Page 16 of Illuminated

I hesitated for a moment longer, for long enough to see something pass over his face, something that made my heart skip a beat. I headed to the large bed then, dropped my towel on the foot bench, and crept under the covers. Auris had gone back to looking at the flames but made no attempt to leave the room. I didn’t care. Or maybe I did but didn’t want him to leave.

“Good night,” I said.

“Good night, Ethan. Sleep well.”

The crackling flames and the soft sheets made that easy. I was asleep within minutes.

Chapter Four

When I woke up the next morning, it took me a moment to mentally catalog the events that had brought me here. The fact that I was still in a huge bed in some seaside vacation house meant I really hadn’t made up any of it. The church, the abandoned house in the middle of the woods, and… Auris. All of that had really happened.

I turned around, craned my head to see as much of the room as I could without getting up. After all, fall was creeping up the coast from the ocean, and it was warm under the covers.

If Auris was still here -- and he might not be during the day, I had no idea -- I didn’t see him, but I did see something that was familiar: my luggage from the hotel, piled in an orderly way next to the fireplace in which the red glow of embers shimmered like the morning sun.

Naked or not, this did make me get up. I pushed the covers back and swung my feet out of bed. I took a moment to bury my toes in the thick carpet, then walked over and opened my bag, the one that had all my clothes. I pulled out a T-shirt, this one just an unimpressive gray one. I also found workout shorts, the ones I didn’t wear for working out but for editing.

So prepared, I headed down the hallway to the huge living room and its adjoining kitchen. I smelled coffee, thank heavens, and Auris was sitting on a stool at the kitchen counter where he typed away on a laptop.

He looked up at me. “Good morning.”

I froze where I stood. He was a beautiful man in the dark, but in daylight, something about him seemed even more real, more solid, and no less gorgeous. It was almost like last night, he’d been a fantasy, but then, right now, with the sunlight slanting in through the tall windows, he seemed like the dream of a fairy prince dragged into reality. Or no, invited into reality, and glad to be here.

His hair was still lush, his face would sell me photos easily, and that he dressed all in black somehow completed the look: tall, dark, handsome with a side of mysterious and a generous dash of outright enchanting. If I could get him to take his clothes off and pose for me… well, that would really sell.

Just to test my memory, I closed my eyes and tried imagining him, his face, his clothing.

Unlike last night, I found that much easier. I wouldn’t say that he looked like a normal person in front of my mind’s eye, but certainly more tangible.

However, I knew that his eyes were dark, the irises almost completely black obsidian. Now, in daylight, they shimmered a faded gray, silvery.

“Good morning,” I said. All of a sudden, I was very aware that all I was wearing was a T-shirt and my shorts. Auris had on dress pants, a black shirt. Maybe the same he’d worn last night, although I wasn’t sure.

He didn’t move, and he kept his eyes firmly on my face. “I made you coffee. There is toast as well, and if you want to trust my housekeeper, the fridge contains whatever you could desire. I’m afraid I am a terrible judge when it comes to food. I see you already found your luggage.”

I nodded. “Yes. How did that get here?”

He shrugged, and I walked around the kitchen counter to pour myself some coffee into a waiting mug. It was the kind of cozy looking, dove gray kitchenware that was designed to make you think of lazy Sunday mornings. I sighed happily when I poured in the coffee.

“I got it last night once you were sleeping,” he said.

“You went to my hotel, and you just got my things?”

He closed the laptop. “Before you judge me, listen. I had no intention of bringing this up last night because everything you had seen and experienced was a lot to take in already. I didn’t want to frighten you more than you already were.

“However, the priests would have seen your car when they came back to the church to dispatch me. There is a chance one of them passed along your license plate to be checked out, a good chance. They are unfortunately thorough like that, I can tell you that from personal experience. By now, they must be aware that I am still very much alive, because some of theirs are very much not. Finding you will be their best lead toward finding me at the moment. I didn’t think having armed men of the cloth showing up at the hotel you were staying at would be a pleasant experience, so I checked you out.”

I sipped the coffee. It was strong and rich, excellent. “You checked me out.”

“I did.”

“Following your logic, armed priests might accost me anywhere now. I mean, the car is registered to me, what with it being my car. I’m a photographer. I have a website. I’m not exactly in hiding.” I leaned against the counter across from him. He had just told me that paramilitary priests were likely out to interrogate me, but something about the mundaneness of the situation stomped out any trace of panic and kept me calm. Or almost calm. I may have giggled a little bit.

“I’m not looking to argue with you. You are right. They might find you wherever you go. But if it is within my power to keep you safe, I will do so, and last night, it was. So I checked you out.”

I sighed. “Well, I wouldn’t have wanted to be accosted by an armed priest. Thank you. I guess.”

“It was a distinct pleasure,” he said, the corners of his mouth pulling up.

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