Entangled (Guardian Academy Book 2) (7 page)

“Is this the crime scene?” I ask, straightening in the seat.

He nods, silencing the engine. “Yep, this is it.”

“But it’s so close to the academy.” I crane my neck to get a better look as I undo my seatbelt. My view is limited by SUVs, cars, and people dressed in similar attire as Jax.

“I know.” Fear briefly flickers in his silver eyes, but he quickly composes himself. “It’s actually happened a few times over the last six months or so.”

I set the coffee back in the console. “You don’t think it has anything to do with the academy, do you?”

“There’s been some speculation that it might.” He extends his hand toward the door handle. “I’ll explain everything later. Right now, we have a case to investigate.”

When he gets out of the car and closes the door, I follow his lead, meeting him around the front of the car.

“So, where do we start first?” I ask, tying my plaid shirt around my waist.

“We go look at the damage.” He draws on his sunglasses and starts off toward the dry, grassy field.

I trail at his heels, noting the way people keep glaring at me, probably because I’m a newbie and am technically not supposed to be here.

“Stay close to me,” Jax utters from under his breath as we reach the outskirts of the field where the pavement meets the grass and dirt. “And remember, don’t touch anything.”

I’m starting to nod when my grandpa’s voice fills my head.

Brace yourself, Alana,
he whispers.
It’s about to start.

Confusion spins inside me. The feeling only lasts a spilt second before an overwhelming wave of despair crashes through me, so powerful I nearly drop to my knees.

Fearing I’m about to collapse, I clutch Jax’s arm.

His eyes drop to my fingers digging into his bicep then rise to my face, his brows furrowing. “What’s wrong?”

Tears sting my eyes. “I think something’s …” I trail off as I catch sight of the field in front of me. The once dry, yellow grass is now stained red with spilled blood, and lifeless, dismembered fey stretch as far as my eyes can see. And the stench. God, the stench … It’s like spoiled meat left out for days to rot in the sunlight.

Vomit burns the back of my throat, but the nausea is suffocated by the sound of voices blasting through me like exploding glass.

Help us!

Help me!

I can’t breathe!

Why are you doing this!

What did we do!

I don’t want to die!

I don’t want to die.

I don’t …

Want to …

Die …

Chapter 7

My head pulsates maddeningly, as if my brain is fighting to escape my skull, fighting to escape the voices. Faint whispers haunt my thoughts then gradually fade like a light mist.

Help …

Please … I … don’t … want … to … die …
The last voice slips from my grasp as I return to reality, and the pain in my head subsides.

“Alana.” Jax’s alarmed face is the first thing that comes into focus. “What the heck just happened?”

“I, um …” I blink several times, attempting to piece together what happened, but I have absolutely no idea other than maybe a spirit entered me. It seemed different than that, though. More powerful. Like an army of spirits all screamed at me simultaneously. “Jax, I think something’s …”

Not here,
my grandpa whispers.
There are too many wandering ears around.

I scan the people around me and note that many are watching me like a hawk.

I quickly wipe the tears from my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I tell Jax. “It’s just a lot to take in.”

“Yeah, it is.” He presses his lips together with an unreadable expression on his face. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s a lot to handle, especially for someone so inexperienced.”

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “I can handle it.”

I’m not sure if I can, and deep down, I want nothing more than to hide out in the car, away from the pain, blood, and evidence of evil. But every fiber in my being is pulling me toward that field. It’s the exact same feeling I experienced when I was sitting outside the school this morning. Was it merely a coincidence? Or did I somehow sense that, a handful of miles away, a massacre had happened?

Jax doesn’t seem to buy into my chillaxed act, but he doesn’t push the matter further.

“All right, come on.” He nods at me to follow as he walks farther into the crime scene.

I tail him, matching his steps to avoid ruining evidence as we make our way down a flattened, body-free section of the field.

The foul stench of death still possesses the air. I want to draw my shirt over my nose, but I don’t want to appear uneasy, either.

“Still doing, okay?” Jax asks, glancing left and right at the piles of bodies beside us.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” My voice quivers as a pounding urge to touch the bodies burns inside me. The feeling makes me sick to my stomach. What is wrong with me? Why is my mind suddenly so possessed with such morbidly twisted thoughts?

I hug my arms around myself and continue following Jax.
One foot in front of the other. You’ll be fine. Just don’t look down.

That’s all I want to do: look down and assess the damage. Could it be a Guardian thing? Could my powers, or whatever the hell you want to call them, be expanding?

I fight the compulsion to look down for as long as I can, but when Jax grinds to a halt, I stop with him, and my gaze descends.

The urge takes over, the need to touch the bodies so overpowering I can scarcely breathe.

“I need to go talk to my supervisor for a second and get caught up,” he says, skimming the area. “Wait here for a second.”

I nod dazedly as he wanders off. When he’s far enough away, I bend down and brush my fingers along the arm of a female a few years older than me.

When fey are alive, they mostly remain in their human form. But after they die, the glamour fades, and their original form shows through. Some of their forms are ghastly and terrifying, as bad as scenes in nightmares. Others, though, are hauntingly beautiful. The fey in front of me is part of the latter with shimmering violet skin, silver hair dipped in diamonds, lips tattooed with curvy, inky patterns.

Feel me,
a melodious voice floats through my head.
Feel my death …

Dizziness swims in my brain as her death seeps through my body … The pain … It’s unbearable … as hot as lightning yet as cold as a blizzard. I can barely breathe as images flicker through my mind. A tug kisses at my fingertips. I swear I fall … fall into her … become her … die with her.

“We shouldn’t be here,” I say as I stand in the middle of the field surrounded by my fellow fey. My violet skin sparkles in the pale moonlight, my silver hair whips in the wind, and a scorching hot power blazes through my veins. “This is a trap.”

The man in front of me turns toward me, brushing a lock of his inky black hair out of his crystal blue eyes. “Adaliya, you need to calm down. We have a truce with the Lord of the Afterlife, and he wouldn’t dare break that.”

I laugh hollowly. “You really think that’s true? That the Lord cursed with darkness in his veins wouldn’t screw you over?”

“Do I need to remind you who I am?” His threat rumbles from his chest. “Unlike you, I’m not some mere civilian fey. Royal blood pumps through my veins. Remember your place, Adaliya.”

Anger simmers under my skin, but I lower my head into a bow. “Yes, sir. I’m just nervous. With the water fey roaming the world now, I’m worried that everything is going to change, that truces might be broken and new ones formed.”

“I understand your concern, but I assure you the Lord of the Afterlife would not dare do anything to break the truce with the fey.” He towers over me. “We’re too powerful.”

I internally sigh.
The Prince of the North Kingdom is too arrogant for his own good. I should have followed my gut instinct and stayed in the Fey Realm tonight in the safety of our magic.

“You said the Lord sent a letter for us to meet him here tonight,” I proceed with caution, choosing my words carefully to avoid angering him more. “But what exactly did he promise that made you so easily break the laws of leaving your kingdom?”

“He said he found the Branch of Eternity.” He casts a glance up at the night sky now hazed with clouds. “He wants to make a bargain for it.” His eyes land back on me. “Do you know what that would mean for our kind? It would free us from death forever.”

“We already live too long as it is,” I say. “Not everyone wants to live forever.”

“Well, I do, and that’s all that matters.” He turns his back on me, leaving me to stew in my frustration.

How dare he bring our army out here and risk our lives, all so he can have immortality! He doesn’t even know if the letter is actually from the Lord of the Afterlife.

I start to turn away, ready to disobey rules and walk away from this, when a low, grumbling sound rises from the trees. I strain my eyes against the darkness and make out the shadows of human-like figures with red, glowing eyes.

“Eyes of the blood thirsty ones,” I whisper in horror. I reach for the prince to warn him, but a scream shatters through the air.

Blurry figures zip out from the trees, moving so fast my eyes can barely keep up. The scent of rust floods the land, and the ground below me softens like mud. At first, I think that maybe it started to rain, but when I glance down, I realize the dirt is soaked in blood.

A gasp escapes my lips as I trip back, reaching for my dagger in my sheath, but a figure zooms toward me and slams their hands against my chest. The dagger falls from my hands as I stumble to the ground, landing on the bodies of my fallen friends.

Dead. Everyone’s dead.

A sob wrenches from my chest as I extend my arm to the side and feel around for my weapon. Blood coats my fingers, and tears stain my cheeks.

“No. This can’t be happening.”

“But it is.” A deathly, emotionless face appears above me. Her skin is as pale as the moon, her hair as black as the sky, and her teeth as sharp as my missing dagger.

“You’re a vampire.” My voice trembles as I lean back, my fingers tracing the ground, searching for my dagger.

“Wow. You’re a sharp one,” she ridicules with a smirk before wrapping her fingers loosely around my neck and leaning in. “I guess fey were never really known for their intelligence, though, were they?”

“But we were here to meet the Lord of the Afterlife.”

“Did you really believe that?” She laughs. “How stupid of you.”

I want to tell her she’s wrong, want to be confident and strong, but fear overwhelms me, and I only manage to get one word out. “Why?”

“Why?” She hovers closer, so close I can smell the stench of blood staining her pierced lips. “That’s the best you can come up with?”

My fingers graze the handle of my dagger, and a drop of hope rises in my chest. “What else am I supposed to ask?”

Her smile widens, blood dripping down her chin. “How about this?” She leans closer, putting her lips to my ear. “Who?”

My fingers fold around the metal handle. “But I already know the answer. It’s right in front of me.”

She laughs wickedly, the sound sending a chill down my spine. “Stupid fey. Nothing is ever that simple.” She slants away from me, raising her head into the moonlight, her lips parting, her fangs ready to sink into my flesh and rip me to bits.

That’s when I spot the sequence of symbols branded into her throat.

“You’re from one of the facilities,” I whisper, inching my dagger close. “This isn’t you. This is them, the Electi. They did this to you.”

Anger flares in her eyes. “The facilities have done nothing to me except bring out what I truly am!” she roars, her fangs lengthening as she throws her head back.

A trail of moonlight spills across her bloody throat and collarbone. In the hollow of her throat, inked into her flesh, is a tattoo of a blood droplet with a silvery T carved into the center. She’s part of the territory clan that lives near Virginia Beach by the coastline. Usually, territory vampires are less violent and more in control of their blood thirst.

It hast to be because of the facilities. They ruined her, just like they’re ruining everything else.

I bring my dagger up, aiming it at her chest, but she captures my arm and digs her nails into my flesh.

I wince in pain, the weapon slipping from my fingers as her fangs sink into my neck and split open my throat.

I’m dying …

I really am …

Chapter 8

“Well, Jax, I have to say, you really picked a winner here,” an unfamiliar voice says. “Fainting at the scene? I think that might be a first.”

“It’s not a first, and you know it. Over half the newbies faint when they see their first real crime scene,” Jax replies with a deafening exhale. “And, if I’m remembering correctly, you were one of them.”

I want to open my eyes and see who she is, see where I am, but I’m afraid. Cold.

Terrified
.

“You’re right. I did.” The woman’s voice turns flirty. “But I’m surprised you remember that.”

“How could I forget?” Jax replies. “I’m the one who caught you and saved your ass from smacking the pavement.”

She laughs. “Well, I guess you were just paying me back early for all the times I’ve saved that cute, little butt of yours.”

I wait for Jax to respond, but he doesn’t. Instead, warm fingers spread across my cheeks.

“Alana, open your eyes.” His breath seeps into my skin and thaws the deathly coldness inside me. “Please. You’re really starting to worry me.”