Chapter Eleven
Rhys
Istood infront of my refrigerator with the door open and stared inside. I was uncertain what I wanted to eat and my stomach was growling angrily. Since the day I’d kissed Savannah in the garden, my appetite for food was unpredictable. I wouldn’t feel like eating a single bite for days at a time, and then I was ravenous. I knew that I needed to eat, but everything tasted like dust. I hadn’t gone to the grocery store in over a week and my pantry was very nearly bare.
I hadn’t been sleeping well since that day either. My dreams were strange and frightening. A woman with long dark hair and black eyes haunted me. She looked exactly like Rhiannon Temple but she was dressed in clothing from centuries ago. After I absorbed Cornelius’ power, I often had peculiar dreams and I realized I was experiencing his memories. I couldn’t decide if the recent dreams I’d been having were Cornelius’ memories with Rhiannon’s face injected or my subconscious response of dealing with the suspicion she roused in me.
Then there was the kiss. As the weeks wore on, I began dreaming of Savannah more and more, reliving the moment of that kiss. Sometimes the memory would meld with the dream and I wouldn’t stop kissing or touching her. Other times I had to experience the moment I told her it was a mistake over and over. The pain in her eyes and the way her expression shut down when I spoke made my chest ache. It wasn’t surprising that my appetite was ruined.
The doorbell rang, saving me from searching for food that wasn’t there. I shut the fridge with a sigh and walked to the front door. When I saw who stood outside, I was tempted to ignore her presence, but she was my landlord and I knew she had a key.
“Good evening, Ava,” I greeted her when I opened the door.
She didn’t reply as she walked past me into the house.
“Please, do come in,” I commented dryly.
Ava turned on me. “What exactly are you doing with Savannah?” she asked.
I frowned at her, not sure I understood why she was here. “Nothing. I haven’t spoken to Savannah in weeks.”
“I know!” she exclaimed. “Why aren’t you talking to her?”
My body tensed at her question. “I’m not sure how any of that is your business,” I replied, my voice cold and harsh. “You’re my landlord, not my friend.”
She winced briefly and tried to hide it, but I saw it all the same. Still, her voice was gentler this time when she spoke. “Do you know why I offered you this house?”
I shook my head and shut the door I was still holding open.
She took a deep breath. “I saw in you what I see in Savannah. You’re looking for your place in this world. But your place isn’t in a particular city or country, it resides within another person.” I shook my head in denial, but Ava just smiled and continued. “You’re not the only one who can see into the heart of people, Rhys. As soon as I met you, I saw your deepest desire. You want someone to love who will love you in return. You want to go to sleep every night knowing that there is someone in this world who cares for you. And I can’t blame you for that. It’s one of the most basic human desires, the desire to be loved. Yet it’s the most difficult to confess.”
“But I’m not human,” I argued.
Her expression grew alert at my words. “Out of everything I just said, it’s interesting to me that you latched on to that particular statement. You won’t deny your deepest desire, but you deny your humanity.”
“I’m not human,” I repeated. “I haven’t been human since Gaius made me what I am.”
Ava considered me, her gaze strangely intense. “Maybe not completely, but you’re still mostly human. You may need something more than food and water to survive, but you’re not a monster.”
I didn’t disagree with her aloud, but she seemed to read my thoughts clearly.
“That’s why you stopped talking to Savannah, isn’t it?” she asked. “Because you believe you’re evil and you don’t want to taint her.”
I jerked my chin. “I think it’s time for you to go.”
Ava moved toward me, her eyes shifting and shimmering, becoming more blue than purple. I watched in awe as her face seemed to glow with an inner light. I realized it was her power. Ava Amaris held tremendous magic within her body, so much that it bled from her skin and eyes, lifting her hair with an invisible wind. How she leashed it, I couldn’t understand. From this distance, I could feel the pulse and weight of it.
“Rhys of the Dark, you have never been a monster. I can see inside you. I know how you were made and what you carry within you. If you were what you believed yourself to be, I would never have allowed you into my shop, much less into my life. It is time for you to release the past and move toward the future.” Even her voice resonated with magic.
I shook my head. “Stop it, Ava. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Slowly, the glow that emanated from her receded and there was one last pulse of her power before it withdrew. Once again, she was the small blonde woman with strange purple eyes. She appeared completely normal, as though the last few seconds had never happened.
“I do know,” she replied in a whisper. “I know what it’s like to walk around in your body, feeling as though what’s inside you is dangerous. And it is, but you are what you are and you can choose how you wield your strength. Those choices are what make you a good man instead of a monster. Iknow, Rhys. You and I are more alike than you realize.”
Her words were insidious, creeping inside me and creating cracks in the shield I’d created around my heart. Though I would never admit it, I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe I could have someone like Savannah in my life. No, not someone like Savannah, but Savannah herself.
“If you give her a chance,” Ava murmured. “Savannah will show you exactly how she sees you and you’ll understand that she is right. She brings out the best in people because that’s what she sees. If you give her time, you’ll realize that she does the same for you.”
