Ageless (15 page)

It was then that Violet knew she
was going to be forced to return. The place was telling her that
she couldn’t stay. But as she floated back along the memories that
brought her closer to her present, she felt something different. As
alone as she had been feeling ever since her parents died, it was
obvious that something else now traveled the path back to life with
her. It was warm and it wrapped itself around her. She felt safe
and comforted. It made her happy to know that it was there, and it
gave her the sense that perhaps she did have the strength required
to deal with whatever she found on the other side of that thin line
between this phantom world and her reality.

As she slipped through the membrane between the
worlds, the sucking feeling of re-entering her body was
overwhelming. She pulled a deep gulp of air into her lungs and then
her eyes shot open.

Blinding colors stung her retinas, and everything
was in sharp focus. Whatever had happened to her eyesight appeared
to be resolved. She was lying horizontally on a soft surface.
Violet found herself looking up at a canopy of voluminous blue and
green fabric rippling in a breeze that she could also feel skimming
her skin. She sat up. It took her a moment to realize what she was
seeing, because at first she thought she was looking at the edge of
the world. But then her eyes adjusted to the twilight outside, and
she saw that what she was actually looking at was a vast body of
water. Her ears perked up hearing the waves break against the sandy
beach.

Peering out from beneath the
canopy, she could see stars starting to appear in the night sky.
After days of feeling like her world had been consolidated into
luxurious, yet confining spaces, the vastness of the empty beach
and endless ocean made her feel small. She looked around her. She
couldn’t see anything other than the ten-by-ten area covered by the
canopy shade, and the beach chair she had recently exited. Behind
her, she could see sand dunes rising up to tall grass, but there
weren’t any houses or signs of civilization to be seen. It was just
Violet, the sand, and the ocean.

She felt disoriented. Then she
looked down at her hands and sighed in wonder. Her skin glowed
again in the shiny gold swirls and strange symbols. As she examined
them, she found she wasn’t afraid of them. Seeing them there, even
though she didn’t know what they meant, comforted her. The symbols
twirled up her wrists and forearms to her biceps, and then on her
right side they continued upwards. She looked down at her chest and
saw that they were there too. Stepping out from underneath the
canopy, she used the weak moonbeams to examine them more
closely.

In the moonlight, she laughed in
delight as she watched the color alternate between gold and
shimmering silver. She lost herself studying each one in minute
detail. She slipped down into the sand and fell onto her back. She
giggled and then that turned into a deep belly laugh. It seemed
absurd. A good third of her body was glowing, but she didn’t care.
It felt right and natural. Her laughter finally subsiding, she let
her arms fall to her sides and gazed up at the full moon. Violet
felt at peace.

She didn’t move. She allowed
herself to be present in the moment for the first time in a long
time. She didn’t care where she was. She didn’t care what had
happened to her. She didn’t even care much about what had happened
to her grandparents. There was nothing for her to worry about, and
her body completely relaxed.

When the shadow fell over her,
blocking the moon, she wasn’t startled. She had been expecting
someone to eventually turn up. The moon threw contoured shadows
over his face, but she reached up for his hand.

“Hello, Jonah,” she said in a
lilting voice that she barely recognized as her own. “Do you see?”
She nodded towards the symbols on her hands. “Aren’t they
amazing?”

She saw the frown on his face as he
took her hand and then settled onto the sand next to her. She sat
up, concerned. “What’s wrong?”

Jonah pulled his knees up to his chest. He wrapped
his arms around them and then settled his chin on top of his
kneecaps. He stared out at the water. In that moment, Violet saw
nothing but a young man who was as lost as she had felt just a
short time before. Her heart ached for him. She reached out and
stroked the back of his hair and she felt him tremble at her
touch.

“He didn’t trust me. I could have
killed you; I almost did. For a thousand years I’ve done everything
he’s ever asked, and still he views me as nothing but his kid
brother who needs to only be on a need-to-know basis,” Jonah said.
There was venom in his voice. “I’m sorry, Violet. I had no
idea.”

Violet knew that she should be
angry with him, but she wasn’t. Everyone made mistakes. She kept
stroking his hair. “It’s all right, Jonah. I forgive you. Even if
you guys did almost kill me by blowing up the train in the first
place. You would have thought there would have been an easier way
to sneak me out of there.”

Jonah’s head whipped around and he
stared at her. The movement was so sudden that it took her breath
away. “We had nothing to do with that. Elysa was going to kill your
grandparents and take you away and blame it on Jeremiah so that she
could turn everyone against us. She set your grandmother up,
Violet. I swear that we had nothing to do with that. Of course, the
whole thing is really all Jeremiah’s fault. If he would have
handled things a bit more delicately with Elysa, none of this would
have happened.”

The intensity of his gaze was as
unsettling as the accusations that he was making against his
brother. Violet didn’t want to be part of any of that. She just
wanted to be happy and bask in the moment, but she didn’t know what
to say to tell Jonah that without making it sound like she was
ungrateful that he saved her.

Her ears caught the sound of
movement coming from the dunes and she turned her head. Jonah
pulled her hand to his lips and that drew her attention back to
him. “Whatever happens, Violet, just know that I care for you more
than you could ever know,” he whispered.

Violet realized that she was going
to have to let Jonah know soon that she liked him, but only in a
friend kind of way. He was handsome, charming, and fun, but he
wasn’t the one that set her heart aflutter.

Then she saw a spark of fire in the
tall grass and that brought her to her feet. The words of a
familiar song reached her ears as the grass parted, revealing Margo
coming down the sand dune. She was carrying a large cake. The
sparks Violet had seen were the lit candles on top.

“Happy Birthday to you. Happy
Birthday to you!” Margo had a wide grin on her face, and Violet was
delighted to see her. Then two more voices joined Margo’s. Although
Jonah still grasped her hand, she found herself looking to find his
brother.

“Happy Birthday, dear
Violet.”

“Happy Birthday to you.”

She finally narrowed in on his
husky voice alone, and then there he was standing off to the side
of the canopy. He seemed hesitant, which surprised her. Then she
saw the scowl on his face when he saw her fingers intertwined with
Jonah’s. She tried gently to pull her hand away, but Jonah held it
fast. She couldn’t yank herself free without possibly causing a
scene, so she waited.

Then Margo was in front of her with
the candles inches from Violet’s face. On the dark beach, the
candles illuminated little but Margo’s face, which was a picture of
delight even though Violet could sense a smidgen of wariness in her
eyes. “Happy Birthday, Violet! Make a wish.”

It was a loaded request. Past and
present collided and Violet could almost see the future there in
the dancing sparks. She was uncertain about many things, but she
knew from the depths of her soul that she had a purpose far greater
than she ever imagined. She needed to live and survive to fulfill
that, and so that was her wish. She took a deep breath and blew out
the candles. All went out but one, and as she raised her hand to
wave air across it to extinguish it, she could see that the glow of
her skin wasn’t as bright as before.

“Did you bring the plates like I
asked?” Margo shot over her shoulder to Jeremiah. Violet was
surprised to hear Margo’s tone, but then Jeremiah stepped forward
with a bashful look, holding out a plastic bag.

“Men just don’t know how to
coordinate anything,” Margo said under her breath to Violet with a
wink. “C’mon, Jonah. Help me cut this up. I’m sure Violet is
starving!”

Violet looked at Jonah and saw a
moment of regret in his eyes. His warm palm finally left hers, and
he stepped under the canopy to take the bag from Jeremiah. Margo
had already set the cake on the chair and was barking orders in
Jonah’s direction.

Violet held her breath as Jeremiah
stepped to her side. “Happy Birthday, Violet. I am relieved to see
that you appear to have made a full recovery. Jonah was very
concerned about your welfare.”

“Was he the only one?” she asked
lightly.

“We were all worried,” he said
solemnly, not taking the bait. “How are you feeling?”

Violet had minimal experience
flirting, and knew she was horrible at it. That left just being
herself. “Honestly, I’m still trying to sort out what happened, but
it’s fine.” Her glance fell on Margo and Jonah bent over her cake.
Then her eyes were drawn back to Jeremiah’s. “I admit that this
isn’t exactly how I saw my birthday celebration in my
mind.”

He frowned. “We can go wherever you
want. Margo thought that you may appreciate celebrating in a
familiar setting that held pleasant memories for you.”

“No, no, it’s not that,” she tried
to reassure him. She remembered the long conversations with Margo
at the coffee shop talking about her family’s summer vacations at
the beach. It warmed her to think that Margo had remembered. “It’s
just...a lot has happened over the last few days. I mean, I’m
glowing, for Pete’s sake. It takes awhile to adjust.”

She could hardly believe that she was eighteen. It
seemed like the whole of her life up to that point was meant to
prepare her for these next steps. She wanted to experience
everything all at once, and she tried to keep a tight rein on her
emotions.

“There is so much that I want to
tell you, Violet. Your whole life is opening up before you. I am
honored to be part of this day with you. It’s the day that your
destiny is revealed,” Jeremiah said.

She wrinkled her nose. “Are you a
fortune-teller now?”

A wry grin flitted across his face.
“I’ve lived a long time. It should relieve some of your anxiety to
know that you will be able to benefit from my
experience.”

“I want to have my own experiences,
Jeremiah,” she said. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like a chasm
opened between them as she said those words. Something in his eyes
flickered, and then he stiffened.

“The cake appears to be ready,” he
said, gesturing formally toward Margo, who practically shoved a
plate of an enormous piece of cake into Violet’s hands.

“Thanks, Margo,” she said. She was
secretly pleased to see that it was a rich chocolate cake; her
favorite. It was like a dream. She was standing on a beach on her
birthday with her best friend and two totally hot guys, one of whom
she was definitely interested in. She shoved aside the fact that
the trio were all vampires. It was her birthday and she wasn’t
going to let a little thing like that ruin it.

Although she saw that Margo had
thoughtfully cut several pieces, no one except Violet seemed to be
eating it. Remembering Margo’s earlier comment about how good she
smelled, Violet decided it was a safer course of action to study
the stars. As the wind whipped across the dunes, she felt her hair
float above her shoulder blades and she shivered.

“You’re cold,” Jonah said. “Let’s
make a fire.”

Before Violet could protest he was
already gone. Violet caught a frustrated expression on Margo’s face
before her friend wiped it off. Her suspicions were mounting that
Margo’s feelings for Jonah weren’t really ancient history. She felt
like she had done nothing but blink when she found a fire pit at
her feet, and Jonah was pushing her down onto a makeshift chair
made out of a piece of driftwood. Jonah had placed three other
pieces around the fire, and although she watched Jeremiah and Margo
settle onto two of them, Jonah gestured for her to scoot over so
that he could sit next to her.

She flushed, feeling the heat of
Jeremiah’s gaze over the waves of warmth now floating over the
fire. Whether she liked it or not, she appeared to have two men
vying for her attention. Most girls would probably kill to be in
that situation, but she had no idea how to deal with it. She wanted
to know if Jeremiah was interested in more than just what he
thought she’d do for him, and she had to find out a way to gently
let Jonah down. It was exhausting to think about, so she decided to
put it from her mind. Today was her birthday, and tomorrow she
could worry about bigger decisions about her future. Today, she
just wanted to be.

Margo produced a bottle of
champagne, and everyone toasted to Violet’s birthday. Violet saw
the surprise in Jeremiah’s eyes when she downed her first cup right
away and asked for more. She felt ready to take on the world.
Letting her thoughts wander, Violet realized that the three sitting
around her had all lived lifetimes longer than her short time on
earth.