Legacy (Endlessly Book 2) (8 page)

9
a rock

The months leading into spring were joyful. My hair grew rapidly, but still had the black that I longed to cut off. Our new home was like a misfit frat house. The guys horsed around and played pranks on one another. The sound of video games was eternal. So were the voices of the people playing them.

It felt like home. I wa
lked through the forest by day and flew at night. Verloren seemed content with my happiness and my happiest moments were with him. At night we might walk the beach or roam through the forest. Once I solved my crash-landing problem we sometimes flew. I enjoyed flying. I found out early that in the air I was twice as fast as the gargoyles.

Some days we ran foot races to the beach.

On one such day a group of us lined up at the path, while I opened my mind to channel the conversation. This fell on me because Cory and Jason had already shifted. The gargoyles bounced around stretching their wings. Jenny’s body had grown even more twisted, almost hunched.

Verloren and I were the only other people in this competition. Sarah waited for us at the beac
h. Jesse avoided these contests and I was just as happy he did.

Okay, everyone remember the rules,
Josh thought.
No pushing or shoving and no flying. First one to touch the water wins.
Then he spoke out loud: “Ready… set… go!”

Verloren shot down the path while Cory and Jason vied for second place. I was only slightly ahead of the grotesques. I pumped my legs faster and pulled my wings tighter to my body to ease the drag. I almost ran into a tree as I passed Jason and Cory. Their huge
hairless and russet forms blocked most of the path.

“Move it, dog,” I panted as I passed Cory.

I’m not a fucking dog! Augh, she’s going to beat us again,
Cory thought.

Once I was safely ahead of them I laughed, turned and saw Jason slow down. He was letting Lex beat him. Down the path was a break in the trees and blue sky. Verloren stood, sunglasses on, surveying the path down the cliff. He smirked, then raced off.

When I saw Verloren halfway across the beach I jogged down the jagged path. Cory growled behind me. When I got within twenty feet of the sand, I jumped. Cory barked. I passed Sarah. She lounged on her rock, keeping our exertions at arm’s length.

“Verloren already won,” she taunted Cory.

I ran toward Verloren who stood smiling at the water’s edge. Cory was at my heels. I stopped just as my foot hit the cold water. Cory flew past me into the ocean. Verloren grabbed my hand and pulled me back. I teetered, trying not to fall in the water.

A few seconds later Lex appeared, then Jason, followed by Josh and Jenny. Jason bounded into the surf, then treaded water, drifting in our general direction.

Verloren only wins every time because he’s a little shit,
Cory complained as he climbed out of the water.

“You’re just mad because you got beat by a girl,” I told him.

“And a beautiful girl at that,” Verloren whispered, kissing me.

I heard a splash just before getting hit by a
freezing shower. Jason laughed and paddled about in his werewolf form. Finally he came out from the water and shook like a dog. We got splashed again.

“Jason you’re such a buzz kill!” Verloren yelled at him.

I laughed through chattering teeth. I was glad to see Jason acting normal, even with Verloren.

For weeks he’d moped, but now he was back to his smartass self. As he saw more of my emotions, he also learned to block them. He could decide for himself when he would allow himself to see my feelings for Verloren, and when he would steer clear of us. The process seemed to mature him, impossible as that seemed.

Whenever Fabi was gone we fed off of humans. Each time Jason fed after me our connection grew stronger. I only inflicted this kind of hell on Jason. I couldn’t bring myself to do it to Cory, though his connection would have been much weaker. I would have rather just crushed our victims’ skulls and been done with it, but Jason relished the burden of the connection.

Verloren knew the connection was growing
and he knew why Jason was doing it. Despite Jason’s strong feelings, he finally saw that nothing would ever separate us. Verloren chose to ignore Jason’s emotions.

Jason and Verloren were back to their normal routine. Jason even tagged along when Verloren bought a new crotch rocket. Verloren’s yearning for a bike wouldn’t go away. When he found an abandoned house with a large barn less than two miles away, he knew he had a place to put a bike. From then on it was inevitable that he would get one. The new bike was a Hayabusa; it was shiny, black
, and really fast.

Verloren and I became kids on the new motorcycle. The night he bought it, we didn’t wait for someone to pick us up on the road to take us to the deserted house. We ran through the forest until we reached the barn.

“I’ve never ridden on a motorcycle before,” I told Verloren.

“There are only two things you need to do,” he said. “Hang on and lean with me.”

“I think I can do that.”

He removed the cover, started the bike and revved the engine. It sounded like an angry monster as I climbed on the back. Verloren showed me where to place my feet. I gripped him as he drove the bike out of the garage and onto the road.

It made me happy to cling to him tightly as we raced down the dark curvy highway. The wind tugged my hair and jacket as I buried my face in his back. I could hear his excited heartbeat. We rode for over an hour, then he turned onto a narrow road. He cut the engine and killed the light. We coasted into a parking lot concealed by tall trees. There was a small visitor’s station and restrooms, but they were dark.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

“Checking out something I think you’re going to like.”

Once we were off the bike, he hid it in the trees beyond the building. He took my hand and led me down a path by Crescent Lake. We went through a strange oval tunnel that ran under the highway, then the path plunged into the dark forest. We walked for a while down a wide path. I heard water gurgling as we crossed a wide metal bridge. A stream flowed beneath us in the moonlight.

Verloren tugged my hand. “Come on, this isn’t it.”

We crossed that bridge and came to another crudely made, but beautiful, bridge. The walking plank was made from one large tree sliced in half and laid flat side up with handrails constructed from other fallen timber. As we crossed this narrow bridge single file I could make out more water amidst the thick trees. The thundering of water grew louder.
Beyond the second bridge steps were carved into the ground lined by a crude railing made of fallen branches. We climbed the steep steps and rounded a tree to find the source of the noise.

“Wow,
” I whispered. “I’ve never seen a waterfall up close before.”

“Come on, this isn’t the best place to view it.” He pulled on my hand.

We doubled around the tree and came to a lookout. I clung to the rough railing and watched the water fall eighty feet into a pool at the bottom. Pale moonlight cast silvery beams on the water. Cool spray drenched me.

“I thought you might like it,” said Verloren, pulling my hand again. “Come up to the top. You won’t get wet up there.”

We climbed more manmade steps and arrived at a wide lookout at the top of the falls. There was a bench, but I gripped the railing and leaned over to see the pool at bottom. The clamor of the water was deafening.

Verloren stared at me, but kept his mind shut off. He took a deep breath. “It’s called Marymere Falls… but I think it should be renamed Marry Me Falls.”

I chuckled at his play on words. “It is very beautiful.”

I noticed his
eyes fading into disappointment and suddenly I realized he wasn’t joking. He was asking me to…

“Will you marry me
, Ashley?”

“I… I…” I groped for the right words. “Aren’t we soul mates? And isn’t that way beyond marriage?”

He searched my face. “Would you have said yes if I had bought a diamond ring? I know you don’t wear any jewelry that can be seen—”

“No diamond,” I said. “We don’t need it. A diamond is just a rock. A really expensive rock.”

He stared at the ground, stooped, and picked up something. He rubbed it on his pants, then dropped to one knee. He presented me with a bean-sized, dark gray, oddly-shaped rock.

We locked eyes
and he held the rock out to me as his offering. “Will you marry me?”

I took it, dropped down on my knees, and answered: “Yes.”

Verloren sobbed and laughed in the same breath. He cradled my face with shaky hands and kissed me. I broke from the kiss and looked at my rock. It was jagged, strange, and completely unique. There wasn’t another like it in the world. It was our own symbol for our love.

He smiled as he heard my thoughts. “I’ll have it set in a holder for you.”

“No, don’t spend any money on it.”

“Then I will make one for you.”

I clutched the rock in my hand and slipped out of my coat. I stood and pulled him into a kiss.

I whispered:
“I love you, thank you.”

I held him tightly as my wings pumped, lifting us off the ground. I crossed the railing, descended, and landed by the pool. Cascades of water thundered down, spreading a fine mist.
I kissed him again. The spray soaked our hair and clothes.

He broke away panting. “A lot of firsts for you tonight. First bike ride, first waterfall.”

“I wouldn’t want to experience them with anyone else.” I ran my hand under his shirt.

His breathing grew heavier and his heart raced as he read my mind. We made it back to the house just before sunrise.

We never told anyone about our plans of matrimony, as we weren’t even sure how to go about it. I put off telling the girls, knowing the news would spread everywhere the moment I revealed it. As long as we kept it to ourselves we would have all the time we wanted.

Verloren found wire and
a strip of thin black leather. He wound the wire around the rock, creating a loop, then strung it on the strip of leather, securing it around my neck like a choker. I tended to play with the rock. Verloren smiled whenever he caught me.

I had my wings to get me around, but the bike allowed Verloren to drive. Like the rock, we regarded the bike as ours alone. With the bike we could get away from our new home. Though my three-inch horns severely limited my contact with the human world, the bike could take us where normal people seldom went. We could ride miles and miles, finding new places, and connecting with each other in ways we could’ve otherwise. Eve
ryone else seemed to think it rained too much for a motorcycle to be practical. We knew better.

Even as our group evolved into a dysfunctional family, I still struggled with my f
ear of the demon. He never left and never addressed me directly, but he often spoke quietly with others, always falling silent the moment he saw me. I tried to steer clear of him, as did Verloren.

What worried me the most were the gargoyles.
We spent nights flying together and I often saw them shift. With each night they became more crooked and worn. Their skin roughened, taking on a gray pallor. Their facial features distorted more and more. I was sure this meant the demon was plotting something, and its effects were visible in Lex, Jenny and Josh. What would happen if they started to slip? What if some thoughts slipped through the cracks?

Jesse was the root of it. He was an influence for evil, and what better barometer of that influence than gargoyles and vampires? Verloren’s visions wouldn’t let him alone. He tried to hide them from me, and he was good at it, but I knew they were there. What bothered me most was my sense that he was learning to read them more accurately. Whenever I came upon him having one, he fell silent. If I prodded him for information he clammed up. His knowledge of the future was increasing, but he wouldn’t share it with me. Why?

Nothing else bothered me as much as this.

Most of our visitors were girls, and most of them came and went. Aubrey, Fabi, and Coylene retained their lives in the human world. Aubrey and Coylene had human-born children and jobs. They always worked jobs that involved a lot of travel; that way they could check in with us. Their jobs allowed them to gather information, and keep tabs on the various groups, making sure everything was under control.

The temptation of power was eternal. Hania and most of the born knowing wanted to keep the playing field level. No one person or group had complete authority. Individuals could exercise free will. That is what we had decided after the fall of the Quatre. We hardly saw Hania anymore. He was always traveling.

Whenever Coylene arrived I hid in our apartment until she left. She would get Sarah or Verloren, then they would go out to round up humans for the blood drive facade.

When Fabi was gone, we would hunt. Three vampires couldn’t survive without causing suspicion in our lightly-populated area, so most of our diet came from the donors.

The others left only to run errands or get supplies. The gargoyles brought back the large stashes. They would fill footlockers with food and lug them back. Jason, Josh, and some others would go for cigarettes.