Anathema (Causal Enchantment, #1) (41 page)

Bishop remained quiet, his eyes focused on the
ground ahead of him, his arms hugging his chest tightly as if he
was restraining himself. So far, if they were trying to convince
me, they weren’t doing a good job.

I returned my focus to Caden, looking up at him
questioningly. Those beautiful jade irises gazed down at me
adoringly. His face softened. “Yes, of course. We were being too
protective of you. We weren’t thinking rationally. You’re safe with
the Council. You shouldn’t be afraid.” He smiled tenderly, pushing
a strand of hair from my face. “You
trust me
,
right?”

My stomach plummeted. There it was. That word.
The word he had warned me of before. He was sending me a message.
It meant that I was in terrible danger. “Yes, I
trust
you,” I said slowly, emphasizing that deceptive word, offering him
a small smile and, I hoped, an indication that I understood him
loud and clear.

He stroked my hair softly as Mage spoke. “Your
friends here were very cooperative in filling the Council in,” she
said, again smiling at the four of them.

How cooperative? What does the Council
know? And how did they get that information?
Eyes wide with
concern
,
I glanced up at Caden to see him staring straight
ahead now, his face expressionless. The others held the same blank,
incomprehensible gaze. Had they been tortured?

“
We understand you’re looking for a
way to bring your friends back with you—a portal of some sort, like
this statue,” Jonah said.

I nodded reluctantly. Rachel could have told
them.

“
That’s so gallant of you,” Mage
crooned, smiling. She was trying to win me over with kindness and
flattery. She walked toward me, her hand outstretched, beckoning me
to come forward. She stopped halfway, forcing me to peel myself
from Caden’s side, something I dreaded doing, but I knew I had no
choice.

“
And this necklace will tell you
how, right?” Mage reached up to the collar of my shirt, her
fingertips grazing my skin. I fought hard against the urge to
cringe. Her long nail hooked the chain. She pulled at it until my
pendant slid out. “Beautiful,” she murmured, gazing at the bright
orange swirls. She let go, the pendant landing softly on the
outside of my shirt, visible to all.

“
Your friends told us about these
vampires on the other side. How they’re using you.” She made a
tutting sound. “It’s just awful, how that witch deceived and cursed
you. You can’t protect yourself against them. What do they have
planned for you once you get there?”

“
I’ve made arrangements to be
adequately taken care of afterward,” I answered vaguely.

Mage gave me a doubtful smile. “And you trust
them?” She took a casual step forward. “We could help you. Protect
you. This group of us around you—” she motioned to the group of
vampire onlookers “—are extremely powerful. Much more powerful than
those three. Even the witch. After all, we would forever be in your
debt. You could have anything you wanted.
Absolutely
anything
.”

So that was it. That was their angle. Nurture
distrust in Sofie, offer their allegiance and protection—my own
personal bloodsucking bodyguard—and all the riches imaginable. All
I had to do was bring them home with me. To infest Earth. To start
another war, annihilating another world of humans.
Clever
vampire
,
but I’m on to you
and this won’t
work
. Thank God the pendant masked my skepticism. “That would
be great,” I said slowly, forcing what I hoped looked like a
genuine smile. “I hope I can figure out where the portal
is.”

“
Oh, so do we! For your friends’
sake, you must!”

I frowned. “I don’t understand. I thought you
said we were all safe here.”

“
Oh, yes, you are. But, you see,
there’s a throng of vampires outside this rubble.
Hundreds
of them. They saw us carrying this statue here, and your friends,
bound with Merth. The Council is powerful, but there are only
sixteen of us. We can only hold them back for a few days. Then,
when they break through and find out … well, if they found out that
your friends were planning an exodus without even considering them
… your friends would not last long,” she explained soberly. “After
that, when you return … well, that group is not nearly as civilized
as we are.”

And who would tell them about our
plan?
I wondered bitterly. It was as plain as day, the threat
Mage was laying before me.
Transport us now or we throw your
friends to the horde. Then, when you come back, you get to die a
horrifying death too.

I glanced back at Caden and the others. They
seemed so far away. I swallowed the painful lump forming in my
throat, feeling the unbearable weight of the situation pushing down
on my shoulders. “Well then, we need to get everyone out of here
before that happens.”

Mage beamed, pleased with herself.

“
The scamp is lying,” Rachel
growled.

Mage chuckled softly. “She would never risk
doing something like that—give us such expectations, only to try
deceiving us. Especially when we’d see it coming and have to react
accordingly,” she added, smiling as she delivered another silent
but clear, equally deadly threat.

What a
silver–tongued
vampire.

“
Don’t be an idiot,” Rachel scoffed
with an arrogant smirk. It was promptly knocked off as Jonah lashed
out, striking her cheek and sending her flying. Rachel was on her
feet instantly, wiping a drop of blood from her lip. She was
seething with rage.

“
I warned you, Rachel,” Mage calmly
said, glancing at Jonah. Another strand of Merth magically appeared
in his hand.

Rachel growled. Her eyes darted to me, sizing
up the distance between us. I knew what she was thinking. Could she
get to me before Jonah or Mage intercepted? No. She decided she
couldn’t.

With a deranged shriek, she lunged for the next
best way to tear my heart out of my body without needing to lay a
finger on me.

Caden.

It was like witnessing a horrific car crash in
slow motion, though I knew they were moving at warp speed, fast
enough that I shouldn’t have been able to discern any of
it.

Thankfully, Caden outmaneuvered Rachel’s
flying, clawing hands before she could grab hold of him. She plowed
into the statue with enough force to make it teeter several times
before finally toppling. The ground shook with the
crash.

“
Now look what you’ve done, Rachel!”
Mage scolded. “You’re lucky it didn’t break. Evangeline may not
have been able to come back!”

Rachel had no opportunity to reply, though, as
Jonah threw a cord of Merth around her neck. She dropped to the
ground like a sack of potatoes, immobilized but facing me, her icy
glare still boring into my body.

The statue’s new horizontal position gave me a
clear view of the woman’s hand. I had never seen it so close
before.
The statue’s hand.
Sofie’s request. My return into
the clutches of the Council and Rachel had banished Sofie’s
suggestion from my thoughts—until now.

I crouched to peer closely at the hand. Her
fingers were contorted into an unnatural, uncomfortable pose, as if
to hold something small and awkwardly shaped. Like … a
heart.

My pendant.

I yelped in pain as a jolt of electricity
shocked me at the same time that an eye–popping burst of blue light
exploded from my pendant.

M
y eyes widened in alarm.

“
What is it?” Mage exclaimed,
clapping her hands. She was a female version of Viggo. Likely just
as devious.
They’d get along well.

“
I don’t know,” I answered, puzzled.
I touched hesitant fingertips to the glowing blue heart. It was icy
cold. What did it mean?
Is this blue light how the pendant
communicates? Have I stumbled upon the portal?

Another brilliant flash of blue light and
painful shock answered.

My mouth dropped open. It was answering
me.

“
It’s the statue, isn’t it? That’s
the portal?” Mage whispered, her eyes wild with
anticipation.

My mouth clamped shut as I clenched my teeth
together.
Stupid perceptive vampire.

A murmur of anticipation hummed through the
decaying room, the first indication that the other Council members
were capable of speaking.

“
I’m not sure yet,” I answered
honestly, gazing down at the statue’s hand again, studying it more
closely without making my focal point obvious.
So, all I have
to do is place my heart into it?
I asked the pendant. The
pendant glowed and shocked me again in response.

It was answering my questions!

But I couldn’t take the pendant off or I’d die
… Maybe I don’t have to take it off in order for the spell to
work?

Another glow, another shock.

How was this working? I quickly tested it.
If I’m right, you’ll shock me?
I asked. I felt the
responding shock.
If I’m wrong, will you shock me?
Nothing. So a shock and blue light meant an affirmation. I eagerly
began rhyming off questions in my head.
Can I bring more than
one vampire back?
Yes, it told me.

How will it know to bring Caden, Fiona,
Amelie, and Bishop?
I waited for about five seconds but there
was no shock or glow of acknowledgement. But maybe that question
was too open–ended.
Do I need to be touching them?
No
reaction. So the answer was no.
Is there something else they
need to do?
Yes, it told me. What, though? Again, an
open–ended question that the pendant couldn’t answer.

I sat quietly, biting my bottom lip, staring at
the statue, pondering possibilities.

Anger flared deep within me. The portal had
been in front of us the whole time and I was too stupid to look. It
should have been the first place I looked—it was so obvious! I
could have finished this blasted curse and freed us long
ago.

So they don’t have to touch me … Do they
have to touch the statue?
Yes, it told me.

So … if they’re touching the statue when I
put the pendant in her hand, they’ll come home with me?
The
last shock and glow of affirmation made me gasp loudly.

I had figured it out! I knew how to bring them
home with me! My grin surely stretched from ear to ear.

“
What is it?” Jonah hissed
impatiently.

The smile immediately collapsed. I had been so
wrapped up with the discovery that I forgot the dilemma we were in.
The ring of ancient, powerful, desperate vampires still encircled
me, scrutinizing my every move.
How am I going to do
this?

“
Well?” Mage prodded.

My eyes scanned the Council, not settling on
any individual but seeing them all perfectly. Yes, they were all
watching intently, growing more agitated by the second, like hounds
around a barrel of meat, waiting patiently for the only answer
they’d be willing to hear.

“
I’m not sure what it’s telling me
yet,” I murmured, assuming my best look of confusion. I sat down in
front of the statue, legs crossed and hands against my temples as
if concentrating deeply. It was good cover for hiding my panicked
expression. I had to figure a way out of this mess.

I silently weighed my options. If I did
nothing, we were all dead. Not an option. I didn’t want to die. I
couldn’t let the others die. But how could I embed my necklace into
the statue’s hand
and
get Caden, Amelie, Fiona, and Bishop
to touch the statue, all while a ring of vampires hovered around
us? Vampires, I reminded myself, who could move lightning fast and
tear my body apart in the blink of an eye. Who
would
tear
me apart if they suspected I was attempting to leave them. And I’d
be a fool to think I could outsmart these ageless
monsters.

I had only one option. No alternatives. I had
to bring them back with me.

All of them.

There weren’t
that
many, really, I
convinced myself, mentally conducting a head count. Viggo and
Mortimer had more than enough space and money to house them. Sofie
would have successfully wired the place with the Merth I harvested
so they’d be trapped, unable to wreak havoc on New York. And Sofie
would have that talisman she was talking about so the humans would
be safe from the vampires’ ravenous thirst.

I had pinky sworn, though …

The current circumstances had to warrant an
exception. Sofie wouldn’t want me dying here tonight. I had to
believe that. So whatever her complication was with Veronique’s
tomb spell, Mortimer and Viggo would have to wait a little longer
to reunite with their mummy bride. At least they’d have plenty of
venomous vampires at their disposal when the time came.

The more I thought about this plan, the more
comfortable I became with it and the easier it was to convince
myself that I was right. Viggo, Mortimer, and Sofie could deal with
this lot. After all, why should I die—along with Caden, Amelie,
Fiona, and Bishop—doing what they asked me to? What they cursed me
to do. They wanted one infectious vampire. Well, they were getting
twenty.