I’d been thinking what a huge mistake I’d made in coming here alone. Now, I realized my effort to rebel might result in serious consequences. This Clan was looking for a Tracker. They’d just found one. I knew Daevos Clans used Trackers to help them find soul mates, but I didn’t know the Clans were aware they could use Trackers to enhance their own powers. In fact, I thought Caleb’s Clan was the only one to ever try. Word must be spreading about that somehow too, though. I wondered if Alex and Emil knew about that issue, or if using Trackers to invoke more power was a recent development.
The three of them seemed to have forgotten they had an entire college campus worth of people in their house and backyard. That’s the problem with using a party to create an ambush. “Well,” I said, fishing my keys from my pocket, “good luck with testing your limits. Let me know how it works out for you.”
I started for the door and was immediately pushed back onto the bed by a strong gust of icy wind. In the house. Where no wind should exist unless a window was open and it was gusty outside. It wasn’t gusty. The window wasn’t open. I’d been surprised, but had managed to hold onto my keys. I stared in the direction the wind had come from and found Hannah, a small but proud smile playing at her lips.
“Seems to be working out well,” Brian laughed.
Fantastic. I really hoped my powers would work because I didn’t think my self-defense skills were up to taking on three opponents at once.
“Are you forgetting about all the people outside this room and in your backyard? All I have to do is scream, and half the school will be in here.”
Brian laughed, lifting a hand to his ear. “Do you hear people in the other room? Because I don’t.”
I hadn’t noticed the difference in decibel level until now. It was eerily quiet. Not even music played. As if everyone had suddenly disappeared. “Where did everyone go?”
“Home,” Robert answered.
“They just got up and left?” I asked, dumbfounded. “Without their coats?” I pointed to the pile I was sprawled across.
“Most people respond well to suggestion,” Robert said.
I gaped at him. “You hypnotized three hundred people?”
He gave a cheshire-cat smile. “I told you, we’ve been experimenting. The Daevos are far more powerful than the Amaranthine believe.”
“Where are Vicki and Hutch?”
Robert flicked his fingernails against each other, looking bored. “They’re safe.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
He looked up at me and held my gaze. “And I told you, they’re fine. They left with everyone else we sent away. Really, Evie, there’s no point in worrying about things you can’t control.”
Yes, that was a problem for me. I liked being able to control my world. I hadn’t felt like I had any sort of grasp on it since Alex and Emil had come into my life. I hoped Vicki and Hutch had only been used to get me out of the house, away from Alex and Emil, and at the party. If so, they were probably sent safely home with everyone else.
“What do you want from me?” I asked, scooting to the edge of the bed so I could sit up—and be in a better position to fight.
“We want what everyone wants, Evie. You to be on our side. Working for our Clan.” Robert looked at me sideways. “We just want to…borrow you, for a while.”
My mouth fell open a bit. “Borrow me?” The wording seemed so strange. I wasn’t some object that could be used whenever someone wanted me—regardless of what people thought about my powers. “What do you think I am? A cup of sugar?”
“That’s actually a perfect analogy,” Robert said. “You’re the key ingredient to helping us become a stronger Daevos Clan and streamline our powers. We’re going to take you back to the rest of our Clan. We’ll return you when we’re done.”
I stared at him, wondering how dense he was. “Have you ever actually met Emil? Because he won’t be happy about this. The extra power won’t matter when he kills you for taking me.” I got the reaction I’d hoped for; Robert wrinkled his brow like he might actually be considering my point. “And Alex will be worse than Emil. He reacts first and thinks about consequences later. So what do you think will happen when he finds out you took me? It won’t matter even if you bring me back as healthy and happy as when I left. He’ll find you and rip your heads off, literally. Is taking me really worth your souls?”
Robert stared for a moment while Hannah and Brian exchanged worried glances. I felt like I might have talked my way out of another abduction when Robert said, “With your help, we could create a spell to protect us from them both, so it won’t matter. We’re taking you.”
A spell to protect them from Alex and Emil? That seemed…scary. Did I really have the power to help them do that? Did every Tracker? Or was I being targeted because Trackers are hard to find and the Daevos had posted the equivalent of a status update that I was hanging out in Gunnison with Alex and Emil? Regardless, I wasn’t happy. And I wasn’t going without a fight.
I stood slowly, looking each of them in the eye, and focused on my Tracker abilities, hoping they’d be there if I needed them. For now, I’d try to get out of this with brute force. There was no point in illustrating my powers for them when it seemed like that’s exactly what they wanted.
They moved in around me, creating a triangle. My self-defense classes instructed me about one-on-one fighting, not three-on-one. Maybe if I had someone helping, I could fight them off, but alone, I was concerned about my chances.
You can fight them, Evangeline.
The voice! I might make it through this after all. The voice always amplified my powers. Knowing they would work made me more confident. I wanted to try and get out of this with physical fighting, though, if I could.
Robert came at me first. I went down on one knee, my hands on the ground as I kicked out, knocking Robert to the floor. Brian was caught off-guard. I took advantage of the seconds he took to stare at Robert on the carpet, and spun, elbowing Brian in the face. I heard the distinct crack of bones, and Brian yelled in pain.
Hannah’s emotionless face was terrifying, and let me know exactly how angry she was. She came toward me, her expression taking on an icy blue hue, frost crystalizing on her eyelashes and eyebrows. As she touched me, I started to shake uncontrollably. Robert watched us, a smug smile on his face as he got to his feet. I’d never tried to use my powers on myself, but I closed my eyes and thought of a warm beach. Instantly, the shivering stopped. Shock flashed over Hannah’s expression long enough for me to punch her in the face with a swift upper cut, and kick her in the stomach. She bent over to catch her breath before meeting my eyes. Livid. She grabbed for my long hair, a definite hazard in a fighting situation. I reached around her and clawed at her arm, pulling it as hard as I could.
A jagged sound tore through the air as the arm of her jacket ripped. She looked at it with disgust, and threw it off, revealing a dark red, backless shirt underneath, her Daevos vowmark wrapping around her arm. She lifted her leg to kick and as she did, I noticed a dark purple mark on her back. It looked like a version of my lily, but it had undergone a transformation mine hadn’t. The three most noticeable petals looked similar to mine, like a trinity knot: one petal sticking straight up, pointing toward her neck, the other two creating a pedestal on the bottom. But Hannah’s mark was a deep, dark purple, so dark it almost looked black. At the moment, it almost seemed to be alive, pulsing with shimmering amethyst hues. The other three lily petals were a pale peach color, barely visible. I was so distracted by the knowledge that Hannah was a Daevos member and a Tracker, as well as seeing her changed lily—what I assumed my lily would look like if my abilities were ever activated—that Hannah got a solid kick in to my stomach and I fell to the ground, gasping in breaths.
You can stop them.
I wasn’t so sure. I was one person, they were three. Plus they had the benefit of Daevos immortality and quick-healing. They had the advantage, and were wearing out a lot more slowly than me. And they apparently alrea
dy had a Tracker helping them. Which begged the question: what did they need me for?
Robert pulled me up from the ground, my breath ragged from the fight, and the pain. “Have you had enough? Or do you want to fight some more before we take you?”
I glared, then smiled as I kicked his knee as hard as I could. Antagonizing Robert might have been a bad idea. But at least I was being abducted with a fight this time.
“Hurt the witch!” Robert yelled, staggering as he tried not to fall.
“I’m going to enjoy this,” Hannah said. Blood dripped from her lip where I’d hit her. She came closer and grabbed my arm. She began to twist it. Slowly. I could feel the muscles starting to tear and knew my shoulder would be out of its socket soon. And that was probably just the beginning. They didn’t want me dead, but they didn’t need me fully functional either. “Torture is something I excel at.”
I had a feeling I was about to get first-hand experience. Then I remembered my SOS bracelet. I started to move my hand to press my index finger to the orchid when a sharp movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention. Out of nowhere, a man rushed into the room.
A passerby who heard the commotion, maybe? A friend? An enemy? If so, fighting one enemy was better than fighting three, so I hoped he was there to help me get rid of his competition. I didn’t even get a good look at his face.
He took a step toward Hannah, grabbed her by the wrist, and with a swift punch to the gut, she went down, the wind knocked completely out of her. Hannah seemed to be the one controlling the powers. With their Tracker out, their MVP was down for the count. Thank the Goddesses I wouldn’t have to worry about fighting her powers now, too.
I grabbed Robert by the shoulders and kneed him in the groin. He went down, writhing. I stood back, watching as the mysterious stranger gave Brian a punch to the side of the head that knocked him unconscious. He paused a moment to glance at me before taking two long strides to Robert, pulling him up by the front of his shirt. Robert’s face was still contorted in pain from my knee. The stranger moved his until his nose was within two inches of Robert’s. “You’re not playing by the rules.” Robert winced. If he was afraid of this guy, I wondered if I should be too. The stranger held Robert’s eyes. “I suggest you start. And tell the others to do the same.”
Robert nodded his assent. The stranger seemed to think he’d made his point, and dropped Robert back in a heap on the ground. “Get out of Gunnison and return to your region. Don’t come back.”
Robert nodded and stood shakily, rousing Hannah and Brian. I stared, dumbstruck, as they all stumbled out of the house—a house they seemed to own, or at least rent—obeying the stranger completely. I watched from the window as Robert and Hannah got in the Porsche, and Brian took the Corvette. Of course they were the ones driving the sexy cars. You must get some sort of sexy car signing bonus when you agree to join the Amaranthine or Daevos. I made a mental note to be suspicious of anyone driving those types of cars in the future.
It wasn’t until I saw both cars pull away from the house that I was ready to deal with the guy who was still here. The fact that Robert had been scared of the new guy worried me. I shifted my head taking in his black jeans, red sweatshirt with Western State emblazoned across the front in gray letters, coat, and brown hair that fell below his ears in a way that was messy-on-purpose. It was the first time I’d really had the chance to get a good look at him since the fight started, and I almost staggered.
I put my hand against the wall to steady myself, my eyes never leaving his. I recognized him. He’d been in the store in August while Jasmine and I were getting school supplies. He’d been watching me then, and it looked like he hadn’t stopped. I remembered the angry red vowmark that wrapped around his arm. He was a Daevos member who had taken a lot of souls, and he’d been watching me—for a long time. I’d thought he was part of Caleb’s Clan. Caleb’s Clan was dead, so I’d guessed wrong. The fact that he’d saved me from this Clan did nothing to dispel my concern about who he was and why he’d been watching me for months—or what he wanted from me now.
I thought about running out of the room—or the window—but decided it wouldn’t help the situation. He’d been watching me long enough that he knew where to find me. And if Alex and Emil weren’t here helping me already, they didn’t know what was going on yet. They must still be in their meeting, which meant they wouldn’t be at my house, or monitoring me with Alex’s ring.
I studied him cautiously. Hands on his hips, he slowly surveyed the disaster we’d made of the room, stopping on me and watching me steadily. He took more than a minute before he finally said in an exasperated voice, “What are you?” His tone held a hint of southern twang, and judging by the black and red flannel checkered coat he wore over his sweatshirt, I could easily see him riding a tractor on a farm with a piece of straw hanging out of his mouth. Given the size of his shoulders, I imagined he also had some talent with a pitchfork.
A laugh escaped me at his question. Seriously? The guy who’d been stalking me since I saw him at the store last autumn walks in, helps me defeat the Daevos who are trying to “borrow” me, and has the nerve to ask what I am? “What am I? I’m pretty sure the question is who the hell are you?”
He smirked. “You’re as feisty as ever, I see.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I saw you at the store in August. I remember you were very interested in the bra display.” I stepped back, examining his chest, “What are you, a 48 A?” He glared and I continued. “After you found your bra, you followed me around the store before you disappeared and I never saw you again until now. Who the hell are you, and why have you been spying on me?”
He regarded me with unsettling quietness. “To answer your first question, I’m someone you should know. As for the second, because you need watching.”
I lifted my brows. “Wow. You’re excellent at informative answers. Let’s try again. I’ll go slow so you understand. Who. Are. You?”
He shook his head in disbelief. “You know, despite your belief that you’re indestructible, you’re not. Tonight’s a pretty clear indication of that, don’t ya think, darlin’?”
“Darlin’?” That’s it. I was going to kill him. Use my powers and tell him to go straight to hell. I wondered what would happen to him if I actually did that. Hmm. I shook my head to get back to the current crisis at hand.
“I was fine. You saw me fight,” I answered. I paused to worry about everything he’d witnessed. Although, I’d covered for myself pretty well. The only time I’d used my powers was to fight back the cold Hannah was using to turn me into an incapacitated snowflake. It seemed like everyone knew about my powers anyway. At this rate, I might as well announce my supernatural abilities on Twitter.
He gestured to the room where I’d fought against my former classmates. People I thought wanted to be my friends. “What were you planning to do once you stopped them? Hold them frozen for the rest of the night? Or were you going to try a new action verb?” he asked. Another thought seemed to occur to him. “How do you do that anyway? I’ve been trying to figure it out for months.”
I was uncomfortable he’d been watching me close enough to know I had powers, and when I’d used them. Especially since I’d only used them twice before tonight: once in the cave against Caleb, and once against the shadows in Denver. I waved the question off because, one, it wasn’t important at the moment; and two, I didn’t have an answer for how my powers worked, or why they sometimes didn’t. Plus, I wasn’t giving a Daevos member any more information than I had to. “That’s not important.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Seems pretty darn important to me. If you can do that, what else can you do? And how many people know about your magic tricks? Are you aware of how valuable you’d be to both the Amaranthine and the Daevos? You’re far more powerful than any other Tracker.”
Yes, I’d already considered all of those issues and moved them to the back of my mind in the file labeled “Things I Can’t Deal with Yet.” Kudos to farmer-boy
for bringing them back to the forefront and being a major contributor to the ulcer I was about to develop. Alex and Emil had been concerned about the same things.
Aside from his questions, I was also unnerved at all his paranormal knowledge. When I’d seen him in the store with Jasmine last summer, I’d noticed the scar on his arm that I now knew was a vowmark. But it still caught me off-guard to hear him talking so freely about the Amaranthine and Daevos. Those were topics I only had two people to confide in about.
Really, it had been a hard night, and it was completely my fault. I didn’t have a problem taking responsibility for it. It was stupid of me to come out alone just to prove I could. I should have stayed at the kitchen table doing my homework like I said I would, waiting for Alex and Emil to come back. My body ached from the fight, the pain becoming more obvious as I rolled my neck from side-to-side. I was exhausted, and ready to go home to deal with the wrath of Alex…and probably Emil, too. Neither of them would be pleased I’d left. I turned to the guy, throwing my hands in the air. “Seriously! Could you just tell me who you are and what you want!” I refrained from adding, “you lunatic.”
He shifted his legs to a shoulder-width stance, crossing his arms over his chest. “What I want is to stop having to trail after my sibling to save his butt and keep the Daevos off his tail. But since he’s with you, that’s pretty much impossible because you’re trouble and always have been. As for who I am, I’m Tate Stone, Emil’s brother.”
I stared at him, open-mouthed. He responded with a smug grin. I wasn’t sure if I should be scared, or relieved I finally knew who the dude stalking me was. As he watched the thoughts play across my face he said, “But, the biggest question—and one I’ve been trying to figure out for a very long time—is, what are you?”
I turned my head slightly, eyes narrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”
Eternal Echoes, Emblem of Eternity Trilogy Book 2 Page 17