The Sweetest Kill: A Young Adult Paranormal (25 page)

Okay, so firstly, I’m Tobias’s pseudo soul mate, created to keep him chained to his humanity. I’m supposed to keep him sane. That’s so ironic, I can’t even find it funny. Secondly, he wants to mark me, so no one else can take me from him and destroy him. Seems a little insane but I’ll take it. Thirdly, he needs my consent for any of this to happen but if I don’t give my consent, I’ll be up for grabs to all the other blood suckers on their way.

I feel a headache coming on.

“How long is this for?” I ask, my hands still on his chest.

He looks at me warily, “What do you mean?”

“This arrangement, being yours, how long is it for. I’m not going to live forever, you know.”

He sighs heavily, looking pained by the thought, “Yes, I know, but it’s for as long as you want me. I can’t live without you, that’s true… but if you didn’t want to be with me anymore, I’d have to let you go.”

“You’d go insane.” I tell him slowly, not understanding why he’s not worried about this.

“A small price.” He tells me softly as he caresses the side of my face, “I’d rather you be happy without me, than not happy by my side.”

“That’s very… um… well altruistic, I guess.”

“Not my usual style, I admit.”

“Not at all.” I murmur while chewing on my lower lip, “Okay then, I consent.”

I turn my head and bare my neck to him. He descends down on it hungrily. I expect him to just get on with it and bite me but he doesn’t. Instead he continues to kiss and nip at the flesh of my neck but doesn’t break any skin. He does however keep me distracted enough not to notice that one of his hands is moving up my thigh until he’s rubbing between my legs. I jolt a little in surprise, but just as I’m about to speak, he bites into my neck. I go limp underneath him and just give into the feeling.

His bite is right over my pulse and my blood is pouring out of me. I arch my back, as his hand moves faster between my legs, while he drags more of my blood into his mouth. It’s bordering on too much. The sensations are overwhelming, but I feel like I’m on the brink of something. Just like in the emerald room, I start to shake and tense before suddenly, I’m on fire. I cry out loudly and Tobias pulls away from my neck. His hand is still moving though as I come back down.

My senses slowly start to come back to me and I blink at the ceiling above, with wide eyes. Heat rises to my cheeks as I realize what we just did. Well what he just did, I just reaped the benefits. I groan and hide my face behind my hands at the thought.

“Don’t.” He scolds as he takes my hands away from my face, “You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“I-Is that all that’s needed?” I ask, trying to get away from the subject.

“Why? Did you want something else?” He asks, innocently.

I scowl at him, “Don’t start with me, Toby.”

“You’re very crabby for someone who just…”

I put my hands against his mouth and give him a dirty look, “Don’t. Speak.”

He smiles against my hands and I relax back into the bed. Hesitantly, I reach up and touch the bite mark on my neck. It’s still leaking a little bit of blood, but it’s already mostly closed up. The reality of the situation starts to sink in then and oddly enough, I don’t regret it.                                                        

Ominous

I look at all the new dress bags in the walk in closet and grimace. They came this morning. Yes, the shipment of overpriced rags from the fancy store has finally arrived and I am less than thrilled. Unfortunately, Tobias informed me that this is a fancy banquet, so I am to dress accordingly. And that means evening gowns, I feel like wrenching just thinking about it.

Three knocks on the closet door have me spinning around to see Tyler leaning against the doorframe. My eyes widen at the sight of him. He’s dressed in a black suit. His jacket is unbuttoned, showing a white button-up shirt underneath. His tie is a silver colored silk and I spot a matching pocket square in his jacket. His dark hair is slicked back expertly in a bun at the back of his head. He looks very handsome and I have to say, I’m very impressed.

“Wow.”

He smirks, “I do clean up nice, don’t I?”

“That you do.”

“You look tired.”

I sigh and knead my forehead while looking at the garment bags again. I kept having nightmares all night, even with Tobias lying right next to me. I kept waking up, scared half of my wits for remembering the color red. It’s always red and always mixed with pain.                                                                                                                                           

“I couldn’t sleep very well last night.” I inform him.

“Well that’s not good. We all have a duty to look our best today. Many people you need to impress you know. Don’t worry though, you won’t be smudging any lipstick while kissing babies.”

I roll my eyes then ask, “So this is a big deal? This whole conclave thing?”

“Without a doubt.”

“Great,” I groan before glancing in Tyler’s direction, “did you need something or were you looking for an ego boost?”

“I came to bring you this.” Tyler tells me, as he hands me a little red polka dot bag.

With an arched brow, I take it from him and unzip it before looking at him dryly, “Are you kidding me?”

“Boss’ orders.” He grins.

I hold up the makeup bag like it’ll bite me, “I don’t know how to put this stuff on.”

“Yet another reason I’m here.”

“You know how to put on makeup?”

He shrugs and grabs the bag back from me, “Yes. Come on.”

I follow him back into the main part of the bedroom with doubt written all over my features. He gestures for me to sit on the bench at the end of the bed, and with a sigh, I do just that. Tyler grabs one of the rarely used decoration chairs from around the room and pulls it in front of me. I watch him move around and realize that he has a similar unnaturalness to his movements, like Tobias. It’s not grace with Tyler though, it’s more of power. Every movement he makes has purpose and strength in it. It’s just as hypnotizing, if not more.

“Move your hair out of the way.” He orders gruffly.

“So how do you know how to do this?” I ask as I brush my bangs behind my ears.

He looks reluctant to answer but admits, “I had an older sister. I used to watch her do her makeup and when she got older, I helped her.”

“Had?”

“Nora died last year of cardiac arrest.” He tells me plainly, no emotion in his voice, “She was invalid by the time she died. She had a stroke a few years back. I didn’t see her often after my first shift, she was already moved out of the house and was living on her own. She was married young and was raising her own family when it all happened.”

“Did she know what you were?”

“Yeah she knew, but we never talked about it. Nora never asked me why I still looked sixteen when she was in her thirties. We were only six years apart. As time went on it was clear something was wrong with me but Nora wasn’t one to pry.”

“It’s hard isn’t it?” I ask, receiving a frown in return, “Losing family members.”

He nods, “Some more than others. Close your eyes.”

I flinch a little when I feel something touch my eyelid but try my best to stay still. It’s still amazing to me that he can do this. At least, I hope he can. Even if he does make me look like a clown, I’m sure I’ll still wear it. It’s better than anything I know how to do. Mom didn’t allow me to wear makeup until I was seventeen, and by then, I had no interest. I think she’s disappointed that I’m not as feminine or delicate as she is. I wish I were. Maybe then, I wouldn’t be having a werewolf doing my makeup right now.

“How old was your sister?” Tyler asks and I tense.

“Nine. Leukemia.”

“That’s young. Too young.”

“Yes, but she was in a lot of pain towards the end. I think she was ready, she told me she was.”

“She sounds brave.”

I smile a little with my eyes still closed, “She was.”

“Open your eyes.” He orders and I do as asked.

His dark brows are furrowed in concentration and I notice his jaw is clenched as well. He hands me a tube of mascara, at least that’s what it says on the side of it, and holds up a mirror. I look a bit frightening with just the black eye shadow on my eyes and some wing on. I actually look very pale. Paler than usual.

“Hold the wand by your eyelashes and blink while sweeping the brush up.” He tells me, “Be careful though, you could poke yourself in the eye.”

I grimace and remove the mascara encrusted wand from the tube, “Personal experience?”

Tyler laughs and shakes his head, “No.”

“So what happens at these things?” I ask as I do one experimental sweep on my eyelashes. I hear him laugh again and blink at him, “What?”

“You’re making a weird face.” He chuckles before reverting to my previous question, “Mostly, it’s just them lording over each other, showing how much power they have. Vampires are all about power, and since Tobias has the most physical power, he’s an easy mark for scorn.”

“Which in turn makes me an easy mark as a tool to bring him down a notch.”

“Something like that.”

I make a disgusted noise and shake my head, “Politics.”

“It gets worse. There’s one person you’re going to equally impress and stay away from. His name is Renshu and he’s the only one coming who should scare the shit out of you.”

“Why?”

“He’s old and in this world, that means he’s powerful. More powerful than any man has the right to be.”

I put the mascara wand back into the tube and sigh. I don’t really want to be involved in this, but I don’t have much of a choice anymore. Absently, I reach up and touch the healed bite mark. I made my bed, now I have to party in it. I feel my hands begin to shake and I lock them together in my lap. I don’t know if I can go through with this. Couldn’t I just hide somewhere for the duration?

“The marking was for you, as much as it was for him.” Tyler tells me, distracting me from my growing anxiety.

“Do you do this too?” I ask, gesturing to my neck, “Do Lycans have someone to soothe the monster?”

He shifts in his seat a little, “Yes.”

“Do they have a title or…”

“Yes.”

I lift a brow, “And that is?”

“None of your business.”

I can’t help but grin at him, “Good one.”

He smiles back, “I do try. Viktor will be here, by the way.”

Now it’s my turn to squirm, “Viktor, huh?”

“Tobias made sure I knew to keep him away from you. He didn’t like how Viktor was looking at you at the club.”

“Yet he sent me to see him, alone.” I point out, dryly.

Tyler shrugs. Apparently, this isn’t a shocking information, “He’s strange like that. There’s some foundation in there, fish it out for me will you? We need to cover up that bruise on your cheek.”

“Still not gone?”

“Nearly.” He says distractedly, “But appearances are everything tonight.”

“Hence the fancy getups.”

He smirks, “Exactly.”

Taking out the cover up, he frowns in concentration as he starts to cover up my bruise the best he can. I don’t know how well it’ll work, but I appreciate all the effort he’s putting into it. I watch his face the whole time and notice that around the pupil of his eyes, there is an aura of gold.

“There.” He states pulling back, “That should hold.”

I grab his hand and look into his eyes, “Thank you for this, really. I would have been a lost cause without you.”

“You’re just lucky I didn’t allow the boss to go with his first plan.” Tyler says before giving me an exaggerated shudder.

“I don’t even want to know.” I insist, putting up my hand to stop him from elaborating. I really do not want to know. “But I meant it, Tyler. Thank you. For everything. You’ve been a really good friend to me over these last few weeks.”

He frowns at me, “You say that like this is the last time I’m going to see you.”

I don’t tell him about the feeling of impending doom in the pit of my stomach. About the nightmares or any of it. Instead, I just give him a weak smile, get up, and head for the closet. I have my own funeral to get ready for.

*   *   *

I’m putting in the hopefully fake, diamond earrings, Tobias left me when I feel a light kiss on my shoulder. I look over my shoulder to meet the twin crimson orbs smiling down at me. I smile weakly back at him, but turn back around to continue getting ready. I’m stuck between two dresses and I’m unenthused about them both. Nothing has sleeves and the growing panic is making the growing sense of doom even worse.

“Have you picked a dress?” he murmurs from behind me.

“I’m not very good at this.” I admit quietly.

“What’s wrong?”

I shrug, I don’t want to get into this now. I just want to get ready and build up as much courage as I can, before I face the jury. I mentally scold myself for that one. No negative thoughts. I need to remember what Dr. Reynolds always says “It’s all in your head”. It is all in my head but it doesn’t feel that way. It feel too real.

“N-Nothing.”

“You’re lying.”

“Of course I’m lying, but I’m trying to fool myself into thinking I’m not.”

“This is overwhelming for you.”

It’s not a question but I answer it anyway, “Incredibly.”

I stare down at my bare feet and lay my hands on my stomach as it churns with nerves. I’m dressed in a black skin tight slip with a built in bra. Both the dresses I’m holding are strapless and this is the only thing that didn’t feel like it was going to fall down. Tobias grabs my chin and lifts my face up, so I’m not staring at my feet anymore. I feel more exposed when he looks at me like this than in any fancy slip I’m wearing.

“What are you scared of?”

“It feels like everything,” I tell him truthfully, “But I know that’s not rational.”

“You’re going to be fine. Just don’t stray far from Tyler or me.”

I scowl at him, “I’m not a dog.”

He seems pleased by annoyance and kisses my cheek, “I know.”

My glare becomes mutinous as I watch him strut his way to stand in front of me. I have half the mind to punch him just to teach him not to push me. I’d break my hand, but the point will be driven home. My annoyance is short lived when I take in what he’s wearing. He looks… jaw-dropping.

He’s in a black suit with a black dress shirt and a black tie. Even his dress shoes are black, but similar to Tyler, he has a pocket square in his jacket. His is just crimson, the exact same shade as his eyes. His black hair is slicked back from his face, showing the pale contours of his cheekbones and jawline perfectly. I purse my lips and feel a little bitter towards him all of a sudden. I’m a little jealous he can pull off all that black, while I just look like I’m going to a funeral.

“You don’t like it?” He asks.

I twist my lips ruefully, “No, you look handsome.”

“Then what’s with the face?”

“I don’t know, ask my mother, she made it.”

He gives me a dull look, “Don’t be difficult, Shoshanna. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I told you before, I’m not good at this.”

“What?”

“I don’t know… fashion, I guess?” I tell him with a shrug.

“Would you like me to choose?”

“I suppose.” I sigh leaning back on his chest making him wrap his arms around my waist. I’m shocked by my own actions. It was totally on instinct. I didn’t even have to think twice about it.

“It’s the bond.” Tobias whispers in my ear and I shiver as his breath tickles my neck. “It draws you more to me, physically, and mentally. Soon, you won’t be able to keep your hands off me. Personally, I can’t wait.”

“You’re a pig.”

“No, wallflower, I’m a man.”

“There’s little difference.”

He nuzzles my neck, “Are you complaining?”

I don’t respond, but I do lean more into him. One of his hands stays on my belly as the other one trails up my bare arm. I’m still uncomfortable with him touching my scars. I don’t know why he likes it so much, when they show something he obviously dislikes. His hand stops mid-caress and he cups my face in his hands.