Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) (51 page)

I flipped the porch light off and he glared up through the window at me.

I made my way through the living room and up the stairs to my room. When my foot hit the landing at the top of the stairs a tear jarred loose from my eyes.

Walking into my bedroom, I tossed myself down on my bed. I threw my head into my pillow and took in the familiar surroundings. Not much had been changed since I’d left six years before to go to college. The room was still partially wallpapered with pictures I’d cut out of various magazines. The wall behind my bed was still a bright fuchsia, although my mother had sworn she was painting it the day I moved out.

I rolled to my side. The collar of my sleeve rubbed against my wrist and a sting
ing sensation shot up my arm. Flipping over onto my back, I held my arms up in the air. The sleeves fell back from my wrists and I looked in horror at the scarlet red burns left by the rope. I couldn’t understand how such deep cuts had rubbed through my skin without me noticing.

I momentarily forgot about the argument me and Gavin had just had while I tried to figure out a way to explain the marks to my mother. I racked my brain but couldn’t think of a logical excuse to explain the marks; I just decided I’d have to make a conscious effort to keep my sleeves pulled down.

Gavin

She was so oblivious to
the secrets I had. I stared at those marks on her wrists; those marks wouldn’t mean the same thing to her as they did to me.

When m
y finger felt along her broken skin, my heart plummeted; I knew what I’d done. I pulled her fingers back and ran my nail beneath hers; my dried blood flaked out from under them. I feared that if I gave in, if I let things get out of control, I would lose her.

I’ve always had control, but she made me lose it all. I’m powerless, controlled by my need for her, I can’t risk losing her.

I hadn’t even realized that I was speaking when I told her there where things she didn’t know about me. I can’t blame her for being so cross with me. I’d promised her she could trust me; I gave my word, and I’d meant it, but I knew that my past was working against me.

I sat out on the porch, in the dark of the night, contemplating it all.

My thoughts were racing trying to figure out a way that we could escape this damnation. Trying to find somewhere I could take her, some place they could never find us. After all, none if it worked out the way I’d planned. I should have known as soon as I kissed her, as soon as I realized how different she was. Looking through the large window into the dark house, I wonder what in the bloody hell I was doing here. I was pretending. Here I was, visiting her family. Acting as though this relationship could actually go somewhere when I knew damn well it couldn’t.

I can’t tell her. Better to leave things unsaid, at least until we get back home. Until I am forced to tell her.

I’d never experienced inner turmoil like this before.

I rose from the chair and walked down the wooden steps, down to the end of the pier, and stared out over the water. So many things I knew that no one else knew. I knelt down and reached into the cool liquid
, circling my fingers in it.

The earth had once been covered in this substance in an effort to eradicate the vampires and the Nephilim. Although the Nephilim all perished, the vampires did not. The ones who descended from Azaal ha
d the ability to shift shapes, just as he does. When the flood came they turned into creatures of flight to escape their watery grave. All the accusations that crucifixes, holy water, stakes to the heart, and sunlight will bring death to these demons are simply just myths. Those objects can wound them, but not kill them. There are truly only two ways to kill a vampire. They can drown, or they can be killed by one of the seven fallen angels.

My thought strayed back to Brooke and I knew I could never tell her these things. How would I ever begin to explain that death was a meaningless word to me? If there was a way to kill a
Fallen, it was unbeknownst to me. She wouldn’t understand the things I’d done. She would fear me. My mind was numb from thought when I turned to go back to the house.

I quietly pulled the glass door back a
nd stood in the living room. Walking up the stairs, I looked at the family pictures hung in the stairwell. Family was such a foreign thing to me. I’d no idea what it meant. Removing my gaze from the picture, I turned to go into the guest room. The door to Brooke’s room was slightly cracked and I peered in. She lay still in her bed, her long hair fell across her shoulders, and her mouth was hidden by the hand she had curled up on her pillow.

I pushed the door open
slowly.

My God, I loved her
.
Was it truly possible that I loved this creature?

I walked to the empty side of her bed and pulled the sheets back, climbing in behind her, the familiar scent of her lifting up to my face as I wrapped my arm tightly around her. I delicately gathered her hair away from her shoulder and kissed the nape of her neck. I had become so flawless at pretending to be a mortal, maybe to the point I had tricked myself into believing I belonged with one.

I couldn’t let her lay there angry with me in her dreams. As I stared at her I remembered how it was that these creations caused our fall in the first place. Women own a possession more powerful than any other force in the world, and what a beautiful possession it was.

Brooke

I woke up to Gavin slipping in the bed behind me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed the back of my neck.

“What are you doing?” I whispered to him.

“I can’t stand the thought of letting you go to bed mad at me.” He kissed down my neck and across my shoulder.

I rolled over to face him, whispering, “I’m hurt.”

“I know, love. I’m sorry.”
Pulling me closer to him, the coolness of his body melted into my warmth. “I promise I’ll tell you, but now’s not the time nor place. I’ll tell you… I’ll tell you.” His voice sounded disheartened.

“I don’t want you keeping things fro
m me.” I pulled his face toward mine and could feel the warm tears stinging my eyes. “You know I have trust issues. I’ve told you about my father,” I paused, my eyes strained to see his face through the dark.

“I know,” Gavin said as he stroked the top of my head. His hand ran down my neck and stopped above my shoulder. “I would never do something like that to you. I swear. I’m all yours. No one else’s.” Gavin sat up and pressed his lips against the top of my back. “I love you,” he whispered a
nd slid out from under the sheets. “I’ll see you in the morning.” He glanced back in my direction and walked toward the door.

“I love you too,” I said. My heart felt helpless as I sta
red at his shadow lurking in the doorway. I wanted to stay angry with him, but just couldn’t.  I repositioned myself in my bed and closed my eyes to sleep.

The rest of the visit with my family was uneventful. Gavin was, of course, irresistibly charming and my mother adored him. Melissa quickly fell in love with him and Amber was attached to his hip.

“God, Brooke,” Melissa leaned over and whispered to me as we strolled along the shore. “He’s gorgeous
and
amazing with kids.”

I looked ahead and saw Gavin attempting to teach Amber how to hit the volleyball against the wind. “Yeah, he’s pretty amazing,” I had to agree.

“I’m jealous.” Her eyes cut over to me and a sarcastic curl picked her lips up. “Maybe I should’ve finished medical school, found a gem like him.”

We laughed and sat down on the retaining wall while we watched Gavin and Amber hit the ball back and forth. I pulled the sleeves of my shirt down over my hands and held them tightly in my palms so they wouldn’t creep up
and reveal the red marks encircling them.

“Aren’t you hot?” Melissa asked.

“Nope.”

She shook her head and dusted her knee off. “Has he mentioned getting married?”

I gave my sister a contemptuous glare. “Melissa? No, we haven’t discussed that. God, we haven’t even been together that long. Why is everybody all about getting married anyways? I may not ever get married.”

The wind blew, catching hair on her glossed lips. She wiped the hair out of her face. “Just asking? I wouldn’t let that one get away. He seems absolutely perfect for you, B,” she
said and redirected her stare over to him and Amber.

“Yeah...” I trailed off as my thoughts wandered back to the topic he’d brought up a few nights before.

Perfect for me as far as I knew, but I still had no idea what he was keeping from me. Although the question had been gnawing at my insides, I’d refrained from asking him about it again. Partly from fear that I’d make him mad, and partly from the fear that whatever it was would destroy the perfect image I had in my head of him. What if it was something horrible, something I couldn’t handle? I wasn’t even sure that I wanted to know what it was anymore. I almost felt I would rather go on and be oblivious to whatever “dark” thing he was keeping hidden than let it ruin our relationship.

I wonder if this is how Mother felt? Why she ignored the signs for so long...

My mother walked up and handed us bottles of spring water. “That’s so sweet that they get along,” Mother said with a smile as she perched herself up on the wooden retaining wall next to me. “I like him, Brooke.” She twisted the top off her bottle and lifted the mouth to her lips. “You’re stopping by your father’s on the way out today, right?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes slightly and huffed my answer out
. “Yeah.”

I wasn’t too eager to go visit him. I was still very angry with him.

“Brooke, he’s still your father. I know you’re mad at him, but –” she took another quick swig of the cold water.

“Mad is an understatement,” I exclaimed.

“I agree,” Melissa interjected. “More like fuming, disgusted, outraged...”

“Girls, you have to forgive him.” My mother looked sternly at us both. I didn’t understand why she still took up for him. I wanted her to hate him.

I was relieved when the volleyball landed in front of me, sprinkling the fine white sand across the top of my foot. Gavin ran up with a grin on his face. He bent down, picked the ball up, and dusted it off with his hands. He gave me a quick kiss before running back over to the net where Amber was patiently waiting.

My mother shook her head and placed her hand tenderly on my shoulder. “He seems absolutely perfect, Brooke. I’m so happy for you.”

I smiled graciously as that word
perfect
echoed in my ears.

Perfect. Everyone thinks he’s perfect. I thought he was perfect.

Brooke

Plopping down in the floor, I twisted the top off the nail polish. “Yeah. So, that visit with my dad was cut short as soon as he blurted out that Tessa, the mistress, was pregnant.”

“What? You’re kidding me?” Constance asked.

“Nope. Of course I had to be a smartass, which ended up with me and Dad fighting. He got pretty nasty, and for a second I thought Gavin was gonna punch him.  I just can’t stand my dad. It’s gonna kill Mother when she finds out.”

Constance stared at me, and for once, I’d rendered her speechless.

“It’s absolutely gross. I mean, I could have a kid older than that,” I said, snarling my lips up and twisting my face with disgust. “So, in six months I’ll have a new sister or brother.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Constance
continued to look at me in disbelief. She scrunched her face up. “Oh, for the love! That’s just — ” She shuddered. “Ohhhh, nasty!”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

I dipped the nail polish brush back into the bottle and dragged it against the rim. Carefully stroking the brush across my toenail, it left behind a bright shiny purple color.

“So, have you finished reading that book yet?” Constance glanced up at me a
nd blew on her nails.

P
icking a piece of fuzz out of the wet polish, I lifted my eyes to hers. “Which one?”

“Seriously? That crazy book about demons that mysteriously showed up at your front door?” She huffed under her breath, “What book – ha! I mean, who doesn’t get creepy devil books d
elivered by Fedex all the time? Shit.”

“No, I haven’t. Every time I read it I have horrible nightmares.” I picked up a magazine from beside her end table and fanned my nails.

“Why don’t you just throw it away? Give it to Goodwill or something?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.” I fell silent for a moment and then changed the topic. “So, I’m pretty sure Gavin’s into all that BDSM stuff. I want to say something to him about it. I mean, if he’s worried that it’s gonna upset me or make me think he’s a
freak or something, he’s wrong.”

Constance snorted, “Okay, well numero uno — he was with Amy, who
, let’s not forget, was getting some pretty rough lovin’ that night and was all decked out in some leather get-up. Two –”

“You mean dos?”

She glared at me. “Stop being a smart-ass.
Two,
correct me if I’m wrong, but earlier tonight when I asked you what the hell happened to your wrists you mentioned something along the lines of an Indian burn from a rope he tied you up with — on a boat — miles from the shore, where, duh-duh-duh, ‘no one could hear you scream.’ I think it’s safe to say he’s a
little
into it, so unless you’re ready to be decked out in leather, collared, and spanked with a riding crop, I suggest you choose your words carefully.”

“Shut up, Constance.” I r
ubbed along my slightly scabbed-over wrists. “I tied him up first.”

She threw her palms up and
tilted her head to the side. “Hey, I’m not judging. You two do your own freaky thing.” She paused. “It’s just lookin’ at the two of you I’d never imagined you to be such freaks.” Constance stopped and a thoughtful look came over her face as she continued, “Well, maybe him because he’s ungodly attractive, but you, Ms. Mee-maw sweater— never saw that comin’. That damn book you gave
me
grief for reading obsessively must have put a little kink in your step, huh? It was the catalyst to all this, wasn’t it? Oh, God… this is
my
fault!” She laughed uncontrollably.

I glared at her
, her humor was grating my nerves. “I’m not the one dating a guy that would set a damn metal detector at the airport off from his piercings. He probably has his dick pierced, freak!”

“Hey, hey,” she
defended him. “He only has it pierced twice!” A large, proud smile beamed across her face.

My eyes widened and my lips twisted up. “Twice? Is that even possible? Weird, Constance.”

Grabbing a notepad and pen from her coffee table, she scratched a crude drawing of a male genital on her pad. “Well, he’s got it pierced here,” she moved her pencil down on the drawing, “and here.”

I shook my head slowly. “I mean, you like it?”

Her eyebrows arched high and an obscene look glazed her eyes over. “Ab-so-fuckin-lutely!”

I grabbed the throw pillow off of her couch and smacked her in the face with it. “You’re the damn freak.” I put the pillow in my lap, staring at Constance with a look any best friend would recognize as the I’ve-got-something-kinda-raunchy-to-tell-you look.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“I think I may go to another one of those parties with Ashley.” I flinched, expecting her to punch me in the arm.

“Brooke,” she gawked at me, “what the hell?”

“I don’t know, it’s just — something about it.” I rubbed my finger across my lips. “Just, I don’t know, it’s just so erotic.”

Constance stared at me blankly before speaking. “Really?
Really?
” She shook her head. “I just don’t understand it. I’m not gonna lie, it scared the absolute shit outta me.”

“Not me.” My stomach became uneasy just confessing that to her.

Constance stood up and walked into her kitchen. “Maybe you should just mention it to Dr. McFuckingston first. That club’s freaky. It gave me the heebie jeebies. It looked like a place serial killers or vampires would hang out. At least you know
he’s
not going to kill you.”

“Vampires? Really. I think you need to stop reading so many damn books.”

Peeking around the open door of her fridge at me, she snidely commented, “Oh! So you agree that the place probably has serial killers then?