Grey Eyes: Book One of the Forever Trilogy

Chapter Thirteen

He pushed half of the boat into the lake and then motioned for me to join him. He stepped inside and then jammed one of the oars into the dirt to keep it steady. 

“Where are we going?” I asked quietly.

“The answers to your questions are on the other side of this lake, just beyond those trees.” He pointed. 

I tried to look through, to see what was there, but could only see tree trunks.  I sat down at the other end of the small boat and he pulled the oar free.  He pushed us away from the shore with his foot and we were sailing.  Me and a vampire.

He didn’t speak while he rowed, the trip being serenaded only by the oars slipping into and out of the lake.  I wrapped my arms around my knees and watched him.  The strands of his dark hair fell messily over his face, and yet I had never seen anything look so perfect.  The gentle slope of his jaw, the shape of his lips, he was so…beautiful.  Whereas Darren was all angles, this face was softer, more boyish, with wide gentle eyes. Something inside me longed to go to him, to have him touch me again.  I felt restless and couldn’t sit still.  I had never felt this strongly about anything.  His scent still lingered in my nostrils…

He was doing his best not to look at me.  Some kind of pain flickered in his eyes.  Something was hurting him—that much was clear—some thought, some… person?  I wondered if I was the cause, if my not remembering him triggered this anguish. 

“I’m sorry,” I said, piercing the silence.

Finally, he looked up at me, just as a lightning bug was passing near his face.  The light caused his saddened eyes to glisten, and it was all I could do not to crawl across the boat to comfort him.  Seeing him hurting like that caused something in me to hurt as well.  As if we shared the same soul. 

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for,” he said sadly, before avoiding my eyes again.

“For my not remembering you.”

“We’re here,” he said, ignoring my previous remark.  He stood up and tied the end of the boat to a metal pole sticking up from the ground.  With one foot on land, he guided the end of the boat around so that it floated parallel to the shore.  He reached out and I gave him my hand, his touch flaming hot against my skin.

“Follow me,” he said.  His face changed.  “Wait— if you want to go back now, I’ll understand.  I won’t be angry with you.  And I won’t bother you anymore, I swear it.”

His eyes were desperate, as if he were suddenly begging me to turn back.  It scared me.

“What shouldn’t I see?” I asked in a meek, child-like voice.  “What is my grandmother protecting me from?”

“Yes or no,” he insisted. 

“Y-yes.”

He closed his eyes.  “Are you sure?”

I nodded.  No more cautious Ana.  I just prayed that this way of thinking didn’t get me killed.

“Then follow me,” he sighed, starting toward the trees he’d pointed to before. 

The woods were shallow, and as we broke through the first line of trees, I could already see a clearing up ahead, the hiding place of a battered little cabin.  I couldn’t help but notice his expression as we approached; he looked awful, as if every step closer was more painful than the last.

My mind raced as I replayed the exchange in my head.  “Is this a trap?” I wondered.  Had he placed some kind of spell on me to make me feel these emotions?  To make me feel this way about someone I had no memory of?  Was I walking willingly to my own death?

“We’re here,” he said once we had reached the door.  I had momentarily retreated into my own head so it seemed to come too fast.  He pushed it open.  It was dark inside. He looked me in the eyes, the same tortured expression etched into his face.  “This is the last chance, Ana.  Once you go inside, once you know why I brought you here, there is no turning back.  Understand?”

My pulse, already racing, quickened, and my mind swam.  It was very possible that I had been lured out here by a vampire to die.  That he had done something to make London and Helena betray me.  Why else would he look so conflicted?  But why now?  He had so many chances already.  Maybe he had tried to resist, but had finally given in to the monster inside him.  Maybe he was giving me one last chance to live.

My mind told me to run as fast I could in the opposite direction.  However, my heart had never felt this before.  I had never experienced the longing I felt for this stranger.  It begged me to stay near him.  If there was any chance that this was real, any chance at all, how could I turn from it? 

But was it worth dying for?

I stepped into the cabin, shivering in the darkness and uncertain if my beautiful seducer was about to end my life. 

He followed me inside, shutting the door behind him.  He sighed.  “Very well then.”