Shattered (the Spellbound Series Book 2) (17 page)

18

              Alyssa pulls herself away from me seconds after Jenna’s message comes through. She bites her lip, and looks around us, as if she’s unsure of something. Then, she says, “I should probably go.”

              The rain ceases at my command, and I ask, “Go where?”

              “Back to the concert… Lily will be bummed if she comes out after the show and none of us are there. At the very least, I should stick around.”

              “Oh…” I shrug, and try putting more weight on my leg. It’s better than before, but I’ll be limping for a while if I let it heal naturally. “Tell her the show was great for me.”

              “Only if you mean it.”

              “I do. Tell her I especially liked the lyrics.”

              “Alright.” Alyssa shudders, and I shrug out of the leather jacket she let me borrow. She happily takes it off my hands when I offer it, and mutters, “I guess I’ll see you around.”

              “Guess so.”

              Alyssa gives me a sad look, then turns and vanishes. I can’t say I blame her; I’d probably do the same for Nick. It just hurts that she’s gone, especially when the memory of holding her is still so fresh.

              I doubt that any of the others have reached Jenna’s house yet, so I grudgingly take the long way. The subway ride is a lonely one; I have no iPod, book, or friend to keep me company. I’m not used to riding without a distraction, but it forces me to think about what I just went through. After seeing a demon’s strength up close, I wonder how on earth a hunter could ever take one on with little more than a dagger and a prayer.

My mind eventually strays to the moment Alyssa sprouted wings, and my suspicions about her. When I read her with my second sight, she seemed like any other spellcaster, just amplified. But then again, who’s to say that’s not how
I
seem through her eyes? What if she’s the opponent Michael wants me to kill? She
does
have a father that she claimed to be dead… could it have been Lucifer?

              I try to push that sort of thought to the back of my mind. I’m jumping to conclusions with absolutely no evidence. And besides, even if I’m right, there’s no way I’d ever kill Alyssa. Other feelings for her aside, she’s one of my best friends. Losing her forever would feel like losing a limb, so I can’t imagine being the one to remove her from the equation.

              I’m dry by the time I get off the appropriate stop in Queens, but I’m still cold. I almost wish I had kept Lily’s jacket for a little longer, but at this point, I’m glad I gave it back to Alyssa. I may like Lily well enough, but I can’t help the nagging twinge of jealousy that shoots through me whenever I think of her and Alyssa together.

              Before long, I’m standing in front of Jenna’s house, my arms wrapped around me as I wait for her to answer the door. When I’m finally ushered in, the whole gang is there waiting for me, sans Alyssa. Everyone looks tired, but triumphant. I force a smile, and ask, “How did it go?”

              It’s Emma who answers, “She gave us a lot of trouble, but we have Eve in custody.”

              “You have her here?”

              “Don’t be ridiculous.” Jenna shuts the door behind me, and says, “My parents would kill me if I kept a vampire here.”

              “So, where is she?”

              “Safe.”

              Nick groans from his spot on the couch, and mutters, “Don’t take it personally. They won’t let me see her, either.”

              “She’s gonna be unconscious for at least a day, Nick. Simmer down. You’ll get your quality time with her soon enough.”

              “What did you do to her?,” I ask.

              “Shot her in the head,” Jenna answers. “A normal bullet may not kill a vamp, but it
will
slow them down.”

              “What happened when you and Alyssa disappeared?,” Rachel asks.

              “We took on a pack of demons on our own,” I say proudly.

              “Greater demons,” Emma corrects. “Lesser demons can’t take on their true forms here on Earth.”

              I shrug, and take a seat on the couch, still shivering for some reason. Jenna notices, and hands me her hoodie, which I gladly wrap around myself. She must have been sweltering in it; the interior is lined with a thin layer of cotton, but the outside is made of something resembling leather. I’m not sure if the material is authentic or not, but I appreciate the gesture. “Is this some special hunter hoodie?,” I ask.

              “Sort of. It makes as little noise as possible, while being easy to clean and hard to cut through.”

              “Neat.” I lean back on the couch, and ask, “What happens now?”

              “Nothing. We go our separate ways… preferably before my parents get back. They don’t know about this whole operation.”

              Nick frowns, and asks, “When do we get to see Eve?”

              “Come back tomorrow night,” Jenna responds. “She should be alert by then.”

              “Alright, we’ll be back then,” Nick says as he stands.

              “We?” I grab onto the hand Nick offers to help me up. “I didn’t realize I was invited.”

              “Of course you are. You were the one who thought to ask for Jenna’s help. And besides, it’s not like I could stop you from coming anyway.”

              “Yeah, that’s true.” I offer Jenna her hoodie back, but she tells me to keep it. If it’s part of her special hunter attire, she must have several more where this one came from. Nick and I say our goodbyes to the rest of the group, and then take our leave, his sweaty palm pressed against the demonic grime on mine.

              The subway ride back to Manhattan is spent mostly in a companionable silence. Nick plays with my hair while I lay my head on his shoulder, and we watch the lights of the stations as we fly by on an express train. Some time before we transfer to the train that will take us closest to his place, Nick wonders out loud, “When did this become our lives?”

              “What do you mean?”

              “Fighting monsters, taking prisoners, getting shot at, running both from and towards danger… all of this.”

              “I don’t know… I just sort of went with it.”

              Nick huffs, and lays his head back on the wall behind him. “My life was peaceful before I met you.

              I rib him in the stomach, and ask, “Are you complaining?”

              “Just the opposite. I think a little adventure is exactly what I needed.”

              Several silent minutes later, we’re walking above ground, the sky significantly clearer than it had been before I caused the downpour over the Lower East Side. The walk to the condo is a brief one, and we have a few more moments of silence as we wait for, and step onto, the elevator. Nick wraps his arms around me, and I let him, burying my face in his chest in the process of returning the gesture. I’m not tired, not exactly. Just weary. And it’s nice to have him here, and on my side.

              The lights aren’t on when we arrive at the condo, but I hear voices coming from the living room. When we step in to investigate, there’s no one around. The voices I heard were just the flat screen against the wall, left on a news channel. I’m about to follow Nick to his room, when the story being displayed catches my attention. A reporter wearing an inappropriately cheery expression states, “Several eyewitnesses claim to have seen the vehicle in question spontaneously combust, but some claim to have seen a young woman at the scene. Our on-site correspondent met with one of the residents whose apartment overlooks the street, who had this to say:”

              The image on the screen transitions to one of a middle aged woman with rollers in her hair. “It was insane,” she tells the camera. “There were cars flipping through the air, and an explosion, and this girl running around, and then everything went black again. And then this girl had sprouted wings, and a thunderstorm started out of nowhere. It was like the apocalypse had started, or something.”

              As the scene transitions back to the newsroom, the reporter concludes, “Other eyewitnesses claim to have heard strange, unexplained noises throughout the evening, accompanied by screams of human origin. It is not yet known what caused the phenomenon in Lower Manhattan tonight, but for the believers, it may be easy to conclude that metahumans were involved.”

              The screen fades to black unexpectedly, and as I look around for whoever turned off the TV, the lights in the room all come on as one. Krystal stands expectantly in the corner, wearing an expression more grim than any I’ve ever seen cross her face. Judging by the state of the condo when I walked in, she knows exactly what happened tonight. And she isn’t happy.

              I start to explain, but Krystal cuts me off, asking, “What were you thinking?”

              “I wasn’t thinking,” I reply. “There were demons on our trail, and we had to act.”

              “So you decided to pull out all the stops in a civilian area? Where anyone could have seen you?”

              “They’re not like anyone else I’ve had to fight! I always pull my punches when it comes to other spellcasters, but with demons it’s a different-“

              “I don’t care!” Krystal folds her arms across her chest, and even though the top of her head only reaches my nose, she manages to make it feel like she’s looking down on me. “Every time you get into a fight, every second you spend on screen, every human eyewitness brings all of us closer to being exposed. Do you really think the world is ready for the truth?”

              “Not at all, but-“

              “Do you want hunters breathing down your neck constantly, making sure you’re not causing any more trouble?”

              “How long have you known about-“

              “Do you really think, even for a second, that the government will continue covering for us if we slip up like we did last year?”

              I stare open-mouthed at Krystal as I fight to process what she just said. Only two people in my life should know the extent of the government’s knowledge of metahumans. One of them is likely still at home in Queens, and the other disappeared after having me shot. Krystal shouldn’t know what she knows. In a voice barely above a whisper, I ask, “Who told you about that?”

              “I’ve known for years. I have high enough clearance to know how extensive the cover-ups have gotten.”

              I feel as if I have to sit down to take this news, so I sink into one of the plush white couches. “But, how?”

              “Up until a couple of years ago, I dabbled in weapons development.” Krystal sits on the edge of the coffee table across from me, the anger in her voice forgotten for the moment. “Hunters needed an edge against their targets, and since I was clanless and grieving when they offered me the opportunity, I jumped on it. It kept my mind and hands occupied. The storage bracelets, the aura blades, the noiseless shoes, all those and more were my design.”

              “Really?” I’m shocked, to say the least. I never would have taken Krystal for an inventor, but I suppose the need to keep herself occupied and the paycheck were all the inspiration she needed.

              “Really,” she answers. “The one concept they never really took a liking to was the spell-powered gun I developed. They said those would be too expensive to put into production, and they could easily fall into the wrong hands. I kept my prototype set, though. And they still work.”

              “How come I never knew that about you?,” I ask.

              “In case you haven’t noticed, Heather, there’s a lot that plenty of people don’t know about me. Since losing my husband, I’ve only ever opened up to Nick, and even
he
knows next to nothing.”

              “I’m sure you have other friends.”

              “Not really… Not anymore. Just Nick and Landon. And now, you.”

              “So we’ve surpassed the original student-teacher relationship, then?”

              “Heather, I haven’t been able to teach you anything in months.” Krystal smiles ruefully, and says, “I used to be of more use to you, when all you needed to learn was how to survive. Now, I just show you little tricks to give you the illusion that I’m still your superior. In truth, I’m not confident I would be able to hold my own against you if you really wanted to hurt me.”

              I want to say that she’s wrong, but to be honest, I’m not sure which of us would win in a true fight, either. She has the years of experience and technique that I can’t hope to attain, but I have the brute strength that she can’t quite match. I shrug, and tell her, “I’m glad we’re on the same side. You might not think you can take me, but I’m still scared of you.”

              “Good.” Krystal yawns, and slips her hands into the pockets of her turquoise bathrobe. “I’m heading off to bed. Before I do though, I need you to promise me something.”

              “What’s that?”

              “Please,
please
, do not do anything stupid in public again. The last thing we need is to be found out, or have the government stepping further into our lives.”