Torn (23 page)

“She better or you will pay for it.”

“Patience, Sebastian.”

My ears perked up. The voice, below the gravel, was familiar. I searched my memories for
who
it could’ve belonged to.

“Don’t speak to me of patience. You know I have none.”

Sebastian’s tone was sharp and dangerous. As he spoke, thunder boomed like an exclamation point. “This one won’t be too difficult. She teeters between both worlds. I fear it may be too easy to convince her.”

“You might be right, Sebastian. She’s so confused, she doesn’t know which way is up. I’ve never met anyone so conflicted. The blood of the Faithful and the Exiled both course through her veins. It’s a wonder she hasn’t gone insane.”

“Her existence has always been that of mere myth.” Sebastian spoke in a whisper that floated into nothing. “It was foretold once, long ago, there would be an angel that walked both worlds, one that would follow the path of both light and dark. One that embodies both hopes and despairs equally. She’s dangerous and she needs to be destroyed.”

“I’ll do it myself if I have to.” Who
was
that? I knew that voice.

“I know you will. We must get The Heart of Hope from her first.”

“She’ll be wearing it when she comes.”

“How can you be sure?”

“She thinks we’re friends, and she’ll do what she thinks she should to rescue me.”

No
! Realization dawned and tears immediately stung my eyes, threatening to spill over.
What the hell
?
I felt like I’d just had the wind knocked out of me. I doubled over and forced down the bile that had risen into my throat.
It couldn’t be
!

I shook my head to rid myself of the terrible things I’d just heard. Lucas hadn’t been attacked? He hadn’t been kidnapped? Had he really joined them? I couldn’t process the fact that he was now an Exiled.

CHAPTER 20

Oily black tears stung my eyes and stained my cheeks. Confusion swirled around me. I felt dizzy with grief and the refusal to believe Lucas couldn’t still be saved.
But how
?
When
?
I didn’t understand.
Lucas
?
Not possible.
Lucas was my best friend, how could I have not known? A wave of sadness tightened its fist around my heart. I shuffled through my brain looking for a clue I might have missed, any tiny nuance that should have alerted me to this. There was nothing. I wanted to scream, but instead I shoved my fist in my mouth to keep silent.

Lucas became the face of betrayal, of hate. There he was, arm in arm with the bastard that killed my father. There could be no forgiveness. The wound went too deep.
Lucas is going to find himself facing a greater wrath than Sebastian
, I promised as my thinking shifted from rescue to destruction.

Does Ethan know
? I wondered.
Oh my God.
Was Ethan one of them too? All
that talk
about guardian angels, could it be that he was an Exiled too? The thought drove a stake of distrust into my soul. I couldn’t let it drive me over the edge, not just yet anyway.

I had to hear more and crept closer to the edge of the thicket.

“What about your brother?” Sebastian inquired calmly.

“What about him?” Lucas snaked back.

“Will he be joining us, too?

“No.”

“No?”

“No. Ethan won’t be joining us. He’s too enamored with the Faithful and with
her
to have any part of this.”

I felt like I was going crazy. Whispers invaded my space, paranoia shimmied up my spine and raw, naked loathing filled me. I was almost ready to confront them. I needed to allow it all to consume me. I needed to become the darkness I’d been trained to run from. I needed to extinguish that small part of me that road-blocked the shadows.

“Maybe we can convince him.”

Lucas turned to face Sebastian, his face mangled by hate. “No. He doesn’t belong here. He’d rather die than join us. I don’t want him here.”

“Are you afraid he might join us? That he might figure out who I am and run back with open arms? That once he does, I might discard you?” Sebastian cackled with menace.

“Do what you will.” Lucas sounded defeated. The blustery tone he spewed a moment ago was now overpowered by Sebastian’s sarcasm. “If that is what you want. But he won’t be easy to turn. He’s her guardian.”

“And her?”

“Her who?
Samantha? She’s just a silly little girl who has something we need. She’ll be of no use to us after we get the pendant.”

“Is
that
all she is to you, Lucas?
A
Silly.
Little.
Girl.
”

As he spoke those last taunting words, Sebastian turned to face the woods, and I saw him fully for the first time. He’d been an idea, a whispered-about entity,
a
shadow. And now I could see him fully. I was not ready for what I saw. Sebastian was not at all the ugly, twisted evil I envisioned. Instead, his beauty was undeniable. His caramel colored skin, short dark brown hair and green eyes were captivating. He was tall and slim but obviously strong. His wings were large and full, the color of oil on asphalt, shifting between iridescent colors with each movement. He was wearing leather pants, heavy boots, and no shirt. Even the way he stood commanded attention and loyalty while instilling fear and despair. I was quite certain the thought of betrayal by any one of his subjects would’ve been met with swift and brutal punishment. He was the most terrifyingly beautiful creature I’d ever seen.

I’d never been more frightened in my life.

“That is all she is. All she ever was. All she ever will be.”

You bastard,
I thought to myself. I couldn’t run from the fact that he’d been my best friend, basically my brother, for the past seventeen years. I forced the thought from my mind and focused on how I was going to kill him.

“But I’ve kept watch, Lucas. I’ve seen the way you wanted her to look at you.
The way you wanted her to think about you when she was all alone in her bedroom.
The way you imagined her eyes would close when she thought of you...”

“Enough, Sebastian!”

Sebastian’s laugh was slow and deep. “What’s the matter? I thought she was just a silly little girl. Shall I, then, refrain from discussing her interlude with Ethan? Shall I refrain from reminding you how she let him touch her? How she touched him?”

Lucas stiffened and turned to face him.

Sebastian clapped like a child who’d found his Christmas presents early. “Oh! You didn’t know?
How terribly delightful.”

Lucas charged at Sebastian and barreled into him like a linebacker. Still laughing, Sebastian lazily tossed him off like a rag doll. He calmly walked over and lifted him by his neck so his feet no longer touched the ground. Sebastian’s wings beat once and they were both suspended five feet above the rocky earth. The sun quietly began to creep over the horizon and Sebastian’s face took on an eerie glow.

His voice boomed in time with the sudden sound of thunder and the wind took on the strength of a tornado. “You listen to me, boy. I may have taken you under my wing. I may have promised you would rule as my right hand if you delivered the girl, but if she doesn’t show, you will meet the same fate as her father! Please have no illusions that you actually mean anything. There are dozens more who would relish the opportunity I have given you.”

He threw Lucas off the edge of the cliff to the wailing ocean below. Lucas caught himself and flew upward meeting Sebastian, toe to suspended toe. “I told you. She will come. You have my word.”

“Your word is no good until promises are delivered.”

It was all too much. I reached into my pocket and took out the pouch. It was time. I placed my sword next to me as I opened the pouch and poured the necklace into the palm of my hand. I could feel the rage in my belly. I knew my eyes had completely darkened to orbs of coal black hate. Deception fueled me now. Heartless betrayal and duplicitous malevolence forced themselves into focus. I slipped the necklace over my head and picked up my sword.

Sebastian’s head immediately snapped in my direction. A seedy grin stretched across his now twisted face. “Ah, she’s here,” he whispered. His eyes scanned our surroundings and he pinpointed my location. He clasped his hands together. “Come out, Samantha. Lucas, look who has decided to join us. I see you’ve worn the necklace as he said you would.”

I squared my shoulders to step out into the clearing when someone grabbed my hand. I pulled back and raised my sword as I turned to see who held me.

Ethan.
“Samantha, no.
He’s going to kill you.”

“How did you—”

“Noah brought Scott back to the house. I was leaving the house to look for you. He told me where you might be headed. Then you put on the necklace, and I could finally sense you.”

“You need to go.”

“No, Sam. Let’s get Lucas and get out of here. The others are on the way. Let them deal with Sebastian.”

He no longer had trouble looking at me when I was like this. Shadows poured out of me, my eyes protruded black and my skin heated up with fury. His worry and concern were uninvited guests that I had no patience for. My voice firm, I warned him. “Lucas isn’t going anywhere, Ethan.”

“What? Why?”

“Lucas is one of them, Ethan.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“
Samannnnnnthaaaa
,” Sebastian taunted.

“Your brother is an Exiled.”

“Come out, come out wherever you are.” Sebastian’s sing song had taken on the sound of screechy nails.

“No. Sam, you don’t know what—”

“She doesn’t know what, Ethan?”

Lucas was standing behind us, wings completely outstretched with intimidation. Ethan turned; confusion and uncertainty plagued his face. It wasn’t until Lucas grabbed him by the neck and threw him into the opening did realization dawn on him. I lifted my sword in retaliation but it was pulled from my hands by Sebastian’s will.

“Walk,” Lucas looked at me with hate and I refused to flinch.

I turned from him and walked defiantly into the open. Exiled followers littered the rocky clearing. Some looked like the nasty scaly creatures I’d dealt with earlier, others looked like regular people and still others took on the beauty and grace of every other angel.

Each set of wings were different colors, textures, shapes and sizes, and they suddenly reminded me of fingerprints. Sebastian’s nasty grin grew wider and his face, no longer handsome, had taken on a demonic undertone. His cheekbones sharpened and his eyes widened to black spheres. All the darkness inside me swirled with loyalty and I was drawn to him. Fighting to remain in control of deception, I walked slowly and deliberately toward him. My sword was at his feet and I made no move to retrieve it. Instead, I stood tall in front of him.

“How wonderful to finally meet you!”
He was giddy with sarcasm. As his long fingers traced the outline of my face, I closed my eyes. “Look at me!”

I slowly opened them and locked on his gaze in defiance.

“Good girl.”

I heard Ethan struggling to get up behind me but I made no move to turn in his direction. I stood tense and waited for what was to come. As long as I didn’t fight, I knew they wouldn’t hurt Ethan. It was a feeling I couldn’t explain but it was all I had to rely on.

“Damien,” Sebastian called to one of his minions, snapping his long fingers. “Retrieve the box.”

Damien’s scarred face twisted in delight before he bowed in submission.
“As you wish.”
Damien was tall and gangly with greasy hair and he was dressed in an old-fashioned, tattered suit, like he’d stepped into the present from the 1950’s. His fingernails were long and yellow and the smell that came from him was so putrid, I struggled to breathe. In a second the Exiled was airborne and disappeared into the horizon.

All was silent until I heard the drawing of swords and a familiar voice. “Let them go, Sebastian.”

Jesse. Only when I heard his voice did I look away from Sebastian. They were all there. Christian and Mara, Noah, Cal and Branna, all with swords
drawn,
wings opened and ready for battle.

“Look, we have an audience.
How wonderful.”
The Exiled giggled at Sebastian’s words as they, too, drew their swords.

“Samantha, give me the necklace.”

“No,” I responded forcefully.

“Give me the necklace. Please.”

“Are you deaf? I said no.”

The look in his eye was deadly but the angrier he got, the more his frustration swelled, the stronger I felt. I was beginning to understand. I didn’t have to give up the darkness to join the Faithful. They needed shadows to have any chance of defeating Sebastian and his followers. The small revelation glowed inside me while encouraging me to fade to black.

“Sebastian, let her go.”

“Now, now, Jesse.
Do you honestly think I am going to give up the one thing that will guarantee me a victory? With her at my side, I can finally be rid of all of you
Faithful
followers.”