Emanare (Destined, #1) (10 page)
Read Emanare (Destined, #1) Online
Authors: Taryn Browning
“Hold on!” Sam marched over to Chase. “Evrik is here because I called him. Something happened and I needed to talk with him.” Sam thought for a second and then pointed her finger at Chase. “Wait a minute. How did you know Evrik was angry? There’s no way you could have heard him from downstairs and across the building.” She crossed her arms impatiently.
“Have you been crying? Your eyes are all puffy, and you look like shit.”
“Chase, answer my question,” she demanded.
“I have a heightened sense of hearing.”
“Why?” She wasn’t going to let him dodge her questions this time.
“Because I’m part animal.”
“A pit bull, a bear?” she pushed.
His eyes widened. “How did you know?” He turned to Evrik. “You told her!”
Sam tugged on Chase’s arms until he faced her again. “No one told me anything. I figured it out. I had a dream tonight. I dreamed you were a bear, and you saved my life and then turned from a bear back into a human…I mean, into you.”
Oh, I’m completely losing it.
“I think it’s time you told her everything,” Evrik said to Chase.
“What about you? Have you told her what you and your friends are? At least I’m human.” Chase glared at Evrik.
“Can we sit down and talk please?” Sam eyed both guys. “Chase, pull up that chair. Evrik, sit down on the bed. I will sit between you until you decide to work with me and straighten this out,” she ordered. With hung heads, both guys did as she instructed.
“You can go first,” Chase barked at Evrik. He slouched in her desk chair with one leg crossed over the other. His arms crossed in front of his chest and he wore a scowl that could kill.
“Stop!” Sam threw her hands in the air. “I’m the one without the memory. I’m the one with questions. I’ll go first!”
“Fine,” both guys agreed.
Sam pressed her sheet flat across her mattress, ironing it with her palms while she thought about where to begin. “Okay, let’s start from the beginning…my dream. What was chasing me? It had red eyes. It was big and grotesque.” She grimaced.
“I’ll let you take this one,” Chase said to Evrik.
Evrik nodded. “They are called the Kavari. The Kavari
are mutant demons that crave power and destruction. Their eyes glow red and their teeth resemble those of a ferocious vampire.”
The mental picture Evrik created was horrifying—somewhere between Freddy Krueger and Dracula. “I saw the monster. He was definitely straight out of a horror flick,” she agreed.
Evrik continued. “Hundreds of years ago there was some sort of genetic defect that created a generation of what we now call the Kavari. We don’t know how it happened. Some of us believe it had to do with the misuse of magic within the enchantment community. The Kavari are powerless demons who hunger for magic and will kill anyone to gain it. The Infernus, the underworld created when demons and humans were divided, doesn’t even want them. They are considered outcasts, and certainly evil, but not entirely demon. So they live in hiding among the human world. The Kavari unleashed war on my kind centuries ago in order to obtain our powerful abilities. We’ve been fighting them ever since. The creature chasing you was a Kavari clan’s leader, Valisk.”
“So they keep coming after you?” Sam asked, her once-flattened sheet now gathered tightly in her fists.
“Have you noticed anything different about me? A physical appearance I have that Alea, Draylan, and Malachi do not?”
“Yes,” she said quickly. “Your eyes are a deep green when you’re not hurt or angry, and their eyes are grayish-silver.”
“You’re right. I’m different from my friends. I was born into a family of status. My mother and father both had green eyes. In our culture, green eyes are a sign of power. I’m predestined to perform greatness. The Kavari
have tried to acquire my powers ever since I was born. My parents died protecting me when I was ten.” Sam could see the pain in Evrik’s eyes. She put her hand on his, hoping to offer him some bit of comfort. She knew what it was like to lose someone so close. Her Aunt Rose had died in a horrible car accident when Sam was eight, and it had devastated her.
Evrik continued. “Ever since that day, Alea, Malachi, and Draylan have stayed by my side as brothers and sisters, fighting the Kavari
and the demons from the Infernus to help keep me safe and eradicate any evil that sets foot among human society,” Evrik continued, almost in monotone. It was as if he had kept this speech inside of him for many years, rehearsing it over and over, and now he could finally speak. “We are called Lightwarriors, and we are feared by the Infernus. The great Archangel Gabriel assigned us the job of protector. We have been fighting demons ever since Lucifer was kicked out of Heaven. When demons ran rampant, taking advantage of women and murdering humans, they were banished to the Infernus for not following human law. Our ancestors were the warriors who put them there. Lightwarriors make sure demons don’t re-enter human society. We are, in a sense, demon hunters.”
“Lucifer, the fallen angel, as in the Devil—?” Sam tripped over her words. “Wow—” She had to process all that Evrik had just told her—archangels, Lucifer, the Infernus, Kavari, demons, and Lightwarriors. After a silent moment, Sam met Evrik’s eyes again. “Tell me more about your race. How do you even exist?”
“Long ago, my ancestors were human. Because they were considered enlightened, they were transformed into immortal beings, and each was given a unique ability. They were also trained in combat and the magical arts. In a sense, they were soldiers created to keep evil separate from the virtuous. Lightwarriors made sure demons were segregated and that the human world never knew they existed, although some humans have suspected their existence. As generations of Lightwarriors grew, we became stronger, born with the inherent knowledge of how to fight using weapons like the bow and arrow, a blade, or magic. We trained as children to fully expand and master our abilities, but the knowledge and skills came easily to us—they’ve been programmed into our DNA through thousands of years of procreation.”
“So there are more of your kind than just Alea, Malachi, you, and Draylan,” Sam said.
“Yes. Demons are everywhere. We must protect the entire world.”
“And my dream—that really happened. I was almost killed by a demon clan leader.” Sam remembered her conversation with Chase the evening in Baltimore, after her memories were taken…
“You make me feel like myself. I may not remember you, but I feel like I’ve known you forever. And you saved my life,” she said.
“You say that a lot, too.”
“That’s not good. Am I always in these crazy situations?”
“Crazier.”
Evrik’s words chimed through her memories, bringing her back to the conversation.
“We defeated the Kavari clan that evening,” he said. “Your dream was a memory. The Kavari leader tried to use my love for you to defeat me. He knew you were my weakness.” Evrik blinked back his emotions. “He almost killed you.” Evrik’s eyes shifted over to Chase. “Then Chase showed up and saved you from immediate death. I found you dying next to him and went to find Alea. She created an elixir and healed you.”
“What about the leader? In my dream, he got away.”
“Valisk has the stolen abilities of premonition, lightning speed, and mind control. He used his lightning speed to get away from Chase—the bear. We never found him,” Evrik said.
Once Sam had partially absorbed everything, her brows rose up to her hairline. She looked over at Chase, who seemed to be barely listening. “Hey!” She tapped his leg with the back of her hand. “You have lots of explaining to do. Pit bulls and bears. What are you exactly, other than the ‘part-animal’ thing?”
“I’m a—” Another knock at the door interrupted Chase.
“Who could that be? It’s almost five in the morning.” Sam didn’t think she had any other boyfriends who could be knocking. Except for Cale—
ugh
—that was a frightening thought.
“Maybe I should get it,” Evrik suggested. Sam knew he was thinking the same thing.
She gripped her sheets with both fists, preparing to throw her comforter over her head to try to disappear. Her life had become a freakish love circus full of abilities, Lightwarriors, dark-seducers, monsters, and half-animal people.
Evrik opened the door for Vicky. She walked in hesitantly.
“Was there a party someone forgot to invite me to?” she chafed sullenly.
Chase stiffened, suddenly sitting straight up in his chair for the first time since he’d sat down. He uncrossed his leg and put his foot on the floor. All of the color drained from his face, leaving his lips white and straight. He pressed them together tightly, staring at Vicky with uncomfortable anxiety. He looked like he was about to pass out.
“What are you doing here, Vicky?” Sam asked, no longer clutching her sheets. Vicky was annoying and rude, but not scary.
“I didn’t mean to disturb you
—
well, honestly, I don’t really care, but I was just wondering if Chase would be coming back to his room sometime soon.” She switched her bright blue gaze over to Chase, who had now turned green, appearing as if he could throw up at any moment. “You’ve been gone for like forty-five minutes.” Vicky pointed to her watch, a hint of satisfaction in her tone.
Sam fumed in the uncomfortable silence for what seemed like minutes, unable to force any air into her lungs. Her face reddened, as if all the blood had been squeezed from her heart up to her head. Outrage—complete outrage. If looks could kill, both Chase and Vicky would be cold and stiff.
“Sam—” Evrik said, looking over at Chase, Vicky, then back at Sam again.
Unable to find words, she didn’t answer him.
Evrik placed his hand on her leg. “Sam. What’s wrong?” he drew closer and whispered. “Are you remembering something again?”
“No,” she said coldly. Her hands began to shake. Icicles could have formed around the room the way the temperature plummeted.
“Chase. Leave,” Sam said too calmly, without a glance in his direction.
“Samantha, wait, let me explain.” Chase moved swiftly around the bed and knelt down in front of her.
“Go
—
now.” She stared at her bed, refusing to look at him. She didn’t even want to see his face. She bit back the urge to scream.
“Just hear me out.” He took her hand. Sam wrenched it out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me.”
“Look, man. I think you should leave,” Evrik suggested sternly.
“Is there something wrong?” Vicky asked. “Look, you figure out whatever it is you need to figure out. Chase, I’ll meet you back in your room. Don’t keep me waiting too long,” she said in a sing-song voice.
Chase’s head whipped around. “Go back to your own room, Vicky.”
“But
—
”
“Just GO!” Chase shouted.
Vicky yelped, took in a deep breath, and without another word, slammed the door behind her.
Evrik stood up. “You need to go. Now.”
Chase met Evrik’s inflated stance, hanging his shoulders in surrender. Ignoring Evrik, Chase spoke to Sam again. “Just remember what I told you yesterday in my room. I meant it.” A few seconds passed and Sam heard the door slam. Chase was gone.
CHAPTER 12
Sam fell asleep in Evrik’s arms. Now late morning, the sun’s rays danced through the window, twirling and flickering around the room. Like a light-filtered shade, her heavy eyelids parted just enough to see the muted shades of reds and oranges. She didn’t want to open her eyes, fearing Evrik would be gone. As she moved back into consciousness, she felt her large, warm blanket still wrapped around her and knew she hadn’t been dreaming. Evrik was still there, and he held her as tightly as he had when they’d fallen asleep. His comforting embrace kept her scattered emotions together. She peeled her eyelids open, catching his stare.
“Good morning,” he said. “Did you sleep okay?”
He pressed his lips to the sensitive skin just below her hairline, causing Goosebumps to form against the back of her neck. He gently stroked her hair with his hands, removing every strand from her face. “Would you like to come over to my house for breakfast?” The tips of his fingers made their way down to her neck.
“Uh—what?” She could barely respond. Her legs curled into a ball and she clutched her pillow in her hand.
“Are you even breathing?” He laughed and pulled her hair back over her exposed neck.
“Yes.” She lied.
“I think it’s time to get something to eat.” He was still chuckling.
Evrik looked enormous lying on her bed with his arms propped behind his head. His feet extended at least six inches over the end. It reminded her of an old Dr. Seuss book her mom used to read her.
“You look ridiculous. My bed is entirely too small for you.” She lifted her head off his chest. “Why are you in college anyway?”
He squirmed to make himself more comfortable. “What do you mean?”
“You’re a Lightwarrior. Why are you in college?"
“We do our best to fit into the human world. Since in human years I’m around twenty, college seemed to be the best option. I enjoy learning. Your world fascinates me. Everything moves so quickly. You have a shorter lifespan, which means you need to do everything much more rapidly than we do. And history…humans are always repeating it. You’d think they would learn from their mistakes.”
Sam sat up straight. “How long is your lifespan?”
“About six hundred years.”
“You live for six hundred years. How many years have you been alive?” Drool could have easily fallen from her astonished open mouth.
“Forty.” Sam’s mouth dropped open even further. He stifled a chuckle with a cough. “Stop worrying, my age is equivalent to a young adult’s in human years. I’m really only about twenty.”
“You look more like twenty than forty.” She wiped the drool from her chin. “How long have you been in college?”
“This is my second year. I figure it’s probably time to stop just taking classes and decide what I want to major in. My advisor is confused by how randomly I choose my classes and thinks I need to settle on one path of education. Maybe I’ll surprise him and actually graduate one day.” He smiled.
“Well, it’s not like you don’t have plenty of time.” Sam dipped her head, trying to hide her embarrassment. Her cheeks were florid. “Am I the first human you’ve been with, I mean, dated?”
Evrik placed his finger under Sam’s chin, lifting it and returning her eyes to his. “Wow, twenty questions, this one’s easy. I didn’t even know what it was like to be attracted to someone before I saw you, human or not. Alea always talked about what it was like to meet someone who makes your heart happy and scared at the same time. She was married before. Unfortunately, her husband, Rhynin, was killed by Valisk—the Kavari leader who attacked you.”
“How horrible.” Sam drew in a terrified breath, remembering Valisk’s red eyes in her dream. “Go on,” she assured Evrik. “I’m okay.”
He paused to make sure, then continued, “Malachi's in love with Alea, and Draylan’s had crushes on other Lightwarriors. I was beginning to think it was never going to happen for me.”
Draylan
—Sam couldn’t see him being anything but an arrogant ass. She guessed he was different when it came to non-humans. It was obvious he couldn’t stand humans—the race he had sworn to protect.
Sam moved even closer to Evrik. He wrapped both arms around her tightly and stared straight into her eyes. Underneath their anxious bodies, his cell phone rang.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sam gasped, throwing her head back in protest. Every nerve in her body was raging out of control. It didn’t matter that she didn’t remember him. Her body certainly remembered his touch. Talk about muscle memory. “Do you have to answer it?”
He pulled back from her. “It’s probably Alea. She felt your dream last night. She’s worried about you.”
“Okay, you should answer it.” Sam turned away from Evrik, trying to regain her composure. Her body felt like it was about to ignite into an inferno of flames.
The phone snapped shut, and it was obvious the moment was over.
Damn.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah.” He hesitated. “I’m going to talk to her later. Let’s get something to eat. I’ll make you breakfast at my house.” Evrik rose from bed and retrieved his shoes.
His smell permeated through every thread of her cotton sheets. She buried her nose into her pillow and inhaled deeply, breathing him in. She remembered that scent—his scent. “I need to take a shower before we go.”
“Can I ask you a question first?” Evrik asked.
“Sure.”
“What did Chase say to you in his room yesterday? Last night, he told you he meant what he said.”
Suddenly Sam wished she hadn’t agreed to answer his question. “Um, well, he, uh, said he loved me,” she blurted out. She didn’t want to hurt Evrik’s feelings, but she wasn’t going to lie to him about it, either. She figured it was better she left out the part about making out with Chase. She felt guilty enough about Cale.
“Oh, okay,” he said dismissively.
Sam rolled out of bed, planted her feet firmly on the carpet, and stared at him. “Hello, did you hear me correctly? Chase said he loved me.” Sam was shocked at his nonchalant behavior, like someone telling another guy’s girlfriend he loved her was okay. Memory or no memory…this kind of thing was never “okay.”
“I forgot. You can’t remember.”
“And?” she pushed.
“Chase has said it before, and in front of me. It isn’t a secret.”
“And you don’t care?” Sam eyed him from under her lashes.
“Sam, you may not be able to remember, but you love me and only me. I’m not threatened by Chase. Once you get your memory back, you’ll understand.”
“About that?” She crossed her arms, tapping her foot on the carpet. “When do you think Alea will be able to create an elixir so I can have my entire memory back instead of just random snapshots? Putting pieces together like a puzzle is getting really old, really fast.”
“She’s been working tirelessly. I’m hoping it’s soon.”
“Me, too,” Sam grumbled.
Evrik waved her into the bathroom. “Go ahead. I’ll watch TV until you’re ready.”
Lauren barreled through the door just as Sam finished drying her hair. It was now closer to lunchtime than breakfast. “Hey, you two,” she said. “You spent the night here?” Lauren glanced over at Sam’s unmade bed. “You always stay at Evrik’s. Why are you here?”
“We decided to do something different last night.” Sam evaded her question.
“So, you guys going to lunch?” Lauren asked.
“I don’t think Evrik wants to eat in the dining hall.”
Lauren grabbed a change of clothes out of her closet. “I just talked to Ann. A bunch of us are going out. Why don’t you join us? They’ve got great wings,” she said enticingly.
Sam looked at Evrik for an answer. “Sure. Let’s go,” he said.
“Let me change out of my clothes from last night and we’ll go. Uh, I need to learn to bring a change of clothes over to Ryan's." Lauren threw her long dark hair into a low ponytail and slipped into the bathroom to change. "We’re meeting down in the lobby in ten.
They arrived in the lobby. Ryan met Lauren at the elevator. Ann and Cody held hands next to the exit, looking all puppy-love-ish. Then a pit formed in Sam’s stomach, a hollow hole that exposed an open sore. Sam wished she had taken Evrik up on brunch at his house.
Chase stood on one side of the lobby. Vicky stood on the other. Chase caught Sam’s gaze and looked away. His side-swept blond hair fell into his eyes, hiding his ocean blues. He didn’t attempt to flick it back into place. Vicky picked at her blood-red nail polish, oblivious to anyone else.
“Sam, are you going to walk?” Evrik asked, tugging her from her statue-like stance.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry.” She blinked and followed the group out the door, staying as far behind Chase as possible. She noticed how his worn jeans hung perfectly around his legs, ripped and holed in well-placed areas.
“We can still go back to my house, if you want. You seem uncomfortable.” Evrik interlaced his fingers through hers.
Sam stared ahead. “Me? No. I’m fine.”
“Then why are you chewing the side of your cheek? You’re going to wear a hole in it.” Evrik swung her arm playfully.
“Thanks.” She smiled up at him.
They walked up the sidewalk to the top of the hill, across from the tall dormitory buildings. There were trees to their left and street parking for the dorm residents to the right. The restaurant was at the bottom of the hill, facing the main road.
They were seated at a rectangular table for eight. Chase chose the chair across from Sam. Sam tried to switch seats and stumbled over a chair. She fell back into the same chair she had been trying to avoid. Vicky settled on a seat at the opposite end of the table after her failed attempt to sit next to Chase.
Chase stared at Sam as she flipped through the menu. Her stomach did somersaults. She didn’t even know if she could eat. She felt more like she had a bleeding ulcer. She suddenly needed a bottle of Tums. This was going to be a fun lunch.
“Hey, Vicky, did you and Chase try that new restaurant uptown last night?” Ann asked, her red curls sprouting from a high ponytail.
Sam gripped the menu. The plastic crumbled in her fingers, cracking hairline fractures through the menu. Chase kicked her under the table. She didn’t acknowledge him.
“It was really good. The restaurant is Italian.” Vicky waved her hand. “I still can’t remember the name, Giovanni’s, or something. Do you remember, Chase?” Her blue eyes sparkled, making Sam feel like gagging.
“Uh-huh,” he mumbled. Sam could feel his stare sear her forehead.
Lauren eyed Chase and Sam suspiciously. Seemingly sensing the tension, she changed the subject. Sam could always count on her roomie. “So, anyway, we went uptown last night.”
“I love dating a football player.” Ann looped her arm through Cody’s. “Since all the bouncers are on the team, I didn’t have to show ID to get in.” Her freckled cheeks blushed, making her look like Strawberry Shortcake. Ann didn’t usually break the rules, let alone the law.
Lauren directed her attention to Sam and Evrik. “What did you two do last night?”
Chase spoke before Sam could answer. “Sam said she didn’t want to go to dinner with me and Vicky. She suggested I still go, so technically I didn’t do anything wrong. Instead of going to dinner, Sam decided to go to bed early, so whatever happened after that—Is. Not. My. Fault.”
