Vindicate (18 page)

Brady grew curious and came to our side just as Draven’s eyes turned to green and met mine.

“Well?” Brady asked in a quiet whisper as he held on to the hope we ’
d returned with, yet doubting it just the same. Draven leaned closer to me , and against my ear he whispered , “Make them all leave. W
e need to be alone.”

My eye s questioned him. Draven glanced at Brady. “If we ’
re going to do this – work together , y ou’re going to have to trust me. Leave us alone right now. All of you. J
ust for a few minutes.”

Brady looked at me with the intent to not move until I told him to.
I stared back at him , feeling Draven’s honest intent to help me , then I nodded once at Brady. Without a moment of hesitation , he left our side and said something quietly to the others. They all left, and the moment the door was closed , Draven whispered, “They’re weak.”

“What do you mean? Are we too late?” I asked as anguish pierced through my soul .
I twirled my ring as fast as I could.

He moved his head from side to side and pulled his finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet. “No,” he said as sympathy filled him. “Listen. T
hey ’
re deep. Hidden in their mind , and they ’
re struggling to hold on to sanity, to understand what ’
s happened.” He looked at each of them as if he w ere trying to weigh his options. F
ind the fastest way to solve this. “When – if -
-
I teach you to go there , you ’
re going to face illusions – ones that will reflect your deepest fear. To prove to yourself that you ’
re looking at an illusion , you ’
re going to have to ask them something only they would know. When we finally reach them , you may to have to prove to them that you ’
re real – that you aren ’
t an i llusion.” He captured my gaze . “Right now , we need to do two things at once : we have to make them stronger , and we have to find something that can be said that will make both you and them believe the other is real.”

“How are we going to do that?” I asked breathlessly .

He was quiet for a second , and I swear his eyes turned darker for an instant, almost as if he w ere searching for something in his though ts – his memories. “First kiss. T
he first time you perceived that they were both real , ”
h e mumbled.

“What?” I asked .

“Your first kiss. T
he first time you kissed Lan den. T
he first time you saw Drake in real life – it was on the same day. It’s a p owerful memory for all of you. T
hat one day. All of yo u agreed to the path you were o n. Y
ou knew they were real , and they knew that you were.”

I guess he was right . S
eeing Drake that da y gave me hope that Landen was more than a lucid dream . M
ore hope than I ’
d ever had. “Yeah , that happened. H
ow is that important?”

“That ’
s a memory we can go back to . W
hen you see an illusion that ’
s meant to be Drake , ask about those moments at the lake . W
hen you see an illusion of Landen , you ask , ‘
W
here was our first kiss ?
’
A sk what you were wearing , things like that.
That ’
s a memory or thought that Bianca wouldn ’
t have thought to study. She focuses on passion , not innocen ce .”

“How do you know?” I mumbled , feeling how c er t a in he was.

The anger that rose inside of him told me that he ’
d witnessed this. “She ’
s taken my memories. Memories of Charlie, and recreated them with her in Charlie’s place. She dwells deep in your mind and finds moments t o embed herself in. M
oments that she doesn’t belong in , ” he said with a disgusted heav iness in his tone.

“How did you fight it?” I asked as a sick jealousy seeped into my mind. I didn’t want her to recreate any moment with either of them.

Draven smiled sardonically , and I felt a deep , passionate love rise and blossom throughout his soul. “When a man loves a woman – really loves her …
it is not the moment o f passion he remembers clearly. I t’s the moments of innocen ce . T
he moments when we ’
re the most v ul nerable. W
hen we say how we really feel.” His cheeks blushed slightly in the dim room. “Charlie and I have a passion that I can ’
t create with any sound, but even in those moments I feel her innocen ce . I hear myself telling her how I feel about her, but I could never bring myself to say that to those illusions recreated for me because I knew there was no innocen ce , that she wasn ’
t Charlie. It was easy for me to see through her ploy, to turn her game on her.”

“Because you could see . S
ee into her existence. Landen and Drake can’t see like that – they may not know. S
he might -
-
.
” I had to slice my nail into my finger and demand that the rattling cage in my soul held fast to the raging emotions that wanted their freedom.

Draven reached for my hand. Saw the blood under my ring. “You’ve got this.” He ran hi s fingertip across my raw skin.
“
You won ’
t hurt us.” He swore .

Hearing that truth in his rhythmic voice. Knowing that he trusted me gave me reason to take the first deep , calming breath that I’d taken in days. Landen shifted his body ever so slightly. Draven nodded once toward his closed eyelids.
Landen wasn’t even awake and he was showing Draven gratitude. No one understood me as deeply as Landen, but Draven had recognized my demons and offered me unshielded assurance that I was stronger than I thought.

“They know .
” Draven said quietly. “
F
rom what I’ve witness ed between the three of you – from each of your viewpoints. T
hey know. Your soul may be fierce, but you love innocently.”

I took in a jagged breath , fighting the embarrassment of knowing that Draven, someone I barely knew, had seen so much of my life – moments that should only be shared with one other. I told myself it was a blessing and right now he was not some stranger peering into my thoughts ; he was my gateway to Landen, and he needed to know everything. He needed to know my past so he could steer my future. “What do I have to say to make them realize I’m real?”

“Your question will be enough. W
e need another one , though . T
here is a chance that she ’
ll catch on to you . A chance that she ’
ll have the time to find the answer you ’
re seeking and fool you . W
hen you get a correct answer , you ’
re going to have to ask another one quickly – one that ’
s powerfu l enough to wake them up in The R
ealm . O
ne that will give them the power to leave whatever damage she ’
s done to them there. You don’t want them coming back with anything of The Realm in their soul.
Trust me.
”

Draven’s disdain came back to life , and I wondered for a moment if he had not managed to leav e it all behind. I f that was the reason I felt tension between him and the others. Even though I wasn’t focusing on them clearly , I knew there was something off – a sadness or even defeat in all of them. They wanted to help me simply so I wouldn ’
t have to fight the battles they were in, so Bianca wouldn ’
t do this to anyone else. I wanted to ask him how I could help him – how I could undo what had happened to him , but I realized that Charlie was already doing the most powerful thing that could be done : she was loving him.

With that thought , I realized how powerful that word was, how deeply both Drake and Landen felt about it. I kne w if I had them say that word it would be enough. E
nough to not only wake them up , but also help them find the power we ’
d need to end that girl. The question now was how would I get them to say it. N
ot in the obvious way , but in a way that would make them remember our reality. Our past. A ll that we ’
ve conquered.

I thought over the moments I heard them say that word: l ove. It was the name Drake always called me, the name he said he ’
d called me in every life. It was the word that Lan den told me his world stood for. A wor d that was shallow in comparison to the emotion I felt between us. A word I doubted I deserved to hear at times.

“That’ll do , ” Draven said as if he ’
d read my thoughts. “An Escort can ’
t utter that word .
I t ’
s poison to them . G
et them to say that word , and you ’
ll know that they aren ’
t an illusion. It will be powerful enough to wake them up and see how real you are. That word will change the game for us there. It will p ut us in charge of the illusion .
S
he ’
ll never b e able to take your image again, because at that point they will recognize her energy as false . E
vil. You will have awakened them to her malevolent powers.
If she seduces them , it has to be with her image …
neither of them could possibly fall for that child’
s play.”

“I assume this has happened to you as well? You found a way to control her illusions?” I asked , feeling his disdain for each time Bianca’s name was mentioned.

He looked down , and I felt a sadness build in him. “I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone this , ”
h e mumbled .

“You don’t have to tell me anything , ” I said quickly , not liki ng the anger I could feel in his soul , wrapped with regret.

He moved his head from side to side as his eyes rose to meet mine. “In the beginning , I would have dreams of Charlie. They were so real. S
o blissful. Then all at once , my daydreams, the ones I had while I play music, the ones I might have at any given moment , started to come to life around me, all of Charlie. It was like we were locked in our own world . A lways one. Quickly , I noticed how empty her embrace in my dreams felt compared to real life , h ow Charlie seemed to lack a soul when I dreamed of her . T
he second night. I n my dream , I asked Charlie to tell me that she loved me . H
er image formed into Bianca instantly.”

I felt a disgust rise in his energy , and I reached for his arm and thought of what peace I could remember in my life , trying to bri ng him some calm. F
orgiveness. “It was just a dream, not real , ” I promised.

His jaw tightened.
“The moment I saw Bianca was the moment I grasp ed the tangibility of The R
ealm.
It was the moment I realize d where I was on the scale of good and evi l. T
hat I was more dange rous to Charlie than I was good. S
ometimes . S
ometimes I think the illusion was better than that reality.”

“How are you dangerous?” I asked , knowing I couldn ’
t feel anything that would lead me to believe that.

His eyes moved to Drake’s body , then slowly back to mine. “I pull from her .
S
he ’
s light , and I ’
m darkness …
if I take to o much – if I lose control , I could destroy the beautiful light she is …
and if that wasn’t horrible enough , there ’
s someone out there that ’
s waiting for me to do that. W
aiting for me to make that incompr ehensi ble mistake. He will end my existence before I have the chance to hurt h er. I don’t hate him for that.
I hate him because I envy him. I envy him because he is who she truly belongs with.”

I stood beside him and stared into his haunted eyes. “You believe you ’
re an Escort.
Darkness?
” I asked quietly. His eyes told me yes. “Have you uttered the world ‘
love ’
to Charlie?”

“More times than I could count , ”
h e responded with an ache in his deep velvet voice.

“Then you ’
re capable of love. T
herefore , you are redeemed from any da rk past your soul has witnessed. Charlie is with you. S
omewhere in the realm of time , she chose you. N
o one can erase the past or promise the future ; all we can do is live in this moment. L
ove in this moment and trust that it will lead you through the next one. Stop worrying about what could happen. Focus on now. What you say and do ri ght now will be your tomorrow. Make it a good tomorrow.
”

He smiled shyly. “Are you giving advice that you ’
ve refused to take?” he asked humbly.

“I’m not sure I like you knowing everything about me , ” I mumbled , knowing he was right ; that was advice I’d yet to grasp.

“I don’t know everything , ”
h e swore . “When you see someone , you ask a question – and that leads you to a moment in their life and more than likely will lead you to another question. I could only imagine how many questions I would have to ask to see all that you ’
ve done.”