Chasing Shadows (34 page)

“Here, read it.” I handed him the letter and went to pick up the box.

Sebastian sat in silence as his eyes read every word written on the page. Once he was done, he spoke. “She has a brilliant idea.”

“What?” I asked, not paying any particular attention.

“Your grandma,” he said, “she’s right. About you, how you’re myth in our world. But she is even more brilliant for suggesting you request help and gain allies in each supernatural group.”

“Oh, yeah. I guess we should probably try to get focused on that,” I said, still distracted by the box.

“AubrieAnna, are you even paying attention?” Sebastian demanded.

“Not really. I’m kind of focused on something else right now.” I chewed my lip as I dug around in the bottom of the box. “Got it,” I whispered.

“You got what?” His curiosity spiked, he crawled to the edge of the bed.

I had sat on the floor to start searching the box for the false bottom while Sebastian was reading the letter. My fingers ran along the edges of the soft velvet in search of some sort of catch, lip, or a hole that would give me access. Along the left side, toward the back, there was a soft piece of fabric sticking out, just enough that you would never know it was there without feeling for it. Careful not to tear it, I tugged on it. A soft click signaled that the bottom had popped up. Inside the hidden compartment were more photographs, which had more wear and tear than my favorite shoes. Lined papers that had turned yellow with age were scattered among the photos, along with wedding rings and very old talismans. This box was not only a treasure trove of magic but of my lineage and history. I felt the need to riffle through each page, picture, letter, and talisman, but first I needed to find a place to hide the box or a spell that would do it for me.

Flipping through the pages of the grimoire, I found many spells to hide objects or people. One in particular caught my eye. Written haphazardly in Latin was a spell to hide things in plain sight. Even though I had never learned any Latin, I still understood each word written on the page. Turning to the box, I carefully gathered everything inside except for the grimoire. Before I attempted the spell, I stopped myself. If I did the spell and the reversal didn’t work, everything inside the box, minus the hefty book I was looking at, would be lost.

I snatched one of the decorative pillows off the bed and threw it in the corner of the room. With all of my attention on the pillow, I spoke the words that were written on the page: “Occulta de manifestis. Evanescunt angustiae donec revertar in. Evanescunt.” I repeated the spell until the pillow disappeared. Although I could no longer see the pillow, I was curious if it was just invisible or truly gone. I walked over to the corner and felt around. There was nothing there. Feeling proud of myself, I turned back to the grimoire and started reversing the spell. “Apparent. Veniat ad me. Apparent.” As I spoke, the pillow slowly began appearing. The edges fizzed into view first, and the rest slowly followed. Although the spell worked, along with its reversal, I still practiced it a few more times on the pillow before finally using the spell on the box, along with the grimoire.

Chapter 15

During the week, Sebastian and I searched through Clamora’s office, bedroom, and bathroom for her grimoire. We had no luck finding it. When I got frustrated, Sebastian questioned why I wanted it so badly. All I could say was that I wanted a protection spell for our house as well as the warehouse. He didn’t question me anymore after that. After searching for hours at a time each day, I gave up. I carefully searched through my grimoire for a spell to place protection from the shadows. When that proved fruitless, I finally came up with a spell to protect a place of residency. It was a fairly easy spell, and I had most of what I needed to perform it. On a piece of notebook paper I wrote down the few things that I needed from the Wiccan shop in Brooks. Once I finished my list, I hid my grimoire once again and headed downstairs to talk to Sebastian.

“Hey,” I said as I sat down on the couch.

“What’s up, love?” Sebastian didn’t look up from whatever he was working on.

“I found a protection spell,” I offered.

“Awesome. When can you do it for the house?” His forehead scrunched up as he tried to focus on what was in front of him.

“Well, I kind of need a few things before I can.” I fiddled with the list.

He humphed a response and gave up trying to focus on two things at once. His long arms swept backward over his head as he stretched. Green eyes glittered softly under thick dark lashes, and a deep groan rippled through his chest. Shivers crawled along my body. Sebastian was purely in the moment, with sleepy eyes, exhausted brain, achy body—so human-like. These few sweet and innocent seconds made me want to watch out for more, for sweet little moments like that where his vampire side hid inside while the human side came out. I sat there smiling like a goon. This man was all mine, and I would have him by my side forever. Just as fast as the moment came, it disappeared. He made his way to the couch and flopped down beside me.

“Here.” I handed him the list. “These are all the things that I need.”

“That’s easy enough to get. When did you want to do the spell?” His voice sounded so tired, I half expected him to yawn.

“Whenever you want to go and get all this stuff, I guess.” I looked thoughtfully at him.

“We can go tomorrow after school.” He took a deep breath and sighed.

“You’re tired.” It wasn’t a question or an accusation, just a simple statement.

“A little bit, I suppose.” Sebastian shrugged his shoulders and leaned his head back.

“Let’s go to bed.”

“I’ve got stuff to do, AubrieAnna. I can’t go to bed just yet.” His tone said there was no arguing with him.

“Fine, I’ll stay up with you.” I jutted my chin out, daring him to fight with me.

“All right.” He stood up, went back to the kitchen counter, and stared down at the pages in front of him.

As I sat on the couch watching Sebastian engrossed in the papers before him, my eyelids became heavy with sleep. In the hope of forcing it away, I shook my head and blinked rapidly. I moved around restlessly, until I gave up. With my head on a small decorative pillow and the throw blanket from the back of the couch wrapped around me, I snuggled in deep and closed my eyes. Sleep took me into its grasp in moments.

Darkness clouded my vision at first. Struggling to blink away the heaviness that still lingered in my eyes, I looked tiredly around the empty room. Cream-colored walls were worn and spattered with years of dirt and wear. Thick shag carpet blanketed the floor, and a single lightbulb illuminated the room. There were no windows, only a single door. With a curious thought, I reached the door in a few strides. The doorknob was cold and hard, its metal surface bit at the warmth of my hands. I wanted to jerk my hand back, but I turned the knob slowly and pulled the door open.

A light so bright it burned my eyes and scorched my skin attacked me from the other side of the door. I struggled to shut the door. Before it was shut completely, a buzzing sound emanated from somewhere within the light. My hand came up to shield my eyes from the light as best it could while I watched and waited for something to happen. An ache started at the base of my neck. Dull at first, it began to grow, causing spots to fleck my vision. The pain became so strong that I sat down on the floor with the door barely open in hopes it would help. Soft voices chanted somewhere, almost as if they were helping me, guiding me. I shut the door tightly and leaned against the solid surface. My head fell forward onto my knees and my vision went dark once again.

My body jostled against something warm and hard. Just as I was about to roll over and stretch out like a cat after its afternoon nap, I was placed on something soft and cold. An angry groan came from my chest. All I wanted was some warmth, no more cold surfaces. Not after the dream that felt too much like an
X- Files
rerun. As if in response to my irritated, sleepy thoughts, the soft surface under my body caved just a bit and warmth returned to me. Agitated and sleepy, my eyes rolled open then quickly shut again, but not before I noticed Sebastian was lying in bed next to me.

Buzzes filtered and cracked through the silence. The sound felt like a whip snapping at my head. I was too tired to get up. My limbs flailed around for a moment until I hit the bedside table. Inching my fingers toward the irritating alarm clock, I flicked it off before drifting back into my dreamless slumber.

Hours later, I was finally able to wake up easily. Gray clouds covered the sky outside, threatening to unleash their onslaught. I stretched my limbs and Helios jumped on my belly. His chirps and rubs signaled he wanted some much-needed attention. Belly rubs along with ear scratches and chin tickles satisfied my hefty cat. He jumped down and stalked off down the hall. Gurgles and growls clawed their way from my stomach. Feeling the full effect of hunger, I crawled out of bed and snuggled into some sweats and a sweater.

The house was eerily quiet. My breath echoed through the halls while the soft sounds of my footsteps padded beneath me. A strange chill of foreboding ran down my body as I looked behind me with each step I took forward. Once I reached the kitchen, I dashed for the light switch and hurriedly flicked it on. Loud thumps from my heart filled the silence. Fear tingled along my skin. All thoughts of getting food to fill my belly were long gone, and the only thought that remained was that I wasn’t completely safe in this house. Shadows still had the ability to get in. Feeling paranoid, I scanned the room. Caws from the birds outside made me jump. There was nothing in my home. The silence made me feel like there was someone else with me.

Hot water from the shower soothed my shaking limbs. The adrenaline was still in the process of leaving my system. My stomach was no longer hungry; it just felt completely inside out. I was nauseated, cold, and tired. As I let the heat seep into my body, I thought about why I had been so terrified. Every sound came flooding back into my memory. Something about the echoing footsteps had caught my attention, had started my irrational fear. Still worried that there could have been someone else in my house, I thought about what I had seen around me. Nothing seemed out of place in my memory.

A car door slammed and startled me out of my thoughts. Going as fast as I could, I climbed out of the shower and hurried into the closet to get dressed. Keys jingled as they unlocked the front door. Sebastian was home. With a sigh of relief, I walked to the bed and sat down heavily on the edge. My hair hung in long strands that dripped excess water around me. For a moment I thought about how relaxed I suddenly felt. Without caring about my soaked hair and damp skin, I crawled under the covers and lay down peacefully.

Steps creaked along the stairs seconds before the door opened quietly. Sebastian walked in and snuck into bed with me. His cool hands wrapped around my face and his warm lips caressed my forehead. When he pulled back, his eyebrows were furrowed deeply and he cocked his head to one side as if to ask me what was wrong. I shrugged my heavy shoulders and wiggled my way into his arms. In mere seconds, I drifted into a heavy sleep. No dreams plagued my mind, just a black abyss of bliss. When I woke hours later, my stomach growled and my body shivered. With an achy body I turned to search for Sebastian, but he wasn’t lying next to me anymore.

Bundled up, I slowly made my way downstairs. My hands held onto the walls and rails to steady myself. Sizzles popped from kitchen, and the smell of food snuck up on my nose. Snarls came from my belly, and Helios chirped beside me. He followed me into the kitchen and sat beside my feet when I sat down. Heavy purrs rumbled deep in my cat’s chest and vibrated against my toes. I looked up from my fur baby at Sebastian. A pot full of noodles and broth boiled next to a pan that was filled with sautéed carrots, onions, celery, and chicken. I smiled happily. Sebastian was making me homemade chicken noodle soup with all the fixings. While I waited at the bar for the soup, he brought me two different mugs. One held warmed-up blood and the other tea. I downed them both thirstily and handed him the cups. His perfect smile beamed at me, and he filled one of the cups back up and washed the other.

The bowl steamed as he set it down on the counter in front of me. Sebastian fixed himself a bowl and snagged a box of saltine crackers. Sitting down next me, he smiled and nodded his head toward my bowl. I was a little concerned, since the last time I tried to eat any type of normal food it had tasted overly bland and made me a little sad. A cautious sniff at the bowl didn’t tell me much, just that it smelled and looked like normal chicken noodle soup. Scooping up a noodle and some chicken onto my spoon, I took one more deep breath and went for it.

It tasted like heaven, at least what I thought heaven would taste like. The broth was warm, the chicken was absolutely delectable, and the noodles tasted slightly different from normal ones. However he made it, I wanted more. I finished my bowl quickly, ignoring the crackers that he had brought out. Chuckling, he stood up and refilled my bowl. This time I paced myself. When we were both finished, he cleaned up and helped me back upstairs and into bed.