Thrall (33 page)

“
I’m telling you the truth. Believe me.
” As the words left my mouth, I once again felt them pushing forward toward Royal, cracking through the space between us with a delicate ringing. Royal’s eyes widened, but in comparison to how it had affected Derek, the call had almost no power over Royal. It did seem to impress him, though.

“What was that? I almost...” he shook his head, smiling wryly. “Power of suggestion?”

“It’s something Lilitu can do. Only, it’s usually a lot stronger than that.” I looked at Royal and remembered Thane’s words. “But you’re not into girls,” I said breathlessly.

“This is news?”

“It’s desire,” I said. “Lilitu only have power over people who desire them.”

After one charged moment, Royal sank back onto the window seat. His eyes lost their focus. “When did you say you started feeling... different?”

“On my birthday.”

“The day you showed up in your Firebird.” Royal’s eyes creased uneasily. “Some guy crashed into a post when he saw you. Parker and his friends couldn’t take their eyes off of you.”

“Yes,” I said breathlessly.

“And the entire male population at school showed up after your oh-so-subtle invitation in the dining hall.” I saw an expression I’d never seen on his face before - an uneasy awareness.

“Now do you believe me?”

He didn’t answer, but I could see the wheels in his head turning. “In the hallway today. When those guys saw Cassie, they saw easy prey. You glared at them and they just... wandered off.” Royal’s eyes were troubled.

“Are you scared of me now?” My voice was tentative, quivering.

“You’re still Braedyn, aren’t you?” Royal looked at me, considering. “Aren’t you? If everything you’ve told me is true, it’s not like you sought this out. You were born this way. You just know more about yourself now than you did before.”

“Parker,” I said, as though that explained everything.

Royal’s face hardened. “He had it coming.”

“You saw him, Royal. You saw what I did to him,” I said. Royal turned to look out at the city, but I saw his reaction in the reflection. Whatever he’d seen when they brought Parker in, it hadn’t been pretty. “If he dies,” I dropped my voice to a hoarse whisper. “It’ll be just the same as if I murdered him. Do you still think I’m the same girl you used to know?”

Royal forced himself to meet my gaze. “We all change, Braedyn. It’s called growing up. But the core of you, yeah. You’re still the same. You’re still the same girl who stands up to the bullies and then worries about the consequences. But what I can’t figure out is why you care about what happens to that ass, Parker. If I had the power to make him pay for what he did to Cassie, I wouldn’t waste one second regretting it.”

I shook my head, too weary to argue. The doorbell rang. I looked at Royal sharply. “Are you expecting someone?”

“No.” He got up. I followed him to the door. As we entered the foyer, we saw the flashing lights of a cop car through the frosted glass beside the front door. I heard Hale’s voice outside.

“Yes, that’s her car.”

Someone knocked on the front door. “Police. Please open the door.”

I shrank back out of the foyer. “They found me.”

Royal turned to study me, worried. “The cops?”

“The Guard.” The naked terror in my voice galvanized Royal. He grabbed all the cash from his wallet and shoved it into my hand.

“Go out my dad’s room. I’ll keep them distracted. You can slip over the back wall; follow the foot trail down to the gate. The bus stop...”

“I know where it is,” I interrupted him. “Royal...” I wanted to thank him, but he turned me around and shoved me toward the bedrooms. I didn’t resist.

As I slipped into Royal’s dad’s room I heard him open the front door. “Yes?”

I entered the dark bedroom and moved quickly across to the French doors, opening them quietly. The night was getting colder, but Cassie’s jacket offered some protection. I slipped up and over the stucco wall. As my feet hit the ground, I heard a door open.

Royal’s voice cut across the night, a little too loud. “I told you, she left the car here about an hour ago. Maybe she dropped her cell phone out there and that’s why you’re picking it up.” I scrambled in my pocket for my cell phone. No good taking the battery out now. I dropped the cell phone in a weed and started moving.

I kept low, using the wall as cover, and followed one of the hiking trails that crisscrossed the foothills. In moments I was behind another house, and Royal’s father’s place was out of sight. I straightened and started running, my feet making soft scuffing sounds in the dry sand of the trail. The moon was rising, casting a silvery sheen on the desert landscape. It was weirdly bright to my eyes. I reached the bus stop in about a half an hour. The hem of my coat was covered with dust and goathead thorns.

I only had to wait about five minutes for the bus. I didn’t bother to read the destination; it was going away from here, and that’s all that mattered. I paid the fare and slumped into an empty row, staring out the window for any sign of Hale’s truck. The bus pulled away from the curb and headed back into the heart of the city. When I was sure no one was following, I glanced up at the front of the bus and read the sign. We were headed to Old Town. Fine. There was a public phone near the bookstore. I could try Dad from there, and just hope he was home. It took about forty-five minutes for the bus to make the trip across town. I got off and headed into the Plaza. The coat was drawing stares, but that was fine with me. Neither Hale nor Gretchen had ever seen it, so it might throw them off my trail.

I spotted my favorite bookstore, but hesitated, worried that they might search the places I knew. Instead of heading for familiar comfort, I slipped into a coffee shop I’d never entered before. It was new, capitalizing on the revitalization of Old Town, but it was nice and dark inside. I ordered a simple coffee and found a chair next to a window. I’d had time to think on the bus. I still hadn’t come up with a viable plan beyond calling Dad for help. I had a clear view of the public phone outside. I was getting up the courage to call when I saw the Lilitu.

She was strolling down the sidewalk, as though she had all the time in the world. She held the hand of a guy who looked a little star-struck. I recognized her as the brunette Lilitu who’d crashed my party at the Raven. The guy at her side was clearly an intended victim. I studied him a little closer. He still looked alert and aware. It was a safe bet he hadn’t been attacked yet. I stood, reaching into my pocket for the cell phone that was no longer there, then, remembering, raced out of the coffee shop. I dropped some change into the public phone and dialed Dad’s cell. It went straight to voicemail.

“Dad, it’s me,” I whispered into the receiver. “There’s a Lilitu in Old Town, she’s got a guy with her. I don’t think she’s attacked him yet. Please, hurry. I don’t know where they’re going.” I hung up, feeling helpless. In desperation, I dropped more coins into the phone and dialed our house. It rang and rang, and finally the answering machine picked up. I left another breathless message and hung up, but the urgency I felt kept growing. Who knew when Dad would get the messages? If it wasn’t soon, it would almost certainly be too late for the unsuspecting stranger. I hesitated, conflicted, then fed a few more coins into the phone and dialed the number for the Guard’s house.

Lucas picked up on the second ring. “Yes.” His voice sounded clipped, emotionless. He barely sounded like himself. “Who is this?”

I swallowed, scared. “Don’t hang up. There’s a Lilitu in Old Town. She has a mark with her, but if you hurry...” There was a click on the other end of the line. “Hello?” He’d hung up on me. I turned back to the street, feeling helpless. The Lilitu and her prey were gone, and for one horrible moment I feared I’d lost them. But then I saw a man craning his neck out of a doorway, and another, and another, all staring in the same direction. I turned to see what they were gaping at, and spotted her. She was leading the stranger into a narrow alley between two buildings. I knew the alley. It let out onto the edge of the park of Catalpa trees. Lots of people used it as a shortcut to Old Town’s grassy amphitheater. The redevelopment team had paved the alley with terracotta tiles in an attempt to make it feel more like a pathway and less like an alley.

As I watched the Lilitu and her prey disappearing between the buildings, I realized no one was coming. In an hour, it could be too late for him. I slipped after them, only half-sure of what I was doing. I figured that if I could scare her away, I might be able to save him.

I followed them through the alley. As I emerged from between the buildings, I heard the music. The Lilitu was leading her prey toward a low thumping beat. I followed them up the side of a grassy slope, and the music grew louder. As I crested the small hill, I saw the manmade grassy amphitheater, pulsing with young couples. I couldn’t see the Lilitu in the crowd. I pressed forward, desperate to find her.

“Braedyn. What are you doing here?” Karayan swept toward me in a white dress. She gleamed in the moonlight, from the tip of her honey-blond head to her gleaming pearlescent toes. The cold night air seemed to have no effect on her. I saw a pair of smoky wings, barely visible, cascading down her back. “No offense, but this is kind of an exclusive party.”

A man in his early twenties approached me with a smile. Karayan waved him away, impatient. “Not this one.” He glanced at me and I noticed his pupils. They were too wide, even for the darkness of the night. A Thrall. I glanced back at the rave.

The Thrall moved toward another young couple. They looked like students from the local university. Suddenly, a different Lilitu was there, smiling at the college boy. His girlfriend started to object, but the Thrall swooped in with a charming smile and handed her a drink. Distracted, she wasn’t watching when the Lilitu unfurled those smoky wings. They curved around the boy, shimmering eerily, cloaking the Lilitu and her prey from human sight. When the girl looked back for her boyfriend, she couldn’t see him, even though he was standing only feet from where he’d been moments ago. The Lilitu whispered into his ear. He turned back toward his girlfriend, but the Lilitu caught his face between her hands and kissed him. I saw a glimmer of silvery mist moving from his lips to hers. When she released him, he swayed a little on his feet. She took his hand and led him away.

I stood, rooted to the spot. Karayan watched me, her head tilted to one side. “Don’t be shy,” she said. She gestured and I saw the Lilitu I had followed here dancing with her mark in the crowd. “I think I see someone looking for a dance partner.” She nudged me forward and I saw a kid about my age hesitating at the edge of the rave. I stopped dead in my tracks. Karayan came around to face me with a knowing smile. “First time?” Before I had the chance to answer her, someone spoke over my shoulder.

“Perhaps you were correct after all.” I turned, and all thoughts fell away from me. A Lilitu approached, her eyes wide and deep pools of twilight. Her hair was long and so blond it seemed white. I’d seen her once before, briefly, at the Raven.

Karayan straightened unconsciously. “Ais. She surprised me...” The white-blond Lilitu lifted a hand and Karayan fell silent.

“I had hoped you would come around,” Ais murmured, studying me.

Ais.
I felt a prickle of goose bumps cascading down my neck. Ais was here, and I’d met her without even knowing it! Ais studied me, and once again I saw past her human mask to her Lilitu self. Her eyes might have been beautiful if they weren’t so frightening. They glowed faintly, like the blue-purple of the sky half an hour after sunset.

“Still a ward of the Guard?” Ais touched my forehead, her finger leaving another icy chill behind. Her eyes widened a fraction. “Ah. You must question your place in this world.” I dropped my eyes, unwilling to let her know how close she was to the heart of my trouble.

Karayan shifted closer to me, linking her hand in mine. “She doesn’t know her own strength yet. But she’s learning.”

“The more she learns, the more fully she becomes herself.” Ais murmured. “And the greater the danger she faces at the hands of those who stole her from us. Is that not so?” Ais waited for me to respond, but I could only stare at her, unnerved. “Such potential.” A possessive desire glinted in Ais’ eyes. “It has been millennia,” she said, as if to herself. “And to let you fall into the hands of the Guard. She must have been mad.”

“Who...?” My heart lurched in my chest. “Do you mean...? Did you know my mother?”

Ais’ eyes hardened. “At one time, I thought so.”

“Who is she?” I asked. My mind pored over the story Dad had told me. How she had given me my name. How there had been goodness in her. “Is she still...?”

Ais frowned and I fell silent. “Own your power, or it will own you,” she said. Ais turned to Karayan. “Watch her.”

Time skipped a beat and Ais was suddenly a dozen feet away, walking back into the crowd of dancing, oblivious humans. Karayan let her breath out slowly.

“She’s so...” I started, shuddering.

“Powerful,” Karayan murmured.

“Alien.”

Karayan glanced at me sharply. “We have more in common with Ais than we do with those creatures.” She gestured at the swelling mass of dancers around us.

“Those ‘creatures?’ Are you kidding me?” I looked at Karayan, really studied her. I could see her Lilitu self under her human mask, but they looked virtually identical. The only things that really distinguished the Lilitu part of Karayan were her smoky wings. “No, we don’t,” I said. “Did you
see
her?”

Karayan knew exactly what I meant. She crossed her arms defensively. “We’ll become like them, but it won’t happen overnight. It takes time to grow into our power. Don’t be scared.” She gestured, and the boy she’d pointed out earlier walked toward us.

“No,” I hissed quietly, feeling my face heat up.

“The Guard doesn’t own you,” she said, coaxing me with a smile. “It’s your body, Braedyn.”

“Yeah, exactly. And I don’t want this.” I glanced at the boy as he approached, smiling. His face was open, interested. Human. And Karayan wanted me to break him. He came to a stop beside us. Karayan draped an arm over his shoulders.