The Daylighter Chronicles

Chapter 11: Taste of Ink

Eerie

Just as I wrapped my arms around Ethan's neck in an attempt to deepen our kiss, I felt that we were not alone in our park, and once I heard the twig snap I was sure of it. I stiffened, and felt Ethan tense as well, if only because he felt my apprehension. I broke our kiss as I silently cursed our intruder, and let down my mental walls just a bit to see if our stalker was just your run of the mill pervert or if he was a stake-wielding psycho. As soon as my mind touched his I knew that I was in big trouble, he knew my name, he suspected what I was, and that suspicion alone was the reason that he planned to kill me. He was waiting for Ethan to leave so that he could make his move, and as I pulled out of his head I was terrified. I knew exactly what this man wanted to do to me, but I couldn't let him anywhere near Ethan. I needed to lure this maniac away, and fast, before he decided he didn't care about killing an innocent bystander.

Just as I was trying to think of a way out of this I felt something cold and wet hit the tip of my nose. I blinked a few times as it took me a few seconds to register that it was now snowing heavily. I could barely see in front of me with the amount of snow that was falling. That was when Ethan took my hand in his and said,

"Let's go." We grabbed our gifts and practically ran down the deserted streets as I asked,

"Where are we going?" He stopped and looked at me in confusion,

"You know what? I don't know, but we should get out of this." I nodded and tried to think, I didn't want to take him to my place because if Ethan had to find out about me tonight, I still didn't want him to know about Kai and Baen. I stomped my foot and chewed my bottom lip as I tried to think. I then looked up at Ethan as I asked tentatively,

"What about your place?" His eyes widened,

"My place?" I nodded as I toed the snow, this was awkward. I had been wanting to see what Ethan's apartment looked like for a while, but not like this. Alas, I was out of options. I didn't feel safe about him going home alone, and I couldn't get my family involved, not yet anyway. He swallowed hard and nodded his head with his jaw firmly set, and began to pull me in the direction of where he lived.

There I stood in Ethan's bedroom, which was Spartan at best, as I looked down at myself yet again and sighed. By the time we finally reached his apartment my coat and dress were both soaked through, and even though it was now hard for me to feel cold my teeth were still chattering. So now here I stood, wearing a pair of Ethan's sweats and a T-shirt both of which were far too big, but at least they were warm and comfy. I then smiled as I brought the sleeve of his shirt to my nose and inhaled, and they smelled like him, like pine mixed with something that was completely masculine. I sighed again before I shrugged, eventually, he was going to see me wearing clothes that were unflattering, they might as well be his. I opened his door and walked out of his room just as he was walking out of the bathroom, wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. I couldn't help myself from looking him up and down as he used the towel hanging around his neck to dry his hair.

Once our eyes met and I saw that half-smile of his, as he eyed me up in his clothes, he slowly began to stalk towards me until my back hit the door. I got this strange tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach, but before I could see where this could lead his phone rang. I sighed, and he made a sound that closely resembled a growl as he gave me an apologetic look before he went to answer his phone. Just as I was about to follow him and try and convince him that answering his phone was a bad idea my stomach made a noise that would have been very stupid to ignore, so I headed to the kitchen to see what Ethan had by the way of food.

Nothing. He had nothing. I was standing here starving, and he had nothing to eat. How was it possible to not even have a box of crackers or a jar of pickles? I sighed as I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the best noodle place in town and ordered two giant bowls of black bean noodles with an extra side of pickled radishes. Ethan would just have to thank me later.