Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (54 page)

the bar.

“They’re over there at the back, sitting with someone else,” I said.

Spence looked at me with a screwed- up face and looked away.

“Guy or girl?” he asked, cringing.

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“Guy. Why?” I replied, confused.

“Oh…well, that’s…” he said, unable to finish, increasingly appalled.

I caught on and smacked him on the shoulder. “Spence! Get

your mind out of the gutter and concentrate!” I hit him again.

“They’re with an exile and there are more at the tables on either side of them. I think you were right. They’re in trouble.”

The man sitting opposite Lincoln was unprepossessing and kind

of weedy- looking for an exile, which made me think he was hidden by some type of disguise. All I could see was a manila envelope moving over the table from him to Magda, and then a white envelope sliding back from Lincoln to him.

“Catch that?” Spence asked, now the one whispering.

“Yeah.”

“Any ideas?”

“Not one.”

“Well, this is good, isn’t it?” he said.

I felt a spike in the room as a familiar, unnerving feeling washed over me, sending a shiver down my spine. I started to look around, a different set of nerves playing on me now. I was just about to take a step toward where it was coming from when two menacing-looking exiles appeared with lightning speed and stood like a brick wall in front of us.

“I wouldn’t exactly say
good
,” I answered Spence.

“Hmm.” But he was still smiling.

“This is a breach! You Grigori— lying, despicable humans,” said one of the exiles.

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“We were just leaving,” I said, as Spence and I, understanding

the very immediate need for departure, spun around to face the

exit. But we spun right into another three exiles who had come up behind us.

“No pass, no protection,” said one, who looked as if all his

Christmases had come at once. Then his fist went squarely into

Spence’s face, sending him flying into one of the marble pillars with a thundering smack.

Lincoln and Magda were there in seconds, shocked to find me

surrounded by a pack of angry exiles. They didn’t even hesitate.

They jumped straight into action. As did I. Before I knew it, we were in full combat, Lincoln and Magda each fighting off two

exiles. Spence recovered quickly and took one from Magda, while all I heard was Lincoln yell, “No daggers! Just put them down and get out!”

Fine
by
me.

Making sure I didn’t make the same mistake I had the other day, I blocked everything else out and focused on the ginger- haired, polyester- wearing exile who was coming at me with venom. Luckily, he was sloppy, which made it easy. With a few well- placed kicks, I was in control and I beat him down until he stayed there. I turned in time to see Lincoln knocking out his second exile, slamming his flattened palm right up and into his opponent’s nose— one of his favored moves— quick and efficient. Magda was already at the door and Spence was still going fist to fist with the burly exile who had first hit him.

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I was about to step in and help when Spence took a running

jump at the exile and somehow catapulted himself to land in a

sitting position on the exile’s shoulders. From there, he grabbed his head, taking the time to look at me and wink, then gave it a sharp twist. There was a loud snap and the exile fell to the ground. A broken neck wouldn’t kill or return him, unfortunately— a Grigori blade was needed for that— but it would hurt like hell and keep him down for a while.

Once outside, Spence and I kept a quick pace, following Lincoln.

We both knew he simply expected us to do so. When he stopped

a few streets away, I went straight up to him. I didn’t know what was going on, but right now, I just wanted to know he hadn’t been hurt. It had been stupid to go in there when we knew the hotel was filled with exiles.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No!” He spun round to look at me, his green eyes angrier than

I’d ever seen. “What the hell were you two doing in there? You

could’ve gotten yourself killed!”

I took a step back. Spence came up to stand beside me as Magda

stepped up to Lincoln.

“Linc, I’m sorry. We thought you might be in trouble.”

“How did you even know we were in there?”

“We…I…” I couldn’t answer, couldn’t admit to my childishness.

“You followed us!”

“Actually, it was me,” Spence said, stepping forward.

“What?” Magda jumped in.

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“Yeah. I saw you guys going off, and it looked like you might be going hunting. I thought I might be able to get in on the action.

Sorry about that.”

I closed my eyes briefly. Spence was saving me, big time.

“You
both
should have known better,” Magda said, not about to let me off the hook. “You’re not even allowed on active duty, Spence. I doubt your tutors will be impressed when we tell them you ruined a meeting we had with a source while potentially threatening one of the only ones we have left. It was a mutual setup; we declared our numbers and agreed not to cause them any problem if they met with us. We were there to get information, not to fight!” Magda looked as if she were enjoying this mess as much as Lincoln looked ashamed of it.

Does
he
really
think
so
little
of
me? Am I such an embarrassment to
have around now that Magda’s back and he can hunt with her?

“Well, maybe someone should have told me,” I sulked, directing

my words at Lincoln, who would now barely look at me. “And maybe
someone
could have told me where he was going while he was at it, since he’s supposed to be my partner, after all. This isn’t all on us, you know. What were you seeing that exile— source— for, anyway?”

“Nothing. It’s just an old case I offered to help Magda on,”

Lincoln said, looking at his feet.

“What? You’re not going to tell me?” I asked in disbelief.

“No.” He looked at Magda, who tilted her head as if to direct

him to go with her. “Look, this doesn’t involve you, Violet. Go home. Get some sleep. You barely had any last night.”

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Spence looked at me, smiling ear to ear, and even gave his

eyebrows a waggle. I ignored him.

“You and…Spence will have plenty of time to hang out later on. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Lincoln said, also absorbing Spence’s expression.

With that, Magda and Lincoln hailed a taxi and were driven

away. I guess they figured they’d be harder to follow traveling at high speed.

I buried my face in my hands. “Oh my God. I want to die.”

“What do you mean?” Spence started, running his fingers

through his hair and then ruffling it all up again. “That. Was.

Unbelievable! Did you even
see
that? I
leapfrogged
onto his damn shoulders and snapped his neck!”

I looked between the fingers over my face. “That was pretty cool.”

“Cool? That wasn’t cool— that was historic!” He gave me a

nudge and I laughed as we started walking back. “And it wasn’t

that bad. At least they weren’t in the penthouse with champagne.”

“
Spence
, you’re disgusting. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes. But you have to admit, not a bad result compared to the

alternative. Mind you…”

“What?”

“Well, Magda
was
looking a little…you know…bloated.

Maybe…?”

“No.” I took a deep breath and squared myself to face him.

“No!”

“Enough said.” He gave a nod and I knew he wouldn’t mention

it again.

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“You do realize they’re going to tell on us,” I went on as we

started walking again. “And when Griffin, Nyla, and Rudyard find out, we’re busted.”

“Yeah, but it was worth it!
Right
onto
his
shoulders
…like a
freaking
acrobat!”

————

By the time I finally got home to an empty apartment, I was so

exhausted, I passed out on the couch for the night after briefly wondering how Onyx was going with Dapper. I should have gone

to check on him tonight, but with everything that had happened, I promised myself I would go straight after training the next day. Just as my eyes became too heavy to resist closing, I felt a breeze cross my face. Strangely, it wasn’t cold and I didn’t feel so alone.

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chapter
nine

“Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that
dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
G. K. ChesTeRToN

Steph didn’t stop talking about Salvatore all morning; even during class, she sent me notes— something Steph simply does not do.

He is soooo nice!

He walked me home. Did I already tell you that?

I feel so bad for him. All he wants to do is be part of everything and
not slow things down. It’s not his fault he can’t speak English yet. Zoe
is such a bitch to him but he just wants her to like him. But just as
friends— he isn’t interested in her— I don’t think. What do you think?

S xxx

I wrote back, assuring her that I didn’t think Salvatore had any interest in Zoe romantically, reminding her, somewhat bitterly, that Entice.indd 90

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Grigori partners are not allowed to be romantic together anyway, even as I was reflecting more and more on Nyla and Rudyard and

how close they looked.

I told Steph all the things she wanted me to say— that she should help him out, maybe give him some extra English lessons, all the stuff that would put them close together. I didn’t mention my concerns, that getting close to a Grigori in a romantic way could spell disaster and that maybe she should consider keeping her distance. I didn’t know if that made me a good friend or a bad friend.

By the time the end- of- day bell rang, I was dying to get back to Lincoln’s. I needed to see him, to clear everything up and get back on track. Plus, I had to make up for my lax performance

yesterday and do better in training. In between notes from Steph, I managed to mentally talk myself out of all my crazy theories, especially the—
I
can’t even believe I’m thinking it
— baby one. Of course Magda and Lincoln weren’t having a baby. Just because it had

sounded like a couple’s kind of conversation— there simply had to be more to it.

Steph came with me again, and I could see that as long as

Salvatore was around, she most likely would be too. When we

arrived, training was already in full flight. Salvatore and Zoe were both glistening with sweat and looked as if they had gone about ten rounds with one another.

Spence was in the corner using Lincoln’s weights. In a sleeveless shirt and shorts, he looked quite tall and showed off a fit body. For the first time, I really looked at him and saw that beneath the shaggy 91

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blond hair that gave him a kind of surfer look, he had gentle lines on his face that made him not boy, not man, but someone with a whole lot of potential. When he saw me, his face lit up with a devilish grin, and I found myself grinning from ear to ear and wondering how

much trouble this new friend of mine was going to get me in.

“Hey! Where is everyone?” I asked him as Steph edged away

from me. I knew exactly who she’d be making a beeline for.

“Well, Zoe and Sall have been going all day. They’re just winding down. Your buddies told Nyla and Rudy about our little error

in judgment last night, so we’re not even allowed to spar today.” Spence dropped his hand weights on the floor mat and grabbed

his water bottle. “Griffin, Nyla, and Rudy have been out most of the day, looking into this Scripture thing you’re all after. They said to tell you they’d be back in time to give you a theory lesson later.”

“Oh. Okay. Sorry you got in trouble. I shouldn’t have involved

you in my mess.”

“Hey, don’t apologize. I’d do it all again in a heartbeat.”

A thought that truly worried me.

“So um…where’s…”

Spence raised a brow. “Lincoln and Bitchda?”