Chapter 11

To Snog a Frog

 

When they arrived at her place, he walked her up to the front door as usual.

“Tomorrow?” she asked, feeling a little desperate about it as she touched a button on his shirt.

“Of course.” The words were soft, but the smile was amused. Did he sense her desperation to see him again?

Her eyes shifted to the sun that was dangerously low in the sky as he cupped her face with strong but gentle hands. “Goodnight, ma chérie, sweet dreams.” He then bent down and pressed his lips against hers. Ethan didn’t let this kiss get as deep as the one before. She figured it was because the light was slipping away too fast.

“You too,” she replied, her brain muddled a whole lot from the kiss and likely a little from the magic in him.

“Well, I won’t be sleeping much, tonight anyway. Lucas and others like him still want to murder helpless pedestrians. We can’t save everyone, but for as many as we can, we try.”

Danielle shuddered at the thought of who knows how many people could fall victim to vampires tonight. “Do vampires need to feed nightly?”

“No. Like Lucas had done, they let themselves get thirsty for a while.”

“Why?”

“Well, it’d be pretty hard to stay hidden if people went missing in droves each and every night. As it’s done now, it just seems like a few random missing persons.”

Shuddering at the horrible thought, she noticed the sun was almost gone, her hand dropped away from the front of his shirt and she said, “Um, okay, have fun annoying Lucas then … but who’s watching me while you’re out saving the world?”

Ethan chuckled. “Don’t worry, we have it covered.”

“All right.” She knew he really needed to leave; the curse would be taking over soon.

“Goodbye, Danielle,” he said. While he smiled down at her, his golden hair was ruffled playfully by a soft breeze as it glistened in the waning sunset.

She sighed at the celestial look of him. “’Bye.”

As she opened the front door, her uncle noticed Ethan leaving and called out to him. “Ethan! Stay for tea!”

Ethan returned to address her uncle even though it was risky for him to do so. “Thank you, sir, but I’m afraid I am expected at home. Next time?” Her eyes rounded when he bowed, and she shot a look at Uncle Nick’s face to gather his reaction to the show of vintage etiquette.

But Uncle Nick looked at Ethan like he’d never seen a more impressive rejection to tea in his life, and Danielle began to breathe again. “Of course. Goodbye then,” said her uncle.

Ethan dashed to his Jaguar and sped away.

“Wow, Danielle, he sure is bizarrely old-fashioned for a young man! That William bloke dating your cousin needs to take a page from him.” Danielle giggled and rolled her eyes as she followed her uncle inside.

“What’s for dinner, Aunt Charlotte?” Danielle asked as she entered the kitchen.

Brianna eyed her suspiciously, probably because of her cheery tone, and raised an eyebrow at Danielle, which Danielle understood perfectly. She expected an update.

“We’re having Yorkshire pudding, then Cornish pasty with baked beans,” Aunt Charlotte replied.

“Sounds good.” Not that Danielle was paying much attention to the menu; her mind was still on Ethan and the painting she needed to start.

She ate faster than usual, so she could finish quickly and start sketching the ruins. After wolfing down several bites she said eagerly, “That was great, Aunt Charlotte, thank you! May I be excused now?”

“What’s the rush, Danielle?” asked Uncle Nick.

“I just want to get started on a painting before I forget the details.”

“Okay then, have fun painting,” he said, dismissing her.

“Thank you.” She sprang from her seat, dashed to the kitchen, gave her plate a quick rinse, stuffed it in the dishwasher and then rushed to her bedroom. Brianna of course followed, but had to scurry to catch up.

Danielle switched on the music she’d been listening to with Ethan to help inspire her. She pulled out a fresh piece of canvas, set it on her easel, and snatched up a pencil. Danielle had sketched out almost all of the arches by the time Brianna caught up with her. “Oh, you really do want to paint. I thought you just wanted to talk about Ethan.”

“No, I have to paint the place Ethan took me to today. It was really beautiful,” she said, barely able to contain herself.

“Wow, where did he take you?”

“Just some old ruins, but they were wonderful.”

“Ruins? Which ones?”

“I don’t know what they’re called.” It wasn’t the complete truth, but she certainly couldn’t tell her what they really were.

As Danielle sketched the doorways and added more details of the scene, Brianna furrowed her brows. “I don’t know that place, where was it?” Danielle was aware that Brianna knew about most of the historical areas in London. However, she was certain her cousin couldn’t possibly know about this one.

“Sorry, I don’t remember that either.” Which was true because Danielle couldn’t have found it again on her own. “Ethan said most people don’t know about it,” she decided to divulge before Brianna strained too many brain cells trying to figure it out.

“Oh, that explains it, I guess.” Brianna went to sit by Danielle’s fireplace, propping her head against the back of the chair, and then asked the question that was really on her mind, “So, did Ethan snog you?”

Danielle turned to stare at her cousin. “What is…? I mean, I don’t think Ethan would do something that sounds so—icky,” she said with a look of disgust.

Brianna blew up laughing at the look on Danielle’s face. “No, silly, that means a long kiss usually with a little French. Did he kiss you?”

“Bri, it was only our third date. There were no tongues involved!” she said, though she was now imagining what it would be like. Would the proper Mr. Deveroux...? “But, yes, he did kiss me,” she conceded, then couldn’t control the stupid smile on her face and the little giggle that bubbled past her lips.

Brianna slapped a hand over her mouth and then said, “I can’t help but be gobsmacked he did it so soon!”

“Okay now what the heck does that mean?” Some of her cousin’s slang had Danielle completely baffled.

“Incredibly amazed or astonished.”

Frowning at that. “Oh. Why are you so amazed?” Danielle asked feeling a bit miffed, did she not think he would kiss her?

“I mean, you just haven’t been here very long and you already have a boy after you.” Brianna made a scoffing sound as she tossed a look at her white dress. “I knew they’d fall for the ‘girly-girl.’”

“He does say he likes that side of me,” she said, now sketching the tree line.

“Is he a good kisser?”

“He’s a ‘scrummy’ kisser,” she said dreamily, adding a few long trunks to the trees. She could taste the magic in him and that totally made his kisses deliciously scrummy, she mused.

Brianna giggled. “What else did you do? You were gone all day, so you couldn’t have spent the whole time at the ruins—er—snoggin’ each other.”

Danielle laughed, but realized her cousin wouldn’t stop asking questions until she got enough. However, she knew she needed to be careful about how much, or what she said. “He took me to meet his.” She paused, because she certainly couldn’t say Order of rebelling vampires, and choked out a small lie, “family.”

Brianna gaped. “Really?”

Turning to note the look of surprise on her cousin’s face, she said, “Yes, really.”

Danielle had finished sketching and moved on to painting. She pulled a bottle of gray pigment from her box of paints and squeezed a dollop out onto her pallet. It didn’t take her long to have most of the stone filled in. It still needed shading and highlights, but it was a good start.

Brianna rose from the chair and walked over to examine the painting again. “I can’t wait to see it when it’s finished.” Lifting her hand to catch a sudden yawn, Brianna then stretched. “I need to go to bed, ’night, Dannie. See ya tomorrow.”

“’Kay, ’night, Bri.” Danielle glanced back at her cousin as she left, then yawned as well.

Looking at her work, she selected the rest of the colors she wanted. Setting those aside, she decided she’d done enough for tonight to have it vividly in her mind, and that she too had better go to bed. She washed out her brush, dressed in her pajamas and tucked herself in. Fearing she couldn’t sleep in the dark tonight, knowing that Lucas was most likely lurking around outside, she left the music softly playing, and the light on.

 

The next day Danielle worked on her painting all morning because she didn’t have classes until the afternoon. Brianna sat at her computer and worked on her report. They liked to hang-out together, even when they were working on homework and couldn’t really talk much.

The doorbell rang about an hour before lunchtime. After a moment or two passed, she heard low mumbling voices. Then Charlotte shouted up the stairs, “Danielle, Ethan is here for you…. Are you decent?”

Danielle tried not to scream in excitement. She hollered back, “Send him up please, we’re decent.”

Brianna was trying not to laugh, while Danielle franticly checked the room for any under-things lying on the floor. She then remembered the painting of the ruins. Not wanting him to see that one yet, she quickly removed it from the easel and set it so it was on the floor facing the wall. She placed another painting on the easel, and then finished scanning the room for anything else out of place. She nearly missed a pair of panties lying near the foot of her bed, and swiftly kicked them under while Brianna continued to giggle.

Danielle tried to look innocent when she saw Ethan enter from the corner of her eye, fearing her cheeks were as pink as they felt. “Hi, Ethan, how are you?”

“Very good, how are you?”

“Great.”

“Hello, Bri, how are you?” Ethan asked, leaning to peer around Danielle.

“Great thanks, how are you?” replied Brianna.

“Great,” said Ethan.

Danielle giggled, this chatting about pleasantries was kind of silly to her.

“What are you working on today, Danielle? I’d really like to see.” He’d moved to stand in front of her, so close in fact, she wondered if what he was truly saying was, I came solely to see you.

Before she swooned at his close proximity, she led him to the painting she’d placed on the easel to replace the one of the ruins. It was a painting of a frog with a golden, jeweled crown on his head.

Ethan eyed her curiously, looking like he was about to explode into laughter.

“What? Are you going to laugh at my work?” Danielle faked injury, but knew exactly why he found it humorous.

“No, I like it immensely. I didn’t know you liked frogs so much.” She knew he was trying to be cryptic for Brianna’s ears.

“You know I like frogs a lot, they’re so cute and green and what girl doesn’t like The Frog Prince? Right, Bri?” Danielle turned to see the expression on her cousin’s face.

Brianna looked just as confused as she’d expected and nodded mutely.

“Danielle, did you paint this before or after you met me?” Ethan asked.

“Before. Can you believe it?” she whispered. It was kind of ironic that she’d created this before meeting him.

“That is odd,” he agreed. “What else are you working on?”

Brianna glanced at the one she’d placed against the wall. Ethan noticed the action and took a step toward her secret work.

“Oh no you don’t!” Danielle snapped jumping in front of the painting.

“Why not?” he replied, his brows curving up sadly.

“It’s not done. You know I don’t like showing unfinished work. It would be like looking at a stick figure anyway. You have to wait,” she insisted firmly.

After studying her panicked expression, he resigned, “All right.”

Feeling sort of awkward with him in her room and wondering what to do with herself, Danielle finally decided to switch the frog prince for another unfinished painting to start working on it.

“Hey, that’s unfinished, why can I see that one?” he asked afflicted.

Oops. “It’s further along, I’m almost done with it,” she retorted.

“I see,” he said in a low chuckling voice.

Ethan moved around from her side to stand closely behind her while she got her paints and brushes ready. He slid his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. Danielle could feel his breath on her neck, his broad chest stirring with each breath against her back, and she could smell his tantalizing fragrance. She totally would have swayed on her feet if he hadn’t already been so darn close. A nervous giggle slid past her lips as she lifted her loaded brush to the canvas, but stopped a couple of inches away. “That’s really distracting,” she breathed.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You know exactly what, I can’t paint like this.” Danielle turned her eyes to Brianna, who’d stopped typing, and was watching closely with a very befuddled look in her eye.

“Should I leave?” she asked.

“No, Bri, you’d better not,” Danielle insisted.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I really need to paint … Ethan can relax on my bed.” She gave him a meaningful look.

He sighed and released her reluctantly, then strode to the bed. Danielle felt the need to watch as the gorgeous prince lounged back nonchalantly into her pillows.

She really didn’t want him to leave, but she certainly couldn’t paint with him that close. Exhaling, she tried to get back into a painting frame of mind. But she was struggling with that just having him in the same room.

Danielle lifted the brush to the canvas, but paused again when she noticed that her hand was trembling slightly. Throwing back her shoulders, she decided to continue even despite that fact and struggled through several minutes of work. When she finished, she frowned because it hadn’t turned out how she was hoping, knowing full well she’d need to fix it tonight when Ethan wasn’t there.

“Ethan, would you like to have tea with us before we go to our classes?” Brianna asked.

“Sure, that would be nice. Thanks.”

Brianna then gathered her report and went for the door. “I’ll see you downstairs then,” she said as she left.

Danielle put her paints away and went to stand by the bed feeling amused to see Ethan there. He beamed up at her with those dizzying blue eyes of his. She was getting better at fighting his effect on her, but leaned her knees on the bed just in case.

He unexpectedly shot his hand out, grasped her wrist, and pulled her off balance so she fell onto the bed with him; an impish grin took over the line of his mouth as he did. Danielle landed on her stomach, facing him as he lay on his side, his head propped up on one elbow. She pushed up onto her elbows so she could look into his face.

“This is rather inappropriate of you isn’t it?” she taunted.

“Yes, a little,” he professed, with a chuckle, but then his grin softened as he asked, “So why did you sleep with the light on last night?”

Surprised he knew, she admitted shyly, “So I didn’t have to see the shadows.”

“And the music?”

“Then I couldn’t hear any disturbing noises. I didn’t want to hear anything that would get my imagination going.” Danielle sighed, looking away bashfully. Was she in trouble for this?

Ethan touched her face, gently turning her to look at him. “I need you to trust me, Danielle.”

“Are you mad at me?” She feared he could be angry with her for not fully trusting him and being scared of the night.

“Heavens no!” He kissed her swiftly on the end of her nose. “I just don’t want you to worry your pretty little head. Please don’t worry yourself about Lucas, we have it covered. I promise.”

“You do realize that you’re contradicting yourself, don’t you? Do you want me scared or not?”

“I want you scared so you’ll be cautious, not scared so you can’t sleep.”

“Well, they kind of go hand in hand.”

“Please try not to worry. Just be careful, that’s all I’m asking.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you.” He stood nimbly from the bed with her hand in his and pulled her up with him. “Let’s go have tea, shall we?”

They went downstairs to join the others. Nick and Charlotte took in the fact that he was holding her hand. However, Danielle couldn’t read their expressions to know how they felt about it. Ethan pulled the chair out for her, and she sat down. He then seated himself next to her.

Aunt Charlotte served her wonderful cucumber sandwiches and scones again.

Nick conversed with Ethan over trivial things, and his schooling. Danielle did wonder how many lies he told her uncle though. Did he really go to school? Or was that just an Order cover? When they finished, Ethan excused himself, saying he had class this afternoon too. Danielle escorted him to the door. “Will I see you tomorrow?” Do you really have class?

“Yes, I’ll come by again.” He beamed down at her, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

“’Kay,” she replied.

After passing one look toward the dining room, Ethan swung his gaze back her way and, with a mischievous smirk on his mouth, he kissed her.

 

That night Danielle slept with the light off, but kept the music. She needed it and she was prepared to explain it later if he asked about it. She didn’t want to dream of Lucas, and knew the music would help prevent that.

The next morning, Danielle planned to do her routine exercises. Even if her skills were useless against vampires, she wanted to keep current in case she ran into another guy like Zack. She put on her yoga pants and tank top, pulled her hair back into a ponytail, grabbed her iPod and dock and headed for the backyard.

Uncle Nick’s elegant garden was the perfect place to work out, she’d decided. Selecting a wide bit of grass, she stepped barefoot into the cool groundcover, hit play on her workout playlist and began moving as the music filled the garden.

She loved to stretch her muscles and train her body. Danielle did standing Pilates blended with yoga, and she usually moved through it at an aerobic pace because she didn’t have the patience to do it slow. Inhaling and exhaling with the motions, her limbs glided through a memorized routine. As she worked, she could feel beads of moisture collecting on her body and oddly, Danielle truly liked that feeling. She supposed it was sort of a “runner’s high.” A refreshing breeze drifted through the garden, cooling her, and the upbeat thrum of the song kept her motivated.

When she finished her yoga-Pilates routine, she switched to karate, and danced through her techniques, punching and kicking into the air. She closed her eyes as her body glided through the defensive flow she knew instinctively by now. The breeze continued to kiss her face, the current of air tossing her hair with it. Outward block, heel palm strike, step through roundhouse kick, inward block—“Oh!” Her arm made contact! Danielle’s eyes flashed open. Ethan, of course. Had he actually thrown the punch she imagined she was blocking?

“Were you watching me?” she asked, a note of suspicion in her tone.

“Yes,” he confessed impishly. “Spar with me, Danielle.”

She measured his request for a moment. He probably would be a good sparring partner, but what if she hurt him now when the curse was weaker? “Are you certain? Are you trained in karate?”

“No, I’m only trained in fencing.”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You can’t hurt me.”

“But the...” She looked toward the house to make sure no one was looking, and softly said, “The curse is weaker, you’re weaker.”

He winced theatrically and said, “Ouch. Would you kindly be gentler with my poor male pride?” Stalking toward her, he lifted a pair of fists. “Let’s see what you’ve got, and don’t hold back,” he said smirking. A wicked light flashed into his eyes just before he swung at her.

“All right,” she said, blocking the blow, surprised at how much strength he’d put behind it when she felt the impact.

Don’t look into his gaze, she reminded herself when her eyes trailed above his chin. She certainly didn’t want to give him a chance to cheat that way. With her sight focused there, she threw an upper cut at his jaw. He blocked it then attacked, thrusting forward with a jab and a punch. She parried and blocked, turning into a spinning kick. She missed intentionally.

But, she was holding back, she was trained to do so when sparring because one never really wanted to hurt a fellow student. It was only supposed to be full force against a punching bag or a real threat, and Danielle knew Ethan wasn’t a real threat. However, by restraining herself, she’d give Ethan an advantage. He quickly grabbed her wrist and pulled it behind her back in a lock. His lips to her ear, he whispered, “You’re holding back, don’t hold back.”

“Are you sure about that? I do know some pretty violent moves,” she informed him.

“I’m completely sure. Don’t hold back,” he said, demanding it now.

Danielle put her karate face on. “Okay then, you asked for it.”

He released her, and she attacked full force. Sparring back and forth for a while more beads of moisture trickled down her back. She was trained to fight like this but rarely had the chance to really put everything into it, and secretly decided she liked it.

Ethan managed to strike her in the arm harder than she expected. Anger rose within her. Oh, she was so going to get back at him for that. He threw a roundhouse punch. Danielle set her teeth and put everything she had into her counter defense. She stepped in swiftly with a double block, right hand sword, left palm heel strike, right vertical punch to the face and right side kick to the groin. He stumbled backwards and doubled over in pain, groaning.

Danielle gasped. “Ethan, I’m sorry!” She ran to him and placed her hands on his shoulders, which were trembling with agony. Wait a minute. They weren’t trembling with agony, they were trembling with mirth! She punched his shoulder. “You fraud!”

That golden head of his lifted, revealing his sinful expression. He let out a boisterous laugh and pounced on her. Tackling her to the ground, he captured her wrists and pinned them above her head.

“So much for five years of training,” she muttered, defeated.

“That’s not true; you would be an absolutely feral creature against any mortal man.”

“But entirely useless against a vampire.” Even during the day?

Ethan dipped his head, and began tickling her neck with his nose playfully. She squealed and struggled, but couldn’t move. “Vampires suck! It isn’t fair.”

“It’s most certainly true, we do suck, but you don’t need to rub my nose in it,” he said, laughing.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that! I mean you have too much of an advantage, it isn’t fair…. If garlic doesn’t work, then what does? Can’t you teach me anything that would work against you?”

He met her eyes with his, and his smile was somehow innocent and shrewd at the same time. “I’ll research that for you.”

She noticed the teasing note in his voice, and believed he actually knew the answer to her question. He had to know. “Oh, give me a break! You’ve been a vampire long enough to know what works against you!”

“I’ve never known of anything that does work against us where mortals are concerned, but if I can think of anything…” A smug smile rested on his lips. “I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“I feel like you’re withholding information, Ethan. Are you worried I’ll use it against you? What if I’m stuck face to face with Lucas, and you’re not around and—”

“Truthfully, Danielle, for you, even with your extensive training, it would be like fighting off a Superman with no weakness to a rock from his home planet. Not even during the day, not even if the vampire was feeble with thirst. I’m sorry. If Lucas ever managed to trap you—there would be no hope. But don’t worry, I won’t let that happen.” She noticed Ethan was serious now and no longer jesting.

“There’s nothing then…”

Ethan shook his head.

Danielle realized he must to be telling the truth. Devastated at the idea of such utter weakness, the anger returned and she said, “Would you mind getting off, or are you too comfortable where you’re at?”

“Well, I am quite comfortable, but…” He stood and offered a hand to her.

She took it and he helped her to standing. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re very welcome,” he said.

“Are you done tormenting me? I need to take a shower.” Reaching for her shoulder, she rubbed the ache developing there, her self-confidence battered.

“I’m done for now,” he said with mischief dancing in his eyes. It seemed he was back to teasing her.

“Okay, good. I’ll see you later then,” she snapped a little more angrily than she meant to. Hopeless! All that sweat and diligence and she couldn’t defend against a vampire day or night! The thought irked her, and she found herself stomping toward the door.

Ethan suddenly caught her arm and pulled her forcefully back to him. When her chest smashed against his, he planted a kiss firmly on her lips. That potion of his seeped into her lungs and she felt herself going limp. Releasing her mouth, he slipped down to the side of her neck with his kisses. Danielle shuddered and giggled. Was it his kisses or the magic that instantly melted the frosty attitude she had toward him for winning and showing her how worthless her skills were. But then again, she realized as her knees barely held her weight, she was losing another battle against him and her anger returned because of it. She gave his arm another solid punch. “You’re such a … a … manipulating … scoundrel! That’s not even remotely fair!” She knew her attempt at insulting him failed miserably just from the look of amusement on his face.

“I think I rather like it when you’re angry,” he noted, a misbehaving grin now pulling at his lips.

“And what is the fascination with my neck?” She ran a hand along the skin that still tingled from his touch.

“That may very well be a vampire thing. I can’t seem to resist that part of you.”

“Well, I really am going to go take a shower now. I need to get out of these damp, grass stained clothes,” she said while trying to look at the back of her top in the glass door reflection. She figured it had to be streaked with green after he’d tackled her.

“All right, later then.”

Danielle watched as he disappeared into the landscaping the same mysterious way he’d come.