Book of Life (11 page)

“A friend?” What I really wanted to ask was if it was another vampire. The whole vampire thing still put me on edge. Who’s to say I couldn’t easily catch the fever, too?

I wasn’t being super careful about the thoughts I was hiding today. Jake gave me an annoyed look and brushed past me into the kitchen, next to the living room. He opened the fridge and grabbed what looked like a soda, though I knew it was something far more sinister than that.

He held it in the air. “I’d offer you one, but . . .”

“Yeah.
But . . .
” I teased.

“It’s not really your flavor. Though I do have some you may like given your somewhat animal taste. There’s bovine, antelope . . . want to try?” He snapped the top of the can and took a few sips. I saw blood on his lip when the can dropped away.

Just seeing him like that gave me a sudden aversion to anything animal, though that seemed an unlikely thing. “No thanks.”

Jake shrugged and walked from the kitchen to the living room, plopping on the couch opposite Emily where I had sat just moments ago. “So, what are these pills we’re talking about? Where are they?”

Emily looked over her shoulder at me. I reached down and rummaged through Emily’s bag until I heard the pills rattle inside the bottle. A moment later I had them in my hand and was headed back to the couch. This time, I took my spot beside Emily.

“Here,” I tossed the bottle to Jake, seeing Emily’s eyes follow it as it flew through the air, much in the way a trained dog followed a tennis ball—that scared me, but I hid that thought from her.

Jake looked at the label before deducing it useless and opening the lid instead. He brought the bottle to his nose and took a gentle sniff before wrinkling it and jerking away. “That’s Angel Blood alright. And you just had this lying around?” He was addressing Emily.

Emily nodded timidly.

“I can’t believe you had this lying around and didn’t take it sooner. I’m actually surprised Max didn’t find it on his sweep. Dreadfully addictive thing this is.”

Again, I felt another twinge of fear rake through me, but I hid it from Emily. A relapse had always been a concern of mine, but I’d hoped it wouldn’t happen—perhaps stupidly hoped. I wasn’t sure I was really prepared to worry about her every minute of the day as I felt I’d have to now, knowing that she had the capacity to relapse—I thought she was stronger than that. How would I sleep wondering if she wasn’t hiding a renewed addiction behind my back? Mind reading would be a useful trait to have—another reason to be jealous of Jake and the connection him and Emily shared despite my desires to ignore it.

Jake could read her thoughts if she let him. Jake could easily slide into a place of need to her.

Emily wasn’t looking at either of us anymore. I could see concern on Jake’s face replace the amazement he’d previously had to the fact of the pills. For some reason I hated that look on him. It made him seem sappy.

“At any rate, my guess is that this isn’t just a generic, this is the real stuff, straight from our favorite twin brother.” He rattled the pills out of the jar and into the palm of his hand, inspecting them. “I’ve sometimes heard that when you ingest the blood of another being,” he looked at me. “And sometimes even animals, you get a glimpse into their souls.”

Emily’s attention was shamefully fixated on the pills in Jake’s hand. Was it really so hard for her to suppress the craving?

“I’ve only had human blood once. They make us taste it to show us it doesn’t taste good—it doesn’t—but you definitely get a hint of soul in it, old thoughts, strange desires and dreams. And it’s true you do get a hint of the animal’s soul when you ingest that, when it’s fresh, but they’re simple thoughts from simple minds.” He gestured to the can in his hand. “This blood is so processed there’s no hint of anything anymore. Sad really.” I could tell Jake was trying to act as though that bothered him, but for some reason a small part of me thought otherwise. “I’ve never had Angel Blood before, a little too narcotic for me. I’ve heard the effects are wild, though. I suspect this is what you experienced? I’m personally not into that trippy kind of stuff. It’s bad for you, and stupid.” He was taking a less compassionate approach than me but I was grateful for it. “But the stuff out there on the market is usually synthetic or harvested from a dead angel, if they can find one—hence the richy rich reputation of it. Potent as Hell—I would imagine.”

Emily recoiled beside me in assumed shame.

Jake went on. “I remember how I felt after having that human blood—I felt horrible. My mind was a wreck of thoughts that weren’t mine. It wore off after about fifteen minutes, I believe, but it was the strangest fifteen minutes of my life.” He directed his attention toward Emily. “Didn’t you feel this when he fed it to you before?”

Emily drew her gaze out of her lap. “I don’t remember. I don’t really
want
to remember.”

All I could think about was the way she had been, completely dazed. I couldn’t blame her for not remembering, not when I saw for myself the blank look in her eyes. They had been ink wells of nothingness, blackness to where there was no end.

“Well, that has to be what’s happening to you, but in this case, the blood you’re taking isn’t from a person who is dead. You must be getting clean, up to date thoughts like a Twitter feed on auto-post.” I could see the excitement in Jake build, but I beat him to the question I assumed came next.

“So, what did Greg say?” I asked as respectfully as I could, hoping she wasn’t too traumatized to tell us. I hadn’t bothered to ask in the car, I was too frightened of what she’d tell me and how I’d handle it while driving.

Emily seemed to collect herself as best she could. She tore her gaze away from the pills Jake was guiding back into the belly of the orange bottle, lifting her chin. “He was talking to Avery.”

Jake and I both steeled as she said this. Now I was a little upset she hadn’t filled me in in the car.

“You heard Avery, too?” Jake gushed.

Emily nodded. “It was a little harder to hear what she had to say, but I still heard it. Probably the last voice I ever wanted to hear right now . . . even worse than hearing Greg’s.”

I touched her gently. I could literally feel her arm hairs rise under the contact, indicating she was more on edge than she shared. “And you know for sure it was her?” I asked.

Emily nodded more confidently. “I’m
positive
it was her,” she snapped, seemingly angry that I’d questioned her. Her eyes were clear as they bore through me. “I could never forget that voice, not when it haunts every unsupervised thought in my head. They were talking about Winter Wood. They were talking about gathering the Black Angels and heading this way. They were talking about a
war.
” Her angered gaze dropped from mine and she looked back into her lap.

“They’re coming this way? From where? How long do we have?” Jake sat forward in his seat.

Emily looked distressed over Jake’s line of questions. She dropped her head even deeper into her hands and rubbed her forehead. “When I came into the conversation they were discussing conquests over the eastern priories.” She looked up. “I would guess from the east, then? How far east are these priories? Is he talking about the east coast?”

I shook my head. “East, east, I believe,” remembering what Max had mentioned at Jane’s funeral. “I mean, we’re talking Asia, but that doesn’t matter. It can’t take them long to get here, not when you’re an angel. Any time would be spent organizing and planning, not traveling.”

“Hopefully they’re as unorganized as Greg,” Jake added.

Emily ignored Jake’s attempt to lighten the mood. “I don’t like the gravity of this,” Emily mumbled, playing with her hands in her lap.

I looked over my shoulder toward the front window, seeing that the snow had really begun to fall. My mind flashed with images of blood against the stark white of snow. I imagined myself in the middle of all that, fighting for my life. This was hardly a season for something like this—I didn’t like this idea any more than she did. Then again, it wasn’t an idea or notion we could ignore or control.

I turned back to face Jake and Emily. “We need to make sure this is really happening. How can we prove that what Emily heard is really true?”

Jake began biting his lip, his gaze darting about the room. They reflected light from every source and pulled energy from each shadow. “We need to go to the priory. They would be able to find out. They probably already know.”

“I don’t like the priory.” Max’s distrust had me convinced. It was someplace I had never been. Government had never been something I trusted, whether in the human world or not.

“Either do I, but it’s the only way we’re going to get answers—unless you’re willing to waste time trying to find Max?”

I shook my head. At this point there was no knowing where Max was. I couldn’t call him up because it’s not like he had a cell phone. He was too above it all for that.

STELLA:

After going through the gate into Winter Wood, it wasn’t long before we arrived at what I assumed to be Jake’s house. We got out of his car as the cold wind hit me and made our way to a red door.

Jake’s hand paused on the handle. “So, listen. My friends are on their way over here right now. I’m taking you to my room and you need to stay there. They shouldn’t be long. I’ll come get you when they’re gone, alright?” He narrowed his gaze, unlocking the door. We walked in. I was met with a blast of warm air that was briefly enjoyed as he grabbed my wrist and yanked me up the stairs.
What was his rush?

Upstairs, he dragged me down a long hallway and into a room to the right. “So, here it is—my room.” He rattled the keys in his hands before grabbing the handle to his door. “I’m serious. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

I was looking around his room, my gaze popping between him and my unfamiliar surroundings. It was dark in here, and the smell in the air was admittedly dank and humid. Things were neat and tidy, not a surprise given what I’d learned about him so far and the clean appearance of his car. There was a single mattress on the floor. The sheets there were made, pillows set up more like a lounge than a place to actually sleep.

“Sit down and relax. You look like you could use it,” he guided.

I backed toward the mattress, trying to sit but finding myself half falling as the mattress was so close to the ground. Landing abruptly, I found it was surprisingly soft. I bounced on it a little to test its limits. I knew, from somewhere in the back of my mind, what a mattress was, but a part of me felt I’d never really slept in one while the other part welcomed it like an old friend. The last few weeks had been fine as an owl. I was used to a cozy branch and fluffed feathers, nuzzling my beak under one wing. The human part of me craved comfort, though.

Jake was looking at me strangely, the same way he’d been looking at me since he picked me up off the side of the road. “Remind me to get you some of my sister’s clothes later, too. That outfit is just not working for anyone. Where did you even find it?”

I didn’t bother to allow him into my thoughts. I probably never would again. I couldn’t and shouldn’t trust anyone, not when I barely knew who I was to begin with. I left him without an answer.

He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anyway.” He suddenly perked up, turning so that his ear was better positioned to hear through the opening of his bedroom door.

I myself heard a mumbled voice downstairs, my own senses now perking to the sound.

Jake leaned out his door, already closing it behind him. “Hey! I’ll be there in a minute!” he yelled in the direction of the stairs. He swung his head back in the room. “Remember, stay here. I’ll come get you when I get the chance.” He pointed to a wooden table of sorts. Atop it was an illuminated device my mind wanted to understand but wasn’t able to find the word for, much as the phone had been. “You can use my computer if you like—if you even know how to use one.”

I blinked my gaze away from the computer. The name he’d given the object rang another bell but my animal side wasn’t very interested in touching anything that was illuminated in such a way—I’d decided that it didn’t seem natural after staring at the phone.

Jake turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.

I frowned and leaned back into the plethora of pillows stacked atop the mattress. I took in the rest of Jake’s room. There were wooden planks horizontally lined up one grey-toned wall, scattered with objects I either knew, or thought I knew. I remembered these to be shelves, my mind exercising the thoughts. Like a puzzle, it was melding an animal world with this world. I wasn’t completely comfortable in this human world though my body felt naturally a part of it. I was excited to learn, or re-learn, all I could. I continued to occupy myself with observation but most objects were hard to see in this light. In my human form my owl eyes worked less efficiently. I looked around for a way to better illuminate the room but was surprised to find that there didn’t seem to be any lamps. I found it amusing yet annoying, so I tried to make the best of it.

I stood from the mattress and dared myself to approach the illuminated computer, the sole light in the room. The screen hurt my eyes when I looked at it directly. With practice, I was able to train them to withstand the awkward, almost fake light. The computer danced with images of colorful bubbles. I found a game in watching them like I would my prey. Biting my lip, I reached for the bubbles as I leaned toward the object. I was surprised by what I felt as I touched them, finding the bubbles an illusion held behind a smooth surface. A part of me felt stupid for thinking it was anything else. I dropped my hand and leaned all around the computer, inspecting its design. This allowed my mind to recollect further memories. Each thought tickled as it tried to remind me. Another moment passed and nothing came together in real clarity. My head began to hurt. I turned away from the computer, releasing my lip from the bite of my mouth.