Death's Rival, page 10
“Listen to you, being the all-wise vampire,” I murmured, and he beamed down at me.
The heated embrace that came next had my hands running through his messy hair. It was one of many moments we’d shared since last night. After Kiley dropped the hint that Gentry and I were destined to be together, all the pieces to the puzzle that made up our relationship rapidly clicked into place. Each time we kissed now, or when he held my hand, even when he was merely close to me, the bond I sensed our first semester let me know it was still there, stronger than before.
Being with him was so different from my time with Aleister. There was a fiery passion, but it was slow-burning and moved something deep within me I couldn’t explain. He hissed quietly, tightening his arms around me, lightly brushing his fangs along my neck.
I dug my fingers into his back. His lips quickly found mine again for another searing kiss.
Usually, I wasn’t one for PDA, but with Gentry, I didn’t much care who saw. Well, except Aleister. The last thing I wanted was to make him feel like I was rubbing my relationship with Gentry in his face. After giving Gentry a chance to speak to Kiley and get the closure he needed, however, I was seeing sides of him I hadn’t seen the first go-around
My stomach growled, and he chuckled. “Should probably get you some food. And you need to tell Aleister what Kiley told you.”
“Yeah, I do,” I agreed, reluctantly letting him go.
The information Kiley left me with still had me reeling. She hadn’t simply let Gentry know we were meant to be together, or that Aleister was always going to be a massive part of our lives. She dropped what amounted to a bombshell, in my opinion. We’d spent the late hours of the morning deciding the best way to tell Aleister. Not that either of us was a hundred percent sure what it meant. I had a theory, and that’s all it could be, at least until we had a way to prove it.
Gentry’s hand slipped into mine, and we entered the dining hall. A few curious gazes turned our way. The last time we dated, we kept our handholding and everything else private. Now, Gentry seemed more than content to let those at the academy know we were together.
I spotted Aleister sitting at his usual corner table. After Gentry grabbed a bottle of heated blood for himself and I snagged a breakfast sandwich and coffee, we joined him. Aleister’s gaze flicked to Gentry, still holding my hand, and smirked.
“Hey,” I said, unsure of how this was going to go.
“Emery?”
“Yeah?” I asked Aleister, unable to meet his gaze.
“You can stop worrying that I’m going to freak out,” he said, laughing. “Told you I understood, remember? Meant it.”
Sighing in relief, I stopped fiddling with my necklace. “I know, I just, I’ve never been in this situation before. It’s odd, isn’t it, or is it only me?”
“Only you,” they said in unison.
Right. Gentry probably had relationships before Kiley, and I knew Aleister had dated off and on over the last hundred or so years. I was the only one who never had a serious relationship with anyone up until last year. And lo and behold, it happened to be with my soul mate. I smiled while they started conversing, as though it were any ordinary day, and I let the last of my worries fade away.
I settled back into my new normal, happy I had Gentry at my side and Aleister as my friend. Not wanting to mess up what was turning out to be a good day, I stopped myself from telling Aleister about last night.
Gentry kept nodding toward him. I gave him a look, trying to say this wasn’t the best time. He rolled his eyes at me, and I glowered right back.
It was about time for us all to head to our classes anyway. I’d tell Aleister everything later. I shifted in my chair, making to grab my tote bag. My right arm bumped Aleister, and immediately, the tattoos on my arm glowed. A burst of cold followed by a rush of pure fire made both Aleister and me flinch simultaneously.
“Be nice to know why that happens,” Aleister muttered, rubbing his arm.
“Yeah, it would.” Gentry’s eyes narrowed to slits while he pursed his lips at me, waiting.
I watched my tattoos until they faded. Choosing my words carefully, I said, “I have a theory. It might explain a few other things, too. You know, about uh, about what we experienced. Together.”
Gentry’s brow arched, clearly struggling not to laugh at my awkwardness.
Aleister, however, was giving me a weird look. “And that theory is what?”
“You said you were a witch before you were turned.”
“Yeah,” he replied slowly.
“Are you absolutely sure you don’t have death magic?”
Aleister’s eyes widened, and his lips parted. “I was a witch in my twenties when I was turned. I’m sure I would’ve known if I’d been touched by death magic.”
“There are stories of some witches receiving the gift later in life,” I pointed out. “It would explain this weird pull my magic has to you. And how the hell you managed to get into the spirit realm in the first place.”
“Gentry was able to reach into that realm, too. He’s not a witch.”
“He wasn’t there, though. It’s different.”
I spun my paper coffee cup around and around, blowing a strand of errant hair out of my face.
Kiley’s words trailed through my mind again. Dumping that kind of information on Aleister here in the dining hall seemed wrong. Sadly, what she said made sense in a way. There was something about Aleister’s magic he hadn’t figured out yet. There had to be. It was the only rational explanation. My magic reacted to his presence for a reason. It called to him. I wasn’t exactly jumping Guinevere’s bones, but the same familiarity was there with her, too. And there was no blockage on her power like there was on Aleister’s. Why else would my magic try so hard to reach out and free his? It had to be death magic.
Gentry might’ve yanked us out of the spirit realm, but what Aleister did shouldn’t have been possible. I pondered how to give him the rest of Kiley’s message when I spotted Rose across the dining hall. She was with a group of students that weren’t her usual friends. Her appearance was not put together like it usually was, and she seemed sickly. She had food in front of her but wasn’t eating.
When she kept rubbing the back of her right hand, the hairs on my neck stood, and I straightened.
“Emery?” Gentry asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I still haven’t talked to her,” I whispered. “Every time I try, she either acts like I’m not there or tells me to mind my own business.”
“She’s avoided me, too. She doesn’t look good,” Aleister added, and I shot him a look. “What? I merely agree with you that something’s clearly wrong. Did you let her mom know?”
“And tell her what? Rose is acting weird? Oh, yeah, and it’s probably my fault.”
“How would it be your fault?”
I looked askance at Gentry. “Really? You don’t think her behavior has anything at all to do with the shit we’re digging into?”
Aleister and Gentry exchanged a concerned look. “You think what’s her face was telling the truth about Rose joining the Order?” Gentry asked. “I don’t think she’d go willingly.”
“Which is why I think she got to Rose. Puts pressure on me. Lets me know that she can get to me if she can get to my friend. I don’t know, but I’m telling you, whatever’s going on with Rose, it’s because of that witch.” I glanced over, catching Rose rubbing the back of her hand again. “What if she’s turning into one of those cultists?”
“That’s a stretch,” Gentry said but didn’t sound very convincing.
We knew the Order of the Frozen Hearts was alive and well. After witnessing Cassandra murdering not only the Twisted Thorn Coven, but also the leaders of the Order, too, it wasn’t hard to assume she took over. And why wouldn’t she have some creepy, inner circle shit going on? She could have her own personal hit squad for all we knew. Was it really that impossible to believe she could manipulate people to join her? The students sitting with Rose were all witches.
I blanched when I realized they were also all friends with Jana. With the shit she pulled last semester and the fact that her mom was killed, leaving a convenient seat open on the Eternal Ember—
“Shit,” I whispered, clapping my hand over my mouth.
“What?”
I shook my head, not willing to say that possibility out loud, not yet. “Nothing. It’s nothing. I have to get to class. I’ll see you guys later.” I hauled my tote up to my shoulder, hurrying out of the dining hall, mind racing.
Was there really a chance Cassandra used Jana to murder Clara Flannigan? Had Jana killed her own mom?
“Nice to see you’re finally showing me what you can do.”
Ignoring Guinevere’s comment, I pulled the flowing greenish-blue stream of magic power back into my hand. It seeped into my tattoos and dimmed. “I was having some issues this semester.”
“And now?”
“Now, I’m not.”
That was mostly true. Being with Gentry was beyond incredible. Neither of us was hiding behind lies and secrets this time around. I was me, and he was him, and goddess did we fit together better than I ever thought we would. Now that I was with him, my friendship with Aleister was also blooming. He was turning into more than a best friend. I had yet to share Kiley’s message with him. Gentry argued that if we waited for the perfect time, he’d never know. Not like what I had to tell him was easy. The last thing I wanted to do was disrupt the flow the three of us had going. I couldn’t explain the bond we had, but it was strong. I sensed when they were around and vice versa.
I smirked, knowing exactly why Gentry was able to feel my presence so well.
“Emery? Care to share?” Guinevere asked.
I cleared my throat, turning away while my cheeks burned. “No, sorry.”
My mind was clear for the first time in weeks. When I pulled on my power, it came to me quickly, and finally, I’d been able to show Guinevere what I was capable of. My guides were still reluctant to show themselves to her, but this was a start. My lessons with her had become slightly better since I was finally able to use my magic successfully. I’d hoped the unease I had around her would’ve faded, too. It grew worse instead. That hungry glint in her eyes that I kept telling myself was a figment of my imagination was there all the time. She was pushing me even harder now that I was able to show the range of my abilities. A few times, she hinted about wanting me to do more. I was worried about what that meant, and when she held up her hand to stop my current display of magic, my stomach twisted in nervous knots.
“I want us to try something different today,” Guinevere said, walking to the corner of the room.
“What were you thinking?” I was apprehensive about what was under the tarp there. I hadn’t thought anything of it since other students and professors used this room too.
A weird tugging had distracted me when I first walked in, but I’d assumed it came from Guinevere.
She yanked the tarp aside.
I stumbled back. “What the hell? Where did you get that?”
“Doesn’t matter. You’re going to reanimate it.”
I shook my head, covering my mouth mostly to block out the smell and to hide my shock. “I can’t,” I muttered, staring at the corpse of the dead mountain lion. Its throat had been slit, and blood covered its fur. Fresh blood, judging from the way it glistened beneath the lights. “I’ve never tried, and I don’t want to.”
“Why not? It’s part of who you are, and it’s high time you embrace the rest of your power. Surely you must be able to feel the potential in this dead beast. Your power wants it; I know it does.”
I shook my head, but my eyes were glued to the corpse. A strange fluttering set my heart to racing. I raised my right hand without meaning to, while my magic bubbled to the surface in a flowing, shimmering rope. Realizing what I was about to do and hating Guinevere for doing this to me, I forced my hand to my side and backed away.
“Why?” I argued, tearing my gaze from the mountain lion. “I have no reason to mess with the dead, not like this.”
“You’re spitting in the face of your own magic,” she snapped and pointed to the corpse. “Bring it back to life. You’re powerful—one of the most powerful witches with death magic I’ve met in a long time—yet you hold yourself back.”
“How do you even know I can do it?”
“You have five guides, Emery. Five. Only one other witch has ever been gifted that many.”
“So what?”
“Do you have any idea what you can do for our kind? You need to show them you’re strong. Show the world that our power is not something to brush aside.” That hungry look shined in her blue eyes so fiercely I had to break eye contact. Her snake tattoo glistened red with her magic. Its quiet hissing filled the room. “The Eternal Ember will never respect us, not until we show them what we’re truly capable of.”
“You expect me to do what exactly? Lead others like me? To scare the Eternal Ember?”
The sneer that stretched across her face was reminiscent of Cassandra’s and chilled me to the bone.
“I want them to understand if they try to force us into the darkness again, they’ll regret it. I know you’ve seen the papers. You know what they’re planning to do to us. They’ll promise us rights and protections one day, then lock us in cells the next.”
“There’s no way those sanctions will be passed.” I backed away, needing to get out of there. “I wanted to learn how to control my magic, but this? This is wrong. The next thing you’ll ask me to do is use my other ability to control vampires.”
She didn’t deny it, and I spun around, hurrying for the door.
“Don’t you dare walk away from your destiny,” Guinevere yelled, the force of her words, entwined with power, crashed into my back.
I staggered forward, gritting my teeth at the hit. “We’re finished,” I threw over my shoulder.
“No, I’m afraid we’re not.” She held out her right hand, and the snake slithered down her shoulder, coiling around her arm. It raised his hooded cobra head, hissing viciously. “You forget the arrangements of our training sessions. If you refuse to attend, the Eternal Ember will remove you from the academy and probably have you locked away. Is that what you want?”
“Maybe I should tell the Eternal Ember what you’re trying to teach me to do.” My gaze darted from the snake to Guinevere, wondering which one was going to attack first. Guinevere took another step toward me—
I gasped at the burst of cold erupting at my right side. The grizzly bear stood protectively in front of me, growling at Guinevere to back off.
But she didn’t. A dark laugh slipped past her lips. “Losing control. I’m afraid that’s not going to look good for you in my reports.”
“I’ll tell them everything.”
“And so will I,” she whispered. “I’ll tell them you lied about what you can really do. I’m sure Prince Brolan would love to hear you can control the undead. It’d give him all the ammunition he needs to drag you down.”
“I’ve never used that power against anyone.”
“Not even the night in the hollow?”
I flinched. How could she know that? She couldn’t unless… unless she was there. Shit. She never said who contacted her in the first place. Fairmane said they found her, but how? Did Cassandra send her here to spy on me? Train me? To see how strong I was? Cassandra had death magic, and yet she was fighting against her own kind in the Eternal Ember. Why would she do that? Why did she care so much about me?
“We’re not done for the day,” Guinevere said when I snagged my tote bag and ran. “Emery!”
My bear returned to my side the moment I opened the door to the room. Guinevere kept yelling, but I took off, headed for the dorms. Remembering Gentry and Aleister said they would be in the library, I made a sharp right turn, weaving through students and mumbling apologies to everyone I crashed into.
“What’s the hurry?” Stuart asked, scaring the shit out of me when he appeared at my right.
“Seriously?”
“You’re the one that took off running. You’re not trying to lose me, are you?”
“No, just have to get to Gentry. Sorry. Kind of forgot I had an escort.”
“Emery, if something’s wrong, you’re supposed to tell me, remember?”
At the library doors, I stopped, trying to come up with a reason for him not to follow me upstairs. “Look, I had a rough evening of training, and all I want is a few minutes alone with my boyfriend. Can you give me that? Please? Hard enough talking to him knowing you guys are hanging around. But I hate knowing you can probably hear us making out.”
Stuart coughed, glancing away. “I’ll stay on the main floor,” he promised.
“Thanks, Stuart, really.”
“Yeah, no problem.”
I waited until I was out of his sight and took off running again. By the time I reached the small study room tucked away on the fourth floor, I was out of breath.
“Emery?” Gentry blurred to my side while I held up a hand, struggling to catch my breath.
“Problem,” I gasped, wincing at the cramp in my side. “We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Guinevere, I think she was sent by Cassandra to train me.”
Chapter 9
Aleister
Gentry dragged Emery into the room and sat her down on the couch. “Explain, now.”
She tossed her tote bag aside, shoving her messed up hair out of her face. “We were doing our training, right? And then suddenly, she yanks this tarp off a dead mountain lion. She wanted me to bring it back to life. I refused, and the next thing I know, she’s yelling at me, making it sound like she expects me to rise up and be this next great leader for the necromancers. I yelled at her about not needing to reanimate the dead and said something about her wanting me to use my other ability on vamps, and she didn’t deny it.” She sucked in a sharp breath at the end of her rant. “I said I never used that ability on purpose, and then she mentioned the hollow.”
