Forty-seven

Christopher was standing next to Bradley.

“Oh, but Eli and Victor are winning today.” Carrie declared confidently.

“Sorry, but I’ll have to go with Bradley.” Zane said passing by me, she stopped to briefly touch my face. It was surprising how soft her hand was and how tall she was. As I looked at her height. I had to wonder how she got to be so tall.

Rebecca sighed in disappointment. “That leaves me no choice then.” She mumbled joining my team.

We were doomed. At least they were; I was hopeless anyway. I wouldn’t be doing much playing, that I knew.

As the games progressed I safely escaped to sit on the edge of the bed, my team would do much better with me on the side-lines.

“Yes!" I praised when Bradley shot the ball through the net. “That was the best back flip I’d ever seen.”

Bradley ran over to high five me.

Victor glared at me.

“Oops, sorry,” I mumbled shyly when I realised I was a partisan of the wrong team – a traitor.

They played with such grace, ran around the room sized court in silence, crushed into each other with concrete hardness that would’ve knocked the breath out of me forever. I was intrigued.

“Yes Bradley.” I sighed softly to myself. He heard me, he was about to shoot the ball when I’d said this. He’d paused to stare at me with an unreadable expression.

Victor was there, knocking the ball out of my life-mate’s frozen hands. My team scored.

“Bradley!” Christopher glared disapprovingly at him.

“Sorry, I was distracted for a minute there.”

“We can’t afford distractions.” Zane bellowed.

I chose to stay quiet for the rest of the match but when I’d pulled my hair out of its ponytail and shook it, he’d been distracted again.

It was like that for the rest of the game. Eventually Bradley’s team lost.

“I knew this would happen.” Carrie declared. “You can’t keep your eyes off her long enough to do anything else.”

Victor gave me an undeserved high-five. “Good game captain.” He turned his gaze to Bradley. “You’re so whipped bro.”

“You got lucky.” He mumbled.

They squabbled over the game for an hour before his family left us alone again.

He smiled up at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I asked him, laughing nervously.

He sank down to the floor with his back pressed tightly against the dark grey wall.

“Without you in my life I just wouldn’t be living at all.” He whispered to himself. “Time flies when I’m with you but when you’re away, a second feels like a lonely hundred years. I won’t live another century without you.”

“I’m human.” I reminded him. It pained me to remind him that I would die someday, any day. Any second could be my last. “I’ll have to leave this earth.” I sank down next to him. “But you’ll move on. You have to.”

When he spoke it was through clenched teeth. “You won’t die.”

“I’m human, Bradley.” I said again, my voice cracking. “Forever doesn’t exist for me.”

His eyes were bitter. “You’re not leaving me to room this horrific world alone, it’s not an option.”

I sighed and sandwiched his beautiful face in my hands. He visibly tensed. He was still the impossibly beautiful creature I saw that first day, the only difference now was the way I felt, how my feelings had become stronger, and the unbreakable hold he had over me.

“It might seem crazy what I’m about to say.” I murmured. “Bradley this is how it was meant to be. I wasn’t born like you with infinity on my cards. I’m just glad I found you at all because not everyone is fortunate enough to meet their soul mate.”

He shook his head stubbornly.

“You love me now. But you won’t someday.” I mumbled.

He was pulling against my hands now.

“I know it hurts but come twenty years down the line you won’t want me. You’ll look for someone younger, who doesn’t have wrinkles lining her face.”

“That’s…”

I shushed him with my finger on his lips. “You’ll eventually want someone curvier when my hips start to slacken, you’ll want someone who won’t be mistaken for your mother when you take her out on date nights, and you’ll want children.”

“Why would I want all that when I have all I need right here.” He smiled. “I’m actually the one who’s older than your great grandfather so…” he shrugged.

“We have to face facts though.” I said. “I’m going to die someday.”

“Not if I have anything to do about it.” he boomed. When he glared at me, I cringed back.

“What?”

“Carrie can change you.”

“No.” I cringed. “But enough talk of my impending death.”

He smiled but it didn’t touch his eyes. “What do want to talk about then?”

He waited patiently for me to speak, his expression amused.

“Mm,”

“I generally thought I’d never share something like this –” his hand drifted slowly deliberately down to my shoulders, arms and then took my hand. He kissed my sweaty palm. “…with anyone.”

“Neither did I.” I whispered, touching his frozen face.

He leaned into my touch, automatically, not seeming to have thought about it. His clenched jaw relaxed under my hand and he closed his eyes, sighing.

“Your touch is sinful.” He smiled. “It’s hard to believe that you’ve never done this before.”

“You’re also perfect at it too; yet, you’re as new to this as I am…” I trailed off, staring at his perfect face.

"I'm glad I waited." He confessed.

"Me too," I said smiling.

And then I froze, frowning, staring open mouthed at a sculpture of an angel next to his bedpost. I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it before.

He reacted automatically. His face scrunched up in worry.

“What is it?”

I couldn’t answer.

“Beth…” he trailed off as his gaze found what had stolen my attention. He laughed. “Not what you’d expect in a house full of demons.”

“Seeing as you aren’t wondering spirits from the pits of hell, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

His answering smile was contagious. “Hollywood got us all wrong.”

“Horrifically paradoxical,” I whispered.

“How did Rebecca and Victor meet?”

His expression became irreverent, almost rude. “It was in France, in the early sixties, Rebecca was going through another depressing round of college. Victor was there to attend a shareholders’ meeting in one of the companies he has shares in. she was on her way to the salon, he was going back to his hotel room and…” he trailed of suggestively and shrugged.

“Why did she join your family?”

“His life-mate –”

“No, but I mean, why didn’t Victor leave? Why didn’t he go live with her family?”

Bradley stared off into space for a long silent moment. Suddenly he smiled, coming back from whatever era he’d visited. “Her mother died during the epidemic war between the witches and demons in seventeen eighty-one.”

I sucked in a breath.

“She was an only child and she never knew her father. Her godparents never talked about him.” He frowned. “When her godfather, Johannes died trying to protect his life-mate Jeffrina, she’d lost her will to live and Rebecca had to execute her.”

“But…”

“Stop interrupting.”

“Sorry.”

He smiled. “When you lose your life-mate there’s absolutely no reason to live. Most try to kill themselves, which is impossible; they resort to killing anything they come across.”

“Oh.” I was frightened. If I died then Bradley would be a beast and someone would have to kill him. I cared too much for him to allow that. But I couldn't fight fate either. There was a reason I was born human, I didn't want to live forever. But I also didn't want my death to be the end of Bradley.

“The war lasted for four decades until a treaty was formed between the two races.” He continued sombrely. “The council consists of a demon, a witch and a human …”

“A human?”

He glared at me.

“Sorry I won’t interrupt again.”

His gaze was challenging.

I rolled my eyes.

“There are very few humans that get to know about us and usually they take up the position until they die which happens regularly.” He glared pointedly at me when I opened my mouth to talk. “Georgina a female demon, Cynthia an ancient witch who is the oldest witch alive, the human is very vicious and manipulative; he shouldn’t even be in the top seat.”

“… the human?”

“The last time I checked, it was Lucas, he used to be a witch servant, and then his master died.”

“Servant?”

“Brainwashed human, used by old witches that can control minds.”