Then we were suddenly back in the kitchen again when Von yanked himself away from me with a choked shout of distress. He rubbed his chest as if something had slashed him there, looking up at me in shock. “What did you do? What was that?” He shook his head, clearing away the vision as best he could.
I touched my lips, feeling a current buzzing through them, as if I was electric.
As if we were electric.
Von dropped to his knees and bent over on all fours, breathing like a beast in pain through his gritted teeth. “Something’s happening!” he eked out, reaching for my hand to squeeze it so he could get through whatever was happening to him.
I was barely myself, but tried to be in the kitchen with Von, instead of in the sheets with Mr. Von Brady. I lowered myself next to him and held his hand while his body tensed and released, tensed and released. Sweat started beading on his forehead until finally he let loose one last grunt of relief, signifying that finally whatever tore at his innards had passed. His head lolled, drooping to press his forehead to the floor, exhausted and befuddled. “Sorry. I don’t know what that was. Did you feel something shredding at your insides just now?”
“No, but I’m not kissing an Omen. Maybe something knocked loose. I don’t know! Are you alright? My kiss hurt you? Like, my love actually hurt your body?”
Von shook his head. “I don’t understand it. I feel different. Something’s different. Was it like that with… Never mind.” He sat back on his heels, steadying his breath. When I moved in to wrap my arms around him, he shook his head. Still mildly breathless, he tried to sit up straighter and hold onto some measure of bravado. “Nothing happened. Just a kiss, right? We’re friends who sometimes kiss. That’s not a big deal.” He patted his pocket. “I need a cigar. And some air. I don’t know what just happened. But nothing happened, yeah?” Von let out a nervous laugh. “I mean, something, of course, but it was nothing.” He cast me a troubled look as he stood, extending his hand to help me up. “Right?”
I rubbed my forehead, not sure what to make of any of it. I felt like I’d undergone some sort of rite of passage, a physical change, though it couldn’t have been. I was still fully clothed in my pajamas. “I can’t really even see straight yet, so conversation and me? Not so much.”
Mason meandered into the kitchen, sifting through the fridge for anything he could eat. “You guys coming in to watch the movie?”
“I said I need a cigar! Jeez!” Von shouted out of nowhere. Then he looked at us both like we’d accused him of something. “I didn’t see anything!” Then he ran – actually ran out the front door, started up the car and peeled out.
“Did I walk in on something? Are you two fighting still?”
I sank into the chair at the table and gazed up at Mason, my vision still cloudy around the edges. “Huh? I said I didn’t see anything! Like he’s the only one allowed to not see something? Man!”
Mason’s nose crinkled. “What did I ask?”
Danny came into the kitchen, making me wish for the good old days when I lived alone. “Are there any beers leftover from last night?”
“I don’t know!” My volume was beyond my control. “Would everyone stop giving me the third degree? Give a girl a minute to think!”
Danny raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s getting a little moody in here. Should I open a window to air out the crazy?”
“A window? Yeah. Okay.”
Danny and Mason exchanged curious looks before Danny knelt down in front of me. “Look at me, kid. Let me see your eyes.”
“I’m fine. Yeah. Maybe the window. It’s getting hot in here.”
Danny felt my forehead as he checked my pupils. He looked up at Mason with a stern expression. “I thought I told you that you weren’t allowed to kiss her for a while. Then you go and pull something like this when I’m in the next room?”
“Calm down, Danny.”
“Calm down? What’d you expect? You messed her up the first time. You really think you’re so past it now that it’s okay? We’ve got a job to do, Mason. Mess around after the mission. After the stone’s in place you can think about it again.”
Mason held up his hands. “I wasn’t the one kissing her.”
Danny whipped his head to me like a caricature. “October Grace, don’t tell me. Don’t say it. Don’t tell me you kissed him. You’re one of the few people I actually respect. Don’t make me lose it.” He stared me down until the thing I wouldn’t admit to became undeniable in my eyes. Danny stood and swore with too much vigor. “Daft girl! What were you thinking? You know he’s a waste! You know he’s beneath you! You’re a hard worker. You’re smart! Tell me you didn’t see a vision.”
I looked up at him, scared and so very, very lost. “I didn’t see anything!”
Danny swore again, seeing through my lie. “This is exactly how the smart girls go down.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and squinched his eyes shut, taking in a deep breath. “Where is he?”
“He didn’t see anything either. Neither of us saw anything, Danny. It was nothing. He told me it meant nothing. Just a little nothing we don’t need a conversation about.”
Von’s words bashed me over the head with their utter dismissal. The best kiss of my life meant nothing to Von.
40
Busting Bev Out
Night fell, and for all the blow it off excuses I made for Von to the others about why he wasn’t home yet, deep down I was nervous. It had been the most intense kiss of my life, and the guy was nowhere to be found. Mason changed into pajamas and made himself at home in my bedroom, making it clear I would have to face the room again.
I took my time changing into my pajamas in the bathroom, and found myself checking out the front window more often then I should’ve if I wanted to keep up appearances that I wasn’t worried.
“He’s not home yet,” Danny stated, his arms crossed in disapproval at my obvious pining.
“I know.”
His shoulders deflated. “But he should be. I called him an hour ago, but nothing. He might think he can avoid you, but everyone should know they can’t avoid me. He’s probably at the pub in town, the pisser. I’ll go see if I can’t wrangle him up and bring him home.”
“No. If he wants to stay out, he can stay out. No big deal. He’s an adult. I just thought he would’ve called by now. I’m starting to worry.”
Ezra had left after the third Evil Dead movie. I didn’t want to bother him with something stupid, but it didn’t sit right that Von was still gone. “I’ll be back in twenty.” Danny grabbed Ollie’s keys off the hook, calling over his shoulder to Ollie that he was borrowing the car.
“Hey, Danny?”
“What’s up, kid?”
I met his eyes as he stood with his hand on the knob, ready to go out into the night to bring Von home. “Thanks for not listening to me.”
“Anytime, sis.” His flicker of a smile wasn’t lost, but any remnants faded when he opened the front door and found a note stuck to it with silver duct tape. He swore, his body tensed all of a sudden as if readying to spring into action. He slammed the door shut and locked it, backing up with his eyebrows raised in alarm. “Get away from the windows! Everyone pack a bag! Wake up, Mariang! Hurry!” He shoved the note to my chest and ran to Mariang, who’d been given Ollie’s bed for the night so she could share it with Danny.
I read the words on the note, but scarcely comprehended them. “What is this? Is this some sort of a joke?”
“Does it look like I’m joking? Stay right here in the living room. Mason! Pack October a bag now!”
Ollie snatched the note out of my hand and read aloud as my brain began to fog over. “Bring Lumipad the stone, or your half-vamp dies. We’ve lost too many to wait. You have three days until we unleash the Ekeks Topside to feed.” My brother looked up at me, his eyebrows tenting in the middle. “What is this?”
“The Ekeks. There must’ve been more of them than the ones we killed at the mall.” I ran into my bedroom, not caring about the s
tain or that Mason was in the room as I ripped off my pajamas and pulled on jeans and a t-shirt. Mason was dressed and packed in seconds, shoving things in my backpack he guessed I might need. An endless stream of planning and fear ran through me as I whipped around my room, and then grabbed what I needed from the kitchen.
“Let’s go!” Danny barked, clapping his hands at the side door for us to all get moving.
“I’m driving,” Ollie ruled, snatching his keys from Danny and grabbing Mariang’s bag up off the floor. We ran to the car, piling in at random as Ollie and Danny shoved our things into his trunk. Ollie peeled out of the driveway, letting the stars see exactly where we were going. “Explain,” Ollie demanded after phone calls from Danny to Ezra didn’t shed any more light on the subject.
Danny leaned forward in the passenger’s seat. “The Ekeks and Manas are from Lumipad. They’re not supposed to be Topside. They’re cannibals who live off meat and buhay shoots. Usually the meat of animals, but as those get scarcer because of the draught and famine in Lumipad, they occasionally feed on travelers. Only royalty’s powerful enough to port Topside, but somehow a few of the lessers found a way here. The three Ekeks we killed at the mall? I thought that was it. I mean, Ezra called a meeting with Sylvia to warn her to get her people in line. I’m guessing that was a wasted effort. I don’t know why I just assumed those three were the only Ekeks Topside, but Von’s a prize piece for them. He’s only half-vamp, so he’ll taste amazing to them, but he’s still got his soul, so he’ll feel it all. He’ll put up a good fight, and the more twisted ones love that sort of thing. I’m guessing since there’s a ransom note, we’re dealing with the more twisted ones.”
“Hurry, Ollie! Go faster!” I cried. I was sitting in the back with Mariang. Mason was wedged between us, holding both our hands so he could pull a trickle of the stress away. “This is all my fault! I didn’t chase after him. I thought he needed some space, but he was kidnapped! Hurry, Ollie!”
“I’m going, hun. Hold on. We’ll find him.”
Danny shook his head. “The only thing we’re going to find is the sagrado stone. We’re taking that sucker to Lumipad and chucking it in their well. That’s the only way we’ll get Von back. I know the Ekeks. I know the Manas. They don’t pull punches. If they say this is what has to happen, then our best bet is to get that stone moving.” Danny was sweating, rubbing his palms on his jeans as his eyes scanned the road for signs of Von’s struggle.
Ollie was resolute. “I’m coming with you this time. Not out of my sight, October.”
“No. Not even a question, Ollie. I mean it. Terraway’s no picnic. It’s dangerous. And Lumipad? We’re walking into a land full of cannibals, parading around in our meat suits. You get to be home base. Make sure Von has a place to come back to.”
Mason gripped my hand. “They chose Von to get to you. You’re the one they want to control. That means me and probably Ollie are also targets, since we’re close to you. There really isn’t a safe place for Ollie.” Mason cast me an apologetic look. “That means he’s safest with us or in the mansion.”
“In the mansion,” I ruled.
Danny let out a string of swear words before he spoke coherently. “Ollie, we’re busting your mum out of the facility before we go to Ezra’s. Mason’s right. They snatched Von because they know he’s important to October.”
“But Bev and I aren’t close.”
“You are on paper. She needs the protection of the mansion.”
Now it was my turn to swear like a sailor. I punched the door of the car. “Fine. Yeah. Let’s pick up Bev first.” It wasn’t how I’d wanted to see her. I wasn’t ready for the mess, but here it was.
Ten minutes later, Ollie was pulling up to a psychiatric facility I didn’t want to glance at. Sure, Bev was here now, but I knew if I didn’t get myself under control, I was a couple stained rugs away from landing myself here. I leaned forward and gripped Ollie’s shoulder before he and Danny left to retrieve Bev. “Ollie? Don’t let me end up here.”
He placed his hand over mine, firm in his conviction and in the solidarity between us that nothing had been able to shake. “Never. I’m here. I’m always looking out for you.”
Then Danny and Ollie ran into the facility, taking twenty minutes too long to retrieve Bev. Mason slid me onto his lap and scooted us to the center of the backseat when the three came out to us, making room for Bev where we could.
I swear, I’m really not a person prone to sitting on men’s laps.
I wasn’t used to seeing Bev without buckets of hairspray and makeup. She actually looked nice without the hot pink smears across her eyelids and the clumpy mascara that fooled no one. Her hair was cut short now in a blonde pixie ’do that looked… nice on her. Her eyes weren’t painted to appear perpetually wide, so she looked a little sleepy. Though it was nighttime, so she could actually have been tired.
Ollie shoved her suitcase in the trunk. Once Danny was buckled in, he drove out of the parking lot toward the freeway.
My heart pounded for several reasons, and one of those reasons was staring at me with equal amounts of longing and dread. “October Grace? I didn’t think you’d come to see me, much less break me out.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t doing this for her, but for a guy who had the emotional IQ of a potato. “Of course I would. I used to come see you once a week, didn’t I? Why would that change? I’ve just been busy with the Terraway stuff. Ezra explained all of it to you, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. It doesn’t make a whole lotta sense, but I suppose that’s okay. Nothing’s made sense to me for a while.” Bev wasn’t brash. She was humble, and a little lost. I barely recognized her.
Danny turned around in his seat and asked loudly, “Did you sleep with Von?”
“What?” I stared at him like he’d just started speaking in another language. He knew the three of us had slept in the same bed. He couldn’t mean…
“Sex, October! Have you and Von had sex?”
“What? No! Why would you even ask that? We only just kissed for the first time tonight.”
“You’re sure?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Pretty sure on who I’ve slept with, since it’s a big whopping zero people on my list of conquests. You want to tone down the weirdness? Why would you even ask me that? And in front of my mama and my brother, no less.”
Danny turned back around to face the front again. “Never mind. I thought you’d be able to reach him psychically, but I guess not.”
“You know, there’s not a thing about what you said that I don’t need explained.”
Danny let out a labored sigh, and gestured with his hand while he spoke. “When an Omen has sex with someone she’s in love with, they can visit each other while they sleep. It’s called dreamwalking. Mariang and I do it all the time.”
I put my head in my hand. “I really hope this is the weirdest conversation I’ll ever have. No, Von and I aren’t having sex. Thanks for making me say ‘sex’ in front of Ollie and Bev. Really. Super swell.”
“I’m just trying to find Von.”
Ollie managed a small smile back at me in the rearview mirror at my admission that I was a virgin. “We’ll find him, hun.”
I didn’t answer, and the silence draped around the car and grew uncomfortable until Bev broke it with a polite nod at Mason. “I’ve met you before. You were with me in the emergency room when I stepped on that glass.”
Mason reached around me and shook Bev’s hand. “Mason. I’m your daughter’s Puller. Do you know what that is?”
Bev looked around the car in confusion. “Not really. I probably should. How could I not know what’s going on in my own daughter’s life? To miss a whole world is one thing, but to miss my own daughter?” Tears welled up in Bev’s eyes, and if I hadn’t seen it for myself, I would’ve thought it impossible. Bev wept into her hands. “Tell me what a P-Puller is.”
My mouth dropped open, and I was incapable of speech. Mason fielded the qu
estion for me. “Your daughter and Mariang are special. They can take the souls from people who are about to die, and it gives the person a peaceful death. After they take the souls, they give them to us. I pull the corroded souls from her. Von and I.”
“Von? I remember him. The funny young man. Ezra’s gardener? Guard? I don’t remember. I’m sorry.” She touched her forehead through her tears. “I’m not m-myself lately.”
Mason reached out and picked up her hand to calm her, and I knew he was pulling to soothe her palpable ache. “It’s alright. It’s our fault. We dragged you out of bed. You’re not supposed to be on top of everything at this hour.”
“Why are we going to Ezra’s? I’ve been trying to send him away. I think it gives the wrong message for me to show up on his doorstep like this.” She motioned down to her white hospital scrubs. “He’s an incredible man. He should be with someone who’s good.” She shook her head. “I’m a terrible person. The things I’ve done? I don’t deserve to be in his house.”
Danny answered when I was still stone cold mute. “One of the creatures from Terraway, called an Ekek, abducted Von. He’s my brother, and October’s other Puller. The Ekeks are targeting people October loves, so you’re in danger. We’re taking you to Ezra’s to keep you safe.”
Bev looked up at Danny and then at me, her eyes glassy with tears. “You couldn’t p-possibly love me after everything I put you through.”
“I… I…” I didn’t know what to say. Did I love my mama? I’d never had to answer that before. The woman crying next to me sure as Sunday didn’t look like my mama. Bev, I couldn’t love. It hurt too much to feel anything for her, to give her that kind of power over me. But this woman? She was a completely different being, and I didn’t know her well enough to decide if I could love her, if I could trust her or ever let myself need a mama again. “Ezra’s,” I repeated. “You have to stay with Ezra. It’s the only safe place for you and Ollie.”
Tempt (Terraway Book 4) Page 23
