| |
Lila
THE HOURS PASSED BY slowly after Ty left me, promising he would return at some point.
The sun went down, but the moon casted a perfect glow over the shore. It could have been the perfect moment in time, if only I wasn’t alone.
My stomach began to growl, and I realized there was no food on the Shore of Tranquility.
What did Sebastian expect me to do in terms of food? Fish? Like I would have actually known how to start a fire to cook a fish. It made me wish I actually paid attention when Sean had lit our campfires.
There were trees with fruit I didn’t even recognize growing from them. I didn’t know if the fruit was edible, and the last thing I wanted to do was play fruit roulette.
Instead, I tried to ignore the hunger pangs and focused on other things. My family was the first thought that came to mind.
I wondered if it was possible to get mail through the portal. I would have felt better if I could have at least written a letter to my mom and dad so that they didn’t worry about me. I hated to think about everything they had gone through since I’d been gone.
“You look like you’re deep in thought,” a familiar voice said from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder to find Sebastian standing there. The only thing he was wearing was a pair of jeans. It was the first time I had actually seen his bare chest, and holy hell was he muscular.
“Yeah, I guess you can say that,” I agreed. “What are you doing here?”
“I thought you could use the company.” He motioned to the picnic basket he was carrying. “I thought we could eat dinner together. Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” I admitted.
As he sat down on the blanket next to me, he set the basket beside him and opened it. “I packed some chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, and tater tots for you.”
“Tater tots?” My eyebrows lifted in question.
“Do you not like tater tots?”
“Oh, no, believe me. I like them. I’m just surprised you have them here... in Deadwood, I mean.”
He chuckled. “We have pretty much everything that there is in the human world, Lila. And if there’s anything we don’t have that you want or need, I can get it for you. I’ll do everything in my power to accommodate your needs.”
“Thanks.” I shot him a smile as I removed the lid from the macaroni and cheese container and dug in. “This is delicious.” After I’d taken a few bites, I glanced over at him. “Do vampires eat food?”
“We can eat food, but we usually choose not to. There’s really no need for it.”
“So, if you don’t eat food, then what did you pack for yourself?” I pointed at the picnic basket questioningly, even though I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
He pulled out a jug and glanced over at me. “I don’t know if you really want to know.”
I wrinkled my nose.
He chuckled at my reaction. “I’m not even thirsty right now. I’ll save that for later,” he said, placing the jug back inside the basket.
“Who did it come from? Actually, you know what? Don’t tell me.”
“Some things are probably better left unsaid.” Sebastian’s blue eyes darted over to meet mine. “So, what were you thinking about?” He paused. “Wait, let me guess. You were thinking about me.”
“Actually, I wasn’t.” I shot a half-apologetic glance in his direction.
“Oh.” He sounded a little disappointed. “Do you ever think about me?”
“Almost every waking moment since I’ve been in Deadwood,” I admitted quietly.
“Only good thoughts, I hope.”
“Mostly good thoughts,” I replied honestly. Once I had gotten past the initial shock of being held captive, my thoughts hadn’t been bad.
“Good.” He looked over at me. “I think about you a lot, too... in case you were wondering.”
I smiled tugged at my lips. “Good to know.”
A comfortable silence settled upon us as I pulled a chicken nugget out of a plastic bag. “Sebastian... do you know anything about my biological parents?”
He shook his head. “No. What makes you ask?”
I told him about my parents, recounting every detail from Ty’s story. Once I was finished, he just stared back at me.
“Wow. I’ve heard this story before, Lila. I’ve heard myths about it, I mean. I never knew if it was true or that the baby was you.”
“Do you know who the vampire who owned Christopher was?” I asked.
“No. I have no idea.” He shook his head.
“Ty told me the name of the witch who casted the spell. Her name was Zenora Blackwood.”
His jaw hardened. “You’re serious?”
“What reason would I have to lie?” I asked.
Sebastian frowned. “But that doesn’t even make sense.”
My eyebrows rose. “Why?”
“Zenora Blackwood was Zoe’s mother,” he explained. “She died long before you were born, Lila. She died a hundred years ago.”
“Maybe Ty got the name wrong, then. Maybe he meant to say Zoe Blackwood.”
He shook his head. “No. Zoe would have never performed a spell like that.”
“You don’t know what the vampire may have threatened her with,” I insisted.
“Trust me. I know Zoe better than anyone. It wasn’t her,” he said firmly. “Either Ty had the name wrong or...” He trailed off.
I glanced over at him. “Or what?”
“Or it was some sort of imposter.”
“Hmm.” I stared out at the ocean that lay ahead of us. “I guess anything is possible.”
“None of it really matters now, does it?” Sebastian asked. “I understand your curiosity, of course, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re Lila DeHaven and you’re here with me.”
“That’s true,” I agreed.
He inched closer to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him. “I don’t know about you, but there’s no place I would rather be.”
“Me either.”
“That’s good to hear,” he whispered. As he turned to me, he brought his lips to mine.
The hunger, the passion, the desperation of his lips had me moaning against them.
My moans only seemed to make him even more hungry for me. Before I knew it, he was climbing on top of me.
I fell back onto the blanket, my body trembling beneath him. Wrapping my hands around his neck, I pulled him in closer to me.
As his hands drifted beneath my shirt and his tongue swirled around in my mouth, I completely lost myself in him.
The beach, the ocean beyond us, the palm trees... it all seemed to fade away into the distance. It was just me and him.
And then, suddenly, Sebastian pulled away from me.
He stared down into my eyes. “I hate keeping you here, you know. The idea of holding you as a captive, of keeping you away from your home... it makes me feel sick.” He paused for a moment and then added, “But there’s only one thing that sounds worse to me than keeping you here.”
“And what’s that?” I managed to make out through ragged breaths.
His blue eyes locked on mine. “Letting you go.”
“Even if you let me go, I would come back here.”
Confusion filled his eyes. “But why? What would make you want to come back to Deadwood?”
“You. No matter how long it took or what I had to do, I would return to you,” I whispered.
A look that I couldn’t quite identify crossed his face. “In the unlikely event that I should ever let you go, it would be foolish of you to return to me. You have yet to see the worst of me.”
“I’ve seen enough of you to know you would never hurt me.,” I said with certainty.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Sebastian shook his head. He leaned in closer to me, close enough that I could feel his cool breath against my neck. “The truth is that I don’t even trust myself with you.” His lips glided against my neck, like icicles against the warmth of my skin. “Do you even realize how dangerous I am or how easy it would be for me to kill you right now?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes. And it’s a risk that I’m willing to take.”
“You’re a foolish girl. You know that, right?”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” I whispered.
He drew back from me, allowing me to see his face again. And then he opened his mouth.
Two long, white fangs glowed brightly under the light of the moon.
My heart pounded against my chest. Was he about to do what I thought he was going to do?
“Your heart is racing,” Sebastian noted. “Are you afraid?”
“Yes,” I admitted.
“Good. You should be afraid,” he replied.
I tried to make sense of all the emotions that swarmed through me. There was fear, but it was mixed with surprise, confusion, and... excitement.
As much as it scared me for him to drink from me and for me to know that he very well could have ended my life right then and there, I still wanted him to drink from me.
I met his eyes. “I am afraid, but I want you to drink from me.”
He held my gaze. “Why? Why would you want me to do that?”
“Because I love you,” I told him.
He slammed his hand down on the blanket next to me and then climbed off of me. He turned away from me and walked toward the ocean.
As he stared out at it, tears began to stream down my cheeks.
I didn’t understand what was going on. What had made him change so suddenly toward me?
After a few long moments, Sebastian finally turned to face me. “You shouldn’t love me, Lila.”
“But I do love you,” I insisted.
“Well, you shouldn’t.” There was an icy look in his blue eyes. “I can’t be trusted.”
As he began to walk away from me and back to the castle, the tears I choked back clogged my throat, making it difficult to breathe. But I still managed to choke out, “Wait!”
Sebastian turned to face me. “What is it?”
“Do you love me?” I asked quietly.
“More than anything.”
As he met my gaze, the iciness behind his eyes melted, just a little bit, just long enough for me to believe him.