Forsaken (Book #1)
Chapter Sixteen

I fell to the ground with a thump, my heart racing wildly in my chest. My skin was slick with sweat and my hair was matted to my forehead and neck. My arms felt like jello and I was having a hard time catching my breath. As a general rule I hated surprises, but this so-called surprise I absolutely loathed with every fiber of my being.

Grayson was standing across the room, his arms crossed over his chest and a small smile on his face. He hadn’t been lying when he had said that I wouldn’t be fighting him. It would have been nice if he had told me that I was fighting five Vampires that he had trained, though.

The Vampires that I had been fighting backed away from me, twirling their blades in their hands. Their steps were light and arrogance was oozing from their pores. Beating me would give them bragging rights I suppose since I was Ilya’s descendant.

“Are you well enough to continue m’lady?” One of the Vampires asked staring at me with concern.

“She does need to be addressed as a lady,” Grayson broke in sharply. “Address her as Calla or do not address her at all.” His words softened when he turned to me, “Are you okay?”

I nodded, still trying to get my breath back. “Yeah, m’fine. Just tired.” I breathed, pushing myself off the ground and climbing to my feet. “Are we going to keep sparring?”

“Take a break,” Grayson murmured, “you are exhausted Calla, and we do not want to intentionally harm you.” He looked towards the Vampires, “Go hunt.”

The five nodded and then they were darting out of the room. I fell back onto the ground and sighed, setting my swords down and swiping my hair away from my eyes. Training was not going well. I knew that I was improving slowly but surely, but we were almost halfway through September and Darya would be summoned at the end of October. I only had one month to get to the same caliber as Ilya.

I couldn’t get to that level of skill in one month. But I would do my best, they were all counting on me to stop the Afterdark. No pressure.

* * * * *

The five Vampires that I had been sparring with returned to the room about half an hour later. By that time most people had vacated the gym and it had started to storm outside. The Vampires walked into the room, blood staining the collars of their white shirts which were clinging to the skin. Droplets of water dropped onto the floor as they walked into the room and I watched them with pity in my eyes.

Grayson’s eyes were amused as he watched them. “Perhaps it would be better to leave and finish training tomorrow. It is getting rather later,” Grayson murmured.

“It is also raining,” one of the five Vampires said dryly.

“So it is,” Grayson said with a smile. “Calla, go home and rest.”

I staggered to my feet, leaving the swords lying on the ground. With a weary look at Grayson I headed downstairs and out of the gym. The sky was hard to see amid the torrents of rain, and the dark gray ominous clouds covering the sky. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, causing me to jump.

I had been outside only about two minutes and I was already soaked to the bone. With chattering teeth I made my way in the direction of my house, intent on getting there as soon as I possibly could. I kept my head ducked as I walked the couple of blocks to my house, fatigue evident in my steps.

I ascended the stairs and stopped before the door, beneath the overhang. All of the lights inside the house were off and I wondered if Andrea and Parker had left again or if they were still here but sleeping.

“Calla.” A voice behind me said and I whirled around.

Seriously? Why did he continue to show up everywhere I was? And why whenever he did show up did he insist on sneaking up on me. It seemed like every encounter that Lucian and I had some form of a cliché in it. If it wasn’t his tortured bad-boy “I don’t want to hurt you” spiel it was his, sneaking up on me and starting a conversation with me.

I was so fed up with him. With this whole situation. For just one day in my life I would like some peace – no drama with Grayson or Lucian, and certainly no encounters of the supernatural kind. I wanted my life to go back to normal!

“What do you want?” I asked Lucian wearily, having reached my breaking point.

I was mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. Up until now I had been able to handle everything that had been thrown at me from being Valkyrie to being the only hope of New Haven. But now, it was different. Nothing had changed in the circumstances but it had just hit me.

Everything was different, though. My friendship with Cassie was fractured because I couldn’t tell her I was a supernatural creature, there was also the fact that I was a supernatural creature, I had to defeat a super-powerful demon and if I didn’t New Haven would fall and the whole world would end.

Yeah, that was a lot of pressure. I had only just realized the magnitude – the severity – of the situation that I had found myself in, and I was in no mood to deal with Lucian’s bad-boy yet sensitive guy attitude. I leaned against the door, raising my brows as I stared at Lucian waiting for him to answer me.

“I came to check on you.” He finally said, his eyes meeting mine.

“You have no reason to do that and as you can see, I am perfectly fine.” I said acidly, crossing my arms defensively over my chest.

My façade of bravado vanished when I jumped at a particularly loud clap of thunder. Lucian’s eyes glowed with amusement, and a small smile curled his lips.

“Maybe I don’t,” he agreed, “but I do want to be here for you. I care about you Calla.”

“Okay,” I said a little stunned. “That’s great, good for you Lucian but I don’t have time to do this. This back and forth thing where you care about me, but you won’t go against the Afterdark. I can’t do this, not when the whole world is resting on my shoulders. So goodbye.”

I reached behind me turning the knob and stumbled inside. Water dripped from my hair and clothes onto the floor, and I wiped at my eyes a little surprised to see that it wasn’t water but tears. I was crying.

For whatever stupid reason I was crying. Maybe it was because I had come to the realization that Lucian and I would never be a thing, no matter how irresistible he was. Or maybe it was just because I was completely and totally overwhelmed, and was exhausted. I’d go with the second option. There was no way that I was crying over Lucian.

Nope, no way.

I walked towards the stairs leaving puddles of water behind in my wake. I had just reached the stairs when a hand seized my wrist halting me in my steps. I whirled around, in no way surprised to see that it was Lucian. Of course he would do something like this.

“Lucian leave me alone.” I pleaded wrenching my wrist out of his grasp.

“I’m sorry.” Lucian apologized ducking his head. “But I feel like it is important we talk.”

“There is nothing to talk about Lucian!” I nearly shouted. With a wary glance at the stairs I lowered my voice, “There is nothing to talk about Lucian. You have apologized for torturing me, great. Since you’ve done that there is nothing that we need to say to each other. Now just leave me alone.”

“I can’t.” Lucian murmured, stepping closer to me. “I…am drawn to you.” His voice had grown husky. “Your light and your warmth, the way that you care for your friends and even strangers, and your attitude.”

Oh dear God, no. He couldn’t be possibly be trying to say that he has feelings for me. Icy-cold dread washed over me but that did nothing to wash away the thrill that had entered my body when Lucian had started to speak. As much as I knew it was wrong if he did like me and if we did have a relationship, it was hard to bring myself to actually truly care.

Lucian shuffled on his feet. “I am not eloquent with words as Grayson is, but what I am trying to say is that I do have feelings for you Calla. Even though I shouldn’t, I do.”

I inhaled sharply at his words and looked away from his golden eyes which were alight with an emotion that I had seen before. Love. Even though I was thrilled at his words, somewhere deep down I knew that it couldn’t be love.

He hadn’t known me long enough to fall in love with me. But somehow he was. Droplets of water clung to Lucian’s hair giving him an ethereal look – in contrast to his Demon blood – and his clothes were clinging sinfully to his sculpted chest. My heart thumped painfully in my chest as I continued to stare at Lucian, my head spinning as his words replayed in my mind.

Lucian mustered a small bitter smile, “Though you do not feel the same, I figured I should get it out there. Goodbye Calla.”

Hearing “goodbye” from his lips, sounded so final and that was the last thing that I wanted. I didn’t want him to leave, no matter how much he should. In an extremely impulsive act I grabbed Lucian before he could disappear and clumsily pressed my lips to his. This wasn’t like the heated kiss that Grayson and I had shared the day before, but it was still just as thrilling in its simplicity.

Then I was stepping away my cheeks burning. A burning hot hand, brushed against my cheek, thumb rubbing against the heated skin and a lighthearted laugh filled my ears sending my heart racing wildly in my chest.

It was stupid for me to kiss Lucian, I knew that but I was replaceing it hard to be regretful. I guess it was just my inner rebellious streak rearing its head.

“I’ll see you later Calla.” Then he was gone.