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"What happened?" I whispered asin this dis up now that I knew demons lie in wait Dorian said I had to keep my wits about me; I didn’t think that’d be a probles and the shadows lurking within the a step It would have taken too long for you to concentrate and jump, so I took you with ray eyes swiveled as he skih the darkened landscape Themy back to him, I looked in the direction he stared Softmelody
"What’s that?" I said in a hushed tone Dorian shifted closer, his body so near I could feel the hardness of it against my back My tense muscles reacted, but not in fear, it wascould be chalked up to having a big strongreseorize the feeling as anything else
As I tried not to analyze the way my body reacted to Dorian’s, he stepped around me and placed his massive forth dark hair blew in the always present breeze My eyes roamed the width of his broad shoulders and traveled lohere his waist tapered When my eyes wanted to travel further south and appraise his behind, Dorian turned to face aze The s hosts," Dorian said
Hearing the word ghosts no longer freakedwasher was rewarding in its oay Of course Ian was still free, so justice had not been served yet, but at least noe kneas to blame
I hadn’t talked to anyone in the council about Ian, but I was sure they already knew Murderous va inkling as to as responsible Again, I wondered if I should say so about my bond with Ian I was at the point where I’d been in Moon for so long I’d be questioned and lectured as to why I didn’t tell , but maybe it would be worth it They would no doubt bend et my ass chewed out, but perhaps it would help if they knew the one particular vampire behind all of this As far as I knew, the NAWC was only dealing with the VC The VC wasn’t too interested in capturing Ian Despereaux, whichofat least a ht to each one, and then snorted in derision at my lame attempt to live a simple and peaceful life Life should co decisions on ht bothered me more than all of the others combined I used to be smart, at least with my choices, but the circuits in my brain must have shorted out within the pastfor Ian’s tricks I hated I wanted to prove I could still be helpful to the FPD and had centered ht in the middle of the brew debacle But most of all, I hated that I didn’t seem to knoho I was anymore
"Gwen," Dorian called
I blinked a few ti back into the dark corners of my mind where hopefully they’d stay locked up and leavethe choices I’ve ht hook to the brain I couldn’t take back what I had done; all I could do was be smarter about future decisions
"Sorry, I spaced out," I told Dorian My eyes absorbed every one of hisjawline fra brown hair His nose had a perfect slope and just beloere his full lips, parted as he took air into his lungs The rise and fall of his broad chest caught aze doards and trailed ht t-shirt Everything about him was beautiful, even his sin with, were every bit as stunning as the rest of hi arded me with a look I’d seen a few other tinore, but at the moment, I couldn’t look away from I was a woman who noticed attractive s I loved Aiden as sure as the night is long But Dorian stirred so deep inside of me, and we connected on a level I hadn’t with Aiden It wasn’t easy to ignore so at irl in the world
Dorian took a step forward His ar li between us The tightness in his jaw and triceps betrayed the cool confidence he was trying to portray An inch of icy air separated us I lifted my eyes to his, and we stared at each other No words were needed; our body language spoke for us Dorian brought his arm up and with the back of his hand caressed the side of ined My eyes closed against the feel of it A shuffle of feet enticedforward and toward er lips I shook my head, unable to tell him no with my voice I wanted to taste his kiss, to feel his lips on mine, but my heart wouldn’t allow my curiosity to betray me Love trumps attraction, and attraction was all there was between us
Dorian’s gentle features turned hard, and he stepped away "What is it about him?" he asked He didn’t need to say Aiden’s na to I was happy his back was to itated eyes I was ashamed I allowed that closeness to even happen It led Dorian on, and I betrayed Aiden in the process
"I’ about this You’re my teacher, and I’ed My body had a tendency to rule while es Luckily, I allowed rational thought to smack my interest in Dorian to the curb Our little intie that couldn’t be undone, but it could have been so much worse I may have led Dorian on, but in tio further If he kissedother than another scoop of self-loathing fro could ever transpire between us Sure, I was attracted to hih I assumed the connection we felt was based on the fact that we both dealt with the dead
Dorian looked over his shoulder "You won’t be able to ignore it forever"
We walked down the path in coeance Dorian returned to being distant and cold The first couple "safe zones" were pointed out, and he explained how to decipher what qualified theered around the spots, barely noticeable in the thick fog that hung in the air After that, Dorian just pointed the areas out
I wanted to say so, that would fix what happened between us, but no words seeh the many excuses in my head, and they all came off lame and cliché "It’s not you, it’sto cut it Nothing I said would uard down and so did I We both knew beyond a shadow of a doubt ere attracted to each other And that cat could never be shoved back in the proverbial bag So, I’d have to settle for ht with sarcasm and resentment With luck, I’d be on , and Dorian would be back to escorting souls to wherever We’d go back to being strangers, which was for the best
"Stop," Dorian ordered
Skidding to a halt, I looked up He was staring at soli dark stepped out from behind a tree It didn’t have any discernible facial features The only noticeable things were its liers wound around er he stared at the black figure "Demon"
I stared wide eyed at the demon, scared and fascinated I expected hooved feet, claws and horns, not an opaque shadow The dee and ainst my chest it moved closer and closer Its head lurched from side to side as its feet stepped closer and closer The air around us grew unbearably cold A cloud of mist formed in front of me as I breathed Dorian jerkedbehind hi wail behind us, like nails on a chalkboard
Turning left, we ran down the open field, that would house don Moon, but in this real back to see how close the de over a stu into the earth hard Dorian yanked ht feet behind us and gaining ly fast for how jerky and distorted its rabbed me and shoved me into a tall oak tree I had a split second to screa with the grassy field ere just running through My eyes fought in vain to penetrate the opaqueness Shadows upon shadows drenched the space in blackness, a botto I turned in circles, but all I could see was the same impervious dark in every direction Was the tree a safe zone? Is this what they looked like behind the shiht frame of mind to observe the tree before Dorian pushed me into it Fear of the demon washed away any confusion inas the deht trickled intome didn’t seeure, was he here with ht nohile I swiveled in circles?