by Jadie Jones
“Raffin is still translating a couple of lines of text even now,” he explains. “Asher still doesn’t know everything about how to destroy the veil, but he may know enough.”
“What does he know?’
“The decision must come from a human soul, but the blood that feeds the soul must be more than human.”
“How is that even poss—” I stop midsentence and cringe as the memory of the dark cellar springs to my mind.
“Asher figured out how to test different kinds of blood in the human body. He’s been searching for the right combination for centuries. His process creates an Unseen Being with a Seen soul. The Vessel,” Lucas says.
“What does that mean?”
“A human soul protected within an immortal body.”
I won’t admit it out loud, but my heart leaps a little at the idea of it, of being able to live forever like Lucas. With Lucas. What would be so bad about that?
“What makes him so sure that Spera was the right soul?” I ask instead.
“Because her soul resisted him. She’s the only one during the whole process that never asked for immortality.”
“What does immortality have to do with it?”
“That’s the choice she would have had to make.” He pauses and gives me a hard look. “The prophecy reads that she who opens a door to the veil will rule forever at the right hand of Asher. That she will provide the gift of life, and death will be taken away from her. Eternally.”
“The gift of life?”
“A child.”
I can’t move. Can’t breathe. A child? With Asher? Lucas’s face clouds over at whatever he sees in my eyes.
“Birth and death do not exist in our world. The prophecy reads that there will only be one Unseen birth in all of time. They call it the Novus. We don’t know much, but we do know that it must be conceived in the Unseen Realm by the Vessel, and that the mother must cross to the Seen realm and deliver the Novus while in her true Unseen form.
“If the Vessel chooses to open the veil and deliver the Novus, she will conceive by injecting a drop of Asher’s blood into her own heart. But he can’t force her to do it. The decision must be made in the heart of the Vessel, the heart of the queen. It is her choice to make.”
“What’s the other option?” I whisper.
“To seal it forever, which will deny Asher and all other Unseens birth and death. It also seals the veil against Unseens crossing over in any form. Permanently.”
“Well that’s a no-brainer. I choose that. You can stay on this side, right?”
A sad smile creases Lucas’s scarred face. “Securing the veil eternally will cost you your life. Your eternal life,” he adds.
My breath stills in my throat. He makes himself hold my gaze for a second longer before dropping his eyes.
“Okay, so Asher wants a kid. What’s the big deal,” I mumble, steeling myself against the thought of what it will take to do such a thing. My lips tingle at the memory of Asher’s fevered kiss. I shake off the unwanted reaction as fast as possible.
“When he opens the veil, it will create a permanent door.”
“Is that bad?” I ask.
“It would be catastrophic. The kind of Unseen that I am absorbs Tenix to gain power over other Unseens.”
“I thought you couldn’t die over there?” My back stiffens with alarm. I find comfort in knowing there is a place Lucas can go and be safe no matter what.
“Power isn’t about strength, necessarily. In our world it’s more political in nature. We can bend other Unseens to our own will using Tenix.”
“So what is Tenix, exactly?” I ask, trying hard not to think about Lucas’s past atrocities and what kind of will he might have exerted over other Unseens.
“Your world is made up of four primary elements: earth, air, water, and fire. Tenix is like the glue. It’s what binds the elements together to create life. If you take the binding away, what is left behind dissolves into its elemental form.”
“I’m not sure I follow you.”
“When a human body dies, what does it turn into?”
“Dirt, I guess,” I answer, making a face.
“Earth. The element earth. Unseen beings like me will strip mortal creatures of their Tenix and reduce them to their elemental breakdown. And in our true forms, we are very, very effective at absorbing Tenix.”
“But what about the baby? Wouldn’t it be a target, too?” I will away the unbidden protectiveness over a child I could never possibly want.
“The child would be an Unseen being, an immortal. The Novus must draw first breath in the Seen world, and then will require breath no longer. Then Asher’s need for your world is over.”
“What if I refuse to make a decision at all? What if I pretend I didn’t ever know any of this?”
“I would give my own life if it meant you were spared this choice. That’s why I tried to keep you hidden. But I realize now that you were created to make this choice. In this lifetime or the next,” Lucas says, “Asher will find you. And it will begin again. This choice lies in your hands. In your blood.”
I can’t move. I can hardly breathe. Maybe this is all just a bad dream.
“But my blood isn’t even mine,” I start in a rush. “They had to replace all of it after the accident—” I freeze, realizing that what had given me a bit of hope is instead the exact reason that the final piece falls into undeniable place: a man from another country replaced every drop of my blood with something no one had ever heard of. It could only be one thing. Spera’s blood. And there’s not a doubt in my mind that Asher was in that operating room. But did he hide as Dr. Metcher or Dr. Andrews?
“It won’t be long now,” Lucas says, staring up at the charcoal clouds.
“What won’t?” Please be talking about the weather.
“Now that you know. Asher felt it the moment the knowledge of your choice reached your heart.” His words are tinged with venom.
Suddenly, Vanessa’s frantic voice splinters through the thoughts in my whirling mind. Don’t! Please, David, don’t do this. I gasp, clamping my hands on my ears as my head fills with her screams. Tanzy, help me! If you can hear me. He knows. The affair. He knows! He’ll kill me. Tanzy!
“Vanessa!” I cry out.
“What’s wrong with Vanessa?” Lucas asks. As Ryan he would know her, but I don’t have time to explain.
“Something’s happening. Something bad.” I press my hands into my eyes to try to relieve the waves of pain. “I think he’s trying to hurt her. I have to—”
“This ring. Where did you get it?” Lucas asks, snatching my hand. The dome swirls blood red, undoubtedly Vanessa’s pain brewing beneath its surface. I jerk it away from him, stunned by the roughness in his touch.
“Lucas, I have to go. I don’t think I have much time.”
“It’s imperative that you tell me who gave you that ring.”
“Vanessa. I have to go to her.”
“Just say the name,” he pleads, not realizing I already did. Impatience begins to hum under my skin.
“It’s Vanessa! Now I have to go,” I say and turn east toward the rising sun and Keswick.
“Tanzy, please wait,” Lucas says as he races to catch up with me.
“I’m sorry. I have to do this. She’s in trouble. I’ve already watched her die once. I can’t see it again. I know you understand that.”
He stops in his tracks. His expression is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It almost makes me wait, but I can’t let anything happen to Vanessa. I’d never forgive myself if I got there too late.
“Meet me there,” I call over my shoulder and start running as fast as I can.
29 Love and lies
My feet pound into the grass, propelling me forward in giant strides. Oxygen fills and exits my lungs to a rhythm I recognize—the same tempo that drummed against the dark night when Asher chased down Hopewell and me. And now he has Vanessa cornered, all doubts that he is hiding as Dr. Andrews vanished the moment
she cried out in fear. But he won’t win this time. The black horse’s blood that saved Spera now flows through my veins and feeds my muscles. His speed. His strength. His heart.
I’m coming for you, Asher.
I close my eyes and allow the wild around me to guide me in the right direction. The currents of air act like a road map. I shift a few degrees north and push myself faster. Wildwood’s acreage is behind me in less than a minute.
Hang on, Vanessa.
She answers me immediately, calling out for me again in terror. A snarl escapes my lips as I leap forward, demanding even more of my burning legs.
Time and distance blur. The terrain becomes steeper as I finally reach Keswick. Rain falls and makes the ground slick. I can smell her house. The wet stones give off a warm earthiness and I use the scent like a beacon to guide me the rest of the way. Vanessa? I call out to her. But nothing comes back.
I crest a near vertical hill and almost collide with a logging truck that makes its way down a familiar road. I throw myself into the wet grass to keep from being struck. Vanessa’s road. I pause long enough to spot her stone pillars peeping out from a bend a quarter of a mile to the west. Relief washes cool over my sweaty skin. But the hardest part is still ahead. Am I strong enough to kill Asher? Am I willing to end a life?
The crush of indecision I felt beneath Asher’s touch warms my mark. I fight against the tingling memory, and force my mind to fill itself with Spera’s brutal final moments. Lenya’s suicide. The torture Lucas still carries in his eyes. A new resolve condenses my thoughts into one goal: changing history. I will do whatever it takes to keep Vanessa alive. I leap across the street, glide over the black board fencing, and race blindly for the summit of Vanessa’s property.
The face of the gigantic house is completely still behind a thick curtain of rain. Neither life nor light peeks from its long windows. But the statue in the fire fountain is whirling faster than I remember, liquid flames spilling over the edge and leaving trails of steam on the driveway. It feels like a warning, but I can’t figure out what it means.
The driver’s side door of David’s car hangs open, dinging in ominous protest. That message is loud and clear: he was in a hurry to get his hands on her. I swallow the dread that makes my throat tight and silently move to the French doors. They’re flung wide and reckless to each side. Tiny, sparkling shards of glass litter the foyer. They’re under my feet too, but there’s no pain. The only thing I can feel is a gut-wrenching need to get between Vanessa and Dr. Andrews. Asher. But I have no idea what to do.
I step further into the hushed entryway, waiting for a sign. My breath echoes off each polished surface and my mind creates silhouettes in every towering shadow. Where are you Vanessa?
I close my eyes and let my other senses take over. The unmistakable scent of blood stains the air. And I know exactly where it’s coming from. My room. My bare feet meet the jade stairs without making a sound. I pause at the top and flatten my back against the marbled wall. No one speaks. Or screams. Or breathes. An anguished moan shatters the thick quiet and I am outside the door to my room within a single heartbeat.
I wrap my fingers around the curved handle and feel the hint of resistance by the engaged lock. A sudden ferocity fills me with such rage that I snap the handle from the door and shove the thick wood completely out of its frame. And as it falls to the ground, I close my hands into ready fists and prepare to defend Vanessa. No matter the cost.
Dr. Andrews’s eyes snap to the broken door as it crashes to the ground. Fresh tears streak his face. His hands shake, hovering over Vanessa’s still form.
“What did you do?” I cry out, moving toward Vanessa. Dr. Andrews rise and blocks her body from my view. “Vanessa!”
She lets out a low whimper and rolls on to her back, helpless and exposed. My pulse roars within me, drowning out the piercing silence in the dark room. Every movement slows down. But this feeling is familiar: the adrenaline rush in the alley, my blood responding to the worst kind of threats. He opens his mouth to speak, but I’ve seen enough. And I know too much. I know exactly what it feels like to watch her die.
He stiffens as I move toward him. His jaw tenses, the sound of his teeth grinding together nearly as loud as the thunder outside.
“I am going to give you one chance to get away from her,” I order, my voice low and level. Surprise ripples across his face, and then fury replaces it, hardening the corners of his eyes.
“Over my dead body,” he snarls and draws a fist back in warning. It’s all the permission I need. I close the distance between us in a single stride and pause for a fraction of a second, letting his punch pass by the left side of my face. He stumbles forward, thrown off balance. My first strike lands squarely on his chin, throwing him backward. He slams against the blue stone wall and the air leaves his lungs in a hard rush. Vanessa stirs on the floor, drawing my gaze. Her nose is bleeding badly. The side of her face is already darkening with bruises.
“One chance,” I reiterate, my eyes moving from her to Dr. Andrews as he staggers to his feet.
“I am not leaving her with you,” he says.
“Then you’re not leaving,” I warn.
He lets out a grunt of painful effort and charges again. I drop back as my leg coils at my hip and then explodes forward. His sternum gives way under the force of my bare foot. He cries out in agony and drops to the ground, clutching his chest.
“Why are you doing this?” he asks through ragged breaths.
“She’s my friend. More than that. A sister. And you aren’t going to hurt her anymore.”
His bewildered stare moves to Vanessa as he crawls toward her. He closes his fist around a piece of paper by her side. Before he can get any closer, I snatch the collar of his shirt and fling him away from her. He lands on his back in a heap.
“Last chance,” I growl. But he doesn’t move for the door. A human would have run. A human should be dead.
“I found her like this,” he mumbles, his eyes rolling in their sockets as he tries to focus.
“Liar!” The memories of Spera and Lenya’s horrible deaths flood my mind as I race forward and pin him to the ground. “Show me! Show me your true face, Asher. I know you’re in there,” I demand, my hands tightening around his throat.
Instead, he slowly brings his hand to my face, still clenched around the piece of paper. I read the first sentence, and my world goes still.
“Darling, Tanzy Hightower is very dangerous, and I have reason to believe that she wants me dead.”
The rest of Vanessa’s perfect script blurs on the page. My wide eyes move to Dr. Andrews’s desperate face as my hands fly open. He tries to force a word out of his mouth, but blood trickles out instead. His wet fingers wrap around my forearm as the light fades from his frantic stare. His hand and his head drop back together as a weak, last breath leaves his lips.
A wild giggle fractures the still air. Vanessa sits up and wipes the blood from her face, a smug grin slicing her porcelain face in half.
“Vanessa?”
“Tanzy!” Lucas’s voice spins me around, but he’s not there. The air begins to crackle and distort. A living shadow darkens the broken doorway and then solidifies, arms and legs materializing from the quivering mass. His scarred face finally emerges. My eyes follow his shocked gaze to the blood soaking my hands.
“What have you done?”
Neither my mind nor my mouth can form a response.
“Don’t act so surprised, Brother,” a smooth voice answers from the hallway. We both jump at the familiar sound. Asher brushes past Lucas and moves into the room. “We made her for this, after all. She was born for this. My queen. My Vessel.” He traces a perfect circle in the air between us, leaving a smoky ring in its wake. “One down. Two to go.”
30 Surrounded
“Correction,” a too familiar voice purrs from the doorway. And with that one word, the last eight years of my life collapses.
The first day she introduced herself to me. The way my
insides warmed at the fact that she didn’t talk to me like I was a kid. She shook my hand and looked me square in the eye. The first time she called me Tee instead of Tanzy. The surprise birthday party she threw me in the indoor arena when I turned thirteen. That she held my hand at Dad’s memorial service. That she wept for him. That she’d spent the last three years working tirelessly to do right by him. By me. The mental cloud of debris billows back over the memories, covering them with corrosive ash.
“Dana?” I have to say her name to see if she reacts, praying to whatever watches from above that she won’t respond, won’t recognize the name. But she does, once again staring me straight in the face. Her dark eyes dare mine to hold her gaze for a full second before she breezes past me and pulls Vanessa to her feet.
“Two down,” she says.
“Dana,” I repeat, barely a whisper. Lucas makes a move toward me but Asher stops him with a single hand and backs him against the wall.
“Do tell,” Vanessa instructs, her voice like velvet as she strokes an ivory finger down Dana’s hollow cheek.
Lucas’s voice is yelling words like “run” and “get out,” but they blur into the buzzing noise that fills my ears. This can’t be happening. This isn’t real. Wake up, Tanzy. Wake up!
“My queen, they pulled dear John off life support this morning. Two down, one to go.”
“My queen?” I mumble. And then Dana’s words reaches my brain, searing a path to its center: John. The man from the alley. Dead. No, killed. By me. Two down. My stomach empties its acid on the white carpet.
“Spera’s efficiency is clearly transcendental. As is her surly temper. Turns out it can be put to good use though,” Asher muses, smiling at the body of Vanessa’s husband. “Who knew?”
“I knew,” Vanessa smirks. Her ivory face twists with such fierce resentment that I hardly recognize her. I expect the new distance to be another stab of pain, but there’s nothing solid left to cut. The void quakes, something hot and capable shouldering its way through the dark.