Affinity

Chapter 29: Shades of Dark

The moon's visage was obscured by a dusty covering of gray clouds. Not a single star winked from beneath the veil of night. The backyard's shadows stretched across every crevice of the earth, devouring all it touched. It didn't seem so dark before, just moments ago when they held hands on the trampoline. Or perhaps it was just as dark then, too, but she had been in her own beautiful deception, desperately wanting to believe it.

The cold was stealing away all that was warm inside her. She wanted to hold onto AJ, and she could. He was standing only three feet in front of her. But her feet were cemented by the uncertainty of the night's omniscient eyes.

"Nastia?"

She blinked. Even his voice was warmth, an inviting flame. Tempting, but touching it would only burn. "Um, I need to go check on something. Stay here. I'll be right back."

The vampire left him without waiting for a response. Moving through the house towards the front, she picked up the pace feeling a sense of urgency. When she skidded across the porch and heard Reina's voice, she knew that gut feeling had been right.

"I thought you were out of town. This is awesome. You can meet my friends!"

"Some family issues came up. I am not staying long," a familiar male voice answered.

Niccolò sat perched on his large bike, his long legs keeping it steady. He had his arm looped around her friend's waist to where she was all but sitting on his lap. His lazy gaze slid past Reina to Anastasia, and she recognized the telltale signs of hunger in his eyes, sapphire eyes so much like hers.

"What are you doing here?" She demanded stepping forward.

Reina whipped her head around. Jealousy entered her voice when she spoke, "Nastia? Wait. You two know each other?"

"Just my sister, precious," Niccolò assured her in a soothing tone. Anastasia balked, but Reina's shoulders lost their tension with his hypnotic words.

"Oh," the human girl said. "Nastia is your sister? Why didn't you tell me?"

"It was none of your business," her brother answered. "Go inside. I need to talk to my sister."

Nastia winced. If the fact that Reina allowed Niccolò to call her 'precious' wasn't already suspicious, the fact that she wasn't screaming about his dismissive attitude or him ordering her around like a dog was a clear sign of mind manipulation. Reina did as she was told, but not before giving Nastia a toothy smile and whispering, "Wow. We have so much to talk about!"

We sure do...

"What the hell, Niccolò?"

Her brother leaned back on his bike perusing her coolly. "No 'hi' for your favorite brother then? Very well. And your problem is?"

"What are you doing here and how do you know Reina?"

He shrugged. "To put it simple, rebel, a man's got to eat."

"Disgusting."

"You asked."

"Not her, Niccolò."

He raised an eyebrow, the corners of his mouth ticked up in good fun. "What's so special about her?"

"She is my friend. I don't want you touching her."

He scoffed, "Friend? I thought the plump redhead was your special case. You can't claim them all, Anastasia."

"You need to leave." As angry as she was about her brother's behavior and his involvement with Reina, she didn't want him discovered by either of the two hunters at the party, or the other way around. "Right now."