by Lindsey Iler
How do I explain to them there is no way I will be the strongest of us all? I’m scared of what we may discover. That doesn’t exactly exude strength.
“No, we want to know.” Amilee’s grin widens.
Is she trembling? Shit, I’m not going to get out of this. The last time I saw her this excited, I was standing outside a strip mall, waiting for a store to open so she could buy a new lipstick color. Two things make a girl like Amilee behave this way. Makeup and a little mischief, and the girl already owns every shade.
Emerson nods in agreement. “I’m with her. I’d like to know.”
“Well, then, give it a try,” I say.
Amilee’s eyes widen, and her devilish grin grows. I check over my shoulder to see what’s drawn her attention.
Edric.
“No freaking way.” I shake my head. “Leave him alone.”
“Oh, come on. If he would’ve said the shit to you that he said to us, you’d be all over fucking with him,” Emerson argues.
She has a point. He was thoroughly and brutally honest with them, and let’s face it, they didn’t want or like to hear anything he said. That doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with her suggestion.
“And what’re we going to do if something goes wrong?” I ask.
There is an endless amount of information we don’t know yet. We know what we are, but the inner workings of how to function and survive have yet to be explored.
“I’m not asking for permission, Lennox. I’m just saying he’s my target,” Amilee explains, pushing past me. Sticks crack under her weight as she encroaches upon the street. Still hidden within the trees, she stops.
Emerson and I creep up beside her, hoping to see what she plans to do. If Amilee manages to hone into the spot where her talents are hidden, and actually pulls something off, the three of us may be a step closer to figuring out what it means to be an Angel.
Amilee’s eyes close, her breaths grow even, and her lips curl in the corners. Emerson elbows me. I see it. Emerson doesn’t need to point it out. There’s a shift in the air, a presence that is unmistakable once it has the three of us wrapped up within it.
A hum cuts the silence, quiet at first, but quickly growing louder.
For a split second, I think Amilee is the one making the noise, but she’s unmoved. Not a single cell in her body is stirring.
“Amilee,” I whisper.
A single finger is held up to silence me. Well, at least I know she isn’t dead.
As the hum grows louder, Edric gets closer. His head twists from side to side. Does he hear it, too? Is she controlling the electricity along Main Street? At the thought, the lights begin to glow. It’s not quite dark enough for the automatic timer, so Amilee is the only explanation.
The lights flicker, holding their life much longer than seconds before. She’s getting stronger. Holy shit. I think she’s done it.
What else can we do?
Just as I start to step out on the streets, a loud boom echoes off the old, brick buildings. Windows explode, and screams cry out in the distance.
Edric stops, brushing glass from his shoulders. A gleeful but worried smile stretches across his face. He inspects the space around and above him, and I shift out of sight, worried he’ll see something he shouldn’t see.
“Are you okay?” I ask, falling to my knees in front of Amilee. My jeans are soaked by the soft, damp Earth.
Amilee’s body is doubled over. She moves her hand from her face, and a trickle of blood drips from the corners of her eyes.
“Oh my gosh. Your face.” Emerson gasps, cupping her mouth with her hand.
“Did I do that?” Her breaths are heavy and uneven, but a pleased smile breaks up all the worry.
“Yeah, I’d say you did that.” Emerson begins to laugh, but abruptly stops.
“How about we don’t toy with the things we don’t understand yet?” I fan my face, suddenly hot. Do my lungs always work this hard?
“Did I at least scare the shit out of Edric?” For Amilee, this is some form of payback for Edric’s rudeness. She isn’t one to lie down and let someone bulldoze over her. There’s no doubt she’d do anything to make him squirm.
“Yeah, you did.” I don’t know why I lie. There’s no reason to protect Edric, and yet, when he heard the humming, he seemed pleased. Why would he have been happy? And what makes someone completely unaffected by exploding windows and flickering lights?
Maybe I imagined it, but I don’t believe I did.
Chapter Nine
Edric
“Where have you been hiding?” I yell at Lennox even though I know I shouldn’t. Her pull on me is too strong to resist.
As she dodges traffic to make it across the street to me, I watch her long legs. I take a deep breath, once again mesmerized by how magnificent she is up close. All that dark brown hair and piercing blue stare is enough to drag a man from his grave. She could dagger me to the brick wall behind me with a single glance.
“Not hiding, just busy.”
“A rich girl like you has many important meetings, I’m sure.” I smirk, hoping to see a blush creep onto her cheeks.
“And where have you been? Didn’t see you at church on Sunday.” She nods down the street, urging me to follow her.
“Church, huh?” I run my hand through my hair and glance through my eyelashes.
Her eyes are cloudy, not focused on me or the sidewalk. She jumps out of the way of a street lamp. She’s been caught daydreaming. I knew she couldn’t resist me.
“Not a big believer, I take it?” She laughs.
“The devil is more persuasive in my opinion.”
“I wouldn’t say that too loud in this town, Edric. They’ve hung for less than that.”
“So, you’re worried about what happens to me, huh? I was starting to wonder when you’d admit it.”
“I don’t have time to worry about you.”
“Oh, that’s right, a very busy rich girl you are.”
She huffs, and I want to laugh, but I keep my facial expressions even. I love messing with her. She just isn’t allowed to know that much.
“If you need to know, I am busy.”
“Too busy to grab dinner with me tonight?” I’m playing with fire. The thing about fire is, while it burns others, it fuels me.
Lennox stops dead in her tracks. The dark-as-onyx chains around her neck, drape like layers on her chest. The darkness is a clear contrast against her ivory skin. On each chain is a different symbol, just as black as the chain it’s attached to.
A cross.
Angel wings.
A dagger.
With a stillness, I graze my finger across the cross. Lennox hisses a breath but doesn’t back away from my touch.
“Interesting piece of jewelry.” My fingers skim down each chain, painfully slow, purposefully.
“It’s a family heirloom,” she finally says as my finger stops between her breasts. “And the answer is no. I won’t have dinner with you tonight.”
“Sure, you will.” I head back to my truck. “See you at eight, Lennox. Wear something sexy.” My request forces a growl from her, and I chuckle under my breath.
She’ll be more than happy to go out with me, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
“I’m not having dinner with you tonight, Edric.”
I turn around, fully prepared to get what I want. “Like I said, Lennox, I’ll see you at eight.”
Leaving her with her mouth wide open, I slip into my SUV and head toward the outskirts of town.
There is so much about Belle Meade I know nothing about. The history flowing under these streets is thick. I’m positive my family didn’t move here for the vineyards. Everyone always whispers or ducks their heads close together whenever I enter a room. I’m hoping my cousin will help me figure out what the big secret is. I need to know why Lennox and I can’t be together.
When I pull up to the farmhouse, my cousin Garrison is in the side yard, chopping wood. My aunt uses him as a work horse
. The guy doesn’t have a single second to enjoy himself. He needs to slip between a pair of thin legs, is what he needs.
“Hey, man. Aunt Gail have you out here repenting with manual labor?” I joke.
Garrison flips his head up, wiping the sweat from his brow. “She’s a damn bitch. Since we’ve moved here, the only time I’ve had to relax was at that damn Mayor’s Ball. At least I got to rub up against the mayor’s daughter.”
He’s met Lennox, then.
I pace in front of him, a constant stream of threats coursing through my mind. Luckily, Garrison wasn’t born with my particular talents, or else he’d use the axe and get to me before I get to him.
“By the annoyance on your face, I’d say you’re going to try to lay claim to her, Edric.” He shakes his head. “You’ve been in town, for what, two, maybe three weeks, and you already managed to squeeze your way into the one girl you aren’t supposed to touch. You do know who she is, right?”
“That’s half the fun.”
“Your brother wasn’t lying. You are a little deviant fuck, aren’t you?”
I curtsy, mocking his disapproval.
“Aunt Gail inside?” I nod to the old farmhouse.
“Yeah, let’s go. I’m done with this shit.” He tosses the axe thirty feet in the air.
The first time he pulled this shit when we were kids, I moved, and he laughed at me. Now, I know his shot is spot on. With precision, the axe comes down, splitting a piece of wood and piercing the stump below it.
“Still showing off?” I push on his back as we enter the house.
“Afraid I’ll steal your girl right out from under you?” We roughhouse, banging into the kitchen island where Aunt Gail is cutting up tiny sandwiches.
“What girl?” Her tender voice grows impatient and angry.
“Edric is trying to fuck the mayor’s daughter.” He pops a cherry tomato into his mouth and goes to grab another, but his mom slaps his hand.
“No, I’m not.” Holding up my hands, I sit on the stool in front of her.
“Then what are you doing?” Garrison laughs, knowing he’s digging me a giant hole. I’ll dive right in, though.
“Playing with her.” I smirk, always the troublemaker.
Aunt Gail stills her knife and inspects me. A chill runs through me, and her head tilts from side to side, as she reads my mind. Before she can dig too deep, I concentrate hard enough to hide my true thoughts. She can’t know about the pull I have toward Lennox. Aunt Gail needs to think I want nothing but trouble from Lennox.
“He’s not lying. He’s a fox, and she’s the rabbit.” She continues her task, but peeks up through her eyelashes, knowing I’m capable of shielding myself from her power.
“What are you going to do with her once you have her trapped under your paw?” Garrison asks.
“Cut her throat. Watch her bleed. Is that what you want to hear?” What do these two expect me to say, after all? It’s been made plenty clear that Lennox and I aren’t a wise idea.
“What’s meant to be, will be.” Aunt Gail places the tray of food into the fridge, brushes her hands on her apron, and removes it, tossing it on the counter. “You boys be good. Try not to draw too much attention to yourself, shall we?”
Once Garrison and I are alone, I open the fridge and steal a sandwich.
“Don’t touch my food, Edric!” Aunt Gail yells from upstairs.
How the hell did she hear me?
“Her talents are a little heightened since we came here.” He glances around the house.
Much like ours, from the outside it appears destroyed and abandoned, but the inside is immaculate. It helps keep our image low key.
“What about yours? You growing extra-long tails here?” I smirk.
Garrison has never been on board with the fate he was born into. Much like most of us, we have no say in what and who we are. Enemies are set in stone, and we are meant to follow tradition. His is a little bit more complicated than that. His father is a shifter, making him a half-breed.
We were playing in the woods, and like the flip of a switch, my cousin was in front of me, and in the time it took me to blink, he morphed into a dog-like beast.
The legend has it that half-breeds, although rare, aren’t unwritten in history. The place in his heart that makes him a shifter is what stops him from causing true devastation.
Until that day, I had no idea I could be capable of something much more than anyone was willing to explain.
“How’s your anger? You better watch it around that pretty girl. She could raise an even-keeled man’s blood pressure,” Garrison bites back.
“Funny.” I roll my eyes, checking the stairwell to make sure no one is lurking close by. “I didn’t come here for the cheery conversation. Do you happen to know why we moved here?”
“If I did, don’t you think I’d tell you?” Garrison jumps onto the countertop. “No one’s saying anything. They went to one meeting, but it hasn’t been spoken about since.”
“I have a deep feeling something’s going to happen,” I say.
“It’s nineteen years, Edric. Of course, something’s going to happen. Mortal enemies don’t get that way by standing around and watching one rule over the other.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Angels of Belle Meade have changed reigns. Fresh meat.” Garrison licks his lips, excited at the thought of what’s bound to happen. “Every nineteen years, the new Angels are initiated.”
“That’s folklore.” Right? Even though my mom had straight out said the stories aren’t true, I don’t know what to believe.
Garrison’s eyebrow perks up, begging me to challenge his idea. “Is it?”
*****
I pull into Lennox’s driveway, noticing the lavish landscape and the row of luxury cars. Suddenly, my nerves flip into overdrive. I’m wealthy, and there’s no denying that, but Lennox has this regal air uncommon to most girls her age. She’s poised, with a jagged edge, and that alone is enough to make me want to dig deeper into her flesh.
A large bronze knocker sits in the middle of the tall front door. I grip it just as the door flies open. A stout woman greets me, her hands defiantly on her waist. Her angry scowl is meant to intimidate most, but it doesn’t work on me.
“Miss Callahan has made it awfully clear she has no intentions of going on a date with you,” the lady says. The white apron indicates she’s the help.
Luck may be on my side today. I cross the threshold and bend down to pierce the maid with my charm. Her eyes widen to mirror my own.
“You will go back into the kitchen and not make a sound when I go up the stairs. Lennox does want to go to dinner with me. You misheard her,” I command.
“Very well, Sir.” She tiptoes down the hallway.
Before anyone spots me, I pounce up the staircase two steps at a time. Once I’m at the top, an excitement I’m unfamiliar with courses through me. A game of cat and mouse is what I’m up for, and the girl hidden behind one of these doors is my perfect prey. As I get closer to her hiding spot, her scent grows stronger. Never one to ask permission, I knock once and enter the room I’m sure to find her in.
Her head dangles off the side of the king-size mattress, and headphones cover her ears.
Perfect.
I rest against the wall beside her light switch to watch her. Her long, tanned legs bounce with the beat of the song, and the pouty lips I’m dying to touch mouth the words. She’s so soft and gentle when no one is watching. A guard down is something I can work with.
Focused on her stomach, I skate my hand over her skin, lifting her shirt just enough to expose her belly button. This is a trick I’ve learned along the way, one my ancestors never intended to be used for this specific purpose.
At the smallest of tickles, she rubs the spot my fingers tease. My lips brush the nape of her neck, and a perfect, peachy pink blush creeps onto her cheeks. Is that a smile? Her body relaxes, and I push my mind a little bit further, straining to stay in contr
ol. I touch the peaks of her breasts, toying with her senses, and she squirms just as I’d hoped she would.
She stills and becomes far too alert for me to continue my game. With a lick of her lips, she bends her attention to the side and spots me.
“What are you doing in here?” She shoots up, the earbuds falling to the comforter. “And how long have you been watching me?”
“Nice upgrade from the telescope.” I wink, pushing off the wall.
“Didn’t Anita tell you I wasn’t going to dinner with you?” She jerks the sweater from the end of her bed, but before she can pull it over her head, I place my hand on her arm.
“I really wish you wouldn’t.” Her hard nipples peek through her white tank top. Unable to suppress my grin, I bite the corner of my bottom lip. “And don’t be mad at Anita. I can be awfully persuasive.”
“Why does that not surprise me? With a face like that, you could get the devil into heaven.” She ignores my request and covers her perfect body with the oversized sweater.
“So, you aren’t immune to my charm then, Lennox Callahan? And here I thought I’d have to work hard for your admiration.” I prop my knee close to her, to feel her warmth, to be closer to her.
“I’m not in the mood,” she groans, and I half-think maybe she isn’t, but the way she squirms, if I look at her just right, is all the confirmation I need.
I concentrate, imagining my palm on her thigh. Her head pops up. She’s surprised to see it perfectly folded with my other on my lap. I suppress the laugh at having full control. She squints, contemplating if she truly felt what her nerves told her she did, but her head denies.
“You aren’t going to leave until I agree to dinner, are you?” Lennox asks.
“It’s unlikely, but if you’re into a slumber party, you can keep denying me.” I wiggle my eyebrows and press my hands into the fluffy mattress. “Your bed seems awfully comfortable with you in it.”
Lennox stands, making a show of swinging her hips. This tit-for-tat thing we have going on is exactly what I need to entertain myself in this boring town.