Emblaze (3 page)

It had been six weeks since Salvatore and Zoe had returned to New York. In some ways it seemed only yesterday that we were all standing in Dapper"s apartment unravelling the exile Scripture after I had „returned" the Exile Jude or rather
Judas
.

I smiled, trying to muster some compassion for Steph. I
was
happy for her and Sal, the Italian Grigori she"d fallen for, I just had trouble convincing myself of that sometimes.

„Are they getting much pressure for details about what happened in Jordan?" i asked, feeling guilty. Griffin had put a gag order on everyone who had been present in those caves when Phoenix made his big revelation, about me being the first Grigori to be created by the highest-ranking angel, The Sole. It is a fine line Griffin is treading, withholding the information until he is absolutely certain of it. Which is also why he"s made it very clear to me he doesn"t want to know anything I might know on the subject - like, for example, the time my angel maker visited my dreams and confirmed, well, everything.

„I think the Assembly has given up on getting anything from them. Sal said there are plenty of rumours going around, anyway."

I shrugged. We"d expected that. As well as fellow Grigori that cave had been full of completely unhinged exiled angels. We were sure they would be spouting the news along with their intense desires to be the one to kill me.

„They"ll work it out," I reassured, pushing the other thoughts aside in an expert mental manoeuvre of compartmentalisation. „Sal will find a way."

She gave a frustrated sigh. „Yeah, he said he Zoe was working on something. It"s just …

you know."

„yeah." I swallowed, trying to hold it together.

Oh, I know.

A bag thudded heavily at my feet and I turned around in time to see Spence slide down the lockers and slump onto the ground.

„This school thing was a bad idea," he groaned. „Eden, you gotta do something, pull rank or something."

„No can do, buddy," I said, not really feeling sorry for him at all. Spence had been strongly urged by Griffin to finish his education if he intended to stay in this city. „And anyway, I hear you had a great time in PE," I added, raising my eyebrows at the last. His second week at school and already Spence had been pushing the boundaries of humanly possible sports.

He looked at me sheepishly. „You saw that, huh?"

„No, but everyone has been talking about it since lunch. Apparently, you"re God"s gif to the basketball court."

„Couldn"t you at least
try
to blend in?" Steph asked, narky at him, I suspected, for other reasons.

Spence took pause, but then slumped lower, letting his hands flop to the ground. „I needed a release."

Steph rolled her eyes at him and then said to me, flatly, „He flunked the pop quiz in chemistry."

„And history," Spence added. „And then I didn"t even get to fight." He shot me a glare.

He looked so glum, I couldn"t help but start to feel for him, but right at that moment Lydia Skilton waltzed by with three of her plastic wannabes in tow. As she walked her pink ballerina tutu - no joke - seemed to ride up of its own accord as she licked her lips in movie slow-motion and curled a few cutesy fingers in Spence"s direction.

„Bye, Spence. See you tomorrow."

Spence sat up a little and quickly changed from slumped idiot to laid-back hottie as he threw a hand in the air to accompany his lazy smile.

„Bye, Lydia." He watcher her ass till the doors at the end of the hall closed behind her.

„I"m sorry, but before I go to the bathroom and throw up, I just have to know - did you actually just
wink
at Lydia Skilton?" Steph asked, as if she had just witnessed a truly horrific moment. I was quite sure my expression mirrored hers.

Spence slumped back to the ground to his previous life"s-beaten-me position and shrugged. „Girl"s hot." Then, speaking before a biting remark from Steph was delivered, he looked at me with an eager glint in his eye. „We out of here?"

I swallowed, relieved, too, as I grabbed my training bag. „Yeah."

I shimmied out of my art smock, wiping m still-black hands on it in the process, and pulled on a pair of black leggings under my uniform before taking off my school dress. I always kept a black singlet on underneath to make quick changes easy.

„Training?" Steph asked.

I shrugged. It was no surprise. And anyway, training was the best part of the day.

„Lincoln?" she added quickly, looking past me, down the hall. She must have wanted to ask it for a while. She hadn"t raised the subject in weeks.

„No," I said, trying to shut it down.

It didn"t mean I never saw Lincoln, but through some kind of unspoken accord - aka avoidance - we had thought it would be better this way. Until things got easier. I wasn"t sure if it was working for him.

„Oh," she said, giving me a pitying look, which I hated.

I pulled a long black jumped on and strapped my belt and sheathed dagger around me waist. Steph watched intently, knowing what I was doing but unable to see the dagger with her only-human eyes. It still amazed - and irritated - her, the tricks the supernatural could play on her mind. Finally, I stuffed my bag into my locker in exchange for a baseball cap, which I slipped on with a sense of relief.

„It"s all good," I said, throwing in a dash of fake cheer. „You want me to walk you to the library?" We"d taken copies of the Exile Scripture in the days after first discovering it and Steph had been working almost every day at the library, trying to decipher it. So far, not much. But she seemed to have more theories than Griffin, or the Academy for that matter.

„Actually, I"m going to Hades. The book selection in library is running short and Dapper has some others he said I can look at, but you know what he"s like." She rolled her eyes.

„He won"t let me take them away with me."

„Are you sure you"re okay going there?" I still worried about Steph being a part of this world and Hades was fast becoming the hub of Grigori activity in this city. She knew things so many normal people would never know and she was defenceless against the power that surrounded her.

Plus, Onyx - a once very formidable enemy who, although now completely human, was by no means rehabilitated was still living there = it seemed that had become some kind of permanent arrangement.

„Yep. I think Samuel and Kaitlin are going to be there, too, too," she said. Two other Grigori being there didn"t ease my concerns. If anything, having Grigori escorting Steph only reinforced how essential she had become.

„Okay, well, we can catch the bus there together. We"re training in the park today," I said, picking up my pace, eager to get moving.

„Finally!" Spence complained.

„Lovely," Steph said, when she spotted the rain spitting against the windows. „Better you than me, I guess," she added, readying her Burberry-check umbrella. She gave me a devilish grin. „Then again, at least you get to hit Spence for the next hour or so."

She really
was
holding it against him that Salvatore couldn"t get back here but … she had a point. She smiled and gave me a totally-Steph nudge.

A moment late, „I heard that," Spence said, a few paces ahead.

I smiled back at Steph and within moments we"d linked arms and were laughing. She always had a way of making things better. She wasn"t just my best friend, she was my family.

„
We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell."

Oscar Wilde

The rain had eased off by the time we reached the park, but there was still a persistent drizzle misting the cool air. As far as I was concerned, all-weather training was essential -

Lincoln had taught me that early on. We didn"t get to pick what weather we fought in, so the same should be applicable to training.

Apart from Griffin, the park - as usual, was people-free.

„Hi," I said to him, tossing my bag next to his under the large tree we used as a base.

„You been here long?"

„Hey, Griff," Spence said with a big smile and a not-so-happy glance in my direction.

Yeah, I hadn"t mentioned we"d have company today. My bad.

Griffin looked up from his stretch. „Not long. Warm up and let"s get to it."

Which was exactly what I wanted to hear. Spence"s eagerness, however, was fading. He didn"t share my all-weather views.

„I think you need to consider confining your art time to home. We can"t risk involving innocents. Beth may not always be handy," Griffin said, as I pulled off my jumper and started to warm up.

„Probably," I said, not offering to elaborate.

„Phoenix obviously has exiles near the school, waiting to try and sense you. It"s a wonder they don"t just storm the place but for whatever reason he seems to have restricted them to attacking you only when they are sure of your location. We can"t ignore that advantage."

He was right, of course. I bent down to my toes so I didn"t have to look at him. „It won"t happen again."

I didn"t know why Phoenix kept sending exiles to fight me this way. Other than consuming people"s time and annoying me it did nothing for him and almost always resulted in him losing his forces. I mean, protective barriers or not, Phoenix
knew
where I lived. He could have sent exiles after me easily but none had entered my home. I knew part of it was his twisted sense of fighter ethics, but it was more than that. Tactically, none of us could work it out.

„Any contact I should know about?" Griffin asked, getting business out of the way.

„Nope." I kept stretching, hoping they"d both leave it.

Griffin knew I wouldn"t hold back it I had an update. He seemed to pick up on the vibe an turned his attention to Spence. „How was school?"

„The place is already a faint memory, one I intend to keep in my past," Spence said flippantly.

Griffin smiled. „You"ll adjust."

Spence scowled. He knew full well that if he wanted to stay in this town he"d be finishing off his schooling. Finding somewhere to focus on his retaliation he came closer to me as I stretched out my calves. „Man, you"ve gotten cocky, Eden."

„Sorry?" I responded, but I knew where he was going.

„You really think you needed to bring the Griffster along?" He scoffed. „As if I won"t be able to hand you your ass!"

I just kept stretching.

It wasn"t that Spence wasn"t a great fighter, but I was getting better all the time, stronger and faster. Not as strong as Lincoln, but my being trained by him had really paid off. Since I"d started doing my sessions without him I"d been adding extra ones no on else knew about - taking long runs early in the morning and working out late every night, having converted half of my studio into a gym. I was fitter than ever.

I knew all of Spence"s moves and he relied on the easy wins. When they failed he had a flair for the dramatic, but to be honest I think he was a bit scared to try out the wing-and-prayer stuff with me. Tactical fighting had me beating him regularly these days and I needed to keep challenging myself.

„Okay. Leg-only combat. No hands," Griffin said, then added, „and no hands."

I smiled at Spence, jumping up and down on the spot to stay warm. „You told him I head-butted you."

He looked guilty. „That shit hurt, Eden."

„Let"s go," Griffin said, clapping his hands together and taking up umpire position under the cover of the tree.

I wiped the rain from my eyes and quickly made sure we didn"t have an audience.

Spence came straight in, gung-ho, like always. I dodged his first three kicks and worked to move him around to keep his focus on staying in time with my movements. His leg struck out again and I dodged, but he kept swinging, hitting hard into my ribs with his second pass.

I stumbled back.

„You right?" Griffin said calmly.

„Yep," I said, without hesitation.

I swallowed down the pain and told myself it was fine. I needed to be able to take hits, too.

We faced up again. Spence was feeling good about getting the first blow in but I had a renewed determination. I ran him around the same way as before but this time it was my strike that counted. My leg went up and out, kicking him with the sole of my foot right between his shoulder blades. Before he"d even reacted to my other foot had followed, taking a swing out wide and smashing into his stomach.

He went down.

Griffin cleared his throat. „You right?" he asked, not quite as calm this time.

Spence was on his knees, sucking in a few deep breaths, winded.

„Fantastic," he said, standing up to face me for round two. „Barely tickled."

We went six more rounds, each playing out fairly similarly, Spence getting increasingly irritated that I had his measure. When I put my hand out to pull him up, he swatted it away.

„I"m not beat yet, Eden. I could go all night." He waggled his eyebrows.

„No doubt, Spence," Griffin said from the sideline. He pulled off his jumper, revealing a white long-sleeved T-shirt.

Shock horror, a deviation from his standard button-down!

Griffin was a conundrum. He looked like someone in their mid-twenties, acted like someone in their late forties and was really in his eighties. But no matter how old he got, he"d always be a little stuck in his time. That wasn"t to say he couldn"t kick ass, though, which was clearly on the cards.

„How about we swap places for a bit?" he suggested.

Spence got up and tried his best not to hobble to the sideline. "At least you can heal me,"

he grumbled as he passed me. "Even if it does hurt worse than the damn kicks."

Healing other Grigori, bar Lincoln, tended to be quite painful, and made me a bit of an anomaly.

One more thing.

But I wasn"t worried about that at the moment, I had my eye on the prize and I gave my full attention to my new opponent. I didn"t often get a chance to spar with Griffin.

He kept a distance from me. Stalking me. "You"re getting stronger."

I just nodded and pushed aside my fear that it wasn"t true, reminding myself he meant physically.

„And braver," he said, which I took as a warning. Griffin is deceptively fierce and fights with his head. I couldn"t out-manoeuvre him so easily.