Riven (17 page)

He ignored my comment on his behavior. “You know, we don’t have to find that vampire,” Ari suggested with a shrug. I stared at him, eyebrows high as my hairline. “There is another person we should be looking for, especially if there are Vens after us.”

“Arielle said-”

“I know what she said,” he interjected, eyes threatening to roll irritatingly. “I get it, she’s all for the rebellion, but right now we need more of
us
, Essallie. And we both know for a fact that there’s another one out there, waiting.” Digging a hand in his pocket, he pulled out a crystal ball, the very one Carsanthum has given me. I thought I had lost it when I dropped it aside to save Kayden.

Gingerly, I stepped closer, ignoring the nerves that started in my legs. “We still have it?” I pointed at the crystal ball. It looked harmless enough, like an oversized pearl. Spirals of blue, purple, and white coiled inside the precious ball, forming hazy pictures that never seemed to completely form.

“I grabbed it, not too long after you dropped it to free Mr. Flesh Muncher over here,” Ari jerked a thumb at Kayden, who grinned and waved like an idiot. Glancing at me, he shook his head at Kayden’s tackiness. “If that guy gave it to you, it must be important. Didn’t you say the pedestals they were on had names under them?”

I nodded, focusing on the orb in his hands. “I counted five. There was one for you, one for me, and one for someone named Rinae. I never caught the names on the other two plaques.”

“Rinae?”

“Yeah,” I said, a bitter taste coating my tongue as I recalled that night Lucretia had taken me hostage. It had been a small plaque of gold, the name Rinae etched in red. “At first, I thought they were little lights, or jars holding a prize of some sort. Now I have no idea.”

Continuing to pass the ball between his hands, Ari nodded absentmindedly. “I have a theory,” he started pensively, his voice faraway. “Lucretia is keeping these crystal balls for a reason. I think one is tied to each Nephilim, so she can track them down somehow, or monitor them from afar.”

“Is that even possible?” I asked, watching him. Fear slithered inside my gut, twisting in sharp knots. If she really could track us, what was the point of leaving her castle? Heck, what was the point in fighting her at all? She would know our attacks before we’d even have time to land the blows.

“Yes,” Ari said somberly, confirming with the nervous twitch I was starting to develop. He held the ball out in one hand, as if he were offering it to the sky as a gift. “But there has to be some kind of limitation, something that stops her from using it constantly, or else she would have found you and I a long, long time ago.”

My mind was racing, I had to make it stop, or risk possibly throwing up. I switched topics, running a new sets of gears in my head. “Okay, so let’s say she can. That still doesn’t help us understand which crystal ball this is, and who it belongs to. If it’s either of ours, having it is pointless. But, if it’s one of the other three, we could find the person attached to it.”

“That’s where my theory continues,” he pressed on, rotating the ball in the air. Slivers of light from nearby neon signs caressed and bounced off of it, splitting mini rainbows around us. “That the crystal balls are enchanted. My guess is that they only work for her.” He looked at me, a slow smile spreading on his face, the action instantly reminding me of Kayden. They had definitely been around each other far too long.

I could feel the frown tugging at my lips. “So we can’t use it.”

“To the contrary. I think we can.” He paused. “Or rather, I think you can.”

“How?”

Ari closed the distance between us, swift and fluid as water rushing through a faucet. Using his free hand, he took one of my hands, hovering it precariously over the orb in his open palm. Heat rolled over my skin, and I wiped away at the sticky sweat beading my forehead.

I looked up, seeing his grin turned a sickly mixture of grim and delight. As much as he didn’t like saying it, his words were true. “You have the Queen’s blood inside of you.”

I stared at him, hard. It wasn’t like he was exactly wrong, but calling on her blood like that, the very thing slowly destroying what precious sanity I had left along with my own mortal clock, well, it wasn’t like I was jumping at the chance to tap into it.

Holding out a finger, I felt the need to rant coming on. “Let me see if I get this straight,” I said hotly. “You want me to tap into her twisted-sister demon blood, the poison that’s killing me with each tick of the clock, and try to work the crystal ball?”

Ari childishly rolled his eyes. “Well, when you put it like that.”

“This is absolutely your stupidest idea yet, more than venturing into Charon with those damn emerald earrings.” I bit my lower lip, hard enough to draw blood. Every cell in my body screamed this was a bad idea, that touching it could open the very door I wasn’t willing to face. Who was to say touching the orb wouldn’t induce Ebony to re-surface from the dark corner of my mind, take over my body, and run amok? Then again, what choice did I have; it wasn’t as if we had a better plan on finding Rinae, or Euriel.

Staring at the orb, I let out a nervous breath. Swirls of navy blues, crimson reds, and burnt orange rushed around in the confined space. Whispers tickled at my ears, a tingling sensation creeping on the back of my neck. Fingers extended, I put my hand on the perfectly polished crystal.

Nothing happened.

Ari was watching me, eyes narrowed to catch the slightest change in my demeanor. I stared back at him blankly, shrugging half-heartedly. Everything felt exactly the same as it had before; same tiredness seeping through my bones, same urge to sleep and never see the sun again, same sinking feeling we were wasting time when we could be searching for the missing link to our party.

“I don’t think anything is happening,” I started to say, when the words caught on my lips. My vision began to shimmer, Ari and Kayden and the alleyway waving into a swirl of distorted colors and sounds. White noise filled my ears, blasting loud enough that I covered my ears, screaming for it to stop.

The visions hit hard, a collision of lights and music that brought me to my knees. Flashes of purples, blues, reds and more blinked past my sight. A familiar thump of music, something deep with bass and electronic synthesizers, replayed in the background. Club music, like the kind I used to hear every night in New York until the sweltering sun rose over the high metal skyscrapers.

Just as fast as the sun shined, it vanished, leaving me filled with dread in a cold sweat. The music and lights continued to flash, as a brush of bright red hair entangled with someone with dark, olive-tanned skin. A girl and boy, backs against another, as they stood in the middle of a dark alleyway, shining silver weapons drawn for a fight.

“Rinae,” the olive-tanned boy said, his voice hard. The red haired girl gave a minute nod of acknowledgement, white fire rippling over her hands as dazzling crystal wings covered her back. With a wild cry, she leapt at the shadows surrounding them, lancing fire like a western gunslinger firing their pistol.

Just like that, the images pulled back, washing the vibrant colors from my sight and replacing them with the warm, underwater dome we were temporarily calling home. Ari watched me intently, studying me for the slightest reaction. His hand rested on my shoulder, steadying me as he slowly repeated my name.

I took a deep, steadying breath, clinging to it for dear life as I tried to clear my head. “Holy crap,” I managed to get out, gasping. “There’s another one of us, alive.”

Ari stepped closer, eyes locking my frozen stare. Both hands were around my upper arms now, keeping me upright as I felt the need to collapse to the ground for real. I tried to focus on his eyes, his peach-toned face, anything to keep the darkness from wanting to swallow me whole. If only he knew what I had just seen something, no someone, who could help us. Another Nephilim, with a person who looked achingly familiar.

“Do you know who?” He asked, placing my head against his chest. My body started to shake as I processed everything I had seen. I buried my face deep in his shirt, closing my eyes iron-tight.

“Rinae, it’s her orb, thank goodness,” I sighed, a pressing weight I hadn’t realized I was carrying leaving my shoulders. “She’s been so close, Ari, so damn close. I never knew she existed without this.”

He shushed me, keeping me wrapped tightly in his warm embrace. His arms felt like a safe haven, one I’d never leave if I didn’t have to. “It’s okay, none of us knew,” he repeated, sounding alive for the first time since he came to rescue me. It was as if having another one of us on our side made his cause worthwhile. “Where is she?”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I let the sarcasm roll off my tongue. “Where else, but the commonplace for supernaturals to linger in the mortal realm. New York.”

“And what a lovely surprise,” Kayden drawled, making his way out of the alleyway. “We just so happen to be in New York, the City That Never Sleeps.”

I ignored his petty jab, slowly moving out of Ari’s arms and following after Kayden into the streets. Cars moved at a sluggish pace, horns blaring left and right as a traffic jam ahead rendered their vehicles useless.

“I feel like a damn detective,” I muttered to Ari as he caught up alongside me, tucking the crystal ball back into his pocket. “Or something.”

“Technically, with our gifts, we’d be the best arresting superheroes the city has ever seen,” Ari offered, biting back a laugh.

Shaking my head, I tried not to laugh with him. “We don’t arrest people, Ari. We kill them.”

“And that,” Kayden said over his shoulder, smirk perfectly in place. “Is why I keep company with you two. Your version of Sherlock Holmes is so much more fulfilling.”

I lightly led the way, pulling on the dimming memories of the vision for support. The club music still thundered in my head, pounding against my temples in a way that told me I’d have a headache for certain some morning. You know, assuming I lived to see the morning.

Kayden called back to Ari, slowing his pace for us to catch up. “How did you know about Lucy?”

“Huh?”

“In the castle, you mentioned Lucy,” Kayden recalled, eyebrows drawn together. “How did you know about her?”

Recognition flickered in Ari’s eyes. “Oh, that. Serena told me at first, bits and pieces. Lilix filled in the rest after I met her. She’s got one hell of a memory with everything that’s happened to her.”

“What exactly is she?” I asked, not for the first time. “She said something about a guardian of some sort?”

Kayden and Ari both shrugged, but Kayden spoke. “She’s not the type to explain, but from what I’ve gathered, the girl is thousands of years old. She probably existed long before any of us even dreamt of exploring this world.”

Something nagged at the back of my mind. “I wonder if she knew the Queen, or Lucy, before all of this.”

“Who knows,” Ari shrugged, taking my hand seconds later. “How much further, Essallie?”

Yanking my hand from his grasp, I swatted at him. Five seconds of semi-normalcy, and territory marking was taking place yet again. Part of me wanted to shake Ari until his head fell off, telling him now wasn’t the time to get all mushy for his dying partner.

Then again, I wasn’t in much of a position to say anything. My heart continued to ache every time I looked at Kayden, desperately trying to will my lips to say the words my head wouldn’t allow. If I could have just five minutes alone with him, I could say the things I needed to say, before it was too late, before the sun rose over the sky. Grabbing the vial from my pocket, I uncorked it and swallowed the grey water in a single gulp, trying not to gag at the slimy feel as it slid down my throat.

We turned another corner, a strip of mostly empty and abandoned homes. At the end, pulsating and blinking in all its gritty glamour, stood my former favorite club, Le Sphinx. It was a tall, badly battered and bruised brownstone, known for holding more than just sweaty drunk teens looking to grind on the dance-floor.

Walking straight past the line, I gave the bouncer a flirtatious wink as he opened the rope for all three of us. Even after nearly a year of being scarce to the scene, I still knew enough of the club goers and bouncers through Chase to gain access to any club my heart desired. Good thing I wasn’t into clubs.

Inside, the music screamed, bass vibrating the entire room. Their local DJ for the night was remixing some overdone, overproduced piece of junk techno enthusiasts devoured between their sneaking silver flasks and red solo cups. It was packed, barely leaving any room to walk without being shoved every which way. Spotting someone in this crowd would be nearly impossible. If I was going to find Rinae before she split, I’d have to hit the bar.

Shuffling through the crowd with Ari and Kayden tagging behind, I pressed against the countertop, glancing over my shoulder to make sure I hadn’t lost either of the two.

“This is going to sound weird,” Ari half-shouted over the music. “But I feel a dark, demonic like presence here.”

“I thought you weren’t a demon tracker,” I teased, sticking out my tongue. Kayden grinned, eyes flashing as he sized up the various females brushing past him, ever so casually bumping into him.

“Hey Slayer, what can I get for you?” The bartender asked me. She was a shorter, skinny girl wearing a slashed green tank top and revealing her neon pink bra, probably matching cut off jean shorts and sneakers under the counter.