by Talia Vance
Blake has moved so close I can smell vanilla and mint. I close my eyes, breathing him in. It’s almost too much. I might cry. Some stand against tyranny that would be.
I open my eyes and focus on Rush. “Mr. Bruton, you have my word that I will not harm the Sons. I will protect you if I can. On my terms.”
Blake’s hand slips into mine and he gives me a light squeeze. A shock of heat flares where he touches me. My heart dances in response. Blake wasn’t about to attack me—his anger is directed at Rush.
Rush’s eyes drop to our joined hands, then he glares at Blake. “You will pay for this,” he whispers. It’s far more powerful than if he’d yelled.
Blake doesn’t move from his place beside me.
“I offer a truce.” My legs wobble, barely holding me upright.
“Why would I want peace with you? You’re no threat to us. A lowly human with an attitude not fit for breeding.”
I hold on to Blake tighter as I let the earth seep into my bones. The clinking of the glasses above the bar is the first indication, and then the earth shakes in earnest. Blake starts to laugh as the roar fills the room. Rush steps back, off balance. A blast of air pushes him the rest of the way, so that he falls back onto the floor.
The rumbling stops. “Let’s try this one more time,” I say. “I will protect the Sons from others like me, and you will ensure my safety from the Sons.”
Rush scrambles to his feet. “How dare you!”
Blake pulls at my hand, moving me away from Rush. I have no intention of running. Not this time. I hold my ground. “Perhaps you misunderstood. I offer peace, not war.”
“This is impossible.” Dr. McKay gets up off the couch. “We tested you. You have the Killian gene. You’re one of us.”
It seems even Dr. McKay needs to be reminded of basic genetics. Danu’s heirs are Killian’s heirs just as surely as the Sons themselves are. “I am an heir of Killian,” I state. “I am descended from his son Brom.”
Rush gasps. I turn to look at him just as he disappears, reappearing as a bright, powerful demigod, a large sword in his hands. The power that flows through me is a swirl of wind waiting to be unleashed. I send the wind at Rush, picking him up and throwing him against the window. A large crack forms down the center of the window as he smacks against it and slides to the floor.
Dr. McKay steps back.
“Anyone else want to play?” I look directly at Jonah, practically begging for him to take me on.
“I hate to say I told you so,” Jonah says to Rush. He looks back at me. “It’s a shame we have to kill you. We would’ve been good together.” He disappears and reappears, holding his jeweled knife, his silver eyes flashing.
Seconds later, Dr. McKay turns, then the man sitting next to him, who I assume is Levi. I am surrounded by Sons, nearly blinded by the light that surrounds them. So peace is out.
Austin would be thrilled to know he was right. They won’t let me live. My only choice is to fight. I raise my hands just as Dr. McKay leaps forward, sword drawn.
“Enough!” Blake yells, throwing himself in front of me. Dr. McKay sees him too late. He twists to the side, glancing Blake’s shoulder with the butt of his sword and knocking him down.
“Stop!” Blake shouts from the carpet. “Think about what she offers. Protection against the others. And there are others.” He glares at Rush, who’s only now pulling himself up from the floor. “You’ve seen them.”
They close their circle around us, but Blake’s distraction is exactly what I need to gain the upper hand. I can take them all out in one fiery burst. The flames build in my blood until it hurts. I shake from the fire that rages inside me.
Blake turns to face me, his eyes pleading.
Move. I pray for him to understand, even though I know he can’t feel me anymore. I can’t attack them with Blake in the way, but if I don’t strike soon, I’ll lose my only chance. My hand itches with heat. But I won’t kill Blake. Not again.
Yet another cruel irony in my twisted life. My weakness is not the killer inside me at all. It’s the girl.
Weak, weak, weak.
I shake violently now.
Blake sees my struggle. He looks at the gathered Sons. “Last chance before I let her at you.”
I grab the couch again. My legs start to give out as the power and heat build with each second. I need to let it out. Now. “Blake. Move.” My voice is a rasp.
“Hang on. They’ll come around.”
I can’t take the fire much longer. The flame burns my blood, boiling it from the inside. My ears are ringing, a blaring siren perfectly suited to the fire that consumes me.
I love you. I’m not sure if I say the words or not, but I hope he hears them. Then it’s too late for me to do anything but scream as I fall to the floor.
FORTY-three
The first thing I’m aware of is the cold. I float in the fog and mists, embracing the stark chill as it eases the raging fire inside, vanquishing the killer. A shadow drifts toward me in the clouds. And then I fall to the muddy, wet ground. A man stands over me. Not a man. A god. His blond hair is almost white, a glowing mane that frames his perfectly chiseled face. His green eyes are infused with starlight.
“Am I dead?” I ask.
I’ve been here before, in the field with the rocks that appear to grow up out of the earth. It seems unlikely that I survived the last few minutes. If the fire didn’t kill me, the Sons surely did.
His smile is wicked, in a totally good way. “Not yet.” His lilting accent is smoky, curling around me like a soft blanket. “So you’re the lass that everyone speaks of, the last of the Seventh Daughters.”
“There are others.”
He shakes his head. “Ahh, but their destiny is not yours, is it? You are the last, the one who will end the war.”
“Things aren’t going too well at the moment.”
“No one said it would be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is.”
“You think any of this is worthwhile? Fighting over something that happened a thousand years ago?”
He shrugs. “It is already done.”
“What is it, exactly, that I’m supposed to do?” It might help if I had a game plan. Or if I knew what the end was supposed to be.
“Killian!” Danu appears behind me. “Leave her be.”
He backs up a step. “I just wanted to meet the girl that everyone speaks of. She is more powerful than you let on, if she can travel here.”
Danu’s face is white. “We are not to interfere.”
Killian laughs. “It hardly matters. The curse was made a thousand years ago. The end is already written.”
“What curse?”
They look at each other, silently debating whether to tell me. Finally Danu shakes her head. “Go ahead.”
Killian’s lips curve into a self-satisfied smile. “I lived above, once. My life was dedicated to ridding the world of dark magic and vanquishing the demigods who lived among the mortals. The Milesians had already banished the Tuatha De Danaan to the underworld centuries before, but the gods were rumored to have left their half mortal spawn behind. I barely believed it until I met one for myself, a gorgeous creature with beauty and power beyond my comprehension.”
He glances at Danu. She raises her eyebrows.
“She was everything I was sworn to conquer, and I could not allow myself to fall under her spell. I fought against it, but I was only a mortal man, and no match for her wicked ways.”
“Please.” Danu shakes her head.
“Her powers were far stronger than I imagined. She could travel between the earth and the underworld. She brought me here, where the very air is magic. It is here that she bonded my soul to her own, binding me and cursing my ancestors to covet the very dark magic I fought against.”
Danu laughs.
“Such a hardship you’ve all endured. Blessed with the power of the gods. Using it to destroy my family, one generation at time. It is my family that has suffered, cursed to fall in love with men who will only destroy them. Forced to kill to stay alive.”
They glare at each other.
For a second I wonder if they’ve forgotten I’m here. “So how do I fit into all this?”
They finally look back at me.
“It ends with you,” Killian says.
“How?”
Danu steps forward. “That,” she says, “is what we’d all like to know.”
“I don’t want to die,” I say. “I don’t want to kill anyone either.”
Danu’s eyes get misty. “There is little choice.”
“You’ll do what you must.” Killian takes Danu’s hand, and for a second I see the heartbreak in her eyes.
She blinks, recovering quickly, then pulls her hand away from Killian and runs. As she runs down the hill, the purple flowers that crowned her head blow in the wind, leaving a trail of petals scattered across the grass.
Killian watches her, doing nothing to mask his desire. He still wants her, after all.
And all at once I know the truth. “You didn’t kill her.” My voice is a whisper.
Killian sighs. “Some warrior against magic I turned out to be.”
The entire war with the Sons has been based on a lie. Killian didn’t kill Danu. Someone else did. Someone else with an interest in spurring a war against the Sons, someone who was not supposed to interfere.
Austin.
FORTY-four
The carpet of the den is soft and plush. I open my eyes, but everyone’s attention is on Rush as he paces near the cracked window.
“You’re sure? She thinks she loves you enough to offer her protection to the Circle?”
“Yes, and she can help us find the others.” Blake’s words are a wine opener to the gut, the corkscrew turning tighter and tighter.
“And she won’t turn against us?” Dr. McKay asks.
“She won’t,” Blake says.
“He’s kept her a secret from us all,” Jonah whines. “We can’t trust him.”
Blake moves across the room, grabbing Jonah by the throat. “This from the traitor who would have killed me if the witch hadn’t intervened.”
The witch. The poisonous word seeps into my bloodstream, traveling with quiet speed to my heart.
Rush steps between them, pulling them apart. “She must not be allowed to come between us.”
Jonah and Blake glare at each other. Rush narrows his eyes, and they both bow their heads in submission. A tacit truce.
“She’s awake,” Micah says from behind me.
I push up on my elbows. Dr. McKay extends a hand and pulls me to my feet. “Welcome to the Circle, bandia.”
Rush moves in front of me. “We have accepted your offer of a truce.”
I smile like this is the best news I’ve heard in months. But everything feels wrong.
“Killian didn’t kill Danu,” I blurt. Everyone stares at me. It’s not the obsequious answer they were expecting, I guess. “The entire war between us has been based on a lie.”
Rush laughs. “We are the Sons of Killian, bandia. You think we don’t know that Killian is not responsible for Danu’s death? We didn’t start this war.” He steps toward me and grabs a curl of my hair. “But make no mistake about it. We will finish it.”
I’m shaking. I can’t stop it.
Blake stands beside me. “Back off.” He puts his arm around my shoulder. My body warms to his touch, but the rest of me is torn. I can’t feel his emotions anymore. I might have trusted him before he told the rest of the Sons that I would lead them to the others.
Before everything.
“Hang on,” Blake whispers. “I’ll get you out of here soon.”
I lean into him. I can’t help it. I want to believe him. More than anything.
Micah comes to my other side. “Blake won’t let them hurt you.”
But who’s going to stop Blake?
Rush narrows his eyes at Micah before looking back at me. “You have our word that we will protect you as long as you are loyal to our Circle. You will do what is required of you. Your betrayal will be your death.”
I swear the guy speaks only in platitudes. I gather my strength. “Great to know I’m completely expendable.”
Rush’s smile is more chilling than his usual glower. “Not completely.” He walks to the door and opens it. “Let’s go eat, shall we?”
The Sons file out in silence. God forbid those cucumber sandwiches go to waste. Jonah winks at me as he walks by. Micah squeezes my shoulder before he turns and follows.
Blake and I are the only ones left in the room.
I’m afraid to look at him now that we’re alone. Afraid of what I’ll see in his eyes. Of what I won’t see.
“Why didn’t you do it?” Blake’s question is not one I’m expecting. “You had us all in one room. You had the advantage. You could have ended it, Brianna.”
“I’m not a killer.” It’s not true. Still, it’s easier than admitting how I feel about him.
“I thought we were past that.” He turns to face me. Forces me to look at him. His green eyes are watching me, searching for some truth behind my lie. “Why can’t you just say it?”
Like I need that humiliation. I can’t admit my feelings for him now. It’s too late. “I should go meet the rest of the breeders.”
“Brianna … ” His voice trails off.
But I’m already halfway to the door before he can finish his sentence.
His voice is almost a whisper, but I hear him. “I love you too.”
FORTY-five
I spend an hour mingling with people I don’t know, and avoiding those that I do. Sierra and Portia spend most of the afternoon finding ways to openly shun me. Bring it on. I’ve had years of training when it comes to being invisible. I’m far more comfortable being ignored. I could almost hug them.
Blake doesn’t try to approach me again. It’s almost like old times, except I don’t look for an opportunity to put myself in his path. And I don’t harbor some secret hope that today will be the day Blake sees me.
There’s no physical ache when he talks to Portia by the wine bar. There’s no hum of pleasure when he walks by on his way to the buffet. I don’t feel the anger that I see in his eyes when I catch him looking in my direction. There’s nothing left between us but my broken heart.
She’ll lead us to the others.
The witch.
I love you too.
I leave as soon as I can get away. When I get home, Christy and Haley are waiting to take me to a belated birthday lunch at Olive Garden. We OD on breadsticks, laughing and talking about nothing more important than whether Jennifer Aniston will ever find the right guy. It’s exactly what I need.
Christy entertains us with a poem Matt wrote for her, a bizarre combination of iambic pentameter and Suessian rhyme that manages to walk the line between light romance and serial murder. Say what you will about Matt, the guy knows how to take direction.
Haley hasn’t mentioned last night, but I’m still planning to tell her the truth. About everything.
Haley twists her hair around her finger as she looks out the window. “So, did you hear about Sherri Milliken?”
Christy nods. “I heard she transferred to McHenry High because they have a better math team.”
Haley shakes her head. “I heard she ran away with the father of the kid she babysits for. He’s, like, thirty.”
I haven’t heard a word from Sherri. “The second one sounds more likely.”
“Really? That’s so gross.” Christy grabs the last breadstick. “So Matt and I are going mini-golfing tonight. You guys wa
nt to come? Maybe bring Austin and Blake?”
“No,” Haley and I both say in unison. We look at each other and laugh.
“What?”
“Austin and I kind of broke up.” Haley bites into a breadstick. “He turned out to be kind of a jerk.”
Christy shrugs. “Cute, though.” She turns to me.
“I’ve got dinner with my parents.” Thankfully, Christy doesn’t press further.
A waiter comes by with another basket of breadsticks. He’s not much older than us, and he makes a point of smiling at Haley. Haley smiles back, one of her trademark “I know you want me but you’ll have to wait” grins.
The waiter blushes and walks away. Christy elbows Haley. “Total hottie! You should invite him to come golfing with us.”
Haley shakes her head. “I don’t think I’m going to go out with anyone for a while.”
“What?” Christy’s mouth falls open.
“I think I need to figure some stuff out.” Haley’s eyes find mine, and I know she’s talking about more than just some internal soul-searching.
I nod. “Be careful what you wish for.”
“I can handle it.” Haley pops the last bit of bread into her mouth. “I’m tougher than I look.”
She doesn’t have to convince me. “So,” I say, “it’s like this … ” I start with Austin’s party, and keep going right through to the initiation into the Circle of Sons.
When I’m done, Haley speaks first. “I tried to break up with Austin that day I saw you at McMillan. He convinced me to stay. It was almost like I couldn’t say no. And then at the beach. It was crazy. Brianna saved my life.”
“And banished your boyfriend to the underworld.” Christy laughs. “I can’t believe the spell actually worked! I can’t wait to tell Delia.”
Oh no. I should’ve known Christy would think this was a good thing. “You can’t tell Delia. Or anyone. Christy, trust me, you don’t want to mess with magic. It’s scary stuff.”
But Christy is already going through the possibilities in her head. “And the love spell! Omigod, Brie! It worked, didn’t it? You and Blake, and me and Matt, and Haley and … ” She stops. Haley and Austin were not exactly a success.
