Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Hex' golden eyes were transfixed. Emla's own gaze was upturned to meet the dazzled and confused expression currently settling across the lamia's face.

Are you doing this? Emla demanded angrily. A tumult of emotions were flooding her and remaining calm was an amazing effort.

I'm a vamp not a witch, Hex answered. His mental voice was just as accusing as her own was.

It's not me! Emla defended. She had to pause when a sudden image filled her head. It was a memory but it wasn't her own. Stop it! I don't want to know about you! She yelled.

She could feel Hex struggling to hold his thoughts inside himself but he couldn't and nor could she. It was a no holds barred situation and Emla knew that all her life could be flashing before Hex' eyes.

The thought was not at all comforting.

It's the soulmate principle, Hex said softly in a voice filled with awe and surprise. It actually exists.

Great now get rid of it, Emla said. Her voice was filled with a desperation that Hex had never heard. It was also a voice of fear and he realized then that she was scared.

Somewhere inside of him something melted though he didn't realize it. He felt himself reaching out to her and pulling her against his chest then crushing him in a tight embrace. His arms held her in a tight and protective circle and without any conscious thought of doing it, he bent down to kiss the top of her head softly.

Emla looked up then.

Blue eyes that had once been cold and hard had softened to reveal ocean depths of clear and untarnished beauty. She looked unsure and confused. Her eyes searched his face in an effort to see what he was thinking.

Hex smiled to himself.

She was so strong, so determined and proud. She had practically signed her own death certificate just to avenge the death of her sister. She had guts alright.

Then his lips were on hers and all other thoughts left his head as he experienced the gentle pressure of her mouth against his. It was a kiss that sent his mind spiraling into feelings of warmth and wonder. He felt like laughing. He felt like he was drowning.

Emla felt so right in his arms. They fitted together perfectly and instinctively. His arms tightened around her back.

'Five minutes'.

Hex' pulled away suddenly and stepped back. Without his warmth protecting her, Emla felt cold all of a sudden and she looked up at this dark haired vampire that was her soulmate with confusion in her eyes.

"Five minutes until what?" she asked.

Hex looked over his shoulder. "Five minutes before Iris leaves me," he answered.

The words were like a physical blow to Emla. Her stomach seemed to plument to her shoes and her heart burned in a pain unlike every one she had known. "You'd better leave, then."

Hex looked back. His yellow eyes blinked in a drugged kind of way. He didn't know what to do. Suddenly, Emla was standing in front of him with hurt and confusion in her eyes and then Iris, Iris the love of his life, was waiting outside for him.

He hesitated. He didn't know Emla. He didn't know that this was for real but then…how could it not be?

He shook his head in an effort to clear his thoughts. "I don't need this right now," he said to Emla, knowing he wasn't being fair and hating himself for it. "I'll get hold of you later. Okay? I promise."

He waited for an answer but Emla remained silent, staring stubbornly behind his shoulders from eyes that had turned from warm to glacial in all of five seconds.

He paused and stared at her face, taking in each detail with an artists' eye and committing it to memory. "I'll see you soon," he said as good bye.

Then he was leaving Emla, his soulmate and twin half to his soul behind him for the shadow of a figure waiting outside the door.

He stopped and waited, watching. The slim and elegant frame shifted slightly. A shimmer of auburn hair shone in the lamplight as the girl turned her head and for one electrifying moment their eyes met.

Iris smiled and her emerald eyes twinkled.

Hex couldn't move. His heart had nearly stopped. To go back or go forward? His feet didn't' know where to lead him, his head didn't know what to think. Then he was looking behind his shoulder to where he had been standing. To where Emla should be standing and to where she now wasn't.

His eyes stared in disbelief. Then he took a breath and turned back to Iris Auroch. The girl of the flaming hair and the girl that ten minutes ago had held his heart in her hand.

Now all that had changed.