Bianca De Lumière : High Suspense Urban Fantasy Romance (The Re'em Prophecy Book 1)

by Lisette Prendé

  But this wasn’t just about me. There was the human world and its entire population to consider.

  I took a sip of coffee. “I can help you. I’m happy to tell you everything,” I said. “But I need your help too.”

  Jeffries raised an eyebrow.

  “This thing is not over. Not completely.”

  Peters’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean? Those things...”

  “We’re safe for now. Most of the Skadhavar are dead. But some are still alive. So is Ebonine, their Master.”

  “Master?” Peters’s aura flickered yellow.

  “Yes. Her goal is to turn the entire human race into Skadhavar. And after losing most of her troops, rebuilding her army may be her main priority.”

  Jeffries nodded, taking everything in.

  “And now that she is able to appear human, it will be easier for her to slip through the vortex and blend in.”

  “Jesus…” Peters muttered, rubbing his stubble.

  I eyed Jeffries sternly. “In order to end this, I need to kill her. It will help to have… people who know, humans, with authority, on our team.”

  “Absolutely,” Jeffries said. “We’ll give you access to our direct line. Anything you need, any threats at all, you let us know.”

  “Awesome.” I smiled. “So…does this mean I work with the FBI?”

  Peters laughed. “Sure, why not. Let’s call you an unpaid informant.”

  I laughed. “So you want to know everything?”

  “Please,” Jeffries said.

  “Okay. Well, I’ve got plans at seven-thirty, so let’s get started.”

  “I’ll put on some more coffee,” my mom said, rising from the table.

  Jeffries tapped at the screen of his phone and laid it on the table in front of me. “I’ll record this if it’s okay.”

  “Sure.” I took a deep breath. “Right, my name is Bianca De Lumière and I am a teenage,

  shapeshifting, unicorn…”

  Chapter Forty

  My mom left with Hyssop just before seven. Caleb arrived after seven-thirty.

  “Hey Prom Queen,” he said as I swung the door open.

  “Well hello, Prom King.”

  He held a pizza in one hand and a stack of movies in the other. “You ready for some serious lessons in ’90s film classics?”

  “Yum.” I flipped open the pizza box and pulled out a slice while Caleb fiddled around with the DVD player. After talking to the agents for three hours straight, I was ravenous.

  Caleb smiled over his shoulder. “Oh I’m fine,” he chuckled. “I’m just slaving away with these cables but you go right ahead.”

  “Sorry,” I laughed. “I’m starving! You need help?”

  “Nah, I’m kidding. Eat. I’ve got this.”

  “Good! ’Cause I have no idea how to work that thing. I only do Netflix.”

  “Well these are authentic vintage DVDs. Some say the quality is crap, but I think there’s something cool about them.” He opened the case and clicked the DVD out, lifting it up to the light. “Look. It’s like a tiny record, with a movie on it.”

  I smiled and pushed the pizza box toward him.

  “Thanks,” he said, taking a piece.

  We ate as the film began. It was called Empire Records. It was about a group of teenagers and twenty-somethings who worked in a record store of the same name—back when they still had record stores.

  “It sucks how everything’s gone digital.” Caleb took a sip of soda. “Imagine how cool it would’ve been to just hang out and flick through vinyl for hours, finding treasures. My dad says there used to be tons of record stores, even one in town.”

  “I think I remember that store,” I said. But my mind was elsewhere. Actually so many places at once. Why was he so calm? He’d seen me kill creatures last night. Creatures who had once been people. He’d seen monsters. Now he was just chilling on the couch with me eating pizza. Did he even remember? “Caleb, can we talk about last night?”

  He paused the movie. “Sure. What’s up?”

  “You remember last night, right? The prom. The craziness. The creatures? You saw me…going turbo?”

  He smiled and put an arm around me. “Yep, I remember. In the bathroom. With Jamie. How could I forget?”

  I smiled back at him. “You just seem…very calm about it all.”

  “Do I?” he raised his eyebrows. “Well good. That’s what I’m trying to convey. But believe me, I’m freaking out.”

  “You are?”

  “Absolutely. We’re alone. In your house. No adult supervision. All I want to do is kiss you and”—he laughed—“I’m trying really hard to be a gentleman. I figure last night was pretty full-on for you of all people. I’m just trying to be calm. For you.”

  I snuggled into his arm. Guilt panged in my gut as I remembered that earlier I’d been making out with Sunder on that very couch. And I’d decided to end things with Caleb. But then Sunder had been a jerk. An assuming jerk. How dare he tell me what I could and couldn’t do. How dare he tell me what my choices would be. The pang in my gut gave way to anger.

  I turned to Caleb and kissed him hard on the lips. Immediately his aura pulsed with longing and restraint. I kissed him harder, running a hand through his hair. Soon his hands were on the skin of my back, his lips at my neck. My whole body began to throb as a fire ignited inside me with a whoosh. I pushed him back and lay on top of him. I needed him. I needed his flesh against mine. “Should we go to my room?” I breathed into his ear.

  We were on my bed within seconds and I was pulling his shirt over his head. His body was lean, his skin dark olive where summer had caressed it. I pulled off my shirt and kissed him again. Then I reached behind me and undid my bra, letting it fall away. I felt his eyes flit across my body, taking me in. His aura pulsed wildly and a grin spread across his face. “Oh my god, Bianca, you are so beautiful.”

  I pulled him towards me, feeling his hot flesh against mine. He kissed me all over, his soft lips on my skin. I threw my head back and let out a moan. His kiss silenced me, his tongue smooth and warm. I needed him. I couldn’t wait any longer. I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of his jeans and tugged downwards.

  “I want to, Caleb,” I whispered into his ear.

  “You sure?” he replied. “We could wait…”

  “Yes, I’m sure. You?”

  He smiled. “Hell yeah.”

  I rolled to my nightstand and pulled one of the condoms I got given in health class out of the drawer.

  Under the covers, he pressed himself on top of me. His firm body, smooth and warm. The silky fuzz of his legs against mine. We kissed. His fingers weaved themselves into my hair as we moved slowly together. I closed my eyes as my body ebbed with his.

  I lay on a field of cool green grass, in a forest clearing. The sun warmed my bare skin. Shades of green surrounded me, dazzling me with their beauty. Phosphorescent vines crept towards me, blooming with chartreuse flowers. They stroked against me, caressing me; their touch so tender I shuddered. I arched my back as the vines crept all around me, entangling me with their embrace. As a large bloom of chartreuse erupted, I threw my head back in a soft moan, my ears ringing with the sound of resonating crystal.

  Caleb lay on top of me. Our bodies fused together with sweat. He turned to face me, his green aura calm and warm. “Wow,” he said.

  I laughed. “Wow is right.”

  We kissed for what seemed like hours. Just lying there. Together.

  Chapter Forty-One

  “They look a bit like piano keys like that,” Caleb said, looking down at our interlocked fingers. “Well, my skin’s not quite as dark but—”

  “But compared to mine it is!”

  He chuckled in a way that made his nose crinkle. “I got my mom’s Hawaiian skin. Do you ever tan?”

 
“Nope!” I laughed. “I burn. I don’t even bother trying. I tend to use a lot of sunblock.”

  “Good. I love your skin the way it is.”

  His comment filled me with warmth; a kind of approval and acceptance I wasn’t sure I’d ever find. But something still bothered me. I inhaled deeply and let out a long sigh. Did Caleb really know what I was? And if he did, would he still be so fine with being with me. Like this?

  “Caleb,” I said. “I need to tell you something. Something I tried to tell you last night.”

  He smiled. “I figured something was coming after you sighed like that. What’s up?”

  “Remember how I told you I’m not… normal?”

  “I do.”

  I breathed deeply again. “Well, I’m not exactly human.”

  “Okay,” he replied blankly.

  “I’m actually, what is known as a Re’em. A kind of shapeshifter.”

  He nodded and I went on.

  “I sometimes, change, into a white horse…with a horn.”

  He smiled. “You’re a unicorn.” It was a statement, not a question.

  “That’s right.”

  “I know.”

  “You do?”

  He placed a hand on my cheek. “Fae told me everything, last night. Cendrine too and your mom.”

  “And you believed them? You didn’t run screaming?”

  He chuckled again. “I’d just seen Jaime turn into a monster and watched Fae shoot fireballs out of her hands, not to mention watch your eyes glow white before you killed the thing. So, I didn’t have too much trouble believing them, Bee.”

  He called me Bee. It felt so intimate; even more intimate than what we’d just done. Sunder had never called me Bee.

  “Where have you been all this time?” I asked him.

  “Admiring you from afar.”

  I kissed him again, gently grazing my lips against his. I was in a warm bubble of happiness and I never wanted it to burst.

  “I can’t believe you’re so calm about everything. I feel like most people would be more skeptical.”

  “Well, I guess I’ve seen some crazy stuff in my time, stuff that can’t be explained.”

  “You have? Like what?”

  “When I was young,” he began, his voice just above a whisper. “I think about four, I was playing in my room and this old man came in. At first, he just stood there, smiling at me, watching me play with my trains. My mom used to always have people over from the old folks’ home for afternoon tea, so it wasn’t that weird that he was there. After a little while, I asked him to come play with me, so he sat down on the floor. ‘I’m Caleb,’ I told him. ‘What’s your name?’ He told me his name was Frank, Frank Shepherd. But he kept coughing, like he had a cold. I think I remember asking him if he wanted some water or something but he just shook his head.

  “He sat there with me, smiling while I talked to him, you know as kids do, blabbing away. After a while, I looked up and he was gone. I figured he’d just gone to get a drink for his cough so I kept playing.

  “My mom came in to check on me and I said, ‘Hey mom, where’s Frank?’ She looked puzzled. ‘Who?’ she asked. ‘Frank. Frank Shepherd. He was playing trains with me.’ She turned white as a sheet.”

  “Like me?” I interrupted.

  “Almost.” Caleb chuckled. “She just stood there for a minute then said, ‘What did you say?’ So I told her again about Frank and his cough, and she turned whiter. Then went and made a cup of tea. She didn’t tell me what was going on, but I heard my dad and her talking that night. It turned out Frank Shepherd was the guy who built our house—over a hundred years ago. He was one of the first settlers to the town, a miner who died of lung disease.” He smiled at me. “So, you’re not the only freak around here.”

  The warm bubble of happiness got even warmer. My aura pulsed with affection and an emotion that felt a lot like love.

  “Crazy,” I managed. “Did you ever see him again?”

  “A few times. But because my mom was so freaked out when I’d told her the first time, I didn’t tell her again. I even told Frank to leave me alone, that he was upsetting my mom. Eventually, he stopped coming. Or if he kept coming, I couldn’t see him anymore.”

  “Caleb, that’s amazing.”

  “Says the unicorn,” he laughed.

  “Thank you for telling me.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  We lay together for a little longer and then he stirred.

  “No, don’t go!”

  “I have to, I’m already past curfew.”

  I stuck my bottom lip out.

  “I know,” he said with a smile. “I don’t want to leave either. But I don’t want my mom to get funny about us.”

  I watched as he dressed, pulling his t-shirt over his head, slipping on his pants. He leaned over and planted a kiss on my lips. I stole another and another before he landed a final peck on my forehead.

  He padded to the French doors.

  “Where are you going?” I asked. “Didn’t you park out front?”

  “Nah, my brother wouldn’t let me borrow his car, he dropped me off.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Do you want a ride?”

  “You sleep. I’m just gonna run home along the tree line, won’t take long at all.”

  “Are you sure? I don’t mind driving you.”

  “I’m sure. I could use the run. It’ll help me calm down after…you know.”

  I laughed.

  “Bye, Bee,” he said with a wink and then he was gone.

  I heard him walking across the back lawn, then entering the forest. There was a crash in the bracken as he started into a run.

  A smile stretched across my face. I closed my eyes, feeling his green aura get farther and farther away. I followed, tracking it, as he moved swiftly along the line of the forest. His shining green light meeting the energy of the trees; like a GPS dot on google maps. He was quick. He’d be home in no time.

  Up ahead the energy of the forest grew murky; like a dead spot was blocking the path. Skadhavar.

  I flew out the door and into the trees without considering my nudity. I hurtled along the edge of the forest as my skin tingled, my body changing. The harsh cry of Skadhavar filled the night air. Caleb screamed in the distance.

  No! Not him. Not him.

  I barreled through the dark, dodging tree trunks, branches crunching beneath my hooves. Where was he? I needed to find him. I threw my aura out, searching for his green. My head began to swirl. In the darkened forest I could just make out a clearing up ahead, then a misshapen structure; a crooked shack. The Mystery Shack. We were just outside the vortex. I felt him then, his phosphorescent aura waning.

  I ran towards his dimming green glow, galloping across the green fields, my head swam with dizziness. A force was pulling me down. The vortex. My ears hummed with static and my eyes burned with light as the field around me lit up. Come, the light beckoned. Come.

  But in the darkness, just past the clearing, I saw Caleb slumped on the ground. A single Skadhavar at his side.

  One I knew well.

  Sheena.

  No! I screamed. I fought against the current, cantering hard through the vortex. Soon the pull subsided and I broke free, galloping to Caleb’s side.

  He lay on the forest floor, blood and venom seeping from his neck.

  No! I screamed again. I can’t lose him!

  Sheena crouched nearby, snarling.

  Pain rolled through my body, giving way to rage; pure, hot, bubbling rage. I flew toward her, my aura moving faster than my feet, flying through the air. As I knocked into Sheena’s bony body, my aura sliced into hers, diving through the darkness, swimming toward the tiny glow of peach that lingered in the swampy depths of her soul, my white light set on revenge.

  But as I neared the fade
d peach, the scenery changed. The darkness gave way to a long corridor, lockers lined up along the wall. We were at school.

  Sheena stood before me in human form.

  “WHY DID YOU DO IT?” I screamed as I moved toward her. “Why him?”

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered, her face crumpled in pain. “She made me. She ordered. We can’t fight her orders. It’s impossible.”

  “I HATE YOU!” I spat. “I should maim you and leave you like this forever! I should throw you through the vortex into a dark realm!”

  “I wouldn’t blame you,” she muttered. “I deserve it.” Her gaze fell to the floor. “Bianca. There’s something I have to say. I am so, so sorry for how I treated you. I know sorry is worth nothing to you, but it’s all I have. So, I am sorry.”

  As much as I wanted to rip her apart, her apology meant something.

  “And as for Caleb…” she went on.

  A growl flew from my lips.

  She held up her hands. “Your blood!” she yelled. “If you feed him your blood, it could stop him from turning.” She shook her head, “I really am sorry.” She looked down. “Bianca,” she said softly. “Please kill me. Please don’t let me hurt anyone else.”

  “That I can do, Sheena. Go safely into the light.”

  She looked at me for a moment, before her eyes grew wide and her hands flew to her chest. Dark blood seeped through her fingers. Venom dripped from her mouth.

  I fell from Sheena’s aura as my horn slid from her chest. I refocused my vision as the beast in front of me turned to slime and Sheena emerged.

  “Thank you,” she whispered before turning to ash.

  My skin tingled as my spine grew straight; my body returning to its human form.

  Caleb looked up at me, clutching his neck, a foggy smile on his face. “You’re amazing.”

  Tears streamed down my face.

  “Bianca,” he said, wiping them away. “You have to kill me. I don’t want to turn into one of those things.”