Talisman 2 - The Sapphire Talisman (15 page)

Miraculously, for a second his carnal expression softened and behind Nicholas’ exhausted human eyes was a glimmer of hope.
H
e roared, consumed with affliction before he vanished.

I stood, gasping for air and broke free of Phil’s hold. In desperation, I ran towards the window. Nicholas was nowhere to be seen. I turned around, concerned my family might have heard Nicholas, to find Phil stunned. The panic filled up behind his eyes.

“Dude, we need to see Scar, and quickly.”

Chapter Eighteen

“
D
o I really need to go?” I asked, silently refusing to put on the sweatshirt Phil had just handed me. I watched him look for my other shoe. If I was going anywhere, it would be to find and help Nicholas. Not to see
Scarlett
.

“Um
. . .
yeah.” He hesitated.

“Why don’t you go and I stay here?” I asked, tempted to crawl back under the covers, lacking any energy whatsoever to even move.

Phil sat next to me and helped me put each arm into the sleeves. “Because I don’t know where to go.”

“What?” I turned my head slowly towards him, jaw partly open. “You said you checked up on him.”

“I did, indirectly. He wasn’t with Alora, so I figured he was good,” Phil said, while finding my missing Converse under my bed and put
ting
both shoes back on my feet.

“Good?” I clenched my hands into fists, trying to keep composure and not scream at the top of my lungs, waking my family. “I wouldn’t say what Nicholas just did was
good
.”

Wrestling my foot free, I kicked him away with my last bit of energy and curled into the fetal position. With closed eyes, I began cursing at myself for putting all my trust in Phil and
Scarlett
without even checking to see if they knew what they were doing.

Phil touched my shoulder. “Scar said she’d take him to his place, so we just need to go and get her
—
preferably before dawn, or else
. . .
”

Phil made a sound that resembled something exploding into a ball of fire—the juvenile noise boys made when playing war. I sighed, annoyed at his inappropriate humor. Dawn meant something entirely different for me, including my life being taken away. And pretend
ing
nothing bothered me while my crazed boyfriend roamed the streets, threatening to stalk me. All packaged up with a pretty little bow of another sleepless night.

“Shoot me now,” I said, my voice laced with disdain. “Oh, and
Scarlett
’s not coming here, so don’t even ask.”

“I don’t get why you hate her so badly.”

I opened one eye and gave him the “
don’t even ask”
look to which he held up his hands in disgust.

“I have school tomorrow,” I
rolled
my back to him and mumbl
ed
in my pillow. “I need to sleep.”

“I doubt you’ll be going.”

“Since when are you my keeper?” I barked, refusing to agree though I knew he was right. “If I’m not well enough to go to school, I’m not well enough to go now.”

“Scar’s in trouble and may need our help.”

“I hate
that you keep
calling her that. It sounds like you’re referring to the bad lion
i
n
The
Lion King
.”

“There’s a bad lion?”

“Never mind
. . .
geez, I can’t believe this is happening.” I tangled my hands in my hair. “You think you can just waltz in here and charm me—”

“I’m not trying to charm you. I’m trying to help. We’ve got it under control—”

“Under control?” I spit while trying to contain my
unamused
laughter. “Excuse me, but didn’t you just see our apparently perfectly-fine Nicholas a second ago? He’s far from being under control and is running around somewhere, angry and upset, thinking we are—” I gulped back the sudden pain emanating from the gaping hole where my heart used to be and took a deep breath. “He needs me. I should really be looking for
him
, not
Scarlett
. Why did I leave him? Why did we let him go?” I was standing now, flailing my arms at his rock-hard chest.

“Parker, if I would have left you there, with him like that, you’d be like me now—but evil or even dead. Don’t think the
power of love
or whatever you guys think you have would have changed that fact.”

“As if.” I turned to glower at him before collapsing on my bed and put my head back into my hands. “I’m so sick of this.” To keep from
yell
ing, I slowly rocked back and forth. More than anything I wanted to be alone and far away from him, preferably in Nicholas’ arms.
“I don’t think I have the energy to do it.”

“Look,” he said quickly “I’ll carry you there and back, wrapped up in a blanket like a burrito if you want, but you have to come.”

Suddenly, it dawned on me I didn’t have a clue where to go. Nicholas had never taken me to his house. I rolled over, putting my back to Phil and moaned.

“Please,” he begged. “It’s important.”

I laid there in exile trying to figure a way to avoid telling Phil the truth, assuming once he found out, he’d laugh his ass off. Every piece of me was on fire with embarrassment.

I forced my eyes shut and thought really hard. Nicholas had once told me he lived in a desolated area, in the Santa Cruz Mountains. My mind whirred, trying to figure out how I could find his exact address without alerting Phil, when the solution popped into my brain.

The cell phone receipt.

Luckily, I wore the same jeans I’d worn the night we’d purchased the phone. Of course, the contract must have required his personal details. Discreetly, I pulled it out and sure enough, Nicholas had written his address at the top.

“It’s Bear Creek Road,” I breathed in relief. “1217.”

“Where’s that?” Phil replied innocently, not paying attention to what I was doing.

Crap.
“Um
. . .
”

Phil snickered. “I don’t have a satellite link to Google maps, you know.”

“I know,” I stammered, feeling stupider by the minute. If only I had my iPhone to look it up. The computer downstairs seemed so far away. “It’s up on the ridge.”

“What’s that in your hand?” Phil asked with amusement.

“Nothing,” I said while trying to shove the paper back into my pocket, but Phil snatched it from my hand before I could.

“What’s this, Parker?”

Phil’s shock, wonder, and slight envy played through his mind, like he’d just rapidly flipped the dial through a barrage of radio stations while my cheeks must have blazed fire-engine red. I waited for the dial to land on a smug note, but Phil felt bad instead and handed me back the paper.

“I’ve never been to his house,” I barked. “Happy?”

“Easy there, it’s not a big deal,” he said, backing down instantly. “Let’s just get the directions.”

A part of me wanted to spit out all the reasons why I’d never been there, all pointing towards Nicholas’ honor of course. But another part, the one that felt Phil clearly still had feelings for me, wanted to let the moment go and spare him the embarrassment like he’d spared mine.

“Yeah, good idea,” I said softly.

Phil volunteered to get the directions and disappeared downstairs to use my dad’s computer while I waited in my room, slowly putting my shoes back on. A big part of me suddenly wanted to go and see where he lived, giving me a burst of hidden energy.

But mostly I wondered where Nicholas ran off to, confused why he didn’t just stay outside and wait for us to leave in order to nab me or fight Phil when the opportunity presented itself. But, mysterious or not, we had to take advantage of his sudden absence.

Looking again at the receipt, my finger grazed over his signature
,
causing moisture to well
up
in my eyes. Just a few days ago when he signed this, he was normal—normal and wonderful—and we had such plans for our future.

I bit my lip and pushed my anguish down, wiping away a tear with the back of my hand as Phil returned. I pretended to be tying my shoe laces.

“Got the directions,” he said in excitement. “You ready?”

I nodded and gulped down the rest of the tears threatening to cascade down my cheeks, forcing my lips to smile when I noticed a black box by my door.

On the top was a little yellow post-it from my dad.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

Love Dad.

Inside I found a new iPhone with a pink cover, my favorite color. The gesture warmed my heart. He wasn’t as mad as I thought he was after all.

The phone felt sleek in my hands as I turned it on, happy to be reunited with my connection to the world. The screen illuminated and flashed a beautiful sunset, similar to the one Nicholas and I watched regularly on our beach, making my heart feel heavy in my chest. I pushed back the grief and touched the screen to check my text messages instead, to which I had none.

Phil paid no attention and rushed to the window, standing on the ledge while I turned off the phone and pocketed it. I slowly moved to the window, a little less eager. A rough breeze blew against me, making me shiver. I zipped up my sweatshirt.

“Is he out there?” I asked, sensing nothing beyond Phil’s curiosity and slight hesitation.

“Nope,” he said with a whisper. “Come on.”

Disappointed, I climbed onto the roof and stood next to Phil, noticing a twinkle in his eye when I turned and looked up at him. Suddenly, I found myself wrapped up in his arms, flying up into the night sky. The massiveness of the full moon stole my breath away but all I wished for was to be in Nicholas’ arms instead.

My mind drifted towards protecting Phil and giving him a heads up about the venom
T
-shirts until I remembered Nicholas’ super-power stakes. And I wasn’t sure if I could reveal the secrets without Harry’s permission. Maybe a chain mail shirt of teeth could defeat the stakes, though it would take a lot of vampire deaths to make one.

“What are you thinking about?” Phil finally asked over the wind, his voice pulling me back into reality.

“Protecting you,” I said reluctantly.

“From your boyfriend?” Phil chuckled. “Cute, but completely unnecessary.”

“I think you should be leery of him. He is a vampire slayer you know.”

Phil laughed, refreshingly. “He can’t hurt me.”

My eyes tightened. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time?”

“He can’t do it twice. Double jeopardy. I’m invincible against him now.”

“You’re what?” I stated with a stutter. “How?”

“It’s just one of those things Alora figured out. Apparently you can’t kill a vamp twice. She
is
the brains behind this whole resurrection operation after all. Plus she likes me, another reason why I made a good candidate to bring back.”

My heart quivered at the gravity of the situation. Thinking about Bettina, Angelina, and the rest of the vampires coming back in revenge, protected with sudden invincibility made me shudder. Nicholas would have to rely on me to defeat the ones he’d previously killed and vice versa. Yet another step towards the
prophecy
coming to fruition.

“How did she do it?”

“Bring me back? I don’t know,” he said calmly. “Like I said, I woke up naked and mighty grateful.”

“This is insane,” I said under my breath. “How am I supposed to defeat her? All of them?”

“You won’t need to do that,” he said sympathetically. “Scar and I have a plan, plus you’ll recruit Nick to our side. He just needs a little time to regroup.”

More than anything I wanted to believe him, but after what happened
and
the doubt emanating from Phil
, I was
left
with
a sour taste in
my mouth
. I appreciated his desire to console me but even Phil knew the likelihood Nicholas would choose to be on Alora’s side over mine. That meant Nicholas was lost to me forever unless I was changed—again—making the prediction painfully clear. He would die along with the rest and apparently at my hand. Fate drove a hard bargain.

We arrived above his street, Nicholas’ house hidden within the thick cover of redwood trees. I scanned the area for him, coming up blank. More than anything I wanted Nicholas to be nearby to steal me away; wake me up and tell me this was all a bad dream.

Phil touched down and gave the surroundings a once over.

“It’s safe,” I said, pushing past him towards the house, no longer wanting to pretend like I didn’t know.

Phil studied my face quizzically. “You’ve got that psychic connection with him don’t you? I forgot.”

I snorted. “Yeah, kind of,”
but unfortunately, it’s with everyone.

Phil shrugged and caught up with me easily, grabbing onto my hand. For a moment, I didn’t want him to but his confidence fused into my being, making our task seem less daunting. Together, we walked up the path to the wooden porch.

Nicholas lived in a small rugged log cabin nestled in the forest. I marveled at how charming it was, just like I’d imagined.

Phil reached forward and instead of knocking, pushed against the wooden door, swinging it wide open.
Scarlett
sat inside on the floor, her arms wrapped around her legs, her head propped against her knees. I silenced myself against her deafening defeat.