by Tracy Clark
The vision of my mother struggling against an attacker flew forward in my mind. She’d violently hacked off the person’s hand. I’d assumed it was a man. I never saw the face. This Arrazi was at a party for the Society, which used the very symbol on the ring that pressed so hard into my palm it was starting to hurt. I closed my eyes and sifted through the ring’s memories and got a flash of the rustle of someone’s cardinal-red skirt, slipping the ring onto a waiting finger. I opened my eyes and fixed them on the Arrazi woman.
My heart beat a steady rhythm, as if to keep me aware of the flimsiness of life. Boom, boom. Alive. Alive. My heart knew what it felt like to experience the draining, the agonizing slowing, as an Arrazi sucked the life from it. Like a tribal drum of alarm, it beat out a warning in my ears that I was too close to my enemy.
The woman stopped mid-sentence and looked around the room as if she’d heard her name being called. Or heard my drum. Like a second hand ticking off digits, her gaze flickered methodically from spot to spot in an almost mechanical scan of the people in the crypt.
I stepped slowly into a curtain of shadow to my left. My heart stopped hammering and froze as her relentless, searching eyes landed on the spot where I was hidden.
Twenty-Seven
Finn
Once we were inside the party, Saoirse pointed discreetly around the room. “He’s an Arrazi. And that older couple over there. And that woman there…”
Blimey. I was one of them and they scared me. Did the innocent people in this room know what surrounded them? Were there any innocent people in this room?
As far as parties went, this one was brilliant, held in a medieval crypt of all places. Funerary monuments sat in recessed alcoves beneath the arched walls and ceilings that looked one substantial breath away from crumbling. World War II–era music would have normally lifted my spirits, if I weren’t so on edge. My muscles coiled, ready. I reminded myself that if there was any way to find out why the Society wanted all Scintilla dead, then being here among these treacherous people would be worth it. You are one of the dangerous people, my head scolded. I constantly had to remind myself who I was, and who I wasn’t anymore.
My aim was to talk to as many guests as possible. Ask as many questions as I could. Get more information on these philanthropic ventures and ingratiate myself to whoever was in charge of this group. Ultana seemed fixed on helping me get an in with the Society. I didn’t care much about her motives.
I had my own.
Lorcan, Saoirse, and I followed Ultana through the crowd. Saoirse dutifully affected a merry and attentive expression when introduced by her mother, but would turn to me privately and cross her eyes or stick out her tongue. I poked her in the ribs when a man with a bit too much ale in him practically drooled on her feathers. Lorcan noticed, too, and stared at him with a malicious glint. The man stumbled. Was Lorcan taking from him? Confusion passed over the old codger’s face. He swayed and hastily excused himself. Though her back was to us, Ultana immediately turned and scowled at Lorcan. I was right! And she could feel it! Her sensitivity was fascinating. And disturbing.
“Why didn’t you bring a date, brother? Everyone turn you down?” Saoirse teased.
Lorcan scowled. “Why bring a sandwich to a banquet?” he answered, downing a glass of champagne. “For example, that hot piece over there.” He pointed toward a flicker of silver. “She’s alone, see? Pretty little wallflower needs plucking.”
I squinted toward the alcove cloaked in shadow. If she was a wallflower, she’d found the perfect spot. But if she wanted to hide, she was woefully underestimating her allure. Her beaded silver dress draped over her hourglass shape in just the right way. Scooting around the shadows, she shimmered like a star in the black sky.
A flash of her profile stuttered my heart, but she turned away before I could get a better look. “Excuse me a moment,” I said to Saoirse, who nodded curiously before another acquaintance of her mother’s pulled her away. The trio disappeared into the crowd.
This girl seemed intent on watching Ultana. I barely got a glance at her back—completely, tantalizingly bare, but for the most interesting, wicked tattoo—before she disappeared around the side of the arch like a fugitive. What kind of girl has a bold black knife etched right down the middle of her back yet hides in the shadows of a party?
I was intrigued. Guilt etched the outline of my heart like it was being burned out. There was no other person on this planet I wanted more than Cora. Why was I approaching this dark-haired stranger with such interest? I stopped in my tracks. What was I doing? I shook my head, sadly. It was energy. Curiosity and the pull of a captivating energy. I had to learn to control my impulses in this new body. I was only being a slave to my Arrazi nature.
As I was about to override my inquisitiveness and attraction to her and walk away, she backed toward me from around the pillar again, peering to the other side.
I smiled, despite myself. It was comical, and sort of adorable, the way she was playing peek-a-boo with an unknown partner. Unbidden by me, my heart raced as I watched her. Once upon a time I’d felt magnetism like this… The closer I got, the stronger the sensation was. It was like a perfume I’d inhaled before. A whiff of energy intoxicated me, rattled my composure, made me feel more alive than I’d felt in days. This surge of spirit, melding with mine, was so familiar, I was heady with it. This didn’t feel the same as dying from lack of taking someone’s aura. The need, however, was just as strong.
I was compelled to be close to her.
I reached my hand out, to touch the gleaming skin with the deadly tattoo, when she spun around.
Twenty-Eight
Cora
The Arrazi woman had such an inscrutable gaze, I felt like she could see through four feet of thick stone to where I hid. My body blared with warning signals. She could kill me so easily. She could reach in and snap my soul in half, probably from where she stood. And there was nothing I’d be able to do about it.
This paranoia draped over me, sagged my body with a heavy surety that her Arrazi energy was reaching out for me, even as I watched her chat and sip wine with her one good hand. Chills crept over the skin on my back. I forced myself to stay calm and breathe deeply. Only one scrap of conversation was thrown at my feet: that the Society was fund-raising to continue supporting vital research. Into what, I had no idea.
I felt the creeping shiver of attention that raised the hair on the back of my neck. It wasn’t from her. Someone loomed behind me, I could feel it. It was the menacing energy of an Arrazi. I spun around, ready to punch, kick, and scream my way out if I had to.
Molten amber eyes met mine. Even through the black mask, I recognized him. I could have been blind and I’d recognize my first love.
Every drop of strength I had dissipated out through my legs. I gaped at Finn in a black mask and a well-fitting tuxedo. “Well, don’t you look as ripe as a peach.” My words were clipped and choked from the shock. I’d been grieving the boy I loved. Now, the Arrazi Finn stood before me.
He recoiled like I’d hit him. “You’d rather I be dead?”
“I—I thought you were.”
His eyes turned sad. “Why’d you come here? You’ve entered a den of snakes. If you had any sense of self-preservation at all, you’d never have come.”
His words made me sick with remembrance. “Funny. Your uncle said something like that to me once…about you.”
If you had any sense of self-preservation at all, you’d have never let Finn near you.
“Why are you here?” I asked. I didn’t want him to be here. I didn’t know what I wanted.
His tone was steely. “I was invited.”
“I bet you were,” I said, stepping close, the fire of adrenaline and anger coursing through my veins. “What, is your dear uncle grooming the next heartless killer in the family?”
Finn glanced around and pierced me with a warning gaze. His voice was deep and low. “Arrazi can feel you. You’re not safe here.”
“I’m not s
afe anywhere. Your uncle could be following you with his sortilege. He did attack me, right after Mari and Dun ran into you. Maybe he’s watching us right now, listening. Maybe he—”
“No.” The pupils of his brown eyes expanded in alarm.
“No? What do you mean no?”
Finn looked over my shoulder. “I mean that he’s not using astral projection, because he just walked in. You need to get the hell out of here.”
I didn’t dare turn around. My knees began to shake. Even my chin quivered. Being this close to Clancy Mulcarr fired off every distress signal in my body.
Finn’s brows pinched together. We both knew how scared I was. “Cora, I—”
“There you are!” Dancing up to us was a girl, all whipping flame and ragged wind. The teal of her feathered mask drew out her startling aquamarine eyes. This tiny exotic thing hooked her arm through Finn’s, that one move stabbing my heart all the way through. She pecked a kiss on his cheek.
My energy bled through my chest; I could feel it leave me. I had no control. No access to the positive vibes that my mother urged me to work on. No grounding in earth. I was a puddle at Finn’s feet. It was all I could do to stand upright. I swayed, staring hard into his eyes, hoping my epic eye-speak would tell him that my heart couldn’t stand any more breaking. I wasn’t sure I could talk.
“Saoirse,” he purred, saying her name in his exquisite voice. “I’d like you to meet…” His voice faltered. “I’m sorry…what was your name again?”
Oh my God.
I thought I might be sick.
Saoirse smiled warmly, though her eyes probed Finn’s face, looking for something in that way that girls do when they are measuring their possessive prowess. “I’m glad my brother hasn’t found you yet,” Saoirse said, holding her petite hand out to me. I somehow accepted her handshake. “He’s had eyes for you already. I hate to malign my own brother, but you look like a nice girl, and he’s not the sort of fella you want—”
Her words clipped off as we clasped hands. Her tiny head cocked to the side, red brows furrowed, like I was a puzzle she held in her hands. Her little rose of a mouth hung open, like a question was poised on her tongue. I tried to politely pull away but her grasp, like her dominating vibration, was firm and much stronger than I’d have supposed. She felt like a frenzied young dog fighting against its leash.
“Thanks for the warning,” I choked out in a voice as thin and diluted as my spirit. “There are a few guys in here I know enough to be wary of.”
Saoirse didn’t seem to want to let go of my hand. In fact, she stepped closer, peering at me. Closer still, uncomfortably close so that I could feel her puffs of breath on my collarbone and the cloying smell of her expensive perfume. Her other hand grasped mine so that she seized it between them like one would catch a lightning bug.
Finn’s long fingers reached up and affectionately skimmed the back of her neck before reaching under her chin and turning her face to him. I knew the feel of those fingertips. He bent and inched his face toward hers. I slipped my hand from her grip and backed away. Was he seriously going to kiss her? Was he going to make me stand there and watch? I stumbled, but caught myself, realizing too late that I was shaking my head no.
It was whispered words rather than a kiss. His hand pressed against green satin on the small of her back as he led her away. She looked back at me.
Finn did not.
No part of me functioned properly. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t breathe. He appeared, snuffed out all the light in the room, and walked away, leaving me in the dark. He was alive and I couldn’t even rejoice in that fact. He had been so cold. So unmoved by my appearance. He had plainly and effortlessly moved on.
A hand I hadn’t felt coming ran the length of my bare back. Shivers skittered down my spine. “You look lost, doll,” a guy whispered in my ear. Relief hit me; it wasn’t Clancy’s voice. But ice flowed through me when my energy registered his.
I knew the impression of an Arrazi.
Twenty-Nine
Finn
Cora’s pain was the weapon I wielded upon myself. I was stabbed by the agony I saw in her emerald eyes peeking through the delicate silver mask that looked as though it was a web spun by magical spiders. I was tortured with the hurt that made her head knock sideways as if she’d been slapped. The anguish in her voice, in her spirit. Did she think I couldn’t see it, feel it? The agony rolled off her in sorrowful waves, and that was the needle I used to carve a new groove into my soul. My God…she didn’t deserve to hurt like that. Not after what she’d been through.
I wanted so badly to tell her what I was up to, that I wasn’t here because I embraced my damned nature. I was trying to help keep her safe, for Christ’s sake! And she waltzes in here, a flash of silver and shimmer. A beautiful light in the darkness.
No wonder I was drawn to her. My heart knew it was her. My body knew it was her.
A soul knows its home.
“I feel strange, Finn,” Saoirse said, her nose crinkling between her eyes. Her voice had gone soft, dreamy. “Blurry, like I’ve been drinking, but I haven’t touched a drop.”
Saoirse was reacting to Cora in a primal way. She may not have changed yet, but she obviously had the ability to sense the pulsating energy of Scintilla. She’d latched onto Cora immediately, seizing upon her unique vibe. The girl didn’t want to turn, and she had a Scintilla, literally, in the palm of her hands.
Problem was, Cora had no idea how she affected regular people when she walked into a room, let alone the Arrazi.
I’d done what I had to do to scratch Saoirse’s record. I had to break the connection. It was awful—brutal and cold.
To save Cora’s life, I had to break her heart.
Thirty
Cora
“I’m not lost,” I said, already extricating myself from the reach and energy of the Arrazi who swaggered like he owned the place. Maybe he was just hitting on me and would give up when convincingly rejected. I didn’t want to draw attention. Clancy could not see me. That would be disastrous. Deadly. It was already deadly.
“Don’t be like that,” the guy said, and grabbed my wrist.
I turned around to face the blocky guy, older, maybe early twenties, with the sour odor of too much alcohol on his breath. I straightened my back, trying to feel less small, less vulnerable before him, but it didn’t work. He was a stone wall.
“What’s your name?” he said, moving closer, his hands getting way too familiar with my hips. I squirmed from his grasp and prayed to stay out of the clutch of his Arrazi power. Hopefully, he was too stupid or too drunk to know what I was. Again, he put his hands on my hips, his fingers grazing the bare skin of my back.
“Okay, here’s what you need to know,” I said, shoving him away, my fear replaced by hot anger. Arrazi or not, this guy was an ass. “I’m not lost, I’m leaving. My name is none of your business, but it’s definitely not doll. And if you put your hands on my body again, I’ll make you wish you were wearing a suit of armor.” I stomped away from him and ran up the stairs and out of the building.
I walked briskly, wrapping my arms around myself, and looked behind me to make sure he wasn’t following. I had to make it back to the pub where everyone waited anxiously for me to arrive. This night was a fiasco. The only other knowledge I’d gained was information I didn’t want to know about Finn. My heart had leaped to see him. He was alive! My soul sprang up inside me, a flame of love I forgot I was supposed to squelch. His soulful eyes, his mouth, his sweet face. Then it all came crashing down. For a brief moment, I wondered if I did prefer the idea of him being dead.
What did I think? That he’d suffer as much as me? That he’d at least wither away some first before jumping into the world of killing innocent people? That he’d see me and his love would show so undeniably that I’d never be able to question it? Now I did question it. I questioned everything. Being an Arrazi was bad enough, but he couldn’t help that. Being a jerk was totally optional.
Looking
up to make sure I had my bearings, I turned the corner heading toward the pub where the others were eating and waiting for me. I hated the thought of telling them I’d accomplished so little. The only thing I’d confirmed was that it was indeed the same Society Clancy had spoken of, that they were raising money for research of some kind, and that the Arrazi were in thick with them.
As smooth as fog, a dark figure slipped out of the shadows right in front of me. I gasped in surprise. That same grabby Arrazi seized my arms. “I don’t know your name and I don’t need to,” he slurred. “But I’m going to have a taste of you.”
I struggled to wrench free from his tight grip, ripping off his black mask as I did so. He pulled me to his chest, nuzzling his face in the crook of my neck. I started to scream, but as the sound reached my mouth, my chest heaved forward toward him, and the knife of his slashing Arrazi energy drilled my upper body and pulled at my aura as if I bled from my chest directly into his.
I tried to knee him in the crotch, but my foot felt leaden, and my kick landed more on his shin. He didn’t seem to notice. His strength expanded as mine dissipated.
“You have the most delicious energy,” he panted with his toxic cloud of breath. “Like nothing I’ve ever felt.”
Cold whipped through my body, numbing my arms and legs. My legs wobbled and I started to slip down, but he held me up and close to him as he continued to take from me. I wished the taking would quiet my mind as it quieted my body. It was like a slow icing over. Instead, my body was becoming paralyzed with the lack of energy, while my mind was on overdrive. Would he be able to stop? Did he have any intention of stopping at all? I’d never make it back to the others. My poor mother… They’d always have questions…
