Vampire Girl 2: Midnight Star(50)

The rain dies down. The lightning and thunder stop. I try to go back to sleep, but it will not come. I can't settle my mind or rest my body. I keep glancing at my window waiting for another visit, another attack.

So I pull on my robe and creep out of my room and down the hall to Fen's quarters. I knock, but he doesn't answer. When I open the door, the room is empty. Disappointed, I enter anyway and crawl into his bed. It smells like him, and for now, that will have to be enough.







I don't realize I fell asleep until his arms wrap around me.

I turn over to face him, placing my hands on his face. "Fen."

"Are you okay?" he asks. He pulls me closer to his chest, his arm wrapped around me, his large hand splayed against my back.

I love his eyes, love gazing deeply into them, getting lost in the piercing cobalt blue. "Is there anything you fear so much it keeps you awake at night?"

He closes his eyes, then opens them slowly. "Losing those I love." His arm flexes, tightening around me in a protective embrace.

My breathing turns shallow. "Fen… I… there's so much I want to tell you, but I can't."

He brings his thumb to my lips, caressing them. "I know. Asher told me. I know you were forced into another contract. I know my father is alive and behind all this."

But does he know about the Midnight Star? Does he know the plans they have for me? I can't ask him. But I'm glad this secret isn't a wall between us anymore.

"When I came to hell," I say, "I didn't expect it to be this… beautiful. Magical. I didn't think I would find friends. Family. Love." I hold my breath on that last word, waiting, but he just nods, encouraging me to continue.

"I feel torn between two worlds. And neither of them, bizarrely enough, are the world I was born in. But there's one thing I'm not torn about. Not anymore."

"What's that?" he asks softly, his breath caressing my face.

"My feelings for you."

"Ari…"

"No, let me finish. There's a lot I can't say, but I can say this. Fen, I don't know what our future holds. I don't know how this war will end, or who will become king, or even who should be king. I don't know what will happen with… " My throat constricts as I almost cross a line in talking about the Fae. I don't think we need to ruin another moment with one of us vomiting blood again. "With other things that shall not be named."

His lips twitch.

"But I know that even an immortal life is too short to ignore the heart. I know that I can't get you out of my head, and that the thought of anything happening to you nearly kills me. I know that I would give anything to keep you from going to war tomorrow, and not just because I'm worried about… things." I take a deep breath, but before I can finish my speech, Fen closes those few inches between us and kisses me. It's a gentle kiss. Soft. Warm. Tender.

"Ari," he says against my lips. "I love you. I have never cared for anyone as deeply or truly as I do you. And I cannot imagine losing you either."

Tears burn my eyes. I press into him, kissing him again. After a moment, I pull away to look into his eyes. "I love you too, Fenris Vane."

He strokes my face with his fingers. "I don't know what the future holds either, but we'll sort it out, somehow."

That night, I sleep in his arms, in the safety of our acknowledged feelings, however unknown our future is.

As morning breaks, something licks my chin. I open my eyes. "Baron?"

My baby dragon, now small again, peers at me with large dark eyes. "Yami!"







Fen and I linger in his room as long as we can that morning, and though he still cannot see Yami, I think he's starting to figure out Baron's odd behavior has a purpose. I, of course, can't tell him the truth yet, but I will be pushing Asher to end my contract as soon as possible. And I will not be signing another that involves secrets and physical pain.

"Would you like to join me in Stonehill today?" Fen asks as we head down to breakfast. "I must check on the soldiers before battle."

"I'd love to." I try to focus on being with Fen, and not on the war we are about to fight.

Asher is finishing up breakfast when we enter the dining hall with Baron at our feet. "There you two are," he says, dabbing his lips with a cloth napkin and standing. "Lazing about, are you?"

I snort and sit to eat. I find I'm famished after everything.

"Did you enjoy breakfast?" I ask Asher.

"Enough. But I'm in need of blood. Me and the other lads are getting restless." He turns to Fen, who sits across from me. "Where might we find a fresh source in your wild realm?"

Fen glares at him. "You know I restrict that sort of thing here, Asher. Make due with animals."