Incipient: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 6)

by Bianca Scardoni

  He was watching me with far too much interest for someone that had literally just sampled the entire merchandise in my store.

  “Why don’t you put off this Nikki thing until tomorrow?” I suggested, figuring it would buy me some extra time to think of a plan, or you know, pay the crazy witch a visit myself and gag her with her own sock.

  “Uh-huh. Whatever you want,” he said as he licked his lips like a warning.

  “Trace?”

  He pushed forward and grabbed the back of my neck, dragging my mouth to his. Fire singed my insides as he kissed me heatedly, a prelude to something so much more, but I quickly broke off the kiss and scooted backward on the bed.

  “I’m going to be late,” I reminded him as I rushed to fasten the buttons on my blouse.

  He stilled my hands and then prowled toward me. “So be late then,” he said, his voice low and husky and impossible to resist. The mischievous glimmer in his eye made me shiver deliciously as he pressed my back against the bed and covered me with his hot as hell body.

  Despite my earlier protest, my traitorous limbs immediately locked around his waist as he parted my lips apart and tasted my tongue, my own hands greedily making their way back into his hair.

  Needless to say, I wasn’t going to make it to my meeting on time.

  28. WICKED GAME

  By the time I’d finally managed to tear myself away from Trace and make it over to Temple, I was a little over an hour late. The Senior Magister looked less than pleased when I found him pacing the floor in the atrium.

  “You are late,” said William disapprovingly as he watched me rush my way over to him.

  “I’m sorry, I got held up at school.” I huffed out the lie as I ran my palm against the back of my hair to smooth it out, suddenly very aware of the fact that I was probably sporting sex hair.

  I wasn’t sure if he believed me or not, but he didn’t say anything else on the matter.

  “The others are waiting for us in the main study. This way,” he said as he made his way through the atrium and then rounded the corner to a dimly lit corridor.

  After passing a few doors in silence, he stopped at the end of the hall in front of two double doors. A gilded plaque with the words Conference Room hung above the entrance. Turning the handle, he eased the door open and then extended his arm, allowing me to enter first.

  My gaze immediately circled the room, taking in the two Horsemen that I knew, War and Famine, and then stopping on the third man who I presumed to be Death. And he seriously looked it too. His ashen skin looked almost translucent as it stretched itself over not much more than skeletal bone. His sunken dark eyes were boundless and his lips a thin pale line.

  He looked as though he hadn’t eaten a good meal in over a century, though I supposed riding around with Famine, the killer of all good food, would probably make it hard to get your grub on.

  “I don’t believe you two have met,” said William as he pulled out a chair for me. “Jemma, this is Death, the last of the Horsemen. Death, this is Jemma Blackburn.”

  Death dipped his head in a brisk nod as I slumped into my chair and forced an awkward smile.

  I noticed he was wearing similar armor to the other two horsemen, with bronze-colored shields protecting his arms, lower legs and his upper chest. I imagined they hadn’t ventured outside of Temple being that they looked like a band of gladiators riding straight out of Rome’s history books.

  “The first order of business I’d like to discuss is the progress we’ve made on our translation of the Sang Noir,” started William as he took his seat at the head of the long conference table. “Thanks to our new allies here, we’ve been able to interpret most of the book and it has been quite…shall we say, eye opening.”

  “Anything specific you’d like to share?”

  “It seems there may be a way to activate the Power of Four after all, should Ms. Parker refuse to comply with the Order’s sanction to end the pregnancy of her own volition.”

  “Well, that’s probably a good thing for you because I’m pretty sure Nikki isn’t going to budge on the subject.”

  “Foolish girl,” muttered War as my gaze darted over to him. “She will not have a choice for very much longer,” he informed, his commanding tone sending a wave of prickles over my skin.

  Staving off a shiver, I turned back to William and asked, “So, how are you going to do this anyway? Are you going to like, resurrect the dead Horsemen in order to activate the Power of Four?”

  A displeased grumble sounded at the back of one of the horsemen’s throat, but I couldn’t really tell which one it was. Judging by their murderous glares, it could have been any one of the three.

  “Unfortunately, that is not an option. The Horsemen were created, not born and so there is no soul to resurrect once their vessel expires,” explained William, making me cringe at his entire string of callous words.

  “So, how then?” I bounced a glance at the trio of Gladiators, waiting for someone to fill in the missing piece.

  “Quite simply,” began William, since no one else seemed interested in conversing with me, “we’re going to produce a fourth Horsemen.”

  I stared at him blankly as I waited for the punchline. “Oh. Wow. You’re actually being serious right now?”

  “Of course, I’m being serious.” William clicked his tongue in disapproval before giving each of the Horsemen an apologetic look on my behalf. “This is hardly the time for antics, Jemma or have you not noticed that another apocalypse is upon us?”

  “I’ve noticed, it’s just…” I hesitated as I tried to find the words to form my question without sarcasm or accidently insulting anyone. “How exactly are you going to create a new Horsemen? Like, was there some magical recipe for creating new mythical creatures in the Sang Noir?”

  “Well, no, not exactly,” he answered cryptically as he pressed his fingers together in a steeple. “And we won’t be creating one per say—more like anointing a new one.”

  “Anointing a new one?” I repeated, testing the word out in my mouth. It tasted like curdled milk. “I don’t understand.” None of this was making much sense to me at the moment. That or I didn’t want it to make sense to me.

  “There is a ceremonial Rite that can be performed in the event that a Horsemen doesn’t make the journey. The Angels appeared to have left the ritual hidden in their scripture for precisely a time like this. All we have to do is cast the spell and transfer the likeness into an able alternative—”

  “Wait, what?” I cut in, my head spinning like a cannonball. “What are you even talking about? You’re going to use magic to turn someone into the fourth Horsemen?” Was he even hearing himself or had I just been flung off the bus and landed right in crazy town? Flattening my palms on the table, I tried to rein in my spiraling thoughts. “How is that even possible? And who exactly is going to be stupid enough to sign up for this?”

  William’s gaze darted around the room before returning to me. “Well, that’s what we called you here for.”

  “Excuse me?” I jumped up from my chair, causing it to screech out painfully as it flew across the floor. “You’re not seriously saying what I think you’re saying.”

  “Your blood is purer than the rest of ours, Jemma. You were the only one who was able to retrieve the book and you were the only one besides the Horsemen that could understand its coded text. There must be a reason for that.”

  “Yeah, it’s called being cursed as fuck!”

  “Jemma.” He squeezed his eyes shut briefly as though my language had physically assaulted him. That wasn’t all that was going to assault him if he didn’t watch it. “You are the best shot we have. With your bloodline and your abilities, you’re the best equipped to take this on. There is no one else.”

  “Of course, there isn’t,” I grumbled sourly. “There never is.” My pulse was pounding so forcefully that I could barely hear my own thoughts.

  “That’s not entirely fair, Jemma—”

  “Not fair? Don�
��t talk to me about what’s not fair. You have no idea of the things I’ve had to sacrifice for no other reason than the body I was born into. You will never understand—” I cut myself off, not seeing any point in even trying to explain this to him. He wouldn’t get it. He would never be asked to kill the person he loved most or to sacrifice his body to become an avenging Horsemen. No one would ever ask that of him and then scorn him when he didn’t do so freely and happily. “I need…to go. Right now,” I said as I grabbed the back of the chair and shoved it under the table.

  “Perhaps if you allow me a moment to explain—”

  “Explain what?” I interrupted, my head feeling hollow as I stared back at him. “You want to cast some ancient untried spell that’s basically going to anoint me as the fourth Horsemen. What could you possibly say to me that’s going to make that even remotely digestible?”

  William failed to produce an answer.

  “Exactly.” My gaze flicked to the three Horsemen who watched me with even eyes and blank expressions. I couldn’t decide if it was because they were soulless creatures or whether their silence was something more.

  “Where are you going?” asked William as I turned for the door.

  “I’m going home. I need time to…process this.” Like a century’s worth of time.

  “Well, I hope for everyone’s sake that you process this quickly,” said William, his eyebrows creased and his mouth sagging into a visible frown. “Because as it stands, the progeny is a magnet for all things underworld.”

  I faltered at his words as my stomach twisted into a knot. “What does that mean?”

  The hopeless look in his eyes sent a clawed hand right down my spine. “It means the demons are on the move and they’re heading right for Hollow Hills.”

  I wasn’t sure how long I had stayed idle in the parking lot behind Temple, staring out the windshield in a daze, but by the time I put the car in drive, the late fall sun had already disappeared below the cloudy horizon.

  Unfortunately for me, my semi-catatonic daze had done nothing to unscramble my mess of thoughts or push me forward on the whole processing front. I was just as shocked and disturbed as when I’d left the meeting.

  How could William even ask something like this of me? He couldn’t actually think that I would agree to sign up for this insanity, could he? I didn’t even want to be involved in the whole Lucifer’s-baby-killing mission in the first place, and I certainly wasn’t more inclined to do it while being anointed as the Fourth Horseman. Horsewoman? Whatever.

  Oncoming headlights flashed through my car sporadically as I made my way up the winding hills. What did becoming the Fourth Horseperson even entail, anyway? Would I be bound to the other three? Would I lose my soul? Would I regain my autonomy once the mission was completed? In my rush to get as far away from William and the trio as possible, I’d failed to ask him any of these important questions.

  And what exactly was the mission here in the first place? It was clear Nikki wasn’t going to terminate her pregnancy willingly, so was the end-goal to do it for her?

  The thought alone sickened me.

  High-beam headlights flooded into my rearview mirror, distracting me as the speeding car quickly caught up to me and then tailed me for a beat.

  What an asshole, I thought, irritated as hell as I watched the car close in on my bumper before swerving to the left to pass me. Throwing my middle finger up, I tried to catch a look at the driver as he flew by me, but the dark car and blacked out windows moved like an inky blur on the lightless road.

  Suddenly, red brake lights spilled into my cabin as the asshole in front of me came to a dead stop. Slamming on the breaks, my tires screeched as I veered the steering wheel to the right to avoid smashing into the back of his car.

  My own car jolted to a stop inches away from his rear-end bumper, giving me a serious case of whiplash and road rage.

  This was the wrong fucking day, and the wrong girl to mess with.

  Throwing the car in park, I flung my driver side door open and climbed out, ready to tear the maniac who’d just ran me off the side of the road a new one.

  With my jaw clamped down hard, I glanced up at the car in front of me to get a good look at it, wanting to make a mental note of the information in case the moron decided to drive away. My lungs immediately locked, and my body froze mid-step as I gaped at the familiar make and model in horror.

  The black Audi’s driver side door popped open as Dominic stepped out of the seat and then turned to face me, his dark eyes as cold and boundless as an undiscovered cave. Without so much as a smile or even a warning scowl, he kicked off the ground and bolted straight for me.

  Panic fired through my blood and I launched myself back into my car, slamming the door shut as I struggled to pull air into lungs. Whirling thoughts muddled my brain as I threw the car in drive and slammed on the gas pedal, finding myself horrified when nothing happened. My eyes snapped to the dashboard, frantically searching for the problem only to realize that in my rush to get away, I had accidently put the car in neutral.

  It was a mistake I knew I was going to pay for in blood aplenty.

  Bile crept up the back of my throat as Dominic threw my driver side door open and yanked me out of the car and into his arms. My feet dangled weightlessly above the paved road as he locked my arms to my side and hauled me around the back of my car, past the shoulder lane and into the shadowed woodlands that lined the winding road.

  It felt like forever before I even found my voice again.

  “Get your hands off me!” I screamed, bucking and kicking against his vice-like hold as he raced deeper into the woods.

  “What’s the matter, angel? Aren’t you happy to see me?” he asked, his honeyed drawl punctuated by a cruel snicker that made my blood turn to ice.

  Every step he took pulled me further from safety—further from civilization and the eyes and ears of passersby. Panic rolled in my stomach like vomit as the condemning forest closed in around me.

  “Dominic! Let me go!” I demanded as I flailed harder and then somehow managed to back-kick him in the balls.

  A painful oomph blew out of him, causing him to slightly loosen his hold on me. But that was all I needed to break out of his grasp. I literally hit the ground running.

  My feet pounded against the rocky terrain as I bolted over and through bushes and overgrowth that my eyes could barely process in the darkness. Branches and shrubs whipped out at my legs like a lashing, but I couldn’t even discern the pain from the terror that was rocketing through my body. My fight or flight reflexes had taken over, drizzling numbness into my limbs and making it impossible for me to feel anything but the thumping of my heart.

  My feet continued to hammer against the uneven terrain as Dominic’s menacing laughter rang out around me, closer now, mocking me as it followed me deeper and deeper into the woods.

  Because I had been disoriented.

  Because I had gone the wrong fucking way.

  Callous hands coiled around my body, plucking me off the ground and then launching me like a missile into the massive tree trunk of a towering Red Cedar. The air burst out of my lungs like an explosion as my back slammed against the tree and knocked the wind right out of me. Unable to take in a proper breath, I gasped in horror as Dominic calmly strolled over to me, his dark form bleeding into the pressing shadows around us. It was as though they ached to touch the darkness too, to reach out and wrap their shadowy claws around it, and he was the perfect specimen for just that.

  I knew that better than anyone.

  My own heart had once danced at the sight of him prowling toward me, reveled in absolute delight, but that felt like a lifetime ago now. In that moment, I felt nothing but unfathomable fear.

  He crouched down in front of me and picked up a strand of my hair, his eyes thoughtfully fixed on it as he twirled it around his finger. He was cloaked in darkness save for the sliver of moonlight creeping in between the birch trees to illuminate the edges of his once angelic face.
But there was nothing seraphic about his face anymore. Not in this light, and not with that baleful glint in his eye.

  “What do you want from me, Dominic?” I rasped, my lungs finally regaining semi-normal function.

  “I want only that which is mine,” he said to my hair, his fingers still twisting the lock pensively.

  I had no idea what the hell he had meant by that, but it didn’t sound good in the least.

  “Does the notion make you afraid, angel?” he asked, his eyes finally lifting to mine. Letting my hair fall, he pushed forward into my personal space and sniffed. “You smell very, very afraid.”

  A muffled sob sounded at the back of my throat as I scooted myself further into the tree and pulled my knees up to my chest. “People are going to come looking for me, Dominic. They’re expecting me any minute now.”

  He smiled kindly and for a moment he looked like the old Dominic—like my Dominic.

  “You always were a terrible liar.” He drew closer, his forearms resting on the top of his knees. “It’s just me and you, love, and we have all the time in the world. Can you imagine all the things we could do?”

  I swallowed against the knot in my throat.

  “All the ways I can hurt you.” His eyes flared with hunger, and my vision blurred at the corners.

  “I’ll scream,” I warned him, my eyes fixated on the elongated fangs peeking out from his cruel smile. Fangs that intended to cause me pain, not pleasure. Fangs that wanted to rip my flesh apart, piece by piece, not ravish me.

  “Oh, you’ll scream, will you?” he asked and then threw his head back and howled like a feral wolf, the sound ricocheting all around me. He was proving a point—that nobody could hear us, and nobody was coming to save me. “Go right ahead. I’m counting on it.”

  Seeing no other openings, I rammed my hands into his chest and knocked him backward. I didn’t bother sticking around for the fallout. Jumping up onto shaky feet, I made another run for it, though this time, making sure to head in the opposite direction in order to get as close to the main road as I could.