Page 7 of Cursed Lifeline (Eternal Love)

Six

Felix

SONG: CRAVIN’ | STILETO & KENDYLE PAIGE

Stalking through the forest before dawn, the endless chirping of crickets grates on my last damned nerve. Frogs croaking, owls hooting, and the occasional scurrying of animals fleeing through the night cause my cool, calm, and normally collected demeanor to almost snap.

I warned Esme to stay away, but the more the night wears on, it's becoming increasingly apparent I might not be able to take my own damn advice.

The distant sound of a coyote howling in the early morning twilight has me growling in annoyance, and silently wishing I could mimic the high-pitched scream if it would offer my restless thoughts any kind of solace.

Coming to a stream, I pause and lean forward.

Looking over the water's edge, I see - nothing.

A snide chuckle leaves my lips.

Exactly.

Nothing.

Because I'm the undead.

A beast.

A demon.

A phantom blood-sucking fiend that prowls the nights in search of victims that will never survive.

I don't have a soul—not since I underwent the change at seventeen. So why does Esme make me feel more alive than I ever have before?

Her vitality is alluring.

She tempts me towards the impossible.

A union that both scares and thrills me.

One that can never be.

Misting to the opposite side of the creek, I stride off in search of something to quench my thirst before I charge back to the Martin estate and take what Esme would be smart to never give me.

Her virginity.

Her pure soul.

Her life in a daring attempt to breathe reason back into mine.

My earlier encounter with Esme at the ball given in her honor left me hungry for another glimpse, another insatiable high I've quickly realized I've only experienced when I am near her. So I went to her room after everyone had left the party and watched her writhe in a pleasurable dream. Her body, illuminated by sparkling iridescent moonlight, twisted carnally in white satin sheets on her inviting chaste throne.

The erotic show was almost my undoing.

Maybe it was wrong to encroach upon her private thoughts as she was suspended somewhere heavenly between sleep and awake, but when she deliciously moaned my name in the darkness that played erotically with the glimmering slants of light from the stars above, it became clear a man only has so much restraint.

The enjoyment she was receiving from her provocative thoughts was too tempting not to play with.

Standing at the foot of her bed, I drowned in her dream, her unconscious desires as they tangled with every way I suddenly felt the same need to touch her, taste her, claim her and make her mine.

My head between her thighs.

Her lips sucking around the crown of my cock.

Her back arching in shameless need as I thrust myself deep inside her.

Imagine my surprise when her sinful desires started playing back with my sinister wishes.

Our thoughts tangled into a perfect rhythm for minutes I wish were hours as they indulged in dark yearnings that warn they'll never be sated.

If I had stood there a moment longer and let our fantasies continue to dance to such a tempting tune, in such a riveting, carnal, savage and uncivilized way, there is no telling what I would've done.

I would've committed a wicked, mortal sin.

One neither of us would ever recover from.

Which is why it's imperative I keep distance between us and remind myself that I. Am. Immortal.

Shadows begin to play tricks with my eyes as I continue on my way through the dark forest, and I scowl.The further I get from the Martin manor, and the more Talon's shadows continue to play tricks with my eyes, I accept the fact that I am right to walk away.

Stay. Away.

"If Esme knew half the thoughts floating through your immoral mind, she would have run a stake through your heart the first moment you met," Talon smirks, dropping down directly in front of me from a nearby tree.

Rolling my eyes, I try to side step my way to the right when Dimitri mists out of hiding and leans against the bark of an old oak, and blocks my escape.

"Mortals," he licks his lips. "What they think is sin is nothing compared to the vile, depraved desires we immortals can't help but crave."

When I don't respond, Dimitri cocks his head to the side and arrogantly asks, "Am I right?"

"I wouldn't know," I sigh. "I don't think about mortals that way."

"Lies," he chuckles.

I'm about to defend Esme's honor when Talon steps forward and says, "I warned you that was trouble."

"And I warned you to hold your tongue," I snap. "Next time you run it, I'll convince Esme to put a stake through your heart first."

"Playing mind tricks with the mortal already, are we?" Dimitri tisks. "Well, well, this is more serious than we thought."

"Then you think too much," I growl.

My brother glares at me, and says, "At least one of us is doing some damn thinking. Getting close to the Slayer is…"

"Keeping the enemy close," I insist, hoping to throw them off my scent. Talon and Dimitri's glare deepens. "Last time I checked, it was considered a powerful, deceptive tactic that will ensure we're ready for any possible attack."

Stepping forward, Dimitri chuckles, "Oh brother, you're the one who is deceived."

"Tricks and treats," Talon grins. "Remember that the next time you're standing watch over her bed."

Lunging for my brother, a commanding wind blows past and holds me back as two shadows appear over his shoulder. Dimitri and Talon part for Alfred and Caelum like the prophetic red sea, and I can't shake the chilling sensation of figuratively being stabbed in the back by my own coven as the Magister Council duo eerily comes closer.

"What the hell is this?" I demand.

But as Alfred's toes meet mine, I understand exactly what is going on. My brothers, the watchers, they're not working together. They just agree about one thing.

"Stay away from Esme," Alfred warns in a protective tone that makes me wish I could sink my teeth into him and send him straight to hell.

"Or what?" I laugh. "You'll let her kill me? Esme couldn't raise a stake to take my life if hers depended on it."

Before I can take my next breath, Alfred's fist collides with my nose. My head snaps backward as a contemptuous chuckle leaves my brother's lips. Cold blood dribbles out my left nostril as my eyes flare with violence and lock back on Esme's brother.

Even though I want to end him for his brutal outburst and the threat he proposes to the coven, his connection to Esme stops me.

I wasn't lying. Even if it's hard for him to hear, it's the truth. She couldn't kill me, even after years of their pathetic training. I saw it in her eyes tonight.

What's more, something tells me that as much as I crave the taste of her blood, I could never rob her of the one thing I wish was never stolen from me.

My mortal life.

And that's the one reason why I should listen to their warnings, heed my heart's caution, and do as I told her.

Stay. Away.

But as my brothers turn against me, the watchers stand their ground, and her pull on my heart grows stronger with each passing second, I get the sudden urge to do the opposite and prove them wrong.

Alfred's eyes fill with disdain as he says, "You stay away from Esme, and the watchers will ensure your safety."

I laugh. "We're already guaranteed protection."

"You sure about that?" Caelum grins.

My eyes drift towards him, and I laugh, "Your kind has never trained a successful slayer. You'd be better off asking for our protection."

Alfred and his pathetic partner square off against me and my brothers. Silence falls on the forest. Even the irritating sounds of insects, nocturnal creatures, and the scurrying of life from minutes ago cease to exist.

Taking a deep breath, Alfred takes one small step forward and sternly holds my stare. The look in his eyes would inflict fear, panic, and horror in a mortal man. Unfortunately for him, I'm a deity he'd be smart not to cross like this again.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he says, "I stood by Esme long before you ever stepped foot on Martin soil, Prince Caldwell, and I'll be standing by her side long after you leave, or she puts you in a wooden coffin your damned soul will never escape. Push me, defy me, and I'll run a stake through your heart myself and make her watch so she knows never to get close to your kind again."

"Big threats for a man destined to teach and never play the game," I snarl. "You know what they say about teachers, Alfred, right? Those who can, do. Those who can't…"

Leaning forward, Alfred cuts me off angrily, "I've dedicated my life to honing her skills to defeat the likes of you, and the evil that's always lurked in this family. You care for her? You want to truly protect her? You'd do the same. Remember that next time you're spouting stupid cliches to make yourself seem like a bigger man."

Brushing past me angrily, Caelum shoots daggers my way as he follows suit and leaves with the master, who pulls both his and Esme's strings.

Staring into the night after their retreating forms, I wrestle with everything Alfred has just said.

"He's right, you know," Talon warns, and I swear to God, if his shadows come out to play again, I don't care what dreadful warning they might show me next, I'll end them all if only to get a little peace and fucking quiet so I can try to escape the inescapable for once.

"No," I insist. "He's wrong. If I cared for her, I'd find a way to beat the odds and prove to us both it's better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all."