The Inner Circle, Book 3 of the Glass Wall ( A YA Urban Fantasy Romance ) (21 page)

I banged on the door, shivering in the icy
wind. But on my third knock, the door swung open ominously.

I hesitated, and then after calling Jareth
again by whispering his numbers in a shaky voice, I finally stepped
inside and quickly scanned the darkened room.

It was empty. Completely empty. Void of
furniture.

They really
had
moved away.

Perhaps the flicker of light that I’d seen
was the last Fae leaving.

And suddenly, I was utterly devastated.
Shattered. I guess until that moment, I hadn’t really believed that
Rafael was leaving.

Hot tears threatened, and I sank to the cold
floor, shivering. But I was too miserable to even cry.

I don’t know how long I was there on the
floor, cringing, but gradually, I became aware of footsteps
shuffling overhead.

I held my breath.

Was it Melody?

I waited, listening. And then I heard a deep
voice speak and another answer.

Taking a deep breath, I got to my feet and
tiptoed to the stairs, pausing to listen.

The voices were a little louder. Male
voices.

And then a shadow moved, but before I had a
chance to even be scared, Ajax bounded down the stairs to greet
me.

My heart leapt with joy. The fact that Ajax
was there meant that Rafael was as well.

I found myself grinning.

And then Ajax flattened his ears. Nudging me
with his shoulder, he crouched low and crawled up a few steps
before turning around to look at me.

I knew he was trying to tell me to follow him
quietly. He hadn’t betrayed me before. I looked into his dark eyes
and decided to trust him again.

Feeling safe with Ajax as my guide, I tiptoed
silently up the carpeted steps after him.

Once upstairs, Ajax paused in front of a door
at the end of the hall and stood alert, tense with stifled energy.
The fur along his spine bristled.

I stopped.

The voices were louder. I was certain one of
them belonged to Rafael.

Ajax stood where he was, regal, silent, and
then with a dangerous glint in his eye, he pushed the door
open.

It let out a loud squeak.

The voices stopped immediately, but after a
few seconds, they resumed as Ajax disappeared inside.

I waited, but when Ajax didn’t reappear, I
inched forward on my stomach like a marine scrambling through the
jungle underbrush.

A dim shaft of light fell from the narrow
crack of the open door. Holding my breath, I peered into the
room.

I couldn’t see anything at first. But when my
eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw Rafael sitting cross-legged in
a chair, clad in pure white with his feathered mask at his
feet.

I gasped.

For a brief moment, Rafael glanced in the
direction of the sound.

Ajax held still.

I held my breath, not daring to move, but my
heart sang. Rafael
hadn’t
left me after all.

And then with a shrug, Rafael turned away and
gritted his teeth into a smile. “You broke our agreement. You let
the mutant tulpa loose for your own purposes, did you not?” he
asked coldly. “I can no longer trust you.”

“But we can share purposes,” Marquis replied,
stepping into view. “Join us, my son. To be one with the
Brotherhood is a relationship like no other.”

And then Ajax’s fur rose as Blondie’s dark
whisper of malice slithered through the room, “Join us, Rafael, and
we will aid you in your quest of cleansing the Fae.”

With each word, Blondie’s voice deepened. But
for the first time, the lull of his voice had no power over me.

I was cautiously optimistic that Al’s hat was
working.

And then to my absolute horror, my phone
rang. The sound echoed loudly through the empty house.

I couldn’t believe that I’d neglected to
silence it.

Knowing it would be the end of me if I were
caught, I leapt to my feet and dove for the stairs, trying to
silence my phone along the way.

I’d just reached the bottom, and the front
door was in sight when my feet were knocked out from under me.

My phone flew out of my fingers as I hit the
ground. Hard. The wind was knocked from my lungs.

Unable to breathe, I looked up into Marquis’
sneering face.

“What have we here?” he asked, grinning from
ear to ear.

He blinked in rapid succession, but not fast
enough to prevent me from catching a brief glimpse of his vertical
pupils. With a wild-eyed and cruel expression, he grabbed me by the
back of my neck and hauled me to my feet.

Managing to catch my breath, I kicked him
then, thrashing around wildly, but he was much stronger than I
was.

Cruel fingers squeezed my arms, and then I
was slammed against the wall.

I felt something crack and a sharp pain
seared through me, rendering me unable to move. My legs gave out,
and I collapsed to the floor.

“You’re an unexpected bonus,” Marquis said
with a laugh, squeezing my arm in a punishing grip.

And then he proceeded to drag me back up the
stairs.

I’d seen people dragged in movies, and I
always figured it would hurt, but in reality, it was beyond
excruciating. He seemed to delight in banging me into every corner
and wall as he pulled me back to the darkened chamber.

Tears of pain clouded my vision, but I saw
Melody clear enough.

She was standing in the middle of the room,
and Marquis picked me up to throw me to the ground at her feet.

I couldn’t move. I hurt too badly. I just
stayed as I was in a pathetic huddle as she looked down her nose at
me.

I wasn’t sure what was worse. Seeing the
mutant tulpa or being alone with Melody. They were pretty close. I
managed to avoid eye contact as long as possible, but I finally
looked into her eyes, I was surprised at the murderous rage
simmering in them.

“It is time for you to die,” Melody told me
with shocking fierceness. A cruel smile formed on her lips.

There was no way to defend myself. I couldn’t
even move. And honestly, with the amount of pain I was in, I was
surprised that I was still breathing.

And then Rafael swam into my field of vision.
His jaw was clenched tight, and his face was hard. “Free her,” he
ordered.

I watched the smile drain from Melody’s
face.

“Why risk many when one will suffice?” Melody
hissed. “Let me kill her and have done. I fear that your heart is
not with us, my prince.”

And then she attacked. As her fingers closed
about my throat, from somewhere, I found the strength to fight back
like a madwoman, kicking, twisting, and biting. Judging by her
shrill curses, I found my target more than once.

Abruptly, she was knocked back, but she took
me with her, maintaining her grip on my throat as my breath came in
short, shallow gasps. I could feel my consciousness beginning to
slip away.

Dimly, I heard Rafael roaring, “Do not harm
those precious to me. I will protect them!”

“You find this human precious?” Melody
shouted back, astounded.

He responded with a single word of
“
Yes!
”

And with that single word, he struck Melody
back.

She dropped me at once. The cold fresh air
burned my lungs as I dropped to my knees.

And then pandemonium ensued. As Blondie
jumped towards me, Ajax became a muscle-bound brute of a dog,
turning into all teeth and raised fur as he launched himself at the
Mesmer like a missile.

Blondie squealed, a high-pitched shriek.

Marquis was in the corner, wrestling with
Rafael and Melody. I wasn’t sure who he was trying to help, if
either of them, but then Rafael shoved him roughly to one side. In
two giant steps, he was at my side, spreading his arms wide to
shield me with his body.

And then Marquis fell to the ground, and
suddenly, Melody appeared behind Rafael.

I couldn’t even warn him. My chest hurt too
much. My ribs were broken, and I knew I was critically injured. My
breath was little more than a choking rattle.

Helplessly, I watched Melody draw a slender
knife from her belt. I saw her hand rise and then fall as she
plunged the weapon into Rafael’s back.

Rafael gasped, and turning white, fell to the
floor writhing in pain.

With a look
that could strike fear in the heart of anyone, Melody hovered over
Rafael and spat in a low voice, “Those who succumb to feelings of
love will never be powerful. You know this.”

“That is your belief, not mine.” Rafael
gritted his teeth. The pain was heavy in his voice.

I could see the knife handle protruding from
his shoulder, and although he was bleeding, the wound itself didn’t
seem mortal. I knew the real danger lay in the slim iron blade,
releasing lethal poison into his body and causing excruciating
pain.

I wanted to help him, but I couldn’t move. In
fact, I couldn’t feel my legs anymore, and it was all I could do to
stay conscious.

Slowly, Melody straightened. And then a
malicious smile formed on her sharp face, and she turned aside and
raised her hand.

Ajax’s barking—that I suddenly realized had
been a continual background noise— abruptly ended in a high-pitched
squeal.

I closed my eyes, knowing that it wasn’t
good. Desperately, I summoned Jareth once again. But still, he
didn’t come.

Where was he when I really needed him?

And then Marquis returned. Taking in the
extent of our injuries, his eyes flashed a startling bright yellow
that revealed pupils narrowed into razor-thin slits.

He drew his brows into a frown. “Do not let
them die,” he said, sounding quite alarmed. Prodding me with a toe,
he added, “The human body is too frail.”

He stepped forward and stretched his hand out
in my direction, but Melody drew him back sharply.

“Leave her be,” she ordered crisply.

Marquis hesitated. He appeared uneasy. And
then he spoke, but this time, his voice vibrated into the
impossibly low bass of a Mesmer.

“Do not let them die, Melody,” he repeated in
deep, reverberating tones.

But Melody’s only response was an arrogant
toss of the head. “Do not even
think
to mesmerize me,” she
grated harshly. And then pointing at me, she added, “It’s better if
Sydney is no longer here.” Fishing in her pocket, she pulled out
her trion.

At that, Rafael gave a hoarse cry and lurched
to his feet. Reaching back, he twisted the iron knife free and
flung it aside.

It happened so quickly that Melody had no
time to react until it was too late. Falling back an unwitting
step, she gasped, “Iron should immobilize you!” Her voice held a
note of rising panic.

Rafael’s gray eyes narrowed threateningly,
and there was a hard edge to his voice as he replied, “Purebloods
have more secrets than even
you
know of, Melody.”

A look of fear mixed with horror crossed her
face. And then, apparently willing to take no chances, she shifted,
instantly disappearing into a cloud of mist.

If I could have, I would have breathed a sigh
of relief.

Marquis actually did. With his delicate mouth
splitting into a wide grin, he said, “Then you are joining our
side, at long last, my son.”

Rafael’s gray eyes swept him from head to
toe. “Never!” he swore emphatically.

Marquis’ nostrils flared. “But have you not
just made an enemy of Melody? Why if not to join our cause?”

“I may be an enemy of your enemy,” Rafael
replied coolly. “But I will never be your friend.”

That wasn’t what Marquis wanted to hear. His
mouth twisted in raw anger. “Then you now stand against us?”

With a contemptuous toss of his head, Rafael
answered him, “Marquis, I never stood
with
you.”

The vein on Marquis’ temple began to pulse.
He tapped his foot and, glancing down at me, shook his head. “Why
risk all for a mere human?” he asked. “You can live without her.
You don’t need her like we do.”

At that, Rafael closed his eyes, and I could
barely hear his reply. “Not so,” he whispered. “I need her
more.”

“Can you walk away from eternal life? From a
relationship deeper, closer, and far superior to even that as a
lover?” Marquis voice took on a tantalizing tone. “Listen to me.
I’m your father, and I—”

“Marquis may be my father, but this
relationship ends here,” Rafael said quietly. “My father died when
I was a child.”

“Not so,” Marquis objected, striking his
chest, “Marquis is still here.”

Rafael said nothing. He simply turned his
back upon him.

But clearly, Marquis wasn’t finished yet. “To
become one with the Brotherhood is ecstasy and wisdom beyond
measure!” he shouted.

“You are dead to me,” Rafael said in a voice
scarcely above a whisper.

Upon hearing those words, Marquis drew back
in outright alarm and then from nowhere, Blondie appeared, dragging
himself into view. His body was broken and bleeding. His injuries
were severe.

It was obvious that Ajax had nearly finished
him.

“They’re coming,” Blondie wheezed between
rattling breaths. “Leave. Must leave.”

Marquis let loose a string of curses, and
leaning back, slammed his fist against the wall several times. But
then bending down to scoop up Blondie into his arms, he warned,
“This isn’t over yet. This is only the beginning.”

With that, they too disappeared in a cloud of
mist, and we were left alone.

Rafael knelt at my side in an instant.

I looked up into his handsome face. I wanted
to smile, but everything was starting to get dark. I couldn’t
really control my body anymore, and the lack of feeling had crept
into my arms.

Rafael sent me a comforting smile. “Hold on,
Sydney. You’ll feel better in a moment,” he promised as he brushed
my hair back with his hand.