Rising Covenant (Living Covenant Trilogy Book 1) (11 page)

“
P
aris is locked
in her room for the night, and I told her to order room service,” Aric said, double-checking the lock on the door and pulling the metal bar over it to secure us inside.

I was stretched out on the bed, opting to climb into one of Aric’s over-sized T-shirts instead of my own pajamas. I liked smelling him on me, and I needed the comfort tonight.

The television was on, and my eyes were trained on it. I had no idea what I was watching, though, and I didn’t care.

Aric tugged off his shirt and dropped his pants on the side of the bed before crawling onto the mattress and rolling beside me. He brushed my hair out of my face and studied me. “Will you please try to eat something?”

Once we checked into our room I excused myself for a long bath. Aric was at a loss, so he let me be. After my bath, he hovered, keeping his mouth shut and pretending he was doing nothing of the sort as he followed me from one end of the room to the other. This was the third time he’d suggested food.

“I’m not hungry,” I said. “You should eat.”

“I’m not hungry either. I don’t need anything.”

Aric was always hungry. “Please eat,” I said. “My stomach is upset. That doesn’t mean you have to go without. It’s not even seven yet. You can’t go through the whole night without food. You barely had breakfast, and we haven’t had a thing since. Just … eat.”

“I don’t need food, Zoe,” Aric said. “I’m okay.”

I rolled my eyes. “Can you guarantee your growling stomach won’t wake me in the middle of the night?”

Aric pursed his lips. We both knew the answer to that.

“How about we compromise?” I suggested. “Order a big dinner for yourself, and if anything looks good I’ll pick off your plate.”

“Because I’m desperate for you to eat, I’m going to agree to that,” Aric said. “I also don’t want to wake you up in the middle of the night. Once you go down, I want you down for eight hours.”

“That sounds a little dirty.”

Aric’s smile was rueful and I knew he only mustered it for my benefit. “I love you, baby. We’ll get through this.”

“I’m too numb to think about much right now, but I love you, too.”

Aric leaned over and softly kissed me. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to give me a hint as to something you would pick off my plate, would you?”

I shrugged. “Probably not.”

“I’ll get the whole menu.”

T
WO
hours
later Aric was full and I managed to eat a breadstick. Aric wasn’t thrilled with the outcome, but he knew better than to argue. After pushing the tray back into the hallway and relocking the door, he turned off the lights and crawled into bed next to me.

I’ve never been a fan of sleeping in strange beds. I prefer the comfort of my own when at all possible. Somehow, on the night I lost my parents, it felt right not to be comfortable.

“We need to talk about a few things,” Aric said, slipping his arm under my waist and tugging me to the center of the mattress so he could snuggle beside me. “Do you know what your parents’ wishes were?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re probably not going to have bodies, so there’s not a lot we can do about that, but do you want to get markers for them?”

It was an odd question to ponder. I thought I would have years – decades even – before facing that kind of decision. “They didn’t really have any friends. They spent all of their time together. I think I would be the only one visiting markers.”

“I kind of figured that,” Aric said, his breath warm against my cheek. “We could put up a memorial on our property if you want. We don’t need tombstones. I was thinking a bench with their names would be nice. We could plant a garden around it. Your mother loved flowers.”

My mother did love flowers. She could spend hours in the garden. The only thing I could do in a garden was glare at bees.

“That sounds nice. I think she’d like that.”

“We’re going to have to deal with the house, too,” Aric said, choosing his words carefully. I think he worried that he would overload me with details, so he treaded lightly. “We’re obviously not going to rebuild it. I know people through the lumber business who can take care of the teardown. I … there’s probably not anything inside that survived. You know that, right?”

“I know that everything they loved is gone,” I said.

“Not everything, Zoe,” Aric said, rubbing his nose against my cheek. “The thing they loved most is next to me in this bed. As long as you’re alive, part of them is, too.”

“I want to make someone pay,” I admitted. “I want … I’m angry.”

“I know you’re angry, baby,” Aric said. “I was so proud of you this afternoon, though. You could have lashed out and hurt Teague. Heck, you could have killed him if you wanted. You maintained control.”

“Teague is a jackoff, but he didn’t kill my parents,” I said. “I did that.”

Aric stilled, and I felt fury coming off of him.. “You are not to blame for this.”

“Who is to blame, Aric? I killed the wolves. I didn’t just kill them, I incinerated them. I snapped their spines. I … I taunted the wolf yesterday. They retaliated because of me.”

“I know you want to blame someone, and the easiest person is yourself right now, but I’m not going to listen to this,” Aric argued. “We made some mistakes. I should have found a way to track down your parents after the attack. I convinced myself they were safe. If you want to blame someone, blame me.”

“You didn’t taunt the wolf and threaten him.”

“I didn’t listen that first night when you tried to get in touch with your parents,” Aric countered. “I pushed it out of my mind. I’m supposed to take care of you. Taking care of them is part of my job, too.”

“That’s a lot to take on your shoulders,” I said. “They’re broad, but they can’t carry the weight of the world.”

“Neither can you, Zoe.”

I sighed, frustration bubbling up. “I don’t understand why they killed them,” I said. “Why didn’t they take them? They want that stupid book. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to trade my parents for the book?”

“I don’t know why they did what they did,” Aric said. “I do know that they made a really stupid mistake, though. You are going to burn their whole house of cards down. I’m going to help, but you’re going to have to do the heavy lifting.”

I wanted to smile but couldn’t. “How do we find them?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Aric said. “We have a way to find some of them with us.”

“Paris.”

“Did you see how shaken she was in the truck?” Aric asked. “She knows she’s partially to blame for this.”

“We can’t foist guilt on her and lift it from me at the same time,” I said. “We all made mistakes. We can’t dwell on them, even if … .”

“Even if what?” Aric prodded.

Should I tell him the truth? “I want to shake her,” I said, relieved when the admission didn’t cripple me, or lower me in his esteem. His eyes were serious, but he didn’t argue. “I don’t understand how she let things get to this point.

“When we were in college, I was the idiot who rushed headlong into danger,” I continued. “I was the one who leaped before looking. She was always the one pulling me back. She was the one urging me to think before I killed us all.”

“I remember both of you during that time,” Aric said. “You were fearless, and that’s one of the reasons I was drawn to you. You had a mouth like a sailor and a face like an angel.”

“You had a body built for sin,” I said. “That’s one of the things I told Paris after I saw you that first time. Don’t get a swelled head. I had no intention of letting my attraction go anywhere. I had a boyfriend at the time, if you remember.”

Aric scowled. He hated all mention of Will. They’d been fraternity brothers. Will’s death at my hands – well, technically a feral vampire’s hands, but I allowed it to happen – was a relief for both of us. “I like to pretend I’m the only one you’ve ever been with,” he said. “Move on from that story.”

“It’s just … Paris was my rock,” I explained. “When I did something stupid, Paris always helped me. When I had a broken heart because I lost you after the whole Laura debacle, Paris was there to help me. Well, Rafael, too, but Paris was the main one.”

“You had to bring up the vampire, didn’t you?”

Rafael was a sore spot between us, too. I still wore the bracelet Aric gave me when we were in college, and the red teardrop charm Rafael bestowed upon me when we separated that final time was fixed to the bracelet next to Aric’s charm. He never commented on it.

“You’re not still jealous of Rafael, are you?” It was a weird conversation to have, but anything that kept me from thinking about my parents was welcome. I couldn’t get the picture of them burning alive out of my head.

“I was never jealous of Rafael,” Aric clarified. “I didn’t like the way he looked at you.”

“Because it was the way you looked at me?”

“Yes. You’re mine, baby.” Aric kissed my cheek. “You’ve always been mine.”

“That seems a little possessive.”

“I can live with that,” Aric said, snuggling closer. He seemed content with the walk down memory lane, too. “Here’s the thing, Zoe; I think you remember the Paris of the past when you need to get to know the one with us now.”

“Aren’t they the same person?”

“Are you the same person you were five years ago?” Aric asked. “I see the same blond hair and killer blue eyes, but some of the other stuff has shifted. Don’t get me wrong, you still have the same beautiful heart and sharp tongue, but you’re more mature.”

“I think that’s the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“The maturity comes and goes,” Aric said, laughing lightly. “You’re never going to be so mature you’re boring. I know that, and I’m thankful for it. You’re still more adult than you were.”

“I guess.”

“So, if you’re different, shouldn’t it stand to reason that Paris is different, too?” Aric pressed.

“I’m different in minor ways, though,” I replied. “I’m still the same person at my core that I’ve always been. Shouldn’t Paris have the same core?”

“We don’t know what she’s been up to, Zoe,” Aric said. “We don’t know enough about the people she’s been hanging around with. You know as well as I do that magic and the thirst for power can change people. We’ve both seen it.

“I think we need to start asking Paris some hard questions tomorrow,” he continued. “We need to know more about the people she spent time with. She has to know more about their goals than she’s letting on.”

“Do you think she’s lying to us?”

Aric considered the question. “I think there’s more truth that Paris is afraid to tell us,” he replied. “We need answers. Starting tomorrow, we’re getting them. Whatever happens, I want that book with you or me at all times. We can’t leave it out where anyone – and that includes Paris – can get it.”

I’d almost forgotten about the book. “Where is it now?”

“I locked it in the safe.”

“What if Paris won’t tell us what we need to know?” I asked, already dreading his answer.

“Then we’re going to have to convince her to do it whether she wants to or not,” Aric answered. “I’m done playing games here. You and I are in this together forever, Zoe. Paris will have to join us or … .”

“Die?”

“If it comes to that I won’t think twice about doing what has to be done,” Aric said. “I will keep you safe, even if I have to kill everyone who poses a threat.”

“I really do love you.”

“Not half as much as I love you.”

I turned to bury my face in Aric’s chest, letting him hug me as the day’s events washed over my fraying mind. It was time to do the one thing I’d been unable to do all day.

“Do me a favor and don’t let me go tonight, Aric,” I said, bursting into tears as I burrowed as close to him as I could without climbing inside of him. “Don’t let me go.”

“I will never let you go, Zoe. Never.” He was crying, too.

It was only then that I gave in fully to my grief. Aric pulled me tight against his chest as I cried myself to sleep. He didn’t let go the entire night.

W
hen I woke
the following morning my eyes were practically glued shut due to dried tears. I rubbed them, grimacing when I felt the puffiness. I was probably a sight no man wanted to see first thing upon waking.

“Did you sleep okay?” Aric murmured, rubbing my back.

“I slept hard. My head hurts a little, and I think I probably look like a monster.”

“You’re beautiful, Zoe. Let it go.” He kissed my forehead.

The morning after a tragedy is a terrible time. I was numb. My arms and legs felt as though they didn’t belong to me, and the only thing I wanted to do was bury my head under the covers and stay there all day.

While Aric was willing to let me wallow the night before, his attitude was markedly different when the sun started peeking through the curtains. “We should probably get up,” he said. “We need to start making plans. I called my father last night when you were in the bathroom and told him what happened, but I’m going to need his guidance on some of this stuff. I’ve never dealt with any of it.”

“Okay.”

Aric glanced down at me, his eyes muddled as he struggled to fully wake. “The first thing you’re going to do is eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are,” Aric argued. “Your stomach has been growling for an hour. I know you don’t feel like eating, but you’re going to have breakfast whether you like it or not. The last thing we need is for you to get sick.”

“I already feel sick.” I knew I was being petulant, but I wasn’t a fan of anyone talking down to me, even if they felt they were doing me a kindness.

“Zoe, you’re eating,” Aric said, kissing my forehead again and then rolling away from me. “You don’t have to go down to the main dining room. You can eat here. Frankly, that will make things easier if I have to wrestle you down and force-feed you.

“You are eating, though,” he said. “I guarantee it.”

I scowled as I followed him out of bed, scuffing my bare feet across the tacky plush carpet as I moved toward the bathroom. “You’re not going to want to push me too far today,” I warned.

Aric ignored me and flipped on the television, his eyes growing intent as he switched to the local news. The fire was the top story, and despite my irritation I found myself drifting to the end of the bed to watch the coverage with him.

Aric absent-mindedly rubbed my lower back as we watched. The report didn’t give us any new information, but for some reason, seeing my parents’ lives reduced to a thirty-second news report was almost enough to send me into another crying jag.

“It’s going to be okay, Zoe,” Aric said. “We’ll figure it out.”

“It’s never going be okay again,” I shot back. “Not for them. I got them killed.”

“Stop saying that, Zoe!” Aric grabbed my wrist and forced me to look at him. “We can’t go back in time and undo what’s been done. I’m so sorry. You will never know how sorry I am. We have to focus on what we’re going to do, though, not what we should’ve done.”

I jerked my arm from him, inhaling deeply so I could get a grip on my runaway emotions. “I’m going to take a bath.”

“Okay. I think that’s a good idea,” Aric said, licking his lips. “I’m going to order breakfast. Do you want pancakes or eggs?”

“Neither.”

“Both it is,” Aric said. “Once we’ve cleaned up and you’ve eaten something, we need to decide how we’re going to approach Paris today.”

“Great. I can’t wait.” My tone was flat and disinterested even though my body and mind were coiled and ready to lash out. “I … .” A scrap of paper on the floor by the room door caught my attention. “What’s this?”

Aric was only half listening. He was bracing himself for an argument, so my sudden change in demeanor hadn’t yet registered.

I picked up the paper, unfolding it and scanning the one-sentence message. My hands shook as I read the message a second time.

“What are you looking at?” Aric asked, moving to my side. “If this is some elaborate way to get out of eating breakfast … .”

I slapped the sheet of paper into his hand, words escaping me as I tried to rationalize the message. It couldn’t be true. If I got my hopes up and it wasn’t true I would be crushed.

Aric read the message aloud. “Your parents are alive.”

As far as sentences go, it was an interesting one. “Do you think that’s true?” I was terrified to ask the question.

“I … .” Aric didn’t finish the sentence. Instead he unlocked the door and threw it open, scanning the corridor both ways before returning. “I don’t want to give you false hope, but I think there’s a possibility it’s true, Zoe.”

My heart hopped.

“I need you to not get ahead of yourself,” Aric cautioned. “We don’t know anything for sure. There’s no proof here. We might believe it because we’re so desperate to believe it.”

“But?” I prodded.

“But it never made sense for these people to kill your parents,” Aric said, exhaling slowly. “No matter what the cops said, I wasn’t sure – especially when they didn’t find any bodies. Zoe, we don’t know for certain that they’re alive. I don’t see how killing them was expected to motivate you to do anything but shed blood, though.”

I rubbed the spot between my eyebrows as I tried to wrap my brain around the possibilities. “If you thought they might be alive, why didn’t you say something yesterday?”

“Part of me wanted to,” Aric replied. “I never want you to hurt, Zoe. I couldn’t decide whether getting your hopes up and then finding out I was wrong would rip you to shreds more than letting you deal with things on your own terms. I was hoping you would come to this realization yourself.”

“I think you overestimate my intelligence,” I grumbled.

“You were scattered and upset,” Aric countered. “You felt guilty and were overwhelmed. I didn’t want to push you when you weren’t ready to be pushed.”

I let my gaze wander around the room before returning it to Aric. “Order breakfast. I’m going to take a shower. We need to grill Paris today, and we’re not leaving this hotel room until we have a plan.”

“There’s my bossy girl,” Aric said. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Eggs, corned beef hash, toast and sausage,” I said. “Get a big thing of coffee and juice, too. Oh, and I want some cake.”

“You’re going to eat all of that?”

“As you said, I need fuel if we’re going to figure this out,” I said, moving toward the bathroom. “I want enough energy to burn their whole house to the ground. We’ll see how they like it.”

“Try not to blow up the bathroom, baby,” Aric called to my back. “We’ll never get our security deposit back if you start something on fire.”

“
I
GOT
your message
,” Paris said, scanning Aric’s face as he let her into our room an hour later. “What’s going on?”

“We ordered breakfast,” I said, gesturing to the huge table of food. “Eat up.”

“You’re hungry?” Paris seemed surprised. “I would have thought … .”

“I need energy if I’m going to burn down the world.”

“Okay, Zoe, it’s time to let the fire threats go,” Aric said, sliding around Paris and pointing toward one of the empty chairs arranged around the table. “Sit there and start stuffing your mouth with something.”

“That’s what you always want me to do,” I teased. Despite Aric’s admonishment about not getting my hopes up, when faced with the choice of wallowing or fighting for something, I opted for the fight.

“We’ll play that game when everything is settled,” Aric said, kissing the top of my head. “Paris, have a seat.”

“I don’t understand what’s going on,” Paris admitted. “I … why does Zoe appear happy? Did you drug her? I’m not blaming you if you did. She was really upset. She’s probably going to be angry when she comes down, though.”

“I didn’t drug her,” Aric scoffed.

“I am not high.” I doled a huge helping of eggs onto my plate. “I am famished, though.”

“Eat up,” Aric ordered. “Once my father comes through with the information he promised, we’re out of here.”

“We’re not going to know where to go until I … you know … do my thing,” I said.

“I know. We need to eat first and wait for my father’s call,” Aric replied. “When that’s done, we need to go shopping for supplies. Then you can do your thing.”

“When you add in the thing you were hiding and the big thing we’re not talking about right this second, we’re dealing with a lot of things,” I mused.

“We’ll handle them,” Aric reassured me. “We need to tackle it one step at a time. I think now is the time to take on the big thing we weren’t talking about earlier.”

“I’ll let you start.”

Aric made a face. “I knew you were going to say that.”

“I am really confused,” Paris said, her face a mixture of fascinated curiosity and wary dread as she watched me shovel food into my mouth. “I’m glad you’re feeling better, Zoe, but I figured we would be making arrangements for your parents’ funeral today.”

“You figured wrong,” I said.

“Don’t you want to have a service for them?” Paris pressed. “I think it would be a nice show of respect.”

“One has funeral services for dead people,” I replied, reaching for my juice. “My parents aren’t dead.”

“What?” Paris thought I was going mad. I could see it in her expression.

Aric tossed the note onto Paris’ empty plate, and watched her as she scanned it and then lifted her eyes back to his unreadable ones.

“Are you going to let Zoe put her faith in a random note that was left under your door?” Paris asked.

“I was already suspicious about Ted and Nancy being declared dead without bodies to back it up,” Aric explained. “I didn’t want to say anything to Zoe then because I didn’t want to give her false hope. It makes absolutely no sense for these people to kill their only bargaining chip.”

“Where do you think they are?” Paris asked. “If they’re not dead, then someone had to take them. If they’re as powerful as Zoe, how did someone manage to grab them?”

“They’re not as powerful as I am,” I replied. “They gave up their powers when they decided to become mortal.”

“Then why do you have powers?”

“Because they still had power in their bloodstreams,” I said. “Mages were never meant to mate because everyone worried the offspring of two mages would be too powerful to overcome. I should never have been born.”

“Don’t ever say that again,” Aric chided, sliding into the chair next to me. “The fact remains that Ted and Nancy were no more powerful than regular humans. Even if they had some residual magic – which doesn’t appear to be the case – if they were caught off guard, they might have been easy to subdue.”

“That still doesn’t explain how we’re going to find them,” Paris said. “You do want me to help, don’t you?”

“We couldn’t do it without you,” Aric said, “because you’re the only one with personal information about these people.”

Paris balked. “I don’t think everyone in the coven is involved in this. I’m not sure who is technically behind it, to tell you the truth, but it’s not all of them. And we can’t know for certain it’s any of them.”

“And we don’t believe you,” Aric shot back.

Paris stilled. “What do you mean? I thought you forgave me?”

“I do forgive you for making a mistake and trying to do the right thing after the fact,” Aric said. “I still believe you haven’t given us all the information you have.” He held up his hand to cut Paris off before she could argue. “I don’t think you’re maliciously keeping information from us. I do think you’re straddling a fence, though.

“That’s over with,” he continued. “From this point on, you’re either with us or against us. It’s time to pick a side, Paris.”

Paris sighed, resigned. “I’ve always been on your side,” she said. “You know that.”

“That’s why I haven’t killed you,” Aric said.

“I don’t know what information I have that will benefit you guys,” Paris said. “I know that the main guy in charge is Quinn Redford. The other members … I … we weren’t exactly organized.”

“We’ll handle the other members during the trip,” Aric said. “And, yes, I think we have a trip ahead of us. That will give us something to talk about besides Zoe’s need to set something afire.”

Paris mutely nodded.

“Tell me about Quinn Redford,” Aric pressed. “I want to know everything.”

“He’s about fifty, I would guess,” Paris said. “He has brown hair, but there’s a lot of gray in it. He has green eyes, and he wears a lot of khaki pants and loafers.”

I wrinkled my nose. “He sounds like a douche.”

“Thank you for the fashion critique, ladies,” Aric said, rolling his eyes. “Zoe, eat more of your breakfast. Paris, eat while you tell us your story. Once we leave here, good meals might be hard to find, so you need to stuff your mouths now.”

“Stop saying things like that,” I grumbled.

“Then eat your breakfast.”

“I met Quinn when he came into my store about a year ago,” Paris said, reaching for a couple of packets of jelly to spread on her toast. “He said he was looking for a gift for a niece. I sold him a fake crystal ball and a book, and sent him on his way.

“A week later, he came in again,” she continued. “I didn’t recognize him right away, but after a few minutes of talking with him I remembered. He said he wanted to get his niece something else to add to the gift, but after an hour or so of looking around the shop and asking me questions, he admitted he wanted to see me.

“I was flattered, to say the least,” Paris said. “Even though he’s in his fifties, he’s very handsome.”

“Gross,” I muttered, causing Aric to smirk.

“Am I going to be gross when I’m in my fifties?” Aric asked.

“I have no idea, but if your father is any indication, probably not.”

Aric furrowed his brow. “Are you saying you think my father is hot?”

“Can we please focus on Paris’ story?” I asked.

“We’ll come back to this later,” Aric muttered.

“I agreed to go on a date with Quinn,” Paris said. “We went to a Mexican restaurant, and we spent hours talking. He was fascinated with the occult. He wanted to know everything I could tell him.”

“You didn’t mention Zoe then, did you?” Aric asked.

Paris shook her head. “I never mentioned any of that stuff,” she answered. “Honestly, I didn’t want to scare him off. I thought he was looking at magic as some mystical game. I was content to play my part and pretend we were playing the same game.”