Bitten

Chapter 17

   I smiled tentatively and took the arm he held out to me with relish. He smelled like that popcorn/spice thing, and it was intoxicating. He led me out the door and ‘up top’ where I could breath in the fresh air.

   It was sunny thank the lord. Very sunny infact, unusual weather for London. Damen smiled down at me and took my hand, leading me across the zebra crossing. The trees shone a vibrant green, the cars shiny and new and the shops packed with people.

   Damen led me around the corner and into a quite little coffee shop I recognised.

   “Hey, I used to come here all the time!” I exclaimed. Damen chuckled at my excitement. I loved this place as a kid. They had amazing ice-cream in here too.

   The little bell chimed as we walked in, and an elderly woman stood at the counter. She had a huge smile on her withered old face; she must have been about 65.

   “Evangeline, if you see anyone who might recognise you, you must tell me.” Damen whispered. I nodded slightly.

   Damen ordered two coffees and a cookie for me, and we sat down.

   I stared at Damen as he sipped his coffee, red gaze never breaking mine. I coughed slightly. The shop was empty except for us, and it was really quiet.

   “Evangeline, I’m sorry.”

   “Damen I get it. It’s fine…I shouldn’t have been such a petty bitch and got you all worked up.”

   “No, I mean im sorry for being such a jerk.” He sighed and put his coffee down on the table “I hurt you in a lot of ways and I’m sorry. I think you know why I had to do it though.”

   I was confused for a minute “What are you saying?”

   “The Day of Unity is next week.” He said. I flinched but he carried on “We will be paired. I…I didn’t want to get to close to you Evangeline.” He was looking down at the table now.

   “So what made you change your mind?” I whispered. He took my hands in his, and brought his pained eyes up to mine.

   “I’m already in too deep.”

   My breath hitched in my throat. I didn’t know what to say, what to do. I knew what I wanted to do, and that was to kiss him. Hard.

   But I didn’t. In the end, our hearts would be irreparable.

   “Damen…do you like me?” I asked. He nodded.

   “Of course.”

   “I mean do you…like me?” I couldn’t say love. My face was burning so bad now. Damen’s face took on the same colour.

   “I-You’re amazing Evangeline. Yes. Man, I think I do.” He ran a hand through his treacle hair “That’s bad right?”

   I smiled sadly “Right.”

   So we loved each other. Great.

   I took him by the hand and lead him outside, blowing out a puff of air. It had barely sunk in what he said. I should feel happy, but I just felt sad. God this was such a mess.

   “Come on. I want to see something.”

   I pulled us down the alleyway and across to the church and into the graveyard. The hotel of the dead.

   Damen looked at me questioningly, but I just scanned the names, waiting for the two that would spring out for me. Then I found them.

   Danielle and Michael Harper.

   I smiled slightly. They can’t have the bodies under there; they’d been burned to smithereens thanks to Eleanor.

   “Well, that’s nice.” I mumbled, feeling the despair and the lump in my throat. All I could think was how worried they’d have been about me. Maybe that was why they where dead, because they’d gone out looking for me. Somehow my words seemed inadequate, hell I knew they where, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

   Damen sighed and rested his chin on my head, and I watched a tear splashed onto a single red rose that lay their, sliding off the waxy petal and onto the dirt. I hadn’t even realized I’d been crying.

   Damen had though. He stroked my hair and held me tight, whispering that everything was going to be fine. All of it, Unity day, Azuela, all of it. It was not true, but it showed he cared.

   I turned around in his arms, and he planted a kiss on my forehead before taking my hand and walking me back.

   **********

   I was elated. I could have flown had I tried. Damen was here, in my room. I felt like squealing like a little school-girl.

   I leant against Damen’s warmth, his chin on my head and his arms around my waist. I smiled; I couldn’t have been happier.

   I still said it though.

   “We’re screwed, aren’t we?”

   Damen chuckled “Yeah, pretty much.” Well, at least he held nothing back. He gently stroked my hair, twirling a curly strand with his finger. He gently let it fall down.

   “So what do we do?”

   Damen turned me around and gazed into my eyes. I held my breath, felt my heart stutter and then stop as he bend down to kiss my collar, kissing a trail of kisses up to the crook in my neck. I groaned and before I had time to be embarrassed he had planted his lips on mine.

   I sprung to life immediately, our lips moving in perfect sync. His breath was hot and sweet, making me grab his head and pull him closer. I opened my mouth slightly to let him in, and he explored my mouth eagerly. I heard him growl, low and feral as I slid my hands up his shirt, feeling the muscles beneath my fingers. The muscles I had longed to touch since the first time I’d met him.

   He wound his hands in my hair “I should stop.” Damen murmured, our foreheads pressed together. Our breathing was shallow, as we pressed closer together.

   “Definitely.” I said, but pulled him down on top of me. He touched his lips to mine again, starting off slowly and increasing until our kisses were hot and desperate, a kind of passion you didn’t read in cheesy romance books. I slowly pulled Damen’s shirt off and threw it down on the floor beside me. I gazed at his muscles in wonder, trailing my hand over its hard surface. I hooked my fingers into the belt loops of his jeans, running my thumbs over the edge.

   “Evangeline…” Damen groaned, holding my face in his large hands “Are you sure?”

   I nodded “Yes.” And then I said it again, stronger “Yes.”

   And all our clothes came off in piles on the floor.

   Best. Night. Ever.