Fractured Souls(53)

“No one’s there,” he hisses.
“They must have gone somewhere else,” I whisper, hovering over him to look for myself.
“I knew you’d show up here,” Nicholas breathes in my ear.
Every single one of my nerve endings tingle and my back stiffens as I jolt away from his nearness. I end up landing on Laylen’s back. Luckily, he’s strong and he flips us around, grabbing my hand, and pulling us to our feet.
I start to spin around toward the Faerie, when he grabs me by the waist and an overwhelming floral sent stenches up the air.
“Try anything funny,” Nicholas hauls me against him, “And I’ll have you out of here before you can even take your next blink.”
“Fuck you,” I say and bend my arms up so my fingers reach his hands, then I aim them downward and dig hard.
He doesn’t so much as budge. “Feisty, I like it.”
“Nicholas,” Laylen says calmly as he stations himself in front of us with his arms slightly out to the side. “Let her go now before you end up getting hurt”
He spurts a laugh. “Hurt me how? I can have us out of here before you even take your next step.” Keeping one arm secured around my waist, he holds up a crystal ball filled with rubies.
Laylen steps forward, but then halts, debating what to do.
“Wise choice,” Nicholas says, putting the crystal ball into his pocket and then wrapping both his arms around me. Our bodies are aligned completely and I can feel things that I really don’t want to feel… bulging in certain places. It’s disgusting and vomit burns at the back of my throat.
“What do you want?” Laylen asks with his hands just to the side of him. He appears composed, but I can see that he’s flexing his fingers, as though he’s considering taking a hit at Nicolas. He could probably reach him in a few more steps, the pillar being the only thing between us. However it’s still enough time for Nicholas to take us out of here and the last thing I want to do is end up alone somewhere with him.
Sliding his hand up my ribs and then my neck, he sketches a finger across my cheek. “I have what I want right here.” He dips his mouth next my ear. “Are the nightmares getting worse?” he breathes, stroking my upper arm. “Can you see the symbol clearly?”
I go rigid. “W-What?”
He laughs against my ear.
“You’re going to pay for this,” Laylen says in a low tone that conveys so much warning it actually sends a chill down my spine.
Nicholas strengthens his hold on me, his chest rising and falling as it repeatedly crashes against my back. “I’d like to see you try, you pathetic excuse for a Vampire. You can’t even bring yourself to drink blood.”
Laylen’s lips expand to a slow grin. “Want to bet?”
Nicholas laughs. “You’re so enter—”
Laylen launches forward so fast he’s nothing except a blur and, seconds later, Nicholas is jerked from my grasp. Laylen doesn’t bite him, but he does bring his fist up against the side of his head and knock him out cold. Nicholas’s body slumps to the ground and Laylen steps back, wiping the sweat off his forehead.
His fangs descend and then retract as if he’s deciding whether he wants to bite him. Then choosing not to, he slumps over, grabs onto Nicholas’s arms, and drags him behind the pillar.
“The last thing I ever want to do is taste his foul blood,” He says, standing upright.
“I don’t blame you.” I pause, watching Nicholas’s chest rise and fall as he sleeps off Laylen’s punch. I can’t help thinking about what he whispered moments before Laylen leapt on him, though. How did he know? Not just about the nightmares, but about the symbol? “We should probably hurry before he wakes up.”
Laylen nods and then takes my hand as we head back to the path. We walk for what seems like an eternity and the more time that passes, the more worried I get that someone’s going to discover us. I’m starting to get discouraged, which is a horrible feeling, when I feel it. A spark. It’s soft at first, like a delicate kiss, but it increases in intensity the further we continue to go down the path until finally my body is drowning in heat.
“Alex is close,” I whisper, glancing around at the walls and floor. “I can feel it.”
“What?” Laylen asks, studying me with a mystified expression.
I’m completely engulfed in feeling it again, so welcoming and familiar. I’ve never had familiar before and it makes me feel content. “I can feel him through the electricity.”
“The electricity?”
“It’s a story for another time.” I tug on his hand as I start to speed up down the path. “Now come on. We have to hurry.”