Bound to the Void, page 6
“I…” My voice hitched.
“Jesus Christ, now you made her cry,” Keaton said. “Should I kill you for that?”
“No!” I snapped, turning all my inner turmoil against my husband. It wasn’t fair. I knew that. But Davidson didn’t deserve Keaton’s wrath. At the end of the day, Davidson was right. He had provided for me. He had given me a family.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m sorry. You just…this is my brother. And…I can’t…if there’s a way…”
“There’s not,” Davidson said gently. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. There’s not.”
Suddenly, I looked to Keaton. I wasn’t sure why. If Davidson was right, that meant that Keaton used me for his own purposes. He took advantage of me in the worst sort of way. And I, being ignorant and vulnerable, fell for it.
Keaton held my stare. There was nothing intense about it, almost as though he was confident he had nothing to prove. He said nothing, didn’t even try to convince me Davidson was wrong. Instead, he let me think about everything myself. He let me make my own decision.
The thing was, if Keaton really was using me, he would have left the second our marriage was consummated. He wouldn’t have cared one way or another about what happened to me. There was no way he was in love with me by any stretch - I wasn’t dumb enough to make that assumption - but I did know there was a good chance that he honored his word. He might not be much of anything else. He might lack in redeeming qualities. But his word was his binding, and whether it made me dumb or not, I believed that about him.
“I don’t believe you,” I finally said, turning to look at Davidson. “There has to be a way.”
“Kara,” Davidson said. His voice caught. It was tight, almost like he was holding back. “Tread very carefully here. Once you make your choice, you can’t go back. Do you understand? Those things that attacked the school are still out there? The second you left with Keaton, they vanished. Which means they were after you. Maybe they sensed your relationship to him. Or maybe Keaton used them to attack the school so he would have an excuse to play hero.”
Keaton opened his mouth, ready to respond, but I jumped in first. “That’s impossible,” I pointed out. “He was in his crypt the entire time. He can’t use his magic while in the crypt.” I purposefully said nothing about him vanishing and reappearing all within the crypt itself. “You…you lied about that. Keaton came and rescued all of us because I called him. Because he really is a man of his word. And I…I told him I would marry him if he found out information on my brother. And I did, because I want that information. And you…you didn’t know it was out there, or you didn’t want to give it to me.” I swallowed. “If those things are out there, I know Keaton will protect me.”
“Because he needs you,” Davidson snapped. “Open your eyes, Kara. He’s using you. He’s using you for some sick perversion he has about claiming your body. And he’s using you for his freedom. How can you not see it?”
“I do,” I said. “I do see it. And I appreciate his honesty. At least I know why he wants me. I’m not standing around here, pretending he’s in love with me. I get it, okay? But he’s transparent about what he expects from me, and he knows what I want from him. We’re making it work, even if you don’t agree with it.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” Davidson asked. “What if you come to find out I was right the whole time, that your brother is dead and you married him for nothing?”
“If I’m wrong, I’ll deal with it,” I said. “But I wouldn’t have married Keaton for nothing. At least…at least I would know with absolute certainty.” I swallowed. “I’m assuming the picture is gone, then? There’s nothing remaining of it?”
Davidson sighed. He knew I wasn’t going to budge, and he must know me well to drop the matter instead of fighting me again. “You are more than welcome to check,” he said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if there is nothing but ash remaining. Like I said, we had to relocate the school while we rebuild.”
I nodded. I glanced over at Keaton and gave him a look. He scowled but dropped Davidson onto the floor again. Davidson landed with a graceless plop. I winced, but I didn’t rush over and check on him. I knew there was more he wasn’t telling me. Maybe it had to do with my brother, maybe it had to do with Keaton. Whatever it was, I had made my decision. And, like Keaton, I intended to keep my word, no matter what that might mean.
“I won’t be able to protect you, Kara,” Davidson said from the ground. “I just…I just want you to be safe, okay? That’s all I ever wanted. You’re too important to risk, and I don’t think a heathen is going to appreciate what you can offer.”
“She don’t need your fucking protection when she’s got mine,” Keaton growled, throwing a protective arm around my shoulder as he began to lead me up the stairs. “And trust me, I appreciate everything my wife has to offer. Too bad for you it’s only for me.”
Davidson grunted but he didn’t get up. I was glad. I didn’t want him following me up the stairs and watching me tear my room apart. It wasn’t even that he would say something to make me feel guilty. He didn’t have to do that. His eyes did that just fine. It was one of the reasons I held back on looking at him. Because I didn’t want to deal with it.
Maybe I hadn’t made a choice he agreed with, but it was my choice to make. I wasn’t asking for support. He didn’t need to baby me, to coddle me and pretend he was okay with it. But lecturing me on how wrong he thought my choice was wasn’t going to change things either. And honestly, I had more important things to worry about than Davidson.
“What’s going to happen if he’s right?” I asked when we reached the top of the stairs. We had to step around some rubble, and I crowded closer to Keaton to avoid the large gap in the wall from one of the attacks. “If the picture isn’t there?””
“Then I’ll fucking find him without a picture, babes,” he said. I took the lead as he shoved his hands in his pockets and began to glance around. The stone walls crumbled but some still held the haunting paintings of Samhain in Ireland. “I’m assuming he’ll be the only breather around. Maybe he’ll even look like you. Maybe he’ll do that little wrinkle over the nose thing that always gets under my skin.”
I didn’t even bother with a response. I wanted to go with him. I wanted to make sure it was Richard, but now was not the time. Instead, I made a left, and stopped at the first door on the left. It amazed me that my room was still standing, at least from the outside. Maybe Davidson was wrong. Maybe there was a good chance the picture was here.
I opened the door and the two of us stepped inside. The subtle scent of sulfur tickled my nose and there was stained smoke on the ceiling. Keaton kicked the door shut and immediately swept me in his arms, pushing me against the wall, and attacking my throat.
“What…what are you doing?” I managed to get out.
I didn’t understand how his actions managed to shoot little bolts of electricity straight to my pelvis. How my mouth managed to grow dry. His hardness pressed into me, demanding and insistent.
“You’re mine, babes,” he said. “You know that, right.” His teeth scraped against my skin and I moaned.
The second the sound filled my room, I jumped and placed my hands on his shoulders. “Stop,” I said. “Stop.”
Keaton pulled back but didn’t release me. “What if I don’t want to stop?” he asked. “What if I want to fuck you against the wall of your bedroom, make you scream so loud, Davidson will never question that you belong to me again, hmm?” He waggled his eyebrows.
I swallowed. This shouldn’t sound enticing. It should sound wrong. And yet…
Keaton leaned in close, tilting his head so his lips nearly brushed my ear. “I can smell you, babes, remember? I know you want it. I bet if I touched you, you’d be dripping wet.”
I whimpered.
He grinned. “Let me do this,” he whispered. “Let me have this.”
I shook my head. “Richard,” I said. “We have to find Richard.”
He frowned but didn’t argue. Sticking up a finger, he muttered, “Don’t think we’re through with this.”
The second he stepped back, I could breathe again. I gasped in air like I wasn't able to hold onto it permanently before carefully stepping around Keaton to take in the contents of my room.
My mouth dropped open. Davidson was right. Everything in my room had gone up in flames. My bed, my desk, my closet.
I dropped to my knees, forgetting Keaton was even with me. My hands filled with ash and soot as I dug through everything. This made no sense. There was no structural damage to the room. The fire…
“Babes?”
My head snapped at the noise, at Keaton’s voice, as it filled the silence.
“I got bad news for you.” He slid his hands in his pockets once again. “This fire wasn’t started by anything supernatural. Whoever did this was a fucking human.”
Chapter Ten
I shook my head, pushing myself up into a standing position. “No,” I insisted. “No way.”
Keaton didn’t say anything to my denial. Instead, his eyes scanned the room. There was nothing left. No furniture, not even the base of my bed. If Keaton was right and this fire was set intentionally, they either wanted all my stuff gone or they wanted me dead.
He began to move. I couldn’t tell if he kept appearing and disappearing the way he tended to or if he was constantly fluid, going from one section of the room to the next. He examined things, picked up soot, rubbed ash against his fingertips before dabbing it on his tongue. I frowned, trying to understand what he was doing. His words tried to sink in, but I couldn’t wrap my head around them. They were too heavy, almost nonsensical. Someone purposefully started a fire in my room? A human? But why?
Suddenly, Keaton froze. He picked up a piece of wood and held it close to his face. He cocked his head towards the left before doing the same thing to the right, as though looking at the plank from different angles was going to help him with whatever he managed to find.
A few minutes passed by. When he still hadn’t said anything, I stepped forward.
“What?” I asked. “What is it?”
Keaton didn’t even acknowledge me with a look. Instead, he dropped his arms and clenched his teeth. “We need to see your redheaded friend,” he said through his teeth. “Now.”
“Daphne? Why?” I rushed over to him, trying to figure out what he saw on the plank that would make him want to see Daphne of all people. “What’s going on, Keaton? Tell -”
“Don’t say my name.” He whirled in my direction, and even though he wasn’t tall, somehow it felt as though he towered over me. He took one step towards me, then another. I moved in time with him, my body acting out of instinct. “You know better than to say my name.”
I moved backwards until I hit the wall. I didn’t have anywhere to go. I was trapped.
Keaton stood too close to me before planting one hand on either side of my head, boxing me in further. I swallowed. The plank was still in my hand, and there was part of me that thought I could use it like a weapon if I needed.
“You gotta understand something, babes,” he murmured, leaning close like a lover. He cocked his head again, this time so his lips grazed the globe of my ear. “I don’t like to hear my fucking name from you unless I’m inside you, know what I mean? Unfortunately, you still have this power over me, this ability to send me back to the Void simply by saying it three times. And maybe I didn’t tell you that. Maybe that’s my fault. But I’m telling you now.” His mouth dropped to my exposed throat and I sighed as his tongue began to trail down slowly, making his way to my collarbone. “You see, I also don’t like being questioned. If I say we’re going to do something, we do it. Especially when it comes to the supernatural. I know what I’m talking about.”
“But…but I want to know too.” I hated that he could affect me like this. I hated that the feel of his tongue on my flesh caused shockwaves down to my pelvis. I hated that the sound of his gravelly voice caressing my ear as he trapped me between my arms caused moisture to soak my underwear. It was pathetic, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Part of me didn’t want to do anything about it.
“I want,” I said.
“Yeah, babes?” He nibbled on my skin and I let out a low moan. “What do you want, hmm?”
“I want…I want to know,” I said, trying to ignore the sensation, which only made it that more difficult to do. “I want to understand. Please let me ask questions. Not to…to question, but to clarify.”
“Hmm.” He sucked on my skin and I knew there’d be a mark.
Bastard.
But it wasn’t like I was reprimanding him. In fact, the way I arched my back, pressing into his pelvis and feeling how erect he was already, I only encouraged him.
“You make an interesting point,” he said. “Fine. Tell you what. I’ll explain, but you still have to obey me. Got it?”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t do well when someone told me what to do. I had more than a few detentions to prove it too.
But Keaton…Keaton was different. Keaton was my husband. I still wanted to rebel, but there was also a tiny part of me that found pleasure in obeying. I hated it, I hated myself for it, but I also couldn’t deny it, even if I wanted to.
I wouldn’t respond to him. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing just how easily he could get me to do what he wanted to do.
“You know,” he said, “I could take you right here. Fuck you against the wall. Maybe Davidson would come in while I did it too. Part of me would want that, just so he fucking knows who you belong to.” His hand cupped my breast and squeezed it, causing another whimper from my throat. “You like that, don’t you? Of course you do. We’re the same, babes. Don’t you see that? But the other part of me would never want anyone to see you when you receive pleasure. That sight’s reserved for me and me alone, know what I mean? I’d have to kill him if he saw.”
“We-we can’t.” I stuttered but at least the words came out.
He gave me one last kiss, just above my pulse, and stepped back. Suddenly, I could breathe again, but I couldn’t help noticing a small sense of disappointment all the same.
“We don’t have time,” he agreed. “Where’s your friend. Daphne.”
“Why?” I asked.
“She has the dagger.” He took the plank from my hand. I was surprised I managed to hold onto it all this time. He brought it over to my face and traced a garbled cut in the side with his index finger. “You see the ridges of the piece right here? That came from the dagger she has. It’s an element only found within the Void.”
“You said the fire was started by a human,” I said. “How do you know Daphne had anything to do with it? Maybe someone else from the Void used the dagger to start the fire.”
“I know that blade,” Keaton said. “It’s mine.”
“Yours?”
He locked eyes with me. “The bastard took it from me when I was sent to the crypt,” he said. “It’s been in my family since Jesus Christ himself. It’s mine.”
“Why would Daphne have it?” I asked. This didn’t make any sense.
“Beats the shit out of me,” he said, rolling up his sleeves, “but I’m willing to find out.”
“What’s so special about it?” I asked as I followed him out of my room. I tried not to think about everything I was leaving behind, tried not to think about the fact that a calculated attack was put on my room and there was a good chance it was targeting me rather than the area itself.
“It cuts through anything,” he said. “It would cut through my goddamn crypt if I had it with me. And it would kill shades.”
My eyes widened. “That’s impossible,” I said. “Killing a shade can’t be done. I mean, as Keepers, we can send them back to the Void, but killing them?”
“It’s possible,” he said. “That dagger does it. Or don’t you remember your friend when those shadows started to attack? What happened when she sliced into one?”
I didn’t want to remember what happened. That was the night Keaton saved us and took me to the Void. But those shadows…those black holes…they were after me. I didn’t understand why that was, but it was the truth.
We made our way back down the stairs. I was surprised Davidson was still present, casting his eyes in the direction of the stairs.
“Who the fuck wanted to kill Kara?” Keaton demanded, all but stomping over to him.
“What are you -”
“Her room,” he growled.
“I told you, it was destroyed in the attack -”
“Don’t toy with me.” He thrust a warning finger in Davidson’s face, narrowing his eyes. “Go look at it for yourself. Structurally sound, but the inside looks like a bomb went off. Someone used my dagger too, probably to cause the damage. Who the fuck wants her dead? And where is the redhead who owns my dagger, hmm? Maybe she knows. And why the fuck would you give it to a kid? You think she can handle that kind of power?”
“I didn’t…what are you…?” Davidson struggled to form whatever he was trying to say.
“I said, don’t lie to me, son,” he said. “Tell me where the brat is. I want my dagger back, and I want it back now.”
“Then you’ll have to come and take it.”
I whipped around, only to find Daphne standing at the entrance of the academy, said dagger in her right hand in a vertical position, ready to wield it if need be. Her blue eyes were narrowed in front of her, directly on Keaton, teeth clenched, lips curved down.
“Daphne…” I stepped in front of Keaton, an arm out. Though whether I was protecting him from her or her from him, I wasn’t sure.
“No,” Daphne said. “It’s my duty to keep him in that crypt, Kara. I’ve been bound by this legacy to do what I need to do, no matter what the cost. I’m asking you, as your friend, to step aside and let me do my job.”
“I can’t,” I said. I was surprised to find that my words were firm, that standing up to her wasn’t as difficult as I thought. Then again, we constantly disagreed. I just never expected to be on opposing sides when it concerned heathens. I was positive she felt the same way.
