Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel (22 page)

I am not a Lurker
.

I am not a Lurker
.

I am
not
a Lurker
.

I still couldn’t shake away my surprise when I focused on her face again. The more I studied her, though, the more I realized that while the resemblance was definitely there; it wasn’t uncanny. Her lips, however, were the same shape, her almond-shaped eyes were the exact shade of cornflower blue, and her pert, upturned nose hinted at the same English and Irish origins that mine did.

“Do you need anything else?” she asked, her voice coming from deep within her throat. I could see from her eyes that she was just as shocked as I was.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

She swallowed hard and then took a deep breath,
exhaling through her nose as she debated whether to tell me. She swallowed again. “Bryn.”

“Are you a Daywalker?” I asked, suddenly wanting to stall her, even though I knew she wanted to leave. But I wanted to learn everything I could about her in order to further distance myself, ensuring that we had nothing in common, especially not DNA.

No, she is a Lurker and I am the Queen of the Underworld
.

There was just something so familiar about her, and it made her somehow feel safe—like she was the only friend I had in this godforsaken place. Of course the thought was ludicrous because I didn’t know this woman from Eve, and she was as much my enemy as Luce. And that was when I returned to my original suspicion—this had to be some sort of stunt Luce was pulling to win me over.

It was all very conniving and very smart.

“God, no!” she said, then laughed at the very thought that she might have something in common with the descendants of vampires. “I have nothing to do with those leeches.”

I was surprised by her indignation toward the Daywalkers. Luce had made it seem that everyone here liked one another. But apparently the Lurkers suffered from their own sense of civil discrimination. “Then you’re an Elemental?” I asked.

She just nodded, her jaw tight and her body rigid. It was more obvious than ever that she was uncomfortable.

“Bryn is one of our most talented Elementals,” Luce said from behind her. She jumped, surprised, then pasted a smile on her face and bowed her head
in deference to him, her irritation only visible in the way her lips were pressed tightly together. He glanced down at her and smiled with obvious pride. “She is a healer and one of our finest warriors.”

That was when I noticed her outfit—she was dressed all in black: tight, black capri stretch pants and a black sports bra. Strapped to both of her wrists were small knives, and a dagger was strapped to her right thigh. She was about my height—not exactly tall, but average size for a woman. Where I had a softer overall look, she was pure muscle. I could see it in the lines of her arms and her thighs. Her waist was minute even though she managed to have an ample bustline.

They must be fake
, I told myself. Either way, she had a figure that most women would die for. And what was even stranger, while recognizing how much she looked like me—and I didn’t particularly think of myself as a showstopper—she was beautiful. No, stunning. And she was the type of beautiful that was indisputable. She was gorgeous.

“If you’re an Elemental,” I said, wanting desperately to understand the Lurkers and how their community worked, “why are you trained in weapons defense?” I was referring to the weapons strapped to her body. “Why are you trained in knives?”

She was about to speak, but Luce took that opportunity from her. She gave him a look of displeasure. “One cannot always rely on magic,” he started, smiling at me as if asking how I took my tea. “Having only one defensive strategy is not much of a strategy at all, is it?”

I gulped, realizing any defensive strategy they had
was intended for use against my people. I simply nodded.

“May I return to my training?” Bryn asked Luce, her left eyebrow raised in an expression that resembled exasperation.

He nodded slowly, exhaling as he did.

“We will discuss this later,” she said as she stormed away, which gave me a bit of a shock. I mean, I couldn’t imagine anyone talking to Luce that way—he just didn’t seem the type to allow it. Yet he had with her. Interesting.

I saw now that he seemed uncomfortable, color flooding his cheeks. “She is young and very able,” he said, “though she has not yet learned how to rein in her temper.” He seemed almost apologetic.

“She’s a healer, you said?” I asked, trying to understand just how powerful she was. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt the information would prove useful to me at some point.

“She is one of our most powerful, yes,” Luce said, a fond smile taking hold of his mouth.

“And yet she hasn’t been able to heal the Daywalkers,” I said.

The smile fell off Luce’s mouth. “She has done wonders for them. She’s been able to prolong many of their lives and has saved them from an inordinate amount of pain.”

“Hmm,” I said, sounding unimpressed.

“My hope is that the two of you together will be able to achieve the impossible—that you will combine your abilities to heal the Daywalkers, once and for all.”

I shook my head. “That sounds like an immensely difficult task.”

He nodded. “That it is, that it is.” But there was something in his eyes that pointed to the fact that he wasn’t used to taking no for an answer.

I stayed silent, wanting only to return to the privacy of my quarters so I could puzzle through everything that had just happened and decide on a plan moving forward.

“Are you settled in for the night, then?” he asked. It seemed he was intent on leaving, which was just as well because I couldn’t wait for him to go.

I gave him a courteous nod.

“Then I shall see you in the morning, and we will continue our tour then.”

“Okay,” I said, surprised there was more Lurker camp to tour. The compound hadn’t seemed that large on initial inspection.

Luce nodded and with a slight smile turned and walked away.

Wanting only my privacy, I closed the door and exhaled deeply, my mind running wild as I wondered why Bryn had caused such an influx of bizarre feelings in me. Why did I feel like I knew her?

Before I went to bed that night, I tried to relay some of the information I had on the Lurkers to Rand. But I quickly realized it was harder to convey memories than to transmit information about what was going on in the here and now.

Based on the feelings of confusion that came to me through the bond, I was not successful. From what I could gather, he only received random bits and pieces of information. I decided to call it a night. Surprisingly, I actually managed to sleep. I’m not sure whether Luce had put some sort of charm on the house, the room, the bed, or me, but if he had, it worked. All that mattered was that I was able to get in some Z’s, and for that I was happy. Why? Because today was going to be a big day for me. I was determined to get more answers and pass those answers along to Rand. First and foremost, I needed to figure out where the hell I was.

As soon as the sun pierced through the slats of the blinds, hitting me squarely in the eyes, I sat up. Throwing the bedclothes off, I stretched, reaching for my pants and shirt from the chair back beside the
bed. They were the same clothes I’d worn yesterday—I’d slept in my bra and panties.

Once I was dressed, I strolled into the living room and peered through the windows, where I watched the people of Lurkerville hurrying off to their day jobs. I had to imagine all their jobs centered around this compound. Some were going to the hospital, others were probably in charge of security. There had to be some sort of school, and the list went on. It was like a bustling minitown all encapsulated behind a very high, very barbed wire fence.

A knock on the door pulled me from my reverie. I figured it had to be Luce. I went to answer it, and was surprised to find Bryn standing there. She was dressed in her fighting attire and was holding a pile of clothes. She thrust the clothes into my hands without so much as a smile, but did offer me a raised brow when she registered the fact that I was wearing my outfit from the previous day.

“I’m sure you’ll be happy to get out of those,” she said in a bitchy way then, dispelling whatever sympathy I’d assumed she had for me, looked me up and down. But somehow her less than gracious attitude didn’t seem real. It seemed artificial, trumped up, like she was trying too hard.

A few seconds later I was again struck by the feeling that I knew her and, more eerily, that I knew her very well. But I was also convinced that the feelings weren’t genuine. It was nothing more than a trick of Luce’s magic, an attempt to win me over to their side. The more I thought about it, the more it angered me, and the more resolute I was to ignore it.

“Thanks for the clothes,” I muttered, offering her
an identical copy of the frown she’d just given me. Immediately, the frown vanished from her face, replaced with surprise. Why? I had no clue.

“Your breakfast is on the counter,” she said hurriedly, and wrapped her arms around herself as if suddenly uncomfortable. “Luce said to let you know that he’ll be coming for you in twenty minutes.”

“My breakfast is on the counter?” I repeated suspiciously, deliberately ignoring the part about Luce. Glancing back at the kitchen counter, I spotted a tray with juice, coffee, and a covered plate. Anger began spiraling inside of me as I thought about someone entering my private accommodations without my knowledge. “Did you guys just come in while I was sleeping?” I asked in an irritated voice. Granted, I understood I was a prisoner, but a little privacy would have been nice. “I thought I was a ‘revered guest’ or some such crap.”

Bryn seemed surprised by my anger, but smiled at the “revered guest” part. She shook her head. “You’re right—you aren’t much of a guest. Apparently, you’re smarter than you look.”

“I look like you,” I threw back at her. She swallowed hard but didn’t respond.

She shrugged, trying to maintain an air of ennui. But I couldn’t help noticing that she still hadn’t reacted to my comment about how we looked alike, which meant she was just as aware of it as I was.

Yeah, but who cares, Jolie?
That adversarial voice piped up within me.
Looking like someone doesn’t mean anything
.

Come on, we look a lot alike!

Okay, so for the sake of argument, let’s say you do
.
So what? What’s the point of it? What are you trying to say?

I’m not saying anything
.

Okay then. Shut it!

“Do you always argue with yourself?” she asked, and I felt my chin nearly hit the floor.

“You just … overheard me?”

The look she gave me told me she wasn’t joking. She just nodded. “I’m a sensitive and you’re … pretty loud.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

She frowned. “That I can hear idiotic arguments that go on in people’s heads.”

I tried not to think about anything at all, but I was suddenly overflowing with questions. Did all of the Lurkers have this talent or was she the only one? And if she had overheard my self-debate, what other information was she privy to? Had she been listening to me from the get-go? God! What had I been thinking about all this time? I started to think of Rand but immediately stopped myself.

“Did you get any of that?” I asked.

She laughed, then shook her head. “No, this time you did a good job of hiding it.”

“So going back to what you said before you started eavesdropping on me,” I began, completely not okay with the fact that she could hear my innermost thoughts. It was a sign that I would need to be even more careful. I had to keep the proverbial lid on my mind, because I didn’t know who else possessed such a gift. Maybe Luce? If that were the case, I basically had as much privacy as a goldfish in a bowl.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” she said, almost sounding
annoyed. “I couldn’t keep your voice out of my head. You sounded like two old women bitching at each other, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything else.”

I frowned again, a bit offended by her comparison of my innermost thoughts to two old hens. “Anyway, what were you talking about when you replied I’m not a ‘revered guest’?” I planned to stash all this information for later, when I could figure out what to do with it.

She cleared her throat. “Just that you are not as much of a guest as Luce would like you to believe and, unlike him, I don’t think you’re stupid enough to believe it.”

Strangely enough, what she said somehow endeared her to me because I felt like she wouldn’t sugarcoat anything. She wasn’t afraid to tell me how it was, warts, moles, blemishes, and all. “So now we get to the crux of the whole matter,” I said with a smile. I liked being able to speak openly with her, without Luce’s dog and pony show. “What are your plans for me?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

I raised a brow and just studied her.

“I know you’re here to reanimate our dead Daywalkers. Luce means business, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll do it.”

“And what then?”

She shook her head. “I don’t question him. I just obey.”