Page 86 of A Bond with the Dark

I’m begging you.

As my whispers subside, the glow simmers to a sparkle, returning us to the darkness again.

When I’m done, I clasp the chain around my neck and tuck the stone safely into my shirt. A new trinket from my lady love that may be the key to my salvation.

Frosty touches like a ghost’s caress sink down my spine.

“Do you think it worked?” she asks as we stand together on the deck again bathed in darkness.

“I think it did. But . . . I’ll put my hand in the sun first to make sure.”

“I think it did, too; I can feel its power. It’s palpable. I just . . . I don’t know what I’d do if it didn’t work.”

I stop her and lift her chin. “The thought alone that you’d make me something that would free me from the dark means the world to me.” I pull her lips to mine and kiss her gently; she slithers her arm around my neck and caresses my face with her other hand. She feels so good on me. I pull away, interlacing my fingers behind her back. “If anyone can free me from the dark, it’s you. The problem with Scarlet’s spell was that she has the same blood as me, so she’s controlled by the night. If anyone is going to spell something that will take power away from the moon, it’ll be someone who’s ruled by light. Your warmth is so powerful; you are driven by light and love, and you have a bond with the sun. Since we have a bond with the dark, it would be hard for us to take that power away from it. You are bonded with light. It should be easy to take the power away from the dark.”

“Can we try it tomorrow morning?” Her ocean eyes sparkle as she gazes up at me.

“We can. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to stay inside all day until I can go outside again.”

“No problem,” she says, kissing me. “Gauge loves lazy pajama days.”

“And if it does work, it may help your case with my family.”

Her expression withers and her eyes look into mine, but they go beyond me like she’s fallen into a void.

“Hey, where did you go?” I ask, wiggling her hips.

“Oh, hi,” she says quickly. “I was panicking thinking about meeting your family. What will that be like? Will you tell them I know? Will we act like I don’t know? What?—”

“Stop,” I shush her and kiss her cute little nose. “My mom and dad are fine with people knowing as long as they know you won’t spread our secret. My mom is nurturing. My dad is kind, but he has a hard temper. He can be scary, but only to me. And to Bash. Hattie, you don’t have to worry about. She’s sweet. Scar will be hard to win over, but that’s because we’re twins. Jasantha, she’s like a perfect mixture between Bash and me; she can be kind and humanly, or she can be hard and murder-y. I think that’s the siren in her. And Ollie, he’s a kind soul. He hates being a vampire as much as I do.”

“I thought you said your middle sister Hattie is all murder and mayhem?”

“She can be. You have to keep in mind that we’re all vampires. We can all be murder and mayhem when it comes down to it.”

“Great. So, little ol’ me walks into this house full of vampires that are all, in your words,murder-y, and I’m gonna be like, ‘Hi. I’m Sayah. I’m with your son and brother. Please don’t eat me.’”

I laugh and put her arms around my neck. “Nobody’s gonna eat you. They just may want a little taste.” I snort a growl and nibble the shell of her ear.

“You’re not making me feel any better with your jokes.”

Pulling her in, I wrap my arms around her head and kiss her lips. “I’m so glad that you know.”

“Me too. But—so, they’re all gonna be there?” she says, nervousness still intertwined in her words.

“All but Bash,” I reply shortly.

“They don’t talk to him either?”

“Nobody but Ollie does, and that’s only once every fifty years or so.”

“Okay. So, just the one crazy sibling will be there. Oh, wait—no, make that two ‘cause Hattie.”

“We’re all crazy, darling, we’re vampires.”

Her chest rises and falls, but the energy about her tells me she’s terrified about going to my parent’s house.

I can’t blame her. Something is unnerving about walking into a den of vampires being a mortal and the primary source of their food. One of us takes some getting used to, but the seven of us at once would be terrifying to someone just learning about all this.

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