The Price of Power (The Price of Secrets Series Book 2) (8 page)

    “Hannah, you didn’t have to get me anything. All of this is my present.”

    “I want you to have it. It made me think of you and now every time you look at it you will think of me.”

    “As if I need any help. I think about you all the time.” He lifted the lid and stared at it. “I love it.” He took the bracelet out of the box to take a closer look. “The detail is amazing.”

    “That’s what I thought. Here, let me put it on you.” I placed it around his wrist and clasped it. “It looks good on you. You really like it?”

    “No, I really love it.”

    We're so mushy. Isn’t it wonderful?

    “Can I ask you a personal question?”

    “Coming from you there is no such thing as a personal question. You are my girlfriend, you can ask me anything you want.”

    I suddenly felt very awkward. “Have you ever… you know, had sex?”

    He looked down at his bracelet then back at me, in that moment he looked like a shy little boy. “No I haven’t.”

    “Me neither.”

    “I know.”

    “How?”

    “Easy, you said I am the only person you have ever been in love with. I know that you wouldn’t
be
with someone you didn’t love.”

    He can make me feel so special without even trying. “Thanks for saying that.” I hesitated. “I feel like I can ask or tell you just about anything. So please don’t think that I’m trying to hint for you to make a move or anything, cause I’m not. I’m just curious about...stuff. Like do you ever think about it? With me I mean.” I felt incredibly stupid.

    There was that shy little boy again, but this time he had a mischievous look in his eyes.

“Have you seen you? Do you remember when I came over to your house after your pool party and you were in that black little bikini?” I nodded. “Do you know that I had to take a cold shower for three days after, trying to get that image out of my head? Which didn’t work by the way.”

    Is it possible to feel embarrassed, flattered, flustered, and enjoyment all at the same time? Yes, yes I think it is.     

    “Now it’s your turn to be in the hot seat. Do you ever think about what it would be like to be with me?”

    My hormones were screaming in my head- ‘Tell him hell yes! Look at him and all his hotness. Tell him let’s stop wondering what it would be like and let’s start finding out!’ My mouth had suddenly went very dry, but I had to say something.

    “Ummm, Yes, I have thought about it. Many times actually, which isn’t like me at all. I have never really given it much thought, until I met you. And right back at’cha with the ‘have you seen you’ answer. But I’m…”

    Daniel placed his finger over my lips. “I know you’re not ready. Hannah, I will never make a move on you or try to talk you into it. I won’t even ask or beg.” I couldn’t help but laugh, I knew that he was trying to break up all the seriousness. “When you are ready, you will tell me. As far as I’m concerned, I’m gonna be right here for a long time, I can wait.”

    “I’m not saying I will be able to, but what if I decided to wait until I’m married?”

    “As long as it’s to me, I’d be fine with it. But I will draw the line at our wedding night, I’m afraid I will have to beg then.”

     He was about as close to perfect as anyone could get. “If it makes you feel any better, you make it really difficult for me to try and be a good girl.” I kissed him knowing what was on both of our minds. I felt a little naughty, I liked it. “We better get going.”

    Daniel grabbed the blanket and started to fold it. “Hey, next time we talk about this, can we go into detail… with lots more adjectives? Oh hey, maybe we could bring a pencil and paper and you could sketch out a scene for me.”

    I played along. “I am a pretty good artist.”

    “Is that a yes?”

    “Perv.”

    “Perv? I’ll show you a perv.” He chased me all the way to my car.

    I might not be anywhere near ready to have sex with Daniel, but I know that when I am it will be amazing because it will be with him.

Chapter 7

“Ok, the next gas station I see, we are stopping. I’m about to bust to pee.” There was a faint ringing in my ears. I’m thinking positive that it’s just an aftereffect from the crystal shop, or the park. “There’s one, finally.” I pulled into the convenience store. “Are you coming?”

    “Nah, I’m good.”

    “Oh my gosh, do you have a five gallon bladder or something?”

    “I so love your sophisticated vocabulary.”

    “Ha-ha. Bite me.” I teased.

    “Please.”

    I only gave him a quick grin before getting out of the car and headed for the side of the building. I went into the double stall bathroom and picked the one that looked the cleanest. ’Never sit on a public toilet’ has been drilled into my head by my OCD mom ever since panties replaced my diapers. I chose the handicapped stall, I know I shouldn’t but it’s not like I plan on camping out in here. I was about to squat over the toilet when the bathroom door opened. Immediately my stall door jiggled.

    “Occupied.” It was always embarrassing to have to say that.

    The door continued to shake, to the point that the entire metal wall partition was moving.

    “Someone is in here.”

     By now I had forgotten that I needed to pee and already started pulling my pants backup. My eardrums felt like they would bleed from how high the pitch the ringing had gotten. With no where to go, I tried to get as far away from the door as possible. “Please go away and leave me alone.”

    I tried to get into her mind to see what was going on, only to be blocked.

    The stall door busted open. It was not a woman standing in front of me but a man. A tall, stocky man who looked to be in his fifties. I’ve heard my dad talk about how he could tell a patient has gone mad by their eyes. I never understood that until right now. This man’s eyes were wild, glossy and staring a hole right through me.

    He moved so fast that I never had a chance to get past him. Before I knew it he had me pinned against the wall. I tried to hit or as least scratch at his face, but he was too strong for me. With one hand he pinned both of mine over my head.

    “You won’t be as powerful, bitch, when I’m done with you.”

    I didn’t have a chance to button my pants when I pulled them up, so he started pawing at me and pushed them down.

    “Please stop! Don’t do this!” I cried.

    “You had your chance to back off, you were warned. Now you need to be taught a lesson.”

    The sound of him unzipping his jeans sent waves of nausea and hysteria throughout my body. I sucked in as much air as possible and held my head back to scream, but he was one step ahead of me and put his hand over my mouth.

    “I may not be able to kill you, but if you scream I will make you wish you were dead you…”

    His words were cut off as he went flying through the air, hitting up against the back wall beside the toilet. It was Daniel! The power and energy filled the entire bathroom with his presence. His beautiful purple aura had turned so dark, it was almost black.

    “Daniel!” I could have jumped with joy.

    He took one look at me and then lunged for the man. With his left hand, Daniel pulled the man up by his shirt to a sitting position. I heard the sound of breaking bone when his fist made contact with the man’s face. He didn’t stop with one punch, it was a rapid fire of hit after hit.

    “Daniel stop, you’re gonna kill him!” He ignored me and continued swinging. “Daniel, please. I’m so scared.” He stopped immediately and let go of the unconscious man.

    As soon as the man’s limp body hit the floor he started shaking. I thought he might be having a seizure, that was until thick black smoke started oozing out of his body. It looked like it was sweating out of his pores. The black smoke floated into the air, formed into a black blob, and disappeared through the ceiling.

    A deep imbedded respect of good hygiene was the only thing keeping me from collapsing onto the dingy gray tiles. Instead, I gave into the shakes. I had a random thought of when I was nine and we went to the beach one week in April. Even though I had been warned of the cold ocean water, I still went in. I came out jerking from head to toe waiting for Mom to bundle me up in a beach towel.

    Daniel turned around to examine me. He carefully walked to me and bent down to pull up my panties and pants that I had forgotten were still down around my knees. Like the perfect gentleman that he was, he kept his head turned until he had them up and buttoned. Only then did he look at me for half a heartbeat before wrapping me in his arms and buried his face in my hair.

    “Hannah...did he…”

    “No.”

    I felt the sob escape from his lungs. He took a moment to compose himself before pulling me back, cupping my face in his hands. “Are you hurt?” He didn’t ask if I was okay because he knew that I wasn’t.

    “No, just a little sore. I’m sure I will have bruises though.”

    “We need to get out of here before this poor man wakes up. Hopefully he won’t have any memory of what happened.”

    “What? Shouldn’t we call the police?” I didn’t get it. Daniel was beating him half to death not two minutes ago, and now he’s calling him ‘poor man’.

    “Hannah, honey, he was possessed. That black stuff coming out of him was a demon.”

    I lost it. My body and mind had taken as much as it could stand. I felt my body start to shut down. Daniel scooped me up in his arms and got me out of the bathroom and into the passenger seat of my little bug.

    We rode without saying a word. My adrenaline rush was gone and I was left with nothing but numbness. One of my worst fears, being raped, had just almost happened to me.

    Almost being the key word, Hannah. Your warrior saved you. This will not be an easy fight, you must stay strong.

    I ignored her, whoever she was. She was right about Daniel though, he did look like a warrior standing there in the doorway moving that man with only his mind.

    I felt the car come to a complete stop, but I couldn’t make myself focus, or care, to see where we were. A few minutes later I heard my door open and felt Daniel undo my seatbelt, then lift me up into his arms again.

    “It’s okay, you’re safe. I’ve got you and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

    That brought me out of my fog just enough to see that we were back at the park and Daniel had laid out the blanket again. In one swift motion he sat down with me still in his arms. I must have lost those extra five pounds for him to be able to do that. Any other circumstance I would have laughed and been impressed by his strength. All I could do right now was to be thankful for it.

    Daniel took one of the water bottles that my mom gave us and poured it over some napkins, that he must have gotten out of the glove compartment, and began to wipe the tear stains from my face. It made me feel like a child, but at the same time his tender touch was soothing. He pulled up the sleeves of my sweater to inspect my arms. He lightly kissed where bruises had already started to form.

    “Hannah, I’m so sorry. I should have gotten to you faster. I thought I heard you call out to me in my head, but I realized I had my necklace on so I dismissed it. When I heard you the second time I went to find you.” His hold on me tightened. “If he had… if I hadn’t got there in time, I would have never forgiven myself.” He laid his cheek on the top of my head and started rocking us from side to side.

    I raised my head to look into his deep chocolate eyes. There was so much turmoil in them.

It was a mixture of love, guilt, and fury. I lightly ran my finger from his temple, across his high cheekbones, down to outline his perfect full lips.

    “My warrior.” I whispered and felt my cheeks flush at his puzzled expression. Instead of explaining, I leaned in for a kiss. It was filled with such emotion, so sweet, so healing. Just being with Daniel like this has washed away all the nastiness and filth of that man. I felt clean and… whole again.

    I reluctantly released his soft lips but kept my arms around him. “Thank you for saving me. You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for.” He started to protest. “Don’t. You were not supposed to prevent the confrontation. However, you did stop the worst from happening. I love you with all of my heart, and now I have another reason as to why I do- You are my hero.”

    We sat there for awhile, giving both of us time to cope with what happened.

    Wanting to lighten the mood to make us both feel better, I squeezed his bicep. “Just how strong are you? You carried me like it was nothing.”

    Following my lead, he released a deep, long sigh. Knowing ‘normal’ is what I needed, he let his dimples shine and struck a bodybuilder pose with his free arm. “Well, ya know, I’ve been working out.”

    ...
Mom cried and checked me out from head to toe. Dad hugged me tight yet stayed very quiet. He asked to talk to Daniel alone in his study. I don’t know what was said but I did see him shake Daniel’s hand and give him a bro hug, so at least I know he wasn’t blaming Daniel for what happened.

I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to go anywhere alone for awhile, but I’m totally fine with that. I will however complain about it for show. Omg Jaycee, I thought she was going to burn my house down when we told her what happened! She was so full of anger that every candle, lighter, and the fireplace went a blaze. I tried to calm her down while Mom, Dad, and Daniel hurried around putting out all the mini fires. When Mom and Dad went into the kitchen to heat up the homemade soup for us I had a chance to go over everything that happened in more detail. The horrific bathroom scene did leave me with a couple clues: 1. The demon can hurt me, but for some glorious reason it can’t kill me. But I’m not sure yet as to why cause he sure looked capable enough. 2. He told me that I have been warned, so it must be the thing that was at Megan’s house. Which means she has a demon for a roommate. I decided to wait until tomorrow to tell Jaycee about Oganatoga and the crystal. I was just too exhausted to go into it tonight. On top of everything else, I have to worry about tomorrow. Daniel told me that he would totally understand if I didn’t want to go to his family’s birthday celebration after all that has happened. I told him right back that there was no way I would bail out on him. As much as I have secretly complained about having dinner with his parents, I still want to be there for him.