Chapter 40
Chapter Forty
APRIL
Stalking the hotel like a ghost trapped in the building, I try to calm myself down.
My fingers trail on the carved railing of the rounded staircase leading to the reception area, I think.
The space is wide, pretty round tables with white covers tied in bows in several places, positioned on one side.
The long table opposite them tells me it’s set up for a wedding or something like that.
Tall, blown glass vases filled to bursting with large red lilies are scattered on tabletops, breaking the monographic feel of the room.
Stretching my toes, pointing them at each stair, I descend slowly, enjoying the quiet here.
It’s too loud in my own head lately without that jerk Sebastian adding to my misery.
At least the rest of them run and hide like cockroaches I used to see in the sewers I called home.
A smile stretches my lips as I remember monsters hiding from little ol’ me.
It amuses me to no end how the tables have turned, even when I hate myself for what I’ve become.
Reaching the bottom step, I leave the vast room behind, following twisting hallways and idly watching the antiqued furnishings, beautiful paintings, and decorative sconces nailed on the sides of the walls.
The fact that I enjoy my surroundings more because of my new sight is not lost on me.
I just chose to hang out with my friend Denial, as usual.
When my feet take me to the center of the building, I slow down to a snail’s pace, drinking it in.
The area opens into a circular room, tall windows with golden drapes like portals to other worlds surrounding it in a semicircle.
Sunlight bathes everything in a warm glow through the white, gauzy curtains under the golden drapes, leaving it empty of movement and breathing, unlike the rest of the hotel.
I can’t see the roaches hiding but I sure as hell can hear them.
Only, not here. This space is clear of the tainted occupants.
A rounded, raised platform with a low, white railing around it sits in the center under arched moldings, like a masterpiece displayed in a museum.
In the middle of it, a long black piano waits, the little, rectangular-embroidered chair the only company it keeps.
My feet climb the two small steps up, pulling me in like a siren song.
This whole place is like living in a dream.
Never in my wildest imagination have I dared to think of a place so beautiful.
A frozen jewel in time, in the middle of monster-infested LA.
Yet, here I am. My feet touching marble and expensive rugs, my hands trailing over carvings that have withstood time, just like I will after a century or two.
“We have a lot in common, you and me.” Walking around it, caressing the smooth cover of the piano, I address the building. “We will both be forever frozen just like we are today.”
It doesn’t answer me. I mean, of course it doesn’t. But I pretend that she can hear me. Deciding the hotel is a girl, I keep talking.
“Even with monsters infesting your core, you still look beautiful, regal, and calm.” Lowering myself on the small, embroidered chair, I fold my arms over the keys of the piano, sending a menacing sound echoing through the space.
Pressing my cheek over my forearms, I close my eyes.
“Maybe I can be just like you. Beautiful, even with the monster inside me.”
The hotel stays quiet, a witness to my insanity, and a smile hurts my cheeks.
I can stay here forever, eternally asleep like the sleeping beauty from the bedtime story my mother read to me as a child.
Wariness weighs my body down, the daylight pushing as hard as it can to drag me down to sleep.
I fight it, just like every day since I became a monster.
It’s the only time I feel human and I’ll be damned if I miss a second of it.
A gentle rustling of air stiffens my shoulders. My whole body goes rigid with the imperceptible brush of a shoe on the soft rugs. Keeping my eyes closed, I home in on the sound, the exact spot whoever it is that is occupying it popping clearly in my mind’s eye.
And then I smell him.
That expensive cologne that makes my thighs clench and my lower belly flutter, mixed with the natural musk of his skin.
My fingers dig holes in the beautiful piano, holding me still when everything in me wants to fly into his arms. I will stake my own heart before I do that. With a dull wooden stake, at that.
“Come closer, why don’t ya?” With a wicked grin, I stay with closed eyelids, stalling the temptation of his handsome face.
“April.” My name is like a caress, his voice soft and dark, like an immortal sin. “Come, my redemption.”
“Actually, I think I’m going to stay right here.” Breathing through my mouth so I don’t succumb to my urges, I grip the piano tighter. “It’s nice and warm.”
“We have a problem. I need you upstairs with the rest of us.”
“See”—finally lifting up, I face the jerk, and my stomach flip flops when those dark eyes lock on mine, but I turn that to anger— “that’s where you are wrong.” Snapping at him, I bare my fangs. “You. You, Sebastian, have a problem. Me? I only have an insistent pest that won’t leave me alone.”
“The Council is out of hiding, it seems.” He narrows his gaze, pulling on his shirt sleeve, an amazing telltale sign that he is upset.
Good! I hope he is as livid as I am.
“How uneventful.” Crossing my trembling hands across my chest, I glare at him. “You didn’t think they’d hide forever, did you?”
“You have no control over yourself, yet.” Snarling, he takes a step towards me, thinks better of it, then straightens up. “I was daring to hope we’d have more time.”
“Hope is a bitch.” At his incredulous look, I laugh in his face. “Hope and Faith are both bitches. Cruel ones at that. I could’ve told you that from day one. All you had to do was ask.”
“Get over here, April.” Growling the words through clenched teeth, his shoulders bunch up, stretching the fabric of his expensive shirt.
Damn snob.
“No.” Sitting my butt on the piano keys, I send an ominous sound around us.
“Now, April. Or you will regret your stubbornness.” The points of his fangs poke out from under his upper lip and a cruel, humorless smile sends a shiver of fear down my spine.
I’m nothing if not a mule.
“Make me.” Lifting my chin up, I stare down my nose at him.
It happens so fast. In my idiocy, I believed he couldn’t stand a second of sunlight on him. But Sebastian is not your typical vampire. Oh, no. I’m not that lucky to end up with one of those suckers. As per usual, I get stuck with the asshole of them all, as old as Earth itself, to boss me around.
One moment, I’m glaring at the jerk Sebastian.
The next, the room tilts and blurs around me, my world turning upside down when I’m thrown over a meaty shoulder.
My hair sways on the back of his muscular thighs and my ass is lifted in the air.
A beefy arm wraps around my legs, pressing them to a firm chest as I’m carried through the hallways like an animal ready to be slaughtered.
Pounding my fists on his kidneys, I make Sebastian stumble, and growl like a feral animal.
“Put me down, you jerk!” Screeching like a banshee, I keep hitting him with my fists. “I will rip your throat out!”
Jostling me around, he makes my head spin for a second.
“I’m going to spank your ass until you beg for mercy for this one, April.
” My heart lodges in my throat, and to my embarrassment, wetness slicks my thighs.
“And you will beg.” Chuckling, he sniffs the air and his feet falter for a step. “Oh, how you will beg.”
Like a pathetic idiot, I stop fighting him, my whimper making him chuckle.
Well, fuck.