The plane landed just after dusk, the warmth in the air still lingering even though the sun was dipped low below the rolling green hills that we now drove and wove through on our way to Castrum's secret city.
The plane ride had been uneventful.
I slept a little, snacked a little, then played on my phone and tried to read a book on my Kindle, but I kept finding myself distracted by my loathing for the man sitting a couple of yards away.
Now I was just as distracted by him sitting less than a foot away. His sandalwood scent filling the car again, making my head a little fuzzy. I've always been a sucker for men's cologne. But on this particular man, I didn't want to have any interest in it.
The ride was longer than I'd expected it to be, but then I figured we might still be taking a longer route to make sure we got there on time.
I gaze out the window, finally looking away from the script writing across Dalton's arm and instead watched the scenery go by. I only wish it was daytime still so I could see this country the way mom had. She used to tell me stories as a little girl about a magical place where everything is so bright and exuberant and little stone castles lie dilapidated on sea shores and low laying fog drifts over dark waters in the nearly constant breeze.
It even smelled like she described.
I roll my window all the way down and lean my head into the wind that rushes in. I take in the earthy smell, somewhere far in the distance a fire burns, blowing its warm woodsy smell towards us too. As silly as it sounds since I've never actually been here before, something about it all felt comforting...like home.
At the thought of home I make out quick texts to everyone, letting them each know I've made it to Ireland safe and sound and that I love them.
Once I'm done, I sit for another thirty minutes before boredom and curiosity finally win me over. I peek carefully at Dalton's arm again and then type in the letters on my phone.
I furrow my brows at the result.
"Dum iacet et." I recite out loud. "Until low I lie." I see the surprise in his eyes as he turns to me for a split second before putting his golden eyes back on the road ahead of us as it turns to gravel.
"I didn't know you knew Latin." He says shortly.
I shrug in my seat, my butt getting seriously uncomfortable after all this time of sitting.
"I don't." I tell him. "I Google translated." I hold up my phone.
He turns again, his brows knit together. "You what?"
"Google." I say as if it's obvious. "You know, type in whatever you want to know, it gives you a billion answers?"
He just shakes his head. "Sounds like a magic eight ball."
"God, you are old huh?" I laugh. "Don't know about Google, but you know about the magic eight balls. But anyway, the dumb ball only gives you like, what? Three or four answers? Google will answer literally anything you ask." I realize I'm rambling and quickly snap my jaw shut.
"If only your magic Google could tell me how to get you to shut up." He shrugs, leaning away from me and steering with one hand on the wheel now.
I frown, remembering quickly why I hadn't bothered talking the whole plane ride.
But again, curiosity slips into my subconscious.
"Why, Until low I lie?" I ask. "Kind of cryptic isn't it?"
"Kind of none of your business actually."
Of course he needs to be an ass. "Whatever."
"Yeah, whatever."
I start to comeback with a smart ass remark about what a douche wagon he is, but then I see the lights up ahead.
"Oh my god, is that it?" I whisper, an unimaginable tingling buzzing through my systems. The car pulls around, the gravel road jostling us in our seats, and then suddenly we are there.
We weave around, finding ourselves in the valley between two large hills where a small bustling city is hidden away. The fountain in the center of the city blows water up two stories high, the droplets falling like little diamonds before splashing back down into the pool.
"What in the hell?" Dalton hisses angrily under his breath, breaking my trance.
I follow his gaze to a smaller, more basic looking little building nestled between two bigger ones, which I know is the secret entrance. However, in front of what should be nondescript entrance, there is a full on mob of angry people being held back by six big bulky men all dressed in nice black uniforms and wearing unamused expressions.
"What's wrong?" I ask Dalton, and then squeal and jump, my hand landing on Dalton's leg when a big brawly man appears at my open window, staring down at me.
He puts one of his giant hands covered in scars and dried blood on the door. "What's your business here?" He demands, but before I can say anything, my head feels light and my fingers go numb.
"Say it again."
My own voice whispers breathlessly and I open my eyes, Dalton standing right in front of me, my hands on his bare chest and his forehead leaning against mine. "Rose." He says my name softly, his eyes baring into mine, stripping me of my very soul with his power over me.
My body is defenseless. I can't push him away. I don't want to push him away.
Instead, I lift my chin, daring him to kiss me.
"Please?" I beg, my body so hot I may as well be on fire.
As he leans in, his lips mere seconds away, I whisper, no, I moan his name. "Dalton."
Without any sort of warning, or maybe I just missed it because I wasn't paying attention, the huge man is staring angrily at me, his hand outstretched for my throat until he suddenly stops. "Wait," He mutters, pulling back his hand. "Did you say Dalton?"
Shit.
I said it out loud?
Dalton leans forward, roughly pushing me back in my seat. "Yes, she's with me." He says to the man curtly and the guy nods.
"Sir Dalton, I'm so sorry." He apologizes, not looking so scary anymore. "Please, let me take the car around for you."
The man opens my door for me and I step out cautiously, clutching my pillow to my chest. Dalton is out of the car and at my side in a flash of dark hair and tan skin.
"What is all this?" He asks the man, pointing over at the angry cluster of people still arguing with the guards at the door.
"Nothing to worry over, just some disgruntled tourists." He shrugs, dipping down to get into the car and drive it on up the road, leaving Dalton and I standing on the outskirts of the little town.
I glance nervously at him, worried what he might be thinking, and I'm met with the full extent of his glare. "What the hell was that? You do realize he could have killed you in under a second and you just stared like an idiot with no clue what you're doing here?"
My face flames red and I drop my eyes, not letting him stare any longer. "I'm sorry...I-I blacked out."
"You better not have been digging through my head again." He snaps, turning away from me and walking towards the crowd.
It was definitely one vision I was dead set on making sure never came true.
I follow behind him, but not so close to get on his nerves as he moves up to the side of the crowd but towards the front.
"I want to know what happened to her!" A woman from the middle of the crowd yells.
Another man further in the back agrees. "Yeah, just tell us where they are! We know they were here!"
The guards up front stay stone faced, not giving the people begging for answers any sort of solace. I glance over and realize I can't see Dalton anymore, so I pivot quickly to the right, afraid he's ditched me already, when I smack my shoulder right into a grey haired woman with angry eyes like I've just punched her favorite dog in the face.
"Excuse me." I apologize, holding my hand up to show it was an accident, but I can tell by the look on her face that she doesn't care if I meant to or not. She lunges at me anyway, my scream echoing against the buildings around us.
Dalton appears between us in an instant, the woman's outstretched hands landing on his shoulders instead of mine as I cower behind him, letting his body block me.
"Get out of here." He demands and the woman is gone before I can even blink. "Let's go." He whips back, snatching me by the wrist and pulling me over to the backside of the city, walking so fast I was in more of a jog than anything trying to keep up. "Making messes for me already and you've been here exactly three minutes and forty eight seconds." He grumbles in front of me before he finally lets me go when he stops at what looks like a brick extension in one of the backsides of the building. "Come here and watch." He tells me and I duck down at the electrical box where he is. "See this?" He points at a red wire when he opens the box.
"Yes." I nod.
"This is a secret back entrance." He explains. "If you ever need to know, come around back like we just did, staying on the gravel path until you get here. Pull the red wire free, like this." He demonstrates, looking around first before he frees the red wire from its home. As soon as he does, one brick in the wall falls back, leaving a small hole in the wall. "Put your hand in."
I give him a look, making sure he isn't trying to play a trick on me, but then I realize he probably isn't the type to play pranks or makes jokes. I slide my hand into the hole, feeling around until I find what I'm looking for. "A door handle." I announce even though he clearly already knows. I pull on the handle and the hidden door in the wall pushes open leading into a small area, partially covered by a roof, but the rest open. In front of us is dark green hedges at least seven feet tall. I instantly know where we are going.
I follow him down to the far end of the hedge and he shows me exactly where the soft spot in the greenery is so that we can push through it and enter into the maze. My eyes are pulled everywhere. The grass under our feet is so soft and the smell is intoxicating. Wrapped all through the hedges are wild flowers, daisies, and huge roses.
I trail my fingers over the soft white petals of one of the bigger daisies before I notice Dalton is already up ahead, watching me and waiting in the opening.
I pick up the pace to meet him, sucking in a deep breath when I enter the center of the garden. There are all kinds of flowers everywhere and a little table still sits off to one side just like mom and dad described it. I look up and sure enough there are stringed lights crisscrossing over us, and though they are turned off now, I can see in my mind what it must have looked like the first time mom came here.
"This is where my dad proposed to my mom." I whisper, dropping my eyes back down to meet Dalton.
He nods once. "I've heard." He tells me coldly. "Now come on, we have a schedule to keep."
I roll my eyes. I can't believe he's trying to ruin this whole experience for me.
"It's so beautiful." I whisper to myself, touching some more of the flowers as I walk over to him, kneeling where he was.
He points down at the hatch. "See this keypad?" He points. "Only Pedro, Lance, you, and I know the code to open this." He tells me in a rush, then he sighs in annoyance. "The code is your birthday." I smile a little that it bothers him so much and I type in the date, hearing the bolts slide when I press the green button. He drops down to the stairs first, then lets me pass so he can pull the hatch back down and reactivate the lock. "Should there be a power outage, there's a key in that sliding brick in the wall, and one down here under the rose bushes." He points over at them when we walk into the indoor greenhouse.
As much as I want to stay and admire it all, I know he won't let me so I shuffle my feet along behind him. "Got it."
We pause for a second at the large ornate golden door and then we exit out into a dark corridor, the walls all a dark stone grey and the floors lined with cobble stones.
"You'll be staying down in the west wing." Dalton prattles on, his voice about as interested as if he were reciting algorithm codes. "All humans stay on level sub-1, but you'll want to make sure you stay to the west, go too far east and you'll find yourself in the blood banks and blood services and that isn't somewhere you want to be found."
"West, ok." I nod, along while he tells me more rules that I've pretty much already heard.
Dalton takes a sharp left and disappears into a small nook where an elevator awaits.
We get on and he turns to me, brows high as he points to the panel.
"Oh, um..." I mutter, looking at all of the different buttons. I start to press the round button with a 1 painted on it but he shakes his head, taking my arm and moving it down to point my finger at S1. "Sub-1, got it."
I press the button and the elevator jumps to life, catching my stomach a little as it does.
The air in here seems to be filled with an unknown tension, especially since every time I chance a glance at him now I see that stupid vision and my knees start doing this whole turning to Jell-O thing.
I can't get off of the elevator fast enough when the door slides away. I come face to face with a stone wall. My only options going left or right. "Never eat soggy waffles." I whisper to myself.
"What?" Dalton asks, his face pulled up in confusion.
I laugh at myself. "It's a little trick I learned in school to keep up with direction." I try to explain through the embarrassment. "Never for North," I point up, "eat for East," I point up the right corridor, "soggy for South." I point down, "waffles for West." I point up the left wing and begin walking ahead of him. "So this way to west wing."
I'm feeling proud of myself and not paying so much attention when I stump my toe into a dip between some of the stones and I trip forward, my face heading straight for the ground when I'm yanked back by my shoulders, Dalton pushing me up against the opposite wall, his hands on the wall on both sides of my head.
"Is walking really that difficult for you?" He demands, his face so close I can hardly breathe.
"Is being nice that difficult for you?" I fire back somehow even though my chest is heaving and falling rapidly between us.
"To you, yes." He nods, then stops suddenly, his angry gaze stuck on mine.
The pull between us is almost electric. Like there should be actual flickers of current between him and me. My head is full of nothingness and when without my consent my head begins to lean towards his, and his seems to dip a bit in my direction too, I don't do anything to stop it.
He does though.
He snaps back, his eyes flickering away from mine as fast as possible as he stomps up the corridor. "Keep up." He calls over his shoulder.
It takes me a second to catch my breath, but when I do I jog to keep up with his near run through the long passages.
We turn around another corner and I see a guy in the distance, then a flash of blonde hair and Lance is only a few feet up ahead of us.
"Rose!" He calls to me and I run in double speed to meet him. "So good to see you." He wraps me in a hug, spinning me around once when I reach him.
"You too. Wow." I widen my eyes when I get a good look at him.
He's tall like I remember, lean muscled and has that same sweet smile, but he looks so manly now. Not that little freckled nose boy I remember playing with when we were kids.
He brings one long fingered hand to rub the short bristly stubble at his chin. His big green eyes looking me over. "I'm the one who should be saying wow." He laughs, his voice a little deeper now.
I blush a lightky, then even deeper when he holds out the bouquet of roses to me.
"Thank you so mu-." I try to say before Dalton breaks in.
"She doesn't like roses." He says matter-of-factly, glaring at Lance with the same one he usually saves for me. "She likes daises, but way to be generic."
Lance narrows his eyes at him. "Don't you have a girlfriend to go see or something?" He says evenly.
My head in too much of a spin from how in the world he knew I prefer daisies, and only getting worse to find out he's got a girlfriend. Who would date him? He's such an ass.
"As a matter of fact, I do." Dalton shrugs. "Which makes one of us, doesn't it?" He looks smugly at Lance. When he doesn't respond, Dalton shrugs. "Well, lucky you, you've got her from here." He barely glances at me. "Since this is supposed to be a joint effort and all."
"With pleasure." Lance smiles brightly at me.
"She's already tried to get herself killed four times, so have fun." He adds, turning away.
"Oh my god, I did not." I protest but he turns back, crossing his arms over his chest.
He looks past me and over at Lance instead. "Let's see, she blacked out while Gregor was questioning her and he nearly ripped out her vocal cords, then she managed to stumble into the middle of an angry mob of vampires and piss off one of them even more, then she can't master walking either, about knocked out her front teeth on the floor."
I glared at him with as much rage as I could muster, which for him was a lot.
"That's only three, asshole." I countered. "You said four."
Dalton turned away, walking the opposite direction, and I almost thought I'd won.
"You also nearly choked to death on a peanut on the plane." He called over his shoulder.
I turned back to Lance, not able to not smile when he did.
"Crap, I didn't think he'd noticed that."
He threw his arm over my shoulders and led me away. "Same old Rose." He laughed. "Come on, I'll take you to your room."