Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (23 page)

Everything was blurry.

"Kai, honey. You look awful," said Grams, rising from the couch. She didn't even ask, just went into the kitchen and put on a kettle. My grandmother's answer to everything was a nice hot cup of tea.

And at that point I couldn't think of anything better.

Wait a goddamned minute. Hadn't someone taken Grams away? Like arrested her or something?

Nerina got up from the sofa and glided towards me. Funny how she seemed to float on the air, her gray skirt flowing in an invisible breeze.

Get a grip, Kai.

I glanced up at Mom who was close on Nerina's heels. Before I knew what was happening, my mother knelt beside me and opened the buttons of my blouse to inspect my bared chest.

Not that anyone here hadn't already seen said chest before, bared or otherwise.

Despite the trickle of gleaming neon-blue liquid that escaped the wound, the single bullet hole beside my sternum had already begun to knit together. The bleeding had stopped a while ago, thankfully. I didn't need to hear Grams nag about blood on the polished wood floor.

Mom surged to her feet. "Stay right there," she said, pointing sternly at me as she hurried off to my bedroom. I heard her rummaging inside the secret space behind my closet where we kept our guns and ammunition and an assortment of other weaponry.

"If you insist," I said, unable to hide the fatigue from my voice. The poison, though not fatal, seemed to be having some sort of effect on me. I never felt this tired.

Mum returned, holding a tube which looked like something she could have stolen from one of Uncle Niko's chemistry labs. She came to stand beside me and place the tube against my chest, holding it close to my skin as the liquid dripped slowly into the container.

As she worked, I turned to Logan. "The djinn?"

He gave me a nod. "Sleeping on the couch." I shifted my gaze over Mom's shoulder and was satisfied to see his sleeping form draped across our sofa.

At last, when Mom had gathered enough of the neon liquid, she lifted it to the light and stared at it.

Grams clicked her tongue from the kitchen. "Staring at that damn stuff isn't going to help you figure out what it is. I'll get that to the lab as soon as possible. You hold down the fort.

I laughed softly, more a giggle than anything else.
 

"What's so funny," asked Mom, coming to sit beside me. She used the side of my shirt to wipe away the dried blood from my wound.

"You holding down the fort."

Mom frowned.

"When you're AWOL it's hard to hold down any forts."

Mom grinned. "Very true." Her eyes glittered. "But, now that I'm back I can, can't I?"

I gave a nod, finding my head very heavy. Strange.

"Have fun," I said, with a drunken wave.

Then I began to slide down the chair as my body went totally numb.

The last thing I recalled was Logan grabbing a hold me before I slammed face first into the wood floor.

I woke, sitting bolt upright in the silent bedroom. Sunlight streamed into the room and I could hear the clink of cutlery against plates outside my door. I shoved the blankets aside, ignored the decidedly heavenly feel to my room, with all the golden sunlight and white sheets, and padded to the door.

When I swung the door open, all conversation stopped and I was pleased, surprised and taken aback at the scene at our dining table. Saleem was gone, and my parents, and Grams were eating Sunday lunch with Logan.

Well, knock me down with a feather, why don't you.

I blinked, opened my mouth, then closed it again.

"Honey?" Dad pushed his chair away and dropped his napkin on the table. Here too, the sunshine streamed into the room, making everything bright and little unreal. When I felt Dad come to a stop in front of me I had to accept that I wasn't dreaming the whole scene. "You okay? You up to having lunch?"

I nodded, then rubbed my eyes. "How long have I been out?"

"Just overnight." He smiled, placing a hand at my back and guiding me to the table. "We let you sleep in."

"Now you change your mind?" I teased as I sat in the vacant seat beside him.

The tight lines at Logan's eyes told me that he found the whole meal a strain.
 

I glanced across at Logan where he sat bracketed by Mom and Grams. Poor guy. I hate to think of what he'd been through in my absence. Iain was one thing, Grams and Mom alone with him was a totally different form of torture.

Dad cleared his throat. "What do you mean?"

I had to force my thoughts back to his question. "All our lives you've insisted that sleeping in was a form of inherent laziness, and now you say it's okay?" I asked as Grams placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me. Logan forked a sausage into my plate and I caught Mom giving him a glance that was on the 'oh so cute' side.

"It's a scientific truth, Kai. The one thing one finds most in common in successful people is that they are early risers."

"Is that a fact?" asked Mom, a knowing grin on her lips as she focused her attention on him. She propped her elbows on the table and threaded her fingers in front of her. Seeing her fiddle made me more aware than ever that I'd missed out on years of learning her habits and mannerisms.

I chewed eggs and bacon as I watched Dad shift his gaze to his wife and I was struck by the tenderness in his eyes. The man who'd keep himself distant from us, who I'd thought cold and unfeeling, seemed to overflow with love for his wife. Or was it his estranged wife now? Or lover?

My head hurt.

"Yes, that is a fact," he said firmly.

"Then explain to us how it's possible for
you
to be so successful when
you
aren't an early riser?" She smiled pleasantly.

Tea appeared at my right hand and a piece of warm toast hovered in front of me. Everyone was taking care of me. I could so get used to this.

Dad grunted, then threw Mom a sharp warning look.

"Mom, we all know Dad never sleeps in." I frowned as I stabbed a piece of bacon.

"Another secret to successful men," said Grams with a short laugh. "Secrets."

"Not you too," said Dad leaning back again his seat as if that small distance gave him some safety from this onslaught.

"Grams, are you saying Corin Odel is a slacker?" I asked giving Dad a glance.

"I should know. Mothers know these things about their children." Grams popped a piece of sausage in her mouth and chewed around the grin that remained emblazoned on her face. She was enjoying this way too much.

"Mother," said Dad, the warning clear in her voice.

That set everyone laughing.

"Dad, just accept it. Your secret is out." I snorted. "And your scientific facts are BS."

He laughed ruefully. "I guess it is, then."

I ate, listening to the banter around me, feeling at home and relaxed for the first time in a while.

At some point Grams' cellphone buzzed and she picked it up. Seconds later she cleared her throat. "I do hate to destroy the happiness and light at the table but there has been news."

Everyone looked at her, waiting, dread darkening the bright midday sunbeams that danced around us.

"Sentinel's just informed us that there's been another killing. This time a cluster of goblins in the Alaskan forest."

I'd never met a goblin before. Said a lot about my upbringing though, considering I'd never know my own mother was human until I'd walked headlong into the fact not that long ago.

Mom made a strangled noise in her throat. "Why the hell would they want to attack the goblins? They've lived in peace for centuries. And they keep to themselves. Why target them?"

"Target practice," said Logan quietly.

Nobody argued.

Goblins could be vicious when attacked, but they weren't fighters. They hated any exercise that didn't further their own personal goals of a happy carefree life. Hence Alaska and other far-flung countries were usually populated generously with goblins.

Logan shook his head. "What better way to test paranormal weaponry than to use targets who have zero evasion tactics, and even less defensive capabilities. And who like living as far from civilization as possible. Easy targets and nobody will notice. Best of both worlds."

I shook my head. "All this, everything that's happened to date, all the murders . . . They all seemed so random, so unconnected. What reason could there be for randomness-"

"Unless the randomness was deliberate." Logan finished my sentence, nodding to himself. His gaze was focused angrily at his plate as if Grams' bone china dinner plate was one of the killers. "They've been testing whatever ammunition and techniques they have on different paranormals, different parts of the world. But maintaining a distance from civilization."

"Makes sense," said Mom, looking angry.

Before I could say anything, a knock sounded at the door. Grams' eyebrows rose and I knew she already knew the identity of out visitor.

Mom got up to answer and when the visitor proved to be Jess, I wasn't surprised.

She walked in, her movements graceful, and as should be expected from a Titan. She inclined her head in greeting as she stopped beside the table.

Both Logan and Grams rose, and Grams said, "Would you-"

Jess lifted a hand regally and everything stilled.

I blinked.

Logan and Grams were standing way too still. I stared at them, and blinked again.

A glance back at Jess confirmed that the Titan and I were the only ones still able to move.

My jaw dropped.

She'd frozen them.

I'
D
HEARD
OF
THE
T
ITAN
'
S
ability to freeze time and always thought it was some kind of magical mumbo-jumbo. Apparently it wasn't.

I stood for a few interminable seconds, almost as frozen as my family. A small part of me wondered, in shock, if they'd come out of that state even aware that they'd been paused in the first place.

Then I was just angry.

"Why did you do that?"
 

I hadn't even bothered to greet her, but I didn't care about being rude. She'd just frozen the people closest to me; I doubted she'd expect me to bow at her feet.

"Because we need to talk."

My gaze flickered between Mom and Logan, to Grams, her mouth half-open, lips frozen in mid-speech. To Dad. If I wasn't so annoyed, the whole scene would be hilarious.

"Do not worry about them. They are all perfectly fine."

I shoved my chair back, ignoring the angry screech of the legs against the wood floor. I even managed to not glance at Grams to see if she was glaring at me in admonition.

I stepped away from my seat and, walking around Dad, came to stand in front of the Titan. I moved slowly, deliberately. I wanted to convey that I wasn't afraid of her, or intimidated by her. But something told me she already knew what was in my heart.

That I was more than a little terrified.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked, tightening my throat muscles so my voice wouldn't shake.