He shakes his head then strides to the bed where he takes a seat to face me. “When I saw the sigil burning beneath your skin, I’d never been so scared in my life. If it had been reinforced even one more time, I would have lost you. Really lost you. There wouldn’t have been anything left of your soul to save, and you would have been bound to the person who did this to you forever. You would have become an emotionless, immoral, soulless puppet under their command. Ready and willing to do whatever they’d asked of you. If they’d asked you to kill me, you’d have done it without a second thought.”
His words shred through every ounce of perceived safety I ever thought I had. How am I supposed to protect myself? How am I supposed to keep something like this from happening again? How did something like this happen in the first place? Jack and Liv’s protection spell, this house, whatever protections Aunt Claudia and Uncle Caleb have in place, Sebastian, my own stubborn notions of becoming a badass. It was all supposed to keep me safe, but it was all pointless. Whoever did this was still able to get to me. And they tried to take my soul. My freaking soul.
If they’d asked you to kill me, you’d have done it without a second thought.
Horrific nightmares fill my head, each one worse than the one before it. All of them showcase me killing Sebastian in various cold and calculated ways until all I can see is blood everywhere. Splattered across my face, covering my clothes, pooling over the ground beneath his eviscerated body. Dripping from my hands as his lifeless eyes stare up at me.
He takes my hands in his and lowers them to my lap. The crimson staining my skin disappears at his touch, but the weight of where it had been stays. Lifting my chin, he wipes away the tears spilling over my lashes with such gentleness it only makes more fall. “Do you know who did this to you? Or who gave you the pendant?”
My hand goes to my chest, seeking the pendant out even though I know it’s not there. Even though I now know it was only ever meant to cause me harm and not protection. Why did she…? He...? I rack my brain trying to come up with a face, a name, anything, but it all fades into nothing.
“I-I don’t know,” I finally say. “It’s right there on the tip of my tongue, but I… I don’t know. I can’t remember where I got it, who gave it to me, or who did this to me. All I know is the pendant was supposed to protect me. To keep me safe and hidden from the supernatural world so long as I never showed it to anyone and never took it off.” I look up at him, my heartbeats pounding faster for every second my memory fails me.
The floor dips, the walls leaning inward, and I brace a hand on the nightstand to keep from falling to the floor. If I can’t remember anything how will I know who to defend myself against? Or if I even can defend myself. The room shifts again, everything spinning faster and faster. It sucks all the air from the room until there is nothing left to breathe. “Why can’t I remember?”
He takes my hand, flips it over, and begins rubbing circles over my palm. “Just breathe, Indi. In for seven, out for eleven, like I taught you. You’re okay. You’re safe. Just breathe.”
I force myself to forget everything else and focus only on the way his thumb moves in slow circles over my palm. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. I chant the mantra until the tightness in my chest gives, and the walls around me begin to slow and straighten back into place.
“It’s okay if you can’t remember right now,” he assures me. “Your cousins said there would most likely be some temporary memory loss. The spell used on you was designed to keep you complacent and in the dark so anytime you started to remember something, you’d forget it just as fast, and you’d tell yourself everything was okay. Now that the spell is broken, your cousins and I are hopeful your memories will come back. But until then—with the exception of hunting down whoever did this to you and making them pay—I’m not leaving your side. You’re stuck with me. Where you go, I go.”
I nod and bite my lip, trying in vain at to hold back the tears. I’m not the damsel in distress type, but I have to admit his promise to stay with me gives me peace. Pulling him close, I wrap my arms around him, and bury my face in the crook of his neck. “Thank you for saving me.”
His nose brushes against my hair, and he plants a kiss behind my ear. “It was more your cousins saving you than me. I couldn’t do anything but watch as they dismantled the spell on you.”
“No. You saved me, too. If you hadn’t known something was wrong and used our connection to break through the numbness, I’d likely be soulless right now. So thank you.”
“Well, I guess when you put it that way, you’re welcome, but you really don’t have to thank me, Indi. We’re in this together. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe. But in the future, maybe leave soul-sucking spells out of it.”
A weird half-laugh tumbles out of my mouth. “Believe me, I don’t plan on ever encountering a spell like that again. I’m really glad you were here.” I hug him tighter, and he responds in kind, his hands gliding over the smoothness of my lower back as his breath tiptoes down my shoulder. It’s only then my brain registers how shirtless I am.
My lungs seize within my chest as every nerve ending goes on high alert.
Oh God. I’m not wearing a shirt.
He’s been sitting here comforting me for who knows how long, and I’ve been half-naked the entire time.
The air temperature jumps at least a hundred degrees—or my internal body heat has, and I’m about to spontaneously combust. I don’t know.
His hand moves a fraction of an inch and the room—or me, still haven’t decided yet—shoots up several more degrees.
“Um, can you hand me my shirt on the floor? Please?”
“I don’t know.” His breath whispers over my skin, sending goose bumps racing across every inch of my being. “It depends on whether or not you let go. Your arms are still locked around my neck.” His lips graze softly along the side of my neck until his mouth meets my ear. “The butterflies on your bra are cute.”
Okay, spontaneous combustion it is then.
I shove him away and bury myself under the blankets so fast we’ll probably both end up with whiplash. Safely cocooned under a layer of fluffy cotton, I mentally yell at myself to get it together. He saw me in my bra. So what? It’s no different than if he’d seen me in a bikini.
Except we’re not at the beach… we’re in my room… just the two of us... where we had been heavily making out before some blood bond symbol showed up and slammed on the brakes.
“Everything good under there?” Sebastian teases.
“Yep. Everything’s peachy.” And I am totally not under here trying to convince myself being shirtless in my room in the middle of the night with you is completely cool and not freaking me out. Not at all.
He pulls the blanket down until it reaches my nose. I don’t know if foreheads can blush, but I feel like mine is blushing. A mischievous grin teases at his mouth, further igniting the scorching heat blazing through every. Single. Vein. Of. My. Body. I snatch the shirt dangling from his fingers and disappear back below the covers.
The weight of him lying down on the bed beside me has my heart racing even more, and it takes several minutes—or years, I don’t know—before I’m calm enough to show my face. I shouldn’t be so nervous considering the way we were making out earlier. But that was then when I was all swept up in hormones and shared emotions, and this is now when I am thinking more rationally.
On his side with his head propped in his hand, he stares down at me. “You’re adorable when you blush.”
Spontaneous combustion take two, here I come.
I start to pull the blanket back over my head.
Laughing, he yanks it from my hands and tucks me to his side. “You’re funny.”
After a few moments, my heart rate slows down, and we lay in comfortable silence, my head on his chest and my arm around his waist. I’m tempted to ask him to tell me everything that happened with my cousins after I passed out, but I’m not sure if I want to know. I think I�
��d rather just lay here with him where it feels safe and pretend evil witches didn’t try to take my soul.
“Promise to stay with me forever?” I mumble into his chest. A hefty thing to ask when we’re only seventeen, but the heart wants what it wants and mine seems to be irrevocably tied to his. Maybe Liv calling endgame isn’t so far-fetched, despite how young we are.
Hooking a finger under my chin, he angles my face up to look me in the eyes. “Always.”
Heat rushes back into my cheeks. “You heard that?”
“I heard that.” He kisses my forehead, and I settle back in.
“At the water tower the other night, you were so silent for so long after I told you about my family. I thought you hated me. I expected you to hate me. It’s why I left.”
“I could never hate you, Indi.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because somebody,” he tugs a strand of my hair, “didn’t stick around to let me. If you would have, I would have told you that you are not responsible for the things your ancestors did. Nor do you carry their sins. When I look at you, I don’t see darkness. I see light. You are light, Indiana Grace Bellamy. Pure light.” Something indecipherable crosses over his eyes, something he’s holding back and not telling me, but before I can even try to figure it out, his lashes lower and he kisses the top of my head for a second time. “You should go back to sleep. You need your rest after everything you’ve been through.”
I snuggle back in, letting my eyes drift shut. Sleep sounds wonderful, especially when it’s with me wrapped up in his arms. But try as I might, the questions piling up in my mind won’t take the hint.
“Do you think the Croí Dorcha had anything to do with what happened to me? Or do you think it could be someone else we don’t know about?” Either option is terrifying. One being a group of witches my ancestors founded and the other a complete unknown. Plus, is whoever did this the same witch who terrified me at school by exploding the vending machines and then putting them back together to make me think I’m crazy? Because if so, they escalated really fast. And here I thought having vampires try to manipulate and kill me every other day was bad.
I sit bolt upright. “Seth. I was going to go back to Gavin’s underground lair to look for him, but then...” Someone tried to hijack my soul. I twist around to face Sebastian. “We need to find him.”
“Underground lair. I like that. It’s fitting.” There’s a note of disdain in his voice, leaving me wondering once again what the deal is between Sebastian and Gavin. But now isn’t the time to ask questions. Not when Seth is still out there somewhere, housing one of my biggest secrets.
“I’ve got to get dressed.” I swing my legs off the bed, making it two steps before I’m tugged back onto the mattress.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m going to find Seth,” I say, like he’s deluded for even asking such a stupid question.
“Not right now, you’re not. The spell you were under and the removal of it was some pretty hefty stuff. You need to rest and let your body recover.”
“I feel fine.”
“Do you?” Now he’s talking to me like I’m the deluded one. “Show me?”
“Show you?”
“Yeah. Show me. Prove to me you’re fine. Cast a small spell. Whoosh yourself to the window.” He heaves himself off the bed and stands at the side. “Move me from this spot.”
“Okay, fine. I will.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, I roll my shoulders and focus on the candle on the nightstand. “Ignis,” I mumble under my breath. Nothing happens. Not even a tiny plume of smoke to coil off the wick. I try again, using only intent. Nothing.
Closing my eyes, I will myself to whoosh across the room. In my mind, I imagine the air hugging me close, the floor disappearing from beneath my feet, the weightlessness of my body as it moves from here to there. I crack one eye open and then the other. The non-flamed candle stares at me. I haven’t moved an inch.
Hauling myself up off the bed, I quietly stomp around to the other side. My chest rises and falls faster than it should, and I force my breaths to be slow and steady instead of fast and panting like they want to be. Sebastian crosses his arms over his chest, an all-knowing smile tugging at his lips. Placing my hands on his upper arms, I shove with all my might. He doesn’t budge even the slightest. I move to his side so I can push against him with my whole body. Nothing. Not even a sway. He could have at least given me a sway.
“Okay, fine, I’m weak. Are you happy now?” I cross my arms over my chest, ready to full on sulk.
“That depends. Are you going to come back to bed? Because cuddle time always makes me happy.”
“You’re such an ass.”
“An annoying one with a staring problem if I remember correctly.”
I pinch my lips between my teeth to keep from smiling.
He scoops me up so fast I barely have enough time to gasp before I’m placed back down on the bed. “The weakness won’t last forever, but for now you do need to rest. You’ll be good as new in a day or two. So long as you follow doctor’s orders.”
“Are you my doctor now?”
“Playing ‘Doctor’ is fun.” He waggles his eyebrows, then winks.
I roll my eyes, and he laughs. I know he’s just trying to placate me with humor to keep me from freaking out or doing something stupid like running off into who knows what when I’m not ready, but this is serious. This is my life, and if Seth tells them who I am… I don’t know how to fight that. How do I, a seventeen-year-old girl, face an entire organization whose sole mission is to rid the world of monsters when my blood—or whatever it is about me—could be the key they need to do it?
“Please, Indi.” The playful tone of his voice takes on a more pleading note. “Rest for me, and I swear we’ll tear the entire center apart to find him when you’ve recovered.”
“Fine. I’ll rest. But only for tonight. Tomorrow night we’re looking for Seth.”
He shakes his head and smiles. “You’re so stubborn.”
“I know. It’s one of my better traits.”
He climbs back into bed and pulls me against his side once again. “Close your eyes.” His fingers gently comb through my hair, sending goose bumps over my scalp and down the back of my neck. The sensation relaxes my muscles one by one, and it isn’t long before I’m lulled into sleep.
28
A duck sits on the middle of my desk. It tilts its head and lets out a never-ending series of quacks. I fling my arms out to shoo it away, but it just sits there, quacking louder than ever. Nobody else in the classroom seems to notice it. Not even Mr. Jackson, and he notices everything.
“Go away, Duck. I’m trying to learn.”
I move to another seat to get away from it, but as soon as I sit down, it’s back in the middle of the desk, the incessant quacks even louder.
“Can you shut that duck up?”
I turn my head to find Sebastian glaring at the duck with sleepy eyes.
“I’m trying. It won’t leave me alone.”
The door to the classroom swings open and Liv storms across the room like she owns the place. “If I have to hear that duck for one more minute.” She knocks it from my desk where it does indeed go silent. “Wake up.”
“What?”
She smacks me across the face, then shakes my shoulders a little too violently. My teeth slam together, and I shove her away.
“For the love of Mountain Dew, Indi. Wake up!”
I sit straight up and whack my forehead against something hard.
“Ow. That hurt.” Liv flops down on the edge of my bed, rubbing her palm over her forehead.
“What’s going on? Where did the duck go?”
“If by ‘the duck’ you mean your annoying alarm, I turned it off. It’s been blaring for the last fifteen minutes.”
“My alarm?” I look around, taking everything in. I’m in my room. Not Mr. Jackson’s class.
She sticks her face close to mine, her gaze
locked onto my eyes as though she’s looking for something deep inside my irises. “Are you feeling okay? Do you know where you are? Do you know who I am?”
“I’m fine. I’m at home. And duh, Liv, I know who you are.”
She leans back and relaxes her shoulders. “Just making sure. Yesterday was pretty crazy. Jack and I have never done a removal spell like that before. Someone really did a number on you. I’m talking mondo dark magic. Do you think it was the dark witches you’d mentioned before? Because Jack does, and he’s seriously freaked out, Indi. He wants to go to Mom and Dad, like right now. I told him it would be pointless because we don’t even know who they are, but—” She stares at me intently. “You don’t know who they are, do you?”
Every single muscle in my body stiffens under her stare. Even my heart refuses to beat because I do know—or at least I have a strong suspicion based on what makes the most sense. The Croí Dorcha—a.k.a, The Dark Heart Coven. When I told Jack and Liv dark witches were interested in me after my life had derailed into the supernatural, I didn’t mention a specific coven. I was too concerned at the time worrying over whether or not I was turning into a vampire to think it mattered. The supernatural world was new to me, and dark witches were dark witches, but now that I know how this particular group relates to our family, there’s no way I can tell them. They would push and shove each other out the door to be the first one to tell Uncle Caleb and Aunt Claudia. And if that happens, I can kiss everything I’ve found out about myself goodbye.
Letting the breath held in my lungs out slowly, I send up a silent prayer I can keep a straight give away nothing face. “I don’t know who they are.” It’s not a total lie… technically. While I do suspect the Dark Heart coven, I don’t know who any specific members are. Or if it’s even truly them. There is always that small chance it could be someone else.
Of Darkness & Light: Blood Descent Book 2 Page 28