Page 184 of Immortal Bastard

She stared at the rock again and imagined a little version of herself pushing the stone with all her might. It didn’t even wobble. She huffed and turned back to Christian. “I think it’s broken.”

“Watch me.” He turned his stare to the stone, and it scooted about six inches to the right.

“How did you do that?”

He shrugged. “Exactly as I told you. I simply pushed with my mind.”

She scowled at him and then at the stupid rock. Taking a deep breath, she tried to push the damn thing again. It trembled and shifted an inch. She gasped and spun to Christian, who instantly looked away. “You did that!”

His guilty expression gave him away.

“Christian! I’m never going to be good at this stuff if you do it for me.”

“It’s a silly trick, Delilah, and exactly why God gave us hands. You’ll eventually learn everything.”

They rotated between walking and running, but her favorite was when they jumped in and out of the trees. Whenever they slowed their pace, they talked. Usually about silly questions that crossed her mind, but Christian was always patient and amused by her endless curiosity.

“Can you run faster than a speeding bullet?”

“How am I to know how fast a bullet travels?”

“How about a train?”

“I’ve never measured my speed. Is it not enough to say we’re fast?”

“But how fast?”

“Why are you so interested in such things?”

“Why are you so uninterested? Don’t you think it’s neat?”

He considered her question for a moment. “It is what I always have been. Do you think it is neat that your hair grows or that you can walk on two feet?”

She jumped over a downed log and landed with amazing agility. “Now, I do. I’m like super-dexterous Barbie.” She did a cartwheel that ended with a flip. “Woo-hoo! Come on, Ken!”

“What is Ken?”

By dawn she was ready to rest. They crossed several state lines, and she wasn’t exactly sure how many miles they traveled. “How much longer?”

“We should be there by the time the sun is directly overhead.”

“That tells me nothing.”

“About five more hours.”

Good thing they were built for endurance.

She spent the next mile observing him, taking in every detail from the fullness of his lower lip to the sureness of his steps. Christian was unfairly beautiful and she could admire his lean, muscular body for days.

“Delilah.”

“Huh?”

“Your filthy thoughts will only slow us down.”

“Why?” She turned, skipping alongside of him at a silly trot. “Do they make you want to do dirty things to me?”

His nostrils flared and his eyes dilated. Those silver irises bore into her as if marking her with his gaze alone. “Yes.” He glanced back at the animals trailing them. “Hunger can be confusing around so many mortals. We should stop for a bit to feed.”

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