Soul Bound (24 page)

“I’m not convinced that’s a great idea. My presence might inspire the librarian to bash everyone’s head in with an encyclopedia.”

A smile tugged at her lush mouth. “You can wait outside if you like. Nothing’s going to happen to me at the library.”

“We can’t know that for sure.”

Refusing to be dissuaded, she grabbed her purse. “We can’t hide forever. We need to figure this thing out, decide who we can trust. If anything goes wrong, I’ll send you a telepathic vibe or something. Then you can go all superhero on me. Okay?”

“I keep telling you—”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re not a hero. I know.” She cut a path to the door. “Are you coming?”

Tossing an uneasy glance out the window again, Jace swallowed the protest lodged in his throat and reluctantly followed.

Kyros wasn’t accustomed to failure. As the first to be born to an Ancient in the New World, he ranked above all others. His power was surpassed by none, save for his father, who now waited for him in the abandoned hotel in what had once been the courtyard.

“I was expecting to find you in the catacombs,” Kyros said. Athanatos rarely ventured to the surface, favoring the intricate network of rooms and passageways below, not to mention his elaborate chamber.

“Every so often I like to come up here and look at the sea,” he answered. “To remember.”

“The Great Flood?”

Athanatos was one of the few remaining survivors from the antediluvian world, and he took great pleasure in reminding them.

“We can never let ourselves forget how close to extinction we came. Never again can we pollute the human gene pool. Hybrids are an aberration. They must all be eliminated.”

Kyros had heard this speech so many times he’d lost count. Ever since his father had learned of the prophecy, he’d been obsessed with the complete annihilation of the Hybrids. Unfortunately, all those under Cal’s reign were protected, cloaked and well hidden, and imbued with the inexhaustible power of their leader. But the newborns were weak, vulnerable, and more often than not proved easy targets.

“Have you managed to track down Lia Benson?” For some reason, Athanatos believed the woman was important, but Kyros couldn’t fathom why.

He lowered his head respectfully. Rank was a thing of great importance among their kind, as was duty. Unfortunately, Kyros had failed to perform the task his father had assigned him. “I can’t pick up her signature. I’ve tried, over and over again, unsuccessfully. If I could venture a guess, I’d say she’s been cloaked.”

A shadow scuttled across Athanatos’s face. “Cal.” He spoke the name as though it were an obscenity. “I should have suspected as much.”

Cal was the only one other than Athanatos who was powerful enough to mask energy.

Above them, black-bellied clouds gathered. The weather always grew erratic when a large number of Kleptopsychs assembled in a given location. Kyros hoped a rainstorm wasn’t imminent. Their kind had an acute aversion to water, most likely a result of the Great Flood. No matter how hot the stream, it always felt arctic cold against their skin. Showers were a necessary ordeal, quick and never truly enjoyed.

“If he went through the trouble of cloaking her, then I was right. She
is
significant.” Athanatos’s tone rang flat, underscored by calculation.

“What should I do, Father?”

In the distance, the sea roared. The sound alone was enough to chill him.

Athanatos listened to the crashing swells as though enthralled by the sweetest of symphonies. “We can’t allow Cutler to take the blood vow, if he hasn’t already.” A long pause followed. “It’s crucial that we locate him. Sadly, we’ll need to do it the mundane way. Do some digging. Learn everything you can about him. Trace his credit cards if you must.” The Ancient directed a pointed glare at Kyros, lowering his voice to a menacing growl. “He’s out there. Find him.”

Chapter Twenty-One

The Lincoln City public library was a bright and airy structure set against the blue backdrop of the Pacific Ocean. Today, it bustled with activity, the ground floor packed to capacity. Some bestselling author was having a release party, and the place looked more like a convention center. Lia passed a tall cardboard cutout of the author holding his book and couldn’t help but smile at the irony. The title read:
Do Monsters Live Among Us?

She zigzagged through the crowd and made her way to the third floor, where silence reigned and an expansive wall of windows provided a stunning view of the woods and the sea that lay beyond. She withdrew several thick, dust-caked volumes from the shelves, then retreated to a remote corner to study them.

Jace stood vigil outside, determined to ensure her safety even if he had to singlehandedly ward off an army of soul-thirsty, supernatural beings bent on reducing them both to ash. The best ammunition was knowledge, and that was precisely what she was here to acquire. The more they learned about these Kleptopsychs, the more prepared they’d be once the creatures came for them.

And according to Cal and Marcus, they would. The only question was when.

After over three hours of cramming, Lia was more confused than ever. There were as many interpretations of the Nephilim as there were books in the library. Some texts claimed the Nephilim were fallen angels—or more precisely, the Watchers. In Greek mythology, these creatures were called
gigantes,
which translated to giants. One book insisted that the Titans were the superhuman beings of yore also known as the Nephilim. Some documents went as far as to suggest that the Nephilim were the result of aliens mating with humans, and that these creatures actually went on to build the pyramids.

By the time she’d pored through a dozen or so volumes her head was spinning, and with good reason. Who were these creatures? Demons or demigods? Good or evil? Angels or aliens? But more importantly, could they be redeemed? Could Jace?

The only common thread was that they were without a doubt superior to humans in both strength and skill. That much she’d witnessed herself. The way Jace had lifted her as if she weighed no more than a feather and sprinted through the night with the speed of a panther. Her skin still tingled from the memory of his arms wrapped around her, sheltering her in heat. A woman could all too easily lose herself in that kind of strength, fall prey to the seductive pull of a man she didn’t understand and could never truly have.

A lump tightened in her chest as she reached for another book. It seemed the human desire to succumb to the Nephilim transcended not only a myriad of civilizations but time itself. Because of that, humanity had been nearly obliterated. Several texts insisted that at the time of the Great Flood, Noah had been chosen for his untainted gene pool. In other words, no Nephilim blood had coursed through his veins.

She opened the dusty tome, her eyes scrolling the pages, her mind wandering.

As much as she tried, she couldn’t deny the fact that she wanted a future with Jace. Immortality aside, they could still have a life together, for a few years at least. Then she’d slowly grow old, while he remained unchanged. The nurse at the Glen Creek Medical Center had insisted Jace’s mother hadn’t looked a day over twenty-five, while David Cutler seemed one step removed from the grave. Someday that would be her. Would Jace still love her then? Did he love her now or was he drawn to her because she harbored his lost soul in her chest?

What she would’ve given to be able to glimpse the future, if only for a second. Searching for Cal and Marcus’s mysterious prophecy made her long for one of her own.

But prophecies continued to elude her.

The last text she perused was even worse than the others, written in Latin. Thankfully, she’d taken a few Latin classes in college, and she was able to decode enough of it to understand most of its meaning.

She skipped over a couple of undecipherable paragraphs, then came across something that caught her attention, an ancient myth about two beings who shared one soul. The man, Euclid, was stillborn, only to awaken moments later in perfect health. Euclid not only survived but prospered. Blessed with great power, immune to illness or injury, he struck fear in every heart that crossed his path. Especially since he was alleged to have no soul.

Born on the same night, in the same village, only a few houses down, was Calista, a very special girl who had dual essences beating in her chest. The general consensus was that one of those souls had once belonged to Euclid. A belief that was confirmed when the two grew up and fell in love. Despite her family’s misgivings, Calista insisted on marrying Euclid, a man whose mere presence brought nothing but misfortune and disaster. When a drought destroyed their crops, the villagers held Euclid accountable. When a wolf killed all their sheep, they screamed for retribution.

As much as his fellow neighbors wanted him dead and gone, Euclid remained invincible. Until Calista’s father, determined to stop his daughter’s ill-fated marriage, uncovered an ancient sword rumored to have been forged with the blood of an angel. Convinced Euclid had been spawned by the devil himself, he considered this sword the perfect weapon. So one night, beneath an opalescent moon and a sky salted with stars, he crept through the forest, making his way to the small house Euclid intended to share with Calista.

He came upon his future son-in-law while he slept and, without hesitation or remorse, stabbed him in the chest, unaware that beneath the covers next to Euclid, his own daughter slept. Calista awakened to find her lover on the verge of death and her father standing over him, holding the blade that had committed the unthinkable act.

Heartbroken and betrayed, she gathered Euclid in her arms and cried. She cried so hard that her twin soul tore free from her body and found refuge in her lover’s ravaged chest. Slowly, his wounds healed. Breath filled his lungs and his heart resumed its steady beat.

Death had spared him, but it had not left empty-handed, for on the bed beside him, cold and lifeless, lay Calista.

Lia sat stone-still, staring at the pages, goose bumps pebbling her flesh.

She knew it was just a story, a myth like so many others, but something about it resonated within her, as though it held the answer to a question she had yet to ask.

She returned the thick tome to the shelf and labored to push the tale from her mind, but it kept poking at her consciousness. What had happened to Euclid after ingesting Calista’s soul? Had it fueled him indefinitely or had he slowly consumed its light and extinguished it?

She shook her head. Ridiculous, all of it. She was a woman of science, a doctor, yet here she stood obsessing over the outcome of some silly fairy tale.

Convinced she wouldn’t find what she’d come looking for, she pushed all nonsensical thoughts aside, gathered her things and headed to the staircase, hoping she wouldn’t get trampled by a throng of avid fans on her way out.

Across the street from the library, Jace sat in his rental, wondering why Lia was taking so damn long to come out. She’d been in there for hours, and he was growing restless, not to mention worried. There was some kind of event going on at the library. Masses of people kept entering and exiting the building. Every time the glass doors swung open, he jumped to attention, expecting to see Lia, only to be disappointed time and time again.

He assured himself he’d sense it if she was in danger, as he had when Cal and his lackey Marcus had abducted her, but something inside him revolted at the idea of being apart from her for too long.

What about all your talk about walking away from her when all this is over and done with?

Jace snickered at the contradicting thoughts warring within him. He wanted to be noble; he really did. The possibility of harming Lia chilled him worse than an ice-cold shower, which was all he’d been getting as of late.

But chills aside, there was another part of him that was so intricately fused with her that being separated from her became physically painful. Right now he ached for her light, for the peace she brought him, for the flood of emotion that filled his chest at the mere sight of her smile. Without her by his side, he was empty, and he hated it.

Staying with her might destroy her, but leaving her would undoubtedly destroy him.

The setting sun cut a white swath across his windshield. Despite the pink gush of sunlight that inundated the car, a dark energy closed in on him. Drawn to it, he slipped out of the driver’s seat and into the blinding day. The energy was familiar, similar if not identical to the one he’d sensed back at the house. But there was another signature. One that was darker, more insistent.

Jace’s spine prickled. He reached into his pocket, closed his fingers around the switchblade he’d found in his old room, carefully stashed away in a drawer. Before leaving the house, he’d asked Lia to smear the blade with some of the angel’s blood Marcus had given them. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

He followed the strange energy to the beach, where driftwood littered the sand and tall, shaggy trees dotted the coast. The sleepy sun hovered precariously over the sea, as sunlight fell to streak the water gold. As far as he could see, everything looked perfectly normal. But his gut told him not to be fooled. Something evil tainted the breeze…and it was hungry.

A scuffling sound reached his fine-tuned ears. Recent tracks indented the sand, leading to the copse of trees behind him. All of Jace’s predatory instincts sharpened, and he dashed into the surrounding woods in pursuit. Conflicting energies battled for dominance around him. He wasn’t sure where to go, where the creature hid.

Too late he realized he should’ve stayed at the library, kept an eye out for Lia.

He’d barely finished the thought when a cold breath slid across the nape of his neck. Something rock-hard sprang from the shadows and slammed into his back, robbing him of balance and sending him diving forward.

Lia ambled outside, lost in thought, squinting as the waning day made a last attempt at brightness. Soon the sun would set and dusk would paint the world gray. But for now everything sparkled. When she gazed up at the startling blue sky, it was hard to believe darkness existed at all. Talk of evil giants and fallen angels seemed more like the tall tales people told around the soft glow of a campfire in the middle of the night.