❄ 10 ❄️ Even Grounds ❄
Hyde Park
Wednesday, January 12, 2007
Rhys pulled his black Audi R8 Spyder to the curb outside Hyde Park and turned off the ignition. Wren gazed out of the window at the sea of green and brown. She turned in her seat and smiled brightly at Rhys.
"I haven't been here since I was a small child!" she gushed as excitement filtered throughout her body.
Rhys smiled back at her, his golden topaz eyes sparkling knowingly. "I know."
Wren gasped dramatically and glared at him. "Who told you?!"
Rhys looked slightly confused as he answered her. "Bell told me?"
"I'm going to banish her from shopping for a month!" she replied in a half shout.
He stared at her horrified. "I didn't mean to get her into trouble. I thought we could spend the day talking more."
Wren burst into laughter as he stared at her again as if she had suddenly gone crazy. Her giggles intensified at his expression. Rhys blinked his golden topaz at her for several minutes before chuckling himself.
"You are crazy," he said quietly, playfully.
"I've been told I was by both Bell and Bri, so it's nothing new," she replied, grinning back at him mischievously.
Rhys shook his head as he climbed out of the car and came around to her side. He opened the door and she slid out of the passenger seat. He closed the door behind her and they both walked towards the entrance of the park. Wren sped up until she was running, a trail of giggles issuing from her mouth. She paused beside a swing set and sat down on one of the swings.
Rhys sat down on the swing beside hers, smiling at her excitement. Wren began turning in circles, twisting the chains until she couldn't turn anymore. She pulled up her knees and the swing began twirling, picking up speed. She squealed as her ice blonde hair swirling about her in a vortex until the swing jerked to a stop. Laughing, she pushed her hair out her face and tried to focus her ice blue eyes on Rhys.
He laughed and she could imagine that her expression seemed comical to him. She smiled back at him until her thoughts corrected themselves and the world seemed to become steadier.
"You must have done that when you were a child," he said thoughtfully.
"Yeah," Wren replied, nodding her head and sighing as the memory played through her mind.
Silence echoed between them as she twirled around in the swing again. She watched as parents played with their children or sat around on benches talking with other parents. Some of them waved at her and she waved back. Whenever the weather was warm and permitting, she would take the children to this park to have picnics or play games. Wren smiled again as she swiveled around to face Rhys.
"Have you ever been to the park when you were a child?" she blurted out suddenly.
Rhys turned his head to look at her, his eyebrows rising with surprise. Wren blushed and grinned at him sheepishly.
"Yes," he answered her after some thought. "My mother used to bring my younger brother, cousins, and I to this very park before my father became very ill."
Guilt crashed throughout her body as she lowered her eyes to her hands clasped together in her lap.
"I am so sorry," she whispered to him sincerely.
Rhys turned his head to smile at her, his usually sparkling golden topaz eyes dim with sadness and grief. Unconsciously, Wren reached out and wrapped her arms around him in an understanding hug. Rhys released a heavy sigh, wrapping his arms around her and burying his face into her hair. They sat in companionable silence for a few minutes until he pulled away from her.
"Thanks. I need that a lot." he murmured quietly, running his fingers through his dark hair sheepishly.
Wren shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "Everyone needs a hug now and then."
Rhys' lips pulled up in a lopsided grin as he nodded his head in agreement. The clouds shifted in the sky and the day began to darken as the hour grew later and parents began gathering their things and calling to their children.
"What was your favorite thing to do when you were a child?" he asked her suddenly.
Wren turned her head to look at him questioningly, quirking an ice blonde eyebrow.
"You mean besides twisting around in a swing?" she asked him in mock suspicion.
Rhys just grinned back at her and nodded his head, waiting for her to continue.
"I used to take long walks in the forest near Appleton Manor and watch the wildlife," she replied honestly.
His expression turned grave suddenly as his golden topaz eyes pierced into her ice blue ones.
"It's not safe to walk in the forest alone, especially for a child." he reprimanded her sternly.
"I know. That's why I've forbidden the younger girls not to go in there alone." she retorted, feeling as though he was scolding her.
"Good," he said with a curt nod of his head.
Wren turned away from him and rose to her feet. She made her way across the park to miniature domed monkey bars and climbed to the top, settling her body at the center. Rhys, who had followed her, did the same and settled down beside her.
"I am sorry if it had sounded like I was scolding you," he spoke softly after a few seconds of silence.
She shrugged her shoulders in reply. "Don't worry. Lady Aaliyah had said almost the same thing."
She turned to smile at him reassuringly and he grinned back at her, knocking his shoulder against hers in a friendly manner. They talked more about their childhoods and the silly things they'd used to do. Wren gasped for breath as Rhys told her a really hysterical story about his younger brother Rhyan and the pool incident on his eighth birthday. She glanced at her wristwatch and saw that it was almost six. Rhys, noticing her glance at her watch, stood up on the bars and jumped lightly to the ground.
Wren stared down at him in awe as he turned and raised out his arms to help her down. If she had done that, she would have ended up flat on her face in the dirt. She leaned forward and placed her hands on his shoulders as his much larger hands slipped around her waist. Without any signs of a struggle, Rhys lifted her up and then sat her down on her feet beside him. She gaped up at him stupidly.
Wow, Wren thought to herself, stunned. He's really strong. Rhys grinned down at her and then turned her around, placing his hand on the small of her back.
"Come. We should leave," he said to her softly.
For the first time since he had touched her, she could feel the coldness of his skin seeping through her sweater. Gooseflesh rose on her skin as Bri's past ramblings on vampires swept through her mind.
Vampires were known to be Creatures of the Night or Dark. There were many ways one could recognize a vampire from a human: Vampires were inhumanly pale and beautiful and had supernatural senses and reflexes. They were extremely fast and unbelievably strong. Their scent was inhumanly sweet and their skin as hard as marble. They were very dangerous predators and they only hunted one thing: humans. Their eyes were the very color of their prey's lifeblood - ruby red.
Wren shivered and shook those thoughts from her mind. She glanced up from her shoes and saw that they had arrived at the car. Rhys opened the passenger's side door for her and she slid into the seat. As he walked slowly around the car, one thought fluttered through her mind: If vampires were real, was Valentine one of them?
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