“You look like you’re ready to ravish me,” Cassie interrupted his thoughts seeming to pluck the very idea from his mind.

“Don’t tempt me,” he told her with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

“You never answered my questions,” she responded.

“Didn’t I?” Trik didn’t try to hide the smugness on his face.

“You were just as lost as I was, Trik.”

“I do not deny it beautiful, which is why I need to go. You test my resolve, Cassandra. I will be back. I will always come back for you.” As he started to walk away from her he turned back, continuing to walk backwards. “Oh and if that boy touches you, I’ll rip off his arms.”

Cassie’s mouth dropped open, but he was out of sight before she could respond.

~

“He threatened to rip Todd’s arms off?” Elora asked Cassie as they walked into the backroom of Lisa’s shop. Cassie had drifted through the rest of the day unable to think about school or anything that didn’t have to do with a certain dark elf.

Cassie nodded.

“Was he serious?”

Cassie looked at her friend, raising a single eyebrow. “Did you really ask me if a dark elf, who kills for a living, was serious about ripping someone’s arms off?”

Elora hopped up onto a counter that ran along the back of the room.

“Good point,” she conceded as she leaned back and against the cold, concrete wall behind her.

“So he didn’t tell you what he had to do that was so important?”

“Nope, he kissed me crazy and then left saying he’d be back,” Cassie explained.

“Was the kiss before or after he threatened to dismember Todd?”

“Who’s getting dismembered?” Lisa asked as she pushed the door open.

“I don’t know what should bother me more,” Elora looked at her mom, “the fact that you respond so calmly to us talking about someone being dismembered or that you are wearing that terrible shade of pink.” She paused as if to think about it. “I take that back; it’s definitely that Pepto pink that bothers me more.”

Lisa shook her head. “We can’t all pull off the ‘dark and mysterious’ look as well as you do, Elora.”

“This is true,” Elora agreed.

“So I ask again,” Lisa took a seat across from Cassie and crossed one leg over the other. “Who is being dismembered?”

“No one,” Cassie exhaled loudly. “Trik just made a comment that if a boy touched me…”.

“Todd,” Elora interrupted.

Cassie shot her a glare.

Elora shrugged. “Details are important when you’re dealing with a dark elf.”

“How would you know?” Cassie shot back.

“Call it instincts,” Elora answered.

“Todd…,” Lisa spoke trying to get Cassie’s attention back.

“Right, Todd. He’s this guy that Trik thinks is interested in me because he passed me a note in class.”

“What did it say?” Lisa asked curiously.

“Ah, I don’t know,” Cassie said slapping her back pocket. “I completely forget about it. What the…? The note’s gone! That sneaky elf took it somehow when he had me distracted.”

“Distracted how?” Lisa narrowed her eyes at Cassie.

“With his charming personality,” Elora retorted. “His lips mother, with his lips,” she quickly added rolling her eyes.

Lisa made an “o” movement with her mouth as she continued to watch Cassie, who was turning a bright shade of red.

Lisa slapped her thighs as she stood up. “Well, he is something to look at, so I can’t say I blame you.”

“Lisa!” Elora exclaimed. “Please don’t ever say something like that in my presence again. I swear I just threw up in my mouth.”

“Oh please, he’s older than dirt. It’s not like I’m being a pedophile.”

“So not the point,” Elora muttered.

Lisa shrugged off Elora’s sharp tone. “I’ve got to run, girls. Cassie, I want you to be careful. Hopefully the Light Elf King has called off his dogs by now. But Trik has probably made a lot of enemies over the centuries. Take it slow and watch your back. Don’t forget who you are dealing with, no matter how charming he is.”

“Don’t worry,” Cassie answered, her voice mirroring the pain on her face. “I won’t.”

Chapter 6

“I want to give her the world. I want to fall at her feet and declare all the ways that I love her. I can’t. She deserves so much more than me. I should walk away ; I should let her go. I can’t. I know how to kill a man eight different ways with my bare hands. I have power greater than any human can imagine. I lead an army more powerful than any other in existence, and yet I can’t walk away from a mere human girl. But then she isn’t just a human, she is my Chosen. She is mine and I refuse to give her up.” ~Triktapic

Trik pushed through the revolving glass door of the tall building that housed the realty company Lorsan had chosen to deal with. They had finally found land that would be compatible with the soil from their realm, soil that was needed in order to grow the Almare plants.

Lorsan had asked the realty company to find five hundred acres of the richest and deepest soil in the United States , and so they had—San Joaquin Valley, located in Southern California. The valley is among the richest soil in the world, perfect for what they needed. Very little of the land was actually for sale, but that did not deter Lorsan. When he set his eyes on something, there was nothing that could stand in his way. The agents had found some six hundred acres that was owned by a couple of winemakers, currently being used as a large vineyard. Lorsan had offered a sick amount of money and the owners had finally caved.