Frost Fire (Tortured Elements) (2 page)

And there was another reason she wouldn’t give up on the memories: She’d had them even before Drake’s attack. Allai just hadn’t known who they were of. She used to think of the boy in her memories as her ‘protector’. He had golden eyes and black hair, and he’d often cross his arms and look down at her like he just couldn’t decide what to do with her. Then there was the phrase he’d return to every time:
“I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Okay?”
It was a lie. She knew that by the second time he said it. But it was a good intentioned lie, and she also knew that.

She’d stopped thinking of Drake as her protector since that night of the event. That was the night she saw his golden eyes for the first time in years. They had looked pained and guilty. And completely determined.

“What did Drake even protect you from?” Luke suddenly challenged. “If you’re so sure he’s the one in your memories, then you must know what he was protecting you from.”

Luke hadn’t gone this far before. He probably hadn’t wanted her to think that far back, in case she actually could remember more than vague pain and fear.

Allai strained her memory. Unclear flashes of slamming doors, salty tears, the warm-metallic smell of blood… That was all. The flashes of memory used to scare her, as her imagination took ahold and she dreamt up horrible scenarios that could have happened in the past. But she’d learned to let it go. Her father had found her abandoned, and she’d been safe in his care for eleven years. Safe, except for the one night of the event.

“No,” Allai admitted. “I have no idea what he was trying to protect me from.”

Luke nodded his all-knowing nod that tended to piss her off. “See? You can’t remember. If you can’t even remember who was trying to hurt you, there’s no way you can remember who tried to save you. It’s a false memory.”

She let it go. They’d been over this conversation too many times. It’d just go in circles, round and round until her stomach got upset from hearing the same debate.

Someone knocked at the door. Allai jumped, but Luke didn’t flinch. “It’s Shieldak,” he said.

“Come in,” Allai blurted, looking toward the door. Her hands suddenly felt fidgety with worry, and she clasped them together to keep from looking nervous. Her father never checked on her when she woke from nightmares; he always left Luke to do that.

Shieldak shoved open the door and entered. He seemed to suck the focus of the room toward him. It was a minor shift in the small bedroom, but Allai was well aware of the effect her father could have in meetings packed with people. Voices would hush, and any fidgeting would stop. All the attention in the room would belong to Shieldak, just the way he liked it, and just the way he’d operated the Sentinel for centuries.

Her dad was a Charger Demon, complete with claws and wings covered in blade-like feathers. Like the rest of his species, he was deadly and cunning. Unlike the rest of his species—and most Demons—Shieldak was selfless. That was the word Allai had grown up hearing from people ever since Shieldak had adopted her. ‘Selfless’. And it was a good fit. Her dad had spent centuries eradicating Mages to protect humans, and now he continued to protect humanity by leading the Sentinel.

Shieldak’s wings rustled when he spotted Luke, the bladed feathers clicking together in annoyance. Luke’s shoulders instantly straightened into a defensive position. He looked ridiculous, half flopped over her bed, his head resting on the bedspread, and bristling like a rabid wolf.

Shieldak quieted the rattling and stopped a few steps away from Allai. His stance remained wide-spread and sturdy, the way he usually stood. It made his five-foot-seven frame look intimidating and almost threatening. “Allai,” he said quietly. He always spoke like that, barely above a soft murmur.

Allai tucked her knees close to her chest. “Hey, Dad. Is everything okay?”

He frowned, like this was a bad question to ask. “Of course everything is fine. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright. I heard you scream.”

Allai winced at the thought. Her dad didn’t like weakness, and he’d definitely consider any type of screaming weak.

“I’m fine.” She said it a little too quickly, but he didn’t seem to notice.

He nodded. “Then I suppose there was no point in me coming here.” But he didn’t move. He just stood there next to her bed, his red eyes burrowing into her. He didn’t even glance at Luke; it was Shieldak’s tactic to ignore Luke as much as possible, and fight with him the rest of the time.

Allai quietly waited, knowing there was something else on his mind. She wished he had a normal voice, and that she could just pluck emotions from his words. But finding any emotion in his speech was difficult. His voice was smooth, drawing each syllable of his words into a silky purr. It was the voice of a Charger, so alluring it could make people forget they were facing a Demon with metal wings.

Shieldak shuffled his wings, and there was more rattling of feathers, and more bristling from Luke. “You’re certain—”

“I’m fine.” Allai cut him off. She winced the moment she did it, knowing it had been impolite and that she’d get a scolding for it. But she didn’t want to discuss the event or her dreams anymore, not if her theories about Drake would be dismissed so easily.

Shieldak’s mouth opened the moment she finished speaking, and she waited for a familiar reprimand. But then Shieldak just closed his mouth, cleared his throat, and nodded to Luke. “You may leave, viper.”

Luke hissed under his breath, and Allai rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling. Shieldak usually started the fights, often by calling Luke derogatory names like ‘viper’ or ‘snake’. But Luke always managed to make things worse. He stood from the bed, his hand slowly clenching into a fist.

“No,” Allai groaned. “Please, Luke, not tonight.”

He growled, his lip lifting an inch, and Allai could see that his silver fangs had already snapped into place. They usually rested against the top of his mouth, but now he was ready for a fight, and the fangs pressed against his canine teeth.

Just one drop of the venom stored in his fangs could have a Demon writhing in agony for days. Or at least that was the best outcome. The other possible outcome was that the Demon was changed into Luke’s own species: A Persequor. They were the most powerful type of Demon, which wasn’t very comforting, considering they were also emotionless. Except for Luke, of course. He seemed to have gone into the opposite spectrum when he changed, having too
many
emotions.

Shieldak’s wings flared out into a defensive position. He snarled and faced Luke. Allai huddled closer to the bed, because she knew that snarl was a taunt. And Luke always gave into taunts.

Then Luke jerked his head toward Allai. He stared at her with his blind eyes, silently considering her. Then he sighed and unclenched his fist. “Sleep tight, Allai-bird,” he snapped. He brushed past Shieldak and exited the room, slamming the door closed.

The hinges rattled, and Shieldak’s wings joined them for just a moment, his clicking feathers expressing his disproval. “The coward,” Shieldak spat.

Allai bit her lip to keep from protesting. She wanted to tell him that Luke wasn’t a coward, that he was brave, and that he just didn’t want to fight in front of her. But Allai held her breath until the urge to say all that disappeared. Because her dad just wouldn’t understand any of it.

Shieldak continued glaring at the door Luke had rushed out. “What’s wrong, Dad?” Allai asked after a few moments. She kept her gaze resting on the spot where Luke had laid a few moments earlier. It’d be better if he were there, even if tensions were always high between him and her dad. She needed a hug.

“That Persequor is what’s wrong,” he muttered. “I don’t trust him. And I don’t like him being around you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Luke. He’s a good guy.”

“He’s an agent of the French, Allai. And he’s had a bad past.”

“So have I.”

Her dad waved away her words. “You were young. You hardly remember whatever happened to you. But that Persequor had a screw knocked loose. He’s dangerous.”

For not the first time in her life, Allai wished she could be something other than a human. She knew she had
some
Demon blood in her ancestry; it was the reason she had silver eyes, and the reason Shieldak had accepted her as his daughter. But ‘some’ wasn’t enough. Just for a moment, she wanted to have the metal wings of a Charger to slap her dad with, or the teeth of a Trident to make him hurt a little. But all she could do was give him a very human glare and cross her scrawny human arms over her chest.

“Luke,” she said. “His name is
Luke
. And there’s nothing wrong with him. He’s kind of blunt, yeah. But… he’d never do anything to
hurt
me.” Then she added quietly, “Besides, the French employ him. You know you can’t—”

“I can’t do anything!” Shieldak snarled. He spun on his heel and began pacing back and forth between the window and the door. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t know that I have absolutely no control over my own people?”

Allai quietly released a small breath of relief. So then this wasn’t about Luke. Not really. It was just about the French, the people who sent him to ‘keep an eye’ on her dad, as Luke liked to say with a blind wink.

“You have control.” Allai tried to keep her voice calm, although shock coursed through her as her relief died away. This just wasn’t her father. Her dad never brought his problems up, at least not to her. “You know any Warrior in the Sentinel would die for you.”

“Of course they would,” Shieldak snapped. “Most of them have been loyal for decades. What I’m worried about is whether or not that loyalty is getting them anywhere.” He stopped pacing and pressed his fist to his forehead. “The French cut funding again.”

She bit her lip. The French government had funded the Sentinel ever since its beginning. There had always been high numbers of paranormal creatures in France—some legends even said they originated there.

The French needed some way to take care of dangerous paranormals, and the Sentinel was the answer. Shieldak and his Warriors would rid society of any paranormal that was a threat to humans, keeping the civilized world safe. And the French would fund his efforts, keeping the Warriors well fed and equipped. The French had learned over the years how to keep the Sentinel under their thumb, but overall it was a simple and effective method.

As long as the French kept up their part of the deal.

“Oh,” Allai murmured.

“‘Oh’? That’s all you have to say?” Shieldak glared at her. Allai met it with a glare of her own, and his expression slowly crumbled into one of guilt. He rubbed the back of his neck and muttered, “I’m sorry. It’s not fair of me to take this out on you. I never should have brought it up.”

“It’s alright.” Her tone was probably a little too curt, and she tried to make up for it by asking, “Will the Sentinel be alright? Without the funding?”

“We’ll be fine.” But he said it too quickly, and she knew it was a lie. Then Shieldak hesitantly added, “The French ambassadors are coming here in a few days to speak with me. That’s what has been on my mind tonight. They refuse to give me specifics, but they want to talk about the Sentinel’s funding.” He paused for a moment, and then said, “They also wish to speak about you.”

“
What?
” That couldn’t be possible; the French didn’t even know she was
alive
. Shieldak had told everyone she’d died that night Drake attacked. The entire world thought she was dead, except for Luke, Shieldak, and the members of the Sentinel. The lie was for her own safety, and so far it had worked. No one knew she was alive, so no one had been able to make any more threats on her life.

“Someone must have told them you’re alive,” Shieldak said. “But it will be alright. As long as Rhaize still thinks you’re dead, then you’re safe.”

Allai nodded. But it still felt weird to know that people knew her secret. “Why do they even want to talk about me?”

“I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t worry about it. I think this meeting will be more about the budget than you.” His expression darkened again as he mentioned the budget.

“Who knows,” Allai said, giving him a small smile. “Maybe they’ll bring good news.”

Shieldak smiled back just a little bit. But they both knew that chance was small, and probably nonexistent. Ambassadors weren’t sent for the happy stuff in life.

Shieldak nodded to her. “Sleep well, Allai.” He didn’t say anything else before walking out the door, closing it with nearly as much force as Luke had.

Allai sighed and leaned back in her pillows. She wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon, and if by any chance she did, it wouldn’t be good sleep. She snatched her MP3 player off her nightstand and put in her earbuds. Allai didn’t bother choosing a song, and instead set it on shuffle-mode and let the device do its thing. That was how she liked her music: Completely random. That way every song had a fair chance.

Music blasted in her ears, and she wondered if she was the only one in the world who would recognize this song, other than the people singing it. The band she was listening to was a tiny indie band she’d stumbled across. She’d found it the way she found most of her music: Holed up in Luke’s room, surfing the internet on his laptop, with the door closed to keep Shieldak from catching her.

Allai didn’t remember the exact name of this band, but she knew it was really odd and had something in it about vampires and dinosaurs. It always made her smile, because both those things were way extinct.

Allai sighed and focused on the beat of the music. It was a love song, and that made her want to skip over it, because she had no luck in that area. She was a Nox—a human who lived among Demons. That made her undesirable to Demons, and invisible to normal humans—the Luxs. But she waited until the ending lines of the song before she skipped to the next:

‘You whisper a hello and vow against goodbyes,

Swearing you’ll never let what we have die.’

Why was she even worrying about any of this stuff? She didn’t have time to think about a relationship, let alone actually
have
one. She had to worry about the Sentinel, about Rhaize. About Drake.