Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) (8 page)

What a Very Nice Trail
of Dead

Tegan

I wake up to Ethan’s gentle rocking as
he holds me in his arms. It’s odd to be able to conduct a daytime routine with
him now, sleeping at night and going out during the day. His silky fingers
trail along my spine before caressing my lower back. I arch up into his touch.

“Hi,” I practically
purr as I revel in the feel of him against me.

“Good morning,
beautiful. Shall we go and visit your dear
bunica
today?” he asks with a
hint of a smile.

“
Bunica
?” I
question, brow furrowing.

“Your grandmother,” he
translates.

I snicker. “She may be
my grandmother, but she’s certainly not dear.”

“So you don’t want to
go?”

“I never said that,” I
reply and crawl out of his lap to stand at the foot of the bed. My clothes from
yesterday are strewn across the floor and I crinkle my nose at the idea of
wearing them again.

“You don’t happen to
have anything I can wear lying around, do you?”

Ethan stretches his
chiselled torso out and my eyes are drawn to the V of his hips. “Go to
Delilah’s room and take whatever you like.”

I crinkle my nose
further at the thoughts of being stuck in something that Delilah would wear.
I’d barely be able to fit my boobs in one of her tops, never mind everything
else. Still, I go to her room and begin searching through her walk-in wardrobe.
Ugh. Everything she has is so tight. No comfortable baggy jeans or tops for
her.

After a good fifteen
minutes of searching through silky dresses I finally lay my hands on a pair of
khaki combats, the kind you’d find in a women’s boutique that’s trying to be
‘edgy’ and a Metallica T-shirt. I think the T-shirt must have belonged to an
ex-boyfriend of some variety because I highly doubt Delilah is into heavy metal.

I throw on the clothes
and return to Ethan’s room where I find him dressed in loose jeans and a
long-sleeved T-shirt that frames his shoulders nicely. Downstairs, he makes us
breakfast and then we hop into his car to drive to Emilia’s house.

Reaching her stately
abode, I stare out the car window and up at the house where my mother was
raised. It’s so far away from anything I’ve ever known that I feel like maybe
Darya wasn’t really the Dora that gave birth to me. But she must have been,
there’s no other logical explanation.

We simply started out
in very different worlds.

Ethan stops at the
gates and reaches out his rolled down window to press the button for the
intercom. A minute later a well-to-do male voice streams through the speakers.

“How may I help you?”

“My name is Ethan
Cristescu and with me is Mrs Petrovsky’s granddaughter, Tegan Stolle. We would
like to meet with the lady of the house, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“I’ll inform Emilia of
your request,” says the voice curtly before the intercom shuts off.

“She’s not going to let
us in,” I say on a sigh, dropping my elbow onto the dash and resting my cheek
dejectedly on my forearm.

Several minutes pass before
the voice comes back on the intercom. “Emilia has agreed to see you,” comes the
unexpected reply. “Please, come in.”

The gate buzzes open automatically
and Ethan drives through. He parks by the front entrance and we get out of the car.
Just before he can knock on the door I pull his arm back and stare up at him.

“Don’t you think this
is a bit too convenient that she’s letting us into her house?” I ask him.
“She’s got a little girl in there that she’s kidnapped and is desperate to keep.
She also knows that I’ve been trying to get that little girl back. Why would
she let me inside?”

The stark remembrance
that Pamphrock is dead hits me suddenly. Even if I did get Rebecca back, I
wouldn’t have anyone to return her to now. Unless of course her mother decides
to make a miraculous recovery from her state of madness, wherever she is.

“She won’t try
anything, not with me here. She knows my people would come after her if she
did.”

“Are you certain their
loyalties run that deep, Ethan?” I say, pulling no punches. “It wasn’t too long
ago that they were siding with Whitfield when he decided to exile you.”

He takes a lock of my
hair between his fingers, his knuckles grazing my skin. “Everything is
different now. Trust me in this.”

“I hope you’re right,”
I mutter just before he knocks.

A well-dressed butler
answers, and I presume this was the guy who’d been speaking to us through the
intercom.

“Welcome,” he says.
“Emilia will be with you shortly.”

He escorts us into a
vast lobby and then inside a high-ceilinged living room. The décor is all cream
with black lace trimmings. I don’t like it at all. I enjoy a good comfortable
living room. This place is so pristine it feels like I’m staining it with my
very imperfect presence.

Ethan and I sit on the
long sectional sofa and the butler asks us if we’d like anything to drink.

“Yeah, a double vodka,
please,” I tell him jokingly – but I’m not joking at all.

He nods his head
slightly and leaves the room. Ethan arches an eyebrow at me.

“What? I need it.
Emilia’s not going to be a walk in the park to talk to. In fact, she can be
quite the little bitch. I get the feeling she hates that I’m her relative but
feels this grudging obligation to get to know me.”

“Has anyone ever said that
your low self-esteem becomes you?” Ethan asks in a humorous tone, lounging on
the sofa looking beautiful and laid back among such a stuffy environment.
There’s the scent of lavender in the air that’s almost cloying.

“I wear it like a badge
of honour,” I tell him just as the butler returns with the vodka.

Ethan watches as I
raise the glass to him in a salute before knocking it back. I get a nice little
buzz going as I pour myself another shot. A minute later Emilia appears and
Ethan takes my hand into his. Her eyes zone in on the movement before she steps
over to an armchair in front of us and sits down.

She’s wearing a
knee-length burgundy silk dress with a V neckline. Her attention settles on
Ethan as she holds out her hand to him.

“I don’t believe we’ve
met. Ethan Cristescu, isn’t it?”

“That’s right,” he
replies, leaning forward and taking her hand into his. He places a kiss to her
skin and then glances up, flashing his eyes at her. He must have willed them to
go red for a moment because Emilia jumps back with a fright.

Her furious gaze darts
to me.

“Oh, Tegan, please tell
me you didn’t!” she cries.

“What? Tell you I
didn’t what?” I ask in confusion.

“This man is a vampire
and you allowed him to drink from you. There is no other explanation as to why
he is sitting here in a room full of daylight.”

I smirk casually. “Oh,
yeah. I did do that. It’s not what I came to talk to you about though. And
relax, he’s not going to bite you…unless I tell him to, that is.”

Ethan smiles at me and
lets out a low chuckle.

Emilia bristles visibly
and settles back into her seat. Trying to appear unaffected, she glances down
to study her fingernails which are painted the exact same hue as her dress. “So
many men in your life, I can hardly keep up,” she tuts.

“It takes one to know
one,” I say cryptically and she narrows her eyes at me on a scowl.

There’s silence for a
moment before she asks, “So, do you care to enlighten me as to why you are
here? Or are we going to just sit here all day?”

“I dunno. The vodka’s
pretty good. I don’t mind sitting here all day,” I answer pouring myself one
more shot of Grey Goose. I might as well get my money’s worth out of this
awkward visitation.

“Tegan and I came to
ask a favour,” Ethan interjects, taking my empty glass from me and giving me a stern
look that says,
no more vodka for you, my dear
.

“A favour?” Emilia
scoffs.

“Huh. I told you she
was going to be a bitch,” I say tipsily.

“Let’s try and keep
things polite, shall we ladies?” Ethan requests smoothly, taking my hand back
into his. His touch calms me slightly.

“Fine,” I mutter while
Emilia proudly lifts her chin and nods.

“I suppose you know
about the barrier surrounding the city,” Ethan continues.

“I’ve been informed of
it, yes,” says Emilia stiffly.

“Doesn’t it bother
you?” I ask.

She glances back down
at her nails. “I have no immediate plans to travel. And I’m sure the situation
will resolve itself sooner or later.”

“I don’t think it’s
going to be quite as simple as that,” Ethan disagrees. “All signs point towards
Theodore as the culprit and nothing with him has ever been easy. We have come
here because you informed Tegan that her grandfather is a sorcerer and she
would like to get in contact with him. We think he’s the only one who will be
able to help us.”

“Roman?” Emilia
exclaims with an incredulous expression. “You want me to put you in contact
with Roman?” Disbelief colours her words as she shakes her head. “He’s not in
Tribane. Nobody knows where he is, certainly not I. And even if I did know,
there would be no way for you to reach him since the barrier is up.”

“He’s a sorcerer. I’m
sure he could find some way to break through it.”

Emilia’s gaze flicks
from me to Ethan. “Isn’t it better if it’s left in place anyway? Without that
barrier humans would be fleeing the city and spreading stories about killer
vampires and dark magic. Before long the world’s media will set their attention
on us and then we’ll all have to leave and start over. If the world ever found
out the truth it would be the end of us. They’d kill us all.”

Well, I never thought
of it like that.

I sigh long and hard.
“What do you suggest we do then?” I question her.

“I’m not suggesting
anything. I’m staying out of all of this and focusing on keeping myself and my
little girl safe.”

“
Your
little
girl?” I say. “She’s not yours, Emilia. You stole her.”

“She’s mine now. Her
father is dead. Who else is going to raise her?”

I smile smugly. “She
has a mother, you know.”

Emilia pales. “What?
Where? I was under the impression her mother was out of the picture.”

“That’s none of your
concern. What is your concern is the fact that you’re going to hand Rebecca
over to me so that I can return her to her rightful parent.”

I don’t know where my
steely determination comes from. All I know is that I feel a sense of loyalty
to Rebecca that is almost sisterly, and I’m certainly not going to leave her to
be brought up by Miss Stone Cold Black Heart herself, Emilia Petrovsky. I can
just imagine the loneliness of growing up in this big, sterile house under the
supervision of such a woman. She probably makes Rebecca wear a flipping ball gown
just to go brush her teeth.

Emilia folds her arms
tightly over her chest. “You can’t have her. I won’t hand her over.”

I begin to laugh,
putting on my best Oscar-winning performance. “Oh Granny, you have no idea who
her mother is, do you?”

“Clearly I don’t and
you won’t tell me,” she answers in annoyance.

“You should hand her over.
Her mother is a scary woman, not someone you’d want to piss off,” I lie.

Emilia eyes me
sceptically. “I don’t believe you.”

Damn, maybe my
performance wasn’t so Oscar-winning after all.

“Well, that’s your
funeral. If you want to put yourself in danger for a little girl who you didn’t
even know existed a week ago, and who isn’t related to you in any way
whatsoever, that’s your choice.”

“Are those sour grapes
I hear in your voice? Are you jealous?” Emilia questions somewhat smugly.

“Yeah, because I really
want to be coddled by some crazy old witch,” I bite back.

“We should leave,” says
Ethan.

He must be bored with
this backbiting between me and Emilia. “Yeah, we should. I don’t need your help
and I will free Rebecca,” I inform her coolly.

“She’s not a prisoner.
I’m giving her the kind of life most little girls can only dream about.”

“We both know that’s a
lie, but whatever.” I stand and Ethan follows. The butler waits in the hallway
to escort us out and when we reach Ethan’s car I slam my hands down on the dash
in frustration.

“That was a complete
waste of time.”

“Not necessarily,” says
Ethan as he slips into the driver’s seat. “We might not have gotten any
information on how to find Roman, but I can get the girl for you if that’s what
you want.”

My interest piques as I
turn to him. “How?”

“I can sense which room
she’s in and there’s no longer a magical force field surrounding the house like
there was before. Although taking the conversation you just had with Emilia
into account, I imagine she’s casting a spell to put it back in place as we
speak, so I’ll have to act fast.”