The Emerald Talisman (29 page)

“Take that ring and put it on your wrist, or
she dies.” Phil threatened in a low voice, motioning to what looked
like an oversized iron bracelet on the ground close to our
feet.

Confused, I studied the rusty piece of
jewelry and tried to understand how it would incapacitate anybody.
As I shifted my body to get a better look at Phil’s face to judge
his next move, he gripped me tighter.

“Don’t move,” he hissed in my ear.

“We don’t need to involve Julia. Let’s settle
this like men,” Nicholas said as he stood motionless, fire burning
behind his emerald eyes.

I knew the cuff was a trap and I was the
bait. I had to call Phil’s bluff.

“Don’t listen to him. He won’t hurt me,
Nicholas,” I said calmly, feeling a high as the adrenaline pulsated
through my body.

“I’m serious. Put it on now!” Phil
interrupted, his voice sounding more ominous, his irritation
increasing due to Nicholas’ incompliance.

“Nicholas, don’t!” I insisted, feeling a
little braver, squirming to loosen his grip on me.

“Be quiet,” Phil said as he hugged me closer,
pressing the blade a little deeper into my skin. I felt my blood
pulsating against the serrated edge and struggled to breathe under
the pressure, my neck dangerously close to being slit open.

“Please stop,” I whispered.

But it was too late. Nicholas had retrieved
the cuff, clasped it on and Phil was laughing hysterically, proud
he’d won the standoff. Instantly I felt the pressure cease as he
released me and I stumbled forward to catch my fall.

From the ground, I watched in slow motion as
Nicholas took advantage of my freedom and pounced in our direction,
but Phil had already pulled a small black square from his pocket. A
little red light flickered on the cuff and in midair Nicholas was
yanked backwards and pulled towards a nearby pole. When the metal
of the bracelet collided with the pole, it let out an earth
shattering clang that shook the entire building, sending down more
debris on our heads. Nicholas struggled, but couldn’t get his arm
free. He let out a supernatural growl.

“Well, that’s much better–” Phil said with an
evil smile as he stood just out of reach of Nicholas who cursed
obscenities under his breath. “—and from the looks of it, just like
the guy promised. You’d never believe this metal is one of the
strongest alloys on the market – just perfect for capturing our
kind.”

“When I get out of here you leech, you’ll be
sorry you ever involved her,” Nicholas hissed.

I saw a glimpse of the animal within Nicholas
that wanted to rip Phil’s head off, his teeth slightly bared,
wild-eyed and fists clenched.

“Promises, promises,” Phil said with a cluck
of the tongue.

“Let him go,” I said forcefully, but cringed
at how meek my voice sounded in comparison to their powerful
ones.

“Why?” Phil sang. “But wait. I thought you
two didn’t know each other. Parker, I didn’t believe you to be such
a cunning liar.” He winked and shot me his alluring smile. “That
will come in handy later.”

I looked angrily back at him, annoyed by his
gloating.

“What are you planning to do, Phil?” I asked
feeling outraged.

“Let me deal with him, Julia,” Nicholas said
as he yanked against the cuff again. It moved only a fraction of an
inch away from the pole before snapping right back into place.

“Look, our brave hero still thinks he has
control of the situation,” Phil said full of bravado. “But you’re
wrong! News flash, Nick! This isn’t about you anymore. It’s about
me. And now that I’ve got you where I want you, I’m going to get
what’s rightfully mine and you won’t have anything to say about
it!”

Nicholas’ chest heaved up and down as he
seethed quietly, his unblinking eyes never leaving Phil’s side.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Just like I told you earlier, Parker, we’ve
got the world at our fingertips. And now, with Nick out of the way,
we’ll be unstoppable.”

He triumphed like he’d just won the
lottery.

“I don’t understand,” I said with a furrowed
brow.

Phil shot me a haughty look before laughing
uncontrollably, his eerie voice echoing throughout the
building.

“I guess I have some explaining to do,” he
said in a sneer, acting very melodramatic. “So when was it? Oh
yes—” He partially turned towards me as if to remember. “—right
after the bonfire, I just got finished kissing up to the cops when
I spotted this totally hot chick motioning to me just beyond the
trees. So, like any idiot would do, I went over to see what she
wanted. I think she thought I was a big player at school, so she
asked me about you, Nick. And when I didn’t know anything, she bit
me before I knew it.

“I attempted to fight, but her venom
paralyzed me. After a few seconds I didn’t care anyway. I closed my
eyes and felt my body drift into the night sky. That’s when I heard
your gentle voice telling me it’s okay and to hang on.

“So, you could imagine my shock when I woke
up and found myself inside a hospital room, IV’s plugged into my
arm and annoying people asking me stupid questions. I had no idea
what was happening to me. All I knew was my insides were crawling
and I wanted to rip my skin off. Then you came into my room,
Parker, so concerned and unsuspecting, but my gut instinct told me
to run. And I’m really glad I got out of there before anyone found
out what was really happening.

“As I ran out of the hospital parking lot, I
realized I could run a hundred times faster with very little
effort. But my body was burning from the inside out and all I
wanted to do was die. So I ran to the cliffs and threw myself over,
but I didn’t crash on the rocks below. Instead I found myself
hovering above them.

“I then took off in the air as fast and as
hard as I possibly could – trying to douse the excruciating flames
by flying through the waves. It was hell let me tell you. But that
was just the beginning. After it was over, I was so thirsty I
couldn’t see straight and all I wanted was blood. It kind of
freaked me out since I had no clue what was happening to me.

“So, somewhere in Fresno is a pile of
truckers I found at a rest stop. Hey, I was looking for some fast
food, right?” He let out an obnoxious snort, but never took an eye
off Nicholas.

“Anyway, I ended up in L.A. completely out of
control and frankly, I couldn’t help it. My new body had taken
over. She was gone even before I could stop myself.”

“Your girlfriend?” I said quietly, nauseous
by his excitement and complete disregard for the lives he selfishly
took.

“Ex-girlfriend actually. I guess absence
didn’t make her heart grow fonder. I found her with my best friend.
They both deserved what they got,” he said with a smirk. “It was
their fault I had to move to Scotts Valley anyway.”

I turned away in disgust; Phil lied so
smoothly in the cafeteria, I didn’t even detect it when he said his
dad was transferred. No wonder my dad overreacted. Phil must have
been in trouble with the law.

“So I stayed in L.A. for a few days, making
some wrongs right and I had fun testing out my new super powers.
But I was stopped by another group of
them
knowing I was a
new kid on the block. They tried to capture me, but I escaped and
came back here. I decided it might be a good idea to figure out how
the heck I ended up this way.

“That’s when I found out my
making
–”
he said while making air quotes. “—was a mistake and that my coven
wasn’t too happy to hear about what I’d done in L.A. Since leaving
bodies around is a big no-no, they had to teach me the ropes.
Mistakes or not, vamps don’t kill vamps. Without you, Parker, I
wouldn’t be here today. Of course I’m not the only oops. Have you
read the papers lately?” He rolled his eyes. “People disappearing,
bodies all over the place, it’s a total epidemic.

“Anyway, apparently there are rules and a
whole hierarchy in the vampiring world. But my unauthorized killing
spree wasn’t the most important thing going on at the moment. There
were bigger things at
stake
—” He snickered, “— get it? And
that’s when I found out about you, Nick. It’s kind of impressive
how big of a legend you are and actually a pleasure to meet you.
There’s a huge price on your head for whoever finds and captures
you. I’ll be richly rewarded when I turn you in.”

His lips curled up auspiciously, his insides
bursting with excitement as he stared intently at Nicholas for a
response. But Nicholas looked off to the side, watching from his
peripheral vision, untouched by the statement.

Annoyed, Phil decided to engage me, the air
between us instantly becoming thick with desire. I blushed and
hoped that Nicholas didn’t notice.

“But you, Julia, I never expected how I would
feel about you —” he drew closer to me, teasing me with his
infectious stare. His sudden advance made Nicholas agitated and I
felt the sudden rage. Phil arrogantly continued.

“When I came to school, I noticed there were
a lot of pretty girls, but you did something to me. You were
different somehow and I knew after our talk on the beach, I would
never be able to leave you alone.”

“But after my change, my feelings became more
intense and I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Finding you became
an obsession.”

He paused for effect.

My breath grew quick as his words were laced
heavily with want. Nicholas stood stiff like a statue next to the
pole, but I could feel his hatred increase. Phil was lucky Nicholas
couldn’t retaliate.

“Finding you wasn’t hard to do, it was
getting you alone that was the challenge. And that’s because Mister
Nick here must have tipped you off on how to avoid interactions
with curious vampires.

“But that wasn’t all you were hiding. From
your text messages, I was able to figure out more about your
chaperon,” Phil said as he turned and glared at Nicholas. ”Your
little plan in the tunnel might have worked, if I didn’t spot you
first. But I still couldn’t figure out who or what you were, since
I couldn’t smell you, hear you or even feel your presence. You
can’t be human – but after we interrogate you, we’ll figure out
your secrets.”

Nicholas let out a snort. I sensed he wasn’t
at all worried about being interrogated.

“So I just needed to stay glued to you,
Parker and Nicholas would show up eventually.” He laughed
generously again, enjoying his captive audience. After we didn’t
respond, he made a sour face.

“Justin happened to know where you worked, so
as soon as the sun set, I showed up and Nick was nowhere to be
seen.”

The younger, cagey vampire in the room with
Bettina came to mind. His face suddenly clicked. He was Justin
transformed, another precious life taken by these snakes. But in
spite of the horror now covering my face, Phil continued on.

“I’d planned how I would deal with Nick
unaware he took the evening off. So, with nothing to do but wait, I
decided to rifle through your car. And that’s when I found your
cell phone and your garage door opener and we already know what
happened with that. Your plan almost worked. Too bad Nick wasn’t
around to stop me. But what I want to know is how you figured out
to come here?”

He watched me inquisitively as I stood
shocked at the revelation of how he masterminded this whole plan to
find me. Nothing would come out of my mouth in response.

“It’s okay, Parker. I’m not mad at you or
anything. Actually, you showing up makes this victory all the
sweeter,” he purred.

“What do you mean?” I said slowly, backing up
for an easy escape.

“Well, I turn in the bad guy and we live
happily ever after,” he said plainly.

“Bad guy?”

“Yeah, Nick here is a wanted vampire
murderer. Those idiots are going to be so happy when I turn him in.
Can you believe they’ve been here a month looking for him? And I’m
only a vampire for a week and I find him the first day.
Morons.”

He looked directly at Nicholas to rib him
some more.

“And for you, I’m gonna finally get some
respect around here
and
get the girl,” Phil said
teasingly.

Nicholas lunged towards Phil again, shaking
the pole.

My head spun in chaos trying to process the
new information, weighing the fact we had bigger problems now. I
needed to escape before Phil could change me, but couldn’t leave
Nicholas to be turned in like a lamb to the slaughter. Plus, from
the sound of it, an angry group of vampires might possibly be
showing up any minute. We were trapped.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, Phil,” I
said, knowing my plea was fleeting.

“Really? How can you say that after the kiss
you gave me earlier?”

My mouth fell open and I froze, afraid to
look at Nicholas expression. For a second, I thought he was going
to rip the pole in half when his anger boiled over, which flooded
my head, making it impossible to concentrate.

“You kissed me,” I said coolly, hoping
Nicholas was still listening.

“Oh, why are you playing so hard to get? I
know you want me,” he purred again with a chuckle, his eyes
sparkling with increased voracity.

“No, I don’t,” I replied
matter-of-factly.

No longer conflicted, I meant what I said.
Any confusion I had about how I felt about Phil was cleared up by
tonight’s events.

Phil started to advance towards me. “You’ll
change your mind, after–”

“Leave her alone, you parasite!” Nicholas
bellowed.

“As if you could do anything,” Phil snapped
back.

But my mind was spinning. He planned to
change me. To make me like him. And it wouldn’t be after he
delivered Nicholas. It would be now.

“After?” I asked for clarification, my voice
cracking.

“Yes, after I change you.” His eyes were wild
with want and before I knew it, his body was pressing me up against
a stack of boxes. Pinning my arms to my sides, his breath brushing
against my throat he said, “I’ve been curious what you taste
like.”