Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (30 page)

“Awhile, I never really timed it. I’d say a few hours though. Why do you ask?” I couldn’t imagine what one would have to do with the other.

“I want to test your theory, would that be okay?” He sported his sexy wicked grin.

“O-okay.” I had no clue what he meant but his smile made me willing to do anything with him.

He kissed me, slowly moving down my neck to my shoulder. He sank his teeth into my shoulder and began to suck. I wrapped my arms tightly around him, arched my back and cried out as I climaxed. I felt his breath against my shoulder as he chuckled.

He climbed on top of me and slipped himself into me. Quickly he thrust himself in and out, while holding me tighter than ever. All the while he never removed his teeth. The dominating grip he had on me felt erotic. Within minutes, we fell over the edge together. As I savored the moment, he indulged his own pleasure and continued drinking my blood.

When I felt lightheaded, I teased, “Are you going to save some for me?” He pulled his teeth from my shoulder and licked it.

“I’m sorry, love. Your blood tastes so sweet.” When he looked at me he stammered, “I’m so sorry.” Fear filled his black eyes as he placed his shaky hands over my face. “You’re so pale and cold. Natalia…”

his voice.

“I know I was selfish. Can we please worry about her? Is she

“I’m fine Bradley. Maybe we should have made a bet,” I giggled. “I think it excited you more than me.” At first I hadn’t realized that he had gotten up and ran into the kitchen. I was feeling a little confused and extremely tired from his last bite. “What are you doing?” I mumbled groggily.

“Making you something to eat.” I heard him slamming the cabinet, fridge and microwave doors.

“No, don’t bother. I’m really tired. I’m going to go to sleep.” I heard him speaking really fast. Whoever he was talking to made him upset, enough that he raised going to be alright?” There was a long pause before I heard him say, almost in tears, “Thank God.” The last thing I heard was his cellphone slam shut.

Chapter 14

When I woke the next morning, I was in bed and alone. I felt great, unbelievably great. I got dressed in my favorite worn jeans and a t-shirt. Went into the bathroom washed my face, brushed my teeth and ran a brush through my knotted hair. Since it still looked horrible, I threw it up in a bun. I walked through the house and both Seager and Bradley were gone. They left a note on the kitchen table that read:

Natalia,

We’ll be back shortly, ran to the store. I love you. Wait for breakfast; I’m bringing it home with me.

Love you, Bradley

I made myself some coffee and went out onto the front porch to sit and wait for their return. I hope he hurries because after our wonderful evening last night, I was feeling famished.

Filling up my cup with more coffee, I heard the trees chime. Thinking it was Bradley I ran out the front door. I’d been shocked to find Dave instead. What really freaked me out was that he brought Bill with him. Instincts told me to put up my shield, so I did.

“Hello, Natalia. How are you feeling?” Dave asked sincerely. I hadn’t seen either of them since that horrible night. Seeing them brought the horrifying memories flooding back to the front of my mind.

“Fine.” My voice shook making it obvious that I wasn’t. “How are you? Bill…” I nodded. “Bradley isn’t here.”

“Do you mind if we wait? Bill insisted on seeing the two of you.”

“Okay.” I gestured to the table at the far end of the porch suggesting them to take a seat.

As Bill walked by he took my arm. “I’m sorry about the last time I saw you, Nat. That was totally out of line.”

I heard Dave sigh then said, “Bill…”

Unlike the last time I felt his hands on me, they were ice cold. Frozen with fear, I could only nod.

We all turned our heads to the driveway as we heard someone flying up the drive. My truck came into view. Bradley slammed on his brakes and slid on the dirt and grass stopping right before crashing into the porch. There were tire marks left behind in the grass. In less than a second he had been standing beside me removing Bill’s hand from my arm. Gently, he placed me behind him.

“Settle down, Brad.” Dave held up his hands and quickly stood between them. “He insisted on coming over to talk to the two of you. Just give him a chance.”

Looking at Dave he scolded, warning, “You should have called first. I don’t think Natalia is ready for this.”

I stood behind him trembling, reliving that horrible night. Nightmarish memories of Andrew’s brutal physical attack wreaked havoc on my still mending psyche. I felt faint as blackness started to take over and wrap itself around my troubled mind. I grabbed his shirt then felt myself falling…

I’m not sure how much timed passed before I heard Bradley’s pleas for me to wake.

“Natalia, love.” I felt his cold hands on my face. “Wake up.”

Scared, I sat up and wrapped my arms around him. I looked across the room and saw that Dave and Bill were still here. “No.”

Bill quickly came to our side and started to say something but Bradley cut him off with a furious growl that came from deep within his chest, “Get away from her.”

I squeezed in behind Bradley, straddling my legs around him, ensconcing myself between him and the sofa. “I-it’s okay Bradley. Please let him say what he came to say.” I didn’t look at Bill. Bradley rubbed my legs trying to comfort me, to reassure me that I’m safe. As long as he’s between Bill and me, I felt safe. I wanted to tell him that but my instincts said not to.

Dave spoke to ease the tension in the room and to inform us of Bill’s new vampire skills. “Bill has a new skill. He can read the minds of people he touches.”

Bradley responded with another growl. “Don’t touch her again.”

“I won’t. I didn’t get anything from her when I did, so don’t worry.” He stared at Bradley for a moment. “I did get a message from you when you touched me. I won’t hurt her Brad. I’m here to apologize for kissing her. I am truly sorry.” He stood up and reached out his hand to him. “I value our friendship.”

“No, I won’t shake your hand. Your apology is accepted. Don’t ever touch either of us without our permission. Understood?”

“Understood.” He withdrew his hand and put both hands in his pockets.

Bradley went to stand up, but I grabbed his sleeves and whispered with my voice trembling, “No.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair, but stayed as I requested. I could see his reflection in the mirror across the room. A look of worry consumed his face.

With my voice still trembling I said, “Bill, thank you for helping us and I’m sorry you were caught in the cross fire. However, I want to make it perfectly clear that I am not interested in you that way, not at all, only as a friend. I love Bradley and only Bradley. No one will ever change that… No one! As long as you can respect that we can still be friends. But you can never be here unless Dave
and
Bradley are here, understood?”

Both Bradley and Dave laughed. “I’m serious,” I said.

“Understood, Nat. Please don’t take this the wrong way but when I was human I was interested but not now. I love being a vampire and being with vampire chicks. I can promise you both I will never do that again.” Relief filled me. Again Bradley attempted to get up but I held on tight. So he pulled me around onto his lap and carried me over to Dave. “Next time you bring him by, call first. I’ll explain later.”

“One more thing…” Bradley narrowed his gaze knowingly. “Bill, tell me what you know.”

I had no idea what Bradley meant but by the look on Dave’s face, he did. “Sorry, Brad, but I didn’t know, no one knew at first.” Brad put up his hand and looked at Bill.

“I know that you can feel her emotions, hear her thoughts and supposedly she’s a witch.” Bill replied.

I gasped.

“I promise your secrets are safe with me, both of your secrets.” He looked at me. “As for the witch thing it kind of makes sense. I kind of suspected that there was something different about you. I saw you do strange things when we hid out together.

“In time, you two will see that I won’t do anything like that again.” Bill shrugged his shoulders. “Well that’s it. I gotta go. Got a hot a date tonight.” He turned towards Dave. “You need a ride back?”

“No, Cheryl will be here soon to pick me up. Thanks anyway. I’ll see you later tonight.”

We walked Bill out and watched as he drove away.

Dave turned to us, “Nat, how are you really doing? Cheryl and I have been so worried. She wanted to come by sooner but we wanted to be sure we could trust Bill. Take now for instance, she’s going to make sure he’s going where he said he was going.”

“You don’t trust him?” I asked cautiously.

“No, I do. Cheryl doesn’t. I don’t think we have anything to worry about from him.”

“Dave, I still don’t want him here unless I know in advance and of course I’m here.” He looked at me, “Can I put you down now?”

I giggled, “I kind of like it here but if you insist…” I tightened my legs around him.

“I’m glad you’re okay, I was a little worried about you after last night and when I felt your fear on our way home… it was torture.”
Gently he put me back on my feet.

“I feel great, unbelievably great. Well except for what just happened
.” Dave stared at me with a look of confusion.
“Why is Dave looking at me that way?”

He looked over at Dave, “What’s up Dave? Spit it out.”

“I’m not sure if I should talk about it all in front of her, you know about that night.”

“No,” I shook my head and raised my hand to stop him. “I don’t want to hear or talk about it, please. I just got to a place where I can move forward. I’ll go get something to eat so you two can talk and catch up. I’d offer you something but that wouldn’t make any sense.”

“One second, Natalia…” Bradley ran to the truck and came back with a container. “…here I picked this up from that restaurant you like. It’s French toast. You’ll probably need to heat it up.” A smile spread across his face as he watched me do my happy dance.

“Thanks, love!” I reached up and kissed him, then ran to the kitchen. Mmm, they make the best French toast. Bradley ordered a lot, so I decided to share it with my bestest bud, Seager.

“How about we go for a walk?”
I asked Seager.

“Sure, if you tell Brad.”

“Of course.”

“Bradley, Seager and I are going for a walk, okay?”
It’s amazing that he could hear me from so far away.

“Okay. Straight back? Will you put your shield back down?”

We were walking out the back door towards the bridge.

“Yes, straight back. Of course. I put it up because the moment I saw Bill my instincts told me to. I’m glad you can feel my emotions. I was really scared until you showed up.”

“When you get on the other side of the bridge talk to me again. I’d like to see how far before we can’t communicate anymore. Oh and… I love you. We still need to talk about last night.”

“Okay, I’m curious also. I love you, too. What’s there to talk about… unless we’re discussing when we’re doing it again?”
I giggled.

“We’ll talk about it later. Be careful please
.”

“I will.”

I forgot to reach out to Bradley when we got on the other side of the bridge. Seager and I were playing ball. I tried to throw it really far so it would bounce and he’d have to search for it. It’s good exercise for him.

“Did you forget about my request?”
When I heard his voice in my head I jumped, startled.

“Yes, I did. Sorry, my love. We’re playing ball. He keeps finding it and bringing it right back. There’s no competition for him with only me here. Are you going to join us?”

“Yes, how far are you?”

“I’m half way between the bridge and the property line.”
To mark the spot I took out a piece of string and tied it to a branch. It hung down low enough for us to find later. “
I marked the tree with a string. I’m changing directions.”
I giggled. I love it when we play hide and seek. He always finds me quickly. We haven’t played in a very long time
. “Come find me if you can.”

“I’ll give you a ten minute head start.”

“
Okay.”
I ran as fast as I could for a few minutes. I only fell twice before saying, out of breath, “
Time starts… now!”

“Cheater.”

I laughed and started running again. Most importantly, I slid up my shield to make sure he didn’t eavesdrop.

“Wow, you’re really playing this time. Shields up and all. You got six minutes left. Run!”

We came upon a huge hollowed tree lying on its side. Huge really doesn’t describe it. It’s massive. Seager and I could see through it to the other side. It’s several feet long and faced in the opposite direction than he would expect me to go.

Whispering, I said, “You go first.” Seager crawled in and I followed close behind.

On the other side we were able to jump from the hollow of the tree into a ditch. It looked as though a creek used to be there but now it’s all dried up. I ran as fast as I could. I hadn’t been to this part of our yard yet. That’s when it hit me! I could use my magic to cover up our scent by making us smell like deer. It became more exciting at the thought of being able to cover up our odor.

“You think we fooled them?”

“
Yes, and I also think we attracted that mountain lion over there
.”

“Oh no, where?” Panic filled me. I put my shield down and undid my spell. Not sure how much of either would help us at that point.

“
To your left. It’s the one licking its chops and looks like it hasn’t eaten in a while.”

“Bradley… can you hear me?”
There was no response. I’m sure he could feel me but not sure if he heard me.
“We crawled through a downed tree, jumped into a ditch then I changed our odor to smell like deer. I’m on a piece of our property that I’ve never explored. You need to hurry, there’s a cougar eyeing us up for dinner.”

“We’re coming. Don’t panic otherwise you won’t be able to use your magic. Put a shield up around the two of you for protection.”

I did what he said and surrounded us with a shield. Just in the nick of time, too. The cougar was running towards us. When it got a few feet away, it leapt through the air and slammed into my invisible shield. I looked over at Seager and he seemed to be smiling. He stood there staring at the cougar and wagging his tail, having a good time. The cougar continuously tried to get at us. It definitely appeared to be hungry. It snarled and paced back and forth eyeing us while licking its chops.

“Close your eyes, love.”

Again, I did as Bradley instructed. I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands. I heard the cougar crying out, gasping and a gurgling. After a few minutes, silence. I opened my eyes to see Bradley bent over the cougar. I gasped covering and closing my eyes again.