Something Darker (Book Three)

XLII. Eden

No.

Nonononono.

I refused to be left behind.

Not this time.

"Jane?" I called into the dense forest, "Demetri?"

I paused for another moment, straining to pick up on something. Anything.

"Demetri!" I called again.

I didn't know where to begin to look, but I had to try. I had to do something. I couldn't bear the thought of opening up to Demetri and letting him, just for him to be ripped away from me.

Even just the thought made me feel like a hole had been punched through my chest.

I had to keep moving, but I didn't know where to go, so I began moving through the forest in no particular direction.

As I blindly wandered through the forest, I grew more frantic. I tried to keep my cool - I'd been warned time and time again to not let my emotions take over; it was dangerous - but I couldn't help it. I couldn't cope with being abandoned again. Not this time.

I came to a stop in a small clearing and leaned against a tree trunk. I needed to calm down and clear my head. Panicking would only make the situation worse. I closed my eyes and worked on keeping my breathing slow and even. As much as I tried, however, malignant fear still churned in the pit of my stomach.

I kept breathing and I fought the blanket of anxiety that threatened to seize me.

'Where are they?

Where are my friends?'

As I worked to calm myself down, I felt a large hand wrap around my upper arm.

My eyes snapped open. "Demetri!" I gasped.

Blissful relief washed over me as he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly.

He held me wordlessly, and I clung to him with severe desperation.

"Demetri," I sighed, breathing in and exhaling his scent. I'd never experienced a better sensation than the peace I felt in his embrace.

He cupped my cheek with his hand and tilted my head back so he could look at me. His brow was furrowed as he studied my face intently.

I gazed back, drinking in his features as if we'd been apart for a thousand years.

Then, Demetri dipped his head down and kissed me.

Warmed blossomed in my chest as I felt his lips on mine. My lips moved in sync with his, and our kiss deepened, growing hot and desperate.

I gasped when he finally pulled away, leaving me breathless.

"I hated that plan," he murmured as he studied my face with a look of heavy, oppressive lust in his eyes.

"It worked," I said as I did my best to stile the heat that was pooling in between my thighs.

"I suppose it did," he allowed.

"Where is everyone? Did Alec and Felix make it out okay?"

"Once we reached the outer perimeter of the village we split up in order to keep watch and pick off any stragglers that miraculously made it out alive," he confirmed. "Where's Jane?"

"We split up, too. I don't know where she is. I torched the village as I ran through toward the gates, but I didn't think that I could've been boxing her in with a wall of fire."

Demetri's lips pressed together in a hard line.

"If Alec finds out, he's going to kill me," I said.

"He's not going to kill you."

"He will if we don't find his sister."

"We?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yes! We!"

A mischievous grin spread across his face. "I was kidding."

"Now is not the time for jokes," I complained. "We need to find everyone else. We're so close to being done with this God forsaken mission. I'm beyond over it."

"Relax. I'll track them. It'll take us thirty seconds to locate them."

"All of them?" I asked, unwilling to verbalize the true depth of my concern. I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to put it out into the universe.

"They aren't dead," he assured me, as if he could read my mind.

I looked at him questioningly.

"If they were dead, I wouldn't be able to sense them. They're close."

"Jesus!" I exclaimed, exhaling sharply. "Why didn't you start with that?"

"I had more important matters to attend to first."

"Selfish," I murmured as I pressed my body against his, feeling the hardness pressing against my stomach.

"You say this as if you're any better," he smirked.

I bit my lip and contemplated the sweet fruit of Eden.

'Well, if they're alive...'

I laced my fingers behind his neck.

'Where the hell did my morals go?'

I inhaled deeply, and exhaled as I prepared to surrender.

"We need to go," Demetri murmured.

I froze, snapped back to my senses.

Humor danced in his eyes as he looked down at me.

"Uh, yeah," I huffed, turning away quickly and stalking off to the other side of the clearing as I poorly tried to disguise my agitation. "That's exactly what I've been trying to tell you."

I stomped off into the thicket, annoyed by his stupid little game.

"You're going the wrong way," he called after me languidly. I could hear the smile in his voice.

I smoothed out my face before returning to the clearing, remaining mindful to keep my footsteps from being too heavy. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing me pout.

He was honoring my wishes, sure, but he didn't have to be such a tease.

What an asshole.

"Well?" I huffed after a long moment. He was staring at me was a wide smile that suggested that he were resisting the urge to laugh in my face.

"Right this way," he said before leading the way in the exact opposite direction.

'I should've nailed him in the church,' I thought darkly, staring at his back. I wanted to fling myself at him like a bitch in heat, but—

'I'm civilized,' I reminded myself. 'I'm not a slave to my instincts.'

I made the choice to be good, and I needed to stick to my decision. I couldn't let my newfound vampirism change who I was as a person.

I reminded myself that I was a good person...

Er.

Well.

I wasn't a bad one, at the very least.