Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

“I don’t know exactly where we’re going,” he reluctantly admitted. “I just know the area we’re supposed to be in, and this is it.”

We were in the shadows thanks to the cover the trees, so at least that was something.

Looking around, though, everything appeared the same as everything had before. Coniferous trees blanketed the area, and somewhere up ahead, I could hear a river flowing. Other than that, I had no idea how Ezra could tell one tree from another, or he could possibly have any clue where we were at. Admittedly, this was an area he was much more familiar with than I was, but I couldn’t imagine what distinguished these trees from the rest.

“What the hell is this area?” I stopped walking and just stared up through the trees at the sky.

“The lycan live around here.”

I would’ve liked to press him further about it, but it was obvious he didn’t want to talk. Ezra didn’t even slow down for me, so I learned my lesson about stopping for no reason. We trekked through the trees all afternoon, and while the sun didn’t directly shine on me, I felt a burst of energy when it finally down. We came across the river I had a heard, and Ezra convinced me to wade through it.

Once night had closed in completely, Ezra started to wait for me and insisted that I stay close to him.

During the day, other vampires weren’t a threat, which was probably part of the reason he’d want to check things out during the light. There would be very little chance of anyone attacking us, but we were lacking any form of safety. He didn’t slow much, though, and spoke very little.

The biggest excitement of the night was when we saw a few reindeer walking in front of us.

Ezra explained that many Europeans say that this is where Santa Clause lives, not the North Pole, partially because of the large reindeer population. In reality, we weren’t that far south from the North Pole anyway, so it wasn’t much of a stretch.

By the time the sun started to rise, I was completely exhausted. There’s a myth that vampires don’t ever get tired or run out of energy, and Ezra did seem to exemplify stamina. Maybe I’m just a wuss. I don’t really know. When the sky started to lighten, we made the long walk through the trees back to the car, and I was incredibly relieved when I finally got to sit down inside the Range Rover.

On top of that, that gnawing hunger had started setting in a few hours ago. Ezra’s pulse had gotten more noticeable, and my hands were exhibiting a fine tremor. The early morning light filtered in through the windows, and that only made it worse. I felt anxious and sore, and I couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel.

I must’ve been jonesing noticeably because Ezra put his arm securely around me when we walked inside. It was after seven in the morning, so the breakfast crowd filled the dining room. The scent of eggs and some kind of deer sausage made me sick, but over that, I could smell the delectable scent of blood, and I was grateful for Ezra’s strong arm steering me towards our room.

Once inside, I peeled off my jacket and tossed it aside. If I had been able to sweat, I would’ve. Next time we went out, I’d have to remember to leave my coat in the car. Walking around like that gets the blood pumping too much, and it’s far too warm. I kicked off my boots, and I really, really wanted to tear off my jeans, but that didn’t seem like a good idea.

“That was a total waste of a day,” I said, squirming about the room. My clothes felt too heavy and uncomfortable, and it was hard not to take them off.

Ezra had turned the temperature down really low and refilled the duffel bag with ice sometime before we left last night, so the containers of blood were still intact and cool. He left the bag in the bathtub so that when the ice melted, it wouldn’t leak all over. While I was in the room twitching and not taking off my clothes, he was in the bathroom getting food for us.

“We figured some things out,” Ezra insisted, coming out of the bathroom with a several canisters of blood. “Tomorrow we’ll have a better idea of where we need to go.”

“If you say so.”

The canisters were in sight so any petty complaint I had bottled up didn’t matter anymore.

He unscrewed the lid, and I almost ripped it from his hands. Hurriedly, I downed it, and Ezra just watched me with an odd look of fascination on his face. That wonderful warming effect spread out over me, and I held out my hand for a second can.

“Get ready for bed first,” he shook his head. “I’m not getting you in your pajamas after your passed out.”

“Fine. Look away.” It was actually a smart idea, but I was pouty about it anyway.

Ezra did as he was told, and I took off my clothes as quickly as I possible could. That really didn’t end up being all that fast because that tired, loose feeling was taking over me, and I almost fell over just taking off my shirt. Somewhere in the room, I knew I had clean pajamas, but the ones I wore last night were just laying on the bed, and they weren’t that dirty, so I pulled them on. When putting on my pants, I fell back on the bed and didn’t bother to get up again.

“Done,” I announced and held out my hand again.

“You’re going to have to learn to take it easier on these. I don’t think I packed enough for you keep going at this rate,” Ezra warned, but he cracked a can open and handed it to me.

“I thought you’d be an over packer,” I said before gulping it down.

“I am.” He looked at me severely, then sat on his bed across from me.

“It’s the sun,” I told him, and my words had already started getting that slurred edge to them. All the colors in the room were spectacularly bright, and this deep relaxation flooded over me. “The sun is super draining. I don’t think I can go back out in again, not like that. And then walking around for like seventeen hours? It’s just too much for me…”

“It’s not too much for you,” Ezra shook his head again as he watched me struggle to stay sitting up and conscious. “You have almost infinite power, Alice. You’ve got to stop thinking like you’re human.”

“You are!” I spouted, but clearly, that didn’t make sense.

“Yes, of course, I am,” he rolled his eyes.

When he opened his own canister to drink, my body tried to insist that I was still thirsty. I craned towards him woozily, and he smiled at my own greed. There was no way I could get up and walk across to his bed, so it wasn’t like I could steal it from him. He drank his at a much slower rate, and I wondered how he could do that. As soon as it hit my lips, I had to have it all, as fast as I could.

I started to ask him a question, but I didn’t even know what it was, so I let myself fall back on the bed.

Pleasure was rolling over me, and I didn’t want to fight it anymore. I know Ezra wanted to me express more self-control, but then again, he already claimed that I was expressing self-control. If this was me under control compared to other vampires, then I’d hate to see what they were like.

“Oh… the lycans are worse then this, aren’t they?” I groaned.

“I don’t really understand the question.” Ezra got up and walked over to me. “Why don’t you get some sleep, Alice? You’ve had a long day. Get under the covers.”

Naturally, since I couldn’t even really sit up, I couldn’t crawl under the covers. Ezra lifted me up, drew back the covers, then laid me back down and tucked me in. There was something really great about that, even without the whole blood-high. I couldn’t even remember the last time I had been really tucked in. Jack would kind of do it sometimes, but it was different because he was my boyfriend. Before I had time to really figure out how this was different, I passed out.