I see all, I thought.
I was, I suspected, the ultimate hunter.
Anyway, Russell and I were both leaning against the wooden railing. The park was mostly empty at this hour, as it should be. No one but vampires and professional boxers should be out jogging in a city park at night.
There was, however, a man who strolled casually off on the far edge of the lake, hands behind his back, whistling softly to himself. To my eyes, in the dark, he looked very bright, his aura shining a radiant blue. I knew of such auras, although I rarely saw them. Blue meant that he was deeply spiritual, and the brighter the blue, the more spiritual. His was a brilliant sapphire blue that extended far beyond his body. Who he was, I didn’t know, but I suspected he was a true master. As such, he had nothing to fear from the dark. Indeed, all good things were attracted to such masters, and they, in turn, radiated good things. I wondered what he would make of me.
I sensed Russell’s rising anxiety. He knew that nothing good was going to come from the talk. I could almost hear his heart beating, too. Lord knew it certainly wasn’t my own lackadaisical heart, which tended to beat once every ten seconds or so, if that.
I’m so very, very weird.
At the far side of the lake, the bright blue light stopped. Within the blue light, I saw the man turn and face me, his hands still behind his back.
As I stood there on the ridge debating what I needed to do, I sensed a warm tingling come over me. Almost never does the word warm ever apply to me, and so I perked up at the rare sensation.
Russell hadn’t moved, and there was no wind. There was, in fact, no obvious source of the warmth, which now surrounded me gently, as if with loving arms. The hair on my neck and arms stood on end, too, but not because I was cold, but because something alive and warm was moving around me.
It’s him, I thought, looking again at the figure at the far side of the lake, a figure who was still facing us, hands still behind his back.
I knew that no one but a fellow creature of the night should be able to see us. In fact, I doubted that Russell even knew there was a man watching us.
But he wasn’t a creature of the night.
He was, I suspected, just the opposite.
Something holy, something filled with light, something that repelled creatures like me.
But he wasn’t repelling me now.
No, he was reaching out to me. It was, in fact, his warmth surrounding me.
“So, what did you want to talk about, Sam?” said Russell. He didn’t turn his handsome face toward me. He continued looking out over the bridge, out toward the black lake. The lake wasn’t so black to me. It was alive and well, and shining with more light than I would ever have dreamed possible.
“Release him, child,” I heard a voice say. A voice, I was certain, that had come upon the wind.
For a moment, I thought it had been Russell who had spoken to me...but no, the voice had come from over the lake, drifting to me on warm currents.
Drifting to me from him.
Was that you? I thought, looking out toward the man who was still watching us.
I didn’t get a response, but I still felt the warm current moving over the water, enveloping me completely. As I reveled in it...after all, it was so rare that I felt warm these days, the full impact of the words hit me: “Release him, child.”
Release who? I thought. But I didn’t get an answer.
I looked again at Russell, who was now watching me. I could see the concern in his eyes. He knew what was coming.
“Sam,” he said. “I know what you’re going to say, but please don’t say it. Please. I’m happy. We’re happy. Don’t say the words, okay?”
When I looked back over the water, the figure had continued on, moving slowly. His blue aura shined brighter than ever.
Release him...release Russell?
“Russell, I haven’t been entirely honest with you—”
“Samantha, I don’t care. I don’t care if you’re a mass murderer. I can’t lose you.”
I blinked, processing. “You don’t care if I’m a murderer?”
“No, Sam. I need you. I love you.”
We had, of course, never talked about love, although I sensed that we had been getting closer.
Release him, child...
As Russell stared down at me, as he took my hand and held it tightly, I suddenly realized why he didn’t care if my hands were cold, or that my body was cold, or why I never ate. Russell didn’t care if I was cold, or different...or even a mass murderer.
I suddenly knew what the words meant, words spoken to me on the wind by a blue-aura master.
Russell, I suspected, was bonded to me.
Chapter Eleven
“What, exactly, does bonded mean?” asked Allison over the phone.
It was later and I was heading home. Unfortunately, I had been unable to release Russell Baker as the voice had asked. I hadn’t intended to release him...I had intended to break up with him, as normal people do.
But you’re not normal, Sam...and you never will be again.
Truth was, I had been too stunned by the revelation that another human being was bonded to me, to think clearly. I had made up some lame excuse of wanting to talk about him and the dangers of fighting...and Russell had said he would give up fighting for me.
Give up fighting.
For me.
My head was still spinning.
Yes, I had intended to break up with Russell Baker, although he’d done nothing wrong—and I had done everything wrong. I had lied to him from day one...but, I now knew, he would forgive me for the lies. He would have forgiven me for anything.
I saw the look in his eyes, heard it in his voice.
Bonded.
“You never noticed it before?” Allison was asking.
“No,” I said. “I just thought he was, you know, into me. I just thought he was agreeable. Sweet.”
“And the more he agreed to, the worst you felt.”
“I always felt bad,” I said. “I mean, he has no idea who I really am.”
“So tell him, Sam.”
I opened my mouth and closed it again. The road before me was empty as I drove through the night along the hilly Bastanchury Road, heading home. Yes, I’d considered telling Russell a hundred times about my super-secret identity, and a hundred different times I had talked myself out of it. His life was normal. His life was pure, uncomplicated. Sure, he’d chosen a rough route as a professional fighter. But it was still normal. The moment I had opened my mouth about who and what I was, his sweet, simple, uncomplicated life would be thrown upside down.
“Well, your uncomplicated life was thrown upside down,” said Allison, following my train of thoughts.