Betrayed (10 page)

Celeste could be so annoying. Nosferatus, or vampires as humans cal ed them, were a race among the Nephilim. We had a few, most of them mixed with shape-shifting Werenephils or Neterus—

regular Nephilim. Making Kylie and Cade forget I froze a stupid bowl was different from Nosferatus’

feeding habits. I didn’t bother to answer her this time.

“Oh, and if you need help with your physics homework,” she added, starting out of the kitchen,

“let me know. Your answers to questions two and three are wrong.”

Smarty pants,
I snapped.

Sucky friend,
she retorted back.

“And FYI, your power of persuasion doesn’t work on me,” I cal ed out.

Celeste laughed. “I know, but it doesn’t hurt to Celeste laughed. “I know, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”

I let go of the bowl.
Freeze.
It became stil . I nudged it until it was at the same spot as before.

This had better work. I went back to my seat. Taking a deep breath, I waved at both Kylie and Cade at the same time.
Unfreeze.

“Did you do that?” Kylie finished the question she started to ask before I froze her.

“It’s a gypsy trick Grampa taught me. See?” I slowly swept my finger to the right, my heart pounding with dread. What if they freaked out and left the house screaming? I’d die. The bowl fol owed the invisible path.

Kylie took a step away from me, her eyes like saucers. My confidence nosedived. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea after al .

“Whoa!” Cade unfolded his lanky body from the chair and hurried forward. “Can I touch it?” He didn’t wait for my answer and tapped the bowl. It wobbled. He looked above and below the white plastic and shook his head. “How are you holding it up? Where are the hidden strings?”

“Sorry, family secret.” I grabbed the plastic from mid-air and took it to the sink. Kylie stil didn’t speak. In fact, she crossed her arms and moved as far away from me as humanly possible. If there wasn’t a wal , she’d be across the street. Her reaction hurt.

Cade, for once, was more vocal. “Come on, Lil. Tel us.”

I shook my head. “Gypsy tricks are never shared.” I made a play of checking my watch. “I need to leave for practice.” I turned on the water and rinsed the bowl, hoping they’d just leave. I was bummed by Kylie’s response.

“Okay. Uh, see you tomorrow,” she said.

When I looked at her, she didn’t meet my gaze.

I waited until the front door closed then turned off the water. Great. If my best friend couldn’t handle a little ‘gypsy trick,’ there was no way she could handle who I was. I walked back to my kitchen island and gathered my homework, slapping the text book on top of the folder. Just freakin’ great.

“How did it go?” Celeste asked quietly from behind me.

“She freaked out. Now we know.” I added my English book to the pile.

Celeste walked to where I stood, put her arms around me and pressed her cheek against my shoulder. We were about the same height and age, but her skinniness and pale skin always made her appear younger and fragile. She also wasn’t the touchy-feely type.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Hugging you. Humans do it al the time. It makes them feel better.”

I smiled but didn’t make a move to return the hug and spook her. “Yes, it does. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She stepped away and touched the edge of my physics textbook. “You want help with this?”

“Maybe later. I need to find something first.”

“What?”

“Something,” I added in a tired voice, wanting her gone. “Why don’t you go to HQ and see if they’ve heard from Bran?”

“I’ve been checking every ten minutes since you guys returned. Bran wil come to you first, so I’l just hang around here if you don’t mind.” I shrugged. “Okay. We have leftover meatloaf for dinner.”

Her eyes lit up. “Yeah, my favorite. You do your thing, and I’l entertain myself.” Guilt washed over me as she walked away, but I couldn’t hang out
and
search for Valafar’s present at the same time. Besides, I also needed to B.S. my way out of training.

Master Haziel was at the new HQ gym when I located his psi, probably waiting for me.

He responded to my ping and lowered his shield.
Where are you? It’s five to four.

Can I skip today?

Why?

I’ve lots of homework and a test coming up.

You skip once, it becomes a habit. But you
hunted this afternoon, so I’ll give you an hour to
study. Be here at five.
He terminated the link before I could protest.

I should have known Leather Face wouldn’t give me a break. I decided against pul ing down the paintings and headed to Grampa’s bedroom. Guilt at invading his privacy washed over me, but I pushed it aside. He shouldn’t have hidden the presents from me in the first place.

me in the first place.

His bedroom had the bare essentials, a double bed and a bedside table. One spiffy suit shared space in his walk-in closet with half a dozen dark-green and brown pairs of hunting pants and shirts, and several coats. The few casual clothes he owned, jeans and normal shirts, looked lonely and miserable on two shelves, the rest were empty. No sweaters, sweatshirts or rows of ties like you see in magazines. Footwear was limited to heavy-duty boots.

The bathroom was equal y stark. Towels, a few cans of shaving creams and lotions and nothing else. I left his quarters and went through the cabinets in the kitchen. I hadn’t bought more utensils since we moved from the trailer, so most of the cabinets were empty. Or maybe the kitchen was just too big for the two of us. The only thing we had plenty of was spices. Grampa loved to cook when he wasn’t hunting.

While digging through storage boxes downstairs, I heard a familiar chuckle. I peeked from behind the pile I already checked. Bran leaned against the doorframe, coat gone, arms crossed and a lopsided dimpled grin on his lips. Just seeing that smile made me feel better. Things must have gone wel .

“Can’t find them?” he asked teasingly.

“Can’t find what?” I made a show of pul ing the flaps and col apsing the box in my hand.

“The presents. Unless, of course, you’re doing spring cleaning.” His lips twitched.

“Spring cleaning. The boxes take up less space this way.”

Bran laughed, dimples flashing. “You’re such a girl.”

“Meaning what?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“You hear the word ‘presents’ and you become starry eyed.”

“Oh? Then what does that make you? I remember your excitement when we traded presents on Christmas.”

“That was different.” He moved inside the room, picked a box from the stack to my right and shook it to see if there was anything inside, then threw it aside. “Your gifts were the first I’ve ever received.”

I frowned. “No way. Not even on birthdays?”

“My mother didn’t believe in birthdays. She cal ed it celebrating mortality, something her sons didn’t need to worry about.”

Every time I heard about his bleak childhood, I wondered how much more he wasn’t sharing. “I like to think of birthdays as celebrating life.”

“Only losers acknowledge they survived a year and hope they cheat death again.” His mother’s words, I was sure. Bran wasn’t that cynical. Or maybe he was just in a weird mood, like me. I wanted to know about Solange and the List, but first things first.

“How’s Gavyn?” I asked.

Bran pushed his hands inside the front pockets of his pants and studied me without speaking. Then his lips turned up at the corners, his emerald eyes guarded. Uh-oh, bad news.

“The Brotherhood took him in.” He spoke slowly, another sign that he had bad news.

I dropped the box and walked to his side, my eyes not leaving his face. “But?”

“It’s going to take weeks. Their healer is old and not that powerful.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? Link with him—”

“No. Jeez, what a thought.” He cupped my face, pressed his forehead against mine. “In his weakened state, he could suck your powers dry.”

“You’re forgetting one thing.”

He cocked his right eyebrow. “What?”

“I have the dagger to heal me.”

“No. We can’t chance it.” His voice was firm.

“Besides, we have other things to worry about.” My heart skipped a beat. “Like what?”

“The Lazari,” he said.

I shrugged. “By now word has spread about what I did to Solange. They won’t dare use hosts when I’m around. I mean, isn’t that why you asked me to let her go?”

“Hel yeah.” He leaned back to study my face, his eyes puzzled. “You never said you could command demons like that.”

“You never asked.”

He chuckled and rubbed the side of his face against mine. His warm breath fanned my cheek. My breathing hiked, heart leaping with anticipation. He smel ed so good. I slipped my arms around his waist, gripped the back of his shirt, and pul ed him waist, gripped the back of his shirt, and pul ed him closer. He was pure muscles and warmth. I loved that he topped me by five inches. He nuzzled my neck. Smel ing my essence, he cal ed it. I forced myself to focus on our conversation.

“Do you think Valafar sent her to hurt you and Gavyn?” I asked.

Once again, Bran leaned away from me and frowned. “I don’t think so. Solange is very bitter. Most Lazari were loyal to Coronis, which reminds me…

How did you know her name or that she works for your father?”

I didn’t feel like explaining the little demon-girl now or the decision I made to spare her life. “I got it from one of her people. You’re sure Valafar isn’t behind this?”

“I don’t know, but with the Lazari loose in the world, anything is possible. Nature-benders usual y despise the Lazari, yet Valafar teamed up with Solange’s group. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Your ex-girlfriend has a group?”

His eyes flashed. “She wasn’t my girlfriend.

Just someone I hooked up with for a short period.

Most demons tend to separate into groups based on loyalty to a Lord or a cause. Coronis had a way of dealing with that.”

I didn’t care about Coronis. “Hooked up with?”

He pressed his forehead against mine again and sighed. “Lil, Coronis made us do al sorts of crazy things as part of our initiation. I had no choice in what happened to me on that island.” Sweet relief rippled through me. He didn’t choose Solange.

“I’m happy we vanquished Coronis,” I said.

“Am I forgiven?” He flashed that lethal smile of his again.

“Only if you promise
not
to stop me from taking out Solange next time we meet.” He laughed, brushed his lips against mine.

When he leaned closer for a deeper contact, I evaded his lips. He chuckled. “I promise.”
Now you can kiss me.

He did. Little nibbles designed to drive me crazy.

“Tease,” I griped.

He cupped my head and kissed me properly.

Thoughts disappeared from my head. Sparks exploded from my lips and spread under my skin, making me feel energized. Nothing else mattered except Bran and how beautiful and wonderful he made me feel. When I came up for air, I couldn’t recal what we’d been discussing.

“Are you working with Haziel today?” he asked, and from the twinkle in his eyes, it wasn’t the first time.

“Hmm. Uh, yeah, five.”

He looked at his watch. “Then we have time.” He led me to the L-sectional couch a few feet away, sat on the recliner end, and pul ed me down on his lap. “Tel me about your day.”

I shifted until I sprawled on top of him with my head on his chest. I could hear his heart beating hard and steady. This was the highlight of my day. Lying on his chest and doing nothing or sharing the things we did apart.

“Mr. Sorenson picked on me again. I came this close to zapping him.” I indicated with my forefinger and thumb. “Then Celeste came and I did the image retrieval thing, which I now know I shouldn’t have done.” I covered Bran’s lips when I felt them move on my temple. “Don’t say a word. Mrs. D

already chewed my ear. It was weird, like I lost my head during the retrieval. Anyway, the rest you know

—we came to Seattle, kicked some demon butt, came back, and here we are. Now, I want to hear about the List. Why does Valafar want it yet insists we shouldn’t search for it? How does it involve you?”

“You left out the part about your cel phone and Kylie.”

His sister had a big mouth, and he was hedging. “What did she tel you?”

“That Kylie hurt your feelings. What happened?”

I skimmed over the incident. “She’s my friend.

She’l come around.”

Bran ran the tips of his fingers up and down my arm, but didn’t respond right away. I lifted my head so I could see his eyes. They were narrowed, as though he was thinking about something unpleasant. “Say something.”

“She’s your friend
and
wil come around.”

“Quit patronizing me.” I pinched his nose.

“Just agreeing with you, Sunshine. Kylie is lucky to have you as a friend. If she can’t handle who you are, let her go.” He cupped my cheek and kissed you are, let her go.” He cupped my cheek and kissed me.

I got sidetracked, but not for long. Putting my hand between our faces, I forced him to stop. “I can’t let Kylie go. She’s my best friend. I run to her when al this Guardian business becomes overwhelming.” He frowned. “That’s what I’m here for.” Ooh, he was jealous. How ridiculous and sweet. “You’re not around al the time. Anyway, tel me about the List.”

He shrugged. “There’s nothing to it.” I searched his face. “It can’t be
nothing.
Not when Valafar warned Grampa not to search for it and Solange said you’d join them if they got it first.” Bran chuckled.

“It’s not funny,” I scolded him.

His expression became serious. “No, it’s not.

The List contains damned souls, or names of people who sold their souls to Coronis and her minions.

Whenever a person sel s his or her soul to a demon, they sign a contract, a special scrol . Their names appear on the List and stay there until they either die or fulfil their contract.”

“And the contracts?”

“They go to their superior, a dark lord the demons serve, then to a warehouse.”