Until a slow smirk took up residence on his gorgeous mouth.
“Scared of a little owl, huh?”
Mumbling, I shoved out of his grasp. “Hardly.”
Kale’s grin broadened as he folded his arms across his chest. “Uh-huh.”
I clasped my hands behind my back. Kicked one toe into the dirt. “I just thought…well, you know…controlling a lightning bolt might be useful now and then.”
“Uh-huh.” Shoulders shaking with a silent laugh, he turned around and beckoned me to follow.
“Really.” So the next time he put me in a predicament like this I could teach him a memorable lesson.
I paused mid-step. Next time? There wasn’t going to be a next time. I was going to follow him until I recognized where we were. Then I intended to take off. Strength in numbers, or something like that.
“You’re in camarilla territory,” he called over his shoulder. “Everything is hidden. To get out, you have to recognize the magic. See it, if you will.”
See magic. Well, hell. I sighed deeply. “No chance you’re going to point the way?” I had to try.
“We’ll see what Gerard says.”
I eyed the back of Kale’s blond head. “And if he doesn’t agree with that idea?”
“Then we’ll figure something out.”
“And I’m just supposed to believe you’re telling the truth?”
Kale stopped abruptly, once again nearly causing me to collide with his broad back. He faced me, his head cocked at a thoughtful angle. “I never lie.”
I let out a disbelieving snort. “Tell me something I haven’t heard before.”
He studied me again, making it damn near impossible not to squirm. God, he made me uncomfortable.
“You don’t trust anybody, do you?”
Choosing not to answer, I set my jaw. Some things didn’t deserve a response. Besides, he’d worked more conversation out of me, wrested free more truths than I’d shared with anyone in too many years to count.
“Okay, Halle, how about a pact?” Kale leaned back against a tree trunk, his fingers tucked into the front pockets of his jeans.
Mistrust filtered through me. Deals weren’t exactly my thing. They usually left me obligated in ways I didn’t want to be bound. Nevertheless, I heard myself ask, “What do you have in mind?”
“We’ll swear it here, before we go inside.” He crossed one ankle over the other. “You give us three days. If you haven’t found any reason you want to stay by then, I’ll take you back to your warehouse, regardless of what Gerard says, and walk away without argument.”
A deal that was completely to my advantage—I squinted at Kale. “Three days?”
“That’s what I said, isn’t it? Say the word, and I’ll take you home.”
Still way too good to be true. He wasn’t easing my apprehension at all. “What’s in it for you?”
“For me?” Kale shook his head. “Nothing. Gerard will be pissed, but it’s not like he hasn’t been before. I said I’d bring you in, not that I’d hold you hostage. I have nothing to gain or lose.”
“No, you gain something, or you wouldn’t be so accommodating.”
He thrust out his hand. “All you have to do is say the word, Halle.”
Three days. It wasn’t like I had anything pressing to do. I wasn’t scheduled at the Frost Club for another four. I could spare three days to learning about my powers.
Kale waggled his fingers. “Deal or not?”
“It’s totally in my favor!” I exclaimed, unable to believe he’d just cut me loose when he’d gone to so much trouble to bring me this far.
Dead-pan serious, he held my disbelieving stare. “I know.”
“And what happens if I want to leave earlier…or stay longer?”
“It’s a pact, Halle. You tell me you want to go, and I’ll take you home.”
There had to be a catch of some sort. Human beings didn’t just give without receiving something in return. Still, the pull of understanding my gifts was stronger. I had been waiting years for someone to be able to tell me how to connect with the elements and manipulate them to my advantage. I couldn’t walk away, no matter how I distrusted Kale.
Tentatively, I slid my hand into his. “I’m only agreeing because knowing how to control my abilities is pretty important, I’d think.”
His warm fingers squeezed mine. “You have my word.”
Five
Ten feet into a cool stone tunnel, I realized I was still needlessly clinging to Kale’s hand. That sort of intimacy, no matter how casual it might have been, crossed barriers no man had ever breached. I could enjoy a good romp in the sack like anyone my age, but interlaced fingers did something weird to my insides. It felt nice. Too nice. And repulsive at the same time. I shook his comfortable grip off and stuffed my hand into my back jeans pocket.
He glanced my way but merely motioned me to follow around a bend. The ground slanted beneath my feet, telling me we were going down into the earth, but the pitch was easy and the hard-packed earth smooth. The deeper we went, the cooler the air became. Typical cave atmosphere, though try as I might I couldn’t recall a cave being in this part of the woods. He wasn’t kidding when he said the camarilla territory was hidden. Not by a long shot.
As we walked, a curious light illuminated several feet ahead. Faint turquoise, eye-catching violet, and a pink that was somewhere between neon and pastel shimmered against the smooth stone walls. My mind conjured pictures from Indiana Jones, where lost treasure sat in tucked-away niches. The fantastic kind that came with booby-traps and ancient curses. Though I guess, maybe, the curses part might not be so far off.
I chuckled, amused at the thought. I could just picture the two of us hauling ass out the way we came, some ginormous boulder chasing us down.
“Anything you want to share?” Kale asked, curiosity touching the arch of his brow.
I gestured at the approaching light. “You’re hiding the Well of Souls, aren’t you?”
His expression crinkled with puzzlement. “Huh?”
“Never mind.” Clearly someone lacked an appreciation for classic films.
“The light?” he pressed.
“No, genius, the stone.”
A smirk formed at one corner of his mouth. “Just wait.”
Wait on what? Unless they’d trapped the Northern Lights down here—which I would have cut off thumbs to see—a strange glow didn’t promise anything exciting. So it was a little light. A little rainbow effect that would probably end up being some strand of Christmas bulbs strung—
I stopped dead in my tracks, a gasp sliding from my lips. Illuminated against a recessed portion of smooth stone, those vibrant colors morphed into a work of art. Had it been outside, in the heart of a big city, the pictures could have been graffiti. There were no precise images, just elaborate, intricate designs that overlapped and intertwined with one another until they were all one big collage.
More than that—though the art itself was amazing—was the 3-D quality the lights possessed. They were frescoed in such a fashion that it looked like tiny lasers projected the radiant beams, though nothing indicated they came from a mechanized source. I reached out, spellbound, and dipped my fingers into a narrow line of lime green. The colors oozed with the motion of my hand, following my fingers like some living watercolor.
“Pretty huh?” Kale asked quietly.
His voice drew me out of my mystified trance. Slowly, I turned a circle, inspecting my surroundings, certain I’d discover what device cast the picture on the wall.
“The healers handle the decorating.” Kale reached into the design and swirled a shaft of opaque white.
“How?” The word tumbled free in all its dumbfounded glory.
Kale shrugged. “Anyone who has magic in their blood can do it. Even kids. It’s really just a hat-trick, but it keeps the healers busy most of the time.”
Wait. I had magic in my bloodstream. Did that mean
I could do this sort of thing?
Kale must have read the question in my expression, or maybe it was the way I studied him, like I was waiting for him to bust out laughing at my gullibility. He held out his hand, palm up, fingers closed in a loose fist. As he opened his hand, he murmured a quiet word I’d never heard before.
No sparks shot from his fingers. No tendrils of light danced off his skin. But against the wall, just beside the breathtaking mural, a small green rabbit danced to life.
“Go ahead.” He gave me a grin. “You try.”
Despite the excitement that stirred behind my ribs, I tucked my hand back into my pocket and shook my head. “That’s okay.” With my absolute lack of control over my gifts, the trick would probably fizzle out, and I definitely didn’t want to experience that sort of humiliation.
“Seriously, Halle. Give it a try. It’s super simple.” He grabbed my forearm and pried my hand out of my pocket. “Make a fist.”
Chewing on my lower lip, I obliged. Damn, I so did not want to do this in front of him. But double damn, I wanted to accomplish this.
“Now, think of something you want to appear. Anything. When you open your palm, the command is marosi.”
Marosi. I rolled the word around on my tongue, sifting through various ideas in my head. A beach scene leapt to mind, but I tamped that down. Better keep it simple. The disappointment would be easier to bear. Not to mention the embarrassment.
Instead, I thought of the simplest thing I could imagine—a red and black ladybug. Two colors—limit the potential for error.
Mimicking his quiet utterance, I splayed my fingers and murmured the command. Warmth sizzled across my palm, a pleasant tingling that made my heart skip a beat or three. This was happening. Really happening!
Expectantly, I watched the wall, waiting for my stunning ladybug to leap to life. A black spot formed on the stone. Before I could blink, that spot grew legs and antennae and a fat, round little body. Splashes of red wove in, and I swear, one fragile wing fluttered into place atop its back.
Oh, my God! I’d done it! I really managed to do something with magic when I wanted it to happen. It didn’t matter that the colors were reversed—red spots instead of black—I had cast a spell. Holy shit!
Kale cleared his throat, choking back a laugh that lingered in his eyes. “Not bad for your first time.”
His gaze held mine, and something changed then. I don’t know if it was him, if it was me, or if it was really tangible or not. But that same odd warmth I’d felt across my palm spread into my chest. He had given me this, and the gift wasn’t lost on me. Years and years of frustration began to give way to the possibility that maybe Kale was right. Maybe by joining up with them there was hope for me. That I could, somehow, master control over the odd power I had stumbled onto as a kid.
I stared at the backward ladybug, soaking everything in. When I’d left my dingy warehouse corner earlier tonight, I’d been on a mission. One that was destined to fail. In the hours since, I’d come to understand more about me that I’d ever suspected. And this pain in the ass man had given me a certain sort of freedom no one else had ever offered.
“Can I try again?” I asked quietly.
His voice was warm and soothing as he answered, “I’ll wait as long as you want.”
That same sense of nervous, excited, anticipation slid over me again as I sifted through possibilities in my mind. I finally settled on a tree. Not anything outrageous like the romantic willows by the lake or the dogwoods that flowered in spring. A simple brown trunk with a green top.
When I opened my palm this time, the image looked more reasonable. The colors were in the right places, but the shape itself was fuzzy. Like watercolor on canvas, compared to the three-dimensional holographic art the healers created. Then again, when it came to art, stick figures were masterpieces for me. Nevertheless, I wasn’t satisfied. I tried again.
And again. And again. Until a dozen or more little random pictures adorned the wall. My final attempt was a swirling, dark grey tornado. My mark, so to speak. That image worked more than I had expected. It actually moved against the wall, turning in stationary circles, altering size and shape at intervals.
“It’s all in how much reality you picture in your head.” Kale broke the silence he’d lapsed into while I piddled with what amounted to magical crayons.
“Guess that explains that.” Satisfied, I tucked my hands back into my pocket. “We can go now.” I’d done it. I’d really freakin’ done it. Giddiness threatened to plaster a goofy grin on my face.
“Happy?” he asked as he started down the tunnel once more.
What an odd question. I don’t think anyone had asked me how I felt since Mom passed. I really didn’t know how to answer, so I scoffed and shrugged, playing my sense of accomplishment off. “Ask me when I can summon the real thing.”
The faintest shadow of a frown crossed his face, but he didn’t say anything. In fact, he left me to study the other fantastic pictures we passed in complete silence, not speaking until we reached the end of the tunnel and hit a staircase that led both up and down.
Kale pointed down. “Residential quarters for those who want to live in the camarilla and guests.”
“People live here? Underground?”
“It’s not so underground. There’s a full garden down there, including a fresh-water pond, year-round flowers, and a tire swing.”
“Yeah right.” Hello—did he think I was born yesterday? I knew enough about geology to discount that fantastic claim. Caves did not bear soil. Even if they did, sunlight was out of the question.
“Seriously.” Kale grinned.
“Oh, you mean more of the healers’ work.” That I could accept. Some of the art I’d passed looked real enough to convince a person there were portals to different worlds on these walls.
He shook his head, his grin broadening. “Gerard doesn’t lead the camarilla because he can control a little wind, Halle. Nor does his advisory council merely study old scrolls and history lessons.” He mounted the stairs leading up. “C’mon. You’ll see the residential quarters soon enough. By now your magic has been sensed, and they’re likely waiting on us.”
“Sensed?” I echoed as I followed him up the elaborate stone.
“Everyone is different. As you become familiar with magic, you’ll recognize imprints, if you will, of those you work with. Particularly those you don’t.”
I filed the information away. I was still too full of that unsettling giddiness and warmth to wrap my head around everything. Kale had liberated me. Even after I sent him into convulsions with a stray lightning bolt. He hadn’t held that mishap against me—another something I didn’t fail to miss.
Though experience told me favors weren’t often granted without an expectation of something in return. Kale wasn’t stupid. He had sense enough to recognize opportunity. And by teaching me something about my crazy power, he surely knew I owed him one. Maybe two.
I decided to explore my options. “You said the camarilla needs me. What for?” God, did this climb never end? And had we just passed a door? I glanced over my shoulder, but the shadow I’d seen no longer presented.
Kale’s steps slowed, as if he resisted the question physically. “It’s pretty complicated.”
My gaze narrowed on the back of his head—just what I expected. Evasion was the first hint someone wanted something pretty drastic. “Most things are. Spit it out, buddy.”
His stride faltered. Once. I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t watching him so closely. My pulse ratcheted up a notch. What had I gotten myself into? No, better yet, what did he want from me?
Anger rushed up, overriding sense. “I knew it!” Coming to an abrupt stop in the middle of the staircase, I gripped the railing like I wanted to grab onto his neck. “You aren’t bringing me here to teach me my abilities. It’s just a ruse. Maybe I’ll learn something, but there’s something in this for you!”
I was so out of h
ere. I’d actually believed him when he said he had no stake in whether I came along or not. Damn it, I should have known better.
I turned, intending to bolt back the way I came.
“No!” He whipped around in the same motion, saving me from the sudden realization that I couldn’t go home without his help by forcing me into an argument. “No, Halle. It’s not that!”
Kale jogged down the four steps that separated us and stopped on the one above me. More quietly, he repeated, “It’s not that at all.”
There was something in his expression, something open and genuine. Something I’d only ever witnessed in my sister’s face. Something…decent. I couldn’t stop my scowl, but down in my gut, I sensed Kale was telling the truth, and I didn’t want to acknowledge it.
He reached for my hand. I didn’t pull away. Not even when his warm fingers curved around mine and his thumb gently stroked the back of mine. “We’re in a war of sorts.” The breath he puffed out was hard and heavy. “Gerard thinks you can tip the scale to our advantage.”
“A war? Why me? I’m powerless.” And from what I’d seen, Kale was strong. If he wasn’t advantage enough, I certainly had nothing to offer. Not that I particularly wanted to get caught up in a war either. But I wasn’t going to do that, anyway. I was going to learn my stuff and go back to my hunt for my uncle.
“Really, let’s talk about this with Gerard. I know he’s waiting on us, and the longer he waits, the shorter his temper gets.”
He could wait all damn day as far as I was concerned.
“Please?” Kale brushed his thumb across mine again.
Maybe it was that undesirable caress, maybe it had just been so long since I’d heard the word please that my defenses failed me. But I felt my entire body sag as anger seeped away. “Fine,” I muttered, yanking my fingers out of his grasp once more. “Just stop touching me.”
Before the Storm Page 4