Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (16 page)

Something
latched onto my arms and legs and started pulling me under the water. The
bottom of the tub had disappeared into a black hole and I was being sucked into
it. I thrashed in the water and when I felt my physical body hit something that
was invisible to me I snapped out of my fear.

This was just a
horrible nightmare and I had to concentrate on getting out. I let the dark
creature pull me under the water more while I focused on waking up. It was
getting harder to breathe by the second but I forced myself to search my mind
for the thread of darkness that was latched to my brain.

I felt myself
getting light-headed when I finally pushed the darkness out and gasped myself
awake. For the first time since these nightmares had started, I realized that
they could kill me. This darkness could make me do whatever it wanted, even
make me drown myself. It finally hit me that this darkness was going to kill
me, one way or another.

I jumped out of
the bathtub and quickly drained the water. I was trembling as I dried off and
threw on some clothes. I didn’t even bother to dry my hair before I left
my room and ran down the hallway to Felix’s.

I pounded on his
door, not afraid to wake him or anyone else in the hallway. This was an
emergency. I probably should have gone to Riley’s room and talked to her
but I wanted Felix’s comfort. I wanted him to wrap his arms around me and
let me cry on his shoulder.

He opened the
door just a crack and looked warily at me.

"Avery?"
He sounded uncertain.

I nodded and
tears flowed out of my eyes. Felix threw the door open and pulled me inside.

"What’s
wrong? What happened?"

"I almost
just drowned in the bath tub." I wrapped my arms around myself and
started to tremble. Just the remembering the hopeless feeling took its toll on
me.

Felix sighed and
pulled me into a hug. I didn’t resist and wrapped my arms around his
middle, resting my head on his solid chest. He didn’t say anything for a
minute, just held me and ran his hand through my still damp hair.

"I should
have known how tough this was going to be for you. Most Lovac are more prepared
for the darkness. At least I found you before it started to get too intense.
How would you feel if this started to happen without an explanation?"

I sniffed into
his chest and hoped he didn’t mind that I was drenching his shirt in
tears. "Crazy," was all I muttered. "But I feel crazy
now."

"You’re
not. You still have control of yourself most of the time. When that drops below
the majority of your time, then you’ll be considered crazy. But it
won’t happen. Not for you."

Anytime Felix or
Riley mentioned that I would find my Dimidium, I could hear the jealousy in
their voice. I wasn’t as trusting of Riley’s power and part of me
hoped they weren’t completely true. I wanted to find my Dimidium but I
also wanted them to find theirs. It wasn’t fair to them, that some
human-raised Lovac would find peace before them.

"Come
on," Felix said, pulling out of our embrace and pulling me towards the
bed. "You need to get some sleep. I’ll make sure you don’t go
into another nightmare."

Felix saw my
hesitation and added, "I’ll be a complete gentleman.
Promise."

I let Felix pull
me onto his bed and he wrapped his arms around me again. I placed my head
against his chest again and curled up next to him. This was longest he had let
me get close to him and I was praying he wouldn’t yank away at any
minute.

His hands ran up
and down my back, calming me into a deep sleep. I don’t know how long I
slept for, but when I woke up, Felix was still lying underneath me, snoring
gently. My heart fluttered and that’s when I realized: I was starting to
fall in love with this man.

A knock on the
door a few minutes later caused Felix to shoot up in bed and send me almost
falling off.

"Sorry,"
he said, looking almost confused at my presence but his thoughts cleared a
moment later. He smiled gently and kissed me on the forehead. "Stay
here."

"The
council requests to see Avery in the meeting hall in fifteen minutes," a
voice said when Felix opened the door. I could almost hear how uncomfortable
Felix felt that someone knew I had spent the night with him.

"Of course.
I’ll escort her down there myself," Felix said.

He shut the door
and came back around the corner. He had an amused smiled when he looked at me
again.

"What?"
I asked.

"Your hair
looks like a tumble weed."

I groaned.
That’s what I get for sleeping with wet hair. I crawled out of bed and
ran to the bathroom without another word. I threw my tangled hair into a pony
tail and when I glanced in the mirror, I saw faint bruises dusting my cheeks
and arms. If I was completely human, I imagined they would be black and blue,
not faded to a light green.

Felix was ready
to go when I exited the bathroom and we slowly made our way down to the main
level where the meeting room was. We were both sore from the fight yesterday
but my body was adjusting enough to the pain that it was tolerable.

We were greeted
by a few disapproving looks from the council members as we entered the room. I
didn’t know if that was because Felix was with me or because they knew I
had been with Felix. All night. Either way, I didn’t care. I was eighteen
and they had no say in my personal life.

I expected the
room to be fancier but it was rather plain. There was a long table at the front
of the room where the council members were sitting. The Nesmyr members were
seated in the middle with the Lovac members separated on either side. The rest
of the room was empty right now. It wasn't very large but it could probably
hold quite a few chairs if there was need for it.

Felix and I
stood in front of the table and waited.

"Felix,"
Rema said. "Thank you for escorting Avery here. Would you mind waiting
outside for a few minutes?"

Felix nodded to
Rema and gave me an apologetic smile. I was sure they only called me here to
discuss if I would be deemed ready of taking jobs, but I still wanted Felix to
stay, mainly because being near him calmed my nerves.

"We asked
for you to come here so we could give you our verdict on whether or not you
will be allowed to start taking jobs," Rema said. It was clear she was not
the head of the council but it looked like the Nesmyr council members were too
good to address a Lovac. "After some discussion we have agreed to let you
start taking jobs as long as you are with another Lovac until you start to
understand the proper procedures and can handle the jobs on your own."

I wasn't really
surprised. Rema and Carson made it pretty clear yesterday that I was ready for
battle. Now I just wondered when I would be going on my first job and what it
would consist of. I knew Lovac fought Zhulik, but when, where and even why were
unanswered questions.

"You will
also be presented your very own stake," Rema continued. "Keep it
with you at all times and make sure you don't lose it. These stakes are very
hard to acquire and if you lose yours, you will not be given a
replacement."

I nodded in
understanding and a Nesmyr worker was soon standing in front of me with a black
box in his hands. He opened it in front of me and nestled in the foam was the
most beautiful piece of crystal I had ever seen. This shocked me almost more
than anything else I had learned about these people. I expected it to be a
silver stake, since I've always heard stories of Vampires and werewolves being
weakened by silver. The crystal was shaped like I had pictured a stake would,
though. It had a thick base with a good grip that narrowed to a very sharp point.
I didn't know it was even possible for crystal to get that sharp. It also
glimmered. There was a rainbow of colors being made from the light and in the
very core of the crystal was a rainbow colored strand of smoke. I assumed this
was a trace of the fairy magic that Carson said it was enchanted with.

Speaking of the
magic, I could sense it from the object. I thought I was only able to sense
power coming from living beings but this stake was giving off enough energy
that I could feel the familiar tingle in my body indicating power but it was
nothing compared to what I could sense from an actual person.

I picked the
stake up with shaking hands and felt the power surge through me. It was
exhilarating and like nothing I had ever felt before. It almost felt like the
magic was being transferred directly from the stake into me.

I tossed the
stake around in my hands. It was the perfect weight for being able to maneuver
with it quickly. It was cold and smooth and I couldn't stop staring at
it. 

I was so
mesmerized by the beauty of the stake that I hadn't realized Rema had been
asking me a question.

"I'm sorry.
What did you ask?" I said, pulling my gaze from the stake and looking in
the faces of either amused or irritated people.

"I asked if
you had any questions." While Rema’s tone held irritation, she had
an amused look on her face.

"Oh,"
I paused to think. "Actually, I do. How do I start getting jobs?"

"Felix will
teach you about that. In fact, can you tell Felix that he may come in
now," Rema said, addressing the Nesmyr worker that had given me my stake.
He nodded and let Felix in, who immediately came to stand next to me.

"Felix,"
Rema started. "Avery has just been approved to start taking jobs on the
condition that she goes with another Lovac until she understands how to
properly handle them. She has just received her own stake and we would like it
if you could start teaching her how to get jobs. I would prefer it if you could
start out with a simple job and work your way up."

"Of
course," Felix said.

"Excellent.
I think that is all we have to talk about. You are both excused."

Felix gave a
small bow and I mimicked him. The Nesmyr worker gave me the box to carry my
stake in before we left room. I didn't want to let go of the stake but I didn't
want to look out of place carrying it in my hand. Felix saw my hesitation and
tried to reassure me that it wouldn't be in that case for very long.

"We should
go get you some custom gear so you have a place to put it in your
clothing," he said as we left the meeting room.

"What do
you mean?"

Felix pulled a
small piece of fabric away from the side of his pants that revealed a holster
for his stake. He explained that there was a small shop here that made custom
clothing with small pockets to hide the stake so we could carry it without
anyone noticing it. He said I could choose any design and color I wanted and
could have as many items as I wanted made.

It was probably
as close to going shopping in a mall for clothes that I would get while I was
here. I was excited about it, though. I had never had custom clothing before
and I was eager to get it designed the way I wanted it. I'd seen a lot of the
clothing Riley and the other female Lovac wore and I was jealous of it. Now, I
would get some of my own.

"Can we do
that now?" I asked.

"Sure."
He shrugged. "We'll go get you some items picked out and while they're
working on them I can start teaching you about finding jobs."

"I can't
wait. This is all so exciting."

"We'll see
how excited you are after your first job."

I opened my
mouth to argue but I had nothing to say. He was right. I might be excited now
but once I actually had to face a Zhulik and really put my power to the test I
might not be very eager to take more jobs. Facing a Zhulik also meant trying to
kill one. I wasn't sure if I was ready to kill anyone, even if it was an evil
monster. If all Zhulik were like Lucas, they looked almost like regular people
once you got past the red eyes and deathly pale skin. 

The only thing I
knew I would be excited about was the chance to take down the demon that killed
my mom. As much as I wanted to hunt Lucas, the demon was my first priority.

I had guessed
that the clothing place was on the main level of the facility where a lot of
other shop-like places were but Felix surprised me when we went downstairs to
the Nesmyr staff rooms.

"The ladies
that make the clothing aren't commissioned by the head Nesmyr so they have to
work down here in secret. Most of these women are the wives of the men that
serve the upper class Nesmyr. They didn't want to get official jobs here so
they do this instead."

"Will they
get in trouble for doing this if they're caught?"

"No. Upper
class Nesmyr don't really care what the lower class ones do. They do it in
secret because they don't want the upper class Nesmyr to start coming to them
for custom clothing. They would rather make clothing for people they actually
get along with."