“I’ll take it.”
I had a text from Caleb first thing Monday morning, asking me to meet him in the art room before class. I stopped at my locker to drop of my schoolbag and lunch, and then hurried down the east hall to the Art room.
Cracking the door open, I peered inside to make sure the coast was clear. Caleb was already there, sitting on one of the tables, waiting for me.
“Fancy seeing you here,” he said as I closed the door behind myself and joined him where he sat.
“Did you get it?”
He opened his schoolbag and pulled out a black suede satchel. “Did you doubt me?”
“First and last time. You’re amazing!” I took the bag from him and untied the string, eager to catch my first real-life glimpse at this so-called Dragon’s blood.
“I keep trying to tell you that, but somehow you’re still immune to my charm.”
I laughed as I inspected the strange vial of blood, noting the thick, ink-red color before shoving it into my purse. The last thing I wanted was someone walking into the class and catching me with that in my hands. I had enough rumors going around about me—I didn’t want to add blood-drinking-witchy-freak to the mix.
“And your talisman, my lady.” He handed me a silver ring with a strange, circular symbol I’d never seen before engraved at the center. “Just toss it into a fire when you’re done with it.”
I slipped it onto my index finger and gave my hand a quick once over. “I owe you for this, Caleb. Seriously. You’re a lifesaver.” I reached over and wrapped my arms around his neck in a hug.
The door crashed open, startling me off of Caleb. I whipped around towards the commotion and found Trace standing at the threshold, his arms crossed over his husky chest and an angry glare in his eyes. He took one quick look at us and then stormed out the room, throwing the door back so hard that it knocked the stopper clear off the wall.
“Trace!” I grabbed my bag and started after him, nearly running head-first into Nikki and Morgan, who were standing just outside the door with a matching pair of snotty grins on their faces. No doubt this had their catty names written all over it.
“I told you this town was too small for her,” sniped Nikki, her callous eyes falling hard on me.
“Keep talking, Nikki. Maybe you’ll say something interesting enough for him to notice you someday.”
I shoved my way past them and took off down the hall after Trace, racing to catch up to him. He was merely walking, but I still had to jog just to keep up with him.
“I know it looks bad, Trace, but it was innocent. I was just thanking him for helping me.”
“Helping you with what?” The skepticism dripped off his tongue like tar.
I reached over and touched his arm. With a spell.
He stopped short and turned, causing me to nearly face-plant into him. He snatched up my hand and pulled me across the hall into an empty classroom. The dusty gray light dripped in from the windows, making the room feel as dreary and bleak as our lives had become.
“What spell?” he asked, slamming the door shut behind himself.
“A Cloaking spell.”
“You’re already Cloaked.” He spat it out as though it were another lie I was trying to force-feed him.
“I know.” I leaned back against one of the desks. “But Gabriel said it’s fading, and Dominic confirmed it. You were there, remember? You heard him.”
“So what? Isn't that what you wanted? Didn’t you want to be able to sense them and see them coming?” he asked, moving a little closer to me as he tried to make sense of my story. “Wasn’t that the whole point of training with Gabriel?”
“Yeah, but not like this. Not with Engel out there hunting me...” I let out a strangled breath and shook my head. “I don’t need another target on my back. I have to make sure he doesn’t see me coming.”
His eyes filled up with a mixture of worry and sadness and it only made the gravity of the situation weigh heavier on me.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for it, Trace. For any of it.” It rocked my body saying the words aloud. Destiny was coming at me full speed and I hadn’t even graduated high school yet.
His knowing eyes softened as he pulled me off the desk and dragged me into his warm, waiting arms. “It’ll be okay,” he said, lulling me with his words. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Jemma.”
In that moment, with his arms around me as they were, I actually believed him.
“I’ll always be here to bring you back,” he whispered in my ear like an affirmation.
“And what about you, Trace? Who’s going to bring you back, huh? Who’s going to make sure nothing happens to you?”
“That’s my problem, Jemma.”
“Well, it’s mine now too.”
He pulled back a little and looked down at me with questioning eyes.
“I asked Caleb for some Dragon’s blood,” I explained softly. “For you.”
His confused countenance quickly morphed into full-blown anger. “You did what?” He stepped back and I instantly felt a chill from the loss.
“I had to make sure you would be safe.”
“I told you to stop trying to protect me!” he barked, his jaw ticking like a time bomb.
“I was just trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help and I sure as shit don’t need Caleb’s help either! Dammit, Jemma.”
My eyes slammed shut at his words, unable to stomach seeing the sting in his eyes. It wasn’t just that I’d done this behind his back. It was that I’d made him feel weak—unable to protect me or even himself. The realization made me shrink inwardly.
All I wanted to do was keep him safe, but it seemed like the more I tried to do that, the more I ended up hurting him.
“I’m sorry,” I said, reaching out.
He tried to step away from me when I moved in closer, but I stepped with him this time, refusing to let him shut me out of his world again.
“I’m sorry I went behind your back, Trace, I am,” I started, forcing him to look at me. “But I won’t apologize for caring about you enough to do it. You’re not the only one that’s falling in love. I’m falling in love with you too, and the thought of something bad happening to you scares me to death, and if that makes me a bad person then—”
His lips crashed against mine, knocking the wind right out of my entire world.
I faintly remembered the sound of the earth quaking in the background, though it could’ve just as easily been the desk screeching as he moved me back against it.
His hands gripped my hips and lifted me onto the desk. There was no room for thought, no time to slow things down. There was only me and him and the undeniable charge that sent us crashing into each other, time and time again.
His mouth easily found mine again and he deepened the kiss, scorching my mouth with his tongue and my heart with his intensity. His hands broke away from my face and moved down my legs, searing my skin like an electric shock and then moving back up the other way, under my skirt and over my hips. My blood ran hot, humming, burning up with every touch of his hand. Weaving my hands through his hair, I urged him closer to me and he responded by squeezing my hips and tugging me forward.
“Ahem,” said a soft voice from behind us.
Everything halted.
I pulled back from Trace and carefully peered over his shoulder. Hannah and four other students were straggling around the door, waiting for us to notice them.
The bell sounded just as I scooted forward and dropped my feet to the ground. Neither one of us said a word to our spectators as we adjusted our uniforms and then cleared out of the room like nothing happened.
“Well, that was embarrassing,” I muttered in the hallway.
He didn’t seem bothered by it. “Did you mean what you said in there?” he asked, his voice a cautious whisper of hope.
I stepped into him and dropped a soft kiss on his lips. “Every word.”
A smile sprouted on his lips. “I�
��ve been waiting a long time to hear you say that.”
“I guess I finally ran out of excuses.”
The moment the words left my mouth, a horrible feeling came over me as Morgan’s words reverberated in my head like the echoes of a death threat I couldn’t shut off.
You told him you loved him and then he was dead.
An icy chill sliced its way down my back as my stomach twisted with anxiety. What if she was telling the truth? What if her vision was real?
Had I just taken Trace one step closer to his own gruesome end?
28. PREMONITIONS
A dewy fog wafted over the landscape as I walked up the front steps to the Huntington Manor Tuesday night after my training with Gabriel. I quickly texted my uncle and let him know that I would be staying over at Hannah’s house to study, and then let myself in. Everyone was already inside by the time I arrived, with Ben and Dominic sitting by the fire, and Trace pacing back and forth like a caged animal. There was a heaviness in the air that hit me as soon as I entered the room. It choked my lungs and made my skin crawl with trepidation.
“Welcome to the festivities,” said Ben. He was smiling but there was no sign of his usual jovialness in any of his features. His eyes were hard and angry, yet somehow still controlled. It was exactly the kind of motivated determination we needed.
I smiled back at him and then turned my attention to Trace.
“We need to talk,” he said before I could say anything to him. “In private.”
“Oh-kay.” I nodded and then followed behind him as he marched out of the study and cut straight through the house.
Without looking back, he pulled open the front door and stepped outside into the mist.
“What’s going on?” I asked as he turned around to face me.
The look on his face stopped my heart cold.
“You can’t be there tonight.” His jaw was ticking feverishly—urgently. “You need to go home.”
“Excuse me?”
“This isn’t up for debate.”
I stepped towards him, refusing to let him intimidate me. “You’re right. It isn’t up for debate because I’m going. This isn’t your call to make,” I reminded him.
“Well I’m making it anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “No, you’re not.”
“Watch me.”
“This is ridiculous. I’m going back inside.” I started towards the door, but he jumped in my path, blocking me.
I gaped at him. “Move, Trace.”
“No. I can’t let you go, Jemma.” His nostrils flared as he held his stance like some otherworldly bodyguard. “It’s too dangerous.”
I tried to step around him but he moved with me, refusing to give me even an inch of space to work with. “Stop trying to Tarzan me, Trace. This is my fight. I got her involved in this and I’m going to get her out of it.”
“I can’t let you do that,” he said again. His tone was more pleading now and filled with something else; something that hadn’t been there earlier. Fear. Pure, primal fear.
I felt a chill run down my back. I glanced over my shoulder into the darkened front yard, gathering my bearings. It was pitch black but for the thin sliver of moonlight casting its eerie glow into the listless fog.
“What’s going on?” I asked, turning back to his worry-filled eyes. “What aren’t you telling me?”
His jaw ticked again as an ephemeral battle raged behind his eyes. “Morgan had a vision.”
“And?” I asked evenly.
“It’s a trap, Jemma. She saw it.”
“Oh, she saw it, did she?” I scoffed at his utter trust of her holey visions. “Was I at least dead this time? Because she missed that part last time.”
“This isn’t a joke, Jemma. She’s a Seer.”
“Well, she isn't a very good one. The girl obviously can’t foresee her own breakfast.” I crossed my arms over my chest, rejecting the misinformation I wanted no part of.
“You’re not going to make it out of there alive.” He stepped into me, slow and cautious, as though walking up to a cornered lioness that might pounce at any moment. “He’s too powerful, and it’s not just about the Amulet anymore. He's out for blood. Going there is suicide and I can’t let you do that.”
“Are you telling me she saw all that?” I asked disbelievingly. What happened to her ‘I only see bits and pieces’ bull-crap?
“She saw enough.” He shook his head. “You’re not ready yet. You’re outnumbered, outgunned. He’s going to see you coming a mile away.”
“He’s not going to see me coming,” I countered, feeling confident with our plan and all the precautions I took. “I’m Cloaked, remember?” Doubly, actually.
“It doesn’t matter.” The fear and frustration was twisting in his eyes like a whirlwind. “Don’t you get it? It wasn’t my blood in the vision. It was yours! It was yours all along.”
I tried to swallow but my throat seemed to be drying up.
“We need to leave town,” he said suddenly as though the idea just dawned on him. “We can go to my dad’s cabin. If we leave now, we’ll make it there before midnight.”
“I'm not going to your dad’s cabin, Trace. I'm not just going to bail on Taylor. He’ll kill her.”
“Then let me and Dominic handle this. You don’t need to be there. We’ll get Taylor back, and we’ll waste Engel and every last one of them and you won't have to get within a mile of any of them.” His chest was rising and falling so fast, I could almost see the frantic adrenaline coursing through his veins.
I had to calm him down before he went full-Tarzan and dragged me out of here over his shoulder.
“You can't expect me to hide for the rest of my life, Trace. We both know that's not possible. As long as we stick to the plan, everything’s going to be fine.”
He was about to say something back but I quickly cut him off. “Look, I know you’re worried about me but you don’t have to be. I was meant to do this, and more than that, I know I can do it. And I’m protected, so if you truly don’t believe I’m ready to face him, then at least believe in the Amulet.”
His eyebrows rutted together as he listened to me plead my case.
“They can’t hurt me as long as I’m wearing this,” I reminded him, pulling the enchanted necklace out from under my shirt. “And I’m not going to take it off.”
He released a ragged breath. It was working.
“I’m literally indestructible as long as I have this on.”
His jaw muscles flexed as he thought it over. “Then promise me you won’t take it off for anything or anyone.” His eyes were a symphony of desperation that begged for my compliance. “I need to hear you say it.”
“I promise,” I said, touching my hand to his cheek.
He turned into it and kissed my palm. His fierce eyes met mine again as he pulled me to him. “I swear to God, Jemma, if you so much as move your hand towards that necklace, I’m porting you out of there—with or without Taylor.” His eyes burned with ferocity, attesting to his words. “I can't lose you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, I understand perfectly.” And I did. Because I felt the same way about him. I reached up and punctuated it with a kiss. “It’s not coming off.”
The fire was still burning wildly when Trace and I rejoined the rest of our party in the study. Thick flames licked out at the firewood, decorating the room in morbid shades of orange and red. Something about their dance mesmerized me, like they knew what was coming and wanted to bask in the bloodshed.
“Everything all patched up?” asked Dominic with more than a hint of irritation. He was sitting nearest the mantel with his legs crossed and a goblet of brown liquid in his hands.
“All good.” I sat down on the sofa and tied my hair back.
“I propose we hit them right before sunrise,” begun Dominic, eager to get this massacre underway. “They’ll be at a great disadvantage with the threat of sunrise over their heads, not to mention, preventing their es
cape.”
“That’s a good idea, actually.”
“Uh, isn’t he a bloodsucker too, though?” asked Ben, thumbing Dominic. “Won’t he go all stir-fry in the sun?”
“He’s got a temporary day pass,” I said, not wanting to elaborate. The less people that knew about my irregular blood, the better. I turned to Trace. “Did you get everything we need?”
He tossed a burlap bag on the coffee table. “Cinderdust, daggers, stakes, and a few explosives in case things get a little too dicey.”
Ben leaned across the table and started inspecting the arsenal as Dominic awarded himself another sip.
“You might want to slow down with that,” I suggested. “It’s probably not the best time to get trashed.”
Dominic’s laughter hissed at me like an insult. “I can handle my liquor, love. In fact, I hear you’re in need of instruction. I’d be more than happy to lend a hand.”
My eyes narrowed at him.
“Lend this,” said Trace, giving him the finger.
“You’re not my type, Romeo.”
“Seriously?” I snapped at their bickering. “Not tonight!”
Ben looked up at me with furrowed brows but I just shook my head at him, dejected. I didn’t have enough energy to explain the strange frenemy dynamics between Trace and Dominic.
Shrugging, he turned his attention back to the artillery. I dug my hand into my pocket and pulled out the vial of Dragon’s blood Caleb had graciously provided me with and tossed it over to Trace as Dominic cleared the coffee table and spread out a map. Trace caught the vial in the air and clenched his jaw, apparently still trying to fight me on it. He wouldn’t win this one. I stared him down until he flicked the cap off and dropped the contents into his mouth.
“They’re staying at the abandoned factory on Old Miller road,” started Dominic, pointing to a circled section on the map. “There’s approximately twenty or so of them, though they rarely ever congregate at the same time.” He pulled out some kind of blueprint and flattened it over the map. “This is where Jemma and I will be entering the premise. The two of you need to hold up the back end. My guess is they’re keeping the blond one right around here—”
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