Chapter 82
Getting Past the Toothed Guards
With nothing else I could think of to do, no mental capacity for delving into a book,and wanting to avoid Karson, I sat on the bed with my legs folded up, eating pretzels and chocolate and drinking a premixed vodka and soda water while watching Avengers.
Georgie had sent a message asking me out for drinks. I would have loved to have gone. A few drinks with my friends, an escape from the harrowing reality beckoned. Even if I could sneak past the toothed guards, I knew it wasn’t the best idea. Reluctantly, I declined.
I was restless. I got up frequently and paced the room like a cat in a cage. The only thing missing, I thought wryly, was the sound of my wolf’s yowls. I stopped and stared out through the glass pane at the bleak terrain. It was gloomy but gave no indication it was fraught with all kinds of danger. Most of the danger was taken care of last night. The rest would meet their demise tonight. I turned back to the bed and picked up the vodka can, empty. A few more drinks might settle my anxiety,I thought. I went back downstairs and grabbed another can of vodka from the fridge.
“Amelia,” Karson said from behind.
My heart stopped and then took off again. I drew in a breath to settle it, allowed the fridge to shut and turned slowly to face him. “Yes?”
“If you continue to pace upstairs you’re going to wear out the carpet.”
“If you keep antagonizing me, you’re going to wear out my patience.”
“I think it’s a little late for that,” he said, his lips curling up. He had this way about him, about his smile, the light would shaft his eyes and I’d bask in the glory of it. The smile drifted away and he studied me as he so often did. I turned to the pantry to search for nothing and anything to distract me.
Now, he was directly behind me. So close I could smell his sweet scent and I could feel the warmth of his vibrations rocket through my body. I stopped still and turned back to him before my heart betrayed me.
“What?” I spoke shaper than I intended.
There was a softness in his eyes, and a barely withheld concern. He stared at me for what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds before he said, “I will fight for you, you only need be still.”
I gasped. Love lurched to my heart with such vigor it was painful. My throat locked with emotion. I felt it working to swallow. I didn’t speak. I couldn’t speak. Instead all I could do was nod. I swung back to the cupboard, pulled out a bag of almonds, which was the first thing I laid my eyes on, and almost ran past him back to my room.
I sat on the bed, knees folded up, arms clasped around my legs, staring out the window; watching the birds flit back and forth. There was a serenity in the birds, a sense of freedom anda playfulness that I’d usually find soothing, but my mind still spun like a record player with the same question; if not Cole, nor Caron, then who wanted me captured?
Cole seemed the logical answer. It was his email, he was the link to all the murders, if he tried to order another hit he was in for a rude shock after tonight. Would he hire someone else, though? Maybe. Even if he did, he didn’t know what I was, there was no way for him to know, except for that one time in the bar I’d used my powers where I could be seen. I was surrounded by vampires. I was a witch. They wouldn’t catch me off guard next time. The next question to consume me was why target me? And what had Cole planned to do with me?
The answer remained out of reach like the details of my exact role in the prophesized war in the hunt for the elusive grimoire. Karson would fight for me this time, but he couldn’t take my place when the war descended. I’d need to fight. As far as I was aware my witch skills didn’t extend to any type of psychic ability, but something inside me felt like this whole saga was just the prologue of a story preordained in a realm still beyond my grasp. A realm to which I was already plunging down a slippery slope to all kinds of horrors.
It occurred to me that perhaps I was meant to fight tonight, to acquire the skills to help save my life when the war came. And it would come. But it was one thing to fight back in self-defence, entirely another to take the life of a man to remove a future threat. Killing versus murder. I could assign the concept with relative ease when I thought about vampires, but when I placed myself in the same position the revelation didn’t settle well.
And even if I knew with absolute certainty I was meant to go with them, another absolute certainty, was that neither Karson nor Ethan would allow it.
A tap on the door, followed by the door opening and Ethan appearing, pulled me out of my turbulent wool-gathering
“What if I’d been pleasuring myself?” I quipped when he waltzed in.
He spluttered out a surprised burst of laughter. “Then all the more reason for me to come in without knocking.” He plonked himself on the bed beside me, his legs crossed at the ankles. “What are you doing?”
“Sitting on my ass, drinking to nullify my mind, and eating.” I grabbed the vodka can from the bedside table, took a sip and rested my back on the pillows.
“How’s that working out for you?” He reached over and grabbed a few pieces of chocolate and popped them in his mouth.
It wasn’t.
I shrugged. We watched the movie together, wordlessly I handed him the pretzel packet and he took a few and ate them too. He grabbed the can out of my hands, took a sip and handed it back. We were as comfortable together as any couple, without the sex.
“Okay, hit me with it,” he said, studying my face.
I took a few large mouthfuls from the can, then handed it to him. I felt like Cinderella, or Rapunzel, or Snow white, where the man swoops in and saves the fucking day and I just sit on my ass like a pathetic damsel in distress. Except I wouldn’t be riding off into the sunset for any happily ever afters with my prince.
“I’m good.”
He pretended not to notice the lie. “We’re going soon,” he said, reaching for a few more pretzels, tossing them into his mouth and washing them down with the vodka.
