She beamed at my reflection in the mirror. „Are you sure, Vi?" Then she handed me the mascara.
I smiled back, even though there was a part of me that worried. Who was I, to bring Steph into this world of immortal and eternal wars? She had no power to defend herself. Getting her mixed up in it all was selfish and I knew it, but I couldn"t push her out of my life. I needed her. She was one of my people.
„Hey, how"s Marcus?" I asked, suddenly realising she hadn"t run off to meet him or even mentioned him today. The two of them had been joined at the hip for the last few weeks. I was sure it would be any day now that they made their relationship „official" – if they hadn"t already.
„We broke up," Steph said, heavy on the blasé.
I put down the make-up bag and gave her my full attention, wide eyes and all. „Why? Are you okay?"
„Yeah. I was the one who … did the breaking."
„Oh, well … why?" I didn"t understand. Steph thought that Marcus was the perfect guy. He ticked all the boxes. He was preppy good-looking, mega smart, came from a socially „in" and highly funded family and he worshipped her.
„Let"s just say, that I learned a thing or two when I saw what you went through with Phoenix. I mean, I just figure … I don"t want to do something that … you know …"
„That you"l regret," I finished for her, looking down at the grubby bathroom-floor tiles.
„I"m not saying you should regret what happened. I … I just mean … seeing how that all affected you … helped me make a few decisions of my own."
„So Marcus wanted to …" I raised my eyebrows.
She nodded. „It was fair enough, too. I mean, I thought that was what I wanted as well, but in the end I just knew although he was good on paper, I didn"t love him."
I was surprised. Steph rarely expounded. She was a „doesn"t explain, doesn"t complain"
girl. I wasn"t sure what to think I was glad for her, that she felt confident to make the right choice. Marcus was a nice guy, but if she wasn"t with him for the right reasons then I was relieved she hadn"t done something with him that she would have regretted. I knew all too well how that felt after what had happened between me and Phoenix. I still felt the residue of the connection it formed. And although that had broken, I wasn"t entirely sure if the price for that one bad decision had been fully paid. Seeing Lincoln"s reaction when Onyx raised the subject of Phoenix last night made me wonder if Lincoln would ever truly get past it.
Could I ever really ask him to?
-
The afternoon got better, marginally. I zoned out in religious studies and finished the day with art and a study period, which actually gave me a chance to catch up on homework.
Within twenty minutes of the last bel Steph and I were getting off the bus near Lincoln"s place.
Since Lincoln had the biggest space, it had been set up as a kind of command centre for the time being. I was grateful to him for so quickly volunteering the warehouse. We had even pushed back half of his furniture to set up the training arena.
Steph and I walked up the few steps to his front door and I got the same exhilarating buzz I always did when I knew he was near. I knew it was partly the angel in each of us recognising the other, but to me it was mostly human. I wanted things to work out for us so much even though I knew it went against the Grigori code.
There had to be a way.
Griffin let us in and didn"t spare me the disapproving look when he saw Steph. „This isn"t a social gathering, you realise. Your training is already limited by your hours at your other school."
„Steph is a part of my life. She has a right to see this and understand it. It"s not like I"m bringing in cheerleaders, Griffin," I said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
He wasn"t impressed but stood aside so we could enter. Steph, unfazed by Griffin"s concerns, brushed straight past. „Hell, Grandpa," she quipped.
I couldn"t" help but smile when I saw Griffin"s expression.
My eyes scanned the room quickly. Everyone was there, right at home it seemed.
All except one.
Nyla and Rudyard were sitting close together on one couch.
Too close for just friends or Grigori partners.
Spence and Salvatore were on the other couch, engrossed with the PlayStation. Zoe was in the kitchen pouring herself an orange juice.
After I got through the introductions with Steph and had relaxed a little when Rudyard didn"t try any more power tricks on me, I turned back to Griffin.
„Where"s Linc?"
„Talking with Magda. She got back last night. I think they"re in his room."
„Oh, okay," I said, starting to walk in that direction.
„Hey," Griffin snapped. „We start in two minutes. Zoe and Salvatore spar first, then you and Spence."
Wow, it will be weird sparring with someone other than Lincoln.
„Alright. Two minutes," I echoed.
I went to Lincoln"s room. Magda had been away visiting an old friend. She"d been gone almost two weeks. I could see Griffin was glad to have his partner back. I just hoped Lincoln wasn"t too excited himself. Magda wasn"t exactly subtle at hiding her feelings for him, or her dislike of me. If it hadn"t been necessary for me to become Grigori to save Lincoln"s life, my guess was that she would have preferred if it I hadn"t embraced.
I was about to push the slightly ajar door open when I heard them talking. I couldn"t help myself from pausing to listen.
„Are you sure?" It was Lincoln. „Absolutely sure?"
„Yes," Magda said, sounding forlorn. I could see the back of her shoulders through the crack. She was sitting on the bed.
Lincoln wasn"t sitting. I could hear him pacing around the room, the heels of his loafers clicking against the wooden floorboards. I opened myself up to him for a moment and through our link I could sense his panic.
„How? How are you so sure?"
„Lincoln, I followed all the steps. I know how to be sure."
„So he wasn"t lying then." I could hear him mumble, could almost see his hands over his face.
What"s going on?
„Doesn"t look like it. What do you want me to do about it?" Magda asked, sounding so unsure, so unlike her.
„I don"t know. Maybe we should tell the others?"
„Do you think it"s the wisest idea to involve everyone else – people could get hurt, Linc."
„You"re right." Lincoln sighed. „What do you think?" he asked.
„I don"t know, maybe I"m wrong. Maybe we should talk to Griffin and Violet."
Well, there"s a good idea.
„No, you are right. I don"t want them to know about this, especially Violet."
WTF! I felt myself tensing with every word.
„ Okay. If that"s what you want, we can keep it quiet for now. Just you and me – like old times."
„Yeah, the others don"t need to be involved. Thanks Mags ," Lincoln said, softly, the last two words slightly muffled. I was sure they were hugging.
I heard footsteps.
Oh, no, no, no.
I quickly moved away from the door and took a few hurried leaps back down the hall to see Griffin walking towards me.
„Come one!" he said. „We"re ready."
Lincoln"s door swung open. He and Magda both emerged. He looked so tense and I could see him trying to hide it from me. Even if I hadn"t overheard their scheming, I would have known something was upsetting him. People who are scared of getting found out all have that same deer-caught-in-headlights look. I should know – I was trying to hide a similar guilty expression.
He forced a smile and glanced worriedly at Magda. They were both wondering if I"d overheard anything – though Magda didn"t look worried so much as satisfied. Actual y, she looked annoyingly elegant. Her long, blonde hair rippled softly around her face and down her back, a baby-blue sweater showed off her tall, mega-slim figure and to top it off a stunning sapphire hung from her necklace, perfectly positioned to make everyone"s eyes go … there.
&nb
sp; Everything about Magda screamed expensive. Suddenly my oh-so-average presentation became all I could think about and Magda, of course, was looking right at me as if that was all she was noticing too.
„Hey," I said to them both, throwing up a lukewarm wave before spinning on my heels to face Griffin. „I"m ready, let"s go," I said, in a way that made it sound as if it had been me waiting for him. My attitude wasn"t lost on him, but thankfully he let if slide.
I sat next to Steph who, as it turned out, had found herself a new friend. I"d forgotten that she could speak Italian. When she and Jase, her brother, were younger, their father used to take them on some of his business trips to Italy. I think she even spent a year there when she was about twelve.
Salvatore looked as if he had died and gone to heaven. Clearly, being deprived of any coherent conversation had taken its tool. I did a double-take when I saw the unusually eager look on Steph"s face.
„Salvatore!" Zoe said, clapping her hands in his face. „Come! Time to fight," she yelled, while she mimicked boxing hands as if he was deaf and dumb.
Steph looked appalled.
I watched in a bit of a daze, Lincoln and Magda"s conversation replaying in my mind and Rudyard and Nyla in my peripheral view – joined at the hip. Nothing made sense. Had Lincoln been lying to me all this time? Had he really just been making excuses for why we shouldn"t be together? Nyla and Rudyard were clearly more than just partners and if they could be …
-
Zoe fought like a cat. She leapt and darted with economy of movement but freaky speed.
Salvatore had a more reserved and calculated approach. Not as flashy but you could see instantly, he was to be respected. It was all over fairly quickly. Zoe won the spar, getting Salvatore into a potentially lethal hold. But I was highly suspicious that Salvatore had let her win.
„You"re up," Steph said and then gulped loudly beside me. When I looked at her, all the colour had drained from her face.
„It"s okay, Steph. It"s just training. Remember, we are a lot stronger than normal people," I said, still completely preoccupied with Lincoln. He and Magda had only just joined everyone else. Clearly they"d had more talking to do.
Not again. Please, not again. Lincoln promised no more lies.
„Violet – your turn against Spence. Nyla does a lot of the combat training at the college, but since she hasn"t watched you fight before she will only observe tonight and then plan a program for you tomorrow," Griffin said in his umpire voice.
„Okay," I said, making my way onto the mat to stand opposite Spence.
We hadn"t real y had a chance to talk since first meeting at the airport. „You ready?"
Spence snapped at me as if I were holding up his life.
Oh, this is going to be great.
„Yep,„ I said. Punching him in the face was going to be my pleasure.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Magda lean in and whisper something into Lincoln"s ear. Her hand rested on his shoulder and I was sure she glanced at me, looking for a reaction.
I didn"t even see Spence coming. It wasn"t that he"d done anything extraordinarily stealthy, I had just been pathetically distracted. I took a jab to the gut as punishment.
I tried to pull myself together. I knew this was important. Rudyard already had his first impression of me but I knew this would be Nyla"s. Not to mention that everyone was watching to see what the fuss was about.
Barely three minutes later I was flat on my back. I"d managed to get in a few good moves, but Spence had fought fiercely – at times even a little underhanded for a training session –
and I never had a second to get myself together.
„See?" he barked. „This is stupid! We come all this way to train with this chick and she can"t even last long enough to make me sweat. He stormed over to Nyla and Rudyard, leaving me sitting on the ground. „It"s not fair. I"m a good fighter – I should be allowed to hunt! I shouldn"t have to wait for my partner." He flung a hand back towards me. „She doesn"t even know how to handle herself against me and she"s allowed to hunt."
Steph stood up, hands on hips. „Hey, macho man. Have you ever disabled more than half a dozen exiles in one go? While you"re lying on the ground dying?" Steph had a nice way of getting to the point.
„Who are you, anyway? This isn"t a spectator sport, you know," Spence spat at her.
„I"m the one who"s going to explain to you two very important things. First, you need deodorant … like now. Second, if you think beating Violet in a bit of sparring and then boasting about it like a total idiot would somehow make you look like some kind of under-appreciated hero-in-the-making, you are so out of lick it"s almost funny,"
Spence looked around the room as if he were waiting for someone to drag Steph out and throw her on the street.
Rudyard stood up and put an arm out for Nyla to join him.
„We are finished for tonight. We"re going back to the hotel. Zoe, Salvatore and Spence, we expect you for dinner." Rudyard gave Spence a brief nod. „Strong fighting." Then he turned to Steph. „You, Stephanie, are welcome to watch any training sessions Violet invites you to. I find your approach … effective."
As they walked out the door, Rudyard looked back at Lincoln and Magda and then lowered his gaze towards me winked, stirring something in me. It made me feel vulnerable, as though somehow he saw through me, somehow he knew why I"d fought so badly and was letting me off. But he couldn"t know. He couldn"t have overheard Lincoln and Magda. And he sure as hel couldn"t see my heart twisting itself into any ugly knot.
Salvatore put a hand out to help me. It seemed like it was obvious to everyone that Lincoln hadn"t approached. I could see his disappointment. I"d fought badly and I knew that since he"d been responsible for all my training to this point, I had let him down, too. Things were just getting worse and worse.
I needed some air and made for the door. I still had my rules: no running and no quitting. I thought being Grigori might make me consider them less, but I found I was still having to seriously resist the urge to take flight at time. Like now.
Steph raised her eyebrows as she saw me walking out. She was offering to join me but I shook my head. I knew she wouldn"t push it.
I walked a little down the street and sat on a neighbouring fence. Although Lincoln lived in a busy area, his street was only short and relatively quiet. It used to be entirely old warehouses, but now there wasn"t one building that hadn"t been converted into a trendy home.
„Hey, you taking off?"
I looked up to see Spence. He had his hands in his pocket and looked uncomfortable, like he wasn"t sure he actual y wanted to be talking to me – which made the two of us.
„No," I said, defensively. I didn"t like the thought that someone would assume I"d just run away like that – even if he had completely slaughtered me.
„Okay," he said, smiling a bit with his hands in the air. „Don"t shoot. Look, I just wanted to say … I … anyone could see you were off your game and I … anyway, it was poor. Not my usual style . it just pisses me off that they won"t let me out to hunt with everyone else. I thought if they saw …"
„If they saw you take me down they would overlook the fact that if you"re hurt by an exile you can die?"
„Yeah. Put it that that it makes me sound like an idiot, but I had to try."
„I get it. It wasn"t your fault anyway. Like you said, I was … distracted."
„By Lincoln and Griffin"s partner, Maggy?"
„Mag da," I corrected.
„She causing a problem?"
„No. Yes. I don"t know." A couple walked their dog cruised by and smiled at us. Al I could think was – They have no idea. And I was envious.
Spence hoisted himself up and got comfortable beside me.
„Well, why don"t you start by telling me what happened to make you fight like a girl?"
I laughed. „I am a girl."
„Yeah," he shrugged, swinging his legs out, „but no Grigori worth their salt fights like a girl and I"ve
heard you"ve got skil s."
„Thanks."
„So?"
„I don"t know," I said, but Spence just waited and eventual y I gave in. „I overheard them talking. She told him something that had him freaking out. He kept asking is she was sure.
Then, when she suggested they tell Griffin and me, Lincoln panicked and made her promise not to tell me. I don"t know what it is, but it"s big and it"s bad and he swore he would never lie to me again."
And for the life of me, I have no idea why I am confiding in this stranger who has just pummelled the crap out of me. I guess it"s true what they say – physical combat can be as emotional as any other major connection.
„Wow, that sounds bad. So you and Lincoln have history? You know that"s not real y on the cards for partners don"t you? I mean, someone"s explained …"
„Yeah, yeah – we can never be together like that. I got the memo. It"s complicated though, I thought we …I just didn"t think he would be …"
„Right, I get it. And Lincoln and Magda? It sounds like she was telling him something major – something personal. Do you …" He held a kind of frozen cringe.
„I know what you think. That"s not it," I said quickly, shutting him down.
„Okay. But if they had a history before you two, I"m just saying, is it possible?"
„No. I … I don"t know. He never told me if they were … are," I said, looking down, holding back the tears. I didn"t want to cry in front of Spence. I barely knew him. It was bad enough I was spilling my guts to him.
„Okay, no stress. Wel ," he nudged me, „if you want to find out, we could always follow them."
I looked up to see Lincoln and Magda coming down his front steps and walking in the opposite direction. They hadn"t seen us. In that moment, something clicked and I was suddenly very glad Spence had come into my life.
„Let"s go," I said, jumping down off the fence.
CHAPTER EIGHT
„ Everything we call a trial, a sorrow, or a duty; believe me, that Angel"s hand is there."
Fra Giovanni Giocondo
Following people through the city is tricky. Especially when they have a special connection to you that means if you get too close there"s a good chance that they"l become aware of your presence.