Yeah, I know. It was a cheap shot. For one, she started it. Two? I was beyond caring thanks to the liquor. I gestured for the waiter to bring over his tray covered in little plastic shot cups and grabbed three of them. I managed to toss two of them back before Elliot yelled at me for being hateful.
"Play nice, Eva. Allison is only trying to say hello."
Sure she was.
"You play nice, I'll play nice."
I offered up as Elliot yelled something in her ear. The woman purred as she wrapped her arms around his waist. They started whispering to each other, so I took the time to examine the girl who had taken my place.
Allison was tall, her thin frame covered by a tight black dress that showed more skin than it covered. I tried to see what Elliot saw. Sure, she looked attractive in the dark. But what did she have that I didn't?
Oh, right. She had Elliot. The same guy I had spent four years pining over like a lovesick teenager. I confess, I hated her as she laughed at something Elliot said. I hated everything about her as she snuggled up against the man who had been kissing me only moments before.
I wondered what she would think if she knew her date was trying to hook up with me while they were out together. I started to ask her, but I got distracted by a series of giggling behind me.
Kids? Here?
I whipped around to see nothing but a large poster in a frame on the wall as the laughter grew louder than the music surrounding us. A single set of red eyes appeared in the glass over the picture as the giggling shifted into a song I used to sing all the time when I was a kid.
"Ring around the roses, pocket full of posies."
I cried out as I stumbled backwards out of the booth. Elliot grabbed me, helped me stand, and I knew he was trying to ask me if I was alright. But I wasn't. The creepy song playing in my head was now mixed with the whispers I'd come to associate with spirits trying to communicate with me.
"I have to get out of here!" I turned my back against the eyes staring at me from the darkness. "Elliot, move. Please."
I felt a touch as cold as ice brush against the back of my neck. I caught sight of Allison staring at me with a strange smile on her face. She pulled her sunglasses down to watch me. Her eyes were the same shade of red as the ones in the glass.
I tried to warn Elliot. I tried to tell him to run. I lost my ability to speak as the voice finished singing in my head just before I passed out.
"Ashes to ashes, Sibyl. You will soon fall down."
Chapter Three
"Just make it stop already."
I groaned as I covered my ears with my hands. Joey Lawson, our lead cameraman, laughed as he pressed a button on the remote in his hands.
"Somebody had a little too much fun last night."
Joey teased as he tossed the remote onto the table. The resulting clatter didn't help my pounding head or the nausea I'd managed to keep at bay so far. I resisted the desire to lay my head down on the smooth conference table in the center of the room, but I knew if I closed my eyes, I would see the red ones from Fallen. So after a night of restless sleep and dreams filled with a creepy singing, I went to work. We had all gathered in our office at Theia Productions to listen to the wretched selections suggested by the music department.
I settled for glaring at the three men sitting around the table with me since curling up on my couch with old reruns on the History Channel was out of the question.
"No, my ears are practically bleeding over here." I glanced down at the list in front of me. There were at least twenty more songs listed for us to go through. "So if you make me listen to one more guitar solo, I'm reporting this as a hostile work environment."
"Eva, polls have shown that the viewers want to hear an edgy theme song." Connor Garrison tapped his pen against the wooden table. He was our producer and number one on my enemy list for calling this meeting before noon. "Our current one is not seen as dark enough."
"It's by a band called Ripped Souls." I reached out, grabbing Connor's hand to make the tapping stop. "You might hurt their feelings if you tell them their song isn't dark enough. Let's keep what we have. Please?"
"You know, I have to agree with Eva on this." Elliot had been leaning against my desk, watching us from across the room. He looked like hell. I knew I didn't look much better. "I like what we have already. It's moody."
"It sets the atmosphere." I nodded. "If we go with one of these catastrophes, it'll ruin the whole thing."
"Alright, alright." Connor sighed. "How about a compromise? I'll talk to the music department. See if they can find something more along the lines of what we have now. Then we'll meet up when the two of you are better prepared to make a decision."
"Thank you." I breathed a sigh of relief as I passed the list back to him. "You're the best, Connor."
"Yeah, don't mention it."
I could tell he wasn't happy with us as he snatched the papers from my hand and stormed out of the room. I couldn't care less. Joey whistled as he kicked his feet up onto the table and pulled out a newspaper from his messenger bag.
Not a newspaper. A tabloid. On the front was a picture of me passed out in Elliot's arms with a caption in big white letters.
Ghost Girl Gone Bad?
"Hey!" I snatched the paper from his grasp. "What the hell, Joey?"
"What?" He grinned as he folded his hands over his stomach. "I always read the L.A. Scoop. I can't help it if you two made the cover."
"Shut up." I grumbled as I scanned the article. It detailed how we had met up at the club, how we kissed, and then, the freak out which had ended my evening. There was even speculation that I was really on drugs and my conversations with the dead were nothing but the mad rants of an addict.
I wish. It would be a lot easier to get help for an addiction than commit the necessary suicide required if I wanted to lose my role as Apollo's messenger.
"Have you seen this?" I turned show the rag to Elliot. I knew better than most how he would keep secrets from me if he thought it would protect my feelings. "Did you see anyone taking pictures?"
"First off, I don't remember too much from last night." Elliot winced as he pushed away from the desk. "Second of all, there are cell phones out there with cameras in them. It's one of the great things about our modern age, Eva. Anybody could have taken this picture."
He took the paper from my hand and read the same article I did. "It's not a bad photo, considering. I mean, you did pass out. But it wasn't the alcohol, was it? You were scared, not drunk."
"So you don't remember anything except the parts I was hoping to forget? Great memory, Eli." I grumbled as he collapsed into the chair beside Joey. "And no, I don't want to talk about it."
"I can't take you anywhere, can I?"
Cyrus stepped out from the corner by the door and I huffed.
"Don't start with me, Cyrus. I would have been perfectly happy staying in my room if you hadn't put the idea to go out in my head." I crossed my arms as I leaned back in my chair. "Where did you disappear to last night? I really could have used your help, you know."
"Underworld." Cyrus took Elliot's previous spot by my desk. "I saw Elliot come over to your table. I figured you needed some privacy. Didn't you check your phone?"
"I'm sorry. Did you just say Underworld?" I fell silent and raised a single hand in my keeper's direction. "No. You know what? Don't answer that. I really don't want to know."
Cyrus hadn't been back for a full minute yet, but somehow, he had managed to make my hangover worse. I dropped my hand as I responded to his question.
"I didn't have my phone on me last night, so no, I didn't check it."
Like Cyrus, I had my own phone to use if I needed to contact Apollo. The father god of the Sibyls found me amusing for some reason. But Cyrus could also contact me on it. The problem was that I never carried the damn thing with me. It was somewhere in my room back at the condo.
"Am I the only one who has no idea what is going on?" Joey looked between the three of us. "Did you see somethi
ng, McRayne?"
"Something." I nodded as I tapped my fingers against the table. After a minute of silence, I told them about the giggling and the song. I decided to skip the part about seeing Allison's eyes turn red. I was in no condition to fight with Elliot who had been really good at not interrupting me with a million questions this morning.
"So there's an entity at Fallen? It could be a good location to film an episode of the show."
"No!"
Cyrus and I snapped in unison. Elliot let out a deep breath before he spoke again.
"Ok. Why?"
"Because the building itself is not haunted." Cyrus moved to pace in front of the table. "In fact, you are not dealing with spirits in the normal sense at all."
"So what are we dealing with?" Joey piped up. He looked as excited as a kid at Christmas. "Demons? Banshees?"
"I'm afraid it's much worse than a banshee. The Erinyes are much more ancient." Cyrus shook his head. "Tell them the rest of it, Eva."
"There's more?" Joey whistled for the second time and I gritted my teeth at the sound. "I'm listening. Haunted nightclubs are awesome."
"Cyrus," I warned. "I will tell them later. Not now."
"Yes now." Cyrus shrugged. "You can do it or I can, Little One. It's your choice."
"How can I explain something I don't understand myself?" I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand as I tried another tactic of diversion. "Can't this wait? I need an aspirin and some sleep."
When Cyrus didn't respond, I took a moment to get my thoughts together. I mean, how do I tell my ex-boyfriend that the girl he is seeing could very well be a monster? And how could I tell him without sounding jealous?
Maybe I should let Cyrus take over this conversation after all.
"Fine." I rolled my eyes when my keeper didn't get the hint to start talking. "The red eyes in the glass weren't the only ones I saw last night. Before I passed out, I caught Allison looking at me. Her eyes were red too."
Elliot laughed. He actually laughed at me. Finally, he patted my hand as if I were a kid and stood up.
"That's cute, Eva." Elliot chuckled as he pushed his chair into its spot at the table. "I may have been drunk, but I remember enough about what happened last night. Allison had nothing to do with it."
"Elliot, her eyes were red. The giggling and the song? Both of those started when she was at the table." I picked up Joey's pen and pointed it at him. "You said yourself there is no such thing as a coincidence. I don't understand how, but she is related to the voice I heard last night. I can feel it."
"I also remember what happened between the two of us last night, alright?" Elliot ran his hand through his hair. "I figured you'd be jealous, but to claim Allison is some sort of evil spirit? It's a new low for you, doll."
"I am not jealous." I managed to say without sputtering. "And don't you 'doll' me. I know what I saw, Elliot. The girl I saw last night was not human."
"Yeah? Neither are you, Sibyl." Elliot stressed my title as we faced off. "What right do you have judging Allison when you don't know the first thing about her?"
"No offense, but you aren't the best judge of character, Elliot." I crossed my arms in front of me. "Remember Kathy Carter? You were all gung ho about her until she cursed me."
"Are you really going to bring that up? Now?"
"Why not?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "What happened to me is a perfect example of how blinded you can be when it suits you."
"Look, you're jealous. I get that." Elliot put his hands on the conference table to lean in towards me. "But my girlfriend is not some ancient demon, Eva."
"Girlfriend now, is it?" I tilted my head as I studied him. "Would have been nice to know that when you were slobbering all over me last night."
"I shouldn't have done that."
"You're right. You shouldn't have." I took a breath in an attempt to calm down before I started again. "Tell me what you know about Allison. How can you be so sure what I saw was wrong?"
"I don't. What I do know is that she actually gives a damn about me." He shot back. "Which is something you stopped doing the moment you became the Sibyl."
I took a step back as if he had hit me. When I finally found my words, I was surprised at how steady they sounded as my anger flared back up.
"So this is how you missed me, huh? You have spent our time apart feeling sorry for yourself because you couldn't have my full attention anymore. That's just pathetic."
I didn't realize both Joey and Cyrus had slipped from the room until I started to walk towards the door. Elliot's response stopped me just as I put my hand on the doorknob.
"I don't miss you. I miss the old Eva I fell in love with. You are not that girl anymore."
"I haven't changed, Elliot." I turned to face him. "Let's be honest, this isn't about Allison or what I saw. This is about everything still unresolved between us."
"I'm done." He went over to his desk and collapsed in the chair. "Go. Find your precious Cyrus. I'll see you in Chicago when on Friday."
"No." I pushed away from the door to march over to him. "We've got to fix this, Elliot. Now. I am not going to spend the next few months walking on eggshells around you because you don't want to deal with our problems."
"What's to fix?" He glared at me. "You think I betrayed you to my father. I know you betrayed me with Cyrus. So that's it. We're over. Let's just leave it at that."
"I didn't betray you."
I felt my anger fade and with it, what little energy I had left. When Elliot didn't interrupt me, I started again.
"You saw me and Cyrus together, so that was enough for you to start thinking about breaking up with me. Then, when I asked you if you knew about your dad using me to release Kathy Carter, you went through with it. You gotta admit, that was a pretty weak reasoning, Elliot. I think you were using Cyrus and my anger as an excuse. What was so wrong between us that you needed a way out?"
"Nothing." Elliot wouldn't look at me. He pushed a stack of papers from his desk into the trash can. "Nothing was wrong with us, Eva."
"Then tell me why. Why are we not together right now? Why are you running around town with Allison if nothing was wrong with us?"
"What do you want me to say?" Elliot snapped. "That everyone I have ever loved has left me? That I was sure you were on the brink of leaving me to? Fine, Eva. When I saw you with Cyrus, I knew that we couldn't last. I was sure it was only a matter of time before you left me to be with him."
"So you left me first."
I watched as Elliot walked around the desk separating us. He seemed so defeated. So lost. I wanted to wrap my arms around him, but I stood my ground.
"Allison doesn't matter. She knows that. If she were to leave me, or if I leave her, it's no big deal. But I can't handle goodbye from you, Eva. I just can't."
"I had no intentions of leaving you. I never have." I wanted to take a step back, but I couldn't make myself do it. Not when he was this close to me. "I came to California so you wouldn't leave me, Elliot. You made a stupid decision based off of your own insecurities. And I'm the one who ended up suffering for it."
"You think I haven't suffered?" Elliot studied my face as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You think I like seeing Cyrus by your side every hour of every day? It kills me that he could protect you when I couldn't. It kills me that he will be by your side long after I'm dead."
"Don't talk about your own death." I frowned. "It's bad luck. And yeah, Cyrus and I are stuck with each other. We may as well be friends, Elliot. I'm sorry you can't accept that."
"I don't think Cyrus feels the same way you do. I've seen the way he looks at you. How he acts around you." Elliot reached out to tuck a loose strand of my hair back into place. ""I'm sorry for what I said. I shouldn't have said you didn't give a damn about me. I know that's not true."
I couldn't think of how to respond to him, so I stood there like an idiot and tried not to cry. I wanted to tell Elliot how much I missed him. I wanted to tell him to give us another chance. I remembered how e
asy things had always been between us and how much I had missed him. But I couldn't get around the hesitation which filled my heart. After all, he had already rejected me once.
He could do it again.
Elliot wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on the top of my head. After a moment, he broke the silence around us.
"So where does this leave us, Evie? Where do we go from here?"
"I don't know." I mumbled against his chest. "I love you, Elliot. I didn't say it before, but I do. I can't stand the thought of not being near you. But I can't stand the thought of you leaving me for another stupid reason either."
When I looked up, he started to kiss me, so I lifted up my hand to stop him.
"Um, Elliot, I don't think so."
"Why not?" He looked confused as I disentangled myself from his arms. "I thought this meant we were getting back together."
"No, I never said that. I said I loved you and I missed you. I do." I took his hands and squeezed them. "But first, you gotta ditch the girlfriend. I refuse to be your backup booty call when you get lonely."
"Alright." Elliot bit his lip as if he were trying not to laugh. "But that's not the only thing, is it?"
"No." I shook my head. "I want to be friends again first. I want to go slow. You broke my heart when you told me to leave. It's going to take some time for me to put those pieces back together again."
Elliot brushed a kiss across my forehead.
"We are damn good at slow, Evie. It took us what? Four years to get together in the first place?"
"Yeah." I returned his smile as I released one of his hands. "Come on. Let's go tell the others we decided not to kill each other today."
We walked out the door to find Joey and Cyrus both leaning against the wall. Joey perked up first with a groan. "Finally! It's about time you two kissed and made up."
"No kissing." I smirked. "But we did make up."
"Yeah. Great. Whatever. Listen, I'm starving. Unlike you two, I didn't spend my night getting wasted." Joey pushed away from the wall. "You want to grab something to eat or have takeout delivered to the office? We need to work out the monologues for the Chicago episode."
The Oracle Series: Volumes 1-3 Page 16