Wicked Soul

Chapter 24

TWENTY-FOUR

LIV

“Heights?” I asked, frowning at the change of subject. “Not particularly. Why?”

“I’d like to take you flying with me,” he said.

I blinked, quickly pushing away the barrage of Fifty Shades scenes involving fancy helicopter rides followed by some light s******g that filled my brain. “Uh, now?”

“Yes. If that’s all right with you?”

“Yes, of course it is!” I shot him a wide grin and got to my feet faster than I’d moved all day. “You didn’t really expect me to be all ‘let me just check my calendar,’ did you?”

Warin chuckled at my obvious eagerness and stood up too, albeit at a much more dignified pace. “Dress warm. I don’t want you to freeze.”

I sprinted into my bedroom, pulled out a thick sweater, and was back in the living room in three seconds flat. Once I’d donned my winter coat, scarf, gloves, and wooly hat, I turned back to Warin. “Good enough? I feel like a kid experiencing her first snow, here.”

“I think so.” He held out an arm, indicating my front door. “Shall we?”

I led the way outside and stopped on the sidewalk in front of my building. “Are we taking your car, or mine?”

Warin shook his head. “Neither,” he said as he stepped onto the road, clearly expecting me to follow.

I did, frowning in confusion—which turned to downright incredulity when he continued into the alleyway meant for garbage bins on the other side. My dreams of romantic helicopter trips to Seattle withered and died. “Er, Warin…?”

“Come,” he called from the depths.

Maybe I should have been hesitant of following a vampire into an abandoned alley at night, but my curiosity was much too strong for such contemplations.

I found him at the very end of the alley, squashed between two apartment buildings. “Now what?” I asked.

He shot me a downright mischievous grin, making him look like the young man his face would have me believe he truly was, turned his back, and crouched down. “Climb up.”

I blinked. “Excuse me? You want me to piggyback you? Why…?”

Warin looked at me over his shoulder, eyes sparkling in the low light making its way into the darkened alleyway. “You said you wanted to fly. So jump on.”

It took me a full second before what he was saying finally set in. “Shut up! You can fly? No way! You’re bullshitting me!”

“I promise you I’m not.”

“What? What! How is that even possible? No, that’s… Oh my goddess, Warin, how have you never told me?” I was aware my voice was reaching notes only dogs could hear, but I couldn’t contain my disbelief at this new development. Super speed, sure, I’d heard of vampires being ridiculously fast. But flying?

“It never came up,” he said, the grin still on his face. Judging from his expression, he was enjoying my frazzled meltdown of excitement. “Have you changed your mind about flying with me?”

“f**k, no!” I hurried to his side before he changed his mind and placed my hands on his shoulders to easier crouch down on his back. He didn’t make a sound when I accidentally placed my knee on his spine, but I still grimaced. “Sorry. Tell me if I’m too heavy.”

Warin snorted, and I had the good grace to blush.

“Right, yes, vampire strength. Sorry.”

“Put your arms around my neck,” he said, and I did as instructed. No sooner had I linked my arms around him than he straightened up.

I squealed at the sudden shift, but Warin locked his arms around my thighs, ensuring I stayed put. It was like being encased in granite.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Oh, goddess, yes!”

Warin chuckled at my obvious excitement and set off.

We rose faster than I had anticipated, and I screamed and clung to his neck with all my might as the g-force pushed at me and the wind whipped at my face.

The pressure stopped as soon as it started, and I gasped in a breath of air as I stared over Warin’s shoulder down on the rooftops far below. Red and white lights from the city’s many cars coiled in the distance.

“Holy s**t, Warin, you can fly!” I gasped from where I was pressed flush against his strong body. “Oh, goddess, we’re flying!”

“Would you like to go farther?” he asked.

“I want to go as far as you’ll take me,” I said, and I meant it.

Warin shot forward instead of up this time, like an arrow from a bowstring toward the center of town. The cold air whipped against us, bringing with it scents of the night I’d never smelled so clearly before.

“f**k, f**k, f**k, fuuuuuuuuuck!” I chanted as the vampire looped a few times and then suddenly dove straight down, landing smoothly on top of a skyscraper.

Apparently we’d arrived at our destination.

It took me a little while to release Warin’s neck from my death grip, and I had to lean on his shoulder for support while my jellied legs solidified again.

“So, what did you think?” A small smile tugged at his lips.

“It was fantastic!” I managed to gasp. “Best experience of my life, hands down.”

“I’m glad.” His smile softened as he turned away to look across the city. “I like to come up here, when I have time.”

“I can see why,” I said, plopping down on the roof. Warin followed my example with far more grace.

I let my upper body fall back so I could starfish and looked up at the night sky. It was too cloudy for stargazing, but the sensation of having nothing but the celestial concave above us was amazing.

“If I could fly, I’d never stop,” I breathed happily, and turned my head so I could look up at him. He was leaning back, weight supported on one hand as he looked down at me.

“Can all vampires fly?”

“If they live long enough,” he said.

“Wow, talk about perks.” I shot him a teasing grin. “You wouldn’t be taking applications for new vampires, would you?”

“I will never Embrace you, Liv. I could never taint you with this curse.” The smile was gone from his face, grim seriousness replacing it. “There is no perk great enough to twist every beautiful thing you are into a monster of the night. Do not even joke of such matters.”

“You’re not a monster, Warin,” I said. “Is that truly how you see yourself?

“You have no idea what I am, little one. What I used to be. And you would not recognize a monster if it bit your leg.” He turned his gaze from my face to the sky. “You are far too innocent for your own good.”

“And you are too melodramatic for your own good,” I sighed. “Why do you keep trying to scare me off with these grand claims about how terrible you are? I know I’ve only known you a very short time, but I’ve never met anyone with as much kindness in their heart as you. You saved my life, Warin. You took me flying, for f**k’s sake. And you keep coming back to see me, yet you tell me you’re this awful monster. Why do you want me to fear you, when we both obviously like hanging out together?”

“I enjoy speaking with you… very much,” he said. “But I know you’re unaware of what you’re getting into, and I… feel guilt.”

I rolled over onto my side and propped myself up on an elbow. “So tell me.”

“I am a killer.” His voice was quiet. “I have many, many lives on my conscience. And there was a time when I… enjoyed inflicting violence and pain on others.”

It was a little hard to relate to, especially when I knew the vampire by my side drank blood from donor bags these days.

“A part of me is still that monster. It is in my nature, even when I suppress it.” His eyes flickered to me for a brief moment. “When I was starving in that cage and I smelled your blood… I nearly gave in.”

“But you didn’t,” I reminded him. “A monster would have taken my life without a second thought. Instead, you saved me from my own kind.”

Warin only sighed and lay flat on his back so he could stare up at the sky.

“What changed?” I asked. “When did you stop killing?”

A spasm pulled on his sculpted lips. “I haven’t stopped. You saw the bodies of our captors. I would still kill without remorse today, if…” He glanced at me, growing quiet without finishing the sentence.

“But why did you decide to only drink from donor bags? To not hurt people who didn’t deserve it?” I wanted so much to understand the man by my side. He was an enigma to me, but it wasn’t the mystery he presented that drew me in like a moth to a flame. It was that deep, intense something that pulsed off him in slow waves. Like a near-tangible loneliness that resonated so deep in my very soul I couldn’t put words to the connection I felt to him.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t… I remember being so vicious—lost to the bloodlust. When I rose at night, the only thing that drove me was my need to sate my hunger. To inflict my power on those I deemed weaker than myself. But then… it just… vanished. One night it was there, and then it was gone. And I understood… I felt the pain I’d inflicted on others. Here.” He rested a hand on his chest and sighed.

“You learned empathy,” I said softly.

“I suppose I did. But it doesn’t erase what I’ve done. It doesn’t change what I am.”

“It doesn’t need to.” I sat up and wrapped my arms around my legs as I watched the solemn vampire by my side. “Yes, you may have done horrible things in your past, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a good person today. If you have really done what you say you have, that just makes it so much more important that you spend the rest of your time on this planet making amends.”

Warin rolled over onto his side to better look at me. “You believe a monster can make amends?”

“I do. There has to be a balance, you know? In the universe. If you take a life, you must save one too.” I gave him a small smile. “So you’re already on your way, after saving my ass.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, the expression on his pale face mildly intrigued. “I’ve never thought about it in those terms.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” I assured him, offering him a cheeky grin to lighten the mood. “To point out the brighter side, so you don’t get lost in all that broody smolder.”

Warin laughed, a rumbling sound from deep in his chest that made my stomach feel light with happiness. “Do you know that your name means ‘life’ in my native language? I find it very apt.”

“Olivia?”

“No. Liv.” The way he pronounced it made it sound so exotic, like a sensual caress. He sighed and rolled over again, getting to his feet in a graceful move. “I should take you home. I am late for a meeting… again. I seem to forget the time when we speak.”

That night, I dreamt about flying among the stars on a ball of golden light.