~ Eternal Bond ~
I was pretty nervous as I began walking down the hallway leading to the competitors’ room. Nervous about what Roman’s reaction would be. Nervous about whether or not Luke would even be there when it was all over after he’d been acting so odd.
Thomas and James, both North Haven Snow Riders, walked out of the boys’ room when I was nearly there. “Hey, Kristine,” Thomas said. “Roman’s almost done in there. He’ll be happy to see you after such a harsh game.”
“It’s not safe for you to be out here alone,” James said, stopping right beside me. “Someone wired Knight’s ride to go up like that. Probably the same guy who put Rose in the hospital. We should stay with her until Roman comes out, Thomas.”
“Someone tried to kill Luke?” The whole attacker thing suddenly became a whole lot scarier.
The door to the boys’ competitors room opened and Roman walked out, looking pretty miserable. It all changed when he saw me. “Hey, Kristine!”
“See ya, Roman,” James said, walking away with Thomas.
“Luke’s bike was fixed to blow up?” I asked Roman, unable to think of much else.
“I don’t want to talk about him tonight. I wanna hear what it is you needed to tell me.” Moving closer, he let his hands glide over my sides as he walked me back against a wall. “I have a feeling I know what it is.” He smiled and tried to kiss me, forcing me to slide against the wall in order to get away.
“I wanted to tell you somewhere we won’t be interrupted. Will you come with me?”
“Oh, I’ll come with you all right.” He had this stupid drunk look on his face as he came close enough to whisper. “But I want to hear you say it first.” He began trying to kiss my neck, making me seriously consider kneeing him in the groin.
“Roman, please!” What in the world did he think I was going to tell him?
“All right, I’ll be patient. Where did you want to go?”
“Come on.” I began walking down the hallway away from the stairs. Roman chased after me and decided to try and hold me around my waist from behind as we walked, which was awkward and annoying, but I forced myself to put up with it until the bright hallway faded into torch-lit stone up ahead.
Using my hands to pry his away, I said, “There’s a storage room we can go in. I don’t think the Cinders use it anymore.” I saw the lonely door to the left of the changing point and two burning torches hung on either side of it on the wall. We each grabbed one and walked into something bigger than a closet, closer to a regular bedroom in size, but empty of anything other than a few dusty brooms and droopy cobwebs in every corner.
“You were right,” Roman said, setting his torch in a holder. “No one will find us in here.”
I barely had time to hang up my torch on the other side of the room before he was all over me like a leach. His hot minty breath came out in heavy puffs as he kissed my shoulder and neck. “Say it,” he whispered. “I want to hear you say it.”
“Back off, Roman. I’m pretty sure you’ve got the wrong idea about what I’m going to say.”
“Come on, sweetie, say it.” He pressed his lips against mine as I pushed him away as hard as I could.
I had to grab his face and twist around in his arms to break free. “Cut it out!”
“What’s wrong with you? No one’s around.”
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? And what the heck do you think I wanted to talk to you about?!”
“We’ve been together long enough now; aren’t you going to say you love me?”
“No!” Was he serious? “I came here to break up with you.”
He turned and stared at the wall to his left, the luster of tears already staining his eyes. “You...this can’t be happening.”
“I’m sorry, Roman. You’re a lot of fun and everything. But I don’t want a boyfriend right now. You never even asked me out; you just started saying I was your girlfriend.”
Still staring at the wall, he shook his head and laughed. “You don’t want a boyfriend...” His eyes flashed blue as he looked back at me. “Are you seriously telling me this isn’t about Knight?”
“No...well, maybe. A little bit.”
He grabbed my wrists and snarled, “Do you really think he wants you? He’s a Cinder. All they care about is themselves. He’ll hurt you, Kristine, something I would never do. For the rest of my life, I will love you and look out for you. Knight won’t do that.”
“I didn’t say he would, and I don’t know if he wants me or not, but he’s not like the other Cinders. He has a good heart...And yeah, maybe I do want him. But even if I hadn’t found him here, I still wouldn’t have wanted to be with you. I never have. Why can’t we just be friends?”
Roman growled angrily as bitter tears spilled out. It felt like a brick hit me as he let go and struck me in the face without warning. He grabbed my arms hard enough to bring tears to my eyes and a cry from my lips. “No. You’re not breaking up with me. Not now, not ever. Do you understand?”
Suddenly, something came out of the shadows. Then two giant hands wrapped themselves around Roman’s neck from behind and began squeezing, forcing Roman to let go of me so he could try and free his airway. He strained and kicked as I fell to the floor, scooting away from them both. I watched in horror as Roman’s body became limp, and then fell into a heap on the floor.
The dark figure came and knelt beside me. Luke’s face moved close to mine, his beautiful eyes staring at me with concern. “He’ll come to eventually...I’ve always wanted to be with you. A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t wondered whatever happened to you and wished for the old days we spent together to come again...I couldn’t say anything because I’m a Cinder, and I didn’t think you could ever feel the same way.”
“But, why...before...” I couldn’t put two words together, because my brain was still trying to process the fact that he felt the same way.
“It hurt when you kissed my arm back in the gym. I wanted more so bad, and I had to walk away. It hurt even more to know I would always have to walk away from that.”
He reached behind his head to take off the black ribbon with the gold flame dangling from it and put it around my neck. “This belongs to you.”
“No, I can’t—”
“They said it took seven men to take you down when you thought I was in that explosion. They said you don’t even want to live without me.”
My eyes begin to water at the thought. “I don’t.”
He smiled and leaned forward, his dangerous thorns of black hair shining in the firelight. And then I felt myself being slid back across the floor as Luke put a hand behind my head and slammed us both against the wall, kissing me until I couldn’t remember who I was. A searing heat burned though my entire body and I felt the explosive fireworks I could never feel with Roman. A long moan drew from deep inside me just before he let go.
He rested his forehead against mine and tried to catch his breath. “I love you, Kristine. I’ve loved you since the day I saw you sitting in the back of that classroom seven years ago."
A feeling of pure ecstasy came as I said, “I love you, too, Luke.”
He leaned back and took my hand. I felt something warm and wet. I held up his hand and saw blood all over the back where it had hit the wall. “You’re bleeding.” I tried to wipe it away, but it kept coming. I lifted his hand to my lips instead, hoping he wouldn’t think I was strange as I kissed it and let his blood smear across them.
His own lips parted slightly. He let out a ragged breath and ran his other thumb over my mouth. He looked down at his injured hand. “Kristine...do you love me enough to let my blood flow through your veins?” He looked up at my chest. “Would you let a part of me pump through your very heart?”
Even though the question was a little twisted, it excited me somehow. It felt like something eternal that would bind us together forever. No one would ever be able to sever that bond. It even felt like everything in my life had been leading up to this intimate moment.
So I held out my hand. He drew a knife from under his boot and turned my hand over before he slit the center of my palm, sending dark blood dripping down my arm. I sucked in a breath with the sharp sting of it.
Luke held out his hand for me to lay mine on. It had to be my choice.
I laid my freshly cut palm over his bleeding knuckles and felt the blood running from his hand into mine and from mine into his. I felt a closeness like I’d never felt with anyone else before, as our blood poured into each other. For a few minutes we only stared at each other, the soft dripping of thick crimson falling from our hands to the floor.
And then he pulled my cut to his lips and let my blood run over his chin as he kissed the inside of my hand. “You’re mine now,” he said tenderly.
“I know.” It was the sort of thing I’d longed to hear him say.
He leaned over to kiss me again. “Go to the dance with me.”
“But—I thought you didn’t want your school to know we’ve been seeing each other.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t want this to be a secret. I’ll protect you.”
“Okay.”
He reached behind my head and grabbed my hair roughly, pulling it tight, as he kissed me the same way he had the first time.
He stood up when he was through and held a hand out to me. “I’ll take you to get that cut patched up. I don’t want to leave it open like that.”
“What about you?” I asked, standing up.
“That’s nothing.” Luke opened the door.
“Wait.” I stopped to look over at Roman, still lying half-dead on the floor. “We can’t just leave him here.”
“Why not?”
“What if he went into a coma or something, and no one ever found him?” I really wished Luke hadn’t taken things so far.
“Who cares? It’s what he deserves for what he did to you.”
I still felt the sting where Roman had hit me, but he didn’t deserve to die over it. Leaving him there wouldn’t be right. I gave Luke a pleading look, hoping he’d come around.
He looked up and groaned. “Fine.” He grabbed Roman’s arm and dragged him into the hallway carelessly, smashing his shoulder into the doorframe on the way out. Then he spit on him before putting an arm around me and leading me away.