Ungifted (50 page)

It wasn’t until that very moment that I realized just how special I really was. I didn’t have any supernatural power, and maybe the Creator’s purpose for me was to simply exist, but the Angel Michael was right. There was a lot I could do with my life while I was here.

I hadn’t thought so before, but this
was
my fight. I was the missing puzzle piece. There was a way for me to reach out to everyone and make all the separate pieces become one complete picture. I just had to find it.

“I could tell your dad I’d be willing to work with the resistance if he lets us date,” I said, becoming excited. “I’m sure he’d go for it. He was willing to force his own children to switch schools. He asked Caleb to
claim
me just so he’d have a connection with me. Could he resist an offer from me if it came willingly? Especially knowing my connection to Dani and having the son of Michael bound to me? There’s no way. He’ll let us, Preston. He’d probably let you leave the pack and join the circus, if I asked him to. If I join the resistance, you and Cynthia could both be free!”

Preston noticed the change in me. He watched as I became more and more determined to take the world by storm and stop everyone from being idiots. As he realized what I’d decided, he gazed at me in wonder. “You would really do that?” he asked. “Just so you could date me?”

I laughed. “I would do it because it’s the right thing to do. Dating you would be more like a perk of the job.”

Preston burst into incredulous laughter. “You are an amazing person, Grace St. Claire,” he said as he pulled me tightly into his arms.

“So you keep telling me,” I teased, and then helped him close the last of the distance between our faces.

My heart was soaring. My
everything
was soaring. For a few minutes, my world felt perfect and exciting instead of hopeless and dreadful. Then, in a split second, that perfection was shattered.

Preston felt their presence first. A tremor rippled through his body, making the hair on his arms and neck stand up. The most animal-like snarl escaped his throat before he’d even managed to untangle his lips from mine.

“What is it?” I asked, but the hiss I heard behind me answered my question.

I’d never seen Andrew more livid as he burned his stare into Preston from beneath the hood of a large, thick cloak. “You will die for touching what belongs to me, dog!”

“Andrew!” I gasped. “Please, calm down. I don’t belong to you. I never did.”

My voice didn’t crack through his rage at all. Nothing and no one was going to stop him from trying to kill Preston. It was written in his eyes.

I was fairly sure that Preston could hold his own against Andrew, but then I noticed all the other hooded figures silently slipping out of the shadows from every direction. There were so many of them—fifteen at least. Preston could never fight them all off by himself.

“Ethan, help us.” I whispered it out loud, but mentally I screamed it.

Andrew’s face curled into a cruel smile. “Your angel will never get to you in time. It was a mistake to think that a single dog would be able to keep me from you. Finally, I will have what I want.”

“Andrew, please,” I begged. “Don’t do this. No one has to get hurt.”

“It’s a little late for that, love,” Andrew said pleasantly. “You have already hurt me so very deeply.”

Preston released me as his body started trembling far beyond his control. “If nothing else, I will take you down with me,” he promised Andrew. “I’m sorry, Grace,” he whispered, and I knew he meant it as a good-bye. He didn’t plan to live through this fight.

“No, I’m sorry,” I said, tears escaping down my cheeks. “This is my fault. He’s here for me.” I stood up and held out a hand to Andrew. “Take me,” I said to Andrew. “I won’t put up a fight. Just let Preston go.”

“Grace,” Preston argued, pulling me safely back to his side. “I won’t let you make that sacrifice for me.”

“Nor I, I’m afraid,” Andrew said grimly. “His crime is unpardonable.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong! I don’t belong to you!”

“But you do, love, and you must learn the consequences of betraying me.”

Andrew snapped his fingers, and instantly a swarm of vampires descended on Preston and me. I was ripped away from Preston and handed off to Andrew as Preston exploded into a large wolf and began futilely fighting off his attackers. He got in a few good swipes and bites, and even one kill, but there were simply too many of them. I couldn’t even see him beneath the pile of vampires. Within seconds the coven had him pinned on the ground, and they began tearing him to shreds with their teeth and claws.

I tried as hard as I could to break from Andrew’s grip, but I couldn’t even move against his steel arms. “Preston!” I screamed. “Andrew, stop them!”

But they wouldn’t stop, and I had a feeling they were taking their time with it. I turned my face away and didn’t even care that the shoulder I was burying it in belonged to the man responsible for this horror.

“No, Grace!” Andrew snapped. He pulled my head away from him and forced me to take in the sight. “You must watch. You must remember this.”

I broke down completely. Andrew caught my sagging body and held me gently. “He was not for you, love,” he whispered almost regretfully. “Only I am for you. If you do not wish anyone else to share his fate, you will not betray me again. Do you understand that now? You are
mine.
”

I shut my eyes and tried to drown out the sound of Preston’s agonized cries, which were growing more and more faint.
Preston!
I sobbed silently.
Ethan, they’ve killed Preston! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have made you guys leave. I’m so sorry. Preston’s dead. It’s my fault! Tell Cynthia I’m so, so, sorry!

Grace!
Ethan’s voice sounded utterly panicked in my mind.
We’re on our way! Ten more minutes, just hold on! Where are you?

My house. But I don’t think I’ll still be here in ten minutes.

Keep talking to me. Tell me where he takes you. I’ll be there before you know it. Just hang on.

I didn’t hear Preston anymore. I knew there was nothing left of him. I didn’t want to look, but I couldn’t keep my eyes closed. I screamed when I saw the mess at my feet.

It had been bad enough to watch them tear apart the wolf, but the body that lay mutilated before me was not covered in fur. Preston had left this world in his human form. It was a nightmare that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

I groaned as my stomach began to churn, and emptied its contents.

“I’m sorry, love,” Andrew whispered, holding my hair back as I vomited, and vomited, and vomited. Once I was finally finished he scooped me into his arms. “Come,” he said. “It’s over now, Grace. Time to go home.”

“Ethan will find me,” I croaked as Stefan tore the sleeve off my coat, exposing my arm to the cold evening air. “He’ll kill you all for this.”

Andrew gave me a very patronizing smile, and then I felt a small sting puncture my skin. “Sleep now,” he said as Stefan emptied a syringe into my body.

Grace!
Ethan shouted.
What’s going on? Why are you so calm?

Drugs…So tired…

Fight it, Grace! Stay awake!

I knew I’d lost this fight. I wouldn’t be able to tell Ethan where they were taking me. There was nothing else to do now so I whispered,
Good-bye, Ethan. I’m sorry.

I woke up in a grand four-post
bed tucked beneath layers of the softest, silkiest blankets I’d ever felt. I couldn’t help running my fingers over the deep red satin in awe.

I was in a room unlike any I’ve ever seen—made of stone walls draped in elegant tapestries. It had no windows save a handful of small skylights far too high up to look out. Along the far wall there was a fireplace with a roaring fire dancing in its belly that gave off the scent of fresh pine and bathed the entire room in a soft glow.

I tried to make sense of my surroundings, but my head felt as if it were shrouded in mist. I sat up slowly, feeling slightly dizzy, but other than being hungry and a little weak I was basically fine.

I was wearing a silky sleeping gown that flowed all the way to my toes and made me feel as if my ladies-in-waiting were going to arrive any minute to shove me into a corset. In fact, everything about my appearance and this room made me think I’d been transported back in time to the dark ages.

It was the strangest dream I’d ever had. Then the sleep cleared from my mind and I remembered. This wasn’t the dark ages. It was
Beauty and the Beast
. I was locked away in a forgotten, cursed castle, and Andrew was the hideous beast holding me prisoner while he tried to win my heart. The difference was Beast was a monster on the outside, whereas Andrew was a monster on the inside.

He had Preston killed. Slowly, painfully, grotesquely killed—and he’d forced me to watch as punishment for kissing Preston. Then he’d kidnapped me and taken me somewhere not even Ethan would ever be able to find me. I looked around the room again with a new set of eyes. I would probably never see anything else ever again.

I was shocked and horrified, but the strange thing was that when the door opened I wasn’t overcome with terror. I was filled with anger. It appeared that hate would be the thing to help me survive this.

I looked around for something to defend myself with, but the only thing I could find was a candlestick, and that would do exactly nothing against Andrew.

When the door finally swung open, Clara came in carrying a tray with a steaming plate of food and a vase of freshly cut flowers. “Oh!” she said timidly when she saw me sitting up. “You’re finally awake. Master Andrew will be so pleased.”

I’d been prepared to yell and scream, but her words confused me. “‘Master Andrew? Do you call him that because you’re bonded to him?”

Clara laughed. “I call him that because he is my master—my coven leader.”

“Coven leader? I thought Stefan was—”

“Stefan poses as Andrew’s father when the human world demands it, but Andrew is the leader. As are you now, Grace.”

“I—what?”

“You are the mate of my coven leader. I, as well as the rest of the coven, am now your humble servant, Mistress Grace.”

Beyond the impossibility of everything she was saying, I eyed her warily, listening for sarcasm in her voice. I didn’t find it.

Clara set the tray of food down on a table and came to sit with me on my bed. Her smiled faded when I scooted away from her. I couldn’t believe it, but she was honestly disappointed by the rejection.

“I know I wasn’t very nice to you when we first met, but I hope you’ll forgive me. Things are different now, and believe it or not, I really am glad you’ve come to stay with us. It’ll be nice to not be the only non-vampire in the coven. I’m your friend, Grace. Once you realize it, anyway. If you ever need anything, just ask.”

“You could help me get out of here.”

Clara grimaced. “I will do anything I can for you, unless it goes expressly against the Master’s wishes.”

Of course. “Then there’s only one other thing you can do for me.”

Clara’s face lit up again. “Anything,” she said hopefully.

“Get out.”

Clara was so startled that she gasped and flinched back.

“Go away and leave me alone. I have no desire to see you, or Andrew, or any member of your coven ever again. You are not my friend, this is not my home, and Andrew is not my mate. He’s a monster! I hate him!”

Clara sighed. “Grace, Andrew is an amazing man. He saved me after I thought my mother had died. He took care of me. He’s kind and generous and thoughtful. You have no idea how lucky you are.”

That was such an inaccurate statement that I finally flew off the handle. “Lucky!” I screamed as tears poured down my angry face. “Your psycho, evil boss kidnapped me! Preston is
dead
! Andrew had him killed!”

“Of course he did!” Clara snapped. She seemed startled that she’d lost her temper, and maybe even a little afraid that she’d yelled at me. She took a deep breath and tried again in a much calmer voice. “You have no idea how much Andrew loves you. Seeing you with Preston pushed the limits of his sanity. Preston was a good guy, Grace. He shouldn’t have had to die, but he wasn’t for you.”