My Heart be Damned (31 page)

I’d begun to doze off when the sound of a shrill bell echoed through the house. I startled to a fully alert state, and began to stare around the room for the source of the noise. Footsteps pounded down the stairs, and then the front door opened and closed. Muffled voices floated in from the hallway, and my heart dropped when I
realized
one of them was female.

And then in she stepped, the beautiful blonde from Thorpe Park. The one Chuck had his eye on. I wanted to scratch her eyes out. She had long legs that never seemed
to end
, and was dressed as if she’d just stepped out of a magazine. Slung over her arm was a black clothing bag. My dress, I gathered.

“Hi,” she said, walking over and extending her hand. I reluctantly shook is. “I’m Charlotte. I hear you need a dress.” She beamed, as though this was some kind of charity work.

“Yup,” I answered, my tone dry.

“Well, I have you one. It’s Versace too. One of the designers let me keep it from a photo shoot last week. I’m never going to wear it again, so feel free to keep it.”

“Thanks.” I didn’t want to borrow this dress from her. I didn’t want anything from her.

She handed me the bag and then Marshall gestured for me to go and get ready upstairs. Begrudgingly, I trudged out of the room, ignoring Charlotte’s shouts that she’d left shoes and a bag to match at the door. A huge part of me wanted to hang around in the hallway and eavesdrop into their conversation. But time certainly was running out, so I stormed into Marshall’s room and threw the dress bag on the bed.

I yanked off my
Ugg
boots, none too gracefully either, and then shimmied out of my leggings and jumper. Standing in my underwear, I leaned over the bed, reaching out to unzip the dress bag. A beautiful cream
colored
gown spilled out from the middle, and I touched it, my fingers sliding over the silk. It was beautiful.

“Hey,
Amerie
...” Marshall said, walking in through the door I’d forgotten to close.

I turned around and we both froze, our eyes locked on one another in horror. Then his eyes roamed down my body, and a hot flush crept up into my cheeks. I snapped the dress up and held it in front of me protectively and he slowly turned to face the door.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. “That was embarrassing.”

He laughed nervously. “Yeah, sorry about that. Door was open so I didn’t think I had to knock....”

“What do you want, Marshall?”

“To tell you that Charlotte managed to get her hands on security blueprints for tonight. Wow, that girl can really come in handy.”

I wasn’t in any position to be jealous. Didn’t mean I wasn’t.

“Wow, that is handy,” I said cattily.

“It shows where all the auction items are being held. Once you’re ready, we’ll go through it and
finalize
everything.” From the tone in his voice, I could tell how excited he was. I doubted I’d ever made him sound that excited.

“Okay.” He hesitated for a moment and then walked out, closing the door softly behind him.

I shoved the dress on, feeling resentful towards it, and how perfectly it fit. Stupid Charlotte. Why did she have to be the one Marshall called when he needed something? How did she even get her hands on the blueprints anyway? Marshall and I were the supernatural ones. She was just a model.

Without checking my appearance in the mirror, I threw the door open and stormed down the stairs, holding my dress up, so that I wouldn’t trip. I found the shoes, slid them on, grabbed the bag, and headed to find Marshall. He was bent over the kitchen counter, surveying the blueprints when I walked in. He glanced up, hearing my heels clicking against the wooden floor, and his eyes widened.

Suddenly, I was embarrassed. He’d just seen me in my underwear, but, for some reason, this was more personal somehow. The way his eyes fixed on me, the way he gulped, the way he looked as though he was seeing someone that I wasn’t. I blushed and stared down at the floor.

“You look good,” he said, clearing his throat. “You ready to go over the final plan?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

The auction was obviously a big deal. Limos and expensive cars queued to let their passengers out at the gates to the mansion. Photographers were there. Reporters were there. I’d even spotted a few celebrities as Marshall, and I waited in the line of cars. I was excited. There were so many ways this could go wrong. So many terrible things that could happen. And yet, I didn’t care. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. We could do this. We could end ritual tonight.

Marshall kept repeating the plan as we idled. Mainly, I think he was talking to himself. I pretended to listen, nodding my head at random points, but really, I stared out of the window. Hoping that by tomorrow everything would be over. That I could go back to my boring normality and not have to worry about the end of the world.

We finally got to the end of the queue of cars, and I hopped out before Marshall could give me any more warnings. He didn’t drive off straight away, but once I started up the path towards the main doors, his car shot off, hopefully to park just around the corner.

“Hey, you made it,” Sam called, meeting me halfway down the path. He grinned widely at me, which meant he obviously hadn’t seen Marshall. “Nice dress.”

“Nice tux. You look all 007 in it. Suits you.”

“I don’t look anywhere near as amazing as you do.”

I didn’t want to raise his hopes of anything more between us, so I brushed the compliment aside. “Thanks for letting me come; it will really help out with my history project. So, is your mum excited about her big night?”

He nodded. “Oh yeah. Very excited. Although, she knows she’ll sell at least one thing tonight, the other things she has up for auction, she’s
kinda
nervous about. In case, they don’t sell. You know?”

I didn’t know, but I nodded anyway. He took my hand, and I let him, knowing I’d probably look less conspicuous if I others saw me with Sam. His palms were clammy and warm.

“I hope you don’t mind if I introduce you to a few people,” Sam said, as we walked inside. The warmth of the room hit me straight away, calming the nerves floating around in my stomach.

I looked at my watch. I had an hour before the auction started. Plenty of time to let Sam have his fun before I slipped away to steal the statue. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Cool. But I’m
apologizing
in advance if my mum comes over and starts talking about a hundred words a second.”

I laughed and let him lead me into a nicely decorated room. People, dressed in tuxedos and gowns, mingled with each other, champagne flutes in hand.  We had no sooner walked in the room, before people that Sam’s mum obviously knew swarmed us. Sam was the perfect gentleman, and the way he spoke, moved, acted – he clearly belonged in places like this. Once upon a time, I would have said the same about myself. I smiled politely and answered questions about myself, but the whole scene was so not me. Not anymore.

“Sam,” I said, after about half an hour of chitchat with people I didn’t know.

He turned away from an old man he’d been talking me up to. “Yes?”

“I’m just going to the ladies room. Be back in a few.” I smiled politely at the old man, and before Sam could offer to walk me, or do something else equally chivalrous, I excused myself and swept out of the room and into the hallway.

I gathered mostly everyone had arrived by now. The main doors were closed, and the hallway practically empty, save a few people having hushed conversations. My hand tightened around my clutch bag, where I’d hidden my dagger. Another one was strapped to my thigh. From out here, it was easy to tell the presence of Damned was strong. They swarmed the place. Not that we hadn’t been expecting this.

I recalled the blueprints, and mentally traced through my route. Up the stairs, two doors to the left. There would be armed security, of course, if the other auction items were worth even half of the Coat of
Tarham
. I took hold of my dress and started up the stairs. There was no going back now.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Sisterhood

Disarming the two security guards outside of the auction room had been easy. Too easy. I’d wanted a little more of a challenge than that. The door was locked, which I’d also seen coming, and taking a step back, I kicked it open. Then I rushed in, dragging the unconscious guards in with me, and shut the door.

The room was dark, save the moonlight streaming in through an uncovered window in the back. There was no furniture, except shelving units and tables that held all kinds of items. Huge paintings leaned against the walls.
Jewelry
boxes and ornaments cluttered the tables and shelves. And bigger objects, like medieval weapons and vases were scattered across the floor. I picked my way through, making sure I didn’t touch anything. And then I spotted it.

The Coat of
Tarham
.

It was the only thing sitting on the table beneath the large window. Outside, the full moon shone brightly. I paused, just staring at it. This one little statue meant everything.

I hitched up my dress and ran the rest of the way. My hands reached out and firmly grasped the middle, lifting it from the table. But something pulled at my stomach, and the room faded from view, swirling away as paint washed down a sink.

What the hell?

My feet slammed against hard ground, and a bitter cold slapped across my skin. The statue was gone. And I wasn’t anywhere I
recognized
. Not by a long shot. This new place didn’t even look real.

I spun around in circles, trying to work out where I was. The lush, green grass beneath me seemed to stretch with no possibility of ending. Directly in front of me was a patio surrounded by hedges shaped in all kinds of designs. A marble fountain spluttered in the middle of the patio, and I walked over to it, not knowing what else to do.

“Hello?” I called out. I had to be dreaming, or worse...dead. How did I get outside?

I sat on the edge of the fountain and dipped my finger into the water. It was freezing, and I drew my hand back. Wind whipped my hair around my face, and I stopped trying to fight it once I
realized
I wouldn’t win.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light, and I jumped to my feet, reflexively. Once the light faded, it revealed three women standing in front of me wearing identical white, flowing gowns. They each had long white hair that blew back elegantly in the wind, unlike my own, that knotted and twisted all around my face. Though I could see
their pale faces, a brilliant glow emanated from their skin making it impossible to see any of their features.

I knew at once, who they were. The Sisterhood had come to pay me a visit.

Instantly, I was on the defensive. Why did I warrant a visit from them? Why had they dragged me here into their otherworld? Most Hunters only earned a visit if the circumstances were extraordinarily bad.

“
Amerie
,” the one in the middle said. She stepped forward, arms out as if to hug me. The lead Sister.

I backed away.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said. I imagined her to be smiling, though I couldn’t be sure  that was the case.

“I’m not afraid,” I lied. “Being afraid would mean I’ve done something wrong. And I haven’t done anything.”

“No one said you did anything wrong,” she continued. “We came to warn you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Warn me about what?”

“Someone has been hiding you from us. Someone who means you harm.” Someone? No, I’d hidden myself. They were wrong. “This was the only way we knew to find you. We knew eventually you’d come out of hiding, in order to find Seal and try to stop him. We knew you’d come for the Coat of
Tarham
. So we enchanted it ensuring that just one touch would bring you here. To us.”

I tried to make sense of what they were saying. I wasn’t hidden from them. Marshall had told me that they’d finally found me and were trying to find me a mentor. He’d told me that. Otherwise, how else would he know about me? Why would he be protecting me?

“I don’t understand.”

She stepped forward once again, and I was surrounded by such warmth and love that I was instantly at ease. Everything in me relaxed although my mind still whirled.

“Our prophet foresaw your downfall. We’ve come to warn you.”

“My downfall. Seal?”

She shook her head. “Not Seal, though he will be a difficult fight for you.” She paused, as if readying me. “Perhaps it might if I show you instead?”

Her hand whipped out and closed around my forearm. The touch burned, and I yelled out. The ground whipped out from beneath me, and the pain vanished, as did the weird garden place. Suddenly, I was in a graveyard that I knew well –
Montesore
graveyard.

“I don’t understand,” I said, stepping away from her. The other two Sisters stood behind us, silent.

“I know why you trust this Damned so much,” she began. “But you cannot trust him. Trusting him will only lead to your death and to his immortality.”

“The Damned are already immortal,” I argued. “I have nothing to do with that. The soul lives on when the body doesn’t. You know that.”

“That’s true. A Damned soul can live on, both here and in Hell. But a half-Damned soul will not survive for very long – the body can’t handle the strain. In fact, we’ve estimated their survival to be maybe thirty years maximum. A half-Damned soul is born into a human body. Once that body dies, the soul cannot outlast it.”

I thought back to the book I’d been reading that mentioned half-Damned souls. The one I hadn’t believed. “So there is such a thing,” I muttered, mainly to myself.

“One has its eye on you.”

“I don’t trust any half Damned souls, thanks,” I snapped. “And I still don’t know why we’re here.”

Suddenly, in the scene that stretched out before me, a person darted out of a crypt at the top of a hill. A girl. Around my age with dark hair and tanned skin.... I watched her leap over the fence, and then keep running without missing a beat. Something inside me stirred.

It was me.

That was just a few months ago. Back before I started Hunting again. I started forward, walking straight through a gravestone in front of me. I stopped short when out from the shadows, a man appeared, staring after the other me. I’d
recognize
that mop of black hair anywhere.

“Marshall?”

“Is that him?” the lead Sister asked.

I nodded. “You should know his name. He’s a Hunter, like me. You were the ones who sent him to watch over me, right? Told him to guide me until you found me a mentor? Or did you make the order and not bother to check into who he was, who I was?”

“We gave no such order,
Amerie
,” she said gently. “We lost track of you when your mother died, and when we finally managed to find you again, you were hidden from us again by some sort of magic. By him.”

I spun to stare at her, the light from her face blinding me momentarily. “Marshall hid me from you? How? Why?”

“There are no such things as male Hunters,” the Sister said, ignoring my questions. “Only females can be Hunters. Did you not learn this at a young age?”

“Yes, but he’s one of a kind...” Panic began to swell up inside of me. “He is one of a kind, right? Right?”

She shook her head slowly, and behind her, the others copied. I stepped forward, my hands balling into fists.

“Tell me what’s happening,” I hissed. “Or I swear to God....”

“Before our time runs out, I’ll tell what you need to know to find answers for yourself. The thing you call Marshall is half-Damned. He’s learned he needs Hunter blood to be immortal. Make no mistake, we did not send him to you, but now that we know where you are, we’ll be sending a mentor to help you. You do not have to be alone.”

My blood turned cold. Marshall was half-Damned. I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t believe it. But then things started to add up in my head. How at home he seemed in a fight club full of Damned. The dark feeling I’d first felt when I met him. Why he didn’t want to leave me alone with Albert. Why the Damned I’d fought had told me to watch out for Marshall.

I gasped, breathing becoming harder to do. I doubled over, clutching at my chest and trying to suck deep breaths in. I didn’t even notice when we teleported back to the weird never-ending garden. Stumbling away from the women until the backs of my knees eventually hit the marble fountain and I sat down hard, my dress spreading out all around me.

Marshall was evil. He was evil, and he wanted to kill me.

“But why?” I choked out. “Why me? Why make me fall for him?”

“Please don’t let this distract you from your task,” the lead Sister said. “You must destroy the Coat of
Tarham
. Smash it. That’s the only way. Remember, it can be put together again if they get all of the pieces.”

The garden began to shimmer. I wasn’t sure whether it was my own grief and betrayal that was turning me crazy, or just the fact
that time
undoubtedly was running out.

“We will meet again,” they all said in unison.

I didn’t feel too encouraged by that. “Thanks for dropping this on me.”

“You wouldn’t be who you are today unless you were strong enough to handle this,” the lead Sister said softly. They all held up their right hands in a farewell gesture, and then they and the garden disappeared until I was back in the mansion, in exactly the same place, the statue still in my arms. I stared down at it, my whole body in shock.

Marshall. Marshall. Marshall. All I saw was his face.

Then the door burst open, and I whirled around. Miranda, the Damned from the night Albert’s home burned, and two other Damned stood in the doorway, glaring at me. I clutched the statue tighter to my chest and pushed thoughts of Marshall to the back of my mind.

“I thought you’d be in here,” Miranda said, stepping forward. “Oh, and nice dress”

I noticed none of them had elected to dress for the occasion. She stepped forward, swinging an axe in her left hand; the other two held weapons too. My two daggers were not going to do well against them.

“Nice bruise,” I said, indicating to her swollen right eye. “Seal not too impressed with you letting me get away?”

She growled. “Don’t you talk like you understand, little girl.”

“I understand me, whooping your ass. Up for round two?”

She ran forward, axe swinging for my head. I ducked, but she swung it back around and I fell into a shelving unit behind me when I tried to jump out of the way. The whole thing tipped over, and I went with it.

The axe came down at me. I deflected it, and then kicked Miranda in the stomach. That gave me the chance to roll off the shelves and onto the floor. One of the other
Damned rushed me, a baseball bat high above his head. Still clutching the statue, I sidestepped the attack and rammed my elbow in his face. He grunted and swung the bat at me again. I rolled out of the way, and the man holding the bat, unable to stop his swing, hit the other Damned that had been coming up behind me. He fell hard, and he didn’t get up again.

Fighting with one hand was a lot harder than I’d
realized
, and both Miranda and the other man had weapons. I needed to smash this damn statue, but I couldn’t do it around them in case they gathered the pieces. I eyed them both advancing on me, and decided to make a break for it. I picked up one of the expensive vases and threw it at Miranda before running out of the room.

In my panic, I couldn’t remember the escape route. I took a complete guess, began to run down the hallway, and ducked into a room at the very end. It was a master bedroom, a remarkably well decorated one at that, but it only had one exit. I’d trapped myself.

Frantically, I spun around in circles until I spotted the open French doors, leading out onto a balcony. A swimming pool sprawled beyond. The kinds
you see in music videos on TV.

Kicking off my shoes, I sucked in a deep breath. Then I began to run. With every step that I took, my plan began to look sillier. What if I missed the water and hit the edge?