Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (54 page)

She’s starts trembling more violently again.
Her quivering becomes more brutal than before, and deeper. Her
entire body is vibrating. Her blood still burns hotly, but she is
feeling cold. The water is cooling off. He looks at her
questioningly. He decides he needs to get her out of the shower. He
turns her around and gives her another efficient scrub down. Then
he turns the water off and lifts her into his arms and carries her
out of the shower. He wraps her in the thick terry cloth robe and
carries her to bed. She doesn’t resist when he lies her down and
wraps the covers around her. She looks into his face, she has never
seen him look so indecisive and unsure how to proceed. She tries to
smile at him in what she hopes is a reassuringly way.

The pain and intense burn deep within her
body is intensifying. She asks for her prescriptions and some
water. He is back in just moments with the items she has requested.
She fumbles with the bottles. She gets two Lortabs and a couple of
Valiums. She takes them with several gulps of water. “Are you in
pain?” he asks fearfully.

“My head,” she lies. Then she closes her
eyes. Hoping he didn’t read the lie clearly exposed there. Her body
is still vibrating deeply in the core of her being. The burn hasn’t
abated any; in fact it has spread through every part of her, even
her brain. She drinks deeply of the bottle of water. When it is
empty, she asks for another. After she drinks half of that one too.
She burrows deeper into the covers of the bed. How can she be
burning up and cold at the same time?

She is afraid to look at him but she knows
she must. He has gotten dressed sometime while she wasn’t paying
attention. “How did I miss that?” she wonders. “Hold me, please?”
she asks feebly. He complies immediately. He settles in behind her
and pulls her upright and tightly to him. She doesn’t like this
position because she can’t see his face, but she doesn’t argue. The
burn in her body is reaching a crescendo. She just snuggles into
his strong body and tries to ignore it, but it won’t be unheeded.
She drinks the rest of the water in the bottle. Then leans her head
against his shoulder and closes her eyes.

The heat in her body intensifies yet again.
She is soaked in perspiration. She asks him to strip and hold her
close again, to help cool her off. He quickly complies, and she
seems to be comforted by the presence of his icy cold body. She
relaxes slightly in his arms. But he can still feel the tremors
rack her body and hears her muted moans of agony.

Finally she is exhausted, and a deep sleep
overtakes her. Her dreams are violent affairs of rivers of lava,
destruction and restoration. Kaleidoscopes of colors and sensations
fill her senses. She thrashes and murmurs unintelligibly in her
sleep. In turns, she is a quivering mass of burning lava, and
grinding glaciers of ice. Perspiration soaks her body, the robe and
blankets.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally, the burn is gone, the cold is gone.
The erratic, frightening, and out of control images and feelings
are gone too. She feels peaceful and strong. She opens her eyes.
Luca is still holding her. But he has moved their positions so that
she is lying beside him, they are facing each other and he is
dressed again. As she opens her eyes she looks directly into his
beautiful luminescent blue eyes. She smiles happily because her
true love is still there, waiting for her. Those gorgeous eyes are
clouded with deep fear and worry. In a split second he searches her
face and looks deeply into eyes. He gasps in shock and horror. He
flies out of bed. Picks her up and carries her into the bathroom.
He places her before the mirror and says, “Morna, my God! What have
we done? Look at your eyes!”

At first she can’t understand what he’s
talking about. Then she sees what has caused such horror in his
reaction. Her irises are still the vivid emerald green they have
been since age twelve of her original life, but now there is a very
thin, brilliant crimson ring around the pupil. It would be
imperceptible to ordinary people. But Luca spotted it immediately.
She continues to look at her eyes, then looks up to find his eyes
in the mirror. Then she shrugs, and says, “I am still me, I can
feel it.”

He steps back from her, rubs his hands over
his face like a man in deep in turmoil. “You don’t smell the same,
and you don’t feel the same Morna,” he rasps out. “You still smell
like you, but with a hint of my kind. Your very blood has been
altered. Your skin is much cooler, paler, and slightly luminescent.
Your flesh is firmer, more defined under the softness that is you.
You are you, but more, I don‘t know different… I am not making
sense,” he murmurs. He looks like a man who is being tortured.

She turns and takes his face in between her
hands. “Luca, I don’t know what, if anything has happened to me,
but I am still me. I can feel it. Okay?” She kisses him gently, and
backs away because of the unexpected inferno that simple kiss
ignites in her body. Then she says. “I am a sticky mess and
ravenous. I need a shower and food. Can you order a couple of
burgers for me?”

She turns and walks to the shower. She opens
the door and turns the water on waiting for it to warm up. When it
feels close to the temperature she wants, she opens the robe and
drops it to the floor. She runs her hands down her belly and
spreads them out over her hips. Her flesh is clearly much firmer
just beneath her softness. She quickly, self-consciously cups her
breasts. They are firmer, more pert than they have been in years.
She can tell what he meant about her body feeling more defined
under the softness. It’s a strong, resilient feeling. She likes it,
a lot. A sense of peace, of rightness envelops her and she smiles
brightly.

Morna looks back over at Luca. He is watching
her closely, warily. She smiles at him and steps into the shower.
She vigorously washes her hair and scrubs her body. She rinses off
and then turns the water off and steps out the shower, towel dries
her hair and then wraps the towel around her body. Luca is still
standing where he was before she entered the shower. There is a
look of disbelief and almost horror on his face. She goes over and
kisses him, then walks into the bedroom to use the phone and order
her food since he doesn’t seem to be going to do it for her.

Once she’s ordered the food, she quickly
selects some clothes from her suitcase and returns to the bathroom.
She blow dries her hair, brushes it smooth. Looks at herself in the
mirror and stops short. The scar is barely perceptible. She looks
closer at her reflection, looks down at her left arm. That scar
too, is nearly imperceptible. She looks at her leg and finds the
same thing. She looks up into the mirror at Luca; he’s staring at
her, his face unreadable. “Did you notice this?” she asks. He nods.
Then he steps up to her and gently peels the towel from her
body.

“Morna, look at your body in the mirror,” he
whispers. She complies. And gasps. Her skin is paler than before,
but with a slight luminescent quality. When she shifts and turns
she can see marks on her body, like a hologram shimmering just
below the surface of her skin. The marks look like finger prints,
hand prints, indefinable smudges. Slightly darker than her skin
tone, and only perceivable in glimpses as she moves. “What is
that?” she whispers.

“Marks from my hands, I think.” He rasps.
“Some sort of bruising, I guess. I am sorry; I didn’t realize I was
hurting you.”

She turns to him and embraces him, “You
weren’t,” she assures him. “You never hurt me Luca.”

“Morna,” he rasps. “My venom has changed you.
Oh my God, what have I done?”

“Not you. We.” she states flatly. “We did it.
Whatever we did, we did it together. You only acted at my urging,
my pleading even.” She strokes his face lovingly, the familiar
fires are raging in her body, but then she is quickly distracted by
her hunger. “When are they going to get here with that food?” she
wonders out loud.

She turns from him and tidies up the
bathroom. She walks into the bedroom and straightens up the bed.
“Whew,” she says. “We need to get maid service up the change the
sheets.” She flits around the room tiding up as she goes. She zips
her suitcase and stores it by the dresser. Then rethinks it and
sets it back on the dresser opens it again and quickly puts the
clothes away neatly in the drawers.

A knock sounds at the door to their suite.
She dons a robe and goes out and signs for the food. And then she
returns to the small table in the bedroom and sits down to eat. The
food is delicious and she makes very short work of it. She gets up
and goes back to the bathroom to wash her hands and brush her
teeth. Then she goes and picks up her phone from the bedside table.
Flips it open and is shocked to realize it is after two in the
afternoon. “Wow! Where has the time gone?” she murmurs.

Then she looks at Luca, When will you contact
Air and Almeda?” she asks.

“I did that while you were unconscious,” he
says.

“Unconscious? I only took a little nap,” she
says in consternation.

“No Morna, you were out for days,” he says
quietly. “It is now Wednesday, March 9th. [this isn’t right… go
back and get the days straight.] You’ve been unconscious since
early Tuesday morning.

She gasps in disbelief. She snaps her phone
open again and looks at the date. She is shocked to see he is
right. She sits suddenly on the edge of the bed. “Wow, what have we
done to me?” she whispers.

Luca comes to her quickly and takes her in
his arms. He sees that she finally understands that something
colossal has happened. She snuggles into him and says, “I don’t
understand. I feel fine. I feel like me, just really rested and
strong.”

“Does your throat burn?” he asks quietly.

“No, but I could eat another burger. Do we
have any more water?” she asks distractedly, and then gets up and
looks around. She goes into the bathroom and gets a disposable cup
and fills it with tap water. Drinks it down and refills it. She
drinks the second cup of water slightly slower. Then sighs,
somewhat relieved. She walks back to him. She kisses him quickly
and fires ignite at that brief touch. She steps back, completely
overwhelmed by intensity of her reaction to him. She walks over the
little table and sits down. He joins her at the table.

“Ari and Almeda will be here any minute,” he
says in a hushed voiced. He’s silent for a moment then says, “Morna
do you realize you have been running around in here this afternoon
moving, well, like I do? You certainly aren‘t human anymore.”

“No,” she admits. “I feel energized and eager
to be moving. But I didn’t realize I was moving any different than
I always do. Maybe they can tell us what has happened,” she offers
hopefully.

“I am afraid of their reaction when they see
you. I have infected you with what I am,” he moans
despairingly.

She slams her fist down on the corner of the
table. A chunk of the solid wood flies off on impact. “INFECTED
HELL!” she storms. “There is nothing bad or diseased or impure
about you Lucian Michaels! If we have somehow changed me, it is not
an infection. It is not evil! It is not bad in any form or fashion!
Do you understand me?” she demands. He just looks back at her, his
face utterly unchanged.

“Dammit man! I am sick to death of you acting
as though you are some vile, impure creature and I am some sort of
pure, perfect being. We are just what we are! Nothing more, nothing
less. We just are.” By this point she is crying. He comes around
and kneels before her to take her in his arms. As he holds her in
his arms, she tries to smother the uncontrollable conflagration
that is burning inside her; she is absolutely on fire with desire
for him. Her heart is racing faster than she can ever recall, and
her breathing is labored. She seeks his lips with her own, and
kisses him deeply, eagerly invading his mouth, relishing in his
taste, savoring the fact that she doesn’t have to fear his teeth
any longer.

Suddenly she realizes what has seemed ‘off’
ever since she awoke. Luca’s body does not feel cold to her. Total
shock over takes all her thoughts. She looks into his eyes… and
says in awe, “You are warm… You don‘t feel like marble, you feel
like flesh and blood to me. Warm, wonderful flesh and blood.”

He kisses her lightly, and her internal fires
flare wildly. He nods and says, “I was wondering how long it would
take you to notice that,” he chuckled. “I suspect you will need a
little while before you can fully process everything your senses
are registering.” He leans in and kisses her again, gently, and
chastely.

She captures his head with her hands and
invades him again with her eager mouth, her tongue plundering his
mouth, savoring his taste and her newfound freedom to really kiss
him. Her hands work down his body, as she moves out of the chair
and kneels before him, intent on loving him right there in the
floor. Suddenly, she pulls away and says, “We have company coming.
I must stop that!”

He laughs, and kisses her chastely as he
stokes her face. She shudders as need and desire ravage through her
body, and he says, “Now you know how I feel every single time you
touch me.”

She starts to ask him what he means, but
suddenly realizes that she should get dressed before their company
arrives. She flies into the bathroom and quickly dresses. She dons
a bra and panty set made of rich burgundy satin and lace, and a
bright emerald green jersey dress, similar to the sapphire one she
wore to the piano bar. She so surprised at the way she looks in the
dress. She is positively glowing. Even her hair is different. It is
now a deeper, richer, glimmering strawberry blond. The soft,
healthy waves frame her face in a very flattering manner. The
richer color accentuates her brilliant eyes and slightly
luminescent pale skin tone.