My head began to spin. I wasn’t hearing this right. There weren’t a dozen other people out to destroy my uncle. That was my job. My right. “Keep talking.”
A shadow passed across Kale’s expression, but it vanished as he ran a hand through his hair. “Gerard—”
“Your father,” I interjected, just in case he doubted that I’d noticed.
He paused for a heartbeat, long enough for his lips to purse before he consented with a slow nod. “Yeah. My father.”
“You should have told me.”
He nodded again, every bit as slow and thoughtful. “Yeah, I probably should have. I’m sorry.”
Wow. An apology? I eased myself onto the floor in front of him, sitting Indian-style. I’d save the interrogation on family relations for later. If he was apologizing, this must be serious.
A deep, short boom rumbled around us. My heartbeat kicked up a notch, and unease filtered into my spine. Glancing around nervously, I urged, “Keep going.”
Kale tapped the wall behind him. “Those are our warriors. They’re defending the woodland perimeter. The snarl you heard—all activity on the eastern border is amplified magically and filtered inside here so we can’t be taken by surprise.”
“So the Yaksini broke through the perimeter? How? Why?” I cocked my head, regarding him thoughtfully. “And if you’re a warrior, shouldn’t you be out there too?”
“Yeah.” His gaze turned toward the ceiling, a touch introspective. “Yeah, I should be. But I made you a deal, and I keep my word.”
Okay, talk about making a girl feel guilty. I didn’t want to be his obligation. Not by a long shot. At the same time, as an agonized scream filled the small cavern, I was awfully glad he wasn’t out there. Strange, I know. I only vaguely knew what the word friendship meant. And yet, I couldn’t stand the thought of his being harmed.
Maybe because he’d gone to such lengths to keep me safe. Maybe it was some sort of internal mutual protection thing. He’d saved me a couple times over; therefore, I was going to will him into safety since I had no idea how to pull off the physical act.
Maybe it was just the fated nature of our relationship.
“Anyway,” Kale continued, bringing his gaze level with mine again. Gerard’s power is fading. All the elders do. It takes about a hundred and fifty years, but then it starts to wan. That’s why he married Beth. She can infuse him, so to speak, for a while.”
“Whoa. You mean to tell me your father is over one hundred years old?”
His mouth curved into a damn sexy smirk. “Over two. Two hundred and fourteen, to be precise.”
I could help it; I had to know. “And…you?”
He chuckled. “How old are you, Halle?”
I scowled. “None of your business.” No way was I going to have him start treating me like some little kid by confessing I was just twenty-two. Particularly if he was ancient or something.
“We can trade that info later then.” He leaned back against the wall again and closed his eyes.
Another boom reverberated off the walls, punctuated by the chilling echo of those gurgling snarls. Shouts broke out. Unintelligible words I couldn’t decipher, but definitely masculine.
“That’s why Gerard wants your help. Others can control storms. It’s almost natural for our kind. But no one, not even Beth, has commanded a tornado.” Opening his eyes, he pinned me with a heavy, meaningful look.
So that’s why she didn’t like me. Now it made sense. As powerful as she might be, I somehow intimidated her.
I left Beth out of the conversation for the time being. “Gerard thinks I can overpower my uncle?”
“He thinks you have the means.”
“Let me get this straight, your father wants me to take that bastard out?” A sense of pure, unadorned giddiness crept down my spine. This was too good to be true.
“Not exactly.”
Yep, damn it—too good to be true.
“You can’t kill him. Not until we recover something that he has. Once we do…” He shrugged. “Maybe you’ll have your full power then.”
“Well that’s simple enough.” I chuckled, my sense of excitement returning once again. “Tell me where it is, and I’ll get it. I can sneak into his house when he’s not around. When my sister is at school and Aunt Peg is out.”
Kale shook his head, soft laughter rumbling in his chest. “It’s not that simple. It’s heavily guarded.”
It was my turn to shrug. He clearly hadn’t seen my ability to procure the things I needed without ever being discovered. A kid didn’t survive on the streets for as many years as I had without developing certain, shall we say, talents. He’d learn. Now, however, wasn’t the time to brag about my criminal activities.
Weird wailing broke out beyond the wall. A sound that took the form of an anguished sob but also resembled a coyote’s howl. Whatever it was made my blood turn cold. Reflexively, I held my breath. Waiting. For what, I didn’t know. But I sensed it would come.
“Banshees.” Definite concern etched into his features. “If they’re out there…” He rose and began to prowl the confinement. After a few paces, he slapped an open palm on the wall. “Damn!”
“What is it, Kale?”
“It’s…” He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “Nothing. I’m sure my men will take care of them. Just stay away from the eastern border.”
It was definitely something. I didn’t press, though. Truth to tell, I wasn’t certain I wanted to know. Not if it could provoke that depth of concern from Kale.
“Can they…get in here?”
“The compound?” He chuckled again. “Not likely. If they did, it would be because no one would be left to defend it. Our magic is strong out there, but it’s tripled inside these walls. The stone feeds it.”
“Huh?”
He eased back into a sitting position, opposite me once more. “Our magic is natural, Halle. It comes from the living things around us.”
“Please. Rocks aren’t alive.”
“But they were.” He pinched a handful of sand-sized pebbles off the stone floor. “They started out as minerals and crystals. Their atoms rearranged of their own accord and compounded. Those minerals and crystals still have atomic energy. It might not be like plutonium, able to do something tangible, but it’s there all the same.” He let the gravel sift through his fingers. “It’s tangible to any magic user. Just like air, and water, and sunlight.”
Oh good God, if science was part of this learning magic business, I was doomed to fail. I’d tried chemistry in eighth grade. Let’s just say I definitely didn’t come out on the winning side of that battle.
Kale smiled at me then, really smiled. The kind of sympathetic, charming smile that could get a girl in trouble if she wasn’t paying real close attention to what tumbled out of a guy’s mouth next.
To my horror, my heart fluttered. Damn it! I was immune to those smiles. What the hell was wrong with me?
“It’s a lot easier in practice, not theory.” He leaned back, his weight braced on his hands. “All you really need to understand is magic is natural and comes from everything around us, while the Yaksini’s doesn’t.”
Ignoring the way my pulse struggled back into a normal rhythm, I focused on the conversation. “What is theirs?”
“Undead, unholy, devil-powers—call it whatever you want. It’s dark, it’s corrupt, and it’s deadly.”
Oh. Joy. Just what I wanted to get myself into. A war between things that likely came straight from horror novels. On the other hand, if it was the only way to damage my uncle before he could hurt my sister more, I didn’t have much choice.
“I’m going to kill him, Kale.”
He remained silent.
“Just so you know. If that disagrees with you in some way, you better take me back to my warehouse. He’s hurt my sister. And before he can hurt her more, he has to go.”
His blue eyes filled with a speculative light. His
voice was quiet. “What did your dad do, Halle?”
Everything inside me turned as rigid as the stone surrounding us. That subject was off limits. Only Aunt Peg knew, and it was going to stay that way.
Kale must have observed the stiffening of my spine. He glanced up at the tall ceiling, tipped his head as if listening, then jumped to his feet. “Sounds like its over. Let’s go see what happened.” He stretched out his hand, offering to help me to my feet.
This time, I took it. Maybe I needed the contact after the memory of my father. It had been years since I’d confronted the memory like that. Maybe it was just okay to let Kale help with something so innocent. I really didn’t know. But for once, it was kinda nice to put my trust out like that. Even if it did only last for a handful of seconds.
When I was on my feet again, I stuffed my hands into my pockets. “You think everyone’s okay?”
He shook his head. “The banshees were here—I’m certain I lost men. Probably good friends. But that’s the nature of war.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I mumbled, uncertain what else to say. It hit me then, Kale Norwood wore the same hard shell I did. Some might call it calloused or cold and unfeeling. Really, it was all just a measure of self-preservation.
Eight
We stopped on a different floor this time. One of the many in between the level I’d first seen and the residential quarters. I made a mental note to investigate that oasis in the cave’s belly later. Its existence fascinated me.
When Kale opened the door off the landing, chaos greeted us. Men and woman raced back and forth, moving between seated wounded and a few on cot-like beds. Those who had been wearing white now wore bloodstains as well. Moans filled the air, along with urgent directives.
This is real.
The dawning settled over me, weighing down my feet. All of this was real. The magic. The war. The people dying, maybe, in front of me. And for some reason…all of them were depending on me. Me.
I so didn’t want that responsibility. I couldn’t handle it. I was twenty-two for God’s sake, and I hadn’t had a family since my mother died. I didn’t want to be depended on—I wanted to go to the beach. My entire life, for the most part, was built on freedoms I’d created, and that kind of responsibility only trapped me.
I edged closer to the door, letting Kale go to Gerard, who stood in the center of the room, conferring with two men who looked to be around Kale’s age. He joined them, clasped the shoulder of a black-haired man, and said something that the noise swallowed. From their torn shirts and the dried blood smeared across their faces, I guessed they were fellow warriors.
Both strangers turned to look at me.
I lifted my chin, held their steady gazes. Nothing to look at here, guys.
They turned, once more immersed in conversation. As I watched, Kale’s head bent. His shoulders expanded as he heaved a heavy breath. He twisted away from the trio and wandered to the cot at the furthest end of the ward. The occupied cot no one attended.
Kale took a knee beside the bed, his head bowed. A man lay on the sheets. I couldn’t make out anything else but his general size—too large, too broad for a woman. His face was exposed, or so I assumed. And across the sheet that covered his torso spread a dark crimson stain.
After a moment, Kale pushed to his feet, reached over the man, and pulled the sheet to the headboard, covering him completely.
Oh, God. I was standing in the same room as a dead man. Chills spread over my skin, and my stomach made an uncomfortable lurch. I didn’t do dead mice, let alone dead people. I needed air. Now.
Reaching behind me, I fumbled for the door. It gave suddenly, opened from the outside, nearly sending me flying backward on my ass. I managed to keep my feet beneath me and scrambled onto the landing with a brief, apologetic glance at a red-haired woman who looked every bit as surprised as I.
She gave me a shy nod and skirted inside. The door shut heavily, ominously, behind her. Silence descended around me, occasionally punctuated by a harsh shout from within that healing ward.
I didn’t know how long I stood there, looking over the railing, down the winding set of stairs. It could have been a few minutes, or a few hours. My head swam with thoughts, each one making it that much harder to breathe. Was my uncle’s demise really worth all this? Wouldn’t Gerard and his people get what they wanted if I forged my own way and handled him as I had intended? I knew I could get the storms to cooperate again. I just needed to be passionate enough about it.
But what if I failed? What if the next thunderstorm came, and I tried, and nothing happened? If I stayed here, my odds of success doubled, at least. Wouldn’t Florida be just the same six weeks from now?
“Halle, are you all right?”
Kale’s voice spooked me so badly I almost pitched over the railing. One hand clutched around the smooth iron bar, I jerked around to face him. “Jeez, sneak around much?”
The ambient light shifted as he stuffed his fingers through his hair, leaving it sticking up at odd angles. When he lowered his hand, lines of strain I hadn’t noticed before etched into his handsome face, giving his age suggestion. He still looked young, but he’d seen far more of life than twenty-five years could allow.
“Yeah. I’m fine,” I answered. Question was, was he? That he didn’t have a comeback for my smart remark revealed just how badly the attack affected him.
He sighed. “I’ll probably be tied up here most of the night. There’s still at least one banshee out there. I’ve got to plan a counter initiative. You want me to show you where you’ll be staying?”
“A counter initiative? You mean you’re going out there after it?”
His nod was distracted.
“Is that safe?” Stupid question. “I mean…of course it’s not safe. But, will you, you know…Is that a good idea?” Good grief. Where had my ability to talk gone?
Kale motioned for me to follow as he descended the stairs. “It has to be done. We can’t leave a banshee on the loose.”
“But…” Why? I’d heard that scream. The evidence of what he might face was in the room we’d just left.
“But?” he prompted.
The conversation was making me uncomfortable. I didn’t know how to tell him that I didn’t want him getting hurt. Nor did I know why the idea of his being injured made my stomach seize and my pulse run cold. So I did what I normally did when I was uneasy. I fell back on sarcasm.
“You realize if you get hurt I’m going to be stuck with your peach of a stepmother, right? And if that happens, she’s apt to come out of it missing some hair. Maybe a displaced nose.”
Despite the air of melancholy that clung to his broad shoulders, he chuckled. But his words were somber enough to make my throat dry. “It’s what I do, Halle. I have to go.”
“Can’t you make the plans and send someone else?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Worried about me?”
I scoffed. “Worried you’ll break our agreement. I came here to learn my powers. I can’t do that if my teacher’s stuck in some cot.”
“Your consideration is heartwarming.”
Trying for my best light-hearted voice, I quipped, “That’s me. All sugar.”
His pace quickened. “I’ll be fine. That’s why I have to go, not my men.”
I arched an eyebrow at the back of his head. “Are you immune or something?”
“You could say so.”
“So you can’t get hurt.” Relief washed through me.
“Oh, I can be hurt. But a banshee can’t kill me.”
Gee. So much for making a girl feel more confident. My stomach clamped again, and I chewed on the inside of my cheek to stop a ridiculous protest from slipping free. What he did wasn’t my concern. If he wanted to put himself in danger, who was I to stop him? It wasn’t like I’d be seeing Kale again after these three days passed.
I changed the subject. “I don’t think I can do this, Kale.”
“Su
re you can. It’s as natural as breathing to someone who has magic in their blood.” He hit the bottommost landing and waited for me to catch up.
“No, not the magic thing.” I jogged the rest of the way down, then went in front of him, entering the brightly lit residential quarters. The sound of trickling water filled my ears, creating a stark contrast between the cheerful garden and the suffering I’d witnessed upstairs. “The thing where your father is relying on me. I don’t want that responsibility.”
He chuckled again, gave a shake of his head.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything.” He pointed to the far end of the flower-lined walk. “Your room is over here.”
I matched his purposeful stride. “You laughed.”
“No, I humphed.”
“So what does humph mean?”
His shrug held a touch of arrogance. “Whatever you want it to mean.”
“Look.” I stopped abruptly, my hands set on my hips. “You didn’t ask me to come down here and save the camarilla. You asked me to come here for three days to learn about my powers.”
He kept walking. “Yes. And?”
Raising my voice, I addressed his back. “I don’t want people depending on me.” When he didn’t respond, I said more loudly, “I don’t expect you to understand. You’re like some general or something. People depending on you is probably second nature. But I don’t do well that way.”
Kale finally turned around to look at me. “Don’t be so certain.” He pushed aside the branches on a hedge bush I didn’t recognize. “We have ducks here too. Be careful in the mornings. They take their ducklings on a walk, and if you’re in their path, the drake will chase you.”
Ducks? Had he heard a word of what I’d just said? More importantly, what did ducks have to do with the situation at hand? Throwing up my hands, I let out a frustrated mutter. “Can you focus? Seriously.”
He tossed me a questioning look. “Focus on what? If that’s how you feel, then it’s not my place to change your mind. I don’t want to discuss things right now. Come see the ducklings.”
Ducklings. Good lord. Then again, he did look harried. Maybe he just needed something completely nonthreatening right now. I walked to where he stood. Had I wanted him to object? Maybe put a little effort into convincing me otherwise? Surely not. I mean, why would he? But if I hadn’t wanted him to put up just a tiny bit of a fight, why did I feel so…disappointed?
Before the Storm Page 6