I feel a little weird about how much I want to see Laylen and with how uneasy it’s making Alex, but I still head out and he trails behind me, keeping his distance. The air smells leafy and reminds me of Nicholas, but it’s coming from the plants flourishing from the walls and ceiling. At the end of the hallway is a living room with walls covered in rose wallpaper that match the sofas. Like the bedroom, there are plants all over the shelves, vines decorating the ceiling, and plants in the windowsill. The curtain is open and I can see that it’s still dusk.
I glance over my shoulder at Alex and raise my eyebrows. “Okay, the plants are kind of creeping me out.”
He shrugs, not agreeing or disagreeing. “The oxygen’s good for her or something… but yeah, still kind of creepy.” He nods his head to my right. “Everyone’s in the kitchen.”
I turn and spot Laylen sitting at the kitchen table. Strands of his blond, blue-tipped hair hang in his bright blue eyes, tattoos curve across his arms, including the markings for the Mark of Immortality, and his long legs are stretched out to the side of him as he sits sideways in the chair. Aislin is next to him, her hair damp and she’s wearing a white floral dress, opening and closing her hand causing her skin to smoke as if she’s practicing a spell. The other person at the table is also in a floral dress; a green one. Her blond hair reminds me of sunshine and sunflowers and her eyes are sky blue. Tan gloves cover her hands and her lips are glossy. I’ve seen this girl before, not just in a photo back at Laylen’s house, but in a vision… or memory... She was holding Aislin’s spell book.
“Shit.”
“What’s wrong?” Alex asks, his breath tickling the back of my neck—I hadn’t realized he was so close.
I turn and our lips are only a sliver of space away. “I’ve seen that girl before,” I whisper.
His brow curves upward. “Stasha?”
I nod. “In a vision… or memory… I’m not really sure, but she was holding Aislin’s spell book.”
Alex doesn’t seem as surprised as I am. He simply says, “I’ll take care of it.” Then he winds around me and heads for the kitchen table.
I turn around and discover Stasha has focused her attention me, her gaze shooting daggers. “Everything okay?” she asks Alex as he strolls up to her.
“We need to talk,” he says, then gestures for her to follow him as he walks toward a door on the far back wall. I don’t know where the door leads to, but what I do know is I feel so jealous when the two of them go into the room behind it that I feel like I’m about to ignite into flames.
I need to concentrate on something else besides this jealous feeling festering inside me so I look at Laylen. He’s fiddling with his lip ring, sucking on it sexily as he draws it between his teeth and watching him do it turns out to be a great distraction.
He catches my eye and a look of relief washes over him. Without saying a word, he rises from the chair and crosses the room in three long strides, catching me by the elbow and guiding me into the living room with him, leaving Aislin alone in the kitchen to practice her magic.
We stand face to face between the sofas and I’m so relieved to see him, it takes me a moment to find my voice.
“How are you doing?” I finally ask.
“I don’t know... Okay, I guess.”
“You had me worried… I still am.”
“I know you are,” he says, meeting my gaze, almost looking glad that I’m worried about him, but maybe it’s because he hardly has anyone in his life. “I’m sorry. I just freaked out when your mom told me this was done on purpose to me.” He gestures at himself and then the mark on his arm, indicating he’s referring to being a vampire. “I didn’t do anything, though… I didn’t bite anyone… I wanted to… so f**king badly.” He chews on his bottom lip, staring at the spot on my neck where he bit me once. “I kept having dreams of drinking your blood and I swear I could taste it… it was maddening.”
“I thought it was getting easier to control?”
“It was… but then something changed inside me… and it felt like I went back to the place that I started if that makes any sense.”
I have to wonder if maybe this has something to do with me resetting time. “It’s going to be okay,” I say, repeating my father’s words, even though I’m not positive I believe them. “And if this ever gets to be too much, you can talk to me. You and I are in this together.” I look directly him in the eye. “Promise me you won’t run away again. That no matter what happens or what you’re feeling, you’ll come to me first.”
He nods and then pulls me in for a hug, breathing in my sent as he puts his lips up to my neck and presses a kiss there. “I’m so sorry... For thinking about you the way that I do.”
My veins are filled with liquid fire beneath my skin. It’s so wrong, but every time I think about his fangs sinking into me, I feel like moaning. “It’s okay,” I say. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
But I’m not sure if it is.
About ten minutes later, Alex and Stasha emerge from the back room, Alex looking annoyed and Stasha looking pissed. Alex strides over to the kitchen table and drops a thick, leather book right in front of Aislin.
“Found your spell book,” Alex says, shaking his head in annoyance as he narrows his eyes at Stasha. “Apparently someone’s been sneaking around.”
“I wasn’t sneaking around,” Stasha retorts, crossing her arms. “You were right there when you saw me take it.”
“No I wasn’t,” he argues as Aislin hugs the book to her chest.
“Yes, you were,” Stasha insists, stepping toward him. “You were in the beach house and she,” she aims a finger at me, “Was possessed by the devil himself.”
“You mean Stephan?” I ask. “But I thought—”
“It’s time to go,” Alex interrupts in a clipped tone. “We’ve got a lot of shit to take care of.”
I want to ask him questions, starting with the fact that Stasha is can remember a point in time that technically never occurred. And also why she stole the spell book for Stephan, which would mean she is… was helping him. But he looks so angry that I decide just to go with the flow until we get out of Stasha’s house.