Part 17 (1/2)
”Can you hear me?” Alex's voice floats through my dream of death.
My eyes roll into the back of my head as my eyelashes flutter open. My head is resting on Alex's lap and the streetlights outside highlight the concern on his face. He has a bite mark just below his lip and long red marks on his neck.
”Where am I?” My voice is hoa.r.s.e.
He lets out a sigh of relief. ”Thank G.o.d.”
”Is she going to be okay?” Aislin asks.
I realize we're in the backseat of the GTO and that she is in the pa.s.senger seat. There's a scratch on her forehead, two holes in her neck and her hair has fallen out of the pins.
”Why do you have bite marks on your neck? And why does Alex have those red lines on his?” I begin to sit up and my brain throbs against my skull. I press the heel of my hand to my forehead and wince. ”Ow.”
”Lie back down,” Alex insists and guides me back down onto his lap. ”Don't try to sit up until we know you're okay.”
”What happened?” I ask, situating my head into his lap. ”And where's Laylen?”
”Laylen went into the Wicca shop to check things out before we all go in.” He brushes my hair away from my forehead. ”And what happened is someone slipped you a sensualis augendae.”
”What the h.e.l.l is that?” My voice cracks. ”A date rape drug?”
He shakes his head and then hesitates. ”Not a drug, but a spell.”
”So someone put a date rape spell on me? I bet it was the bartender.”
”It could have been a lot of people. There was too much attention on you and... well, like I said, you radiate innocence. I should have never brought you in there.”
”How did you get me out?”
”Carried you... Can't you remember? You put up quite a fight.”
My eyes enlarge as my mind sifts through the cloudy images of what happened. I'd been all over him, practically attacked him. ”I scratched your neck, didn't I?”
He covers the lines with his hand. ”Yeah, but don't worry about it.”
”I'm so sorry.” I reach out to touch his neck.
He lowers his hand and lets my fingers graze the lines. ”I said, don't worry about it. Trust me. It wasn't bad.” The look in his eyes and the huskiness of his voice makes me wonder if he thinks it was good.
I fix my attention to Aislin and the holes in her neck. There's dried blood around each one and the skin has a ring of red around it. ”Did you get bitten?'
She sighs deeply. ”Yeah, we ended up running into Draven. Luckily, it was after I made the sword invisible with a charm, but, still, there are consequences for me being up there.”
”Because you're human?”
”Because I'm a Keeper.”
”Oh... So he bit you as a punishment?” I summon my energy and drag my body upright, sliding my feet off the seat and onto the floor. I feel like it's partially my fault for not being able to play a good Black Angel and getting poisoned. ”Aislin, I'm so sorry.”
She covers her mouth and clears her throat, squirming uncomfortably. ”It's okay. It wasn't that bad.”
I glance back and forth between Alex and Aislin; finally Alex explains, ”Vampire bites are intoxicating to mortals. The only punishment from a bite is that you'll want more.”
My mouth forms an 'o.' Aislin nods, then faces the front of the cab and stares at the small, brick building with a crescent moon outlined by a black star painted on the window. I notice that there is the same mark on the back of Aislin's shoulder.
”What is that on your shoulder?” I ask. ”A tattoo, or a mark, like Laylen's?”
”It's doesn't represent the same thing as Laylen's.” She sketches the outline of the tattoo with her finger. ”But it is a mark-the witch's mark. After I became a witch, it appeared there.” She lifts her foot onto the console and flips the ceiling light on. On her ankle there is a ring of golden flames that trims a black circle. ”And this one appeared because I have Keeper blood inside me.”
”And they just all of a sudden show up?” I ask, gripping my head. ”Out of the blue?”
”My Keeper's mark appeared when I was about twelve, which was also about the same time I really started learning about what it means to be a Keeper.” Aislin returns her foot to the floor. ”And my witch's mark showed up when I was about fifteen, which was when I first found out I possess Wicca magic.”
”So everyone has their own mark?”
”Oh yeah, there are a ton of them. One for vampires, pixies, fey, Foreseers...” She trails off as she takes in the shocked look on my face. ”Oh, yeah, I guess I should have started out by explaining that, yes, those things do exist.”
I nod as I lower my hand from my head. ”I just didn't realize how true it all is.”
Alex leans forward to capture my gaze. ”How true what is?”
I turn to face him. ”Everything I've read. I thought all of the creatures were just made up.”
His lips tug up into a small smile. ”Books are like a gateway to real life.”
”I guess so.” I bend my neck and rest my head on the back of the seat. ”So how many marks do you have?”
He eyes me perceptively. ”I just have the Keepers' mark.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear, remembering how I saw it when he answered the door s.h.i.+rtless back at his apartment. ”Oh yeah, the one on the side of your ribs.”
He brings his leg up on the seat as he turns his body toward me. A sly grin spreads across his face. ”If you need a refresher, I can show you it again.”
”Okay.” I blame the eager response on the remains of the Rufi magic spell inside my body.
”Alex,” Aislin hisses. ”What are you doing?”
”Get out of the car if you don't want to see,” he says without taking his eyes off me.
”No way,” she refuses. ”If I get out, you two will probably screw each other on the backseat.”
In the snap of a finger, Alex goes from hot to cold. He slumps back into the seat and his Adam's apple bobs up and down as he swallows hard. I come to the conclusion right then that maybe Alex suffers from a bipolar disorder. He's so emotionally erratic. First, he hates me. Then, he kisses me, touches me, and makes me moan. Sometimes, I irritate him. Sometimes, he's teasing me.
Aislin heaves a huge sigh of relief. ”Oh good, we can go in.”
I track her gaze to the front of the store and Laylen is beneath the entry waving us in. None of us speak as we climb out and enter the store, which fortunately doesn't have any costumers but us.