Eternal Redemption - Book Two ✔

Chapter 7

I clung to him for dear life, savouring the touch of his hands against my bare skin.

"The sun is coming up," he muttered, slowly untangling himself from my grip, despite my attempts to stop him. I felt him smile. "Emily, we need to get below ground." Nox took a step away, and I finally saw how light everything in the forest had become. The sky was turning a turquoise blue as the sun was ready to break through the final strands of darkness. I hadn't destroyed a house and four men to still fry in the sun like they had intended.

We crouched down and began to dig. Our fingers ploughed through the earth with almost no resistance. We'd done this before, burying our bodies in the earth to shelter us from the deadly rays of sunlight.

My fingers trembled. In fact my whole body was shaking. I was weak and Nox noticed right away.

"Just a little more, Em," he encouraged. His hands moved so fast besides me, dirt flying left and right into large mounds. I hadn't realised I'd stopped digging. I just watched him.

"I can't anymore," I whispered, feeling my body ready to give up and succumb to the approaching dawn.

"It's deep enough for both of us, come on." Nox grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the hole alongside of him. He shovelled the mounds of dug-up earth over us, covering our bodies. My arms were wrapped around his torso when he finally covered our heads, leaving us in a dark grave for the day. His arm covered my side, the hand resting on my head where his thumb caressed my hair in small soothing circles.

We didn't speak; neither of us wanting dirt in our mouths, but we both felt when the sun broke through the trees and then we drifted off to sleep, not waking up until the sun would set again.

Nox's cheek was pressed against my temple when I came to. I was practically snuggled up against him in our little underground hideaway. I knew he was already awake, I could just sense it. My internal vampire clock said it was almost an hour after sunset. Why were we still down here? 

Despite being asleep for so many hours I still felt drained. My body hadn't regenerated as much and I knew what I needed to get better. Blood. And fast. I nudged Nox slightly on his arm, letting him know I was ready to get up.

A moment was taken to listen for any movement above ground, though everything was silent as we began digging our way back to the surface. It was quick work and no sooner had we clawed our way back to the forest floor. I hated this way of hiding – I was filthy, covered head to toe in dirt and earthworms and whatnot.

"I need a bath," I muttered, plucking off a wiggly earthworm on my shoulder and throwing it back to the ground where it belonged. "I am dirty. Not to mention naked."

Nox didn't answer; he had gone back to the site of destruction, my destruction. I followed, dusting myself off.

"The amount of force it must have taken," he said, talking to himself. "Such magnitude." He kept mumbling as he walked the perimeter, but I stayed put, not needing to see it all close up again.

When Nox finally came back to me, his eyes were alight.

"You are an incredible creature." He watched me and I thought he was about to say something else when we heard the sound of approaching footsteps, still far off, but coming closer.

"We need to leave," Nox whispered. "Now!" He grabbed my hand and we took off in the opposite direction. Obviously, my stunt this morning must have attracted some attention and we couldn't have that. I just had to not get caught again until we reached Seattle. And Nox had to cut the crap and not leave me alone like that again because he thought I could handle four men on my own. Clearly, I couldn't. I needed him more than I thought I did.