Fated (27 page)

Had he seen that the person he'd fought wasn't human? That he had a tail? Of course he had. He was covered in slash marks. How couldn't he have seen?

She was suddenly blinded by tears. Why wasn't Lucas saying anything? She couldn't look up. What would she say?
Yeah, sorry about that, I should have warned you about the tail.

But then, it dawned on her. How had Lucas fought an Unhuman? And won? She was the Hunter around here. And she had failed miserably.

She nudged him backwards gently, her hands on his forearms, leaning him carefully against a workbench. He said nothing - did nothing - as she wiped the trail of blood up his abdomen, across his chest, noticing the faint scars latticing his upper body, as though he'd been in fights before. But his skin was perfect otherwise, satin smooth, running in shallow dips over the flowing lines of muscle and rib.

She mopped the worst of the blood up until the two lash marks made by Caleb's tail stood out. She winced but he did nothing as she pressed the clean edge of the shirt against them to stem the bleeding.

After a few seconds she pulled the shirt away. The bleeding seemed to have eased off. Her fingers traced around the edges of the wound, scared to touch him for fear he might move. But he was still as a statue.

Without thinking, she dipped her head and pressed her lips to his shoulder, just above where the first cut started. His skin was burning hot to the touch. She pulled back, suddenly aware of what she'd just done. Her heart stopped beating, her lungs refusing point blank to expand and draw in air. Lucas stayed frozen. She was terrified to lift her eyes to meet his. For a full ten seconds they stood like two statues before each other. Then she caught a slight movement, a shift in Lucas's body, the ripple of muscle across his stomach as he stood.

Her head flew up.

Lucas was looking straight at her, his eyes burning coals, his breathing rapid. And suddenly his hands were on her shoulders and he was pushing her backwards. She bumped against the wall behind, gasped at the shock and his lips cut it off.

His mouth was hard against hers, but his lips were soft, his taste familiar and new at the same time. She felt her whole body jolt and come alive, her bloodied, bandaged arm wrapping around his neck, her fingers knotting in his hair, pulling him closer, until his hip bone was pressing against hers and his chest was crushing her ribcage and there was no air left inside her. Her head was spinning and she felt like she was going to pass out. His hands were stroking up her neck, tracing her spine, his lips finding the hollow of her throat, making her tilt her head back. She opened her eyes to stop the room from spinning, unhooked her hands from around his neck, running them down his chest, stopping just below his collarbone . . . when she felt the silver of his amulet digging into her palm. She heard him take a breath, pause for a moment, but then his arms wound around her waist and her lips found his again, wanting more, her fingers tugging at his waistband.

They stumbled backwards together, slamming into the workbench opposite. He hadn't let her go. The tools on the side went crashing to the floor, the workbench groaned against their weight and something dislodged from the wall behind Lucas and smashed to the ground at Evie's feet. She ignored it all. He kept kissing her until she felt her legs give way but she didn't fall to the ground amid the tools because he was holding her up, his hands around her waist now, binding her to him.

She pulled backwards in his arms and found him staring right at her. She let her fingers stroke along his jawline, trace the curve of his bottom lip - the line of his cheekbone. She stroked his eyelashes and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back off his face, and all the while he held her in his arms and didn't take his eyes off her. Those deep grey, haunted eyes, so full of darkness and secrets and pain.

And she felt safe. She realised it with a start that made her draw in a breath, which made him frown and move his hand to her cheek, his thumb pressing against her lower lip. This was the only place she would ever feel truly safe ever again - right here, locked into him, with his arms tight about her and the world falling apart around them. And everything Jocelyn had said to her about not getting close to anyone suddenly seemed inconceivable, impossible. Because her whole body and her entire heart were telling her that this was right - there was no way it couldn't be.

When Tom had kissed her she'd sensed his vulnerability, had felt the burden of having to protect him and shield him from what was outside in the darkness waiting to attack her. But when Lucas kissed her she felt nothing but him. Nothing but heat. He made her forget the outside. And he shielded her from the darkness. She smiled up at him, laughing under her breath.

A flash of something crossed his face then - of longing or hurt, she couldn't tell which. And she couldn't decipher the meaning of the smile he was giving her because it was a sad smile and the sadness was reflected in his eyes. He finally opened his mouth as if he was about to say something and her stomach tightened. But then his eyes flew over her shoulder to the stairs and his hands dropped from her waist. She felt the fear rushing back in at the same instant that she heard her name being called.

'Evie!'

They broke apart, Evie looking around at the sound of her mother's voice shouting down from the kitchen above. She smoothed back her messed-up hair, wrapped her arms around herself to cover the blood on her T-shirt and shoved the bloodied knife from the sink underneath a pile of tools.

'Evie!' her mother called again. 'What's all that noise? Is that you down there?'

Evie could feel her cheeks burning, her lips starting to throb. 'It's just me, Mum,' she finally called out, sounding as if she'd just returned from a sprint around the block.

The door to the kitchen opened and her mum peered down into the gloom. 'What on earth are you doing down there?'

'Just looking for something,' Evie answered, still catching her breath.

'Well, there was an awful lot of banging and crashing. And it's very early. Honestly it's not even six o'clock,' her mother said, peering over Evie's shoulder at the tools scattered on the concrete floor. 'What a mess you've made.'

'Sorry,' Evie replied, holding her bandaged arm behind her back, hoping that Lucas had hidden himself on the other side of the room, well out of her mother's line of vision. If she saw him bare-chested and bloody, down here with a load of power tools dangling from their hooks, she'd wonder what was going on.

'Did you find what you were looking for?' her mother asked, looking suspiciously at Evie.

'Yeah, I found it,' Evie answered with a small smile. 'I'll be up in a second.'

'How you found anything without the light on I have no idea,' her mother said, turning her back.

Evie waited until she'd gone and then turned around, grinning. 'That was close,' she said, the words instantly trailing away to nothing.

Because the room was empty.

Lucas had vanished.

31

Evie smacked her fist against the door, almost putting it through the glass. Finally Victor appeared, strolling across the store, pausing to brush some lint off one of the velvet chairs. He finally unbolted the door and opened it.

'You're early,' he said, glancing at his watch.

'Where were you?' she demanded, pushing past him into the store.

'I was out the back sorting out some new deliveries,' Victor answered, looking her up and down. 'I think you'll like them.'

'No. I mean last night,' Evie snapped. 'I almost got killed.'

Victor had crossed to one of the rails and was fingering his way through the hangers. 'I know,' he murmured.

Evie did a double take. 'Excuse me?'

Victor glanced up at her. 'We were there,' he said. 'We were watching.'

Evie stared at him, uncomprehending. 'I'm sorry?'

'We were there,' Victor repeated.

The words sank in. She felt a wave of nausea churn her stomach. 'What, all of you?' she asked, her voice raising. 'You were what? Cheerleading? Eating popcorn? Firing up the grill? What the
hell
?'

Victor made no comment, he just looked up at her with a bemused expression on his face, waiting for her to finish.

'I needed you,' she said.

'No you didn't,' Victor answered. 'You managed, didn't you?'

Her mouth fell open. 'I almost died.'

He shrugged. 'But you didn't.'

'Only because Lucas--' She stopped abruptly. 'Hang on. You let him go out there. You let a human fight an Unhuman? You stood there and watched him do your job? You told me you - we - were here to protect humans. How could you do that?' Her voice was shaking.

Victor crossed to one of the chairs and deposited himself in it, one ankle resting over his knee. 'Evie,' he said, looking at her pityingly.

'What?' she spat.

'Have you really not figured it out yet?'

'Figured out
what
yet?' she yelled. 'That you're a psycho?'

'No,' Victor answered calmly. 'That Lucas is one of them.'

'One of who?'

'The Brotherhood.'

He may as well have taken one of the crossbows and shot her through the chest. The blow sent her reeling backwards, her ribs crushed. '
What?
'

Victor's eyes were marble hard. 'He's an Unhuman,' he said with a trace of a smile. 'The worst of them. He's a Shadow Warrior. Well . . .' he paused, 'half.'

'He's what?' she heard herself asking.

'He's half Shadow Warrior, half human. And he's a member of the Brotherhood.'

The ground seemed to drop away. She had to put her hands on the back of the chair to keep herself from spinning into the abyss that had torn open in front of her.

'I hate to be the one to break it to you,' Victor said.

Sure he did. Evie found her voice. 'No,' she said, shaking her head, 'that's impossible. He can't be.'

'Why can't he be?' Victor suddenly snapped.

Evie stared at him blankly. 'Because . . .' She couldn't finish the sentence. He
couldn't
be one of them. He was - he was . . . Her face burnt at the memory. The taste of him - she had kissed him, had felt his heart beating beneath her hand, had traced her fingers across his body, wrapped herself up in him, lost herself in him.

And he was one of them? He was a demon? It was impossible.

'Why can't he be?' Victor repeated. 'Because you fell for him?'

She turned on Victor, furious, rage pulsing through her body. 'You knew? How long have you known?'

'Since he arrived in town.'

Evie blinked, her fingers tearing through the fabric of the chair she was holding on to. 'Whoa, hold on. You let him move in with my mum, with me, knowing he was one of them?'

'Yes.'

'Why?' she screamed. 'How did you know he wasn't going to kill us?' She couldn't keep the hysteria out of her voice.

'I let it happen, Evie, because you needed to learn the first lesson.'

She frowned at him, thrown. What was he talking about?
What
lesson?

'Do you even remember what I told you?' Victor said suddenly, springing up from the chair, standing right in front of her so she had to tip her head right back to see him. 'I told you to trust me,' Victor said. He shook his head, disappointed. 'You never trust me.'

'You give me no reason to,' she answered through gritted teeth.

Victor's voice softened. 'I'm just trying to teach you the lessons that will keep you alive. The second lesson I taught you, which you also failed to listen to, was not to trust anyone else.'

It had been a lesson? He'd let a Shadow Warrior move into her house, just to teach her a lesson? He'd let her believe that Lucas was someone she could trust, had stood by and allowed Lucas to--

She closed her eyes. And was immediately bombarded with images, memories, sounds - jumping in front of her eyes. Lucas's sullen expression when he'd first arrived, all the things he'd said about growing up in Iowa, about his parents dying, about having to leave someone he loved, probably some Shadow Warrior in another realm - maybe even another member of the Brotherhood. The way he was there in the woods so fast, appearing out of nowhere, the way he'd lifted her so easily onto the branch of the tree, his smile - always tentative, unsure. The thin traces of scars across his body.

The way he kept disappearing.

She swallowed hard. It was all a lie. All those secrets hidden, buried deep but still visible in his eyes - this was what he was hiding. It all fell into place, crushing her beneath the weight of it.

It was the worst pain she'd ever felt. Worse than the sting of the Scorpio's tail, worse than the acid burn of that Mixen's skin, far worse than finding out about Tom and Anna. She wanted to edge into the abyss and let it swallow her down. She wished she was still floating at the bottom of the pond, oblivious to this.

'Why do you think he was here, Evie?' Victor cut through her jumbled thoughts.

'I don't know,' she said under her breath. A wave of shame drenched her.

'He was using you, trying to get close to you to find out what you knew, how we trained you.'

She cast around in her head for something that she might be able to use to refute what Victor was saying but came up with nothing.

'You
cannot
trust anyone.' Victor hammered the point home. 'You
cannot
get close to anyone. Do you understand me?' His voice was a slap. Evie's head flew up. 'It's your weakness, Evie. And it will get you killed.'

She blinked back tears, fought the sob that was building in her chest. A thought finally occurred to her. 'But Lucas went out there. He fought him. I saw. Why did he do that?' She looked up at Victor desperately. 'I don't understand. If he's one of them, why did he do that?'

Victor raised an eyebrow. 'You saw? You saw him fight Caleb?'

'No, I didn't see that, but I saw him come back. He was hurt. There was blood all over him.'

Victor stepped towards her. 'What if it was all a deceit, Evie?'

She flinched.

'It's all been a game, Evie. He wanted you to fall in love with him. It was part of his plan - to get close to you. To make you trust him.'