Chapter 19
“You have to run!” I insisted, sitting straight up on the bed so I could face him directly.
He shook his head. “I won’t leave you.”
“Vance. It’ll mean nothing if he finds you and makes you like him. You have to go,” I pleaded.
“No!” he shouted, his answer firm.
I knelt in front of him, placing my hands on either side of his face and stared straight into his eyes. “Vance, please! I’ll even come with you. We can run away together! We’ll get married and go somewhere he’ll never find us,” I begged him in earnest.
He pondered this for a moment, looking deeply at me, before he spoke again.
“Portia, I’d love nothing more than to run away and take you as my wife, but we’d always be running. I want to have a life with you—a real life—one full of love, laughter, and someday children too. If I don’t face him, we’ll never be able to have that. He’s always been able to find me somehow. Sometimes faster than others, but I’m always looking over my shoulder, waiting for him to reappear. It’s time for me to make a stand now.”
“And if you lose?” I asked, the possibility scaring me.
“I don’t plan on losing,” he said stubbornly.
“Things don’t always go the way we plan, Vance! I’d rather live a life on the run than have you gone completely!”
“You’re going to have to trust me, Portia,” he said quietly, searching my eyes.
I dropped my hands and flopped back onto the pillow in defeat.
“I don’t like this,” I sighed. “I’ve had the tiniest exposure to dark magic today, and it almost consumed me. I can’t allow that to happen to you.”
He reached and took my hand in his, massaging my fingers with his own.
“I love that you care so much,” he said with a small smile. “But I managed to escape his influence once before. I’m banking on being able to do that again. I’m stronger than I was then.”
“Well, I hope you’re right, Vance.” I knew I was going to have to trust him, because I couldn’t force him. “I can’t live without you. You know that, don't you?”
He stretched alongside me and gathered me into his arms.
“I’ll never leave you, Portia, and that’s a promise. Please try to understand me.”
We eventually agreed to disagree on the subject, tabling our discussion until the meeting with the coven that evening. Grandma called another get-together due to my experiences of the afternoon and previous night.
After much discussion, everyone was certain unusual things were definitely happening. Since no one had actually spotted Damien Cummings, or any of his followers, Grandma cautioned us to be extra careful and alert for anything that might seem unusual. She reminded us that there was safety in numbers and, whenever possible, to travel with companions from the coven when we were out. My dad said he would also alert some of the neighboring covens to the possibility of a demon cult.
When we adjourned the meeting, I rode back to my house with Vance. He stayed silent until we were safely behind closed doors in my bedroom, steering me to the bed.
“Sit down,” he said with a sigh. “I have something I need to tell you.”
“All right,” I replied, feeling nervous butterflies in the pit of my stomach. “What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve been purposely keeping something from you.” He looked at me a bit warily. “I didn’t want to upset you.”
“Tell me,” I responded with a little too much force.
“It’s about Shelly. She hasn’t quit. She’s been all over me at school.”
“All over you how, exactly?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Hugging me in the halls, rubbing against me whenever she gets the chance—she even tried kissing me again.”
“Apparently, a broken nose wasn’t enough to get my message across,” I grumbled.
“She seems to be doing remarkably well with her nose,” Vance commented. “Other than some slight bruising beneath her eyes and a piece of medical tape covering it, she looks almost normal. Well, at least her ‘new’ normal.”
“So, does all this attention turn your head?” I asked, and he snorted.
“It’s quite annoying to be honest with you. I wish she’d get over herself.”
I giggled at that comment. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to step up my game then.”
“How do you intend to do that?” he asked, his interest piqued.
“I have an idea in mind.”
Instantly, he was in my head probing around until he found what he was looking for.
“You don’t play fair do you?” he said with a chuckle.
“Not when it comes to you,” I returned with an innocent looking smile.
“I like this idea,” he said, his eyes lighting. “I can’t wait to see it in action.”
When we arrived at the school in the morning, I took a deep breath and prepared to get a lot of stares.
“You’re gorgeous! Don’t even worry about it,” Vance said with a reassuring grin.
I threw my thigh-high-leather-booted leg off the motorcycle and stood. I glanced down to straighten the pleats of my black, micro-mini skirt over the two inches of white fishnet tights that were showing. Smoothing my hands across the black-and-white striped, scooped neck shirt, I reached down and pushed the sleeves of my leather jacket to my elbows. Removing my helmet, I shook out the luxuriously curled hair that had been piled beneath it. Then I put on my giant, silver hoop earrings I’d carried in my jacket pocket during the ride.
“There. How’s that?” I bent to observe myself in the bike’s rearview mirror.
I checked my carefully applied makeup, which was much heavier than I’d ever worn it.
Vance made a low whistling sound next to me.
“You should be a felony, baby. It’s gotta be a crime for a girl to be this hot.” His eyes trailed up and down my body as he spoke.
“Shelly’s always felt superior to me when it comes to looks. She doesn’t think I’m worthy of someone like you. That’s why she’s always flaunting herself when you’re around. I’m just giving her a dose of her own medicine.”
“Well, you always look good to me.” He smiled. “But today you’re going to knock their socks off!”
“I look like a hooker.” I laughed shakily.
“Sometimes a guy might not think that’s a bad thing,” Vance said with a boyish grin. “Remember, baby, it’s all about the attitude. Work it.”
He gave me a playful slap on the rear, grabbed my hand and led me toward the school.
“How long do think it'll be before I get called back into the principal’s office?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
I laughed. “You didn’t think I was going to wear this all day, did you? This skirt is a serious violation of the dress code.”
“You’re going to change?” He sounded deflated.
“Just a little. I’m swapping the skirt for a pair of skin tight leather pants before first hour.”
“Skin tight, huh? I think I can live with that.” He gave a dimple-flashing grin. “I can’t wait to see them.”
“You’re such a guy.”
“True. But that’s why you love me, right?”
“Only one of the reasons,” I replied with a smile. “It’s definitely a plus, though.”
This morning turned out to be a basic repeat of Shelly’s dramatic entrance into the school after her makeover. People stopped in the busy halls to stare at me.
Vance squeezed my hand for support as he led me through the throng, until he stopped right in front of Shelly at her locker. He turned and grabbed me into his arms and kissed me with such intensity I thought my lungs might burst.
“You’re right, Shelly,” I said, running a red-painted finger down the side of my lips. “He does taste like butter and honey. And I’m going to taste him again, and again, and again.”
Vance gave me a wicked grin, and plastered another scorching kiss on my li
ps.
I heard Shelly give a loud huff as she pushed by both of us to get away, but I didn’t see her expression since Vance was commanding all my attention. I could hear laughing and whispering in the background, and the voices trailed away as the crowd dispersed.
“Dude, that was harsh,” Brad broke in giving a short laugh. “She deserved it, though.”
Vance quit kissing me and glanced over at Brad.
“Sorry. I know you have a thing for her, but I couldn’t take it anymore,” he explained with a slight shake of his head.
“No apology necessary. She needed to be knocked down a notch or twelve,” Brad responded.
“I agree wholeheartedly!” I added. “How are you?”
“I’m all right.” He smiled. “It’s nice to see you back at school. And, I might add, you look smoking hot today!” He looked me over with new appreciation lighting his expression.
“Hey! Take it easy there, Brad,” Vance said, narrowing his eyes at him. “I might have to beat you down a bit.”
“No worries.” Brad laughed, blowing off the fake threat. “I know she belongs to you.”
“You have it all wrong.” Vance smiled, looking back at me. “I belong to her.” He squeezed both of my hands.
“Well, the two of you are lucky. Don’t take it for granted,” Brad said, continuing down the hall.
“I’ll never let that happen,” Vance said in a whisper directed only at me.
The following Saturday was one I’d been greatly anticipating. I felt we needed a break from everything and had planned a small surprise for Vance. When I discovered his yearbook, I vowed to keep my promise of getting a camera and taking some pictures. I’d gone to the bank and withdrawn some money I earned working at Grandma’s store. I gave the money to my mom and asked her to purchase the nicest camera she could get.
I had the camera now, all gift-wrapped in a small box. It made a nice bulge in my jacket pocket while I sat astride the back of Vance’s motorcycle, zooming to our special place in the canyon. I’d asked him if he would take me there, but I hadn’t told him why, and I hoped he hadn’t caught onto any of the thoughts racing through my head.
We soon reached our parking place and trekked off to the big rock that overlooked the creek. The trees below us that still had leaves, were in various stages of yellows, reds and browns, though lots of dead leaves blew around, littering the forest floor and crunching under our feet as we walked.
“So what’s up your sleeve?” Vance asked casually as we stood holding hands looking at the scene before us.
“What do you mean?” I asked innocently.
“I mean you’ve been acting like a giddy school girl all morning. I figured something was going on.” He smiled at me.
“You peeked into my head, didn’t you?”
He shook his head. “No. I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”
I released his hand and wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on my tiptoes to place a light kiss on his lips. He returned the favor with a slight look of amusement on his face.
“I have a present for you,” I said, rubbing the end of my nose against his.
“Really?” He seemed genuinely surprised. “What is it?”
“It’s in my pocket. But you have to find which pocket,” I said with a devious smile.
He grinned widely. “I’m up for the task, but are you sure you are?”
I laughed at him and didn’t remove my arms from around his neck when his hands began moving over me. I sighed in disappointment when he located the bulge he was looking for rather quickly.
“That was way too fast.”
He smiled. “Guess you’ll have to hide it better next time,” he said as he pulled the box from my pocket. “Wow. It’s wrapped and everything.”
I released him, stepping back to give him some room to open it.
“You do know my birthday is a long way off still, right? It’s not until April.” He laughed, and I nodded.
“I know. Open it,” I said impatiently, eager to get on with it.
“All right.” He gave a sly grin and began to remove the paper very slowly.
I knew he was trying to taunt me. “Rip it off!” I almost shouted, grabbing for the package, determined to do it myself.
He jerked it out of my reach with a laugh before I could grab it, though.
“Take it easy!” he teased, with a shake of his head, clicking his tongue. “Who knew you could be so impatient!”
I rolled my eyes, letting him play his annoying game with me. He kept shaking the box and offering absurd guesses—a chicken, dog food, and fingernail polish—before carefully opening another bit off the package. After what seemed like an unreal amount of time, he finally removed the paper completely.
“You got me a camera!” he said, looking at the box in true surprise.
“Yep.” I smiled. I was very excited I’d been able to keep it secret from him. “I told you a while back I’d work on getting you some new pictures of me. I thought maybe we could take some of us together.”
“I like that idea,” he said, snaking an arm around me and pulling me in for a quick kiss on the lips.
“I even put the batteries in it for you,” I said, laughing, when I pulled back.
“Well then that deserves another kiss.” He kissed me again, but I pushed him away when he started getting too intense. “Hey! Come back here,” he said, reaching for me.
“No. You’re getting distracted!” I went running away from him.
“I’m so going to catch you! You know that, right?” He laughed coming after me.
“You can try!” I squealed, seeing he was in hot pursuit. I ran into the woods and hid behind a tree, trying to catch my breath.
“Gotcha!” He spoke, appearing to the side of me and snapping a picture. I jumped, startled, but took off again before he could stop me, unable to wipe the grin from my face.
We kept up our fun, romping and climbing through the woods and cliffs, taking candid shots of us laughing playfully together every time he “caught” me.
“Hey, look how pretty all the trees and leaves are over in that section. We could set your camera on that log and use the timer to take some shots of us together.” I pointed to the area I was speaking of.
“Sounds great,” he replied, grabbing my hand and leading me there. We shot several poses until I grabbed the camera and collapsed into a pile of leaves on the forest floor. Vance looked so handsome lying there, propped up on his elbow staring at me. I took the camera and snapped a few more pictures of just him. I wondered if the lens would be able to capture the love I could see in his eyes and the emotions he was conveying to me there.
I lowered the camera to look at him.
“I love you so much,” he said, continuing to stare. “I wonder how I ever lived without you.” He grabbed a leaf and used it to trace along the exposed skin at my neck.
“That doesn’t matter anymore,” I replied with a sigh. “We have each other now.”
“I know, and it makes me really happy. I could never leave you, Portia.” He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me down next to him, and kissed me.
“I wouldn’t let you,” I said, laughing, when he was done.
“Good!” he replied. “I’d have to be a fool to risk anything that would cause me to lose you.”
“You’ll never lose me.” I laughed and threw a handful of leaves in his face.
“Oh! You are on!” he said, pouncing on me and rolling me in the leaves, until they were stuck in my hair.
I laughed and squirmed as I tried unsuccessfully to get away from him.
“I give up!” I hollered, throwing my hands in the air and surrendering in exhaustion.
“I told you I wouldn’t let you get away.” He laughed at me, and I decided right then I needed to win this one after all. I used my magic to scoop a bunch of leaves and drop them over his head.
“Hey!” He grinned through the shower of falling leaves. “That wasn’t fair!”<
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I just shrugged my shoulders, and soon we were rolling about in a tornado of color as a magical battle ensued.