Betrayed (3 page)

I know, Sunshine. It’s only temporary.

I know, Sunshine. It’s only temporary.

My cel phone rang again. I reached inside the pocket of my coat for the annoying instrument and checked the identity of the cal er. The word
Restricted
flashed on the screen instead of a number. The only reason I owned the cel phone was to blend in, and I only used it to stay in touch with my human friends. None of them had a restricted number.

I pressed the green button and brought the phone to my ear. “Yes?”

“Good morning, Lilith.”

My heart dropped to the soles of my boots.

Only one person used my birth name. I swal owed though my throat felt like sandpaper, my grip tightening around the phone.

“I know you’re stil there, daughter.”

“Lil?” Bran’s voice fil ed with concern, his gaze on the cel phone. “Who is it?”

Valafar.
A powerful nature-bender and the one demon I tried not to think about, let alone acknowledge. The flash of anger in Bran’s eyes didn’t surprise me. He knew how much I hated my birth father. Valafar kil ed my mother and grandmother in a blind rage when I was three.

Granted, he thought he was avenging my death at the time. Stil , I’d always hold him responsible.

I moved jerkily from Bran’s side and hurried down the ramp and away from him, almost bumping into students walking toward the school entrance. I kept walking. My hand grew clammy around the phone. “How did you find my number?”

“Why haven’t you cal ed me?” Valafar demanded.

“Cal you? I don’t want to have anything to do with you.”

“I put my phone number on the card with the gifts I sent you,” he snapped impatiently. “Your mother’s pictures, home movies she made before you were born and afterwards. Didn’t you receive them?”

My heart skipped a beat. Mom. To actual y watch her, hear her voice would be the best gift in the world. I blew out air and shook my head. No, this was wrong. This was Valafar’s attempt to manipulate me, maybe create trouble between me and my grandfather by implying Grampa hid things from me.

“What do you want? I already made it clear I don’t want anything to do with you. I chose to stay with my grandfather and work with the Guardians,” I retorted.

“Decisions made when you are emotional y distraught are hardly ever sound, Lilith. I should know.”

I could not believe he brought
that
up. “Don’t ever cal me—”

“Tel your grandfather to contact me.”

“No,” I snapped.

“This is important. He must stop searching for the List. It concerns your safety.”

“Stay. Out. Of. My. Life.” I ended the sentence in a yel and closed the phone. My knees shook so hard I leaned against the wal for support I jumped when the phone started to ring again. It was him, again.

Leave me alone.
I resisted the urge to smash the cel phone on the ground and crush it with the heel of my boot. Instead, I pressed the power button and shoved it inside my pocket.

I felt the reassuring brush of Bran’s energy before his arms wrapped around me and pul ed me into his chest. I turned, buried my face into his neck, and held him tight. Whatever Valafar’s motive, I wasn’t going to be suckered into listening to him. No way.

The phone started to ring again.

2. Medium

I fished the cel phone from my coat pocket, my heart pounding. Yanking the battery out didn’t stop the ringing.

“How’s he doing this when it has no battery?” I whispered.

“He’s not.” Bran stopped scrutinizing the students near us like they were escaped felons and focused on me. “Let me take care of him.” I hesitated, hating to depend on anyone, even Bran, to take care of my problems.

“Please,” Bran added softly, understanding my reluctance.

I shoved the phone in his hand.

Images of TVs turning on and phones ringing when unplugged zipped through my head. Spirits did things like that in movies, except I now know that in real life spirits were mainly demons causing mischief. Valafar could be using glamour to hide among the students. Or maybe he had the ability to become invisible. As a nature-bender, there was no tel ing what other weird powers he had.

“Stop using a medium to spy on her!” Bran snarled into the receiver.

Of course, mediums. There were no invisible beings playing with my cel phone. I real y must stop watching horror movies.

I studied the students hurrying into the building and the ones visible through the glass wal s.

They stood in groups in the lobby catching up on holiday news. Others were on their phones, talking or texting. My gaze connected with a few and I lowered my shield and linked to their minds.

Thoughts and emotions slammed into my psyche—worries about boyfriends and girlfriends, family and school, fashion, video games, sports, being too fat, too short, too tal …. I broke the links and exhaled sharply. Whoa, talk about major issues.

My knowledge about mediums was limited, but I knew they weren’t easy to spot. No physical abnormality marked them as special. They weren’t evil either, just unfortunate to have the ability to act as a conduit for the supernatural world. People considered them seers or psychics. Unfortunately, demons also used the exceptional y gifted.

“Leave her alone. She doesn’t want anything to do with you,” Bran shouted into the phone.

My attention shifted to Bran. His eyes had taken the stormy green tinge of the North Atlantic Ocean, which usual y spel ed trouble.

“You don’t have anything that I need, Valafar,” he added in a cold, harsh voice I heard him use only once—when I’d refused to help him after we first met. He yanked the phone from his ear, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I snapped.

“I’l get you a new one,” Bran growled. Any second, I expected his eyes to glow red. Bran was usual y calm and in control, even when angry.

“No, that’s okay. I’l tel Grampa I lost it or something.”

He gave the phone one last kick and I knew I had to do something. I reached for his left hand and sandwiched it between mine. Fury mixed with fear flowed from him into me. I closed my eyes and let my energy overlap with his, soothing and showering him with al the love from every cel in my body until he was calm. The expression on his face, when he final y looked at me, was sheepish. He forked his fingers through his raven locks.

“I don’t know why I did that,” he murmured.

“I don’t know why I did that,” he murmured.

“I do.” I interlocked our fingers and studied his face. “Valafar brings out the worst in everyone.”

“You can say that again.” A muscle ticked on his jaw. “He thought he could bribe me.”

“Oh please. With what?”

“Exactly. He has nothing I need.” Bran peered at me. “What did he say to you?”

“He wanted to talk to Grampa about my safety. As if Grampa would give him the time of day.

He also said he sent more of my mother’s things to the house. But I haven’t received anything.” Bran’s eyes grew stormier. He reached down with his free hand and plucked my backpack from the ground, where he’d dropped it then glanced at his watch. “I’l walk you to your class.” I didn’t feel like going to school. Buses were at the curb, dropping off more students, which meant I had less than five minutes to get to my class.

Maybe I should ditch school.

“You must tel your grandfather about this,” Bran said.

“No.” I shook my head. “Grampa can never know about the cal .”

“Why not?” A frown settled on Bran’s handsome face.

“Because he’l tighten security around me, put me under surveil ance or something.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” he snapped.

Frustration gripped my throat in a chokehold, cutting off my breath. I hated it when we argued. Not wanting to break down in front of him and the entire school, I let go of his hand, crossed my arms, and glared.

“Lil,” Bran sighed.

“It’s not fair that I’m closely guarded and not al owed to hunt with the others. I might have been reluctant to be a Guardian in the beginning, but it’s al I think about now. I need to be out there. And you….” I narrowed my eyes and poked his chest.

“You should know just how much I miss hunting without me trying to knock it into your head. You’re supposed to be in tune with my emotions,” I finished, speaking through clenched teeth.

“I am,” he protested, reaching for me.

“Don’t.” My voice was sharp, but I didn’t care.

I took a step away from him. “You don’t understand.

The last three months have been a nightmare. I never go anywhere or do anything. Learning about Valafar’s cal wil only give them an excuse to keep me under lock and key.”

“But it’s for your own good, and you stil need to train more.” He glanced at the students hurrying past us and lowered his voice. “I would rather you hunt after you master your powers so that you’re prepared and won’t be vulnerable to the overzealous demons seeking to claim the Kris Dagger and its wielder.”

Why did he have to sound like Haziel? It made me want to scream.

“I’l never be done with training,” I ground out.

“No matter how hard I work or how many chal enges I pass, nothing I do is ever good enough for Haziel.” Bran didn’t speak. He just stared at me with a thoughtful expression as though trying to understand.

“Don’t you dare take his side,” I added, kicking at the snow and spraying his polished boots.

“You’re supposed to be on mine.”

Bran swept strands of hair from my face then tipped my chin so I could look into his eyes. His gaze didn’t waver. “I’l always be on your side, Lil. Just like I’l always love you and do everything in my power to protect you.”

My resentment melted. I was stil amazed at how he made me angry one second then turned around and took my breath away the next. Instead of going to school, I wanted to grab him and teleport home so we could make out. I hadn’t seen him in three days. Three, long, agonizing days. Maybe I could fake a headache.

“Lil?”

The warning in Bran’s voice pul ed me out of my daydream. I couldn’t remember moving, yet my hand now rested on his chest, just above his heart.

Moving closer, I grinned.

“I don’t like that look in your eyes,” he said, leaning back.

“I’m not feeling wel , that’s al . The headaches are coming back.” I got them before my powers first appeared and right afterwards, but not anymore.

Bran frowned, studying me with narrowed eyes.

Got him. “I haven’t had them in while, but whenever I’m stressed out, I get them. Valafar’s medium must be close by.”

Bran chuckled, dimples flashing. My insides Bran chuckled, dimples flashing. My insides went mushy. Sunbeams after a stormy afternoon couldn’t rival that smile of his, or what it did to me.

“I know what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work. You’re not ditching school.” He swung my backpack over his shoulder.

“But wouldn’t you love me to?”

He reached for my hand and pressed it on his chest. “You feel that?”

His heart raced hard. It stil surprised me I had that kind of effect on him. I nodded.

“That should tel you al you need to know, but we’re not going home. I have an errand to run,” he added, using the phrase we’d coined for going after a demon.

“I could always zap you and change your mind for you.”

Another smile lit up his handsome face.

“Okay. Do it.”

“Real y?”

He burst out laughing.

I elbowed him. He didn’t even have the decency to flinch, the tease. “Watch it, buddy. You’re close to joining the Council, Haziel and Grampa on my special list.”

He cocked his right eyebrow. “And what list is that?”

“People trying to control my life.”

“I’d never do that. Come on. I’l walk you to your class. And before you ask, I’ve cast glamour strong enough to fool both the security guards and the teachers.”

Last time he forgot, he was busted by the school’s police officer outside my class. I had to step in and diffuse the situation. Glamour shielded Guardians so humans only saw or heard what we al owed, but it took years of practice to get it right.

Bran was so lucky he could already do it at such a grand scale—and didn’t have to go to school.

“I wasn’t going to ask,” I said with a pout.

“Yes, you were. You’re stubborn and a perfectionist, and when things don’t go your way, you throw a fit.”

“Do not.” I elbowed him.

He kissed my temple. “Do too, and I love it, especial y when it’s directed at Sykes.” He was right. I could be very stubborn when mad, but I drew a line at throwing fits. “Watch it with the veiled insults.”

“Compliments.”

I remembered the crushed cel phone, ran back, and scooped it up. It looked like roadkil and belonged in the garbage. I dropped it in the pocket of my coat.

When Bran took my hand and tugged me closer, I sagged against his side and sighed. “And for the record, I refuse to add Valafar to that list. He’l give up once he realizes I’ve no interest in having a relationship with him.”

“Don’t underestimate him. He’s not the type to give up easily.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Thanks for making me feel better.”

“I’m just being realistic. When I lived on Coronis Isle, I never heard anyone mention Valafar having children. Coronis didn’t al ow nature-benders to breed unless she authorized it, which is why Valafar kept you and your mother a secret. You might be his only child.”

That would be weird, or maybe not. I always longed to be part of a large family. “And you’re tel ing me this because…?”

“You need to know what you’re up against—a man determined to claim you. Using a medium shows just how desperate he’s become, which brings up something you must consider. The medium he’s using is someone close to you.” I stopped walking, shook my head. “No way.”

“How do you think he got your number? How many people have it?”

“Four.” Al of them close friends—humans.

Bran lowered his voice as he added, “Check with them and see if one has had blackouts, headaches, or heavy nosebleeds.”

I blinked, a bad feeling washing over me.

“What are you talking about?”