We stared at each other momentarily before I wrapped my arms around his neck, forcing his lips back onto mine. He lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist, and carried me all the way to his room... It smelled nice, like vanilla infused with lavender. I pulled away from his lips. His room was dim; the thin line of light that filtered through the curtains allowed me to get a better look at my surroundings.

“This is your room?” I breathed, marvelling at how clean it was. I was expecting smelly socks and shoes strewn all over the floor, but all I saw was impeccable cleanliness. As for décor, Eli had good taste. The room had a natural color scheme, the chest of drawers were a light brown, the curtains were cream, the Persian rug had some kind of elegant brown and black pattern woven into it and his bed was low, with an elegant black frame. “It’s so clean.”

“I can’t sleep unless it’s clean.”

He laid me down on his firm bed, kissing me softer this time. Everything happened so fast, his shirt came off and so did mine. Eventually, our clothes ended up all over the bedroom and then, just as it was about to happen, there was a knock at the front door. I’ve never wanted to scream and punch things as much as I did right at that moment.

“You’ve got to be freaking kidding me,” I growled, covering my face with my hands.

He laughed under his breath and planted a soft kiss on my right shoulder.

It was a risk, doing what we were doing, especially when we were expecting Mr. Aleksandrov to drop by. Maybe because Mr. Aleksandrov was the higher power, I felt less threatened. He wouldn’t banish Eli if we became intimate, he knew how we felt about each other and hadn’t done anything about it so far.

Eli and I rushed around the room locating our clothes piece by piece. It was hard trying to keep our chuckles and swear words to a low hush. Within minutes we were dressed and ready. I ran to the couch and sat down, Eli answered the door. Mr Aleksandrov stepped inside with Lyric and Xavier in tow.

“Ruby, you’re here. Good.”

As they stepped past Eli into the living room, Eli winked at me and I bit my lip trying to fight off a smile.

“Great timing,” Eli said.

Heat climbed into my cheeks and I cleared my throat, preventing a nervous laugh from escaping. It was a personal joke, only we knew what it meant.

“I don’t have long.” Mr Aleksandrov sat beside me. “Ruby, I’m sorry to have put you on the spot like that last night. I never intended for you to become a head guardian but the council had other plans.”

“What are their plans?” I asked.

Mr. Aleksandrov sighed. “I don’t know all of it, only what I’ve pieced together myself.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “They made me the higher power to get you back to Sage—that much I know. They knew you wouldn’t have come on your own.”

“Why me?”

“You overcame being a vampire, you’re part Heelian, and in Gerald Harbor, you wiped out a lot of vampires. The council sees you as valuable, and by gaining your trust, they can use you.”

“Why make me your head guardian, though? I don’t understand.”

“That’s what I can’t figure out.”

Eli joined us on the couch. Xavier and Lyric stood against the wall, arms folded, their guardian uniforms pressed to perfection, their eyes watching nothing and everything at once.

A loud knock thundered on the door and I jumped.

“It seems I have to go,” Mr. Aleksandrov mumbled.

Lyric opened the door and there stood four men dressed in white uniforms, almost identical to the black ones the guardians wear at Sage.

“Mr. Aleksandrov, the council wishes to speak with you.”

Mr. Aleksandrov rose off the couch and straightened out the creases in his robe.

“Have a good afternoon,” he called over his shoulder as he strolled out the door. Lyric and Xavier followed him, leaving Eli and I alone again. The sexual tension between us was dampened.

“Who were the men in the white uniforms?” I wondered aloud.

“Elite guardians of the council, or as everyone else sees them, a bunch of morons with annoyingly high egos,” Eli explained.

“So the council is here?”

“Yeah, I’d say so.”

I pondered the idea of storming up there and demanding answers myself.

“Don’t even think about it,” he warned, pulling his eyebrows together. “The Elite guardians will kill you before you make it to the front door, regardless of who you are.”

I smiled innocently. “I wasn’t going to bother them.”

I shifted my weight onto my left leg. “I don’t suppose you want to continue what we started?” I arched an eyebrow toward his bedroom and Eli laughed loudly. He stepped toward me, took my face in his hands and kissed my forehead.

“Go home and relax. When the time is right, it’ll happen on its own.”

We walked to the door and Eli held it open for me. I stepped out into the light and squinted slightly. A crisp, flowery scent blew with the breeze and I inhaled.

“I’m going on duty soon so you probably won’t see me until tomorrow,” he said.

I turned to face him. “Well that sucks.”

He chuckled. “Have a good afternoon.”

Eli stepped back inside and with a sweet smile, he closed the front door. I headed down the porch steps feeling heavy and frustrated. We’d gotten so close and yet here I was, still no closer to being equal with Eli on every level.

Damn it.

SALVATION

Once I left Eli’s house, I had nothing else to do, so I sat around my house snacking on grapes and replaying the moment between us over and over. Mila wasn’t coming back tonight—she had class in the morning. If I was in Gerald, I’d be working right now, pouring beers and shots, wiping the bar, flirting with drunk old men, trying to get them to buy even more alcohol. Even I have to admit this was better than what I could have been doing.

I laid on the couch, throwing grapes in the air and trying to catch them in my mouth. My phone buzzed. I leaned over to the coffee table, knocking a few grapes out of my bowl, and grabbed my phone. It was a text message from Eli.

Shift over. I’m going down to the school’s dining hall for dinner. Would you like to come? — Eli

How’d he get my number? I smiled and a warm feeling spread through my chest, but there was no way I was going anywhere near the students.

I’m not ready to see any students right now, especially Raina and Rylan.

I waited a few minutes and got no text back. I saved his number into my contacts list and went back to catching grapes in my mouth. Playing and eating grapes was fun—until it got boring. I sighed. I guess it was an early night for me. I hadn’t eaten dinner. I couldn’t be bothered cooking it and I sure as hell wasn’t going to start now. I went to my bedroom instead. Tonight the air was warm, the opposite of last night’s cool breeze. I slid out of my checkered boxer shorts and climbed into bed. Almost immediately I began to sweat. I pulled my singlet off—still didn’t help. I exhaled in annoyance. The house had air conditioning, but I didn’t know how to use the remote to start the damn thing.

In the silence, I heard a knock at my door. I put my pajamas back on, flicked on the lights and ran to the door. As my hand touch the cool metal, I stopped. What if it wasn’t Eli? What if it was the council or Mr. Aleksandrov taking me away to do some kind of top secret mission? I peered through the peep hole but I couldn’t see anything. I ran my hand along the wall until I located the porch light switch. I flicked it on and the person cloaked in the shadows was revealed. I opened the door.

“Eli? What are you doing here?”

He glanced at me, the beginning of a smirk forming on his lips when he saw me in my pajamas.

“I thought we could eat together,” he said, holding up a few plastic containers. My knees threatened to give way at the sight of him in his guardian uniform.

“Sure, come in.”

As Eli took off his big guardian boots, I walked to the kitchen and searched the cupboards for plates. When I found them, I sat them on the bench and Eli opened the containers.

“Unfortunately, they were only serving chicken salad for dinner.”

“That’s perfect, I half filled up on grapes before you came anyway,” I replied, reaching into the drawer and pulling out cutlery. I felt tense and nervous. I wasn’t uncomfortable. Eli doesn’t make me uncomfortable, but it was a strange feeling I couldn’t explain. Then it hit me. Eli and I have never really spent time together under normal circumstances. There was always something big, something life-threatening in the works. Now, even though we’re convinced the council is up to something, we’re spending time together for the sake of each other’s company, not because it might be the last time.

“Is everything okay? You seem nervous,” he asked, leaning over the bench and touching my arm.

“I realized that we’ve never spent time together under normal conditions.”

He opened his mouth to say something and then stopped when he came to the same realization.

“Well then, let’s make tonight unforgettable.”

I blushed, wondering if I had imagined the dangerous gleam that flickered in his eyes. He scooped food onto the plates and we sat on the floor in the living room, eating and talking about life away from each other. We didn’t talk about how much it hurt us to be apart, instead we focused on funny things that’d happened to us. When we finished, Eli stood up and prepared to leave.

“You don’t have to go just yet. We could talk for a little while longer.”

“It’s getting late. I don’t want to keep you up.”

“You won’t be keeping me up.” I cleared my throat and fidgeted with my fingers. “You said you wanted to make tonight unforgettable…”

He pressed his lips together, trying to hide his amusement. “Wasn’t the chicken salad enough?” he replied sarcastically, taking a few slow steps toward me.

I scowled at him. “The salad was fine.”

“Then tell me, what would you deem unforgettable?”

I felt embarrassed. I didn’t know what I was meant to say. There were so many things I could have said, done, but I played it safe.

“Would it be inappropriate for me to ask you to stay with me tonight?”

He ran his index finger across his bottom lip. “It’d be dangerous in more ways than one.”

“But it’d be unforgettable, wouldn’t it?”

“Every moment with you is unforgettable.”

I smiled. His line was totally cheesy, but totally romantic.

“I can’t stay, but I can lay down with you until you fall asleep,” he offered.

It made me feel like a child, but no way in hell was I going to pass it up. We entered my room and I flicked on the desk lamp on the far side of the room. Its dim light illuminated the room poorly, but I only needed enough light to see his face. I climbed into bed, unable to bring myself to pull the blanket up. It was still hot, hotter now that Eli’s body heat was adding to mine.

“Do you know how to work the air conditioner?” I asked.

Eli disappeared into the living room and after a few beeps, a low vibration hummed throughout the house. By the time he returned I was in bed, pulling the blanket up to my chest. Eli lay beside me, staying on top of the blanket. Within minutes the air cooled, making being under the blanket more bearable. He stroked my hair, but I couldn’t sleep. Here we were— undisturbed and alone in my bedroom—doing nothing.

“If you have to go, I don’t want to keep you,” I mumbled, trying to suss out how much time he could spare with me.

“You’re not keeping me from anything. I prefer your company over being alone.”

“When I was gone, did you find… other company?” I stared at the ceiling, selfishly praying for him to say no.

“No. I couldn’t do that to you.”

I didn’t know whether to feel happy or guilty that he hadn’t sought the company of other girls. The thought of him being alone was just as unbearable as the thought of him being with another girl.

“It would be so much easier for you if you fell for a nice guardian angel instead of me. I’ve done horrible things to you, yet here you are doing everything for me—again.”

Eli rested his head on his elbow and I copied him.

“I feel so guilty for harassing you and demanding your attention,” I added.

“Even if you did a million horrible things to me, I’d still find that one reason to be with you.” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “And you didn’t harass me or demand my attention. From the moment I saw you, you had me, and I knew I’d do anything to protect you. Not because you were the daughter of the goddess that my father died protecting, but because I knew just from looking at you that we could help each other—that we could be each other’s salvation.” He swallowed hard. “That’s why I was so hurt when you left. I thought that if anyone could help you, it’d be me. You were the only shred of light that I had left in this dark existence.”

I sat up and pulled him toward me, he opened his mouth to talk, but I silenced him with my lips. I brushed my tongue against his bottom lip and our innocent kiss turned passionate. Every aspect of his body—his lips, his hands, his scent—magnified and overpowered me. I pulled away, our eyes met, and I was lost, drowning in a sea of green. His eyes were alight with an emotion I’d never really seen in him before. It wasn’t love or admiration, no, those I’ve seen. This time he looked at me—into me, with such lust and passion, like I was the only girl in the entire world, even in my pajamas. It impossible for me to pull away from his crushing sex appeal. I became powerless, I was his and he knew it. I couldn’t fight him any longer and I didn’t want to. I leaned forward slightly, permitting him to press his lips against mine. This time there’d be no interruptions. This time there’d be no going back. His lips touched mine and he entwined his fingers in my hair before pulling away ever so slightly.