ever want her punished for anything he does, and they
would
use her against him."

"Don't make it sound as though he truly cares.  The reason he stays put is because the only time the light and dark agree is when it comes to keeping him away.  He's powerful -deadly powerful - but he's not invincible.  I've seen it.  I've seen him hurt.  I was young, but I remember what happened."

His lips tighten, as if he wants to say more, but he decides against it.  I still can't believe Drackus told someone I'm his daughter.  They're all supposed to think that young girl died.

My phone buzzes to interrupt the awkward silence that has fallen, and I frown when I see Kane's name on the screen.

It finally stops, and Thad kisses the top of my head while standing up.

"Go ahead and spy.  I'll go help the warlock."

I force a smile, though I know it's a poor attempt, and he gives me a wink before disappearing out the door.  With a wave of my hand, Kane's voice comes through, making me miss him more than I thought possible.