Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance (12 page)

“Let me try,” Alexi said, and Liam stepped
aside.

Alexi placed his hands on the altar, and
repeated the phrase he’d asked Liam and Kai to say. Nothing
happened. He tried three more times, but still, nothing happened.
He slammed his fists onto the altar with rage.

“Again!” Alexi commanded, his voice echoing
through the small room.

He stepped aside, and Kai and Liam both tried
once more to summon a flame onto the altar. Nothing happened.

I stepped closer.

“Forget it,” Alexi snarled, clearly sensing
what was on my mind.

“Alexi, please,” I begged. “Just let me
try.”

“No!” Alexi shouted. “I will not relent!”

“Please,” I said again.

I stood beside him and placed my hand gently
on his arm, and I looked at him with pleading eyes. His arm was
tense, but in a moment, my touch relaxed him. He sighed.

“You do not understand what you are asking me
to allow,” he said gently.

“I
do
understand,” I told him. “I
understand that all of you were risking the same thing for me. It’s
only fair that I be allowed to try, as well.”

Again, Alexi sighed.

“Fine,” he relented. “But if I see any signs
that anything is wrong, it stops.”

“Agreed,” I said.

Liam and Kai both took a step back, and I
approached the altar. Part of me wanted nothing to happen, but
another part of me was terrified something would. I didn’t want to
lose my mind to some sort of dark, evil insanity. But my desire to
protect those I cared about more than anything was much
stronger.

I placed my hands on the altar, and I closed
my eyes. I took a deep breath to calm my trembling, and I kept my
eyes closed.

“In the name of the Dark Father, I invoke the
spirit of the flame,” I said, my voice surprisingly even, though I
was terrified inside.

I heard Kai gasp, and my eyes popped open. In
the center of the altar, a bright, glittering flame danced. I
gasped in spite of myself.

“Well, that was predictable,” Liam
muttered.

“What?” I asked him.

“That you’d be able to do this,” he said.

Now, I was annoyed.

“Why do you say that?” I challenged him.

“Haven’t you noticed how different you are,
yet?” he asked. “You have abilities very few have, and you’re
discovering new ones all the time.”

“I should have known this would happen,”
Alexi said darkly. “I should have known, and I never should have
allowed this.”

“What? Why?” I said, turning toward him.

“Your father could control dark magic,” Alexi
admitted. “I only hoped you had not inherited his ability.”

“
What
?” I gasped. “How do you
know?”

“Because my father saw it,” he told me. “He
started experimenting with it not long after you were born. My
father was so angry, he refused to speak to him, anymore. He tried
to stop him, but by then, the darkness had already consumed him. So
he cut all ties.”

“Is that…” I started to say. “Is that why my
father was gone so much when I was younger?”

“Your father changed drastically after he
started using dark magic,” Alexi said gently. “He was not the same
person, anymore. Fortunately, the part of him that loved you and
your brother was still inside him, and he knew he needed to keep
the darkness away from you both. So he started spending a lot of
time away from home to protect you both, and to protect your
mother.”

“But he was seeing Kai’s mother,” I
argued.

“Yes, that was an unfortunate circumstance,”
Alexi agreed. “But that was not why he started spending time away.
He met her while he was away from you all.”

“So, are you saying the ability to use dark
magic runs in my family?” I asked bluntly.

“I am afraid so,” Alexi said. “I was hoping
it was not true, but it seems your father has passed this curse to
you.”

“Curse? This could save us, Alexi!” I argued
vehemently.

“It could also be your undoing,” he snarled
ferociously. “I cannot allow you to destroy yourself!”

“I’m going to do this, with or without you,”
I growled fiercely. “Though I’d much rather do it with you.”

“Alice, I implore you to reconsider,” he
pleaded, his voice suddenly gentle, even sad.

“Not this time, Alexi. There is too much at
stake.”

“That is exactly what I am trying to tell
you. There
is
too much at stake, and I do not believe you
fully understand that.”

“I believe I understand enough, Alexi. Now,
are you going to help me, or not?”

Alexi was quiet. For a long, excruciating
moment, he was utterly speechless – completely motionless. The
flame I’d summoned still danced merrily on the table, and it cast a
golden glow across the visible portion of Alexi’s face. His lip
twitched, and I tried to decipher its meaning. However, his face
was stoic.

“Alexi?” I prodded.

He sighed in exasperation.

“Though I oppose this course of action
immensely, I will agree to help you only because I want to be there
to monitor things,” he relented. “But I promise you, if I sense
that
anything
is amiss, anything at all, I will call an
immediate halt, and I expect you to comply.”

“I understand,” I told him.

“Fine. We must proceed at once. We have
little time.”

For the next several hours, we trained nearly
relentlessly. We stopped only for occasional breaks for food and
water, which Alexi insisted on. He was almost parental in his
insistence on keeping me well-fed and hydrated.

I learned a lot in the following hours, but
it never seemed like enough. Alexi insisted I wasn’t ready for
anything intense, but I insisted we needed to press on. I wasn’t
practicing to impress children at birthday parties. I was preparing
to fight against another dark magic practitioner – one who
controlled wraiths and had centuries of practice.

Because he was so concerned for my safety,
Alexi slowly began to relent. He taught me harder spells,
increasing both in difficulty and in danger. Though he wanted
desperately to shield me from this practice entirely, I could tell
he knew it might be the only hope he had of keeping me safe. It was
a double-edged sword for him.

Kai and Liam both appeared helpless and lost.
I could see in their eyes how much they wanted to help, but there
was little either of them could do. Kai fetched food and water from
the kitchen, and poor Liam had no job at all.

From time to time, I could sense a sort of
tension in Alexi. I felt as though he was hiding something from me,
but I couldn’t tell what it was. I wished I had his ability to read
minds, but alas, I did not.

It was around three in the morning when
Alexi’s phone sprang to life. He reached under his cloak and
fumbled in his pocket, pulling out the phone and flipping it
open.

“Hello?” he answered it.

In a moment, his upper lip curled into a
slight snarl.

“Dmitri,” he growled. “What do you want?”

I strained to listen, trying to pick up some
of Dmitri’s end of the conversation, but it was hopeless. Alexi had
the phone pressed so tightly against his ear, no sound escaped. I
heard his teeth gritting together as he tried to contain his
obviously increasing rage.

“I told you already,” Alexi snarled through
his teeth. “We will
never
just turn her over to you.”

He listened intently, his lower lip quivering
with unreleased anger. I could see his hands trembling, and his
teeth continued to grind together mercilessly.

“So be it, Dmitri,” Alexi hissed. “But
remember, you asked for this.”

He slapped the phone shut and threw it across
the room with such force it was shocking that it didn’t explode
into a thousand shards of technological wreckage. It startled me,
and I nearly jumped out of my skin. My face must have betrayed my
attempt to conceal my surprise, and Alexi immediately began to calm
himself.

“I apologize for that,” Alexi said quietly.
“I did not mean to frighten you.”

“I’m not frightened,” I told him gently. “I’m
just surprised.”

“What surprised you so?” he asked me.

“It’s just… you’re usually so controlled,” I
admitted. “It was surprising to see you lose it like that.”

“It is difficult to contain my emotions when
it comes to you, Alice,” he said. “I am sure you have seen
that.”

“Not really. Alexi, you’re usually so in
control.”

“I may appear that way, but I assure you it
is not so when it comes to matters relating to you.”

I sensed something far deeper in meaning in
those words than his concern for my safety. I wondered if he were
also referring to his feelings for me. He didn’t do a very good job
of concealing those. Perhaps he meant something else. I wanted to
ask him, but with Kai and Liam in the room, and with my current ban
on relationships, I didn’t feel the timing was entirely appropriate
for such a conversation.

“So what did Dmitri say?” Liam asked.

“Exactly what you would expect,” Alexi
lamented. “He demanded we turn her over, and when I would not
agree, he resorted to threats.”

“What kind of threats?” Liam pressed
Alexi.

“He said if we did not turn her over, he
would kill her,” Alexi said through clenched teeth.

“Is that what you said ‘so be it’ to?” Liam
asked, clearly shocked.

“It is,” Alexi admitted. “Obviously, I did
not mean we would stand aside and allow that to happen.”

“Is he coming here now?” I asked.

“I would imagine he will be here at some
point in the near future,” Alexi said.

I shook my head in disbelief. This wasn’t at
all what I expected. When we’d made our dramatic escape from the
wraiths in the helicopter, I’d said I wanted to take the fight to
Dmitri. I’d planned to train hard, and to gain the element of
surprise by attacking him on his own turf – a move I didn’t think
he would anticipate.

However, with Dmitri now coming to us, we
would not have that critical advantage. If anything, Dmitri would
have the advantage, because our emotions were raw. Dmitri had
exposed a nerve when he threatened to kill me. It had weakened
Alexi’s resolve considerably, and he was visibly shaken. I was
worried this might affect his concentration if we had to go to
battle with Dmitri and his wraiths.

“I will call Father Jacobs and ask him to
come over immediately,” Alexi added. “Let us hope the exorcism
works on the wraiths, so we don’t have to rely on plan B.”

“And if plan B fails, we’ll have to resort to
trying dark magic,” I said.

“I pray it does not come to that,” Alexi said
sadly, shaking his head somberly.

I walked across the room to the table where
the book of dark magic lay, and I touched it gently. Somewhere
within that book was the secret to defeating Dmitri. I had to find
it. I picked up the book and clutched it to my chest.

“Where are you going with that?” Alexi asked,
clearly alarmed.

“I’m going to the library to study it,” I
told him.

“You most certainly are
not
!” Alexi
boomed.

“Stop talking to me like I’m a little girl,
Alexi!” I shouted. “I’m not a child, and you are not my father!
Sometimes I wish I’d never even met you!”

Alexi’s mouth fell open. He stared at me for
a moment, and then he closed his mouth and started gritting his
teeth again.

“Fine,” Alexi yielded. “Then I am asking you…
no… I am
begging
you to
please
give me the book.”

I could hear the pain and desperation in
Alexi’s voice, and I could see the concern in his quivering lip. I
hated to hurt him that way, and it gnawed at my stomach until I
thought I might throw up. But I could not give him what he wanted.
I was angry, and stubborn, and I felt something dark growing inside
me.

“I’m sorry, Alexi,” I told him as gently as I
could. “I can’t do that.”

Looking at the floor, and still clinging
tightly to the book, I slowly moved toward the door. I expected
resistance, but none came. As I took the book to the library, no
one followed. No one spoke. No one made a sound.

Something inside me writhed around. I could
feel it boiling up in my stomach as I trudged toward the library. I
kept expecting to hear footsteps behind me, but I was only met with
silence. I felt a knot swelling in my stomach, and my eyes began to
sting.

I wasn’t exactly certain what was happening.
I suddenly felt so alone. While I hadn’t wanted them to talk me out
of studying the book, I expected they would be there
with
me. It was difficult to feel as though I’d just betrayed them all.
I knew I hadn’t. What I was doing was for the good of all of them,
wasn’t it?

The closer I got to the library, the more
intensely I felt the haunting feeling deep inside me. It lashed
around like a fish on a hook, trying to loosen itself and break
free. It became so intense I could hardly breathe. It was a
darkness that was trying to eat me alive from the inside out. I
could feel it struggling to overtake me, and it felt as though my
soul was fighting a losing battle.

In that moment, I realized I was wrong. Dark
magic wasn’t the answer. Alexi had been right all along, yet he’d
relented to appease me. I’d been toying with dark magic for hours,
but perhaps it wasn’t too late to undo the damage. I turned around,
ready to fly back down to the basement to admit to Alexi that I’d
seen the error of my ways.

As soon as I whirled around, I crashed into
something. I felt strong arms close around me, and I turned my eyes
upward. It was Alexi. In a moment of weakness, I burst into
tears.

“Alexi, I’m sorry!” I shouted, my face buried
in his chest, which muffled the sound. “I was wrong, and you were
right! I didn’t mean what I said! I don’t wish I never met you! I’m
sorry!”