The Bloodied Phantom [Chapter 23]

He looked up toward the fireworks exploding in the sky creating a spectrum of colors. He saw blasts of red, his favorite color.

“Yeah. They’re nice.”

All of a sudden her hand was on his forehead as if she were taking his temperature.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I know I haven’t known you for very long, but you usually say sarcastic. I mean, at first I thought you were a total jerk, but now I know, or I assume, you’re a good person. That maybe you just had a hard time talking to girls.”

He nearly broke his neck trying to look at her.

“What? Does it look like I have a hard time talking to girls?” She didn’t say anything just looked at him with a hint of a smile on her face.

“Look. I don’t have a hard time talking to girls. As a matter of fact all the girls from where I’m from want me.”

“Where are you from?” she challenged him, obviously not believing a word he said.

“Uh, um.” Damn. Why’d he have to say that. He couldn’t tell her where he was from. Damn. “That’s not the point. Anyways,” he said, suddenly feeling a little devious, “I bet I could have you if I wanted.”

She snorted. “Please. As if. You obviously think too highly of yourself.”

“As a matter of fact I do think highly of myself. I don’t see a reason not to. But the fact still remains. I could easily have you if I wanted.”

“You say that as if you do want me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I do. Maybe I don’t. who’s to know.”

She laughed, but he could hear the uneasiness in her voice. He knew he’d gotten to her. The side of her that was gullible and girly. The side of her that he liked. He lightly touched her curly blond hair with the back of his hand. He was surprised she didn’t pull away.

She talked big, but underneath her hard exterior she was still very much a girl on the inside. Just looking at her sent his heart into a frenzy. She was so beautiful. Her glowing vanilla cream skin, her ocean blue eyes, her curly blond hair. But more than anything her lips. This time he didn’t hesitate. He knew what he wanted now and he could no longer deny it. He leaned into her ever so slowly, watching her chest move up and down faster as her breathing sped up. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. A light kiss. He thought that the kiss alone would be enough. All he needed to satisfy his yearning, but he was wrong. When he kissed her he wanted more.

He deepened the depth of his kiss and found himself devouring her like a ravenous beast. It felt wrong and yet so right at the same time. Once again, he wasn’t supposed to feel this way, and yet he was. Her lips were so soft as they moved against his. Suddenly it felt like they were the only one there, like no one else existed. There was no sound, just their hearts beating rhythmically together. There were fireworks, but not the ones in the sky.

Just as he began running his hands through her hair there was a low whistle coming from behind. They both broke free from each other and looked back to see Ryan and his friends.

“Hey. Don’t stop now.” he said, smiling a million watt smile. “We were just getting into it.”

The whole group of weirdoes burst out in laughter. Their laughter didn’t bother him, but he could tell that it did to Zia. He looked over toward her to see her face tinged a bright pink, her head bowed down, her hair covering most of her face. After all, she was just human.

“Don’t worry.” said the tall, gaunt one with the weird facial piercing, “we won’t tell anyone.”

Ryan elbowed him as they exploded in yet another round of laughter.

“Hey. Leave them alone.” said the Goth chick with the bloody red bangs. “Can’t you see you’ve embarrassed the girl. Besides, I think its cute.” the guys calmed themselves down, and sat down near them.

Changing the subject Ryan replied, “It sucks that Raiya didn’t come.”

“Oh, is someone missing their little sister?” asked the blond haired guy, giving him a puppy-dog look.

He snorted. “Yeah, right. The Great Ryan don’t miss no body.” he said, pooping his collar, and giving them all his macho look. They might be mortals, but they were funny, in a corny kind of way. He looked back toward Zia, as their motley crew continued to laugh and joke around. He didn’t think Zia was the shy type, but then he didn’t really know much about her.

“You wanna go somewhere else? You can barely hear the fireworks over their voices.”

She gave him a small, yet still embarrassed, smile and nodded her head. He took her hand in his and led her away, all the while they were followed low whistles, and calls of ‘You go girl.” This didn’t bother him in the least. They sat down near one of the trees that surrounded the perimeter of the park. Away from the others who had close to one another gazing up at the sky. As he sat down against the bark of the tree he still couldn’t help but wonder why he was even bothering with this girl. He didn’t want to be with her, and yet he did at the same time. His emotions were totally out of whack. If he let himself be with her what would his uncle think or say? Revenant had no knowledge of just how close Phantom and Raiya were. If he found out what would be his reaction? Towards them both. Would he banish them both from The Spirit Sanctuary? They both had been disobeying the rules lately and he was sure he would send them straight into the burning gates of hell. Or maybe he was overreacting. Revenant couldn’t be that cruel. He’d been staying with their family since his parents were killed over a year ago, when Saint was sent into exile. It had been his fault they had died. He was a cold-blooded murderer. If he ever got a chance to see him face to face he would be sure to kill him. Even if they were blood relatives.