Exaltation (6 page)

His truth made little sense to Emery. In her mind a woman that gave him a child would surely always mean something to him, and if she didn’t what did that say about the heart of the man Emery loved—did he see everything and everyone as transitory, replaceable?

Hurt filled with anger glinted in Emery’s green eyes. “And what is my purpose again? Am I to vanish as well now that they are young women?”

Jamison reached for her face. Anger was in his stare, but only minimally. “You’re
mine
.”

Emery sucked in a sharp breath just before his lips touched hers for an instant.

“Do I not prove that to you each day?” he asked, as his hands slid down her waist.

Emery squinted her eyes closed. Even though she was immortal now, she felt mortal in his arms. It was hard not to. The man had lived through ages of time, had seen everything, felt everything.

“Who from your past?”

Jamison stared for a second, not knowing how to explain it briefly. Emery had never met one of the originals from the coven named Reveca Beauregard, Saige’s true sister. He was sure Emery knew her story, though. Everyone did. She was the queen of the Edge, the space between life and death.

Jamison was there the day the Edge was created; he was there when the dark God Revelin took Reveca’s lover Kenson—and made Kenson a First, angelic royalty. The God Jamison’s very own daughter was now destined to slay.

Jamison had sensed Kenson, now called Rydell King, at a distance over the course of Raven’s life—each time his daughter faced darkness, the darkness the prickles always warned was coming.

Jamison knew Rydell King had recognized the soul that was set to bring Revelin’s line down was born. He was surely in survival mode, wanting to take out the threat before it took him out. For the prophecy undoubtedly stated the First must fall before the sovereign finds his death.

The only reason Jamison had not engaged him thus far was because he was trying to figure out how to save him. He knew Kenson’s destruction would destroy Reveca by default, and in turn Saige. There was no telling how far the obliteration would reach. Jamison doubted the coven would ever have predicted such a tangled web of fate, much less a resolution—that was left to him.

Saige and Jamison had been over and over the written words looking for a way around the inevitable—Rydell King’s death.

After an endless pause Jamison answered Emery’s question, told her who was now here from his past. “A warrior, he fought for our coven, perished, was risen by Revelin.”

Emery covered her mouth, her eyes wide—she clearly recalled the story. “The Creator cannot be this cruel, allowing this God to take him only to send him back to us as a weapon!”

Jamison agreed. The Creator could not be that cruel, but right then he could not see the reason behind it all.

“We have to let the girls know of their fate.”

Each time the girls faced darkness, fought a war, Jamison and Emery along with select members of the coven told the girls and Soren of their fate.

It terrified them, birthed paranoia. Each time Jamison told them he could take the memories away, that they could grow up and have a normal life and face their path when they were ready. They begged him for that resolution—each and every time.

The last time was barely a year ago. The battles were unpredictable at this point. He knew inside each of them was a natural defense, one that would be more effective if they were aware.

Emery’s body tensed. She clearly remembered the fear the girls endured. She had no idea how they would handle the revelation this time. At that moment she was grieving for the death of their childhood.

Jamison eased his hands up her sides then down again. “Not all of it, not at once. Baby steps. They’re not even clearly aware we’re witches, immortal.”

Emery moved her head side to side. “You can’t honestly believe that.”

Jamison glanced away then back to her eyes. “We haven’t outright told them, not that they remember. We need to tell them and let their memories awaken slowly. They know how to protect themselves.”

“They’re
children
,” Emery shot back.

“They’re young women, and Soren is a young man. We need to awaken them.”

“How’s that going to stop this warrior from your past?”

“I don’t know that it will, but if he’s this close then he’s preparing for another attack. We have spells in line to protect them. They’re going to be fine…but their awareness will only protect them further.”

“How can you promise that?”

Jamison let out a short breath as he remembered his beginning with the Dominarum coven. Reveca as a girl and all she went through. He loved her like a sister and he knew his sister deserved to be reunited with the man who shared her soul, not destroyed by his death.

The idea of his daughter delivering said death was cruel, something Jamison could not allow. Not unless he had no choice or unless it meant saving her life. More than one war was at risk of erupting if Jamison didn’t find a solution. Reveca Beauregard would unleash hell upon earth if she ever discovered her Kenson—Rydell King—was laid down…no matter the reason.

“Like you said, the Creator cannot be that cruel.”

Emery nodded slightly.

“You’re okay with this?” Jamison asked.

She let her hands run up his chest once more. “I trust you.”

“You mean that?” he whispered as his gaze trickled over her.

“I do,” she said, with a trembling voice.

Jamison reached for her face, cradled it as his thumb grazed her cheekbone. “Maybe it’s time for all of our secrets to come out.” He wanted nothing more than the world itself to know who his woman was, who his girls were.

“Baby steps,” Emery whispered.

Jamison melded his lips to Emery’s, stealing her breath. When he pulled away he looked deep in her eyes. “You’re mine. We’re one soul, Emery, and one day you will find the will to believe that without fear.”

Chapter Six

The girls didn’t say a word until they reached the two lockers they shared between the three of them.

“No mystery boy for you this afternoon?” Ash teased Raven.

The school was under construction. In order for Raven to get to second and sixth period, she had to pass through the old gym under the bleachers, then downstairs and through a hallway under the school.

It was literally a rat maze—so many students rushing to get to the other side of the school. Every day for weeks Raven managed to closely pass this senior. She didn’t know his name yet, or what he was even into, she just knew he was the definition of
hot
, in a dangerous way—because he
knew
he was hot.

How did Raven know when she had only seen him in a dark hallway and never heard him say a word? It was his eyes. The way he looked at her. And of course how closely they passed each other—they literally slid their bodies against one another.

The last few weeks he found amusement in their daily meetings. Every day it was something different. He either let his hand rest on Raven’s waist, or stopped so she was against him longer, let his hand cross hers. He even smelled her hair one time—yep, smelled her hair. Which…oddly, delighted Raven.

River was furious Raven was giving him control and her grand plan was for Raven to kiss him and show him who was boss. Show him she was not scared of him, that he was food to girls like Raven. Which was not true. But Raven liked the idea of playing the role. She never saw him when the girls were around so she’d never been able to point him out—without the girls ‘vibe’ she was a little hesitant to engage this boy.

They called boys like him
regrettables
, meaning that you knew you were going to regret it before it even happened. River was the one who coined the catchword. She was the first to handle one. Needless to say the girls never said the “M” word around her because she was still broken after what her regrettable boy did to her. Good thing he was living up north somewhere.
Good riddance, Mason Wade.

The first boy who earned the title for Raven was Benjamin. He was the boy who gave her a ride home when she was sixteen—the one she almost died with. The twins never liked him. Raven knew she should have seen that as a sign.
But good lawd, he was hot, too
…
I’m sucker for sexy eyes.

In most cases Raven didn’t have time for boys, not with her class load. All she wanted was a dance partner and at work Soren dominated that role. In front of the audience they played a role that made them look like the perfect couple, which was a joke. He’d been in love with Ash since they were toddlers.

Ash classified him as a
regrettable
because they were friends first, and she didn’t want to destroy the vibe. She used Raven and River as an excuse, which they both called BS on.

“How grounded do you think we are? I have to skate or I am going to lose it,” Raven playfully groaned, halfway bummed she was being dismissed…mystery boy had sexy eyes, too—ones she would not have a chance to investigate today.

“Hopefully they saw how big of a creep Mr. Berries was and we’ll be excused, ” Ash said.

“What was up with your dad? Did I miss something? Mom was totally blushing the whole time,” River asked.

Raven shrugged. “Maybe it was just a strong family front.”

“Like we had to front that,” River mumbled.

“I wonder if this family meeting is at my house or yours,” Raven said, hoping it would be a swift lecture.

“Bet it’s mine. Sure your dad has to get back to work and Mom is already back.”

The warning bell rang and everyone started to rush by. The girls heard a few other girls giggling. “Oh My God! Who was that? Please tell me he’s a new sub!”

When they all looked at each other then up the hall, they saw Jamison leaned against the wall that lead to the hall they were on. He was smiling at the students as they passed. He must have asked one of them where the girls’ lockers were because a girl giggled and pointed in their direction.

“Maybe he just wanted to say goodbye,” Ash said, as she loaded her bag.

“I have my doubts,” Raven said with a sigh, clearly seeing her weekend transforming from dancing and skating to sitting next to her father. Usually after she managed to get in trouble or hurt he’d linger a little closer for a day or two.

Once they were packed they made their way to him. “Girls, Emery said to tell you to take the Jeep home.”

Raven went to follow them but Jamison grabbed the hook on her book bag. “Not you, little one.”

She glanced up at him, a pout in her eyes. “Am I bar backing this weekend?”

Jamison stifled a grin as he nodded for her to head outside.

***

Rydell King was leaning against the lockers outside of Berries’ classroom. He’d been waiting on him for far too long and was ready to rip his ass to fucking shreds. Rydell was sick of the runaround, the delays this old bastard came up with over and over.

He glanced around him, at the teens rushing about. He honestly felt like he was in a daycare. He was all for hanging out with a party crowd, the twenty something age, but this deal right here, it sucked.

Dagen was leaning against the locker next to him, casually smiling at the girls as they passed. He didn’t share Rydell’s distaste for the school. The emotion of exaltation was easy to find and the girls, well, there were a ton of them and they each were intrigued by Rydell and Dagen—the magnetism about them.

“What is taking him so fucking long?” Rydell asked, as he cast a harsh glare at the classroom.

“King, chill the fuck out. Knowing Berries he probably ran his pompous mouth and they decided to move schools again,” Dagen said, as he winked at the cheerleaders that were passing by.

“The only option they have left is homeschooling, and if he pushed them to that I’ll see to it that a mysterious accident is in his future,” Rydell bit out.

“I’m sure there’s another charter school they could sign up for, maybe another all girl’s school. That was fun,” Dagen said as he stifled a grin, and his ice blue eyes glinted with amusement.

Rydell angled a glare at him. Dagen had a blast burning down a science lab and then later flooding an art room. Almost too much fun. Rydell would have told him as much if the results were not irrefutable. The girls moved schools. To a school that Rydell and Dagen were able to attend.

“This is not
fun
. You forget those girls have defeated fifty-three of our people.”

Rydell and Dagen had been hunting Raven BellaRose for almost two decades now. Rydell had yet to come face to face with her. For the first decade the Helco faction would get within a few hundred miles of her then they would lose her energy signature. She would literally vanish into thin air.

The Helco faction finally pinpointed her within the French Quarter. At least Dagen did. At the time Rydell was at home in The Realm. Revelin wanted an assembly with Rydell. Wanted them to start talks on coming back together as one.

Revelin’s argument was this was not the time to be divided. Rydell knew Revelin had
no
idea how on point that statement was.

Revelin wasn’t clearly aware that Raven had been born. He wanted the Helco faction back in his ranks because the other lines were gaining strength, unifying. Everyone sensed an unwanted change on the horizon. The thing is, a horizon for Escorts could be as close as a decade or as far away as half an eternity.

Rydell was holding his cards close to him. He assumed if he handled Raven on his own, that the exaltation line would unify once more, but not under Revelin, under him.

Rydell was determined to end the threat. Figure out how to break the curse he and Dagen were still fighting with the hosts they fed from, and lead his people the way they were meant to be led for the first time ever.

The season Rydell was dealing with Revelin, Dagen managed to find a way through the carefully placed protection spells Raven had around her.

His breech spurred three different hurricanes. It was an all out war, large enough that Rydell was surprised they had not drawn more attention to themselves. When Rydell discovered fifty-two of his best men were no longer, he realized this girl was growing in power far faster than he assumed she would.

The Helco faction had to regroup to figure out how to get to Raven without drawing a crowd. One of Helco’s youngest followers, Benjamin, cracked the code.

He figured out if Raven let you in, if she acknowledged you and actually spoke to you then you could get past the spells. Of course no one was worried about the infant soul once they got to her. That was
not
the case.

The second Benjamin made his move to extinguish her soul she lashed out, and before he knew it there were flames. Benjamin made it out alive but Rydell took him out of the battle. He had him stowed away in another dimension; as far as Rydell knew he was still recovering from the damage the girl had inflicted on him.

It was sad really. Rydell liked having him around. Dagen was one of the best mechanics when it came to cars, their fetish, but Benjamin was the only one who could hold up in a race against Rydell. Not that any of them had time for those games these days, but still, Rydell had to secure him away and that burned, gave him another reason to dislike Raven BellaRose.

Rydell decided then to take care of the problem himself. No one agreed with him, especially Dagen. He thought Rydell should stay as far away from her as possible.

Rydell knew if the prophecy was right Raven had to kill her marks in order. Rydell was second only to his God, which meant he would be her second to last kill. In other words, Dagen’s fears were pointless; Raven couldn’t hurt him yet, not till the others fell. This was his time to strike. His time to end it before she became a real threat.

Rydell could not wait to lay eyes on her. In the past he had avoided doing such because he wasn’t sure how strong the connection between him and Revelin was, if Revelin would sense his First was in danger and defend him then take credit for saving the line.

When Rydell was with Revelin last he was sure he had put enough distance between the pair of them. So much so that Revelin couldn’t see it all, not what Rydell blocked from him. Which backed up Rydell’s gut feeling that handling this on his is own was a gift given to him. A second chance to lead his people the right way.

Rydell had imagined how Raven looked, though. He was sure she had a hint of red in her long, blonde hair. Was sure her eyes were gray with shards of blue that carried the promise of death. Tall, lean, and mean. Right then he couldn’t tell you why he thought she would look that way; he just knew a woman who looked like that surely could destroy a man such as him without much effort, or she would at least try to.

He mentioned how he thought this girl looked to Dagen. After giving Rydell a long curious glance he shook his head and said, “King, you’re in for a rude awakening.” He lifted his chin. “Did a girl who looks like that burn you before?” Dagen knew Rydell had always hated his role in the line, but he never understood why. Every once in awhile Rydell would drop a comment and Dagen would push Rydell to tell him about his mortal past, in another realm of life.

Rydell ignored Dagen’s question. He only vaguely remembered his mortal life before he was claimed as a First. Every once in a while he would dare to think about it, but then an ache would all but rip him open and he would do anything and everything he could to forget about it. Each time the pain stopped any real memories from surfacing.

He didn’t have time to deal with pain right now, not when he was so close to ending Raven
BellaRose
.

Being this close to Raven, in the same building, drove Rydell mad. He could feel the vibration of her vim—it was like a slow deep drum. A beat you marched to as you walked to the gallows.

Rydell felt the vibration the strongest when he was under the school passing through from one side to the other.

He had fun in that hallway. There was a hot little number who passed him every day. She only came up to his shoulder and could not be more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. It didn’t take him long to pick up on her innocence. The simplistic emotion that lurks just before an addiction kicks in, just before the lust for exaltation. He knew he could have a ball with her, but he was there for a reason, one he was tired of dealing with.

The protection spells around Raven were always an issue when reaching her, but the fact that her family was widely respected in the area didn’t help either. It took Rydell and Dagen a minute but they did find someone who had a grudge, someone they could manipulate. Someone who could ensure Rydell and Raven were side by side long enough for her to trust him, let him get close so he could go in for the kill.

The ass they found was Duncan Newberry. First of all they had to get him hired at the school, then they had to fabricate their own identities and manuscripts. Rydell and Dagen were two weeks late starting school because of all the red tape they had to go through. When they finally got there, Raven wasn’t in the class, her guardian was. Rydell told ‘Berries’ to fix it before he fixed him.