Page 69
Lucy always liked me the best. I offer what Xander is lacking, primarily in manners, bringing a sense of sophistication to the house. Xander is more about ruling with an iron fist. Despite his parents leaving town, he had a spoiled upbringing. Dr. Garcia’s familial wealth knows no boundaries.
The sip of liquor calms me. Mikael is no longer hissing in my psyche as I ease back into my naturally composed state, but something still grips me. That alien sensation is slowly becoming part of my skin, interlocking with every muscle, every vein.
The fragment is growing.
I make my way out of the kitchen and down the dark, narrow hallway to the grand entryway of the house, leading to the great room where Xander usually hangs out.
In contrast to the basement, which is cramped and dimly lit, the rest of the house is grand, with elegant windows overseeing the forest beyond. This is an old house, built in the early 1900s, but it was renovated and reconstructed in the 1970s, and the windows are the only vintage part of the house. A large staircase leads to the rooms above where Xander takes up the primary bedroom, but I much prefer the basement, where it’s soundproof and quiet.
It’s always been my bedroom.
When I open the door to the living room, Xander and Bianca are sitting on the couch. Well, Xander is sitting on the couch wearing a backwards hat, his cuffs rolled up over his tattooed arms. Bianca is on the floor in front of him with a sour look on her face, her hair tied up in a tight, dark ponytail.
His eyes are shadowed, and she’s saying something to him, likely talking back, and as I suspect, he yanks her head back slightly, using her ponytail as a grip.
His body is tense, but he’s grinning at her and she’s smiling with adoration in her eyes. He grabs her shoulders and starts rubbing them as the music pounds from the surround sound in our ceiling.
Her body visibly relaxes.
Xander has a way with the ladies, and he’s cocky. And Bianca only seems content when he’s dominating her and giving her his full attention, which she doesn’t like sharing.
On the surface, the two of us couldn’t be more different. But he’s smart in ways I’m not. Everyone thought I was different, but I quickly learned how to function in society. When Mikael disappeared, he embraced me, no questions asked. No one touched me while I was with him.
I don’t love him—I’m not capable of it—but I am loyal to him.
The usual group, the other children of the shadows, are here. The offspring of those who scorched eternal bliss above for fleeting earthly desires of money and power. Wendy, the mayor’s daughter, and Gabe, the police chief’s son, are cuddled together on the couch. Bianca is also one of us; her father is the town physician. To everyone else, we are a small group of friends who don’t enjoy interacting with anyone else. But to us, we are bound by blood and oath.
Well, everyone except for me—I have no blood ties to the Order, and therefore, will never truly become one. I’m agnostic to the entire thing, or at least I was until Mikael marked Summer.
Xander turns the music down when he sees me and grins, causing the entire room to look in my direction. “Look who rose from the dead. What do we owe the pleasure of the almighty professor?”
“I’m not a professor yet,” I remind him, making sure I look bored as usual.
Bianca observes me and scowls. She knows about my dark past, just not all of it. Dr. Garcia kept Mikael well hidden as a child and throughout his adolescence, and then introduced me to the outside world as Lincoln. No one is stupid enough to question her openly, even though none of it adds up. They know I started my life as Mikael. They didn’t, however, truly realize what Mikael was or the reason I changed my name.
And none of them truly comprehend the depravity of what almost happened beneath them. How close Cali was to getting slaughtered if I hadn’t had the foresight to get the fuck out of there.
I slam my drink back and place the glass down on the coffee table.
“You good, man?” Xander asks, watching me carefully, his eyes jerking to my wrist.
Well, fuck, blood is splattered on my wrist. I washed my hands after I cut Cali, but I must have missed a spot.
I fawn a smile. “Never been better. Why do you ask?”
His eyes linger on the blood. I don’t know what Xander would do if he discovered the missing girl everyone is talking about is tied up downstairs.
We have a critical rule…don’t get caught. After 2002, the members vowed silence and secrecy. No more public displays of violence, and under no circumstances are we to get caught.
Xander snaps his fingers at Bianca, curled up at his feet. “Go get Lincoln another drink, babe.”
She grimaces at him, then rises and heads to the kitchen to find Lucy. “Fine,” she mutters as she saunters out of the room. “I need a cigarette, anyway.”
His eyes flicker, revealing his own internal demons. “You need a fucking attitude change, babe,” he yells at her and watches her leave like she’s a piece of meat.
Once she’s gone, he rises and moves to sit next to me.
Bianca knows her place and has accepted the fact she will never be his number one. She’s not his number one because she’s not dead yet. He hasn’t chosen her.
