Anathema (Causal Enchantment, #1) (7 page)

I glanced down at the radiant heart and an
unpleasant chill ran down my spine. “What do you mean?” I
stammered.

Caden opened his mouth to answer, but Bishop
sprang to his feet, cursing vehemently as his eyes darted to the
cave entrance. “They’ve tracked us here,” he growled, his jovial
tone of moments ago gone.

“
Damn it, Amelie!” Rachel
cursed.

“
Oh, shut it!” Amelie threw a
withering glare in Rachel’s direction. It didn’t phase the dark
beauty in the least.

“
Must be the fire,” Fiona
whispered.

“
How much time?” Caden asked, his
eyes locked on mine, his voice now hard and determined.

Bishop inhaled deeply. “Maybe two minutes … I
can’t believe I missed their scent,” he hissed through gritted
teeth.

Scent?
I inhaled deeply but my
nostrils filled with nothing but smoke.

“
There. I can sense them … three of
them. They’ll be here soon,” Rachel confirmed.

Three … there’d been three people by the river.
Three murderers. I wondered if it was the same group.

In the next second I was flying across the
cave, cradled in Caden’s strong arms. Setting me on my feet, he
gently pushed me into a small alcove. Standing within it, I
couldn’t see two–thirds of the cave.
They’re hiding me,
I
realized.

Caden’s hand lifted my chin, tilting my head
back far enough that my eyes met his. He stared at me so fixedly
that I began squirming, trying to turn away. “No, don’t,” he
whispered calmly, holding my chin securely between his thumb and
forefinger.

The tension slid from my body as I fell deeper
and deeper into those infinite pools of jade, my focus becoming
cloudy, my thoughts muddled.

Caden’s voice whispered, slow and deliberate,
“You need to stay hidden and remain calm. Don’t speak. Don’t make a
single sound.” His words strung together, swirling around inside my
head, repeating over and over. I nodded involuntarily. With a
satisfied nod, Caden removed his hand from my chin and turned to
face the cave entrance.

I stood staring at his broad, muscular back,
imagining my fingers running through his hair, barely noticing the
burning against my chest as my pendant blazed …

The temporary fog in my brain lifted. I began
tapping my fingers against my thighs in response to my growing
panic. “What do they want?” I finally whispered.

Caden’s head whipped around, his eyebrows
furrowed in confusion as he searched my face, until his gaze landed
on my pendant. “Interesting …” he mumbled to himself. He paused.
“They want Amelie. They’re the ones who put her in the river. But
you … when they find out about you …” His eyes left the pendant and
returned to my face.

He didn’t need to finish his sentence. I caught
the drift. “Because I helped Amelie?”

His eyes narrowed. “You don’t know where you
are—who we are?”

“
We’re in a cave and you’re …
homeless people?” I said.
Oh, stupid, Evangeline. That was so
insensitive.

“
Just stay hidden and don’t say
anything. I’ll keep you safe, I promise,” Caden whispered, smiling
down at me reassuringly. Or sympathetically, because I sounded like
an imbecile.

I couldn’t resist asking, “What’s going to
happen?”

“
Would you shut up? Unless you want
to die tonight, little girl,” Rachel hissed through clenched teeth.
She had edged to the back wall of the cave and was now watching us
keenly.

I blanched at the threat, my heart doubling its
pace.

Caden reached out, his hands cupping my chin.
Again I sensed a gravitational pull toward those deep pools, only
it wasn’t nearly as strong as before. “You have to calm down.
Now.”

I took a deep breath. I focused on his soothing
voice, the intensity of his eyes. Although my heart kept racing,
its thunderous pounding dulled to an irritating thud.

Caden put his finger to his lips in a hushing
motion. I nodded. He turned back to the cave entrance, his feet
shifting position ever so slightly.

I felt something boring into the side of my
face. Glancing over, I saw Rachel glaring at me sadistically, those
yellow eyes lit with some private enjoyment. I cowered within my
alcove, wishing I could turn into a chameleon and blend into the
rock. The pendant, tightly grasped in my hand now, continued to
burn hot against my skin.

S
o silent was their approach
that I was unaware anyone had entered the cave until I heard a new
voice. “Why, hello again, Amelie! We didn’t expect to see you
mobile so soon.” The man’s tone oozed false kindness.

Impulsively, I peeked out from behind Caden to
catch a glimpse of the speaker, figuring the shadows and the glare
from the fire would be sufficient cover. All I saw was the back of
a snow–white head before Caden’s body subtly leaned back, forcing
me into full hiding again.

“
Jethro,” Amelie responded, her tone
icy. “I warned you, I don’t like that river. Too murky.”

“
Yes, I recall … I’m curious about
how you escaped, and so quickly!” Jethro’s voice grew louder and I
heard footsteps as the man walked farther into the cave.

“
Oh, it’s my little secret,” she
responded glibly, as if joking with a friend instead of the man
who’d tried to kill her.

“
I’m sure we can get it out of you.”
Jethro’s voice indicated a smile but his words were full of malice.
“I’m surprised to see another highly esteemed Council member here …
Rachel,” he said in greeting.

My eyes darted to Rachel. She nodded once,
undaunted and still exuding confidence; she wasn’t afraid of
Jethro.

“
And your brother is
uncharacteristically quiet this evening, skulking in the back
corner like that. Are you hiding something?”

I pressed further against the wall until the
jutting stone hurt my back.

“
Only his infatuation with me.”
Rachel swooped over and wrapped her arms seductively around Caden’s
waist, skimming her lips across the side of his neck.

So they’re together,
I realized.
Despite the urgency of the situation, bitter disappointment coursed
through me.

Caden didn’t acknowledge Rachel’s affection,
though. “Did you think you could walk in here after what you did to
my sister?” he said through gritted teeth.

Jethro’s laughter echoed through the cave. I
recognized that sound. I had believed it to be my salvation,
earlier that night. Now that laugh made me want to swallow my
tongue in fear.

“
That sounds like a threat.
Amusing.”

The footsteps moved away from us. I had no urge
to peek again.

“
Quite silly of you to start a fire.
Someone may accidently trip and fall into it. That would be a much
more permanent ending than sitting at the bottom of the river,”
Jethro mused.

A silent warning to Amelie, though I didn’t see
how drowning had a different outcome than burning.
Dead is
dead
.

“
You know, it was interesting
earlier, out by the river,” Jethro said, his voice falsely casual,
“after we chucked you in. We—all of us—sensed a true rarity. A
human
heartbeat, of all things.”

What?
My face twisted with
confusion.

“
It must have been wishful thinking,
of course … but it brought back fond memories. I remember ripping
one of those tasty morsels right out of a chest once, so quickly
that the little thing continued pulsing in my palm. I even showed
it to the terrified lemming I had snatched it from before she
collapsed to the ground. How I would do
anything
to hold
one of those again …” Jethro sighed wistfully.

As if my poor heart had heard the threat, it
began thrashing against my chest, likely trying to grow legs so it
could break free and run away before this psychopath could get his
hands on it.

“
There it is again—that heartbeat!”
Jethro exclaimed in a hiss. “Do you hear that?”

My stomach lurched. Was he referring to
my
heartbeat? A hand squeezed my thigh in warning.
Glancing down, I saw it was Caden’s hand, covertly reaching back,
attempting to calm me. Unfortunately his touch pushed my heart
further into overdrive until I was sure it would explode; it was a
thunderous, repetitive boom against my eardrums. The cave, Caden,
everything began to swirl. I leaned against the wall for support,
begging my knees not to buckle.

Unevenly paced footsteps moved toward us,
slowly edging in, taunting. Rachel’s arms slid away from Caden, who
shifted. I knew they were preparing to react.

My hands groped forward in desperation, my
fingers digging into Caden’s back. Clenching my teeth together, I
fought the urge to let out a blood–curdling shriek.

What happened next came in a flash. Rachel was
no longer beside Caden. She was slamming into the opposite wall,
the rock crumbling from the impact, surely every bone in her
perfect body shattering. I didn’t see her collapse to the ground,
though; the demon who now stood in her place had my full
attention.

I couldn’t decide which was more sinister—those
cold white eyes with their web of tiny blue veins staring down at
me, or the creature’s face, so contorted that it pulled his skin
back severely against his facial bones. His long hair, also stark
white, was tied back in a ponytail that only emphasized the
tautness of his skin. He was like some monster out of a horror
film, only a hundred times more hideous because he was real.
Demon,
sprang into my mind—
something straight from
hell.

As hard as I struggled to turn away from that
repulsive face, it held me riveted. The blood drained from my own
face, and my body trembled uncontrollably. I felt as vulnerable as
a mouse cornered by a hungry snake.

A strange expression passed over the demon’s
face. It took me a moment to identify it as shock. “Where did you
find her?” it hissed, and I recognized the voice as
Jethro’s.

“
It doesn’t matter,” Caden responded
levelly.

I glimpsed a springy curl as Amelie edged in
behind Jethro, shifting her weight, ready to react to the impending
explosion—an explosion over me, and I hadn’t the first clue
why.

“
Oh, but it does! She could lead us
to more … I need to bring her to the Council.”

“
And how do you suppose you’ll do
that?”

Jethro laughed wickedly. “Do you actually think
you’ll walk out of here alive with her?”

“
Do
you
?” Caden growled. He
leaned back to shield me with his body just as Jethro lunged
forward.

I didn’t see anything else. I curled up in my
hollow, my face buried in my shoulder. Growls and shrieks filled
the cave. Ghastly sounds—bones crunching, flesh tearing—sucked the
breath out of my lungs. Caden was no longer protecting me. Now,
exposed, I was an easy target. I winced, waiting for a hand to
wrench me out of my hiding place and rip my heart out.

But instead, the ferocious brawl died down to
an eerie silence and I heard Amelie’s voice murmuring in the
distance. Still afraid to breathe, I lifted my head to peek out
around the corner—in time to see a white object sail through the
air and land in the fire.

Jethro’s head.

Those alarming white eyes stared intently at me
from the flames as if still alive. A body followed, quivering
violently.

If anyone else remained in the cave, I didn’t
notice. Because, for the second time in one night, everything went
dark.

I woke up as my head slammed into something
hard. Cringing, I opened my eyes to see the legs of a white chaise
and a shaggy cream rug beside a fireplace. I recognized that
chaise, that fireplace. I had fallen out of bed in the guest room
at Viggo and Mortimer’s.

“
Oh, thank God!” I exclaimed,
crawling back into bed and dropping onto the plush pillows. I
winced in pain. Reaching up, I found a bump already forming on the
side of my head.
That was quick
. But even the throbbing
injury couldn’t outweigh my relief.
It was all just a
dream.
A horribly bad dream.