by Myers, AJ
“How did you do that?” I asked breathlessly, pushing him back so I could look him in the eye. “You made it stop. How?”
“Let’s just say I have a prior claim on that soul your demon thinks belongs to her,” Nathan said, never taking his eyes from mine. “I claimed you for myself in every way I could possibly think of. I tied your body to me through my mark. Our souls are forever intertwined through our soul mate bond. And your heart you gave to me of your own free will out of love. Nothing and no one will ever have the power to take you from me again. Not even your demon.”
For a second, I just stared at him. The longer I looked, the tenser his expression became. Something in my mind clicked then and I felt like there was something stuck in my throat. Suddenly, his overbearing protectiveness made perfect sense. He had made me his in every way possible. It had been more than love that had driven him to do that.
I had a flashback of the week leading up to the ritual that had ended one chapter of my life and started another. He had fought us on that ritual like he was the one who was possessed. He had begged me not to go through with it. He had told me that he couldn’t lose me. Not that he couldn’t take the chance of losing me, but that he couldn’t lose me.
“Oh my God, you knew,” I said in a hushed whisper full of betrayal and sadness. “You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you? You knew I was going to become a darkling?”
For the first time since I’d seen him behind me in the mirror, he dropped his eyes from mine. “No.”
I heard something in that one word that knocked the wind out of me altogether. When I spoke again, my voice wasn’t even a whisper. “You knew I was going to die.”
I should have told her, consequences be damned, his thoughts whispered to me as my mark started to pulse. Hearing his thoughts still took me by surprise and I flinched before I could stop myself.
“What were the consequences?” I snapped without thinking. Nathan’s eyes shot back to mine and widened in genuine surprise. Had he thought I was lying when I told him I could hear his thoughts? “Tell me, Nathan. What were the consequences? And I want to know, right now, how you knew.”
“An…acquaintance…of mine told me,” he said, swallowing hard as my eyes narrowed at that vague answer. “He foresaw the coming of the bandraoi that would fulfill an ancient prophecy. According to him, you are that bandraoi. The prophecy states that this blood witch will turn the tides of the war between the darkness and the light, because within her she will carry both. She will carry the light of the celestial and the darkness of the damned and only she will be able to control both.”
I frowned at him before my eyes went wide and my mouth popped open—and a mega-freaking-chill went down my spine. I’d heard that before. My ghostly friend, Charles, had said something like that to me the day we met in the Oakhurst library.
You'll be the one to change things, Ember, he’d told me. Forces behind the Veil have been watching...and talking.
And he hadn’t been able to tell me what it meant, either. When I’d asked, he had told me there were things that could destroy him for giving me that kind of classified intel.
I can't tell you, he’d whispered, looking like he was afraid he’d already told me too much. There are...things...that could destroy me if I even hinted at it. Being dead isn’t the worst thing that can happen, trust me. There are things way worse than death.
“I wanted to tell you, baby,” Nathan said sadly, seeing the fear in my eyes. “I didn’t want this for you. I wanted you to be able to live a normal life. But there are some things that—”
I pressed my fingers to his lips to stop him, understanding all too well why he’d kept his mouth shut and just let things play out. If he had told me…I didn’t even want to think what kind of punishment the Powers That Be would have dealt out to him for that.
“Okay, so you couldn’t tell me,” I said, rolling my eyes when his widened in surprise that I wasn’t going to harp on the subject indefinitely. “Let’s move on. I have a question for you that you can answer.”
“Okay,” he said, drawing the word out warily.
“Why can I hear your thoughts now?”
“All of them?” he choked, looking like he was a second away from having an aneurysm.
“No, not all of them,” I told him, rolling my eyes again even as I wondered what thoughts he would rather I not hear. “It’s only sometimes. My mark starts throbbing like an extra heartbeat and then I’ll catch part of your thoughts.”
“Lucky you,” he grumbled, looking irritated about something.
“What?” I hooted with a bark of laughter. “I haven’t had a private thought in months and you’re looking all pissy because I get a snippet of your thoughts every now and then? Really, Nathan?”
If his eyes got any wider, they were going to pop out of his head. He stared at me that way for so long that I started to get nervous.
“What?!” I demanded, waving my hand in front of his face to make sure he was still in there somewhere. “Did you fry a circuit in there or something? Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Baby, you’ve been shielding from me for months.” This time it was my turn to stare, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, and he laughed softly. “I haven’t heard a single thought since you opened those beautiful eyes after the change.”
“You’re lying,” I said, a spike of anger piercing through my happy little bubble. “I’ve never been able to shield from you, Nathan, and we both know it. Do you really expect me to believe you didn’t hear in my thoughts how miserable I was while you were treating me like I was diseased?”
“I’m telling the truth, Em.” He placed his big hands on my hips to hold me still when I started to slide away from him. “It’s still no excuse for what I did. I didn’t have to be able to read your thoughts to see how unhappy you were, but I let you suffer alone.”
But I hadn’t been alone, not really. I’d had Tyler. Thinking about Tyler put a serious damper on the desire just being with Nathan was making me feel. Tyler had been the one there picking up the pieces when I fell apart. Tyler had been the first one to offer me a taste of his essence, knowing how dangerous that could be, because he trusted me not to hurt him. He’d protected me and cared about me and stayed with me during the worst moments of my life.
In the end, though, it was Nathan I loved.
But where did that leave Tyler?
“Do you know how hard it is, living in the same house with the person you love and not being able to touch them?” Nathan whispered, thankfully oblivious to the thoughts running through my head, leaning forward to breathe the words against my lips again. Yeah, I was real familiar with the concept, but I didn’t get a chance to say that. “Every time you walked by me, I had to force myself not to reach for you. Every time I walked past your door, I wanted to rip it off and wrap you in my arms and tell you I loved you even if you hated me.”
I was having a hard time concentrating on what he said. His lips moved against my skin with every word, along my jaw and down my neck. When they started tracing the skin visible just above the edge of the robe I was still wearing, I had to concentrate just to remember how to breathe. All there was in the world right then was him and I wanted him so much I ached with it.
The sick, twisted Fate that loved to torture me had decided I’d had enough fun for one day, though. The Bad Karma Fairy really needed a new hobby. I hear running in traffic is fun…
I sensed them just before it was too late. I used every bit of power I had to shove Nathan out of the way as the window shattered behind him. I felt something enter my chest, missing my heart but puncturing my lung. It burned like someone had dripped acid on me. I gasped, trying to pull in some air to make that terrible burning go away and found that my lung was no longer cooperating. Instead, it choked me, pushing the blood filling it up into my throat and gagging me.
“What the hell?” Nathan roared, darting to the window and looking for our unseen attackers.
“Get…awa
y!” I gasped.
“Em!” Nathan shouted, catching me as I fell forward. He picked me up and laid me very gently on the floor. The hole in my chest was still smoking and he swore softly under his breath before lifting me back into a sitting position.
“It went all the way through,” he whispered, sounding relieved.
I was glad he was relieved! I was drowning in my own blood!
Nathan looked around, his eyes searching every inch of the vanity and the wall behind until he found what he was looking for. Carefully, he crawled over and reached up and plucked the bullet from where it had lodged itself just above the backsplash on the sink. Another shot rang out and I heard him swear under his breath again. He threw himself back down next to me, cradling his hand against his chest.
“Did that one…go…all the way…through, too?” I asked, choking again even as I rolled my eyes.
“Only you would be a smartass at a time like this,” Nathan grumbled with a strained smile, wrapping his hand in his t-shirt.
“That was a warning, little firebird!” a voice I had only heard once—well, twice, if you count Ainsley’s dream—but would remember forever, called from outside the window. “Next time, he dies. It’s Ainsley or him. I’m sure you’ll make the right choice.”
Nathan snarled, fangs bared, and tried to stand up. My death grip on his arm probably saved his life. I wouldn’t have put it past Trey Hamilton to take another shot at him just for spite.
“Nathan…I need…Grams,” I choked out.
How much blood could I possibly have had left? A lot more, apparently. I started coughing and couldn’t stop and with every painful, hacking one, I expelled enough blood to fill up a bathtub.
“What…did he…shoot me…with?” I choked, begging Nathan to explain why the hole in my chest was still smoking like I was about to catch on fire.
“The bullets are gold,” he told me. He tried to hide the flicker of fear in his eyes, but I saw it before he could look away.
There was a towel on the floor nearby and he leaned over and snagged it to press against the wound in my chest to slow the bleeding. When I started coughing again, he propped me up and slid behind me, letting me lean against him to help me breathe a little easier. When that didn’t help, I just stopped breathing. I mean, it’s not like I had to, anyway.
What does that mean? About the bullets? I asked, hoping that sending my thoughts on purpose would let him hear them. Fortunately, it worked.
“That we’re in serious trouble, baby,” he muttered, pressing harder on the towel.
I didn’t think it was working. He had been holding it against the hole in my chest for, like, two seconds and it was already soaked with blood. A good sign? I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
“The gold is already poisoning your blood stream,” Nathan continued, grimacing. “We need to get you some help.”
Oh, that’s just great! I thought, groaning aloud. The noise it made coming out of my chest sounded like I was blowing bubbles. Are you telling me I’m going to bleed to death?
“I won’t let you die, Em,” he said, his voice hard. “I just got you back. You’re not getting rid of me that easy, baby.”
That was sweet and romantic and all, but I didn’t really see any way for him to help me. What I needed was a healer. What I needed was…
I forgot all about my wound as a really horrible thought slammed into me, sending me into a full-fledged panic attack I could not afford. Trey Hamilton and his friends had found me at the pond with Tyler. They had found me at home with Nathan. If they could find me that easily, they could find the others, as well.
“Help them!” I gasped, as my fear for the people I loved sapped the rest of my strength. I could scream at Nathan a whole lot better in my mind, but I was too afraid to think clearly. “Nathan! Help…them!”
Those were the last words I was able to say. With one last retching cough, I spit out more blood than I ever want to see again, and then the whole world went dark.
Part Two: And the War Begins
Chapter 24: Skippy the Teenage Vampire
I knew I wasn’t going to be happy even before I opened my eyes. The scent of disinfectant was so strong my nostrils stung from it. The surface I was lying on was hard and uncomfortable and even colder than I was—which made it feel like I had been put on ice.
I laid there for a second, none too eager to open my eyes. Something was covering me, and I pulled it between my fingers, using my senses alone to determine what it was. It felt like a sheet, but it definitely wasn’t one of Nathan’s or Grams’. Grams was fond of linen and Nathan was an Egyptian cotton kind of guy. The one covering me was neither. It was rough against my fingers, kind of like canvas.
At least it was only covering me from the neck down. If I was dead they would have covered my face, too, right?
Telling myself not to be such a baby, I opened my eyes and found myself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. It was low, like the ceiling of a basement. My first thought was not the most reassuring one I could have had. I mean, I don’t know if we actually have a family crypt, but, knowing Grams, there is a very real possibility.
Trying not to totally freak out, I forced myself to calm down and think rationally. The disinfectant actually became my ally there. The smell that had woken me up in the first place was still burning my nose and making my eyes sting. Somehow, I didn’t think they disinfected crypts. What would be the point? The dead are about as disease-resistant as they’re ever going to get.
Since the crypt was out, I turned my head in an effort to figure out where I actually was and came face to face with some of the scariest tools I have ever seen. They were laid out neatly on a stainless steel tray and seemed to gleam in the low light of the room. My eyes fell on a long, skewer-looking thingy with a hook on the end and I gulped. I refused to even think about what it might be used for.
Feeling more than just a twinge of fear, I slapped a lid on my imagination and continued my search for something to tell me where I was. There wasn’t much to see, to be honest. Other than the tray of torture tools, the only other things I could see were bare walls, a long counter with a sink in the center, and one of those big red trash cans with the biohazard symbol stamped on it like they have in hospital emergency rooms. I really didn’t think it was very likely that I was in the hospital, however. Nathan would have had a hell of a time trying to explain to a bunch of surgeons why he wanted them to sew up a dead girl.
Giggling at the mental image, I turned my head to the other side and all amusement died. My Oh-Shit-O-Meter jumped into the red zone as I stared at the oversized drawers, some labeled with names and dates, that filled the wall across from me. Being a forensics show junkie, I knew exactly what was in those drawers—and it wasn’t paperwork.
I was in a damned morgue!
I immediately jumped off the icy table and stared at it, my skin starting to crawl and my stomach twisting into knots. The stainless steel slab was surrounded by gutters that met at a drain at the foot of the table. An autopsy table. I had been lying on an autopsy table. That was so wrong on so many levels I can’t even name them all.
My hand immediately jumped to my chest, half-expecting to find Frankenstein stitches where they had dissected me. Relief hit me so strong my knees started to shake with it when I found nothing but smooth, unblemished, skin. There wasn’t so much as a scar to remind me of my first—and hopefully only—gunshot wound.
And when I say I found nothing but skin, I mean nothing. I was totally and completely naked.
With a little squeal of surprise and embarrassment, even though there was no one there to see, I dove for the sheet I’d left on the table and wrapped it around me. I felt an uncomfortable tug on my arm as I covered myself and looked down to see an IV line taped to it. Flowing through the clear tubing was a bright red, crystalline substance that looked kind of like blood. It wasn’t like any blood I had ever seen, though.
I didn’t really care if it was the Elixir of Life itself. I
wanted out of that room and that stupid needle was tethering me there. It simply had to go.
I reached down to tear the line out and had barely touched the tape holding it in place when the double doors behind me flew open and two figures blurred into the room. Tyler had seen better days. His shirt was splattered with blood and he smelled like burnt hair and soot. The guy with him was unfamiliar, but I could sense the vampire in him.
Well, guy wasn’t really the right word to describe him. He was just a kid, maybe fifteen years old when he was turned. He was really kind of adorable. He wasn’t much taller than I was, kind of skinny. His ginger hair curled around his almost pretty face and he had a bridge of freckles across his nose that I found too cute for words.
But his eyes, so violet-blue they seemed purple, were gorgeous. They matched his violet colored aura to perfection. I smiled when I realized he smelled like mint. It wasn’t one of those ‘Oh, yum!’ kinds of smells, just pleasant, soothing.
“You don’t want to do that,” he grumbled, quietly.
The sound of a man’s deep voice coming from such a childlike body made my hands freeze even before his hands closed over them to stop me. I don’t know what I had been expecting, but that definitely wasn’t it. Maybe I expected him to be squeaky or for his voice to break like any other pre-pubescent male. But his voice was smooth and deep and cultured with an accent that was from everywhere and nowhere all at the same time.
“I really think I do,” I told him, shaking off my shock after a second. “Who are you?”
“Em, this is Skipper Reed,” Tyler made the introductions, catching my eye with a warning look. “Skipper’s the guy I told you about, the one who created Nexus. Skipper, meet Miss Ember Blaylock.”
Really? I thought, studying the little man with a little more interest. This was the badass vampire Blake had told me about? This kid?