Grave Secret (38 page)

Positioned around her in a circle was every mirror she had in the apartment—at least the ones she could take off the walls—all facing in on each other, creating reflected tunnels that went on forever. When I poked her with my toe, a dozen of my disapproving doppelgangers did the same.

“
Ungh
,” she muttered.

“Get up,” I replied, nudging her harder. “We’re getting you out of here.”

She cracked one eyelid and wiped the crusty bits of sleep from her eyes. Judging from the pained squinting, I had been right to predict she’d have a hell of a headache. “Secret, is that you? Where are we going?” Her voice was small, almost childlike, and for a moment—just a moment—I had a pang of the deepest sympathy for her.

If she was in love, I knew what it was like to have that pulled away. Worse—I knew what it was like to have the person you love the most walk out the door willingly. I had that man beside me now, but the gods only knew what he and I were to each other. I’d been handed a perfect future for us. An opportunity for us to have our happily ever after and everything we could have dreamed.

He’d asked me to run.

And I’d said no.

Instead of treating Kellen like the problem, I reminded myself she was my friend, and I was steadily running out of friends. I sat on the floor beside her and brushed damp hair off her forehead. “Do you really love him?” I asked. Maybe if she did love him, there was a chance one of us could finish this awful week with a little happiness.

Her lashes fluttered, and her hand went to her chest. I saw the flicker of raw hope on her face, and it was a kind of emotion that couldn’t be faked. Calliope would tell me one way or the other if the love Kellen felt was real, but her expression told me what Kellen
felt
.

“Yes. Oh,
yes
. And I didn’t mean what I said, Secret. About you and Desmond.” She looked from me to the gentleman in question. “You didn’t deserve that from me.”

I shrugged. “Maybe I did deserve it.”

Kellen took my hand and scooted closer. “No. I was a bitch.”

That made me laugh, however lightly. “Takes one to know one, hon. If you do love him, then I didn’t really do you any favors by dragging you back here.”

“You didn’t know.”

“I didn’t ask, either.” I got to my feet again and offered her a hand up. “Get dressed.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m taking you to Calliope. And then I’m taking you back.”

Chapter Fifty-One

I didn’t have the luxury of time to let Kellen say goodbye to Lucas in person, but we lived in a world of iPhone technology. As we drove I used my too-smart-for-its-own-good phone to video call Lucas, and when he answered, I passed Kellen the phone.

I tried not to listen in, but they were both emotional as Kellen told him she loved him but she couldn’t stay.

“I have to go back,” she said, wiping a fat tear off her cheek.

“But I can’t protect you there,” he replied. I couldn’t look at the screen because seeing Lucas upset might break me. I needed to keep my distance from this.

“I don’t need your protection anymore.”

A familiar sigh came through the speaker. “Will you come back?”

“I don’t know.” Her tears were coming faster now. “I’m sorry.”

There was a clipped discussion on the other end of the phone. “I have to hang up now, Kellen. Please think about this.”

“I have.”

A pause. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The Rain siblings said goodbye to each other. Possibly for the last time.

Holden had just risen for the night when we showed up at his doorstep. I wasn’t sure if he had normal dreams, but I think he was hoping this was a bad one when he opened his apartment door to see me, Desmond and Kellen huddled together in his hallway.

“They’d better be here to wish you a fond farewell to the mortal coil,” he said.

“Something along those lines.”

“Oh, Secret. You know how much I love a straightforward answer from you.”

“Can we talk inside for a minute?”

He stepped aside, and I wasn’t so distracted as to miss the glare he shot Desmond. I wasn’t interested in coddling either of their egos right then. If they wanted to know who was coming out on top when it came to me, the answer would be whichever of them helped me with this plan the most.

I wouldn’t find arguments terribly endearing right then.

“Is your entourage going to be okay on their own?” Holden asked. “I didn’t put down a deposit for pet damage.”

My expression said what my words did not, a very plain
Shut the fuck up
.

I crossed the threshold and closed the door behind me. “I’m going to get right to the point.”

“And I was so hoping for a rousing game of charades. You’re here to get bitten.”

“No.”

“You’re planning to—”

“Brigit is dead.” That silenced him. “Mercy thought Brigit was me. Shot her in the heart.” I touched my own chest, fingers fanning over my sternum where my heart was beating rapidly, reminding me I was still alive. “Silver bullet.”

Holden took a step towards me, and I recoiled. “I don’t think I can handle any more hugs right now,” I explained, holding my hand up to keep him at a distance. “I’ve been hugged more in the last two days than I have in my entire life. Were people afraid to touch me before?”

He’d stopped advancing on me, but there was nothing I could do to dampen the pitying expression on his face. “You don’t make yourself easy to touch.”

“I guess now I’m only human.” The smile I forced was the barest flicker. I didn’t feel like smiling, but I’d be dead before I stopped trying to make light of a bad situation. Without a joke here or there I’d be crushed under the weight of my own grief.

“Why are you here?”

“I need your help.”

“Of course you do. You’re not big on social calls.”

“I’m taking Kellen back.”

“You’re
kidding
. Tell me you’re joking.”

“No.”

“
Why
? Do you remember what we went through to bring her here?” He raked his fingers through his dark hair, pushing the waves behind his ear. His beauty sometimes took me by surprise, sneaking up when I least expected to be reminded of it. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Probably.”

“I can’t let you do that.”

“Not only will you let me, you’re going to help me.”

“You
are
out of your mind.”

He started to walk across the room, but I darted forward and grabbed his arm. Physically I didn’t have the strength to stop him if he didn’t want to be stopped, but he went still under my touch. “You don’t understand what I’m trying to do.”

“Then explain it to me instead of throwing idiotic notions at me and expecting me to be thrilled about them.”

“Aubrey made a promise to me the night of the ball. He told me none of his people would harm anyone else in my world. Since then, another kid has died. I think if I take Kellen back and reunite her with her fairy boyfriend—providing I believe she’s not under a spell—I can use her and Aubrey’s promise to make him give me my abilities back.”

“I…I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Say, Secret you’re a genius.”

“I shan’t.”

“Then don’t say anything. It’s the best plan anyone has come up with so far that will make me who I
was
again and give me what I need to kill my mother.”

“I can give you what you need to kill her right now,” he said. With my hand still on his arm I was standing much too close to him for turns of phrase like that. He cupped my face and twisted his arm under mine so his other hand fell to my waist. “I can save you all the hassle and all the trouble of this idiotic plan, and I can make you strong. One bite and you’ll belong.”

When I looked into his eyes, they’d gone black. I waited for the ache in my own gums, or something to hint at the vampiric arousal I should be feeling right then, but nothing came. My heart beat faster and the skin on my neck flushed.

He trailed his fingers down my throat and over my collarbone, making me swallow hard in response. “Just one bite,” he repeated.

“And I belong?”

“Yes.” Tilting his head low, he traced my throbbing artery with a gentle caress of his lips. When I didn’t pull away, I felt the graze of his teeth. That’s when I pushed him off me.

“Belong
where
? Belong to you?”

He seemed hurt and a little dizzy from being stopped in the act. I wondered if full-blooded vampires had something like blue balls for their fangs if they didn’t get to feed when they were expecting to. Like some kind of pseudo-sexual gingivitis.

“I thought what you wanted was to not be an outcast.”

“Maybe once. But I don’t want it like this.”

“You mean you don’t want it with me.”

“This has nothing to do with us. It has nothing to do with me and Desmond either. This is about putting my life back together and then ending someone else’s.”

“We can kill Mercy for you.”

“The council doesn’t give a shit about killing a rogue werewolf princess.”

“She’s killed one of our wardens now.”

I huffed, crossing my arms tightly over my chest. “Don’t pull that. I know exactly how much the council cares about dead wardens. I
am
the council. They’d only care if she was killed by one of our own without a warrant.”

“She
was
killed in public.”

“With no witnesses. You don’t get it, do you? The council doesn’t care about Mercy. And I can’t make them care about her without explaining why they should. I can’t tell the council to kill my mother, because then they’d know what I am.”

“Then I’ll kill her.”

I softened, dropping my arms back down by my sides. Leave it to a homicidal promise to turn me into mush. I didn’t go any closer to him, though, fearing he might try to bite me again. “I want it to be me. And I want it to be me as I was.”

“Did the wolf try to talk you out of this? I’m betting he loves seeing you in the daylight.”

“At this point, the wolf knows better than to bother.”

“Someone ought to try knocking some sense into you every now and then. Otherwise you’ll think you’re always right.”

“I am always right.”

Holden snorted. “You’re something, that’s for sure.”

“I need you, Holden. I can’t get through to Calliope without you, and I’m not taking Kellen anywhere until I know her feelings for the fairy are genuine.”

“That’s noble of you.”

“I’m not a monster.”

“No…not yet, anyway. But I guess I’d better get my coat if we’re going to make you one.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

When I’d been a freak, passing through the gate to Calliope’s realm had felt strange but not unpleasant. There was an otherness to it, but it was over quickly and had rarely made me uneasy. The only time I hadn’t enjoyed the process was when I took Desmond with me.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when passing through it as a human, whether it would hurt now, or if there would be other potential side effects.

I’d asked Desmond to stay out this time, because I couldn’t act as an anchor for him, and with Kellen and I being relatively fragile—since we were mere mortals after all—it was smarter and safer for us to travel alone with Holden and not risk a werewolf shift in the transport.

As it turned out, there wasn’t much for me to have concerned myself over. The biggest difference—aside from being aware of how cold the gate was—was the smell. It smelled like fruit, or flowers. Something sweet and fresh. I was enchanted enough by the smell that I wanted to stop moving so I could bask in it awhile longer.

With a chill, I realized that was probably the point.

The gateway itself was a passage from one world into the next. It made sense now that humans couldn’t enter it on their own, if there were natural elements meant to lead them from the path. I tightened my grip on both Holden’s and Kellen’s wrists so the vampire could guide us safely. I’d figured out what the smell was designed to do, but I wasn’t sure if Kellen would understand it to be bait.

The look on her face was like a starving man unleashed at a buffet. She was completely enamored with the scent around us. She tried to tug her hand free of mine, but I held tight and refused to let go of Holden, praying we’d make it through to the other side before anything happened.

When we emerged into Calliope’s waiting room, my ears popped like I’d come down from a long flight. I was grateful to see that not only had we made it out, we’d all come through together.

The Oracle was standing next to her massive fireplace, looking none too impressed to see us. Her jet-black hair was braided and pinned around her head like a crown, and she wore a full taffeta ball gown in a deep purple color.

“I warned you,” she said, pacing in front of the flames. “I told you it would screw everything up.”

“Nice to see you too, Cal.”