Descendant (20 page)

"What?" I'd been too busy worrying about what had happened in the woods to pay much attention to what was going on here. "What is it?" I was already starting to feel anxious. It was so quiet…and that scent in the air—was it what I thought it was?

“Is that…blood I smell ?”

“Is that…blood I smell ?”

Kael nodded in response. He didn’t say anything else, though, and then all of a sudden he turned and looked expectantly back toward the woods. A second later I realized why.

"Someone's coming?"

“Madoc's coming,” Kael said, frowning.

I turned toward the sound of the approaching footsteps just in time to see Kael duck to avoid Shane s swinging fist.

Shane was thrown off-balance by his faulty swing, but it only took him a split second to regain his center and turn back to face us. I couldn’t help but take a step back when I saw the mad gleam in his eye. Sweat dripped from his forehead and slid down his face, which got a little redder with every heavy breath he took. With slow steps he started toward us, and I automatically moved closer to Kael.

"What the hel 's wrong with you Madoc?" Kael's asked, sounding uneasy.

Shane replied only by launching himself so fast at Kael that he left a cloud of dust where he’d been standing. Kael shoved me out of the way and managed to dodge, though barely. In a flurry of motion Shane had already turned around and leapt again at Kael.

"Okay, now I’m getting annoyed," Kael said, catching one of Shane's fists and stopping it centimeters from his face. “I swear to God if you don’t—"

"Why did they take her?" Shane interrupted. "They went straight for her. What did you tell them to do with her?"

"I didn't tell anyone anything, you idiot," Kael said through clenched teeth, shoving him away. "I don't even know who you’re talking about!"

Shane's eyes narrowed. He looked dangerously annoyed.

"Emily!" he bel owed. And this time Kael couldn’t move fast enough to dodge; the side of the porch was several feet away, but Shane hit him so hard that Kael covered the distance easily. And he wasn't done. As Kael tried to get back on his feet, Shane flew at him again. An outstretched hand wrapped around Kael s throat, slammed him back against the porch and held him there. "And don’t act like you don't know,” Shane said. “Because I know you had something to do with it."

"What the hel are you talk—" Kael’s words were interrupted by a gag as Shane tightened his grip.

"Stop it!"

"You’re not real y in a position to be lying to me," Shane said to Kael, ignoring me completely.

"Let go of me." Kael’s voice was low and surprisingly steady considering Shane was still crushing his windpipe.

But soon his steady breathing became irregular gasps for air. He didn't fight back, though— he just stared at Shane with an eerily hollow look in his eyes.

"Shane!" I cried, running toward him. I had no idea what Kael was waiting for. I just knew if he wasn't going to stop Shane, then I would— preferably before Kael passed out from lack of oxygen. "Stop it! You're going to kill him!" I was inches from his face, practical y screaming right into his ear, but Shane didn’t so much as flinch.

"I wish it was that easy," Shane said darkly. "But I’m not trying to kill him, anyway. Not this time. And I'll stop when he agrees to answer my question," he said.

Kael's face looked as resolute as ever, and he still made no move to fight back.

"This is so stupid!" I said, grabbing one of Shane’s arms in both my hands and attempting to pul it away.

"Knock it off," Shane said. "This doesn't have anything to do with you."

"That's beside the point," I said, gritting my teeth as I dug my nails into his skin. At first, Shane seemed indifferent to any pain I might’ve been causing him. Frustrated, I stared at my fingers, silently hoping and praying for a bit of help.

And to my surprise— it came.

This time, the transformation was almost instantaneous.

Black claws extended from the tips of my fingers and dug into Shane's arm. He jerked, either from pain or surprise—hard to tell which since his expression didn’t change—and I managed to wrench his arm away from Kael’s neck. Little pools of blood were well ing up where my claws had dug into his flesh, but I didn’t let go just yet. Shane looked from me, to his arm, and back to me again, rage lighting up his features.

"I said knock it off."

I had to let go of Shane’s arm as he flung it backward, throwing me back with it. I hit the ground with a thud and sat up angrily, claws stretched and fully ready to get even.

But Kael beat me to it.

I’d seen Kael looked pissed off plenty of times before, but nothing compared to the look on his face now. He got to his feet in a flash, grabbed Shane by the shirt col ar and lifted him several inches off the ground.

“You don’t touch her. Ever. Got that?” Kael said quietly.

After he’d said this, his mouth kept moving—only now no words were actual y coming out. At least, none that I could here; Shane must’ve heard something though, because his eyes went wide all of a sudden.

A blinding slash of orange light lit up Shane’s face for the blink of an eye. After it flashed, it was several seconds before I could see clearly again; when the scene came back into focus, the side of Shane’s face was singed a dark shade of gray, and several streams of what looked like blood were dripping down it.

Kael released his grip and Shane stumbled back, looking shocked and angry. I took several steps back too, and my hand flew to my mouth as Shane dropped to his knees, holding the side of his head. I was still staring at Shane—not sure whether I should be amazed, or appal ed, or terrified—when I heard Kael’s voice behind me.

“Are you okay?”

I didn’t take my eyes off Shane, who was still clutching his head in silent pain. “What did you do just now?” I asked quietly

“What are you talking about?”

My head jerked around to face him. The second my eyes met him I felt weak. Terrified, I think. “Are you serious? You barely moved…and you…look at him…”

“He’s fine,” Kael said in a cold voice.

At that moment, almost as if to prove Kael’s point, Shane got to his feet. I breathed a small sigh of relief as he turned to face us.

“What was that weird light a second ago?” I asked, turning back to Kael. This time, I didn’t meet his eyes all the way.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said again.

“I know what I saw,” I said, starting to get angry. “And it definitely wasn’t normal.”

“I never claimed I was normal,” Kael said flatly.

I was about to reply when Shane’s laughter suddenly interrupted. “Why don’t you tell her the truth, Kael?” he said.

interrupted. “Why don’t you tell her the truth, Kael?” he said.

"Why don't you shut up, Madoc?" Kael replied. "Unless you're going to be usefull for once and tell us what's going on here?"

“Why the hel would I tell you anything? Especial y after that little demonstration.”

“What was that even a demonstration of?” I’d official y lost my temper now. “Would someone care to fil me in?”

Shane looked at me curiously for a second, then his lips parted into a half-smile. “Still a human more or less, huh?” I couldn’t tell whether he meant it as an insult or not.

“Shouldn’t expect you to recognize black magic when you see it, I guess.”

“Black magic?”

“Yeah. Pyromancy if you want to get specific. Keep hanging around him, and I’m sure you’ll get to see a lot more of it.”

I looked at Kael, a small shiver running down my spine. He didn’t look at me. I tried not to think about what this little development meant. Even before now, I’d still had my reserves about Kael, sure. I had my reserves about all of them. But I’d been starting to think that, if I could have trusted any of them, it would’ve been Kael. Right now though? Right now I didn’t just not trust him—I was scared of him.

“Why do you know black magic?” I asked quietly.

“This conversation doesn’t need to happen right now,” he said under his breath, still not looking at me.

“Nonsense,” Shane said, looking eager all of a sudden. “It’s all relevant, I think. Don’t you think you owe her the truth?”

Kael glared at him, but didn’t answer one way or the other.

Shane raised an eyebrow. “Keep quiet then,” he said. “As if my suspicions about you needed reinforcing,” he added under his breath.

Kael laughed bitterly. “Suspect me all you want. You can’t prove anything.”

“You’re probably right,” Shane said. He cracked his knuckles and took a step toward us.

"This guy just doesn’t know when to quit," Kael muttered.

"No, he doesn't," I agreed offhand. "But..."

"But what?" he asked, turning to me with a furious look.

"Please tell me you aren't taking him seriously—the guy's a raving idiot, in case you haven’t noticed.”

"Maybe. But Eli said—"

"Forget what Eli said! You don’t understand—this isn’t the same.”

I bit my lip, and was almost thankfull to see Shane now running at us. Because as Shane’s fist drew back and got ready to swing Kael had no choice but to stop glaring at me. I stepped back, out of the way, but Kael stood motionless until the last possible second and then sprang aside. Shane’s fist hit nothing but dirt.

Shane bounced off the ground and threw himself toward Kael again. And again and again Kael dodged, until a single misstep gave Shane his chance. His fist slammed into Kael’s jaw, sending him stumbling. Kael dropped to one knee and looked up, wiping the blood away from his mouth.

Shane dove at him again, but Kael slid out of the way and his fist caught Shane right in the gut. Now Shane was stumbling, holding his gut and gasping for air. Kael straightened up and took one last glance at Shane, who didn’t look like he was in a hurry to get up.

didn’t look like he was in a hurry to get up.

Kael walked back to me. “We should try and find the others,” he said without looking at me.

I nodded uncertainly. “Yeah.”

He started toward the house. I followed after a minute, keeping a good distance between us. But neither of us made it very far before Shane’s voice called: “You think you’re leaving? Just like that?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I heard Kael say. I closed the distance between us before turning back. Shane was on his feet again, still looking every bit the role of a madman.

“I’m going to kill him,” Kael said.

“Yeah, please don’t do that,” I said. “Witnessing a murder’s definitely not on my list of things of things to do before I die.”

Kael glanced at me, and I think he almost smiled. But any humor in his face drained instantly as Shane started a sprint toward us. I didn’t move this time. In fact, I mirrored Kael’s stance, bracing for what looked like an inevitable fight.

Nobody got to throw a single punch though, because just as Shane got close a blur of gray and white soared by me and collied with him. The blur materialized into a snarling wolf that took several threatening steps toward Shane. A second later a wolf with whitish gold fur padded up beside me and nudged my arm with its nose.

(Are you okay, Alex?) Vanessa asked.

I looked at Kael, unsure of how to answer. Vanessa nudged me again and let out a low whine. My automatic response was to do what I would’ve done with my dog, and I scratched her between her ears—each of which was a big as my hand. I was still stroking the silky fur when I turned back to Shane and the gray wolf, who was in the middle of shifting. It turned out to be Eli, and within seconds he had returned to his human form. I gave a disgusted sigh. He made it look so easy.

"I know you're upset Shane." Eli’s authoritative voice never ceased to amaze me. It just didn’t fit with his appearance.

He was about half Shane’s size, and had to look up to meet his eyes. "...But I would like for you to kindly remember whose territory you are on," Eli finished. Shane didn't reply right away. He looked back and forth between Eli and Kael a couple of times—you could almost see the wheels turning in his head.

"Forgive me, Eli," he final y said. Shane's voice sounded genuine, but there was a hint of mockery in his smile. "I was just trying to do your family a favor by ridding it of some bad blood that seems be running through it."

"How thoughtful of you,” Eli said with a small scowl. "But, regardless of your opinion on the matter, Kael is—and wil remain—a part of this family, so long as he chooses to."

Shane regarded those words with a look of unmistakable disgust.

Eli continued, his voice level as ever. "Now I think we can both agree that we are wasting precious time, so I would suggest setting these differences aside for the time being."

For a second, I was half-afraid Shane was going to flip out on Eli next. But then he gave a single curt nod.

Eli turned back to face us for the first time. There was a blood-stained rag tied diagonal y across his face, covering his left eye and disappearing underneath his hair.