Rose shifted her crimson-red gaze toward him, her brows creasing with worry. “You say that like it’s a bad thing,” she said, guilt twisting at her stomach.
“It is,” he told her, watching the swirling haze of her eyes, “for me.”
Erik stood and walked over to Rose. He held out his hand, stopping just short of pressing it against her face. “I can soothe the emotions, if you want.”
She nodded. “Please,” she sighed, a sad, depressed note in her voice.
Erik touched her face and used his empathic abilities to manipulate her emotions, soothing the guilt, sadness, confusion, and anger that she felt. Slowly, the blood-red haze in her eyes faded, her eyes changing back to their normal blue.
“Thank you,” Rose said as soon as she regained control over her power.
“Read the letter,” Erik said, dropping his hand. “It must be important.”
Rose looked down at the envelope. She ran her fingers over it, smoothing out the wrinkles, and then, she carefully tore it open. She pulled out the small piece of parchment paper and unfolded it, her brows furrowing as she scanned over the quick, sloppy handwriting scrawled across the page. “It says, ‘Get rid of your phones. You’re being tracked,” Rose read aloud. Her frown deepened as she read the next part, “‘Wait for the black car tomorrow night. I have a surprise headed your way.’”
“A surprise?” Kallias said bewilderedly. “What the hell does that mean?”
Rose glanced up at him, her eyebrows lifting. “I don’t know. Obviously,” she said in her sassiest tone. “I mean, that is kind of what the word surprise means.”
Kallias scowled at her, but his lips twitched up slightly at the edges.
Rose returned her gaze to the letter in her hands, opening her mouth to read the last part aloud as well. But then, she stopped, her breath catching in her throat, as she read those last three words. They were written hastily at the bottom, beneath the drawing of a wolf, almost as if they’d been added at the last moment.
P.S. - I miss you.
For a moment, Rose just stared at those words, rereading them over and over, looking for some reason that Kara might have written them, some reason other than the fact that she actually meant them, of course. Because she didn’t, did she? Kara moved from one woman to another every day. Why would this be any different? Technically, Rose and Kara hadn’t even done as much physically as Kara did with other women. Just a few kisses. A few intensely emotional kisses.
“What else does it say?” Kallias asked impatiently.
“Nothing,” Rose lied, her heart racing, as she refolded the piece of paper.
“So, what should we do?” Owen asked them. “Should we get rid of our phones and wait for this mysterious black car? Can we trust these instructions?”
Audrey clutched her phone to her chest. “But…I like my phone.”
Kallias shook his head. “The risks of following those instructions are worse than the risks of not following them. I mean, we don’t even know for sure that this letter really is from Kara. If we wait for that black car tomorrow night, and it turns out that this letter is actually from the Assassins of Light, we’re dead.”
“It’s from Kara,” Rose stated confidently. “I know it is.”
“No, you don’t,” Kallias argued. “You have no way of knowing that.”
“She addressed it to ‘Sexy.’ Who else would do that?” Rose asked.
“Kara isn’t the only person in the world who knows how to use the word ‘sexy,’ Rose,” Kallias said irritably. “What if the Assassins of Light heard you two talking one night? What if they want you to believe that this letter is from her?”
“There’s a simple solution, you know,” Erik said suddenly. He held out his hand toward Rose. “Let me look at the letter. I can tell you if it’s from Kara.”
Rose swallowed uneasily. “I’d rather you not look at it,” she mumbled.
Kallias narrowed his eyes at her. “What the hell are you hiding, Rose?”
“Nothing. I just…” she trailed off. She spread out her arms in defeat and placed the letter in Erik’s hands. She lifted her eyebrows at Kallias. “Happy now?”
Erik unfolded the letter and read over it. When he reached the bottom of the letter, his eyes widened in shock, and then, those wide, bright green eyes briefly flickered up toward Rose—but only for a moment. He quickly masked the emotion that had flashed across his face and returned his gaze to the letter.
Finally, he handed the letter back to Rose. “It’s definitely from Kara.”
Kallias scowled at Erik. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Well, first of all, that’s her handwriting,” Erik said. “She writes the same in every language. Plain, quick, and sloppy. And she always bears down too hard on the pen, which causes the ink to bleed into the page. And if that doesn’t convince you, there’s also the fact that her signature is at the bottom of the letter.”
Rose frowned. “But…she didn’t sign it,” she argued, confused.
“Yes, she did,” Erik told her. He tapped his finger against the parchment. “You see the wolf that she drew at the bottom of the page? That’s her signature.”
Rose ran her fingertip over the roughly-drawn wolf and smiled.
“Why draw a wolf?” Kallias asked. “Why didn’t she just sign her name?”
“Because she runs a network of spies,” Erik told him. “She rarely lets her spies know who she is. She keeps enough steps between herself and them that if they’re caught, no one knows for sure that she was the one who sent them. So, when she does communicate directly with someone, she signs with a wolf, instead of her name. She started doing it when she was human, in letters to her father.”
“But why a wolf?” Owen asked suddenly. “What does the wolf mean?”
Erik glanced at him. “It’s Fenrir the Wolf. From Norse Mythology.”
“Fenrir was the Son of Loki,” Rose said, smiling at the realization. She looked at them. “Kara said that her father used to call her the Daughter of Loki.”
“He called her the daughter of another man?” Audrey asked, frowning.
“Loki is one of the gods in Norse Mythology,” Rose explained to Audrey.
“A.K.A. – the god of Vikings,” Erik added. “Vikings, like me and Kara.”
“Loki is the trickster god. He’s the god of mischief and chaos,” Rose said, “and if you knew Kara, you’d know that mischief and chaos kind of fits her.”
Erik snorted at that. “Definitely,” he agreed. “It definitely fits her.”
Rose frowned worriedly. “If we’re being tracked, we can’t stay here.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Kallias said. “The sun will rise before we find any other shelter. We either risk burning in the sun, or risk the Assassins of Light finding us.” He frowned. “But…I could tell them to move us to different rooms.”
“Different rooms won’t help if they burn down the hotel,” Erik said.
“They wouldn’t do that,” Owen said. “That would kill humans as well.”
“Your boyfriend tried to kill you,” Kallias snarled. “How naïve are you?”
“Fighting amongst ourselves isn’t going to help anything,” Rose told them. “If we’re moving to different rooms before sunrise, we need to move now.”
Erik glanced at his phone. “She’s right. We only have four minutes left.”
“Get your things together,” Kallias said. “I’ll get someone to trade rooms with us. Erik, you get rid of the phones. We’ll pick up new ones tomorrow night.”
“Got it,” Erik said as he stepped away from the bed. He gathered up their phones—even Audrey’s, which he had to pry from her hands. “I’ll be back,” he told Rose as he followed Kallias out of the room, “after I get rid of these.”
Rose nodded, slinging the straps of four duffel bags over her shoulders.
Owen stood and took a step toward her. “Do you need help with those?”
“Nah, I’m fine,” Rose s
aid. “They’re practically weightless. Let’s just go.”
Kallias met them in the hall. “It’s done. We’re moving up three floors.”
Audrey raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. “That was quick.”
“Supernatural speed and telepathic control,” Kallias said as he led them toward the elevators. He pressed the button for them. “It doesn’t take long.”
Rose took one look at the elevator and headed toward the stairs. “I’ll take the stairs. Meet you up there,” she said, racing upstairs before Kallias could object.
“What the hell? Rose!” Kallias called, but it was too late. She was gone.
A ding echoed through the hall as the elevator doors slid open.
Erik was waiting when they stepped into the elevator. “Where’s Rose?”
Kallias rolled his eyes. “Being reckless,” he complained. “Like usual.”
—
“Kallias,” Rose said, once they were in their room, “I need to apologize.”
Kallias froze, his hands gripping the black T-shirt that he’d just taken out of his bag. “I don’t want to talk about this, Rose. Let’s just…forget it happened.”
“But you haven’t forgotten it,” Rose argued. “It’s why you’re so angry.”
He rolled his eyes. “Why do you insist on talking about everything?”
“You’re right,” she said sarcastically. “Talking about our problems is pointless. It’s so much healthier to just let the wounds fester and then lash out at each other with degrading names. You should become a relationship counselor.”
“I didn’t call you a degrading name,” Kallias muttered. “I called her one.”
Rose frowned bewilderedly. “Yeah…I’m not sure that helps your case.”
He gave her an exasperated look. “What about your relentless sarcasm?” he asked in a derisive tone. “Would a relationship counselor approve of that?”
“No, they’d probably say that I have terrible social skills,” Rose said.
Kallias crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed. He stared up at her with a tired, resigned expression. “I don’t want you to apologize, Rose.”
She sighed, “I kissed her. You have every right to be angry with me.”
“You think that’s what this is about?” he said with an incredulous laugh. “Rose, I don’t care that you kissed her. I’ve kissed thousands of women, and not a single one of them meant anything to me. Except for Phoebe. And…you.”
Her brows furrowed. “I don’t understand. If you don’t care that I kissed Kara, then why are you so angry? You’re obviously upset about something I did.”
Kallias lifted his eyebrows. “You’re not listening to me,” he accused. “I said…I’ve kissed thousands of women, and none of them meant anything to me.”
Rose nodded. “You’re angry because you think I feel something for her?”
“I don’t think. I know,” Kallias corrected. “I had a blood bond with you at the time. When you kissed her in the cemetery? I could feel your emotions.”
Rose looked away. Her heart fluttered in her chest, like a butterfly. But not like a sweet, romantic butterfly. More like a terrified butterfly, determined to burrow its way through her chest. “We almost died in that battle. Everyone gets emotional in life-or-death situations. It doesn’t mean that I have feelings for her.”
Kallias stood up so abruptly that it startled Rose. He stepped toward her, his light brown eyes flashing with anger. “Do…not…lie to me,” he growled.
She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to intimidate me, Kallias. I’m your girlfriend, not some random stranger you ran into on the street. Old habits die hard, I know, but I’m not going to let you talk to me that way,” she informed him. She waited until he took a step back to continue. “And as for whether or not I have feelings for Kara, what do you want me to say? That I do?” she sighed.
“No. I want to not have this conversation,” Kallias corrected. “But since you insist on talking about everything, then…I want you to stop lying about it.”
Rose shrugged sadly. “I don’t know what I feel for her,” she confessed. “I’m afraid to think about it. I’m afraid to admit it, if I do feel something for her.”
He nodded, accepting that answer. “Then, let’s not think about it. Let’s not talk about it. What’s the point? It’s not like you’re ever going to see her again.”
Rose flinched. He’d said it so casually, and yet, it had felt like the harshest thing she’d ever heard. The words lashed at her chest, like sharp, jagged daggers.
Thankfully, Kallias didn’t notice her reaction because, at that moment, the door that connected their hotel room to the other room suddenly opened.
Owen stopped in the doorway. His brownish-blonde hair looked ruffled from the pillow, and his eyelids drooped sleepily. “Is it okay if I sleep in here?”
Kallias gestured toward the other bed. “Go ahead,” he said absently as he grabbed his clothes and headed toward the bathroom. “I’ll be in the shower.”
“Thanks,” Owen mumbled. He closed the door behind him and shuffled toward the other bed. “I would’ve never gotten any sleep if I’d stayed in there.”
Rose frowned worriedly. “What do you mean by that?”
“Audrey and Erik,” Owen said with a meaningful look.
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh, no. They’re not,” she groaned, “are they?”
Owen collapsed on the bed. “It’s definitely headed in that direction.”
“Ugh,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
—
The next night, they checked out of the hotel with no problems, although the hotel clerk did seem a bit frazzled about something, and they headed out into the parking lot to wait on the mysterious black car that Kara had sent their way.
“I don’t like this,” Kallias muttered, glancing around the dark parking lot.
“What if this surprise turns out to be something important?” Rose asked. “I’m not leaving until the black car gets here. If something bad happens, just get everyone into the car and leave. The Assassins of Light are really only after me.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’m not leaving you here,” he growled.
Rose shrugged. “Then, I guess you’re waiting until the black car arrives.”
Kallias tilted his head back and groaned at the black, starry sky. “Falling in love is bad enough. Couldn’t it have been with a slightly less stubborn woman?”
Rose raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think the stars are going to answer you.”
The quiet, gravelly sound of a car pulling into the hotel’s parking lot drew their attention. They watched anxiously as a small, black car drove toward them.
The mysterious, black car pulled into the parking spot beside Erik’s car, and Rose took a step toward it, but Kallias caught her wrist and pulled her back.
“Just…wait,” he said nervously, watching as the passenger door opened.
A tall, muscular man with full sleeves of tattoos on both arms stepped out of the car. He dragged a tattooed hand through his shaggy, unevenly-cut, blonde hair and grabbed a small bag of clothes out of the floorboard of the car.
Rose’s mouth fell open in shock. “Zach?” she squealed, her eyes wide.
She jerked her hand out of Kallias’s grasp and ran toward the man who had just gotten out of the car. He turned toward her and scooped her up easily, as if she were a little girl, his arms wrapping tightly around her back as she looped her arms around his neck. By the time they let go of each other, the car was gone.
“What… How…” she sputtered, unable to finish a sentence. “I don’t…”
He raised an eyebrow. “Did you forget how to talk while I was gone?”
Rose narrowed her eyes at him. “What the heck are you doing here?”
He pretended to be offended. “Wow. It’s good to see you, too, Sis.”
“Well, yeah, obviously, I’m happy to see
you,” Rose sassed. “Why do you think I hugged you? But now, I need answers. You’re supposed to be in prison.”
He flashed a lazy grin at her and shrugged. “Not anymore. I’m out.”
She pinned him with a suspicious glare. “You didn’t escape, did you?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “No, Rose, I didn’t escape. I’m out on parole.”
“Oh,” Rose said, breathing out a relieved sigh. “I didn’t even realize it was time for your parole hearing. You didn’t say anything during my last visit.”
Zach smiled proudly. “I wanted to surprise you. Obviously, it worked.”
“But I could have been a character witness,” she reminded him.
He sighed irritably, “I don’t need you to do everything for me, Rose.”
“Rose?” Audrey called out nervously. “Who’s the hot, tattooed guy?”
Rose spun around to glare at Audrey, an incredulous look on her face. “Hot?” she repeated, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Please, tell me you’re joking.”
Zach watched, an amused smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Well,” he snorted, “you didn’t think all those women liked me for my brain, did you?”
“What brain?” Rose countered. She scowled at Audrey. “This is my brother, Audrey. You know, the one who’s been in prison for the last five years?”
Audrey paled. “Oops. She’s going to kill me, isn’t she?” she hissed at Owen. She looked back at Rose and yelled, “Hot? I didn’t say hot! I said…pot.”
Rose crossed her arms and lifted her eyebrows, clearly not convinced.
“Because that’s what he was arrested for,” Audrey mumbled, “right?”
Zach snorted, “Possession. But yeah.” His bright blue eyes, identical to Rose’s, shifted toward her. “Are you going to introduce me to these people?”
Rose waved her hand at her friends. “The loud-mouthed artist is Audrey, my best friend and roommate. The really nice guy who’s upset about not having his hair gel is Owen. And the idiot that thinks he’s God’s gift to women is Erik.”
The Assassins of Light Page 12
