Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) (33 page)

I thought he would have been repulsed by it, but he seemed intrigued, elated.

“Then I should able to do the same things you do—like the protective field, but this time intentionally?” I asked.

His eyes brightened as he nodded his head. “Want to try one?” he asked enthusiastically.

I nodded once in assent, and his grin grew wider. It was at that moment I realized he was a magic addict drawn to it without recourse. It may have been his burden initially, but now he found immense joy in it. I wondered if I were being a fool, falling victim to its allure.

“You will be using me as a conduit, which means you will be bound to me,” he informed me coming to his feet.

“Will the same thing happen to me as before at Caleb’s?” I asked cautiously. That was an experience I would rather not duplicate.

“Yes, but it won’t be as intense.” He grinned. “We will be bound, connected. I can hear your thoughts; so keep it PG and no more name-calling. And any impure thoughts you may have about Ethan’s strong muscular arms around you should be kept under wraps,” he stated, grinning playfully.

“All comments were made under extreme duress; I was out of my head at the time.”

“Okay, let’s pretend that I believe that.”

Pulling the knife out of the sheath at my ankle, I handed it to him. His brow rose, I guess wondering why I walked around with a knife strapped to me. I didn’t know why either; but if it made me feel safe, I was going to do it. Cutting his hand then mine, he clasped my hand into his and chanted several words. The lucent silhouette of the protective guard surrounded us. Then it dropped. “Your turn,” he said.

“How do I do it?”

“There’s no spell for this. Defensive magic is at my command. Will it and it will manifest.”

Clearing my mind, I focused. I willed. Nothing. I tried it again. Still nothing. “I can’t do it.”

“Skylar, feel what I am doing,” he instructed. He placed the protective field over us again. I felt the wave of power that drew into us. He released my hand from his grasp. “Now you do it.”

Closing my eyes, I tried again to imitate what I thought he had done. Calling the magic to my command, I opened my eyes to a thin shimmering gold field surrounding us—similar to that of Josh’s. “Cool,” I whispered. I could feel the energy pulsate through me as I became one with magic.

Josh studied it, then he pushed his hand straight through. “It would be even cooler if it weren’t just a glamour. It works fine as an illusion, but if someone’s trying to hurt you, then you are screwed,” he stated,.

“Make it stronger.”

I closed my eyes and called the magic to me again. I didn’t feel anything change but that’s not to say it didn’t. I reached out and poked my hand through the glamour. It hadn’t worked.

“Skylar, protect yourself.”

I nodded, but I had no idea how. “I’ll try,” I stated unenthusiastically. Josh made it look so easy, but it wasn’t.

He nodded slowly as he distanced himself from me. “Protect yourself, Skylar,” he commanded as the drinking glass that sat on the table near us flew toward me. I dropped to my knees to dodge it. Then a book came in my direction and barely missed hitting me. It wasn’t until the table slid across the floor toward me and I had to physically stop it, that I became irritated, “Josh, stop it!” I yelled.

“No,” he stated firmly. “Skylar, protect yourself,” he commanded.

He waved his hand, pushing me back against the wall where he held me firmly. His face lost its typical friendly disposition to the point he was scaring me. His lips moved and I felt a sense of warmth creeping up my arm, and I was pulled forcibly to the ground, causing alarming pain.

“You are hurting me,” I shrieked through clenched teeth.

“Then make it stop,” he challenged.

“I can’t,” I responded desperately.

“You’re not trying.”

“I don’t know what to do!”

“It’s in you. Command the magic to do what you will. You want me to stop, then make it stop.”

I tried again, commanding the wave of magic in me to do my bidding, but nothing more happened other than the useless glamour that covered me. Frustrated and in pain, “I can’t do this,” I admitted in an exasperated breath.

When he didn’t stop, anger bristled and all I wanted to do was hurt him. I could feel my face becoming flushed. “Just leave me the hell alone!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

With a quick wave of his hand, he made it all stop, and I slid to the ground. I rested my head against the wall catching my breath. “You’re a jerk,” I hissed, wiping my hands over my face.

“Sorry, that was very wrong of me. It has been my experience that most perform better with a noxious stimulus and high stress situation. Are you okay?”

“I’m not mostly,” I snapped. We had established that enough times that it wasn’t even debatable. His eyes held a level of remorse that made staying mad at him a challenge. If I were in better spirits, I would have happily taken it on and forgiven him once hell froze over. “I don’t want to do this anymore. It was silly to ask.”

“It will get easier. I apologize if I scared you, but don’t let my stupid behavior prevent you from exploring your potential,” he urged.

“I can’t do this right now. We just need to hold off for a while.”

“Of course.”

He stood up and offered a hand to help me up. When I took it, his eyes rolled back and his breathing quickened. “Skylar, let go of me.”

My hands remained fastened to his, unable to release it. “Skylar, let go!” he commanded in a tight voice.

“I’m trying. What am I doing? Tell me how to stop it!”

Unable to respond, his eyes darkened the way they had at Caleb’s. My hands sweltered with heat; then we were both were thrown back, hitting opposite ends of the room with force, a force so hard it knocked most of the books off the shelves.

“We need to help you control the way magic affects you,” he stated between ragged breaths. “I guess I got what I wanted—you protected yourself.”

“Sorry.”

“Nothing to apologize for. You’re right; we should stop experimenting until I have a better understanding of your abilities with magic,” he admitted as he stood up.

“I agree,” stated Ethan dryly from the doorway. “What good is it to save her from the vampires only to let her kill herself with magic?” Disapprovingly, he looked at us, shaking his head, then glared at Josh before he left.

“I think you’re in trouble again,” I whispered.

“With Ethan? I dare you to find a time that I am not in trouble with him. Ethan’s not a fan of magic. Too uncontrollable for his liking,” he admitted.

We sat there is silence. My fingers absent-mindedly found their way to the imprint of the gem. I stroked it, becoming familiar with it as though it were new.

“The protective field, it can be broken by were-animals, like when Ethan broke yours?”

Josh gaze shifted away from mine, “Were-animals can break wards; they do it all the time,” he responded in a detached voice. It was the same manufactured statement that Ethan had fed him a couple of days ago and me yesterday. I considered pushing the subject, but I had a feeling I was going to get the same spiel he just gave or simple variants of it. “And vampires? Can they break them too?”

“Wards cannot be broken by the young ones, but it’s always the older ones you must worry about. If you encounter one over a century, know they didn’t get that old without having special skills and a few tricks,” he admitted. How do I protect myself when there is a disclaimer with most things, putting a wrinkle in the fabric of the rules?

Josh and I had started to put the books on the shelves. Well, he started, since every time I shelved a book, he removed it and reshelved it somewhere else. This was Josh’s domain, and if anyone decided to encroach on it, he was going to make it difficult. I am sure he and no one else knew the system he was using. It didn’t have a pattern or even a rational placement. “Shouldn’t I be able to find the gem because of what happened the other day?” I asked as he took another one of my shelved books off the bookcase.

Josh looked at me with a blank stare. He wasn’t considering it. I knew that face all too well. I had shocked him. He nodded slowly biting into his nail. Being around the were-animals didn’t improve his look of impassiveness. He had a tell-tale look when things made him extremely nervous. And his tell-tale was screaming at me.

“If you knew how to control the magic, you could call it to you, but, in turn, it could do the same. If its power surpassed yours, then when it called, you would answer and would be unable to fight it. You might very well find yourself knocking at the vampires’ door ready to give yourself to them,” he admitted dryly. “It’s too dangerous to try.”

“No, I don’t want to do anything like that. If I am bound to the book, then am I not indirectly bound to the gem?”

Apprehensively, he nodded again, trying to figure out where my line of questioning was going.

“Suppose I went to the seethe’s home.” I looked at Josh, whose frown lines deepened. “If the gem were in the vampires’ home, I would be drawn to its location in the same manner I was drawn to the book, right?”

Josh wasn’t speaking; instead, his jaw was wrenched so tight together that I could see the muscles of his neck become turgid. I was sending him into a medical crisis at the very thought.

“Well?” I pushed.

He took a long time to respond as he considered the question. “Yes, in theory, but they have a protective spell on it that may prevent you from finding it ... ”

“And that’s the riskiest tactic I’ve ever heard. There is no way Sebastian would agree with that,” Steven interjected, walking into the library. Josh looked a little startled, but I wasn’t. My roommate’s scent had become very familiar to me, so I knew he was near.

“I’m all for risk-taking, but suicide missions aren’t my forte,” Steven continued. Let’s say we take you there, and you don’t sense it. Do you think we would get out of there with you? We might as well put a big red bow around you and place you at their doorstep.”

“They rest during daylight. We can go then,” I suggested.

“Yeah, they rest during the day. They aren’t comatose or oblivious to their surroundings. Their sense of smell is just as good as ours if not better. Sorry, but your scent is very distinctive. They would know the very moment you entered the house,” he stated, taking a seat at the table.

“It’s not a bad idea, just too risky. Daytime would be the worst time to go. From what I observed, they are the most active at the end of the week. They hunt longer and use that time to satisfy their other desires as well. The best time to go would be at night Friday or Saturday,” he suggested.

Steven sat quietly for a moment, looking over at Josh periodically, who seemed to be fighting off a bout of cardiac arrest. Josh’s hand covered his face, “Let’s discuss it with Sebastian and Ethan and get their thoughts before we consider this any further.”

Steven nodded, holding a similar look of anxiety that he wore more subtly than Josh. I wondered which one I would send into a panic attack before I left. When I came up with the idea to go the vampires’ home to look for the Gem of Levage, it seemed like a good idea. After careful consideration and debate, it seemed like a good idea to Steven and Josh, who then took the suggestion to Sebastian and Ethan. And after more and louder discussion and debate, it seemed like a good idea, and they agreed. Now, sitting in the SUV, driving down the street toward the seethe’s home, it seemed like pure insanity.

Like Caleb’s home, it was located closer to the city than the pack’s retreat. It was just minutes into the land of suburbia. We turned down a street, populated with large two- and three-story opulent European-style homes. We stopped in front of a buff-colored, palatial, Mediterranean-style brick house. Unlike Caleb’s home, the vampires didn’t seem to care about privacy. The lawn was sedulously manicured with small shrubberies, outlining the path to the house. One look at the lawn, house and small garden in front of the house, you would expect a traditional family behind the doors—not a blood-sucking family of the undead.

We got out of the car while Josh and Gavin stayed behind. As I walked toward the house, my heart was beating fast and erratic with each step. The shadow of night covered us, allowing us to move undetected to the home. This block didn’t seem to take part in anticrime strategies like streetlights as other blocks did. Except for a few porch lights and one streetlight on each end of the unusually long block, it was virtually dark. I doubt it was coincidental. Nor did I think it was coincidental that the door was unlocked, inviting visitors who would undoubtedly never leave.