“You feel that?” he whispers. “I’m used to taking from people. Before you, that’s all I could do. They’d give themselves to me and that would be all. With you, I can give something back. Connect.” Alek rests his head on mine, crackling heat across my skin. “Take from me again.”
My breathing intensifies as his mouth slides across my face, igniting. “Alek, stop...I made you sick last time.”
“I don’t care; I can take from you anytime I want. I know how.”
“Not if you’re too weak...” I attempt to push him away, but already my body’s attempting to meld with his and take what he’s asking me to.
The sudden shift from talking to his hands on my body disarms me; I’m shocked further as his mouth roughly closes over mine. Alek grips my hair, holding my face so I can’t move. My back presses into the wall as he puts all his force into holding me, pressing his hips into mine. I part my mouth in surprise, and Alek lightly draws his tongue along my bottom lip. As I relax, believing he’s slowing, he delves his tongue into my mouth. The familiar, overwhelming need to be locked together with this infuriating man takes over. The blinding light behind my eyes remains; this time, it doesn’t fade as we kiss, and I need more. All of it.
No. He’s not doing this to me; I don’t want this right now.
I push Alek with all the force I can muster, and he stumbles against the table. His darkened eyes shine, lips paler. “I don’t know why I ever worried about this,” he says. “We’re going to have so much fun…Like last night.” He’s breathless, and the energy coursing through my body suggests I won this time. Alek looks at my mouth. “I’m working tonight and you’re coming with me, by the way.”
This is a statement not a question, and I bristle. “No, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. Do you think I’m going to leave you alone in a house where out-of-control Shades attack you?”
“I’m not staying home; I’m meeting Tom tonight.”
“Tom, the Ghostbuster?” Alek giggles as if he’s high. “He likes you; have you told him he’s not your type? Or what your type is?”
His mocking tone riles me further. “Alek, stop being a dick.”
Alek steps closer and I meet his smirk with a challenging look.
“Don’t even think about it...” I warn him.
He lightly trails a finger down my cheek. “Thanks for the kiss, Rose.”
As he walks away, I shiver, irritated by his shift in mood. Is he only nice to me when he wants something?
***
Tom lives in the centre of the student-infested suburb, where the terraced houses cram together and posters for bands and student nights are plastered on walls in the streets.
Tom looks shocked to see me, but not as surprised as I am when I find a familiar face sitting on a threadbare sofa in the cramped lounge room.
“Grace?”
“Hey, Rose,” she says, looking up from the laptop on her knee.
“Why are you...what happened?”
She shrugs and ignores me. More secrets? Jesus, I can’t cope with much more of this.
Another guy walks in carrying a huge bowl of nacho chips and a dip. He halts when he sees me. His messy blonde hair sticks up, the way hair does when it would like to be curly but can’t manage. He’s the antithesis of Tom, a good-looking guy with cheekbones and lips a girl could go for if she was human and not obsessed with her arrogant housemate. When I smile at him, he shudders then places the bowl and dip on the table.
Tom leans over and grabs a handful. “This is Rose,” he says, spitting crumbs around.
“The vampire?” asks the blonde guy.
“I’m not a vampire!” I protest.
“Zach, be nice,” says Grace.
“Can’t you feel what she’s doing?” Zach asks.
“I’m not doing anything!”
Zach sits in an armchair as far from me as possible. “She can’t help it,” says Tom and picks up his laptop from the sofa before sitting.
I hover in the doorway debating my wisdom in coming here, irritated by Tom and Zach.
“Have you found out much?” I ask Tom.
“Yeah, we’ve had some information about Reapers from a colleague in Germany. They’re scarier than you guys. Especially the Dark.”
I groan and lean against the wall.
“Rose, sit down,” says Grace.
Zach stiffens as I sit in the spare armchair across from him.
“Dark? Are there more than one kind?” I ask.
“Yup. They fight over souls. Well, technically, the Dark kill people for their souls and the ordinary Reapers help people Over.”
“Over?”
“The Reapers help people when they die, so their souls don’t get stuck in the Void.” Tom again appears proud of his knowledge, words I’d have dismissed as nonsense a year ago.
My head hurts with the information thrown at me. Reapers, Over, Void…
“And the Void being some kind of limbo?” I ask. “Is that where the Shades live?”
“Yeah,” says Grace, “and Alek’s house is a focal point where there’s a weakness between the world and the Void; where trapped Shades can cross easily.
“How do you know all this?” I ask.
“I told you, we’re part of a network who investigate this. We asked around to find out who else is investigating Reapers. Your friend, Finn. Is he Dark, do you think?”
“He’s blonde.”