Enticed (15 page)

In the cafeteria I grabbed a salad and a bread roll and slumped down in my usual spot.

When the chair beside me was pulled out and a tray dropped next to mine, I didn"t even look up. I assumed it would be Steph.

„Jeez, Eden – you awake?"

I jumped in my next seat and looked up to see Spence laughing away.

„What? What are you doing here?" Then, paranoid, I started looking around. „You"re going to get me in trouble! Again!"

He gave me a cheeky wink and his smile widened. „Glamour."

I looked around the room again and realised no one else seemed aware of his presence, even though he was not wearing a school uniform and clearly didn"t belong there.

„What are you doing here?"

„Apart from nursing a wicked hangover. I came to clear the air," he said, squaring his shoulders to me. He had no intention of going away.

„Oh." I blew out an I-don"t-want-to-be-here-breath.

„Look. A lot of stuff went down last night and get the feeling of all the awful … if you could take one thing away, it would be the you-and-me-getting-dirty-on-the-dance-floor bit?"

I squinted my eyes at him. „You certainly have a way with words, Spence."

He shrugged. „It"s a gift." He raised his eyebrows and waited. He real y wasn"t going to go away.

„Okay. Look, it"s not that I don"t … you know. I think you"re nice and all and you were … I mean … it wasn"t bad or anything. Crap. I just don"t …"

„Like me like that?" he suggested, smiling.

„Yeah."

„It"s okay. I get it. It wasn"t exactly my choice either, you know. Don"t get me wrong, I"m not feeling violated or anything. You kiss like a maniac – no guy in his right mind would be disappointed after that – I mean-„

„
Spence!
" I cut him off.

„Oh, yeah. Sorry. What I was saying was – it"s all good. We"re friends. The fact that we"ve shared one particularly hot kiss isn"t going to change that, make it all weird. Okay?"

I nodded, relieved that at least one of my concerns wasn"t going to develop into a major crisis.

Steph pul ed out a chair and sat down on the other side of Spence. „Hi," she said to Spence. „What are you doing here?"

„Hey!" I jumped in. „How come she can see you too?"

„It"s a pick-and-choose thing. Right now I"m only providing glamour to those who don"t already know me. As far as they"re concerned a very inconspicuous – but seriously smokin"

– girl is sitting down beside you in a school uniform having lunch."

„Smokin?" Steph repeated.

„Hey, some things just happen naturally." Spence opened his arms. „It"s hard for me to cover up innate hotness, no matter what form I"m in."

Steph made a gagging motion. You do realise this is a co-ed school. You could have stayed male," she said.

Spence took a huge bite of his sandwich. „True, but then it wouldn"t have been so easy to stop by the girl"s change room on the way here." He shrugged.

I started picking at pieces of my bread roll, throwing them at him. Steph picked up her salad bowl and dumped its contents over his head.

-

It had been good to clear the air with Spence and by the end of the day I started to get myself together and built up towards my next task. Lincoln.

After school, Steph and I detoured via the bank so I could withdraw some money from my Dad"s Amex account. He"d set it up with joint cards for us both years ago. I paid most of the household bills and did the majority of any shopping so it was just easier if I had access to cash. Dad had told me it was okay to use it to buy a few things here and there, but on the whole I didn"t bother. I didn"t know how much an Armani shirt and an electric shaver would cost so when Steph suggested I take out a thousand dollars I almost fell over.

„What do you mean a thousand dol ars? Are you crazy?" I only real y withdrew cash for lunch money and groceries. Coffee and milk don"t cost much.

„Listen, sweetie, when it comes to matters of designer clothing, I"m as reliable as they come. You"re just lucky that there are sales on – otherwise we"d need more."

I blew out a breath. If she was telling me it was so – it was so. Stil , I couldn"t help the aggravation at handing over money so Onyx could get his reward for telling me I might die.

„Are you going to be okay? Do you know what size to get?"

Steph gave me a full-blown eye-roll. „Honestly Vi, I could shop with my eyes closed."

Anyway, she pul ed out a cocktail napkin from her pocket. „Mr Reminisce-on-the-dark-days gave me all his measurements. I real y dislike that guy."

„Try hate with a vengeance."

Steph gave me a pitying look. „Are you sure you want me to go? I can stay with you –

come over to Lincoln"s – just in case …?"

But this was something I had to do on my own. There was no point arriving with reinforcements – my best chance was to just go myself, try and be completely honest.

„No. you go. We need this stuff. I"l have to deliver it to Onyx by tomorrow or he"l start causing more problems. Why don"t you ask Salvatore if he wants to go with you?"

Steph planted a goodbye kiss on my cheek. „Already done. I"m meeting him at the mall.

Um … Vi?" she started, uncharacteristically unsure.

„Yeah?"

„Do you mind if I stay at yours again tonight? Dad"s stil away and well … Mum"s …

entertaining." She looked past me, suddenly distracted by something in the shop window. It was almost believable, if we weren"t standing outside a bank.

„Sure, Steph." Then, deciding that wasn"t enough, I added, „I was going to ask the same thing. I real y don"t feel like being alone at the moment so maybe you could just come and stay till Dad gets back? If that"s okay with you?" I didn"t know what was going on in Steph"s home life, but her uncomfortableness said enough.

Steph shifted weight from one foot to the other and shrugged a shoulder. „Yeah. I could do that." She final y looked up briefly, pushed the hair back from her forehead and checked her watch. „Time to fly." As she walked past, unable to look at me again, she grabbed hold of my hand and we both gave a quick squeeze before letting each other go.

-

When I walked down Lincoln"s street, I couldn"t see his four-wheel-drive parked anywhere on the road. The warehouse door was open, which was no surprise as everyone was using it as a drop-in centre lately. I wondered if that was bothering him – if he was feeling put out by everyone else.

Especially since last night
.

Griffin was at the dining table, watching Spence and Zoe practised tactical manoeuvres.

The boring stuff, no combat, just exercise. I smiled when I caught the frustrated looks on both of their faces.

Rudyard was overseeing, calling out whenever they made a bad decision and instructing them to go back and start again.

I felt quite smug until I noticed Griffin watching me.

„You"re up next," he said.

I gave him a half-ass smile.

„Where"s Lincoln?"

Griffin"s expression tightened. I thought I could see a little frustration in his eyes, too.

„Not here. He and Magda had something to do that couldn"t wait," and there again, I heard a change in his voice. A hint of sarcasm.

„Do you know what"s going on?"

„No idea." Griffin gave himself a little pul -together when he took in my obvious unhappiness. „Look, we all have things to do at times that are … private. That doesn"t mean we want to hurt people around us or push them away. Sometimes we are just trying to protect them."

„Griffin?" I began, pul ing out a chair and plonking myself beside him. „Nyla and Rudyard told Linc and me how they"re soulmates. How being together made them stronger. Did you ever consider being with-„

„Magda?"

I nodded.

„You have
seen
her, haven"t you? Of course, I considered it. Who wouldn"t?" Then quickly, he added, „I … ah, well. What I meant to say that – she"s very beautiful, but that"s not everything. Magda and I were never in love. More like brother and sister or best friends at first and now … well … „ But he didn"t elaborate. I got the feeling that their partnership had not always been smooth-sailing.

„Would you have tried, if you loved her? Would you, you know, risked your powers?"

He leaned back in his chair. „That"s a big question you"re asking." He frowned. „The answer is – probably not. I believe in being Grigori, the role I play. It"s been hard for me at times – to be from a Seraph when so few are. The responsibility and expectation that comes from being a leader. I"m not always the one I wish I could be – that I should be – but nonetheless, it is my place. If I was to ever show a commitment to something other than my leadership, which could jeopardise the function I have, I would be risking too many lives. I couldn"t live with that."

I nodded. I understood what he was saying but at the same time I couldn"t help but think the only reason he admitted it so easily was because what existed between him and Magda never pushed him beyond reason, enticed him beyond the rational.

„Griffin, is Magda from the Seraphim too?" I asked, realising that I didn"t really know that much about her.

Other than that I hate her!

„No. No, she"s of an Angel."

„What do you mean? Aren"t we all?"

„Yes, but one of the orders is referred to as simply Angel. Technically, it is the tenth order.

You didn"t pay much attention to that hierarchy chart I drew up for you, did you?"

„Sorry," I said, suddenly guilty.

He let it slide. „Her strength is that she can speak telepathically."

„Wow. So you"re from the highest order and she"s from the lowest? That must have been hard for her?"

„Well, the order isn"t always a reflection of importance, Violet, but yes, at times it has been a challenge for her."

„I guess speaking telepathically is cool, though. Can she speak to anyone?"

Griffin looked around the room. I could tell this conversation was not one he was enjoying. He pushed his chair up to stand. „No. she can only speak to others who have the same gift."

„Oh," I said, as he gestured to Zoe and Spence and moved closer to observe their game of cat and mouse.

I stayed sitting at the table and watched. My mind was racing with everything Griffin had told me. The only
others
I knew of who could speak telepathically were exiles. Questions kept forming in my mind and I realised that I was just creating more problems and not solving any.

Rudyard stood up. „That"s enough for you two today," he called out, stopping the grateful-looking Spence and Zoe, Rudyard walked towards the door and started putting on a long trench coat, which looked awkward on him. Like Griffin, he was the type of person who was always destined to grow old. Though he pulled it off better than Griffin and managed an up-to-date wardrobe, he was one of those people you know will look their best in mid-life. I wondered how many more hundreds of years it would take for him to hit middle age.

Rudyard opened the front door and stood aside, just as Nyla walked in. He knew she was coming. That was pretty creepy. I was jealous as hell.

„What"s up?" Griffin asked, joining them as I got up, too.

„Magda just called me," Nyla said, smoothing down her windblown hair. „She said her source told her where a couple of exiles are holing up. She thinks they"re connected to the Scripture. Apparently her source heard them bragging about how they would son have the key to destroy all Grigori."

„Sounds like the Scripture," Griffin agreed.

„Are we hunting?" Rudyard asked.

Griffin grabbed his coat. „You bet. This is the first good lead we"ve had. Why didn"t Magda call Magda call me?"

„She said she tried to, but couldn"t get through," Nyla said.

„Makes sense. I"ve been on and off the phone all day," Griffin said, but he didn"t sound convinced. I wondered if he knew something I didn"t about Magda. And Lincoln, for that matter.

„I"m coming," I aid.

„No, you shouldn"t be going out without Lincoln. It"s not safe," Griffin said.

„You"re going out without Magda, and Lincoln and Magda are both out without us. I think I"m entitled. Plus, this Scripture is … well, I want in."

„Okay," said Griffin. I smiled, loving that he was that sort of guy. The kind that respected guts and people who fought for what they believed in. „But you"d better get changed. Hurry up!"

I looked down at my school uniform and then ran to the bathroom to put on the spar clothes I had in my bag.

When I emerged in shorts and a T-shirt I heard raised voices from down the corridor.

Spence was yelling.

„It"s not fair. You just told Violet she can go and her partner"s not here!" he complained.

„Yes, but her partner is not far away. If she is hurt we can get her to him. Spence, it"s Griffin"s call what happens with Violet, but you are under our care and we have to abide by Academy regulation," Rudyard said.

„You"re kidding! I have all the other abilities of strength and speed that everyone else does. I"m not going to get hurt! You can"t do this – hole me back forever!"

Before I made it out to the living room I heard the front door slam. Spence had taken off.

Nyla had a hand on Zoe"s shoulder. „Go get him Zoe. He needs a friend. You"re the closest thing he has to a partner at the moment. Help him."

„Oh, perfect! Just what I need. Another imbecile to babysit. So I suppose that means I don"t get to go on the hunt either?"

„Please, Zoe," Nyla pleaded, looking worriedly towards the door.

„Whatever."

And just as Spence had stormed out, Zoe yanked the door back open and stubbornly followed. Before the door slammed for a second time, a rush of dried leaves blew through into the living room.

Nyla, Rudyard and Griffin were brushing themselves down as I joined them.

„Zoe?" I asked, assessing the leaf attack.

„Hmm," Rudyard said, completely unimpressed. „Using nature as a weapon against us in not a good use of her strengths."

No. But I could see why she had and was just glad I"d been out of range when she let rip.