“What you making?” I asked, going to the fridge and grabbing the orange juice and setting it on the counter.
“Fresh fruit and scrambled eggs with red peppers, onions, and cheese, and toast. You hungry?” Laeddin glanced over, turning slightly.
“Starved,” I said, grabbing two glasses from the cupboard and setting them next to the orange juice on the counter. He and I had created a morning routine, where he cooked, and I got everything ready. I took two plates down and set them on the counter next to the stove where Laeddin was cooking. Then I poured the juice, put the container away, grabbed the strawberry jam and the bowl of fresh fruit, and two napkins, and placed them all on the counter.
The toaster popped. Laeddin buttered two pieces of golden brown toast and put them on the plates. Then scraped the eggs onto one plate, leaving the other empty. That was because Laeddin didn’t eat any kind of meat, including eggs.
I sat on the stool and waited while he brought the plates over.
“Let’s eat.” Laeddin scooped some fruit on to his plate and smeared jam on his toast.
I took a bite of scrambled egg. It was seasoned to perfection. And I took another. “These are amazing,” I said after swallowing.
Laeddin nodded, chewing on a strawberry.
I put some jam on my toast but didn’t take a bite. “Are you alright?” It was a generic question but I needed to start somewhere.
He glanced over. “Worried. About you.” He took another piece of fruit and put it in his mouth.
I knew it was because of Christopher and said, “That was Christopher. He came to warn me that something big was coming.”
Laeddin swallowed. “And what exactly is that?” His tone said he was ticked, which made me mad.
“I don’t know. You interrupted before he got the chance to tell me.” I stabbed a piece of watermelon and put it in my mouth.
Laeddin glanced down at his food. “Think he’ll be back?”
“Probably.”
We ate in silence for a while. I was trying to find the courage to bring up what I’d so rudely blurted out yesterday. Finally, I said, “What I—”
Laeddin put up a hand. “Don’t start. What you said was one of the first honest sentences you’ve uttered since Maleficent took your wings.”
“But, it isn’t—”
“Stop it.” He was abruptly angry. “I’m going to say this once. One time.”
“Okay,” I said quietly. My food no longer tasted good and I set down my fork.
Laeddin set down his fork as well and turned his body to face mine. “I was there when Maleficent took your wings. I know you felt a lot of pain. I can’t even imagine how awful it must’ve been, must still be.” His eyes became glassy, brimming with tears. “But I had to watch.” He blinked several times.
I let his words sink in. Tried to think about what the situation must’ve been like for him. I hadn’t done that before.
“She reached into your back and tore them from your body, through your skin. They fought, as though they didn’t want to leave, but Maleficent was stronger. She was determined. And because you were willing to give them away, Maleficent finally won against them and pulled your glorious wings free. You passed out, which is understandable, but I had to listen to her talk about how weak you were, how disappointing it was that you had such an amazing gift and chose to throw them away so easily. I had to watch as she used her magic to force your wings onto her back.” Laeddin paused and wiped a hand over his face. He looked pale, and the memory seemed to shred him.
“I didn’t know,” I whispered, slowly beginning to understand. The terror hadn’t happened to him, but it did happen in front of him. I couldn’t imagine what that must’ve been like, witnessing such a scene. “I’m sorry.”
Laeddin’s face twisted back into anger. “You should be,” he said through gritted teeth. “Not for what I had to witness, but for what you gave up.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. He was right. So right. But it didn’t matter. The damage was done. My wings were gone. And Laeddin was safe. Alive. That was worth something, wasn’t it?
Laeddin leaned in and touched his lips to mine. It was a soft kiss, full of emotion. Too soon it was over and he leaned back. Then taking my face in his hands he wiped away my tears with his thumbs. “I’m really grateful you thought enough of me to do what you did.” He closed his eyes and I sensed he was holding back some emotion he didn’t want me to see. “But we’re going to find a way to get your wings back from Maleficent.” As he spoke he opened his eyes. “Now why don’t you finish—” Laeddin was interrupted by a knock at the front door. “You expecting anyone?”
I shook my head, still too emotional to speak.
“I’ll get rid of whoever it is.” He went to the door and pulled it open. “Morning,” he said to whoever it was.
“I’m officer Gand. This is officer Vick. We’re with the SCPD. We’d like to talk to Jackie Ryder. We have a few questions for her.”
I hopped off the stool and went to the door. They were the same officers I’d talked to after Abby died. Both were around the same height. They didn’t look that old, probably in their twenties. Officer Gand was the one with strawberry blond hair and officer Vick had dark brown hair. They were both dressed in navy uniforms.
When Officer Vick saw me, he smiled. Not a hey-how-ya-doin’ smile, but an a-ha-now-we’ve-got-you smile.
“May we come in?” Officer Gand asked as he took a step into the house.
“Of course.” Laeddin stood back so they could get by. “Have a seat.” He indicated the couch in the living room.
“Thank you,” Officer Gand said.
They sat on the couch, but only the edge. Officer Vick took out his pad of paper and a pencil. “Do you know a Drake Smythe? He’s a student at the school you attend.” As he asked he looked me directly in the eyes, his liquid brown ones staring deep into my violet ones.
“Yes, I know him,” I said, sitting in the chair next to the knick-knack shelf.
The officers glanced at each other.
“Did you speak with Drake yesterday, after school?”
That wasn’t how I’d put it. The jerk had manhandled me. “Yes,” I said finally. I realized why the officers had come. Drake had vanished into nothing in the front of the school. That meant he hadn’t gone home last night. He was missing. And I was the last one to see him alive.
Officer Vick cleared his throat. “A Mr. Cameron Anderson told us that he saw you and Drake talking. Care to elaborate on what was said.”
I clasped my hands together in my lap. Remembering what Drake planned to do to me yesterday made me sick, but I could only deal with one thing at a time. “If you’re asking what we talked about, it wasn’t anything good. Drake was kind of a bully. He threatened me.”
Officer Gand nodded. “I see. And what did you do?”
“Well, officer, there wasn’t much I could do. He’s a lot bigger than me and had my shirt wrapped around his fist and was in my face.”
“And after that?” Officer Vick urged.
I shrugged. “Nothing. Laeddin showed up and called me over. When Drake saw him, he let me go, and I went home.” While I spoke I looked at Laeddin. He seemed to approve of my story.
“Is this correct?” Officer Gand asked Laeddin.
“Yes. Normally when I pick her up I don’t get out of the car, but I saw what that boy was doing to her and I thought I might need to step in. But as Jasmine said, as soon as I called her over, Drake released her, and she ran to the car. After that we drove home.”
I watched officer Vick scratch notes on his pad with his pencil. Every once in a while he’d pause and look up. “It’s odd that the last time there was an issue with a student at Salem High, you were involved. Before you arrived the worst we had to deal with was some drunk and disorderly conduct.” He gave me a shrewd look. “But since you’ve arrived, there’s been a student killed and now one’s gone missing.”
“Care to comment on that, Miss Ryder?�
� Officer Gand asked.
I swallowed. In both cases it was my fault. I had no excuse. “What happened to Abby is awful,” I whispered. “I don’t know about Drake.” That was the truth. The elf had said he would be back, more evil than ever. But I certainly couldn’t tell them that.
“What about you, sir? Any comment?” Officer Vick said, tapping the eraser portion of the pencil against his pad of paper.
“If I hear anything, I’ll be sure to let the police know. But other than what Jackie and I have already told you we don’t know any more.”
Officer Gand stood.
Officer Vick followed. “Very well.”
They walked to the door and officer Gand opened it.
“If you hear of anything, please give us a call.” Officer Vick handed Laeddin a card.
“We will,” Laeddin replied.
“Don’t leave town,” Officer Gand added.
“We won’t,” I said.
“Have a nice day.” Officer Vick followed officer Gand out the door and down the walkway to their squad car.
Laeddin and I stood in the doorway and watched them drive away. When they were out of sight, Laeddin closed the door and turned to me. “We need to figure out who the Mistress is and what’s going on with these Akuma.”
“I know.”
Chapter 5
Laeddin and I debated where to begin. And after several heated discussions we decided to start with Maleficent. It wasn’t hard to believe she could be the Mistress the Akuma kept mentioning. And even though there was no proof that our dwindling light had anything to do with the Mistress, Laeddin and I knew it was very likely they were related.
Once we’d decided, Laeddin took me to his realm’s library. It was located in one of four circular towers that made up each corner of his family’s castle.
The air was dusty and smelled of old paper and worn leather. The books were on shelves that began at floor level and went all the way to the top in every direction, three-hundred-and-sixty degrees of books.
We each grabbed a book and started reading, pouring over the thick volumes that held the histories of his realm.
Maleficent was all over in the writings. Some historians called her the equivalent to a saint or a prophet, though little was known of her personal life. She’d married young. Given birth to a child. But nothing more. Nowhere did it mention her husband or child’s name. It said nothing about her abilities or how she came to possess them.
There were also stories of “the benevolent priestess” saving crops from pestilence, healing children with horrible flesh-eating diseases, and stopping wars before they began.
Other stories called her a wicked sorceress, full of guile and mischievousness. They said she’d gone mad, that her only joy came from bringing misery to others.
The story of the king and his twelve sons was in the histories as well, alongside a story where she killed every last villager in a town called Ashanda for no apparent reason.
There was nothing to explain why Maleficent would desire wings. No hint of anything close to the Akuma or anything that would explain why she would want to send the human world into permanent darkness.
I kept going back to that. Why the human realm? Of all the creatures in all the realms, humans seemed to be the least likely choice. They possessed no magic. But maybe that was it. If she ruled over humans with her magic, she would seem like a god. It felt like I was onto something, but I hadn’t quite reached it yet.
“What if the darkness isn’t happening in just the human realm, but all realms?” Laeddin looked up from the tan leather book in his lap.
That was where my mind had been trying to take me. “How can we find out?” I closed my book and walked over to stand beside him.
Laeddin closed his book, stood, and slid it back into place. “Come on.” He took hold of my hand and we were no longer in the library.
We were standing on a bridge made completely of stone. It was probably eight to ten feet wide and had a rock rail that went to my waist. The bridge began at one tower and arched over the tower directly across from it. We stood in the center of the bridge. I admired the courtyard below. I also noticed three more bridges just like the one we stood on connecting one power to the nest. It was quite beautiful.
Below was a lush courtyard covered in green grass, trees heavy with fruit and flowers in varied colors. A path wound in a circle toward the very center, where there was a large statue of a king, queen, and a child. The queen was looking down at the child she had in her arms. The king had his arm around the queen, his gaze also on the child.
“Who are they?” I asked, breathlessly.
“The king and queen are my grandparents and the child is my father.”
“It’s amazing.” I glanced over, and noticed he didn’t look happy. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” He let go of my hand and walked to the other side of the eight-foot wide bridge.
I followed, my gaze caught by a circular orb attached to the rail. On top was a dial similar to a sundial.
Laeddin placed all ten fingers in slight grooves along the edge of the dial and it began to move, making a whirring noise. After several seconds it stopped.
I waited for him to tell me what it did.
“The darkness isn’t affecting my realm.” He spoke with surprise in his voice. “I really thought we were onto something,” he continued, “but everything is normal.”
I placed a hand on his back. “I thought so too.”
He shrugged. “I’m going to send you back. I know Peter and Troy want you to go Akuna hunting with them tonight. I’m going to stay here and continue to search the histories.”
I wanted to tell him not to worry. I wanted to ask him to come with us. But the look on his face told me he would say no. His mind was made up. “Okay,” I agreed.
A soft wind brushed against my skin and I was no longer with Laeddin but in my room. I quickly checked my phone. Troy and Peter had both texted me, asking that I meet them at Professor Pops’ house.
I stuck my phone in the inner pocket of my yoga pants and went down the darkened stairs, past the living room and into the kitchen. From the refrigerator I grabbed a water bottle and chugged the whole thing down. It was crazy but I still felt thirsty. Not just thirsty. Parched.
“Still thirsty, aren’t you?” A male voice asked quietly. His eyes glowed red and I realized the man from my dream was Christopher.
“Maybe,” I answered, feeling nervous. Memories of him flooded my mind. And in my dream that obviously wasn’t a dream, he’d kissed me. “I know who you are and you need to leave.”
Christopher stepped into the light. His glowing red eyes were scary, but he didn’t appear menacing. As before, he looked sincere. “You need blood, Jasmine.”
“You’re wrong.” I shook my head, backing up. But as I said the words I wondered if he were right. I didn’t have my vampire abilities and I missed them.
“I’m exactly right, but not just any blood. You need mine.” He moved closer, lifting his wrist to his bared fangs.
My pulse quickened at the thought of blood. But before he had a chance to make a gash someone knocked on the front door. Christopher vanished.
Taking a deep breath, I ran over and checked the peephole. It was Troy. “I’m so glad to see you,” I gushed as he came in.
Troy was immediately on edge. “What’s wrong?”
I told Troy about the guy, about the glowing red eyes, but I didn’t tell him that the guy had been Christopher. While I spoke Troy skulked from room to room like a six-foot dragon ninja. He flipped on lights as he went. I figured it was for my benefit since his vision was probably excellent in the dark.
He checked my room last. When he noticed the window was open, he quickly closed it and gave me a disappointed stare. “That’s just asking for trouble. Keep it locked.”
A quick flash of Gatsby trying to get in came to mind, but I had a feeling if the cat really wanted to talk to me, he’d find a way. “Yeah, you’r
e right.” I sat on the edge of my bed and picked up a sparkly black pillow, hugging it to my chest. I was freaked.
Troy opened my closet doors, peeked inside. “No one in here,” he went on.
I could’ve told him that.
“Hey, this is cute. Why haven’t you worn this?” He pulled out a white peasant top that came with a black and maroon checkered vest.
I shrugged. “Haven’t had the chance yet.”
“Makes sense.” He pushed that aside and tugged on the shirt hanging next to it. “Nice,” he said. It was red with black hearts on it.
It felt like he was stalling or… something. “What are you doing?” I asked, feeling the tiniest bit frustrated. It was weird having him rifle through my clothes.
“Sorry, Jack.” He closed the closet and sat next to me on the bed. “You ready to go hunt down an Akuma?”
“Sure.” I had no idea what that entailed but I’d do just about anything to take my mind off things.
“Awesome, let’s go.” He took my hand and pulled me off the bed and I tossed the pillow as I followed Troy out.
We locked up and took his truck for the short drive back to his house. When we got inside, he walked me through the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement. I knew where he was taking me. To the Museum for the Supernatural.
Even though I knew, when we got downstairs and Troy flipped on the light, my breath still sucked in. It was nearly bare. Troy explained that there’d recently been some trouble and that Professor Pops was reassembling the magical creatures, but he didn’t give more detail than that.
We weren’t there for the purpose of studying the creatures anyway. Troy walked toward the back and unlocked the door to the weapons room.
“Pick your poison,” he said, flipping on the light. It buzzed and flickered the way old lights did.
I picked up the weapon closest to me. It was a brushed onyx bow. A quiver of arrows sat next to it, though the feathers on the ends weren’t feathers at all but made of thin strips of metal. I gently brushed the tips of my fingers along the stiff fibers. While still in Sharra, the bow had been a weapon I’d begun to practice using. But I wasn’t good enough at it to make it my weapon of choice.
Vampire Secrets: Book 2 (Blood and Snow Season Two) Page 5
