The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1) (10 page)

            “If the symbol stayed
visible, supernaturals could find out you were marked and try to kill you,”
Diana explains as if reading my thoughts. “It will manifest itself when needed.
Now, it is done. As I stated previously, you have three moons to summon me
again.”

            Diana waves me away in her
queen-like demeanor and motions for Selene to step forward. “I leave her in
your hands. She is marked with my blood now, so keep her safe. Now, for my
payment.” Diana grabs Selene the same way that she grabbed me, but this time
when she grabs Selene’s face, she kisses Selene in a hard and demanding way.

            Before I find words to
make a fool of myself, I see that she’s not really kissing Selene, but taking
something from her. There is a white glow coming from Selene’s mouth into
Diana’s. When Diana is finished, Selene falls to the ground. By the time I
reach Selene on the floor, Diana is gone. I barely register the fact that my
ankle is no longer in pain. Damn, what did she do?

            Selene is able to get up
on her own and forces me to go lay down on the couch while she makes us both
something to eat. I don’t even get to tell her that my injuries are healed.
When she finishes, she sits beside me and we both eat in silence. Three moons?
I have three nights to decide if this is what I really wanted. They say that
life can change in only a matter of seconds, but damn, I am facing a hurricane
of issues and wondering if before all this is over if I will drown in my own
sorrow.

            “What did Diana take from
you?” I ask Selene as I try to get my mind off of death, destruction, and
apocalypse.

            “Well, I told you about
chakra or chi right? There is also another part of that. Chakra is what is
inside of us, but when it is on the outside it becomes our aura. It is an
invisible field that surrounds us all. The stronger the individual, the more
powerful the aura will be. It is our strength and our life force. Soon, you’ll
be able to feel the aura of others. What Diana did was pull some of my aura
from me as payment for inappropriately summoning her to this plane without a
proper tribute. Because of that, I cost her some of her own aura to travel and
she was simply replacing what I made her lose. She had to do so in order to
replace any weaknesses from traveling, jet lag if you will. Don’t worry, she
didn’t take enough for it to be a danger to myself, it just made me
light-headed. I owed her. I didn’t realize how high maintenance the Immortals
are.”

            “I see. So how do you know
about Diana?”

            “I really don’t. She’s the
first immortal that I’ve ever met and I still don’t know how she heard the call
as opposed to someone else. It was actually a long shot, but one of my contacts
was familiar with the spell. I’m really good with supernatural history. I know
the stories behind the immortals and the humans so I just knew I had to bring
one here to see you. You are what I think you are Rayne don’t you doubt that.
You’re special. I’m just so fucking sorry that it had to take this for me to
realize it.” Selene seems to have her own what ifs going on and I try to stop
her train of thought.

            “Ok, so what else don’t I
know about? How many different types of things go bump in the night?” I ask.
I’ve wanted to ask all night.

            “You have no idea. Hell, I
have no idea about them all, because a lot of the races, like the immortals,
don’t even walk this plane anymore and have to be summoned. Some, like the fae
have died out, or so they say. Vampires, werewolves, and even angels are
nothing like the stories. For instance, angels are not ones to fuck with. They
are a race of true warriors that usually only live in the otherworld which is
where you go when you pass on. If you see one here, that means war or
apocalypse is about to break out. They are the balance keepers and from what
I’ve heard or read, completely unstoppable, or at least as close it as one can
get.”

            I listen intently and with
mild shock as Selene reveals all this to me. I watch her mouth move and curl up
into a smile at just how excited she’s getting by telling me all of this. It’s
amazing how much of a secret her whole world has been to me and I start to
wonder if I would have ever known about it otherwise.

            “You’ve met a demon, and trust
me, they get much nastier. Some are only incorporeal in this realm, but can
wreak much havoc by feeding off of chaos or other things. Some can change forms
and live among us. They can also breed with humans in some cases, but the
offspring will always be male for some reason. Half demons are not always evil,
but they are almost always volatile, terrible tempers. Other demons can…”

            I stop Selene right there,
even though I don’t want to. “Okay, okay, so I have a lot to learn. My brain is
definitely on overload right now. How about you just pick the main things that
I need to know right now and teach me later?” I suggest.

            “Ok, but there’ll be a
quiz at the end.” Selene smirks and winks. “Let me run you a shower. It’s been
a while since you had one and in the morning you can contact Damien.” She gets
up and walks back toward the hallway where I came from. Seconds later, I hear
water running. Then, Selene comes back and helps me to the bathroom.

            When I reach the shower, I
see that there’s a stool for me to sit on. Selene helps me out of my clothes. I
think about milking it for all it is worth because the attention she’s giving
me is awesome, but I finally give in and tell Selene that Diana somehow healed
me. I get a punch in the arm for my confession.

            “Well, you won’t be
needing this then,” Selene tells me, snatching the stool out of the shower.

             As Selene stalks out of
the bathroom, shaking her head, I say, “Thank you,” quietly. She freezes in
place before shutting the door silently behind her.

            Finally alone, I stand
there as the hot water beats against my body. This is the first time since
everything’s happened that I can be truly alone with my thoughts. I’d never see
my family again. I’d never hear my little sister’s laugh or get to talk to her
about that boy Justin that she liked. I’d never get to hug my mom and dad
again. And, I’d never get to tell my mom that I was sorry for arguing with her
and that I wanted us to have a better relationship.

            Then, I think of all the
employees who were just collateral damage, the girl whose body they burned
because she resembled me, the torture of that man in my dad’s building, the
pain of having my ankle shattered. Suddenly, I don’t feel so safe anymore and I
look around suspiciously at the tiled walls and bright yellow shower curtain as
if the demon with its horrible mouths and terrible stench will come through the
door at any second. My breathing quickens as the walls feel as though they are
closing in on me.

            What had my sister felt?
How did she find the courage to call me instead of just looking out for her own
self? Why couldn’t it have been me instead of her? Why, why why? I want to
break something, pull my hair out, but I can’t. I fall to the floor and bawl my
eyes out, screaming at the top of my lungs. I want to be rid of all this pain.
I want my cries to rip this feeling from my body, this helplessness, this…

            I lie there crying,
sobbing, shaking. The water has long gone cold but I don’t care. Selene doesn’t
check on me, but I know she’s outside of the door beating herself up, knowing
she cannot help me right now. Knowing this is a battle that I have to fight
alone. I cry, until tears are no longer able to fall. I mourn for the death of
my family, the innocents that were our employees, and last for the woman that I
once was, but will never be again.

            Rest in peace.

Chapter Nine

           
A
fter I finally reach for the strength to turn the water
off, I stand and wrap a towel around my shaking body. I’m positive that I’ll
catch a cold from this, but that’s the least of my problems. When I look in the
mirror, I see a stranger in the reflection. Eyes puffy red with black circles
under them, a frown that seems to be glued to my face, nose red as well.
Quickly, I turn away, unable to bear another glance at myself.

            I open the door and Selene
is sitting on the floor across from me, her head in her hands. She’s had to be
so strong for me that I almost forget that she needs to do mourning of her own.
At the very least, she loved Jazzy as if she were her own little sister.

            Yet, Selene simply wipes
her eyes on her sleeve and stands up trying her best to force a smile on her
face for my sake. This is a woman that has done so much for me, but has yet to
tell me that she loves me. It doesn’t matter, she’s proven it every step of the
way. I smile back at her as I understand that between her and D, they’re all I
have left.

            “Where have you been
sleeping?” I ask Selene as I reach for her soft hands.

            “In the room across the
hall from yours.”

            “Well, take me there,” I
tell her.

            She seems shocked at this
as if she had expected me to not want to be near her yet, but it’s just the
opposite and that’s what I say to her.

            “Where else would I want
to be Selene? You’re my home now.”

            For the rest of the night,
we cuddle and allow our closeness to compensate for the voids we feel in our
hearts.

◊◊◊

            By the time I reach
Damien, he’s already in some meetings but he’d been so shocked to hear from me
that he cancelled the rest of his obligations for the day and drove straight to
the safe house. As I open the door for him, he rushes in, scoops me up in his
arms and refuses to let me go for at least five minutes. His broad chest heaves
up and down in sobs as he whispers over and over how glad he is that I am okay.

            It takes Selene reminding
him gently about the need for people to breathe to get him to finally allow me
back my personal space. Even then, he keeps a close distance as if I’m going to
need him to come to the rescue at any second. After asking me about ten times,
he finally accepts that I’m doing fine. Next, we spend half an hour explaining
the visit we had from Diana, what an immortal is, and telling him that I will
be leaving in two more nights to learn how to possess power that humans had
long forgotten they had. He isn’t happy about that at all, but at the same
time, there is a hint of relief in his eyes that I can and will be safe.

            “Is this something that
you truly want to do, especially this quickly after this whole thing? Do you
want to clear your head first, finish mourning?” Damien asks, even though he
knows me well enough to know that my mind is already made up.

            “This is not an
opportunity I can wait on. If Diana is telling the truth, it has been over 200
years since someone has been marked, well at least by her. What that tells me
is that she believes I am capable. Me lying in bed for more weeks crying will
not change anything, even if I want to, and trust me, I want to so bad. I want
to give up and just waste away, but I won’t. I owe my family too much. I owe
them justice,” I answer D without a second thought. He can hear the passion in
my voice and doesn’t push. I watch as Selene goes to the other room to give us
more privacy.

            “Don’t worry about your
affairs Rayne. Even though it seems as if you are dead, your father has
secretely been putting money aside for you for years in overseas accounts. You
have more than enough to never even have to work again. Plus, I was able to
transfer Jasmine’s undisclosed money into your account as well. You can do as
you wish with it. No one can touch it but you and me. As far as the company
goes, I am in charge now and though I am going to make small changes, you will
always have a say and hopefully, there will be a way to bring you back from the
dead and you can run it yourself,” Damien tells me.

            “I don’t want to run the
company, that much I know, you can keep it as long I get updated on major
issues and changes. All I want right now is to know what was so important that
my family had to die. What was such a secret?”

            D takes a deep breath and
sighs heavily before leaning back and taking off his sunglasses that he loves
so much. He rubs his face and says, “We were working on special weapons that
would help combat supernatural threats in many ways. Modern technology doesn’t
really seem to have an effect on their kind, so we had to change our way of
thinking. Bullets have no effect unless you shoot them repeatedly with kill
shots and besides, most are too fast to even be shot. We’ve been studying their
nature and developing new tools based on their perceived weaknesses.”

            “We had plans to sell it
to the government. There’s a branch that deals with the Supes but they are
limited on their research because they are a new group and have only found out
about the existence of supernaturals about fifty years ago. Even then, only a
handful of higher ups are privy to this information. They’d very much like to
keep exposure nonexistent as well as deal with the more dangerous of their kind
quickly and quietly.”