Soul Seers Complete Set (21 page)

Standing on the porch was the most
beautiful artist I have ever laid eyes on. Jonah looked the part in his
clay-stained cargo pants and sweaty black shirt that hugged every ripple of his
slender, yet toned, body. He wasn’t overly muscular. His body was the perfect
combination of muscle and meat. Good enough to sink my teeth in to.

“Hey,” he said as he stepped into
the doorway, closing the space between us with a sultry look on his face.
You know I can hear your thoughts, right?
he pushed, letting me know he heard my overly uninhibited biting fantasy.

I just gaped at him with wide eyes
as he backed me up against the wall, splaying both of his hands against the
hard surface on either side of my head. Staring directly into those piercing
emerald eyes, I couldn’t help but want to taste him.

Slowly, I shut my eyes and closed
the gap between us, molding my lips to his in a gentle, passionate kiss. His
hands left the wall and found my face as he returned my caress.

Open your eyes, Orella. I need to see you,
Jonah projected.

Never breaking our hold on each
other, I did as I was told, opening my eyes to see him staring at me intently.
His tongue pushed past my lips. His taste exploded like pop rocks in my mouth.
I couldn’t help it—my eyes rolled to the back of my head and fluttered
shut with the decadent feel of his tongue against mine.

With a pop of our lips and a
dramatic exhale from my chest, Jonah broke our embrace, breathing heavily as he
held my face in his hands. Needing the feel of his arms around me, I slowly
brought my face to his chest, burying my cheek against his strong muscles and
wrapping my hands around his back.

Holding onto me with a gentle
touch, he said, “Ella, I’m all sweaty and nasty. I probably reek.”

“Mmm. You smell good,” I mumbled
against his chest as I closed my eyes and squeezed him tighter.

I felt his body rumble with
laughter. “Somehow, I doubt that.”

“You do.” I landed several small
pecks against his chest before pulling away to look up at his handsome face.
“Tea?”

“What?”

“Tea. You came over for some tea,
right?”

“Oh, yeah. Somehow, I think my
mind became distracted with other more important things than tea,” he said as
he smiled and placed a small peck on my lips. “Mind if I go to the bathroom and
wash up first?”

“Of course not. It’s just down the
hall,” I said as I separated my body from his and pointed toward the bathroom.
“I’ll be in the kitchen. Do you like milk in your tea?”

“Just a bit, thanks.”

As I busied myself with the tea
bags, I imagined what it would be like to wake up next to Jonah in the morning.
I bet I would never want to leave the bed. My thoughts then led to my dream
last night. It would be embarrassing to have such a vivid and twisted dream
like that and have to explain it to him when I woke up.

The thought that Jonah’s
concentrated stare could comfort me so much was a relief to the horrible
imagery of the dream. I still wondered what it meant and why Divinus seemed to
keep popping in my subconscious when I’ve never met the man before. The fact
that he would hurt Jonah right in front of me was unnerving. Yet the look of
pity on his face was the exact opposite of his brutal actions, which caused all
kinds of confusion to swim in my head.

Jonah suddenly appeared across the
room, clearing his throat and startling me. I whipped around and felt like I
was caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

“What were you just thinking
about?” he asked as he slowly stepped toward my frozen body, which was now
pressed up against the counter.

“Oh, nothing,” I said, attempting
nonchalance as I waved my hand in the air haphazardly and broke eye contact
with him.

“It wasn’t nothing, Ella. I can
see and hear your thoughts clear as day when I’m this close to you. I can see
what you see. Feel what you feel. You’re frightened and you seem to have an
image of my father in your mind. What’s wrong?” he finally asked as he gently
hooked a finger under my chin and brought my eyes to meet his.

Damn. My weakness.

“Really, Jonah. It’s some stupid
dream I had. I don’t mind telling you, but can we go sit out on the deck out
back? I’d love to start enjoying this beautiful day,” I coaxed, hoping to at
least bask in the sun while I told him of my twisted nightmares.

“I think we should know by now that
our dreams deserve more merit than we give them,” he said honestly. Tilting his
head toward the French doors leading to the deck, he added, “C’mon. Let’s go
talk about this dream.”

Grabbing our now lukewarm cups of
tea, we headed out back where the mid-morning sun shimmered through the trees,
casting shadows among the patio furniture and making the temperature perfect
for dream confessions.

“Okay, I’m just going to spit it
out because I actually do think the dream means something—I just don’t
know what,” I said as I sat in the chaise lounge and gestured for him to sit
with me. Luckily, the chaise was just big enough for the both of us if we
snuggled close, which is exactly why I chose this spot.

“Trust me, sweets, I should know
more than anyone how dreams can overtake your thoughts. So, I know we can look
at it from all angles and see if it really means anything,” he assured me with
a light peck on my forehead.

“Well, my dream started out at a
very fast pace, but also very disorienting. I was in some sort of maze. You
know those mazes made of nothing but tall bushes? It was like that. I felt like
I was running away from something, but I didn’t know what. I was in a lot of
pain. Mostly my legs, but also my chest and head were hurting, too. After
touching my head, I realized I was bleeding, but it didn’t scare me as much as
it would have in real life.

“After continuing to run for what
seemed like forever, my legs and chest were hurting so bad, I thought I
wouldn’t be able to carry myself much further. Each breath I took was like a
stabbing pain in my chest,” I said as I grabbed onto the area of my chest that
hurt.

At the same moment, Jonah winced
and drew in a sharp breath. “Like you broke a rib?” he asked.

“Yeah, I guess so. Can you feel
this as I explain it?”

He nodded as he confirmed, “Yes.
You’re feeling the pain as you describe it, Ella. Goddamnit, that hurts!” As he
winced once more, I consciously felt the need to back off on the physical
description of the pain I felt.

“I’m sorry, Jonah. I’m not trying
to hurt you, I promise.”

“I’m just amazed you were able to
put up with this type of pain in a dream. I’m about to double over and you’re
just explaining it as if you’re barely feeling a thing,” he said as he started
to sit up some.

I pushed him down and breathed in
a few deep breaths, calming myself and attempting to get rid of any thoughts of
pain from my mind. “Shhh. Just relax. Breathe. Look at me and breathe.” I
cooed.

Jonah looked right into my eyes
and immediately began to ease the tension in his muscles. I gave him a light
peck on the cheek as I said, “I won’t continue. I’m sorry.”

“No. I need you to tell me this.
Obviously this was a serious dream if you were in that much pain,” he said
through gritted teeth.

“But, I if I think of all that
happened in my dream, you’ll likely feel it too. I can’t stand to see you
hurting.”

“The only thing that could hurt me
right now is losing you, Ella. If there’s something important in your
subconscious, both of us need to know. I’ll be fine,” he said as he thumbed my
cheek and nodded for me to continue.

“All right. I’ll try my best to
keep the pain part out of my description,” I said as I turned slightly and
snuggled back against his chest. “So, as I thought I wouldn’t be able to run
any further, I saw the green bushes begin to dwindle down, showing white walls
in their place. It was still a maze, but it was now nothing but white all
around. I had to feel my way along the walls just to find the corners.”

Taking a moment to breathe, I
paused and pressed my ear to his chest—the sound of his heartbeat
grounding me enough to continue explaining my dream.

“Unable to carry myself another
step further, I collapsed to the hard white surface of the ground. When I
looked up, I saw nothing but white all around me, but it didn’t seem like there
were actually any walls in sight. My surroundings were only a vast white space
of nothing. Attempting to get up, I buckled again and noticed I was pale,
bruised, and… um… not wearing any clothes. Well, you get the idea…”

“Boy, do I,” Jonah said with a
light chuckle. I just playfully swatted his chest, knowing if he could truly
see the same image I was thinking of, he was now staring down at my nakedness.

“All right, perv. You get a free
pass just this once!” I exclaimed.

“God, you’re beautiful,” he avowed
as he pulled me to him and devoured my mouth.

I pushed myself away and said,
“Enough of that for a moment, or I’ll never get this damn dream off my chest.”

“Wow, and what a beautiful chest
it is, too,” he said with a wag of his brows.

“Damn it, Jonah!” I yelled as I
swatted him once more, this time a bit harder than the last.

“Okay, Ella. I promise. I’ll be
good… for now.”

“Thank you. So, anyway… where was
I? Oh… So, looking up around the room again, I see a man in a long, white coat.
Kind of like a doctor’s coat. When he turned around, it was your father.”

“How do you know what my father
looks like?” Jonah asked with sincere curiosity.

“Because, he was also in my dream…
err… coma. He came to my house wanting to meet me before you and I went out for
the first time. But, that’s a story for another day. In this particular dream
from last night, your father walked over to me with a fierce determination that
frightened me. I was so desperate for help that I tried to reach out to him.
But when I tried to move, I realized I was now secured to a platform of some
sort. My arms and legs were bound and the pain was still radiating through my
entire body, but mostly…”

“Yeah, your legs. Fuck!” Jonah
groaned as he sat forward and grasped onto the lower part of his right quad.

I closed my eyes and took several
more deep breaths, clearing my mind of all pain.
I can do this. I can describe this dream without the pain.

“I’ll try to finish up quickly and
pain free, Jonah. So, Divinus approached me. He was all gray, like a black and
white photograph and even though he frightened me, he had this look of pity in
his eyes. Then, you walked in. The only color I could discern was the green of
your eyes. Looking at you didn’t really take away all the pain, but it made it more
bearable. Like, you were giving me strength to deal with it. You stood next to
your father and me, but it was like you were meeting me for the first time. I
didn’t see any sort of recognition in your eyes, only approval. You kept
staring, looking deep into my eyes, and nodding to me as if you were giving
your father permission for something to happen. Before I knew it, Divinus
slashed your wrists, causing your blood to poor all over my naked skin.”

My heart rate sped up at the
memory of how his blood felt against my skin. How each drop singed the surface
of my body and sent shockwaves straight to my heart.

Sitting so close to Jonah, I could
feel his heart increase right along with mine. I gently placed my hand on his
chest and looked up at him.

“You get it, right?” I asked as a
lone tear trickled down my cheek.

He nodded and clutched my hand,
securing it to his chest before saying, “Yeah, I get it. I feel it. And I know
why you think this dream is so significant.”

“Tell me. Tell me why,” I
whispered.

“Because our hearts beat together.
It’s as if our blood is entwined with each other. I can only feel it when I’m
touching you, but it’s very clear there is a more intimate connection between
us than just our dreams, Ella.”

I just nodded and forced a small
smile on my face. I was relieved he felt as strongly as I did, but confusion
still wracked my brain as to why we were so connected.

“I think I might know why,” Jonah
added, stunning me completely silent.

I felt like I could jump out of my
skin with the mixture of emotions that were playing tug-of-war with my mind. He
knows why our pulse just sped up in rhythm with each other and he’s sitting
there like he’s talking about the weather? I’m almost freaking out over this
dream and he’s calm as can be. Doesn’t he feel how intensely anxious I am over
this?

I sat up quickly and turned my
entire body to face him, straddling the chaise and forcing him to do the same.
We now sat facing each other and stared into one another’s eyes. Oh, how I
could get lost in his eyes.

Focus, Ella, and listen to the man!

“Now, wait. Don’t get too excited,
because I’m not sure if this is related to anything. Although, now that I think
back, I can’t believe it took me this long to put the pieces together,” he said
as he looked down with a pensive expression crossing his face.

“Quit stalling, Jonah. What do you
think it is? What do you think it means?” I babbled, unable to control my
restless curiosity.

“Calm, Ella. You’re making my
heart pound like a conga drum. I can feel my pulse racing through my ears. Just
calm down and breathe,” he soothed.

“Okay, sorry. I’m calm. I
promise.” I said with false conviction as I bounced around inside my skin.
Get on with it, Jonah!

“All right. I think it was the day
before your accident, but it might have been the day of… my dad asked me to
donate blood.” I covered my mouth with my hand as he continued, already
speculating what he was about to say. “My blood type is O negative, which can
be used for transfusions with any other blood type. What was odd about this day
is, my dad usually forbade me to donate blood… ever. He said if a human were to
be transfused with a Soul-Seer’s blood, it could cause adverse effects, but
he’s never gone into great detail about it. So, when out of the blue he asked me
to donate blood, I only assumed it was for another Soul Seer, but I knew better
than to question him about it. I’m a little fuzzy on the exact understanding
about blood transfusions between Soul Seers, but it is my comprehension that a
blood transfusion is strictly forbidden between our kind—no matter what
the situation is. It’s got to do with something about the Soul Seer’s abilities
being strengthened by combining the blood of another Soul Seer with their own.
Then again, if a Soul Seer receives a blood transfusion from a human, it could
cause their abilities to weaken or become non-existent altogether—which
would suck hard-core. So, regardless of the understood rule, I’m not surprised
my dad would have chosen to break it in order to save you. But, I’ve been
dreaming of you ever since that day. So, this whole scenario just makes sense.
The fact he didn’t tell me after all these years, especially knowing about my
dreams, just pisses me off.”

Realizing I wasn’t responsive,
Jonah waved his hand in front of my face and said, “Ella, are you okay?”

I shook my head no. Of course I
wasn’t okay! I wanted this connection between us to be real. The fact that it
was concocted from a mixture of our blood just made it out to be so… phony. I
tried to clear my mind of those thoughts as Jonah continued to console me.

“Okay. I know you are probably
freaked out. But like I said, we don’t know if it’s the reason for this…” he
paused as he gestured between the two of us with his fingers.

“Are you kidding? This development
makes perfect sense! I’m in a car accident, your dad randomly asks you to
donate blood, I’ve been the star pupil of your dreams ever since, and now our
hearts beat as one…” I paused as a question nagged the back of my mind. “Is
your dad a medical doctor?”

Jonah just nodded.

“Well, I guess I have to thank
him. Not only…”

Jonah cut me off. “I don’t know
whether to thank him or be pissed at him for the position he has put us in!” he
exclaimed with rage suddenly taking over his features.

“What do you mean? I thought…” I
couldn’t complete my words.
I thought you
liked this connection we have.
Maybe he was thinking the same thing as me.
Now it’s like our bond has been conjured up, like we are rats stored in a
science lab full of test tubes.

“Damn, Ella. I do. I didn’t mean
it like that. I just meant—if the counsel finds out about this, we’re in
a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“Counsel?” I questioned, seriously
not knowing what the frack he was talking about.

“Your mom never told you about the
Sideri?” he asked, sounding shocked the girl who has been unconscious for six
mother-loving years has never heard of some cultish-sounding counsel.

“I wouldn’t be asking you if she
did,” I said with a little tinge of a playful bite to my tone. “I mean, I
haven’t exactly been the best companion to converse with over the past six
years. I’m sure she just hasn’t had the chance to tell me everything about our
kind.”

“You’re right. But, if my
suspicions are right about all of this, then she should have told you sooner
rather than later,” he deadpanned, causing a chill to creep up my spine at his
stone-cold tone.

To busy myself and avoid his
serious stare, I reached over and grabbed my tea. Taking a sip, I cringed as
the cold liquid hit my tongue. Hot tea is much better when it’s actually… hot.

I faced Jonah head on and defended
my mother. “How do you know she had anything to do with this? You do know she
was also injured in the accident. It’s very possible she had no idea.”

“That is true. Although, I doubt
my father would put his life on the line unless he was persuaded in some way.
Of course, I have no idea how well our parents actually know each other, so I
really can’t do more than speculate.” He paused as he thought for a moment,
then looked at me directly and added, “This is serious. Very serious…”

“All right,” I interrupted,
placing my hands on my bent knees as if I needed to brace myself for his next
onslaught of dreadful information. “With the seriousness aside, could you
please explain to me who the Sidder… or, whoever it is you just mentioned?”

“The Sideri are a group of Soul
Seers who basically think their shit doesn’t stink. From what I’ve heard of
them, they consider themselves to be our government, although we really don’t
have any
rules
we have to follow.
Soul Seers have more of an understanding and general directives that we tend to
keep in mind.”

He held his hand out and counted
on his fingers as he continued.

“First, we try to keep our
abilities secret. Obviously, it is easy for us to find each other. But, we
don’t want the general public to know of our gifts.” As he explained, I just
nodded in understanding.

“Second, we don’t ever try to
increase our powers in deceitful ways. A very potent way of increasing one’s
power is to receive blood from another Soul Seer. The combination of the two
different plasma markups can nearly double a Soul Seer’s gifts over time.”

“So, that’s why you’re so freaked
out? How will the Sideri ever know about this? I mean, it’s been over six
years, Jonah. Don’t you think they would have done something about it by now if
they knew?” I knew my reasoning was just grasping at straws, but I didn’t like
the intense look on Jonah’s face as he explained the issues at hand.

“Maybe you’re right. One thing we
have to do is go talk to my dad about all of this,” he said as he ran his
fingers through his hair nervously.

“It might be a better idea to talk
to my mom first. We don’t actually know if I even needed a transfusion after
the accident. Of course, the signs are all pointing to the affirmative,
especially with the dream I had. But, it still might be best if we check with
her first,” I persuaded.

“Good idea. She might also come
with us to talk to my dad. I’m just hoping we won’t be dragging her into
anything she’s not already involved in though.”

“If I’m involved, she’s involved.
Trust me,” I assured, knowing full well I would have my mom’s support,
especially if it were a dangerous situation.

Just as I began to breathe for the
first time since the beginning of our conversation, Jonah interrupted my
reprieve with one more blow. A heartbreaking piece of information I never saw
coming.