Chapter Ten
I woke to sunlight being blasted in my face. “Oh good, you’re up.” Anabel smiled archly at me.
I threw a pillow, hitting her in the face. “Of course I’m up, you jack wagon. You just threw the curtains open.”
“Jack wagon? Seriously. That’s the best you can come up with, jack wagon?” She tossed the pillow back at me, and we broke into laughter. My anger with her momentarily forgotten. I glanced around the room.
As if reading my mind, Anabel said, “After you fell asleep, Patrick brought you up here. You were out. I thought you might be dead until I heard you snoring. I thought a bear was on the loose, you were that awful.” She laughed.
“Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God!” I jumped out of bed and grabbed her arms.
“Hey, I was just kidding. It wasn’t that bad. It’s okay.”
“No. Anabel, fuck. He’s,” I paused, mentally adding figures in my head, “199 years old! Fuck. I thought he was younger than me. He’s a vampire. You’re a witch, or one of the Gifted, or what the fuck ever. His parents aren’t real. They’re ghosts brought back from the dead or some shit. Oh my God!” I shook her as I spoke the latter, and she took my shoulders, pushing me back toward the bed.
“Breathe. Just breathe. This day is going to blow your mind even more than yesterday. I promise you, we will get through this. I just need you to focus. Go clean up and meet me downstairs. Heath and Theo are on their way.” Her voice authoritative, she stood, leading me to the small bathroom. “I’ll get you some fresh clothes.” With that, she was gone.
Gazing at myself in the mirror, I looked shaky, sick, and dirty. I showered quickly, sad to leave the heat and serenity of the shower. I wanted to stand under the hot water and mull over everything from the previous night. The revelations Patrick shared with me made me further question my supposed friends. I was confident Heath knew from the moment he saw Patrick that Patrick was a vampire or Sang. He hid it from me along with everything else. Overshadowing that was that the Sang were real. Detective Ash had been right, there was a world full of Others. As promised, fresh clothes awaited me on the bed: jeans, a button up, fresh socks, and under garments. Dressing hurriedly, I made my way downstairs. Halfway there, I had to stop and sit on the stairs, my body failing me.
Heath found me. I’d never seen him look so scared. He tried to hide it, but he knew I was dying. My anger faded slightly when I looked at him. Our years of friendship blasted through my mind, forcing me to swallow the rising lump of sorrow. I put my arms around his neck as he carried me to the great room. All eyes turned to us. Patrick, Josephine, and Aidan sat together on the camelback sofa. Anabel and Theo sat on the cabriole facing us as we entered.
Heath propped me on the sofa, sitting gently on the edge with a look of horror on his face. His hair was shaggy, dirty. When had he showered last?
Aidan disappeared, only to reappear moments later with a large gray and white blanket and pillow. Heath took it with a curt nod as though dismissing him. When I was finally all situated, my legs in Heath’s lap, he sat back against the sofa, with me wrapped up firmly in my blanket. As angry as I still was, I just needed comfort from my best friend, even if it wasn’t real, if only for a moment.
Aidan said, “Let’s have the truth now, Josephine, Patrick.”
“Aidan, I would never—”
“Stop. Who is this woman? I know you would never lie to me intentionally, but you held back yesterday. Be honest.” His eyes pierced Josephine’s, and her hardened expression softened slightly. She took his hand, kissing it. Patrick cleared his throat.
“I’ll start. When I first changed, I was lucky. My family had been well off, we owned a lot of land and properties, so I was able to hide during the day and stay close to home. But, eventually I became restless and began to wander. One night I broke into an abandoned home, looking for shelter from the morning sun. I was searching for a nice spot to sleep when I heard weeping. I followed it, wondering if I’d been mistaken; surely, the house had been boarded up.
“It was in the nursery that I saw her. She was on the floor kneeling over a bassinet. Her body racked with sobs. It was the first time I’d ever encountered one of the Lost. I felt sad for her but terrified. This was foreign territory for me, you understand? Her body quieted, and she turned toward me slowly. Fury. Her face was contorted with pure rage. I backed out of the room slowly, stammering an apology, turning to flee. But then she was there, right in front of me, pointing back to the nursery. I took a tentative step back into the room. It was empty. Then she was there, motioning me toward the crib.
“I realized then that the whole thing was wrong somehow. I wanted to get the hell out of there, but I couldn’t. There I was, the ‘creature of the night,’ a scary monster, terrified of this specter and this place. Her face had gone from rage to pure anguish, and I knew. I just knew. I knew before I even looked. I’d been so shocked before that I hadn’t paid attention to my other senses screaming at me. The smell of death clung to the air. The sweet smell of sickness and disease, decay, rotting, putrid flesh. I leaned in to the bassinet and saw a blanket covering a small form lying there. I looked back at my Lost companion. She nodded to me. I reached forward….”
Patrick’s voice broke off, as if he found it too painful to talk about even now. I shuddered, unable to imagine that kind of horror. He didn’t have to finish. We all knew what he had found. Silence stretched as Jo hugged Patrick, rubbing his arm. It was obvious this was a memory that still haunted him.
“No words can describe that night. What I saw, felt. After I pulled the blanket back, the woman smiled at me gratefully and leant back over the bassinet, murmuring….” He trailed off again, blinking his eyes rapidly. Everyone was still silent, waiting.
“When it was over, she spoke to me, thanked me. She’d never got to say goodbye to her baby. She never passed over, instead staying in that house grieving, never able to leave until she could have her proper goodbye. That night, at her request, I buried her child. When I awoke the next night, she sat waiting for me. She had another request: that I burn the house to the ground. In return, she had an offer for me. She knew a special ritual that would allow her to assume human form again and give me a chance to walk in the sun. There was more, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to feel the sun on my skin again. I didn’t necessarily believe her, but I was willing to chance it. So, the following night, I performed the ritual at her direction, and it worked. We burned the house and all its remnants to the ground. We roamed together for a long time until Josephine….” They exchanged a knowing smile, and she picked up where he left off.
“I met them in 1923. In a swing club, of course. I’d never seen a Guardian before or a Daywalker. We tend to be solitary creatures when we’re young. All we care about is eating, sleeping, and keeping others off our territory. But Patrick and I hit off. We had so many interests in common with a few key differences. I was a predator. I didn’t kill … normally, but I ate, and I ate well, and I liked to play. Patrick, by this time, had become soft, or what we Sang consider soft on humans.” Josephine laughed. Patrick shook his head, his eyes hard.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “Anyway, Tempie—that’s what I called her—and I also hit it off at first. We teamed up to pressure Patrick into not just feeding from people but enjoying the hunt. We traveled around, and it felt like home. I slowly started to realize she was slightly off. Small things she said. She’d get me intoxicated and push me to feed and feed and feed….” Jo shivered. “Those were dark times. I’d wake, and I’d just remember her laughter. The guilt slowly started to eat at me. Me. A woman with low scruples.
“I tried to get Patrick to leave her, but he refused. He just kept saying she was still healing from her loss; she needed him. I wanted to prove to him that she was dangerous. So, one night she went out, and I followed her deep into the forest, watching from the shadows. A small group was waiting for her—three Sang and three Lost. A fire had been built in a small clearing. Tempie stood in f
ront of the fire, her back to me, chanting. The fire turned black and silver, growing higher and higher toward the heavens. She called forward one of the Sang, cutting his hand with a dagger, letting the blood drip into the fire. She began chanting again. This time, one of the Lost, a man, came forth.
“Taking more blood from the Sang, she dripped it onto the Lost man. He began to shriek and burn. The other Lost ones cried out, the Sangs laughing mirthlessly. I’ll never forget her face—her black, dead eyes, her sick smile as the Lost man turned to ash. Mixing the ash with blood, she chanted, rubbing some on her chest and the Sang’s face, having the Sang drink the rest. I was frozen, disgusted, horrified.
“When I got it together, I knew I had to get away. I turned to flee, but she was there. She said ‘Did you like what you saw, pet?’ and dragged me to the clearing. Her strength was unbelievable. I fought, pleaded, but it didn’t matter. Whatever part of her that had once been human was gone. I watched, chained by silver, as she performed the ritual again.
“Two down, one to go, I screamed for her to stop. The Lost had done nothing wrong, and their destruction served no purpose for her. I still had my human memories, still had family out there, still had a level of compassion. I tried to use that on her, explain humanity to her, but I angered her. She had been one of the Lost, after all, her baby, or so I thought…” Jo stared at me as she mentioned the baby, raising an eyebrow. She wanted me to focus on the baby. Our connection broke as she continued, leaving me to try to figure out why the baby was important. I filed it away in my mind for the time being. “I only angered her more. She broke my neck.
“When I woke, she was gone. It was daylight, and I was in the sun, not burning. I wasn’t alone either. Traditionally, we don’t talk about who Guards us but I think it’s safe to tell you this next part. I wasn’t alone. Without knowing it, I had saved him, saved Connor, a Lost. I don’t know why she did it, but there we were, bound together, forever. We found Patrick. He listened to us, and we ran, never looking back.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she finished her story. Patrick leaned over, and they hugged again. She punched his arm lightly and called him a dumbass while Patrick ruffled her hair. Aidan wiped her tears, and they kissed, passionately, as if they could crush themselves into one being. I looked away. She was a bitch, but I couldn’t hate her. She loved her family.
Still, something about her story was off. I could never imagine her begging, especially not to someone like Thea. And the whole compassion thing…? She killed and ‘played’ with humans. I somehow doubted her compassion. Also, why save her? Allow her to walk freely during the day?
“So, then Connor is your Watcher,” Theo said to the fireplace, courteously avoiding the make-out session.
Jo sighed, and they drew apart hesitantly. “Yes. Around here, I just call him Dad, though. Patrick’s my brother, Connor’s my dad, and Connie is my stepmom.”
“Stepmom?” Heath stared at her.
“Unlike Connor and Jo, Connie is my actual mother. So, since Jo and I are together, it’s easier if people don’t believe we’re blood relatives,” Aidan spoke softly, his eyes moving over everyone in the room. “And before you ask, yes, she is my Guardian. Who better than your own mom? I’ve been incredibly lucky.” He kissed Jo’s hand seductively. Heath looked at me with a raised eyebrow. I knew full well he was just as curious as I was as to Aidan’s backstory.
Again, Theo broke the silence. “So, Tempie was a Guardian. We would have had to kill Patrick to kill her. But now she’s Thea and is insanely powerful and creepy. What was she doing that night? To the vamps?”
“Temperance. Her name was Temperance,” Patrick murmured, looking lost in his own memories.
“I have no idea. I’ve never seen them since. And it’s Sang,” Jo replied.
“Wait. Where are they? Your parents?” Theo asked.
“Gone. As per usual. On a second honeymoon of sorts,” Jo said drily. Everyone began talking at once.
“An army,” Anabel whispered. My eyes flicked to hers, an understanding passing between us.
“What? What is it?” Patrick looked from Anabel to me as silence again fell.
“It’s just that … I mean. Think about it. She knew when she met you how to bind you together, Vamp and Guard. She knew the spell, she knew what it would do, which means she knew it when she was alive, which means….”
“She was Gifted,” Heath’s eyes gleamed as he finished where I left off. “Yes. How else would she have known? She couldn’t have been dead very long when you found her, so it’s unlikely she saw anyone else. It makes sense. She’s knowledgeable. All the Gifted learn to use special herbs, to create types of potions.”
“But she would have had to be a Dark. Rituals like that, even a simple bind between a Lost and a Vamp, is something a Gifted would never do. It messes with the balance,” Theo finished.
“But an army?” Jo’s voice held awe.
“Maybe, or maybe a cult, a following. Someone like her needs to feel power, and the only way she can is by having people worship her,” Anabel said.
Jo nodded, her face pensive. “We can’t kill her. She’s a Guardian. Some of that magic from the pact is still around if Patrick can still go out in the sun. To kill her we’d have to kill Patrick. That’s not going to happen.”
“Why not?” Heath’s face darkened, his tone ice. Jo snarled, leaping from the couch, her body a blur as she pounced. Heath flung his arm out, his energy pausing Jo in mid-air. She gasped in shock before hissing at him. Her face turning twenty shades of red in anger. Everyone was out of their seats in milliseconds, yelling. But Heath just stared at Jo, with a slight tilt of his head. His energy rushed off him, sending Jo crashing into the wall. Aidan punched Heath in the face, the force sending Heath flying over the back of the sofa. Theo clung to Aidan’s arms, trying to stop him from jumping the sofa after Heath, but to no avail. Aidan was on top of Heath in a beat, pummeling him.
Patrick and Anabel had rushed to aid Josephine, but seeing the action Patrick ran to help pull Aidan off Heath. Before he could get there, Aidan flew off Heath, crashing down, skidding across the floor, taking Theo and Patrick with him. Anabel had gotten Josephine to her feet, blood oozing from her head, a large hole in the drywall above. I stood surveying the scene. Drained, annoyed, but mostly angry, I found my voice.
“ENOUGH!” I threw my hands up as I shouted. Blue fire emanated from my fingertips, flying out in a wave across the room and knocking everyone off their feet, effectively silencing them all. Six faces of mingled shock, awe, and fear looked back at me.
I stared at my hands where blue fire radiated from them. Feeling faint, I started to fall, everything going black, but then Patrick was there, throwing me over his shoulder and storming from the room, shouting, “Enough is enough! Back here. Two hours. Everyone come up with an idea as to how to get this bitch.”
I couldn’t help but grin inwardly as I watched the upside down faces of the five people left behind. “Get this bitch,” I mumbled as I tried to cling to consciousness.
Instead of admonishing me, he chuckled, his whole body rocking. At the top of the staircase, he went through the very first door which held a second flight of stairs, wrought iron and curvy. He set me down and opened the door at the top, revealing a large bedroom, furnished like the one I had slept in. The large oak canopy bed was draped in red and cream swirls with cream curtains. It was furnished with a white and cream quilt with red inlays. A soft grey fainting sofa made of oak stood off to one side, balanced by a large bureau on the other. Not far from the bed was a stand with liquors and glasses.
I breathed in sharply. It was amazing. Simple yet elegant, it seemed to fit Patrick perfectly. As he had the night before, he looked at me with hesitation. I knew he was letting me in, sharing a part of himself with me. In this moment he was a shy guy, looking for approval and my heart melted. Smiling, I lightly kissed his cheek.
“This is amazing. You have this and that cottage. It’s all beyond lovely.
Words aren’t enough.” His face lit up with wonder and joy. Throwing his arms around me, he crushed me against him. For once, I wasn’t torn between lust and anger. I was just happy to be with him and see him be happy. His lips found mine, parting them, his tongue eagerly exploring my mouth. I put all my energy into him. I had nothing left to give. I was dying, and I wanted him to know, to feel, how much he meant to me. He held nothing back as well. He was gentle yet fierce. He bit my lip playfully, his eyes smoldering with desire. I trailed kisses from his neck up to his ear, tugging lightly with my teeth. He chuckled, easing me off him.
“Always so eager, so needy.” He ran his finger across my bottom lip sensuously. Pecking it lightly, I felt the pull from the pit in my stomach. I wanted him, now. I wanted every bit of him.
“Have you thought about what I said?”
While his voice was low and seductive, mine was breathy and uneven. “I can’t do much thinking around you. You distract me.”
“Trust me, Lorelei. Trust me.” He swept me off my feet, gently laying me on the bed. Lying beside me, he slid his leg between mine, his arm propping up his head. We lay together in silence, his fingers trailing my body. I felt alive again, a burst of awareness, knowing it was because of him. His touch, his sheer closeness, made me feel more than I’d ever felt.
Eyeing me lustily, his mouth curled up in a seductive half-smile as he kissed me swiftly. He bit into his wrist, his eyes never leaving mine. I watched the dark blood dripping down as he offered his arm to me like he would a glass of wine. I shied away, unsure, disgusted. His mouth curled down, his eyes more somber.
“Please,” he said. “It’s the only way I know to save you. You said that night at the restaurant that you were all about self-preservation. That’s what this is. Nicole and Greta need you. Hell, I need you. There’s something here between us and I’d like to see how it plays out. There’s no one else I’d rather be bound to than you. Unless it’s me you’re unsure of.” He started to turn away, but I grabbed his arm to stop him. Patrick stared as I lowered my mouth to his wrist, lapping up the blood tentatively. It tasted salty, metallic, gross.
“Look at me,” he said. Obediently, I lifted my gaze.
“Don’t stop. Bite hard and drink as much as you can. I know it doesn’t taste pleasant, but it will heal you.” Under his watchful eyes, I bit down onto his open wound, sucking up his blood greedily, trying to get the experience over with quickly. He moaned with pleasure.
Shocked by his response, I bit down harder, letting more blood flow into me. Grabbing my hair with his free hand, tangling it between his fingers, he pulled gently. The beast within me stirred as he groaned. His eyes sparkled with intensity as I sank my teeth down harder. He called my name, and I was in Heaven. I could move him, affect him this way. I forgot the taste and focused on the pleasure, squeezing my thighs together as a growing ecstasy rose within me. I bit down one last time, eliciting one last moan from him to excite me.
As I let go of his arm, my breath caught. I could feel my eyes burn with pleasure. I wanted more. More of him, more biting and hair pulling. I wanted this more than I had ever wanted anything.
“Stand up,” he growled. My legs shook, giving me away. The left side of his mouth curled up in a smile, his eyes still sparkling. “I want to taste you.”
It came out softer but still more of a command than a question. I nodded. God damn, he could bite me any day. I blushed at the thought.
“You are so fucking beautiful,” he breathed, his hands unbuttoning my shirt, eyes never leaving mine. Walking around me, he slid my shirt off, throwing it lazily on the settee. Pushing me back on the bed, plucking my shoes and socks off, he tossed them aside. While he unzipped my pants, I arched my back up to help as he slid my jeans off. He stared lovingly at my body. “So beautiful.”
Climbing on top of me, he brushed hair from my face and kissed me firmly but gently. I sighed into his mouth, my body hungry for him. Trailing kisses from my lips to my chin, down my neck, stomach, stopping at my panty line, he kissed from one hip to the other, leading his tongue all the way back up my body, finding its way back into my mouth. I sucked on his tongue gingerly, and we moaned in unison. With his knee between my legs, I moved to lower my sex to meet his flesh, twirling my hips in a circular motion.
Smile deepening, he pinned me back, moving his knee out of my reach. He whispered in my ear unevenly, “Where should I bite you? Here?” He kissed my neck. “Or is that too obvious?”
“Anywhere?” My body writhed beneath him.
“Hmm. How about here?” He kissed the top of one of my breasts. My breathing hitched. Oh God, he was killing me.
“Please,” I moaned out loud.
“Please what?”
“Please … please bite me. I need it. Now.” He made a path of kisses down, this time over my panties down each of my legs and back up, stopping at my right thigh. Our eyes met, my face full of want and need, his full of pleasure. He sank his teeth into my flesh by my panty line, and I was gone. I screamed his name, my body breaking into a million pieces. But it wouldn’t stop; I came again. One hand yanked a fistful of his hair with all my strength, the other ripping into his back as I rode the waves of my pleasure.
He released me with a smile I had never seen before. He licked his lips, lapping up the blood that had run down his mouth. Bending back down, he licked at my wound, and when I looked down, it was gone—as if he’d never bit me. My body quaking, I pulled him up to me, pressing all of him on me.
Stroking my lips gently, he asked, “Well, how was that?”
“More. Please. I want more,”
He laughed lightly. “You want me to bite you again?”
“Maybe that, or we could, you know….” My voice fell, and I blushed scarlet.
“Have sex?” I nodded as he finished my broken sentence. Suddenly serious, he sat up. “How do you feel?” he demanded.
“What do you think?” I felt insulted.
“Not that. Believe me, I know how that felt. I think everyone within a hundred miles knows how that felt. I mean you. Do you feel stronger, better, whole?”
Suddenly embarrassed and humiliated from my being overcome with pleasure, I turned away. Gathering up my clothes, I began to dress, examining myself for the first time.
I did feel better. I felt healthy, fit … and wide awake. Examining my features in his full-length mirror by the bureau, I realized I looked amazing. My skin was no longer tight and sallow. I had color again, my face fuller, body still shaky but good.
“I feel almost perfect.”
“Almost?” He came up behind me, looking at me through the mirror. His eyebrows raised.
“Yes. Almost. I would be beyond perfect if you hadn’t ruined the moment. Telling me how incredibly loud and awful I am.” I scowled at him.
He spun me to face him, flying us back against the far wall and sinking his teeth into my neck. The pain was exquisite. Intoxicating. I felt it building up from deep within, slow and steady, building, building. Ripping my panties to the side, he tugged my legs around him and sank into me. In no time, I was screaming his name, my body exploding hard and fast, convulsing beneath him. We sank to the floor, our bodies tangled. He licked my neck gingerly, and I felt my skin prickle. I knew I was healed.
“You are the sexiest moaner. I could listen to you yell my name like that over and over. I wasn’t berating you. I was just teasing.” Patrick looked into my eyes. I flushed with pleasure, wrapping my arms around his neck I kissed him.
“I wish we could stay like this forever,” I murmured as I pulled back.
“One day. But not today. We have to get ready to go back downstairs.” Sighing, he pulled me to my feet, and I went back to the mirror to straighten my clothes and hair.
“Patrick?”
“Yes?”
“Is that it? Am I really healed?” I asked, trying to conceal my fear.
“Absolutely.” He smiled.
“This is going to sound stupid, but thank you for saving
me.” He pulled me into his arms, eyeing me intently. Before he could say anything, I said, “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“I’m so new to this, and I hate being so naïve, but I have to ask. What’s a Dark?” He looked at me, puzzled.
“Downstairs, they said Temperance must have been a Dark. What is that?”
He nodded in understanding. “A Dark is another type of sorcerer. A different faction.” He saw his error as soon as he spoke, only he thought it was because he was shocking me with information. In reality, Ash had told me as much all ready. Patrick’s confirmation of it just made Ash’s info all too real. He sat me on the bed beside him, cradling my hand.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize. I should have. Of course you didn’t know. It’s a lot…. It is, but it’s all real.”
“It’s all … real? Demons, vampires, witches, ghosts…? I just feel so, so stupid. How could I have not known? How doesn’t everyone know?” My voice was only a whisper as realization flooded through me. The dreams, the dreams where I was running in the forest, the sharp teeth, the contorted faces. It had all been a warning. And then suddenly a thought hit me like a light bulb turning on in my brain.
“Wait, wait, wait! It’s all real? All of it?”
“Yes. I know—”
“No. Wait. You don’t know. I have an idea. I think I know … maybe. It’s crazy, but I don’t know….” My face lit up. Of course it had to be real. I began chewing the inside of my cheek, mulling over the possibilities. Patrick snapped his fingers in my face, bringing me back to reality.
“What is it? I hate it when you pull inward like that.” His face was arranged in an expression of deep concern, but his voice held a note of slight irritation.
I grabbed his arm. “Come on. I’ll explain downstairs. We need to get the others.” I felt rejuvenated. Alive. My mind ceased to worry about the future; I focused only on the now. I flew down the stairs two at a time, Patrick keeping my pace with ease, a look of amusement on his face. When we reached the bottom, I pushed him playfully. He feigned injury, and I laughed.
Jo stood at the entrance of the great room, eyeing me with abhorrence. “Are you two quite finished? I didn’t realize there was time for jokes.” The word rolled off her tongue with contempt.
“Easy, Jo,” Aidan said from somewhere out of eyesight. Patrick bored through her with his eyes, pulsing anger in waves. I took his hand, and we moved around her into the room, Jo at our heels.
Aidan stood, motioning for me to sit by him. “Jo,” he called, “will you get me a drink, love? My usual, please.” She rolled her eyes, but exited the room anyway. As soon as she was out of sight, he leaned in.
“Excuse her. She’s the love of my life, but she can be a raging bitch.” He winked at me, his face breaking into a childish grin. Patrick snorted with laughter, and I joined in. “She saw it in you when she first met you. She knew you were different. She’s never liked Gifted people.”
“How did she know? Did you?”
“Not a clue. Neither did he,” Aidan motioned to Patrick. “She just knows. She sees right through to the core of all creatures. She can look at something and tell you if it’s human, demon, Gifted, whatever.”
“And she didn’t tell you?” I turned to Patrick now. He shook his head silently.
“Of course I didn’t,” Josephine stood in the entrance of the hall looking infinitely bored. Her eyes swept to Aidan. “The raging bitch brought you your drink, love.” Aidan chuckled and, faster than I could see, he was sweeping her back in a romantic embrace with one hand, his drink in the other. I wondered if Thea knew about Jo’s ability. That’d be one reason to keep her around.
The front door opened, and Heath, Theo, and Anabel came inside. Heath looked ashen, with his blonde hair falling over his eyes. Theo and Anabel were both somber, walking in tandem, hands grazing one another’s. I moved to stand in front of the fireplace so I could see everyone’s faces. The vamps were on the camelback, Anabel and Theo on a cabriole. Heath stood behind them, hands on the back of the sofa.
“I had a thought upstairs,” I began. Jo snickered. Patrick squeezed her arm hard while Heath made a deep, menacing growl in Jo’s direction. Sighing heavily, I began again.
“As I was saying,” I eyed Josephine warily, “I had a thought. If it’s all real … I mean all of it—vampires, witches, demons, and what not—then what about Thea? What scary legend does she currently represent? Anyone? Heath? Think about it.” Everyone looked around, trying to figure it out. I stared at Heath; his penchant for horror movies was the only reason I even came up with my thought. Slowly he lifted his head, eyes locking with mine, and ran to my side. Heath grabbed me laughing and swung me around, hugging me.
“You’re a genius!” He grinned.
“What?” Everyone eyed us curiously.
“Can I?” Heath asked, his eyes gleaming. I nodded. Ruffling my hair, he looked around the room. “Succubus. She’s a succubus.”
“No,” Patrick gasped. Aidan snorted. Theo and Anabel looked confused and Jo, angry.
“It’s not possible,” Aidan began. “There’s no such—”
“Stop. Just because we’ve never come across one doesn’t mean they don’t exist. We’ve never seen a Night Runner, but they’re real.” Jo nodded at me, her face still angry.
“I have no idea what a succubus is.” Anabel looked around curiously.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me what a Night Runner is.” We exchanged smiles.
“Night Runner is a term we use for werewolves. Like Gifted instead of witches or mutants.” I flinched at the word mutants. The word incongruous with my desire for normality.
“So vampires?” I asked, curious as to why it was so offensive.
“It’s an ugly term created by humans. We hate it. Just like Night Runners don’t want to be called werewolves and Gifted don’t want to be called witches. It’s insulting.” Jo’s expression was cold and distant. I nodded.
“We’re called Sanguisuge. Literal translation, ‘blood sucker.’ But don’t call us blood suckers or leeches. Call us Sang for short,” Aidan added for my benefit.
“So, succubus?” Anabel said.
“Right.” I turned to look at her. “So, a succubus in legend is a demon who comes to men in dreams. It takes the form of a woman and has sex with men, drinking their blood. But some lore has succubi as women who feed off of the life energy of people through seduction and sex. They have the ability to enrapture their victim. Some lore says blood is the life force, while other lore says they feed off the soul, another version of the life force.”
“But they don’t have the power to compel their victims—to turn their eyes black and make them drink blood.”
I shuddered at the memory Aidan’s words brought to me.
“Why not?” I said more sharply than I intended. “Her touch, her scent, her looks, her kiss, everything about her makes you want to obey, which means a succubus can enrapture her victims. And if she was really a Dark before then, and a Lost, and a Guardian, then there you go. She would have her ways. She’s more powerful than anyone realizes. If you could have seen the deadened eyes….” I stopped and looked away.
“So, how do we kill her?” Theo spoke for the first time.
I looked at Heath and shrugged. “I don’t know that we can. But we have to find a way to drive her off or trap her. What’s her weakness? What kills Sanguisuge? Or Night Runners? Or demons? Or anything else?” My voice rose higher and higher.
Patrick, who had stood deathly silent, stared contemplatively as he spoke softly. “Her weakness was her former life. She was in so much pain for so long. Tempie never said much about it, but it always loomed over her.” I couldn’t help but notice Jo turn away from Patrick and roll her eyes at Patrick’s take on Thea.
“She’s never done anything without a purpose. Everything is calculated. She’s done all of this for a reason. I don’t know what or why, but for whatever reason, she’s coming for me.?
?? Patrick continued. “Just like she became my Guardian and, for whatever reason, not only let Jo live but gave her a Guardian as well. Something must have stirred her into finding me again. Regardless, whatever she is now, whatever she’s become, it’s for a reason. My only guess is power.”
“The Sanguisuge drink blood because they have to,” Theo observed. “It’s the essence of life. It keeps them young, it keeps them strong, keeps them alive. Take away blood, and they starve. When they starve, they become incapacitated and they age. Their blood turns to rust, and they mummify. The sun is their weakness, so is blood. Decapitation is usually effective. Stake through heart with white oak works. Holy symbols harm them only if they believe they’re damned. Did I leave anything out?”
Jo hissed in response while Aidan laughed lightly. “Like we’d tell you if you did.” At that, Theo smiled.
“Night Runners usually end up killing each other off. They’re strong, fast, big. A bite from the Sanguisuge will kill one and vice versa. Aside from that, white oak stake through the heart, decapitation, silver, and holy symbols if they believe they are damned.”
“Demons are harder to kill. They die, they go to the pit, Hell. They hate salt, sand, holy objects, silver…,” Anabel continued.
“So, the common denominators are holy objects, but they only work if the creature believes they’re damned?” I looked around for confirmation.
“Then there’s you,” Jo said with a sadistic smile.
“Sorry?” I puzzled at her.
“You. You and your blue fire,” Jo flailed her arms about, mocking me.
“She’s correct,” Anabel mused slowly. “You ran her off. When whatever happened, happened, the blue fire made them scatter. There’s been no sign of Nicole or Greta at campus or their homes. They could have been injured.”
“Or Thea’s got them,” Theo added.
“Well, they have to be somewhere,” Anabel continued, ignoring Theo.
“They’re probably dead.”
I gasped at Jo’s words. Heath and Patrick held me back as I snarled at her. I tried to jerk, to claw, to pull my way out of their grasp, but they were much stronger than I was. I breathed heavily, anger surging through my veins.
“Your anger is better suited elsewhere, witchy-witch,” Jo condescended. “I was just being realistic. Even if they aren’t dead, we can’t help them. We have to find them. And you ruined the only way we can. Thea was walking around in your head, and you shut her down. We could have used that to our advantage, and now it’s gone.”
I stood silently. She was right, and I knew it.
“That’s not fair. She was dying, Jo,” Patrick said angrily.
“So instead two more die in her place, and how many more after that? How is that fair, Patrick?” Jo fired back.
“This isn’t helpful. We need to find a way to get her,” Aidan soothed, squeezing Jo’s hand.
Jo turned her head slightly, staring at Anabel. As if answering a question, Anabel nodded, and they both rose. In my head, I could hear a soft, velvety voice. Fire, fire. Start a fire.
I knew it wasn’t Thea. It sounded like Anabel, but it couldn’t be. Could it? I turned to stare into the fireplace. Breathing deeply, I focused on what I wanted, the ethereal blue fire I wanted to create.
It started quickly. First a yellow ember, growing and changing, yellow to orange, to red, to blue. I felt Anabel and Jo on either side of me. I watched as they threw two vials of dark red liquid into the fire. The fire froze.
I turned. “What the…?”
My breath caught in my throat as I looked around. Everyone was frozen where they were. Everyone but Jo and Anabel. They both smiled gleefully at one another.
“What the hell is this? Are they okay?” Concern flitted from my voice as I turned from one to the other.
“Men are dumb.” Jo shrugged.
“Men are not dumb. They just tend to be a bit blinded when it comes to ‘their women,’” Anabel corrected with air quotes.
“What the hell is going on?!” I screamed.
“We needed to talk to you, without them. They would never agree to what we’re thinking. They only want to protect us, even if it means their deaths. They’re only going to go around in circles. In the meantime, Thea is going to do God knows what,” Anabel explained.
“What? Wait … what? What have you two been up to? And what’s up with the vials?” I eyed them warily.
“The vials are Jo’s blood and yours with a little potion mixed in. I took it while you were sleeping. Don’t worry. Time’s not frozen, but they are. In a sense. I sort of used my energy and that potion to go in and short-circuit their minds for a few minutes. Throwing the blood into the fire keeps you and Jo from freezing as well. But we are short on time, so we need to move this along.”
“There are some things my brother doesn’t know about.” When I shot her a skeptical look, she said, “I do think of him as my brother, but this is a very sensitive subject. We need to act, and we need to act now. We need to get you out of here. Back to a normal schedule. Or just back home to draw her out.”
“With us protecting you, from a distance,” Anabel interjected, shaking her head at Jo. “It’s the best chance we have. She wants you. Well, she wants Patrick, but she wants to use you to get to him. She won’t come for him out right. She wants him to come to her.”
“So, you want me to play sitting duck to a psychotic succubus? Great plan. And you, what, froze everyone to get me to agree and then we can strong arm the rest of them?” I rolled my eyes.
“Do you have a better plan?” Jo growled.
“What about my phone? Where is it, by the way? Thea’s and Greta’s numbers are in there.”
“Disconnected. And it’s here.” Anabel drew it from her pocket and handed to me.
“Have you had it this whole time? I am not a child! Stop taking my damn phone!” I said angrily.
“You have no right to be affronted. Do you know what Anabel has done for you? She’s gotten you more sick time from work, pretended to be you, answered your calls and texts, kept your sister at bay. You should be thanking her,” Jo’s look and tone was scolding. I felt my face grow red with shame even as the shock of Jo sticking up for Anabel rocked me. I couldn’t help but wonder when and how they became confidants.
“I’m sorry. I had no idea. Thank you, Anabel. Really.”
Anabel shrugged her shoulders and smiled. “Well, you’ve been possessed, and I’ve lied to you for years, so it was the least I could do. Which reminds me, you aced your midterms, and I’ve sent them more documentation, but they want to know when to expect you back in class. I said … well, you said you’d let them know by the beginning of next week. And Madison is driving me nuts. She keeps blowing up your phone.” I was beyond stunned. Anabel had done so much for me recently and she’d never said anything. She’d let me hate her even while working so hard to help me.
“Moving on,” Jo interrupted. “Are you in, or are you chicken?” She cocked her head to the side, smiling vindictively at me.
“Let’s do it. I want to go home, anyway. Get caught up on school and wait for Thea to come for me. It’s a plan of sorts. One question, though: what do we do when she comes for me? How do we stop her?”
“All supernatural beings aside from the Gifted or the Dark hate silver. In my story, maybe you heard me say Temperance bound me in silver. I didn’t want to repeat it to add to Heath and Theo’s repertoire, but I do know a little about succubi, and they hate it as much as we do. I don’t trust your friends.” I nodded as Jo added the last bit. If Heath knew, he’d use it in a heartbeat to keep them away all the time, regardless of Anabel and Jo’s new-found friendship, or whatever it was. “It won’t kill her, but we can bind her. Hold her somewhere. It’s the best we can do for now.”
We exchanged looks. With a wink, I watched as the blue flames unfroze, conversation erupting around me.
“Stop!” I announced over the chatter. The room quieted, six pairs of eyes on me. “I want t
o go home. We draw her out. We fight her with everything we have. And if we can’t kill her, we stop her, hold her someplace.”
Chaos broke out, everyone arguing, but I wasn’t listening. I was staring at my hands, pleading with my body to work. Seeing what I wanted in my mind, I felt the energy start in my belly, building, rising through my stomach, illuminating through me. Then there it was, the ethereal fire. My hands glowed, flames emanating from my fingertips.
Smiling, I twirled my hands in a circle, creating an orb of blue fire and letting out a gasp of amazement. It was beautiful, and it was all me. In that moment, I knew that it didn’t matter that I felt alone or uncertain about my future. I had to focus on Thea and Greta and Nicole. I wanted to show everyone that we were strong and we could handle this succubus.
Lobbing my orb from hand to hand, on a hunch, I threw it as hard as I could at Heath. Heath, who had long ago gone back to stand behind Anabel and Theo on the cabriole, leapt back in surprise, throwing up his hand and sending it spiraling back at me. I let it hit me on instinct, feeling its energy absorbing back into my body. I accepted it willingly, creating a new orb and sending it back at Heath. This time, he was grinning wickedly, ready for me. He’d taken a stance behind Jo and Aidan, whose faces were set in awe. He let the orb get mere inches from his face. I could almost see his energy radiating off of him as he tilted his head, sending it spiraling toward Anabel, who froze it in midair. Theo moved in then, staring at it, cocking his head to one side. He put his hand out, bringing it into a fist, his energy crushing it, and we watched as the orb shattered. Patrick, Jo, and Aidan stared at each other, mouths agape, while Heath, Anabel, Theo, and I started laughing and hugging each other.
“That was amazing. Theo, what the hell was that? You’ve been holding out on me.” I shoved Theo’s arm. He laughed, shrugging his shoulders.
Heath spun me around, cheering. “Did you see that? That’s what I’m talking about! Look how strong we are together. Look how powerful we are when we work as one.”
“It’s you, Lorelei. It’s you.” Anabel stared at me, smiling. “You are the true leader. You are making us and our powers stronger.” She turned to everyone. “Listen, I’m going to take Lorelei upstairs and make sure she’s fully healed. I think the rest of you should try to coordinate a plan now that we all know what we can do.” We walked away, leaving the others to fight it out.
I sat down on the bed upstairs, back in the room Anabel and I were ‘sharing.’ She stood in the center, motioning me to stand in front of her. Pulling a small orange bottle from under the bed, she started to spread an orange powder in a circle just big enough for two of us to stand in. My eyebrows raised quizzically. Without looking at me, she said, “So the Sangs won’t hear us. It insulates our voices in this circle.”
I nodded. “What now?”
Anabel looked at me, her expression apprehensive. “We have to leave here. There’s someone we need to go see. The Sanguisuge can’t know. Not even Jo. There are some things we must keep to ourselves.” She looked at me pleadingly.
“Anabel, what is it?” She was making me anxious.
“When one of our kind is born, we’re born to Gifted or Dark families. You choose to remain Gifted or Dark, or to change sides. It’s a personal choice. Not all families are Gifted or Dark. You can be Gifted with Dark parents or vice versa. We’re brought up with this knowledge. As children, we’re all taught about our history together. We form bonds. But once we choose a side, we’re not allowed to remain in contact with the other side anymore. The Gifted is a small coven because most of our families are normal people, Dark, or non-practicing. The Gifted is a dying breed, Lorelei. That’s why it’s so important for you to be with us. You make us stronger. If the newer generations can see what we can do, then maybe they will choose our side over the Dark.” Anabel squeezed my hands tightly. Her hope sent me spiraling. How could I be responsible for an entire faction of sorcerers and not just any faction, but a dying one. “I still talk to my cousin. She’s Dark, but we were like sisters once. We need to go see her. Look at her books. See what she knows. The Dark have legends and lore, and I know we can find what we’re up against. Heath and Theo never paid much attention to the Dark lore, but I did.” She smiled wistfully.
“So, as kids, you learn about both sides, and then you choose?”
“Once you get your powers, yes. There’s no way to predict what power you’ll end up with but sorcerers with certain powers tend to gravitate to a specific faction. Healers for example tend end up Gifted, Communers with the dead tend to end up Dark, etc.” I nodded, shocked. I felt lost. I’d missed out on so much. Then anger surged as I realized how much they’d held out on me and how they’d plotted my future for any children I might have. Bastards. Only for now, though, did I have to play nice and then I’d leave them. I didn’t have to be anyone’s leader.
“How do we get out of here?” I said slowly.
“The front door. Theo’s telling them we have to go see Jackson at work, talk to him and management about your leave. Then we’ll come back. Tomorrow, you go home.”
I instinctively smiled. Home. Peace, silence, home. I sighed. I missed home. Using the tip of her shoe, she brushed the powder back and forth, effectively ending our private conversation. “I’ll clean this up later,” she mumbled.
“Anabel?”
“Yeah?”
“So, how’d you freeze the orb then?”
“Lorelei. My powers are all mind-related. I can touch your power through your mind.” Anabel smiled deviously at me.
“You are more powerful than you let on, aren’t you? And not nearly as sweet and innocent as you pretend to be, I fear,” I said, eyeing her. She just shrugged her shoulders in response.
“One more question, Anabel.”
“Yes?”
“Can we grab lunch on the way? I’m starving.” Her stomach growled in response, and we both laughed. I caught myself quickly, feeling wistful about these moments between us.