Enticed

by Jessica Shirvington

  When I was confident the red blotches on my face had settled enough, I headed back out to where everyone was waiting. Spence had returned with a bottle of bourbon in hand. He, -

  along with everyone else in the room, cracked a smile when they took in my appearance, wrapped in a gigantic bathrobe. Everyone, that is, except Dapper, who had also made it upstairs.

  „Oh, great," he snorted, „Just make yourself at home. Can I get you some slippers as wel ?"

  I could see Zoe and Spence shaking, holding back laughter, and had to look away from the. Crazy how even when things are life and death, friends can make you see a funny side.

  „Sorry, Dapper. You"ve been real y kind. Steph is just washing my top and while we talked I thought she could try and dry it. It won"t take long."

  He grunted and made for his minibar.

  He threw a glass out towards Onyx, who caught it easily. It made me wonder if Onyx and Dapper were becoming friends – the way they seemed to comfortably ignore one another but still be in some kind of weird sync.

  Onyx set about opening his bottle of bourbon and pouring himself a drink. „Thank you for this. I won"t be offering any of you a drink."

  Not that anyone wanted one, well maybe Zoe … and Spence, but Onyx"s words were a clear reminder of how much he hated us.

  Dapper, however, finally cracked a smile. He grabbed a stash of small Coke bottles from his fridge and started offering them around.

  Once we were all seated and Onyx had downed two large glasses of bourbon, he looked up at is all and there it was, the old Onyx. A part of him, anyway. It sent a shiver down my spine to see him come alive. This was his favourite thing to do – tell stories of doom and in particular my doom. It made me uneasy to remember the way he got such a thrill out of seeing other people"s pain.

  „It"s a consolation prize I had not considered. Poetic really. That we"ve all potentially destroyed each other. Don"t you think, Violet? That you destroyed Phoenix"s humanity by teasing it out of him in the first place, that my attempt to eliminate you released your discovery of power, which in turn curtailed my greatness, leaving me with detestable humanity. That now I may still – indirectly, obviously – be the cause of your downfall through Phoenix himself. How deliciously bittersweet.

  „Onyx," Dapper said, sternly, „tell them what you know or leave them be."

  Onyx paused, but only momentarily, to consider Dapper before his smile returned.

  „Dapper, I am glad you are here. The second part of my condition involves you."

  „Here we go," said Dapper, rolling his eyes.

  „As I have already mentioned I was prepared to leave, but it appears things have just …

  taken a turn. I wil tell you what I know … some of what I know," he corrected, turning his smile on me, „in exchange for ongoing accommodation."

  Onyx poured himself another large bourbon, the sound of ice cubes clinking the only noise to fill in the uncomfortable silence in the room. Spence, Zoe and Salvatore tried to look busy staring at their Cokes. Even Steph, who had just walked back into the room, knew now was not the time for comment.

  I looked at Dapper, who had picked up a cloth and was rubbing down the already-clean minibar.

  The quiet stretched.

  „You have to work. For your keep," Dapper final y said, not looking up.

  „No," Onyx said, quiet simply. I could hear the glee in his voice. „But you can"t deny, Dapper, you don"t altogether mind my company."

  Dapper blushed.

  Please!

  „Two weeks," Dapper said, curt as ever, then looked over to me. „And you owe me."

  „Okay," I agreed.

  „Well," Onyx clapped his hands, „aren"t we all just so civilised? It"s a new thing for me, granted, but entertaining in its own peculiar way," he marvelled.

  „Onyx! You"re wasting time. Tell me what"s going on," I snapped, clenching my fists.

  „Yes. Of course. You want to get back to your shadow-finder – you do like to torture him. I admire that." He stood up and started to flounce around the room. I knew he was talking about Lincoln. By this point, I just wanted to smash his face into the wall and from the expression on Zoe"s face, I wasn"t the only one. I didn"t look at Spence. I couldn"t meet his eyes right now and Salvatore had moved over to stand with Steph. She was whispering to him, translating, I guessed.

  „I have only ever seen it once before. A powerful weapon, though not many of us are wil ing to take the risk … or the bond." His nose wrinkled at something. „I wasn"t even sure what it was or its importance when I came across it, it was more speculation than anything

  … though after seeing what I saw tonight, it now seems very believable." He sighed. Typical warm-up. „It was in the thirteenth century. A young Grigori turned-spiritual leader. Some even thought him to be the first, and only, Grigori to ever be graced with true vision. Of course, for exiles, his fame made him a particularly important prize and though he was often guarded and deceptively powerful, one exile found a way to get to him."

  Onyx looked at each of us one by one, enjoying that we had no idea what he was talking about. „The exile appeared to the Grigori as a vision. Used his imagination to put him in a state of confusion and then inflicted wounds that he found …" the corners of his mouth curled, „… appropriately amusing. Afterwards, the exile healed the Grigori and let him go under the belief that he had received a spiritual connection with a heavenly power when in actual fact …" he trailed off as he motioned a hand towards me. I"d forgotten he liked audience participation.

  I swallowed nervously. „He"d done whatever Phoenix has done to me."

  Onyx nodded. „Al that had been achieved was an ongoing physical bond between the Grigori and the exile. The exile, of course, planned to use this new power to help turn the tides, but unfortunately, it was not to be. When the Grigori discovered the deceit, he would not succumb to the exile"s demands and endures the pains of the wounds each time they were re-inflicted. It was a harder time then. Religious types were less malleable than they are today." Another deliberate sigh.

  I shook my head involuntarily.

  „It had been an ambitious tactic, and if it had worked, would have been an awesome weapon. Even in its limited version, it was."

  „Why?" I asked, feeling my throat tightening.

  „Because it stil led to the Grigori"s death in the end. His injuries gradual y drained his powers and the very life from him."

  Steph took a step forward. „The thirteenth century?"

  Onyx raised an eyebrow. „Yes," he said, suspiciously, looking at Steph as if noticing her for the first time. I imagined in his exile days Onyx would not have believed in interactions with straight humans, other than for sport.

  „You"re talking about Saint Francis of Assisi, aren"t you? He died after suffering five brutal wounds for just over two years." Steph looked at me, sickly green. „He bore the stigmata."

  Her eyes were welling.

  Onyx was perplexed, as was everyone in the room apart from me. Steph wasn"t an out-and-about brainiac. Onyx clearly hadn"t expected someone to spoil his story"s denouement.

  „Aren"t you a very clever human?" he sneered.

  „Hang on," started Zoe. „This sounds like a load of shit to me. „The stigmata? The wounds of the crucifixion? Violet doesn"t have those."

  „No, she has my wounds," Onyx said proudly. „They"re just another version. Assisi"s wounds were symbolically inflicted on him first, just as Violet „s were, and then healed. By healing the wounds the exile effectively gives a piece of his immortality to the victim, in this case Grigori, and as Phoenix demonstrated. What one giveth one may also taketh away. "

  Onyx raised his arms and all but took a bow.

  „Oh my God," I whispered to myself. „He"s going to kil me."

  Slowly.

  Onyx heard me. „It appears the likely outcome," he said, as he lounged back into the sofa, content.

  „We kill the Phoenix first, Si?" Salvatore asked an
d Steph nodded.

  „You could try. It might work."

  „You lie," Salvatore said, watching Onyx then turning to Zoe. „He lies."

  „What aren"t you telling us?" Zoe demanded.

  „Two Armani shirts, one white with pinstripe, the other charcoal. Slim fit. And …" he ran a hand over his chin," …an electric shaver. And expensive one."

  „How about I just ram my fist into your face until you tell us everything you know?" Spence suggested, taking a few exaggerated steps towards Onyx.

  „Don"t bother with that, lad," said Dapper. „He"d be happy enough for you to finish him off.

  You won"t get anywhere that way."

  Spence looked at me but – even now – I stil couldn"t quite bring myself to look back.

  „I"l give them to you tomorrow," I said, in a daydream.

  „Do you think your Lincoln will ever forgive you?" Onyx asked.

  „What? He … Phoenix did this. It wasn"t me. Lincoln wil … he"l understand," I said, stumbling over the words that I had been trying to tell myself since I saw him walk out of Hades.

  „I didn"t mean about tonight – though it cannot help your cause."

  I swallowed hard. It wasn"t the first time I"d embraced that Onyx had raised this question.

  The last time was right before he stabbed me.

  „Ah. I see. Worrying you, too? A big thing, that one. Even those with the best intention, the greatest of forbidden love, can struggle to accept another getting to the prize before they do."

  „Shut up, Onyx," Dapper said. Strangely, Onyx seemed to respond and moved on.

  I gave Dapper a thankful glance. I didn"t real y want to have to explain to the entire room that Onyx was referring to the fact that I"d slept with Phoenix and that had made Lincoln …

  unhappy.

  „Very well. Phoenix has a physical connection to you now. Not only can he bring back the wounds that I so savagely delivered, he is also the very thing that holds off their recurrence.

  If something were to happen to Phoenix, if he was killed, or as you like to call it “returned” …

  wel …" he laid his hands wide.

  „I die."

  „It seems inexorably probable."

  „Jesus, Mary and Joseph," Steph said as Spence and Zoe swore.

  „This one – not good," said Salvatore, shaking his head.

  Dapper remained silent.

  Onyx smiled, enjoying the his version of applause until his eyes fixed on mine. My chest tightened and every breath felt suddenly numbered.

  We looked at each other and in that brief moment, when his eyes couldn"t quite hold mine

  – we shared the truth silently between us.

  It wasn"t just probable.

  If Phoenix died – I died.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  „ A thought, even a possibility, can shatter and transform us."

  Friedrich Nietzsche

  I hoped a morning of painting would help. Give me some perspective or at least let me escape for a couple of hours. But I couldn"t even concentrate for long enough to mix the right colours in my double period of art first thing.

  He"d told me he loved me once. It was hurried and perhaps only part of a game to him, trying to get me away from Lincoln. I guess it had worked. I"d never felt so isolated before.

  Now, again thanks to Phoenix, I was sure of my own demise.

  After all the events of last night, by the time I got home it had been late again. My sleep allotments were declining while my near-death experiences were clearly on the up. But, of course, it wasn"t lack of sleep that had me so agitated. It was the lack of something else.

  Someone else.

  I had hoped, the whole time we were at Dapper"s – listening to Onyx tell his tale of doom

  – that Lincoln might come back. That somehow he might realise I would never have kissed Spence willingly. I even held out hope that Magda might have talked some sense into him.

  Wishful thinking. But Lincoln – he knew me. Surely he would have known I wouldn"t be so …

  Even though I slept with a dark exile!

  And there was my problem – the nagging voice of truth we all have buried deep within.

  The one that is always there painting with primary colours, not bothering to mix it up.

  Onyx was right. I had planted all the seeds of doubt that Phoenix was now watering. I may have had my reasons, but that didn"t change the fact that Lincoln would probably never forgive me or that the sacrifice required for us to be together would be more than he would ever willingly make for me.

  He has his real problem – and I have mine.

  I"d sacrificed everything to save Lincoln but right now I feared surrendering his strengths, risking his power, would not be something Lincoln could do. Not so he could be with me.

  By the time the bel rang for lunch, I"d barely made a mark on my canvas. As I packed up my art teacher came over to me.

  „Violet, you"ve been distracted lately. I know you have other studies to concentrate on and plenty of social events to attend, however, if you still plan on making the impact I know you can at the Fenton course, you will need to start applying yourself again in art."

  I took a deep breath, deflated and cross with myself. „I know, Miss. I"l try harder. I real y want to do well at the Fenton course."

  „Well, if that"s the case, you have to do," she said in that voice only teachers can put on, somewhere between parental and guilt-trip. It worked.

  In the cafeteria I grabbed a salad and a bread roll and slumped down in my usual spot.

  When the chair beside me was pulled out and a tray dropped next to mine, I didn"t even look up. I assumed it would be Steph.

  „Jeez, Eden – you awake?"

  I jumped in my next seat and looked up to see Spence laughing away.

  „What? What are you doing here?" Then, paranoid, I started looking around. „You"re going to get me in trouble! Again!"

  He gave me a cheeky wink and his smile widened. „Glamour."

  I looked around the room again and realised no one else seemed aware of his presence, even though he was not wearing a school uniform and clearly didn"t belong there.

  „What are you doing here?"

  „Apart from nursing a wicked hangover. I came to clear the air," he said, squaring his shoulders to me. He had no intention of going away.

  „Oh." I blew out an I-don"t-want-to-be-here-breath.

  „Look. A lot of stuff went down last night and get the feeling of all the awful … if you could take one thing away, it would be the you-and-me-getting-dirty-on-the-dance-floor bit?"

  I squinted my eyes at him. „You certainly have a way with words, Spence."

  He shrugged. „It"s a gift." He raised his eyebrows and waited. He real y wasn"t going to go away.

  „Okay. Look, it"s not that I don"t … you know. I think you"re nice and all and you were … I mean … it wasn"t bad or anything. Crap. I just don"t …"

  „Like me like that?" he suggested, smiling.

  „Yeah."

  „It"s okay. I get it. It wasn"t exactly my choice either, you know. Don"t get me wrong, I"m not feeling violated or anything. You kiss like a maniac – no guy in his right mind would be disappointed after that – I mean-„

  „ Spence! " I cut him off.

  „Oh, yeah. Sorry. What I was saying was – it"s all good. We"re friends. The fact that we"ve shared one particularly hot kiss isn"t going to change that, make it all weird. Okay?"

  I nodded, relieved that at least one of my concerns wasn"t going to develop into a major crisis.

  Steph pul ed out a chair and sat down on the other side of Spence. „Hi," she said to Spence. „What are you doing here?"

  „Hey!" I jumped in. „How come she can see you too?"

  „It"s a pick-and-choose thing. Right now I"m only providing glamour to those who don"t already know me. As far as they"re concerned a very inconspicuous – but seriously smokin"

  – girl is sitting down b
eside you in a school uniform having lunch."

  „Smokin?" Steph repeated.

  „Hey, some things just happen naturally." Spence opened his arms. „It"s hard for me to cover up innate hotness, no matter what form I"m in."

  Steph made a gagging motion. You do realise this is a co-ed school. You could have stayed male," she said.

  Spence took a huge bite of his sandwich. „True, but then it wouldn"t have been so easy to stop by the girl"s change room on the way here." He shrugged.

  I started picking at pieces of my bread roll, throwing them at him. Steph picked up her salad bowl and dumped its contents over his head.

  -

  It had been good to clear the air with Spence and by the end of the day I started to get myself together and built up towards my next task. Lincoln.

  After school, Steph and I detoured via the bank so I could withdraw some money from my Dad"s Amex account. He"d set it up with joint cards for us both years ago. I paid most of the household bills and did the majority of any shopping so it was just easier if I had access to cash. Dad had told me it was okay to use it to buy a few things here and there, but on the whole I didn"t bother. I didn"t know how much an Armani shirt and an electric shaver would cost so when Steph suggested I take out a thousand dollars I almost fell over.

  „What do you mean a thousand dol ars? Are you crazy?" I only real y withdrew cash for lunch money and groceries. Coffee and milk don"t cost much.

  „Listen, sweetie, when it comes to matters of designer clothing, I"m as reliable as they come. You"re just lucky that there are sales on – otherwise we"d need more."

  I blew out a breath. If she was telling me it was so – it was so. Stil , I couldn"t help the aggravation at handing over money so Onyx could get his reward for telling me I might die.

  „Are you going to be okay? Do you know what size to get?"

  Steph gave me a full-blown eye-roll. „Honestly Vi, I could shop with my eyes closed."

  Anyway, she pul ed out a cocktail napkin from her pocket. „Mr Reminisce-on-the-dark-days gave me all his measurements. I real y dislike that guy."

  „Try hate with a vengeance."

  Steph gave me a pitying look. „Are you sure you want me to go? I can stay with you –