Free The Blood Talisman by Kim Culpepper

he could
feel himself changing back into the real him. He howled from the
pain and eventually collapsed on top of her, back in human
form.
    She breathed in and out deeply from
the fear and pain and emotion as he lay there naked atop of her.
His hands encased her arms, still holding her flush to the ground.
His nose nestled into her neck. She reveled in the moment briefly.
She stared at the moon as it judged her. She had wished for a
moment like this, but under different circumstances. His breathing
finally calmed and hers fell into unison with his. She looked down
at his face and noticed his lips were just inches from her
collarbone. She could feel his breath and it felt moist and warm.
She closed her eyes and made a few unspoken wishes.
    “ Selene?” he said
shakily.
    The movement of his lips on her
clavicle sent shivers down her spine.
    “ Yes?” she answered, full
of hope.
    He leaned up, hands still on her arms.
He looked into her eyes.
    “ Are you okay?” he asked,
his eyes flitting anxiously across her face.
    “ Yea, except my arms. They
kinda hurt.”
    “ Oh!” he said suddenly,
removing his hands from her arms. He slid them to either side of
her on the ground, supporting his body.
    She reached up to rub his face with
both free hands and asked, “Are you okay?”
    “ Never better,” he said and
smiled.
    She pulled his face gently down to
kiss him but he rolled away reluctantly and sat steady on the
ground beside her. She sighed resentfully. Her wishes hadn’t come
true.
    “ I’m sorry,” she
said.
    “ Please, don’t be. You have
helped me more today than some people have my whole life. You have
absolutely nothing to apologize for.” He grabbed her hand and
caressed it in his. His eyes pierced hers, looking for
answers.
    “ I care about you. More
than I think you know.”
    “ What you’ve done for me, I
can never thank you enough. I felt so alone when this first
happened. I only wanted Amalia. I needed her to care for me in the
way that she only could. I want to thank you for being there for me
when she couldn’t be.”
    “ Here’s your shirt.” she
said, handing it to him.
    She stood up and began to walk away.
He put it on in a hurry and followed her.
    “ I spill my heart out and
all you say is ‘here’s your shirt’?”
    She continued walking, not speaking to
him. He caught up with her. She stopped and looked down at her
feet. She felt embarrassed for even thinking anything about him
romantically, again. She became frustrated with herself. He was
completely clueless. He stood in front of her and lifted her chin
with his fingertips. He had a questioning look on his face and she
chuckled like a schoolgirl. She pushed him away and now he was even
more confused. She wondered, “Did he want me or not?”
    The flirtatious banter was too much
for her to tolerate anymore.
    “ We really need to stop
this.”
    “ Stop what?”
    “ This,” she said, motioning
her hands between Alex and herself.
    “ You want to go back home?”
he said, confused.
    “ No, Alex. Jeez, are you
that clueless? I want you. Obviously more than you want me. I can’t
keep up with this teasing and these misleading messages from
you.”
    “ From me? I’m simply trying
to cope with this situation and be a little more grounded. I
thought you would understand and that you were helping me to get
through this. If it’s too much then maybe we should part
ways.”
    He started to track back to the car
and she yelled, “STOP!”
    Birds flew from the trees behind her
and he halted suddenly. She ran to catch up with him, and said, “I
am here for you. I’m way too involved to abandon you. That’s my
point. I care too much for you. I need you to understand that when
you touch me lovingly on my face or when you… I don’t know. I guess
I’m just saying I want you to know these things and respect me
enough to keep me from being tempted.”
    He seized her by the shoulders, and
looking down into her eyes he said, “I