Incarnate: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Saga Book 5)

by Bianca Scardoni

  Caleb quirked his eyebrow. “Like that, Ms. Tequila Sunrise.”

  Bending down, I grabbed my phone off the floor and examined it for any damage. “I don’t have my car anyway,” I informed as I straightened out and faced the mirror again. “Stupid thing wouldn’t start. I’ll just call a taxi,” I added, since I was obviously in no state to drive my car even if I did have it.

  “That’s not happening.”

  My back straightened at the sound of Trace’s husky voice. I turned to find him leaning back against the wall in the hallway, staring at me from behind Caleb as though I belonged to him. As though I were his for the taking.

  “I don’t remember asking for your opinion,” I pointed out as Caleb stepped away from the doorway and moved to the sink, clearing the way for Trace and me to get a perfect view of each other. A view we didn’t need. I was already having a hard enough time catching my breath just knowing he was in the vicinity.

  Also, hadn’t he promised to leave me alone?

  “You’re drunk. You’re not going home with some random stranger,” he said firmly and then pushed off the wall. “I’ll drive you.”

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” I scoffed at him and then narrowed my eyes. “I bet you’d love that.”

  “Love what?” he asked as he crossed the hallway, his jaw muscle ticking as his gaze ran down the length of my body. “The chance for you to yack in my car?”

  I glared back at him. “I’ll have you know, I already yacked in the toilet, thank you very much.” I wasn’t sure what point I thought I was making, but I definitely felt smug about it.

  Caleb ducked his chin to hide his amusement.

  Trace’s eyes never wavered from mine. “Stop being difficult, Jemma. You’ve obviously had too much to drink,” he said and then stepped into the bathroom. “Just let me take you home.”

  Despite his soft voice, I took a step back. “I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself.”

  His eyes flashed with irritation as he realized I was backing away from him again. “I never said you couldn’t,” he pointed out and continued his advance on me, slowly boxing me into the bathroom.

  “Then it’s settled,” I said, shuffling back another step. “I’ll worry about myself and you can do the same. With yourself, I mean. Separately.” What?

  “It’s not settled,” he said and erased the remaining gap between us. His jaw tightened as he looked down at me, his eyes entrapping me in their swirling pools of blue like a fish caught in a net with no hope of escaping. “Not even almost.”

  I wasn’t even sure if we still talking about my ride home. It was difficult to concentrate with him standing so close to me—watching me with those damn ocean eyes of his, drowning me in that delicious scent of his. And don’t even getting me started on the good vibrations sailing all over my body.

  It was torture and I couldn’t stand another minute of it.

  “Get out of my way,” I said softly, unable to retreat any further without hitting the automatic hand dryer behind my head.

  The small space between us felt charged, heavy with unspoken words and buried destinies. I could practically see the electricity crackling in the air between us as though our humming souls had reached out and touched each other without our bodies’ permission.

  He rose his chin defiantly. “No.”

  He didn’t just say that. My eyes thinned into little slits of fury. “Move or I’ll move you myself,” I warned.

  His lip twitched into the tiniest of smirks. “You’d have to touch me to do that,” he said and then tipped forward, bringing his lips way too close to my ear. “You think you could handle that?”

  My breath hitched just as Caleb stepped forward and separated us.

  “Hey, how about I drive you home?” he offered, trying to rein my attention in, but I was locked in some kind of trance-like staring contest with Trace again. “Just let me grab my keys, okay?”

  “You’re not leaving your own birthday supper, Cale. Thank you for the offer, but I’ve already monopolized enough of your time tonight,” I said, my eyes still fixed on Trace, refusing to back down. “Like I said, I’ll be fine in a taxi.”

  “It’s Caleb or me,” said Trace, as though he were my self-appointed guardian. As though he’d been gifted with the last word on all matters involving me. “Take your pick.” His eyes dropped to my mouth and my body all but combusted.

  The tension had just gone from thick to dangerous. Must. Defuse. Now.

  I looked him over and glowered. It was obvious he wasn’t going to back down from this any time soon. We were in a standstill of epic proportions and I was going to have to concede something if I had any hope of getting out of there with my wits still about me. The longer we stayed this close, the worst the pull was becoming.

  “Fine,” I said, giving in for the sake of neutralizing whatever the hell was going on between us. Still, I wasn’t going to let him feel the victory. “Get your keys, Caleb.”

  20. A DATE WITH THE SHE-DEVIL

  After a fifteen-minute drive back to the Manor, I thanked Caleb for the lift and hopped out of his Camaro. Even though I’d managed to convince him that I could make it to the door by myself, he still waited in the driveway until I had reached the front door and waved him off.

  Who knew Caleb could be so chivalrous?

  Throwing the front door open, I stepped inside and immediately narrowed my eyes at the red umbrella leaning against the coat stand. That was definitely not there when I left this morning.

  I slammed the front door shut and then staggered back against it, still coming down from my tequila escapades at All Saints. Since I was already slumped back against the door, I used it to steady myself as I kicked off my shoes and then called out Dominic’s name.

  “You better have a damn good excuse for not answering my texts,” I warned as I waddled through the foyer.

  “We’re in here, love,” he called from the den.

  We? He better be talking about Gabriel, I grumbled to myself as I rounded the corner and then peered into the room. He was definitely not talking about Gabriel.

  “My phone died,” he said, leaning against the bar and holding up his phone as if to offer proof.

  I ignored him as my eyes immediately zeroed in on the busty blonde bombshell making herself comfortable on his red sofa. “Who the hell are you?” I barked.

  “Well, hello to you, too.” Her candy-red pouty lips spread into a toothy grin, revealing a perfect set of white teeth as her gaze fluttered over to Dominic like she was amused by the scene I was making.

  “Forgive me, angel. This is Pricilla Beaumont.”

  My stomach dropped to the floor. Scratch that. It dropped all the way to the damn basement. Pricilla. His Sire. The one he had a “deep and complex bond” with.

  I was so not drunk enough to handle this right now.

  “And this must be the infamous Jemma Blackburn.” Her silky long hair was parted to the side and highlighting her doll-like blue eyes that were pinning me with their full attention. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

  “Yeah?” I shifted on my wobbly feet. “Wish I could say the same. Dominic’s barely mentioned you.”

  Her smile widened. “Feisty and beautiful. She reminds me of myself,” she said, this time her comment was directed at Dominic, as if to imply he hand-picked a duplicate of her for himself.

  I scoffed and then rolled my eyes all the way back into my head. Dominic made a face at me to which I responded with an ice-cold glare before turning back to Pricilla.

  “So, to what do we owe this pleasure?” I asked, deciding not to bother beating around the bush. I wanted to know what the heck she was doing here and how quickly she was planning on leaving.

  “I had some business in town. Figured it was as good a time as any to pay my old friend a visit.” She eyed Dominic pointedly and with far too much interest for my liking.

  “Old friend, huh?” I couldn’t hide the skepticism from my voice even if I had tried, which I
didn’t.

  She laughed, the sound of it airy and musical and completely annoying. “A very good friend,” she adjusted, smiling coyly as she bounced a look at Dominic who continued staring at her like a mute who couldn’t bring himself to look away. Arsehole. “I do enjoy mixing business with pleasure.”

  “Oh, I bet you do.” My eyes were two slithers of contempt. “So, you just randomly decided to pop on over to Hollow Hills to visit your old friend? After how many years?” Honestly, I wasn’t buying it for a second. These underworld types always had an ulterior motive and she was undoubtably no different.

  She spread her arm along the back of the sofa. “Well, no. Not exactly. When I heard he was frolicking in my neck of the woods, I thought it might be a good time for the two of us to catch up, what with everything going on right now.” Her gaze bounced to Dominic again as though they were sharing a private secret. “Frankly, my curiosity got the better of me.”

  “Your curiosity about what?” I asked, not following her line of thought. Stupid Revs and their riddled answers.

  “About what my Domi could have possibly needed from a Necromancer.” She pinned him with a stare as though she were still waiting for his answer.

  My brain all but short circuited. “Your Domi?” I meant to laugh at her, but a strange growl-like noise came out instead. I wasn’t sure what disturbed me more; her nickname for him or the fact that she called him hers.

  “Yes, that’s right.” Her eyes hardened and I swore, If I listened close enough, I could hear the sound of her claws coming out. “With all due respect, Slayer, he was mine long before you ever met him.”

  I crossed my arms. “Was being the operative word.”

  She stared at me for a moment and while she had a smile on her face, there was something icy brewing behind her eyes. It looked a lot like her true colors trying to shine through, though she quickly buried it before I could make them out. “Point taken. In any event, I’m not here to fight with you,” she said as she stood up from the sofa and ran her palms along her skin-tight black leather pants. “I’m actually here to help you, believe it or not.”

  Okay, now I was laughing. “I don’t need your help with anything, believe it or not.”

  “Angel,” said Dominic, apparently snapping out of his silent stupor to back her up. “I think you should hear her out.”

  I glared back at him. “Thanks, Domi, but I’ll pass.” Whatever she had to say, I wasn’t interested in hearing it, nor would I trust a word of it anyway. She wasn’t even almost the first person to come around here claiming ‘innocent’ intentions. I’d already learned that lesson the hard way and I wouldn’t fall for it again.

  “Don’t be foolish,” scolded Priscilla, as though I were being a simpleton. Well, that or a petty girlfriend. “With what’s coming, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”

  “Yeah?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “And what would you know about that?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve heard some things,” she answered offhandedly as she strutted over to the bar where Dominic was planted and then poured herself a drink.

  “Such as?” I took a brazen step into the den, my focus shifting from how close she was standing to Dominic to whatever intel she may have been able to give me. By all means, make your vampy ass at home.

  “I’m sure you’ve already heard the underworld is in an uproar,” she said and then turned to face me with her drink in hand as she pressed her back against the bar. “Demons in particular have been flying off the walls lately.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard,” I answered, my tone bored and flat as I shifted my weight onto my other leg.

  “Then you know what’s behind it,” she said, but it wasn’t a question. Not really. It was a test. She was trying to figure out how much information I knew. I could tell because I was playing the same exact game with her.

  “Are you saying you do?” I asked instead, turning it back to her while refusing to confirm or deny anything.

  She arched her brow at me like a jab. “Isn’t it obvious? It’s the end of the world as we know it,” she sang, as though she were filled with delight by the very idea of the world going up in smoke. Fucking Revs.

  I threw an insulting eyebrow right back at her. “And you’re basing this on what? The demons acting up?” I needed something far more concrete than a bunch of stupid demons acting badly to get my feathers ruffled. If she had any real information about what was going on, she certainly wasn’t convincing me of it.

  “There’s only one thing that throws the demon world into chaos,” she answered haughtily, her eyes sliding to Dominic before boomeranging back to me. “And by chaos, I mean, thriving in preparation for the utter destruction of the world as we know it.”

  “Let me guess,” I said, my gaze sweeping over her in disdain. “Another apocalypse?”

  “Ding, ding, ding.” She raised her glass to me and then took a small sip.

  Ugh. Here we go again.

  “I’ve already been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt. I’m not worried in the least,’” I informed, keeping my game face as tight as my chest felt. Frankly, I was still holding onto the hope that everyone was just overacting or getting their apocalypse dates crossed. I mean, it wasn’t impossible. Demons were hardly the brightest bulbs of the bunch.

  “Well, you should be worried,” she sneered and then took another delicate sip from her drink. “Lucifer isn’t running this one, Slayer. He was just the beginning. A warmup if you will.” Her blue eyes darkened into storm clouds when she added, “This is the be all and end all of apocalypses.”

  Oh, goody.

  I tried not to let my pounding heart distract me even though it was starting to feel as though it were sounding off in my ears. Okay, so it was getting slightly harder to deny that something bad was indeed coming. I’d heard as much from the Council and now here was Pricilla confirming most of their suspicions. And yet, there was still a small part of me that was refusing to fully accept the warning. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something wasn’t adding up.

  I needed more information. “So, if Lucifer’s not running this show, who is?” I asked plainly, pushing for more details; gauging how much she actually knew.

  “Oh, come on, Slayer. Don’t play coy with me,” she said as she ran her finger along the rim of her glass. “We both know you know exactly who’s behind this. Starts with The Four, ends in The Apocalypse.”

  Dominic’s eyebrows shot into the air while I just continued to stare Pricilla down, trying to figure out what her angle was here. Exactly how much did she know? And more importantly, why was she sharing it with me?

  “Oh, for the love of blood. Don’t look at me like that,” she quickly defended upon catching my stare. “I’m not the one that brought them here. This is your own doing.”

  Woah. Hold the damn pickles. “My doing?” I jerked back at her accusation. “How exactly is any of this my fault?”

  “Where is it that you think they’re heading?” she asked rhetorically. “This is where it all started. Where Lucifer was unleashed. Where he ran rampant for weeks and killed how many innocent people?”

  I didn’t answer. I couldn’t bring myself to tally the numbers.

  “Hollow Hills is ground zero, and you’re their number one mark,” she said, her words sending a sheet of ice down my back. “Well, to be fair, they’re gunning for all Descendants, but not before they take care of the Daughter of Hades first. The one who opened the Gates of Hell in the first place.”

  I could feel the pulse in my neck throbbing as blood rushed away from my face.

  “With all due respect, Sire, she’s also the reason Lucifer’s back in Hell,” defended Dominic, which was nice being that I could barely move my lips enough to speak at the moment.

  “Tell that to the henchmen out for blood,” she answered flippantly. “As far as they’re concerned, Anakim have done far more bad than good around here, and let’s be honest. They’re not wrong.”

  I
shook my head, unwilling to accept a word of what she was saying. They were wrong. She was wrong. “I don’t believe you. You’re lying,” I said, the words scraping out of my esophagus like shards of glass. She had to be.

  Spotting a break in my barracks, her vicious smile pushed up into her cheeks. “Why else do you think the demons are frothing at the mouth right now? They’re relishing every moment in anticipation, preparing themselves, readying themselves for The Culling, because like it or not, the Horsemen are coming, Slayer, and the slaughter will begin with you.”

  My brain froze on the word slaughter as my throat all but sealed itself shut. I could feel the wispy fingers of panic flickering over my skin, gearing themselves for a full-blown panic attack.

  “Judging by that look on your face, this is all news to you, isn’t it?” remarked Pricilla with a soft giggle that rattled my bones. “I do hate to be the bearer of bad news.”

  I clenched my teeth, refusing to have a damn panic attack in front of her—to show her even a drop of weakness. Stealing my nerves, I swallowed past the tightness in my throat and met her eyes. I couldn’t deny that what she’d told me fit in with what the Council knew thus far, but I wasn’t yet sure I could believe her. “How can I trust you’re telling me the truth?” I asked, my fingers clenched at my sides.

  She blinked at me and then said, “I have no reason to lie to you—”

  “You have plenty of reasons to lie!” I snapped back, refusing to forget what she was despite her pretty face and smooth golden locks. “You’re a Revenant. You’re not even playing for the same team as me!”

  She fixed her blue eyes on me. “Firstly, I’m not on anyone’s team but my own. Secondly, have you seen the news lately? If I had to pick a team, it wouldn’t be the team that’s slowly wiping out my food supply.”

  My lips coiled into a snarl. “How very noble of you,” I said without bothering to hide my repulsion.

  “Yes, well, we all have our days.” Pricilla took another sip of her drink and let me marinate on everything she’d revealed for a grand total of ten seconds before asking me, “So, tell me, Slayer. How do you plan on stopping them?”