A/N: Yes, it's been a while, I know. But I've been waiting till my
birthday, b/c I really wanted to write my stories on my new laptop. So
now...ahem...I am 17 years old, a senior, and a legal driver!!!! AND I
HAVE A NEW LAPTOP!!!!!
I know this chapter is a bit on the short side, but I'm posting it only to tide you guys over for the next one. It will be a good one, I swear. I've already got some....um....uh, "ideas"...
But for now, just enjoy this tidbit. It won't be a long wait till the next chappy, I swear
Rebirth—Chapter 11
"Yeah...but seriously, Jesse....when did you hypnotize me?"
I had been asking him that question over and over for the last ten minutes. We were stuck in traffic. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the most powerful demon of all time was stuck in traffic on the way to a dance club. On his hover bike. With me clinging to his back for dear life. No, there really isn't any danger of falling off the bike when we're completely stopped, but...it felt very nice.
You'd think he'd get tired of hearing me ask the same thing and finally cave in, wouldn't you? But no...he only threw me a grin over his shoulder, and crouched down lower over the handrails, bringing me down with him, until we were nearly stretched out over the bike with me practically lying on top of him. I wondered briefly if I should get off of him, but then I'd be all the way on the end of the bike, and the slightest jolt would throw me off. So I curled myself around him and tried to look natural.
He must have felt the tension playing along my body, because I felt his hand caress mine in a warm gesture. "Relax, querida. We will be there soon."
I sighed. The night was bitter cold, and I had my wings up to at least defend myself from the wind. But of course, my wings were cold, instead. Yes, wings can freeze, just like any other part of the body. That was another reason I clung to Jesse: he was releasing his intense otherworldly heat. For the first time, I realized it wasn't natural. His skin was almost cool to the touch, but about a millimeter away from him, an intense and brilliant warmth was radiating, washing over me. Above us, the beautiful moon shone white and pure—the only beautiful thing left in the world.
"Goddammit, Jesse, just tell me."
He just continued to stroke up and down my arm, but now his hand was softer, barely touching, skimming the hairs on my skin and raising goosebumps. Why did everything he did or said always seem vaguely obscene?
"Did I make an ass of myself? I mean, did you MAKE me make an ass of myself? The truth, Jesse."
He was turned away from me, so I couldn't read his face for clues. I wondered if he was smiling. If he was laughing silently at me.
"Querida..." he voice came in a soft purr which, combined with his still idly stroking hand, made my breath catch in my throat and tugged at something low in my body.
"What?" I breathed, and my breath came out in a misty cloud.
"You did not make an ass of yourself..."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"...much."
I started to say something, but he suddenly sat up, and I would've fallen off the bike had he not grabbed my arm. He was craning his neck around the impenetrable army of vehicles in front of us.
"Jesse, I want to know two things...and I want to know them before this night is over."
He hunched over the bike again with a sigh of defeat. I did not go down with him this time. Unfortunately, from this upper position, I had a good view of the way the night shadows played over the material of his white, frilly shirt, reminding me of cool sheets in darkened rooms...
I swallowed, hard, and looked away.
"What does my queen wish to know?" I heard his voice float to me, low and intimate sounding. Or maybe that was just me. Probably just me. Nevertheless, I had to swallow again. Thank God he couldn't read my mind at the moment. I couldn't seem to stop flashing on the mental image of him lying on those cool bedroom sheets, hair swept across the pillow, giving me that smile that promised all my dark desires, and those eyes—
"I want to know what the hell this 'Angel of Death' is, and I want to know when I was hypnotized."
He half-turned, so that he could speak while looking at me. This was not a good thing, because even though my thoughts were locked away, I was pretty sure my eyes would give me away.
I think they did. Because he smiled that devastating smile of his, and said, "How about a game of Truth or Dare?" He said this with a gleam in his eye that made me want to say, "Hell, no!" But of course, I was to macho for that.
"Whatever," was my only comment.
"To pass the time, Susannah," he said, indicating the bumper-to-bumper scene with an idle flick of his wrist. But he still had that smile, the smile that said his intentions went deeper than mere entertainment. "You can go first."
"Fine." I closed my eyes, shutting him out of view. That shirt was wreaking havoc on my senses again. The V was dipping a little lower than before, revealing quite a bit of chest. Really nice chest. "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth," he said, giving me the answer I wanted.
I opened my mouth to ask about the hypnotism, and something completely different tumbled out instead. "Are you a vampire?" The words came without me being able to stop them, and I realized immediately how retarded I must have sounded. "I mean—no—I mean, um, a...a Death Eater." I chanced a look at him. His look wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting eyes sparkling with laughter and ridicule. Some anger. Some surprise. Mild amusement. Anything. Anything but the long, considering look that he was now giving me. That look scared me. The fact that he was taking the question seriously scared me.
I blinked suddenly shy eyes at him, and whispered, "Jesse?"
"Blood is nice, Susannah," he said in a solemn voice. His face was serious, set in blank lines, not a hint of mirth. The lips were half- parted, and I caught a glimmer of his abnormally long incisors in the glow of the moonlight. I shivered. He was so close to me. Close enough for me to lean forward an inch and have the line of our bodies pressed together. Close enough to feel that heat.
"How nice, Jesse?" I had to look away from his eyes. The look was intense. A little sex, a lot of violence. That was the way he always looked at me, I realized. His eyes were full of secret promises. I just hadn't really paid attention to that gaze. I mostly tried avoiding his eyes. I avoided them now.
"I'm not a Death Eater," he stated simply. "But I won't lie. I'm attracted to blood."
"Blood and sex," I murmured, gazing at the sky, the moon.
"Yes," he agreed softly. "The keys to a man's heart."
I had to laugh. There was just something sadly ironic about it. I pictured Jesse sitting on the bay window in my mind...then I saw this Jesse sitting on his hover bike, in reality. The old Jesse would have said something cheesy, like, "Books and chastity are the keys to a man's heart." When had "books and chastity" turned to "blood and sex"?
"It's my turn, Susannah. Truth or Dare?" He had turned back around, probably so his facial expressions wouldn't influence my decision. Either way, it wouldn't be good.
Well. Truth: he could make me reveal any number of deep, dark secrets. What's the worst he could get out of me? Not too much danger there...
Dare: he could make me do any crazy stunt. It might even be something embarrassing and sexual. Here, in public. I could see him doing that to me.
So...what would I rather have?
"...truth."
The coward's way out? Maybe. I was so not making out in public. I hadn't stooped that low yet. Note I said "yet". Implying that Jesse would probably corrupt me eventually.
"This is ridiculous," Jesse suddenly said.
There was no wind at all to lift us up. None. But in one motion so liquid smooth and fast that I thought the world had suddenly become an inky blackness, Jesse arched his massive wings, and we were suddenly leaving the ground, the street becoming smaller and smaller below us. I gave a short scream, nearly falling, but Jesse had intertwined his legs in mine without me noticing—a small motion of his body, and I flew back into him, and latched onto him like he my last lifeline. I realized I could have saved myself—I have wings too, after all. I just wasn't used to them, I guess. I never had need for them in the castle.
With no wind, Jesse had lifted us and the bike off the ground with his wings, and was carrying us through the air by pure strength alone. That's a lot of strength.
"Sorry I didn't warn you," he said. "But I was really getting sick of being stuck there."
"Me too," I said, feeling those nice muscles in his back leaping with every beat of his wings. Power sang along every inch of that wide expanse, and his shirt shifted under my hands like a thin veil of silken water.
The city lay far below us now. I saw for the first time that it was shaped like a giant star. The different districts spiraled around the center like the spokes of a wheel, and at the center rose Hell Mountain itself. Where Paul was right now? I tried to understand the feelings I got when I thought of Paul. Was it love? Hate? Confusion...
"Truth, Susannah."
I tensed. Turns out I had reason to.
"Who do you love more, Susannah? Who would you choose?"
You must choose.
An animal cry threatened to rise out of throat like sour bile at the awful memory of that voice. But I restrained it, and only shuddered violently instead. He must have taken it as fear of answering, because he didn't acknowledge the shudder. In fact, he became almost deathly still and silent, but for the beating of his wings. I realized we were lowering, slowly but surely. The city was becoming larger, and at the center of our view was one bright neon sign.
"Susannah..." His voice was quiet, almost dangerous.
I thought of the dream. In the dream, I had chosen...Paul. But then I regretted. I regretted so strongly, and so powerfully, that slaughtered the demons in my disgust. But I lost Jesse anyway, didn't I? If I had chosen Jesse...would I have felt similar regret for Paul?
"Susannah." Sharper now. Louder. Roger's Place was looming ever closer. There wasn't a free parking space conveniently in front this time. We would have to circle around, looking for one.
"Jesse," I said. "I..."
"You what?" he snapped, and there was a definite note of resentment. Was it my imagination, or was the heat from his body becoming even stronger?
I thought of Paul. All the cold memories. His perpetual sorrow. He reminded me of winter, cold and dead. Waiting for a ray of light to thaw his soul. Maybe that was me, but somehow, I just didn't think I was quite bright enough to strike anything in him. He was a great mystery to me...yet, strangely, something old and familiar. Perhaps a piece of that old Jesse calling out to me from inside of him? Was it that piece of Jesse that made him something somewhat attractive to me? Was it that piece of Paul that Jesse now carried which repelled me the tiniest bit?
I thought of Jesse. His darkness, his mysteries. His ultimate body. His black wings and eyes. His wicked smiles. The way he made my body tight with something that was only part fear. His heat, his fire. Polar opposites. I was holding onto him as we finally touched down on the road outside of the club, and kept riding ahead past the line that stretched around the block in search of a parking space. The moment I felt that first bump, his legs, still pinning mine against the bike, squeezed me protectively, and his wings cocooned us for the briefest of moments before returning to their usual badass hover over his shoulders. In that moment, he covered me and held me, almost like it was a reflex. Even though I could sense his anger burning, he protected me instinctively, without a second thought.
And I knew.
"You, Jesse," I said, and my voice was amazingly thick with something deep and vaguely passionate, but more an obscenity to match his own. "You, always."
Except in that dream, I thought to myself. But I didn't say it aloud. And he couldn't read me anymore.
The same moment I said "always", I let some of that untapped energy, that forbidden power, seep out of me and sink into him, like jaws into tender, sweet-scented skin. I felt him jolt, and I smiled. I imagined my smile may have held an element of his—the feeling of him knowing things about me that he shouldn't, of him looking into and through me, and seeing every hidden and denied desire. I let a bigger dose of that power breathe into him, and he shuddered. Yes, I finally gained a reaction from Jesse. A reaction that, for just a moment, made me feel that I had some control over him. Over the situation. Over myself.
Then I had the sudden sensation of cool hands flowing down my body—along my spine, between my breasts, over my stomach and thighs (taking a moment to play dangerously close to my center) and down my legs, tickling every sensitive spot except the ones most intimate. His power's response to mine. My reaction was so strong and immediate that I had to shut my eyes and dig my nails into his shirt, into his rock-hard stomach, to keep from crying out. And I realized I had absolutely no control whatsoever.
I clung to him for a long moment like this, trying to shake the lingering sensations of those invisible touches. I acknowledged vaguely that we had stopped in a parking space. I couldn't be sure, but I had a feeling Jesse was taking a similar moment to compose himself.
"If you promise not to do that in public again," Jesse finally said, his voice breathless, "then I promise the same."
"Deal," I said, gasping quietly. "No more public foreplay."
I guess our agreement on "public use" of this weird ability meant we agreed it was too good a feeling to waste.
A/N: Not much happened, I know. But never fear! I promise, next chapter, their date officially begins, and good stuff will happen. REVIEW, and I'll write faster!!!
I know this chapter is a bit on the short side, but I'm posting it only to tide you guys over for the next one. It will be a good one, I swear. I've already got some....um....uh, "ideas"...
But for now, just enjoy this tidbit. It won't be a long wait till the next chappy, I swear
Rebirth—Chapter 11
"Yeah...but seriously, Jesse....when did you hypnotize me?"
I had been asking him that question over and over for the last ten minutes. We were stuck in traffic. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the most powerful demon of all time was stuck in traffic on the way to a dance club. On his hover bike. With me clinging to his back for dear life. No, there really isn't any danger of falling off the bike when we're completely stopped, but...it felt very nice.
You'd think he'd get tired of hearing me ask the same thing and finally cave in, wouldn't you? But no...he only threw me a grin over his shoulder, and crouched down lower over the handrails, bringing me down with him, until we were nearly stretched out over the bike with me practically lying on top of him. I wondered briefly if I should get off of him, but then I'd be all the way on the end of the bike, and the slightest jolt would throw me off. So I curled myself around him and tried to look natural.
He must have felt the tension playing along my body, because I felt his hand caress mine in a warm gesture. "Relax, querida. We will be there soon."
I sighed. The night was bitter cold, and I had my wings up to at least defend myself from the wind. But of course, my wings were cold, instead. Yes, wings can freeze, just like any other part of the body. That was another reason I clung to Jesse: he was releasing his intense otherworldly heat. For the first time, I realized it wasn't natural. His skin was almost cool to the touch, but about a millimeter away from him, an intense and brilliant warmth was radiating, washing over me. Above us, the beautiful moon shone white and pure—the only beautiful thing left in the world.
"Goddammit, Jesse, just tell me."
He just continued to stroke up and down my arm, but now his hand was softer, barely touching, skimming the hairs on my skin and raising goosebumps. Why did everything he did or said always seem vaguely obscene?
"Did I make an ass of myself? I mean, did you MAKE me make an ass of myself? The truth, Jesse."
He was turned away from me, so I couldn't read his face for clues. I wondered if he was smiling. If he was laughing silently at me.
"Querida..." he voice came in a soft purr which, combined with his still idly stroking hand, made my breath catch in my throat and tugged at something low in my body.
"What?" I breathed, and my breath came out in a misty cloud.
"You did not make an ass of yourself..."
I breathed a sigh of relief.
"...much."
I started to say something, but he suddenly sat up, and I would've fallen off the bike had he not grabbed my arm. He was craning his neck around the impenetrable army of vehicles in front of us.
"Jesse, I want to know two things...and I want to know them before this night is over."
He hunched over the bike again with a sigh of defeat. I did not go down with him this time. Unfortunately, from this upper position, I had a good view of the way the night shadows played over the material of his white, frilly shirt, reminding me of cool sheets in darkened rooms...
I swallowed, hard, and looked away.
"What does my queen wish to know?" I heard his voice float to me, low and intimate sounding. Or maybe that was just me. Probably just me. Nevertheless, I had to swallow again. Thank God he couldn't read my mind at the moment. I couldn't seem to stop flashing on the mental image of him lying on those cool bedroom sheets, hair swept across the pillow, giving me that smile that promised all my dark desires, and those eyes—
"I want to know what the hell this 'Angel of Death' is, and I want to know when I was hypnotized."
He half-turned, so that he could speak while looking at me. This was not a good thing, because even though my thoughts were locked away, I was pretty sure my eyes would give me away.
I think they did. Because he smiled that devastating smile of his, and said, "How about a game of Truth or Dare?" He said this with a gleam in his eye that made me want to say, "Hell, no!" But of course, I was to macho for that.
"Whatever," was my only comment.
"To pass the time, Susannah," he said, indicating the bumper-to-bumper scene with an idle flick of his wrist. But he still had that smile, the smile that said his intentions went deeper than mere entertainment. "You can go first."
"Fine." I closed my eyes, shutting him out of view. That shirt was wreaking havoc on my senses again. The V was dipping a little lower than before, revealing quite a bit of chest. Really nice chest. "Truth or Dare?"
"Truth," he said, giving me the answer I wanted.
I opened my mouth to ask about the hypnotism, and something completely different tumbled out instead. "Are you a vampire?" The words came without me being able to stop them, and I realized immediately how retarded I must have sounded. "I mean—no—I mean, um, a...a Death Eater." I chanced a look at him. His look wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting eyes sparkling with laughter and ridicule. Some anger. Some surprise. Mild amusement. Anything. Anything but the long, considering look that he was now giving me. That look scared me. The fact that he was taking the question seriously scared me.
I blinked suddenly shy eyes at him, and whispered, "Jesse?"
"Blood is nice, Susannah," he said in a solemn voice. His face was serious, set in blank lines, not a hint of mirth. The lips were half- parted, and I caught a glimmer of his abnormally long incisors in the glow of the moonlight. I shivered. He was so close to me. Close enough for me to lean forward an inch and have the line of our bodies pressed together. Close enough to feel that heat.
"How nice, Jesse?" I had to look away from his eyes. The look was intense. A little sex, a lot of violence. That was the way he always looked at me, I realized. His eyes were full of secret promises. I just hadn't really paid attention to that gaze. I mostly tried avoiding his eyes. I avoided them now.
"I'm not a Death Eater," he stated simply. "But I won't lie. I'm attracted to blood."
"Blood and sex," I murmured, gazing at the sky, the moon.
"Yes," he agreed softly. "The keys to a man's heart."
I had to laugh. There was just something sadly ironic about it. I pictured Jesse sitting on the bay window in my mind...then I saw this Jesse sitting on his hover bike, in reality. The old Jesse would have said something cheesy, like, "Books and chastity are the keys to a man's heart." When had "books and chastity" turned to "blood and sex"?
"It's my turn, Susannah. Truth or Dare?" He had turned back around, probably so his facial expressions wouldn't influence my decision. Either way, it wouldn't be good.
Well. Truth: he could make me reveal any number of deep, dark secrets. What's the worst he could get out of me? Not too much danger there...
Dare: he could make me do any crazy stunt. It might even be something embarrassing and sexual. Here, in public. I could see him doing that to me.
So...what would I rather have?
"...truth."
The coward's way out? Maybe. I was so not making out in public. I hadn't stooped that low yet. Note I said "yet". Implying that Jesse would probably corrupt me eventually.
"This is ridiculous," Jesse suddenly said.
There was no wind at all to lift us up. None. But in one motion so liquid smooth and fast that I thought the world had suddenly become an inky blackness, Jesse arched his massive wings, and we were suddenly leaving the ground, the street becoming smaller and smaller below us. I gave a short scream, nearly falling, but Jesse had intertwined his legs in mine without me noticing—a small motion of his body, and I flew back into him, and latched onto him like he my last lifeline. I realized I could have saved myself—I have wings too, after all. I just wasn't used to them, I guess. I never had need for them in the castle.
With no wind, Jesse had lifted us and the bike off the ground with his wings, and was carrying us through the air by pure strength alone. That's a lot of strength.
"Sorry I didn't warn you," he said. "But I was really getting sick of being stuck there."
"Me too," I said, feeling those nice muscles in his back leaping with every beat of his wings. Power sang along every inch of that wide expanse, and his shirt shifted under my hands like a thin veil of silken water.
The city lay far below us now. I saw for the first time that it was shaped like a giant star. The different districts spiraled around the center like the spokes of a wheel, and at the center rose Hell Mountain itself. Where Paul was right now? I tried to understand the feelings I got when I thought of Paul. Was it love? Hate? Confusion...
"Truth, Susannah."
I tensed. Turns out I had reason to.
"Who do you love more, Susannah? Who would you choose?"
You must choose.
An animal cry threatened to rise out of throat like sour bile at the awful memory of that voice. But I restrained it, and only shuddered violently instead. He must have taken it as fear of answering, because he didn't acknowledge the shudder. In fact, he became almost deathly still and silent, but for the beating of his wings. I realized we were lowering, slowly but surely. The city was becoming larger, and at the center of our view was one bright neon sign.
"Susannah..." His voice was quiet, almost dangerous.
I thought of the dream. In the dream, I had chosen...Paul. But then I regretted. I regretted so strongly, and so powerfully, that slaughtered the demons in my disgust. But I lost Jesse anyway, didn't I? If I had chosen Jesse...would I have felt similar regret for Paul?
"Susannah." Sharper now. Louder. Roger's Place was looming ever closer. There wasn't a free parking space conveniently in front this time. We would have to circle around, looking for one.
"Jesse," I said. "I..."
"You what?" he snapped, and there was a definite note of resentment. Was it my imagination, or was the heat from his body becoming even stronger?
I thought of Paul. All the cold memories. His perpetual sorrow. He reminded me of winter, cold and dead. Waiting for a ray of light to thaw his soul. Maybe that was me, but somehow, I just didn't think I was quite bright enough to strike anything in him. He was a great mystery to me...yet, strangely, something old and familiar. Perhaps a piece of that old Jesse calling out to me from inside of him? Was it that piece of Jesse that made him something somewhat attractive to me? Was it that piece of Paul that Jesse now carried which repelled me the tiniest bit?
I thought of Jesse. His darkness, his mysteries. His ultimate body. His black wings and eyes. His wicked smiles. The way he made my body tight with something that was only part fear. His heat, his fire. Polar opposites. I was holding onto him as we finally touched down on the road outside of the club, and kept riding ahead past the line that stretched around the block in search of a parking space. The moment I felt that first bump, his legs, still pinning mine against the bike, squeezed me protectively, and his wings cocooned us for the briefest of moments before returning to their usual badass hover over his shoulders. In that moment, he covered me and held me, almost like it was a reflex. Even though I could sense his anger burning, he protected me instinctively, without a second thought.
And I knew.
"You, Jesse," I said, and my voice was amazingly thick with something deep and vaguely passionate, but more an obscenity to match his own. "You, always."
Except in that dream, I thought to myself. But I didn't say it aloud. And he couldn't read me anymore.
The same moment I said "always", I let some of that untapped energy, that forbidden power, seep out of me and sink into him, like jaws into tender, sweet-scented skin. I felt him jolt, and I smiled. I imagined my smile may have held an element of his—the feeling of him knowing things about me that he shouldn't, of him looking into and through me, and seeing every hidden and denied desire. I let a bigger dose of that power breathe into him, and he shuddered. Yes, I finally gained a reaction from Jesse. A reaction that, for just a moment, made me feel that I had some control over him. Over the situation. Over myself.
Then I had the sudden sensation of cool hands flowing down my body—along my spine, between my breasts, over my stomach and thighs (taking a moment to play dangerously close to my center) and down my legs, tickling every sensitive spot except the ones most intimate. His power's response to mine. My reaction was so strong and immediate that I had to shut my eyes and dig my nails into his shirt, into his rock-hard stomach, to keep from crying out. And I realized I had absolutely no control whatsoever.
I clung to him for a long moment like this, trying to shake the lingering sensations of those invisible touches. I acknowledged vaguely that we had stopped in a parking space. I couldn't be sure, but I had a feeling Jesse was taking a similar moment to compose himself.
"If you promise not to do that in public again," Jesse finally said, his voice breathless, "then I promise the same."
"Deal," I said, gasping quietly. "No more public foreplay."
I guess our agreement on "public use" of this weird ability meant we agreed it was too good a feeling to waste.
A/N: Not much happened, I know. But never fear! I promise, next chapter, their date officially begins, and good stuff will happen. REVIEW, and I'll write faster!!!