Endless (11 page)

Wow, I did not see that one coming.

‘Spence?’ I mumbled.

She nodded. ‘Don’t blame him. He was all messed up afterwards and you were too busy dealing with your new arrival.’

I felt terrible. I hadn’t been there for Spence or Steph since coming back from Greece, Evelyn’s return had been dictating everything.

‘You’re right,’ I confessed. ‘It was stupid. Phoenix has power over me and I don’t know what’s going to happen. The only thing I know for sure is that we have to stop them. But I can promise you this, I’ll fight with every last breath in my body to make it back to you, to my family.’

Steph broke into full-on sobs, using her sleeve to wipe at her tears.

‘I hate being the weak link,’ she blubbed.

The funny thing was, I thought she was one of the strongest people I knew. ‘Me too.’

She jumped up and snatched a tissue from the bathroom, returning as she blew her nose. ‘This is all going to go to shit, isn’t it?’

‘Probably.’

‘At least I can’t die a virgin.’

Just like that, tears turned to shared giggles.

‘Happy?’ I asked, hoping she’d spare me the details.

‘Very,’
she replied. That she didn’t give me a play-by-play was enough to tell me she really was in love. She settled back on the sofa beside me. ‘What are you going to do about Phoenix?’

A knot in my stomach tightened. It was almost impossible to make my mind up about him. He’d done so much wrong, inflicted so much evil. He’d hurt people I loved, stolen from me, left me bleeding – hell, he left me hanging in a volcano – but, I’d seen something in his eyes on that volcano. And, as much as I’d been trying to forget it, I’d seen it again in those final moments of my dream. Something that reminded me of the way he was before all of this had happened.

But I couldn’t excuse his actions. Ultimately, nothing had stopped him from bringing pure evil into this world.

‘Phoenix has had his chance to change. He never will.’ It was difficult to admit to Steph what I realised then I’d known for some time.

‘You really think you can kill him?’

I shrugged, thinking again of the dream. ‘He’s stronger than I am, but my abilities are growing all the time.’

‘I didn’t mean in strength, Vi. I mean
can
you kill him? Can you put aside the way you still feel for him?’

I blinked. ‘What do you … What are you talking about?’ Unable to stay still, I jumped to my feet and started to pace.

‘You know exactly what I’m talking about. The two of you were together, however briefly. I mean, Vi, he’s the only guy you’ve ever–’

I cut her off. ‘I really don’t need to go down memory lane.’

She nodded. ‘But it’s true. You might not have loved him the way you do someone else, but you cared enough to consider the possibility of being in a relationship with him. I was
there, Vi. It wasn’t just him who felt something. And now what? The two of you are just going to fight to the death?’

I gnawed my lower lip. She was right, there
had
been something between us. But a whole lot had happened since then.

‘Whatever was once there is long gone.’

‘So you can, then? Kill him, I mean.’

I checked my watch and headed for the door. We were running out of time to get organised. I pulled on my jumper and looked back at Steph. ‘Absolutely.’

‘Well, thank freaking Christ for that! And about time, too,’ Onyx said, standing outside the door I’d just opened.

My eyes narrowed. ‘Were you listening?’

‘Yes. Better than an episode of
Gossip Girl
. Sex, betrayal, scheming, murder, and, my personal favourite … denial. I applaud you!’ He clapped.

I moved in closer to him. ‘Remind me again why we let you live?’

‘You claim it’s your humanity. I question whether it’s that you secretly hope my powers will come back to me so you will finally have a worthy adversary.’

I’m so not in the mood for this.

I took one more step so I was almost standing on his toes. ‘You will never get any powers back, but if you did, just remember I’d be there to take them from you all over again.’

Onyx looked at me, a supreme confidence flickering in his eyes. ‘
When
I get them back, which I will, I look forward to seeing anyone try to take them from me again.’

‘When you two are finished!’ Dapper called out from the end of the hallway. ‘Honestly, you’re like children going at each other for shits and giggles. And you’re the worst of all, girly,’ he
said, jabbing a finger at me. ‘You know he’s harmless now. Leave him to his snarky remarks, they’re all he damn well has.’

At that, both Onyx and I glared at Dapper.

‘I am anything but harmless. You people gravely underestimate my potential.’

‘Then perhaps we should throw you back out on the street we found you on?’ I sniped.

Onyx whipped a hand through his hair. ‘I look forward to the next time you need to come to me for information.’

Steph snaked her arm through mine and tried to pull me to her side. ‘We’re leaving. And Dapper is right, the two of you need to remember we’re all on the same side.’

‘Funny, but when I look at him it’s just so easy to forget.’

Onyx smiled slyly.

‘What?’ I snapped.

‘Nothing. I’m just trying to decide who it is for?’

‘Who
what
is for?’ I asked, losing all patience.

‘Vi, let’s go,’ Steph said, trying to pull me away. I didn’t budge.

Onyx’s smile broadened. ‘All the pent-up sexual frustration, of course.’

My mouth fell open and before I knew what I was doing, I’d launched myself at Onyx, taking us both to the ground.

‘Violet!’ Steph screamed.

Dapper’s feet thudded down the hall, but all I could see was red. Onyx had said the one thing he knew would get to me and I could still see him grinning beneath me.

I pulled back my hand to hit him, but before I could follow through, someone yanked me off him and locked their arms around me.

I
wriggled to get loose from the supernatural grip.

‘Eden, trust me, I know what it’s like to want to beat Onyx. But we can hear you from downstairs and Lincoln just walked in. Do you really want him to get involved in this? The man has been known to have a fairly possessive streak,’ Spence said, holding me as I struggled.

My whole body went into a kind of delayed shock and I sagged in Spence’s arms, suddenly feeling Lincoln’s presence.

How come I haven’t felt it ‘til now?

In fact, I hadn’t been able to feel anything except for my rage towards Onyx.

Onyx crawled onto his feet. He brushed himself off and looked at me with surprisingly calm eyes, the honest eyes that I’d started to associate with him recently – those of an ally.

‘You can take that as a small reminder of what it’s like to have an enemy who can pluck on your emotions.’ He tilted his head as if assessing me. ‘I suggest you work on that, rainbow.’

I finally shrugged free of Spence’s hold; he’d obviously given up trying to restrain me. ‘That was all on
purpose
?’

The corners of Onyx’s mouth lifted. ‘Can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself.’ With that, he spun on his heel and headed towards Dapper’s apartment.

‘You’re damn lucky she didn’t kill you,’ Dapper mumbled as he followed him.

‘He’s seriously messed up,’ Spence said behind me.

‘Completely nuts,’ Steph reinforced.

But it wasn’t nuts at all.

Onyx had been helping me, and he was right. If Onyx could weasel his way into my emotions, then Phoenix still could, too.

The
rest of the day panned out as expected. Much discussing and not much new. Griffin had to retell the story to date a number of times as groups of the city’s Grigori stopped by Hades for their instructions in his absence. Griffin put Beth and Archer in charge in his place and told Nathan and Becca to be ready to join us in New York at a moment’s notice. As warriors, they were not happy about being left behind, but I could tell Griffin was worried about leaving the city unprotected, plus he didn’t want it to look like we were going into the Academy with troops. Sends the wrong message.

Once he’d seen to most of his Grigori he sat down with Zoe, Spence and Salvatore. He made Spence agree to be on his best behaviour back at the Academy – apparently it had taken Griffin’s word for them to even allow him back in. It wasn’t long ago that Spence had left the Academy without permission before his training was completed.

Then Griffin explained to Salvatore that he wanted him to accompany Dapper, Onyx and Steph on their quest for the ingredients for the Qeres potion, in case they encountered any problems.

Salvatore nodded and seemed enthused by his mission. I could see it had more to do with being entrusted with such a responsibility than anything to do with body-guarding Steph. From across the room I could see Steph biting her nails anxiously as she also assessed his reaction.

‘It would be my honour. Although, I am concerned to be separating from my partner,’ he said, looking at Zoe.

Griffin nodded, happy with Salvatore’s reaction. ‘Good man.’ He turned to Zoe. ‘The choice is yours to make.’

Zoe was no fool. Separating partners is never ideal, but if Salvatore was with Dapper that meant he could heal him if needed and if Zoe stayed with me, I could offer the same reassurance to her. That said, there was always a danger of being separated from one another, especially given my tendency to find trouble.

Zoe pondered her options. When she looked up, it was with resolve. ‘We all need to be where we are needed most right now. If Salvatore escorts Dapper’s crew, then I’m not needed there. As long as Sal’s okay with it, I’ll go to New York.’

Salvatore nodded. ‘And we’ll meet you there as soon as we have the potion.’

When Dad and Evelyn arrived later in the day, I didn’t know where to look. It was obvious to see there had been a change. Dad was walking closer to Evelyn, more protectively than he had been before, and they both looked tired, as if they’d been up all night talking.

Lincoln, who was sitting beside me, settled his gaze directly on Dad and didn’t move his eyes away. I nudged him a couple of times, but he ignored me.

I felt my phone buzz with a message while Dad made a feeble attempt to encourage everyone to stay until after my graduation, but even he knew it was useless.

Evelyn was happy with the progress Dapper had made in finding exactly what the components of Qeres were, but she maintained
the potion would be useless without the mysterious thirteenth ingredient.

While they pondered options, I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and checked my messages.

I know what you’re planning, lover.

I’ll be seeing you soon.

I sighed and passed my phone to Lincoln, who tensed, before passing it on to Griffin.

‘What is it?’ Dad asked.

‘It’s a text from Phoenix. He knows we’re coming,’ I said calmly, still not making eye contact.

Griffin studied the screen and looked confused. ‘It doesn’t make any sense. He’d know the message wouldn’t serve him. All it does is inform us that exiles are tracking our movements.’ He settled his gaze on me until I began to squirm in my chair, then sighed. ‘His motivations are often twisted when it comes to you.’

You can say that again.

‘We leave in three hours,’ Griffin said, ending the meetings for the day. He turned his attention back to Dapper to discuss logistics.

‘He needs a new partner,’ I said to Lincoln as I watched them walk away. ‘He carries too much on his shoulders.’

Lincoln nodded. ‘He’ll get one, when he’s ready. Until then, he has us.’ But Lincoln wasn’t watching Griffin. His eyes were fixed on Dad, who was coming towards us.

Lincoln cut him off before he had a chance to speak.

‘It’s bad enough that you’ve barely been there since she was born. Bad
enough
that she’s had to endure things no one should have
to endure. But to hit your own daughter is unacceptable. When we get back from New York, Violet will be staying with me until she decides otherwise.’

My mouth gaped.

Who
is
this guy and what has he done with the calm controlled Lincoln I know so well?