“No, everything is not okay. There’s something wrong with her. She’s being overly – amorous,” Ethan replies, seeming exasperated, which is so out of character for him.
Rita lets out a raucous laugh, but she quickly stifles it when Ethan cuts her a cold look. Finn comes right up to me and places his hand on my forehead. “Jesus, you’re burning up.”
“I know. I don’t understand what’s happening to me,” I say, still shaking, my voice desperate. When I look at Ethan he seems to dislike the fact that Finn has his hand on me. The foreign thing that’s taking over my body enjoys his jealousy.
Rita kneels down in front of me by the couch. “How do you feel? Different from normal? Or are you just uh, in the mood for a little..” she trails off and waggles her eyebrows in Ethan’s direction.
“No!” I exclaim. “It’s not like I want this. Ethan clearly can’t stand me and I don’t throw myself at people who hate me.” I think I see him flinch ever so slightly at my words. “I feel like I’m being taken over by something that isn’t me at all. Like some kind of foreign lust has burrowed its way into my body and all it wants is him.” I throw my hand in Ethan’s direction.
Rita puts both of her palms on either side of my head and closes her eyes. She opens them a moment later and seems to be having a hard time keeping her amusement to herself.
“It looks like someone’s given you a lust potion, one that’s directly intended for you to want Ethan. Did you eat or drink anything weird today?”
“No, I haven’t..” I begin but Finn interrupts me.
“That scheming little bastard,” he bursts. We all look at him curiously. Finn levels his attention on me. “Remember today when you were coughing and Marcel gave you a glass of water that he just so happened to have conveniently lying around?”
Oh God. I let my head fall back into the cushion with a dejected thunk. I should have known not to trust Marcel when he said he wasn’t up to anything.
“Why would Marcel give her a lust potion?” Rita asks, confused.
“Because he wants to stir up trouble,” Finn mutters, raking a hand through his hair.
It takes me a moment to get what he’s talking about. Marcel took great pleasure in discovering that Finn might be a little jealous of my past with Ethan. By putting this lust spell on me he knows there’ll be drama to unfold. Causing dissension amongst the ranks of your enemies is a key strategy in wars. I know Marcel said we aren’t his enemies, but we clearly are. We’re certainly not on the same side, that’s for sure.
My stomach twists, as though trying to regurgitate the potion I so obliviously drank earlier.
“How long is this going to last?” I ask Rita in desperation.
“Usually a couple of days. There’s no antidote for a lust spell, you just sort of have to wait it out. You’re sweating so profusely right now because your body is trying to expel it as quickly as possible.”
“Oh great, so I’m going to be in heat for days? I’m not going to last.” I squirm on the couch, my skin feeling too tight for my body.
Finn reaches over and gives my hand a squeeze. “You’re strong, you can do it,” he assures me. “In the meantime, I’m going to have to go pay Marcel another visit. I’ll get some of the boys down at the compound to come with me, maybe Ira too. He needs to be schooled.”
When I look at Ethan again he seems to understand exactly why Marcel gave me the potion, even though it hasn’t been properly explained to him. He’s staring at Finn as though he wants to punch him in the face. Again, the lust that’s corrupting me writhes in pleasure that he’s jealous, even if it’s reluctant jealousy.
It makes me feel all strange to have Ethan hate me and want me all at once. I wish we could just return to the place where he thought he might love me. I’m such a naïve little fool. If he ever loved me at all then he would have forgiven me by now – wouldn’t he? This vampire turns me into a confused mess.
“Hey blondie, maybe you should go home, give my girl here some peace,” Rita suggests to Ethan. “Dee and Lucas have already left.”
Ethan nods, and without another word he exits the room. I instantly feel better that he’s gone.
Rita goes to get a cool damp cloth to put on my forehead.
“So you’re kind of all heated up right now, eh?” says Finn with a smirk. He would have to go running his mouth, as if this isn’t embarrassing enough as it is.
“Like you wouldn’t believe,” I say tiredly, too exhausted from whatever Marcel’s potion is doing to my insides to be snarky with him.
“I can help you out there, if you’d like. Give a little helping hand to get rid of the old vapours,” he suggests cheekily.
I gather just enough energy to give him a slap on the arm, but my heart isn’t in it. I’m in a strange sort of agony, an agony that’s just begging for sexual release. Suddenly Finn’s looking even hotter than normal, and that’s some feat because as I’ve mentioned before, he is one hot vampire slayer. I have to get away from him. Rita comes back in with the damp cloth and rests it on my clammy forehead.
“I think I’ll take a bath. I feel disgusting in all this sweat.”
“Okay, come on upstairs and I’ll run one for you,” she says, helping me up from the couch.
“Oh yeah, I know what women do when they have baths,” says Finn, looking like the cat that got the cream. He levels his bright eyes on me. “Why go for the DIY option when you could have all this sexy masculinity helping you out?” Well, no one can say that Finn doesn’t have a healthy level of self-confidence, that’s for certain.