Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 462(@250wpm)___ 385(@300wpm)
“There is a difference?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “For I would always see you, whether close or from a distance, as I have for almost the last twenty-six years. It is the talking part that has thrown me off-center and complicated matters.”
“How so? I am having fun.”
“That is the problem,” he whispered, brushing the curl from my hair. “Almost a hundred years ago, my mother told me of you…the woman I’d share eternity with. I came searching, and after so many years, I found you. But you were not immortal. You were a little girl…a little witch. And not just a witch, a witch born from a powerful family of witches, destined to lead a coven of witches. I watched as you dedicated your life, risked your life to protect your coven. I saw your joy, your love of magic. And I did not wish to be the reason you’d have to choose. I told myself, seeing you and protecting you…even from a distance, even for only a mortal life span, was good enough for me. Now that you are here beside me, talking and laughing, I realize I’ve been lying to myself.” He kissed the side of my cheek. “Forgive me. I tried, truly I did. But I genuinely am selfish. I shouldn’t have come back to talk to you. But I did because I cannot go back to life before talking to you. So, I am going to stay close and maybe ruin your life in the process.” He cupped my face and kissed my forehead.
“What you are saying exactly?” I said, my mind a mushy mess.
“You are mine,” he said, searching my eyes. “And I do not…I cannot be away from you. Not any longer.”
Everyone knew, even the humans, that vampires were seductive, that it was easy to fall under their charms. I wanted to tell myself that was the reason why this…man I hadn’t even spoken to till early this week had me aching for a kiss, not on my forehead or cheek. But I didn’t really know if that was true.
Sitting up, I cupped his cheeks, too. “I don’t know what to think right now…but can I kiss you anyway—”
His lips were on mine instantly, and I kissed him back, wrapping my arms around his neck.
Vampire or witch…I didn’t care.
I felt good.
I felt happy.
I would have kept kissing him if not for the fact that I needed air, and I would have gone back to kissing him if he had not pulled back and rested his head beside my neck. “We shall stop so you may go home to think over what I have said and what this all means, Druella…what you really want. Then call me and tell me.”
“I think I’m already telling you.”
He lifted his head. “Tell me again when you aren’t under a vampire’s allure.”
“How do I call you?”
“Cell phone, of course,” he whispered, gently touching me. “My number is already on your phone…go.”
“What?”
“Go home, Druella. I’ll wait for your call.” His hands dropped from me.
All I could do was nod, then get up, and take my stuff. After moving a few steps away, I turned and watched him as he watched me, a slight smile on his lips. Then I did what he asked—I went home, leaving him sitting there.
My mind was in a haze.
I didn’t remember getting into my car or driving back home, or parking, or even how I entered my house. But I was back at my house, in my room, and all I could do was strip down and lay in bed.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling and trying to connect the broken pieces of my mind. It felt as if I had spun around a thousand times and fallen onto my back to feel the world spin around me. It was only when the sun began to rise that I finally snapped out of it and could think straight again.
When I was with him, it didn’t hit me. He was speaking, I was hearing, but I wasn’t really understanding. Now, hours later, I finally got it, finally got what he was trying to say.
A relationship between a witch and a vampire was impossible. At the end of the day, there would have to be a choice—love or your magic and your family and friends. If a witch became a vampire, they’d become enemies to their coven. They’d lose almost all of their magic for the rest of eternity. Their connection to the earth would be severed, to their friends…severed. I tried to think about how I’d feel if my magic was gone, and I couldn’t imagine it. Magic was at the very core of who I was. I loved magic and would never let that go. I tried to think about my life, all the people in it now, and I couldn’t imagine it. I was all the family Uncle Axel had left. It was one of the reasons I still lived at home. We were the last two Omerons. He never spoke about it, but he’d lost his son in the same attack that killed my father.