Amaranthine (Willow Shadows Book 1) (3 page)

“Are you ready for tonight?” he asked her anxiously.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she said as she gently pinched the side of his stomach.

“Watch
it, girl, you might get yourself into trouble. Instead of doing that, why don’t you start practicing,” he said as he turned his car to the road leading to his house.

“Practicing what?” she said, dumbfounded.

“Saying ‘I love you’. Come on. I know you have it in you. Let me hear it,” his eyes danced at the sounds of annoyance huffing out of her.

Luke
laughed as they pulled into the circular drive, watching Khalida closely as she stared at the property’s Willow trees that surrounded the land and the perimeter of the house. Luke reached over and swiftly took her hand, softly caressing the palm. All he wanted to do was pause time, to be here with her in the closeness and privacy
of his car and not worry about anything or anyone else, but he knew deep down time wasn’t on their side. He didn’t know if he had what it took to protect her from the wrath of hell that was coming their way. One thing he did know was that with everything he had, with every fiber of his being, he would die trying. Luke got out of his car and casually walked around to open her door and help her out. He took her hand, softly letting her slide into the crook of his arm as he
led her up the sidewalk to his house.

Luke always thought his house resembled an old rustic church. If it were not so well maintained, the old house would have an eerie, foreboding look. It was two stories high and had a Victorian beauty to it. The back of the house had two enormous bay windows and a small panoramic view of the amazing lake behind it. Inside, the house had a monstrous fireplace with rustic molding in the living room along with smaller ones in every bedroom. Everything in the house was over-sized, from the furniture to the appliances. As they entered the kitchen, his mom was in the process of baking and talking on her phone. The smell of freshly baked cookies filled the room. As they made their way to Josephine, she started pulling out the bar chairs that sat directly in front of where his mother fidgeted to get off the phone, as if they just interrupted an important conversation.

“Let me call you back,” she said to whoever was on the other end of the phone as she closed her phone shut.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise,” his mother smiled brightly, “I’m glad you’re here, Khalida. We’ve missed you around this house, girl,” she said, looking back at Luke, “I’ve missed you around here.”

“Thank you, Josephine. It’s been awhile. It’s good to be back. I’ve always enjoyed it here. I like what you have done with everything, and it looks like you finally got settled in after the move. It’s really nice,” Khalida replied shyly.

“It’s much larger than our last home, but you know this property has been in our family for generations, so I just figured it was time we actually did something with it,” Josephine replied as she came around the counter and walked up to Khalida, giving her a tight hug.

“Really, Mom? You don’t hug me like that,” Luke laughed.

“I see you all the time, son, and jealousy really doesn’t suit that handsome face of yours. Hey, here’s a thought. This time, why don’t you try keeping her around?” Josephine said as she winked at her son.

“Glad you got jokes tonight, Mom. Is everyone already down by the docks?”

“Yes, and I want you all to behave and try not to have the cops called on us like the last time, please.”

“Sure thing, mom,” he chuckled as he led Khalida through the living room out to the back. When they stepped outside, Luke could see the glare of flames from the bonfire already burning in the distance.

Following the path around the small pond in the backyard, he kept her hand in his as he led the way down to the lake that was just about a quarter mile away from his house. After a few minutes of walking in silence, they finally arrived at the docks. Luke’s little brother Crevan was standing guard over the stereo, taking requests from other guests. Crevan was a tall boy for his age and had the same dark hair as his older brother. He wasn’t blessed with the electrifying blue eyes Luke had but had a set of emeralds that were just as intense instead.

It’s a good thing he has good taste in music
.

Luke noticed a crowd of girls forming in the middle of the gathering. He caught sight of a friendly face and knew what the fuss was all about. Luke’s Ride or Die, Razi, the equivalent of Khalida’s “bestie” looked bored with the females surrounding him. Their eyes met and Razi nodded his head with an approving gleam in his eyes. He returned the nod with a sly smile before glancing around at everyone else. There were people from school that Luke recognized by face but didn’t really know. He felt the tension in Khalida as she noticed how everyone stopped to look at them as they approached hand in hand.
He couldn’t help but smile as she leaned into him,
gripping his hand a little tighter.

“Is it just me or is everyone staring?” she asked

“It’s because they are not used to seeing me with such a smart, intelligent beauty.”

“OH…. that’s right,” she beamed, “they are used to seeing you with dumb skuzzy twits. That’s it. They’re all in shock,” she said, laughing along with a hint of sarcasm within her tone.

Suddenly coming alive with amusement dancing across his face, Luke said, “You got jokes too, huh?”

“Shut up and dance with me,” Khalida smiled sweetly.

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” he exhaled raggedly, knowing the thought of her in his arms would just torture him further.

Slowly, the eyes that were on them started to look away as he carried her towards the crowd of couples that were dancing on the dock by the lake, still covered in old Christmas lights left from last year.
When they reached the dock, he pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist
as tightly as he could so she would know the want that burned in his every move. She buried her head into his chest as he breathed in her scent, the wind softly tasseling her loose curls.

He wanted her like this. Always. Close. Perfect.

Distracting her by dancing a few more songs, he decided to break the hold he had on her, pulling her over to the bonfire where Razi was entertaining the crowd, telling stories of cop chases and drunken stupors.

After a few laughs with everyone, Khalida nervously spawned an idea to change things up. She was unsure of what she was really expecting to happen, but she knew she wanted to be alone with Luke.

“Let’s go for a walk,” she said, tugging at his shirt, leading him away from the crowd.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. It’s dark. What if you try to take advantage of me and no one can hear my calls for help?” Luke said as a mischievous grin tilted at the edges of his lips.

Khalida’s body started to shake with laughter, “Right, you don’t honestly think a poor little ‘ole thing like me can overpower you, do you? Make you do things you don’t want to do? Force you over to the dark side with my cookies?”

“Hmm, cookies, yes,” he mumbled, “sounds like a plan, let’s go,” he pulled her to him, sweeping his arm around her shoulders as they walked away from the crowd.

They walked until the voices of laughter and music faded away into the background. Luke stopped under one of the bigger trees and pulled Khalida to him. Taking her chin into his hands, his lips found hers as he began kissing her, gently at first, and then greedily taking her in. His kisses became more urgent, overcome with the need to be in her. He pushed her lips apart with his tongue and felt her immediate response as she started to melt into him.

She was the one that pulled back.

“If you think you can walk me a few hundred yards and have your way with me, you would be wrong,” she said softly, breathlessly.

The smallest laugh escaped her lips, but it was the sweetest sound he had ever heard.

He loved her.

“What can I say? I warned you. I have the worse intentions,” he said as he pulled his cap off to run his hand through his dark hair before replacing the cap back on his head.

He sat down on the ground beside Khalida as he leaned against the old tree. Taking her hand, he pulled her down to him on the soft grass.
She landed in his lap, and he spread his legs just enough for her to slip through to sit on the ground where she could lean back on his chest, exactly where he wanted her. He sat there holding her with one arm, gently caressing her hair with the other.

“What do you want for your birthday?” he said smoothly into her ear.

“You remember my birthday?”

“June twenty-second, just three short weeks after graduation.”

“I’m impressed you didn’t get it mixed up with one of the local mutts you kept around,” she turned in his arms and playfully pulled his cap to the side away from his face so she could kiss him.

“From now on, the only mutt I’ll keep hanging around me is you, okay?” he laughed as she elbowed him in the chest.

“Easy there, Toot. I don’t want you to hurt yourself hitting something so hard.”

“Toot? What in the hell is that kind of name?” Khalida laughed at the new nickname but was unimpressed with his creativeness.

“You
don’t like ‘Toot’?” his eyes narrowed in on her as he contemplated his next move.

“No, I don’t like being called a fart, a silent assassin with possibilities of making you gag. What are you trying to say?” irritation flared in her voice.

“Then, ‘Toot’ it is,” he laughed, ignoring the pouty face that spread across her features.

Carefully avoiding anymore conversation, he trapped her hands in front of her and pressed a nimble kiss to her neck.
Luke realized something as they sat in the quiet moment, eerily intense.

One month.

One month is all he had left, and from the feelings that were stirring deep inside him, it just might be less than that. Luke wanted to take her far away to a place
where no one could find her, where no one would ever think to look, but he knew as soon as her transformation took place, Khalida would be a flame in the dark and they would come for her, if they didn’t already sense her. They would be able to find her no matter where he hid her. Either way, he already knew they would come for her.

“What are you thinking?” she said.

“I’m thinking about what I want to do with you right here, right now,” he said, wrapping his hand in her hair and warily pulling her to him until their lips met, taunting her with his kiss.

Khalida responding in a way that took him by surprise, turning around in his lap, wrapping her legs around him. He should have known better but the deep hunger he tried to keep hidden was sparked alive as his desire took over, pushing all doubts out of his mind. He kissed her hungrily, taking in the softness of her skin and the sweet scent that flowed through his nose. He held tightly to the length of her hair, gently wrapped in his hand, and drew her closer by the small of her back.
He might have had the strength to break away from the inevitable, but she let out the softest sigh of pleasure and he was a goner.

Crap
.
How can I stop?

They were too far in, and there was no going back. He had a potent
taste of what he wanted, and he wasn’t about to give it up now. He greedily pulled her down on top of him as he laid back on the riverbank. A louder moan escaped her lips,
and that’s all he needed to be compelled. He rolled over on top of her, pressing his body to hers. He could feel the instantaneous change of her breathing accelerating under him, rising to a peak that he knew was all too dangerous but being the selfish bastard he was, his want for her over shadowed everything, and before he could put his own desperate need aside, it was too late.

Khalida sank her fangs into his neck.

CHAPTER 3

T
he sensation of Khalida’s mouth on his neck sent overwhelming sensations throughout his body. A low passionate moan escaped from him, relinquishing any and all thoughts about stopping. Instead of listening to his head, he let his predatory senses take over. Drawn by the pulsating beats along her neck, Luke leaned down and let out a sigh filled with hunger and satisfaction as his elongated fangs bore deep into her neck.

Dammit! Pull away. Do it now.

But it was already too late. Luke knew lines had already been crossed. There was no turning back now.

Holy hell, Mother of…dammit!

His rationale was replaced with raw need, the need to take her in and make her his tore through his body. The longer he touched her, the more he took her in. He brought her closer, wrapping his arms around her, taking in every second of the moment. Her predatory senses were in full swing as she took more from him with every swallow. A few minutes passed before he had a moment of clarity. Abruptly, he pulled away, got up and took a few cautious steps back, leaving Khalida in a daze. Telling Khalida everything she was destined for wasn’t what Luke had in mind tonight. In the minutes or even seconds to come, once she realized what they were doing, would he even be able to calm her? This was seriously not the way he had planned to tell her. Like it or not, she would have to be ready.

For the most part.

Whether she would like it or not, Khalida would know everything tonight. Luke had never been sheltered like she had been, not knowing who or what she was growing up to be. Part of Luke knew the reason Fatin had kept it hidden from her all this time. None of them were sure she would transcend, and it was the not knowing part that kept Fatin hopeful that Khalida would be spared from the change. There were known cases of hybrids never changing over; those kinds went on with their lives without any complications. Khalida was different though. Luke had known she was different from the moment his eyes fell upon her.

Luke was raised so differently than her that it seemed unfair to keep the truth hidden from Khalida. He knew now she would definitely be going through the change. How in the world was he going to explain to her what was happening? He couldn’t even begin to comprehend what would go through her mind. Luke never had the truth hidden from him. He would never go through the change from “normal” to “vampire”. Being a full bred vampire from birth, he was born into the way he was and would never know how it would feel to transcend.

Hey, Khalida, don’t worry. You’re a hybrid vampire. On your eighteenth birthday, you’re going to change into a vampire.
Really? What the hell? This shit only happens in the movies.

He knew she was going to flip her shit and was nowhere near as prepared as she should have been. Growing up, he heard stories about his kind, stories that seemed unreal and made up by humans that were chalked up to folklore or some fairytale made up by someone with an overactive imagination. There were stories of people transforming into otherworldly immortals, creatures of the night, people known as bloodsuckers. Some of the stories his mother would tell him scared the crap out him when he was little, but he out grew those foolish thoughts. Now, nothing in this world scared him until Josephine told him of the bond that would happened between Khalida and himself. He always wondered why his mother would put their names together with fate and destiny, but as he got older, he began to understand how various types of markings would bring them together. It was not normal, but for their kind, it wasn’t unusual to be fifteen and know who their mate would be; battling two worlds, Luke fought the truth, attempting to fight the pull he felt towards Khalida until he could no longer deny the change was coming and a new life was inevitable.

All that fighting was useless now. Now we’re blood bonded
.

As fate would have it, three years after his mother told him he would be bonded to her, here they were, biting each other on the neck.

Great. Just fanfuckintastic. How in the hell am I supposed to explain this to her? She is really about to flip her shit
.

~Khalida~

The
moment Khalida felt the thick liquid flow into her mouth and down her throat, releasing a coppery taste over her taste buds, an intense feeling of overwhelming energy burst through the limbs of her body. It felt like soft flowing surges shooting through each of her veins, a pulsating pleasure that sent all of her senses exploding into hyper drive. She gripped the back of Luke’s head, pulled him closer, tightening the grip on his neck.

OH, MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL!

Khalida
r
eleased the hold she had on Luke’s neck, pulling back to look at him.

Stunned, she stared at him in disbelief. Looking into his eyes for answers, she noticed his eyes, once a muted shade of blue now darkened to an ominous, breath-taking glow, sapphire in color. Khalida watched as the light from the moon played across his face, the realm of what just happened still not fully sinking in.

“You are so beautiful right now, Khally,” Luke said, daring to get close enough to run his fingers through her hair. Khalida immediately looked away, embarrassed at the compliment. Off in the distance, she noticed a group of kids from school, laughing and dancing just past the tall trees that led down to the lake. With a sudden rush of realization, Khalida focused her eyes on the scene down the path.

Are
you kidding me? Pinch yourself
.

“OUCH!”
she barked.

“Did
you really just pinch yourself, Khally?” Luke spoke, restraining the laugh that boiled within.

What the…oh, holy hell. This is real, which means I just bit Luke. I had his
blood
in my mouth?
I drank his blood!

Khalida
jumped to her feet and quickly took two steps back, staring at Luke. She was in shock as she spoke, her voice quivering under the strain of a whisper fueled by a desire to scream.

“What
the hell just happened?” she said, her voice barely a whimper.

Luke
stared at her, and she could see he was totally okay with what she had just done, as if everything were okay.

“Oh.
My. God. Luke! I bit you, a-and, you bit me back!” hysteria started to build up in the back of her throat.

This isn’t
real. Am I going crazy? No. I’m sane. Luke is crazy
.
This
is real. I actually drank his blood. I literally grew fangs, fangs that had sprouted from my mouth and bit Luke.

Khalida’s
body went numb and her legs began to give out. She couldn’t catch herself before she tumbled forward, landing on the ground. If she had hurt her knees during the fall, she couldn’t feel it. She knew that she couldn’t stand, couldn’t run, couldn’t hide, and couldn’t think. All she could do was just stay there on her knees.

Luke
didn’t move, staying carefully in the same place. He kept his normal carefree demeanor, making sure he kept his distance from her. Khalida just watched blankly as Luke silently stood there, watching her, with a fierce, almost predatory glare in his eyes. There were noises coming from the direction of the bonfire. His eyes narrowed and he tilted his head like he was listening for something in the distance and then returned his sight back to her. She imagined he was probably wondering what she was going to do or say next. He still didn’t look surprised. He gave nothing away as she stared at him. She just bit him, drank his blood, and, yet, he just stood there calm and unperturbed.

Fear
and confusion suddenly turned to anger.

“What
the hell just happened?” Khalida spat, again, as she straightened up.

He
laughed.

Did
he really just laugh at me?

“We’re
not like normal people, Toot.”

“Stop
calling me that!”

No
freaking kidding! Being normal doesn’t consist of growing freaking fangs, you smartshit!

“Nowhere
in my life have I ever heard of it being normal to grow fangs and bite your freaking boyfriend!” Khalida screamed.

“Calm
down and let me explain,” Luke replied, trying to be reasonable.

Yeah.
Freaking. Right.

Jumping
to her feet, Khalida was
ready to take off like Julia Roberts in The Runaway Bride.

“Don’t
do it, Khally. I will catch you before you get no more than five feet,” Luke warned with a confident smile that he unsuccessfully tried to hide.

Screw
you!

Khalida
turned her back to him and darted off, running as fast as she could, but just like he said, before she got five feet away from him, there he was in front of her with his arms wrapped around her waist.

“Let
go of me!” she grunted through her gritted teeth, “and get that cocky smirk off of your face before I wipe it off for you!”

The
hold he had on her was tight, her arms bound to her waist so she couldn’t claw out at him. So, she compromised and kicked his shins as hard as she could, then stomping on his foot, fighting with every ounce of herself. She may not get away from him, but she damn sure was going to let him know she was there with every kick and stomp.

Catching
her off guard, Luke quickly turned her around and crossed her arms in front of her, catching her legs between his so she couldn’t use them as deadly weapons. Khalida knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Calming down, she gave up any fight she had left as she pressed her back to his chest and sighed in defeat. He leaned down so that his mouth was right next to her ear and softly whispered, “Listen to me. You need to calm down. What just happened is normal for our kind. It’s how we survive. You and I are what some might call vampires, Khalida. Well, actually I’m a vampire and you’re currently turning into a vampire. Now that you have bitten me, my blood is flowing through your veins. Your transformation has begun,” he spoke calmly but left no room for argument.

Khalida
held her breath as he talked, waiting, and listening for any sign that he was
just
playing. Hoping he was lying to her, she waited for something, anything that would tell her this wasn’t happening, but nothing came.

He
is serious. Dead serious
.

“You’re
crazy! LET ME GO!” she struggled to get out of his hold, but it got her nowhere except trapped in a tightened grip.

After
a few minutes passed, he exhaled loudly as he tried speaking to her quietly once more.

“If
you stop struggling, and promise not to try and run away, again, I’ll let you go, but, if I can’t trust you to stay calm and be rational, I’m not letting you go.”

Tears
started to escape down her cheeks, “How can I be rational? Vampires don’t exist. You’re telling me I’m a vampire, you’re a vampire.”

“Then
why did you bite me?” he said softly as his grip on her eased.

“Why
now? What did I do?” Khalida sobbed.

“Nothing.
You did nothing wrong, Khally. You’re only half-vampire, a half-breed. A half-breed’s transformation usually begins around their eighteenth birthday if their human side isn’t the most dominating side. It usually depends on the blood line on whether or not they undergo the change. You carry the mark of our ancestors. That birthmark on your wrist, the one you try to cover up is such a mark. Only one every few hundred years are born with that mark.”

“So
I’m a blood sucker?” her voice cracked as a sob escaped, “I have to kill people? Oh, God, I’m a monster!”

Khalida
felt Luke’s body relax as he softly laughed.

“We
don’t kill people, and no, you are not a monster. Although a few seconds ago…”

Khalida
quickly cut him off by elbowing him in his stomach. He gently rested his forehead on the back of her head as he finished, “We sustain our hunger by feeding off of each other. The ones that are blood bonded feed off their mate, the ones who aren’t use a donor of the opposite sex. It’s never a forced thing. It’s always a willing host,” his shoulders began to slump, and Khalida could tell there was more to come.