Allegiance (33 page)

“Amelie said you’d like it …” My voice betrayed my anxiety.
What is going on inside his head? Does he like it? Is he wondering why I got him a freaking watch? What if Amelie confused things? She is a bit flighty …

“My father had one just like it,” he finally said, his voice turning husky. Tiny exhale … “I had it for years. Kept it in my pocket. When the war came and we fled, I lost it.” Beautiful jade irises lifted to absorb me and I could swear I saw them watering. But then I blinked and they were back to their perfect clarity.

He clutched the watch within his fist and, holding it to his chest, he whispered, “Thank you.” Stretching out to grasp my wrist, he yanked me toward him more forcefully than usual. My heart skipped three beats. With a hand cupped on either side of my face, his gaze lingered, a darkness growing in them that made my knees shake and my cheeks flush.

Finally, when I thought I might collapse under his consuming stare, he leaned forward to plant the gentlest kiss on my forehead. From there, his mouth skated down to the bridge of my nose and then the tip. Forcing my head back with his hands, his mouth caught the side of mine, right on the edge where it lingered. And lingered.

“I’m so sorry for everything I’ve put you through. It’s not fair, all that grief I gave you over Julian.”

“It’s okay,” I murmured, half dazed. With this new Bishop saga, I had forgotten all about that other lie.

Caden’s fingers slid under my chin and lifted my head to meet his eyes. “No, it’s not okay. I’ve dreamed about finding someone like you for seven hundred years. And now, here you are and …” His thumb moved to wipe away the fresh tear rolling down my cheek. “I won’t let us lose another second over this. I promise. It’s done. It’s forgotten. It’s—”

Amelie’s shrill screams cut Caden off midsentence.

He vanished before I could blink, his words to Wraith, “Keep her safe” hanging in the air. But I wasn’t waiting around with Wraith. Only one thing could make Amelie shriek like that.

Blood rushed to my ears as I ran across the hall, passing by Julian’s smashed door, my legs straining as if pushing through three feet of water. I dashed halfway into the room and came to a skidding halt. Amelie stood by the en suite, her ringlets sagging and dripping wet, hugging a white towel to her body, her face wild with confusion.

“How could he?” she whispered in a gasp.

I said nothing, rushing toward the bathroom. “Stay back,” I threw over my shoulder. I didn’t need to see him to know for certain that Wraith was on my heels. And in another second, he stood by my side, my demand useless.

“Caden?” I called out shakily.

“Eve!” Julian cried out instead, a strangled desperation in his voice.

“I’m coming in!” I announced, sucking in a gulp of air as I rounded the corner. Caden had Julian pinned against the wall, his forearm pressing across Julian’s neck. A puddle of water was forming beneath Julian’s feet, a byproduct of being ripped out of a still-running shower. At some point in the trauma, Julian had a chance to grab a towel. He held it against his lower front half, covering the part of him I had no interest in seeing.

“Tell me again why I shouldn’t kill you right now!” Caden growled through clenched teeth, fire in his eyes.

“No! You can’t!” I cried out, stepping forward. Wraith’s arm shot out from nowhere to shove me back to the opposite corner. “Is he a threat to Evangeline?” he asked moving forward.

“He’s a threat to all of us.” Caden’s tone was as icy as I’d ever heard it. He didn’t look in my direction as he released Julian from the chokehold and took three wide steps back. “Get rid of him, Wraith.”

Without further prompting, Wraith began closing in on Julian, his deadly hand lifting toward his shoulder.
No, no, no!
I choked back a sob. This wasn’t happening. I had to stop this… If Wraith attacked, there was no healing, no bouncing back. Julian would be dead. Another person close to me, gone.

“He saved my life. Don’t do it!” I screamed.

Wraith kept moving forward. It was as if I hadn’t spoken. He wouldn’t stop until Julian was dead. I needed to do something drastic, I realized, squeezing my fist tightly over the smooth hilt of my dagger, still in my hand. My dagger … There was one way to make Wraith listen.

I unsheathed the blade and lifted the point to my neck. “If he dies, I die. Right here, right now.” My hand shook so badly, I was afraid I might accidently slit my jugular.

My plan worked. Wraith’s hand dropped to his side. He took several steps back, giving Julian a wide berth. “You would kill yourself to protect this human?”

“He almost died protecting me, so, yes, I would. He’s my friend.” Looking at Julian—his face as white as a sheet, his body on the verge of collapse—I wanted to throw my arms around him.

Unfortunately, I had to contend with an angry vampire first.

Caden was at my side in an instant, tearing the dagger out of my hand, a violent storm darkening his irises to threatening levels. “I didn’t give you that so you could kill yourself with it!” he yelled.

He’d never yelled at me before.

I forced my chin up, my hand absently rubbing my neck. “You left me no choice! I had to protect him.”

“But you don’t know what he is!” Amelie moaned from the doorway, still huddled within her towel, agony pouring from her eyes as they touched Julian’s face.

And here it was. The moment. There was no denying it any longer. “Yes, I do,” I heard myself say, as if someone else were speaking. A liar, admitting her guilt. As soft as the delivery, the impact of my admission was enough to cause Amelie to stumble back, flinching.

“You … knew? You knew and I didn’t?” Her voice sharpened a notch. In that scary way. In that crazy Amelie way.

I nodded as unease stirred in my stomach. Swallowing, I admitted in a whisper, “I accidently saw the marking.”

“What?” Amelie exploded, now screaming. “You accidently saw the tattoo on his left ass cheek?” Her eyes bulged so hard, I thought they might pop out of her head.

“Yes! Accidently.”

“What …?” Next to his sister, Caden’s voice was so low I barely heard him. It scared me ten times more. My body as stiff as a poker, I turned to see the end of the dagger pointed dangerously close to Julian’s thigh, Caden’s eyes crushing me with an accusatory gaze. I knew instantly what he was thinking. Seeing that mark required seeing Julian without clothing. In what situation would I see him like that?

My mouth opened to justify my lies, but only a wheeze escaped. We stood still, our eyes locked, as I felt my curtain drop, unveiling the real me. Not the sweet, naïve girl Amelie carried unconscious into Caden’s life, the human girl he fell in love with. No … now he could see me for what I was. What I had become. A fraud and a cheat.

Caden’s next words, delivered with a biting cold tone, confirmed it. “Just kissed him, right?”

Before I could utter a sound, plead with him to listen to my explanation, he stormed off, launching the dagger across the room so hard that it embedded itself into a mahogany armoire with a loud thud, splitting the wood in half.

“Caden!” I cried, running to the doorway into the hallway to catch him. But he was gone. Gone from the room, maybe gone from my life. I turned back to the room slowly, deflated and dazed over the sudden turn of events. Two minutes ago, Caden had all but professed his eternal love. Now, he was gone, Julian’s dark secret exposed.

And I couldn’t forget about Amelie.

“What is Caden talking about, Evie? You kissed Julian? You told me nothing happened …” The cutting sound of Amelie’s voice set my neck hairs on edge.

Without thought, my hands lifted in front of me in a sign of surrender. “I didn’t kiss him. That was a lie. I—”

But Amelie was already talking over me. “You knew what he was all this time and you didn’t tell me? You let me fall in love with the enemy?” Each word came out crisp and knife-sharp, a hysterical edge creeping into them.

“Please, let me ex—” I began, stepping forward, my hands outstretched.

“Liar!” Amelie hissed, recoiling from my approach, her pretty face twisting into an altogether hideous sneer as she backed into a dresser. Amelie—my best friend—hated me. Amelie, the seven-hundred-year-old vampiress who just had her heart emotionally ripped out of her chest, now glared at me like I had betrayed her to the depths of her soul.

The trouble was, I had.

“How could you? How could you hurt us like that? Lie to us like that?” Each accusation was delivered like a swing of a sword.

“I never lied! I mean, I did lie, but …” I sighed, my hands flying to cover my face. “I did lie. Totally. Completely. I lied about anything happening with Julian. But I swear to you, nothing happened!” I was talking to myself, though, as her emerald eyes drew along my frame, as if deciding how best to quarter me.

I wanted to explain, I did, but fear choked the words. I had never seen Amelie—sweet, bubbly Amelie—like this before. Even with Rachel, even with Jethro, there had been a small semblance of the Amelie I knew. Now, though, it was as if someone reached in and switched around her spark plugs, making her go haywire. Unpredictable. Dangerous.

In my peripheral stood a pale Julian, in only a towel, and Wraith behind him. I hadn’t noticed them there before. I could use Wraith right now, as a barrier.

“Evangeline, is this person a threat to you?” Wraith’s even tone was a welcome change to Amelie’s trills and ice.

“No.” My hand shot out to stay him. He was too close to her. He wouldn’t form a barrier for me. He’d simply kill her.

Julian spoke then. “Amelie … I wanted to tell you, I did. Eve thought it best …”

Great, Julian … throw gas onto an open flame in a parched forest
. Another flash of anger, searing hot, shot through Amelie’s eyes as they bored deeper into me.

“Oh, did she now …”

I almost missed her next movement. With the slightest flick of her hand, the solid wood dresser beside her soared in my direction. I don’t know if she was intending to hit me or just scare me with it. Either way, I managed to dive out of the way. It crashed into the wall behind me, taking chunks of plaster and molding with it.

I struggled back to my feet to face her again. She took a step forward. “Were you looking for a way to win him back after your little
thing
in the mountains?”

I felt my eyes widen.
What?

Accusations spewed hastily from her as she edged forward, as if cornering prey. “You had to have them all, didn’t you … you weren’t satisfied with Caden. You had to have all of them. First my brother, then Julian … and now Bishop.” Her voice trailed off as a distant look glazed over her face—a far-off, wild stare. I recognized it immediately. I’d seen it reflected in mirrors countless times. The dark chasm of loss, of losing everything that mattered. There was no logical thought in this gloomy place.

“Is this friend a threat now, Evangeline?” Wraith asked calmly for a second time.

She just threw a dresser at me! What do you think?
I wanted to scream. My eyes flickered to Julian and I saw the pleading in them. It was a death sentence if I said yes. It could be my death sentence if I said no. Soon enough, Wraith wouldn’t ask me. He would just kill.

Amelie didn’t even acknowledge Wraith, didn’t care that she had an unstoppable grim reaper ten feet away from her. “Were you laughing at me? Stupid, silly Amelie who had no clue?” Another step closer.

I sucked in a breath of air. “Amelie! It’s me. Evie! The one who pulled you out of the river! The silly, naïve human!”

Another step. Her eyebrow arched. “Oh, but you’re not so naïve, are you, Evangeline …”

And then she pounced.

She threw me back against the wall, her hands landing on either side of my shoulders, her fingers digging painfully into my joints, her teeth bared and glistening. I heard Julian’s shouts in the background but I couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. I shrunk back, trying to gain some distance.

I can’t die yet. I’m not ready to die yet
.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Wraith closing in quickly. He wouldn’t simply stall her this time. He would kill her … I needed to make her understand! “Amelie, don’t do this. Please, listen to me.”

Her fingers dug in further and I cried out in pain. Crazy Amelie wouldn’t listen. She was too far gone. I needed normal Amelie back for five minutes so we could explain everything. I just …

Suddenly, Amelie’s face froze in horror. Her skin began withering, the veins along her cheeks and forehead protruding. Much worse than what Wraith had done to Sofie.

“No!” I screamed, my hands rushing to her wrists to hold her up. “Stop!”

Wraith was killing her.

She crumbled to the ground, her towel puddled around her decrepit body. My hands flew to my mouth in horror. “How could you … You …” Rage burned inside me as I lifted my gaze, about to scream obscenities at my guardian. I faltered. Wraith was six feet away from us.

He hadn’t reached us yet.

Wraith didn’t cause that. There was only one person who could have. Me.

Julian’s screams snapped me out of my trance. He was already on his knees beside her, collecting her withered head in his lap, pulling her towel over her body to cover its frail nakedness, tears streaming down his cheeks. In shock, I started down at my hands. What just happened?