Chameleon (Supernaturals) (12 page)

“I love you,” Russ whispered when we finally broke apart.

“I love you too. Always. I promise.”

“No, Dani, I mean I
love
you.”

I knew that’s what he meant the first time, but my eyes still widened and my stomach twisted in on itself. He wanted me to say it too, and I meant to, but when I opened my mouth what came out was, “I’ll call you when I get there.”

Duncan had the decency to
ask for a blanket before shuffling me out the door since I was still wearing nothing but Russ’s t-shirt. Russ came back with a small quilt off his bed. It was one we’d made together in home-ec the previous semester. He’d hated every minute of that class, but we’d done a good job on the quilt and Russ was secretly proud of it even if he’d never admit it.

We fought about who got to keep the quilt and finally came up with a joint custody plan, but I knew how much he liked it so I never came to claim it when it was my turn. I knew he was giving it to me now as a piece of him to take with me. I pulled the blanket around me and didn’t plan on ever letting it out of my fingers.

After that I was stuffed into the back of a limo. I’d never ridden in a limo, but I wasn’t exactly in the mood to ogle. I was the first one in the car and Duncan followed behind me. He started to sit by me but took one look at the scowl on my face and sat across the car from me instead. As it turns out I should have let him sit next to me, because Robert and Constance didn’t seem to care that I wanted to be left alone. The jerks sat down on either side of me.

“You don’t need to worry,” Constance said. “We’ll get everything sorted out. You’ll be able to see your family again soon enough.”

If she was waiting for me to show some gratitude or relief, she was delusional.

When I ignored her, Robert cleared his throat. “I think you’re going to like the consulate, Danielle. You’ve been raised in a world you don’t belong to for so long. I think you’ll find it a relief to be around your own kind.”

I hated Robert. Mr. Know-It-All seemed all smiles now that he’d successfully taken me away from my home. Did he really think I’d be happier with a bunch of stupid strangers who’d more or less kidnapped me than my own parents who raised me and loved me? And Russ and Alex who loved me too, and knew me better than anyone in the whole world? How dare he say I didn’t belong there? It was my home!

Ignoring him too, I got up and moved across the limo to sit next to Duncan. Duncan gave me a sideways glance, but didn’t say anything. He leaned back and closed his eyes as if he planned on sleeping the whole drive.

Robert looked really annoyed that I’d insulted him, but he seemed determined to act friendly. “It’s an honor to be invited to the consulate,” he told me. “Not many people get the opportunity to meet the Supreme High Councilor, and he is very excited to get to know you. Truly you are a very special girl.”

 Just as I was thinking I’d throw myself out the door of the speeding car if I had to listen to him go on like that all the way to New York, I felt the tiniest nudge. I looked down and Duncan had slipped an MP3 player onto the seat between us. I looked up in surprise, but Duncan appeared to be asleep.

I stuck the headphones in my ears, found something I liked, and then turned the volume up as loud as I could stand it. Glancing back up at Duncan, I found him watching me. He gave me the tiniest wink and then went back to his nap.

Four hours later I was the one sleeping and Duncan shook me awake. “Pit stop,” he informed me after I took the headphones out of my ears.

The two of us were the only ones left in the limo. I sighed a little breath of relief and then handed the MP3 player back to him. “Thank you for this.”

“Hang on to it,” he told me. “We still have another two and a half hours of driving, and if you think Robert will stop bugging you, you’re dreaming.”

I pulled the MP3 player back into my lap. “Why are you being so nice to me?” I asked.

Duncan answered, “I remember what it’s like.”

“You mean the council took you too?”

“Not the council. I’m an anomaly like you. A daywalker. When people realized the truth about me there were three main covens in the city where I was from and they all wanted me. I became a pawn in their struggle for power. Eventually they started a war over it.” Duncan shrugged like it was no big deal. “It was the council who stepped in and stopped the fighting. They gave me a choice to go off on my own as a nomad or join the guard. I didn’t want to be alone, so I stayed. They gave me a home. I’ve been very happy serving them.”

Duncan laughed at my shocked expression. “I know how you must feel right now, but the council’s not so bad. Robert may be clueless to the feelings of others, but he really does want what’s best for you. He usually stays at the consulate, but he insisted on coming for you himself. He didn’t want anything to happen to you.”

I tried to contain my anger. No need to lash out at the only friend I seemed to have at the moment. “That’s not because he cares for my safety,” I said. “He just doesn’t want to lose my precious power—whatever that is.”

Duncan regarded me with a thoughtful expression, as if he were trying to decide whether to defend Robert or agree with me. Finally he said, “Do you know of the prophecy? Did Alexander tell you anything about it?”

“No,” I admitted warily. I didn’t like this subject. I didn’t like the idea that everyone believed I had some predetermined destiny that was worth the kidnapping and/or killing of me. “The first I heard of it was when the werewolf mentioned it. He said something about a seer too, but no one’s bothered to explain what that means.”

“Well,” Duncan said. “How familiar are you with the Hundred Years’ War?”

“Not very. Mid fourteenth century to mid fifteenth century. It was a dispute between England and France over the rule of France, right?”

“Yes. Mostly. It
was
about who had proper claim to France, but it wasn’t between England and France, and it wasn’t really about the throne. It was between two different dynasties. The House of Valois, and the House of Plantagenet.

“The trouble started with the death of King Charles IV. He died without ever producing any male heirs so the throne went to the next closest descendants—the House of Valois. That part of the story history tells. What history fails to mention is that the family of Valois was an extremely powerful line of warlocks.”

“And people knew this?”

Duncan smiled. “Back then, supernaturals and humans coexisted peacefully. They respected and helped one another, but the Plantagenets didn’t like the idea of such powerful people being in control of France, so they waged war. Eventually it became humans against supernaturals.”

“But wasn’t it the House of Valois who eventually won the war?” I asked. “Didn’t they rule France for a long time?”

“That’s right,” Duncan said proudly. “Not bad for a girl raised by humans.”

I ignored the insult to my parents and simply said, “Straight A’s. Drives Russ crazy.”

“Boyfriend’s not too bright eh?”

“No. The opposite. He’s really smart. It drives him crazy that I’m just as smart as he is. He likes to think he’s the best at everything.”

Duncan snorted a laugh. “The intelligence is a supernatural thing. The God Complex is a warlock thing.”

“And Russ isn’t my boyfriend.”

Duncan raised an eyebrow at that, but decided not to argue. “So anyway. The Hundred Years’ War. Yes, the House of Valois eventually won the war, thanks mostly to a woman you know as Joan of Arc.”

“Of course!” I said, excited. “They say she was a prophetess. She had visions that helped her in battle. Joan of Arc was a supernatural?”

“Not just a supernatural,” Duncan said. “She was the Oracle. The last the world has ever seen. Her visions led the House of Valois to victory.”

“But if she was so powerful, couldn’t she have saved herself from being killed? Wouldn’t she have seen it coming?”

“Most believe she did. Legend tells she willingly gave her life knowing that her martyrdom would be the fuel the supernaturals needed to win the war. They say she’d seen the future and saw the necessity of her own death.”

“That’s a tragic story and all, but what does any of that have to do with me?”

Duncan smirked. “Of course it’s all about you, isn’t it? You’ve been spending too much time with warlocks.”

“Funny,” I said. “Forgive me if I’m not in the mood.”

Duncan sighed. “All right, all right. I suppose you’re allowed to be cranky today. As they bound the Oracle—Joan—to the stake where she was burned, she gave the world one last prophecy. She said the House of Valois would find victory, but that the war would not be over. She said the balance between supernaturals and humans had been offset, and because of it, the supernaturals would be oppressed for hundreds of years and driven nearly to extinction. The exact words of the prophecy say, ‘On the eve of that last great battle, there would rise up one more powerful than the world has ever known. Without her, Evil will win.’”

It took me a minute to digest this and relate it to myself. “They think
I’m
the ‘her’ in the prophecy?” Um, yeah. I’m so sure. “Boy are they in for a major disappointment.”

Duncan burst out laughing.

“I don’t get it. How can anyone possibly think she meant me? And what about this great battle? It’s not like we’re in the middle of a supernatural war. I may have been raised human, but I think I would have noticed that.”

“I think that’s what has everyone going so crazy. Yes, the supernaturals have been oppressed for hundreds of years. We’ve been forced into hiding for so long that humans believe us to be no more than myths. There are so few of us left in the world. It would be easy to imagine we could all be exterminated without much effort. But who is the threat? Where will it come from?

“The council believes they were given a miracle with the birth of the Seer. He’s not as powerful as the Oracle was, but he is the first seer the supernatural world has seen in over two hundred years. He’s saved hundreds, possibly thousands of lives with his predictions. No one doubts him. Friday night he had a vision of you. He said you were the girl the prophecy speaks of. It’s got everyone really freaked out.”

“I guess so.”

“So you understand why it’s so important that we get you to safety? Whoever this great enemy is that will wage the final battle knows that you can defeat them. Without you, Evil will win and all supernaturals will die. You can see why the Supreme High Councilor was willing to bring you to the consulate against your will if necessary.”

“It doesn’t mean I have to like it,” I said stubbornly. “And it doesn’t mean that Robert has to be so grumpy.”

“I believe that had more to do with Alexander Devereaux than you,” Duncan said. “We surely did not expect to find him there. Robert can’t be happy about Alexander having had so much influence over you all these years.”

“What?” I gasped. “Why? How do they even know Alex?”

“Alexander Devereaux used to—”

The car door swung open so suddenly that I jumped and hit my head on the roof of the car. “Forgive me for taking so long,” Constance said, popping her head in the door. She handed me a large bag. “I had to guess on the sizes, but they should be close enough.”

“Do you need to use the restroom?” Duncan gave me a look that said our conversation was completely over.

I was dying to know what he meant about Alex, but I knew he’d never tell me the gossip with Robert and Constance hanging around. “Yeah,” I said.

“All right.” Duncan stepped out of the car. “Come on out when you’re dressed and we’ll get you something to eat too.”

It was strange to be in the car alone. I welcomed the privacy. After Duncan’s history lesson I had a lot to think about, but at the same time I immediately felt the absence of all the supernaturals. It wasn’t uncomfortable, I just noticed. The cravings were already getting stronger just like Alex said they would.

With a sigh I opened the bag of clothing. I expected some kind of old fogey wool suit like Constance was wearing, and was surprised to find jeans and a pale pink cotton knit t-shirt. Not what I would have picked, but I could tell she’d tried.

I got dressed, folded my blanket, and then stepped out of the car. Robert, Constance and Duncan were all standing there waiting for me. “Oh, good,” Constance said. “They fit.”