Illumine (15 page)

had kept the hood on. I suddenly felt very plain compared to her

wild appearance. "Tel us what you know."

She stretched out a hand for a second time, fingers moving

impatiently. "Give me your arm."

I roled up my sleeve and held out my arm for her, doing

my best to ignore the stares from the bruising that covered nearly

every inch of my skin. She seemed unfazed by it and turned over

my arm to expose the lighter skin underneath. She began to trace

the patterns of my veins, lightly putting pressure on certain spots

were the blue showed up stronger.

Her stare was guarded, cautious. "And how long has the

bruising been going on?"

"Not too long. Kayden said it had something to do with

using my power in bursts instead of al day," I frowned at her.

"Why?"

She exchanged a dark glance between Leo and myself.

"Everything I am about to tel you is going to make you wish you

had never made it past birth."

I felt a shiver run down my spine. I wasn't sure how much

more bad news I could take. Against my inner voice teling me to

run back home and hide, I nodded. "Please."

Serena released my arm and sat back in her chair, a

solemn expression on her face. "Your power has already come into

ful bloom, that is why you are bruising. Why you feel the heat of

anger in here." She pointed at her chest with a long fingernail.

"Nephilim are not meant to tap into their ful power until they

ascend with the proper binding rituals performed between

themselves and their Watcher." She inclined her head toward Leo.

themselves and their Watcher." She inclined her head toward Leo.

"You have found your Watcher here, have you not?"

Leo shook his head and laughed nervously. "No, we hardly

know each other."

"And you think that matters to the fate that was decided for

you centuries ago?" Serena blinked her caramel eyes with mock

amusement. "I can see it between the two of you, the bond is

strong just under the surface. You wil understand your caling soon

enough, mortal."

I felt the color drain from my face. "What if he isn't,

though? How are you supposed to know or find someone like

that?"

"You wil find them, as they wil find you. A natural pul wil

bring you together when you do not expect it. A Watcher is

connected to their Nephilim by a cosmic birthright- you both wil

have to have been born on the same day, year, and time." Her

fingernails tapped in a lazy rhythm across her cheek as she recited

the facts with a dul, dry tone. "If not, then you die."

I shot forward in my seat, leaning across the table to the

point where my nose was touching hers. "What do you mean I

die?"

"Sit down, child." She gave me a shove back into my seat.

"I said die. Those bruises on your flesh? That's the beginning.

Without the proper ritual to bind your magic in check your blood

wil burn while you live and destroy you from the inside out until

nothing is left."

My mind started to swirl like a non-stop carousel ride in

My mind started to swirl like a non-stop carousel ride in

my head. It wasn't enough to have uncontrolable powers or to be

told that I was to be a weapon of war. Now I had to find

someone, my personal protector, to complete a ritual that would

save me from burning alive from the inside out by my own blood? I

felt sick.

Raising shakily from my seat I took in a smal breath. I

made sure to keep my hands in my pockets to keep them from

shaking in front of Serena and Leo. "I think it's time we leave. Leo,

can you take me home?"

He nodded and rose from the booth to stand by my side, a

hand on my shoulder. "Thank you, Serena, for the information."

"Don't thank me," she pursed her lime green lips in thought.

"I'm only doing what was told of me a long time ago." She turned

and looked at me. "Don't look at it as a death sentence, deary.

Look at it as a new outlook on life. I know I sure would."

T H I R T E E N

The next day at school dragged like no other. After

returning home from Charon, my little magical wonderland, I wasn't

able to sleep. My room had felt foreign, like someone had re-

arraigned the furniture or had gone through my things. Jayson had

sworn twice he didn't do a thing but I knew boys could do

something as little as plant a dirty sock in a corner and wait for

someone to find it for weeks. That's how I felt. I was the sock in

the corner left behind to be found weeks later, reeking to high

heavens and possibly on fire.

At lunch I made sure to apologize to Abigail for being the

biggest bitch since Marie Antoinette and offered to make it up with

a movie. It was a good idea because it would keep my mind off of

the rest of the chaos swirling around me. It was good twice over

because it kept me from packing the first bag I could and skipping

back to Charon to leave everything behind.

I left the cafeteria feeling good, giving Abigail a hug and

parting ways as I left for History and her for her Art class. Halfway

to my classroom the crowd in the hal thinned, then vanished

altogether.

Something swung at me from around the corner and I

turned in time to have a textbook connect with the side of my face.

I slammed back into the lockers behind me. Ursula stood above

me, a textbook clutched in her hands.

"What the
hell
is your problem?" I yeled at her, unsteadily

"What the
hell
is your problem?" I yeled at her, unsteadily

stumbling back to my feet.

She swung at me again, blonde hair covering half of her

face. "
You're my problem!
" I stepped to the side to avoid her third

swing and knocked the book out of her hands. "What did you do

to Leo?"

"What do you mean what did I do? You're the idiot who

won't give him any breathing room!" I screamed back at her. My

fists clenched in case I needed to give her a little reality check.

She let out a wild scream and lunged for me, manicured

nails sharpened to little claws. "Liar! Someone saw you holding

hands in Charon. You can't hide from me, Essalie Hanley." She

spat on my shoes.

"Oh hey, look at that. You're a real lady after al," I taunted

with little care. I was sick and tired of her teenage-drama problems

and constant level of immaturity picking on other people for no

reason. And I knew just where to wound her, hard. Backing a little

further away from her grasp I began. "I bet Leo liked it when I

kissed him. He probably thought it was nice to kiss something that

hasn't been around sucking face with every male she's met since

birth!"

"You're a terrible liar. They would have told me if you had

kissed him. I wouldn't have let you live through the night if you

had." She took a step closer as I took a step back. "Did he show

you the apothecary in Charon? How about the library? His favorite

bakery? He probably only showed you the door to your little grimy

motel bed."

I let out a sharp crack of a laugh. "No honey, that was you

I let out a sharp crack of a laugh. "No honey, that was you

with the married men you slept with, I'm sure." Fire blossomed

over my knuckles like a warning of the blaze yet to come. "So I

held his hand while I played tourist. Are you realy going to try and

bash my head in over that?"

Ursula stopped for a second and thought about it. "Yes,

yes I am." In a move faster than I had anticipated she snatched the

book off the floor and took a sharp swing at my head.

The book flew out of her hands and landed behind her with

a dul thud. Ursula stared at me in confusion which quickly turned

to a violent rage, raising her hands to try again in scratching at me.

Kayden was immediately behind her, hands holding her upper arms

in an immobilizing grasp. I watched, frozen in shock, as he drew

her against his chest and held her in place while she kicked and

screamed.

"Relax, Ursula, relax," he whispered repeatedly in her ear.

"She didn't do anything with him, I promise."

"How would you know?" I sneered and Ursula instantly

responded by thrashing even harder than before against Kayden's

prison hold. "I don't remember inviting you along."

"Someone has to keep an eye on you and I didn't find

pretty boy Leo up for the job," he replied casualy, shrugging his

shoulders with an alien grace. "You realy are terribly bad at the

whole 'keeping your powers a secret' thing, you know. Truly,

terrible."

"So what?" I retorted bitterly. "Now I need a freaking

babysitter every time I don't walk out of the house with you?" I

babysitter every time I don't walk out of the house with you?" I

pointed a shaking finger to the struggling body in his arms. "You

might as wel let her murder me then, because that's exactly what

you're doing, Kayden. You're keeping me on a leash I can't even

see and sooner or later it's going to choke me."

Ursula had stopped struggling in his arms, reduced to a pile

of whimpering sobs. Rivulets of mascara ran down her cheeks and

she hung her head against the side of one of his arms. "He's al I

have, Kayden, he's al I have."

"Oh please," I groaned with a rol of the eyes. "You'l find

another human when he dies, I' sure of it."

"You don't understand!" Her head lifted back up to stare at

me, her eyes watery orbs stil spiling over her cheeks. "He means

everything to me. Imagine living a life where you can't control any

desire you've ever had, a life where everything you touch breaks."

She took in a shaking breath as her voice warbled to the point of

breaking. "Then you've grasped just a fraction of what I've gone

through."

"He's one human on your list, Ursula. How is this one

different than al the others you loved and kiled?" My head shook

as I let out a low laugh. If anyone had ever told me I would be

seeing the beauty queen of Belfast stand before me, sobbing no

less, I'd of told them to of lay off the drugs.

Her pitiful gaze lingered as she continued to stare, her eyes

locked on me. Sensing she wasn't going to attempt murder soon,

Kayden slowly released her from his grasp until she stood on her

own. "He's not
just some human
to me, he never was. Every day

he lives, every day our relationship continues is proof to me that I

he lives, every day our relationship continues is proof to me that I

can break my cycle." She laughed darkly and swiped at the tears

beading under her eyes. "Most succubi love it. They love to kil the

man or woman they've just slept with, feeding off of their energy,

this life-force inside of them. Human blood is a potent drug like no

other. I don't want it, I never wanted anything to do with it. Dying

would be a gift. You should be grateful you get to die."

For the first time I saw something human in Ursula, it

certainly wasn't what I had expected. Envy came off of her body in

leaps, the effect being the same as if she had been screaming in my

face for hours on end. I didn't doubt for a moment that didn't love

Leo, love him enough to make sure nothing was going on between

us. He was her sanity card, her remaining tie to whatever piece of

humanity she had left, and should that tie ever break, it would be

her undoing.

Kayden stood off to the opposite side of the hal, leaning

against a locker with arms crossed over his chest. He looked as

human and Ursula and I did but we al knew it was just a single

mask from the many he could pul out on a whim to disguise himself

with. I wondered if he stil had any ties to humanity, if someone or

something could make him weak in the knees and give up

everything just to see them smile. As if he heard me our eyes met,

his expression one of someone holding a closely guarded secret.

The saying 'dead men tel no tales' echoed in my head, but Kayden

was very much not-alive and definitely had stories to tel.

"Take a picture, it'l last longer," he said with a sneer, the

corners of his mouth hitching into a smile.

"Do demons even show up on film?" I half-asked, matching

"Do demons even show up on film?" I half-asked, matching

his smile. "Or do they only exist in the minds of the insane?"

Ursula picked up her textbook from the floor, holding it

against her. "Oh, he definitely shows up in film. I have a photo from

the '50s in my bedroom." Then her eyes lit up briliantly. "I have an

idea!"