The Emerald Talisman (28 page)

My mind raced. If Phil took me home like he
said he would, then I could immediately tell Nicholas the location
of the hideout. Nicholas would have to quickly forgive me,
considering the magnitude of the find. I felt pleased being such an
instrumental part of foiling the vampires’ plans.

But I needed to keep my cool. I had the
advantage at the moment, so if I just played my cards right, I knew
Phil would think I was on his side.

“Who is that woman?” I asked loudly over the
wind that blew against our faces.

“She’s the leader of our coven.”

“Why did you take me to meet her?”

“Actually, I wanted her to meet you,” he said
with admiration.

I paused, confounded by the rearranging of
the statement. It was almost like I just met his mother.

“But why?”

“To see if she approves of you.”

Approves of me?

“How come?”

“Because… I want you,” he whispered in my
ear. I almost fell limp against his arm when he spoke it, but he
encircled me tighter, his feelings raw and rapturous. A part of me
wanted him too, enjoyed his attention and craved his company. It
alarmed me that I wasn’t afraid when he confessed his intentions.
Probably only because I was relieved to know it wasn’t my blood he
wanted.

I started to feel like I wasn’t in control of
my feelings anymore. That I was losing myself into his wants and
desires. His power called to me to try it; conveyed it was safe,
fun. And the worst part, my rational thoughts remained
apathetic.

I could see we were getting closer to my home
which was good. I needed to get away from him before all was lost.
Plus I started to shiver uncontrollably in my thin blouse, from the
thrill and the bitter wind.

He gently set me down in a concealed thicket
close to my house. I stood awkwardly for a minute at a loss for
words, trying to encourage myself to at least plan an exit
strategy.

“What’s happened to me is not a bad thing,”
he began. “Really, I’m not a monster.”

“I know you aren’t, I’m just–” I
quivered.

He walked over to me and gently held up his
index finger to my lips in a motion of silence. I froze as my heart
threatened to plummet right out of my chest, but he slowly slid his
hand and found the small of my back and pulled me into him. I stood
there shaking, enjoying his touch.

“You’re so beautiful.”

His smiling eyes pulled me in and I felt mine
slowly close as he tipped up my chin and touched his lips to mine.
The iciness of his skin and the sweetness of his breath disoriented
me as I gave into his charisma. I parted my lips ever so slightly,
as he sucked on my lower lip jerking my body tighter into him. I
gasped and my breath became uneven as our lips hungrily caressed
one another’s. I never would’ve believed that my first kiss would
be so passionate. I almost lost my footing when I felt him ever so
gently bite at my bottom lip. His hunger spiked and I threw open my
eyes, pushing him away quickly.

“Sorry,” he said, chuckling a little.

“That’s not funny.”

“I just got carried away,” he purred.” You’re
just so…enticing.”

I felt like my legs were going to collapse at
any moment, so I locked them in place in a last ditch effort to
stay upright. I didn’t know what to say, but I knew I didn’t want
him to bite me, at least not yet. The fact that I gave into him so
quickly made me question everything about myself. Then the guilt
surfaced. How would I explain this to Nicholas? Was I considering
giving him up to be with Phil? To be a vampire?

I staggered back to gain my composure. My
head swam and I needed to figure out what I was doing and do it in
a place where I didn’t have his presence seducing me.

“I need to go,” I finally said as I looked
away from his charming Delphian eyes, secretly not wanting to
leave.

“Okay, love. Me too. I have something to take
care of.” He flashed a big smile and was gone.

“I’ll see you later.” I heard whispering to
me in the wind.

. . .

20
– BAIT

Dizzy, I walked home, proceeded upstairs to
my room and closed the door. I flopped on my bed, stared at the
ceiling and touched my lips. The weight of what I did began to bear
down on my chest and I cringed at the thought of what Nicholas
would do if he knew.

How did I let this happen?

I sucked in a deep breath and let the air out
slowly. He’d never understand and probably hate me forever. I’d
kissed his mortal enemy. I rolled over, tucking myself into a ball.
But the images of Phil’s hungry lips locked with mine played behind
my closed eyelids. My stomach lurched at the conflict of emotion,
elation mixing with remorsefulness.

If only Nicholas and I hadn’t fought, then
this would never have happened.

“Ahhh!” I groaned as I stuffed a pillow over
my head trying to escape reality.

I wanted to hide, forget it ever happened,
but I couldn’t. For some reason, I enjoyed it. There had to be a
reasonable explanation. Phil must have tricked me somehow with a
secret vampire spell. I had feelings for Nicholas, strong feelings.
We were going to be together in the future; at least that’s what I
believe the cat predicted.

Maybe Nicholas would never find out. It was
Phil’s vampirishness that affected my senses. Period. It wasn’t
real and once I separated myself from him and thought rationally, I
knew it was wrong. Or did I?

But kissing him wasn’t my only problem. There
was a huge part of me that couldn’t give up on Phil. I knew he
needed my help, especially after Nicholas finally decimated the
rest of his coven. But how was I going to do that when they hated
each other? Phil would continue to pursue me and Nicholas would
never allow further interaction, especially if he knew Phil’s
intentions. I’d be forced to pick between the two of them.

Well, it didn’t matter. Neither would make me
choose. They’d have to grow up and accept my decision. I’d set
stricter boundaries with Phil and not allow his powers to take over
my senses. And Nicholas would have to allow me a friendship with
another not-so-dangerous vampire, like himself.

But most important, I did need to tell
Nicholas about the gang and quickly, before anyone else turned up
missing or dead. I reached in my pocket for my cell phone
remembering it was still in my car.

Frustrated at my forgetfulness, I jumped off
my bed and went back downstairs to fetch it. I opened the front
door cautiously before sprinting across the lawn to the car. Only
after I slid into the front seat did I feel strangely safe though I
knew I was alone. But the phone wasn’t in the console like I
thought.

Where is it?

After checking in the door pocket and under
the seat, I went back inside to try to call it with the house
phone. But the call rolled directly over to voicemail, which meant
it was off.

Crap!.

Even still, I needed to talk to Nicholas, so
I dialed his number instead. The silence before the first ring
increased my nervousness. I planned to tell him the pertinent
information and deflect the questions until later, but the call
went straight to his voicemail greeting too.

“Hey, it’s Julia. Call me when you get this,”
I said quickly after the beep and hung up.

Why is his phone off? Is he still mad at
me?

I decided to worry about it after I checked
my calling record online. If anyone stole the phone, I’d need to
stop the service. From my dad’s computer in his office, I
discovered all the calls were ones I actually remembered
making.

But then my eye caught a recent outgoing text
message made just thirty minutes prior. I clicked the details and
read to my shock:

- I need your help. I’m in trouble. Please
come get me at 223 Front Street.

Nicholas’ number appeared as the recipient. A
lump formed in my throat. I googled the address. It was only two
blocks away from the coven’s hideout. Nicholas was being lured into
a trap – one I allowed to be set. My indignation towards Phil began
to smolder.

When I see Phil, he’s going to be so
dead.

Moving as quickly as possible, I printed off
the map, swiped my keys and headed out the door. I needed to stop
them before someone got hurt. And if things couldn’t get any worse,
the clouds broke open, pouring down buckets of rain. I splashed
across the wet ground towards my car when I noticed my broken stake
floating in a puddle. Instinct told me to pick up one of the halves
and put it in my back pocket just in case.

My heart pounded as I drove like a wild woman
through the city, trying to see out my windshield. I hadn’t cleared
out my latest text messages from Nicholas and frantically tried to
remember what they said.

They came during the interaction at the
supermarket. Phil would know how we planned to handle his situation
just by reading the texts with the date and times. It would confirm
his suspicions that Nicholas and I were cohorts.

Why didn’t you clear those out, Julia?
I chided myself, clutching tightly to my steering wheel.

The rain continued to pummel the desolate
streets as I sped to the address, the ink-smeared map in my hand
shaking violently from my nerves. I kept a close eye on the road
and used my emotional radar for cocky cops who’d love to pull me
over. My dad didn’t need a long-distance midnight call to bail me
out of jail for being out after curfew.

My mind raced as I tried to anticipate what I
would find when I got there. What if the other vampires were posted
as look-outs or worse? I couldn’t bear the thought of anything
happening to him. I stomped on the gas, but my car wouldn’t move
any faster.

I had no idea what I could do to stop the
fight, but I had to try. Maybe this was the time when I would use
my hidden secret talent. But I wasn’t prepared to do real battle.
All I wanted was to stop them before something really horrible
happened.

My tiny tires lost traction in the rain and
screeched as I took the last corner, finally arriving at the
address on Front Street. My body shook when I spotted Nicholas’ car
parked in front of the old building. Frantic, I parked next to him,
flung open my door and sprinted across the wet gravel to a nearby
door. I tried to pull it open but found it locked. The presence of
anger inside told me the fight still ensued, so I decided to try
another door. It was locked too. I swore.

If only I was a vampire, I could rip this
door open!

Not knowing what to do, I ran around to the
back of the dilapidated building and looked for another way to get
inside. I spotted a door cracked open, light spilling onto the wet
cement. I ran to it and stepped into the vacated lobby at the same
time the walls shook, flickering the lights. I heard angry voices
coming from somewhere within the heart of the building.

The air was thick with dust and I coughed as
I looked around. On the anterior wall was a huge indentation that
looked like the aftereffects of a wreaking ball, spilling crushed
sheet rock on the floor in huge chunks. Another loud crash sent me
scrambling to hide behind the front counter. I anticipated a filing
cabinet or something large would come smashing into the room at any
second. But all that came down was another spray of ceiling
material which filled the air with grime, coating my throat with
grit. I slowly stood back up and cautiously walked over the broken
pieces on the floor and headed towards the door beyond the counter.
My heart started to pound, not sure what I’d find on the other side
as I felt wave after wave of incredible revulsion and rage.

At least they’re still alive.

“You need to give up! She’s mine! She doesn’t
want you!” I heard Phil say loudly with a hiss.

“There’s no way in hell I’m going to let you
have her!” Nicholas growled.

Another heavy crack told me something fell
and crashed against the floor, breaking into tiny pieces. I
cautiously pressed my ear to the door to figure out if I should
open it. A string of obscenities followed a thunder clapping boom
that shook the wall and unlodged a picture. I ducked as the frame
shattered, shooting broken glass everywhere then froze.

“Not if I kill you first!” Phil retorted
apparently not noticing the noise from the neighboring room.

“Be my guest if you can!” Nicholas
barked.

Someone groaned after another resounding
smash. I imagined the two of them hulking large industrial objects
from across the room at each other.

I put my trembling hand on the knob and
pushed open the door to witness two interlocked bodies flying
across the wide open space. My mouth dropped as they collided into
the nearby wall creating another huge body-sized crater to match
all the others scattered throughout the vast room. They didn’t hear
me enter and proceeded to swear while trying to punch at each
other. It was hard enough to see them fight with the intent to
kill, but to hear they were fighting over me caused something to
boil up inside. I refused to be treated like some sort of prize to
be won at a carnival. As far as I was concerned, the honor to be my
boyfriend was still mine to give.

“Stop!” I ardently cried out.

They froze and turned to look at me in
surprise, but Phil took the distraction to his advantage. My mind
registering he’d disappeared only after I felt my arms become
pinned behind me.

“NO!” I heard Nicholas scream from across the
room, but Phil responded with a cackle, way too happy for my
liking.

“Ha!” Phil said with smug overtones. “Now
you’ll do what I want, both of you!”

Phil’s muscular body held me tightly as
something cold pressed up against my throat. I held back my breath,
taking only short gasps and tried to assess the situation. At the
moment, I felt he had no intention to hurt me, but I couldn’t trust
his emotions. One wrong move and the blade would easily slice into
my jugular.