Wolf Dream (18 page)

Footfalls sounded behind me, but I was overcome with a safe feeling and knew it was Ian. My heart leapt with joy that he was okay.

He fell in beside me looking at the last two breeds. “Where is he?”

I forgot to ask them where Nicholas was. I forgot that was the whole reason for hunting tonight. The taller one of the two didn’t take his eyes off me. “If I tell you, can I leave?”

“Dregan, you follow him.”

Wait, did I just hear Ian’s thoughts? I watched as Dregan hunched down and shrank back into the shadows. I did hear his thoughts. I’d have to talk to him later about that.

Ian shrugged.  “Of course.”

“He’s
at his villa on the outskirts of the city.”

“Where at?” I asked.

“Your Seer was there. Ask her.”

“You want to leave? Answer the question,” Ian interjected.

The second man took a step back, probably thinking I was too occupied with the other guy to notice him sneaking off. I raised my hand and shot out another fireball, stopping him from leaving. Luna lunged after him, pinning him to the ground where I let the water level rise, covering him. She kept her front paws on his chest. He might have underestimated the strength of a spirit wolf, but I knew she had more strength than he did. He thrashed around under his personal bubble of water. I knew the water alone couldn’t kill him, but it instilled a fear into the guy divulging information because he started talking quickly.

He watched the other breed fight to get Luna off his chest, water spray
ing everywhere each time he flailed his arms out. “I don’t know for sure, honest. I just know it’s right outside of the city. He doesn’t like to have a lot of people around. Can I leave now?” He looked over at Ian and me hopefully.

Ian twitched his mouth to the side. “You know, I’m not sure you’ve told us everything, and I don’t take kindly to anyone trying to hurt my girl. So I change
d my mind, but…I will give you a three-second head start.”

The man wasted no time running away. We could hear his cries as Dregan must have caught him. I ignored him as I returned my focus on the last man Luna held down. I let the water flow back to the lake. He laid under Luna
, gasping. “You witch!”

I actually giggled. “Yes, I am that for sure. Crazy
, isn’t it. I have a hard time realizing it sometimes too.”

I gave Luna a nod
and then turned to face Ian as she finished the breed. “Are you okay?”

He rolled his head back and took a deep breath. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so worried about you before. I could feel your anxiety when they surrounded you, but I couldn’
t get here to help.” He pulled me close and kissed my forehead quickly before releasing me to look around and survey the damage. “I can’t believe there were that many. I took care of four others on the other side of that thing.” He nodded to the monument.

I rested my hands on my hips. “Well, at least Davin didn’t think it was my time to go. He could’ve easily kept his end of the deal tonight.”

Ian chortled. “Ha, did you see yourself? Damn girl, you took care of yourself pretty good. I’m not sure what that water thing was you did, but that was awesome. I think the Death Keeper will have his hands full trying to do you in.”

I glanced around as Ian walked around looking at the closest crossbreeds on the ground. It looked like the Napoleon
War repeated itself.

“You know what the worst part about hunting is?”

I looked over at him. “What?”

“Cleaning up the damn mess.”

I laughed. I couldn’t agree more. That was definitely going to be the worst.

For not having my mom with me to create a shield to conceal the smoke and hide the fire from immortal eyes, I did pretty
well. As soon as the bodies and heads were burned and only smoldering ashes remained, Ian had me make another spell to dispose of the ashes before any humans could find them.

The sun was just beginning to rise as we left the park. Dregan and Luna cleaned up by the lake before any guards or early tourists could see them and walked next to us
until we made it back to the hotel before disappearing.

Ailaina was up and ready with her makeup and hair perfectly done when she opened her door for me. She had the biggest smile as I told her about my night. “Okay, what’s going on? You are never this happy.”

She wrung her hands together in her lap and squealed. “You promise not to get mad?”

“Ailaina, I’ve had a very long couple days. I am tired and cranky. I can’t promise anything. You just better tell me.” I had no patience left and to tell her I was cranky was an understatement. I could feel myself getting more irritated than I should.

“I got to meet him. Like really went there. Oh, Es, he’s perfect!” She jumped to her feet and bounded over to me, grabbing my hands.

I leaned away from her. “You met
who exactly?”

She
wouldn’t look me in the eyes. Yeah, this was bad. “Davin,” she whispered.

I stood up quickly. “You met Davin? As in, the Death Keeper, Davin?” My heart sank to my stomach. Holy cow, this was way worse than just bad.

“Are you okay? Did he hurt you? What happened? How did you meet him?”

She giggled. “Es, I’m fine. Didn’t you hear me? I said he’s perfect. I don’t think he’d ever hurt me. We hit it off right off the bat. He is so charming, and he really likes to play pool, you weren’t kidding. He had me play with him all night while you were gone.” She spoke so fast it was hard to keep up.

“Okay, slow down. Why and how did this happen?” I sort of half sat, half fell, to the bed.

“Well, I told you before you left that I wanted to know if I could see more about him. I’m not sure how it happened, but one
minute we were just talking and the next… Es, it’s like love at first sight.”

“What did he talk to you about?
Love? There’s no deal made on you, is there?” I couldn’t handle it if I knew Ailaina was marked for death too.

She waved me off. “No.”

I knew there was more than what she was saying. “Ailaina, what happened? What aren’t you telling me?”

She bounced in her seat. “If you kill Nicholas, he won’t have to kill you. That we already knew, but…”

“But, what? Ailaina, you better tell me now. I seriously don’t have the patience right now.”

“You know how he wanted you to come live with him?”

I nodded.

“Well, I think we have that all figured out too so you won’t have to.
”

I cocked my head to the side. “What do you mean that you guys have it figured out?” Forget irritation, anger boiled inside me now.

She swallowed hard before looking into my eyes. “I took your place.”

My heart went from my stomach to the floor and my blood froze. “You did what?” I yelled at her.

“Es, shhh, quiet.”

“Don’t you tell me to be quiet. You just traded my place with the freaking Death Keeper! I don’t think you understand what you did.” I stood up and began pacing, something Ian did frequently.

“Esmerelda, I have been your friend since learning how to walk. I’ve been with you through all the drama in high school and believed you when you called to tell me you were kidnapped and you were a witch! I have watched as you clung to Jarak, and now as you not only date Ian, but also bonded to him. I am told that I am a Seer that can help you and that is my job, and I will always help you because you are my friend. But where in all that is my happiness? Is it only you who gets the good-looking guys and have someone to hug? Seriously, I thought my best friend would be happier for me.” She folded her arms.

I kept shaking my head
. “Ailaina, I would love to be happy for you, but Davin is the Death Keeper. You can’t do this. You don’t even know him.”

She stood and walked over to me. “If I can believe you’re a witch thousands of miles away on a phone, then I would hope that you can understand that there is something
between us. I don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It’s not love, not yet, but I’m happy, and excited.”

My mouth went completely dry. “What does this mean for us?”

“It means she’ll be taken care of,” Davin’s voice sounded behind me.

I twirled around to see him leaning with his shoulder against the wall by the bathroom door. “You,” I seethed.

He held his arms up. “I didn’t do anything. When this little beaut came to see me, I was in shock. I took one look at her and something inside me awakened.”

“You can’t do this. You wanted me. Ailaina wasn’t part of that deal.”

“Es, sweetheart, we never made the deal, remember?”

“I’ll make it now,” I pleaded. I couldn’t lose my friend to the
Death Keeper. I just couldn’t.

“No, Es, it’s my decision. Besides, I already made the deal.” Ailaina walked over to him and he reached out for her hand.

My whole body went numb.

“She’ll be safe from Nicholas and everyone else.”

“What about you? Will she be safe from you?”

He laughed. “I’m the least of her worries. Trust me.”

Hearing the Death Keeper say ‘trust me’ didn’t really instill any comfort.

“I’ll tell you what.
Since I really don’t want to kill you, and because my deal with Ailaina is over if I do, I will give you the exact directions to where Nicholas is, and I will give you something that can kill him. I want to make a deal, Esmerelda.”

The red in his eyes danced. Time seemed to have slowed down and the world stopped spinning. “What’s your deal?”

“I give you what you need to end Nicholas quickly, and in return you owe me one favor.”

“What favor?”

He wrapped his arm around Ailaina’s shoulder, making her smile wider. She was truly happy, but I just couldn’t understand. Was it his dark magic? Had he enchanted or cursed her?

He smiled. “Not now, later. When I need a favor I want to be able to call on you. If you take this deal but fail to come through on my favor, then I will kill you and bring you with me to my world.”

“You mean take me to Hell.” I heard my voice, but it seemed so far away, not something that came from me.

“Yes, you can
call it that, I suppose. Do we have a deal? I know for a fact that if Nicholas’s deal goes through and you die, he will kill all your family. Everyone you love will be tortured with your powers that I will have to bestow upon him once I take you.”

I cringed. That brought me out of my dream state. “Deal.”

Chapter
Fifteen

An Enemy’s Death

Esmerelda

I stared at the
sparkling liquid inside the vial Davin gave me. The blue fluid coated the glass as I turned it over to watch it in my hands. I was numb. Ailaina was gone and all I had was this vial of death.

“We’ll get her back, Es.” My dad propped his foot up on the table over by the window. I hated this hotel room. I hated Spain. I wanted to go home, but didn’t even know where that was. The last home I had was Jarak’s and every second made me wonder how much longer he had.
I hated everything.

“Es, honey,” my mom coaxed. “We have what we need to kill him. After we do that, then we know he can’t hurt any
more people, mortal or immortal. The Death Keeper won’t have to kill you. If you’re alive there is still hope for Ailaina, but if you give up she’s all but lost.”

I nodded. “You’re right. I just don’t understand. She acted so happy, yet… I don’t know.” I rubbed my face and let out a frustrated groan. “Things just keep gettin
g harder. First, I had to wake up the other witches, now it’s kill Nicholas, then it’s fight the devil to save my friend. I mean, come on, I’m only one woman.”

“Everything in life you love is worth fighting for.”

Ugh, I hated when she sounded so wise. I looked up at Ian, who stood with his arms folded, looking back at me. I had to kill Nicholas. I couldn’t have him hurt anyone I loved. “Yeah, I know.” I fidgeted with my hands in my lap. “Mom,” I started, “how do I give a gift?”

Her brows rose in surprise. “Um, well, first you have to bond emotionally.”

My dad faked a coughing fit and thumped his chest, rising from the chair across the room. “I think I need to get some air.” He left the room faster than I’ve ever seen him move. “Come on, Ian, I think some fresh air would be good.”

“I think you’re absolutely right.”

They both darted to the door and left before either my mom or I could laugh at their hasty retreat.

I smiled
as the door closed, then looked back to my mom. “I know about that part, that is done. I mean, well, we don’t need to talk about that part.”

She released a long breath. “Alright,
I wasn’t prepared for this. I always thought we could talk about it under different, or even normal, circumstances. Kind of like the way it should’ve been.”

“Mom, it wasn’t your fault I was taken. But you can help me right now. If things go bad I need to know that Ian has a way to fight back.”

She moistened her lips. “Sweetheart, it doesn’t work that way. We can only give a gift to the one we bond with, but we can’t force a gift onto a non-magical soul. Ian has a supernatural soul because he is a guardian, but he’s not magical. If his soul isn’t ready to accept the gift you have to offer, it won’t work.”

“Then how does it work? I need to try. Maybe he is ready. How will I know if he doesn’t accept it?” I buried my face in my hands. “This is all so confusing.”

My mom took my hands, pulled them away from my face, and kept them in hers. “Es, you will know. There will be a time when you feel his soul ignite against your own. Right now your entities are only beginning to mingle together. Have you ever watched your dad and me together?”

I nodded.

“We weren’t always so in sync. We fumbled many times and argued over keeping each other’s feeling to ourselves. In the beginning it is hard. You feel emotions that you don’t understand and have no way of pushing them aside. But, after a while, you will pick up on those feelings and use them as your own. You can feel what your partner needs, and what you can do to help them. Then, one day it will feel like a perfect union. Somewhere in between the beginning and the perfect union you will feel the spark. The warmth fills your soul and you will know that you are eternally bonded and his soul is a part of yours.

“It isn’t until then that you can try to gift Ian anything. You will have to use what you know to help him until then, because until that moment, his soul is still separate and he’s not immortal.”

I choked back the dry lump that formed in my throat. “So Nicholas can still kill him, and I can’t do anything about it. I can’t help him. I can’t even give him a gift.”

She squeezed my hands. “Sweetheart, Nicholas can kill you too. Don’t forget that. Just because you are immortal, doesn’t mean death can’t find you. It just makes it harder. There are poisons, spells, and dark magic that can accomplish this. Please be careful.”

I nodded again. “Okay. So when I feel this so called spark, how do I give the gift?”

“Well, after that happens, you push your magic toward him
and his soul will take the power he can handle the best. So, while you give the gift, you don’t get to chose.”

“Not what I thought, but I understand. It makes sense.
Now I just have to wait.”

She let go of my hands. “Es, trust me, when you have forever, this will be just a small moment.
Giving a gift is such a strong passionate moment; there is no need to rush it.”

I heaved a long sigh. “Yeah, unless our forever is cut short. You said so yourself; Nicholas
can kill us.”

“Don’t think about that. You need to keep your mind clear so you can focus.”

A click sounded as someone unlocked the door. My dad poked his head through. “Is it safe to come back? Ian’s and I are ready.”

“Yeah, we’re ready.” I let out a long breath.

Ian came in and grabbed my hand to help me up. He didn’t let go of it all the way to the rental car, and I was grateful he never mentioned anything about my talk with my mom.

He hesitated before opening my door, then he shut it again.
Gently, he pushed me back up against the car and ran the back of his hand down my face, bracing himself with his other arm on the car. Leaning in, he kissed me. His lips feathered mine softly, the tip of his tongue teasing mine before deepening the kiss, crushing my mouth to his. He leaned back just enough to break the kiss. I was breathless and I knew he wasn’t far from it either. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m glad it wasn’t you that the Death Keeper took. I can’t live without you now.”

I gulped, still trying to catch my breath.
“I know.”

My dad parked their car along the road ahead of us and Ian followed suit.
I opened the door before the car was completely stopped and jumped out, gripping the vial in my hands tightly as I marched toward the house hidden behind the trees. Nicholas must have had at least ten acres of just trees surrounding his villa.

“Es, wait up,” Ian called out to me.

“Yes, Es, wait for us,” my dad repeated.

Waiting was not what I wanted to do
. Each day I had to delay the inevitable made me cranky. I was so tired of the whole thing: the crossbreeds, the wondering if I would die today, the no sleeping, all of it. Still, I slowed down a bit so they could catch up.

My dad spoke first
. “We need a plan. We can’t just go marching in there. Remember, there are others in there besides Nicholas. Ailaina said there was a Demon, along with Julie and whoever else. We need to be prepared.”

“What about Jarak? Do you think he’s in there? We haven’t even found or heard from Maztic in so long…” I couldn’t think about that now. I needed to stay positive.

Ian grabbed my free hand. “Whatever or whoever is in there, is going down.”

I nodded. We crept up to the edge of the three
-story house and listened. A woman’s laugh came from inside. “You’re a poor pathetic excuse for a man.”

A thump and then a grunt sounded before the slam of a door.
I jumped. I couldn’t help it. My nerves were so on edge, I probably would’ve jumped at a fly.

I had so many mixed emotions coursing through me that my stomach churned worse than the sea in a hurricane. I swallowed
, trying to keep the burning acid down as I glared at Ian. “Would you please keep your feelings to yourself right now,” I hissed under my breath.

He told me to shush with his finger to his mouth and shook his head.

I rolled my eyes. It’s not like I was shouting or anything.

Luna brushed against my leg.
“He’s just worried about you. We all are.”

Hela was next to my dad and
Dregan materialized next to Ian at the same time. “He’s sorry, you know. He’s not trying to make anything harder on you. He has the same problem right now, all of your emotions are mixed with his. One day you will learn how to separate and decipher them, but until then you need to concentrate.”

I usually loved how the wolves were always so wise and insightful, but right now it just irritated the
heck out of me. Another door inside the house slammed, bringing me back to the task at hand. My dad poked his head up just enough to see through the window. He held one finger up before squatting back down to creep along to the next window. We followed his lead, my mom right behind me and Ian in front. I didn’t want to be out here, I wanted to be in the house ending this before any of them got hurt.

Again, my dad poked his head up to look through the window. Quickly
, he squat back down. He looked at each of us with wide eyes and held up his whole hand. I wasn’t sure what startled him so much, but five was nothing. I just took on seven at the park with Luna.

We crept along the house
until we got to the corner by the front. My dad held out his hand, stopping us. He looked at my mom and raised two fingers. She dashed to the front of our little line and peeked around the corner.

“Es,”
Luna said.
“Hela says your dad saw Jarak in the first room.”

Hope flared inside me. She didn’t say he was alive, but she didn’t say dead either.
“Thanks.” My mind whirred with so many plans to save him.

Ian gave me a hard stare. I forgot for a moment that he could feel what I
felt. I knew Ian was just as excited about saving his brother.

My mom raised her hands. A soft white fog rolled away from her and out of my sight. I heard a gagging sound then my dad ran around the house. Ian and I followed.

My dad grabbed one of the crossbreeds standing guard by the front door, who my mom caught with her magic, and Ian caught the other. In seconds they were gone. I gave my mom a smile before dashing past my dad and Ian, opening the front door without any of them. I was done waiting.

“Es!”
Dregan called out. “Wait for Ian.”

“No
.” I ran through the first hallway, down to the room where my dad had five fingers up. I stopped to listen.

“She’ll come. She can’t refuse a chance to kill me.” Nicholas voice was loud and clear.

“And if she doesn’t?” a voice I didn’t recognize asked. It was a woman’s, at least I think it was. It was raspy and borderline scratchy.

“She will.” Nicholas sounded too sure of himself.

I tiptoed away from that room. As much as I wanted to hear what else they were talking about, I wanted to save Jarak. I found the other room and tried the door. It swung open easily. A hand found its way to my back, making me freeze. I looked over my shoulder at Ian. How did I not feel him get closer? I let out a quiet sigh of relief, then looked back at the open door.

Why wasn’t it locked? If it wasn’t locked, then maybe Jarak wasn’t held hostage, but that would mean he traded sides. Then a different thought flew through my mind. What if that meant he was already dead. I pushed the door open farther and looked around. At first I didn’t see him, but then a small
, if barely visible, movement came from the corner. Slumped down in an awkward position that would be uncomfortable even for the dead, was Jarak.