Ageless (22 page)

She was so wrapped up in her
thoughts that she didn’t hear the knocking on the door at first.
Margo patted her shoulder and went to check. Looking at her watch
Violet saw that it was close to dinnertime. Jonah was probably
checking in on her.

Violet stared at the mirror. She
hadn’t been sleeping well, and her eyes looked sunken in her face.
Instead of looking eighteen, she thought that she looked like she
was forty.

“Violet, you have a visitor,” Margo
called from the other room.

Margo hadn’t announced Jonah
before, and Violet wondered who it could be. Heart pounding, Violet
smoothed her hair and then quickly moved to the doorway to see if
her wish may be right. Jeremiah stood there and a slow smile
crossed his face as he spied her.

“I’ll just leave you two to catch
up,” Margo said with a wry smile as she stepped quickly out into
the hall and closed the door behind her.

“Hi,” Violet said. She was a ball
of uncertainty. After the experience at Cove Point, she knew that
she had strong feelings for Jeremiah. There could be nothing but
friendship with Jonah. She had to make Jeremiah see
that.

“I trust you are feeling better,”
Jeremiah said.

“I am,” she said, stepping into the
room. “What about you?”

“I am well, thank you, a benefit of
being a vampire,” he said with a rueful shake of his
head.

“Do you still want to be one?” she
asked. The question had been in her mind ever since returning to
the mansion. “You heard what Bruckhart said while he possessed my
grandmother. You were right. I have the power to cure you. My blood
can cure you.”

Jeremiah moved closer to her.
“Violet, I want more than anything to be released from the curse of
bloodlust, but as long as you are in danger, I can’t risk not being
what I am now. We don’t know if it would mean that I would also
lose my strength and speed. I will need every advantage at my
disposal if I am to protect you.”

“That’s what Jonah and Margo both
said,” she said. “You find what you’ve been looking for over a
thousand years, and then when it’s right in front of you, you have
the audacity to turn up your nose at it.” It was her turn to shake
her head.

He was standing right in front of
her now and as she looked up into his eyes, he reached up and
stroked her cheek. Even without vampire blood, her wound had healed
miraculously fast. “I wouldn’t say that,” he said. “How are you,
Violet?”

She shrugged. “I’m terrified out of
my mind. My life has been completely turned upside down. I still
don’t know what all of this means. I think I’m coping as well as
can be expected.”

“Jonah said that you weren’t
sleeping well, and that you were withdrawn,” Jeremiah said
quietly.

“Both Jonah and Margo have been
really sweet, but they weren’t the ones that I wanted to be with.
They aren’t the ones who make me feel safe.” The words tumbled out
of her mouth. To her ears they sounded all wrong, but she wanted
him to understand that she only wanted to be with him. There was no
one else.

“I’m a thousand years older than
you, Violet,” Jeremiah said. His hand was still stroking her cheek.
“No matter what you’ve discovered about yourself, you still have
your whole life ahead of you. I wouldn’t want to deny you of
that.”

“Why do you keep insisting that I
shouldn’t choose to spend part of it with you?” she asked. He was
so close to her that she was sure that he could feel her
heartbeat.

He groaned and then he lowered his head and his lips
touched hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lost herself
in his kiss. It was tender and sweet, but full of longing. She
finally completely understood. Jeremiah felt as alone as she did,
and was wary about being hurt again.

Later, as they sat on the sofa and
watched the moon rise over the yard, she lay back into his arms and
asked, “What happens now, Jeremiah?”

He pulled her closer and nuzzled
her hair. “We will take each new day as it comes. We will find all
of those who wish to be saved and save them. Those who do not, we
will kill. We will make this world a better place, one where people
no longer need to live in fear.”

Violet shivered. “That seems
enormous. What about Bruckhart?”

“I do not doubt that he will try
again to reach you, but every day is another day that you grow
stronger and learn more about what you can do. One day soon, he
will be no match for you. We will hope that he doesn’t try anything
until that day.”

Violet sighed and decided to focus
on something more positive. She laid her head against his chest and
peered up at him. “A vampire and a witch. It sounds like a
fairytale.”

Jeremiah laughed and swept his lips
down to gather hers. “To me, it more like a dream come
true.”

Thank you so much for taking the time to read
Ageless
! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review
and sharing your thoughts. I'd also love to hear what you liked
(and what you didn't!) if you'd like to drop me a line at
[email protected]. As always, thank you for your support.

About Cege Smith

Cege Smith is a Minnesota based writer who is
addicted to lattes and B-rated horror films. She had been crafting
spooky stories since she was twelve years old. She lives with her
husband, two adorable stepsons, and mini long-hair dachshund,
Juliet in the suburbs of Minneapolis.

Twitter:
http://twitter.com/cegesmith

Facebook:
http://facebook.com/cegesmith

Cege's blog:
http://www.cegesmith.com