Allegiance

by K. A. Tucker

  Lilly’s lips pressed together. “I had a feeling you’d say that.” She pulled out her cell phone as she began walking back down the tunnel toward the exit. “Come on. We’d better get you home. Sofie’s liable to torch everyone otherwise.”

  I trailed behind, deciding that when I knew I could trust her, Lilly would be my means to rescuing Veronique.

  ***

  When the gates creaked opened for Lilly’s car, we found Ivan and a horde of his wolves standing guard just inside. It took another few minutes for the car to struggle up the winding, snow-covered driveway. When we reached the loop in front, a crowd of stern expressions had already gathered—vampire, human, and werebeast.

  Amelie landed at my feet the second the door opened, throwing her arms around my neck. “I’m so sorry, Evangeline!” she cried out. “Oh, thank God! I couldn’t get to you! I couldn’t move! I’m so sorry!” she gushed. “By the time I broke free, you were already gone.”

  I offered a small smile, wincing from the growing throb in my jaw. “It’s okay, Amelie. I’m fine.”

  Her eyes darted to my jaw, eyebrows raised. “Uh, have you seen your face? You look terrible!”

  “Okay, maybe not fine, but I’ll live.” I had no idea what I looked like. I’m not sure I wanted to know. I definitely didn’t want Caden to see me like that. Speaking of which … I took in the faces around me. Everyone was here. Everyone except Viggo and Caden. For a moment, a stab of pain poked at me, wondering where he was, wondering why he wasn’t concerned enough to be waiting for me, but I pushed it aside, remembering he was likely with Bishop.

  As Lilly stepped out from the driver’s side, Amelie instantly lunged at her, her claws dangerously extended. “You bitch!” Luckily Mage was there to intercept the attack, securing Amelie in a partial headlock before she reached the tiny kidnapper. Lilly didn’t flinch. In fact, I’m pretty sure I saw her smile.

  “We leave you two alone for a few hours …,” Sofie began in in a cold, hard voice as she walked forward, her light touch caressing my jaw, making a tsking sound. “Why must you decide to act like a rebellious teenager now, Evangeline? You were such an obedient child, always following the rules. Now that you’re in the most danger, you’re continuously doing stupid things!”

  “Yeah, well, look where being obedient got me.”

  Sofie paused to consider me. She said nothing, though, turning to Amelie. “And you! I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “Here we go again! Seven hundred years old and I’m being scolded twice in one day.” Amelie crossed her arms over her chest.

  “You deserve to be.” Julian stepped forward from just inside the door, his chocolate face screaming worry as he looked at me.

  I offered him a small smile. “It’s not Amelie’s fault. I begged her to take me out. We wanted to get some Christmas presents.”

  “I didn’t think we were being watched!” Amelie exclaimed.

  “We’re always being watched, you twit!” Mortimer scoffed from his corner.

  Sofie’s eyes drifted to Lilly. “I’m not sure that we were … until now. Someone may have tipped them off.” Her tone was thick with accusation. Was she accusing Lilly of being the informant? No! That couldn’t be. She was the one who saved me!

  “It’s not her fault,” I said. “I wanted to go. I needed to get out. We both did …”

  Silence met my admission of guilt. “What’s done is done,” Sofie stated, exhaling. “You can tell me all about it later. For now,” she turned to Lilly, “can I assume you’re willing to join us?”

  Lilly’s mouth twisted in thought. “Perhaps.”

  “Lilly,” I coaxed lightly, “remember what we agreed to. No more games. There’s too much at stake.”

  Her face smoothed over with a nod. “I have pledged my allegiance to Evangeline. She’s asked that I listen to you as it relates to the war, and so I will.”

  By the flash of surprise on Mortimer’s face and the open-mouth gape on Amelie’s, it was clear that Lilly’s declaration caught everyone off guard.

  My, my. Aren’t you building a little empire, Max said sarcastically. You know, one of these days, you’re going to be sorry you keep tricking me …

  I gave him an apologetic shrug.

  Once the initial shock subsided, Sofie spoke up. “You are okay with this, Evangeline?”

  “I’m …” I was unsure of how to say this without offending Lilly. “I’m okay with it. But I don’t feel any different, so …” I’m not sure I can trust her, Sofie. Read between the lines.

  She nodded slowly. Maybe she understood me. If not, I’d ask her if she could confirm it later, when we were alone.

  “Has the witch given us any details?” Lilly asked, switching gears.

  I frowned. The witch … the witch! They kidnapped her? They must have!

  “No, though Kait and Viggo are still interrogating her,” Mage explained simply. “They’re almost finished.” Finished because they’d gotten their answer or because there wasn’t much left of her? I decided that I’d rather not know.

  “Well,” Sofie said, pausing. “Good. Now that that’s settled, please, won’t you come in? We have a lot of work to do.” We followed her into the massive foyer. “Mortimer, why don’t you take Lilly to Kait?” With a nod, they vanished. “And Evangeline …” I turned, expecting her to tell me I was grounded for life. Instead, she wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “I need to tell you something. It’s important.” She hesitated, her mouth bending into a weird half-excited, half-nervous smile. “I figured out a way to free Bishop.”

  Joy exploded inside me like fireworks on the Fourth of July. “Seriously?” Of course Sofie had fixed it! Sofie could fix anything! “Seriously?” I parroted and looked over at Amelie, expecting a matching grin. She stood there with a strange expression on her face. I couldn’t read it. She was definitely happy but there was also a glimpse of something … pity, perhaps? “Where is he? When can I—”

  Sofie cut me off. “Now, I don’t have a lot of time to explain.” She paused, listening to something in the distance, off to our right. “Damn it,” she muttered under her breath. “They’re coming.” They … Bishop and Caden! My heart started to race. I turned to gaze down the hall, waiting excitedly. Sofie’s hand waved furiously at Amelie. “Go stall them for a moment, please.”

  Something about that tone … it unsettled me. Amelie disappeared in a flash. “Why the need to stall?” I asked warily.

  Sofie was suddenly in front of me, seizing my hands tightly, pale eyes holding mine as if compelled. “Okay, remember how Mage’s compulsion erased all memory of Earth for Caden and the others?” she said in a low whisper.

  I nodded.

  “Well … it gave me an idea. It took some thinking and a little request of the Fates …”

  Oh God … the Fates. Prickles of worry nipped at my toes. So far, any mention of them usually spelled disaster for me. “But Bishop is back to himself now,” she assured me. “Except for one key difference.” She was rambling. Sofie doesn’t ramble. “There was only one way to do it. I had to erase all memory of her,” she whispered, her eyebrows rising suggestively with her.

  Sofie’s words didn’t register at first. “What do you mean?” I asked slowly.

  “She does not exist in his memory. Nothing about her. Nothing about being bound up by magic over the last few days because he wanted to avenge her death. The Fates altered it all.”

  “Her? You mean F—”

  Sofie’s hand flew to my lips, clamping on tightly. I moaned in pain but she ignored it, rushing with her whispers now. “We’ll talk about it later, but whatever happens, you cannot mention her name. As long as no one mentions her name, we’re golden. If he hears you mention it again, the spell is broken and he’s back in Merth. Understand?”

  Not mention her. She didn’t exist. I felt as if she had just walked up and walloped me across my injured jaw.

  “Understand?” Sofie prodded.

  I nodded, dumbstruck. “
So, if he doesn’t remember … her … what does he remember?”

  Pity flashed across Sofie’s face—one hundred percent unveiled pity. It sunk my insides to my feet just as a loud, jovial voice sounded from our right. Bishop’s voice.

  All thoughts and worries vanished. My heart melted, my body gravitating toward that beautiful sound. I turned just as Bishop appeared, grinning broadly, his gray eyes twinkling in that playful way. He scooped me into his arms and spun me around. I giggled excitedly. Just like old times … like happy times. Like—

  Bishop’s lips closed over mine, pressing against them. At first I thought it was show of friendly affection. But when he didn’t pull away, when the kiss became deeper, more intense, when his hands slid to my back, running along my contours, I knew something was wrong. It was a kiss I’d seen him secretly give Fiona countless times.

  Alarm paralyzed me. I felt my cheeks blaze with embarrassment. What the hell was going on? Why was Bishop kissing me? Bishop pulled away, his jaw tensing angrily as he appraised my injured face. “They sure did a number on you.” I heard myself make some sort of guttural sound, unable to speak, unable to move—as stiff as a stick within Bishop’s arms.

  Sofie swooped in, shaking his arms loose from around my body. “Yes, you probably shouldn’t get that close until she’s cleaned up. You’ll need to be cautious with your affection for a while. That must have hurt …” She turned my face to feign investigation of my injury, all the while pleading with wide eyes. Sorry, she was saying.

  In all honesty, I was so stunned, I hadn’t felt the pain of his kiss against my mouth.

  Bishop squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I’m so sorry. I was just so excited to see you. I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” he whispered, pulling me into an embrace. That’s when I saw Caden standing behind us, glaring at Amelie, a slight shake of disapproval. Caden! Oh my God! Oh my God! I’m cheating on him, right in front of him! He watched Bishop kiss me! What would he do? What would he say?

  Jade eyes locked onto my face.

  He smiled.

  What? What the hell was going on? I pleaded silently with my stare, to him, to Amelie, to Sofie. Why was Bishop like this? He was acting like we were together! I looked back at Caden in time to see him mouth, “Everything will be okay.”

  No! Everything will not be okay! I felt my teeth grit painfully. This was wrong! All wrong! I must’ve had a wild look of panic because Caden turned away, squeezing his own eyes shut for a moment, a pained expression marring his face.

  Great, I have to deal with another one, Max groaned. Do you want me to bite him?

  I stared at him, thankful for our secret communication. “What do you mean, Max?”

  Bishop believes you are a couple. The Fates have filled his head with all kinds of false memories. It’s their twisted way of giving Sofie what she asked while complicating things. It’s how they roll, Max said.

  “But … why?” I asked, aware that my voice had taken on an annoying whine.

  Bishop pulled away from me. “Why what?” he asked softly, his hand reaching up to affectionately graze my jaw.

  “Oh … nothing. Max just asked me a silly question.” Another wave of anxiety tore through me with his touch. On instinct, I pulled away, taking two steps back. “I need to go lie down for a while. This morning took a lot out of me.” I gave a furtive sidelong glance to Caden. Follow me, please …

  “That’s a great idea,” Sofie chirped, walking over to place a hand on Bishop’s forearm. “Bishop, do you think you could help Mage clean up the mess in Paris?”

  “Yes, I definitely could use some help with that,” Mage stepped in without missing a beat. “It’s already made the news. Hopefully, we can make it blow over as a terrorist attack but we should head out now. We should be back in a few hours.” She looked at me. “Enough time for you to get cleaned up and take a rest.”

  For days I begged Sofie to fix Bishop, and now I could kiss Mage for taking him away.

  “Of course!” Bishop boomed happily, his famous crooked smile beaming. “Can we take Lilly’s car?”

  Mage nodded. “I’m sure whomever she borrowed it from won’t mind.”

  “Do you need me?” Amelie offered.

  “No, you’ve done enough,” Mage answered quickly, giving her own look of stern disapproval.

  Amelie had the decency to duck her eyes and look contrite for a second. Only a second, though, and then her expression changed to one of mischief as she glanced behind her at Julian leaning up against a wall.

  “Come,” she beckoned, offering her hand. As they began walking down the hall, Amelie turned back to give me a sly smile and a wink. Her hand reached down and pulled out a strap from beneath her shirt. Black lace.

  “Great … you managed to get that,” I mumbled to myself, my hand going to my forehead. A deep headache was forming behind my right temple.

  I needed to warn Julian before Amelie ambushed him.

  I needed to talk to Caden about this whole Bishop thing.

  I needed to talk to Sofie about Lilly’s allegiance.

  I needed to talk to Veronique to explain things, to relieve my guilty conscience.

  Just when I thought things couldn’t get more complicated, my world was spiraling downward, out of control.

  Bishop leaned over to lay a gentle kiss on my forehead. My back instantly stiffened. “Be back soon and we’ll pick up where we left off,” he whispered in my ear, and then he was off with Mage, sauntering out the door as lazy as a lion on a sweltering day. A voice screamed inside my head, Where did we leave off?

  The second the door clicked into place, I let loose. “What the hell?” I screamed, wincing as a sharp pain shot through my jaw.

  Caden was beside me in a second, pulling me to his chest in a tight embrace. “It’s okay.”

  I shoved him back. “No, it’s not! What did you do to him?” I hissed, my anger directed at Sofie.

  She sighed. “I told you what I did. Apparently the version of Bishop we get is a little bit different. It’s not me. It’s the Fates. But at least he’s not in the Merth, right?”

  I was already shaking my head, looking at Caden. “I don’t want that. I don’t want him, I don’t—”

  He silenced me with two fingers to my mouth, careful not to touch my injured jaw. “I know. I know. Believe me!” He paused. “It looks like this is as close to the old Bishop as we’re going to get.”

  “But she erased all memories of—”

  “Ah!” Sofie warned sharply, her finger held up in warning. “Never say her name, even when he’s not around.”

  “Of her …” I adjusted. “It’s like she never existed.”

  “I know … but we all know she did,” Caden whispered, looking down at me. “None of us is going to forget. But she’s gone, and we have a choice of accepting it and moving on with this version of Bishop or losing both of them. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to do than sit by my best friend while he suffers, bound with Merth.” His hand grazed my cheek.

  “I know but … if he thinks we’re together, then …” You and I can’t be, I finished in my head, unable to say the words.

  “For now. Just for now.” Caden pulled me into another embrace.

  As my head rested against Caden’s chest, I stared at the front door. He was the old Bishop, but still the wrong one. This was so much worse than having Caden think I’d been with Julian. So much worse …

  “When this is all over,” I said.

  “When it’s over, we’ll remind him of her,” Sofie agreed. “For now, though, with this war coming, we need all the help we can get. We can’t worry about him making things worse, causing scenes in public venues.”

  Her mention of scenes brought me back to the attack, and Lilly. “Lilly will listen to you, Sofie. I told her to defer to you. I don’t know how to plan a war.” I had my own internal war to deal with.

  “Good. She’s smart as a whip, that one.” Sofie said. “Dangerous and conniving, but
smart. Watch out for her, Evangeline. She’s sworn her allegiance to you. That means she won’t harm you and she will do as you ask, but that doesn’t mean she can’t stab you in the back in some roundabout way. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that she tipped off the Sentinel, just so she could go in and save you … to earn your trust. Kidnap you without kidnapping you.”

  I snorted. Surprise, surprise. Can’t trust a vampire. “Do you think it’s real? Or is she tricking us?”

  “I’ll go find out. You, though,” her gentle fingers reached up to prod at my fat lip, “need to go get cleaned up. I see a cut there, but … no … it doesn’t need stitches, thank goodness. I’ll get Ivan.”

  “No,” Caden interrupted. “I’ll do it.”

  Sofie opened her mouth to object, but Caden brushed it off. “It’s okay. I’m okay. I’ll take all the time with Evangeline that I can get.” He turned me down the hall with one hand wrapped protectively around my shoulder, the other holding my hand. We walked to the main bathroom in silence—the one where Ivan had stitched me up last time. The little medical case still sat on the counter.

  “I should just move in here …” I said as Caden flicked on the light switch.

  I gasped. The left side of my jaw was a sickly purplish-red and twice the normal size, outsized only by my lip, which was blackish-purple and easily three times bigger than usual. Dried blood had caked around the corner of my mouth, down to my jawline. Even with all the vampire bites and gashes on my hands and arms, this was by far the worst-looking injury I had acquired to date.

  Lifting me under the arms like I weighed no more than a large piece of cotton, Caden gently positioned me onto the counter beside the sink. I trembled under his touch.

  “So you decided to risk a war in the streets so you could go Christmas shopping?” He popped open the case and pulled out some antiseptic, cotton balls, and salt.

  “When you say it like that, it sounds pretty lame,” I looked down at my feet, feeling the burn in my cheeks. “I just needed to get away for a while. Things have been hard lately.” And they were about to get a whole lot harder with this new Bishop issue …