Elfin Trilogy

Chapter 4-2

Trik smiled crookedly. “I got all that you know.”

Cassie flung her head back as she closed her eyes and let out an embarrassing groan.

“Okay, new rule,” she said as she jerked her leg away from his hands. “No touching when talking about my feelings.”

Trik’s long hair slid forward as his head tilted and a wicked smile spread across his beautiful lips. “So I get to touch you other times?”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Are you insecure? Cause really you shouldn’t be.”

“Definitely not,” Trik chuckled. He brushed his hair back and somehow managed to not look feminine while doing it. “Something in you calls to me. Your spirit draws me close and my fingers itch to touch you. Tell me you do not feel it,” he challenged.

Cassie shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Can’t what? You don’t feel it?” Trik growled out.

Cassie scooted back as close to the headboard as possible as she watched those silver eyes bore into her.

“No,” she held up a hand trying to placate the dark elf in front of her. “I meant that I can’t tell you that I don’t feel it because I do. My skin is crawling all over. And as soon as you touch me, it stops. I don’t even know if I’m describing it right, but yes I know what you’re saying and honestly it’s kind of wigging me out.”

“Would you like me to go?” Trik asked and stood up from her bed.

“NO!” Cassie jumped up faster than she had ever moved. She wanted to slap herself for her reaction and then she wanted to bang her head into a wall as she watched the self-satisfied expression form on Trik’s handsome face.

“I meant, you know, if you don’t have anywhere you need to be or anything then you could, ya know, um, you could stay. If you wanted to, I mean it’s okay if you don’t. I’m cool with that, too. It’s whatever you want, I mean I have stuff I can be doing, I…”

“Cassie,” Trik interrupted his stumbling Chosen. “Hush.”

“Okay,” Cassie said relieved that he had stopped her from digging her grave any deeper than the necessary six feet.

“I want to stay.” Trik pulled out the chair that was tucked under her desk.

“You do?” Cassie asked in honest interest. “Surely there are more exciting things that you could be doing.”

Trik let his eyes slide lazily over her form. “I can think of some pretty exciting things,” he said with a wink.

Cassie rolled her eyes, but felt the blush all the same.

“When will your parents be home?” Trik asked.

“My dad won’t be home until late tonight and my mom…” Cassie pulled her phone from her pocket to look at the time and was surprised. She hadn’t realized how long Trik had been in her room. It was 7:00 p.m. and her mom was usually home around 8:00. “She will be home in about an hour.”

“That gives us some time.” Trik motioned for her to take a seat back on her bed.

“Time for what?” Cassie asked as she sat down on her bed across from him.

“You have questions. You don’t understand how you can want me even though you know I’m not the hero on the white horse. I’m more like the forbidden fruit.”

Cassie laughed. Trik found himself leaning toward her as he watched her face light up in angelic joy. Her mirth rushed over him and he felt a glowing sensation in his chest more wonderful than any physical pleasure he had ever experienced. He had caused that. He had made her laugh. He realized then that he wanted to do it again. He wanted to be the one to put a smile on her face and to cause her to throw her head back in abandoned playfulness and laugh. He wanted her happiness so badly that it was a physical ache in his chest.

“Forbidden fruit, huh?” Cassie’s smile continued to lighten the room even as her laughter faded.

“What are you afraid of, Arwenamin?” Trik asked, all playfulness gone.

The smile wiped from Cassie’s face as she began to fidget with the comforter on her bed.

“You’ve killed people?” she asked, without looking up from her hands, which were picking at the material.

“Yes,” Trik answered.

“You’ve hurt people, good people?”

“Probably.” Another short, emotionless remark.

Cassie looked up then. “What do you mean probably?”

Trik saw something in her eyes that he didn’t want to see—hope.

“Yes Cassie, I’ve hurt good people. I won’t sugarcoat my past, my present, or my future. I’m a killer, an assassin. I kill who I’m ordered to kill. I’ve tortured innocents and, at this point, I don’t know if there is any goodness in me”

“Have you ever killed or hurt a child?” she whispered and he could hear in her voice that this would be a deal breaker.

“No,” Trik let out a deep breath, suddenly feeling very weary. “Children are sacred to our kind; light or dark, a child is never to be touched.”

“Have you ever r-ra-,” Cassie’s hands were shaking, but she had to know the answer.

“NO! Never.” His answer was quick and firm.

Cassie’s eyes closed and he saw a single tear slide down her cheek. He was up and by her side from one breath to the next.

“Why do you cry, A'maelamin?”

Cassie looked up into his silver eyes as she let him pull her into his arms. She raised her hand and traced a single finger across his forehead and down his chiseled cheek. Silent tears tracked down her face as she spoke.

“You must feel so empty, so alone.”

Trik stared into the eyes of his Chosen and saw the compassion that filled her heart. He saw fear, and a hint of anger, but mostly he saw the pain she felt for him. For him.

“Why are you letting me touch you?” he asked as he leaned closer to her and breathed in her scent. “How can you stand it when you know that these hands,” he ran the back of his hand across her wet cheek, “have taken more lives than you can fathom.”

“Stop,” a muffled sound as she pressed her face into his chest. “Why does this hurt?”

“What?” Trik asked as his brow drew together and his chest tightened.

“The thought of not being with you, the thought of telling you to leave and never come back. Why does it feel like my heart is being ripped from my chest and stomped on? What’s wrong with me, Trik? You’re right. I should be angry at you or at least disgusted. I should be hitting you, not embracing your touch!” Cassie knew her reaction to him was wrong. The man had just admitted to a life of murder, yet she couldn’t walk away. All she could think about was how lonely his existence must be, how cold the darkness must feel as it consumes him from the inside, and she hurt for him. She ached for the pain his life must bring him.

“Being here, holding you, I feel warm. You chase away the darkness, Cassie.” Trik had heard her thoughts again. She pulled back and looked up into his face. She saw too much.

“I can’t do this,” she told him as she stood up and pushed away from him.

“What do you mean?” Trik asked as he too stood.

She looked up and again could see the longing and deep need in his face and it scared her.

“You need to go.”

“Cassie don’t ask me to leave.” Trik’s voice held the first hint of insecurity she had ever heard from him.

“I need some space, Trik. I need to think. Please, just give me some time.” Cassie pleaded. They stared at each other for a long moment and she almost thought he wasn’t going to relent. But then he turned and stepped through her window and was gone. Just like that, he was gone and the emptiness that now took his place drove her to her knees.

Cassie curled up in a ball on her side and wrapped herself in the pain of his absence. She felt like she was suffocating as she gasped for breath. She felt hot tears slide down her cheeks and she bit her lip to keep from calling out his name. Why was she feeling this way? Cassie coughed as she tried to swallow around the sobs. What’s wrong with me? She thought as she tried desperately to regain control of her emotions, but control would not come.

She didn’t know how long she lay in the floor of her room, consumed with her misery when suddenly she heard the door burst open and felt arms wrap around her, pulling her up into an embrace. It wasn’t Trik, she knew, because the emptiness and dread were still there.

“Cassie,” the voice spoke quietly, but firmly.

“Cassie, look at me.”

Cassie obeyed and looked into purple eyes. Elora, her best friend, hugged her tightly. Cassie’s brow furrowed as she tried to figure out how her friend had known to come to her.

“Is she going to be alright?” Elora asked someone who was standing behind Cassie.

“Syndra?” Another voice answered. Cassie recognized that voice as Elora’s mom, Lisa.

“I knew it wouldn’t be pretty, but, wow, she looks bad. Once their souls are connected, then being separated is devastating,” said a third voice, one that Cassie didn’t recognize. “Well, even looking like this, she still looks better than his royal ass-hatness.”

“Did you just call the most deadly elf assassin ever, an ass-hat?” Lisa asked slowly.

“Yes, and I’ll say it again. I’m a light elf. We’re mortal enemies; I get to call him names,” the snarky voice quipped.

“Syndra, you worry me.” Lisa chuckled.

Sheer curiosity gave Cassie the strength to sit up and pull out of Elora’s hold. Strangely, as soon as Elora let her go, Cassie felt a little better. She looked up at Lisa who sat on the edge of her bed, her forehead traced with wrinkles as worry shown through her eyes. Then she turned to the voice she hadn’t recognized. A tall woman, who looked entirely different than what Cassie had expected based on her voice, perched on Cassie’s windowsill. Her hair was cut in a short bob and dyed purple. She had large, green eyes and pale flawless skin. Her nose was short and cute and her lips full and red. She was slim, and every movement was graceful and deliberate. She wore tight jeans and a white, long sleeve, V-neck top that shaped to her curves.

“I’m Syndra,” the purple haired woman said in a voice that sounded more suited for a little pixie than for a tall she-elf.

“I’m, I…” Cassie tried to speak but her words eluded her.

“You’re screwed, love. That’s what you are,” Syndra said, shaking her head sympathetically.

“Syndra!” Lisa’s said exasperatedly.

“What?” Syndra shrugged, “I’m just reiterating what we all see before us. The girl is a mess.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Cassie asked, finally putting a sentence together.

Syndra stepped down from her perch and walked over to Cassie. She knelt down so that they were eye level and tilted her head to the side. Her green eyes traced over Cassie’s face.

“He doesn’t deserve you. I can see already you have a pure heart.” Syndra shook her head and let out a frustrated breath. “You’re Triktapic’s Chosen.”

“Yeah, already got that part.” Cassie rolled her eyes, thankful to not be curling in on herself at the sound of his name.

“Yes, well he obviously did a piss-poor job of explaining all that it entails to be a Chosen.” Syndra snorted. “But then, he is a dark elf so what did we expect, total and complete honesty? Like that’s going to happen.”

“Syndra,” Lisa raised a single eyebrow at the elf.

“Right, sorry. Well, Cassie, when the souls of two Chosen people meet, they join together, essentially, becoming one with each other. Apparently, this has already happened between the two of you in the brief time you’ve spent together. Each link is different and the intensity with which they bind is individualistic, but I would say if you are having this kind of reaction to being physically separated from Trik, then you and the dark elf must have one hell of a connection.”

“But why? Why does the separation cause pain?” Cassie whispered through a wave of agony.

“It hurts because you are separated against your soul’s desire. You are going against nature.”

“I asked him to leave,” Cassie told her.

“And therein lies the problem. You didn’t really want him to leave, of course. If you and Trik had kissed and said goodnight, mutually agreeing to separate with no ill will between you, knowing you would be back together in a short while, then you would not be in any pain. But your soul wants him here with you. It’s calling out to its mate. Trik didn’t want to leave. He desires more than anything to be here by his Chosen’s side, but you made him leave. You ignored what your soul was telling you; you ignored the call of his soul and so you went against nature. Now you are suffering the effects.”