Light Shadows (20 page)

“Listen to me,” he says, his dark stare darting between Morgan and me. “You can’t trust anyone. Even people you’ve known your entire life. We don’t know who has been compromised.”

“Wait a minute…what does this have to do with me?” Morgan scoffs.

Niko raises a mocking brow. “You’re coming with us. It has everything to do with you.”

“What? I didn’t sign on to go anywhere. Especially not with Harry Pothead and the Hogwarts gang. Oh hell no. I’m staying here.”

I see Niko flinch for a fraction of a second before his face falls into an impassive guise. “Suit yourself. But considering that you’re completely defenseless and your sight has caused you so much turmoil that you tried to dig your veins out with a steak knife, I give you all of 24 hours before someone comes a-knocking and kills you, or you attempt to do the deed yourself.” Before her very eyes, he flashes in front of her on the couch, leaving a trail of charcoal grey smoke. He’s so close to her face—nearly nose to nose—that I can hardly make out the terror in her eyes. “But Morgan, do us all a favor and get it right this time, love. Because if we have to come back here—if you cause just one more ounce of distress—I swear, I will finish you myself. Got it?”

Morgan is stunned speechless—something I’ve rarely witnessed in all the years we’ve been friends. She nods once before scooting to the far end of the couch and wrapping her arms around her knees. Niko stands casually from his squatting position and retakes the floor. I open my mouth to chastise him, but Dorian beats me to it with a single mumbled word. It’s not English or even the Dark tongue. It sounds Greek, and whatever he said sounds like a reprimand.

Niko shrugs it off and looks back at Morgan and me. “Well now that’s settled…get packing. And find something to do with that little rodent you call a dog. It’s not coming with us.”

I cast a glance across the room to Dorian, whose usual cool expression is marked with a hint of dejection. The moment his cold eyes touch mine, they soften and warm, inviting me to walk the ten steps into his arms. It would be so easy to let him in, to let him erase all the hurt. But then what? Will I be accepting him in an act of forgiveness? Or just covering the gaping, festering wound with a band-aid?

I turn around and retreat to my bedroom before it gets too hard to deny my heart and body any more. Just as I pass the threshold and close the door, a blur of movement catches my eye, and Niko manifests on my chaise stationed in the corner of the room. Legs crossed at the ankles and hands folded behind his head, he leisurely lounges as if he didn’t just trespass into my private space.

“Nice of you to knock,” I mumble, stalking to my closet to retrieve my suitcase.

“Well, someone is just a ray of golden sunshine,” he replies, a playful smirk on his lips. He turns his head just as I wrestle my bag from the endless pit of my walk-in closet, and his expression changes to something more solemn. “Thought you’d like to know that Chris is safe. His job is transferring him to Hawaii. Warm climate, lots of sun. It’ll be like a permanent vacay.”

I swallow down the knot that instantly forms in my throat just at the mention of my adopted father. “And he’ll be safe?”

Niko tips his head. “Along with having no memory of you, he no longer has a trace of your scent. To the Dark, all humans look the same. They’re like cattle—we can’t distinguish one from the other unless they are marked or have a trace of magic. Chris has neither. Someone could scan his memory and they would find nothing.”

I nod, despite my true feelings, and busy myself with the task of stuffing clothing into my suitcase. “Good.”

“I heard your human boy toy got the same treatment.”

Anger flares behind my eyes, tingling with frostbite. My neck twists so quickly that my body contorts unnaturally before catching up with the movement. Niko visibly flinches before a slow, sinister smile slithers across his lips.

“Aren’t you a vicious, little creature. I thought this was what you wanted, Gabs. For your loved ones to be safe.”

I close my eyes, taking a beat to bite back my temper. “It is what I want. But you don’t have to take such joy in it. You’re acting as if this is fun for you. Hell, look how you just treated Morgan, after all she’s been through.”

“Morgan is naïve and spoiled, and needs a hefty dose of tough love if she has any chance of survival. She doesn’t have a year to adapt like you did. So the quicker she gets that this is her life now, the better off she’ll be. So yeah…if I have to play the villain just to wake her ass up to reality, I’ll do that. Better to hurt her feelings now, than cause her more unbearable pain later.”

I give up on trying to pack and sink down to the floor, rubbing my temples. “I know, Niko. And I’m grateful for all your help. It’s just…I don’t know what I’m doing. I’ve got all these questions—all these
feelings
. And these thoughts…thoughts I’ve never had before.”

“What kinds of thoughts?”

Violence. Rage. Murder. Sex.

I shake the voice from my head. “Do you remember your ascension? Did it…change you?”

Niko sits up in a flash of motion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, did you find yourself thinking about things you didn’t think about before? Or wanting things you knew were bad?”

A soft smile twitches the corner of his mouth. “Ah, yes. The Dark elements are stronger than you anticipated. It’s normal, seeing as you are in the present company of so many of us. You absorb our essence—we feed off each other. You’ll find it may be the same when in the present of Light.”

His words spark my remembrance and I sit up on my knees, excitement running through me. “I saw a Light Enchanter today at the airport. She helped me get to Jared. Do you think she knew who or what I am?”

Niko narrows his eyes and purses his lips, natural distaste for his brother race souring his tongue. “Doubtful. If we can’t detect you, I highly doubt their senses are superior. What did she say to you?”

“Nothing,” I shrug. “I mean, she gave me a boarding pass to get to Jared, saying something about not letting love get away, but nothing that would allude to what she is. I tried to go back to talk to her, but she was gone. And an airline attendant said that no one worked there matching her description or name. If I hadn’t seen the flash of Light in her eyes, I wouldn’t have known.”

Niko scoots to the edge of his seat and steeples his fingers in front of his chin. “She let you
see
her? She wasn’t deflecting?”

“I don’t know. I mean…I can see everyone, even when they are. Even you.”

The blood drains from his handsome face and he sits back in the chaise. “I see.”

“I would never use it against you, I swear,” I hurriedly explain, watching the distrust seep into his eyes. “It’s not exactly something I can control. You guys can’t sense me, but I can always sense you—even when I don’t want to. It’s like my Dark and Light sides are cancelling each other out.”

He sucks his teeth and draws in a breath. “So it seems. Have you told Dorian?”

A pinch of pain seizes my chest, and I turn away from his penetrating stare. “No.”

“Not speaking to him?”

“Why the hell should I?” I resume the task of shoving clothing into my bag, and nearly rip my favorite jeans in two with the force of my irritation.

“Um, I think the question is, why the hell aren’t you on your knees, giving him the BJ of his life right now? You’re acting like a child, Gabs. You know he did what he had to do, and if he would’ve told you beforehand, you would’ve never let him go through with it. Then we’d be housing another stray. You should be thanking him, not bitching out over some human kid that never even rounded third base. Get over it.”

I scoff at his words, jumping to my feet in one swift movement. “Get over it? What would you know about what I’m going through? You’ve had everything you’ve ever wanted and more—you’re a fucking prince, for crying out loud! You’ve probably never felt true pain a day in your life. So don’t you dare tell me to get over it!”

“Pain? What the fuck do you know about pain?” Niko is on his feet too, towering over me, his dominating frame tense. Although he’s a couple inches shorter than Dorian, his body is still encased in hard muscle, and his sinister good looks alone would intimidate even the most confident man. Still, I refuse to back down.

“Obviously more than you! Because if you could feel just a fraction of what I’m going through, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But obviously, you’re oblivious to other people’s hurt.”

He snorts, baring his teeth, which look like gleaming, razor-sharp fangs under the light of the setting sun. And while his expression is all malice and fury, his voice is bone-chilling cold, so much so that his breath forms tiny icicles across my cheeks as it fans over my face in ragged pants. “Try killing the woman you love after she saved your life. Try living with her blood on your hands, unable to wash away the stain of her death. Try doing just about everything outside of carving your own fucking heart out just to feel something—
anything
—again. Deal with that shit, then come talk to me.”

His words freeze me where I stand, mouth agape and eyes wide. He takes a step back, scrubbing a hand over his face. That’s when I notice how weary he looks—less
pretty.

I take a few beats to absorb his words before I snap my mouth shut, touching my fingers to my lips in an act of regret. “What happened?” I whisper against my fingertips. Niko shakes his head, refusing to meet my eyes. I take a step forward and tentatively rest my hand on his shoulder. “Hey. Talk to me, Niko.”

He sighs, the muscles in his arms and neck drawing tight with anxiety. “It was a long time ago in New Orleans. She was the daughter of a drunk with a touch of Voodoo in her bloodline.
The
bloodline—Laveau. Her name was Amelie. She intruded into my life in the most unexpected way and changed everything. Changed the very man I was.”

“And you loved her?”

He smiles softly, conjuring the memory of his fallen love. “Not at first. I wanted to hate her—hate what she was and what she stood for—but I couldn’t. And then there was the connection we had…she had been influenced by the Light, her dreams cursed with images of me. Something in the universe wanted us together, just to tear us apart.”

“The Light cursed you? But why?”

He shakes his head, his jaw ticking with frustration. “I don’t know. I can’t understand it. She was the purest, kindest, most loving soul I had ever met. She was good. Way too good for the likes of me. I just keep thinking, if I hadn’t corrupted her…if she hadn’t fallen for me, given me her innocence, she would have been spared. She died for me. And because of me.” Niko’s pain saturates the air, and I don’t even try to fight the urge to wrap my arms around him. He accepts me freely, holding me against his chest and resting his chin in my hair. “She was trying to save me. I was dying, and this sweet, beautiful girl gave her life for mine. I’ve never forgiven myself for killing my one shot at happiness. And I never will.”

I bury my face in his shirt, my heart breaking at the sound of starved hopelessness in his voice. He smells of a honeysuckle-scented, summer breeze, rainwater and man. All man. Before I even know what I’m doing, I suck in a gulp of air, taking in his smell along with his essence. He hisses at the feeling of me drawing from his life force, yet holds me tighter. Tight enough that I can feel him stiffening against my stomach.

“I’m-I’m sorry,” I stammer. I should pull away, but I don’t want to embarrass him. Especially since his current predicament is my fault.

“It’s okay,” he murmurs, the melancholy in his voice replaced with husky seduction. I feel him rub his nose at the crown of my head before inhaling, taking a hit of my power. I shudder in his arms and squeeze the coiled muscles at his shoulders, feeling them loosen and relax as euphoria fills his lungs.

Before I can urge him to do it again, to take more of me to sustain himself, he’s unwinding his arms from around my waist and taking a step back. He doesn’t look at me, and I don’t look at him.

“Talk to Dorian,” he finally says after a long beat. “He loves you, Gabriella.” And then he’s gone, dissipating before my eyes like most of the men in my life.

I SHOULD HAVE known that we wouldn’t be catching a commercial flight to Louisiana. Oh, no. That would be too pedestrian for the Skotos brothers.

My first reaction as I step onto the Airbus A318 Elite? Holy-freakin’-shit.

It wasn’t that it was a private jet—something I never
dreamed
of riding in. It was
the
private jet. Like a regular jet’s hotter, less attainable sister. Everything from the plush navy and cream furnishings to the fresh calla lilies situated throughout the softly-lit cabin screamed opulence. It was like sex on wings. Suddenly me and my Samsonite felt extremely out of place.

Dorian and I hadn’t spoken yet, but I could feel his eyes on me. When I had finally emerged from my bedroom, dressed for the trip in skinny black jeans, a fitted flannel shirt and boots, I knew he was hoping I would take Niko’s advice and let him in again. I didn’t. I loved him and I knew he loved me, but that didn’t change the hurt I felt at yet another betrayal. At some point, the small things become big things. And the big things become deal breakers. This wasn’t a deal breaker, but it definitely warranted a reaction.