What Lies Inside (A Blood Bound Novel, Book 1) (26 page)

~

The Portsmouth Bowl-O-Rama was raging tonight. With heating and a licensed bar, many adolescents had taken to it as their impending winter hang. Some kids I even recognized from St. Volaras.

I shrugged out of my wannabe motorbike jacket, shaking off the dusting of freshly fallen snow. Then we crossed the stained, brightly swirled carpet to stand before the front desk. It was a plywood counter that housed a computer monitor and keyboard. Its glass front revealed glossy bowling balls on individual stands.

The manager—as stated on his striped bowling shirt—looked up. “Booking?”

Kendrick shook his head, folding his arms over his favorite Three Days Grace t-shirt. “No.”

“Well, we’re packed tonight,” the manager informed. “Everything’s booked out.”

I scoured through the multicolored lights that flashed casting beams over eighteen lanes. There were only two unoccupied lanes, one and twelve.

“No,” Kendrick retorted. He pointed toward lane one without shifting his gaze from the manager. “It’s not.”

The manager followed his extended hand then looked back to him, frowning. “Already book…”

“
We
booked lane one,” Kendrick cut in. He leaned forward, holding the man’s eyes with his. “Kendrick Baldassare. Check your screen and you
will
see my name.”

Kendrick’s commanding tone drew my attention. The silver of his eyes sparked as his pupils grew, almost extinguishing his irises entirely. I jabbed him in the ribs. “What are you doing?”

Keeping his eyes locked on the manager’s, Kendrick smiled. “Trust me.”

My gaze shot back to the manager whose frown had dissipated. His head dropped to the computer screen in an almost mechanical movement. “Oh, yes. There you are.” A befuddled expression wrinkled his middle-aged face. “My mistake.” He drummed his fingers across the keyboard and glanced up. “All set. Now, what shoe sizes?”

After collecting our shoes we headed for our lane, my head swimming. The way the manager had responded to Kendrick reminded me of my only successful attempt of compulsion on the bouncer outside
Pulse
.

At the cabin Mom had explained compulsion. It was a form of mind control, of distorting someone’s perception of reality. She’d even tried to teach us how to use it. But like my lack of natural vampire agility, the ability to compel seemed to escape me as well as Dorian.

“Head’s up!” Kendrick’s light voice startled me.

My head snapped up. Any thoughts of compulsion shrunk as a black bowling ball hurled through the air. It was flying straight for my head. In a split second my muscles snapped into action. My hands flung up just in time to catch the black boulder. I dropped onto the u-shaped bench bordering lane one, my heart pounding. Having a ball flying through the air at my head had shocked me. And I was surprised my reflexes had reacted fast enough to catch the thing. “I can’t believe I caught that.”

“I know. You’re getting faster,” Kendrick said, pulling on his oversized bowling shoes. He stood up lifting a matching ball to mine from the ball retriever. It was the heaviest available. “Let’s bowl.”

Kendrick sauntered toward the lane, rolling his arm back before flinging the ball forward. The black ball met the buffed and oiled lane with barely a sound. It spun as it sped forward, colliding with the pins in an explosive crash. Every single pin was knocked over. Kendrick turned with a haughty smile.

“Well done,” I congratulated, still yanking on my shoes. Then with my ball in hand, I strode forward, gauging my shot. From our training at the cabin, I knew my strength lay in planning my next move. In a second my attack was set. Stance slightly right of the lane, eyes zoned just left of the ten-pin center. I curved my wrist slightly and lifted the ball to my chin, leading with my right foot. The ball flew from my grasp with the flick of my wrist, grazing the wood with a light thud. I turned to Kendrick with a pleased smile playing across my lips as the ball struck the pins with force. I heard each individual pin fall and hit. Nine of the ten had dropped.

“You missed one,” Kendrick gloated.

Unwavering confidence broadened my smile. “Oh, I don’t think so.” The last standing pin was spinning upright, but it was slowing. It wobbled audibly before it gave way and fell with a
thud
.
Strike!

After our first game, we decided we’d worked up an appetite and ordered beef nachos. The plate arrived quickly, topped with sour cream and guacamole. As we ate, Kendrick complimented my superior development in reflexes, aim and control. But I couldn’t keep the earlier thoughts of compulsion from my mind.

In a surreal shift, the flashing lights around me faded and I was back in the alley outside the club in Anchorage. Kendrick spoke in a low even voice while forcing Joel’s attention. “You were attacked by a rabid dog.
We
saved your life.”

The memory faded and my eyes refocused, bringing me back to reality. I looked to Kendrick. “I want you to compel me.”

“What?” he spat, dropping the corn chip he was about to eat.

I shrugged. “I’m getting better at the other vamp stuff. So I just thought that maybe we could try again. You can show me instead of telling me how.” Kendrick’s frozen expression surged an unexpected bout of paranoia through my stomach. “Oh, crap. Have you used it on me before?

Kendrick’s brows knitted, clear hurt saddening his eyes. “Amelia, I would never—.”

“Sorry,” I said, cutting him off. I felt terrible. How could I have even thought that? I turned on the bench to face him. “Stupid question. I know you wouldn’t do that. But now I’m asking you to. Will you show me how?”

Kendrick’s expression strained. “Are you sure?”

I nodded again and took his hands in mine. “Definitely. Compel me.”

“Alright then,” Kendrick said, still looking a tad reluctant. He stared down at our entwined fingers. “As I told you at the cabin, it’s all in the eyes. It’s the concentration of looking not just
at
a person’s eyes, but through them. Like you’re glimpsing into the very core of someone’s soul.” His eyes rose to meet mine. They sparkled like drops of liquid silver swimming in a sea of aqua. He took a deep breath. “Ready?”

At my nod, his irises began to rage. They looked like an impressive electrical storm, liquid silver struck through by blue-sparked lightening. The sight was so enthralling it was impossible to look away.

“Kiss me,” his ragged voice whispered while his pupils dilated.

“What? Don’t be silly…” I faltered as my expression fell slack. My want and need to refuse him dwindled like a snuffed flame.

“Kiss me,” Kendrick repeated. This time his voice was deep and commanding. It sent invisible fingertips dancing across my cheeks and down my neck. “You want to kiss me.”

The world around us faded, flashing lights replaced by an endless black abyss. Yet in the darkness, Kendrick’s eyes remained. His glossy black pupils grew until they had extinguished his silver irises entirely. Without rational thought, my body leaned forward closing the gap between us. My lips edged closer and closer, parting to graze his. I could feel the warmth of his breath tickling my lips, and taste the sweetness a single kiss would grant. There was nothing I wanted more than to press my parting lips to his full and waiting ones, eliminating any and all space between us. But a millisecond before I could take what I so inherently needed, something buzzed against my leg breaking the spell. It was my iPhone signaling a new text.

In a sudden rush my focus returned, causing my head to swell. Back was the bowling alley with its flashing lights and loud pop music. Surrounding kids were laughing, drinking and having fun. Kendrick was sitting before me, frozen stiff, his face a mask of shock.

Embarrassment burned my cheeks while uncontrollable anger pounded through me. I jerked away from Kendrick, glaring. “How could you do that?” My shrill tone earned me a number of onlookers who had suddenly ceased bowling. I lowered my voice. “
Why
would you do that?”

Kendrick’s expression remained calm as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You asked me to compel you,” he spoke with an irritated whisper. “That’s
all
I was doing.”

The next words spat from my lips dripped acid. “I didn’t ask you to do
that
. You could have made me bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken.”

Kendrick clenched his jaw. A muscle contracted beneath the smooth, pale skin of his cheeks. “You’re so damn blind, Amelia. All this time and you still can’t even see what’s right in front of you.”

“See what?” I demanded. “What are you talking…” my words choked back. A notion that was both crippling and like a physical force pushed me back against the bench. “You
wanted
to kiss me?”

Kendrick unclenched his jaw and reached out, gently folding my hands in his. His face was suddenly filled with a vulnerability I had never seen in him before. “I’m in love with you, Amelia. I always have been.”

I tried to speak, to say something, anything in response. But my whole body felt shaken to its core. My breath caught in my throat, and my mouth and tongue were paralyzed.

“Amelia,” Kendrick said. His eyes were silver-blue again. They strained, as though what he was about to say caused him deep, physical pain. “I know you feel something for me, too. I see it in your eyes.”

Nothing in this world could make me deny the strong feelings I had for Kendrick. He was my best friend and the one person who kept me grounded, who had always stood by me. But since finding Ty, I knew that anything I had ever felt for Kendrick—or anyone else for that matter—would always be lukewarm in comparison, a gentle flame rather than a raging inferno. Still, knowing the words I had to say to him filled me with sickening dread. There was the option to lie. But I couldn’t lead him on. I wouldn’t.

Kendrick yanked his hands free, his face turning to stone as though he had read my internal thoughts.

“Of course I love you,” I cried, throwing my arms around him. “Kendrick, you’re my best friend. You always will be.” I released him, my eyes pleading for understanding. Please don’t let what I have to say break us. “But I’m not
in love
with you.”

Rejection contorted Kendrick’s expression. The thought of breaking my best friend’s heart bore into me like tunneling parasites.

“It’s because of him, isn’t it?” The sharp perception in Kendrick’s harsh voice felt like a fisted blow to my chest. “Even after everything that dog’s done to you?” He sighed, seeing the anguish scrawled across my face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. It just makes me sick that he could hurt you like that.” Our eyes met. His were strained and vulnerable. “Amelia, I know you’re still getting over him. But I want you to know that I will always be here. And I would never hurt you like that, not
ever
.”

My heart sank to the pit of my stomach. There were still so many secrets I was keeping from my best friend. Lies I had allowed him to believe. But how can I explain it to him now? The forlorn look on his face was already more than I could take. I couldn’t hurt him anymore than I already was. I couldn’t tell him that my feelings for Ty were still as strong as ever. No. Not now.

“It’s okay.” Kendrick rose to his feet and collected his bowling ball. “You don’t have to say anything now.” He turned drawing his shoulders back, and began our second game. The comfortable air we had arrived with was long faded. Over the following hour the ease of our relationship didn’t return.

As we left the bowling alley, quiet tension hung between us. Kendrick left to pull the car around and I thought back, remembering the text that had interrupted his attempted compulsion. I retrieved my iPhone from my jeans. The text was from Ty.

‘CU in UR dreams 2nite.’

~

I avoided Kendrick for the rest of the evening. His profession of love had utterly surprised me. But that wasn’t the only reason I was avoiding him. Tonight I would learn the truth, the whole truth. And if Ty was exonerated, I would have no choice. I would have to reveal everything I had kept from Kendrick. The daunting realization kept my stomach in knots and made it almost impossible for me to keep it together around him. It was the real reason I was avoiding him.

With my brain exhausted from the mental and emotional strain, I fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke, I was on the same bed of ferns from last time. Their fronds scratched through the lace of my black camisole and boxers. Disappointment gripped me as I glanced around. The almost full moon that gleamed through the clearing drew ghostly shadows. Ty was nowhere to be seen.

I called out into the wilderness. “Ty, are you here?” My voice echoed back at me, bouncing off the bordering oak and pine trees. My heart sank.

Then in an instant shift that caused my head to spin, the scenery blurred and reformed. Suddenly, I was no longer sitting at the peak of a mountain. Instead I was in the depths of a lush, bursting-with-life rainforest. The quiet disarray of sleeping mountains layered with ghostly shadows was now gone. Replacing it was the sound of gushing water and the soft darkness of sun-drawn shade. I gaped around, mystified. A sunlit waterfall was materializing beside me. It streamed over a rocky cliff face to plunge into the swirling river below. Still, Ty was nowhere to be seen. I slumped against the trunk of a mossy evergreen.
Where are you?

A change in the steady flow of gushing water from behind startled me. I shot to my feet. Ty was emerging from between the fall of water plunging over the cliff. “Sorry I kept you waiting.”

With confident steps, he crossed the surface of the swirling river as though it were solid, mirrored glass. What he wore was minimal, just a pair of soggy jeans. They hung low around his taut waist and stuck to his legs. Golden sunlight defined his sculpted chest and abs. He ruffled his thick hair, and as he did it became instantly dry, along with his jeans.

On the breeze the gentle words of Skillet’s song ‘
Don’t wake me
’ lifted. The emotion of the song dared me to rush into his arms but I fought back, digging my nails into the dirt.

“I wanted to tell you everything last night. But I needed to build up the energy.” He glanced around at our picturesque surroundings. “Dreamscaping really takes it out of you.”