The first thing I noticed from the close proximity was moonlight. Pools of stardust floated above me, making even the brightest stars I once admired look dull in comparison. Thick lashes curled softly above them, blinking down at me and hypnotizing me into their trance. His white hair was cut short around an angular face, but still long enough I could grab a fistful of it between my fingers—if I wanted to. His face was young, yet there was a history written in his features, like he was wiser than his years.
Impossibly sharp jaw, pale lips on a bronze portrait, his words saturated with an accent that wasn’t from this world. The details of his face were endless wonders, like a sky of constellations I was destined to map. My gaze remained fixed on the face of my savior, blurring the night above as the sparkles turned to streaks while we soared through the sky to somewhere. Where were we going? I didn’t know, nor did I care. The beautiful creature above me numbed any sense I had left.
Something dark obscured the stars behind him for a heartbeat before disappearing a second later. Then it happened again, repeatedly, and at a steady rate. I tore my attention from the glimmer of gray to peer behind him, letting my eyes adjust to the night and visualize the dark figures more clearly. Dread rolled beneath my ribs, shoving my heart into my throat when I realized what was flapping behind him.
Wings.
“Gods above—” I shrieked, pushing my hands between me and this man…this beast with his arms unnaturally tight around my waist.
“You promised not to panic!” He growled through gnashed teeth as I sent a rogue knee very close to the soft area between his legs. He blocked my attempt with his own before I delivered the agonizing blow.
“I don’t care what I promised, put me down!” I demanded, sending a flurry of fist against his chest. He grunted in discomfort as I thrashed violently between us.
“Would you just calm down?”
“Let me go!”
“Honestly, this is—”
“Put me down!”
“Fine!”
I was falling.
Every decision I’d made up until this point was rooted in sound judgment. I used to pride myself on being rational and levelheaded, vowing my greatest strength was my sensibility and self-control. But never had I dealt with the kind of stress placed upon me as this day. I discovered the world, was almost torn apart by a vampyre, and now I had met a creature I didn’t even know existed—it was enough to send anyone over the edge.
The weightless feeling of free falling to the earth was oddly peaceful, but the quick realization the ground was approaching at an exponential rate rattled the stillness of my heart. I spread my extremities wide to slow my fall, letting a shriek tear from my lips in pure terror. The sound of my scream echoed a warning across the countryside, no doubt alerting anyone—or anything—nearby of my impending doom.
An instant later, my momentum was thrown to a halt as the flying beast snatched my foot midair. I dangled helplessly as his hand wrapped around my ankle, tossing my weight carelessly through the air and making my stomach churn at the unusual motion.
“You’re just being rude now!” I shouted up at him between waves of nausea, thankful nothing was in my stomach to hurl—that would just be embarrassing.
“And you’re just an ungrateful little shit,” he replied tersely. His voice was light with enjoyment, only deepening my frustration.
“I swear to all the dead gods above, if you don’t find solid ground in the next thirty seconds, I will tear those precious wings from your back and use them to fan the flames of your burning corpse!”
He laughed again. This creature obviously had a sense of humor as dark as my own. “You’re not really in the position to be making threats, darling.”
“Twenty-five!”
“A simple thank you would have sufficed.”
“Twenty!”
His head snapped down in my direction, peering at me through slits of silver with a smirk that threatened to break apart my rationality completely. “Look how strong you are, using your core to glare up at me. I must provide a significant motivation.”
“Thirteen!” I warned, shooting him a look of pure irritation.
His smirk faded into a fierce grin, and I uncurled the arch in my back to fall slack in his grip. The sight was unnervingly stimulating.
“All I had to do was flash a smile to get you to give up? I’ll keep that in mind.” His voice cackled above. His arrogance was the only thing keeping up my fight at this point, and I decided to deduct seconds from my warning for personal reasons.
“Five, four, three—”
He swooped low, giant wings tucked behind his back as we dove toward the earth, sending my body flying in the direction of his feet. The speed of our descent took my breath away, leaving only a shrill sound in my throat that was something between a scream and a curse.
The next thing I knew, I was rolling in the dirt. The blessed, solid ground knocked out the rest of the air left in my chest, and I was sent tumbling, shoulder over shoulder. When my momentum finally stopped, I was lying facedown with dust coating my tongue.