MIDNIGHT DIVINE (The Helio Trilogy Book 1) (33 page)

I spend the entire next day
combing over the last of my assignments to turn in from my absences. I find it
hard to concentrate with the lack of sleep the night before. My nerves are shot
with the impending battle looming over my shoulders. At some point, I nod off.

The interior of my Honda
S2K reeks of marijuana. I roll down the window to release the smoke from inside
the car. “Slow down. You’re going to kill us before we even make it to the
strip,” Gideon chides from the passenger seat.

“I got this, G. When have
you ever doubted my abilities?” I quip. He’s never any fun when I’m high. He
refuses to smoke with me, claiming it just doesn’t do anything for him. I think
that’s crap, but he never complains about me smoking around him, just broods.

“I don’t doubt your
abilities. Never,” Gideon confesses as I pull up to a stoplight in downtown
L.A.

I survey his serious
expression. The red stop light illuminates his blonde hair, making him appear
to be a ginger. His ice blue eyes pierce me to the core. It’s then I realize
how pathetic I am. For the last three years of our relationship, I've pretended
he didn’t break my heart. I pretended I don’t love him with the intensity I do.
I let him think I felt more like his sister so I could keep him in my life, even
if I could never be with him. I loved him more than anything. Only, that love
was never returned the same way. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him, but
I would never chance it, afraid he would drift away from me.

We were best friends for
two years before we tried to date each other. No one had ever shown me that
much affection. We were young then and only went as far as holding hands and
gentle making out. Until one day, he changed. Gideon told me he didn’t feel
like we were meant to be together. He said he felt more like my brother. I played
off the pain in my heart he caused and laughed before I lied to him for the
first time. I told him I felt the same way. I’ve had to suffer the last three
years, watching him date other girls, but I couldn’t live without him. I
wouldn’t. I'd never admit my true love for him.

I wake from my dream with
an ache in my chest. It was a memory of the night I crashed my S2K and Gideon
left me for dead.
He betrayed me. I loved
him, and he betrayed me.
His actions that night,
and
the lack of action in the following weeks, all lead me
to believe he was responsible for my wreck somehow. It never made sense though,
because he was always so protective of me. Funny, how it hurts after all this
time.

In a sleepy haze, I slink
to the bathroom and fill the claw foot tub. I strip down and step into the
steaming water. It burns at first, but the further I sink into the water, the
more relaxed my muscles become. I close my eyes. The dripping faucet permeates
the silence. Flashes of Trey being hung in the dungeon of The Keep torment me,
his blood falling with a rhythmic drip. My eyes shoot open, and I push forward
to tighten the levers for the hot and cold water until the dripping ceases.
Memories of Trey bring about more memories from that dreadful dungeon.
Jack
. His lifeless body hanging from the
ceiling. His feet swinging over his own pool of blood.

I throw myself back into
the water and submerge my face to drown out the memories. I cry and heave in
convulsions beneath the water.
Jack's gone. Because of me, he's gone. Gideon's
gone. He betrayed me. It's only a matter of time before Solas leaves me too.
I sit up and fold my arms over the edge of the tub, resting my chin on my arms
as I stare at the white tile floor.

There’s a knock on the
door. “Ivy?” Solas calls from the other side.

“Yeah?” I croak.

“Is everything ok?”

I attempt a lighter tone,
“Yeah. I’ll be out in a minute.” I decided to pull myself together and block
his telepathy.
I can’t let him see me like this. We have a battle coming,
and I needed to be strong. I can’t let my weakness get in the way of what I
need to do.

Solas stays with me the
rest of the night. Sleep's hard to come by for us both. We lie awake in bed,
entwined in each other’s embrace. We don't speak. There's nothing either of us
can say to lighten the situation at hand. As the sun begins to rise, it casts
an orange and pink glow in the sky and through the windows of the French doors.
I lay across Solas’ bare chest and rest my chin on my hand. The sunrise glowing
across his masculine features make him look every bit angelic. “I love you,” I
whisper.

Perhaps looking for a
reason I would voice my feelings for the first time, he searches my face and
brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. Heart wrenching pain flows from him
with his touch. “Ivy,” he hesitates.

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to tell you
something. I want you to know the truth about me before you confess your
feelings. I just don’t know how to tell you. I don’t want what I have to say to
change your feelings toward me.” I lift my head to see him better as he pauses.
“I love you more than I could ever express in one lifetime, Ivy.”

I melt with his words. “I
told you before, Solas. I know the goodness in you. I trust you with my life…
With my heart.”

Framing my face with his
large hands, he whispers, “You don’t understand.”

“I don’t need to know your
past. I know your heart. I
do
love you. From the first time I saw you in
The Keep, I felt a connection to you. I didn’t know what to make of it at the
time, but it strengthened with every touch, every word spoken or unspoken
between us, and every time our eyes met. It’s an unbreakable bond I don’t ever
want to be without.”

“Ivy—,” he begins.

A knock on the door
interrupts our moment, and I look to the source. “Rise and shine, honey! We’re
going shopping!” Alice shouts from the hall.

I grumble and roll onto my
back. “Her enthusiasm in the mornings is
so
irritating. I mean, who
wakes up like that?” I mumble to the ceiling, rubbing my eyes.

“I heard that!” Alice
yells, retreating back down the hall.

Throwing the covers back, I
rummage my closet for any clean clothes left from Alice. I settle on a pair of
skinny jeans
—which look like Capri pants on me—
and a plain gray cotton shirt that brings out the color of my eyes.
Brushing out my hair in the bathroom mirror, Solas hugs my waist from behind as
his lips trail down my neck.

I close my eyes. “Mmm...
You’re starting a fire,” I mumble, leaning back into him.

“Stay,” he whispers into my
ear as he gives me a devious smirk in our reflection.

“I can’t. We don’t have a
whole lot of time before practice. I need clothes,” I whine, turning in his
powerful arms.

He gives me a quick peck on
the lips, and sighs. “This conversation isn’t over. We need to talk later.”

I realize he's not going to
let this go until he's told me everything he needs to, so I relent, “Ok.”

I throw my guitar into the
backseat of the Evo as Alice jumps into the passenger seat. I start the car and
round out of the driveway, creeping up to the closed gate. Before we reach the
gate, Maximus steps into our path. I come to a stop, and he stands tall,
blocking the exit. Rolling down the window, I yell out to him, “Max! What are
you doing? Get out of the way!” He snorts and shakes his head, pawing the
ground with a hoof.

“What’s up with him?” Alice
ponders.

“I don’t know. Hold on.” I
pull the shifter into neutral and yank the emergency break up in frustration. I
unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car, leaving my door open as I approach
him. “Hey, buddy. What's wrong?” His nose meets my outstretched palm, his
breathing labored.
Worry.
“It’s ok. I’m not going far. I’ll be back
tonight. You
want to
go for a run later?” Max
pushes me back and stomps. “Max!” I shout. “That's enough!” He prances in
circles.

Evelyn lands by my side.
Her stunning jade wings stretch wide before she folds them behind her. I
haven't witness their beauty until this moment. “Maximus? What’s wrong?” She
steps forward and places her hand on his neck, petting him in soothing stokes.
I watch as she closes her eyes. “He’s worried about you,” she sighs without
opening her eyes.

“How do you know that?” I
marvel.

Evelyn opens her eyes and
smiles. “It’s my gift. I can communicate with all animals.”

“Oh,” I respond in awe.
“Why is he worried?”

“He senses danger coming.”

“Well, we know Lucian's
coming. Has Solas told you about the Griffins?”

“Yes. I can only imagine
how off-putting it'll be for the horses. They still feel anxious around Cassius
and Beckett.”

“Can you try to warn them
about the others? Maybe you can smooth things over before they arrive
tomorrow?”

She nods. “Yeah. I can try.
You girls go have fun. I’ll take Maximus back to the house.”

“Thank you.” I jog back to
the car and get in as Evelyn leads Max back to the manor.

“Well, that was weird,”
Alice states as the gates open, and I pull out of the driveway.

“Yeah. I think he was
trying to warn us not to leave. We should be careful in case Lucian shows up
before we're ready."

"Agreed."

Navigating into Red Meadow,
we try to change our mood by blaring some Carolina Liar. The closer we get to
town, the more edgy I feel. I brush it off as being oversensitive to the fact
that the downtown area could drudge up memories of Jack, making me an emotional
wreck. We park outside a quaint antique shop with a window display of stylish
accessories. I shut off the car, and we get out.

“There’s a retro shop on
the corner. Let’s see what they’ve got,” Alice suggests. I lock the car, and we
head in that direction.

The air's cool with a light
wind blowing against our faces. My hair flows behind me as I search for a
clothing store that may have something I would like. I love downtown Red
Meadow. The buildings were all constructed during the early nineteen hundreds,
and I've always wondered about the history behind their brick façades. It
doesn’t matter what store you enter, they all have a musty ‘old’ smell to it.
The fragrance makes me think of all the spirits that could be here since its
original construction in the Victorian era.

Alice pushes open the door
of the retro boutique she mentioned, and the bells on the door chime and
twinkle, announcing our entrance. We take our time fingering through clothes on
the rack. In the end, I decide
Metro Retro
doesn't have anything I would
wear. We spend the next two hours shopping up and down the strip, trying on
clothes, shoes, hats, and any accessory Alice deems necessary. I'm elated when
I finally find a costume and mask for the Greek Masquerade Ball. It shows a
little more leg than I want it to for such cold weather, but they're perfect
with the black suede Steve Madden ankle boot stilettos I bought from the
previous store.

As we leave the trendy
little shop where I purchased an awesome pair of tattered skinny jeans and a
few plain cotton shirts, both of our arms are full of bags in various sizes and
colors. I’m exhausted, and we make our way back to the car, three blocks down.

My heart rate picks up
without warning, and my neck prickles with electricity. It’s a feeling I used
to associate with Trey, but now I know better. It’s the feeling of
the presence of
demons
.
Shit. Someone’s here.
I do my best to
act normal and not give us away as I whisper to Alice without looking at her,
“You feel that?”

“Yeah. Act normal.”

“Do you see them?”

“Yeah. We’ve got two at
eight o’clock and four at our twelve.”

My heart pounds harder.
“Should we call for backup?”

“No. They’re not stupid.
They won’t attack us in broad daylight. Just get to the car, and don’t speed
out of here
,
drawing attention.”

W
hen w
e reach the car, I unlock it and pop the trunk for the
bags. Alice pulls out her cell phone as I unload my arms. I hear Eric pick up,
“Hey, babe.”

“Hey, Becky! We just
finished shopping. Sorry, it took so long. We’re running a few minutes behind.
We got held up at this
wicked rank
little shop, but we should be there
in fifteen.”

“Where are you?” Eric
grumbles
through the phone.

I close the trunk, and we
hop in. Alice resumes her bogus conversation, “Oh! I thought I told you. We
went downtown. You know that cute little retro shop I was telling you about?” I
start the car and ease out to the street.

“How many?” he growls.

“I bought a necklace I
couldn’t pass up. It was only
twelve
dollars!” she hints.

“Fuck!” he barks. “Get to
practice. We’ll take care of it.”

Alice chirps, “Ok. See you
soon. Chow!”

We hit the highway and bolt
towards Becky’s house. I screech, “What the fuck was that!”