Anew: The Archers of Avalon, Book One

by Chelsea Fine

  She noticed a deep gash on his forehead bleeding down the side of his face. Several gashes marked up his arms and chest, coating his shirt in blood. He needed stitches. Or a doctor.

  Words tumbled over themselves as Scarlet quickly pushed them through her mouth, “What happ—? Are you ok—? Who was—?”

  She was shaking and her lungs felt tight with fear.

  Tristan sharply motioned to the front door with a bloody hand. “Get outside.” His green eyes bore into her; without mercy, without debate. “Now!”

  Scarlet blinked once before rushing out of her house, Tristan right behind her.

  “Get to my car.” Tristan commanded, his hot breath brushing against the back of her neck as they ran across her front lawn.

  Without question, Scarlet headed to Tristan’s black car.

  He hated her. He didn’t want her around.

  But, for whatever reason, Scarlet trusted him implicitly.

  If he told her to get in the car, she would get in the car.

  Scarlet’s breathing became more tight and rapid.

  Tristan barked out orders like, “Keep your head down,” and “Don’t look back!” but Scarlet barely heard him above the roar of her pounding heart and the shallow air squeezing through her chest.

  With burning eyes, she ran through the darkness and let herself into Tristan’s car. He followed suit, jumping into the driver’s seat and immediately peeled out of the neighborhood.

  It wasn’t until they were speeding away from her very small and, usually, very safe Avalon neighborhood that Scarlet was able to catch her breath. “What…what just happened?”

  Tristan kept his eyes on the road. “I don’t know.” He sounded out of breath, too.

  He seemed…angry.

  And scared.

  Panic darted through Scarlet’s body. “Is someone following us?”

  “No.” He cursed. “I don’t know.”

  Scarlet turned around in her seat to look out the back window.

  “What are you doing? Turn around and keep your head down!” Tristan’s eyes shot to Scarlet with a dangerous gleam.

  She twisted back around, faced forward and shrank down in her seat.

  She was terrified.

  Not because Tristan was yelling at her like she was a disobedient puppy, but because Tristan was scared.

  And if he was afraid, then there was something to be afraid of.

  Several minutes went by in silence, the only noise the growling of the car engine.

  “Are you okay?” Tristan asked in a rough voice, not looking at her. “Are you hurt or anything?”

  Scarlet shook her head and looked out at the road, her body shaking again. “Who was that guy in my house? Was he a robber? What did he want?”

  “I don’t know,” Tristan said shifting in his seat. He winced in pain as he reached into his back pocket. First he threw a knife, wet with blood, on the dashboard.

  Scarlet’s eyes widened.

  Then he held up an unfamiliar object. “Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

  It looked like a wide headband. It was black, made of plastic, and lined with wires. On one side of the band was what looked like a tiny, sharp crystal.

  Scarlet eyed it, her confusion growing. “No. What is it?”

  Tristan shook his head, his eyes never leaving the road. “I have no idea.”

  Scarlet blinked. “What do you think he wanted?” she asked again, because she was scared. And nervous. And confused.

  “I don’t know,” Tristan snapped, anger in his voice, like Scarlet’s questions were annoying him.

  Scarlet raised a brow. “Well, what were you doing in my house?” If he wanted to be snotty, she could be snotty. “I certainly didn’t invite you in.”

  Tristan let out a frustrated sigh and checked the rearview mirror without answering.

  “What were you doing in my house, Tristan? Did Gabriel send you?”

  Tristan’s flexed his jaw. “No.”

  Scarlet shifted in her seat to look at him. “Then…what? You were just hanging out upstairs while I slept? That’s creepy.”

  Tristan shook his head. “I was outside of your house when I saw that guy walk in your front door.”

  Scarlet widened her eyes. “You saw him come inside?”

  Tristan nodded. “I thought it was weird that some stranger just waltzed into your house in the middle of the night while your guardian was out of town, so I followed him in. Turns out he was a bad guy. Big surprise.”

  Scarlet looked at him. “What do you think he wanted?”

  Tristan blinked. “I’m not sure. But he knew you were inside and he was willing to kill me to get to you.”

  Scarlet shuddered. “We need to call the police.”

  “Nope.”

  “What?” Scarlet looked at him incredulously. “Someone just broke into my house and tried to kill me…or something. We need to call the cops.”

  Tristan shook his head. “Uh-uh.”

  “You’re insane.” Scarlet pulled out her phone to dial 9-1-1 for the second time that night.

  Tristan snatched the phone from her hands and, with one swift movement, rolled down his window and threw it into the heavily wooded area on the side of the road.

  “What the hell, Tristan?” Scarlet stared at him in disbelief.

  “You don’t get to make phone calls right now, Scarlet. You need to listen to me, closely.” Tristan looked at her briefly, his eyes connecting with hers in a way that comforted her and scared the crap out of her at the same time.

  “That guy back there wasn’t your normal, everyday burglar. He was after you specifically and he had this,” Tristan held up the headband thingy again as he looked back at the road, “ready to use on you. So, you don’t get to pretend like you have a normal teenage life right now. You are different, Scarlet. Somebody came after you tonight. You could have died. Or worse.”

  A few tense moments passed, silent but for the car engine and Scarlet’s drumming heart.

  She puckered her lips. “Still. Did you really have to throw my phone out? Couldn’t you just have asked me to put it down and talked to me like a grown up?”

  “Nope.”

  “You suck.”

  “Okay.”

  “You owe me a new phone,” Scarlet quipped.

  Tristan jutted his jaw. “Phones can be traced, Scarlet. This way, if someone goes hunting you down, they’ll wind up in some roadside Georgia forest—far away from you.”

  “You’re being paranoid.”

  “Maybe.” Tristan glanced at her.

  Scarlet met his eyes with a steel gaze, more questions filling up her head. “What were you doing in my house?”

  “I wasn’t in your—“

  Scarlet rolled her eyes. “What were you doing outside my house? At,” she looked at the dashboard clock, “three in the morning?”

  Tristan tilted his head back a forth a few times. “Sleeping.”

  Scarlet pursed her lips. “Sleeping?”

  “Yes. Sleeping. Or, at least,” he exhaled, “trying to.”

  “Right.” Scarlet shook her head. Liar.

  Her eyes moved about the darkness of the car and took everything in. The seats were leather and the interior was very clean. The instrument lights on the dashboard cast an eerie glow on Tristan’s profile and Scarlet’s breath caught.

  He was bleeding. Badly.

  Her eyes trailed down to his body, where dark stains seeped through his shirt and pants.

  He had blood all over him.

  His beautiful face... his beautiful body...was bloody.

  She stared at him another minute before swallowing and filling up with gratitude.

  He’d fought for her tonight.

  He’d been stabbed and hurt so some weirdo hadn’t hurt her.

  Tristan had protected her.

  She remembered the memory flash she’d had at the top of the stairs and she softened inside.

  There had to be more to Tristan tha
n coldness. It didn’t make sense that he hated her.

  Somewhere, a long time ago, he’d held her in his arms and promised her…something. Guys that hate you don’t make promises under the stars.

  Scarlet’s heart kicked as she looked him over. A piece of her wanted to climb into his arms and kiss all his boo-boos.

  She was pathetic.

  “You’re bleeding.” Her eyes ran over the many cuts and bloodstains on his body. “You need to go to a hospital.”

  He didn’t answer for a moment, as if lost in thought.

  “Tristan,” she said, trying to get his attention.

  He blinked and furrowed his brow before glancing at her. “What?”

  “You need to see a doctor.” Scarlet reached across the seat to touch the side of his face where a piece of hair was matted to the stream of blood on his forehead, but he abruptly ducked out of her reach.

  Like her hand was poison.

  Like he was disgusted by the idea of her touch.

  The rejection stung as Scarlet quickly pulled her hand back.

  He shook his head. “No. No, I’m immortal, remember? I don’t need doctors.”

  “But you’re….” Scarlet eyed the blood oozing from the side of his chest. “You’re bleeding pretty bad…and you’re probably in a lot of pain—“

  “I’m fine,” he snapped.

  Scarlet raised a brow. “Fine. Bleed to death. Whatever.”

  You can die for all I care.

  The thought stole the breath from her lungs and Scarlet silently scolded herself.

  Looking out the windows, she noticed the road they were on was dark and familiar. “Where are we going?”

  “The only safe place I know.” Tristan pulled off onto a dirt road.

  “Your cabin?”

  He nodded.

  “Let me get this straight. We’re not calling the cops, and you think your isolated cabin in the middle of nowhere is the safest place to keep me? Brilliant plan.”

  “The cabin—and the land around it—are secure. And if we call the police, and explain what happened, they’ll open an investigation. We can’t have random strangers prying into your life, Scarlet. If people start looking too closely at you, they might look closely at Gabriel too. And that kind of attention will only hinder the whole curse thing. So, I’m going to hand you over to Gabriel so he can take care of you like a good little boyfriend and you’re not going to call the cops, got it?”

  “You’re a jerk,” Scarlet said, because she was feeling feisty. And a little hurt by Tristan flinching at her hand a moment ago. Her eyes started burning again.

  “That’s me. The jerk.” Tristan pulled out his phone—a phone that was not in the middle of the woods—from a pocket of his jeans and sent a text.

  As soon as they pulled into the cabin’s driveway, Gabriel rushed out of the front door and followed them into the garage.

  He came to Scarlet’s side of the car as she opened her door. “Are you okay?” Gabriel ran his hands across her head and shoulders and back as she stood from the car. “Did anyone hurt you? What the hell happened?” He paused, looking curiously at her eyes. “How do you feel?”

  Scarlet shook her head, welcoming Gabriel’s affectionate touch across her body. “I’m fine. Really, I’m fine.”

  But she wasn’t.

  Sure, she had no scars on her body and she didn’t have dried blood caked to her shirt like Tristan, but her heart was beating out of control.

  Someone had come after her tonight.

  And here she thought her biggest problem was trying to outlive a curse.

  44

  In the cabin, Tristan explained what happened to his brother.

  Gabriel’s reaction was predictable; “We need to take Scarlet somewhere to keep her safe. Maybe she could stay at one of our other places, where no one can find her—”

  “No, Gabe. We’re not taking her anywhere. What we need to do is figure out what the hell this is.” Tristan tossed the black headband onto the coffee table in the living room. “Whoever that guy was tonight, he was going to do something to Scarlet with that. We need to know what it is and what it does, so we can understand exactly what he was after tonight.”

  Gabriel picked up the black band and examined it. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  “Neither have I. But it doesn’t look like something friendly.” He looked at Scarlet, standing scared and confused in her pajamas.

  Gabriel wrapped his arm around her small shoulders and Tristan wanted to growl.

  Leaving Scarlet to be protected by Gabriel was the last thing he wanted to do.

  But when did he ever get what he wanted?

  “Okay.” Tristan pulled his eyes away from Gabriel, and looked down at his bloody shirt. “I need to take a shower.”

  “You need to see a doctor.” Scarlet’s voice was steady, which filled Tristan with confidence that she would be all right.

  Tonight had been scary, but Scarlet could handle it.

  She was tough.

  She was brave.

  Even if she didn’t remember she had it, her strength was still there, deep inside her. Which made him kinda proud.

  Tristan inhaled slowly, trying not to sound like a jackass when he said, “I don’t. Need. A doctor.”

  “But all the blood….” Scarlet’s eyes ran down his body, stirring something inside him.

  Something forbidden.

  He needed her to stop looking at him. He needed her to stop caring.

  “You’re bleeding everywhere,” Scarlet said.

  She didn’t remember how he healed, so it was only fair for him to remind her. His head gash was still bleeding so, instead, he yanked the collar of his shirt down so Scarlet could see a deep knife wound at the top of his chest, slowly closing up.

  “Gabriel and I heal. Knife wounds, bullet wounds…nothing kills us. See?”

  Well…almost nothing.

  Scarlet took a step forward and looked up at his collarbone where his open flesh was mending itself in slow motion. Her body heat laid upon him as she neared and he gritted his teeth.

  Scarlet’s eyes grew in wonder. “That’s…amazing.” Her breath feathered across the wound and nearly drove him to insanity.

  In an instant, her eyes turned electric blue, brightening as she looked at his exposed collarbone, and sending alarm through his body.

  Her eyes had been pulsing in and out of their supernatural blue color all night, flashing at Tristan and sending terror through his veins.

  “Okay.” His released his shirt collar and took a step back. “Show and tell is over. I’m going to take a shower and rinse all this blood off.”

  And, hopefully, wash away the fear, helplessness, and desire pouring from his core.

  Without looking at Scarlet, he left the room and went downstairs.

  45

  Scarlet fell into Gabriel’s embrace willingly. He smelled so good and felt so warm and strong, she didn’t want to leave his arms as they stood in the living room.

  Although she’d been safe for nearly an hour, her heart was still beating out of control.

  Gabriel kissed the top of her head several times. His voice was full of emotion when he said, “I’m so glad you’re not hurt.”

  Scarlet burrowed her face in his chest. “I don’t understand what’s going on.”

  “Neither do I.” Gabriel pulled away from her and looked into her eyes. “But I’m going to find out. I promise I will keep you safe.” He kissed her head again. “For now, let’s get you settled. We’ll figure out a plan tomorrow.”

  Gabriel took her by the hand and led her upstairs. Scarlet had yet to see any part of the cabin aside from the living room, so she took in her surroundings carefully.

  “What’s in the basement?” Scarlet eyed the set of stairs leading into darkness below them.

  “Tristan’s room.” Gabriel headed upstairs.

  Tristan lived in a dark basement.

  Of course.

  The up
stairs was set up like a house, with everything except a kitchen.

  There was a large sitting room with an unlit fireplace and two rooms off to the side. She followed Gabriel into his large and very modern-looking bedroom. His furniture was a sleek black and the walls were a muted gray. Off to the side was an archway leading into a master bathroom with black countertops, chrome fixtures, and a very large shower.

  She looked at his big bed, covered in a plush black comforter, and wished she was standing in his bedroom under different circumstances.

  Yesterday, she would have loved to crawl into bed with Gabriel and wiggle into his arms.

  Tonight, though, she just wanted to go to sleep without anyone trying to kill her.

  Scarlet sighed. Tonight sucked.

  Gabriel’s hand skimmed down her shoulder until it fell into her hand. He walked her over to the big bed.

  “You need rest. Why don’t you try to get some sleep while I figure stuff out?” He smiled sweetly at her as he repositioned the pillows and blankets, making a little nest for her.

  Scarlet looked up at him, skeptical of any peaceful sleep coming to her. “Do you think that guy was trying to kill me tonight?”

  Gabriel thought about it. “No. I honestly don’t. But since we don’t know what he was trying to do, we just have to be careful. And this,” Gabriel motioned around the room, “is the safest place in the world for you right now. Because I would never let anything happen to you.” He smiled again as she climbed into his bed and leaned back into the fluffy pillows.

  He ran his hand along her face and Scarlet kissed his nearby fingers. “I know.”

  Once Scarlet was comfortably settled, her eyes became heavy and closed of their own accord.

  She felt Gabriel kiss her cheek before she heard his soft footsteps leave the room. Even though she didn’t want to be alone, she couldn’t find the strength to speak or open her eyes. She was just…too…tired….

  Against her better judgment, Scarlet surrendered to sleep and prayed she wouldn’t find strangers with knives in her dreams.

  46

  Back in the living room, Gabriel stared at the black device for a long time. Someone had come after Scarlet. Someone knew she was alone in her house and had snuck in while she was sleeping.