Veined (A Guardian of the Angels Novel) (27 page)

“The price for your wish,” the man with the singing voice said, the melody now much harsher. “It’s up to you whether to continue.”

I bit hard on my tongue, trying to distribute the pain and stop myself from screaming. I caught Attic’s gaze, could see him pleading for me to stop and turn away.
He’s worth it.
I took another step toward the arch and my other leg roared in agony.

Without averting my eyes from Attic, I let the pain sizzle up my middle as I continued forward. I stumbled under the red arch. Through the blur of my watery eyes, it looked like their wings dripped blood. I reached out, grabbed Attic’s arm, and the pain dulled. For the first time, I saw that he gripped an old leather book in his hands.

“Raise your right hand over your shoulder and place it on your Vein.” I followed the Mediator’s instructions. “Do you, Sylva Lark, wish to take half Atticus Plot’s punishment?”

“Yes, I do,” I said, immediately.

“Granted,” the woman Mediator said. “Stand Vein to Vein.”

Attic sighed and swiveled so his back came against mine. Pleasure rolled into me at our Veins touch, healing my smoking insides.

The Mediators walked toward us, their wings folding together, always touching until one male stood at our sides and the other was inches from my face. The male at our side spoke, “Retrieve today’s memories.” Suddenly, the Mediator in front of me leaned forward and kissed my forehead. His lips sucked onto my skin, and I saw his throat rise and fall as he swallowed. When he stood back, his lips shimmered golden.

The Mediators widened their circle once more. The male sang again, and now his voice was flat and emotionless, any glimpse of former amusement or anger gone. “That’s all the information we need. You can go, we grant you both bail. We’ll find you once we have adjudicated the case.” With that, the circle broke and the three Mediators flew across the
ballroom. The air sung as they moved through it.

Once the last wing had escaped from view, Attic spun to me. “What were you thinking, Lark?” His voice was upset and his body trembled as if he were unsure what to do with it. “Whatever my punishment is, it’ll be ten times worse now.”

“What?” They’d give him a harsher sentence because of what I did? “That wasn’t the agreement.”

Attic ran a hand through his hair. “No, their punishment will be the same as without you.”

“Then what do you mean, ten times worse? Don’t worry me like that.”

“Worry you? I felt like part of me was torn apart in there. It’ll be ten times worse, Lark, because the punishment will be happening to
you
. And there’ll be nothing I can do to stop it.”

“I only meant to help you,” I said, my voice shaky.

Attic placed his hands on my shoulders and sighed. “Go rest.”

“How long do we have until they get back?” I asked.

“Maybe an hour, maybe a week. Until they find a suitable punishment for us,” Attic replied, and then disappeared.

For an hour, I paced around the
ballroom, working myself up more with every step. The weight of what I’d offered to the Mediators plunged through me, but each time I tried to be afraid of what would happen to me, I couldn’t. I only felt sad. It was meant to make it easier for Attic, not worse. What had I done?

I fidgeted with the dangling material on my T-shirt until I’d pulled off a large piece of it. Damn it. I wasn’t going to be able to settle down. I needed to talk to him.

I checked all the rooms in the motel where I thought he might’ve gone, but couldn’t find him. As if he’d retreat somewhere around here when he was a portal. Shoot, he could be in Australia right now if he wanted to.

I marched into the darkness outside. The cold greeted me, goose bumps prickling over the bare skin on my stomach. I looked around aimlessly. When I saw the trees behind the motel shimmer in the moonlight, a thrill hit me. I knew where I’d find Attic.

When I reached the trunk of the tree, I looked up at the dimly lit tree house. This time I’d have to climb. I scowled. I’d made a racket getting here and I knew Attic would have heard me already. He didn’t want to make this easier, did he?

Blistering my fingers, I climbed up the tall pine. It made it harder that it was dark and I had to feel for the branches to shift my weight. After an excruciating effort and puffing like a steam engine, I scrambled over the edge, into the tree house.

“You’ll have to add climbing to your training sessions,” Attic said, matter-of-factly. What a welcome. “I didn’t invite you.”

I brushed a twig out of my hair. “Well, you’re still here. Can’t have too much of an aversion to seeing me.”

A grin cornered Attic’s mouth, but it quickly vanished. “I should. Why are you here?”

I moved over to the small table where Attic sat. On it was a bowl of fruit and an unopened bottle of whiskey. “A lot has happened today,” I said. “I’m exhausted.” I rested my elbows on the table, cupping my chin, and looked at him.

“Eat something, Lark,” Attic said, rolling an apple over the table. I picked it up and took a bite. My stomach growled. Jeez, I was hungry. Without a word between us I devoured the apple, and then an orange. My fingers stuck together and placing my mouth over each finger, I licked off the tangy juice. Attic peeled his eyes away from me, looking out of the tree house into the darkness.

“I’m sorry about before, Attic.” Somehow it was easier to talk when I couldn’t see his face. “And I’m scared. Scared for Maddy and your sister.” He shuffled uncomfortably, but I continued, letting the words tumble out of me. “It hurts, you know. It hurts Maddy’s not here. It hurts that because of me you are suffering and I’ve made things harder for you. It hurts you’re engaged. And it hurts me that I’m falling in—”

“Don’t.” Attic said, suddenly by my side clamping my mouth shut with a kiss, his soft black gloves gripping my neck. “Don’t say it, please. I can’t hear it.”

I flustered. “Why, why not?”

A new voice, rich and sweet, filled the tree house, making both Attic and me spin round. “Go on, boy, tell her. I’d love to feed off
that
emotion.”

Floating at the entrance was a beautiful woman. Long red hair dropped to her waist over peacock-feathered wings, dazzling to look at. The woman floated further toward us, her black robe spilling gracefully around her, opened partially, revealing a short skirt and thigh high boots.

Amazing.

“No, she’s not,” Attic growled under his breath. He held one arm out as if to shield me. “Why are you here? You don’t belong in this world.”

The woman smiled and it was as if the tree house illuminated with it. Drawn to her, I stepped closer.

“Stay back,” Attic hissed at me and pushed me back toward the wall.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. There was no harm, nothing bad in this woman, even her smile echoed sincerity.
Just let me touch her.
I tried to step past Attic to reach her.

“Lark, listen to me, she’s not what she seems. Stay back.” Attic’s mouth was ripped wide open as if he was shouting, but his words came to me as faint as a whisper.

“Let her come to me if that’s what she wishes,” the peacock woman said. “It’s not like you can stop me.” A graceful, happy laugh fell delicately from her mouth. I just had to touch those amazing wings.

“Get away from me, Attic,” I said.

“No. Don’t look at her, she’s evil.” Attic spat his next words at the woman. “What are you doing here?”

Quick as a flash, I ducked under Attic’s arm and lunged toward the wings. He struggled to hold me back, gripping me by my T-shirt. I tugged and it ripped. Before Attic had a chance to grab me again, I stood before the woman.

“No.” I heard the anguish and terror in Attic’s cry, but I couldn’t understand it. This woman wasn’t going to hurt—

The woman’s fingers barely brushed my skin, and with that slight touch everything about her changed. It was as if a curtain had fallen from my eyes. Her red hair trickled blood, her peacock wings latticed serpents, slithering, their eyes black soulless holes, her black robe an array of hanging whips. The grip of terror tightened every muscle in my body, and the taste of blood and death filled my mouth.

The woman smiled, contorting her ugly face into a mass of wrinkles and, with a flick of her finger, twisted me round so I faced Attic. We stared at each other’s horrified expression.

I tried to yank myself away from the woman, but she tightened her grip on my neck. Creeping ice extended from her fingers, and I gasped with the pain.

“Missing this?” In the corner of my eye, I saw the woman lift something silver. A pendant.
The
pendant.

Everything came together with such shock that I could barely muster the next words. “You’re a Derinyes.”

“Let her go,” Attic said, his voice lethal enough to kill.

“That’s not how to bargain,” the woman said. “What do I get out of it?” A forked tongue slid out of her mouth, close to my cheek. “I propose you tell her why you don’t want to hear those lovely things from her. Then I’ll let her go.”

Between gritted teeth Attic looked me in the eye and said, “Because I can’t see you again, Lark. And I won’t.”

I knew the Derinyes manipulated the situation, knew she wanted me to feel the misery and pain of Attic’s words so she could feed, knew I should’ve controlled my emotions and not let her have anything. But I couldn’t. It hurt too much.

“Delicious,” the Derinyes said. She pushed me to the floor. Attic pulled me up and behind him once more.

“Why are you here?” Attic said. “Without your sisters here to help you, I’d have a good chance of killing you.”

“I’m here to thank you, of course. It won’t be long before we have our full power again. I can’t wait to start the feast, I have such a craving for sorrow and anguish.” She paused. “And as for you killing me, you could try, but after so long being stuck underground I’m extremely hungry.” Her eyes flashed red. “And that makes me a dangerous opponent. Even for you, Prince Atticus.” Her robe of whips crackled as she stepped closer to Attic.

My thoughts raced through the options of how to get us both out of here. Safe. But I couldn’t seem to come up with anything.

“Love is such a fickle emotion. It never has the same consistency, it tastes sweet and sour and bitter all at once, and it’s either too soft and plain as water down the throat, or too chewy. Gets stuck between my teeth. Horrible.” The Derinyes weaved two fingers through her hair, staining them red, and licked them clean. “But today I had a surprisingly excellent meal of it.” She touched the pendant. “A love sick puppy returned my key.”

Her black eyes bored into mine and I knew. I knew exactly who’d stolen the pendant. “Jason.” His name was nothing more than a sigh, falling from my lips like a plea it wasn’t true. But I knew. The betrayal ripped a hole in my chest and my legs wanted to give way, but Attic was there in time to steady me. I rested my hands on his shoulders. He jerked his shoulder and my hand slipped between his shoulder blades and onto his Vein. Attic’s voice sounded in my head.
Keep your hand there, she can’t hear this. Don’t think you’re safe because she let you go. She loves to play with her victims. Whatever you do, don’t try to fight her. She’s too strong, I feel it. We’d both be dead before a bolt of lightning could strike. Not even that would scratch her.

The Derinyes patted a snake that had reared its head from her wing and continued speaking. “He followed its whispers and found you two. Whatever you were doing, it got him mad enough to take it. He tried to fight the urge, you know. For you, girl.” She laughed. “I really do have to thank this twisted little love triangle. Without love, it would’ve taken so much longer to retrieve Silver.”

“What did you grant him in return?” Attic demanded. “He would’ve wanted something. What was it?”

A waterfall of feeling shuddered out of Attic’s Vein: anger, hurt, love, jealousy, but most dominant was fear. I caught a whiff of another thought:
I can’t, it’d kill me if I killed her.

“Everyone wants
something
,” the Derinyes said. “And the love sick puppy does, too.” She pulled a knife from her boot. “Pity he wasn’t clearer with the semantics.”

“What did he want?” I asked, my throat dry.

Lark, forgive me. This is my only option. God, I hope this works.

“He wants your heart,” the Derinyes said.

At first, Attic blurred as he started to wheel around, then everything moved as if in slow motion. The corner of the Derinyes mouth twitched and I saw her pinch the knife like Alyse had taught me. Attic was mid way through his turn, the knife would pierce him, kill him. But seeing was the only sense I had. I couldn’t control anything else. The Derinyes knife flipped in the air, aimed with perfect accuracy and Attic was three quarters through his turn.

A loud high pitched scream filled the air, pure horror and agony mixed together. And it was coming from me.

I tried to lift my hand as if I could meet the knife in mid air and swipe it away, but I was stuck.

It would hit his heart. I looked at Attic’s beautiful face and wished I could save him. It didn’t matter at all that we’d never be together. It would be all right as long as I knew he were alive.