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He turns to look at me once more, and his eyes are darker than I’ve ever seen.
“And then, now, there’s you,” he says, breathing out heavily as if he could release all the tension and pain of the past with it. “You make me want to be better. You, who are so sweet, so devoted. You give yourself so fully. You would have been perfect for me back then, and I would have consumed you.”
The way he says it is utterly chilling.
“Things are different now. That is not what I want, yet… is it any wonder I find you addictive?”
He turns back to focus on the road again, and I’m left with my head spinning in the heavy silence that follows. It is a lot to take in, but his last statement flatters me beyond measure.
The car turns off the freeway, heading into more residential areas before Elias speaks again.
“So, yes. To answer your question. I imagine you would consider my past unpleasant. I don’t look back on it with any joy myself. Especially those who so craved my destruction in the first place.” His expression wavers, softening for a moment before returning to a hard stare forward. “Yet, as much as this existence was not our choice, perhaps I prefer who I get to be in this place. With you and Caelan, when I do not have to fight for the right to simply exist. There is a freedom in it, in an odd way.”
There’s a weight to that last statement I can’t even begin to comprehend.
I don’t quite know how I feel or how to process all of that. It’s a lot to take in. And maybe I understand a little more why Elias was so reluctant to talk about such matters.
We arrive at our destination, and the conversation is over. Elias pulls the car to a stop in a parking lot at the clifftop. There’s a wide grassy expanse in front of us before the ground falls away into sheer rock, and a wooden building to the side with a sign proclaiming it is some sort of glider port. It’s abandoned at this time of night.
Elias leaves the car and comes around to open my door for me. Still caught up in my thoughts, I fumble with my seat belt and step out to join him.
For a moment, we simply stand like that. Face to face, his expression cold and reserved as he awaits my judgment. I don’t know what to say, so I step forward and wrap my arms around him instead.
Elias chuckles, and his hand slides up my spine and tangles into my hair, holding me against him.
“Thank you,” I murmur, face buried against his shoulder. “For trusting me enough to talk to me.”
“Are you not scared?”
“I… don’t think so. I’ve always known what you were. I’ve accepted that. And I guess I’ve accepted maybe I’m not the best person either, for being as willing as I am to overlook all of it.”
“Hmm.” He brushes a strand of hair from my face, staring at me contemplatively. “You are sweet.”
“Sweet, perhaps, but morally gray at best.”
The statement makes Elias laugh. “Regardless. That’s enough of such unpleasant matters,” he says. “Let’s just enjoy the evening for what it is, shall we?”
I nod, happily agreeing to that.
Elias leads us out to the grassy lawn, not quite to the cliff’s edge, but close enough to allow a stunning view of the ocean waves rolling against the beach far below. The soft rush of the water is the only sound in the otherwise still night. Even the hum of distant traffic is too far away to be noticeable.
It’s a clear night. Chilly enough that I curl into myself and pull my hoodie tighter around my shoulders, but beautiful. The moonlight reflects like quicksilver over the crests of the waves, and the black sky is studded with the bright, glistening pinpricks of countless stars.
Elias takes off his jacket and lays it on the ground for me to sit on. I suppose the cold doesn’t really bother him the same way. Then he settles next to me and gently pulls me close. His hand covers mine, and I twine our fingers together as we look at the sky.
“I like it out here,” I say.
Elias smiles. “I thought you would.”
“Am I that predictably easy to romance?” I laugh.
“Perhaps. But that’s not such a bad thing.”
It isn’t. Not if it means Elias makes sweet gestures like this for me.
“Now. What of you?” Elias asks. “I have spoken enough of my history. What of your dark past?”
I can’t quite tell if he is teasing me. His tone is lighthearted, but there is a curiosity and expectation in his gaze that desires a genuine answer.
