Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4) (37 page)

An unsettling feeling suddenly hovered over me.

While still trying to get my hair back up into a decent ponytail, I heard tires crunching on the gravel of the driveway. Hoping Lilly had returned, I hurried down the stairs and to the window. It wasn’t her. There was a large, black SUV pulling in. I was suddenly panicked that Felix might have brought Mr. Green-eyes out to my aunt’s house. Yet, even through my panic, part of me actually wanted to see him again.

Only Felix stepped out of the SUV. It did not appear anyone else was with him. I watched him as he made his way up to the front porch. He knocked on the front door just as Ashton was emerging from the bathroom, his nose no longer bleeding.

Ashton
gave me a look, silently questioning who was at the door, and he joined me as I opened it, wrapping an arm around my waist as we faced Felix.

“Explain this,” Felix said, holding some sort of leather-bound book out to Ashton. He shoved it at Ashton, and then he stepped through the doorway, forcing us to take several steps back.

“It’s a book,” Ashton said. He examined it for a moment before looking up at Felix. “Looks like a journal,” he said, kind of smugly. Ashton had the tendency to do that at times, act like a smartass. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because she took it from you yesterday,” Felix’s voice boomed. He nodded in my direction.

“I didn’t take that from him,” I said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

Felix’s sky-blue eyes fixed on me
and they narrowed. He was scary when he got like that. “Delaney, what did you do yesterday?”

“I…” Huh, I
couldn’t recall.

“And you?” Felix asked, turning his narrowed gaze
on Ashton.

“I had practice…I think,” Ashton responded. He seemed to be at a loss also. He looked over to me. “Didn’t we go to dinner or something?”

I shrugged. Looking to Felix, I said, “What’s going on?”

Right then, the
back door slammed open with a bang, startling Ashton and me. I just about jumped out of my skin. Ashton pulled me closer as we spun around.

Carter and his friend, who had invaded both my dream and my bedroom, came rushing in. They slowed a few feet from us, and the man I
didn’t know focused on Ashton. “Hands off,” he growled.

I took a step back, pressing myself against Ashton.

Dream Boyfriend’s eyes connected with mine, inducing another flutter in my stomach. I felt a tug, like a magnet was pulling me to this stranger. Like my body knew him but I didn’t.

He came at me, and he was fast. Too fast for Ashton to do anything to protect me. In fact, I think Ashton may have tried to stop this guy, but it all happened so fast, I couldn’t really tell.

I do know Ashton was no longer holding onto me. I was screaming and running away from the green-eyed stranger. I was running through my aunt’s house, trying to find an escape, desperately wondering why my protector was letting this happen.

I ran from the entryway, through the kitchen, and to the living room where I found Carter blocking my way to the
back door. I felt fully betrayed. Why would my friend let this guy come after me, and why wasn’t Felix helping me? And where was Ashton?

I stopped, spun around, and he caught me. This strange man held me tight in his arms while I struggled and cried for help. He pressed himself against me with my body facing his. I could feel the hard contours of him.
Wow.
I fought him, but he wouldn’t budge, and nobody else was doing anything.

While I struggled against Green-Eyes
, he moved us back to the entryway where I found Felix holding Ashton facedown to the floor. Ashton was protesting and struggling.

What the hell is going on?

Felix tossed the book—the one he claimed I’d taken from Ashton—to Carter who was right behind me. And to make matters worse, not only had Felix and Carter betrayed me, my body was following suit.

The mystery guy, who was now holding me captive and causing my body to betray me
—making it yearn for him with every touch, held me tighter against him.

“Burn it now!” Felix shouted.

The sound of Felix’s voice startled me, but not as much as Dream Boy kissing me. At first I fought him. I pounded on his chest and pushed at him, but he didn’t stop. With one strong arm holding my body to his, the other hand tangled in my hair, just behind my ear.

Ashton was shouting from the entryway floor. I smelled something burning. I stopped fighting right then, as the smell of smoke permeated the air. My head was suddenly clouded and my body was weak. Our lips parted and my eyes focused on those of the man holding me against him.

Then it all flooded back to me.
All of it.
Every Oliver moment, every smile, every kiss. The heartache, the happiness, the sheer bliss of being one with him. I saw every one of those moments as clearly as I could see Oliver in front of me. It hurt to have all of those emotions, all of those memories hit me at once. Just the loss of my aunt and how I felt about Oliver was enough to bring me to my knees. And it just about did, had Oliver not been holding onto me for dear life.

I kissed him, pressing my lips to his as relief washed over me. If I hadn’t felt so weak, I would have thrown my arms around Oliver’s neck and done more. Instead, my arms hung at my sides and the rest of my body felt just as useless.

Oliver’s lips broke free of mine. They made their way across my jaw and down my neck with quick, happy kisses. “Please never forget me again,” he whispered between kisses before his eyes met mine again.

“Never,” I breathed, tears surfacing.

He smiled, his own relief visible across his gorgeous face.

I leaned against him for support
, and he held me like he would never let go.

Carter yelped and dropped the burning journal to the floor, and as this happened, Ashton made this weird whoosh sound, like the breath
was knocked out of him.

With his cheek still pressed to the floor and Felix’s knee in his back, he said, “Wha-what just happened?”

Felix gave Ashton a quick recap and released him as he did so. Ashton made it to his knees before it was obvious that he was feeling just as drained as me. Beside him sat the charred remains of the journal I had taken from his backpack.

“The journal was bewitched,” Felix told us. “It contained personal belongings from both of you, which caused the affect you both experienced.” His eyes settled on mine. “I assume you found the photos last night while you were in your bedroom?”

I nodded. “I got a headache after I found them. That’s the last thing I remember.” Even my voice was weak. I was freezing and I shivered. Oliver held me tighter.

“What are you talking about?” Ashton asked, fully frustrated. Still on his knees, he looked down at the floor, shaking his head like he was trying to shake away his own headache.

“I took that journal from your backpack yesterday. It had pictures in it, some that were stolen from my room not long ago, and one of yours,” I said in a rather accusatory tone. I didn’t bother mentioning which photo or how I knew that it was his.

“I’ve never seen that thing before,” he said, looking over at the remains of the journal, and then looking up at each one of us. “Really! Somebody
must’ve planted it on me!” he shouted, a desperate look in his eyes. “Wait,” he said, his expression changing. He returned his attention to me, “What were you doing in my backpack?” His eyes narrowed on mine.

“That doesn’t matter,” Carter told him, angrily. He looked like he was about to take out every frustration
he’d ever had, about anything, and release it on Ashton. “How are we supposed to believe you?” Carter spat. “We saw you with that slayer dude not long ago. And you knew something had happened to Laney, I heard you that day you showed up at the apartment. The day I beat your ass.” Carter took a step forward. Felix held up a large hand to stop him.

“You don’t know shit, Carter,” Ashton seethed.

Oliver held me closer, his arms tightening around me.

“Enough,” Felix boomed as Carter was about to retaliate. “He is not lying about this particular incident. That much I can tell.”

Ashton looked at Felix like he was a total pervert. His expression made me giggle. All eyes fell on me. I cleared my throat, then said, “Let’s get out of here.” I wanted out of that house, and especially away from the entryway where my aunt had taken her final breath.

Oliver was quick to pick up on my need to leave.
While I still regained my strength, he held onto me as we turned for the door.

Ashton slowly, and a little unsteadily, rose to his feet. No one offered to help him. He held himself against the doorframe with one hand. Felix stood close to him, as if prepared to catch Ashton, or, perhaps, prevent him from running.

“Wait,” Carter said. We all stopped and turned to him, but his stare fell on Ashton. “You don’t seem very…surprised by the mention of being bewitched by that journal.” Carter’s eyes narrowed.

This was a damn good point, and we all realized it.

Ashton floundered for a moment, then he seemed to give up. “I know about far more than you could imagine,” he said, disgust dripping from his words. “I know what all of you are. I always have.” He glared over my shoulder, at Oliver, then he looked down. “Well, almost always. But I knew about your kind long before I first encountered you,” he said, that same disgust in his tone as his face lifted. His narrowed blue eyes were back on Oliver.

I felt Oliver’s body and arms tense as he held me on my feet. I still felt very weak, and I feared he might let go of me and go after Ashton, leaving me to hit the floor. I squeezed Oliver’s hand in mine,
and his tension subsided, but only a tiny bit.

I focused on Ashton, on him leaning against the doorframe of my dead aunt’s home. “Who were you talking about yesterday?” I asked. Ashton’s eyes moved to meet mine. “You said someone was going to kill your sister. Who were you talking about?”

He rolled his eyes and moved so his back was against the wall beside the door. “The slayers,” he said with a huff. “They said if I gave them Oliver, they’d leave her alone.”

“What would the slayers want with your sister?” Oliver asked.

It bothered me that he asked about Avery, like maybe he was concerned for her. However, I had an even bigger concern. “What do the slayers want with Oliver?” I questioned.

Ashton put his head back against the wall
and slouched his shoulders. Not a pose I had ever witnessed the ever-confident Ashton possessing. “Laney,” Ashton began. Oliver’s hand tightened on mine, and his arms tightened around me when Ashton said my name. Ashton rolled his head to the side so he could look at me. “I know you’re smart enough to figure out why a bunch of vampire slayers would want a vampire.”

The hair stood up on
my arms. I felt sick as horrible images played through my mind.

Ashton looked up at the ceiling. “As for my sister, she’s gotten herself mixed up with the wrong crowd. I know trying to give them Oliver was low, but…” His head rolled again so he was looking at Oliver. “I’m sure you would do the same thing in my place, if it was your sister, I mean.”

Oliver tensed again, more so this time. His jaw twitched as his furious stare fixed on Ashton.

I squeezed his hand and quietly said his name in the hopes of keeping him put.

Ashton’s comment had been a low blow, but I was fairly certain Ashton knew nothing about Oliver’s sister. At least, I would have thought there was no way Ashton could have known. But I really didn’t know what to think anymore. Oscar was a talker, maybe he told Avery about Olivia. She could have relayed such information.

Felix then took matters into his own hands. He offered protection for Ashton and Avery in exchange for all that Ashton knew about the slayers, including their locations and informants.

Ashton accepted and gave Felix all the information he could think of right there on the spot, then he agreed to gather whatever else he could and get it to Felix as soon as possible.

I was leery of this arrangement. Ashton
wasn’t trustworthy. I feared the entire thing was a trap. I could tell by the scowl on Carter’s face I was not alone, and I was sure Oliver was having similar thoughts.

“I would like to run some blood tests on the two of you, if you don’t mind,” Felix said as we were finally heading out the front door.

Carter stayed inside and locked the door behind us, then he ran out the back to make sure that door got locked, too. He had just come around the side of the house when Ashton said, “Fine with me, I’ve got nothing to hide.”

Carter and I exchanged a glance. Ashton always had something to hide, and I was sure he was hiding plenty. I was also afraid of what it was that he was hiding, and what the outcome of us finding out this information would be. I
couldn’t imagine it would be good…

I was still really weak, so Oliver carried me down the front steps and to Felix’s SUV.

“Where’s your car?” I asked as he settled me in the center of the middle seat.

“I rode with Felix,” he said, climbing in beside me. “He dropped us off just before your aunt’s house.” He shot me a quick smile.