“He’s not calling it punishment,” he said when we got into my car for the drive to school. “But I’ve got a whole list of new chores. Weapons maintenance every weekend. Oh, and KP every night after dinner. Which, by the way, you’ll be joining me for. Hale says it’s time we contribute more to the operation of the Guard. But I know the truth. It’s punishment.” Lucas looked at me, curious. “What was in that research? It must have been nuclear strength secrets or something.”
I sighed. “That’s the worst part about this whole thing. If there was some big secret in there, I didn’t find it.”
“No, the worst part about this whole thing is being stuck in the basement with Hale every Saturday morning when I should be sleeping in.”
“At least we have our dreams,” I said.
Lucas looked at me, his eyes warm. “Yeah. That’s something they can’t take from us, no matter how badly we screw up.”
In physics, Seth tried to slip me another envelope. “Mom made a breakthrough on the ritual,” he whispered.
I pushed his hand back, not touching the envelope he offered.
“What’s wrong?” His face was a mask of surprise. “I thought you wanted to know this stuff.”
“Things have... changed,” I said. “With the new Guardsmen around.” I sighed. “Plus, Hale saw the picture of the vessel and freaked out.”
“You showed it to him?”
“Not on purpose,” I said. “It fell out of my bag.”
“Crap. I’m sorry.” Seth looked glum. He slipped the envelope back into his bag.
“Actually,” I started, remembering the look Thane and Hale had exchanged, “I think he might know something about the vessel.”
“Really? Why did he freak out at you?”
“He’s worried about what might happen if the Guardsmen figure out what I am before he’s ready to tell them.”
“You haven’t told them you’re a Lilitu?” Seth looked outraged, but he kept his voice low.
“No,” I said.
“But—why do you have to hide from them? You’re on their side.”
I shrugged, but some part of me felt a grim satisfaction. At least someone else saw the injustice of my situation. “You know that and I know that, but unfortunately most of these guys think of it as their sacred duty to kill my kind. So until they get to know me a little better, we’re keeping it on the DL.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I think that’s stupid.” Seth threw an arm over my shoulder companionably. It was nice. Comfortable.
“Thanks.” I leaned into him, resting my head on his shoulder for a moment.
My eyes landed on Royal and Cassie. They were staring at us, speculation running wild across their faces. I straightened, quickly, turning my attention back to my notes. But the damage had been done. Cassie caught me alone after class.
“What’s going on with you and Seth?”
“What? No. Nothing,” I said.
“I told you,” Royal said to Cassie, curling his arm through mine on my other side.
“Okay.” But she didn’t look convinced. “And the part where you snuggled up to him?”
“Snuggled up?” I felt my cheeks growing hot. “It was just a friendly hug, okay?”
“What was just a friendly hug? Who’s hugging who?” Lucas asked, joining us in the hall.
“Seth hugged Braedyn,” Royal said, sounding bored. “It’s not Watergate.”
Lucas’s eyes lingered on my face for a moment before he turned to Cassie and Royal. “Oh.”
“It was totally innocent,” I said, feeling the blush spread. “He was trying to cheer me up.”
“It’s cool,” Lucas said, giving me a strange look. “You can hug your friends. It’s not a big deal.”
“Right. Thank you.” But some part of me felt... guilty.
“Look what you did,” said Royal, crossing his arms and giving Cassie a small frown. “Like we need more drama at this school.”
“My mistake,” Cassie said. She and Royal hurried ahead, leaving Lucas and me behind. Lucas took my hand in his.
“It was nothing,” I said again.
“Okay.”
“You trust me, right?” I asked, suddenly self-conscious. Lucas gave me a pained look, then glanced around. Spotting whatever it was he was looking for, Lucas took my hand and pulled me into an empty classroom. He closed the door, buying us a moment alone.
“Braedyn. I have total faith in you.” Lucas brushed my hair back from my cheek. I leaned into the touch unconsciously. Lucas’s breath caught. The sound shot like a bolt of energy through my stomach. I felt something stir in response. The Lilitu storm rose within me, stronger than I’d ever felt it. Strong enough to drive me closer to Lucas, blocking everything else out. Lucas read the desire in my face and tipped his head down, lips parting.
“Stop,” I hissed. The warning was meant for Lucas, but it was also a command to the Lilitu power, coiled inside me, ready to spring.
Lucas’s eyes seemed to clear. He took a quick step back, like you might if you’d just realized you were standing at the edge of a 100-foot drop. “This is getting more difficult,” he said. His voice was husky.
“Maybe we should dial it down a bit,” I said, clenching my hands to stop them from shaking.
“Dial it down?”
“You know. Limit... physical contact.”
“If you think it will help.” He sounded shaken. I nodded. We stood there for a moment, recovering. “Time for lunch?”
I nodded again, and Lucas opened the door for me.
“On the bright side,” I said, before walking through it. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. When I touched Seth, I didn’t feel a thing.”
Lucas’s face split into a lopsided grin. “Well,” he murmured, “that’s a relief.”
Lucas and I refrained from touching for the rest of the day, but it was harder than I would have imagined. I’d grown accustomed to holding his hand, leaning against him in the hall, brushing my foot against his in class. The absence of these little touches ended up serving as a constant reminder of what we couldn’t share.
After school, Seth’s mom was waiting to pick him up. So I drove Lucas and myself home alone. You would have thought there was an invisible gorilla sitting between us, pressing us to the outer edges of our seats.
When we got home, I pulled into my driveway and killed the engine. But neither of us moved to get out of the car. I gripped the wheel tightly. “Lucas?”
“It’s not forever,” Lucas said. The look he gave me sent a shiver through my core. “I’ll see you at practice?”
I nodded. We exited the car and parted, each to our own house.
I didn’t see her until I was turning my key in the front door lock. It was the woman in Thrall—the woman who’d attacked us at the mission. She stepped out from behind a wide wooden column. She’d been waiting for me.
“Apologies for the mess,” she said. “But as we both know, you don’t respond to subtle.”
“What?” I asked. But the woman’s eyes were blank, empty. Those words had not been her own. They were a message. A message from the incubus who had enthralled her.
The Thrall pulled a knife from behind her back.
Adrenaline slammed into my system and I braced myself for an attack. “Lucas!” I screamed.
The knife gleamed in the afternoon sunlight. With a grunt of effort, the Thrall drove the knife down, burying the hilt in her own belly. Blood blossomed around the blade, glistening with a red so bright it didn’t seem real. With a sick, wet sound, the Thrall pulled the knife free.
“The next messenger I send will be someone you care about,” she said. Her face registered no emotion as she stabbed herself again.
Another scream ripped from my throat. I stumbled back against the wall of my house, watching as the Thrall pulled the blade out of her middle again. She stumbled to one knee, then drove the knife in again.
Lucas, who’d been at his door when I’d called his name, pounded ac
ross my front yard. I reached for him, forgetting the promise we’d made to one another. His arms folded around me, and he pulled me off the porch, away from the Thrall.
She followed me with those empty eyes, the knife still clutched in her bloody hand.
What if that was Cassie? I could taste the bile rising in the back of my throat. “No!”
Lucas pulled me tighter against him. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“It’s not okay,” I whispered. And it wouldn’t be, not until the incubus was dead.
Chapter 10
Fire licked up the sides of three split logs, undulating in waves of amber and blue. Dad laid another log on the pile, sending a shower of sparks into the chimney’s flue. I watched, hypnotized by the movement. Some part of me felt the heat, but it didn’t warm me.
The Thrall had vanished.
When Lucas had pulled me away, she was kneeling in front of this house, spilling her life onto the porch in great splashes of liquid red. But when the Guard had raced out to confront her, she was gone. Only the thickening pool of blood remained to bear witness to our story. And only a Thrall could have summoned the strength to flee after losing so much. The incubus wasn’t done with her yet. He wasn’t done with me.
Dad glanced at the clock. It was past midnight, but I was too freaked out to sleep. The Guard had been on high alert all night, canvassing the area, looking for any trail that might lead us to the Thrall. They’d found nothing. Not one single drop of blood to indicate which way she’d gone. Dad had let the others search, refusing to leave my side.
We couldn’t have kept Lucas from the hunt if we’d tried. That Thrall had gotten too close to me. If she’d wanted to attack me, I would have been alone, unprepared. I would have been killed. Lucas was driven half-wild with that thought. He’d felt compelled to do something. And so he was still out there, with the last patrol of the night, looking for her. I knew it was hopeless. We wouldn’t find her until the incubus wanted us to find her.
“Can I get you something?” Dad asked. “Something to eat?”
“I’m not hungry.”
Dad sat beside me on the couch. “Okay.” We sat in silence for a few, long minutes. “Braedyn, maybe it’d help if you talked about it.”
I felt another wave of terror rising inside. “It was a message,” I whispered.
“I know.” Dad sighed in resignation. “It was only a matter of time before he figured out we were here, looking for him.”
“No.” I pulled my eyes away from the fire. “It was a message for me.”
“What—what makes you think that?” Dad shifted on the couch, turning to get a clearer view of my face. I could see him holding his panic at bay. This is why I hadn’t told him before.
“Never mind.” I turned back to the flames, reaching for the numbness of a few minutes ago.
“Braedyn.” Dad put a hand under my chin, gently forcing me to look at him. “Honey. Tell me.”
“Before she—” I swallowed, battling another rush of nausea. I could see it clearly in my mind’s eye, the knife buried in her stomach, her fist clenched around the hilt, pulling it out only to stab it in again... Dad nodded; I didn’t have to say it. “She said—she said the next messenger would be someone I cared about.”
“Braedyn?” Dad took a steadying breath. His eyes didn’t waver. “Is it possible—the night you went looking for him in the dream—do you think he sensed you?”
A shrill giggle bubbled out of me, tinged with hysteria. Dad’s eyes creased with worry. “I didn’t want you to worry,” I said, fighting off another panicked giggle.
“Worry about what?” His voice was hard, scared.
“He’s been in my dreams.”
“This isn’t the first message he’s sent you?”
I shook my head no.
Dad bit his lip, and I could see him fighting the urge to yell. “Tell me everything.”
“There was a note. He left it in Cassie’s locker, but it was addressed to me. He said he was watching me.”
“When was this?”
My voice came out in a whisper. “About a month ago.”
“What?!” Rage and fear leapt into his eyes. I shrank back instinctively. Dad’s nostrils flared, but he clamped his mouth shut. I could see a muscle along his jaw jumping with tension. After a long moment he spoke. “He left you a note. Was that all?”
“No,” I whispered.
Dad looked at me, too overpowered by emotion to speak. There was something murderous in his gaze, and though I knew it was directed at the incubus, and not me, it struck an icy fear into my bones.
“He left a message in my dream,” I said. Dad watched me, gripping his hands tightly together, waiting for an explanation. “He’s trying to warn me to back off.”
“Back off from what, Braedyn?” Dad’s voice was suddenly quiet.
I licked my lips. “I think—I think we’re close. I think he knows it. And he’s scared. We’re onto something with this ritual.”
Dad stood abruptly. I fell silent. He paced to the fireplace and stared down into the fire. When he turned back to me his face was tight with anger. “Hale told you to leave it alone. This is why Hale told you to—” he suddenly turned and brought his fist down on the mantle. “Damn it, Braedyn! Why is it so hard for you to trust that we know what we’re doing?”
“Because no one trusts me,” I wailed.
“And you think this is going to earn their trust?!”
I stared at him, stricken.
“Do you really believe that we’d ignore something as important as a ritual capable of locking the Lilitu out of this world?” His eyes bore into mine, demanding a response.
“No,” I said.
“And do you think I’d hesitate one microsecond if I thought there was a way to—” Dad stopped, his voice choking with emotion. “Ever since you told me Sansenoy had the power to make you human, every single day, I’ve carried that thought in my heart.”
Hot tears spilled down my cheeks. I nodded, scrubbing them away. “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t enough, but it was the only thing I could say.
Dad crossed to me, sitting down and enfolding me in a big bear hug. “Tell me,” he whispered hoarsely into my hair. “You have to tell me when stuff like this happens.” I clung to Dad, letting my tears soak into his shoulder. He tightened his arms around my back. “Okay. It’s going to be okay.”
Pounding came from the front door. My heart leapt into my throat. “Do you think they found her?”
Dad stood. “Wait here.” He crossed out of the living room and into the foyer. I heard the door open, and Dad’s surprised voice. “Seth?”
“Please, you have to help me.” Seth’s voice was pitched unnaturally high. His voice cracked, and with a stab of fear I realized he was crying. I was on my feet in an instant. Dad pulled Seth inside and closed the door. Seth stood blindly in the foyer, his slight frame shaking with grief.
“Seth, what happened?” Dad asked.
“My mom—” Seth choked down another sob. “She’s missing.”
“How long has she been gone?”
“She didn’t come home last night,” Seth said. “Sometimes she goes on these research jags and forgets to call, so I thought maybe—” Seth shook his head, his eyes wide with terror. “Only the police came to my house just now. They found her car on the interstate, 50 miles from anything. The door was open. They couldn’t find any sign of Mom anywhere.”
“Oh, God.” I backed into the wall, dizzy with panic.
Dad glanced at me. “Stay with him. I’ll get the others.” I nodded, and the next second Dad was gone, pulling the door closed behind him.
Seth didn’t move from his spot in the foyer. He was shaking like a leaf, eyes wide and staring. “Do you think—do you think the incubus went after her? Braedyn?” He looked suddenly younger than his 16 years. “She’s all the family I have in the world.”
I wanted to reach out to him, to offer him some comfort. But I couldn’t move. I k
now I should have been thinking about Angela, but at that moment, all I could think about was what I would do if I ever lost my Dad.
I went through the motions of seating Seth at our table, making tea, trying to make him comfortable. But neither of us were really present. We were walking through separate worlds constructed by our darkest fears, fears that overshadowed the tangible comforts of my home.
We sat at the table until steam stopped curling from the surface of the tea I’d poured. Dad had returned with Hale a few moments after he’d left us standing in the foyer. Once they’d gotten all the details they could from Seth, they’d left to organize the Guard to go out and find her.
Which left us here, waiting.
“She found something yesterday,” Seth said suddenly. “I don’t know what it was. She just said she had to go check on something and she ran out of the house. I waited and waited for her, but she never came home. I almost called you,” he gave me a faint smile. “I thought maybe she’d figured the whole thing out.” His smile faded. “But when the police came tonight—” A ragged sob shook Seth.
“Seth,” I said, feeling helpless. “Don’t. We don’t know anything. Not yet.”
“Yes we do.” Seth looked up, his eyes wild. “We know my mom’s digging into something that the Lilitu don’t want us to find.” Seth stood, too wired to sit still any longer. “We know there’s at least one demon out there, maybe more. If they discovered what she’s doing—” Seth slumped against the wall, doubling over in pain. “God—what if he’s got her? What if he’s hurting her?”
I stood, anxious to calm Seth down. “It’s no use making yourself crazy like this. We don’t know anything yet.”
“What if she’s dying somewhere?” Seth pushed off of the wall, stumbling toward the foyer. “We can’t just sit here,” he gasped. I grabbed Seth’s hand. He tried to pull away, panic driving him into a frenzy. “Let go. Please, Braedyn, let me go!”
“Calm down,” I said. The chiming tones of the call seemed to set the air around us aglow. “Calm down, Seth.”
Incubus (The Daughters Of Lilith) Page 15
