by Tara Brown
“Daniel.”
I nod again. “Daniel.”
He holds a hand out for Gwen. “I am sorry for your family’s situation.”
She pushes her lips into something of a grin, forcing herself to be polite. “Thank you.”
He closes the door and walks alongside of us. “How long have you been one of us?”
“Five hundred years.”
He whistles. “Now that's pretty impressive. Your mom must have been a very powerful witch to be able to protect you all that long.”
“I suppose.”
“It’s going to get better. It can’t get worse,” he chuckles.
I glance at Gwen, arching my eyebrows. She nods. I imagine we are both thinking he’s a fool for testing the fates that way. Shit can always get worse.
When we get out into the common room there are people everywhere. They’re eating and laughing. It’s an easygoing environment, reminding me more of a college from the future. Except all the guys have hair as long as the girls. Dear lord, why?
Em and Angie grab huge cups of blood and sit at an empty spot on the couch, looking back at Gwen and I. It’s all so surreal. They never liked each other until they both disliked me enough to lean on each other.
Daniel points at the breakfast buffet. “There’s real food or blood, Lorelei, whichever you prefer.”
I shrug. “I like them both.”
“It’s so weird you can eat both comfortably.” Gwen nudges me softly as we walk over. I plate food and grab a cup of blood, earning myself odd looks from the other people there. A tall guy with long brown hair pulled back into a shaggy ponytail, gives me a confused look. “Both?”
I sip my blood, savoring the flavor and warmth. When I get a good mouthful I shrug.
“What are you?”
I take a step back. “Raised better than to ask a stranger a question so rude as that one.” I turn and walk to the couch, gripping my plate and cup.
Daniel shakes his head. “Try making friends, girls. I’ll see you right after breakfast. We have a lot to talk about.” He walks off, greeting people on his way out.
I sit next to Em, shaking my head and eating a slice of bacon. “This is creepy.”
Em and Angie shrug. “It’s sort of amazing. They’re all like us. We aren’t hiding and struggling; we’re just normal here. And the food is free for the taking. No killing.”
It dawns on me that this is more homey than the castle where we hid or the car rides where we only traveled at night and broke into people’s houses, stealing from strangers. None of that would sit well with any of them. I’m old hat at it.
Gwen drops next to me. “These people are different. Can you smell it? That guy smells like a dog and that girl too. The kid over there has the blackest eyes I’ve ever seen.”
“Part angel.”
She nods.
Em and Angie give us both a look. “The angel thing is real?”
We both nod slowly, sipping warm blood and staring back at everyone in the room.
Lorri and Daniel have left us to get to know the people in the room. Clearly, that was a bad idea.
“I miss home,” the words sort of fall out of my lips.
Gwen sighs. “Me too.”
“Me three,” says Angie.
Em smiles at me. “I want to say me four but it would be a lie. I don't miss it. I don't miss her and the hate and the lies. I don't miss pretending to be a perfect family when everything was fake. I don't miss her using her body to make him be cruel to us.”
Angie points at Em. “She has a point. I change my vote.”
Gwen laughs. “I change mine too. I don't miss pretending that I was fine with what was going on. I couldn't be. Ever. I was ashamed of them and scared all the time.” She looks around the room. “Scared of the Roses.”
The big guy’s lips turn up like he’s laughing at our conversation from across the room. He can clearly hear us.
Excellent.
Chapter Five
“He’s as windy as a bag of farts, that one.” Angie leans in whispering in my ear.
The comment draws a grin on my lips. It reminds me of class, a time that was only months ago and now feels like years. Hundreds of them.
I was so innocent in the world.
Her sexcapades with the Italian Stallion were the biggest scandal in my world.
Sitting in the room listening to the history of the Roses is painful. It ain’t so hard to grasp, but they keep on repeating themselves like we might just be as slow as we talk.
“Lorelei, do you understand what is expected of you?” Daniel asks. His little British accent is adorable, but he’s starting to make me think he couldn't find his ass with both his hands stuck in his back pockets.
I sigh and try real hard not to snap my answer. “Y’all are angels who fell from heaven to save mankind from the bad guys at God’s request. Lorri is Lucifer, the fallen angel. She’s spicy but not nearly as evil as people portray her to be. She runs the Devil’s Roses as the law between man and immortal. The Roses are badass weapons of mass destruction who can kill anything they want, once it’s crossed the line into creatures who exploit humans for their own benefit.”
He nods. “Good.”
I glance at Gwen, she rolls her eyes and blinks hard.
“Now we are moving to the training scenarios, if you want to follow Brandon to the elevator. He’ll take you up to the scenario room.” He leaves us there with the tall guy with long hair. Brandon Green. He’s a shifter, something called fae who become wolves. It’s about the most normal thing here.
Brandon gives us a simple smile. He’s pretty friendly, for a guy who turns into a wolf.
“You all look exhausted.”
I nod but Angie sums it up perfectly. “Well, it might not be so painful if his presentation wasn't so dull. Does he do everything like he’s going around his ass to get to his elbow?”
Brandon cocks an eyebrow.
Em giggles. “It means taking the long way to do things.”
Brandon nods. “He does. Now let’s go.” He smiles at Angie. “I might use that one. I’ve already managed to use the one you said yesterday about the goat’s ass in the pepper patch.”
We all laugh. Three days of explanations and learning what all the other species are has been dull as watching paint dry but Brandon has been a nice addition. He’s sort of sexy, funny, and easy to be around. He doesn't stare or make you nervous.
He’s just a genuine nice guy. I didn't think they existed but, apparently, I was wrong.
The scenario room is not what I expected. It’s a forest inside of the building. When the elevator opens we all sort of stand there, curious but scared to get off. Brandon strolls off like it’s no big deal.
A man with black eyes, dark hair, and a smug look on his beautiful face greets us. He’s English and sort of evil, I think. “Let’s go, ladies. If you want to be the next assassins of the Roses you must move faster than that.” He winks at me. “If I catch you, you’re going to feel me.”
My body tenses and my fingers instantly spark. It's the first threat I’ve felt since we got here.
His eyes sparkle and there is something in them I can’t bear to look away from. He’s brooding and possibly hostile, and yet, all I want to do is see him smile. I have a feeling it might kill me when he does.
My insides tense when Brandon holds a hand up to him. “Dorian. Try not to let him scare you. He’s really a pussycat.”
Dorian’s eyes don't leave mine. “It’s true.” I don't believe it. I think he’s going to be the worst thing that ever happened to me, and he’s hardly spoken. He makes my guts burn the way Whit used to.
Dorian turns and points at the weirdly dense forest inside of the building. “When you get to the far side of the forest, you’re safe. Once you enter, the game is on.” He’s gone the second he’s done talking.
Brandon raises his dark eyebrows. “Good luck!”
I don't think we need luck, I think we need a miracle.
Regardless of having done it multiple times, I don't think I’m cut out for the whole ‘survival in the woods’ thing. I don't want to do it, even if my magic senses the anticipation and angst that starts building in me, making me plot my own survival. No matter how much I dread it, I’m a survivor. Now that I have the Blackwater magic, it’s worse. It’s almost like the ancients are talking to me, my sisters from the Blackwater.
Gwen’s fangs drop instantly. Em and Angie’s are dropped already, probably when they met Dorian. Mine almost dropped.
I light my fingers up, letting the buzz take over.
Brandon steps to the side. “Use whatever skills you have to defend yourself.”
I want to run. That's my best skill. But I know Angie is a terrible runner. I lean in to Gwen and whisper. “Run in circles, opposite me, around Angie and Em, protecting them.”
She nods, snarling a little. She’s clearly fought before.
We leap into the forest. She goes left and I go right. Angie and Em are running straight, so we circle them, trying to catch whatever is in here with us. A twig breaks to my right. I throw a bolt at the forest, lighting it up with flames—the kind of flames Whit was scared of.
I see a dark shape running at Em but Gwen comes out of nowhere and dives at it, rolling and taking the huge wolf down with her. She kicks him and leaps away as he flies the other way. I run, jumping over the logs like they’re hurdles. Something whizzes past me, making a sound. I shoot bolts of freezing like I did to Rydal but nothing is getting stopped.
Suddenly I see it, a scream leaves my lips but it has me on the ground. It’s a vampire. He moves so much faster than I do. He must be incredibly old. His fangs lower onto me, biting down on my throat as I blast him with electricity bolts. When he tenses away from my throat, Angie is there. She flings him into a tree. We continue to run but he’s back within seconds. His hands scrape at my arms and back. Just as I feel him make contact with my skin, I shoot ice bolts from my pores like a porcupine defending itself.
He screams and I pick up the pace. Em is still running freely, looking back as we weave through the bushes. I see a cabin at the far end of the forest. Brandon is there with his simple smile.
I hear Gwen go down and then Angie, both with a grunt and moan. A black thing appears like a fog around Em and then she’s gone with the same groan.
I push my legs, running like I’m fleeing those vampires and Whit.
The black fog settles around me. I see it’s actually the dark-haired angel, Dorian. He smiles, reaching for me, but when his hands touch my skin he screams in pain, not me. He’s no longer a fog, just a man on the ground. I leap over him, wondering what the hell I just did to him. I leap one last log, stopping in front of Brandon and huffing my air like I ain’t getting any.
He shakes his head. “I don't even want to know what that was.”
Suddenly Dorian is there, standing in front of me. He lifts my face, looking into my eyes. “She’s not what she seems.”
“You sir, are a sore looser.” I step back, defiant. “And I never did say I was anything.”
He steps in close again, pressing his chest against my heaving one. He leans in, taking a long draw of air—my air. He places his hands on either side of me and smiles. “This is going to sting, just a little.” He presses his lips against mine, kissing me with slow fervor. His tongue caresses mine as his hands dig in, gripping me to him. I can’t breathe without taking inhales of him. He smells and tastes exotic, like thick, sugary sin. There is a taste and smell that make me think I might never get enough of him.
My hands are in his hair and I don't know my name. At first it’s bliss and passion, but then somewhere in there he changes the kiss to something I can’t give. He sucks my soul from my lips, trying to squeeze every drop of my insides out my mouth. But I have no soul so it’s a hollow wind blowing from inside of me, burning the whole way out. I’m screaming into his mouth as he inhales me.
When he stops, I lose everything. My balance, my strength, my sense, and lastly, my sight.
Everything is black and in that world of pain and loss I see a light—one single light shining in the dark.
It’s the witch from the tunnel, the girl, Sara, Gwen’s sister. She walks to me in her creepy, twitchy sort of way. When she gets close she shakes her head. “I’m so sorry, Lorelei. I wish things were different for you.”
She leans in real close, like she’s going to tell me a secret here in the dark place we are. Instead, when her lips part, she screams blue murder.
My eyes burst open.
Dorian is still there, standing over me, offering his hand.
I slap a hand down on the forest floor and push myself up, not wanting him to ever touch me again. My legs buckle and he touches me anyway, gripping me to him as he scoops me into his arms.
He does his magical travel thingy that makes me sick.
It’s the worst five minutes of my life.
Chapter Six
I wake up in my bed alone. Em and Angie aren’t there. Gwen is on her bed, passed out. I close my eyes again, trying to decipher what I remember from the last day. I have nothing. I remember Dorian kissing me and the pain. I remember Sara screaming at me. Beyond that, I have nothing. I don’t remember getting ready for bed. I don't remember anything.
I sigh and get up, staggering out to the hall. I knock on Angie and Em’s door but they don't answer. So I head out into the common room. Heads turn and lips close as I enter.
What the heck?
I try to ignore them and my pounding head as I stumble to the blood to get a huge cup of it.
My insides are on fire, like my face. I don't even understand why they’re all so quiet.
Em and Angie wave at me from a couch so I join them. When I sit down a girl gets up and moves from the couch across from us.
I look down at my cup, embarrassed and confused. It feels like eating in front of Momma.
Lorri comes stomping into the room. She points at me and then to the hall where she walks. Apparently, I am being summoned.
I look at Angie and Em. They both look a little different and the silence in the room full of people is aggravating. I look at them all, wondering what in the hell I ever did to any of them. A girl’s face lowers as her cheeks turn bright red.
God, it must be bad.
I stalk out to the hallway, scared and starving. The blood isn’t going down, thanks to the awkwardness of the common room. My throat feels like it has a huge lump in it.
Lorri is leaning against a wall with her arms folded. She looks spicy. “What do you remember?”
I shake my head. “About what?”
“Dorian sucking your soul.”
I look down. “He’s a good kisser.”
“And?”
“I don't remember anything.” I shake my head again.
“You don't remember what you saw when you were out?”
“Just Gwen’s little sister telling me she was sorry and screaming at me.”
She looks annoyed with me. I don't like the look on her face. Finally, she speaks softly, “You aren’t just a witch and a vampire.”
“I’m guessing you aren’t going to say teenaged girl?”
She smiles. “I sort of almost like you, Lorelei.”
I don't know how to take that.
“You’re fae. Your father is not your father. I’m not even sure your mother is your mother. You’re dangerous. We should put you down. Some people don't think you can handle the stress and pressure and power you have.” She sighs and nods. “Dorian wants you put down. Marcus wants you to live with him.” I part my lips to interrupt her but she holds a hand up. “I think we are going to put you in charge of the Roses in England though. I think that's what’s best.”
I’m even more confused.
She grins wide, like she is just trying to test the fates with me. “You are more powerful than anything I’ve seen in a long time. I don't want to chance anyone else swaying you to join their team.”
She laughs. “Yes. The good guys and the bad guys. We’re good. If you want to stay alive, you will be my right hand. If you don't think you can do it, I can let Marcus have you. That's not a hard one for me.”
I contemplate Marcus for several seconds before I shake my head. “I don't want to live with Marcus.”
She nods. “Good choice.”
“Can you just tell me what I am?”
“Complicated.” She shakes her head. “One of your parents might have been born of the fallen, but one of them is definitely full fae. You have all the characteristics of fae. Beauty. Speed. Grace. Control. Natural magic and the ability to just know how to use it without formal training. Control over the elements, to the point they become part of you. You can see the dead and communicate with them easily. You taste like fae.”
I wince. “What does that mean in the long run?”
“You’re the combination of too much power. Claiming your magic is one thing. Taking the Blackwater magic is another. Adding that to the other things you are makes you fairly unstoppable. But then you’re a halfling vampire as well. It’s mind-boggling actually.” Her eyes gleam with pride. “And that is why I want you to work for me. You will be unstoppable and you will clean up the harshest section of the world. The creatures are old and the evil runs deep. You and Gwen are being sent to England and then on to Romania. You will meet with the other Roses there in England.”
“What about Em and Angie?”
“They’re staying here. They need more training. They’re very new to all of this. And I figured it might make you feel more comfortable knowing they’re safe. You can focus better and help Gwen get her revenge.”
The whole thing makes me feel like I might just need to curl up in a ball to process it all. But I don't. I give her a confused look and shrug. “Better to be one of you than you hunting my ass like it’s open season.”
She smiles wide again. “I think I do like you.” She points at the clock on the wall behind me. “We leave in an hour. Say your goodbyes and get Gwen.” She winks at me and she’s gone, leaving me with a pit in my stomach and a cool breeze tossing about my hair.
