Blood Magic (Blood Magic Series Book 1) Page 6

  “Are we playing Peek-A-Boo?” he asked, smiling.

  “How bout truth or dare?” I countered.

  “We don’t have to play games, Allie. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

  “Okay. Boxers or briefs?” I asked, with a wicked gleam in my eyes.

  “Do you want me to tell you or show you?” He asked, standing up as if he were about to unbutton his jeans.

  My mouth fell open, and I quickly looked around to see if anyone else saw what he was about to do. Then I heard him laughing as he sat back down, still fully clothed, and I glared at him.

  “You are so not funny,” I said, throwing my napkin at him.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. You’re gonna have to do a lot better than that to shock me.”

  I was saved from having to reply by the waitress taking our order.

  “What can I get ya’ll to drink?” I ordered a diet coke and he ordered a large chocolate milkshake. Then she left to fill our order.

  “You’re actually going to drink a huge milkshake before your meal?” I asked him.

  “Yeah,” he said grinning at me, “Dessert is the best part of the meal; I always eat it first.”

  “Agreed. It’s the best; which is why I always save it for last.”

  “How bout we do both. You help me drink this shake before, and I’ll help you eat whatever dessert you order after. ”

  “Deal,” I said, reaching for the shake and taking two big gulps through the straw—very aware that his lips had been touching that very same straw only moments earlier.

  When the waitress came back to our table, I ordered a bacon cheeseburger and fries, and he ordered the same. While we waited for our food, I decided to find out as much as I possibly could about the mysterious Mason Adams.

  “So, you just moved to town, right?” I asked, taking a sip of my drink.

  “Yeah, we moved right after the fire. My parents are really hoping I don’t burn the school down this time,” he said seriously.

  I spit my drink all over the table and he started laughing again.

  “You really are too easy, Allie.”

  Pretending to be upset, I said, “I thought I was the one with the smart mouth who joked around too much.”

  “Maybe you’ve met your match,” he told me.

  “Maybe I have; or maybe you’re just avoiding the question, because you were all about being serious at the hospital that night.”

  And just like a switch had been flipped, his eyes darkened as he said, “We were talking about your life, Allison. It doesn’t get more serious than that.”

  “Why do you care so much?” I asked him.

  “I don’t know,” he told me, glancing down, and then back up at me, “There’s just something about you that pulls me in and won’t let go.” And the only way I can describe the look in his eyes is smoldering.

  I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again, struggling for something—anything—to say back to him. I was still searching for the words when our food arrived.

  We began to eat, neither of us saying a word, and the sound of the silence was almost deafening.

  “How’s your food?” he asked, suddenly.

  “Good. Great. It … it’s good,” I stammered like an idiot.

  “Do you still want me to tell you a little about myself?” he asked uncertainly. Maybe he was afraid I thought he was a psycho stalker, but if he was, I was a more than willing victim. In lieu of a verbal response, I nodded my head; my mouth still, stubbornly, refused to cooperate.

  “I moved here from Atlanta. My mom is a veterinarian and my dad owns a small chain of fast food restaurants. He’s thinking of expanding in this area, so here I am.”

  “Wow, Atlanta is a big city. It must suck for you, leaving there for here. All we have is a couple of restaurants, a bowling alley, a small shopping center, and a Wal-mart. We don’t even have a movie theatre; you have to go the next county over for that! And it’s about an hour and a half drive if you wanna go to the mall!”

  “I don’t know; from where I’m sitting this place doesn’t look too bad,” he said, with an adorable half-smile.

  “Yeah, I give you a month before you really do go crazy and burn the school down,” I said, laughing.

  “How long have you lived here?” he asked me.

  “Since I was three. We moved here from Minnesota.”

  “That long, huh? And you’re still sane?”

  “Depends on who you ask,” I said, popping a fry in my mouth.

  “Maybe I should take a poll?”

  “Oh, God, after what happened in class today, please don’t!”

  “Yeah, what’s up with that anyway?” he asked, taking a huge bite out of his burger.

  “Oh, it’s just these crazy dreams I keep having. They really screw with my head,” I said, shrugging it off.

  “You wanna talk about it?”

  “Not really. I just wish I knew why I keep having them, but at the same time, I’m always wondering what’s gonna happen next, ya know? It’s like my very own little mini-series broadcasting live from my brain every night, and occasionally in class. Maybe I am crazy,” I said, tiredly.

  “Not crazy,” he said, “Just thoughtful and inquisitive. Besides, it’s gotta beat listening to Mr. Wilson carry on for an hour and a half,” he said, miming pointing a gun to his head.

  “If you only knew,” I said, picturing him without the green shirt and jeans he was wearing. Of course, the naked part of the dream was what my brain had chosen to fixate on.

  “Maybe someday you’ll tell me,” he said, his hand brushing my cheek as he reached out to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind my ear, and part of me wanted to grab his hand and hold it there.

  “So, we’ve had the before dessert; are you ready for the after dessert yet?” I asked him, breaking the spell.

  “Sure,” he said, motioning for the waitress to clear our nearly empty plates. And at the risk of gaining five pounds from one meal, I ordered us a hot fudge cake sundae with extra fudge.

  “Maybe we should both ask for a barf bag before we get in Charlie to go home,” I joked.

  “Nah, I’m a bottomless pit; so I guess I’ll just have to eat most of the sundae myself—to keep you from getting sick. Charlie will never forgive you if you puke on him,” he said, gravely.

  “How kind of you,” I told him, as the gargantuan sundae was placed on the table before us.

  “Crap! She only brought one spoon,” I said, and started to motion for her to come back to our table.

  “I don’t mind if you don’t,” he said, as he picked up the spoon, and scooped up a small bite, holding it up to my mouth.

  I leaned forward and opened my mouth as he fed me the best tasting bite of hot fudge cake—I was sure—I had ever had.

  Then I snatched the spoon away from him and gave him a bite. There was a little bit of fudge left on his bottom lip, and I wiped it away with my thumb, bringing it to my mouth and sucking the fudge off of it.

  “I never thought a girl sucking her thumb could be so hot,” he said.

  And all I could do was laugh. Being with him felt so wonderful and perfect and right—give or take a few awkward moments—that I would have frozen time and stayed with him in this diner forever, if I could have. But despite his claims of being a bottomless pit, we were only able to finish half. So we asked for the bill—which he absolutely insisted on paying—and we left.

  “You know, I think I just might be too full and lazy to drive,” I told him, my eyes sparkling, “Would you like to be my chauffeur?”

  “Are you serious?” he asked, with barely contained excitement.

  “Why not?” I said, shrugging.

  “This is a really nice car, Allie. What if I wreck it?”

  “Well, if you really don’t want to—”

  “Gimme those keys,” he said, snatching them away before I could finish the thought.

  And just as he had done earlier, he walked around to the passenger’s side, and
opened the door for me saying, “Your chariot awaits, milady.”

  “So, where do you want to go?” I asked him, after we were both in and buckled up.

  “Somewhere where there’s no speed limits,” he said, putting Charlie’s top down.

  “No such place around here, but I do know several back roads where there’s almost no traffic,” I told him.

  “Sounds good to me. Just tell me where to go.”

  I gave him directions and we were off like a rocket, with Blake Shelton blaring on the satellite radio, and the wind in our hair; we were invincible! Sliding around curves, kicking up clouds of dust, and spraying gravel in myriad directions. It was a bright August day with lots of sunshine, and not one single cloud in the sky.

  We went past a large fenced-in field where cows munched lazily on the bright, green grass, which must have been cut recently, because the sweet scent filled my lungs as I breathed in, deeply. The sound of the cattle lowing and the wind rushing through my ears, mixing with Mason’s laughter, was magic. And every time we slid around a curve, I would hold my hands up in the air and scream, which only made him laugh louder. This day had been made to order, especially for us, and I was in no hurry for it to be over.

  We drove around for a while longer, before stopping the car, and taking shelter under a large weeping willow tree. It was a nice reprieve from the merciless rays of the sun, and the cool breeze felt good on my heated skin.

  We were lying on a blanket that I just happened to have in the trunk of my car, staring up at the clear, cerulean sky, when I asked, “So, um, did you have a girlfriend back home?”

  “Huh?” he asked, turning his head toward me.

  “You know, the whole boy like girl, boy date girl relationship?”

  “Yeah, I’m aware of how it works, Allie. And no, I didn’t.”

  “Why not?” I asked, remembering how the girls had swarmed around him after class.

  “I’m picky,” he said.

  “Obviously, if there wasn’t one girl in all of Atlanta that did it for you,” I replied.

  “I just hadn’t met anyone gullible enough yet,” he said grinning at me.

  “Jerk,” I said, trying to punch him, but failing miserably. He must have anticipated what I was going to do, because he quickly captured both my wrists in his hands and pinned them above my head.

  “That wasn’t very nice,” he said, clearly trying to suppress his laughter and look intimidating.

  “Well, neither was calling me gullible,” I said as I pretended to struggle.

  “Let me make it up to you,” he whispered, and my heart stopped completely, before it started hammering out of my chest.

  “Okay,” I said, my voice coming out in a strangled squeak.

  The hint of a smile touched his lips, before he lowered them gently to mine. And I opened my mouth under his and playfully bit his bottom lip. He raised his head long enough to look down at me and grin, before returning to my mouth to plunder and explore.

  He finally released my hands and they immediately tunneled through his silky, black hair. His lips traveled down my neck, and I leaned back to give him easier access. His hands were moving up and down my back, and I was clinging as tightly to him as possible.

  I don’t think either of us actually even remembered where we were; that’s why it was so surprising when big, fat raindrops suddenly splattered us from above. A boom of thunder, so loud that is shook the ground, closely followed.

  We immediately scrambled to our feet and ran for the car, starting it, and putting the top up as quickly as possible. As we sat in the car listening to the rain pounding angrily on the roof, we both started laughing.

  “How could we not have noticed those huge storm clouds in the sky?” he asked.

  “Where did it come from so fast?” I asked, as a giant bolt of lightning split the sky.

  “Maybe it wasn’t as fast as we think; we were kinda preoccupied,” he said.

  I blushed—which is so not like me—and turned to look out the window, watching the storm in all its glory. I couldn’t believe how dark it had gotten; we hadn’t been here that long; I was certain. The sound of thunder continued to ricochet off of my eardrums, and the lightning looked like it could rip the sky into pieces, which would fall like the stars, all around us.

  The last streak of lightning that winged its way through the sky, struck the tree that we had been under only moments earlier, and I screamed.

  “I think we should get home,” Mason said uneasily, and I readily agreed.

  He put Charlie in reverse and started back in the direction we had come from. We had to drive slowly this time, because visibility was next to nothing. That’s why I was genuinely surprised when he slammed on the brakes, jerking me forward in my seat; we hadn’t been going that fast in the first place. I started to ask him what was going on, but I had barely opened my mouth to form the words, when a massive tree fell right in front of the car, narrowly missing us.

  “Mason, it almost feels like something doesn’t want us to get out of here,” I told him, knowing that it sounded ridiculous.

  But he wasn’t even listening to me; he was fixated on something in front of the car. I turned to see what he was looking at, and I prayed that this was just another nightmare, because what I was seeing could not possibly be real.

  Chapter Six

  Questions

  Standing in front of me were three black dogs. What’s scary about that, you may ask. I’ll tell you. Every single one of them was as big as a cow, or maybe even a little bigger. They had eyes that glowed like twin red coals of fire, and they actually seemed to flicker, like maybe there might really be and inferno burning in their depths. Their fangs were bared, as they snarled at us, and saliva dripped from them, and ran down into their matted, black fur. And not one of them was looking at Mason; their flaming eyes were fixated solely on me. I don’t know why I didn’t scream; maybe I was too afraid. Then they slowly began to circle the car.

  “Mason,” I whimpered, reaching for his hand.

  “It’s all right, baby. It’s gonna be okay,” he said, squeezing my hand, almost painfully. “I’m gonna have to get out of the car to take care of this—

  “Are you insane? They’ll rip you apart!” I interrupted, almost hysterically.

  “Trust me, Allison! I know what I’m doing!”

  “But—”

  “No, buts! I want you to promise me that you’ll stay in the car! I mean it! Under no circumstances are you to get out and try to help me! Promise me!” he demanded.

  “I can’t!” I screamed at him, “Do you think I could just sit here and watch you die?” I pleaded.

  “Allison, if you’re out there I’m only going to be distracted, worrying about you, and I probably will die!”

  “Don’t say that! Just please, please, stay in the car with me,” I begged.

  “Allison, we are not getting around that tree, and this car won’t protect us if they decide they want in; the only thing to do is fight. You can help me by keeping yourself safe.”

  “I can call for help. Maybe my iPhone has a signal,” I said, knowing that it wouldn’t, but desperately searching for ways to keep him in the car with me.

  “Allison, there’s no service out here and you know it. No one is coming; I’m the only one who can get us out of this.”

  I nodded and he looked relieved.

  “Now, I want you to get in the floorboard and stay out of sight. Can you do that for me?” he asked, gently.

  I nodded again and crawled down into the cramped floorboard like he asked me to, curling myself into a ball. The car began to shake, and I squeezed my eyes shut tightly and bit my lip, to keep from crying out.

  “Good Girl,” he said, “I’m going to open the door on the count of three and shut it right behind me; if I’m not able to get it shut, I want you to crawl over and shut it. Okay?”

  “I will,” I told him.

  And then he began to count, one … two … three, and he was gone; s
lamming the door shut loudly behind him. And the endless waiting began.

  The thunder and lightning continued to grow in ferocity, and the wind sounded almost like someone screaming—only growling and the occasional thud interrupted these sounds. How much time had passed? Five minutes? Ten? An hour? It felt like an eternity! And every minute was a minute too long. Was Mason even still alive? Were the devil dogs, even now, circling Charlie, ready to dismantle him to get to me? I didn’t know; that’s the part that was killing me!

  And I could not stand hiding in the floorboard like a scared little girl. That made me angry, and the anger was finally able to override some of my fear.

  As I pulled myself up and peeked out the window, I was amazed to see that one of the creatures was laying on the ground. Was it dead? Had he killed it? And if so, how?

  I watched as one of them approached him from the front and the other circled around behind him. They were both about to spring at him, when he jumped into the air and grabbed onto a tree branch, causing them to collide with each other in midair. But how had he reached that tree branch? It was easily fifteen feet in the air!

  Then I watched as he let go and landed on the ground in a crouch. One of the dogs approached him snarling; saliva trailing from its fangs, and suddenly it sprang at him, raking his jaw with its razor-sharp claws. He clamped his arms around the creature, as they rolled on the ground, each trying to get the advantage over the other. But as he struggled with one, he lost sight of the other, and the second beast came up behind him, sinking its teeth deeply into his shoulder. And that’s when I got out of the car.

  The rain quickly plastered my hair to my face, and I swiped it from my eyes angrily, as I desperately searched for something to use as a weapon. I found a large piece of wood from the fallen tree—and picking it up—slowly began to advance towards my target. If I could only get one of them away from him, maybe he could defend himself against the other.