Revelations: The Black Chalice (Revelations Series Book 1)

by Lauretta Hignett

  My arms prickled at the reminder that there was something beyond natural going on here. Talking to Clover, I could almost imagine that we were simply gossiping about boys. But these were not boys. “You watch too many soap operas,” I said too loudly.

  Clover shook her hair back. “Of course I do; they’re my lifeblood. Okay, girl, I’m going to take my leave. If I’m not going to get anywhere with Alex, I’m going to see if that Scottish CEO is awake yet.”

  I nodded. “Good luck!” I high-fived her, and she walked away. The sway was already back in her hips.

  I felt relieved, probably because she wasn’t going anywhere near Alex again. I had to keep my friends safe. I looked back toward Dale, who was still deep in conversation with Nate.

  But Alex was watching me. I was stuck for a heartbeat. I should leave, get as far away from those two as possible. They only spelled trouble of the worst sort—the kind I had no knowledge of. I had enough of my own troubles on this side of reality. I didn’t need to be delving into supernatural problems as well.

  But I couldn’t leave Dale there. He was sitting there, basking in Nate’s sweet, gentle smile. Slowly, I made my way back to the table.

  Nate lifted his head and smiled warmly as I walked back. “Is Clover off to bed?”

  “Yes,” I replied with surety. I was sure that Clover was off to bed. The only thing that was in doubt was whose bed she was off to. “I’m a little tired myself, I might head off too.”

  “I’m not tired!” Dale all but yelled, his eyes still fixed on Nate’s face.

  I grimaced. I couldn’t leave him alone with these two. “Are you sure, Dale? We need to be up mid-afternoon for the HR meeting. We should head off now.”

  “I’m good. So, Nate, you were telling us about your work with the UN? How is Geneva this time of year, anyway?”

  Nate turned to look at Alex, but he was glaring at me. Nate smiled gently and turned back to Dale. “Actually, Dale, I better head back to my bungalow. My jet lag is messing with me; I’m wrecked. I could use a nap.” He yawned ostentatiously. “I don’t suppose you could walk me there? I’m not sure I remember the way.”

  Dale’s cheeks went pink, and he nearly gasped. “Of course I can!” He stood up so fast he knocked his beer over.

  “I can walk you.” I stood up just as fast, and ignored Dale’s death-glare. There was no way I was leaving him alone with these two.

  “It’s okay, Eve. I got this.”

  “I’m going to stay and finish my drink,” Alex said lazily, settling back into the chair. “Watch the show.” He nodded toward the pool, where ten or so night staff floated, now naked, slowly doing tumbles in the water or trying handstands. The hazy waft of marijuana floated over. It must be one of those nights.

  Nate rose and held out his fist to Alex, who bumped it idly. “Catch you later, brother,” he yawned loudly, and let his gaze fall over to the pool. He was showing no interest in hanging out with me, which I supposed was good. But it irked me slightly. I wondered why. I was used to suddenly being brushed off by rich guests, having been the center of their attention mere moments before. Rich people get bored easily; I knew that.

  Nate turned quickly, ushering Dale in front of him gallantly. I’d never seen Dale blush so much. His dark skin turned a beautiful rosy color, and he stumbled slightly trying to usher himself out of the gap between the table and his chair. I watched them go, marveling at the smooth, elegant gait of Nate’s walk. He towered over Dale, who wasn’t exactly tiny himself. Too soon, they were lost from sight, disappearing through the gate at the edge of the quarters.

  Too late, I realized I should have excused myself sooner and left the table. Now I was in the awkward position of saying goodnight to Alex. Feeling a strange warmth rush through me, I cleared my throat loudly and turned, thinking I’d have to get his attention in order to say a polite good-bye.

  I didn’t. He was standing right in front of me. I was eye-to-chest with him, and the heat I felt was coming straight from his body.

  My heart skipped; I looked up. He fixed me with his blazing blue eyes and opened his mouth. “I think we need to talk.”

  The otherworldliness rushed back through me, and I was out of my depth. I took a shaky breath in. “I don’t know that we do.”

  “We absolutely do. You know what I am. What we are.”

  “But I don’t believe it,” I said in a little voice.

  He thrust up his chin arrogantly. “Of course you do. You’re trying to pretend that you don’t, but the knowledge is innate within you. It’s why I couldn’t get rid of it.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Get rid of it?”

  “You think that we let people go around knowing about the existence of demons? We’re a fairytale, and for good reason. The same with Nate’s side.”

  I let my eyes fall back on the tiled floor, and considered his words. They felt true, but there was something missing. “You’re not… you’re not really a demon, though.” I glanced back up hopefully. “Are you?”

  His face was grim. “And what if I am?”

  I was confused. “What?”

  His eyes narrowed. “What if I am? Are you going to run screaming? Are you going to try and burn me or cut my head off?”

  I was bewildered by the sudden turn in conversation. “Um, no. I don’t think that I could. I don’t really have the necessary strength, after all. I mean, I saw the way you crushed that guy who was going to stab me,” I babbled. Once it all started to come out, I couldn’t stop it. “And I don’t really have a good reason to try and kill you,” I said brightly, shrugging my shoulders. “I mean, you helped me out by saving me, for one. And I don’t know that you’re necessarily evil. I mean, let’s be honest here—I’ve been attacked by a fair few evil people who are unexceptionally human, so I know that evil is part of every living thing. Good people can do terrible things; bad people can be lovely sometimes. I’ve heard of nuns who are downright evil. I hear Hitler was a good artist and always called his mum for a chat every Sunday.”

  Alex’s eyebrows furrowed. I was clearly confusing the hell out of him. “You’re not scared of me?”

  “Oh, no no no,” I sighed. “I’m not scared of you. Of everyone,” I clarified. “I’m scared of everyone.”

  He mashed his mouth in a line quickly, suppressing a grin. “I don’t blame you.” The mirth faded quickly though, and he signed. “Sorry about the tantrum. I guess I just get a little sick of the propaganda, you know, about the demon thing.” He shrugged. “It suits our purposes for now. But it’s… annoying.”

  “It’s annoying to have people be scared of you?”

  “Well, at times like this, it is.”

  I caught his eye, and held it. “I’m not afraid of you, Alex. For one, there would be no point. If you wanted to hurt me, you would have done it by now.”

  He nodded.

  “And you should probably take this as a good sign; I haven’t run away from you yet,” I said brightly. “I usually run at the first sign of alone time with a man. It never ends well for me.” I cocked my head. “But you’re a demon, and I’m sticking around. God, my safety valve is messed up.”

  There was the hint of a smile in his eyes. “We still need to talk.”

  “Oh, God. Down the rabbit hole we go.”

  Now the smile became blatant; the warmth I felt from his body increased. “You’re not interested in knowing more? More about me and Nate? More about yourself?”

  “I do. But at the same time… I just want a quiet life, Alex. I’m just trying to survive. It’s been a hard road so far, and I’m still very young.”

  “I’m afraid the Fates have not been kind to you.”

  “Those saggy-titted bitches,” I muttered under my breath.

  I jumped slightly when Alex let out a booming laugh. “Don’t let them hear you call them that.”

  “Really?” I snarled, suddenly annoyed. “The Fates are real?”

  He stifled his grin. “In a way, everything is real, Eve. All the
stories came from somewhere. Even if some of us are a little misrepresented, there’s an element of truth in everything.”

  Vertigo surged through me as I looked straight down the metaphoric rabbit hole. I could sense that this was the point in which everything would change forever. The world as I knew it was not as it seemed.

  It was not like my life had been a garden of roses so far. But… angels? Demons? Saggy-titted Fates?

  “Do I have to?” I said petulantly.

  There was genuine sympathy in Alex’s eyes. “Normally, I’d say no. I’d do a little compulsion, and the possibility that this is all real would be wiped away. Your brain would produce its own little scab, and you’d come up with excuses as to why you saw us in your dream.”

  I frowned. “My brain tried. Apparently it’s crap at making scabs.”

  “What excuse did it try?”

  I blushed a little. “I decided my base human impulses took over my unconscious mind and inserted a couple of hot guys into my dreams.” Alex frowned. Maybe he didn’t like being referred to as merely hot. Godlike in appearance would be more accurate, but I wasn’t about to say that out loud. I babbled on. “And then when you showed up and looked similar, my subconscious immediately assigned your face to my dream guy.”

  “Dream guy?” Alex smirked.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “It’s a good cover story.” He frowned again. “But you didn’t believe it.”

  “No,” I admitted, shaking my head slowly. “I knew it was you. I studied your face so carefully in my dream. I knew every inch of your skin. I listened to your voice; I remembered the sound of it. It wasn’t something I could forget.”

  I realized what I was saying, and how I sounded. A hot flush crept over me, and I took a hurried step back. “I mean, you know. Like you both said, it might not have been a dream,” I said hastily. “So that’s why I remembered you so well. I might very well be one of those Seers that you guys were talking about. A bad one,” I said loudly and quickly, mindful that I was embarrassing myself. “Bad because I was seeing the present, not the future. And not seeing anything interesting.” The hot flush in my cheeks was killing me.

  Alex crossed his arms over his chest and grinned down at me. “Well, you’re not wrong there,” he said. “Nate and I were having dinner at Hôtel Plaza Athénée at the same time you were having your dream. You definitely saw us. So”—he leaned down slightly, fixing me with his icy-blue gaze—“you’re either a bad Seer or you were astral-projecting for some reason.” He frowned again. “But that doesn’t match up either. If you were projecting, there’d be much more to the story you’re telling me. And you wouldn’t have found me and Nate unless it was deliberate.” His eyes gleamed. “Was it deliberate?”

  “No,” I breathed. “It was just a dream.”

  “I think we’ve established that it wasn’t just a dream,” Alex said softly.

  I got lost in the perfect icy-blue of his eyes for a moment. In a small corner of my mind, I realized I was starting to feel dizzy. It wasn’t until he broke eye contact that I realized I hadn’t been breathing.

  Alex looked toward the pool, where the small group of drunk young men were floating. One of them had started to hum, and a few of them joined in. The faint strains of Kumbaya drifted over to where we were standing.

  Alex smiled crookedly. “Nice bunch of coworkers you have here.”

  “They’re okay. They work hard, and they like to party. Nothing wrong with that.”

  “No.” Alex shook his head vehemently. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.”

  “I guess you must approve of the party aspect of that.”

  “And the work aspect.” He let his gaze fix back at me. “It’s what makes humanity so special. That perfect balance of light and dark.”

  “I’m still not sure I want to know everything,” I whispered, biting my lip. “Why do I get the feeling that everything in the universe is going to change right at this moment?”

  To my surprise, he didn’t laugh at me. I expected a snort of derision, at the very least. Instead, his brow furrowed. “It’s not... just you,” he said hesitantly. “Normally—and you need to understand that there’s nothing about this situation that is normal—but usually, if I came across a Seer or a Traveler or someone who is just getting introduced to our world, then it’s pretty normal that they’d feel like the whole universe is going to change. But…”

  “What?”

  “I feel it too. Something is happening…” he trailed off again, shaking his head slightly. “And I get the distinct feeling that it’s nothing to do with me.” He cocked his head and looked me up and down curiously, slowly trailing his eyes over my face, my lips, down my neck and body. Finally, he caught my gaze again. “I think it’s you,” he said softly.

  “Me?” My voice squeaked.

  “Yes, you. There’s something about you.”

  I couldn’t help it. The laughter bubbled out of me like a broken faucet, great big belly chuckles bent me in two. I had to clutch my sides hard to stop them from aching. “I don’t think it’s funny,” he rumbled from above me, sounding slightly annoyed.

  “I’m sorry,” I gasped. “It’s not… it’s not that. I don’t think you’re being ridiculous,” I giggled again, giddy at the absurdity of it all. “And it’s not that I don’t think I’m special.” Reality was sobering me quickly, the laughter quickly drained from my face. “I know I’m special. You just made it sound like it was a good thing.” I bit my lip. “I’m cursed. I thought we already established that.”

  Understanding flared in his eyes. “You mean the attacks?” He frowned and looked away. “There’s not really any precedent for that. I mean, there’s never ever been anyone who was naturally predisposed to being attacked. Of course, there are people who regularly put themselves in situations where it’s more likely that they’re going to be attacked...”

  “Victim-blaming,” I said absently.

  “That’s not my point,” he said sternly. “I mean that if you spent your life in dodgy places, trying to rile up the worst scum of humanity, then your chances of being assaulted go up a bit.” He narrowed his eyes. “Of course, the blame for that is always solely on the attacker. But my point is, you don’t do that. You take your safety seriously. Of course, you look absolutely innocent. Like a bloody Disney princess,” he muttered under his breath. “But your energy doesn’t reflect that either. I can feel it, you know. Your aura. Under your pure, innocent facade, you’re feisty. You’re worldly, you’re loyal. You’ve even got the weirdest sense of humor.” His voice softened. I could swear that his eyes were glowing, ever so slightly. “And you can slam a tequila shot like no one else I’ve seen...”

  I squirmed. “I’m also a bit over it. This life, I mean. I just want to be left alone.”

  The light in his eyes dimmed. “I don’t blame you.”

  I started. “Not by you, I mean.” I smacked my hand over my mouth. “I mean I want the men who attack me to leave me alone.” My cheeks were red again. “But yeah. Normal. Normal is good.”

  Alex smiled. After a long moment, his attention drifted to the boys in the pool. Their singing had gotten louder and less tuneful.

  “I’m surprised they haven’t noticed us,” I said, gesturing toward them. “They’re at that stage where they should be making kissy noises and catcalling.”

  Alex smiled. “They can’t see us.”

  “Um, they’re like three feet away.” I pointed and wrinkled my nose as one of them did an underwater handstand. “I reckon I could count every pube on that guy’s balls.”

  “I’ve masked us,” Alex said simply. “Their eyes will slide right past us.”

  I cocked my head. “You can do that?”

  “That and more. Little illusions, mainly. Some compulsion.”

  “Like… hypnotism?”

  “Sort of. It’s the same theory. I can plant a suggestion into someone’s brain, an idea or an order or something. But with hypnot
ism, the subject won’t carry out the suggestion unless they really want to. With compulsion, they have no choice. Usually,” he added in a weird, accusatory tone.

  I snorted. “Let me guess. You tried compelling me, and it didn’t work.”

  “It’s not unheard of.” He crossed his arms again. “But yes. I tried to get you to tell me about your dream that night you were attacked. You blew me off easily.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. “So you got me drunk instead.”

  He shrugged and grinned back. “It was just as easy; it just took a little longer. And the answers I got were a lot more garbled than what I normally get.”

  I cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure you’re a demon?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “You don’t seem very good at it. You’re nothing like what I thought demons were supposed to be like. You’re supposed to be mean and evil. You’re nothing like that.” My voice softened, as I realized that what I was saying was true. “I can feel it.”

  Understanding flared in his eyes, but he quickly masked it and grinned cheekily. “Well, like I said, most of that is just PR. And, if I can be honest with you, I’m only half-demon.”

  “Half?” I shook my head, puzzled. “What does…” I stopped, and held up one finger. The sky had lightened considerably, and there was something I wanted to do. “Hold that thought. Can we… can we go somewhere?”

  He frowned. “You are safe here, you know.”

  “Even though no one can see us right now…”

  “It was just for privacy. I can undo it, if you want.”

  I waved my hands. “No, it’s fine. I just wanted to head to the stables quickly.”

  He cocked his head to the side. “Why?”

  “There’s someone I want to say good-bye to.”

  “Andrea?”

  Of course he would know everyone’s names. “No… Horace.”

  “The horse? Where is he going?”

  “He’s been picked to do the Overlander, and he won’t be happy about it.”

  Alex nodded as if he understood perfectly and gestured with his hands for me to move ahead of him, toward the gate. I started walking slowly but then had to speed up a bit. Alex’s legs were a fair bit longer than mine, and if I walked slowly, then he’d have to walk in slow-motion. Once we were through the gate, I turned to him again. “So, only half a demon?”