Sunburst (Starbright Series)

by Rachel Higginson

  I guessed that was his way of complimenting me.

  “It does,” I admitted. “But you already knew that because you already saw me in it.”

  “I did a very nice job of picking it out,” he chuckled against my skin. His nose skimmed my ear and his hot, minty breath cascaded down my neck.

  I pushed him back before he got any ideas and gave him a pointed look. “You are an arrogant asshole, you know that?”

  He smirked at me and brought one hand up so that he could pull on my bottom lip with his thumb and forefinger. “So mouthy,” he whispered.

  I struggled to swallow. He was making me nervous and mostly because I didn’t understand his plan. I knew he came here for a reason and instinct told me it was more than just to drive me crazy.

  “What are you doing here, Jude?” I found my voice and feigned confidence.

  “My job,” he growled. Suddenly his mood was as dark and forbidding as any Fallen I’d come in contact with before. This was not the playful mischief of his normal personality; this was a glimpse at the soulless creature he truly was. “Stella, there is something….” He winced as if in pain and then tried again. “Seth will not live through the night unless you do something.”

  “What do you mean?” I whispered, the words barely escaping my closed throat.

  “There are those that want Seth dead. That see him as a threat to their… political aspirations. He’s being set up.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Where’s Aliah? What about the contract?”

  “Aliah’s…. otherwise engaged.” Jude stopped our innocuous swaying and stepped away from me. His hand lingered on my waist while his other rubbed up and down on his face roughly. “I don’t know where Aliah is truthfully. And I don’t know whether this is one of his schemes or if this is happening without his knowledge. What I do know is that I am bound to you by contract, and your Counterpart is in danger.”

  I stared at him curiously. I should already be on my way to Seth, but there was something I needed to figure out first. “You’re bound to keep me alive, not to warn me when one of my friends is in trouble.”

  “He’s more than your friend, is he not?” Jude demanded harshly. “And besides, you’d never forgive me if I allowed this to happen and never told you about it.”

  I felt myself suck in a sharp breath, but couldn’t hear it over the roaring in my ears. “Forgive you? Since when are you concerned with forgiveness?”

  “Starling, I am doing you a favor. I didn’t have to come here and I didn’t have to warn you.” He wrenched out of my grip and I realized for the first time I was clutching at his bicep. He stormed off the dance floor and slammed through the side doors that led to the outside.

  I stood staring after him, completely confused by his behavior. From start to finish, he didn’t make sense. And then slowly his words of warning trickled through my confusion and I realized that Seth was in trouble.

  I tore off after him. I vaguely heard Tristan call after me, but I was too focused on pushing through the happy crowd and chasing after Jude.

  I pushed through the same doors he went through and then stood panting in the extra warm evening. I looked around in every direction, but he was gone- vanished. My shoulders slumped and I realized what an idiot I had been. Who cared if Jude was developing non-evil emotions? Who cared if Jude could actually feel things like remorse and concern? If he wanted things like forgiveness? He was absolutely inconsequential when Seth’s life was at stake.

  The long draw of breath drew my attention and I whirled around to find Jude leaning back against the brick wall of the gymnasium, cigarette wedged in between his pressed lips.

  “I was being ironic,” he drawled. Another long puff on his cigarette made his words sound like they were being sucked into a vacuum.

  “Seth isn’t in trouble?”

  “No, your Warrior is most definitely in trouble.” He shook out his head and looked to the dark horizon. “But I don’t really care what you do about him. Although I would like to be apprised of your decision. Since either way I’ll have to stay with you.”

  “Either way?” I felt like a puppet just answering questions he was laying out for me.

  “If you go, I’ll obviously have to accompany you. Whether Aliah is behind this or not, I would really like to live through the night. And if you stay, well, either way, you’ll be next. If Seth falls, they will come for you next.”

  “They might not,” I argued, even while I knew he was right.

  “The only reason you’re still alive is because your precious Warrior signed away his soul to keep you that way. If he dies, there’s nothing left to stop others from coming after you. And that’s what they- we all want. We all want you dead.”

  “Then you should know that I’m going.”

  “I wouldn’t have expected anything less.” But it sounded like an insult coming from him.

  I spun around on my bare feet and moved to the door. His hand snapped out and caught my forearm. “Where are you going? I thought we were leaving?”

  I narrowed my eyes on the hand that was holding me and said caustically, “I’m saying goodbye to my friends and grabbing my clutch.”

  “You need your purse?”

  “I need my cell phone so I can call for back up.”

  He seemed to accept that answer but then his eyes dropped down my body, raking upwards in a slow slide. “You’ll need to change too.”

  I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “I’m well aware I can’t fight anything in this.”

  “Good,” he rasped and then immediately let me go.

  My arm burned where he was touching me and I realized it was actually burning. His skin had been super-heated while he touched me.

  “Wait here for me,” I ordered.

  “Your wish,” he muttered and pulled out another cigarette.

  I slipped back into the dance, even though this door was supposed to be locked. It wasn’t and I assumed it only opened because other students were using it to leave for…. various reasons. This was prom after all.

  As soon as I was back inside the gym I was assaulted by Piper. “Where did you go?” she demanded.

  “I pissed Jude off and then I felt bad.”

  She smiled knowingly at me. “He has it so bad for you, Stel.”

  I rolled my eyes, “Trust me, we could not be more different. We’re on like opposite sides of the spectrum. He doesn’t have it bad for me, he’s fascinated by a decent person that doesn’t need to spread evil to every corner of the globe.”

  She giggled, “And by that you mean, he is fascinated by the gorgeous good girl that he can’t seem to stop stalking.”

  “That’s it exactly! He’s stalking me.”

  She just shook her head at me, “Well, we’ll see.”

  “Where are the boys?” I asked in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

  Piper pointed and we started walking over to them while I battled with what to tell them. They were sitting at a table we had claimed in the corner and laughing while discretely passing around a flask. I watched Tristan pass it on without taking a drink, and had to wonder if that was for him, or for me.

  Piper immediately slid onto Lincoln’s lap and greeted him with a very enthusiastic kiss. I met Tristan’s eyes and watched the expectation in them turn to accusation. He handed me my clutch.

  “I’m sorry,” I mumbled, kicking his shiny dress shoe with the toe of my bare foot.

  “Duty calls,” he sighed. His green eyes met mine and heated suddenly. His eyes drifted to my lips but then immediately snapped back up. This was the end of it. The end of our night.

  The end of us.

  “I love you,” I mouthed, with my head dropped so no one else could see.

  “I know,” he smirked at me. He stood up and pulled me into a warm hug. His lips brushed my cheek and then he buried his face in my hair. “Be safe,” he murmured. “Stay alive.”

  “Always,” I promised.

/>   “Call me tomorrow?” He seemed to think better of that and the moment suddenly grew awkward, “Or whenever you can.”

  “I will. I’ll call tomorrow.” If I was still alive. But one step at a time.

  I stepped out of Tristan’s embrace, out of the comfort of his arm and the familiarity of his touch. I held his gaze for one moment more and then I turned and left the dance without saying goodbye to anyone else or picking up my shoes that were somewhere by the punch table.

  I pushed through the heavy metal doors and met Jude in the darkness. “So I need to go home and change.”

  “I’ll come with.”

  “Jude, I-“ I turned not really knowing what I was going to say, not really having an idea of how to address the fear Piper had planted in my head.

  But he shot me an impatient look and then gestured with his hands in an “I’m waiting” move. I decided Piper was out of her damn mind and finished with, “Thanks for the heads up.”

  “Well, he still might die,” he answered gruffly. “Let’s go.”

  I held up a finger and dialed Jupiter first and then Serena. Jupiter was already with my parents and Serena had already been instinctively notified that something big was about to go down. Serena and Nate were just about to conference with Jupiter and my parents. We decided to meet at my parent’s farmhouse and go from there.

  Jude and I took off into the night- true Angel style. He kept up with me even while a dark light surrounded him. He wasn’t totally muted of color, like other Fallen I had seen, but there was definitely something different about the aura of power that surrounded him.

  I thought through the night ahead, about how I would face this threat, how I would protect Seth even while he might not want to be protected.

  And was this another plot by Aliah? Or were there more forces at work?

  Either way I was in this to win. I wouldn’t let Seth die tonight without me. Fate and destiny be damned, because without Seth there was nothing for me.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  We hovered in the sky over the white, sparkling beach and an ocean that seemed to stretch on infinitely- even from my lofty vantage point. The sun was just rising on the eastern horizon and painted the sky with pink, purple and orange brush strokes. The bluest water in the world glistened like a mirror below us and all around puffy, misting clouds were turning from gray to white as the sun rose higher in the sky.

  Sri Lanka.

  The island lay before us- particularly the isolated stretch of beach we were deciding what to do with. Green-leafed palm trees dotted the shoreline and the sand was virtually undisturbed, silky and smooth as it wrapped around the water’s edge. White-crested waves crashed against the beach in a hypnotizing dance, creating a soothing lapping sound that betrayed the true danger of the morning.

  I wasn’t exactly surprised to be at the place Seth called his childhood home. Somehow meeting Seth and his Fallen friends on this stretch of beach seemed appropriate, if not a little messed up.

  I looked over at Serena to check out her reaction to this obvious trap- and for us, not Seth. Her bright orange hair whipped around her pale, ethereal face in the rushing wind, her ocean blue eyes matched the color of the water below us and met mine with a startling intensity. Gone was the cool, confident warrioress, with her disturbing excitement and anticipation for battle. She truly looked concerned for what lay ahead of us.

  And that made me more than a little anxious.

  I could handle not understanding her enjoyment of conflict or sword play. I could handle feeling amused at the brightness in her eyes whenever bloodshed was involved. I could not handle her being afraid.

  My eyes moved from Nate to Jupiter, to my parents- who all wore that same unsure expression. Finally, I found Jude’s dark gray eyes and raised an eyebrow at him. He brought us here. He played my emotions and fears like only a true master manipulator could.

  And now this.

  I watched a thousand different emotions begin and then quickly fizzle behind his shuttered gaze, until he finally decided on the one I expected the most- indifference. He shrugged a casual shoulder and then his mouth twisted into a cruel smirk.

  “I didn’t know about this,” he started, looking down at the gathered Fallen surrounding Seth, Aliah and Seven. Shadows slithered in and around their feet, turning that particular part of the beach black with their inky evil. “But I have to say, well done.” His smirk lifted into a full grin and I could hear his deep chuckle even over the rush of wind in my ears.

  I spun all the way around and jabbed one of my katanas directly into the hollow of his throat. “This is funny to you?”

  He thought that over for a moment and settled with, “A little amusing.” And then he shrugged. Shrugged.

  “I thought we were-“ I shook my head quickly and steeled my expression.

  He barked out a rough laugh and when his eyes found mine again they were dancing with sinister disbelief. “You thought what? You thought we were friends?”

  “No,” I growled. “I thought you were less of a disgusting piece of trash than your associates.” I tossed my head toward the beach and waited for him to say anything that would allow me to believe he wasn’t as horrible as he seemed right now. I didn’t like Jude, I wouldn’t ever like Jude. But I had come to a see a side of him that wasn’t completely repulsive and saturated with evil. I had hoped there was a modicum of difference between the monster I knew was Aliah and the kidnapped, forced-into-Darkness Jude.

  Jude’s expression froze into a mask of hatred. “You don’t know anything about me. And by the looks of it, you never will. I couldn’t care less if you want to insult me, Starling, but you do well to acknowledge you have never known, nor will you ever know anything about me.”

  “Fair enough.” I drew back my sword acknowledging that it was doing nothing to intimidate Jude and that he was right. I really didn’t know anything about him. “But let’s remember why you’re here in the first place. They,” I gestured toward the beach with one of my swords, “can’t touch me. Evil or not, that contract means something binding. They can’t kill me.”

  He stepped forward in air, just as easily as if he were walking on the solid ground. His black aura seemed to suck all the light from around him. It wasn’t a color that surrounded him, but rather a lack of color. And this was different than before. A switch had flipped and I knew without a doubt I was the one who turned it. His Fallen soul couldn’t sustain the Light that he was born with, except on the very edges. Just where the dark atmosphere surrounding him met the normal, non-tainted air, there was a brilliant gold outline that shone brighter than even my inner Light. It was like pure, solid gold, almost blinding in its intensity. When we were only inches away from each other, he met my angry stare with dead, vacant eyes.

  “There are other ways to die than physical death, Stella.” His words were rough, grating on my skin. And the words were a promise- spoken from experience and conviction.

  I tore my gaze from his and looked back at my parents and friends. He was right. They couldn’t kill me.

  But the Fallen, Aliah… Seven…. even Seth could kill them.

  What would be worse than my own death? Losing everyone I cared about.

  I spun around so that my back was to Jude and looked down at Seth as he stood next to Aliah- at his right hand. Seven on the other side. Twenty-five Fallen at their sides and a horde of Shadows at their feet.

  They were waiting for us.

  And we would engage.

  It was in our nature. We couldn’t not fight them.

  “Stella,” my dad rasped. “Don’t let what happens down there damage you.” My eyes filled with tears as he fought for composure. He was waging an internal battle of raw anger, battle-readied with insane focus and fear- for me, for my mom…. for Seth. “Do what you have to do. You can survive whatever happens here. I know that you can. It’s why you were chosen above everyone else for this task.”

  His words were like daggers of truth, slicing open m
y veins and infusing my blood with their powerful reality. I nodded because my throat had dried out and then closed up. Words failed me.

  No matter how wrong and deranged this situation was, this was my future, my destiny. Not because it was elaborately planned by some greater imperial force than me, but because this was the only way for me to move forward in time. Fate could be this confusing cosmic what-if, or it could be what I chose to make of it with the circumstances I was given. This was my destiny because I was making it my destiny. The outcome wasn’t decided yet, but whatever happened, I would choose how I came out.

  And cutting immense thoughts and ideas down to those simplistic terms made me feel in control again- made me confident that I couldn’t just control what happened to me, but what happened to everyone.

  “I love you,” I looked at my dad and then to my mom. “I love you too, Mom.”

  She immediately echoed my words and so did my dad. I adjusted the grip on the hilts of my katanas and swung them around a few times, keeping my wrists loose and ready. I nodded at Serena, smiled at Nate- who looked stronger than ever since his chest healed, and then met Jupiter’s firm expression. He was the only one of us that didn’t light up when we took flight and it was still weird to me to see a normal-looking human hovering in the air without anything aiding him.

  He wasn’t exactly normal though, since he was completely healed from his burn wounds, not a scar in sight. He could blend in with humanity, but like us, he would never be a part of it.

  I was a Star, but Jupiter was a for-real alien. Was I the only person that felt weird about that?

  My attention returned to the beach and I struggled to swallow my real, bone-deep fear.

  We had no choice but to fight the Fallen below. There were too many of us to disappear into the sky. If we moved as fast as we needed to get away before they could chase us, we would destroy the planet we were fighting to save. And I had no doubt they would pursue us. They came here to fight. Besides where would we take them? Back to Mead? Not acceptable.

  We were brought here for a purpose and we were prisoners to how this would play out now. And there was still the chance that Seth needed me, that he was still in trouble.