Kade grinned. “Who said we’re not going?”
“We can’t risk giving up the opportunity to save your mother,” my father said with the slightest of slurs, making my stomach churn.
13
I snapped my head in his direction, wondering how the hell I’d missed seeing him when I sat down. It was the fairy lights and Max. Everyone else just faded into the background whenever he was around.
My father sat at the end corner of the table between Finn and Mason, his face actually shaven for once, and he donned a new haircut. Even though he only had a glass of water, he’d most definitely been drinking. Of course, he was still too sober to deny it.
“We are not doing anything,” I said, pointing my finger between him and me. Yeah, my father and I had a great relationship—not.
“I want your mother back just as much as you do.”
I didn’t doubt it.
But there was no way I was going to include him in anything to do with getting her back. He was far too unreliable.
Ignoring him, I turned my attention to Nessa. “Do we have everything we need?”
She nodded. “The bullets are being finalized as we speak. Plus, Parker’s got a little something extra for you.”
Sparking my curiosity, I wondered—hoped—they’d give me a gun. “Let me guess; I have to wait to find out.”
Her lips tipped up into a smirk. “You’re learning.”
I rolled my eyes. Honestly, I didn’t think she was trying to hide things from me. She just wanted to keep the surprise.
Max picked up my goblet and held it out to me.
I placed my hand against his and pushed it away. “No alcohol for me tonight.”
The smallest of smiles appeared on his lips. He leaned in closer and whispered into my ear, “It’s not wine.”
“Well, it certainly isn’t blood. I can smell that shit a mile away.”
He chuckled. “No, it’s not blood. It’s…” He looked to Nessa for help.
Taking his cue, she said, “It’s an herbal drink laced with clarity and strength. It will help with tonight’s mission.”
Slightly afraid what this concoction of hers would taste like, I took it from Max and slowly lifted it to my lips. It smelled like sweet berries, which was a good sign.
Bottoms up.
Surprisingly, it tasted as nice as it smelled. Before I knew it, the goblet was empty, and I was wanting a second round. But I put the cup down and kept my appetite for the liquid of life—or death. Who knew for sure when it came to the vampires?
“So, what’s the plan?” I asked as the others dug into their meals. “’Cause I was thinking we should do what Lana suggested and pretend we’re going for the sword in the gym. I, of course, will have to lead the way so they think the sword is the primary target. Then maybe Kade and Max can meet with Lana and—”
“I’m going with you,” Max said without room for argument.
The problem was I didn’t want him around the danger. And there I was again, a hypocrite trying to dictate who was allowed to place themselves in danger.
I had no right.
His steely gaze locked onto mine. “No arguments. I’m not letting you go in there alone.”
I wouldn’t have been alone. But I understood his point, and no one else pulled him—
“She wouldn’t be alone,” Dad said.
“Of course, she wouldn’t be,” Finn said. “Max just doesn’t want to let her go in without him, which I can understand because I’m not letting her go in without me either.”
“You do realize I don’t need either of you to let me do anything, right?” I asked, brow raised. “But I appreciate the sentiment, and I won’t stand in the way of either one of you coming with me.”
I twisted around to Kade. “Don’t suppose you have a problem letting me go in without you?”
He shook his head as he stared down at the half-eaten leg of chicken in his hand. “Looks like they’ve got you covered.”
“I’ll have to come with you as well,” Nessa said. “They’d be suspicious if you went in without me.”
I nodded in agreement. “Then Kade will take Liam and Parker.”
“And what about me?” Mason asked. “I could be the getaway driver.”
“Really? You’ve driven for thirty seconds, and suddenly, you’re a getaway driver?”
“You’re staying here with Dad,” Finn said. Then he placed a map of the old psych hospital on the table and proceeded to tell everyone the best vantage points.
I broke away from the dinner early to have my own. Feasting on so much vampire blood left little to my appetite for normal human meals. Except pizza. I always had room for pizza.
Pity they hadn’t served that tonight. But at least I was away from Lana’s strict diet. For a bunch of witches living in the middle of the brush, The Circle of Embers was way more normal than the Society.
Then again, not everyone in the Society had to eat from Lana’s approved food list.
Unsure why I was pondering this so much, I approached the vampire in the cage, flicking my wrist and pinning him against the wall. Seemed those spells had some use after all.
He screeched at me, fangs bared, showing the demented monster he was. I wondered what he’d been like before the change. Had he even wanted to become a vampire at all?
Shaking those thoughts away, I punched him in the head, knocking him unconscious so I didn’t have to put up with his ridiculous attempt to kill me. It just went to show that they were lost to the blood, the demons, and the evil that resided inside of them; any sane animal would’ve known their place in this world.
Biting down, the blood flowed into my mouth, making its way through my body, preparing me for the night ahead. No matter how good this one tasted, I ached to feast on the vampires that housed the higher level demons. Their blood held a potency that was unparalleled.
If only we’d managed to catch one of them and keep them alive. That would’ve been the ultimate never-ending buffet—as long as I could restrain myself from killing them.
Satisfied, I pulled back and let his body collapse to the ground where he would wake sometime later, already healed, but the memory of what I’d done would still haunt him. Not in the human sense but in the way of a caged beast, unable to get free no matter how much it tried.
I knew that feeling well, and I was grateful for my friends around me.
Max had jumped through a freaking window with me to save me from a fate worse than death.
Exiting the cage, I closed it behind me then threw the vampire a blood bag before heading back up the stairs where I found Mason waiting for me.
I sighed. “I don’t want to talk about Dad, okay?”
“Good, because I want to talk about Mom.”
14
I stared at him for a few moments, wondering what he was going to say and if we should really have this conversation with so many ears around. “Walk with me.”
We headed toward the boundary of the wards, taking the most direct route through the shrubbery and trees. “What is it?” I asked when we were a safe enough distance away from everyone.
“I want to know if you’ve seen her since… that night.”
I shook my head, the pain in his eyes like a knife to my heart. Her death hadn’t gotten any easier, and now that I knew we could bring her back, the heartache was so much rawer. We both missed her more than words could say, and I wanted nothing more than to bring her back into the arms of my little brother.
It was bad enough losing her at my age, but Mason had been a kid. He needed his Mom more than anything. He’d since grown up, but the gut-wrenching heartache was still there. And unlike the others, he knew the pain she was in because he’d seen her. I wondered if it had something to do with our DNA or the fact that Mason had recently had a brush with death, surrounded by all those vampires sucking the life out of him.
I eased myself down onto a fallen tree and stared out at the land beyond the wards. “I keep waiting for he
r to reach out, but she’s never appeared.”
Mason sat beside me. “It’s pretty crappy that you can’t just go in and grab her.”
“Oh, I’m sure I can go in and grab her. I just won’t be able to bring her back.” I really had no idea how to jump through the veil, because it was constantly moving, shifting with the world around us. But I needed to learn how to grab hold of the threads and pull myself through. And from what I knew, the others like me had no idea either.
When I was first awoken, I tried to go through, but my hands could never grasp what I could see in the Shadow World. There was a missing piece to getting through, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was.
Maybe that was what Lana was trying to help us with.
“A lot is riding on tonight,” I said. “I’m hoping whatever Lana is giving us can help us bring Mom back.”
He nodded, clearly lost in thought as he stared up at the night sky. “I want to learn how to fight. I don’t want to feel helpless anymore.”
“You know, the hunters have Orphelia to thank for their inhuman gifts. It’s not all about the skill, but it does play a big part in it.”
He picked at the peeling bark on the trunk between us. “Then I’m sure you or Nessa could bestow me with the same abilities.”
“If I knew the spell, I’d happily do it for you. But you do need to learn to fight like them. Maybe you can find someone who hates you as much as Max hated me.”
Mason chuckled. “Except he didn’t hate you. Maybe at first but not after you saved him. Anyone could see it.”
Yeah, anyone but me.
Mason bumped his shoulder against mine. “He’s way better than the assholes you use to date. He doesn’t have a sister, does he?”
Frowning, I felt like the shittiest girlfriend ever. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I’ve never asked, and he doesn’t talk about his past.”
“So, it’s all about you, is it?”
I thought he was serious, but then the corner of his lips tipped up before forming a huge grin. “Kidding. But you should know that normal relationships are a give-and-take. You know, even if you have to pretend you’re interested in the other person’s life.”
I shoved him on the bicep. “What would you know about girlfriends? You never have a girl longer than two or three dates before you move onto the next.”
“Just because I don’t want a relationship, doesn’t mean I don’t know how to have one.” He slung his arm around my shoulders. “You need to find out if he’s got a sister for me.”
Rolling my eyes, I punched him in the ribs, softly enough not to do any damage. “If you want to become a hunter, you need to focus on learning to fight, not girls.”
Mason shrugged. “Who says I can’t do both?”
Tilting my head up at him, I was about to raise my brow when I noticed his scars shimmering under the moonlight. “I know you said you want to keep your scars, but I can fix those for you. I took away a bit of Max’s. I can take away some of yours, too. Or even lighten them a little.”
He jerked his head back. “Are you kidding me? Chicks love scars.”
My eye roll came on with full force. I stood and stepped up onto the log. “I should probably go get ready. We have to leave soon.”
Mason stood, and at full height. he was still taller than I was, even with me standing on the log. Damn, I was short compared to my brothers.
“I’ll walk you back,” he said.
We made our way to my container where I found Max and Finn sitting on the front step, waiting for me.
Mason lifted me into a bear hug. “Stay safe, Sis.” He set me on the ground and ruffled my hair, earning him a soft punch to the stomach. He feigned being hurt, the smile on his face giving him away. He gave me one of his charismatic smiles before retreating back to his box, which he shared with Finn.
Adrenalin peaking with anticipation of what was to come, I rolled onto the balls of my feet and bounced on them. “What’s up?”
“Time to get ready,” Finn said as he stood. “And I just wanted to make sure you’re okay after tonight.”
Once again, I rolled onto the balls of my feet then back down and rubbed my hands together. “I’m fine. Eager to get this over with and find out if Lana’s on our side or not.”
“I hope she is and she has something we can use,” he replied. “I’m going to go get strapped up. I’ll see you soon.” Finn headed off toward the armory.
Max grabbed my hand and tugged me down so I was sitting between his legs, staring out at the village. He slung his arms over my shoulders and rested his lips against the top of my head. He breathed in deeply before pressing another kiss onto my head. “You okay?”
I nodded then remembered what Mason had said about me taking an interest in Max’s life, not just my own. “What about you?” I moved my head to the side then tilted it up to look at him. “Are you ready to go back? After everything they’ve done to you?” I lifted my hand and traced the lines of the scars on his neck with my finger.
“These scars only serve as a reminder. They are mine to carry, and I don’t want you thinking they ruined me. Because they didn’t. In fact, they taught me to face my fears head-on. If it wasn’t for them, I would’ve still been a junkie.”
“You were a junkie?”
He nodded. “Foolishly trying to escape a world where my family had been murdered by a bunch of bloodsuckers.”
I swallowed hard, trying to force the lump in my throat to disappear. But it was useless. In all the time I’d spent with Max, I didn’t know one thing about him and his past life. I was an ass of a girlfriend. Completely self-absorbed.
That was going to change.
“Tell me about your family.”
A few moments passed, and I thought he was going to ignore my request when he eventually said, “I had the most amazing parents, two sisters, and a brother. We didn’t have much money, but we never went without.” He fell silent for another few moments then continued. “We were driving back from my little sister’s high school Christmas play when we were jumped on at a set of lights. It was barely six in the evening, and a group of blood-suckers came at us, ripping the car apart to get to us. I somehow survived the attack, but the rest…” He broke off, too choked up to finish his sentence.
My heart ached for him and the loss that consumed him. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Finn never told me.”
He breathed out harshly. “Finn doesn’t know. None of them do. They suspected something must’ve happened that drove me to the drugs, but…” He shrugged. “I just couldn’t bring myself to tell anyone.”
It hit me then how much I must’ve meant to this guy for him to be able to confide in me about the single most torturous moment in his life. And I understood what those scars meant to him. It wasn’t that they reminded him of what the vampires had done to him when he was an offering to the fledglings. It was that it was the beginning of the end, his regain of power and control, to get revenge for everything those monsters had taken away from him.
And I’d taken away a small piece of his reminder. “I’m sorry.” I twisted around and placed my hand over his heart. “I never would’ve agreed to remove them if I’d known.”
He gave me a sad smile and shook his head. “I want what you’ve done to me. You’ve healed that piece of my heart that never thought I could love another person again.”
Did he just say the L-word?
Nope. Not possible. There was no way he could’ve meant it in that way. We’d only known each other for about a month. Love didn’t come that easily.
Then again, the ache in my heart told me otherwise. I felt for his loss like only someone who loved him could.
He laced my fingers with his, brought them up to his lips, and kissed the back of my hand softly. “You’ve given me more hope in this world than you will ever know.”
It took everything in me not to crawl onto his lap and comfort
him in a way that time didn’t allow. But tonight was part of his revenge, and I wasn’t going to let him miss it for a second. “I won’t let you down.”
“You couldn’t let me down even if you tried.” With his free hand, he brushed a stray strand behind my ear, his fingers grazing my cheek, sending a new wave of fire within my soul. “I’m sorry for the way I acted when we first met.”
I went onto my knees, facing him. “Don’t apologize. After what you told me, I can’t imagine you reacting any other way.”
“Kade didn’t react the way I did, and the vampires killed his sister.”
I loosely hooked my arms around his neck. “Kade thinks of me as his sister. He was too afraid to save her, and he didn’t want to make the same mistake with me. Knowing what you went through, I’d have probably reacted the same way.”
Max slipped his hands under my tank and rested his warm palms against the small of my back, rubbing his thumbs over my skin with the gentlest of touches. “You were defeated that day in the gym. It only comes with passion that’s driven by love. That’s when I noticed you weren’t a demon. No demon will ever possess those qualities.”
I recalled that moment well, and that look on his face was burned into my memory. Staring into his eyes, it was hard to imagine Max had ever looked at me any other way than the way he did now. “If you’re searching for forgiveness, you needn’t bother. Because there’s nothing to forgive. If you hadn’t treated me that way, you wouldn’t have been there to come after me. You wouldn’t have needed saving, and I wouldn’t have figured out who I was. And for all we know, the Society already knew who I was and was going to hand me over to a demon to possess. So, you see, you saved me.”
He smiled. “Leave it to you to turn it all around and find the bright side.”
“That’s me. No point arguing.” I ran my hands down to his and held them tightly as I stood, pulling him up with me. “Now, let’s go get our revenge.”
He cupped my face with his hands and pressed a gentle kiss against my lips that quickly turned into so much more. We pulled away before our emotions got the better of us. He gave me one more kiss then hopped off the step about to leave when I pulled him back. “Stay with me tonight?”
Prophecy Untold Page 6
