Dangerous (Element Preservers Series, Book 1) Read online

  I pushed Michael down onto the bed, getting on top of him. He kissed me, running his hands through my hair and holding it up so it wouldn't end up in his face and mouth. I smiled at him, realizing how beautiful his face was, surrounded by all that soft brown hair. He let his hands slide down my bare arms, and it sent shivers all over my body.

  Our lips met again in a passionate kiss, and I started to fumble with the buttons of his shirt. He finally helped me get him out of it, and I was left staring at his muscular chest. The moment my hand touched his smooth warm skin, I thought I could feel the water around me. It was funny, considering that I felt like I was on fire and he appeared to be exactly what I needed to quench it.

  I bent my head down, pressing my lips gently against his. But it wasn’t enough. Of course it wasn’t. I parted his lips with my tongue, trying to drink up that cold, refreshing water I wanted and needed so much. Just I couldn’t reach it. It was there, and I was really thirsty, but it seemed to be getting away from me with every Michael’s breath.

  My hands went around his neck. I wanted him to stop breathing. I wanted to get to the water or I’d die. I could feel his breath on my face, burning me even more, making my lips dry. Maybe if I just cut off his breath for a moment… and some energy inside of me agreed with it. I tightened the grip I had on his neck, and his eyes widened.

  He tried to push me away, and I didn’t understand why. I only wanted some water. What was wrong with that?

  I blinked and found myself almost choking Michael to death. I let go of him suddenly, and he gasped for breath. I wasn’t sure who was more shocked at that moment, me or him. I jumped off the bed, unsure what had just happened. My head felt light and I could feel my element rising inside of me, wanting out.

  “Ria,” Michael said, trying to get up from the bed. I couldn’t let him go near me. I couldn’t. I ran for the door, getting out of there before something bad happened. Michael was yelling my name and I knew he’d go after me. I didn’t want that.

  I had to hide somewhere from him. Somewhere where he couldn’t find me, but where? I thought of going to Paula’s room, but that was probably the first place he’d look for me, and I didn’t trust myself enough to go near her. One part of my brain recognized the symptoms; the other part was in denial.

  No, it couldn’t be… I couldn’t be having the symptoms of the magic disease. It wasn’t possible. I came from a family with a pure element and I hadn’t slept with someone who had the disease, that much I was sure of. And my element was still in me, wasn’t it? I could still feel it, so maybe it wasn’t that…

  There was only one person who could help me, and I believed Michael would never look for me there. The only problem was that he probably wouldn’t want to help me. Pushing those thoughts aside, I ran for Adrian’s room. I knew it must be late, but maybe he was still up… if he was in his room at all, and I really hoped he didn’t have a girl staying over.

  I banged on his door so hard that I thought it would fall down. After what seemed like a long moment, Adrian opened it with a sneer on his face.

  “What the…?” His face changed from annoyed to shocked in a second. He was staring at me like he saw me for the first time. I opened my mouth to say something, but instead I burst out crying. The look on his face was enough to confirm that there was something seriously wrong with me. He grabbed my arm and pulled me inside, closing and locking the door.

  “What happened?” he said, not hiding surprise in his voice.

  “Am I…? Can you…?” The words didn’t come out like I wanted. I was still in shock, but I wasn’t feeling thirsty or warm anymore. That was a small improvement.

  “If you’re asking can I feel your element,” he said, taking my hand and leading me towards the bed, “then the answer is no. You feel… like another person with the magic disease.”

  “No, no,… it can’t be,” I said. “I can still… feel my element.”

  “Huh,” he said, grabbing a ceramic bowl from his nightstand and some paper. I was sitting on the bed and watching him, trying to at least stop crying. I could deal with this. I could. But my brain wouldn’t believe it.

  “Try to put it on fire,” he said, giving the bowl to me. I took it in my shaking hands and stared at it for a moment. I concentrated enough to feel my element swelling up inside of me, and the paper burst into flames in a second. Adrian’s face was calm as he watched me do it even though he was standing very close. I was happy that I could still use my element, but him not being bothered by it made me suspicious.

  “I still have my element,” I said, unsure what to do with the bowl. Maybe I could put something on fire, but I surely couldn’t put it out. Adrian said nothing, watching the flames dance in the bowl. Just as I was about to ask him why he wasn’t bothered by it, he reached for the bowl and suddenly the fire was out and a thin layer of ice was starting to form inside of it.

  “What…? How did you…?” I wasn’t even sure how to put it together. Adrian took the bowl out of my hands and put it back on the nightstand.

  “Now you know my secret,” he said, “and I know yours, so let’s keep it safe. You can’t tell anyone about what you just saw, understand?”

  There was an edge of a threat in his voice, and I nodded. Things suddenly clicked into place; that was why I felt so cold around him sometimes, why the bottles had had ice on them after an encounter with him at the party,… But I still didn’t understand how he’d done it.

  “Yeah,” I said. “But, please, tell me how did you do that?”

  “I can do things with ice,” he said, sitting on the bed next to me. “It’s like… my element.”

  “Ice is not an element,” I said, shaking my head. Well, it surely wasn’t in the books.

  “Then what is it?” he asked. “It definitely acts like an element.”

  “You got the point,” I said, only because I couldn’t come up with anything smart to add, and because I didn’t know much about this whole ice thing. Suddenly something else came to my mind.

  “Wait, so you don’t have the magic disease?”

  “I do. And judging by this, so do you,” he said. “Who infected you?”

  He made that question sound like I was some kind of a cheap hooker. I frowned.

  “I didn’t sleep with someone with the magic disease,” I said. “But what do you mean I have the magic disease? It’s impossible. People with the magic disease lose their element.”

  “That’s what they claim.” He flashed me a smile. “But there isn’t much information about it. Maybe they don’t know or they are lying to us.”

  “Umm, did you tell Alan? Are they making a research?” I said, getting interested in the topic. I had never dreamed I could be talking to Adrian about something serious. It seemed wrong. And yeah, I still didn’t believe I was completely screwed.

  “No, no one knows. And you’re not going to tell anyone,” he said, his cold gray-blue eyes boring into mine. “And if you do, I swear to the God of Magic, I’m going to kill you.”

  I believed he’d do it, but I didn’t know why.

  “But wouldn’t it help? They wouldn’t treat you like a…” I couldn’t say the word. I could be turning into a murderer myself.

  “They wouldn’t do anything, or they would simply accuse you of killing someone to get the element. They kill first and ask questions later, and if somehow they’d believe you, guess what, they don’t fucking care,” he said. “Believe me, staying alive for longer than they planned is the best thing you can do. If your element stays, you can control yourself better around the others… except in situations with lots of emotion or element usage.”

  “Maybe I don’t have the disease… maybe it’s something that will pass,” I said, trying to convince myself in what I was saying.

  “Do you feel the other people’s elements?” he asked.

  “Well, I don’t feel yours… but sometimes I felt air around me and I just felt water when I was with Michael,” I said and something must have shown in my
face because Adrian suddenly looked worried.

  “You didn’t kill him, did you?”

  “No,” I said. “But I almost did.”

  “Huh, wish I could have seen it.” He seemed amused for a second. “How did that happen?”

  “We were… umm, you know, kissing, and… I got thirsty and I only saw water in front of me… I almost choked him to death!” I said, again on the verge of tears. Somehow saying it out loud seemed twice as bad.

  “Ria, Ria, Ria,” he said, reaching for my hand. “I’m actually a hundred percent sure you have the magic disease, so you could as well stop lying and tell me where did you get it.”

  “I’m not lying,” I said angrily. “I’m not sleeping around like you! I just don’t know! What if the disease mutated somehow? What if it can be transmitted differently now?”

  “Not likely,” he said. “It looks like you’re the only person who has it here, so if you’re right about the mutation, where are the others?”

  He was right, but that didn’t make it more real for me. I still hoped I’d wake up from this nightmare.

  “You’ll learn how to live with it,” he said. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

  “Are you insane? I can’t live like that!”

  “Yes, you can! Especially because no one will know! Your life will stay the same,” he said, his hand somehow ending up on my thigh. I frowned.

  “Don’t you dare to think I’m going to sleep with you.” I pushed his hand away.

  “Pity. But you might change your mind eventually,” he said. “There isn’t a girl who can resist my charm.”

  I laughed. He really was an arrogant bastard.

  “What? Are you making me your next target?” I said.

  “Yes, I think I am. Sex with you could be a lot of fun since your element doesn’t bother me anymore.” He smiled.

  “You’re an idiot.” I sighed. “And what about Paula?”

  “What about her?” He seemed completely oblivious.

  “Are you going to leave her?”

  “Nah, probably not,” he said. “I just don’t want to have sex with her again. She’s so boring.”

  “Why are you staying with her then?”

  “So I can keep an eye on her research and stop her before it becomes dangerous for me,” he said. “And yeah, she’s pretty, smart and from a rich family. It looks good in my record.”

  I rolled my eyes at him but decided to leave that for now. Yeah, I was being egoistic, but now I didn’t want to worry about Paula’s life when I had so much trouble in my own. I didn’t know how to deal with this. I couldn’t tell everything to Michael because I was sure he’d hate me. Paula would probably start doing experiments on me, and I wasn’t ready to do that.

  Telling someone else here I had the magic disease and my element would most likely result in my execution. Adrian was right. They didn’t really care; they just wanted to get rid of the danger. I had wanted that too, and now I was the danger. My parents didn’t have any symptoms of the magic disease and they were strongly in favor of pure elements, so telling them might make them renounce me. There was always my brother, but I didn’t trust him, and he was missing anyway.

  I was suddenly so alone in the world. How had this happened? There wasn’t any logical explanation. It also didn't make any sense how Adrian had developed something element-alike when everyone kept saying people with the magic disease didn’t have an element unless they killed someone and stole it; but once they did that, it would be gone in some time and they would have to do it again… and again…

  I realized I was crying, and Adrian was cradling me in his arms. It should have horrified me, but it didn’t. I didn’t feel anything at all. I was tired and sick of everything.

  Chapter 13

  I woke up from a bad dream. I was sure it had been only a nightmare, but I didn’t remember any of it clearly. When I opened my eyes, I realized I was in an unfamiliar room. I blinked. There was sunshine coming from the window, which was behind my back. It took me a moment to recognize Adrian’s room. I guess I’d never seen it bathed in sunshine before.

  Oh fuck, so it had all been real. I panicked, and it wasn’t because I might have the magic disease, but because I was lying in Adrian’s bed. That was a very scary thing, but luckily, I still had my dress on. I slowly turned around, holding my breath. He wasn’t on the other side of the bed, which, strangely enough, didn’t look used at all. I lifted my eyes towards the window and there he was.

  Adrian was sitting on the windowsill, his knees drawn up to his chest. He was leaning his head on the glass and looking outside. His face looked beautiful and sad. Golden rays of sunshine were falling down on him, giving his black messy hair a bluish shine. Damn, he almost looked likeable. I shook my head. Nah, I was still too sleepy and shocked to think rationally.

  He turned his head to look at me. I started to smile at him but caught myself in time. We weren’t lovers, and smiling at a guy after you woke up in his room to thank him for letting you stay over somehow didn’t feel right.

  “You’re awake,” he said, not moving from the windowsill. I wanted to see his face, but I couldn’t because of all that sunlight behind his back.

  “Umm, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” I said. “Thank you for letting me stay.”

  I couldn’t believe I had actually said it, but I'd felt like I had to.

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “But you should probably leave before Alan comes or Michael tells someone you went missing.”

  “Right,” I said, getting up. At this angle, I had a better view of the dark circles under his eyes.

  “Have you slept?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “I figured you’d kill me if you found me lying next to you, and I didn’t feel like sleeping on the floor, so… I just stayed up. Oh, and the sunrise looked nice.”

  “I wouldn’t have killed you.” I frowned. Really, I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d scream, but I didn’t think I had an appropriate weapon to kill someone… except maybe my high heels.

  “I know. But you’d make a fuss.” He smiled. “And someone reporting noise from my room wouldn’t be a good thing.”

  “Umm, yeah,” I said. “I’m going… I just…”

  “Act like nothing had happened. Invent something believable for Michael,” he said. “Say that you got carried away. I don’t know.”

  “Carried away? Right,” I said, a hint of anger in my voice. “It would mean I’m a psycho who gets excited by choking people to death!”

  “Ah, so you really tried to choke him? Interesting.” There was a cocky smile on his face now. Good. He was coming back to his usual self and I knew how to deal with that.

  “Shut up!” I said and went for the door.

  “Come back any time you want,” he said. I looked back at him to tell him that wouldn’t happen, but I wasn’t sure of it.

  “Thanks,” I said instead and left.

  I slowly opened the door of my room and let out a sigh of relief when I saw no one was there. I'd half-expected to find Michael waiting for me. My mobile phone was lying on my nightstand and I picked it up. I had 12 messages and 15 unanswered calls, mostly from Michael. Well, there was no reason to draw this out further, so I dialed his number. Maybe it was 7 a.m., but I believed he was awake.

  I was right. He answered on the second ring.

  “Ria!” His voice was urgent and full of worry. Damn, what had I done to him?

  “Michael, listen,” I said, “we need to talk.”

  “Yes, we do,” he said. “I’ll come immediately.”

  “Alright,” I said. He was knocking on my door in a minute, which meant he hadn’t been in his room. Had he been looking for me somewhere?

  As soon as I opened the door, his hands went around me and he hugged me like his life depended on it. I let him do it, hoping all the time his element wouldn’t wake and turn me into a monster. But I could feel his element deep inside of him. A picture formed in my head as I concentra
ted on it, and I saw a clear stream that was glittering in the sun. Somehow I knew that if I drank from it, the water would be cold, refreshing and pure. Only I couldn’t let that happen.

  “What happened? I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” he said, and I noticed for the first time a few dark bruises around his neck. Oh, shit.

  “Michael, I’m sorry,” I said. “I just…”

  “It’s ok. I’m glad you’re okay,” he said. I couldn’t believe it. I had nearly killed him and he was worried about me! I didn’t know what to say to him.

  “Really. You don’t have to feel bad.” Michael smiled. “I know you lost your balance and your hands ended up on my neck. You probably weren’t even aware it was my neck. It was too dark to see.”

  I opened my mouth, closed it, and then just nodded. He'd offered me a perfect explanation. I would have never come up with something as original as that.

  “I didn’t want to hurt you,” I said, and that was the truth. I definitely hadn’t had that in mind when we’d been kissing.

  “I know. I told you already. It’s ok,” he said. “Don’t think about it anymore.”

  He kissed me gently, and I returned the kiss after I was sure I wouldn’t try to kill him. What had my life turned into? His arm slid around me and our kiss deepened. I finally pushed him away as gently as I could.

  “I need to talk to Paula,” I said.

  “Ok,” he said. “But you have to tell me where have you been all night. I know you weren’t here.”

  “I was outside,” I said, hoping he’d leave it alone. I would have said I’d been at some friend’s room, but he could easily check that and discover the lie.

  “All night? Something could have happened to you!”

  “I’ve been in the park,” I said. “It’s locked for everyone outside the university at night.”

  “I know, but still…” He took my hand and pressed it to his lips.

  “I’m fine.” I smiled. “See? Everything’s just fine. But I really want to catch Paula before class.”