Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (36 page)

I looked helplessly from Sip to Keller as Lough went to open the window. Keller waited patiently outside, and I could see the movement of his dark, powerful wings as he hovered there. The moon was visible, then it wasn’t, then it was again.

“Thanks, Lough,” said Keller, stepping through. He looked much older than we did, somehow, but no less handsome than he ever had. I didn’t want to let my eyes follow him, so I stared at my friend, who was doing an excellent impression of an offended cat.

“Oh, hello, Bartholem,” said Sip, speaking of cats.

The white animal padded out of the shadows and came to jump on my lap, so at least I couldn’t get up and go through the awkward decision-making process of whether it was appropriate to give Keller a hug. Judging by Sip’s expression, I already knew what she would have thought of the idea.

I stroked the cat’s soft white fur and smiled. It had been too long since I’d seen him, and his purple eyes, so like Sip’s, struck me with surprise.

Meanwhile, my werewolf friend was glaring at me.

“What?” I demanded. “I know you hate cats, but Lough told him that Lisabelle was coming.”

“She’s what?” Keller asked, picking up a cookie and glancing at Lough. “That’s why you asked me to come?”

Lough nodded. “Sorry for the lukewarm welcome.”

“Lukewarm?” Sip sputtered. “I was going for glacial.” She waggled her finger at me and made to attack Keller again, but Lough grabbed her and held on. “You’ve seen him recently. You aren’t acting like this is some big reunion.”

I blushed and busied myself straightening Bartholem’s collar.

“Dreams are stupid,” said Sip, looking slightly calmer as Lough released his hold on her. “They keep ideas alive that should be allowed to die.”

I knew she was talking about Keller and me, and I also knew that she was just angry. Keller had been her friend, too, not just mine. I hoped Keller realized the same thing.

Keller walked over to Sip, who looked about as happy as a beehive just poked with a stick. Undaunted, he said, “Stand up, please.”

She glared up at him, her lips pursed into a thin line. She didn’t move.

Bartholem glanced at me, swiveling his head around until my hand had started moving on his back again. Then he returned his attention to the action.

“Somebody’s in trouble,” I said with a touch of amusement, “and his name’s Keller.”

Both my ex-boyfriend and Sip ignored me.

“Please?” Keller asked again.

Reluctantly, and taking her time about it, Sip placed her hands on her knees and pushed herself upward. The crown of her blond head came to just below Keller’s broad shoulder. Without a word he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big hug. At first Sip was rigid, muttering something indistinct. Over their heads Lough grinned and took a bite out of another cookie.

When Keller didn’t let go, Sip tentatively wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him back, burying her head in his armpit.

“That can’t smell good,” I said dryly.

“I’ll have you know I shower weekly,” said Keller.

“Ew,” came Sip’s muffled voice. When she finally pulled away she said, “Okay, okay, I forgive you, just don’t do it again.”

“There’s no way I can go through being away from her for that long again,” said Keller.

“I hope you mean Charlotte and not, like, Lisabelle,” said Lough. “I’d have to kill you.”

“Like the two of you should fight,” said Sip. “There are few enough paranormals left on our side.”

“We don’t know what side he’s on,” I said, momentarily stopping the hand that was petting Bartholem. He wasn’t putting up with it, though; a head-butt got my hand going, and he settled down again, contented.

“Cats are so bossy,” I muttered. Keller came over and sat next to me, and I was trapped. He was careful not to make actual contact, but he came close enough so that he could reach out and touch Bartholem. The white animal started purring up a paranormal tempest, and I glared at Keller.

“Oh, so you just show up and he likes you better?”

“I grew up with lots of cats,” said Keller, grinning. “They like me.”

“Everyone likes you,” said Lough. “Except Lisabelle. She doesn’t care one way or the other if you live or die.”

“Except insofar as your death would upset Charlotte,” added Sip.

“News to me,” said Keller, eyeing me sideways as he continued to stroke the happy cat in my lap.

Sip snorted.

“Who else is coming?” Keller asked.

It was so natural to have him with us, it almost made me angry. The four of us had hung out so many times over the years, it was almost as if there had never been an unbearably painful gap. Lough sat and ate, Sip examined the nearest book, and I tried to pretend that Keller’s proximity wasn’t all I cared about in the world. So, freaking, annoying.

Keller made the right choice and didn’t push, me and I didn’t ask him why he was there, or how he could get away from Malle.

“What’s it like to live with demons?” I had meant to think that thought in my head and not to ask it out loud, but it came out whether I wanted it to or not.

Keller glanced at me, his blue eyes darkening like clouds gathering in a late afternoon sky.

“It’s not like that,” he said. “There are several darkness mages. I never see the demons or the hellhounds. Malle’s very careful about that. I’m not sure she even interacts with them anymore. I rarely see Lisabelle, but when I do, it’s cordial. I don’t want to draw attention to our history as friends. She’s looked tired recently,” he said, glancing at Sip. “I assume you’re working on that?” I knew his phrasing was a kindness. He knew just as well as the rest of us that Lisabelle was dying.

Suddenly, though, before anyone could respond, all the lights, including the fire that Lough had lit, went out. There was a moment of silence when the only illumination in the room was the flicker of the moon as demons passed in front of it, then Sip spoke.

“Isn’t this the typical ‘guy comes, all the lights go out’? It’s not even original.”

“If it’s true, what does it matter?” Lough asked. “Also, Lisabelle’s a girl.”

“Yes, Mr. Observant,” said Sip.

The fireplace flared, but it didn’t bring light into the room, only heat, as black flames licked upwards. Bartholem got off my lap and I inched closer to Keller, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

More light came into the room as the fire went from deep black to light gray, giving all of us a sickly hue. And then, suddenly, Lisabelle was there. It was as ordinary as if she’d come through the door, but she had actually appeared right in front of the fire.

“That was cool,” said Lough.

Lisabelle moved over to him and gave him a hug, and Lough hugged her back as if his life depended on it. Finally she moved away and glanced around the room, her eyes growing more serious when they passed over Keller.

“Fallen angel,” she said.

“Darkness mage,” said Keller.

Sip, who had never moved from the front of the chair she’d plopped on, crossed her arms over her chest.

“Angry at a lot of us, aren’t you?” Lisabelle asked, finally moving over to her former roommate.

“I’m not angry at a lot of you,” said Sip.

“You angry at me?” Lisabelle asked, her voice quiet. I had never seen Lisabelle look so frail before. I glanced to her hands, but she had them covered in her robes. I probably didn’t want to know what they looked like.

“No,” said Sip.

“She says angrily,” said Lisabelle, a touch of amusement lightening her words.

Sip crossed her arms over her chest.

“I haven’t entirely figured out how to save you.”

Lisabelle chuckled. “Only you would say that now.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea what you mean,” said Sip, by then sounding really angry.

“I know,” said Lisabelle. “You called me here,” she continued, looking at Lough. “I don’t have much time.”

“Always missed in darkness, huh?” Sip asked. Lisabelle ignored her, and I saw Sip’s jaw set. My small friend was angry, and Lisabelle was clearly her next target.

“Yes, we called you,” I said, for the first time getting up and moving away from Keller. Even with my mind directed at Lisabelle, my body still protested moving further away from him. I ignored it. “We wanted to talk about tomorrow. About our conversion to darkness. They invited us to watch the Ceremony, but I’m sure they’ll also try and force our rings to turn back.”

“W
hich we aren’t really going to allow,” Sip supplied.

“Obviously,” said Lisabelle.

I started. “How is that obvious?”

“Well,” said Lisabelle, and then she paused and picked up an old-fashioned letter opener that was sitting on the desk near Lough. It looked like a knife, and suddenly I had an image of Lisabelle throwing it as if it
were
a knife, and watching it bury itself in the chest of Cynthia Malle. “There’s no going back from the conversion once your ring is black.”

Sip moved so fast I didn’t even catch what she was doing, but as ill as she was, Lisabelle was faster. Sip reached for the edge of Lisabelle’s robe, intent on exposing the hand that her friend had hidden underneath it, but Lisabelle yanked her body away, still holding the letter opener in her other hand.

“Are you insane?” she demanded.

But Sip reached for her hand again, and yet again, as Lisabelle continued to pull away. I could see her left hand clutching the letter opener, even if I couldn’t even make out her fingers. The metal of the opener was turning a bright black.

“Sip,” I said weakly, “calm down.”

“I’m calm,” said Sip threateningly.

“You’re about as calm as a rattlesnake who’s been stepped on,” said Lisabelle.

“Exactly,” said Sip furiously.

“Sip,” said Lough, gentling her, “it’s not like Lisabelle’s being sarcastic is . . . anything new. It’s kind of a relief, actually.” His eyes met Lisabelle’s, then he looked away.

“If Sip yelled at me every time I was sarcastic, we’d never talk about anything else,” said Lisabelle.

“You could always stop being so sarcastic,” Sip offered.

“You could always stop being a furball,” said Lisabelle. “Oh, no, wait, it’s in your nature.”

“My furballness doesn’t offend every paranormal I encounter.”

“I offend humans, too. Don’t sell me short, and how do you know?”

“We could all die tomorrow, you realize that?” Lough cut in.

“The probability is high,” said Lisabelle. “I’d like to die the way I lived, enjoying the simple pleasures with friends.”

“Who ever called an argument a simple pleasure before?” Lough asked.

“The same person who implied I ever lost one?” Lisabelle offered. “No one, ever.”

“Lisabelle . . .” Lough stopped our friend, and her thin shoulders, still reaching for the clouds, shook a little as she turned. “How are you going to pull this off?”

Lisabelle gave a knife-sharp curve of her lips. “Darkness calls to darkness.”

Chapter
Thirty-Four

Lough, Sip, and I didn’t talk afterwards about the fact that Lisabelle planned to act as a counterweight to the rest of darkness, and she clearly thought she could pull it off. That sort of confidence was what had always made Lisabelle, Lisabelle, and it was always what had scared me. I had to play my part and I had to play it to perfection, because Lisabelle would unfailingly play hers.

“You can do this,” said Sip. “We can get all the demons here and we can destroy them. I know we can.”

“I just can’t get captured,” I said. “The only way I can enact the elemental powers is if I’m free. If they capture me, then all is lost.”

“What did Lisabelle mean when she laughed about me saving her?” Sip asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, and I really didn’t. We both looked at Lough, who was obviously still in love with our friend. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Sip that Lisabelle did not act like a mage who thought she was going to be saved.

“She meant that you had already saved her,” said Lough quietly. Thank the paranormals for Lough. “She would have gone to darkness and never come back if it weren’t for you, and it would have happened a long time ago. Her friendships with us kept her from doing that.

We were all silent for a long time.

“I just hope it wasn’t in vain,” Sip murmured. I nodded my head in agreement, but inside, my gut was churning.

Keller stayed long after Lisabelle was gone. Sip, who had apparently forgiven him but not forgiven him, finally said, “I am not leaving before you, so if you’re sleeping here, I am too.”

Paranormal heaven help me against nosy friends.

But far from being offended, Keller merely chuckled. “I can’t sleep here. They’d miss me in the morning.”

Sip made a sweeping motion toward the window through which Lough had let him in. “Bye.”

At first he didn’t move. Through the hours that we’d been together he had inched closer to me, until finally we were almost touching. Bartholem had been good enough to return and let us continue to pet him after Lisabelle had left, and the cat’s presence had allowed us to brush our arms and elbows against each other several times. Goosebumps had broken out on my skin in the most delicious way; they felt like a million hot tiny feet marching all over my body.