Inheritance: (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (Heart Lines Series Book 2)

by Heather Hildenbrand

“Les seems to think there’s hope,” I said and because I knew it would be in his report and he’d see it anyway, I added, “Maybe a cure.”

  “What kind of cure?” Breck asked and the way he said it implied he genuinely wanted to know.

  “Old magic,” I said casually, although I was gauging his response with sharp concentration.

  “Old magic?” It took only a second for understanding to dawn. Breck didn’t miss a beat. “Like, the legend of the goddess? That kind of old magic?” Breck asked, lines creasing his forehead. “Dude, that shit is a fairy tale.”

  And here was where it got tricky. I watched Breck’s blue eyes for any sign that he was playing me. “Les thinks it’s real. Says they have a line on someone who possesses that kind of magic. Thinks maybe she can reverse it or cure it or whatever.”

  “I’ve seen enough in the course of these missions to know magic is real enough,” Breck said slowly, “So if there’s a cure, I agree, it should be looked into. But we have our orders.”

  I nodded, grateful for his answer. It meant he was a good guy but he was also by the book. And he wasn’t going to blow this off like some nonsense. I gritted my teeth against the throbbing inside my burning veins and blew a breath out through my nostrils. “The truth is, Les may be right. The problem is the cure happens to be located inside the body of a friend of mine. And I’ll be damned if Les or anyone else is going to use her like that.”

  Breck nodded. “I see,” he said. “That’s why you looked ready to burn the place down with your eyeballs when you walked out.” I shot him a look but he didn’t react. “This ‘she’ have a name?” he asked.

  “I’d rather not say,” I said quietly.

  For a second, the air in the truck was gone. But then Breck exhaled and nodded. “All right, man. I can understand that. As long as she doesn’t turn up here, we’ll leave it out of the report.”

  “Thanks, man. I don’t know how Les found out about her,” I said, my muscles tensing tighter and tighter as I spoke.

  I couldn’t say her damned name. Hell, I couldn’t even bring her up without feeling things in my chest. I hated feeling those things. Not because Sam didn’t warrant them. Because it made it harder to stay away from her. If I kept this up, I’d end up going back and I couldn’t do that. It was way too dangerous for her.

  Breck eyed me, one brow raised. “Does this girl really have old magic? Can she actually cure them?”

  I gritted my teeth and then decided there was no point in lying. “I believe she can. But I’ll be damned if I let her try.”

  Breck looked back at me, both brows raised. But he didn’t ask me anything else about Sam. Instead, he asked, “You going to give Abel his twenty-four hours then?”

  “He’s feral. It’s not even a question.” I stared at the cabin without really seeing it, thinking mostly of the tightness in my lungs. My body was slowly rejecting what was left of Mirabelle’s anti-venom meds. Soon, they wouldn’t work anymore. And then I was fucked. Because there was no way I’d be able to take down a werewolf—rabid or otherwise—once that happened. I was already exhausted and all I’d done was take a walk in the snow.

  I turned to Breck who already had a knowing gleam in his eye. “You feel like going hunting?” I asked.

  Breck grinned, his blue eyes flashing like weaponized icicles. “Damn right I do.” He yanked the keys from the ignition and started to get out, but then I remembered his cover. And the fact that I’d already asked a huge favor by keeping Sam’s name out of the report.

  I got out and blocked his path to the front door. “You don’t have to do this if it means risking—”

  Breck put a hand on my shoulder, cutting me off as his blue eyes hardened to a piercing stare. “I’m not exactly close with a lot of people, but I do know about loyalty. We’re both hunters. I know we haven’t known each other long, but like it or not, Channing, that makes you my brother. If you’re hunting, I’m hunting.” His expression lightened and he dropped his hand, turning for the cabin as he added, “Besides, do you have any idea how boring it gets up here in the middle of winter? No way am I letting you have all the fun.”

  I shook my head, glad I’d finally found someone who was as determined to kill things as I was, and followed him inside to get ready. There was no way in hell anyone was getting near Sam, especially for a cure. If I had to live with dying, so did everyone else. Sam’s magic was off limits and they would only get to her over my dead body, which hopefully happened later rather than sooner.

  Chapter Seven

  Sam

  Humidity threatened to choke me and the further we walked, the muggier it became until condensation dripped from the branches around us. Kiwi led the way, her steps sure, her breathing easy. I, on the other hand, was not cut out for an uphill hike. Especially not this early in the morning. But I pushed on, finding a second wind and then a third. Any time I became winded or tired or tempted to stop, I remembered RJ lying in the hospital bed in town with a cut that wouldn’t heal.

  I took another deep breath and pressed on. It had been my idea to come, after all. We stayed single file as Kiwi led me up the mountain, passing a few tourists but not many. It was early. Everyone else was headed up like us. I heard someone laugh from a ways back and knew we weren’t the only ones making the trek, though our particular destination wasn’t the summit as it probably was theirs.

  Up ahead, Kiwi let out a deep breath and then said, “Whew. It’s steeper than I remembered.”

  “And slick,” I said, noting the muddy trail that, in some places, became a sort of slip-and-slide if you weren’t careful with foot placement.

  “Rainy season was over-zealous this year,” she said between breaths. But she didn’t stop. And I was glad.

  This had to work.

  In a couple of hours, RJ and I were due to fly home. Kiwi had almost come with me, and only a phone call with Edie herself had convinced her I would be in good hands, protected by a full team back in California. Kiwi had finally relented after making me promise to call her daily to check in.

  In fact, the car was already packed and RJ was waiting. I had one shot. Any more answers Guam held for me, it had to reveal them now.

  “All right. This is it up here,” Kiwi called a moment later. I glanced up but frowned when I couldn’t see anything different from the greenery of the jungle that lined our hiking path.

  But then the path curved left and the grotto came into view. I slowed, taking it all in and stepping back to let another group of hikers pass. They spoke in Japanese. Tourists, I knew, and tuned them out until their voices faded up ahead. When they were gone, I stopped to study the grotto.

  Kiwi waited quietly and I knew she was watching me, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the small cave opening and the rock formation rising up out of the overgrowth of vines and leaves.

  “What is this place?” I asked.

  Because it was clearly more than just a cave or a resting spot on the way to the summit. I could feel it in the air around us. How could those tourists have kept walking? Even without the magic inside me thrumming like a homing beacon, I knew this place was special.

  “To be honest, it started out as a halfway point. A place for the tour groups to stop and grab a sip of water before continuing to Lamlam’s peak to pray,” Kiwi explained, pointing to where the other hikers had disappeared up the trail. “But the cave has its own … energy. And the little grotto soon became littered with the offerings of those who didn’t want to—or couldn’t—make the full journey.”

  She gestured to the setup inside the overhang. A stone jutted out from the wall of the cave, creating a sort of tabletop. On it stood the Virgin Mary statue along with another one of Jesus.

  “People come here to pray?” I asked, studying the small Catholic statues and the loose change that littered the stone.

  Kiwi nodded. “And provide an offering in exchange for their requests.”

  I scanned the rest of the area and saw that on the ground in front of the
raised alter someone had also left a Buddha statue and more change. Burnt candles and small jars full of water also littered the cave floor.

  “It’s a tribute to all of these different gods?”

  Kiwi nodded. “Some say, Taotaomona represents them all.”

  Taotaomona was the name for the island spirit; that much I knew. What I didn’t know was how real any of this was. And whether or not it could help me. But Kiwi said it was worth a try. Apparently, Lamlam was one of the largest energy points around. Maybe all this energy would be enough to jumpstart mine. Maybe I had to return to the scene that started it all.

  I stepped down carefully until I stood inside the cave’s mouth and looked back at Kiwi. “Can you show me where it happened?” I asked.

  Her mouth thinned into a tight line but she nodded. “Right where you’re standing,” she said in a strained voice. “You were there and I was here.” She sidestepped so that she stood farther away and nearer to the edge of the drop-off.

  “And then what?” I asked, sorry I was upsetting her. But I had no choice.

  “Then you reached for one of the statues there,” she said, nodding her chin toward the stone altar. “I called out to you not to touch it.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “You can’t touch the items. They are sacred. To do so would wake Taotaomona.”

  I shuddered, suddenly feeling chilled in the warm mid-morning air. “Why is that bad? I thought Taotaomona favors its people.”

  “Taotaomona does not awaken without a price. No matter who you are,” Kiwi said.

  I looked up at her sharply, sensing something important in her words. The same words Mirabelle had uttered. A price. I was surprised to find Kiwi had backed away several feet from the edge. “You’re going to touch it, aren’t you?” she asked.

  I didn’t answer. We both knew that I was.

  She took a deep breath. “I’m here if you need me then.”

  I nodded and turned back to the religious statues. Beside the items, carved into the stone, were symbols. Some of them I recognized like the Christian cross and David’s star. Some of them I didn’t. One was a loop. Like a figure eight turned sideways. Slowly, I reached out and traced the outline of it with my finger. My hand shook and I did my best to steady it.

  I waited, tense and alert, listening for something. Anything.

  Nothing happened.

  One by one, I picked up each of the statues and turned them over in my hands before returning them to where they stood. Nothing happened but for some reason, I hadn’t really expected it to. These statues felt like nothing more than tourist charms. The last one, though, all the way in the back, tucked away in a small alcove, was so familiar, my breath caught.

  I could only stare, dumbfounded. A woman with flowing hair and a black dress stood with head tilted and arms extended toward the sky. How had I not seen her when I first looked? And how was it possible that she looked exactly the same as I’d imagined?

  I ruffled through my bag, beyond grateful that I’d been forced to bring it with me today. It took me a moment of searching but I found what I was looking for. I drew out my homemade Tarot card of the woman in black and carefully placed it down in front of the statue.

  I gasped.

  It was a perfect match.

  “Sam!” The sound of my name startled me and I looked up to find Kiwi rushing forward through a thick fog. When had it become foggy? I looked around, brow wrinkled in confusion. The fog was thick, blanketing the entire trail and the jungle beyond. It was so thick I could smell it now, wafting closer like a steadily approaching cloud.

  Kiwi moved through it, calling my name. She stopped at the very edge of the short drop-off and I tensed, terrified history would repeat itself and she would topple over and hit her head like she had the first time.

  But instead, she was stopped short, grunting as she hit what looked like some sort of barrier. I stared, eyes wide, as I realized the fog itself was the barrier.

  Kiwi pounded against it and I called out to her. “I’m fine,” I yelled, hoping she could hear me.

  The fog thickened and Kiwi continued to pound on the barrier it made between us. The cave felt moist but chilly, the air curling in around me until I felt surrounded by … something.

  The ends of my hair danced in a breeze that didn’t quite reach the rest of me. It drew my gaze and I spotted a small opening in the cave’s offshoot to my left that I could have sworn hadn’t been there thirty seconds ago.

  The wind coming through the opening sounded like whispers, and although there weren’t actual words to the sound, I could feel it coaxing me along. Fear trickled in a cold sweat down my spine.

  Nothing that had happened to me up until now had felt as big—or weird—as this. Not even the night my memories had returned and I’d floated outside of my own body. And if Kiwi was right, and I’d woken Taotaomona, there was no telling what sort of payment the spirits would demand. But I had to try.

  I cast one quick look back at Kiwi who was still yelling for me and peering—unseeing—at the space where I’d stood before. Then I turned and shuffled up and out of the cave opening at the back of the tunnel.

  My palms itched and my heart thudded wildly against my ribs, but I didn’t stop and I didn’t turn back. This was it—whatever I’d been looking for was here.

  A moment later, I emerged into a foggy sort of sunshine that felt blurred at the edges. I blinked against the bright light after being in the darkened cave and when I caught sight of the trees around me, I knew this was not reality. Not anymore.

  I was still in a forest but it was no longer a jungle.

  Redwoods stretched as far as I could see. A soft forest floor covered in soft pine needles and moss at my feet, and muted sunlight trickling in from above. It was there but still somehow untouchable. I stayed where I was, unable to escape the sense of dual reality as I stared at the way the redwoods blurred into the jungle canopy of Guam.

  I strained my eyes and swore I could see the perimeter of the park back in Half Moon through the thicket on my right. Figures moved beyond the tree cover and I gasped at the sight of a creaky-wheeled cart parked along the path.

  But then the wind kicked up and the fog I’d left behind rolled in, sealing the edges. And then there was only forest, green and brown and quiet.

  And in the center of it all stood a woman in black.

  “Hello, Samantha.” The voice that erupted from her lips was like a symphony. A thousand voices at once—all of them female. All of them strong. United. One but many. It was awe-inspiring and goose bumps trailed down my arms and back at the sound of that one word.

  She smiled at me, her features transforming into a ferocious beauty. At her feet, just like on the card, was an enormous wolf. It barely paid me any notice as it leaned into her hand where she lightly scratched behind its ear.

  None of that was nearly as disturbing as the fact that it had an actual third eye in the center of its forehead.

  “You’re … her. The woman on my card,” I managed.

  She nodded and her hair moved like a waterfall, merging and then breaking away again from the fabric of her gown. “I am her.” Again, a multitude of tones that made her quiet voice resonate throughout both the forest and the jungle beyond.

  “You are… Taotaomona?” I asked.

  “I have many names.” She shrugged and something about it was sensual though there was no desire in her eyes. Only entertainment. “For today, you may call me that. Why have you woken me?”

  “I’m …” Shit, this sounded so much better in my head. “My friend is hurt. I once healed my aunt here in this place and … I think I’m a healer with old magic. But I don’t know how to use it and I want to figure it out. I want to help him.” My gaze flicked to the three-eyed wolf who still didn’t seem to care about me. I couldn’t help but notice its large, brown eyes were a clear white instead of glowing yellow like those infected. “I want to help all of them,” I added.

  The woman nodded.
“You do have the old magic,” she said.

  My heart skipped a beat. “Seriously? That’s awesome! I mean… that’s good news.” I bit my lip, positive I’d failed the test about how to speak goddess.

  “We are curious—why do you ask for it and continue to resist?”

  I hesitated, at a loss. “I don’t … I’m not resisting,” I said lamely. Holy shit, had I really just lied to a goddess? Her eyes narrowed and it was the most terrifying reproach I’d ever received. I rushed on to move past the blunder. “Can you tell me how to do it? To use the magic, I mean?”

  “You know the legend?” she asked in a stiff voice.

  “The story of the moon goddess?” I frowned. “Yes, but that doesn’t tell me anything about using my magic—”

  “Ah. Magic,” she said knowingly, which only confused me more.

  Her smile was small but full of amusement. Like none of it mattered. Like this was all for fun. “Magic is simply focusing your energy and the energy of the Universe around you. It’s nothing more than a practice of concentration and will. That is how you must wield it. As for the practice, do remember that magic always comes with a price. Are you prepared to pay it now?”

  My gut tightened at the last word and my entire body shook. This was what I’d been afraid of all along. What would happen if I said yes? Would the voice in my head take over? Would I be lost again to another version of me—or worse, someone that wasn’t me. Someone else. Even if it was a goddess, I wasn’t ready to lose myself again.

  “Well, I guess. I mean … what will this cost me?” I asked uncertainly.

  Thunder clapped overhead and I looked up sharply, scanning the sky. Dark gray clouds gathered above the canopy but I couldn’t tell if they were real or part of this alternate reality I’d stumbled into. When I looked back at the woman, the storm was also in her eyes.

  It belonged to her then.

  “For two years, we have seen you and you have not wanted it,” she said, her voice morphing and rising to include authority and enough promise of absolute power that I curled in on myself, trembling and hugging my arms around me. “We left you alone because we do respect the natural order but we respect choice even more. There is us in you, but you must want it to receive it. Now, you are here, asking us and we will show you.” Her voice became a blend. Man and woman. Light and dark. Gentle and Terrifying.