ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (14 page)

6

Charlie stared at me and in the shortest of moments I saw something in his glaze that I hadn’t seen in so long. It was a human look, one full of an emotion that made Charlie look so familiar, yet in a way seem like a stranger compared to the Charlie I knew right now. It was desire, just a faded memory of the emotion but it was desire for something other than blood; it was a desire for me. Like everything with Charlie it was gone before I could fully grasp what it meant. His head darted to the side in a flash so quick I almost missed the movement.

I watched as he breathed in deeply, inhaled the rough freezing air in a gasp so instant that it caused my body to tense. Then I could smell it too, smell the undeniably sweet aroma of blood, fast pulsing terrified blood. It was like a calling card, so fresh, so close that I was sure the few vampires that remained in the city, so many miles away, would be able to smell it too. It didn’t belong to a dear, no; this smell was so exquisite and so pure that it belonged with a grander creature. I breathed it in as if it was a lifeline, but then it was, the blood of another was what I craved, what I needed seemingly more than anything else in this world.

“Bear,” I breathed as my voice disappeared on the wind. It was the blood of a bear and it was close, so very temptingly close.

“No, it’s a wolf,” Charlie almost growled. Hesitantly he turned to me and the darkness in his once green orbs overwhelmed his face.

This was not a darkness that only I could see; this was a pure black that had been the last image of so many people, the haunting of nightmares. The excitement in those eyes and the lust that filled them was an image I knew only too well and one that had never failed to send shivers through my body. I knew that the same shade of black, the same blood-lust filled my vision as well and a twisted smile crept onto Charlie’s face as he took it in. Regaining my previously clear mind, I shook my head, no, he was wrong.

“No, it’s a bear, after all this time can’t you tell?” I questioned sarcastically as my true vampiric nature began to fill my body. I could play him at his own game; my instincts were as strong as his, apparently stronger; I knew the scent of a bear, since my first taste it had been fixed into my memory. I licked my lips as I felt it run, its adrenaline causing the blood to pulse faster, alerting every instinct in my body, I needed it.

“Just you wait and see,” Charlie laughed and then he was gone. All that was left of him was a slight wisp in the air and a falter in the falling of snow by the place where he had once stood.

It only took me a startled half second before I was on his heels, speeding through the snow as fast as my body would carry me. Ah to run, to run free, it was a feeling that was almost second to none. The stormy wind whipped and tore at my hair forcing it to flow wildly behind me. My feet touched down on the floor in perfect sync, never once troubled by the snow, never once faltering. The trees were a blur of green and white, I didn’t even need to dodge them, my body moved gracefully, perfectly through the old oak tree trunks.

I caught sight of Charlie; he was no more than a quarter mile in front of me. I pressed down on my heels, using the snow to speed me forwards, if I could have been breathless then I knew that I would be. I was getting closer and closer, gaining ground on him, there was no way I could let him get there first, to let him take the kill away from me like he had done more times than I could count. Forcing myself forwards, using every last piece of strength I had, I pulled up to his side.

Instantly he shot me a look, a look of danger, a look of warning. I shivered as his black eyes glared into my own for just a second before they were back on the path in front of me. He sped up but I kept pace with him. If there was anything I had learnt, after all the years I had spent following Charlie it was never to let him get to a kill first. This was a race, one neither wanted to lose. While dinner was on the line there was something else as well, something very similar to pride and that was a thing neither of us could lose.

7

The exhilarating feeling that came with running was as new and exciting as it had ever been. That feeling never left you, not really, once you had done it once you always carried the same sense of freedom with you, knowing all the while that you were capable of something so utterly breath-taking. While the sensations hadn’t changed, something had, the man, no the vampire, that ran beside me did not add to the euphoric feeling like he once had.  As the tree’s passed us by, merely an inconvenience in our path so did something else; a memory I had once cherished was deemed worthless.

I could still remember it, that first time we had run together; the running had been instantaneous. Everything that had been formed when I changed burst through me and all I knew I had to do was run. Of course it hadn’t been a forest, no, that would come later, much later. It had been the city streets, bustling full of life, full of unknowing and unsuspecting people. I had been one of them once, never understanding what it was when a gust of air, seemingly out of nowhere, would gently brush my skin. But ever since that day, ever since me and Charlie had become more than just hunter and prey we had been that air, going by unnoticed until we wanted to be seen.

“You know you can’t win this,” Charlie chuckled as he gained more speed on me. I laughed; it was all I could do. His comment, while a humorous jest to him was a death sentence to me. Could I win this, could I win Charlie over like I once had? I allowed him to take the lead; did I want to win this?

The scent soon overwhelmed my senses, it had been too long since I had been part of a chase like this; my instincts quickly took over and I followed the blood. I had no idea what had caused the bloodied trail, whether it was a branch, a rock or the smallest of thorns but it was there. Dotted through the purest of snow, tainting the colour of goodness were a few droplets of ruby red, the colour of my dreams. The animal was running, I knew it was running from us, the ultimate predator; cold, stealthy and uncaring. The pearls of the precious ruby smudged the snow as we crushed them into the dirt beneath and then I could see it.

“I told you,” I laughed, quoting the line nobody ever wished to hear.

“You’re still wrong,” Charlie shouted as he slowed to a stop, his eyes were angry as he searched the trees bordering the clearing we had stopped in. There in the centre was the bear, distracted by something, unaware of its looming fate.

The creature, so majestic in nature was staring off into the forest, it hadn’t sensed us yet, unknowing of what had caught it after miles of chasing. It was large with thick brown fur only slightly coated in the relentless fall of snow. The blood that led into the clearing was splattered between the large prints that were already being covered by whiteness. I readied myself, tensing my body, staying hidden just for a moment longer before getting ready to pounce.

“There,” Charlie shouted. It was all he needed to do and the bear was gone; with speed unbefitting of a creature so large it disappeared into the tree line. I could feel it of course, track it’s every move, sense the droplets that still fell readily from the smallest of cuts above its left paw but now my attention was elsewhere.

“Why did you scare it away!” I screamed, my voice echoed off the tree’s and disappeared somewhere into the midst of them.

“The wolf,” Charlie shouted, sounding far too happy; oh his love for wolves was far greater than anything else.

“It was a bear,” I stated bluntly, either he was going blind or in his hundreds of years of life he was finally growing old. My stance loosened and I turned to him, an eyebrow raised as I watched him sceptically, all the while my meal was getting away.

“Really? I never noticed the large bear shaped animal was in fact a bear. I’m talking about the wolves,” Charlie sighed, exasperated. I stopped for a second; letting the air fill my lungs and my senses move away from the bear they were still lusting after. Then it hit me, the pack of wolves that hid just behind the tree line; watching, waiting, all of them unsure as to what we were but knowing that they should be afraid of what we could do.

“Still, what about the bear,” I whined, hating to admit that I had missed the wolves scent. They were running now, faster than the bear but mixing with its scent until I was unsure of which way to run.

“Thanks,” Charlie groaned as he tore his eyes away from where the wolves had disappeared, “I guess things never change,” he sighed.

8

“What do you mean?” I demanded, I was shouting now, shouting loudly. I had had enough of letting my anger boil, of trying to fix us, whatever was left of us now anyway. Perhaps a lifetime together was just too much; perhaps there was a limit, a reason to die. I was not sick of my life, not bored of the time I had spent on earth but I was sick of what it had become.

“Once a meal thief always a meal thief,” Charlie chanted.

“Is that what you think of me now? Merely an inconvenience at meal times?” I questioned quickly, not allowing myself to calm, giving my body no time to relax its growing fury at the man I had once called my own.

“I think a lot of things about you Flo, that is just one of them,” Charlie spat back every bit as furious as I was. This was not how I thought it would end, stood in the snow in the middle of the forest. But then I had never believed that it would end, not in a million years and that was what he had promised me, a million years. A million years of us together, while once it was longed for, desired even, never to be apart from him, now it was all I wanted to leave.

“Then why are we here?” I asked. I didn’t need an answer, not really; but this was no longer about what I needed, it was about what I wanted.

“What changed?” Charlie asked, sounding curious now, like for once he didn’t have an answer. I could tell it bothered him, not knowing, it always had. Knowledge was like an addiction when you had all the time in the world to gather it, savour it and store it. I had once been addicted to him, needing to know more and more about him, about his past about our future. But now I had the information he needed, I had the answer.

“You, you changed Charlie,” I said sadly and he nodded, it was only slight, a hesitant nod but it was there, he agreed with me.

“So did you,” he said, he wasn’t angry now, he was accepting. Something moved in the forest, a rustle of the bushes but for the first time in my long, long life I ignored my thirst for blood. It surprised me that I could ignore it so easily; make my mind blank against the burning desire for food.

“You didn’t run?” Charlie asked, even more curious now than he was before.

“I don’t need to,” I said simply. I could understand his shock, in a hundred years I had run when presented with the opportunity for food, but now was different.

“Good,” he said, smiling now, it was a genuine smile and one I had wanted so badly to see for years. He was smiling at me, his lips twisted so that they reached his eyes and he was back, my Charles was back.

“I’ve missed that,” I said, admitting my happiness to him.

“What?” he questioned. Charlie’s head tilted to the side so his damp hair fell softly over his shoulder. It almost sparkled in the strange tainted moonlight; the gold just broke away from the brown in a way that made my smile bigger; just like his it was a true smile.

“That smile,” I said honestly, and it really was honest, something that wasn’t too common these days between us.

“You know this smile is only for you,” Charlie said, returning my honesty with his own. I couldn’t help but to believe him, for even a vampire can be truthful when it suits them. I had only ever seen that smile directed at me, the growls were saved, normally, for those that together we had chased.

“I know,” I sad slowly, nodding my head as the fact registered.

Memories flooded my mind, memories of that smile. They came in flashes, showing me instances when he had shared it with me, a special gift preserved for only the most important of occasions. There were so many of them but one shone forward. The first time we had met a memory that seemed so prominent tonight of all nights. Dressed in his finest suit he had found me, it had been like our lives were destined to collide at some point. When I first saw him, my vampire, an air of familiarity came with him. It had been like I had seen him a thousand times before but never been allowed to get closer, to touch something that was prohibited.

“It has been so long,” I mused, the sentence was not meant for this conversation but purely an expression of my own line of thought. Charlie still nodded, understanding how my mind worked as he always had. How was it that two people so in-tune could drift so far apart?

9

“Come with me,” Charlie said after a few seconds of silence. His words caught me off guard, stunning me slightly.

“If you want to live?” I questioned, raising my eyebrow as Charlie shook his head, forcing the gathered snow in his hair to drop onto the densely covered ground.

“You know the modern world hasn’t done you any favours right?” he laughed as I scowled at him. I wasn’t the one dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, an unflattering image for a vampire of his age.

“Don’t be angry at the jeans,” Charlie chuckled, hearing my thoughts as my guard dropped. He had a habit of doing that, sneaking into my mind when I wasn’t paying attention myself.

“You know you look ridiculous right?” I said. Charlie looked down at his body and took a fist full of his thin shirt. As the fabric lifted from his chest I could just about see his six-pack, the perfectly preserved image of his youthful body. I diverted my eyes quickly, knowing that a smirk would await me when I looked up and sure enough it did.

“Not so ridiculous now is it?” Charlie laughed darkly.

If I had been able to blush, if the foreign blood filling my body had been my own then I knew my pale cheeks would be a ruby shade of red right now. The first time I had seen his sculpted chest I had had that reaction, it had been one of the things Charlie had said he loved about me. He turned his back to me now and wandered off into the trees; I didn’t know what to do other than to stare after him, watch as his light steps barely dented the now smooth snow.

“Are you coming?” he questioned after a couple of seconds had gone by and I hadn’t moved.

“Where?” I asked, unsurely.

“You never could cope with a surprise could you? Well if you want to know then you’re going to have to follow,” Charlie said, laughing as he turned to look at my annoyed expression. The first time he had tried to surprise me, after he had changed me, it hadn’t gone well. In fact it had gone so badly that the house we were living in at the time had been destroyed, another headline for the newspapers of course.

“Come,” Charlie said again causing me to sigh and trail after him. It wasn’t long before instinct took over and we were running, running together. It wasn’t like before, neither was trying to outdo the other; we were running for the love of it and perhaps, for me anyway, were running for the expectation of what was to come.

“How far is it?” I asked after a few miles had passed beneath our feet and his pace didn’t falter. I hoped that he wouldn’t say it was close; I was enjoying myself in some kind of strange way.

“Impatient as ever,” he chuckled, “but not too far now, a few more miles,” he said quickly. I could tell that there was excitement in his words; I think anyone would have noticed it.

It was his boyish excitement and the innocent sound of it that made me push aside my own happiness and my own enjoyment and instead think of his. I increased my pace, knowing that he was only moving so slowly to keep at the same speed as myself. The smile on my face felt like it had never been away, like it was a permanent fixture. Oh how quickly a smile could flush away the bad feelings, make everything alright. However long this may last, however long this happiness may go on it was still there, still present, Charlie could still make me happy.

It didn’t take long for the time and the miles to go by, it may have been the quickest two minutes that had ever passed. We cleared the last five miles in silence, but I didn’t mind, it was a silence full of anticipation. Finally Charlie’s pace slowed and together and in sync mine did as well. It was like riding a bike in a way, we never forgot how to work together, to move like we were one. We had always been good at it, working together, at least up until the last few years; but it seemed to be a second nature.

Slowly, in comparison to how fast we had been moving at least, we entered another clearing. It was smaller than the last, but something shone timidly through the white mist. A subtle yellow glow, just bight enough to break the darkness, to tell us we had arrived but dim enough to go unnoticed to any human eyes. Charlie walked towards the light and I could tell his smile was large, reaching his eyes and making them glow with the same brightness as the strange yellow light. He took my hand now, clasping it in his own firm grip, putting it back where it belonged.