19. Chapter 19
19
Chapter 19
Rowan
I sit on my patio, a mug of tea clasped in both hands, watching the sun dip below the horizon. The sky blazes with oranges and pinks, but I barely notice. My mind is too full of everything that’s happened.
That dream…it felt so real. And that bite on my throat – gone now, but I swear I felt it. Plus these new powers surging through me.
What’s happening to me?
Poppy scampers onto the railing, her tail twitching. “Well, you’re about as lively as a snail in a salt circle, Ro. What’s up?”
“It’s nothing,” I mutter, tipping back in my seat and setting my feet on the railing beside my sassy familiar.
“Yeah, and I’m Merlin’s long-lost cousin. Pull the other one; it’s got bells on.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t you have nuts to hide or something?”
Poppy huffs, her tiny paws waving. “Alright, keep your secrets. But when your head starts smoking like a cauldron gone wrong, don’t expect me to fetch the fire extinguisher.”
She scurries off, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I should be doing something useful, maybe updating a client accounting ledger or something, but there’s no way I can focus right now. The shadows lengthen, darkness creeping in. I shiver, pulling my sweater tighter.
Then I hear it. A voice, deep and familiar, sending a jolt through me.
“Tell me your name.”
I drop my mug, tea splashing over the cool tiles. My heart races. It’s him. The vampire from my dreams. Darick.
“What do you want?” I bark into the silence.
“Tell me your name.”
“I don’t see why that’s any of your business.” It feels strange speaking to someone who isn’t there, but I don’t know if he can simply hear my thoughts without me voicing them.
“I can.”
Fuck!
“Now, now, that’s not very ladylike.” There’s a dark chuckle that rolls over me like a touch.
“Who said I was a lady?” I snap.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure you are. So are you going to tell me?”
“Why?” I clench my jaw, resentful of this new intrusion. And yet, there’s a small part of me that’s humming with a strange exhilaration.
“Don’t you think I should know? After what happened between us.”
“Nothing happened between us!” I say it too loudly and quickly look around. Although if anyone were to overhear me, they’d probably think I’m just nuts…talking to myself.
Nothing happened between us, I repeat in my mind.
“Oh, something happened, little witch. You’re just afraid to admit it.” There’s amusement in his voice again.
“Don’t call me little witch,” I grumble.
“Why not? That’s what you are, aren’t you?”
I hesitate before answering, then look down at my hands. I’m sure it’s my imagination, but they seem to be glowing. “Yes. That’s what I am. I just don’t like the way you say the word.”
“I’ll stop saying it if you tell me your name.”
He’s not giving up.
Fuck, he’s a persistent bastard.
“I heard that.” Another chuckle. “I know what you’re thinking, remember?”
“If you’re in my thoughts, why don’t you figure it out?” Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
He doesn’t answer for a while, and then I hear a low hum.
“Rowan.” He says my name like he’s swirling it around on his tongue. “Your name is Rowan Blackwood.”
I freeze.
God, now he knows who I am.
And suddenly, all of this feels more…intimate.
“I think things were pretty intimate before.”
“Ugh!” I clamp my hands over my ears, which is pointless because he’s in my head. All I do is unbalance my glasses. “Would you just stop it?”
“No. I want to talk about it. I want to talk about how you felt beneath my fingertips…Rowan. How you tasted to me.”
Millions of tiny hairs rise up on my arms. “Stop,” I whisper. But there’s a flood of heat between my legs that makes me press my thighs together.
“Your flavor lingered on my tongue for hours after I woke.”
I screw my eyes closed, trying to shut out the images. It’s ridiculous because there were never any images in the first place. It all happened in my head.
“Not in your head, Rowan. In your dreams.” He laughs. “I’m the man of your dreams.”
“Not anymore, you big jerk!” I say abruptly. “I’ve locked you out. You’ll never get in again.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” I cross my arms over my chest and huff.
“Let’s put that to the test, shall we?”
“What do you—?”
There’s a sound like fingers snapping. “Sleep.”
I gasp as the air sucks away from me and pulls me into a vacuum. When I open my eyes, I’m standing in a hazy swirl of fog.
“Hello, Rowan.” He’s shrouded in the mist, prowling toward me. His voice isn’t inside my head anymore, but it still feels like it’s touching me.
“Wait! How…how…?” My voice shakes as I take in the sight of him. I reach up to push my glasses up the bridge of my nose, but they’re not there anymore. Yet my eyesight is crystal-clear…and once again, I’m struck by his unearthly beauty.
My breath catches in my throat, and I feel a flutter in my chest that’s growing disturbingly familiar. His presence is overwhelming, a force that seems to pull me in despite my better judgment – not that I have much of that anymore. I can’t help but drink in every detail – the sharp angles of his face, the intensity in his eyes, the way he seems to radiate a power that’s like a magnet to me.
Control yourself!
He flicks a wrist. “You think you can keep me out with a few simple spells?” He looks around. “If I want to be here with you, I will .”
I swallow hard, my lips moving, but no words are coming out. There’s no way of getting away from him. We’re stuck together, and he doesn’t seem to be that interested in ending this “connection” thing anymore.
Are you that keen to end it either, Ro?
My breath is sharp as I pull it in. No! I don’t need him around. I want him gone.
“I want you gone,” I say, but he’s not listening to me.
He’s still looking about us, his lip curling in distaste. “Something’s wrong… Someone’s been here.”
“Precisely. You! You’re here. That’s what’s wrong,” I huff.
“Someone else.” His eyes narrow, and his nostrils flare. “A male. Someone you care about.”
I frown.
What is he talking about?
Then it occurs to me. “Heath?” Honestly, I don’t care about Heath…which surprises me because not long ago, I might not have said that. I’m not going to discuss that with him, though.
“Heath.” He says the name like it tastes bad. “You let him in here?”
“What’s it to you?”
“I don’t like it.” His fists bunch at his sides. He’s bristling.
What the hell?
“You don’t like it?” I scoff.
“I don’t like it. I don’t want him here anymore.”
He’s got to be kidding.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” I repeat the thoughts in my head because I’m not sure if he can read my mind if we’re standing face to face.
“I’m not a man who ‘kids,’ Rowan .” His eyes meet mine, and my pulse immediately surges. I feel like a moth pinned to a board. Helpless. Immobile. “Don’t bring him back. He doesn’t belong here.”
“You don’t get to make demands like that. If anyone doesn’t belong here, it’s you.”
His eyes narrow for a while as if he’s considering this. “Have you noticed anything strange lately?” he asks, changing the subject so abruptly that my head spins.
“Anything strange? You mean aside from the vampire asshole who’s set up camp in my brain?”
His lip twitches. “Yes. Aside from that.”
“No. Nothing,” I lie.
He cocks his head, rocking back on his heels. And yet, still, he towers over me. “Nothing? No unusual…abilities?”
“Nope.” I make a popping sound with the “p,” then step back, needing distance between us. Up close, I can catch his scent, and it’s unsettling. I’m pretty sure my nipples are tightening. Because my body is a total traitor.
I need more space!
I back further away from him, my heart racing like a runaway horse. But before I can blink, he’s there, his hand clamping around my wrist like a vise. I gasp, the sudden contact sending a jolt through me.
“Let me go!” I try to yank my arm free, but it’s like pulling against solid steel. He doesn’t budge an inch. Nor does he respond. His eyes are locked on my wrist, watching the pulse jump beneath my skin. His nostrils flare, and I realize with a start that he’s scenting me.
Like an animal.
The touch of his hand sears into my skin, raising goosebumps that race up my arm. It’s like electricity crackling between us, and I hate how my body responds to him. I’m tingling.
Slowly, inexorably, he pulls me closer until we’re nearly touching. I can feel the chill radiating off his body, a stark contrast to the burning in my cheeks.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” he growls, his voice deep and rough. The words seem to vibrate through me, settling somewhere low in my core. My pulse thunders in my ears, drowning out everything but the sound of his voice and my own ragged breathing.
“Your blood…” Darick dips down, and I feel his breath ghost along the curve of my neck as he inhales deeply. “I can hear it…smell it…”
I try to summon some defiance, some cutting remark, but all I can manage is a shaky exhale. I’m trembling, caught between fear and something else I don’t want to name. The hunger in his tone is unmistakable, and it terrifies me how much a part of me yields to it. I get a flash of that dream once more, how much I wanted him. I want him now.
His lips touch my throat, and I feel the slight sharp graze of the edges of his teeth. I flinch. Then I moan as his tongue flicks my skin, swirling over the tiny nick he’s made.
God, how I want this.
You’re dreaming again.
But this is no regular dream. What happens in here is…real. Gran told me. Which is why there’s no way I can give in to him…to this. Letting him drink my blood again would be the same as if I let him do it in real life.
No.
No!
Hell no!
His fangs are a hairsbreadth from my skin when he suddenly goes rigid. I look up and see confusion flicker across his face.
I gasp as a shock of emotions surges through me – fear, anger, and something else I don’t want to acknowledge. The misty dreamscape around us begins to warp, the swirling fog taking on an ominous reddish tinge. Unseen forces whip my hair wildly around my face as the air grows thick and heavy.
Darick releases me abruptly, his brows furrowing as he takes a step back. There’s a bead of my blood on his lower lip, and he licks it away, his expression deepening into something inexplicable. But I can sense his wariness, his eyes fixed on me with…
Is that alarm?
My hands begin to tingle, and I look down to see them glowing with an inner light. Golden tendrils of energy pulse visibly beneath my skin, sending waves of warmth up my arms.
“What’s happening?” I barely recognize my own voice, strained and small against the rising storm around us.
The tingling intensifies, spreading through my entire body. I’m bathed in a brilliant light that seems to pour from every pore. Darick stumbles back, his skin beginning to smoke and blister where the light touches him.
“Rowan…” he growls, but his voice is drowned out by a deafening roar.
With a surging blaze, a beam of pure sunlight erupts from my body. It slams into Darick, flinging him backward. His form wavers, then dematerializes entirely, leaving me alone in the suddenly calm dreamscape.
I’m left panting, staring at my luminous hands in disbelief. The power rages through me, leaving me both awed and terrified.
What is this? How did I do that?
“What the fuck…?” I whisper, my mind reeling from what just happened. My whole body is pulsing with that strange energy; it’s rippling through me. But as the adrenaline fades, a realization hits me like a ton of bricks.
This power…it’s not just random. It’s been growing stronger every time I’ve encountered Darick. The dreams, the psychic connections, and now this?
It can’t be a coincidence.
I stare into the misty dreamscape, my mind racing. If this newfound strength is tied to Darick, what does that mean? More importantly, what happens if I cut him out of my life completely?
The thought makes me go still. On one hand, getting rid of Darick would solve so many problems. No more intrusive vampire in my head, no more confusing feelings, no more betraying everything my family stands for.
But on the other hand…
I look down at my palms yet again, watching the light fade slowly from my skin. This power feels incredible. For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like a failure as a witch. I feel strong, capable, maybe even special.
Could I really give that up?
I close my eyes, torn between two impossible choices. Keep Darick in my life and explore this strange connection, possibly betraying everything I’ve ever known. Or cut him out completely and potentially lose this incredible power forever.
What should I do now? The responsible thing would be to tell Gran everything, get her advice. But a small, selfish part of me wants to keep this secret, to explore it on my own terms.
I take a deep breath, trying to center myself. Whatever I decide, I know one thing for certain – nothing will ever be the same again.