“Ellie, I’m not shittin’ ya. Poof now or else this will all go wonky,” Uza said. “You can’t save him from this. You need to save yourself. You’re too weak to take him with you. Honey bear, you may not have enough juice to make it there yourself. If you die, so do millions. They are more valuable than the one. Do it now.”
Millions could die because of me.
“Elena…” Nik cupped her face in his hands. “What’s going on?”
A helicopter thrummed close enough to make the dishes in the cabinet rattle.
“Shit,” he said. “I can’t get us out in time. The spell takes too long. You’ve gotta get us out of here.”
“I’m so sorry, Nik.” She took several steps back from him, breaking their contact. She could barely see through her tears. “So very sorry. Please forgive me.”
Hoping she had enough energy to make it to the designated meeting place, she envisioned it. Before her body totally broke apart to teleport, two huge Slayers in combat gear broke through the door of her kitchen. Nik was so distracted that one was able to kick the sword from his hand. The other grabbed Nik by the hair and held a knife to his throat while the first reached for what remained of Elena, only to get a handful of empty air.
“Where did she go?” she heard the man demand as if in an echo chamber. “Tell us or you will die here and now.”
“I have no idea where she went,” Nik’s voice answered from far, far away. “Hopefully, she’s gone straight to hell.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
It took forever for Elena’s body to reconfigure. For a while, she thought she’d be stuck in a noncorporeal, molecular limbo forever, which honestly, might have been preferable to the pain that crushed her heart when her body solidified at last.
I don’t wish to be seen. Taking a shaky breath, she wondered why Uza would pick this place to meet up. The sound of children’s laughter and the calliope music from rides echoed in her head, mixing with the memories of the last time she had been here. Fortunately, the human Veil appeared to be working; no one around seemed to notice her standing in the middle of an aisle on the carousel with tears running down her face.
She slumped down onto a bench seat flanked by fiberglass swans and clutched her aching chest. Nik’s voice in her head overrode the cacophony of amusement park. “I’ve fallen in love with you.” She took a gulp of air as his last words he’d told his captors bounced through her brain. “Hopefully she’s gone straight to hell.” He thought she’d betrayed him. He believed she’d turned him over to his enemies.
And she had.
The relentless twirling of the carousel, mixed with the carnival music and pulsing lights, made her feel like she was caught up in a whirlpool. If only she could truly drown, rather than be suffocated by her own sorrow and regret. A sob racked her body, and she curled up on a ball on her side on the carousel bench. She willed the images of Nik to return, but none did.
She had nothing now. When her parents had died, she thought she’d suffered the greatest loss possible. Now she knew that wasn’t true. This was as bad. Worse in some ways. It was like losing part of herself that could never be retrieved. “Nik,” she choked out between sobs. “I’m so sorry.”
She didn’t know how long she’d been on the carousel. It had stopped and started with new riders many times when a loud pop came from somewhere nearby. “Well, howdy-doody, Ellie baby. Glad you had enough juice to not get lost in space.”
She sat up and scraped the hair out of her face. Another pop sounded, and Aunt Uza appeared on the carousel swan bench facing her. She rubbed her eyes and did a double take. Uza’s hair was so big that it looked like it had been teased all the way to the ends, and she wore a mu-mu covered in cats. No way was this woman the uber hot sorceress Aleksandra described.
“Peppermint Park,” her aunt said, smoothing the front of her dress. “You used to love this place. Your daddy brought you here all the time.”
Yeah, great. Just when Elena thought she couldn’t hurt more.
“You know why, now, don’cha?”
What on earth was she babbling about? Elena shook her head.
“The sun! Vamp-daddy could stand rays, but didn’t like it. Most vamps become crispy-critters with prolonged exposure to the sun, you know. Those movies get some things right.” She gestured wildly with her arms. “Just look at this place. An indoor amusement park. Isn’t it the cat’s meow?”
The ride stopped and Elena’s stomach lurched. She sprang to her feet and jumped off the carousel. No. It was not “the cat’s meow.” It was horrible. Nik was somewhere being tortured while she was in an amusement park with a sorceress wearing a cat mu-mu, speaking in ghastly colloquialisms. It was screwed up beyond belief, and she had to do something about it. Tears stung her eyes as she stormed for the front door.
Pop!
She slammed right into Uza, who appeared out of nowhere. They glared at each other for a moment, and then she heard it.
“Oh my God. Is that your outfit meowing?”
Uza grinned and stroked all the way from her neck to her thighs. “Mmm hmm. Couldn’t just leave ’em.” She winked and whispered, “I like my kitties. Girl’s gotta get some tail, right?”
Shit. Her mu-mu was purring. “Stop it,” she shouted. “This isn’t a joke.”
“Oh, so are you ready to get serious now?” Uza put her hands on her ample hips. “Done screwing the hottie and ready to save the world, are ya?”
“I wish I could screw him! I can’t very well do that while they’re torturing him, now can I?” And at that, she totally broke down. “He thinks I set him up.”
Aunt Uza put her arm around her shoulders and led her to the snack bar. “Now, just set yourself down. You want a blue Slurpee? You used to love those things.”
“No!” Elena plopped down on the wooden bench of the picnic table. Her chest ached so bad that she was sure her ribs were disintegrating. Again, she searched her mind for a vision of him, but came up blank.
“How do you know they are torturing him?” Uza asked.
“I saw it. I had a vision or dream or something.”
“When?”
“Right before the Slayers came.”
She tilted her head and studied Elena. “Were you doin’ the hanky panky?”
“What? No!”
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. There had to be a catalyst. What were you doing right before you had the vision?”
“Well, I… It’s none of your business.”
The entire building froze. The rides stopped, kids froze mid-giggle, and all around them, time had seemed to stop. Uza put her face within inches of Elena’s, and her eyes flickered between black and the faded blue that was customary. “Now you listen to me, Elena Arcos. Without me, you would not have a fortune, a future, or even the shitty existence you’ve experienced so far. Every breath you take is my business, and if you get defiant with me, life’s gonna suck so bad you’ll wish you had kicked the bucket in that convenience store.”
“I already do! I’ve lost him, don’t you see?” She felt like the little girl she’d been the last time she was here.
“Watching millions of humans and immortals die will make losing your lover look like a trip to the amusement park. Joke intended.” She nodded her head, and the world spun back into motion. Kids giggled from rides while their mothers continued to brag and gossip at the tables around them.
“You can stop time?”
“No. I can speed us up so fast it seems that way. It takes a lot of energy, though. Were you impressed?”
“Uh, yeah…”
“Good.” She pulled a wad of cash out of her pocket and shoved it into Elena’s hand. “Try to stay in the human realm. It uses less energy for you. Only use the Veil when necessary. You are part of both realms, but your natural place is above the Veil. Now get yourself together so you can save the world…and that hottie of yours. He’s too yummy to waste if you ask me.”
She took a deep, ragged breath and studied the cash. “What
is this for?”
“You’ll figure it out. Now, answer me straight. What were you doing right before you had the visions?”
“I bit him.”
Uza grinned. “Like father, like daughter.” She winked. “Body fluids are the most common catalyst for seers.” A loud purring emanated from her dress.
Elena covered her ears. “Ugh. Just stop.”
“What did you see?”
“He was chained to a stone wall. He was bleeding and hurt.”
“But alive.”
Elena shuddered.
Uza shook her by the shoulders. “But he was alive, right?”
She nodded.
“Well, then. You need to get it together quick-like, because I didn’t see him dead, either, and I would have if it were a done deal.” She gave Elena another shake. “You are made for this. It’s what you do.”
“What do I do? What am I?”
Uza grinned. “You hunt baddies. You snuff ’em. You’re a Dhampir.”
“What is that?”
“Half vampire, half human—or in your case, half almost human. You’re a mix.”
“Wait. My mom was human.”
“Sort of. Her great-great-grandmother had a little tooky with an immortal. It’s why your mom could get knocked up by a vamp—they’re the least compatible with humans, you know.”
“What kind of immortal did my great-great-grandmother…?”
Uza looked away and patted her hair. “That’s irrelevant.”
She was hiding something. “No, it’s not. I’ve been taken prisoner, starved, frozen, and I’m not going to be lied to anymore. Tell me.”
“You’ve been starved, frozen, and taken prisoner, but you’ve also been whoopied until you couldn’t see straight by a scorchin’ hottie, lucky girl, and you’re immortal, too. You can thank me anytime now.” She patted her hairdo again and smiled.
How on earth was she supposed to respond to that? She shoved the cash in her front pocket, crossed her arms over her chest, and clamped her jaw shut.
Uza shook her head. “You have all the pieces. Figure it out. I’m under a spell, missy, and I’m not going to be stuck lookin’ and talkin’ like this because I flap my yapper.” She smoothed some hair behind Elena’s ear. “Not even for you, Ellie Baby.”
Elena’s emotions were a tangled mess stuck in her throat. “Help me. I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know what I am.”
“You’re the best kind of immortal in the whole shebang. Dhampirs look and act like humans, but they can see beneath the Veil without being under it. In the good old days, every village wanted one because they weren’t dangerous to humans and could spot and kill vamps.”
“I’d never seen freaky stuff before I met…” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “Until recently.”
“Yeah, that. Well, you had to kick the bucket first. That’s the vamp side of you.”
“So, you knew this was going to happen.”
“Yep.”
Elena digested this for a while. What if it wasn’t fate, but instead, the machinations of a crazy old witch. “So, did you manipulate things? Did you send him to me?”
“No. Fate did that. I saw it coming, though. And coming, and coming, and coming…”
“Ugh. Shut up!”
Uza laughed, and her mu-mu purred.
“But you did this to me.” She pulled her neckline of her shirt down to expose the top of the strange markings on her chest.
“It was part of a spell. Yes. As were the hottie’s markings.”
“So, he was only with me because of a spell.”
“No. He was marked because of a vision. Because of his destiny. He was yours before I ever became involved or before you were born.”
“I don’t believe in destiny and fate.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Then we are all screwed ten ways from Sunday because it’s your destiny to save us. And I suggest you stop jawing and get moving.”
“What do I do?”
“You use that analytical brain for more than feeling sorry for yourself and figure out where your hottie is and how to save his finely formed fanny. Start there. You should be recharged by now.”
And without so much as a good-bye, Aunt Uza vanished with a loud pop.
Elena stared out over the tiny amusement park, and for a moment, she could almost hear her father’s laughter. She had to succeed. For her dad, for Nik, for herself. A fleeting burning sensation flitted across her ribs and abdomen, then subsided.
A little boy squealed and ran by her, clutching a huge puff of cotton candy. Hell, she had to succeed for everyone. And just to think, only a short few weeks ago, her biggest concern was paying her electric bill.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The cab smelled like sweat and cheese, but Elena wasn’t going to waste precious energy teleporting unless she had to. She’d gotten around the old-fashioned way for twenty-six years, and money wasn’t an issue. Uza had handed her plenty of cash to live on for a long time.
“Should I wait for you again this time?” the driver asked, pulling up in front of the sporting goods store.
“Yeah, I’ll only be a few minutes.”
She dashed into the store and ripped warm-up pants, a running shirt, and fleece from the racks. Then, she grabbed a pair of running shoes and a ski jacket with a hood. A backpack, a huge box of protein bars, and a pair of fleece-lined Gore-Tex boots, and she was set. She wasn’t going to freeze or starve this time, she told herself at checkout.
“Okay, now to the airport, please.”
“Terminal?”
“International flights,” she answered.
Then her stomach flipped. Well, crap. She hadn’t thought this all the way through. She didn’t want to teleport to the Slayer fortress in the Carpathian Mountains because it would use a ton of her energy, but she didn’t have a passport or even her driver’s license. She could call Stefan! She still had his phone in her pocket… No. That wouldn’t work, either. He was right in the middle of some crisis himself, and besides, she was a bit leery of him since the cat guy said Time Folders were Uza’s enemies.
How could she get on that plane? And then she grinned. She grinned so wide it almost hurt. She would cloak herself under the Veil to get through security and then onto the plane. Surely that wouldn’t use that much energy. Certainly not as much as teleporting thousands of miles.
After sliding off her flats and replacing them with the new running shoes, she stuffed the protein bars and warm clothes into the backpack. She also zipped the phone and most of the cash into an inner pocket. The remainder of the cash was divided between her pants pocket and the pocket in the lining of her coat along with a couple of protein bars. She had no idea what she was getting into, but she wasn’t going to be unprepared this time.
She stepped out of the cab, certain that Nik was alive. She just knew it, and if all went well, she’d have him free soon. And when she did, she was going to tell him how she felt. He’d said he had fallen in love with her. No matter how mad he was right now, once he found out she hadn’t really betrayed him, he’d come back around… She hoped.
First, though, she needed to navigate the huge, intimidating airport. She scanned the boards and found a flight landing in Bucharest. Even with a direct flight, she’d be stuck on the plane for thirteen hours—a waste of precious time, but at least she’d be fully charged when she landed. The thought of Nik being tortured, like in her visions, made her want to teleport, but she knew she had to play it smart. She hadn’t seen him dead, and she had to hold out hope that she was truly seeing his future, horrible though it was. He was immortal and would heal.
Before she approached the security gate, she ducked behind a support beam and wished herself to not be seen. The same buzzing she’d experienced when she cloaked herself in New York hummed through her bones. This time, she was certain it had worked, but out of an abundance of caution, she stepped out from behind the column and cleared her throat as a man with a briefcase and wearing
a suit walked by. He didn’t even look her way. Just to be sure, and because she was buzzed with adrenaline, she lifted her shirt like a spring breaker at Mardi Gras. As expected, the man kept on striding toward the security line. Not that he’d have gotten a real shock; she had on a sports bra, but there was no doubt in her mind now that she was invisible to humans.
“Very nice,” a familiar voice said from behind her. She lowered her shirt, forcing her fingers to unclench from the hem.
“Going somewhere, yes?”
Shit. “Hey, Stefan.” She pivoted to face him, every hair on end.
His gaze shot over her shoulder and then back to her face. She fought the urge to turn around. “Where is Aliana?”
“She is in Greece. She…” He took a shuddering breath, and his brow furrowed. “She is with the others of my kind.”
Nik had said there were two others on the planet. That they could not be parted from their mates. “Why?”
“To save us—me. It is complicated. But none of it will matter if you fail. I have come to be sure that doesn’t happen.” When she didn’t respond, his eyes narrowed. “Please remove the human Veil. I live in the human plane, and though I can see under the Veil, I can’t cloak myself. Right now, it looks as though I am speaking to the air.” She didn’t respond or comply. “Please. I am here to help you.”
She didn’t budge.
“You have lost trust in me.” He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. “I have no intention of hurting you. I do not play games and am unable to lie effectively. Conserve your energy. Step behind the column again and lift the Veil.”
He was right about using up energy. She might need it to defend herself sooner than she thought. She stepped behind the column so no human could see her remove the Veil and did as he asked. “How did you find me?”
“You carry my phone, yes?”
“Yeah, but you said it was untraceable.”
“By others. Not by me.” His expression was smug and unnerving.
She backed up a couple of steps. If she screamed, one of the security guards would surely respond.
He put his hands up as if he were calming a frightened animal. “I have an interest in your success, Elena Arcos. My own existence depends on it.”
Love Me to Death (Underveil) Page 22
