Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (21 page)

“Could they be working together?” I butted in.

“Light and dark? No. They don’t work together,” Griffin said.

“Why do they take hostages?” I asked.

“Because when they have to use their powers for extended

periods of time, it can weaken them. If they can force other exiles to do the dirty work for them, it leaves them always at full capacity,” Lincoln explained.

Griffin rubbed his face again. “I know it’s hard to believe, Violet, but exiles kill without a second thought. We’re losing good people.”

“Actually, it’s not. I saw for myself.” I bit down on my lip.

Confession
time.

“What?” Griffin and Lincoln both exclaimed.

“A girl I knew. She was killed by an exile.” My eyes welled up

at the memory of Claudia being dropped into my open arms. “He

broke her neck, right in front of me.” I looked at Lincoln. “Her name was Claudia. You met her on my birthday.”

He stepped toward me and gently put a hand under my elbow.

“What happened? How did you get away?”

“Phoenix. He…killed him.”

Lincoln and Griffin exchanged a glance. Lincoln didn’t look

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and gave a nod. “So you see, there’s a good reason we’re supposed to be divided by realms of reality and space.”

I nodded, understanding more and more that exiles were not

really angels anymore. They were misguided egos with power.

Shitloads of power.

In that same moment, I found new respect for Griffin…and

Lincoln, and maybe even my mom.

“I get it,” I said.

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chapter
eighteen

“The willing, Destiny guides them. The unwilling, Destiny

drags them.”

seneca

“Violet,” Griffi n said, “I need to show Lincoln the bodies. He might see something I missed. If you don’t mind, you can wait here.”

What I should have said was,
Sure, I’ll wait here.
What I stupidly said was, “I want to see too. If this is part of what being a Grigori is, then I think I have a right to see.”

Griffi n put a hand out, gesturing for me to walk with them as he spun on his dusty black boots. “I won’t lie—two were killed by sheer brutality, the other by…something even worse. None of it is peaceful in any way.”

I nodded, wondering what could be worse than sheer brutality.

Th e three of us walked toward Magda and the other Grigori. Th ere were no police or offi cials, no police tape, nothing to mark it as a crime scene.

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“Will you report this to the police?” I asked Lincoln.

He looked at me sadly. “No. It’s too dangerous to involve

normal humans in all of this. Plus, there’s no way to explain the injuries without raising suspicion. We have Grigori who usually stage another scene that will alert authorities to the deaths but cover the circumstances.”

“Like what?” I was horrified but strangely understanding.

“Different things— car crashes, fires, you know.”

“Christ,” I said. I noticed he only mentioned the kind of acci-

dent scenes that left carnage in their wake.

As we got closer to the area, I started to feel a small hum vibrate through me. I tried to control it. In hindsight, this would have been a good point to cut and run. Hindsight’s a bitch.

I saw the first body and relaxed prematurely. It was awful but

not horrendous, just an inert form. My attention was drawn to the other two victims, and my hand flew to my mouth. I wanted to be sick. They were both women: young, beautiful, and naked. There

was already a strong smell emitting from them, a combination of raw flesh and salty blood drying in the heat. I tightened my hold over my mouth when I saw the holes in their stomachs. Beside

them was a pile of…organs, I think— like a hand had torn into

them and pulled out their insides, dumping them beside the empty carcasses. It was monstrous, a scene of utter destruction.

I wrapped my arms around my stomach, trying to ignore the

most frightening sensation that was welling up inside me, pushing at the very fibers of my being: pure pleasure. Whoever, whatever, 174

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had done this had experienced ultimate joy in the process. And I could feel it too.

Desperate to avert my gaze, I switched my attention back to the other body. This time I
really
saw it. I’d heard of it before, the way a person’s mind can somehow protect them from processing things that are too disturbing. The male, still dressed and moderately undisturbed, lay in a state of emptiness— not like he was dead, more like he was lost. Dead bodies are supposed to look like they are finally at rest, but I knew now what Griffin had meant when he said we would find no peace. There was none to be had. I stared at each one, horrified, my heart crying for them. I felt suffocated.

As soon as I tasted apple on the tip of my tongue, I knew the

rest of the senses would follow. I stumbled a few steps, trying to get away. It was futile.

Images of morning and evening flashed before my eyes, blinding

me. It was…violent. Painful. I dropped to my knees and screamed.

I heard Lincoln cry out, though he didn’t touch me. I wanted to stop it, but I couldn’t. Cold heat rushed through my body. I felt like a rigid statue of ice with a volcano erupting from within. I could hear my screams— worlds away.

My back arched, my arms falling behind me, dangling to the

ground, my knuckles grazing the concrete floor.

An arm encircled my waist, holding me up as I arched back

even farther. Another hand gripped the side of my face, keeping me still. I felt myself slipping away, losing myself to the senses. I tried to concentrate, tried to remember what Phoenix had told me.

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Emotion. I needed to control my emotions. Or distract them with something that could totally consume me.

I hoped it was Lincoln’s arm around my waist.

“Kiss me,” I whispered.

The hands on my face froze. Another wave of the senses

pummeled through me.

“Kiss me, please!” This time I was screaming.

He slammed into me, crashing through the barriers. So perfectly molded to my mouth, he pushed my lips apart and…we melted.

The same cool, pure breeze I had felt after Lincoln had touched me when I first held the wristband galloped through my body,

through my soul. It blew the overpowering smell of flowers away like a breeze through a field. I felt the apple fade until all I could taste was his very real mouth. My body poured the cool heat and humming energy into him, until he had absorbed it all. The birds circled us and flew into the distance.

He pulled me closer. Kneeling in front of me, he kissed me

intensely and I felt…right. Morning and evening slipped away. It was just us. Silence surrounded us. My heart leapt and I kissed him back, knowing so truly that I loved him. My heart cried and I pulled away, knowing so truly that he had betrayed me.

I fell to the ground.

He fell to the ground.

I cried.

He screamed.

Slowly, the room and people around us came back into

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perspective. Griffin was by my side, asking me a million questions I couldn’t register. I didn’t know if the pain rolling through me was real or not. I looked over to my side and could see the dead bodies lying around me. It was like I was one of them.

“Lincoln?” I croaked. “Is he okay?”

Magda was bent over Lincoln where he lay on the ground. I

crawled the short distance to him. I didn’t miss the accusing look she shot me before she moved away. With all the violence that had just coursed through my body, I had to fight off a momentary inclination to smash her face with my fist.

“Linc.” My voice cracked as I tried to control my tears.

He looked at me, trembling.

“Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?”

He was breathing fast. “A bit more like overloaded. I’ve never felt anything…Violet, your…” He turned from me to look at Griffin,

now also kneeling beside him. “Did you see that? Feel any of it?” Griffin was calm. “I saw it, but didn’t feel it. Tell me.”

Lincoln looked to me. “Can I?”

At least he’d asked my permission. I nodded silently. I couldn’t keep pretending these things weren’t happening.

“I felt all five, Griff. She hasn’t even embraced yet and she has all five senses, each stronger than any I have ever felt. When I touched her, she fed them to me. I felt them completely. It’s as if she…she doesn’t just sense them, but…she
becomes
them.”

Yeah, like I’m freaking possessed!

Griffin was silent, then asked, “Why the kiss?”

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Good question. Lincoln looked at me.

Please
don’t make me try to answer this.

“I think it’s because she couldn’t control it, couldn’t make it stop.

When I kissed her, it acted as a conduit. Like we could share the senses and give them somewhere to go. Once they moved through

me, they left.”

Griffin looked curiously at me. “So, someone just has to kiss you to control it?”

I saw Lincoln’s eyes flash as he waited for my answer. I knew he was wondering if I’d tried out the theory before.

“No.” I blushed. I couldn’t say what I knew. Couldn’t say that

I had kissed Phoenix and it
hadn’t
stopped the senses. “I…I’m not sure,” I lied.

“Right, so we need to have Lincoln on hand in case this happens again.” Griffin looked grave, but when he saw the panic on my

face, he softened. “I wish I could give you the answers, Violet, but I don’t have them. I’ve never known another Grigori to possess all the senses or to be so acutely aware that she can sense exiles in the wake of their destruction. It may be that it’s just temporary and Lincoln is the only one who can help you because he’s your partner.

You are designed to complement one another, though such close

physical contact is not…”

He and Lincoln exchanged a look.

“Not now,” Lincoln said. They were keeping something from

me. I felt my defenses go up. I didn’t want to be lied to again.

“For now, at least, we need to find out what happened here

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tonight. I have some contacts who should be able to let me know if any exiles of light have been taken— we can start there. We need to know what we’re dealing with, especially if they have numbers.”

“Agreed,” Lincoln said. “But we should get Violet out of here

in case the senses return.” He was already getting up, brushing himself off.

“Good idea.” Griffin turned to me. “Lincoln will take you home.

We can talk tomorrow, discuss what’s ahead for you.”

I stared at him. I couldn’t contemplate a future like this. I’d been beginning to think that maybe I could face this life, maybe it would ease the guilt over what had happened to Claudia. But

I couldn’t…My whole body was still shaking from what had just

happened. I’d had no control whatsoever, and control was one

thing I was not willing to relinquish. I didn’t want to be overcome by these senses, especially knowing that the one person

who had betrayed me the most was the one person who could

stop them.

“Actually, I’m fine,” I said. “Look, I understand, I do. What you do, it’s important. It’s just…I’m not that person.” I looked around the room and spotted an exit door. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

I headed for the door and walked straight out without looking

back. I kept going until I hit a small park at the end of the road.

I hadn’t made it far, but my legs were still shaky and I wasn’t great in high heels to begin with. Yes, I was a wimp and running was

against the rules, but I’d had to get out.

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as if dawn was creeping into the sky. I heard footsteps. I knew it was him without turning. He sat beside me and reached for my

hand, but I pulled it away.

“I’m sorry I hurt you,” I said. “I don’t know how to control

this stuff.” I wondered how painful it had been. His scream had sounded pretty bad.

“I was glad to help.
Wanted
to help. It’s not the senses that hurt anyway.” He put his head in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees. He took a deep breath and blew it out. “Kissing you is…I tried so hard, for so long, to deny myself. I tried to do the right thing. But ever since we kissed on your birthday…I knew once I