Avenge (Hillcrest Book 2)

by Cassie Pierce

  “Zane is .... Zane,” I finally say, leaving it at that. The truth is that I can’t explain Zane. I don’t even understand it myself.

  How did he find me? How does he talk to me? Where does he come from? All of these are things that I am dying to know.

  Talon scrunches up a brow, his face pinching slightly before evening out into his signature smirk. I can tell that he has questions. Tons of them if I know Talon, but he won’t ask.

  I have learned from our short time in captivity that my new vamp bestie doesn’t like to push. Mostly, because he doesn’t like to be pushed back.

  He shares, but usually only superficial stuff. Never anything too deep....too personal. The serious stuff he keeps locked away. So, it isn’t too hard to imagine why someone who likes his secrets would respect other people’s.

  “Ooookkkk,” he says, a hint of laughter in his voice. “Well...do we trust this Zane, or do you think this is a trap?”

  “I trust him,” I blurt, almost before Talon can even finish his sentence. Not wanting to go into it any further, I decide to change the subject.

  “Do you think that they are really coming?” I ask, and the hope in my voice makes me mad. I don’t want to be that girl. The one who waits for her prince to save her. It infuriates me really. Right now, Jaxon Lux is the last person that I want to see. I know it sounds stupid, but I was really hoping that I could get myself out of this mess.

  I don’t want to owe him anything. Not anymore.

  “Yes,” Talon says, and I know that he is totally lying for my benefit. He believes that this will end well about as much as I do. You see, if there is one thing that Talon and I have in common, it is that we both have had our fair share of crappy endings.

  Life...life has not been kind to either of us. So why would it start now?

  “Thanks,” I say, smiling as I tuck my cold hands under my arms in a lame attempt to keep them warm. Being cold sucks. You would think that being the super-angelic-hybrid that I am I could generate my own heat or something, but nope.

  I am still the same old lame Maci. The only difference is that now everyone wants to kill me.

  “So....not to be a Debbie downer or anything, but we need a plan. The chances are pretty good that I am going to die today and that you are going to be the one to kill me. That hurts to say, but the truth is the truth. Whatever evil thing that Michael and Ashlee have planned for us is happening soon. We can’t just sit around and wait on Jaxon and the others. If they don’t show.....”

  Well, you get the idea.

  No. Waiting will get us killed. We need to do something. No matter what happens, I would rather die fighting than live afraid.

  “You’re right,” he says, running his hands through his hair as he starts to pace.

  His eyes dart to the doorway nervously, and I wonder if he can hear something that I can’t. He steps up to me, his hands circling my arms as his gaze turns intense. An urgency fills his voice, a desperateness that I have not heard from him before.

  “They are coming. Our only hope is to get out of here before the feeding. We can’t....,” he starts, swallowing roughly before trying again.

  “We can’t let it happen here. Here we are as good as dead. If Zane says we need to lead them to the gate, then that is exactly what we will do. Remember what we practiced? Do you understand?” he asks, just as the door to our prison whips open.

  The couple made in hell (aka my former dead bestie and my dead beat kinda dad) stroll in hand in hand. Seeing them together still makes me want to vomit, but right now I have bigger things to think about.

  Part of me wants to scream at Talon that no...I do not understand! Not even remotely. I have an idea of what he thinks will work, but no clue if it really will. I mean, if I knew how to get out of here, I would have already done it. You know before my vamp bestie tuned me into his personal chew toy.

  “Look how cute,” Ashlee chirps, smiling her evil barbie smile at Michael. “They kissed and made up.” She laughs as she points to Talon and me.

  Man. I am really starting to hate her. I never thought that I would wish she was dead, but this...this person that stands before me now is not my friend. My friend was funny, and kind, and cried every time she watched Radio. She loved old movies and skinny lattés. She once boycotted meat for an entire year after watching Bambi. This...this thing that has taken part in torturing me cannot be my friend.

  Whatever happened, I never got Ashlee back. As far as I am concerned, it would have been better if she would have stayed dead. Better that than this.

  “Funny,” I reply with as much sarcasm as my weak body can muster. “Do you actually want something this time, or did you just come to torture us?”

  Ashlee opens her mouth, but Michael’s deep booming voice cuts her off before she can say anything. Impatience bleeds through clearly in his tone.

  “Enough with the bickering. I swear...you two act like children.”

  “You didn’t think she was so childish a second ago. You know... when you had your tongue down—”

  The slap comes out of nowhere, the sting in my cheek bringing tears to my eyes. Beside me Talon lets out a fierce growl. He angles his body protectively in front of me, but Michael is already back on the other side of the room.

  I say nothing as I bring a shaky hand to cradle my stinging cheek. I just soak it all in. The pain...the rage. I store it away so that I can use it when the time comes. I will get a chance to kill Michael, and I won’t hesitate.

  He deserves to die. They both do.

  “You hit like a girl,” I sneer, bringing my hand down and fixing my face into what I hope is an indifferent smirk. I know goading him isn’t smart, but I don’t care. I will not make this easy for him.

  His eyes flash with anger, but Ashlee’s whiny voice pulls his attention away. “Stop playing into her games my love. We have business. We can play later,” she purrs, and I swear I actually vomit in my mouth just- a- little.

  Ashlee stalks toward Talon, and I know what’s coming next. In her hand she holds a phone, and on the other end of that line will be King Xavier. They will use him to order Talon to attack me. Xavier has no idea that they are playing him too. It has been the same process since the moment that I arrived here.

  Talon will fight it, but once his sire gives the order, he will have no choice but to comply. The blood bond demands it. I cannot compete with a sire bond. No one can.

  But.....if I can get to Ashlee and Michael before they hit that little green phone button, then we might stand a chance.

  I have to try.

  “It will never work you know. Jaxon still talks to me,” I totally bluff, hoping that my poker face is better than I think it is. I am not much of a liar, but our survival depends on my ability to sell this lie.

  At the mention of her brother’s name, Ashlee’s head snaps up. She darts forward, her cool fingers grabbing my chin and squeezing so hard that I have to fight the urge to cry.

  “Lies,” she sneers, her blue eyes flashing red. I blink, thinking that I must be hallucinating from blood loss or something. I close my eyes, and when I open them again, only her cold blue glare answers me.

  “It is true. He is my Moirai. My fate. Did you really think that he would just abandon me for some girl?” I laugh. The words taste bad tumbling from my lips because that is exactly what he did. She doesn’t need to know that though.

  No. I need the others to think that Jaxon has been on my side this entire time. That is the only way this crazy plan will work, and it has to work.

  If not.....

  You see. I have learned a thing or two since my capture. Like the fact that Michael’s angel power is reading minds, but he can only do it by touch. Talon, being a vampire also has the same power. All vamps can read minds when touching the person that they wish to read.

  So, we started practicing. You see, if Ashlee believes that Jaxon still talks to me, she will want to know what he said. She isn’t dumb though. She will want proof that the words I
speak are not lies.

  That is where our little practice sessions come in. We practiced for hours, waiting for a break like this one. The only piece that we were missing is the where, and thanks to Zane we now have it. You see, Talon being Xavier’s puppet lets him in on a lot of knowledge. Mostly because people talk around him without thinking. Talon knew that eventually they would need to bring us to one of the gates, he just never knew which one. Thanks to Zane telling us to go to the gate closest to the Academy, we now know exactly where to lead Michael and Ashlee. They made it too easy really.

  If you know that someone is about to look into your mind, you can control what they see. Talon explained that while vampires and Michael alike have the ability to pick up thoughts and emotions, and can sense if someone is lying...they cannot actually tell which thoughts are real, and which ones are imagined. They can only feed off of the interpretation of the person they are reading.

  So, if I want Michael to believe that something is real....I just need to believe it myself.

  “She isn’t lying,” Talon says, beginning his role in our little plan. “I have witnessed her talking to someone during her time in the dark.”

  Not a lie, just not the whole truth. Michael charges forward, anger etching his features. I hide my smile as he takes the bait. He knocks Ashlee’s hands away, and I center myself as I feel the brush of his power against my mind.

  This is it! Everything depends on my ability to sell this lie.

  “No!” I gasp, pretending to struggle against him, when secretly I am smiling inside.

  I don’t fight the tingle of his power, instead I welcome it as I pull to the front of my mind the illusion that I want him to see.

  I can feel the gentle pull of Michael’s power like an icky caress against my mind. As much as I want to shudder in revulsion under the weight of it, I resist the urge. It takes every ounce of self-control that I possess, but I manage to stay perfectly still. I clear my mind of everything. Everything except the one thing that I want him to see. That I need him to see.

  The conversation that I have had with myself so many times, that sometimes even I forget that it isn’t real. I have also had this same conversation out loud with Talon, so that the lie will be easier to sell.

  Training myself to believe my words, so that he will believe my words too. So that when he looks for deceit, he will find none.

  After all, if we lie to ourselves long enough...believe our lies hard enough, eventually we start to see them as the truth.

  I call the memory of Jaxon’s voice to my mind. I shut down the flood of emotions that wants to come with it, and instead focus on the task at hand. I can hear his smoky tenor, a whisper of a life that was almost mine. When I find it, I hold on, repeating the words that I want Michael to hear.

  Having a one-sided conversation with the ghost of the boy that broke me.

  “There it is,” Michael boasts as I pretend to struggle beneath his iron clad grip. I throw my head from side to side, squeezing my eyes shut in a very fake attempt to shut him out.

  What I really want is for him to look harder. Just a little bit harder.

  “No....” I whimper, and even I am slightly impressed with my acting skills. I quickly picture what I want him to see, then make a grand production of trying to hide it from him. I pull the thought back, hiding it behind a wall. I imagine the wall growing taller and taller. Keeping him out.

  “Stupid girl,” Michael laughs. “There is no wall in any world large enough to keep me out.”

  I can hear Talon as he too pretends to struggle. My ears pick up the distinctive sound of flesh smacking across flesh, and I pray that he got a solid hit in on my crazy ex-bestie.

  She deserves it.

  “SHOW ME!” Michael demands, and like a well- timed movie scene I drop my mental wall.

  Oh....I will let you see all right. What’s that saying? Ah yes....be careful what you wish for.

  “No!!!!” I yell, but inside I am doing a victory dance. Chanting yes....yes...yes!

  Then I let it all go, giving him exactly what he asked for. I can tell the moment that he finds it. Confusion, followed by deranged victory twist his features before he throws me away from him. A look of disgust mars his face, and I almost laugh as I watch him try to wipe my touch away on the leg of his pants.

  “Well love,” Ashlee purrs, sliding her body up to his. She runs a soft finger along the ridge of his shoulder blade. He turns his attention to her, and I take the opportunity to take a few steps away from him.

  “What did you see?” Ashlee whines impatiently.

  “Skull Creek Kansas,” he laughs, looking like a little kid who just got a lifetime supply of chocolate chip cookies.

  “We need to complete the ritual at Skull Creek,” he clarifies.

  “Why? What is so special about Skull Creek Kansas?” Ashlee inquires. I can tell from the nasally tone of her voice that she is annoyed. She never did like being left out of the loop.

  “The gate is there. I saw a vision of Jaxon warning her that whatever happens to not let us bring her to Skull Creek.” Michael is gloating, and I can’t wait to see his face when he realizes that it is a trap.

  A perfectly laid out trap.

  “So... what are we waiting for? We need to leave for this Skull Creek at once,” Ashlee says, walking to the far side of the room and digging around in an old trunk. She comes back, carrying two bags that look a lot like potato sacks.

  “Tonight. We leave tonight,” Michael agrees, taking said sack from her and walking to where I stand. I force myself to stay still. This is all part of the plan. Doesn’t mean it isn’t about to suck though.

  “I would say that I am sorry, but we both know that I am not,” he laughs. His arm snaps out, crunching into the delicate flesh of my nose, and bringing me to my knees.

  He quickly throws the sack over my now bleeding face, before wrapping those god-awful chains around my wrist.

  I guess I should be glad that it is just my wrist this time. I can hear Talon struggle beside me, and I know without looking that his fate is the same as mine.

  I can’t see beyond the darkness, and I force myself to breathe through the thin sack that covers my face. I have never liked anything touching my face, so I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t freaked out.

  That’s good though. I need them to think that I am terrified. My fear will help me sell my lie.

  “What....” I force my voice to quiver, and my pride takes a serious hit at letting Michael think that he is winning. “What are you going to do with us? Where are you taking us?”

  Michael laughs, but it is Ashlee who answers my question. I have learned that she is the meaner of the two.

  “Are you deaf M?” she sneers, using my nickname. “We are going to Skull Creek....or as you might like to call it...the place you are going to die.”

  I smile, just as I feel a familiar pinch in my arm that means I am being drugged yet again. The difference is.....

  This time I fall into oblivion with a smile on my face. Ashlee always did like to play games. Well.....guess what?

  Checkmate bitch.

  ∞

  ~ Chapter 3~

  I don’t know how much time passes between the shot that keeps on giving and waking up once again to a monster headache. Seriously? What the hell is in that stuff?

  The bag still covers my face, and I force myself to stay completely still as I try to get a feel for my surroundings. Which is kind of hard to do when you can’t see.

  The sound of the wind against something solid, combined with the occasional jarring motion suggest that we are in a vehicle. Which is strange? Why not just use the shimmer?

  My hands are tied tightly behind me, and I am lying on my side. I flex my fingers, reaching blindly in the dark until I feel the outline of a body beside me. I hold my breath, and when cool fingers wrap around mine, I let out a sigh of relief.

  Talon. It has to be Talon.

  My mind wanders as time slowly eats up the m
iles between wherever we were being held prisoner to our new destination.

  I don’t know much about Skull Creek Kansas. Just what Zane has shared with me during our talks. Zane loves to tell me stories and legends. At first, I thought that he just liked to talk, but I am starting to think that he chose his stories for a purpose. That the stories he told me all contained information that I would need to save myself.

  According to my pen pal from the dark side, Skull Creek is the closest portal to the Underworld from the Academy.

  It is believed that the portal at Skull Creek is actually housed at Maple Hill Cemetery, inside the tomb of one Lila Delaney.

  According to legend, Lila was an angel who had the misfortune of falling in love with a demon prince. Lila’s angel power was transport, and her specialty was crafting portals. Her power so strong that even the divide between Heaven and Hell could not stop her.

  That is how she met her demon Prince, Cain. Lila loved Cain, and as much as he could, he loved her. They met in secret for years, until one day Lila’s brother Logan followed her. When he saw what his sister had done, he turned her in to the angelic council. Lila was put to death, her body buried at the very place where she committed the betrayal against her people. They sealed her tomb over the portal that she created, using her soul as the lock to keep the gate closed. It is said that only the blood and soul of a Nephilim can open the gate. Since technically Nephilim are not pure....like the council considered Lila to be after she gave herself to a demon.

  If you ask me, I think it is all just stupid. Love is love. Killing someone because they are brave enough to love freely and with abandon is just wrong. The angelic council had no right taking her life.

  I am jarred from my thoughts by a familiar yet gentle brush against my mind. I smile as I open myself to him. Letting him in gets easier, but this is one of the first times that he has ever come to me while I have been awake.

  “Open your eyes Angel. You are almost here. I need to warn you about what happens next.”

  Ahhhh. Zane. I don’t think that I will ever get used to hearing him inside my head. At the sound of his voice, my eyes snap open, only to meet with darkness. I panic momentarily, until I register the scratchy material of the sack that still covers my face. I take a deep breath, forcing the air out against the sudden tightness in my lungs that just thinking about having something covering my head causes me. I choose to focus on something more important.