Page 8 of Eternally Bound

“She’s been wearing that perfume for years, DKNY Delicious.” His laughter grows, and it makes me smile.

He shifts us, and as soon as my feet touch the ground and he lets go of me, reality comes crashing. I’m in the English countryside with a man claiming to be my husband after I was drugged and had the world’s trippiest hallucination and the best part? I am not scared for my life.

What is wrong with me?

I back away from him and put my hands up between us when he means to follow.

“Stay back, don’t touch me. My brain haywires, and I lose all sense of self-preservation when you touch me.” He stands still and places his hands in the pockets of his dress pants.

“Maddy, I understand your confusion. Let me get you inside, and I’ll explain what I can. I promise you are safe with me.” I shake my head.

“No, I’m not. Don’t lie to me. You said the visions were real. I die every time we’ve met!” I scream at him out of desperation.

My heart aches at the thought.

Erik flinches at my words, and I want to run and hug him. Promise him I won’t leave him alone again. Kiss him, love him.

Why do I feel so strongly for someone I just met?

“I deserve that, but not for what you think. Please, no matter what we do now, you need to know the whole story. I will take you and your friends anywhere you want to go after I explain.” He offers me his hand, and I take it without thought.

I feel better the moment we touch.

“Magic?” I ask because it’s the only thing that would remotely make sense.

“We are eternally bound. What you call soulmates. No matter what, we will always find each other. It might just take a few centuries.” He leads me up the stairs and into the house.

Gaius passes us on his way to get another one of my unconscious friends.

“Will they be ok? What happened to them?” I panic at the thought of not checking on them.

“Your friends are fine. I put them under a sleeping spell to get them away from the danger you were in. How did you end up in a vampire den drinking ambrosia?” What?

“Vampire den? It was just a pub. And what the fuck is ambrosia?” I follow him into the house and stop dead in my tracks.

A painting of a woman stares at me. I look nothing like her except the red hair. She’s wearing a white dress and holding flowers. The painting must be a few hundred years old, but I know it’s me.

“Here, it’s just water. Promise.” Erik hands me a tall glass, and I empty it before I can think twice.

“Ambrosia is a powerful elixir meant for supernaturals. Mortals get high, and it’s easier to steal from them.” I flop down onto a nearby sofa and sigh.

“Steal what?” Erik crouches down in front of me and lifts my chin with his left hand, which has a wedding ring.

“Your blood, beloved. It is what a vampire craves.” His pupils turn black while his fangs press into his bottom lip.

A small trickle of blood runs down the corner of his mouth, and I reach out to capture it with my thumb, but he licks it away before I can reach it.

“Point proven,” I say as I lick my lips, wishing I could have tasted it.

Now, that thought stills me.

“Why do I want to taste your blood?” I blurt out the question and break the trance we were both in.

“What? That’s never happened before.” He stands and starts to pace.

“I think you need to start at the beginning. The flashes I got don’t explain shit. All I know is that you show up in my life whenever I need you. We fall in love, and then I die. I need you to fill in the blanks. It’s giving Romeo and Juliet with fangs.” Gaius walks into the room and snorts at my last statement.

“That hack stole that story from my recounts of Eden. Now, Marlowe, he was completely original.” He places a tray of cakes and cookies, along with a pot of tea, on the table in front of me.

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