Page 28 of Eternally Yours

The male part of me roared inside me like a stupid primitive animal, needing to squash her jab and show her how much of a virgin I wasn’t, but my more logical self appreciated her humor. At least she was feeling better.

“We’ve done a decent job of keeping our kind hidden from the general human population,” I said, offering her some insight into our world. “Despite our gifts, we aren’t many. There are only ten ruling covens in the whole world. My family is the most powerful of them all.”

“Wow. Virgin and a royal prince.” She laughed again, and the sound made my insides warm. It was the first time since I’d met her that our interaction hadn’t been shadowed by grim events. She was even more beautiful like this, and this joyful side of her made me want to know more about her.

“Yeah, well don’t get too giddy,” I said. “I’ve been disowned. I’m no longer a prince.”

Settling into her seat, she turned toward me, and said, “Well, we have some time before we get to Vermont, so you might as well tell me why the heir to a batty empire was disowned.”

“Batty?”

“You know, like a bat.”

I shook my head. “Humans and their folklore.”

“So, we don’t turn into bats?”

“Or live in caves or sleep hanging upside down, or in coffins—well, my dad sorta did centuries ago. The point is, no, we don’t turn into bats.”

“But the sun can fry our ass, so some things are true.”

“Some things, yeah.”

She leaned her head against the seat, suddenly looking tired. “I'm just waiting to wake up from this hellish dream. To find myself back in my grimy apartment, under-slept and overworked, with my terrible roommate eating all my food, and drinking cheap wine while binge-watching The Housewives,” she mused.

My back straightened, curious to know more. “You never mentioned you lived with anyone.”

“You never asked. Why is that important?”

“We don’t want to draw too much attention to the fact you’re missing.”

“Yeah, well. Did you forget I also have a job? And the way I left my dad wasn’t exactly smooth. He’s probably blowing up my phone, which I left back at the hospital. Cruella is the least of our worries. She’s probably hoping I never return.”

From the corner of my eye, I watched as she sank deeper in the seat. She closed her eyes and sighed. The first sign of rest I’d seen since we got on the road. “So,” she said, her voice breathy. “Tell me about the assholes who tried to kidnap me. Why are you guys such enemies? I mean, it’s a bit over the top, don’t you think?”

I clenched my teeth, anger rising just at the mention of the religious faction that had made my people’s lives hell for centuries. It wasn’t something to joke about, and I didn’t take the pain they’d caused my family lightly. “They believe us to be spawns of the Devil, demonic creatures birthed from the bowels of Hell itself.”

“Are your kind behind our myths?”

“You could say that. We’ve done a good job at staying under the radar, but there was a time in our past when we weren’t as careful. Our kind ran rampant, killing without scruples. The Order was born out of humanity’s need to protect their own. They believed us to be monsters. And perhaps we’d given them reason to believe so. But they began exterminating our kind, using our weakness to the sun to their advantage. It started off as a Christian religious sect sent out to cast us back into Hell. Now they are governed under a bigger umbrella.”

“The Vatican?”

“Not entirely. It’s far more sinister and funded by private entities with deep pockets. They’ve been hunting us since the middle ages, and their numbers have increased.”

“Why not find a way to coexist?”

I'd seen the Order slaughter my people, kill those closest to me. A truce was inconceivable. "There’s too much bad blood. They’ve killed too many of our kind, and we’ve killed too many of theirs. It’s a vicious cycle.”

“I guess I can understand your feud, but what does any of that have to do with me?”

“That’s what I intend to find as soon as we’re settled at the cabin. You saw how quickly they found you and almost took you away. They have money, power, and influence in the human world which allows them to use their technology and science against us. It won’t be long before they find us.”

She let out an exasperated breath. All this information was too much to absorb. Sinking lower in her seat, Loren tucked her knees up so they rested on the dashboard. “Will things ever feel normal for me again? I guess that’s a stupid question, though, isn’t it? I just… I…” She struggled with her next words. “It all still feels like a bad dream.”

Through our bond, I felt her desperation. Would she have been better off if I’d let her die? The mere thought made my blood ripple with unease. Gloom settled over my chest, tearing at my ability to stay composed. But I needed to stay calm. For her. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She said nothing, and her silence covered me in darkness.

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