Book of Love (40 page)

He stopped for a moment, spitting blood on
the ground, but when he went back for more, this time I saw him
swallow.

“
Wes,
what are you
doing?”
I found that fact a little
appalling, but as I saw Max begin to rouse, I no longer
cared.

I hunched at his side,
stroking his head. “Max, wake up.” I placed my hand against his
cold cheek, finding that in his already dead state, it was hard to
know how alive he now was.
“Max—”

His hand grasped my wrist as I continued
lightly slapping his face. A smile crept across his lips.
“Beautiful? Can you stop that?”

I fell back, panting
wildly. “Oh, Max. You’re okay!” I looked back at Wes, alarmed by
the fact that he was still sucking on Greg’s arm.
“Wes!”

Max looked to his side, seeing what I had.
Max’s hand left my wrist, clamping around Wes’s neck as he yanked
him off Greg. His eyes were wild, and he looked stunned, as though
he’d woken from a deep trance.

“
Great,”
Max muttered, eyeing
his weakened brother but seemingly unconcerned, suggesting that he
would unfortunately survive. In retrospect, I suppose that was a
good thing.

“
Great
what?”
I gasped, watching Wes’s eyes whirl inside their
sockets.

Max appeared frustrated. “Not only is he
high from the poison, but now he’s addicted to angel blood.” He
looked at Emily, still writhing and moaning on the ground. “We have
a lot of detox to do.”

“
Detox?”
Every word that came
out of his mouth only shocked me further.

It was then that Greg roused, his eyes
meeting ours. He then scanned the room for Emily, seeing her
thrashing about. His eyes narrowed, glaring at us with an
expression that seemed weakened and deceived.

I blinked once but missed it. Just like
that, he’d disappeared.

Max drew in a deep breath, exhaling slowly.
“At least it’s over.”

I rolled my eyes. “At least for now,
right?”

Max looked at me, his eyes scanning mine but
leaving me with no answer—no reassurance that my remark was just a
joke, because it wasn’t. As long as Max was alive, Greg would
always be there in the shadows.

Emily:

“
What
the…”
I sat up, my head spinning. I
moaned and lay back against the pillow, keeping my eyes
shut.

“
Oh, Emily, dear!” I heard
my mother squeal, making me wince. “This flu is just the worst,
isn’t it?” She was talking to someone else that was in the room
with us.

“
She’ll be better soon,
Mrs. Taylor.” I heard Max’s voice, freezing as it entered my
ears.

“
Max…” my mother went on.
“That medicine you brought is really bringing her fever down. Don’t
you agree, Jane?”

Jane? Jane was
here?
Knowing that made me feel
better.

“
Mmmm… Yes. I do agree.”
Her tone sounded false, and I wondered what was up.

“
Well, are you two hungry?
Would you like some sandwiches?”

I heard Max and Jane reply in unison, adding
to the phony cloud that was already floating around the room. I
heard my mother leave, shutting the door behind her.

“
Emily,”
my sister whispered
sharply.
“Emily, open your
eyes.”

I didn’t want to open my eyes. My lower lip
jutted out stubbornly.

I heard Max laugh. “She’s just trying to be
difficult.”

“
No surprise there,” Jane
replied, meaning for me to hear it.

My eyes shot open. “Shut up!” I
cried—wincing as my head pounded in rebellion.

They both laughed at me, their voices low
out of respect for the fact that my head was splitting open. There
was a bitter taste on my tongue, and I was thirsty for something I
couldn’t quite put my finger on. I felt a sharp pulse, my leg
throbbing near my left ankle. I sat up enough to look, seeing it
was wrapped in a thick layer of gauze.

“
Flu, huh?” I gave them an
accusing glare.

Max shrugged. “I think you
know enough about mind control to understand why she thinks
that…”
he motioned to my
ankle, “…is the flu.”

I wanted to laugh, but knew it would hurt
too much. I hadn’t forgotten a single second of what had happened
as it all rushed back to me. It was like I’d been locked inside a
body that I could no longer control, viewing everything but having
no way to stop it. I frowned, filled with a sudden feeling of guilt
as I remembered the things I’d done.

I looked at Jane with a tear in my eye. “I
murdered someone, Jane. Greg made me do it.” Tears streamed down my
cheek. I saw the man, a terrified look in his eye though his
posture was relaxed. I saw myself stabbing him, his body sinking to
the ground where his blood mixed with the sand of the beach.

Jane brushed my tears away, kissing me on
the forehead. “It’s okay, Emily. That person wasn’t you. You did
not kill anyone.”

I continued to sob, not knowing what else to
do. Jane held me for a long while, Max remaining at Jane’s side. I
no longer hated him, though the fear remained because of the fear I
felt toward his brother, and the things he’d done to me. As far as
I saw, though, I would respect Max for as long as he was in our
life. He had saved me, after all.

Jane finally released me, unsure how much
time had passed. I opened my eyes, seeing Wes was now standing in
the room. Tears returned as he smiled at me. He came to my side,
kneeling until his lips were beside my ear.

“
I love you, Emily,” he
whispered. I saw him look up at Max as though looking for
affirmation. Max nodded. “There’s only one person I love, and it’s
you. You are everything to me.” His words were true. They had come
from a place in his mind that I knew held no memories of my
sister.

I scanned his eyes, seeing there was still
another internal struggle brewing inside his head. It was a
struggle that wasn’t there before, but a struggle that felt so
familiar to me.

Max cleared his throat, as though wanting to
answer my question. “You both have a lot of recovery to do. Emily,
you were fed my brother’s blood in those pills you kept taking.
They made you feel numb because of the addictive, drug-like quality
of our blood that makes us age so slowly.” Wes was watching Max as
he talked, an undeniable hunger glimmering in his eyes. He viewed
Max as a source of this drug he now longed for, but struggled to
deny.

“
And,
Wes,” he continued. “Unfortunately, in order to save me, you had to
suck the venom from Greg’s arm, which naturally, included that same
addictive blood that Emily had.” He addressed us both now. “You are
addicted to a thing called
blood
lust.”

Jane chimed in, whispering
in my ear.
“Sort of like vampires.”
She winked, knowing I’d loved vampire books—it
hardly brought me any comfort now. I hated them.

Max glared at Jane, hardly finding it the
time to make such analogies. “You’ll find you want it less and less
as time passes, but for now, it’s going to be difficult to subdue
your desires. I’ll have to wean you off it. I’m at least thankful
that you have each other to lean on.”

There was a knock on the
door then, and my mother walked back into the room. “I brought you
your favorite! Chicken noodle!” She noticed Wes. “Oh, so great to
see you’ve already recovered from this
horrid
bug, Wes!” She smiled
blindly, not even noticing the fact that my leg was purple and
wrapped in at least an inch of gauze.

I shook my head, finding this all a bit
strange, but for the first time in my life, I felt like a part of
something real.

Jane:

I shut the door behind us, hoping it
wouldn’t wake my mother as she slept soundly on the couch
downstairs.

Max turned the second the
door clicked shut, clutching my face in his hands and pulling me
toward him. His coolness pressed against me—I shuddered. He gazed
into my eyes. “I never got the chance to thank you for
saving
me.
Funny
how that happens, isn’t it?”

His breath tickled my lips, teasing me the
same way his body did, close to mine. “It is. How ironic.” I
smiled, nudging his nose with my own.

He laughed lightly, smiling as the delicate
wrinkles around his eyes creased. His hands left my cheeks, falling
to my sides where he curled his fingers around my hips, our lips
meeting. A chilled sugary flavor filled my mouth as they
intertwined.

I wedged my hand between us, leaning back
and licking my lips. “I…” my eyes fell, seeing where our hips met.
His fingers were hooked in the pockets of my jeans, locking us
together. “I never got the chance to tell you that…”

I saw his eyes light up, knowing what I was
about to say.

“
That… I think I love
you.”

He laughed. “You think?
You mean you
know?”

I smirked, rolling my
eyes. “Sure, okay. I
know
I love you.” I blushed. “When I saw you dying, it
hit me. I felt that overwhelming feeling that you had long ago,
when you spared me.” His thumbs traced my belt. I sighed, enjoying
the way his skin felt—cold and protective. “I was just scared, you
know, and confused.” It seemed too fast to say those words, but I
felt it all the same. “I’m not one to believe in love at first
sight, but… I guess I do.”

“
That’s okay, Jane. If it
makes you feel better, Wes was scared by the feeling for Emily as
well. You were both confused by your somewhat complicated
friendship.” I saw his brows knit together when he said
complicated. “But now that I’ve shown him what love is, he
knows.”

I felt a twang of love for Wes, but a
different kind of love than the desperate, Earth-moving love I felt
for Max.

Max licked his lips, and it made me jealous
to know that he got to taste the sweetness of his kiss, but I
couldn’t. He smirked, his hand trailing up my back as he pulled me
against him, kissing me once more. The gentlest nudge was all it
took to make him fall back onto my bed, the whole while never
breaking the kiss.

My body heated up despite how cold his was.
His hands under my shirt helped to cool me. I liked the feeling,
and I wanted more. I reached for the button of his jeans, but he
stopped me, laughing in a nervous way.

“
Wait,” he whispered into
my ear, driving me mad.

I gave him a strange
look.
“Wait?
Usually that would be my line.”

Pulling away, I saw his face also seemed
nervous, his eyelids struggling to hide the telltale shake of
emotion I was certain pulsed through him.

“
I just… I’ve never done
this before and… I want to wait.” He nipped at my bottom lip as I
gaped at him.

“
You’ve
never done this?
In one-hundred
years, you’ve
never
done this?”

He shrugged, kissing my cheek. “I thought I
told you. I never found someone. Besides, only in the last thirty
years has it even become acceptable to do that before
marriage.”

I laughed, but not in a way that would hurt
his feelings. I wondered then why he was such a good kisser.

He was the one that laughed this time. “I’ve
kissed someone before. I’m not that much of a prude.”

“
Who?” I
ventured.

He gave me no answer.

I sat up, straightening my top. “Well, then.
I guess I can wait.” I chuckled uneasily. “But let me warn you,” I
leaned close to his ear, regaining my confidence as my lips grazed
his skin, “I’m not very good at waiting.”

He ran a shaky hand through my hair and
smiled. “We really do have this all wrong, don’t we?” He was
scanning my thoughts, seeing how everything was backwards and
nothing was what I’d expected.

I touched his neck, noticing a small
delicate chain peeking from under his shirt. “What’s that?” I
hadn’t noticed it before, it’s weave so small, it was almost
invisible.

He watched me, his eyes scanning mine.
“That’s a story for another time, Jane.” He weaved his fingers into
my hair. “I wasn’t finished kissing you yet.”

The chain dropped from my hand as he wrapped
me in his arms, pulling us back against the pillows. As we kissed,
enjoying every moment we had, his hands explored my body in a way
that told me that next time, he’d know what to do.

^{* * *}

The breath from Greg’s lungs was cold as it
passed his lips, his brow creased. The branches below his feet were
snapping as the weight of his body bore down on them. Greg was not
about to give up. This simple setback would not deter him from his
ultimate goal.

Something whizzed past his ear, almost
silent if it wasn’t for the gentle brush of a feather. Greg halted
and spun on his heel, his thoughts on failure momentarily
buried.

Seeing nothing behind him, he looked back in
the direction the object had gone. Something gleamed from a nearby
tree. Greg squinted, recognizing the arrow. He laughed.

“
Avery!”
Greg yelled, amused
by her presence.

Another whizzing sound alerted his senses,
the feather of a second arrow brushing his other ear. It pierced
the skin of a second tree. Greg made a sudden move to snatch a
third arrow, catching the tail between his fingers as it flew by.
He spun the shaft in his hand, taking note of the characteristic
silver swirls that decorated the tip. His lip was curled.