Stormfront (Undertow Book 2)

by K. R. Conway

  “Obviously,” muttered Kian.

  I continued to watch Eila, and she eased the sling off her arm and sank lower into the hot tub, resting her head back against the granite edge, her face skyward. The tiny raindrops landed along her cheeks and she closed her eyes as they slid down her face, like tears. “I need to cool off in the pool,” I said to no one in particular.

  “Me too,” replied Kian.

  “Absolutely,” said MJ.

  Kian and I turned to look at him, shock on our faces.

  “What? I may be just a friend to them, but I’m still a guy. Sheesh.” MJ stomped off, heading in the direction that Rillin specified, no doubt to grab a suit and cool off for multiple reasons.

  Kian turned to me, a calm expression on his face. “I just want you to know that if those suits are any indication of what Collette has left for them to wear on a daily basis, then I will be dead inside of a week.”

  “That makes two of us,” I replied, heading for my room and my own suit, which was hopefully NOT a Speedo.

  57 Eila

  By nightfall the storm had moved on, leaving the evening warm and covered in stars. Outside the palm trees barely moved in the light breeze, and the air was clean and floral and far better than any perfume I had ever smelled.

  I examined myself in the mirror inside Ana’s room as we got ready for dinner. The black, lace dress hung from my body, and the ultra low back showed off my kill mark. I was self-conscious at the idea of going semi-commando, but Ana assured me I looked spectacular, and that with the back so open, I couldn’t hide a bra strap. Luckily Collette had built in a little support for the girls in the front, but still – I never went braless.

  “If you’re sure,” I replied to Ana’s tenth assurance that I was going to leave Raef speechless.

  Ana’s floor-length dress was a riot of green swirls, each emerald ribbon spinning around her tiny frame. The halter top was covered in crystals that climbed over her shoulders and formed a single line that traveled down her spine to the dipped back of the dress. I took comfort that she too had to ditch a bra.

  When I finally meet Collette, we needed to have a chat about making us clothes that allowed for supportive undies.

  I suspected the French walked around half-naked all the time.

  Tonight we would open Elizabeth’s diary and Ana thought we should make a special evening of it. She said that for all we went through to get it, for all that Elizabeth had done to protect it, we needed to mark the occasion with a party.

  Christian had arrived a few hours ago, and we had gotten him up to speed on the pirates. He seemed unconcerned about Garrett’s slimy nephew, assuring us he would finish the job as soon as possible, but as always, he wanted to make sure I was all right.

  Thankfully my shoulder was back to normal and the sling had been flung in the trash.

  He also informed us that Mae would be arriving in several days, and while I was thrilled to see her, I was not looking forward to the lecture she would give as soon as she realized Raef and Kian were with us.

  “Ready?” asked Ana, picking up Elizabeth’s necklace from the bureau. I tucked the diary tighter to my body and gave her a nod. We headed down the curving staircase that lead to the main atrium and the outdoor living area, where our party was supposed to take place.

  I stepped through the glass doors with Ana and caught sight of all five guys talking near the edge of the infinity pool. All were dressed in various shades of white linen shirts, though Raef, Rillin, and Christian had rolled their sleeves up to their elbows.

  The tiki torches had been lit around the area and the chandeliers that hung from beams over the lounges and table all had little white candles that flickered inside their glass jars.

  It was absolutely gorgeous.

  I looked around the space, my eyes finally going back to where the guys stood, but Raef had seen me, and he walked towards me, along the edge of the pool. In the candlelight, his flawless face showed no hint of the killer that lived inside him. Every move he made was precise and smooth, and it reminded me of how his body moved with mine that night on Cerberus, as if we were designed to fit perfectly with one another.

  He finally reached me, stopping just shy of touching me. “You are stunning,” he said quietly, a glorious smile gracing his face.

  I blushed and held the diary closer to my chest, but he carefully slid it from my hands so I couldn’t hide behind its leather binding. He set the book on a table next to us, and his eyes returned to me, trailing over my body. The heat in his gaze flushed every inch of me and I loved the power it yielded in its wake.

  I turned slowly, revealing the back to him and he reached out, trailing his hand down my spine and stuttering my heart. He pulled me toward him, one hand on my bare back, the other sweeping slowly down my neck.

  “I love you, Eila. For this life and the next,” he said, kissing me softly as the Fallen marks bled onto his skin. He did it in front of our friends. In front of my grandfather.

  In front of the universe.

  Christian came up next to us, and Raef pulled me close to his side as his Fallen marks faded. My grandfather looked to both of us, then finally held out his hand to Raef and they shook, exchanging some unspoken understanding that Raef and I would never be anything less that what he had with Elizabeth.

  Fate had set us to collide and nothing would ever tear us apart.

  Everyone clustered around me at the mahogany table, looking over my shoulder at the pages and pages of Elizabeth’s diary, now finally filled with writing thanks to the necklace that was seated in the cover.

  The words had bled to the surface the moment the diamond pendant had touched the leather, and the little clicking noises it made assured us that it wasn’t some kind of magic, but a delicate, word-revealing engine, built by Nikki’s ancestor. Most of the words inside were written by a young girl . . . with a semi-crush on her trainer she called Monster.

  At least, that was the first half of the book, and I could have sworn Rillin actually blushed.

  But as the pages went on, it was obvious that Elizabeth questioned what her kind was doing. The violence and the one-mindedness to kill the Mortis didn’t sit right with her. She wrote of a man she met in the woods when she was little, saying that he seemed like a safe haven for her, though she knew only later that he was a soul thief. In later pages she wrote that he, Christian, once again saved her and kept her safe. She fought next to him and his friends, including James, who showed her how to shoot with a bow.

  Realizing I might stumble across some very intimate details of her and Christian, I jumped ahead to the end of the diary, closer to what I knew would have been her death. Christian looked relieved, though Ana protested skimming past the juicy details.

  Toward the end of her diary, Elizabeth seemed to have fallen into a darker train of thought. She loved her son, but something seemed wrong. She talked of a Mortis named Jacob Rysse, who she believed was going to try and restart the Gabriel Device for his own purposes. He wanted to wipe the world of both the Lunaterra and any compassionate Mortis. He wanted a precision army to enslave the humans and he believed this device would be the key to absolute power.

  “All right – back up,” said Kian, rubbing his forehead. “So Elizabeth decided to kill Rysse to keep him from finding and restarting this device thing? What does she call it? Gabriel? I don’t understand what this Gabriel device is.”

  Ha – he wasn’t the only one.

  Rillin crossed his arms, thinking. “It almost sounds like she is referring to the same thing that kept the Trials bound to the palace via the links – the same device that Katherine disabled or damaged. I just have no clue what it looks like or if it would have even survived the palace collapse. And why in the hell did Rysse meet with Elizabeth and think she could be turned? How does that play into his need for the device?”

  “This device thing sure sounds like one hot item if everybody and their brother wanted it. What does it do, exactly?” asked MJ.

&nb
sp; Rillin shook his head. “I actually don’t know, aside from keeping us locked to the palace.”

  “I’m thinking is has a few fancy upgrades, beyond the containment system feature that is,” said Ana.

  I moaned, my brain just about melting.

  Raef leaned over me, looking at Elizabeth’s writing. “Okay – well, let’s rethink this. If the device was in the Lunaterras’ possession and they had used it to enslave the Trials and god knows what else, then maybe Rysse needed a Lunaterra to control it? Maybe HE couldn’t use it because he was a soul thief, but a Lunaterra could.”

  Christian nodded, “That actually makes sense. So Rysse would’ve needed a Lunaterra that would be willing to work with him, which was basically no one except Elizabeth. She not only was hated by her own kind, but she was already fighting for us. She would have been the ideal choice and Rysse probably figured she would’ve wanted revenge on her own family. I still don’t understand why Rysse thought she could be turned however.”

  I flipped through several more pages, but then stopped short when I came across a page full of Fallen markings. They seemed to be organized, like a family tree, with numbers that lined up with each horizontal line. The first line, number 1, had a set of marks that I had never seen on Raef, Kian, Rillin or Christian, but the name Jacob was scrawled next to it.

  The second line, showed a set similar to the first, but the patterns had begun to change, and I immediately recognized them as those that graced Kian’s and Raef’s skin. Alongside this line, Elizabeth wrote several names I didn’t recognize. There were more sets of Fallen marks, line after line, with each line changing more. Page after page of markings, some with names alongside the lines. Eventually I found Christian’s name and the word Monster.

  “Is this a family tree?” asked Rillin.

  Kian nodded, “It appears she was tracking generations of Mortis, but Raef and I are one line below Jacob. That doesn’t mean what I think it does . . . does it?”

  I looked up to Raef, “You two were turned by Jacob Rysse himself?”

  Raef stepped back from the table. “That can’t be right. Can it? And why is there no one above Jacob? I mean, where did he come from?”

  Christian slid down into a seat at the table and looked at Raef and Kian. “Jacob must have been one of the First Army. The original set of humans who were changed into Mortis by the Fallen One himself. They were considered the purest, most dangerous, of all the Mortis. If you two were turned by him, it may explain why you weren’t killed by Elizabeth’s power. Plus, her Core Collapse must have been filtered through Jacob before it hit the two of you, lessening its impact. Between what you were already, and the energy she released during her death, you both were basically vaccinated that night. It also means that you and Kian are only steps away from pure, angelic strength.”

  MJ rolled his eyes, “Don’t go telling them they are some kind of superheroes. Kian’s fat head will get even bigger!”

  Kian smiled broadly.

  “Everyone will need to train,” said Rillin. “If you two have that type of strength and capability, we need to bring it out. Parts of the Mortis community now know of Eila’s existence. She needs to be protected at all times.”

  “Yeah, but for the rest of my life? I mean, isn’t it easier to just tell them that I’m not a threat? You know – I’m a friendly type of Lunaterra? Can’t we just ALL get along?” I demanded.

  “We could tattoo ‘I Heart Soul Thieves’ across Eila’s forehead,” offered MJ. “Maybe set her up with a blog and Pinterest page?” Everyone glared at MJ, but I actually was down with all those ideas.

  I sighed and flipped to the last page. On it was another family tree, but this time it was Elizabeth’s. Listed with each family member was their date of birth and death. At the very bottom, Elizabeth had written herself and Christian with a line connecting them to each other and another line below them, linking them to their son.

  Ana, who was leaning over me to see the diary, spoke up. “Wow. I only see a few people lived past 35. Fighting must have been brutal back then.” Raef leaned forward and trailed his hand over the names. He looked to Rillin and something seemed to be communicated between the two of them.

  “What? What is it?” I asked. Raef placed his elbows on the table, rubbing his face with his hands and I could see MJ and Kian were tense as well. Now I was getting nervous.

  Something was not right – I could see it on their faces. So could Christian. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “The Lunaterra had stunted lifespans after years of inbreeding,” said Rillin.

  My eyes grew wide and Christian got to his feet, alarmed, “How short of a lifespan are we talking?” he asked.

  “Twenty to thirty years,” replied Raef. I turned to him, and his sad eyes met mine. “Rillin told me on the plane. He also knows about your real background.”

  Christian froze.

  Raef laced his fingers into mine, “Rillin figured out your connection to Christian after Sandy Neck. He saw your scar, which only appears on Mortis after they are hit with the Light. Rillin is covered with them.”

  I looked to Rillin. “Is this true?” I asked.

  He nodded and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing many scars. He touched the deep trio that curved around his side. “These are from Elizabeth. She threw one incredible punch.” He touched another deep groove near his shoulder, “This one is from you, the night on Sandy Neck.”

  My eyes grew wide. I had damaged my would-be trainer. He would carry the mark of my ability to the end of time. “I’m, uh, sorry,” I said, feeling bad I had injured him.

  “Don’t worry about it, Eila. I wear my scars like a badge of survival, as you should with yours.”

  I looked back to Raef, “Why didn’t you tell me? About the lifespan thing?”

  “I didn’t want you to only obsess about how long you would live,” said Raef. “No one should carry that burden. And you are generations out from the inbreeding and you are part Mortis. For all we know, you could live past 100. Mortis are immortal – that could make your life long. Far longer than an average human.” I stroked his arm, watching my guard carefully and seeing the desperation in his face.

  Was I scared that my life-clock might be ticking towards midnight? Absolutely. But life gave us no guarantees when we were born. There is nothing that says that I get to live past tomorrow, even if I was just human. “Raef – I live for today. For you and me and our friends. This knowledge changes nothing for me, only that the future is a complete gamble and that I wouldn’t bet on anyone else but us. All of us.”

  I slowly shut the diary and slid it to Christian, the necklace still in the cover. He gave me a small smile, knowing I was offering him a chance to read Elizabeth’s thoughts in private. I got to my feet, with Raef at my side. “I’m done with the heavy. How about we enjoy ourselves? This is a party after all. Now, who’s gonna dance with me?”

  “Me!” yelled MJ, grabbing me by the hand and towing me toward the open space near the pool. I laughed as he started dancing like a weirdo next to me as Ana flicked on the stereo. Kian slipped his hand into hers and he pulled her toward us, spinning her out and then back to him.

  Ana and I jumped between partners throughout the evening, and I quickly learned that Rillin loathed dancing and Christian could go pro in ballroom. But it was Raef who stole me away from Christian finally, pulling me into an intoxicating slow dance as Otis Redding’s soft music flowed around us.

  His wide hands held me to him as he moved across the open space and I could feel his body heat melting into mine.

  I tucked my face against the chest of my beloved bodyguard, and tried, if only for a moment, to forget all that we were up against.

  58 Eila

  “I’m trying,” I growled, sweat soaking through the thin body suit Collette had made me.

  Rillin stood across from me in a loose fitting, Asian style outfit, his broad arms crossed over his chest. His scars twisted around his arms and shoulders, like a thorn
y vine, and his face was hard as he studied me.

  “It isn’t about brute force, Eila. It is about grace, anticipating the move of your enemy, and feeling the air around you. Right now you are just trying to bash your way through the target, and all you are accomplishing is tiring yourself.”

  “Well, I’m also getting my rage on, which is what you want, don’t you? Feed my anger to flip the switch on my glow stick ability?” I was almost yelling, frustration and fatigue flaring in me. I had been training for hours each day, and I seemed no closer to accessing my inner fighter.

  It had been three days since we opened Elizabeth’s diary. Since that night, we had trekked across the five-mile island, discovering sweeping flower fields, white sand beaches, and waterfalls.

  We also explored the house and Christian’s insane collection of antique art and rare treasures. And we had started training, which involved everyone forcing their physical limits and abilities to the edge.

  Raef, Kian, and MJ pushed their endurance levels, running around the island twenty to thirty times in one shot and at top speed, though MJ did so as Marsh. They swam, climbed, and perfected hand-to-hand fight techniques. They knew how to assemble a variety of handguns and shoot with precision aim.

  They were a supernatural SEAL team of sorts.

  MJ worked tirelessly at phasing on the fly and was no longer required to strip out his clothes, thanks to a specialized wardrobe Collette had invented.

  Often times, I found him with a stack of anatomy and biology books surrounding him by the pool. I suspected he was working on shifting into something else besides Marsh, though he would not tell anyone anything, no matter how much Ana or I nagged him.

  Ana had also been training, both in hand-to-hand techniques and as a Sway. She read constantly and we would volunteer ourselves to be guinea pigs as needed. Her ability was hit or miss, though she did have the whole truth or tale thing down perfectly.