by J. L. Weil
“Are you going to eat that?” she asked, eyeballing my turkey club.
I pushed my plate toward the middle of the table. “Have at it.” She had an appetite like a horse. “How the heck do you stay so skinny?”
She gave me a pearly grin. “High metabolism.”
“Let me guess. Reaper perk?”
“Just one of many. You are going to love being supernatural. It’s the shit.”
Debatable. So far, being a Raven had caused me nothing but heartache and trauma.
She shoved the last piece of crust into her mouth. “Ready? Let’s blow this joint.”
I was right behind her. The smell of fresh bread wasn’t sitting well with the pit of constant worry in my stomach and the ball of unfairness.
Tossing my drink in the trash bin, the door jingled overhead as I pushed it open and lifted my head. The door swung closed behind me as I came eye to eye with my fian—my fianc—I couldn’t even think the word.
Awkward to the max.
Zander stood with the sun glinting at his back, picking up auburn tints in his hair. Surprise leaped into his silvery-violet eyes, mimicking my own. He was wearing a pair of tattered jeans and a white T-shirt. With the windblown hair and laid-back clothes, he reminded me of a surfer.
“Uh, hey.” In the back of my mind, I was trying to figure out how I was supposed to act around him now that I knew. Did he know that I knew? Was he as angry and upset as I was? Did he think it was unfair too? Good grief, I was going to give myself a migraine.
His fingers combed through his hair. “Hey.”
Zoe stifled a giggle. “Text me later?” Then she was out the door, walking down the street.
My eyes got huge. I couldn’t believe she left me. Alone. With Zander. What the hell was I going to say to him?
Absolutely nothing.
“You don’t have to avoid me, you know,” he said as he leaned against the building.
“What? Why would you think I’m avoiding you?”
He angled his head, trying to see my face. “Because you can’t even look me in the eye.”
Right. I was still staring at the invisible spot on his shirt. “I’m sorry. I guess, I don’t know what to say to you,” I openly admitted.
Several seconds passed before he spoke. “We should probably talk.”
My gaze darted up, finally meeting his. “Now?” I screeched like it was the most horrible idea he could suggest.
He gave me an understanding smile, watching me. “If you want, but from the panic in your face, we can wait until you’re ready.”
The thing was I wasn’t sure I would ever be ready to have the marriage talk with Zander, but I couldn’t tell him that. “I’m sorry. I’m handling this whole thing horribly.”
“It’s okay. And stop apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry for. For the record, there is no right way to handle this.”
“You’re a good guy…who deserve someone better than me.”
He stared at me a moment. Then his lashes lowered, sweeping his cheeks. “Because you have a thing for my brother?”
I opened my mouth and quickly clamped it shut, unable to believe what I had been about to blurt out. I hadn’t even admitted to myself what my feelings were for Zane. This was not how I wanted it to go.
“Look, Piper, I would never force you to do something you don’t want to do. I just needed to get that off my chest.”
His understanding tugged at my heart. I nodded.
“Let me walk you home.”
“Thanks, but it’s not necessary. You haven’t even eaten yet.”
“It’s not safe for you,” he argued.
“I get that, but I need some time to myself, to think. There’s a lot on my mind.” Hint. Hint.
Indecision spanned in his gray eyes, and I knew he was hassling with himself. It was sweet. Zander was nice. Too nice. With turmoil in his expression, he nodded and let me walk away.
I gave him credit. But the stroll along the beach helped settle my nerves. So it was only fitting, that just when things seemed calm, the shit storm hit.
Chapter 25
Hunkered down in my hoodie, I shivered as a cold front whipped through the island, shaking the leaves above. It was unusual weather we were having. Dark, ominous clouds gathered above. Wind lashed at my face, whirling stands of my hair and pushing against me as I walked. A storm was in the works, approaching faster by the minute. When I’d left Upper Crust, it had been clear skies for miles. Now I was positive I was going to get caught in a downpour.
I began to regret not taking Zander’s offer to walk me home. There was something eerie in the air, and it was giving me the creeps, solitariness no longer something I sought. Picking up the pace, I had this urge rise up my throat. I didn’t know what it was, but it was dying to break free.
As I whipped my head over my shoulder, prickles of paranoia skirted along my skin. Someone was following me, watching me from the glooms created by the storm. A shadow glided over the sandy beach to my right, moving far too quickly to be something of this Earth.
Reaper? Ghost? Hallow? All of the above?
Whatever it was, it was a sure sign of trouble.
Oh, goodie gumdrops.
Just thinking about the danger that lurked at every turn of this cursed island made the back of my mouth fill with a metallic taste. It had been so stupid and reckless to venture out on my own. After everything I’d recently learned, I knew I wasn’t safe, that there were reapers hunting me, and sure enough, they had come like a druggie searching for his favorite fix.
“Zane!” I screamed his name, not certain why. Or maybe I did know why. In the back of my mind, I heard Rose telling me my voice held power. I hoped she was right, because I was about to be in some hot water. The rational part of my brain thought there was no way he was going to hear me. How could he? As far as I knew, he was on the other side of the world, but I still couldn’t stop his name from hurtling from my lips.
It was always his name that came to mind at any sign of trouble.
I stood frozen for a few blood-pounding heartbeats, the wind howling around me, dark clouds rolling overhead. Screw this. If I waited like a sitting duck for Zane to save the day, I was going to find myself surrounded and defenseless. There was only one thing left to do. I spun around and took off, knowing I needed to get out of there before whoever was out there found me. I ran fast—faster than I’d ever run before, the hoodie flopping behind me like a cape. It felt like my feet weren’t even touching the ground, but I wasn’t going to analyze my sudden speed and agility now.
But no matter how fast I ran, I knew whatever was out there was faster.
I could sense them gaining, swallowing up the ground.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
A dark, murky shade appeared beside me, and then in a blink it was in front of me. I braced myself, ready to ram my hand into any part I could land on. I wasn’t going down without a fight.
When Zane’s face materialized, I almost hit him just for frightening the living crap out of me. “You asshole.” I shoved at his chest, hard.
“Now that’s not anyway to greet your knight in shining armor.”
Relief and a smidgeon of hope flared inside me.
Zane.
OMG.
He was here. He came.
“What the hell is going on? How did you know? I think I am being stalked.” My voice was rough and rushed.
“Slow down. One question at a time.” He interlaced our fingers. “You called. I came.”
When he said it, it sounded so simple, but regardless of what I’d been told, it was hard to fathom. I didn’t have time to make sense of how he knew where to find me or how he knew I was trouble. I stopped questioning the implausible. “Of course you did.”
One dark brow curved, and then I watched as his eyes narrowed, gaze darting behind me, becoming all business. “Whoever wants you dead, they’ve sent a death party.”
My eyes bulged. My death?
Woo-hoo. Let the
fun and games begin.
I could feel myself beginning to pale, the blood inside me chilling.
Zane’s cool hands pressed to either side of my cheeks. “Okay, Princess. Tone it down.” His eyes cast downward, midnight hair thrashing in the wind. “You’ve got to get a hold of yourself.”
I glanced downward, wondering what had him scowling this time, and sucked in a sharp breath. My skin was lit up like a damn disco ball. The veins throughout my body glowed in a pearly white. Panic surfaced in my eyes. “Don’t you think I would if I could?”
He scratched at the scruff under his chin. “What the hell were you doing?”
“Uh,” I struggled to remember. “I had lunch with your sister, and then I decided to take a walk, clear my head.”
“I meant before I got here. You must have done something to trigger your powers.”
My powers? “I-I was thinking about you,” I admitted, meeting his mildly surprised expression. “Then out of nowhere the storm appeared, and I felt someone watching me.” Little did I know that it was a small army of…still to be determined. “So I, um, called you.” The color in my cheeks grew. Confessing that I had screamed his name at the first inkling of danger was highly embarrassing.
Comprehension dawned. “You picked a helluva a day to start being a banshee.”
“I did not—”
“Shh.” He put a finger to my lips.
I bit his finger.
Icy blue eyes flashed down at me. “Do you want to get us killed? We are about to have an audience who would be more than happy to stick a blade through your heart. Now be quiet.”
“Can’t you just…?” I made some slicing motions with my hands.
He sighed heavily. “Even I have my limitations. There are more of them than I am comfortable with. If it was just me, I could handle it, but with you…I’m not taking any chances.”
I poked him in the chest with my index finger. “I’m not some useless twit, you know. I don’t need you to defend me.” A total lie. Wasn’t that the whole reason he was here? Because I had summoned him to defend me? “More what?” I asked.
“Piper, you’re making this very difficult.” He stepped forward, putting his hand against my mouth, silencing me.
But it wasn’t his hand that kept me quiet; it was the brush of his body against mine. I hissed, inhaling the dark, tempting taste of his skin. This was not the time to start thinking about how fabulous his body felt.
I watched as his face changed, spidering with darkness, and I knew he was trying to cloak us in the shadows. A familiar coolness raced over my skin.
Hallows. Zane’s voice sounded inside my head.
What do they want? I asked, remembering to use my thoughts.
You, I would suspect. But hallows don’t normally travel in packs. They were sent, most likely promised a deal to let them stay on Earth.
How dangerous can they be? It was an offhanded, sarcastic comment. One I wished I hadn’t asked.
Plenty. Hallows don’t follow the same laws of nature as humans. They’re essentially dead. So pretty much anything goes.
Fabulous.
“Dammit,” Zane swore, no longer in my head. “You’re like a beacon of light, attracting every hallow in a mile radius.”
Where my veins glowed white, his were black. Lightness and darkness, that’s what we were, complete opposites. “I can’t help it,” I mumbled under his hand. “You irritate me.” Among other things, I silently added.
He removed his hand from my lips, warning me with a one-brow glare to keep my mouth shut. Unfortunately, I’d never been a good listener. I opened my mouth, prepared to tell him to shove his warning where the sun don’t shine, but I never got the chance.
He was kissing me.
Not a sweet, gentle kiss.
God no. It was a knee-trembling, knock-your-socks-off kind of kiss. Dear God.
Since meeting Zane, I’d learned a few things. One was that he always kissed me when I wasn’t expecting it. I also realized he was just as good a kisser as I recalled. Electricity spread throughout my body as I kissed him back, not willing to let an exceptional kiss go to waste. What sane girl would?
I stood on my tiptoes, looping my arms around his neck. Zane’s lips were both soft and hungry, and when he pulled away, I steadied my hands on his shoulder before I became a puddle at his feet. “Why did you do that?”
“Oh, for shit’s sake. You’re still a goddamn glowworm.”
Mystified, it took me a moment to remember our predicament. He had kissed me to diminish my freakish glitter effect. And to think I thought it was because he found me irresistible. Silly me. “I’m sorry. What do you want me to do about it?”
“We’re out of options and time.” Inky veins encircled his otherworldly eyes. I knew that look. He was about to do something moronic.
“I’m scared. Is that what you want to hear?”
He gave me a cheeky grin. “Actually, it’s not as gratifying as I thought it would be.”
“What are we going to do?”
“You are going to stay out of my way.”
I tilted my head, giving him a dry look. “What are you going to do?”
“Try to keep us alive.”
“Zane!”
But he was already gone, camouflaged by the shadows that were so much a part of him. “We’ll use the element of surprise, Princess,” he whispered in my ear.
I forced myself not to turn around and look for him, but stayed eyes forward on the impending group of doom. I could hear whispers in the winds, voices laughing and chattering. They were close. By the time the ghostly figures appeared, cresting over the hill, my heart was in my throat. I counted under my breath each wavering form I could see, and who knew how many I couldn’t.
Seven.
A little excessive if you asked me. I was only one girl with not a single clue how to fight. Did they really think they needed seven dead ghosts to take me down? I didn’t know if I should be flattered or insulted.
Zane whistled softly in my ear. “Tough crowd, babe.”
I contemplated elbowing the air behind me in hopes that I would whack him. “So not helping,” I said between clenched teeth. “You expect me to just stand here.”
“I need them closer.”
Banking the instinct to run, I waited, biting my lip. The sky ignited with a bolt of lightning. Fan-freaking-tabu-lastic. A mother of all storms was just what I needed about now. When it rained, it poured—dead people in my case.
The shadowy group paused on the peak of the beach, and a girl, I think she’d been a girl, lifted arms encased in a blue light. I thought she smiled, but I was distracted. The trees near me began to shake. A thundering groan echoed under my feet, and I started to sweat.
What the?
“Um, Zane—”
Arms encompassed around me, taking me so swiftly to the ground, it took my breath away. Zane shielded me with his body, but he couldn’t shelter me from seeing the destruction that raged. Large clumps of dirt rained down on us, branches whipped through the air, but it was snake-like roots growing at our feet and lashing at us that gave me cause for concern.
He wasn’t kidding about defying the laws of nature.
I was certain the ground was going to open up and swallow us whole. When the trembles halted, Zane growled in fury as he rose, swathed in darkness. Stretching out his muscles, he cracked his neck, lips compressed into a hard line of anguish as he stood over me looking like the angel of death. “You okay?”
I spit out a rock, pushing to my feet. “Never better.”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eyes just to make sure I wasn’t lying. “At least you’ve stopped glowing.” There was a cut on the side of his temple, seeping blood down his face.
I gave a half-demented laugh. My moment of insanity was short-lived.
The girl from the hill was in my face, glaring at me. I hadn’t even seen her move. “Gotcha,” she snapped.
I jutted out my chin, not letting her int
imidate me.
Zane flashed in front of me, shoving me behind him and blocking me once again with his body. It was becoming a habit. “Not yet.”
“How sssweet. You’ve come to die with her, Death Ssscythe,” she taunted, obviously the leader of the ghostly bunch. She had a horrible lisp, a downfall of being dead and bitchy.
“If you know my name, then you know I’m not that easily killed.”
I forced myself to not roll my eyes.
They had circled us from the east, west, south, and north. All the bases covered. Zane murmured words that were dark and musical, a hint of an ancient language. A low flame bubbled over the ground, and like a match thrown on a puddle of gasoline, fire swept down the beach, burning everything in its path, including two hallows. Their screams echoed over the beach.
“Run!” he yelled at me.
Zane got his element of surprise after all. The only problem—I wasn’t prepared. Running was out of the question. Not only were my legs not working, but there was no way in hell I was going to leave Zane. He could huff and puff his chest, but I still wasn’t leaving him.
As I stood there staggering, Zane launched at the two charred spirits, laying one hand over each of their hearts, and within seconds their bodies burst into a neon green light. Zane rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding a powerful blast of plasma. His eyes sought mine out. “Why are you still here?” he rumbled.
My knees were knocking. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Piper,” he growled.
“Zane,” I shot back.
“As cute as this lovers’ ssspat is, my patience is running thin.” The bitch was back and taunting us with her hostile prattle. “You think you can take usss all? Not even you, Death Ssscythe are that strong.”
That name always made me shudder. There as an ominous note attached to it, but I couldn’t deny that it suited him. Zane moved, like a phantom of the night.