Lovely.
Blood Doesn't Lie
The first day back at school after the Harvest Moon Dance was a bit weird. Staff and students drifted along in the regular routine, but none of us really met each other’s eyes. The official police statement had been conveniently endorsed by Chief Gervais. The phrasing reeked of vamp thrall. Even the story printed in the weekly newspaper had a certain vampy influence. Still, people seemed to swallow that the punch at the dance had been spiked with an unknown hallucinogen.
Although few remember seeing a punch bowl.
Personally, I liked the rumor that everyone had licked the back of a toad. Okay, I might have even started that one.
“It looks so empty now, don’t you think?” Brit asked, shaking me from my thoughts.
We stood in the foyer, just outside the library where the Home Economics teacher and highly dangerous witch, Mrs. Larpane, was painstakingly wrapping and placing the remaining Historical Alberta items into a wooden crate.
I snorted. “Better empty than showcasing a demon’s vessel.”
“I know, but I still feel bad about what we did to the doll. It was a piece of history. And I really liked the dress.”
I had no such qualms. When we’d awoken after destroying the night mare in the dream realm, we’d discovered Kate had sent Matt and Brit to the school to help destroy the night mare hiding inside the Victorian doll. My eyes hadn’t even been able to focus when Matt ripped off the doll’s head. But I’d been fully alert when Rodale told him decapitation of the vessel wasn’t enough.
Details like that tend to knock the sleep out of me.
Before Rodale set about awakening the rest of the kids, we burned the doll in the art room kiln.
Death by 2300 degrees.
Gertrude let out a sympathetic wail. Brit placed the chip bracelet to her plastic mouth for a feeding. “We have to return the Reality Babes today. What are you going to tell Phillips?”
“Already dealt with,” I said, smirking. “I saw him first thing this morning and told him I hadn’t taken the assignment seriously, but if he’d reset Demon Spawn, I would take her on for another week. I have to pick her up after school, before we meet the guys at Conundrum. Don’t let me forget.”
Brit gaped. “You’re going to carry DS around all this week when everyone else is done? You’ll be a social leper.”
Paige and the blonde trio strode passed, all four tipping up their noses as they went by, as if Brit and I stunk to high heaven.
I shrugged. “And that’s different how?”
Brit reached into the diaper bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out another pink baby blanket with black skulls. “Here, you’ll need this for DS. Gerty and I insist.”
“Uh…thanks. We’re not worthy.” I bowed over the blanket, accepting it with all the solemnity of a soldier’s widow accepting a folded flag or a bomb squad dude snipping the wrong wire.
The line-up for java at the Conundrum Café order counter was about twenty bodies deep. Kate was back to her abby-normal witchy self, and business was booming. Whip, looking awkward and out of place, but happy, wore a bright fuchsia apron wrapped around his waist and waved at us as best he could with an armful of coffee mugs.
Since Kate had told him everything, her age and wonky powers, he’d been making himself useful. Offering what protection he could.
My wolf approved of his gumption. I just hoped he didn’t end up getting hurt.
“They’re in the dungeon,” he told us, wagging his eyebrows, “waiting for you.”
Kate had requested the entire crew, Wade included, meet for a debriefing on the night mare situation and to formulate a plan of action on the bringing-Blake-back mission. That we were meeting in the lower level of Conundrum was intriguing. Kate was either taking our band of hunters fully under her wing or she had a spell to test.
Though I’d come to appreciate the use of magic, I also understood Alec’s reluctance to dabble. I hadn’t told anyone about the night mare’s interest in my dagger, or the feeling that it had been telling the truth. My father had killed to get it, and then he’d handed it over to me.
The daughter he feared as much as loved.
I ran one hand along the wall as we descended the steep staircase, and in the other I clutched the handle of Demon Spawn’s baby carrier. My arms ached with the constant effort of having to bring her everywhere. At least I’d be getting an upper-body workout over the next week. So far I’d been managing to keep my fears in check.
For the hour I’d had her.
Okay, maybe I never looked DS in the eyes. Didn’t make me an unfit computer-chip-baby mother.
My vision adjusted to the dim light. We entered the altar room, and my breath caught at the sight of the standing mirrors and the bevy of candles Kate had lit. She stood mixing herbs while Wade etched protective sigils into the walls with blasts of energy from the tips of his fingers.
Odd that I now considered a bit of magic comforting. Wasn’t everything good for you in moderation?
“We’re almost finished,” Kate said, when we entered. “Once Wade adds his wards, it will be impossible for Logan to break through. All the sacred items housed here will be safe once and for all.”
I glanced around. “I thought we were protecting just the mirrors?”
Kate shrugged. “The mirrors are only what you can see in this dimension. Beyond this world, they are another thing entirely.”
Brit gave a low whistle, and I agreed. The more we learned about Kate and magic and Redgrave, the more we realized we were just skimming the surface. Kate’s revelation explained why Rodale thought Kate had a weapon housed here, although now I had to wonder how much Wade knew about the sacred objects. And if he was after something himself and if he knew about my father’s private collection. Rodale had hinted she expected Wade to pay up and good.
But with what?
I sent out a tendril, seeking. But Wade detected my presence and blocked me out. I blew him a raspberry.
Kate watched us, grinning. Kate’s whole Wade-and-me- being-mates idea came to mind, and my cheeks grew warm. I made myself look busy by arranging DS’s baby carrier on the floor beside the altar. I tucked her pink blanket under her chin, avoiding meeting the doll’s wonky eye. If Kate’s theory held, I would only be able to share thoughts with pack mates or my one and only, bound-together-for-life mate. Wolven lore couldn’t be that cliché, could it? Sure, wolves mated for life in the natural world, but wolven were not wolves. We were more.
Which meant what, exactly, in terms of falling in love? That I had no choice in the matter?
I gave a low laugh. Over my dead freaking body.
Alec didn’t seem to find anything amusing at all about our current situation. He slammed a pedestal candle down into its base with more force than necessary. I’d been keeping my distance since we’d woken from the dream realm. Even though we’d gone into this thing knowing I’d have to fight the night mare alone, Alec was furious with me for pushing them all away at the last minute.
I’d only been protecting them, my friends, my pack.
What Alec saw as a personal rejection, Wade saw as strength. He’d congratulated me on the iron blade, the cage, the way I’d controlled my wolf. Granted, I hadn’t told him I was unable to shift, that I wasn’t exactly sure what I would have done to the demon if my wolf had been able to respond to my call to attack.
Until I had things figured out—about my wolf, my parents, my role in their disappearance, what Logan and Sebastian were athame—I couldn’t afford to focus on affairs of the heart.
I knew Alec wanted more. But he had his own issues to resolve. The biggie being learning how to channel his shaman talents. Maybe if he learned how to accept his own abilities, he’d understand what I was going through to control mine. If we could get that far, who knows where all that heat and angst would take us?
Kate glided across the room and crouched over DS. I rolled my eyes as she started cooing, “And who is this”—she faltered when she got
a direct look at DS’s wacky orange hair and the wacky eye— “interesting creature?” She stood and backed away.
I laughed. “Don’t worry, Demon Spawn and I know just where she stands in the looks department. I’m told it’s part of her charm.” I nudged the carrier with my foot, sending DS wobbling. “Kate, meet DS, my Reality Babe assignment. She’s supposed to teach me responsibility and other fine aspirations. Like the importance of using birth control.”
Kate raised a brow. “Things sure have changed at Redgrave High. I believe I used to see students in the café caring for uncooked eggs in the same manner.”
I had a flash of squirming bloody embryos in a metal mixing bowl. “Yeah, well, eggs are overrated.”
Brit paced in front of the mirrors. “Can we get on with this already?”
“Don’t worry, Brit,” Kate said. “Once I’ve finished with the spell, you can seek Blake out. One blast of this spell, and he’ll sleep like a”—she flashed me a grin—“Reality Babe. Then we’ll see about a transformation charm.”
“You really think you can turn him back?” Brit asked.
“Not permanently,” Kate said. “But we can give him the option to assume human form as long as he wears the charm.” She eyed Brit with a frown. “Until I understand more about how the moon is affecting him, it’s the best I can offer.”
“We’ll take it,” Matt said, putting his arm around Brit’s shoulder.
While the three of them worked out the plan, I approached Alec, conscious of Wade’s nearness. Being in the same room with them was playing with fire, stepping on eggshells, playing cat and mouse, all of the above.
“I haven’t had a chance to thank you,” I said to Alec. I kept my voice low—though, really, what was the point? Wade’s hearing was every bit as good as mine.
“For what?”
“For not giving up on me in the dream realm, for understanding that I’d never hurt you despite that horrible dream, for not freaking out when you saw me shift, and for not sending me to the paranormal dog pound.” I shrugged. “Take your pick.” “What did you expect me to do, Eryn?” Alec’s eyes darkened. “Run? That’s more your thing. Running or pushing people away.” My head snapped back as if I’d been struck. Sure, Alec was pissed that I’d tackled the night mare on my own, incapacitating him, very much his own alpha dog, in the process, but I hadn’t expected him to attack.
“I do all the running? Really, Alec? When was the last time you sought out a vision, huh? When? Not since the one about me, right?”
“Blood doesn’t lie. It shows us only the truth,” Alec said, as if he were reciting Marie-inspired rhetoric, as if that phrase alone was the answer to every motivation in the world.
“Yeah, so, what’s the big deal? You saw me kill you—in a dream.”
Brit cleared her throat. “Um, Eryn, I hate to interrupt, but I think we have a situation.”
“In a minute, Brit,” I snapped, keeping Alec pinned with my glare. “You’re running scared of your own abilities,” I said, no longer trying to keep my voice down. In fact I let it rise to the rafters. “You tell me there’s nothing to fear from my wolf, and yet you’re terrified to tap into your own power? Well, maybe it’s time you tried a bit of that sanctimonious lecturing you do so well—on yourself.”
Alec said nothing, just shook his head and eyed me with a sad twist to his lips.
An eerie giggle broke the silence between us. I frowned, rubbing away the dread creeping up my neck.
“Eryn,” Brit’s tone was insistent, panicked. “You really need to see this.”
“See what?” I spun to face her. My breath hitched. “Oh. My. God. It’s freaking alive.”
Demon Spawn grinned maniacally, bent her industrial plastic knees, and jumped atop Kate’s altar. Her stocky body bulldogged across the candlelit surface, knocking vials and ritual objects to the floor.
Kate held a hand to her mouth. “Is it supposed to do that? Eryn, get your homework off my altar. Now.”
Alec’s eyes had widened to black pools. Brit had her face buried in Matt’s shoulder. Wade’s laughter went on longer than humanly possible. He didn’t have to breathe between cackles like the rest of us.
“Wade,” I said, as I unsheathed my athame and approached DS. “I thought you said we’d destroyed the night mare’s corporeal form. Remember the Victorian doll we burned in the kiln?”
“Uh-huh, I guess we were wrong.” Wade wiped fake, laughter- induced tears from his eyes and gestured for Alec to block one end of the altar while he approached the middle, and I cornered DS from the front.
“But the doll did that zappy-zap thing when Matt ripped off its head,” I persisted, dodging a swipe from DS’s curled fingers.
He laughed. “I know, brilliantly ironic. The porcelain doll must have had a spirit trapped in it, and we set it free.”
“Fine, we sent it to the other side,” Alec said with a sigh. “How do we get rid of her?” DS stamped her foot and growled at Alec, showing rows of serrated teeth that definitely hadn’t been part of the Reality Babe film.
“Kate,” I cried out. “A little help here…” The witch wiggled her fingers.
I bent over, clutching my head. “Holy hell, that hurts,” I moaned against the nails digging into my skull.
Kate lowered her hands.
The pain receded. I shot her a glare. “I’m really sick of the mindgames around here. What was that for?”
She held up her hands in defeat. “I can’t help you in this instance. The doll’s energy is connected with yours. What I do to her, I do to you. You’ll have to destroy it yourself.”
“But how?” Four voices asked in unison.
Kate swiped a hand over her face, paling. “I don’t know, Eryn. She’s your nightmare.”
My nightmare. Yes, I’d been scared of dolls forever. Now as I watched DS stomp and stumble, she didn’t seem as scary. She was so little, and she looked like the victim of really bad computer graphics. Plus, when she spat a wad of black goop at Wade and made him freeze in place, she was rather endearing.
The gob struck Wade’s leather coat and slithered to the floor with a dull splat. “That does it. The doll dies.” He charged for DS, fangs flashing.
“No-o-o-o…” I stepped in front of him, blocking his route to DS. “I’ve got an idea.” I spun to face DS. To meet her gaze, unflinching. To accept all that she was.
Her sneer faltered. She tilted her head and met my gaze, wonky eye and all.
“It’s okay,” I said, holding out my arms. “I see you now,” I told both her and the wolf waiting under my skin. “I’m not scared anymore.”
As she launched from the altar, DS’s features shifted from fear to artificial-faced joy, and then to a hauntingly blank expression that left me hollow inside. By the time she reached my arms, she was nothing but plastic.
The smell of sulphur dissipated. The night mare had officially left the building.
Who the Hell is That?
When the dust settled and our pulses were back to normal, I insisted that burning DS wasn’t necessary. However, we did conduct several tests, splashing her with holy water, pressing my silver blade to her forehead—okay, maybe I stabbed her once in the heart. But it was only a little stabbing. We finally agreed that Demon Spawn had returned to a regular doll, and I accepted the fact that I’d still have to continue with my Reality Babe assignment.
Kate and the others set to work restoring the altar while I avoided Alec’s increasingly heated gaze. He clearly wanted to resurrect the conversation we’d let die when the night mare attacked.
“You got something to say, Alec,” I challenged. “Then say it.”
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out on a frustrated huff. “Of course I trust you. I’ve trusted you with my life. Several times.”
Alec held out his hand. “Then give me your dagger.” “Alec, wait,” Kate called from across the room.
“You either do, or you don’t,”
Alec said, his eyes black as pitch, unwavering. Intent.
If I didn’t hand over my athame, the knife I’d discovered my father may have slaughtered an entire coven to obtain, and merely one of the many objects he’d collected—that proved I didn’t trust Alec? Oy, his logic was all black and white. Still, my heart raced out of control. What was happening here? This simple request had become one of those moments where whatever is done can never be undone.
I slapped the flat of the blade on his open palm. Immediately, Alec yanked Wade to his side. “Take her hand,” Alec ordered.
Whatever he’s up to… Wade’s grip was firm, reassuring. I won’t let go.
The others pressed close. Brit gasped as Alec took my free hand and cut a shallow line into the meat of my thumb. The pain barely registered. All I could focus on was Alec’s clenched jaw, his haunted, but determined expression.
Blood oozed between my fingers and dripped onto the altar. Alec set down my dagger. He closed his eyes for a moment, concentrating. When he opened them, his pupils had contracted to fine dots. White swirls of energy misted his dark brown irises. He grabbed my hand and the three of us, united, watched the blood on the wooden altar begin to move.
“I know it’s selfish,” Alec said, “but you gave me this power, so I’m asking, tell me…who has her heart?” His voice grew thick, as if many spoke the words along with him.
My blood droplets pooled, shifting and whirling until an image appeared. A three-dimensional image with fine details and shading, like a computer-generated graphic. But made with blood. A guy’s face formed. Strong jaw, narrowed eyes, trapping me in their gaze.
Alec staggered, dropping our hands. All of us hunched over the image, squinting at it, trying to make sense of it before it began to slide back into regular drops of blood.
I swallowed back a bout of hysterical laughter, the tension in the room at ridiculous levels. Because the guy who appeared in answer to Alec’s question sported a goatee, was about eighteen years old, and, oh my God, was breathtakingly, drop-dead gorgeous.
Second Skin (Skinned) Page 21
