Nocturnal (31 page)

“I know how you hate it when you can't breathe,” Di says, nodding. None of us says anything.

“Mother, you are interrupting.” Ivan is remarkably calm now. As if there isn't a woman sitting on his chest.

“Am I?” She acts like she's committed a faux pas. “So sorry Ivan darling. I just thought I would come and see you. See all my boys again. It's been so long.” She may be pretty, but there is steel behind those words. They could cut deeply. She freaks me out, almost more than Ivan. And that's saying something.

“What are you doing here?” This time it's Ivan asking. I feel like that's all anyone says.

“I told you. I came for a visit. To see how you are.” 

“We are in the middle of something.”

“I can see that.” She looks at me like she is both disgusted and afraid at the same time. “Peter dear? Could you explain your relationship with this?” Her hand waves to indicate me. I'm the 'this.'

She stares hard at him, like she's trying to probe through his thoughts via his eyes and root out all his secrets.

“What is your role in this Viktor sweetheart?” Apparently everyone gets an endearment after their name. It's very old fashioned. I wonder just how old she is. Peter never told me.

“I am here.”

“Yes, I can see that.” They share another silent communique. I'm seriously starting to think they can read each other's minds.

“Ah, loyalty. Such a valuable commodity.” She looks down at Ivan and strokes his face with one finger. He looks like he wants to bite it off. 

“Viktor sweetheart, what did you promise me, when I made you?”

“That I would always be there when you called.” He recites it like a prayer he memorized in Sunday school. I'm still trying to catch up.

“Ivan darling, what did you promise me?”

“That I would never leave you.” There's so much venom in his words, I would be afraid to be near him.

“Peter dear, what did you promise me?”

“That I would never love anyone as much as I loved you.” He says the words quietly. I feel his despair as well as my own.

“That's right. Which is why you have to kill her. You must keep your promise, Peter dear.”

“I know.” He turns toward me and I plead with him in my head. I can't speak. After all we've been through, the Claiming and that kiss we shared... This can't be it.

“Ava.”

“Please,” I whisper. 

I close my eyes.

A Promise

The pain doesn't come. I wait, but nothing happens. I squint my eyes open to find a pretty frigged-up scene. It must have taken less than five seconds, but when I do a quick survey, everything's changed. 

Peter and Viktor are on the ground, only this time Di is under them. It takes one of them on each arm to hold her down. Ivan stands next to them, hissing through his teeth. The sound makes every hair on my body stand on end. Di hisses back, and I want to cover my ears so it will stop.

“What are you doing to me? You promised. All of you.” She glares at each of them, but they don't move.

“You took advantage,” Viktor says. “You tricked us. Took our souls and then our freedom.”

“I made you what you are. Without me, you would have died.”

“Then so be it. The past cannot be changed.” She smiles.

“Exactly.” Everyone seems to have forgotten me. Even Peter. Then I feel a tug in my mind and I know he hasn't. Even without his eyes on me, I can feel that same pull toward him. 

“Now you are going to make a promise.” Peter finally speaks. I want to get up and run to him, but I'm not getting close to her. She wants to kill me.

“Never.”

“You will make a binding promise or I will break mine.”

“As will I,” Viktor says. Di thrashes against them. I've seen videos of alligator wrestling on cable. This is kind of like that. Only the alligator is a petite woman in a pretty dress. 

“You can't,” she laughs, but she doesn't sound sure. The sound grates on my ears like broken glass.

“We will.” Her eyes ping-pong back and forth, looking for lies. I can picture Peter's blinkless eyes. I don't know Viktor well enough to know what he looks like when he's telling the truth or a lie. But I'm sure she can.

“You wouldn't dare.”

“Ivan, help please.” Seems like now they've got a common enemy, they're working like brothers.

Ivan takes Peter's place and Di makes a break for it, but they're too strong. Ivan punches her in the face and she hisses again. Not that I'm cool with men hitting women, but I'm kinda glad he did. I'm not sure she counts as a typical woman. Seeing as how it takes two of them to hold her down.

Peter walks over to me. I'm still on the ground, not having been able to get up yet. My mouth is dry and gritty from dirt. I'm sure most of my exposed skin was scraped off when Peter landed on me. I'm in such a daze that I'm not feeling it. Yet.

“Here,” he says, taking my arm and helping me up. My legs wobble and he clutches me. I am once again grateful for his solidness. Once I think I can stay upright, I look up at him. Even though it's dark, I can see the white of his teeth. He's smiling.

“Why are you smiling?”

“You.” Everything around us gets a little hazy, and all I can see is his face. And finally, I reach up and push his hair out of his eyes. 

“Peter!” The word cracks like a whip, but we ignore it. He just smiles wider, and I can't help it, but so do I. Even as Di screams at him, he moves his face closer to mine.

“Fine! What do you want?” We finally turn and look at her. Everyone's staring at us. Normally, I'd be kind of embarrassed, but it's kind of a weird situation.

“A promise.”

“No.”

“That's what I want.” Her face breaks for a second, and we all see the fear. She knows he's got her hands behind her back. 

“What do I have to promise?”

“That you will never hurt, or ask anyone else to hurt or in any way seek to harm Ava. Forever.”

“She's going to destroy you!”

“Then so be it.” His eyes go back to me and I feel a rush of energy so strong I think I'm on fire. This is both one of the best and one of the worst moments of my life. Strange how things can be that way.

“I won't do it. You can ask anything else.”

“No.”

“I could release you. From your promise.” Wait, what? She can do that?

“That's not what I want.”

“Peter, are you crazy?” His head goes to the side and I want to kiss him, but this is too important. “Think about it. If she takes it away, then everything will be fine.”

“It won't. You don't know her like I do.”

“Listen to him,” Viktor chimes in.

“You stay out of this,” I say. He just showed up five seconds ago. He has no right to an opinion.

“Yes, Viktor, stay out of this.” Ivan looks up at me and smiles slowly. Yes, I know you have an agenda. But you don't want to kill me, so I'll deal with him later. I need to get out of this situation first.

“You could be free,” I say, touching his hair again. I always thought it was dirty, but it's soft, like feathers. 

“The only one who can set me free is you. And without you, it wouldn't be worth it.”

“Peter. Don't do this to me. I'm your mother.” Di is really desperate now.

“My mother's name is Ellen Mackintire. She died in 1964. You are the woman who took away my soul. Nothing more.”

“Peter.” Somehow she thinks saying his name over and over will change his mind. That only really works when there are tears involved. I'm pretty sure noctali don't cry. So it's only empty words.

“Please, Peter,” I say. We're both begging him for different things.

“Let me do this, Ava-Claire.” It's the first time he's called me by both my names. My heart contracts and I know what he's going to do. Because even if doing is going to kill him, he's going to care about me. I wouldn't say love. Not yet. There's no way. I mean...

“I want you to promise me that you will leave Ava alone. You will not harm, or cause, bribe or convince anyone else to do so. You will not harass her, or contact her in any way. You will stay away from her. You are never to look at or talk to her again.”

“Peter.” One last desperate plea. She struggles once more, but Ivan and Viktor hold her down. If she were human, her shoulders would have been broken or dislocated. But she is not.

“I promise,” she whispers, not losing eye contact with Peter. At first I think I imagine it, but a breeze hums through the air. There's a crackle, like static and I tingle with it. It reminds me of that one time Tex dared me to touch an electric fence at the pig farm. The wind gets stronger, whipping my hair over my face. Other than their hair, the tableau in front of me doesn't move. 

The air goes still. It's done.

Peter turns his back on Di.

“She'll kill you, Peter dear! You don't want to die, do you?”

“I'm already dead. Just existing.”

“What about all I've done for you?”

“You took my soul. She's going to give it back to me.”

“Peter!” Ivan punches her again, and the sound is cut short.

“Let's go,” he says, holding out one hand.

“What about her?” 

“They will take care of her. You need not worry.”

“Are you sure they'll be okay?”

“Yes.”

He holds out his hand. I have reservations about taking it. I don't want him to think I'm fine with him choosing me instead of ridding himself of his promise. But my hand reaches out and takes his. As if I don't have a choice. I'd always choose him.

Choosing You 

Peter tucked me into bed, and I was reluctant to lose skin contact with him.

“Will you stay?”

“I will always stay. I could not leave, even if I wanted to.”

“I know, but you don't have to stay on the roof. You can read my books. If you wanted to.” I'm caught between wanting him to stay and wanting him to go so he won't start caring more than he already does about me. But I'm freaked out and scared and I care more about feeling safe than anything right now. I'll worry about the love thing tomorrow.

“I will stay.”

“Good.” Despite the insane night, and the almost dying part, I yawn. “You still have my book.”

“I know. I will return it to you.”

“I don't care, you can keep it.”

“I'll return it.” He turns his back on my bookshelves. My hands twist around the covers with desire to pull him toward me. To hold onto him like a life preserver.

“You should get to sleep.”

“I know.” I sit up, watching him. Wondering what he's thinking. “How do you feel?”

He thinks a moment before he answers.

“Free.”

“But you still have the promise.” I want to call it a curse, but refrain. 

“It doesn't matter.” I sling my feet over the side of the bed.

“It does,” I say, starting to stand up. I can't take being on the other side of the room from him. 

“You are safe. That is what matters.”

“But what if you... fall for me.”

“Then I will cease to exist.” The way he says it triggers a memory of something he said before. Oh. Oh.

“This is what you want.”

Blink. 

I step away from him, stung. The pain of the night crashes on me, as if the adrenaline that had kept it at bay is shut off like a dripping tap.

I survey my body. The worst is my hands and forearms. My legs were encased in jeans that are torn here and there, but otherwise I'm fine.

“Ava.”

“I should wash up.” Tears threaten to spill over again if I look at him any more. I dash to the bathroom and turn on the water.

“Ava, things are complicated.”

“No shit,” I say looking at my face in the mirror. There are a few scrapes, but nothing major. Nothing make-up can't cover. 

“It's okay Peter. I just got confused and thought something else. It's fine. You can go fly if you want.”

“I want to be with you.”

“Then why do you want to kill yourself?” I spin around, my hip smacking against the sink. What's a little more pain?

“I am already dead. My soul is gone. Yours is intact. When you die, your soul will continue to exist. Whether that be in another place or in another body, I don't know. But you will always exist because your soul belongs to you. I gave mine away. When this existence ends, I will end.”

“I don't want you to end.” My voice chokes on tears.

“I know. Strange that the only person who could end me is the only one I want to stay with.” I look up, startled. What?

“You want to stay with me?”

“Of course.” His head goes to the side and I want to kiss him so much it hurts. “How could you think otherwise?”

“I don't know.” I lean against him, pushing my head into his chest. His arms go around me, pulling me closer.

“Let's get you cleaned up.”

“Okay.” 

I sit on the tub as Peter bathes my cuts and scrapes with alcohol. It stings, but I bite my lip so I don't make a sound.

“This doesn't bother you, does it?”

“No. The blood is dried. The life has left it.”

“Oh.”

I don't talk about the elephant in the room. Di. Because we both know if she wants to keep him, and get rid of me, she's going to poke a hole through that promise. There are always loopholes. I know enough by being the daughter of a loan officer. But I don't want to think about that tonight. I don't want to think about how Ivan teamed up with Peter and Viktor and protected me. I don't want to think about explaining the scrapes and how tired I'm going to be and how behind I am in school and how I'm going to have to tell my mother about Peter. I can't keep it from her any longer.

Once I'm covered in antibiotic cream and an entire box of band-aids, I get back into bed. Peter sits beside me, almost nervous-like.

“Come here,” I say. He leans over. I rake my hands in his hair, pulling it away from his face. 

“Are you going to kiss me?”

“If you want.”

I blink at him. He smiles.

“I will take that as yes.”

Yes.

Chapter One