Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (25 page)

He rolled the quad upright saying, “Are you kidding me? You tried to climb that steep hill? Haven’t you learned anything from me?” He laughed helping me up. “Let’s get you home and cleaned up.”

“I guess I should be more careful. I wouldn’t want Bradley to think you weren’t taking good care of me.” Lately, it seemed that any time I brought up Bradley he would change the subject or shrug it off as if he didn’t care what Bradley thought.

Bill insisted on cleaning up my scrapes and cuts. Had he not seen them I would have just healed them using my magic and the poultice that Bradley packed for me. He was always thinking ahead. Since Bill didn’t know that I was a witch, I had to deal with the scrapes and cuts until they healed naturally. I wasn’t used to that. After Bill cleaned me up, he sat beside me and placed his arm over my shoulder.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Sure, but honestly, I was okay before. I’m quite clumsy. You can ask Bradley, he’d have some stories to tell you. Several times he has rescued me from myself.” I laughed at the number of times he’d caught me right before my face would smash into the ground. “I would have a pug nose if it wasn’t for him.” I giggled again.

“Can I ask you a personal question about the two of you?”

“Depends, what’s your question?” I wasn’t going to promise anything, especially when it came to Bradley and me.

“How can you be with him? I mean he’s a vampire and you are human. He’ll live forever and you’ll die. Why would you love someone who could never grow old with you?” Having thought about myself on several occasions, his words hit home.

“From the first time I saw him, I knew we belonged together. Since the first time he kissed my cheek I wanted more. It’s an amazing feeling to love someone as much as I love him.” Smiling proudly, I felt my cheeks growing warm.

“Why do you think he tries so hard to keep you safe knowing he’s never going to change you and that you’re going to die someday?”

I didn’t like his questioning or the annoyance in his tone. Sometimes it seemed like he’s angry with Bradley. “Bill, if you want to know how he feels you should ask him not me. Why are you getting angry?” I went to reach out to see why he had been so upset but he pulled away and suggested that I get some sleep.

Bill didn’t bring up Bradley again for a while.

***

It had been a few days since my rolling the quad. We were going for another hike to see the waterfall. Although it wasn’t quite warm enough for a swim, I was going to find out what was behind the falls. Bored out of my mind, I needed to do something different. In preparation for my swim, I dressed in jogging pants with my shorts underneath. The sun shone bright making it a beautiful day. Our hike and the sunrays gave the illusion that the day had been warmer then it truly had been.

This time we ended up at the top of the waterfall. Looking down I said, “Wow, we’re a lot higher than I thought we’d be.”

“Come on, let’s go down this way.” Bill waved his hand, instructing me to follow. He began climbing down the side of the mountain, trusting I would be right behind him.

“Okay.” I didn’t follow though. I’m going to jump. The water looks great and deep enough.

Watching me take off my sweatpants Seager worriedly asked,
“What are you doing, Nat?”

I took three large steps back, “Meet me at the bottom, Seager.” Then I ran and jumped. I screamed excitedly all the way down.

I should have thought about the water temperature, but I forgot all about it. Even though it felt warmer outside, the water was still very cold. My body instantly went into shock from the cold water. Gasping I tried to swim under the waterfall thinking that I’d be able to climb into a cave or something. Unfortunately, I had been met with the side of the mountain with nothing to climb onto. The water pounded down on me. Short of breath and achy cold, my quivering muscles made the swim back to dry ground incredibly hard and tiring. It took me a while but I made it. I crawled out and collapsed from exhaustion. The lower half of my body remained in the water with the upper half in the dirt.

Bill carried me back to Dave’s house. Freezing, my body shivered and teeth chattered.

Once inside I stuttered, “Ppputtt mmee dddown.

“What were you thinking,” he asked angrily, dropping me onto my feet. I stumbled backwards before he grabbed me again. He held a firm grip on my elbow while he reached down to grab the neatly folded blanket from the couch. After shaking, to unfold it, he wrapped it around tightly and started rubbing my arms vigorously before hugging me. “Well?”

“II rrreally wwwanted to sssee wwhat was on the ooother ssside of the waterfffall. II ddidn’t thinkk about hhow ccccold the wwwater woulddd bbbe.” Even though Bill’s body heat warmed my frozen body, I pulled away. Suddenly I felt a tingling sensation run through me. Could it be my Bradley?

“Are you okay, Nat?”
Seager asked worriedly.

“
Yes, sorry if I scared you. I’ve been dying to do that since the first day I saw that waterfall. It won’t happen again. Well, not without Bradley being here.”

Next, the unthinkable happened. Bill reached out and took me into his arms again. Puzzled by it I looked up into his lust filled eyes. I tried to back away but he held me tighter. I opened my mouth to say something but he silenced me with a kiss. I felt his tongue stroke mine while his hands drifted lower down my back.

At first I had been too stunned to react. When he moaned hungrily into my mouth, disgust filled me. I tried to push him away but he wouldn’t let me go. That made me furious. I stomped my foot down on his, startling him. His grip weakened so I took advantage and shoved him away. That’s when I swung, putting all my weight behind my fist. I punched him right in the face and knocked his ass to the floor.

“What are you doing? How dare you kiss me?” I wiped my lips with the back of my hand. Fuming, I hollered, “I want to go home now. Right now!” Even though I knew I didn’t do anything wrong, tears of guilt started to fall. Reality had been the opposite of my dream. I didn’t like being kissed by him. Instead, I felt betrayed and guilty. I ran to my room and locked the door.

“Seager, I don’t understand why he did that. I didn’t do anything to imply that I was interested in him. We need to leave I can’t stay here with him.”

“Settle down, Nat. You did nothing wrong. Things are being resolved as we speak. I’m sure it won’t happen again.”

“I want to go home and see Bradley. I can’t take it anymore.”
I plopped onto the bed and cried into my pillow.

Now I know I locked the door, but yet I heard it opening. Bill must have a key. “Bill, get out!” I yelled into my pillow. “Stay away from me.”

I started crying even harder because I could feel Bradley. He felt close, very close. If only he knew, then he’d take me home.

Suddenly, I felt someone’s cold hands grab me. Not someone’s,
his
. I rolled over to see Bradley lying next to me. “Oh, Bradley! I’ve missed you so much.”

“Natalia…” His lips were on mine and all the bad things that just happened disappeared. When his lips left mine he gazed into my eyes. “I’m sorry about Bill’s behavior. He promised it won’t happen again.”

“No, Bradley, I don’t want to stay here anymore. I want to go home, it’s been too long.”

He touched my lips with his fingers before placing them under my chin to look into my eyes. His eyes studied mine for a while, before the relief spread across his face.

“I was worried for a moment.” He kissed me again. “I thought maybe you might have enjoyed it a little. That maybe you hit him because he made you feel something you didn’t want to.”

Confused, I asked, “How do you know I hit him?”

“I was on my way to see you when I felt your fear. You were terrified and having trouble breathing. Then I felt you collapse. I walked in while he was drying you off. When I saw him looking at you inappropriately I was about to say something but he kissed you. Shocked by what I saw, I froze.”

He rubbed my left cheek with the back of his right hand. “At first I thought you were kissing him back. So you can imagine how relieved I was when you finally shoved him.” After a tender kiss on my nose, he boasted, “You’ve got a nice right hook,” then chuckled.

“I would have come in sooner but I needed to have a talk with Bill first.” He kissed me again and pulled our bodies closer together, holding me tight. “I’ve missed you, my lovely wife.”

Gazing adoringly into his eyes I teased, “Why don’t you show me how much you’ve missed me?”

He flashed his most sexy smile before leaning in to kiss me again. I started to undress him when I heard a knock at the door.

“Brad, I’m sorry to interrupt but you need to come out now.” When I heard Dave’s voice I became slightly alarmed.

Bradley jumped up from the bed, growling, “Natalia, my love, we need to go.”

“What’s the matter,” I whispered.

“I think he’s here.”

As he said those words, a chill ran down my spine. I knew, without a shadow of doubt that Andrew had followed them to Dave’s house. We walked into the living room to find everyone waiting for us.

“Brad, we followed him here. Andrew went around front and is trying to find a way in. We all came in the back entrance,” Dave said through clenched teeth.

“Let’s go, Dave. We’ll go out the way you came in. He won’t expect it. I’m sure he thinks I’m with Natalia.”

“No, please don’t.” With pleading eyes I grabbed hold of Bradley’s hand and held it tightly.

“Natalia, I have to go. Please, just a little longer. Did you put a shield around the house?” I shook my head. “Put one up. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” He gently kissed my lips then both of them were gone. I stomped my foot fed-up with all the drama.

I never got a chance to put up a shield. Seconds after Bradley and Dave left, the rest of us fell silent and froze. Something big and strong was being slammed into the front door. The sound echoed through the house. As if the door had been a piece of plywood, Andrew shattered it, and walked in like he owned the place. He looked right at me with his red eyes that were full of hunger. Just like the last time I looked into his eyes, they grabbed hold and trapped mine.

“No!” Bill shouted before jumping in front of and releasing me from Andrew’s unrelenting gaze.

“You pathetic human, do you think you can stop me?” he warned pointing his long boney fingers at Bill. The nails were long and shaped to a point like daggers. “How dare you kiss her? You will pay for that.” I saw Seager about to attack him. So did Andrew. With one deliberate swing Seager was thrown against the wall. His body lay lifeless on the ground. Andrew looked at me and scoffed, “I knew it was Cheryl and not you with Brad all along. Your mutt never leaves your side. Not very good planning on your part, my dear.”

I wanted to run to Seager but Andrew leapt through the air and landed on Bill, shoving him onto the floor. Someone grabbed me from behind and carried me out of the room. I could hear Bill screaming. It didn’t take long for his agonizing screams to become muffled. Although I was angry with him for the kiss, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Bill.

Everything went quiet. I looked at Cheryl who’d carried me out of the room. She put her fingers up to her lips. Even I knew that it didn’t matter if we made a sound. He could smell us.

A vision, short but precise quickly flashed through my mind. Moments later my vision became our reality. Andrew came crashing through the door grabbed a hold of Cheryl and threw her right through the wall. He punched me in the face then shoved a gag into my mouth before tossing me over his shoulder and flitting through the open window and out into the night.

Choking on the gag, I tried pulling my hands free from the firm grip he had on my wrists. Unable to breathe through my broken nose I started freaking out, my legs kicking wildly.

Finally, Andrew stopped running. With force, he threw me onto the ground. The back of my head slammed against it, hard. Dazed I looked around, trying to figure out where we were. With the moon full and high, I could see we were still on Dave’s property. We were by the waterfall hidden behind three boulders shaped like a crescent moon.

I tried to scream but Andrew punched me again. Within a second my clothes were ripped off and he had my body pinned to the ground. Silently I cast a spell to protect myself from his venom then prayed it worked.

Terrified, I screamed for Bradley.

“You can scream for him all you want, he won’t be coming to save you, no one will.” After pulling the gag out of my mouth he shoved his tongue into it, kissing me hard. “I told you I would have you. I’ve waited a very long time for you. I won’t go another day without having you.”

With his left hand he manacled my hands above my head and started kissing my breasts roughly. I squiggled and squirmed trying to get away. When it didn’t work, I screamed again, begging for Bradley to save me. Andrew let out a wicked evil laugh. With his free hand he reached down to undo his pants. I tried again to get away but he was too strong. I could
see
what he wanted to do to me.

“NO!! Get off of me!”

He backhanded me before taking a firm grip on my chin. “If you beg me to take you I’ll spare you and your precious Bradley’s life.” He cupped his hand on my breast and started rubbing it aggressively.