“I’ll see you soon,” he said.
“You bet.” She smiled and hung up.
“Better?” Essie asked and her voice was hers. Eve looked up and found the warm blue eyes looking back at her. She would deal with… the other thing… later, if need be.
“Yes.” She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “I didn’t mean to freak out. I just…”
“You did nothing wrong, miss.”
Eve drifted off to sleep to the feel of the highway rolling away beneath their wheels.
#
The ringing of a phone woke Eve and she opened her eyes. It was her mom.
“Hey,” Eve said with a yawn.
“You’re not driving, are you?” she asked and Eve laughed.
“No, I’m not. Have you landed?”
“Yes. I’m in Salt Lake City. We had to refuel again.”
“Essie, how far from Missoula are we?” Eve asked.
“About two hours.”
“Mom, you might beat us a little, but we will be there.”
“I doubt I’ll have landed by the time you get there. Customs is a pain,” she hesitated. “Eve, they are talking about a storm in Montana. Are you certain you don’t want to get a hotel room?”
“We have time, as long as traffic isn’t too bad. And if the storm is that bad, the hotels are going to fill up, if they haven’t already. Besides, I want you to meet the people that saved me.”
“I just… Don’t forget that we need to talk.”
“I won’t, Mom.” She couldn’t.
Her voice was muffled for a moment then she was back. “Okay, baby, I have to go. We’re ready to take off again. I’ll see you in Montana.”
“Mom… Be careful.” Eve didn’t know why she was warning her, maybe because the whole situation had her on edge.
“Don’t worry about me. I love you.”
“I love you too.” Eve hit the end button and dropped her hand in her lap. Staring out the window, she was oblivious to the forested mountains and building clouds. There was a strange feeling inside her. Like what happens to the air before a thunderstorm. A building of something she couldn’t define. Did she want to know what she was going to learn? Why not? What was one more thing to add to the pile of unnatural in her lap.
“Essie?” Why was she doing this? Couldn’t she just wait?
“Yes, miss?”
“Do you know what the Fae are?”
“Aye, I do.” She glanced at Eve in the mirror. “But I won’t be telling you about them. Have patience, miss.”
Eve smiled. “That’s never been a strong point with me.”
“It isn’t for most people,” Essie laughed, looking back at the road.
Something just occurred to Eve. “I can’t feel anything from you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Sebastian told me I was an empath. I feel people’s emotions. But I can’t feel yours,” her voice dropped a little. “Do you have them?”
“Not often.” The white head behind the wheel shook. “They tend to get in the way of me doing what I do.” She laughed again. “And not many are something I would want someone like you to know about.”
Eve leaned her heard back. “Fair enough.” She hesitated. “Do you mind me asking questions about you?”
“Not at all.” Another glance. “Just be sure you want to know the answerers to the questions you’re asking.”
Eve laughed. “Gideon said basically the same thing.”
“Well, in the case of them, you needed to know what they are. Especially being bound to them.”
“That disclosure went well.” She grimaced, remembering her panic. “Poor Micah.”
“I’m sure he’s fine with the situation.”
“So, back to you, how did you come to be…employed… by them?
“Gideon spared me,” she said.
Eve frowned. “What do you mean by spared?”
“Long ago, someone paid my price to kill him. I couldn’t because I didn’t realize how strong he was. He could have killed me, but he didn’t.”
“Does that mean you are like a slave to him?”
Essie laughed. “No, miss. I could leave tomorrow if I wished. But I don’t want to. My role is comfortable. I do things around the house because I enjoy it, but my true purpose there is to protect them during the day.”
I require payment. Similar but different.
“They pay you in blood.”
Essie met her eyes again before blurring again, only this time, it lasted longer. “Aye, miss, they do.” A masculine sound again. “What are you seeing now?”
“I don’t know,” Eve whispered.
There was a figure trying to materialize from the…haze? From the thing that was once a sweet older lady.
Dark hair. Dark eyes in the mirror.
“Do you need blood to live?” Eve swallowed hard, wishing she could take back the question as soon as it was out of her lips.
“No, Eve. I don’t.” The form solidified a bit. “I simply like the taste.”
A man now. Black hair curled the collar of the suit he wore. Jet eyes held hers in the mirror.
She had never seen him before. But at the same time, there was a hazy memory of someone she thought she had seen as a child.
Someone her mother knew. Someone who once gave her a piece of candy. A man who said strange words as he traced patterns on her palm. Words that she couldn’t understand at the age of four. Words she still didn’t understand at twenty-seven. There was a burst of power that filled her small form, a feeling that she should have known, but didn’t.
“Survive, Eve.” A hurried whispered to her four-year old self.
Who was he?
She shook her head, banishing the past. She could ask her mom when she saw her.
“You look like a friend of my mother,” she finally said to… “I can’t exactly call you Essie, now, can I?”
He laughed slightly. “It doesn’t matter what you call me. Anyone else will hear the name they perceive me to be.”
“So, even though I heard the others say Essie, that wasn’t what they were saying?”
“No.”
“Duglas,” she said finally.
“Dark stranger.” His teeth shown white against dusky skin. “Fitting.”
“I thought so.”
He gave her a quick nod before putting his eyes back on the road. “I am the same, though. Only my appearance changed for you.”
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” she said.
They were both silent as the mile markers flew past. She tried to remember more about the man in her past. Was that the last time she saw him? Only time? Had to have been. She couldn’t remember any other meetings.
No.
That was wrong. She remembered seeing him for an instant after her father’s death. Her mom was crying, and he was leaving. She had crept down the stairs and he stood in the doorway. He glanced at her with a sad smile. One black eye met hers, sorrow filling it, then he was gone.
“Eve?” Duglas’s voice brought her back to the present.
“Yes?” she asked, blinking. How long had she been trapped by memories?
“We’re almost there.”
She looked out the window as they passed an interstate sigh that confirmed what he said. Airway Boulevard: One Mile. She gripped her phone, practically willing her mom to call. While she knew that a major discussion was in the works, she needed her comfort.
“Thank you,” she said to the soft look he gave her. He. Her head hurt.
While she may not be freaking out at that moment, she didn’t feel like the strong person he declared her to be.
They left the interstate and at the first right, he turned into a gas station. “I’d like to fill up again before the return trip. I also thought you might like to stand up after being stuck in here for so long.”
Though everything about him might be different now, down to his speech pattern, he was still looking out for her. She smiled her
thanks and after he pulled up to the pump, she got out, relishing in the movement.
“I ask that you stay by the car,” he said. “While I don’t expect anything to happen here, it would save time trying to find you should something occur.”
“Sure. But could you do me a favor?”
“Of course.”
“I’d like a bottle of water, if it’s not too much trouble.”
He smiled at her. “No trouble at all.”
She watched as he turned away, walking to the middle of three attached buildings. The air was cold, biting, and felt amazing blowing across her face. While she missed those who took her in, it was nice to be outside. It wasn’t too cloudy in Missoula and the sun dazzled her.
Her phone rang and grinning, she answered it.
“Hey mom.”
“Hey baby. We’re about to land.”
“I think we’re close to the airport. On Airway Boulevard, at the very least. My driver wanted to top off the gas before the drive back.”
“Your driver? When did you get fancy?”
Eve laughed. “He’s not actually mine. He works for my… friends.” How did she explain them? She wasn’t about to tell the woman who gave birth to her that they were, well, friends with benefits.
“I can’t wait to meet the people that saved my daughter’s life.” There was a catch in the voice over the phone and Eve could imagine tears in her mom’s.
“I promise, I’m fine.”
Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned. Douglas held out her bottle of water before heading to the gas pump.
“Mom, we should be back on the road in a few minutes. Where are you going to be?”
“I’ll be outside. All you need to do is drive up.”
“Okay. I’ll see you very soon.”
The line went dead and Eve hit end on her line as well. She climbed back in and closed the door. While the wind felt good, she was getting chilled and the car was warm. After a couple of minutes, Duglas joined her.
He pulled back onto the road.
#
Eve saw her as they came around the bend.
“That’s her,” she couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. Yes, she knew she sounded like a kid, but she couldn’t care.
“You look like her.” Duglas said. “But your hair is longer and more vivid.”
She laughed. “Thanks.” She took it as a compliment. Her mother was one of the most beautiful people on the planet, though, she may have been biased.
He smiled at her in the mirror before pulling to a stop in front of the building. “You’re welcome.” Putting the car in park, he got out., Eve right behind him, launching herself from the car and running to her mom.
The older woman dropped her purse and threw her arms around her daughter. “Evie sweetie.”
“I’m here, Mom, I’m okay.” She wouldn’t be for long if her mom didn’t let her breathe.
“Oh my Evie.” She leaned back and let her eyes travel her daughter’s face. “When I got the news…” She pulled her in for another hug.
Tears welled up in Eve’s eyes and she tried to blink them away. “It’s alright.”
“Why didn’t you call me sooner?” There was no censure in her voice, but Eve still felt the guilt pile on her.
“Because of the strangeness that has been happening. I know it’s no excuse, Mom, I’m sorry. But it’s been… interesting.”
Her mom took a breath and finally let her go. “And I’m going to add to that. I just hope you can understand and forgive me.”
Eve laughed. “There’s nothing you could do or say to make you need my forgiveness.”
The other woman said nothing.
“Ma'am, are these your bags?” Eve heard Duglas ask and her mother looked past her. She grew alarmed at the expression on her mother’s face. Who did she see?
“Yes.” The word was soft, almost reverent.
“With your permission, I’ll put them in the trunk. We made good time getting here, but we need to hurry to beat the storm.”
Her mom stood straighter. “I’m usually not so rude as to stare, but you look like someone I know. My apologies.” She took a step forward. “I’m called Rosewen.” She held out her hand.
Duglas made a sound and Eve looked at him. He was smiling, on the verge of laughing, when he took her mom’s hand and gave it a brief shake. “I’m called Duglas.” He told her that she would always hear Duglas, but she wondered what it was that her mother heard. Who did he look like to her?
Eve climbed into the back of the car and scooted so her mom could sit beside her. Duglas made quick work of Rosewen’s bags then he was sitting behind the wheel.
On the way back to her borrowed home, her mom regaled her with tales of her European travels. Miles flew as fast as the time as Eve laughed at Rosewen’s bad acting of snooty waiters and drunken pub regulars. Outside the car, the clouds continued to churn overhead and every so often, would spit snow at them. There was a tic inside her. Like, every so often, she could almost feel something. Something they were getting closer too.
“How close are we?” Eve asked Duglas, running her hands across her legs.
He met her eyes and smiled. “About thirty minutes, ma’am. We should make it in time.”
Eve glanced outside as he turned onto a smaller road. “Duglas, be careful.” Once again, he met her eyes, but this time, they were deadly serious. He gave a brief nod before looking back at the road.
About fifteen minutes later, the feeling welled up inside her. A rage that almost surpassed Fallon’s. “Stop!” she shouted as her mom gasped. Duglas stomped the brake, the car fishtailing before coming to a stop.
“Get out!” she screamed, the feeling crawling through her skin like the lightening that was about to strike. Her mom jumped out of the car and Duglas was there, pulling her sweatshirt to haul her out as the world exploded.
#
Heat.
Flames.
Why couldn’t she hear anything? Duglas was shouting at her. She blinked at him. They were safe? Her mother!
She sat up, looking around her. Arms surrounded her. There she was.
“Eve!” She could barely hear her name.
Duglas stood up, looking around. He said something to Rosewen, and his expression was terrifying. “Mom?”
The kitsune vanished as Rosewen came into sight, kneeling in front of Eve.
“I’m here.”
Hearing was returning, slowly but surely.
Her pocket vibrated. Was it Micah? She wouldn’t be surprised.
She pulled her phone out. Sebastian. Why would he be calling? She wasn’t injured. She even had to squint at her hand to see his mark. Would she be able to hear him? “Please tell him I’m okay.” She held out the ringing phone to her mom. The words bounced around in her head, making her wince.
Rosewen looked confused but did as she was asked. Eve could barely hear what she said. Her mother stood and looked around, still talking. Kneeling again, she handed Eve back her phone. “He’s on his way.” This came from a tunnel.
Eve shook her head. “He can’t.” It was only then that she noticed how dark it was getting. The light was coming from the burning car.
She finally felt steady enough to get off the ground. The snow was coming down harder now, blowing in the strengthening winds. Her back was freezing. Why? She forgot about that when Duglas reappeared, tossing a body on the ground. She almost fell over her feet backing away from the long white hair and staring violet eyes. Not human.
“What did you do?” Her head hurt less now.
“What I was paid to do,” he said, his gaze steady. It was only then that she realized that he had been injured in the explosion. Red streaks ran down the side of his face.
“Did you… Is…”
“Yes to both.”
Eve turned away, focusing on her breathing. Her mom stepped in front of her. “Eve, what’s going on?”
She couldn’t think to answer. Bending, she put he
r hands on her knees, trying to breath normally and not throw up at the same time. “Strange things,” she was finally able to say through a throat thick with fear.
“Baby, are you okay?” Horror laced her mother’s words.
Eve felt her hand touch the skin of her back. Her bare back. The explosion. She laughed, hysteria coloring the edges. Her hand that was in her pocket warmed and that warmth spread. Calming her. Micah.
“I will be.” She stood up, pulling in deep the cold air.
Headlights appeared over the hill, coming toward them. The car screeched to a halt and a tall figure got out. “Sebastian?” she whispered. It disappeared before she was enveloped in warm arms.
“Eve,” his whisper brought as much comfort as his arms and she closed her eyes against the welling tears.
From somewhere, she heard her mom. “Get away from my daughter, you leech.” The words were made of ice, sharp and cutting.
Eve looked up and over her shoulder. “Mom, no, he saved me.”
Rosewen glared daggers at the man holding her so tenderly and as Eve stared in confusion, green balls of light formed in her hands. Her mom? Magic? For what? Leech? Sebastian!
“Mother, no!” She twisted in his arms, throwing her arms out, trying to protect him.
“Get away from him, Eve. You don’t know what he is.” Rosewen held her hands out, the green growing brighter.
Sebastian spun them both as the green streaked toward them. She looked up at the sound of pain, his body going stiff before he hit his knees. There were two holes burned into his coat, the scent of charred flesh in the air
Duglas grabbed her mother, pinning her arms to her side with one arm, the other moving to her head. He was going to snap her neck.
Too much was happening. Too much.
Too much!
Something inside Eve broke, pure energy filling her as she screamed “Stop!” Her back arched as power flickered across her skin, setting her blood on fire.
“Duglas, let her go!” Sebastian yelled. “Eve, fight it,” his voice was close to her ear, but he wasn’t touching her. How could he, with the crackling energy covering her?
Eve fisted her hands, trying desperately to hold back the rising flood inside her. “I can’t,” she groaned. “Oh, God, it hurts.”
Bound by Destiny Page 16
