Iniquitous: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 3)

by Bianca Scardoni

  I bounced a glance between the two of them. “What won’t work?”

  “Dusting him,” answered Trace, though he quickly backpedaled upon seeing my displeased expression. “Like if he were to trip and fall on a wooden stake,” he added through a dimpled grin.

  Dominic made a face at him. “I’m standing right here.”

  “If the Revenant dies, so does she.”

  My mouth dropped open. Like, seriously? I was going to have to put that one in my sauce and marinate with the forever-ness of it all.

  “At least that’s how their story goes.”

  My brow quirked up. “Their story?”

  “Yes, their story.” Annabelle walked back up to Arianna and snagged her by the elbow, drawing her away. “As in, according to the Revenants’ side of the story. Okay? Great. Good luck with all that.”

  Arianna pulled her arm free from her sister. “She deserves to know, Anna!”

  “That’s highly debatable.”

  “Annabelle,” reproached Anita as she rejoined her sisters, clearly irritated by the holdup. Her gaze turned to me as she let out a short breath. “Revenants have always maintained both parties would die, but that detail may very well be to save their own asses. Your beloved Order, on the other hand, has always proclaimed the opposite to be true, however, that may be to force its cattle to proceed with the vanquish. You get the drift?”

  “So basically no one knows for sure?” That sounded hopeful.

  “Bingo,” applauded Annabelle. “It’s not like any Descendant worth their Mark would ever willingly sign up to test the theory. Well, most of us anyway,” she added, giving me a final once over that was drenched with accusation.

  “Right.” Apparently, bonding myself to Dominic to try and save my life didn’t qualify me for a pass. Apparently, I still wasn’t worth my Mark because of it, and worse, I was staying bonded to Dominic for the rest of my life.

  I left Haven feeling far more dejected than when I’d arrived there.

  “Well, that wasn’t nearly as dreadful as I’d anticipated,” said Dominic as we climbed back into the SUV. “Good news all around.”

  Trace and I glared at him from the back seat as Gabriel shook his head.

  “What?” he asked innocently. “Too soon?”

  “I swear to God,” growled Trace, but I quickly took his hand into mine to soothe him.

  Don’t let him get under your skin, I said to his mind.

  He was about to say something back to me when his phone rang. Pulling it from his pocket with his freehand, he glanced down at the caller I.D. and then swiped it open. “What’s up, Ben?”

  My attention turned back to Dominic. I silently glared at the back of his head, knowing he would feel it.

  “That’s not very nice, angel.”

  “You better stop pushing him or he might just decide to put himself out of his misery and take us both out.”

  He swiveled in his seat, his lip hiked up into his cheek. “Never going to happen, angel. Frankly, as long as I’m bonded to you, there isn’t a single thing I could do to him that would make him even blink in my direction.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “It’s so perfect you’d think I planned it out this way.” He grinned.

  Suspicion immediately churned my insides. I seriously wouldn’t put it past him.

  “That was Ben,” said Trace as he slipped the phone in his back pocket. “Taylor’s in the hospital.”

  “What?” I met his troubled eyes, my own rounded out in panic. “What happened? Is she okay?”

  “He said she was in an accident.” His Adam’s apple dipped as he swallowed. “She’s okay, but…” His eyes met mine and I immediately felt as if the air had left my legs.

  “But what?”

  “She’s asking for you, Jemma.”

  I flinched. “For me?” That was impossible. She wasn’t supposed to remember me. I’d made sure of that when I asked Dominic to wipe her memory clean of ever knowing me. It was for her own safety—for her own good—so that what happened to her with Engel would never happen again.

  So, how the hell was she asking for me now?

  28. SIDEKICKED

  A canopy of fog rolled over the grounds as Trace and I walked into Royal Hope Hospital. Gabriel had dropped us off in a secluded part of Hawthorne so that Trace could port us straight to his car while Gabriel and Dominic made the trip back in the SUV. As much as my body disliked being separated from Dominic, my ears were pleased to finally get a break from all the bickering. Unfortunately, my heart was still pounding out punches as we rushed into the hospital elevator.

  Ben had been fairly vague with his details on the phone, which either meant he was in mixed company or it was too awful to say over the phone. I was praying for the former.

  “Room three-eleven,” said Trace.

  I hauled ass as soon as the elevator doors slid open, immediately spotting Taylor’s parents at the end of the hall. They were deep in conversation with a doctor, probably about Taylor’s prognosis. Mrs. Valentine eyebrows were knitted together so tightly they looked like a unibrow. And that was never a good thing. I rushed by them without stopping to say hello as I barreled into Taylor’s room.

  She was sitting up in the hospital bed with pillows propped up behind her. Her denim-colored eyes were open and she was talking quietly with Ben. She had a few cuts and bruises on her face, but she looked okay, and most importantly, she was alive. My level-ten panic attack immediately simmered down to a four.

  “There they are,” said Ben, standing up from his chair. “What took you so long?”

  “We had to get my car first.”

  Trace bumped fists with Ben as I carefully approached the edge of Taylor’s bed. Being that she wasn’t supposed to know me, I had no idea what I was doing here or what to say to her. Or why she was looking at me like she wanted to rip my eyes out of my head.

  “Um, hi.” It came out weird, like a question I was too afraid to ask. The truth was, I was beyond relieved to see she was okay, but her murderous glare was starting to freak me out a little.

  “Um hi? That’s what you’re going with? Seriously?” She didn’t wait for a response. “You erase our entire friendship and then just, ‘um hi’ me?”

  My mouth started flopping like a fish out of water. How the hell did she know that? “I don’t…I’m not sure…” I shook my head and looked back at Trace for help.

  Trace stepped in beside me, placing his hand on the small of my back. “You remember her?”

  “Of course I remember her. She’s my best-friend. Although, I’m pretty sure best-friends don’t go around erasing each other’s memories so that the other one doesn’t remember them. And if said friend did do that, I’m pretty sure she would have a lot more explaining to do than ‘um hi’.”

  “Can you stop saying that, you’re making me sound like an idiot.”

  “Good.”

  I tried to bury my smile but it refused to stay hidden. Laughter bubbled out of me at the same time that Taylor cracked her first smile.

  “This is so not funny,” she said, unable to keep a straight face. “Stop laughing!”

  “I’m trying to,” I said, apparently doing a piss poor job of it. But it was too late, my laughter had turned into a full blown cackle.

  Two seconds later, she was laughing just as hard as I was and then we were hugging and laughing hysterically like a couple of besties that had decided to go off and lose their minds together.

  Taylor’s mother rushed into the room, her unibrow in full bloom. “What’s going on, sweetie? Is everything okay?”

  Taylor waved her off as I covered my mouth to keep from laughing in her face like a lunatic.

  “We’re fine, mom. Everything is totally fine.”

  “Okay,” she said, giving her a circular nod. She didn’t look convinced but she could clearly see that Taylor was safe and sound. “I’ll be outside if you need me.” She smiled tightly and then exited the room.

  I
turned back to Taylor and beamed. “God I missed your face.”

  “This old thing?” she said pointing at her head as I took a seat on the edge of her bed.

  A few beats of silence passed, turning the mood a little more serious.

  “What happened?” I asked her, picking up her hand in mine. “Ben said you were in an accident.”

  Ben walked over to the door and closed it. My face immediately twisted with worry. If he was closing the door, it meant he didn’t want her parents to hear what she was about to say, which meant they hadn’t given them the real story, and there was only one reason Ben would do that.

  “I was attacked by a vampire this morning.” She shook her head at herself and then said, “I can’t believe I just said that out loud.”

  I knew that feeling well; the incessant questioning of your own sanity as you hear the playback of the ridiculous words that keep coming out of your own mouth. It gets easier, I wanted to tell her, but I just listened instead.

  “She was supposed to meet me at my house this morning before school,” said Ben. “But she never showed, so I went looking for her.” Ben’s amber eyes turned the color of fire. “I could smell her blood all over the place, on the side of the road, the ravine, so I shifted and followed the scent into the woods. The Rev dropped her as soon as he spotted me.”

  My eyes rounded out in horror. I never wanted this for her.

  Not Taylor.

  She was supposed to be living out her perfect, normal, human life.

  “I didn’t see his face. I never even heard him walk up to me.” Taylor pushed her hair over her shoulder and turned around in the bed. The back of her neck was completely covered with bandages.

  “I called an ambulance and tried to keep her conscious until they got there, but she was losing a crazy amount of blood. I’m pretty sure she stopped breathing.”

  My chest tightened.

  “That’s what he says, but I think he just wanted an excuse to give me mouth to mouth,” she said with a playful wink.

  I laughed, but not with my whole heart. It was too busy being worried to death for her.

  “She needed two blood transfusions, but she’s okay.”

  “Thanks to you,” said Taylor, smiling at Ben.

  His cheeks picked up color as he pushed his hands into his pocket, jingling the chain attached to his wallet.

  It sounded a lot like wedding bells.

  “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Tay. I should have been there.”

  “Because you’re the Slayer?” she asked softly.

  My bottom lip nearly hit the bed I was sitting on.

  “Ben told me everything.” She laughed and then said, “He didn’t really have a choice after I saw him shapeshift or whatever you guys call it. It was the first thing on my mind as soon as I woke up in the hospital.” She brought her long blond locks back to the front and shrugged. “It’s not like that’s something you’d actually forget seeing. I mean, unless your best-friend erased your memory again.”

  She was never going to let me live this one down.

  “I didn’t know what else to do, Tay. You were traumatized.”

  “Yeah…” Her eyes hollowed out for a moment as though reliving the memories. “I remembered that part too.”

  I picked up her hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze, bringing her back to present-time. “I never wanted you to go through anything like that again, and as much as it hurt me to lose you, I did it to protect you.”

  “I know.” She smiled softly and then squeezed my hand back. “But it didn’t work, Jemma. My forgetting that vampires existed didn’t stop them from existing. It just made me like blind to the whole thing.”

  I dropped my head, knowing exactly how it felt to be forced into the dark.

  “Just for the record, I was against it,” offered Ben like the little traitor he was.

  He was standing shoulder to shoulder with Trace as they both watched us with their arms folded across their chest like a couple of supernatural bouncers.

  “Thanks for throwing me under the bus, Ben. That’s super helpful right now.” I made a face at him and then turned back to Taylor. “Look, I get it now. I know you’re right, Tay. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”

  There was a brief moment when I thought she might dismiss me and my apology, but she didn’t.

  “Kay. You’re forgiven!” Her tone was all sweet and bubbly and Taylor-like. She wagged a pink fingernail at me. “Just don’t ever do that to me again.”

  That’s all it took for the old Taylor to come bubbling back to the surface.

  “You have my word.” And I wouldn’t go back on it, though I would have to figure out another way to keep her safe. Something a little less drastic, and hopefully, more effective.

  She relaxed against the pillows and smiled back at me, her eyes wide with merriment. “I seriously can’t believe my best-friend is a vampire slayer,” she said in total awe. “You’re like Buffy the freaking vampire slayer, but with better hair!”

  I scoffed at her assessment. “Are you nuts? Buffy had great hair.”

  “So, we’re just going to completely ignore the whole bangs fiasco?”

  “It was the 90’s,” I defended. “It wasn’t a good era for anyone’s hair.”

  “You can’t blame that on a decade.”

  “Are they seriously arguing over bangs right now?” asked Ben, shaking his head at us.

  “I think so.” Trace leaned his shoulder into Ben and asked, “What the hell is a Buffy?”

  “Blasphemy!” shouted Taylor.

  She was just about to go off on him when my cell phone rang, interrupting us.

  I looked down at the caller I.D. and quickly answered. “Hi, Gabriel.”

  “How is your friend doing?” he asked, his tone even and courteous.

  “She’s okay. Better than okay,” I said and smiled at her.

  “Good.” A short pause. “Can you step away? We need you back at the Manor.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  “One of Roderick sisters would like to talk with you.”

  I paused, absorbing the weirdness of his statement.

  “She came alone,” he added.

  “Which sister is it?”

  “Arianna.”

  At least it was the nice one. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  I hung up and looked back at Taylor regretfully.

  “You’re leaving me already.” It wasn’t a question and she was definitely not happy about it.

  “I have to, but I’ll be back to visit you tomorrow.” I leaned over and gave her a big hug. “I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t super important, you know that right?”

  “Like world-saving important?”

  “Kind of.” I ticked my chin at Ben who sat back down in the chair next to her bed. It didn’t look like he was leaving any time soon. “I’m sure Ben will fill you in on everything.”

  She didn’t seem to be paying attention anymore. “Wow. Jemma the Vampire Slayer and her sidekick Taylor Valentine,” she said dreamily and sort of to herself. “We're going to be famous!”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her craziness. Though mostly, I was just glad to have my best-friend back.

  “See you around, sidekick.”

  “Later, Slayer.”

  29. TALES FROM THE CRYPT

  The crimson-laced sky shed its tears of peril all around us as Trace and I pulled up to Huntington Manor. Every drop from the heavens was another reminder of what had happened, and of what still needed to be done. Too many people were in danger, people like Taylor who didn’t have the means to protect herself from the evil that lurked around us.

  I opened the door and walked inside without bothering to ring the doorbell. I’d been here more times than I could count, and as strange as it sounded, it was the only place in Hollow Hills where I was safe, and that feeling felt a lot like home.

  “We’re here,” I announced as Trace and I walked down the hall and into the den.r />
  Arianna, Gabriel and Dominic were all seated around the coffee table, a quiet fire burning in the background as though bearing witness to the testimony that had taken place.

  “Hello, angel.” Dominic patted the seat next to him on the sofa. My feet tried to take me there but I was hugely aware of Trace standing behind me, watching my every move.

  It took everything I had not to go sit beside him. My eyes shifted to Arianna instead. She was wearing a pair of fitted jeans and a black turtleneck, and her dark hair was pulled back into a slick ponytail. She seemed different without her sisters. Less scary.

  More human.

  “You wanted to see me?” I asked her stiffly.

  She gave me a sidelong glance. “Can we talk…alone?”

  Gabriel’s expression tensed and Trace immediately stepped in beside me like I suddenly needed a guard to have a conversation with someone. I knew they meant well, but sometimes they made me feel like I was right back in that dungeon.

  “Can you guys please give us a minute alone?”

  “Not happening, Jemma.” Trace rolled a kink out of his neck and then clenched his jaw.

  I knew he was just trying to keep me safe, but there wasn’t any danger here. Besides, I wanted to hear her out. “Can you just trust me please? It’ll be fine, Trace.”

  He still wasn’t budging.

  “Look, if I need you, I’ll scream really loud, okay?” It was meant to lighten the mood, but it didn’t definitely didn’t ease any of the tension in his body.

  “She isn’t stupid enough to attempt anything with the three of us waiting in the next room,” Dominic reminded. At least one of them was on my side.

  Trace looked over at Gabriel who conceded with a nod. He gave me one more apprehensive look, and then the three of them walked out of the den together, leaving me with Arianna.

  I sat down on the sofa where Dominic had been sitting just moment ago. Arianna remained seated on the chair, just across the way from me, staring at me curiously—sizing me up.

  “Okay, you have me alone,” I said and narrowed my eyes at her. “What is this about? Why are you here?”