Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (40 page)

I wasn’t a person that killed out of revenge, or anything
else for that matter. Last night taking Zane’s life had been
too easy. I didn’t lie to my friends; I didn’t keep things
from them and today I had lied and hurt my closest friend.
I didn’t know how to be a part of the pureblood world and
not lose myself in it. I was already tied to it by Eric’s
blood, but could I strengthen that tie to a world so dark
and cold even more by marrying him, and becoming a
princess to the entire pureblood population?
I fell asleep with that thought in my mind, but I didn’t
remain asleep for long. It seemed like only minutes had
passed when my eyes shot open to complete darkness. The
first thing I was aware of was that the headache I’d gone to
bed with hadn’t gone or even subsided during my short
sleep. If anything, it got worse and was the source of
waking me up. My head was about to explode, or at least
that’s how it felt, like it was going to burst apart from the
inside out.
I smelled everything, the food in the kitchen
downstairs, the grass outside, the exhaust from cars on the
streets; absolutely everything. It was so intense I could
almost taste the scents on my tongue, bitter and leaving me
feeling as though I was about to throw up. Everything was
completely black, yet I could see it all clearly. In fact, all my
senses were amplified, and they only made me feel worse.
My head throbbed and burned as though there was a
fire raging inside my skull, burning my brains to rubble. Or
maybe the fire was my head, I didn’t know; all I knew for
certain was pain.
I couldn’t think about anything else. All that filled my
mind was the pain licking the back of my eyes, no doubt
turning me to ashes. I didn’t know what was happening to
me, or even who I was. The fire was so intense it burned
away everything that I was and all I could do was stay
where I was, writhe in it.
I could hear footsteps outside the bedroom, getting
louder and louder as the distance between the person and
the bedroom closed. Then seconds later, when the
footsteps reached the door they stopped. I knew it was
Eric instantly recognizing his breathing, his heartbeat, his
scent... everything about him.
It was strange, I didn’t know who I was, but I knew
who he was. He didn’t come into the room though; instead
he leaned against the bedroom door, and then slowly slid
down to the floor, sitting there.
I was so confused. I wanted to ask him what was
happening to me and what it meant. More than anything, I
wanted to know why he was staying outside. I said nothing
though. My lips remained stuck together. I didn’t think
they worked anymore; either that or I was too consumed
by the throbbing in my head to make my brain work.
“Jen…” Eric sighed from the other side of the door,
his voice was low and soft, yet it seemed to scream inside
my head. “I can’t come in… I know you want me to, but I
can’t… Me being in there is only going to make it hurt
more,” he said, swallowing loudly. “I know it’s painful...
it’s your body changing… becoming stronger...” he
explained.
I stopped listening at that point. It wasn’t that I wanted
to stop. I wanted to hear his voice, his assurance, but the
pain wouldn’t let me. It became too much and for a long
while all I could think about was how much it hurt. I
gritted my teeth, gripping onto the material of the blankets,
not being able to do anything else.
I don’t know how long this went on for. It could have
been seconds or minutes or days even, it felt like centuries
though. Time had no meaning when my skull was being
turned inside out and upside down. It seemed to blend
into a continuous loop.
After the intense wave had burned out Eric’s voice
drifted back. That was my first clued that some time had
passed. He wasn’t explaining anything to me anymore. He
was telling me a story about him I think, him and Jason.
He told me more things about him, mostly random
things, trips he’d taken, stupid outings with Jason that
most of the times ended in some awkward situation. He
kept giving me something else to think about. I didn’t care
what Eric was saying, I just needed him to talk to me. I
needed to hear his voice, to have something other than the
pain to focus on, anything other than the pain.
Sometime later another wave hit me, harder and even
more intense than the first wave and Eric’s voice faded
into the background again. This was different though. This
one didn’t attack my entire head, at least not any more
than it was already throbbing; this time it was my eyes.
The fire, the burning and pounding blazed at my
eyeballs and at any second I felt like they were going to
melt right out of my head. It was so agonizing I wanted to
reach up and rip my eyes from my head, and I would have
if I thought that it was going to stop everything. I turned
on the bed, pressing my face into the mattress, wanting to
scream.
It went on forever, never seeming to stop and when I
began to think that it wasn’t going to stop, it began to
simmer instead. Excruciatingly slow, it started to fade and
dull until I could think and hear again. I could hear Eric,
still on the other side of the door as the pounding and
throbbing inside my eyes seemed to slowly sizzle away. It
took me a while to realize that I could see him too, as clear
as if I was really looking at him through my eyes, but I
wasn’t. I was still in the bedroom, my face pressed into the
mattress as he sat outside the bedroom.
He had his back against the wooden door while his legs
were stretched out in front of him. His head was thrown
back and his eyes were closed. He could almost pass for
being asleep, but I knew he wasn’t because he was still
talking to me. Eric was the last thing I saw before another
wave of the agony, pulsed through me, this time so raw
and intense that it seemed to take me over completely and
I passed out, all too welcoming of the numbing
unconsciousness.
* * *

The second I opened my eyes, I instantly regretted it.
Blinding light pierced through my vision so intense and
harsh that tears ran down the sides of my face. For a
moment, it was all I could focus on, but as my vision
adjusted everything came into focus as I sat up on the bed.
I was in my bedroom at the Wilson's mansion, but it had
changed somehow. It was difficult to describe because
everything was the same yet utterly different. It took me a
while to figure out that the change wasn’t external. It was
me; I had changed.

I raised my hands, staring down at the unfamiliar arms
in front of me as I turned them this way and flipped them
that way making sure the limbs were really my own. The
shock of seeing my hands, triggered movement inside me
and suddenly I found myself standing inside the bathroom,
facing the full length mirror. The movement was instant,
like a reflex action. I'd barely thought about doing the
action and then before I could finish the thought the
action was already done.

The girl facing me, was not me... well she was, but she
also wasn't. She had my face, and my body, but at the same
time everything was different. My hair was darker and
fuller than it had ever been, each strand tucked perfectly
and tousled at the same time. My skin was like Eric's,
unblemished, even and so smooth that it seemed as if I
didn't have any pores. Every tiny imperfection, every hint
of discoloration was gone, leaving me looking like a
porcelain doll that'd just been unwrapped. More than my
perfect hair, untainted skin and shiny, hard nails, the
change that was the most startling and shocking were my
eyes. I no longer had brown eyes, instead they were bright,
lively blue orbs the color of ice and the centre of fire
wrapped into one.

I knew this was going to happen, that eventually I'd
look more like Eric and his family but actually seeing it like
this was uncanny. It was shocking how much of the old
me the fire had burned away and replaced. I'd always been
the plain girl. Even in Trinidad I was always the girl that
no one remembered. Now though, I was otherworldly.

Not being able to help myself, I started stripping, too
caught up in my superficial moment to care about anything
else. I was soon sitting on the floor, my foot in line with
my face, examining the sole of my foot for an old scar. I
had gotten it at the beach when I'd stepped on some
pieces of broken glass and had to get at least four stitches.
The scar, like every other scar that had been on my body
was gone now. I was just about to drop my leg when the
bathroom door slowly opened.

“Hey, Jen...” came Eric's voice as he slowly pushed
open the door and stepped into the room, stopping
instantly when he saw me.

Immediately, I flashed up in a non-human move,
staring at him. A part of my brain was aware that all I had
on was my bra and underwear. The human Jen would have
been mortified and embarrassed right now, but I felt
nothing of that sort. I was completely comfortable in my
body, something I'd never felt before.

“Holy fuck...” Eric breathed out, his eyes slowly
travelling down from my head to my breast, along my
waist, down my legs and then slowly back up. He
swallowed loudly as his eyes roamed, then by the time they
reached back to my face he'd pulled his lower lip between
his teeth. His eyes had gone a shade darker and I could
literally see the desire and hunger coiling around his body.
It was like an iridescent pink mist that lightly coated his
skin. I could smell it in the air, mixing in with his already
heady scent, making my own desire rise.

I breathed out, pulling my own bottom lip between my
teeth biting down on it, not sure what my next moves were
going to be. I wanted Eric just as much as he wanted me,
but I had just discovered this new and non-human part of
myself, I didn't know what was going to happen next. The
need to have him was strong though, I could feel it
running through my body, making me shiver and ache. It
mixed in with my blood and body as though this intense
need was a part of me. My blood called for him, my body
ached for his, every part of me was screaming. It was all I
could think about – the hunger, raw and undiluted that
pulsed inside me and pooled between my legs. I wanted
him. God I needed him like I needed air.

A sharp pain pierced my upper jaw and before I could
react to it, another wave of the same pain stabbed my
bottom lip as blood pooled inside my mouth, sweet and
addictive. I could taste my own desire and it was seductive,
a sort of sweet and salty taste that sent shivers and sparks
running throughout the rest of my body.

Without thinking, I broke eye contact with Eric and
turned back to face the mirror, staring at my teeth to find
that I now had fangs. Two pairs of neat, short and sharp
fangs stuck out from my upper jaw, making me look
deadly and somehow seductive at the same time. They'd
pierced my lower lip when they had pushed out from my
gum and now there were four tiny red splotches on my lip
still oozing blood.

Eric grabbed my arm then, yanking me to face him.
Before I could react, he crushed his lips to mine and in
that moment I forgot about the fangs and the blood.
Everything melted away into the background and suddenly
nothing else mattered but satisfying the urge coursing
through my body. I was beyond thinking now; I could only
react to the need demanding to be filled inside me.

My eyes closed automatically. My arms wrapped around
his neck at once, weaving through the hair at the back of
his head as I kissed him back with just as much passion
and urgency as he was kissing me with. His hand had
released my arm at some point and was now roaming my
body, leaving piercing hot trails behind. He touched me
everywhere, along my arms, the curves of my hips and
bottom, over the material of the bra I wore, and it was like
he was touching me for the very first time. I suppose in a
sense he was, this was an entirely new Jen after all, a new
body.

Eric then broke the kiss and I literally growled with
annoyance at him. Seconds later his lips touched my neck,
sending pleasure shooting through my body. “So
beautiful,” he muttered against my skin.

Everything was intense in a way that I had never felt
before. My hands left his head and grabbed o nto the
countertop, bracing myself. I felt at any given second my
legs were going to turn to mush and fall out from under
me as he trailed burning sweet kisses down my neck, on
my breast and along the middle of my stomach.

My fingers grabbed the end of his t-shirt and in a super
speed, non-human move I yanked it up and over his head,
needing to feel his skin on mine. Just as I was about to
reach for the buckle on his jeans, he bent down, his body
dropping from my reach as his lips kept travelling down
my stomach.

His fingers hooked at the sides of my underwear and
slowly – excruciatingly slow
– he began to glide the
material down my legs. I swallowed stepping out of my
underwear and then threw my head back in pure ecstasy as
his lips once again met my flesh, this time travelling up the
inside of my thigh. Before he could, I reached down to
him, catching his chin between my thumb and index
finger, lifting his face to meet mine.

“No no no,” I shook my head, completely breathless
and tortured. “None of that. Right now, I just want you,” I
breathed out, my head spinning and my thoughts so out of
control I couldn't focus on anything but him. I pulled my
bottom lip between my teeth, biting down hard,
completely forgetting that I now had fangs and once again
blood pooled in my mouth and ran down my chin.

“I see your single-mindedness hasn't left...” he trailed
off as he slowly rose in front of me. “I like that,” Eric
whispered, his breath washing over my face, and as his
scent wrapped around me it drove me wilder. His eyes
captured and held mine, boring into my soul as his
fingertips trailed up my sides and then wrapped around the
back of my neck pulling me towards him. He then leaned
towards me, his lips kissing my chin as his tongue licked
away the blood that had spilled over from my lip, and
captured my mouth in his again.