10. The Past, Resurrected—Evangeline
“Nath-an,” I sputtered in a gasp, my words half caught in my throat, any alcohol-induced buzz vanishing. “H-H-How?” As if the sound of my voice triggered a switch, Nathan’s eyes fastened onto my face, his head cocking to one side in a form of recognition. Icy cold slithered through my entire body. This had to be Nathan but …
With a wary eye on him, I strained to glance back at the painting. Same face, same nose, same hair, same … no. I blinked several times. Rich dark chocolate orbs gazed down at me from the wall. Shifting my full attention back to the live Nathan, I recoiled under the cold, washed-out slate color, the irises too large to be normal. Even more odd, those oversized irises reflected everything like mirrors—the dark leather couches, the flickering flames, me.
“Evangeline,” he said in a monotonous drone, his face showing no expression, his voice lacking definition. Nothing but emptiness. A rod of panic shot through my spine. He knows my name.
He wasted no time. With robotic movements, Nathan began moving toward me, his focus glued to my face. A low growl to my side warned me that Max was ready to pounce.
“Evangeline,” Caden whispered through clenched teeth, his tone cutting, “move back … now.”
I couldn’t move, though, so transfixed was I by those blue mirror balls, as if they had lassoed and were now wrangling me in, gripping me tightly. This wasn’t like being compelled. No … those eyes were consuming me. I felt him etching my face into his mind. Worse, that eerie familiarity from outside in the hall now swarmed me with renewed intensity as he neared.
I barely saw what happened next. Max leapt for Nathan’s throat, growling and snapping as I had never seen him do before.
“No!” I shrieked, realizing that Max would kill him. Caden wrenched me away, throwing me into Amelie’s waiting arms. A canine yelp of pain froze all of us in our tracks, turning my blood to ice. We turned to find Max lying motionless on the ground. “No,” I whispered breathlessly, my knees buckling, reaching desperately for my guardian. With Max out of the way, Nathan wasted no time continuing toward us. Toward me.
Bishop dove in next, a crazed determination on his face. Without a glimmer of concern , Nathan’s arm swiftly moved up to block the attack, his large hand wrapping around Bishop’s neck. What happened next, I couldn’t explain if I wanted to. Already pale, I watched Bishop’s face turn a pallid ashen color and tighten up, as if Nathan was leeching out the life that kept him immortal. Once done, Nathan tossed Bishop’s limp, withered body to the side.
“No!” Both Amelie and I shrieked in unison. My heart stopped. What had Nathan done? Was he Walking Death now too? Is this what I was doomed to become?
With desperation, I searched Bishop for signs of life. His left knee twitched. Like nerves in a freshly killed body. Was he dead? Was Max? Had Nathan just killed them in front of me? I stood frozen, watching Nathan continue closing the distance. Sucking in, I curled into myself, cowering. Amelie’s fingers tightened around my arms, her own tension channeling through me like a live wire.
But then those blue mirrors flickered off me, moving to my left. To Caden.
I froze, seeing Caden’s jaw set with resolve, his body swaying as he positioned himself, getting ready to attack.
Getting ready to die.
In the blink of an eye—because I had opened the door that Sofie didn’t want anyone opening—I was about to lose everyone. Dread, guilt, and desperation boiled over inside me, charging my limbs with newfound strength, electrifying my body until I could almost see sparks shooting from my skin’s surface.
No … no … no! I couldn’t allow this. I wouldn’t allow this. I would fight. “Stop!” I screamed, struggling to break free of Amelie’s viselike grip.
“You can’t, Evie.” Her fingers dug into my forearms.
“Let me go, Amelie!” I roared. Rage ignited those mental sparks into a fiery blue flame as I battled her impossible strength. Suddenly, Amelie was crumbling back with a howl of pain, her grip on me loosened. In the back of my mind, I knew it was something I had done to her but at that moment, I didn’t care. I cared about one thing only.
I dove forward, hurtling my body in front of Caden to create a barrier before he knew what was happening. “You will not kill him!” I screamed, fists clenched at my sides, bracing myself for whatever agony Nathan was about to serve.
Nathan’s mirror balls snapped to mine and he halted. We watched each other, face to face, two feet of space between us, two feet keeping me from becoming a corpse. I watched without breathing, waiting for that deadly hand to reach up and sap life out of me.
But instead, Nathan did something I could not have expected. No one could have expected. He dropped to his knees and leaned forward, so low that his forehead reached the floor, inches away from my feet. “As you command. I am here to serve and protect you, my Evangeline.”
I instinctively backed away. I only made it two steps before I slammed into Caden’s rigid body. When I looked back over my shoulder at him, I found shock staring back.
“What the hell did you do to Max and Bishop?” Amelie hissed, stepping forward, one hand on Julian’s chest to keep him behind her. I noticed her hunched over slightly, as if wounded. Again, that nagging voice in the back of my mind told me I was the cause her discomfort, but I had no time to concern myself. Nathan’s head lifted mechanically, blue mirror balls shifting to her, the vacuous glare in them enough to give any vampire pause.
“Is she a threat to you, Evangeline?” His leg shifted to get up, not moving his focus from her.
A threat. A threat he needed to immobilize or kill, like he had Max and Bishop? My hands flew out in front of me in surrender. “No!” I shrieked, my voice cracking. I adjusted my tone to one more tranquil. “She is my friend. They are all my friends.”
As if my words provided verification, his focus shifted back to me, losing interest in Amelie.
A whirl of movement pulled all of our attention to the corner of the room where Max and Bishop last lay. Max was back on four paws, his black body stretching out. Beside him, a normal-looking Bishop also stood. “Oh, thank God,” I whispered, crumbling against Caden. Nathan hadn’t killed them after all. Yet.
Max’s low snarl gave me enough warning to stop a second round. “Max! No! It’s okay!”
No, it’s not, he growled, sauntering forward, choosing his path of assault.
“It is, Max! Please, just stay back until we sort this out.”
With a snort, Max leaned back on his haunches, letting out little snarls and growls to let everyone in the room know he wasn’t pleased.
“Bishop?”
Bishop didn’t answer me as he was too busy glowering at Nathan’s back with equal parts shock, anger, and awe. Nathan didn’t even bat a lifeless eye at them, focused on me as he stood.
“Why are you in here?” I asked him. Something told me this was not Sofie’s Nathan, that this had to be some form of alien impostor.
“I am here to protect you.”
“Are you Nathan?” Caden’s voice was level and calm, his suspicions matching my own.
Nathan stared blankly at us as if trying to translate what Caden was asking. “I do not understand,” he finally confirmed.
Again, I peered at Caden over my shoulder. He shrugged.
“Damn it, Evangeline!” A shout turned me around to the doorway just as a red mane rushed by, her face a mask of shock and rage as if I had committed a calculated crime. A crowd of spectators—Mage, Lilly, and her gang—packed the entrance, peering at Nathan with their own mixture of curiosity and aversion.
“I didn’t … mean to,” I stumbled over my words, heat burning my cheeks. Liar! I knew. I knew as my hand closed over that brass doorknob that this door would open part of a world Sofie had worked hard to bury. I knew, and I busted it down, anyway.
Perfectly manicured hands raised to cover her face, her fingertips pressing down on her eyelids. “You broke the spell … I should have known you would break the spell.” Her arms flopped to her side, her anger fading into defeat. She turned to cast a wary eye on the man in Nathan’s body, only managing a few seconds before flinching, her gaze dropping to the floor, her eyes squeezing shut as if stabbed by a jolt of pain.
Nathan looked past her, as if she was not important. As if she hadn’t been the love of his life. As if he had no clue who she was. “Are they a threat to you, Evangeline?” he asked again, his focus now on the crowd at the door.
“No.” To Sofie, I whispered in a harsh tone, “Why does he keep asking me that?”
Sofie’s mouth opened to answer but Mortimer and Viggo’s sudden entrance distracted us. “Good lord, Sofie!” Mortimer boomed in horror as he stared at Nathan. “Just when I thought you couldn’t bring about more catastrophe, here we are. What on earth have you done now?”
Sofie’s shoulders visibly sagged, her entire being a lifeless sack. She didn’t speak at first, her mouth opening and closing a few times, searching for words. “It was a mistake,” she whispered hoarsely.
“Are they a threat to you, Evangeline?” Nathan asked, yet again, blue mirrors casting their judgment on Viggo and Mortimer. He didn’t recognize them, either.
I hesitated slightly before saying no, casting a sidelong look at Viggo. He responded with a sneer, surely realizing my wavering. This could work to my advantage. If this Nathan thing could do to Viggo what he had just done to Bishop—and make it permanent—there’d be a few happy people in the room …
“And what exactly is this thing?” Viggo asked, his nose curled in disgust as one might if looking at road kill. If it bothered Nathan, I couldn’t tell. He appeared unfazed by everyone’s reactions.
Sofie seemed unable to speak.
“This isn’t Nathan,” I finally said into the silence.
“Nathan is dead,” came Sofie’s hollow response.
“Well, he certainly looks an awful lot like—” Amelie began.
“It’s not Nathan!” Sofie shrieked, spinning on her heels, looking ready to lunge at Amelie. But then, as if catching herself, she froze, her hands flying to her mouth, her slender fingers intertwined to clamp over her lips. An oppressive weight lowered onto the room like heavy smog. I noticed Mage and Mortimer exchange looks of worry. I knew what they were thinking.
Sofie was finally crumbling.
No one spoke. No one moved. We all gave her a moment to collect herself. When her hands lifted from her mouth, she was our normal, composed Sofie again. “Everyone … meet Wraith.”
“How appropriate …,” Bishop muttered dryly, pushing his hand through the back of his hair as he stepped to claim the area to my left.
“Wraith …,” I said, raking my brain for its definition. I remembered hearing that word before. “Isn’t that, like, a ghost?”
I felt Caden’s strong fingers curl around my elbow, pulling me ever so slightly closer to him but not to be too noticeable to anyone watching. To Bishop. The creature named Wraith didn’t miss the contact, though, those creepy eyes shifting from Caden’s hand to his face.
“Evangeline, I advise you not to get close to that one. He is capable of causing fatal injury to you.”
“What the—” Caden exploded, stepping forward, rage twisting his face. I was sure I was going to witness Wraith attack Caden after all. But Sofie soared in to intercept, her arms out to create an obstacle between the two of them.
“Stop, Caden. It’s all right. Please. I’ll explain …”
I watched in horror as Wraith’s hand lifted and clamped onto Sofie’s forearm like a steel manacle. Sofie’s beautiful face withered to a shriveled shell, her cheeks going sallow, the pulsating intensity in her irises dwindling. Dying.
There was no doubt. He was sapping the life right out of her.
“Stop it, Wraith!” I shrieked, diving forward to grab hold of his arm with both of my hands, ready to yank or bite or rake it free. Whatever I had to do. There was no need, though. The steel manacle popped open at my command. With quicker reflexes than I believed I had, I dove to my knees to catch Sofie’s head as she collapsed to the ground. I held my breath as I cradled her—so frail and helpless and hideous in that moment—waiting frantically for her to return to her radiant self.
“Why would you do that to her?” I demanded, looking up through a veil of tears to see guiltless mirrors watching me. “This is Sofie! Don’t you get it?”
“You weren’t supposed to find this room.” My head jerked down as I heard Sofie’s raspy gasp. Her creamy complexion had returned, her skin plumping as I watched. With a hand on her back, I helped her into a sitting position. “I never wanted to bring you here.” Slowly, awkwardly, using my shoulders as support, she rose to her feet and stumbled away from me, pushing past everyone to rush out of the room as if the air in it was suffocating her.
I followed, shoving through the throng at the door. My elbow rammed the terrifying Kait’s rock-hard abdomen, but I didn’t flinch. My hand pushed against Viggo’s chest without a thought. Outside in the hallway, I found my maternal vampiress buckled over and holding her chest, slouching against the wall opposite the door in the hallway. Shattered.
“Is he going to hurt us, Sofie?” I asked tentatively.
Gradually, she stood. Terror seized my heart as I took in the hollow, lost gaze. The look of defeat.
Sofie was giving up.
Sofie couldn’t give up. She was my rock. She was the one who kept assuring me everything would be okay. If she gave up … Blood rushed to my ears as my internal panic exploded.
Finally, Sofie shook her head. “No … yes and no.”
What did that mean? “What is he?” I asked as softly as I could. “Is he like the Tribe? Is that what their touch does?” Is that what my touch will do?
Her vacuous stare shifted past me. I turned to follow it, finding everyone now out in the hall, the crowd parted to allow Nathan prime view from his position in the room. That, and I’m sure no one was in any rush to get close to him.
“No … he’s far worse,” she whispered, adding with a hiss, “courtesy of the Fates.” Sickness roiled inside me. The Fates. I couldn’t win with them. No one could. “He is immune to all forms of magic. He takes life with a touch if he so chooses. His touch is not lethal unless he wants it to be. He usually does …” Her face twisted into a sardonic smile. “He is the ultimate protection for you. He is exactly what I asked for. Unstoppable, unkillable, untraceable. He’s dead. He is death.”
“You asked for this?” I studied this creature peering out at me with patience—his face, his hands, his stature. Everything about him appeared human. Everything identical to the painting above the mantle. Except for those eyes. And those eyes held his secret. Those hollow orbs of death. He was the grim reaper. Here to take life.
“And did you ask that he look like Nathan?” I said without thinking.
“Of course not!” Another shriek, another crack in her damaged armor.
I wasn’t sure if it was the wine or the situation, but the sconces were suddenly wobbling and swaying. I balanced myself against the wall. The weight of two hands instantly landed on my shoulders, one on the left shoulder, one on the right. Two hands that belonged to two different vampires. Bishop and Caden. I glanced up in time to see a silent look pass between them, Caden’s of mock apology, Bishop’s a mix of confusion and appreciation.
Caden quickly stepped away, allowing Bishop full ownership of me. He claimed it quickly, leaning in to ask with genuine concern, “You okay?” I tried to smile and felt my nostrils flare and my lip curl in a sneer.
Turning back to Sofie, a new question sparked in my mind. “And why did you have him hidden here, then? If he’s only here to protect me?”
Sofie stared back at me like horns had sprouted from my forehead. “Seriously, Evangeline? You need to ask? I couldn’t have him running loose in the streets! With what he can do? He will kill anyone he deems a threat to you. That could be the man who looks too long at you, or the driver of a car who’s speeding past you or someone who’s merely having a bad day. Anyone! I didn’t want to expose you to him until I needed to. Evangeline—he is like an unstoppable plague.”
“And what an added bonus for you that this plague looks exactly like your one true love. My, my, the Fates never tire of punishing you …” Viggo delivered the low blow from his new spot halfway down the hall—as far away as possible from this new enemy while still bearing witness.
If looks could disembowel, I was sure Viggo would be scooping up twenty feet of innards from the floor. I wished Sofie would attack him. Zap him dead with bolts of fire from her fingers. Hell, I was six words from siccing Wraith on him, ordering him to bring Viggo to his knees long enough so I could set fire to him myself. But Sofie only squeezed her eyes shut.
“I couldn’t have him roaming free so I confined him here. I spelled these quarters to disguise the door and the windows. All the exits. This is the only world that Wraith knows.” Another bitter smile. “The Fates allowed me that much control, at least. I could control him to some degree until he saw you, until he completed the connection. Now … I am nothing more than a potential threat to you …” Her voice drifted off, her words hollow.
The connection … those times I’d passed by this spot, before I could see the door. That familiarity, that pull—it was the connection the Fates had forged between the two of us, beckoning me. And because the Tribe’s magic coursing through me strengthened each day, morphed each day, it finally broke the barrier keeping us apart. The illusion masking the door. It was all making sense now …
“I thought there was something missing in this hallway,” Mortimer mused, his brow furrowed in deep thought, his fingers rubbing his chin as he studied the door. Now that I had passed through it, I supposed it was visible to everyone.
“Will he just … attack people? For no reason?” I asked.
Sofie heaved a heavy sigh. “He knows his mission is to protect you. While the connection wasn’t complete, he was relatively harmless. He just … sat in that room. He doesn’t sleep, he doesn’t eat, he doesn’t need entertainment. He is here for one reason and one reason only. To protect you. Always. Until you no longer need protecting.”
“No longer …,” I repeated, frowning.
“Until you die.” The words, delivered with all the sympathy and warmth that Sofie could muster, still turned my blood icy cold.
“So … that means …”
“Wraith will be with you for the rest of your natural life, whether it be seventy years or seventy minutes. He’s bound to you forever.” Forever. Such a long time. Or not. But as long I lived, Nathan’s life-sucking ghost would trail me. And that meant I would carry around a constant reminder of Sofie’s lost love, knifing her in the heart daily with his indifference. Being with me would cause her more pain. Soon, she’d be forced to abandon me. How else would she survive this? Shards of pain splintered through my heart. Nothing seemed to be going Sofie’s way.
“He will attack anything he feels is a threat to you, Evangeline. Anything at all. Nothing can harm him. Vampires, werebeasts—he will leech our strength from us with a touch, weaken us until we can’t fight back, or simply kill us. Mortal beings … they will die.” Sofie’s eyes darted behind me. “Stay far away from him, Julian. I can’t fix you if he decides you’re a threat.” Julian nodded soberly, giving me a sympathetic smile as Amelie’s arms enveloped him. Sofie went on. “And he can sense danger. He can dig into a person’s soul, read their evil intentions. Therein lies the danger, Evangeline. He won’t always ask you before he reacts. He may act on his own assessments of a person, of their danger to you.”
I glanced haphazardly at Wraith and then at Caden. He is capable of causing fatal injury to you. That’s what Wraith said. That’s what he dug out of Caden.
Caden was already shaking his head, distress evident on his face. “I don’t … I wouldn’t … not anymore!”
“He sees it in all of us,” Mage explained. “We are all capable of hurting her. She is human and it is in our DNA to kill her. Don’t take it personally.”
Awkward silence hung over the entire group until Sofie simply turned and left, half stumbling, dejected, down the hall. When she reached the doors out to the courtyard, I heard her call out, “Don’t worry. Wraith will not harm Evangeline.”
I almost didn’t catch her last words. I wish I hadn’t. “He’ll protect her from all of us.” And then she was pushing through the doors, disappearing into the wintry outside, leaving a horde of supernaturals and Julian and me alone with this new unstoppable creature. My newest curse.
“Well … on that note.” Viggo’s shoes slid against the floor as he stole down the hall. “Now that our fearless leader has given her permission, I’ll be happy to go deal with a certain blood-sucking mutant.” Sofie must have released them from their leash while we were roaming the halls and getting drunk. Viggo wasn’t wasting any time for good reason. If Wraith bothered to poke around in his soul—or whatever existed inside him—he’d find enough evil intent to decide to permanently affix himself to Viggo’s arm. He was Contender Number One in the “Threat to Eve” department, and if Viggo couldn’t kill Wraith, as he had every other threat to him—Lilly’s mom included—he would need to keep as far away as possible.
“Mortimer …?” he called.
Mortimer couldn’t seem to peel his focus off Wraith, though, a distant grief tugging at his face. For once, I knew exactly what he was thinking. What would it be like to have Veronique turned into a wraith? To have her soul sucked out, her beauty marred, to have her look through him, not recognize him, not love him. It would be enough to break any of us, and Sofie had to live it.
When Viggo appeared in front of Mortimer’s face to rudely snap his fingers under his nose, Mortimer slammed Viggo’s hand away with such force that it sent Viggo back a few steps. “I heard you!” With a head bow to the rest of us, Mortimer walked away.
And that’s when it finally dawned on me. “You guys are going back to New York?” Closer to discovering Veronique’s predicament, if you catch and interrogate someone? Another wave of lightheadedness swarmed me. Bishop’s hands found their place on my elbows, steadying me.
“Someone has to clean up the mess! You children have fun here … with that!” Viggo called out over his shoulder, strolling away.
“Remember Sofie’s caveat, Viggo. Stay away from the witches!” Mage warned. “As long as they’re in there, they’re not causing us issues.” When Viggo didn’t answer, she looked to Mortimer. “Be the sensible one, please.”
He nodded. “We can’t get in there, even if we want to. The witches have reinstated the Merth boundary and the entries are heavily guarded. My human spies have tried and failed several times already.”
“What’d they tell you?” The words tumbled out of my mouth in a rush before I could stop myself, too eager to know. Of course Mortimer was already snooping. But did he have any idea about Veronique?
He fixed me with a flat look. “Nothing. They’re all dead.” I listened to his heavy footsteps as he marched down the hallway after Viggo.
Slowly, cautiously, I exhaled in relief. They didn’t know yet. When they did find out, they couldn’t ever know that I knew. That I was lying. Never! They could never know how I was betraying them. If they did … an allegiance ten times over wouldn’t keep Viggo from snapping my body in two. I would wound Mortimer, an idea I realized troubled me more than death at Viggo’s hands. They can never find out. I must beg silence from Veronique.
“Lilly, Sofie would like you and your group to accompany them to New York and deal with Jonah,” Mage said, again her authoritative self. “It’s getting out of control. We need the issue eradicated and I don’t know that the two of them are enough.” What was happening in New York? What did “getting out of control” mean?
Lilly paused and regarded Mage coldly. “I don’t take orders from you.” When she looked over to me, she instantly warmed. “Is that what you would like me to do, Evangeline?”
“Uh …” She’s asking me? What was I supposed to say? Should I even trust her? This allegiance thing was unsettling. My eyes darted between Lilly—such an unassuming, unthreatening child vampire—to Mage—the all-powerful, ancient vampire—quietly analyzing every detail of her surroundings. If Sofie was already giving Lilly orders, then she must trust her allegiance to me. That was my answer. I needed to trust her.
“If Sofie said so, then yes, Lilly. She knows better about these things than I do.”
Lilly answered with a curt but respectable nod of acceptance.
Lilly was going to New York. Lilly who had pledged her allegiance to me. Lilly, who would do as I asked. This was my only chance … “I need to speak to Lilly for a brief moment, alone.”
Lilly didn’t miss a beat. “Get our things ready, please, Kait.” Kait and the others marched away without question.
My side wasn’t so obedient. “Please?” No one moved. “Alone!” It came out in a bark.
“God! Give a girl a wraith and some crazy powers and she thinks she runs the show …” Amelie muttered. Crazy powers …? She stuck her tongue out at me at the same time as she hooked arms with Julian, dragging him away, seemingly recovered from whatever had hurt her before. No, not whatever, Evie. You. You hurt her. After I dealt with Wraith, and with Lilly, I’d find out what I had done to her.
My demands hadn’t moved the rest of them. Caden’s mouth opened and then clamped shut with a furtive look at Bishop. He was trying not to appear too possessive but he was dying to argue with me. I wouldn’t give him a chance. I wouldn’t give any of them a chance.
“Leave now!” Manners were useless with them.
“I’ll go check on Sofie.” Mage’s dark eyes drifted in the direction of the courtyard. “This must be … difficult for her. And keep Wraith away from Julian,” she reminded. “He won’t bounce back to life like the rest of you.” With that, she quietly walked to the same door Sofie had all but stumbled out.
“We’ll be around the corner if you need us. Just holler,” Bishop said, throwing a warning glare at Lilly.
Are you about to do something stupid and get yourself into trouble? Seeing as that’s your usual MO these days, Max asked. He still hadn’t forgiven me for my earlier escape. I’d have to make it up to him. But not now.
“How can I possibly do something stupid? I have Death chaperoning me. I think I’m good.”
Max sauntered away with a snort, leaving Lilly and me alone.
We stood in the hall, four feet away from Wraith’s entrance. Wraith filled the doorframe with his looming presence. He said nothing, he did nothing. He just waited. For an order. For someone to kill.
“You’ve wanted to ask me something since the cemetery,” Lilly whispered with a timid smile. I couldn’t help but gape at her for a moment.
I swallowed, nodding. Once these words left my mouth, there would be no turning back. Someone out there would know what I had done, what I was hiding. They could judge me and I was afraid they’d be right. Either way, I had no choice. I needed help. Warily, I checked over my shoulder for eavesdroppers.
“They’re out of range, if you whisper,” Lilly confirmed in a low hum.
Still, I leaned in until my mouth was next to her ear. She waited patiently as I took a deep breath. “I need you to find a way into Viggo’s place.”
Lilly frowned. “Okay, but you told me to listen to Sofie and Sofie says to stay—”
“Her sister isn’t in the tomb anymore!” I hissed and then caught myself. Baby blue eyes expanded with shock. I watched her struggle to replace the veil of calm. I noticed she had a harder time doing that then the adult vampires.
“How do you—”
“I’ll explain later,” I said. “But I know. I know they’re torturing her. And I know that no one can find out what’s happening, Lilly. I mean no one. I’m trusting you to help me get her out.”
I watched her set her jaw, deep in thought. Tiny hands clasped onto mine and squeezed. “Okay, Evangeline,” she agreed with a curt nod and a comforting smile. “I’ll find a way in there without raising any alarms. I promise.”
“I mean it, Lilly. No one can know. I don’t even want you telling Kait or the others. I need you to do this one on your own. This is just you and me, kid.”
Her mouth twisted pensively, the wheels turning in that twelve-hundred-year-old brain of hers. “Just you and me.” She liked the idea of that, I could tell by the twitch of a smile across her lips. “You can count on me.” She leaned in to give me an awkward hug—like she hadn’t given one in a century and didn’t know how—and then she vanished.
I wasn’t alone for two seconds before Bishop, Caden, and the others showed up.
“What was that all about?” Caden pressed.
“Oh … stuff.” How was I to answer that? I dropped my gaze to the floor and spotted a full bottle of port by my feet. Bishop must have put it there before we discovered Wraith’s hideout. I grabbed it and rushed to bring it to my lips, taking a long, intense swallow.
“Evie! Tell us!” I avoided all eye contact, instead studying Wraith. There he stood, waiting patiently, staring.
Wiping a dribble off my chin, I finally threw out the first thing that popped into my head. “Ratheus.”
“What about it?” Amelie asked.
“Um … I wanted to make sure she knew how bad it was.” That was the one thing I knew about that she didn’t. Still, it was a feeble attempt at an excuse and I knew it the second I caught the glimmer in Caden’s eyes. He said nothing, but I could tell he didn’t buy it.
None of the others picked up on it, though, ready to move away from this spot. Bishop let out a heavy sigh, draping his arms around my shoulders to clasp in front of me. Leaning in, he whispered, “Next time, I’ll believe you when you say there’s a secret door, okay? How about you don’t feel the need to prove it?” His lip grazed my lobe, sending shivers through my body. Shivers that he shouldn’t be able to give me. Shivers that only felt right when it was Caden giving them to me. Shivers that Caden couldn’t give me while this game of the Fates existed. Maybe he’d never be able to again, if my metamorphosis finished.
“So what was that back there?” Amelie asked.
I frowned. “What, where?”
She rolled her eyes. “When I was holding you and you decided you needed to jump in between Death and a vampire? It was like you electrocuted me.” Her angelic face scrunched up as she rubbed her wrist. “Hurt like Hell. At first, I thought you were going to kill me.”
“I don’t know,” I answered quietly. That was a lie. I knew. Maybe it was that time. I stared down at my hands, at my fingertips. They seemed so dainty, so normal. What a deception. They were quickly becoming something deadly. With each passing day, the end was nearing. The disease was waiting to unleash itself, waiting to strike down everyone I loved. And when it struck, who would be the first victim? Would I be touching Bishop or Amelie or Caden when the magic decided to finish off my transformation? Would their faces shrivel up as I watched them die?
I shook Bishop’s arms off in a panic and leapt forward to press my back against the opposite wall, staring at a line of worried faces. “Please don’t touch me,” I whispered hoarsely. “None of you. Please don’t risk it.”
“Evie …,” Bishop began, stepping forward, hands outstretched.
“No!” I shrieked, throwing my arms up to block him. “No … I can’t bear the idea that I may kill—” I choked over that word, “one of you. Please … I just need some space to deal with all this right now.”
“Okay, Eve. We understand,” Amelie said softly, reaching forward to give Bishop a pat on the back. “Don’t we, Bishop?”
He nodded, the crease in his brow deepening. “Of course.”
Caden and Julian stood side by side, watching me quietly, saying nothing. I didn’t have to worry about them. Julian wouldn’t touch me for fear of earning Caden’s wrath, and Caden was good at keeping up pretenses with Bishop. I wished it were as easy for me …
I dropped my gaze, unable to meet any of them in the eye. I was lying. Lying to every single one of them in one form or another. It was exhausting. I wanted it all to go away. I squeezed the neck of the wine bottle.
I had my answer. For tonight, anyway. Tonight, I would make it all go away. I was going to get drunk.
I poured another healthy dose of that burning sweet syrup down my throat, praying I’d quickly succumb to whatever magic powers it held.
“Let’s get out of here,” Bishop stepped forward. “Can I at least walk next to you?”
I nodded. He jutted his chin down a hall I had not been down yet. “There’s a kick-ass wine cellar that way, if you want to see it?” he grinned.
More wine meant more liquid therapy. “Lead the way, oh wise one.” We began walking. I halted. I was forgetting something. I turned back to see Wraith gingerly poke his head out the door. One long leg tentatively stepped across the threshold, as if he half expected to melt. I guess I couldn’t blame him. His entire existence confined to one room was enough to drive anyone crazy. When his leg didn’t melt, I swore I caught a hint of a smile. If Death was capable of smiling.
I rushed forward to catch up to Bishop. The others followed behind like silent shadows, including Wraith. When I walked, he walked. When I stopped, he stopped. Several feet away but never too far. Much like Max, Wraith was my bodyguard. A life-sucking, unshakable bodyguard who was bound to me until I died. I brought the bottle to my lips once again, taking a more liberal chug. It wasn’t nearly so sweet anymore, nor was the burn so fierce. In fact, I was growing fond of its taste. The warm sensation flowing through my limbs relaxed me.
“So, Wraith,” Bishop began and when I turned back, I saw that mischievous look in his eye. He was the old Bishop again, from the days of running through the caves. I missed it so dearly … “Should we call you Wraith? Such an awkward name. How about just ‘Death’?”
Amelie sniggered from her twenty-foot distance. Even Max snorted in my head.
“I have been given the name Wraith,” was all he said, ending any potential fun at his expense.
“Well, he’s a barrel of laughs,” Bishop muttered.
Peeking over my shoulder at him, studying the way he marched in a perfectly straight line—back straight, arms stiff—I wondered what Nathan had been like when he was alive. Certainly nothing like Wraith. There was no way Sofie would be in love with a lifeless, humorless android. I guess I shouldn’t expect Death to have a personality, though. Another tip of the bottle … another drink … What would I do if the Fates did this to Caden? To stand next to the empty shell of him, to have his gaze pass over me without a second’s thought?
My insides recoiled. I glanced back furtively to meet beautiful jade eyes. Four of them? I squinted. No, two eyes … What if those beautiful eyes were lost to me forever, as I thought them to be not long ago? I sighed and took another long pull on the port. My tongue felt thick. I rolled it inside my mouth and then smacked it against the roof to wake it up. Funny … my jaw didn’t hurt anymore.