He looked down at me, a ghost of a smirk crossed his lips, and I waited for the fire and brimstone. “I’m sorry. I owe you an apology.” There was no trace of mockery on his face.
“What?” I stammered.
“You’re right. You’ve been through more than the rest of your peers. You’re not naïve, and you’re not a little girl. You did take care of your sisters all those years, and you did save your sister—killing a number of demons in the process, not only dangerous but a nearly impossible feat.” He looked at Headmaster Daizlei before continuing. “I owe you an apology because you’re not a child, and though your actions were impulsive—and quite frankly, stupid—you still did what no one else could’ve done.”
I stared at him, not able to make sense of the words coming out of his mouth. This arrogant asshole actually knew when someone had bested him. Who would’ve thought?
“This doesn’t change anything.”
“No, it doesn’t,” he agreed. “But I respect you, Selena, despite your flaws and insufferable attitude.”
There was a knock at the door that had to be my sisters. I went and sat back on the metal hospital bed I was growing to hate.
“Ms. Foster, I know there’ve been problems in the past, and that you don’t agree with everything that goes on here, but you’ve become part of this school. I don’t know if this counts for anything, but we’re proud to have you. You’ve exhibited courage I haven’t seen in a very long time, and I’ve been around a while.” He paused when there was another knock at the door.
“Come in,” I called.
The latch opened, and Alexandra peeked around the door.
“We were just finishing up,” I told her.
The door opened the rest of the way, and she and Lily walked in. Vonlowsky left silently with the headmaster following him once again. He paused at the door.
“Have a good summer, ladies. I look forward to seeing all of you next year.”
He was right. We would be back next year, because oddly enough, Daizlei Academy had become home.
Chapter 55
“I’m sorry, Selena. This is my fault.” Lily ran her fingers over my scars.
I shrugged. “You didn’t take the knife to me. Besides, they’ve kind of grown on me.” I attempted the half-smile that Lucas always made look so easy. When Lily cracked a smile at me, I knew I’d failed. Alexandra laughed tightly; it was too strained. As much as I wanted to ease Lily’s burden, it was hers to bear.
“I know you’re trying to make me feel better.”
“Is it working?” I smiled.
She tried to laugh, but there was sadness in it. “I need to tell you something,” she said.
“I’m listening.”
“Do you remember back when I asked you to teach me how to fight?”
I nodded.
“When you two refused to teach me, I was mad. So mad that I went to Elizabeth, and she agreed. All the bruises and times I was missing were because she was teaching me how to fight. She always said, ‘be aggressive,’ and, ‘pain is for wimps.’ I thought about backing out and quitting a couple times, but she always talked me back into it.” Tears slowly streamed down her face. The guilt was consuming her. Someone had to pay.
“Somewhere along the way, I changed. My powers changed. I was always so angry and exhausted. One day when I was fighting her, it happened. I learned that I could take energy just like I could give it. After that, I started to get power hungry.” The killing gene . . . I was going to need to address that with her very soon. The sooner she knew, the sooner she would realize there was hope—in self-control.
“When we were in California, she told me to go with her. I didn’t really question it because it was Elizabeth, and we’d been fighting for months and never got caught. I didn’t think anything bad would happen, and then . . . and then it did. She told me she just had to take care of something, and that she needed my help. Then the demons came, and I panicked. I called you when they threw us in the room, but they caught me and smashed my phone. I’m so sorry . . . ” She broke down into sobs, and I held her.
“It’s okay now. It’s all over, Lily,” I whispered.
One thing had become very clear: Elizabeth had betrayed my trust, and that was not okay.
Chapter 56
I knocked lightly on her door.
“It’s open,” her sharp voice said.
I clicked the latch and walked in, closing the door behind me. In an all-too-familiar metal bed was my blond-haired, gray-eyed cousin, Blair. When I’d lost it on the demons in the warehouse, they hadn’t been the only ones affected. Blair had been thrown through a double-paned window and landed on the glass. Now her body was covered in scars, and although they hadn’t been inflicted the same way as mine, she too wore hers with pride. We had survived.
“How are you feeling?”
“Could be worse,” she said. She eyed my bare arms, but I didn’t flinch or move to cover myself.
“When are they going to release you?” I walked around her bed to sit in the vacant chair.
“Three days. Love says my ribs should be healed enough to walk by then.” She groaned, and the words “I’m sorry” came to my lips. It was my fault, after all, but it was also my doing that we were alive, and for that alone I think she forgave me.
“I have to ask you about someone,” I said seriously, ditching the idle chitchat.
“Elizabeth.”
“Yes, I need to know exactly how you ended up in that warehouse.” I didn’t say it, but in the last week, these two sisters had switched in mind. For once, I actually admired Blair; the girl not only had strength, but spirit. The spirit of a survivor. Elizabeth, however, had made my shit list.
“If I tell you, I want you to do me a favor because I can’t do it myself right now.” There was anger in her voice—a deadly anger that held promise.
“Agreed.” I didn’t bother to ask. I had to know, and whatever her condition, it was worth it.
“A while back, my dearly beloved sister went on a trip to the black market in Vegas. Where she happened to run into some very wicked people.”
“Demons.” Realization dawned on me—the book from all those months ago; the first sign of her betrayal.
A shadow of rage moved behind her eyes, but the physical pain she was in kept it at bay. While her wounds might not have been quite as severe as my own, I was much stronger. I healed faster, and I had Lily. No one had healed Blair because they’d had me to deal with. Now I could walk, and probably even run, but she was confined to this metal prison. I understood the frustration.
“She stumbled onto a conversation, and even though she didn’t understand what she’d overheard, they said all knowledge has a price. Her price was her life. So she made a deal with them to save her own ass. Three souls for hers. Instead of doing the right thing and telling someone, she decided to handle it by herself. She claimed it was because they said they’d kill her if she went to anyone. The catch is that you can only trade blood relatives.”
“Lily . . .” I murmured.
“Oh, I’m not even at the good part yet. She’d already agreed to train your sister to fight, but she needed two others.” She paused as if considering how to say the next thing.
“Wait . . . if Lily was the first—”
“During your final match before the championships, she started the fight between Lily and April. Then she told Tori about it, because she knew you would come if there was any chance Lily was in trouble, and you would forfeit. Meaning you wouldn’t go to the championships and you’d be in California with the rest of us.”
Oh my god.
“How did she know you would go?” I whispered.
“I’m her sister, for god’s sake, Selena. Do you really think I’m so apathetic that when my sister told me she needed me that I wouldn’t go? She’s my sister . . . and she’s a coward. She told us she needed our help and to go with her. She tried to get Alexandra to go, but your sister was smarter than the rest of us. The sec
ond we were inside the warehouse, they grabbed us and threw us into the room. All of us. She knew she needed one more person, so she told Lily to call you, that you were the only one who could help.”
I had trusted her, and she’d not only betrayed my trust but also tried to kill me.
“She took us there to die.” Her voice was stone-cold.
“Who told you this?” I asked, getting up.
“The infamous Elizabeth herself.” She smiled a bitter smile.
“Why would she tell you all this?”
It couldn’t be true . . . she wasn’t that stupid.
“Because when she found out you were alive, she knew you would start asking questions and eventually come for her. She came to me for advice because she thought I would forgive her, and protect her.”
I stared, openmouthed, but only for a moment.
I was pissed.
I was at the door, ready to leave. “Selena,” she said, stopping me.
“What?”
“My favor . . .” she murmured. “I didn’t forgive her, and I never will. I want revenge, and I know you can take it for me even when I can’t.” She spoke so softly, and her words sealed Elizabeth’s death warrant.
I turned to her. “Consider it done. You didn’t even have to ask.”
Blair and I understood each other. We’d never been friends, but she was my equal. One of the few.
When I got to elevator, I mashed the button over and over. I couldn’t get up to the ground level fast enough. As the doors opened, I slipped out silently and walked down the hall to the double doors that led outside.
Above me, the giant glass clock chimed, and I headed for the cafeteria. Dinner was over, and Elizabeth was there.
People stared openly as I passed. I still technically hadn’t been released by Ms. Love, and this was the first time anyone had seen me in while. I was faintly aware that my scars tingled in the fresh air, but all thoughts disappeared as Elizabeth came strolling out of the cafeteria. I stopped and let her keep walking for a few feet. She was playing on her phone and didn’t notice me. Until she ran smack into me.
“Excuse you—” She glanced up. Her eyes widened, and I heard that coward heart skip a beat as it drummed in her chest. I grabbed her cell and tossed it over my shoulder. She took a step back, but I advanced on her.
“You stupid, lying bitch!” I swung at her face, and red clouded my vision. She didn’t have time to react. “You didn’t actually think you’d get away with it, did you?”
“I’m sorry!” she screamed. Blood, snot, and tears ran down her face.
“Liar,” I shouted. Using my mind, I threw her back thirty feet and straight through the glass doors of the cafeteria. It was only fitting she had scars to match ours—her victims.
I mentally dragged her back across the concrete to me. Bloody scrapes and gashes covered her body, and she was trembling.
I picked her up by her hair. “This is for lying to me.” I punched her.
She dropped to the ground, unconscious, but I picked her up again—this time by her neck.
“This is for Blair.” I hit her again.
I threw her down with a thud and kicked her mercilessly. A crowd had gathered around me, and people were trying to pull me off her. No one was strong enough.
“And this, this is for what you did to Lily!” I dropped on top of her. I punched her again, and again, and again. My anger refused to fade.
“Selena!” Alexandra yelled in the distance.
Someone else was trying to pull me off her—and they were succeeding.
That can’t be right . . .
“Selena, stop this,” Lucas murmured in my ear.
I ignored him.
“Selena, you’re killing her.” His voice was urgent, and he placed his hands over mine, pulling me back.
“Get her out of here,” Alexandra instructed from somewhere, but my head was spinning with rage.
I fought and struggled with him as he dragged me into a building and then a room. I wanted to kill her, and the rage within was urging me on. It told me it wouldn’t be satisfied until she was dead. I was more than willing to comply, except that Lucas had me pinned to a wall inside a dorm room I’d never seen before.
Chapter 57
“Selena, stop it.”
“No.” I grunted, trying to shove him off me and get to the door.
“Selena.” He shook me, hard enough to rattle my teeth.
“Stop. Why do you even care? Stay out of it.” I lashed out, struggling with him.
“This isn’t you. Snap out of it.” He shook me harder.
“Stop!” I pushed him across the room, both with my body and mind.
He hit the wall and fell to the ground.
I blinked, and my heart sank. “No . . . ” I whispered and ran to him, only to stop a foot away. I reached for him, but stopped myself. I’d done enough.
He groaned and started to get to his feet.
I backed away. I’d done it again, the exact thing I’d worried I would do. My temper and my ability were a deadly combination.
“Are you okay now?” I could hear the concern in his voice.
I only shook my head; I was still fuming. Power bubbled just beneath my surface, wanting to go off like an atomic bomb.
He walked toward me.
“Don’t,” I said, holding my hands up.
“I’m not afraid of you, Selena.”
“Well, you should be. You all should be! Lucas, I just threw you into the wall with my mind. I’m not safe yet. Stay back.” I was somewhere between arguing and pleading. I turned away from him to the wall and slammed my fist against it. A sound like thunder shot through the room, and a crack appeared in the wall. My throat closed as I tried to keep my panic under control.
My strength . . .
“You need to leave,” I said between ragged breaths. I wasn’t sure of myself, even with him . . . I had to get things under control.
“I’m not leaving you.”
He put his hands on my shoulders. He tried to soothe me. But he was too close.
“You need to relax,” he said calmly.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“Let me show you . . . ” Something had changed in his eyes, as if he’d made up his mind about something.
He brushed his lips over mine, unsure. A spark inside me caught, and the burning spread. I reached for him, running my fingers through his raven hair as I reeled him in. Nothing could have prepared me for the feel of his mouth, hot and ready against my own. There was no hesitation, and all the pressure I’d felt just . . . vanished. He slipped his tongue between my lips, tasting me, testing the boundary. If I thought I’d crossed the line in the past, I’d obliterated it completely this time. I let my tongue meet his, stroke for stroke, as he slid a hand into my hair, gently knotting his fingers through, tilting my head back.
He wanted more.
I let him take it.
I hit the wall roughly, and a groan escaped my lips. His scent. His touch. I couldn’t get enough. I inhaled him greedily. God, did he smell good. He broke free, only to run his lips up my jaw. I tilted back, giving him better access. His kisses weren’t sweet, and I gasped when he nipped my ear. A shudder ran through me as I surrendered to him.
“Selena.” He murmured my name like a prayer. A question.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
He groaned, pressing me into him. He moved his hands to my hips and brushed his fingers against the skin just beneath my shirt. My back arched, and his hands slipped lower, lifting me as he pinned me to the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and my blood heated when I felt him pressed against me.
Oh god, yes.
“Say it, Selena. Say you want me.” His voice was rough. His breath made me shiver. He wanted this.
My eyes opened.
But it wasn’t his eyes I saw first.
My gaze drifted over the room, which was destroyed. That pressure hadn’t disappeared; it had exploded. I just hadn’t realized it.
Everything had been thrown away from me—the door wasn’t even on its hinges.
I cringed. The heat left me as realization set in.
I’d never consciously made the decision to be with him. I didn’t know if I wanted this, but I didn’t know if I didn’t want it either.
“Selena,” he murmured. He sensed it; the change in me. His voice was almost a growl as it brought my attention back to him. To us.
This had to stop.
I pulled away, pushing him back.
My feet hit the ground with a thud, and he stumbled.
Lucas was gorgeous. Six-foot-two with a tan and smoldering green eyes. There was no denying it. He was smart. Athletic. Kind. Understanding. He knew me. Lucas knew everything about me, and he was perfect.
But I couldn’t. Too much could happen when I lost control, and I now knew just how easy that would be with him. No, Lucas and I could never be anything.
It was too dangerous.
Relationships were messy. They required commitments. People were expected to act a certain way. Being more than friends would just mess everything up, and I did not want that. It was perfect like this; as friends. Nothing more, because then I’d lose him forever.
“We can’t do this.”
“Yes, we can. Listen to me, Selena.” There was a hint of desperation to his voice.
No. I shook my head.
“You think this is going to get any easier? You think people are going to forget about you? Nothing is going to be the same again. I can be there for you. I can be your rock. Stop backing away from me.” He reached out, but I was already too far gone.
“You have to stop this, Lucas. You have to forget it ever happened.” I was guarded, already closed off from the possibility of anything with him.
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