Snowscape Trilogy (9 page)

“Wait,” I said, and reached up to grab his
arm. “Nathaniel told me about the demons.” Sam nodded quietly
encouraging my questions, but I could see his eyes tense up. “But
why was she trying to kill me? I thought the demons wanted to
control me? She couldn’t have done that if I were dead.”

“She wouldn’t have killed you. Just kept you
unconscious enough to take you to whomever she was working
for.”

“But,” I hesitated. “If I was unconscious,
wouldn’t Nathaniel be there? Wouldn’t I be stronger then?”

“Possibly.”

I shook my head. “Possibly? What does that
mean? You don’t know?”

“Ambrosia,” He stopped choosing his word
carefully. “You could be their greatest weapon against mankind if
they learned to control you. I do not know their plans for your
abilities or how they are plotting to maintain you or use you. I do
know that when you are asleep I cannot find you. I cannot protect
you when I do not sense where you are. I gather that our little
redhead over there felt me coming and tried to hide you from me by
choking you into unconsciousness. It was smart of you to scream as
you did.”

The words came forced through my lips. “You
heard that?”

He nodded and raised his hand up to cup my
cheek. “I can always hear when your soul is speaking to me,
Ambrosia. When you are in danger, I will come.”

“I don’t understand.”

“And I am not allowed to explain it to you.”
He dropped his hand in exasperation. I could see he wanted to say
more, the internal struggle between what he wanted to do and what
he should do showed clearly on his face. With a final determined
sigh he ran his fingers through his hair and leaned gently against
a tree, holding himself up with his arm. I could see the muscles
tighten ever so slightly under his shirt and I had thoughts of
running my fingers over his arm and around his neck, caressing the
soft flesh and pulling him into a deep passionate kiss. Meeting his
eyes I could see his previous frustration had turned into a smirk.
Once again he could read the petulant thoughts that ran through my
head.

“But Nathaniel said-“

“Nathaniel CANNOT help you here!” He
exclaimed throwing his hand up in the air as he pushed away from
the tree. “He cannot cross into this world, and if your human body
dies than you are just dead.” He paused a moment fear crossing his
features. “I am here to protect you. To protect your human
self.”

“Why are you helping me? Who are you to me?”
I countered back, frustration and fear taking control. He stiffly
walked up to me and rubbed his hand down both of my arms. I could
feel the tingle of his nearness run down the length of my arms and
into the soles of my feet. Before I could stop him, he planted a
deep kiss on my lips and I could sense his inner turmoil. I could
smell the sulphur growing stronger with his nearness and he reached
around to cup the back of my neck and keep me close to him. “Are
you really ready to know that, Ambrosia Ross?” Afraid to speak, I
only nodded. I could feel his resolve melt as he pushed me against
the tree and deepen his kiss.

He reached his arms around my torso, under
his jacket so there were only our shirts between our warming flesh.
He pulled me close to him tightly with a fierceness that took me
off guard. It was extremely arousing and invigoration. My thought
of the past few days melted and the confusion and emotions that had
been building up within me burst through in the passionate embrace.
His kiss was rough but exactly what I wanted. We could not get
close enough to each other but he pulled me tight and I rubbed my
body up against his. I could feel that he was excited and wanted me
with as much passion as I wanted him. He trailed his kisses from my
mouth to my ear to my neck and I wanted to feel more of him. I
pulled his shirt out of his pants and rubbed my hands up and down
the length of his back. Suddenly he picked me up and lay me on a
fresh patch of ground. The passion was overtaking me and I wanted
nothing as much as to feel him inside me. He kissed me with all the
voracity and frustration I had just been feeling. I lay back and
took in the sensations. The need. My hand reached up and I could
feel the soft cool grass beneath me. Suddenly I could also smell
the clovers. Sam was trailing kisses down the side of my collarbone
and I looked over. I was lying in a small patch of clovers. Their
softness cradles my back and gave me a deep sense of tranquility
and I could smell their fragrance mixed with the deep lingering
order of sulphur.

I pulled Sam on top of me so he was
straddling me and I gently pushed his kisses away. I could see that
he had lost his tie and that I had managed to unbutton the top four
buttons of his shirt so his perfect chest peaked out at me. I
looked at me with a deep sense of longing, with carnal need, but
also with regret. He had not meant for this to happen, for us to
have come this far and as much as I wanted and relished it I knew
that we had to stop. In the kiss I had just seen a small portion of
his soul and knew what I must do. I pulled his face toward me in
one last deep kiss without indecision, and before he could stop me
I tore off his glasses so I could see the demon fire burning in his
eyes.

He jumped off of me and turned away. “Why did
you do that?” he asked angrily.

I sat up and simply asked. ”Why didn’t you
tell me?”

He shook his head and ran his fingers through
his blonde curls. “I,” hesitation overtook him once again. “I
didn’t want to frighten you.” He turned toward me and I could see
the fire burnt deep and sensual in his eyes. His hunger and longing
still showed on his face but was now also joined by a tentative
fear.

“Frighten me? You are aware up until two days
ago, my life was pretty mundane, except for a few unusual dreams?”
I asked, choking back a laugh. As if at this point fear had any
place in my new life. I stood up and gathered my thoughts, brushing
off the soft dirt from my legs. I looked to him and he stood
silently, waiting for approval, for fear…. for something. “You’re a
demon?”

He nodded.

“Why are you helping me?”

He seemed ready to speak, but paused and
thought again. “It’s complicated.”

I nodded slowly and gripped the coat around
my shoulders tighter. A suddenly chill had overtaken me and I did
not think it was from the woods. “I take it that means that you’re
not going to tell me.”

He nodded. “It’s really for the best.”

“Of course it is,” I mumbled as I started
walking back to the path I had created in my haste to flee from the
demon earlier. Sam touched my shoulder lightly and I paused not
looking back. “Are you afraid of me?” he asked.

Irritated and spent, I stepped out of his
reach. “I don’t think I’ve never feared anything more than you.” I
walked to my car without looking back.

Chapter 11

When I arrived home, thankfully Alistair and
Ted were already in bed. In fact I could hear them giggling, so I
decided to take a long hot bath and ignore all sense of
responsibility and humanity for a while. I was exhausted, confused,
and emotional. Sleep would not come easy tonight even though I
longed for the answers that apparently only Nathaniel could
provide. Although he was just as frustrating as Samandiriel when it
came to evasiveness.

Laying in a hot tub of water I lit two
candles I found tucked away under the sink and mulled through the
revelations of the past few days. My newly appointed task of being
a dream master meant next to nothing to me in sense or
responsibility. So what if I could see into a person’s soul? I
still didn’t understand why that made me useful or valuable. Demons
had decided that they wanted to make me their all-powerful lapdog.
I had two protectors: Nathaniel who guarded my dream self and
helped me to develop that talent (supposedly) and Samandiriel, a
demon, who guarded my human body. Both of who liked to make out
with me apparently, oh and I had a psychic pet cheerleader to keep
me company as well. I sighed and sunk under a little, burying
myself in the warm water, away from all emotions for a moment.
Fuck.

Suddenly a vibrant crash rang out through the
apartment and I could hear a blood-curdling scream. The electricity
went out in the same moment and I was grateful for the tiny flames
of my two lone candles. I jumped out of the water and wrapped a
towel around myself. “Alistair?” I asked opening the door slowly
and walked tentatively into the hallway.

The smell the sulphur permeated the air
before I saw the demon rushing out of the darkness. I had just
enough time to run across the hall and into my bedroom, which as
luck would have it had a lock on the door. I bolted it shut with
the tiny little eyehook and shoved my dresser in front of the door
while the demon banged and cursed from the other side. It was a
male this time, but I couldn’t make out anything else about it. I
hastily looked around the room for any thing I would be able to use
as a weapon and to my delight saw my phone lying on the bed, half
charged. I picked it up and noticed I had missed a call while I was
in the bath. Hesitating for a moment; whom was I supposed to call?
911? I couldn’t really tell them I had a demon trying to kill me
and if they sent a patrol car to investigate a disturbance the
demon would just kill them. The banging on the other side of the
door stopped and the silence was so deafening I could only hear my
pulse pounding up through my body. Suddenly I jerked and let out a
murmured cry as my phone rang in my hand. “Hello?”

“Amy!” Violet yelled from the other end of
the phone. “Amy, we’re almost there.”

“Violet.” The word rushed out of me in
relief. “Hurry up!“ the banging started again loudly and the phone
fell from my hand in a startled jerk. The smell of sulphur and ash
suddenly grew overwhelming. I ran to my window and opened it up,
trying to force in fresh air. I suddenly heard the pop and hiss of
flames crackling against the other side of my bedroom door as I
realized the demon had started my apartment on fire. Like a rat
jumping off of a burning ship, that that was how he was going to
get me out. I had to leave or else I would be burned alive. My
small bedroom window was barely large enough to squeeze through and
still left a four-story drop. Panicking, I started to consider that
as my only option when I heard Violet’s voice franticly yelling my
name from the other side of the bedroom door.

Shoving the dresser out of the way I found
Violet and Sam standing in my hallway surrounded by flames. Sam was
covered in soot and had a small but bloody knife in his hand. On
the floor between them I could see the demon covered in blood. Sam
grabbed my hand and pulled me into the flames. He ran his fingers
down the side of my face and quickly looked me over for injuries.
“Are you…?”

“I’m okay, “and as the word stumbled out of
my mouth I was grateful for his concern. “Alistair?” I asked
looking toward Violet.

She simply shook her head with a grimace. It
was then that I noticed I was still only wearing a towel wrapped
around my chest. I had no time to think, I just ran.

Chapter 12

An hour later I was rummaging through
Violet’s closet at their house in Edgewood, looking for something
that fit me. It turned out that the previous time I had followed
them to their house; it was located just door down from the
Garcia’s. Violet was quite a bit smaller than I was so I ended up
settling on what I assumed was one of Sam’s button downs that I
found in the hamper with a stretched out pair of sweatpants with
pink and white trim. I was too tired and upset to think and just
wanted to curl up and escape with a bottle of tequila.

As I threw my hair back with a scarf I found
on Violet’s dresser, I couldn’t help but think of Alistair and Ted.
It was my fault they were dead. Who was going to tell their
parents? What would they think when they found the stabbed body in
the burnt out apartment? Would I be blamed? Would the police think
I had been kidnapped? Would any one care that I had? My head kept
circling and circling full of questions, but little answers.

I sat down on Violet’s bed and laid back,
stretching and trying to come to terms with the world I now found
myself in. I closed my eyes and tried to stop the rapid beating of
my heart. I never thought much of Yoga and mediation, but I did
need a moment to clear my head. I would be of no use to myself or
anyone else until I got my emotions under check. Taking deep
breaths I let myself sink into the soft cotton of the duvet and
just focused on the back of my eyelids and ignored the tears
flowing softly out of them.

I felt the bed press down with the weight of
another and I opened my eyes expecting Violet. Instead I found
myself face to face with a dark robbed Nathaniel.

I could tell by the way she looked at me she
had expected Samandiriel. Her face did not fall when she realized
it was I and that small fact lifted my ever-waning spirits. Did she
have any concept of how beautiful her soul was? Her tear stained
cheeks begged to be kissed and I longed to takes her hair and run
my fingers through it. I wanted her so badly my soul ached with
need, but I would not take her without consent. Never without
knowing she wanted the same. I slowly cupped her face in my hand
and ran a finger down the side of her cheek. She closed her eyes in
silent acquiesce. Her lips parted and she leaned in towards me.
Permission granted.

The shock of seeing Nathaniel across from me
must have shown on my face. As he reached towards me I could see
the hesitation in the movements. He did not realize that this world
was new to me. Despite his watch over my dreams, we had never
spoken before this week. His intimate gestures were not unwanted,
but were just untried. As he reached out to caress my cheek,
irritated by tears, I closed my eyes and fell into his embrace. I
closed off all other emotions and held on to only the feel of his
hand upon my face. As his finger traced a path towards my chin I
knew what he wanted from me. My insides clenched at the prospect
and I felt a warmth rise over my body and across chest. Without
second thoughts I leaned in and kissed him.