Eve of Eternal Night Read online

  “I had fun tonight,” I said.

  “Maybe you’ll let yourself have fun another night… with me.”

  “Maybe,” I replied, letting a genuine grin escape.

  It earned me one in return. “Give me your phone,” he said, reaching his hand out for it. I did, then watched as he punched his name and number into my contacts. “There. Just in case you need it.” He handed the phone back to me before starting down the steps. “I’ll see you around, Eve.”

  “You will.”

  As the color started to return to my cheeks, I turned away from Fenris and walked into the foyer of my building, letting the door fall shut behind me. I climbed the stairs, not looking back to see if he was still standing on the steps watching me through the window in the door. He’d been so concerned about my safety that I just assumed he was.

  His chivalrous nature was endearing.

  I was still smiling about our date when I reached my floor. I sent him a quick text to wish him good night. Two seconds later, I received one with the same sentiment from him.

  I unlocked my apartment door to find it brightly lit, just as I’d left it. I always kept the lights on when I knew I’d be coming home late. It made me feel better to walk into a semi-lit room rather than one shrouded in darkness. The dark had always left me a little unsettled, from the time I was a child into adulthood. My imagination was almost impossible to rein in.

  I tossed my keys onto the kitchen counter and put my purse down beside them. Having forgotten to lock the door behind me, I rushed over to it and latched the deadbolt as well as the chain. Had there been a third option, I’d have locked it, too. The increasing crime in our area was always fresh in my mind. I didn’t want to become the next headline.

  Once the door was secure, I headed into the bathroom to get cleaned up for bed. I studied myself in the mirror as I took off my makeup, turning my face to catch the harsh vanity lighting. Even without an ounce of makeup on, I was attractive. My creamy complexion paired with my green eyes and red hair was eye-catching. The smattering of freckles across the bridge of my nose that spread onto my cheeks before thinning out used to be the bane of my existence, but with age I’d grown to like them. I ran my finger over them as if to smooth them out. I wondered if Fenris had noticed them—if he’d wanted to touch them as I was.

  My fingers slid down to my lips, tracing over them lightly. I wondered what Fenris would have done to them if I hadn’t run away. My eyes rolled closed at the thought of his lips brushing mine—a light graze of his teeth against my bottom lip before he captured it and tugged on it, toeing the line between pleasure and pain. My breath caught in my throat before I exhaled hard, forcing my eyes open. Pink, flushed cheeks greeted me in the mirror, taunting me. No amount of denial could cover up the fact that I wanted Fenris to kiss me. Possibly more.

  Trying to clear that thought from my mind, I finished washing my face and brushing my teeth before I walked down the tiny hall to my bedroom. I checked to make sure the windows were locked—even though I was on the third floor—and the blinds were down. I reached over my nightstand to close the blind on the final window, but something outside caught my eye. I bent down low to avoid being seen, even though the light in my room was off.

  Below, amid a small patch of bushes and trees near the building, a shadow loomed by the trunk of an old oak that stood tall in the middle of the landscaping. I squinted hard, trying to make out what was tree and what was shadow, but it was difficult with so little light falling on that part of the property. I held my breath as I willed the darkness to move. Moments later, the shadow leaned forward just enough to show a human silhouette. I shot up onto my feet, running to the kitchen to grab my phone. I dialed Fenris as I ran back to my room, adrenaline surging through my veins.

  “Eve?”

  “There’s someone outside, hiding in the bushes by my apartment.”

  “Don’t move, understand? I’ll be right there.”

  “Shit!” I cursed, straining to see if the figure was still there. I’d only been gone for ten seconds at most. Had he seen me jump up in the window? Had I scared him off?

  “What?” he asked, his voice low and commanding.

  “I can’t see him now… I think he’s gone.”

  “I’m coming over—”

  “No. No, it’s okay. I think I just spooked myself.”

  “Eve,” he said, his tone still serious. “I’m coming over.”

  “Honestly, Fenris, I’m fine. I’m sorry I freaked out and called.”

  “You can always call me, Eve. Always. For anything.”

  I hesitated for a second before responding. “Why? Why are you so intense about that, Fenris?”

  Silence…

  “The world is a scary, uncertain place. I want you to know you have someone to turn to when you need one. Someone who has your back.”

  “But you barely know me.”

  Another pause.

  “I do know you, Eve. Better than you can imagine.”

  “Did my father hire you?” I asked, my normal skepticism taking over. “Did he send you here to keep me safe?”

  “No,” he said, sounding confused and hurt. “I have no idea who your father even is.”

  “Then how can you know me?”

  “Because I see you, Eve. I see the hurt and the doubt and the fear peeking out from under that armor you wear. I know you’re more than what’s been left in the wake of whatever’s hurt you.”

  “I—” I cut myself off before I let my guard down. It was easy to want to do that with Fenris. It was easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. Though I wanted to tell him that he was right—that I had built my tough-girl façade on the hurt of my past, that I’d been damaged by my years in the spotlight—I couldn’t. Partly because I wasn’t ready; but mostly because I didn’t want Fenris to prove me right. That he, too, was just another person trying to use me in one way or another. “I’m sorry I bothered you, Fenris. Good night.”

  I hung up the phone before he could protest and laid it down on the nightstand next to my bed. For the next few minutes, I stared out at the darkness below and wondered if I had really seen the shadow move, or if it had been fatigue and tequila and my overactive imagination at work. I really needed to stop obsessing over the news so much. It did nothing for my state of mind. Crime wasn’t exactly around every corner. Unless it was.

  Especially around the corner of a Greek Row building, where a body had lain lifeless and murderers had loomed.

  With that memory dredged up, I crawled into bed and tucked my phone in next to me. I lay there for hours, hoping sleep would eventually take me and quiet my mind, but it didn’t. Sleep was as evasive as the answers surrounding the murder that wasn’t. The crime that had never happened.

  At five in the morning, I got up and called the student med center.

  I needed to meet with Gunnar ASAP.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I hadn’t yet heard back from Gunnar’s secretary when I made my way to campus. I was tempted to stop in and wait to be seen, but I had class. Begrudgingly, I made my way through the common to the astronomy building.

  Along the way, distraction found me.

  “Well, well, well… look who it is. Latte girl strikes again.” Stian’s steel-grey eyes looked up from his book as I approached, and he smiled at me. It promised mischief and shenanigans and everything in between. “Where is your namesake? Have you suddenly deserted your favorite beverage?”

  “I had one at home,” I said, hovering above him. Taking the hint, he dog-eared his page and closed the book before unfurling his body to his full height. He seemed taller than I remembered. Taller and slightly more imposing.

  “Heading to class?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “I wonder what your parents would think of your disregard for your education.”

  “They probably couldn’t give two shits less. Besides, it’s a fluff class. It doesn’t really have any impact on my major.”

  “Fluff class, she says. I wonder what it could be. Creative writing? Statistics? … Philosophy?”

  “Astronomy, actually.”

  That devilish grin returned. “That might not impact your major, but it certainly impacts your life. You should go—actually, we both should.” He reached out his hand for mine, and I hesitated. “It’s just a hand. The gesture only means as much as the weight you give it.” I stared at it for a beat before slowly extending mine toward him. His smile returned the second he took my hand in his.

  Then we were off toward the Stewart-Thompson science building.

  “Which room?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “205.”

  “Perfect. We can sneak in the back.”

  “You’re really going to go to a class that you’re not even enrolled in?”

  He shrugged, still holding my hand captive. The fact that I’d let him have it in the first place still surprised me. But there was something warm and soothing about his skin against mine—a feeling I didn’t want to lose—so it stayed where it was.

  “I’m a student of life, and the stars are my guide. I’m offended by your indifference. I think I need to give you an off-curriculum education in them.”

  “So you’re just going to whisper in my ear all class while the professor is talking?”

  He looked back at me, his eyes sparkling with the thrill of doing something he knew he shouldn’t. “Exactly.”

  “You’re crazy!” I said, feeling the rush of adrenaline in my veins. It was surprisingly welcome. “We’re going to get in so much trouble.”

  “If by trouble you mean that the professor might not care for our sidebar conversation and throw us out, then yes, we likely will.”

  His lack of concern over getting tossed from class floored me.

  “All right. I’ll do it, but I swear on all that’s holy, if we get kicked out and the dean catches wind of it, I’m throwing your ass under the bus and saying you kidnapped me at gunpoint and made me go with you.”

  “Duly noted,” he said, pushing open the door to the building. With my hand still hostage in his, we climbed the stairs to the second floor. I couldn’t decide if he thought I was going to make a break for it if he let me go or if he was just the touchy sort, but in either case, I found him darkly amusing, so I let him have his way.

  He stopped at the rear entrance to the auditorium-style classroom, giving me one last chance to bail on his little mission. The challenge in his eyes as he stared at me was enough to make me follow through. I didn’t back down from much—not if I could help it. Backing down from his stunt wasn’t going to happen. Period.

  He eased the door open and walked down the narrow passage leading to the back row. Because the seating was higher there, we could still be seen sneaking in, but thankfully the lights had been dimmed so the class could see the pictures on the projection screen.

  “If you look up at the right corner of this picture, you can see the point of Aquarius and follow it down,” said the professor whose name I’d never bothered to learn, pushing his thick glasses up onto the bridge of his nose.

  “He’s going over the zodiac signs,” Stian said softly in my ear. “And you thought this lecture wasn’t important.”

  He pulled away to flash a toothy grin at me in the darkness. The guy sitting directly in front of us turned a nasty glare our way, and I gave him one in return.

  “What did you expect sitting in the back row?” I said to him. He muttered something about me buying my way through school as he turned around. I gave the back of his chair a boot, knocking him forward. Seconds later, he slid down a few seats in his row.

  Good call, kid. Good call.

  “You have quite a way with people,” Stian mused in my ear.

  “Generally speaking, I can’t stand them.”

  “If I actually valued another’s opinion of me, I might be wounded by such a statement.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?”

  “True! Now the professor is going to go into all the technical jargon regarding this particular constellation, which is boring as all hell. I’m going to give you a little history on Aquarius instead. The actual history, and not some psychic-flunky’s version of it.”

  When I didn’t reply immediately, he stuck his face in mine to read my reaction.

  “Great! Prattle on about the stars in three… two…”

  He flashed me a mildly irritated face before settling back in his chair, leaning close to speak into my ear.

  “It’s been long said throughout history that all the zodiac constellations are more than just conglomerations of stars in the sky—that they have a purpose far beyond that. The great astronomers have theorized over centuries about how and why they came to be. Some believed that the gods put them there for navigating the Earth. Others told tales of wronged lovers and punished soldiers and myriad other stories that could explain the likenesses in the sky. But there was never really a way to prove why they existed.”

  I nestled back into my seat and let the wistful, faraway sound of his voice lull me. There was something so wild but peaceful about Stian—something that spoke to a place deep inside of me. Even the tenor of his voice seemed to put me at ease.

  “Why do you think Aquarius is up there?” I whispered.

  “I like to think it’s a portal to another dimension.”

  I turned to him, laughing a little under my breath.

  “Of course you do. Are you hoping to be beamed up there one day, Scotty?”

  He didn’t turn to look at me. Didn’t flash me a wry smile or an admonishing glare. Instead, he just stared at the screen in the front of the room with a reverence in his eyes that I couldn’t understand but had to appreciate.

  “Yes. I am.”

  “But… how? How could you live in the stars, even if it were possible? You’d die!”

  It was then that he turned to face me, that same faraway, reverent look in his eyes. “Would that bother you? To know that my soul had gone somewhere else?”

  “Ummm…” I said, clearly stalling. I had no clue what to say to that. I’d only just met him; I hadn’t exactly put a lot of thought into what life would be like if he disappeared into the stars the next day. But when I did contemplate it, I realized that the answer was yes. It would bother me. “Are you planning on leaving tomorrow?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood that had grown so heavy in a flash.

  He took the bait and smiled back at me. “Depends on your answer.”

  “You’re so odd—”

  “Your answer?”

  “Yes, it would bother me, okay? Weirdo…”

  I choked on a laugh, then shrank down further in my seat as the professor turned his attention to the students in the room, searching for the disruption. I was surprised that the guy that had moved didn’t serve me up on a platter.

  Stian’s teeth gleamed in the scant light as he smiled at me, clearly feeling like he’d just won a battle I hadn’t realized we were fighting.

  “Then I guess I’ll stay.”

  He leaned back and laced his hands behind his head. I took that opportunity to backhand him in the stomach. He lurched forward, exhaling hard, and I had to cover my mouth to capture the laughter that threatened to escape. He looked hilarious—the shock in his eyes was plain. Then those eyes narrowed on me, and I knew I was in trouble.

  I snatched up my bag and bolted out of our row, headed for the back door. I could feel him racing after me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to make it to the hallway so I could break down in hysterics.

  About ten feet from the classroom, I collapsed against the wall, clutching my stomach as I laughed until I cried for the second time in days.

  “Your face…” I said, gasping for breath. “You should have seen your face.”

  “I take it you didn’t want to stick around to learn about Gemini next?”

  His deadpan response only fueled my outburst.

  When I calmed down enough to stand up straight, I wiped the tears from my eyes on my sleeve. A couple deep breaths later, I was a solid seventy-five percent under control. I just hoped he didn’t say something else funny. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it.

  “I think I’m good with learning today,” I said, my voice still a bit strained.

  “How about that breakfast you turned down the other day, then? Does that fit into your schedule? I’ll tell you all about Gemini while you eat some gluten-free bagel with dairy-free cream cheese on it.”

  “Is that even a thing?” I asked, wondering what dairy-free cream cheese would even be made of.

  “It’s not, thank the gods.” He shuddered for good measure, letting his loathing for dairy tampering be known. “What do you say, latte girl. You in?”

  “I’m in, but I pick the place.”

  “Ah,” he said, feigning surprise. “A creature of habit, I see. No more throwing caution to the wind?”

  That sparkle in his eyes flared, challenging me to live in the moment. The problem was that niggling sensation in the back of my mind reminding me that I didn’t know him—like at all—other than the fact that he liked to loiter in the common, sneak into classes he wasn’t taking, and wanted to escape our dimension through a portal in Aquarius. To argue that he was of completely sound mind would have been a stretch, even for my father. But still… there was a freedom to being with him that made me want to follow him like the Pied Piper, even if it seemed a dodgy idea.

  “Fuck caution,” I said, picking up my bag. “Where are we going?”

  “Not far,” he said, leading the way to the stairwell. “And I promise I’ll bring you back. In one piece, even.”

  “How considerate of you.”

  “What can I say?” he replied, splaying his hands wide in a placating gesture. “I respect the natural order of things.”

  We stepped outside into the cool morning air, and he continued toward the far side of campus. As I followed him, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I pulled it out to see that the med center was calling.

  “Hold up!” I called after him, and he stopped. I clicked ‘talk’ on my phone and put it to my ear. Gunnar’s secretary informed me that he had time if I could come straight over. If not, he didn’t have anything available for the rest of the day. “I’ll be right over. Thanks.” Then I hung up.