Stormfront (Undertow Book 2) (16 page)

We followed MJ back t
o
Torrent Road and I was happy to see the Range Rover parked by the front door. Raef’s motorcycle was parked in the garage along with Ana’s Trans Am and a brand new pick-up truck. MJ saw the stunning black truck and whistled, impressed.

“Is that . . . Christian’s?” he asked, walking to the front door next to Ana and I. Before I could answer, the door opened and Raef greeted us, “Hey guys.”

“Hey – how’d you and Kian do, uh, hunting?” asked MJ.

Raef looked at MJ. “Same as usual. Nothing exciting.”

Ana pointed to the garage next to the house. “Is that truck Christian’s?” she asked as MJ and I walked in past Raef to the warmth of the house.

“No – it’s mine. I had to get something that would work in the winter and fit more than just me and Eila,” he replied, his hand grazing my leg as I moved past him. Raef was not one for displaying our affection to the world, but he always let me know, subtly, what he wanted. It was a brief touch, a certain look, or how he deliberately passed so close to me that a delicious burn reflected off his skin. The entire effect messed with my brain cells, but I finally pulled myself back to what he had said.

“You bought a truck?” I asked as he swung the door shut and wrapped his warm hand around mine.

“It’s not a big deal. I just called the dealership, told them to give me something new and black, and they delivered it. The bike wouldn’t work for us during the winter. That one ride we managed a couple weeks ago was probably the last until the spring.”

A truck.

He called up and ordered A TRUCK like a
freakin’ pizza!

There was no way to compete with something like that for Christmas. I mean, I knew that already, b
ut somehow whatever I got him would just seem silly in comparison. Ana’s store better have something crazy awesome that will work for my ultra tight budget.

I could hear Kian and Ana talking in the library and MJ interjected something that made Ana laugh.

Raef tugged my arm, causing me to stop before we reached the library and I looked to him, questioning why we weren’t walking anymore.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be in school today,” he said, pulling me closer as he tucked a defiant strand of hair behind my ear. “No idiots bothered you while I was away hunting, did they?”

My body began to melt under his touch. “Nope. No idiots, though my culinary skills are horrific.”

“Good thing I don’t eat food then,” he replied as we finally joined our friends in the library. MJ had already disappeared into the kitchen, looking for something to munch on. His endless appetite, despite his lean frame, was apparently due to his shape-shifting ability.

At least, that was the excuse he used.

On the ornately carved cherry table at the center of the library sat all the books and papers from
Dalca’s shop. Much of it had been about herbal remedies and books of old photos. We had found a few more photos of Elizabeth and had given them to Christian, believing he would want anything that was part of her. She was my grandmother, yes, but I never actually knew her. Christian, however, had loved her, and I felt strongly that the photos belonged with him. He had taken them, gratefully.

On the top of one of the library’s tall bookshelves was Elizabeth’s diary – an elaborately engraved leather-bound book that thus far only showed photos. If we could get the necklace from Nikki, it would also bleed through with the handwritten thoughts of Elizabeth. I tried to reach the book, but it was too high for me.

Kian walked over from where he had been talking with Ana and easily grabbed the book, placing the heavy diary into my hands.

“You know – it
hasn’t magically change since the last time you saw it, Short Stuff,” he said, leaning back against the table.

“I’m average height, thank you. And I know – but I thought I could use it for an art project I have to do. I’m going to copy the cover,” I replied. Our teacher had assigned a project that required us to bring in a print of a textured surface and then overlay the design with hand-formed letters. It occurred to me during class that the diary would make for a great rubbing surface for me to practice on, with all its intricate leather carvings.

I felt Raef step next to me, and his hand traced the book’s surface, “You are going to make an exact copy of the cover for art class? Is that wise since your mark is on the back cover?”

 
“No, no. I’m just using this to practice my technique on. I’ll find something else to use for the final project,” I laughed.

“Thank god,” muttered Raef and he reached onto another shelf and pulled down my box of art supplies and papers, placing them on the table for me. I had left most of the things from my art class here, since I spent so much time doing homework by Christian’s massive fireplace.

I gathered up the supplies and moved into the living room, where MJ had gotten a beautiful fire going in the fireplace that was guarded by two cast iron lions.

I sat down in front of the fire and MJ sprawled like a relaxed dog in front of me. He tried to tickle my feet, but I warned him he’d get kicked for his efforts. My highly ticklish toes were off limits unless you wanted to be maimed.

Ana came in with another old book and it too had some markings on the cover.

“Alright – what are we doing again?” she asked, and I explained how to lay the piece of paper over the cover, making sure it didn’t move, and then take the charcoal and lightly rub over the paper. She tried it, and as she worked the pattern appeared on the paper.

“So fancy!” she proclaimed sarcastically. She held it up for Kian to see as he entered the room, Raef following.

He looked at her design. “It’s a masterpiece. Better than Van Gogh,” he replied flatly, keeping a straight face. Ana narrowed her eyes and crumpled her paper, tossing it as his head, but he simply snatched it from the air.

Music filled the room as Raef turned on the sound system and he and Kian walked over toward the billiard table and the wide windows that framed the snowfall. They were talking with one another, no doubt about where to hunt next.

I carefully rubbe
d my piece of charcoal over Elizabeth’s diary, admiring the delicate swirls and designs that began to appear and Ana hummed along to the song on the radio as she worked on a new sheet of paper beside me. I heard the thump of hard balls hitting the pool table’s slate surface, as Kian and Raef readied the table for a round. MJ heard it as well, and he clamored off the floor to join the guys.

I continued to work at my art project, tuning out the world, but I noticed my rubbing had a weird flaw – little darker lines almost on
top of the other marks.

I started to follow one of the flaws carefully with the charcoal, too absorbed in what I was trying to decipher to notice the sudden silence that came from the direction of the pool table. The flaw had breaks in it, but is seemed to form a long, arching curve, which was crossed with another flaw.

I started following the new line and it too became a curving line. There was a shape, or rather a symbol, hidden in the twists and folds of the engraved leather cover – something that I would have never noticed if not for my art teacher’s assignment.

I came across another intersection of lines just as Ana elbowed me, breaking my focus. The paper slipped off the diary and I knew I would need to start all over again, but I could have sworn I had been forming the lines of the round cage that continued to haunt me.

Aggravated that I had lost the shape I was following, I snapped at her, “What?”

Ana was taken aback for a moment by my clipped tone, but then pointed a finger at the pool table, where Raef, MJ, and Kian were standing, staring at the balls. Slowly Raef picked up the dark red ball that I recognized as our talisman. I had never told them that I had added it to the table, and now they were so
confused because there were two seven-balls.

It was actually quite funny, but the look on their face was weird.

“Did you find my seven-ball?” I called across the room, my voice the only sound beside the pop-star’s that flowed from the sound system.

Raef’s hand tightened on the ball he held and his voice was dark and quiet, “What do you mean,
your seven-ball?”

I glanced at Ana. Was pool really this big of a deal?

“I put it on the table,” I replied with a shrug, getting to my feet with Ana. “It was under my car a few weeks ago and I kept it. It’s a good luck charm for Ana and I. But I just got sick of it rolling around in my car, so I put it here. I’m sorry – are you mad I added it to the table?”

“A couple of WEEKS AGO?” yelled Raef. I actually jumped at his voice and so did
Ana, entirely shocked he was so pissed. He was never angry with me – he never raised his voice to me.

I bristled at his unusually short-temper. “Yes – what’s the big deal? Why are you so mad at me?” I demanded sharply.

Kian reached out and took the ball from Raef. “Hey – they don’t know. You can’t be mad at her. To her it’s just a ball.”

“It’s not just a ball,” snapped Raef.

Ana and I exchanged looks as we walked over to the table. “If it’s not just a pool ball, what is it?” Ana asked. “A POKEMON?”

Raef seemed to have turned into a stone of anger and I found it completely unnerving. I carefully walked over to him and touched his rock hard arm. He finally looked at me and his face fell into a strange sort of confused fear. He dropped the ball and grabbed me tightly into his arms, “I’m sorry I yelled at you, Eila. You didn’t know.”

Ana looked at Kian, “What the hell is going on?”

Raef slowly released me and he looked at Kian and MJ. “You’ve got to tell them,” said MJ. “If you don’t
, I will.”

Raef rubbed his hand across his forehead and dragged his fingers through his hair. He took a deep breath, “A few weeks back we learned of a possible threat against you. We had met with a dealer in Boston, and the way you signaled him was by removing the seven-ball from the pool table. The dealer said that because of your ties with Christian, you would be a prime target for abduction – and ransom.”

Oh hell. “You said dealer. Do you mean . . . drugs?” A chill went up my spine at the idea that Raef and Kian may have an addiction problem.

“No. Not drugs. Souls.”

I blinked, confused. “How you can you buy a soul? How is that even possible?”

Raef turned toward the window, looking out over the harbor, his hand at his side curling into a fist. “You can’t just buy a soul,” he said. “But you can buy a Blacklist name. You can buy the details of a human who doesn’t deserve to live, and then you go and . . .”

    I felt sick. “You kill them. You haven’t been hunting animals, have you?” I asked, anger rising inside me. “HAVE YOU!” I yelled.

Raef couldn’t look at me, so Kian took over, “Eila. We have been killing animals, but for us to be strong enough to fight against other Mortis, we MUST hunt humans.”

“You don’t need to be
that
strong if I can learn how to handle my power!” I protested.

Raef spun around and grabbed me by the arms. “Your power is too damn dangerous! I won’t have you risking your life when I can protect you!”

I tried to yank out of his grasp, which was laughable. If he didn’t want to release me, there was no way to force him. “I can do it! You just don’t think I have what it takes!”

“I KNOW you can do it! I’ve seen you do it and felt you DIE IN MY ARMS!” he yelled, stunning me into silence. He pinched his eyes shut, his jaw pulsing as he clamped his teeth together, but then he finally took a slow deep breath, calming himself.

He touched his forehead to mine as he eased his grasp on my arms. “I know you can do it, E. Your power is incredible, but we have no way to understand it. No way to show you how to use it, and without the necklace, we can’t unlock the details in the diary. If you try to train without instruction, I fear it will kill you and this time, no amount of medicine will bring you back to me. Please, please don’t try it. Please, for my sake.”

I stilled as I listened to the pain in his voice. I didn’t remember my final moments in the Breakers, but those in my company no doubt did. “I don’t want you killing people . . . but I don’t want you to be defenseless either.” I swore, beyond conflicted about the idea of him being a true murderer, but at the same time, if I loved him, I had to accept him for everything he was, killer included.

What happened to our carefree days?

What happened to normal?

“Are you worried this dealer is the problem, or someone else that might think like him?” I asked.

Raef pulled himself back slightly. “Both, but we haven’t been able to find the dealer again. That’s why I have been away so often – Kian and I have been searching for him. The fact that there
was a seven-ball under your car tells me that we are right about him. He got close enough to leave his calling card of sorts and even worse, knows what you drive. That scares the hell out of me.”

Kian stepped closer to Ana and looked at her, then me. MJ had been silently listening and looked fairly guilt-ridden and I realized it was because he knew all of this already
. He had been glued to Ana and me to keep an eye on us. Sneaky little . . .