He hit his shoes against the door frame, knocking snow off them. He must have been watching from outside before he came in the house to help me fight Hannah, Brian, and Robert. “Don’t lie to yourself, Cass—” he stopped, catching himself. He looked at me and continued with a correction, “Evie. You know you have special powers. I’m pretty sure you knew it in past lives too, you just didn’t say anything.”
His tone made me feel like I was being accused of something. Since I couldn’t remember it, I certainly couldn’t defend myself. I made a mental note to find out what my relationship with Tate had been like in 1760. So far, I didn’t think it had been stellar. “I don’t remember two hundred and fifty years ago, so I can’t answer that. As for now, I have no idea where my powers come from, and neither does anyone else. I know as much as you do. That I’m a Tracker.”
He shook his head, his mouth lifting slightly in a smile that indicated he didn’t believe me. “You have abilities no other Tracker I’ve ever met seems to have, and trust me, I’ve met a lot.” He leaned back against the blue, orange-peel textured wall of the room, regarding me with curiosity. “I think your soul’s been around a lot longer than any of us realize, even Emil. He thinks he knows everything about you. I think he’s wrong. I think we all are.”
The night had been stressful enough; I didn’t need this discussion too. I was going to need cookies to keep going. “It takes a long time to get to know someone,” I rationalized. “Just because there are people in my life who have known me for centuries, it doesn’t mean they really know who I am.”
“Exactly my point.”
“That means you and your theories could be wrong too.”
He slowly pushed his head down and lifted it back up in acknowledgment. “Could be. But I’m not.”
“So what are you saying?” I wasn’t clear on the point he was trying to make.
“I’m saying that if I’m right, you’re the most dangerous of us all.”
I didn’t take Tate’s assessment well. I’d heard enough from Emil and Alex to know they thought there might be something more to my powers. They were concerned, which made me concerned, and having a new Daevos member express his concern, too, made me four-cookie-level worried.
However, I was seriously lacking in cookies at the moment, and needed another way to displace my anger and stress. I helped alleviate the knot in my stomach with an icy glare as I punched Tate hard in the shoulder. “What the hell? If you really are Emil’s brother,” I narrowed my eyes as my gaze raked over him, trying to see the family resemblance, “you used to be kind of related to me. I’m guessing you haven’t spoken to me in centuries, then you stomp in here, take over my fight, and tell me I’m some sort of danger to you? Nice. Real nice. I bet we were great friends back in London.”
He picked some lint from his shirt like he was bored. “You’re reaching if you think you had that fight under control. Also, I didn’t only say you were a danger to me, I said you were a danger to us all. And we put up with each other in London; we’ll put up with each other now.”
I stared at him, frustrated beyond belief. “I don’t like your attitude.”
He laughed. “Like I said, same old Cassandra.”
I glared.
He looked in a stray plastic cup sitting on the dresser in the room. He picked it up, sniffed it, and immediately threw it back. Personally, I wouldn’t have chanced even a sip of an unknown substance at a college party. Really, anything could be in there. Tate didn’t seem concerned, however—which I felt offered a glimpse into the state of his crazy little mind. I was starting to feel less bad about myself in regard to his ‘danger to us all’ comment. He put the yellow plastic party cup back on the dresser with a loud slap, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Where’s your entourage tonight?”
I crossed my arms, mirroring his movements. I’d once read that mirroring could be used to persuade people to do what you want. Something about the subconscious recognizing similar body language. I could use all the help I could get. “Not here.”
He looked around. “You sure?”
“Do you see them?”
“Never know,” he said, holding my gaze like he knew something I didn’t. I stared back, wondering if he was pulling my leg, or if Amaranthine and Daevos members could make themselves invisible too. I knew the Amaranthine and Daevos had powers, but Alex and Emil hadn’t exactly been forthcoming about what exactly those powers were. I knew they had to do with Trackers and spells, but wasn’t sure how it all worked. I needed to be more proactive finding out more about what those powers were, and how they functioned. Based on Hannah’s display fifteen minutes ago, the Daevos could definitely do more than take souls. And since they were trying to take me, I’d gathered the more powerful the Tracker they had helping them, the more power the Daevos—and maybe Amaranthine—had.
Tate had been watching me puzzle it out and interrupted my thoughts, “Seriously, where are they? They never let you out of their sight this long.”
“Yeah they do,” I said. “Sometimes I take long showers to get away from them.”
Tate laughed. “You think they’re not watching you in there?”
I frowned. Emil wasn’t watching me in there, at least, not unless he had a secret magic ring like Alex’s, x-ray vision, or really could go invisible. Alex had said he tried to give me privacy sometimes. I’d assumed the shower—and bathroom time in general—was one of those instances. I’d been spending a lot of time in the bathroom because of it. I didn’t want to think about that not being the case, so I answered Tate’s question, “Alex is busy playing Switzerland between the Amaranthine and “Rebel” Protectors. Emil went along to try and convince everyone involved that the Daevos aren’t part of the Tracker abductions.”
Tate stared. “So they left you, probably with instructions to stay home, and instead you went to a party and almost got kidnapped? Again?” He whistled like I was in trouble. “That was dumb. Good luck explaining yourself.”
Yes, I’d already established that. I didn’t need to hear it from this yahoo, too. I screwed up. But there was no way I’d admit it to him. “You saw me; I handled myself.”
“Yeah, until you didn’t. Why weren’t you using your powers to fight them? It would have been a lot easier.”
It wasn’t any of his business why I hadn’t used my powers. “I said, I handled it.”
He watched me closely, biting the inside of his cheek. I could tell more questions I didn’t want to answer were coming. I wasn’t sure I trusted this guy, but he sure knew a lot about me, Alex, and Emil. I wanted them to confirm his identity. Maybe I was about to make another bad decision, but I was on a roll tonight and figured another couldn’t hurt. I picked through the coats on the bed and slid mine on. “Come on.” I grabbed his arm. He stumbled slightly, unprepared for me to navigate him.
“Where am I going?” He asked as we walked through the deserted house. A radio blared an upbeat pop song—the only sign the house and lawn had been crowded with drunk college kids less than twenty minutes ago.
“To my house.” We walked out of the house, down the driveway to the snow covered sidewalk.
He raised a brow. “Why am I going there?”
I steered him down the street to my Mustang. I wondered if he had a car here. Hmm. Probably. And it was probably worth at least ninety grand—the supernatural sign-on bonus. Oh well, he’d have to get it later. “Two reasons: One, I want confirmation you’re really Emil’s brother.”
He snorted. “Come on. Even if you don’t remember, you have to see the resemblance.”
I took in his coffee colored brown hair, square jaw, and wide grin. Maybe. Maybe I just didn’t want to see it. I continued with my reason list, “Two, if you are Emil’s brother, Alex and Emil need to know you’re here.” Plus, if they know you were with me tonight, and you’re not a threat, I might not get in as much trouble, I added in my head.
“And if they know I was with you at the party, you might not get in as much trouble.”
> I stopped, staring at him. Was he a mind reader too? Was that one of his powers?
He shook his head. “Your motives are transparent. Women don’t do manipulation well.”
I laughed out loud. “Are you kidding me? Have you spent any time around women at all? I dare you to hang out with a group of high school girls for a day. Then come back and tell me we don’t know about manipulation. We come with it ingrained in our psyche straight out of the womb. What do you think cleavage is for?”
I got in my Mustang and reached across the seat, unlocking the door for Tate. He whistled as he sat. “I’ve wanted to ride in this since I first started watching you.” If he really was Emil’s brother, good car taste ran in the family.
I started the car, moving it into the street. “Yeah. Speaking of that, how long have you been stalking me?”
“Since I got here.”
“Which was?”
“The same time as Emil. I followed him.”
“Why?”
He paused, staring out the window. I didn’t think he was going to answer, but he finally said, “Because Emil doesn’t always make the best decisions.”
Interesting. I hadn’t talked to Emil much about his family, but in the few discussions we’d had, I’d gathered he was kind of a lone-wolf. He’d only mentioned his brother once in conversation, and it was only to let me know he was alive. I’d assumed he didn’t have much contact with his family at all. “I got the impression you and Emil don’t get along.”
Tate looked over at me. “We get along fine, we just don’t see eye-to-eye on some things.”
“Like what?”
“The Daevos, and Emil’s place in it.”
I wanted to know more about that, but I was pulling into the driveway. I knew Alex and Emil weren’t out of their meeting yet. If they had been, Alex would have immediately checked his ring, saw I wasn’t where I was supposed to be, and hunted me down. It would not have been pleasant. Explaining to him why I left wouldn’t be either.
I pulled into the garage and got out of the car. “Come inside,” I said. “But you have to stay in the basement until I come and get you.”
“Why?” he asked slowly.
“Because Alex is going to be spitting fire that I left tonight. Emil probably won’t be happy either. I need some time to explain my side before I tell them I brought home a stray soul killer.”
He smiled. “Is there anything to do down there, or am I just supposed to stare at the wall?”
“There’s a Wii. And movies. But be quiet until I tell you to come out.”
He considered for a few seconds. “Okay. I’ll do it, but you have to bring me a sandwich and a Coke.”
“I can do the sandwich,” I said, “but not the Coke.”
“You have something against soda?”
“No, but my roommate’s boyfriend despises it and we only keep Pepsi in the house.”
He snorted. “They’re the same thing.”
“Don’t ever tell Zach that.” I said, closing the garage. “He’ll beat you with his Pepsi cans.” Tate followed me inside the house.
The dizzy feeling hit me on the way up the stairs. I’d just settled Tate into the basement with a sandwich and energy drink—which I’d found stocked in the fridge in place of Pepsi. Jas and Zach must be doing some serious studying. I managed to make it to the kitchen before I fell.
“You can’t let anyone know,” Tate warned, his eyes scanning the room.
I quickly moved away from the corridor, out of sight.
“I know,” Emil said.
I crouched behind a large vase, allowing me to see Emil and Tate, but still stay hidden from their view.
“Love—” Tate shook his head, utter disbelief etched over his face. “I don’t agree with it. I don’t even believe in it anymore.”
Emil’s eyes softened. “I can’t begin to describe the feeling, Tate. I’d do anything for her.”
I sighed at Emil’s words, and leaned on the vase, smiling. The vase fell to the ground with a noisy crash. Emil and Tate immediately stopped talking, startled. I muttered words I’d learned from servants who frequented gambling hells, and stepped away from the vase, pretending I’d just entered the room. “There you are! I was searching for you.” I frowned, looking down at the shattered pieces of pottery. “Unfortunately, I tripped, and the vase suffered for it.”
Tate spared me a glance that indicated he thought I was the equivalent of a slug. “Perhaps you should find a new toy,” Tate said, looking at me, but addressing Emil. “This one seems defective.”
Tate’s long, dark hair was pulled back with a leather band, his sharp features marking him as an aristocrat. I held his gaze and lifted my chest, standing taller. “Apparently manners weren’t a requirement in the stable.”
Tate inclined his head, his brow wrinkled. “What stable?”
“The one you were clearly raised in, my lord.”
Emil snorted a laugh and patted Tate on the shoulder. “I told you she was special.”
Tate narrowed his eyes. “Especially infuriating. You might regret your choice, brother.” Emil smiled down at me, love gleaming in his eyes. “Never.”
I smiled back. I felt the same way.
Sitting in a house with a room full of testosterone is not the most pleasant experience. I should know—I’d been surrounded by it in similar situations for months. In that time, I’d learned testosterone causes mostly sane guys to lose their freaking minds, especially if they think the person they love is in danger.
I was perched, rigid, on the edge of my chair in the living room as Alex paced the room, the veins in his neck bulging and plainly visible from ten feet away. Emil was calmer, as usual, but just as unhappy. His normally relaxed demeanor was replaced with tense muscles, despite the comfy couch he sat on. My lecture had started the second Alex and Emil walked in the door and I’d told them about my party adventure. The lecture had been going on for more than thirty minutes.
Alex stopped stomping around the room long enough to ask, “Tell me again why you lied and went out with people from school we don’t know?” He took a few more steps, his voice getting louder. “Why you would take that risk after everything that’s happened in the last eight months, and the last few weeks especially?”
I looked from Alex to Emil. Emil watched me, not giving any indication Alex was overreacting. To be fair, he wasn’t. I’d made a stupid mistake because I wanted to prove that I could take care of myself. I wasn’t perfect and let my need for normalcy drive my actions. Something had finally snapped in me and I just wanted to go to a college party like every other college student. One night away from the insanity of my life. But I’d almost been hurt in the process. And if Robert, Brian, and Hannah hadn’t sent the rest of the students peacefully away, I could have put them in danger too. It was a dumb choice, and I owned it. I wouldn’t make it again. This was my life; it would never be normal. I had to come to terms with that.
I sat taller, addressing them both. “I know it was a bad decision. I take full responsibility for that. I shouldn’t have done it, and I’m sorry.” This was the tenth time I’d apologized—at least. “However, I took that risk, because despite what the two of you seem to think, you don’t own me. You’re withholding more information from me than you should. You can’t keep telling me what to do without cluing me into all the details. You say you’re sick of waiting, that you want me to decide who my soul mate is. Until you treat me like an equal, I’m not choosing either one of you!”
“We’re keeping you safe,” Alex growled.
“No, not safe,” I answered. “You’re keeping me in a cage.”
“Tonight is a perfect example of why you can’t be alone. I don’t know how you got out of the mess, and I’m glad you did, but it won’t happen again.”
I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. “I got out of it because I can take care of myself.”
“Well,” came a voice with a slight southern lilt from the other room, “that’s no
t entirely true, is it, darlin’?”
Dammit! We’d agreed he wouldn’t come out until I was ready to tell Alex and Emil.
Alex whirled on the voice. Emil’s whole body froze as Tate walked into the room. Alex’s arms were out in a defensive position, but his eyes widened in recognition. His arms faltered, lowering slightly, as if wondering whether Tate was a risk or not. Emil stood slowly, locking eyes with Tate.
“Nice accent,” Emil said, testing the waters. “I haven’t heard that since we lived in Texas during the Civil War.”
Tate grinned, and suddenly, with them both in the room, the resemblance was obvious: the wavy hair, square jaws, perfectly straight teeth, and smiles to die for. “Those were good times. The gambling, the people…though I miss Buttercup the most.”
I looked at Emil. “Buttercup?”
Emil seemed slightly amused. “His horse.”
“She was a beauty,” Tate replied. “Never loved anyone more than her.”
I found that hard to believe. Emil was charming, but with the accent and small town boy persona, Tate could probably take charm to military levels—if he was actually trying to be charming instead of aggravating. I imagined the trail of women he’d left in his wake over the years was in the triple digits.
“Anyway,” Tate continued, “I haven’t been Texas Tate for a while. Wanted to try a change. And it fits in well ‘round these parts. Lots of country people.”
Tate had temporarily thickened his accent—for Emil’s benefit I imagined. I half expected him to whip out a belt buckle the size of a plate, Wranglers so tight they’d put his potential children at risk, and plop a straw cowboy hat, complete with leather band above the brim, on his head.
It was hard to wrap my head around Tate and Emil being in Texas a hundred and forty five years ago, and having a horse named Buttercup. Yes, I understood being a Daevos member also meant you were immortal, but so far, I’d only heard about Alex and Emil’s life with Cassandra. It was strange to know they’d lived so many years without my soul being a direct part of their lives, and also, that those years were missing from my knowledge of them as a whole. My flashbacks couldn’t pull memories I’d never experienced. Which meant I’d have to trust what they said about their own lives without the benefit of flashbacks to confirm the information. I didn’t like that at all. I trusted Emil more than Alex, but I knew they both kept things from me, even if they didn’t mean to. Keeping secrets for centuries would be a hard habit to break.
Eternal Echoes, Emblem of Eternity Trilogy Book 2 Page 18