Elijah covered Winnie with his body, and stayed in that position until the quake ended.Slowly, he lifted his body up, and turned to her. “Are you okay?!”“Yeah, I'm fine,” she replied.His shoulders began to relax. Taking a trip down to Cleo, he saw she had done the same for Tobias. “What was that, man?” He asked, standing to his feet.“I don't know, but I'll go check,” Elijah said, rising to his feet.“Wait!” Winnie placed a hand on his arm. “Be careful,” she said when he turned to her.He nodded, and continued out the door.“And where do you think you're going to?” Cleo questioned Tobias and he made a move to follow behind Elijah.“To go help Elijah out,” he replied, confused as to why she would even ask that kind of question in the first place.“You're joking, right? You're actually not going anywhere,” she said.“Yeah, I am.”“Are you fully human? You can't risk your life like that. Stay with Winnie, I'll go help Elijah out.”He scoffed in disbelief. “While I appreciate your co
Elijah followed Winnie into his room. She sat on his bed, and he joined beside her.“So many things have happened,” she began without giving space to breathe. “So many things I never would have imagined would actually happen. You've lied to me, and betrayed my trust in you. That's okay though. It's not like I change the past—”“Winnie–”“No, listen. You have to listen to me. I left my grandfather to talk to you. He's in fact the biggest reason why I'm not so mad at you anymore. If you can put your anger aside, desire what he represents for you, I have no right to hold grudges.”He grabbed her hands into his, and squeezed it passionately. “Don't say that, please. Don't you dare. You have every right to be mad at me. This has nothing to do with the situation with your grandfather.”“Why didn't you tell me, Elijah?” She asked, her eyes watering.“And say what? I wanted to protect you. How could I tell you that by the virtue of your blood, you're a danger? I thought if I kept you at arms
Elijah walked into the art exhibition with his hand pushed into his suit pants. He nodded his head in appreciation of how they had designed the room holding the exhibition.They had created an illusion that made it look like the guests were floating in water. The walls sizzled like a distorted image, and whooshing effects were being played on loop.It looked like a cave with a stream in it. The smell of Jasmine filled his nose, giving the environment even better ambience than he ever expected.He was staring at a painting Lexington apparently had made when it clicked in his head why the design had gone the way it did.Lexington was the god of water. Of course, he would want to feel at home.This particular painting to the side of the one he was just staring at caught his attention and he moved over to stare at it.It was simply an eye. But inside the eye was where the magic of the painting rested. There was a whole different world there. A world which if you had an iota of discernme
Winnie was putting on her dress when she felt a shuddering presence looming around the room.“Hello?” She whipped her body around.“Is anyone there?” She called.“What do you think?” She heard a voice that sounded like it was in her head.“Darius!” The words slipped out of her mouth, as her eyes darkened from panic.“You know me? I'm honored. Maybe I can get to know you too?” He asked, laughing sinisterly.“You could never know me. I don't know conniving fools like you!” She spat back.“Are you sure you want to take that tone with me? If you're good to me, I can be nice. But if you're not, well let's just say we would have a problem.”“What do you want from me? My blood? Why? Because everyone keeps saying you want me. What do you want me for?”“To make an indestructible army of course,” he laughed maniacally, making her take frantic steps backwards. “You're joking right? You already have so much power. Why do you need more? No one needs that much power.”“Says who? There's nothing li
“What do you want to tell me, Avery?” Elijah asked in a bored tone.Avery smiled. He hadn’t changed one bit. Still trying to make her pay with nonchalance for setting him up after practically eight years together.“I think you would find the information I'm going to give you quite useful. But if you still don't want to hear it, I promise it's fine.” She moved to walk away, but paused and smiled when he called her back.‘I thought so too,” she said, returning to his side. “So are you coming with me now?” she asked.“Let’s go,” he said, after communicating with his eyes to Tobias who was staring curiously at him, from the other end of the room.She slipped her hand into his, and stepped in beside him. He rolled his eyes at the action, but didn’t make any attempt to push her away.Together they strolled out of earshot. As they inched closer to the balcony, Elijah slowed his steps.“This should be secretive enough for you,” he said, finally pulling her hands away.She opened her mouth to
Elijah thought about it for all but twenty seconds before he shook his head, rejecting the idea. “No. I absolutely cannot use Winnie that way. If I have to wait until the day of the fundraiser, then so be it.”“Look, I get it. Winnie is special to you. She’s the one you love, or whatever. Regardless, this is your best shot. Colin knows that you’re a god.”“What!” he raised his brow, temporarily startled?“I had to tell him about us, because he pretty much figured out the basics. Anyway, that’s not even the case right now. If you don’t find a way to sneak into the house soon, he’s going to set you up so bad when the time comes, I’m afraid you may not be able to escape the ambush.”He let her words sit in his head for a few minutes. His biggest enemy at the moment was time. By all indications, Colin planned on using the next weekend for his fundraiser. This would make it exactly one week from today. In a way, he could admit Avery was right. He had to move fast if he wanted to thwart C
“We will have to return to the exhibition one after the other, though. Just follow my lead,” Winnie said.Elijah blinked multiple times as he tried to wrap his mind around Winnie’s enthusiasm. She had the biggest smile on her face, as if she had been waiting for this day all her life.“Are you ready?” she lifted her head, her gaze darting between Elijah and Avery.“I don’t know what exactly you’re trying to do. But I’m bored and down for anything, so let’s do it.” Avery shrugged. “That’s the spirit!” she pumped her fist, then turned to Elijah. “You?” she asked, eyeing him gently as she waited for his response.“Do I have a choice?”“No!” Both Avery and Winnie screamed in unison.“Fine.” He threw his hands into the air in surrender. They stood aside, as Winnie stomped her foot on the ground twice before storming towards the exhibition room.“It’s not just me, right? She’s really enjoying this.” Elijah observed out loud.“Yeah buddy. You got yourself a show girl. In other words, a dra
Elijah drove to a stop in front of the Trusts mansion.“There's a way we can play this off without alerting Colin's boys. But if you want to go the badass route, then we can just walk in.”“What way?” Elijah asked, his trouble sensing tingling.“With your tongue shoved down my throat. They'd think we're in heat and just want to make love. Without any questions asked, they would open the door and let us in.”“No!” He said, immediately she was done.“Okay, Mr God. Chill with the outburst. It was only a suggestion. It's either that, or we go in together. If we do, there's a chance one of them might recognize you and report back to Colin. Are you willing to risk that?”“I'm already here. I don't care if anyone recognizes me or not. All I want to do is get in there, take the herb, and get out.”“You say it like it's that easy,” she said, withdrawing her legs from the dashboard. “Doesn't it take a whole process? Or are you willing to risk the ring working against you?”“The ring feeds on vi