Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (63 page)

“Yep.”

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Griffin crouched down beside the exile, whose leg was now

healed. “Can you see her?” he asked him, pointing up to me. “Can you feel her power?”

The exile looked at me and then down at the ground.

“Have you heard about what she can do?” Griffin continued,

taunting. “I bet you have. She can strip you, make you only human—

rotting, rancid flesh with no power, no matter what your choice.” My mouth dropped open as I listened to Griffin verbally torture this exile, but Nyla gave me a look that stopped me from interrupting. I knew she was right, but still—
Christ
.

“Where is the Grigori Scripture? We know you know. Tell me

now or I’ll tell her”— he looked up at me again— “to go ahead and get a little retribution. Get me?”

The exile didn’t lift his head but nodded.

Mother
of
God.

“Where?” Griffin pressed.

“I can’t tell you a specific location, just…how to find it, that’s all. But you have to let me go,” the exile said.

“Tell us what you know, everything you know, and I will let you go for tonight,” Griffin said, and as he did, I could feel him inject truth into his words so the exile would feel assured, but also so that he understood he had to tell us all that he knew.

“Okay,” the exile said, standing up.

We all moved back a step, keeping the right striking distance.

“The Scriptures are where all the Rules were first placed,” he

said, a small smile creeping into his sour expression.

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Jessica shirvington

“What?” I responded, starting to realize what it was that kept

making me feel uneasy.

“Where all the Rules went. In the beginning. The Rules. For the three that existed on earth, welcome or not, there were rules and other…instructions, as needed. Find the place of the Rules, find the lost Scriptures.”

I moved forward. Griffin put a hand out to stop me, but I

pushed it away. I was closer to the exile than was wise, but I figured he had been sufficiently petrified about what I could do to him and wouldn’t be overly stupid now.

“I’m going to ask you one more question. Griffin over there is going to know if you tell the truth. If you do, you can go. If you don’t…” The exile’s eyes darted between us all. I didn’t need to turn

around to know the threatening looks he would be getting right

now. They had my back.

“What?” he growled.

I spoke slowly. I knew what I was about to say was potentially

major. I needed to keep my voice steady even though the very idea of what I might be suggesting was horrific. “You said there were rules for the three who existed. You said
Scriptures
, not
Scripture
.

What else is with the Grigori Scripture?”

His smile broadened. “He’s been waiting for you to figure that out.”

“Who?” I snapped.

“You said one question— which one?”

I swallowed hard. “The first.”

“Humans found their rules close to three and a half thousand

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years ago. The others, one for the Grigori and one for the Exiled, remain in their original place of belonging”— he sighed— “though not for much longer.”

“What is in the Exile Scripture?” I asked even as my stomach

turned.

The exile’s eyes lit up. “The promise of hell on earth.”

“What does that mean?” I pushed.

“Can’t say,” he answered. He bowed his head to me, then looked

at Griffin.

“That’s all he knows, Violet,” Griffin confirmed.

“I’ll be on my way then,” he said as he took off running, super fast. We all just watched, a little dumbstruck.

“God help us,” Griffin spoke quietly. “We need to find those

Scriptures before they do. Now, more than ever.”

“Let’s start by getting Violet cleaned up,” Nyla said, putting an arm around me as we started the walk back to where we had left the car.

I hadn’t taken much notice until that point, but the cuts on my legs were deep and my knees were starting to swell.

The drive back was quiet. There was a lot to talk about, but right then, I couldn’t do it, and I knew everyone else respected that.

I gave Steph a call to let her know I was on my way home.

“No worries,” she said. “We caught up with Spence and Zoe,

and after the rant ended, they filled us in. I came back to your place just in case your dad called. He hasn’t yet, but if he does, I’ll just say you’re in the shower or something.”

“Thanks. Be back there in about half an hour,” I said.

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“Are you okay? You sound wasted,” Steph said, concern growing

in her tone.

“Yeah. Just exhausted. I’ll fill you in when I get home.”

After I hung up, Griffin turned to me. “Don’t you want to go

back to Lincoln’s? Get those knees healed?”

“Oh…” I looked at my knees. The bleeding had mostly stopped.

They’d hurt like hell tomorrow, but it would be the weekend, and I just couldn’t cope with any more tonight. “No. It’s just a few scratches. They’ll heal on their own.”

“If you say so,” he said, not buying it but not pressing.

As we neared my street, Nyla inched a little closer and spoke

quietly. “Violet, do you want to talk about it?”

I knew what she was asking, but even acknowledging the fear

the exiles had reawakened was more than I could handle.

“No,” I said, working hard to remain focused on nothing. I’d

taken enough visits down memory lane today.

“Okay,” she said, realizing I wasn’t a share- share kind of girl but giving my hand a pat anyway.

Just
one
more
block
and
then
I’m out!

Getting into my building took a while since I had to loiter

outside, waiting for the security guy to go for a wander down the halls so I could slip in unnoticed.

When I finally made it inside my apartment, I closed the door

and locked the dead bolt, just like any other day. I held myself together and opened the door to my bedroom. There, sound asleep in my bed, lay Steph.

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I whispered, “Steph!” checking she was asleep, hoping she

wouldn’t wake up.

She didn’t.

I moved on autopilot back out to the living room, turned on

the TV softly to mask what was coming, walked into the kitchen, leaned back against the counter, and slid down to the floor,

matching the speed of the tears that poured from my eyes. I tucked my knees, sore and swollen, close to my chest and wrapped my

arms around them.

For too many hours, I cried silently and screamed inside.

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chapter
fifteen

“The terrible thing about the quest for truth is that you find it.”
ReMY de GouRMoNT

I woke in the morning, stiff , tender, and swollen, curled up in the corner of the couch, to a serious glare from Steph.

“I left you for as long as I could, but, Vi, you need a shower”— she handed me a cup of coff ee— “and this.”

I took the mug gratefully. Th e situation must have been bad for Steph to have tackled the espresso machine. I sat up and took a sip.

“Rough night. What time is it?” I didn’t know how much sleep

I’d had. Th e only way I knew there had actually been a period of real sleep was the dream.

It had been vivid, almost real. When I’d fi rst opened my eyes, I could still almost reach out and touch it, almost bring it back to me, but with every waking moment, it drifted farther away. I couldn’t remember the dream at all now, not one detail, other than that I was sure I needed to and that I had an odd feeling of…loss.

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“Ten. I would’ve left you to sleep, but we’re supposed to be

taking that stuff to Onyx and I figured we should get that done before you’re due at class.”

I gave a tired sigh, remembering that I’d agreed to do classes

with Nyla and Rudyard on the weekends at midday.

“What happened, anyway?” Steph asked, taking in the state of

my still dirty and bloodied legs.

“I fell over.”

She half laughed. “Am I supposed to believe that?”

“It’s true. I was being tormented by two exiles who specialize in the fear department when it happened, but I
did
fall.”

“Bad?” Steph added, unsure how much to ask.

I stood up and quickly grabbed the edge of the couch for support as I handed her the mug with my other hand. “Bad. I’ll go have

that shower.”

————

When I came back into the living room, Steph had tidied up a bit. I didn’t say anything, didn’t thank her. I knew she wouldn’t want that.

Instead, I found myself standing at the door to the balcony in the softest, baggiest sweats I could dig up, the ones I usually save for veg-out days. I parted the curtains and slid the door open.
Unlocked. Again.

I let a morning breeze filter in through the open door and closed my eyes, letting the breeze glide over my face, lifting loose strands of hair. I soaked in the promise of a new day and let it deceive me for a selfish moment before I closed the door and accepted that it was unlikely today would be any different.

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————

We took a taxi to Hades. I had insisted on walking, even though my legs were hurting more than I would admit. After the first

block, Steph had made a ridiculous huffing noise and hailed a taxi.

During the day, Hades is pretty low- key, with a much older

clientele in the restaurant having business lunches. Dapper must have been a good businessman to be able to attract such a range of customers. Surprisingly, it also didn’t look too seedy, the way lots of nighttime hangouts do during the day, when the lights are up. The scarlet velvet curtains were pulled back, which helped to brighten the place and give a golden glow to the chandeliers that twinkled in the light. Combined with the whitest of white tablecloths and crisp shirts of the waiters, the overall effect was very fresh.

Steph and I looked around for Dapper and were directed to the

cellar. We went through the staff- only door and down the stairs.

“Get out!” Dapper called as we approached.

“Okay,” I said, suddenly nervous we had done the wrong thing.

We quickly turned and started heading back up.

“Hang on, hang on. That you, Violet?” Dapper asked, sounding

closer.

I stopped halfway up the stairs, my legs on fire, and called back.

“Yes. Sorry, the bar guy told us we could come down.”

“Yeah, yeah, come back. I thought you were Onyx. He’s always

trying to slip down here and pilfer stock.”

“Sounds like something he’d do,” Steph said to me, making her

way back down the stairs. I didn’t follow.

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“What are you two doing here, anyway?” Dapper asked, as he

opened a case of wine and started loading the bottles onto the

floor- to- ceiling racks.

“We have Onyx’s shirts and shaver,” I said, still annoyed that I had to pay him for his information.

“Well, you won’t find him down here. Check upstairs.”

“Actually…” I started.

Dapper put down the bottle in his hand and took a good look at

me. “Let me guess: you want me to play delivery boy?”

“Come on, Dapper. Look at her. She barely got down these

stairs. Are you really going to send her on a search mission?” Steph asked, sticking up for me as always.

Dapper glanced down at my legs as if he could see the injuries

despite my loose sweats. “You find more trouble, did you?”

“A bit.”

“Where’s your knight in shining armor?”

“Huh?”

Dapper shook his head at me. “Lincoln? Your fella who can

‘hocus- pocus’ you, fix you all good as new.”

“Oh.”
Thanks
for
the
reminder.
“I don’t know. Look, are you going to take this stuff or not?” I asked, fed up with constantly having to explain myself to everyone.

Dapper put a hand out. “Give it here.”

Steph handed over the shopping bag.

I was already on my way back up the stairs by that time. I just didn’t have the energy today. She caught up with me and called out 173

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