Enticed (7 page)

Lincoln put his arm around me to help me stay upright. I shrugged him off and shot him a look. He knew better. Especially in front of the newbies.

„Violet, I am sorry for Rudyard"s intrusion into your power base, but sometime exploring the first impression between one power and another is the best way to gauge strength. Not always the best ice-breaker, mind you … but efficient in its own way. He did not mean you any harm and we give you our word, such an intrusion will not happen again without your consent," Nyla said softly.

I didn"t say what i wanted to, just made a mental note:
no way is that consent ever coming
from me, lady!
First impressions had been made on both sides.

Lincoln shook hands with Nyla and Rudyard and we all said hello to the three students, who up until that point had remained silent.

Probably part of the „Check out her power" sabotage.

There were two guys. Salvatore – an Italian who didn"t seem to speak much English but looked very kind with his thick curls of dark brown hair, bushy eyebrows and broad shoulders. The other guy, Spence, shook hands vigorously, his sandy-blond hair flopping forwards over his face and green eyes that darted everywhere. They were a nice green, but no match for Lincoln"s. He seemed happy to meet everyone – everyone but me, that is.

Lincoln told me I was being paranoid when I whispered as much to him, but I definitely sensed the negative vibe when Spence glared at me.

Great to have new friends.

The girl"s name was Zoe and she seemed … pissed. She had that emo look that I didn"t real y get. I mean, does it mean you"re gothic or emotional? I don"t know. She was tall, though she slouched, and under her short spiky brown hair with peroxide tips, her eyes were heavily rimmed in midnight-blue eyeliner. But the thing that struck me the most about Zoe was that she was completely comfortable in her own skin. Standing there in a dark grey tight T-shirt, black pleated short skirt and army boots, she didn"t care who had a problem with it. I envied her. All I had seen of her so far comprised her picking up her bag and slamming it down on the ground again with a huff on a number of occasions. I wondered if she had been dragged along and would rather still be in New York.
She probably already hates me.

But when we were finally introduced, she explained right off the bat.

„Hi, I"m Zoe. I take it you"ve met my idiot partner, Salvatore."

I looked over at Salvatore who was standing next to Spence. Compared to the icy welcome I"d received from Spence, Salvatore seemed positively welcoming.

„He can"t speak English so don"t even bother talking to him," Zoe went on. „Can you believe it – stuck with the mentally chal enged for like, ever." She looked at me, genuinely horrified. Obviously this partnership was very new and
obviously
no one had ever explained to her that just because someone didn"t speak fluent English that did not make them mentally challenged.

I stifled a laugh and shook her hand. „I"m sure it"l get better with time," I consoled.

She rolled her eyes.

When we left the airport, I remembered that I wanted to see what else I could sense once we got outside, but in the end I was just too tired from Rudyard"s games.

„
In all the chaos there is a cosmos,

in all disorder a secret order."

Carl Jung

Steph was waiting for me, pacing near the top of the school steps when I jumped out of the taxi. As soon as I saw her face, I could see something was plaguing her.

„Hey. You didn"t need to wait you know. I could have met you in class."

We turned and walked up the last few steps and into the school corridor together.

„Don"t be ridiculous. I was hoping you wouldn"t make it so we could skip altogether," she lied, flicking her hair at the same time so she could look in the other direction. I stuck to best friend code and didn"t say anything else. „You look like crap, by the way."

Yep, friends for life!

„No wonder you haven"t managed to wriggle your way into Lincoln"s arms yet. Girls aren"t the only ones who look at someone and imagine what kind of kids they would produce." She waved her hand up and down at me.

„That"s not the reason we aren"t together, Steph."

She raised her eyebrows. Okay, so she was right to a point. I"d barely brushed my hair this morning and my school uniform, which was daggy enough on its own, had been taken straight off my floor and hadn"t come within a peep of an iron.

„Seriously," Steph said, giving a deliberate nod. She rummaged in her bag as we walked towards our first class. „Here," she passed me her pint-sized make-up bag – I knew from experience that it held absolutely everything a girl could possibly want from a cosmetics range in miniature form. „You"re going to need this."

„Thanks," I said, sheepishly as we headed into history at a brisk pace. We were only a couple of minutes late, but Mr Burke had a particularly nasty reputation for locking kids out of the classroom if they were more than five minutes out. You"d think that it would encourage kids to do just that and avoid class altogether but, perversely, when threatened with losing the right to the education they usually feel forced into, kids flock.

„Wait for me after class, I wanna hear about the God Squad," Steph said.

„God Squad?"

„Yep."

-

The class turned out to be about as tepid as expected, even worse after I checked my timetable. Today was a double. I was stuck in there for almost two hours listening to Mr Burke talking about the greatest villains of all time. He asked the class to shout out names of history"s most notorious betrayers. I had no idea. I just my head down and tried to take notes to stop myself from falling asleep.

Juggling school, training, hunting and now these new Grigori – the „God Squad" according to Steph, who stil couldn"t separate the angel issue from the broader God dilemma – was wreaking havoc on my down-time. It was starting to feel like there just weren"t enough in the day. But I was determined to prove to Griffin that I could manage a normal life and school while still doing my as a Grigori.

The other option, finishing school at the Grigori training centre in New York, sounded like a terrible idea. Even if Lincoln could go with me, I wasn"t prepared to leave Steph behind, or my Dad, and well, school mattered, too. All my art classes were here and I would start my scholarship course in four months. I"d worked real y hard to get the spot and I had every intention of making the most of it. As far as I could see, the art program at the Academy was lacking to almost non-existent.

„Any more names?" Mr Burke yelled out particularly loudly in my direction.

Whoops.
I"d been dozing.

I sat up tall. I"d heard some of the names – Marcus Brutus, someone Arnold, Bernard Madoff.

„Violet?" Mr Burke was standing at my desk. He expected me to answer.
Great.

„Umm, well …" Blank.

„How about a hint, Ms Eden. Perhaps if I start you foo with … the kiss of …"

„Ah, Judas, sir?" I offered hesitantly, not knowing if the name had already been said.

„Excel ent," he said, condescendingly, already walking away and returning his attention to the rest of the class. „Judas is perhaps the greatest betrayer of all time. Death in a kiss – it doesn"t get much worse than that. Anyone else?"

By the time Steph and I emerged from class my brain was fried. Steph, as usual, looked as if she had been revived for the day.

After she pushed me into the bathroom to fix up my dishevelment, I filled her in on the newbies – who I refused to refer to as the God Squad – while sifting through her cosmetics bag-of-everything.

„The Rudyard guy sounds weird. You should be careful Vi. Just because they"re Grigori doesn"t give them a free pass down Trustworthy Street."

I nodded while attempting to comb out a stubborn knot and was once again glad to have Steph on my side. For all her banter, she made solid points and was always in my corner – a true friends. One of the very few.

„Yeah. I guess I"l find out more this afternoon. I start training after school. You wanna come?"

Steph looked a bit unsure. „Do you think I"l be allowed?"

I put my hand on hers for a quick second. „Steph, you"re my best friend. I don"t care what they think. If you want to come, they"l have to deal with it."

She beamed at my reflection in the mirror. „Are you sure, Vi?" Then she handed me the mascara.

I smiled back, even though there was a part of me that worried. Who was I, to bring Steph into this world of immortal and eternal wars? She had no power to defend herself. Getting her mixed up in it all was selfish and I knew it, but I couldn"t push her out of my life. I needed her. She was one of my people.

„Hey, how"s Marcus?" I asked, suddenly realising she hadn"t run off to meet him or even mentioned him today. The two of them had been joined at the hip for the last few weeks. I was sure it would be any day now that they made their relationship „official" – if they hadn"t already.

„We broke up," Steph said, heavy on the blasé.

I put down the make-up bag and gave her my full attention, wide eyes and all. „Why? Are you okay?"

„Yeah. I was the one who … did the breaking."

„Oh, well … why?" I didn"t understand. Steph thought that Marcus was the perfect guy. He ticked all the boxes. He was preppy good-looking, mega smart, came from a socially „in" and highly funded family
and
he worshipped her.

„Let"s just say, that I learned a thing or two when I saw what you went through with Phoenix. I mean, I just figure … I don"t want to do something that … you know …"

„That you"l regret," I finished for her, looking down at the grubby bathroom-floor tiles.

„I"m not saying you should regret what happened. I … I just mean … seeing how that all affected you … helped me make a few decisions of my own."

„So Marcus wanted to …" I raised my eyebrows.

She nodded. „It was fair enough, too. I mean, I thought that was what I wanted as well, but in the end I just knew although he was good on paper, I didn"t love him."

I was surprised. Steph rarely expounded. She was a „doesn"t explain, doesn"t complain"

girl. I wasn"t sure what to think I was glad for her, that she felt confident to make the right choice. Marcus was a nice guy, but if she wasn"t with him for the right reasons then I was relieved she hadn"t done something with him that she would have regretted. I knew all too well how that felt after what had happened between me and Phoenix. I still felt the residue of the connection it formed. And although that had broken, I wasn"t entirely sure if the price for that one bad decision had been fully paid. Seeing Lincoln"s reaction when Onyx raised the subject of Phoenix last night made me wonder if Lincoln would ever truly get past it.

Could I ever really ask him to?

-

The afternoon got better, marginally. I zoned out in religious studies and finished the day with art and a study period, which actually gave me a chance to catch up on homework.

Within twenty minutes of the last bel Steph and I were getting off the bus near Lincoln"s place.

Since Lincoln had the biggest space, it had been set up as a kind of command centre for the time being. I was grateful to him for so quickly volunteering the warehouse. We had even pushed back half of his furniture to set up the training arena.

Steph and I walked up the few steps to his front door and I got the same exhilarating buzz I always did when I knew he was near. I knew it was partly the angel in each of us recognising the other, but to me it was mostly human. I wanted things to work out for us so much even though I knew it went against the Grigori code.

There had to be a way.

Griffin let us in and didn"t spare me the disapproving look when he saw Steph. „This isn"t a social gathering, you realise. Your training is already limited by your hours at your other school."

„Steph is a part of my life. She has a right to see this and understand it. It"s not like I"m bringing in cheerleaders, Griffin," I said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.

He wasn"t impressed but stood aside so we could enter. Steph, unfazed by Griffin"s concerns, brushed straight past. „Hell, Grandpa," she quipped.

I couldn"t" help but smile when I saw Griffin"s expression.

My eyes scanned the room quickly. Everyone was there, right at home it seemed.

All except one.

Nyla and Rudyard were sitting close together on one couch.

Too close for just friends or Grigori partners.

Spence and Salvatore were on the other couch, engrossed with the PlayStation. Zoe was in the kitchen pouring herself an orange juice.

After I got through the introductions with Steph and had relaxed a little when Rudyard didn"t try any more power tricks on me, I turned back to Griffin.

„Where"s Linc?"

„Talking with Magda. She got back last night. I think they"re in his room."

„Oh, okay," I said, starting to walk in that direction.

„Hey," Griffin snapped. „We start in two minutes. Zoe and Salvatore spar first, then you and Spence."

Wow, it will be weird sparring with someone other than Lincoln.

„Alright. Two minutes," I echoed.

I went to Lincoln"s room. Magda had been away visiting an old friend. She"d been gone almost two weeks. I could see Griffin was glad to have his partner back. I just hoped Lincoln wasn"t
too
excited himself. Magda wasn"t exactly subtle at hiding her feelings for him, or her dislike of me. If it hadn"t been necessary for me to become Grigori to save Lincoln"s life, my guess was that she would have preferred if it I hadn"t embraced.

I was about to push the slightly ajar door open when I heard them talking. I couldn"t help myself from pausing to listen.

„Are you sure?" It was Lincoln. „Absolutely sure?"

„Yes," Magda said, sounding forlorn. I could see the back of her shoulders through the crack. She was sitting on the bed.

Lincoln wasn"t sitting. I could hear him pacing around the room, the heels of his loafers clicking against the wooden floorboards. I opened myself up to him for a moment and through our link I could sense his panic.