Scorned (33 page)

“You’re right,” he said. “It is a beautiful
language. Do that again.”

I would have, but there was a knock on the
door then and a wide-eyed Calliope stuck her head in. “I hope
everyone’s decent,” she said. “Everything’s clear. You can come out
now. Sorry about the cat fight.” She giggled. “You should see Edgar
and Dayla.” She whistled. “Edgar came out better than Dayla, but I
think she got the message. Plans for the rest of the day?”

“I think I just want to hang out in the room
for a while,” I said, ready to really relax and try to hide from
all the vampires that were after me.

“Alright. There’s a hot tub around back,”
she said. “Feel free to make use of it. Very few can.”

Once she was gone, Pierce plopped down on
top of me and buried his face in the back of my neck. “You want to
go to the hot tub?” he asked, his breath hot and tantalizing
against my skin.

“Mmhmm. Later.”

“Later?”

“Later.” I tugged at his shirt and he kissed
me well. I grinned. “You know how to make a girl feel loved.”

It was full dark by the time we made it to
the hot tub, and Roman made sure to let me know he was wide awake.
The hot tub was in the back yard, housed in a wooden box with a
roof and two hinged doors that shut over it so nothing could get
inside. What it really looked like, was a big wooden well.

We had to cross the snow to get to the hot
tub and Pierce insisted on carrying me. He set me on the edge of
the wooden well to take my shoes off and I slipped into the
boiling, frothing water. It was almost scalding. Pierce adjusted
the temperature just a little and climbed in after me. After a few
moments, the water cooled enough that I wouldn’t get dizzy. He
pulled me close and laid my head on his shoulder.

“LeKrista.” Pierce’s voice made me realize
I’d dozed a little while later.

“Hm?” I answered without opening my
eyes.

“We have company,” he said softly.

Roman stood in front of us, his hands folded
behind his back, his posture loose and non-threatening. “Good
evening.”

“Good evening,” Pierce answered.

“I trust you had a good day. I’m sorry about
Dayla and Edgar. It was bound to happen eventually.”

“You heard about the daywalkers?” Pierce
asked.

“I did.”

“Are these daywalkers hunting me now too?” I
asked.

“I do not know, but I will find out.” He
turned to look off into the woods. I wouldn’t have paid him any
mind, but Pierce sat up straight at the same time and looked in the
same direction.

“We need to get her back in the house,”
Roman said at the same time Pierce motioned for me to stand.

“What is it?” I asked as I climbed over the
edge of the hot tub. Pierce helped me out and Roman helped me down,
and between the three of us, I didn’t fall.

“It doesn’t smell like vampires,” Roman
answered, “but I’ve met some who can disguise their smell to me.
Hurry, please.”

I hurried across the cold snow on my tip
toes to touch as little snow as possible. I was freezing and
practically naked in the cold air. By the time I made it inside, I
was shivering violently. Roman produced a towel from somewhere and
wrapped it around me, but it did little to warm me.

Shouts came from the floor above us,
protests that were quickly cut off and silenced. I looked up, then
at Roman and whispered, “They’re in the house?” His nod sent a wave
of fear and dread straight to the pit of my stomach.

Something smacked against the sliding glass
doors, and I jumped and screamed. I couldn’t see its face, it was
turned sideways and covered with a black hood, but the hands were
bare and paper white.

“Ohmigod,” I said and started for the door.
Pierce grabbed my arm.

“LeKrista, what are you doing?”

I shook my head. “It’s Tate.”

“LeKrista?” Miranda was on the stairs behind
us fighting a smile. “I’m sorry,” and there was sarcasm in her
tone. “Did we scare you?” I tried not to smile, but failed. “Get
Tate in here before she freezes to death. That girl, I swear. She
can be so stupid sometimes.”

I opened the door and Tate enveloped me a
big, warm hug. “I’m not stupid,” she said over my shoulder to the
older girl. “You’re stupid if you think so. LeKrista! You’re
shivering! Ohmigod! Put some clothes on!” She slapped my arm.

“Well, if you hadn’t thought it would be
good fun to scare the bejesus out of everyone I would still be out
there in the hot tub with my boyfriend having a grand ol’ time.” I
said it all through chattering teeth, and Tate tried so hard not to
laugh. “Go ahead,” I told her. “Laugh all you want. Just don’t get
mad at me when I laugh my head off at you one day.”

“I won’t. I promise. Let’s get you some
clothes. Do you mind?” she asked Pierce.

“Be my guest,” he said. He wasn’t having any
trouble with the cold at all and I was a little jealous.

Upstairs, Gavlin had Eddy and his women
corralled in the kitchen, his ancient battleaxe slung over his
shoulder, ready to swing should anyone move.

“You really think that’s necessary?” I asked
as we passed.

“No, not really,” Miranda said. “Not
anymore.” But she made no move to call Gavlin off.

I showed the girls to my room.

"Wow," Tate said. "Are you
just
friends or are you 'special friends' with the vampire?"

I gaped at her. "He had this house way
before he met me I'm sure."

"This isn't a house," Miranda joked. "It's a
love shack."

"Oh my god. Seriously? I have Pierce." It
was a feeble defense.

"And?" I punched Tate in the stomach.

“Hot shower,” Miranda said. “Now. Get naked
and get in.”

I didn’t bother to adjust the temperature.
My extremities were so frozen that the water was scalding and it
was all I could do to stand there until they thawed. I was soon in
some warm pajamas, sitting on front of a roaring fire on a bear
skin rug, my two new friends on either side of me. Tate flipped
through the book I was working on.

“You can read this?” she asked.

“Oui,” I answered with a grin.

“Shut up, showoff.”

“That’s going to come in handy,” Miranda
said, “knowing so many languages. I know three; English, Spanish,
and French. I speak them all fluently.”

“I don’t even speak English fluently,” Tate
said and laughed.

The door opened and Pierce walked in.
“Hello, ladies,” he said. “I’m just going to change and get warm.
Dinner should be ready soon.”

“Late dinner,” Miranda said. “I hope it’s
not formal.”

“Wasn’t last night,” I said, and recounted
the tale of the night before. Tate was shocked to hear that I was
treated so badly at work.

“I find it hard to believe,” she said, “that
someone wouldn’t like you. You’re so super sweet!”

“Yeah,” I said. “So’s Miranda.”

Tate snorted. Miranda just looked
sheepish.

“Yeah, I’m embarrassed about that. I get
bitchy when my energy is low.”

“No kidding.” Miranda bumped me with her
shoulder.

“LeKrista?”

“Yeah, come in.”

Adeline walked in, her back stiff. “We’re
ready to eat.”

I nodded. “When Pierce gets done dressing
we’ll come done.”

She nodded uncomfortably and left.
Strange.

“I don’t think she likes us,” Tate said.

“I don’t think she likes
you
,” I
amended.

“Me? Why me?”

“You keep flirting with her man.”

I think Tate said something, but I’ll never
be sure, because I suddenly doubled over in pain. A siren sliced
through my brain, carving out little chunks while it rolled and
wailed one long screeching sound that cut through the silence and
solitude of the night. I knew I was screaming, but everything else
was lost to me until Pierce flew out of the bathroom. I don’t know
why that one thing stood out to me. The moment he touched me, the
siren lessened. It didn’t go away completely, but I could see again
and sense the room around me again. Something in my brain ruptured
and something else took its place.

“
You belong to me now,”
a voice
hissed through my head. Perdita’s voice.
“You cannot live
without me now!”
She was screaming
. “I can take your life or
I can let you keep it. The choice is yours. Will you bind yourself
to me?”

I clutched at my head and covered my ears as
Perdita screamed into my head again. I refused to be bound to her
for eternity, and she knew it. I felt my body begin to convulse,
but that’s where it ended. One convulsion before it stopped, the
screaming stopped, the pain stopped, but blood trickled from my
ears.

“
No,”
Perdita said.
“I will not
lose my hold on you because you are sick and weak.”

“I’m not weak,” I said aloud, but the words
came out mumbled, sticky like I was eating peanut butter. “Roman.”
I said the name, but I wasn’t sure anyone heard or could
understand. I only hoped Roman could.

The chaos around me calmed like I was in a
bubble of silence. Tate and Miranda were yelling.

“Put a ward over her!” Tate said. “You
should have done that days ago!”

“I did do it days ago, but it didn’t hold!”
Miranda defended.

“Well, put one over her now!”

“I did!”

“Well, then what’s wrong with her?!”

“I don’t know! At least she’s stopped
screaming!”

“Fix her!”

“You can’t fix her.” Roman’s voice filled
the room, low and thick with that ancient accent. I rolled my eyes
up because I didn’t have the brain capacity to move anything.

Roman knelt next to me and his fingers
brushed against my face. “LeKrista can you hear me?”

I tried to answer, but the words came out
garbled.

Help me.

“I will try, my sweet, but I cannot heal
you.” There were shouts and those animalistic screams coming from
down the hall. “She’s in the house,” Roman said before the door
blasted open. I saw Perdita’s face in my head, a projection from
Roman, because all I could see from my place on the floor was the
hem of her outlandishly fantastic dress. Even in my catatonic
state, I admired her dress. How twisted was that?

Perdita was angry and no longer was it about
the fact that I’d killed her lover. Once again her attempt on my
life had been thwarted.

“LeKrista!” Miranda shouted. “I’m not going
to be able to hold this for long and fight her. You have one choice
here!”

It always came down to that one choice you
didn’t want to have to make. In this case, it came down to whether
or not I would accept my power, my magic, and be like Miranda, or
let this vampire kill me. I had to admit, dying was tempting,
because it meant I wouldn’t have to deal with this crap
anymore.

But, I couldn’t die, could I? Because that
boy told me there was something I was meant for in all this. Did
that mean he expected me to accept my power? So, all in all, there
really was no choice, was there? Life or death yes, but if I lived
I had to accept what I was.

I felt warm blood trickle from my ear and I
knew that, whether I wanted it or not this was something I had to
do. I closed my eyes, and let my mind drift back to the other day
under the tree in my backyard with Miranda. I tried to feel what I
felt then, but I couldn’t find the wind.

“
I need to fly,”
I tried to think at
Roman. The only knowledge that he heard me was his arms scooping me
up, and with all of the fighting around us, we flew.

“
Faster,”
I said. I needed to feel
the wind blow through me so I could open the door and let my magic
in.

“She will come after us, my sweet,” Roman
said softly as we flew. “She will not be distracted for long.”

I didn’t need long. I just needed to fly
faster, so I told him,
“Faster.”

We flew faster. Faster and faster still
until I felt that first breath of wind breathe through me, and I
tried to catch it. I tried to suck it in and wrap it around me, but
it broke free. It burst from me like a bullet and I felt Roman’s
body jerk. And then we were falling back down to earth. Back
towards the ground and the fighting, and I suddenly knew we were
high in the air, but we wouldn’t be for much longer.

“What have you done?” Roman asked, his voice
was weak and his body limp as we fell, and I felt myself slip from
his grasp. “You’ve taken it all.”

I frowned. “Taken what?” I asked. The moment
I spoke, I knew something was wrong, backward. Roman was in my arms
now and he felt weak. The swelling in my brain was going down, and
I noticed something else.

We weren’t falling. We were dropping, losing
altitude at an alarming rate of speed, but we weren’t falling. This
wasn’t chaotic, it was controlled. Somehow, and I don’t know how, I
was controlling our decent. I expected to lose the control the
moment I realized what was happening, but I didn’t. We continued to
drop until my feet unexpectedly touched the ground outside the
house.

“You took all of the energy I absorbed the
other night,” Roman said weakly.

“Are you dying?” I asked, and he chuckled,
though he coughed with the effort.

“No, but I am weak. I need to feed.”

“I’ll get you inside."

The front door stood wide, blown open by
Perdita in her haste to get to me. I carried Roman inside to the
living room and set him on the sofa. “What do you want me to
do?”

“I will be fine here,” he said. “Your
friends-”

“Your friends are suffering because of you.”
Perdita stood in the doorway, and what struck me as odd was the
intensity with which I could feel her presence. I’d never felt her
like this before. She wasn’t in my head, it was just her presence.
“I’m impressed,” she said to me. She was leaning against the wall
inspecting her fingers like she did this kind of thing every day.
And maybe she did. “How did you heal yourself?” she asked.