Nightwish (An Echoes of Eternity Novel Book 1) Page 16

  “Or balloons?”

  His jawbone clenched as he grinded his teeth.

  “Three hundred years…and you still haven’t got a sense of humor?”

  “Three hundred years,” he said in a deep voice, “of life tell me you should take my advice. If you don’t, then you’re as ignorant as your sister.”

  I still got the impression that, if it weren’t for Delphine’s influence, my sister wouldn’t be so messed up. It gave me hope that she might turn her life around some day. “I’ll consider what you’ve said.” Actually, after hearing his grave tone, I would do my best to do as he’d instructed.

  “And while we’re on the subject of Alexis, I recommend that you stay away from her.”

  “Why?”

  “If the circumstances align, she’ll murder you. She won’t give it a second thought. If she did, no one would ever know what happened to your body. She’d make it disappear.”

  The power and immediacy of his words put my nerves on edge. What made him think so certain? What experience told him that Alexis would kill another person? It made me feel naive, gullible.

  “She’s not like you,” Darius said, stepping toward me. “If Alexis has any feelings, she neglects them. She must have gotten that from her mother. Neither have a moral fiber in their being. They’re selfish, concerned only with power and influence.”

  “And you know this because you’ve spent years protecting them?” I asked, knowing he hadn’t.

  “Lorraine told me, and I…trusted her.”

  I couldn’t mistake the way Darius’s paused on the word “trust,” which revealed that Grams had hurt him deeply by not sharing the location of The Book of Souls with him.

  “If you don’t heed my advice, you won’t live to regret it.”

  “Is that right? Are you going to teach me about family? Well, where is yours? They’re not vampires, so they’re dead, right?” No matter how cruel my words sounded exiting my mouth, I couldn’t stop the torrent of condemnation from springing forth. “Who are you? You’ve promised to protect me. But why? You don’t know the first thing about me. Oh, you know what Grams told you. But more than that? Nothing!”

  “I know enough,” he said, taking measured breaths. “I know more than enough.”

  “Is that right?” I asked. “About what? What do you know about Delphine and Alexis? If they plan to murder me, what do they expect to gain from it?”

  “Less resistance!” His gaze lit into mine. “You don’t know the strength you have.” He sneered at me. “How could you? You don’t know anything yet. When it comes to witchcraft, you’re just a child.”

  That set my thoughts from anger to curiosity. But I still wouldn’t let Darius think that he knew what went through my mind. “You still haven’t answered me. Why did you choose to protect me? Why didn’t you choose Delphine, Alexis, or Celestina? I mean, really, Celestina is a much better witch than I’ll ever be. She’s pure. She has a good heart. She’s important!”

  “And you’re not?” he asked.

  That stopped me from whatever argument I might bring up next. But I know what I…don’t know, which was a lot. “Exactly. I don’t know anything.”

  “That’s ridiculous. Your grandmother didn’t teach you about magic because she wanted to make sure you grew up comfortably, without pressure, and without need.”

  A few hours ago, I would have refuted that claim. But now? Hearing how much Grams sacrificed for me strengthened my spirit, and thinking about her brought up an important question. “How did she end up with over a million dollars?”

  “Gambling. Your grandmother was an empath. She knew when someone was bluffing and when that person was confident at the blackjack table. She used that ability years ago on a trip to Las Vegas.”

  “Grams wouldn’t do that. She’s the most ethical person I’ve ever met.”

  “She targeted gangsters, corrupt politicians, and other criminals who took advantage of the less fortunate and used their tactics against them.”

  Put that way, I could follow Grams’s logic. She refused to watch crime movies because filmmakers often twisted the narrative by making criminals sympathetic, and Grams despised those who cheated and harmed others. In that scenario, I could even imagine Grams sitting with a table full of the toughest thugs in Vegas and taking great pleasure in accepting their money with a bashful smile. After all, who would hurt an elderly woman? That put a smile on my face. Go Grams!

  Still one question lingered: “You’re saying she won over a million dollars? Come on, that’s ridiculous. She would have attracted too much attention.”

  “She invested what she earned, and over the past twenty years, she earned quite a bit of money. Her gift came in quite handy because she withdrew from the stock market right before it corrected or hit bottom then invested again the moment stocks shot up again. I’m quite surprised she hasn’t accumulated triple the amount she left behind.”

  “You’re forgetting about her Chicago Bears obsession. Do you think a dining room set comes cheap? What about Bears’ luggage? Season tickets cost a fortune. And did you see the front yard? Grams set up a handful of zombie figurines dressed as Bears players! Which is fitting because, hey, if vampires and demons and werewolves exist…why not zombies?”

  “Moving along,” he said, disinterested in Grams’s enthusiasm for acquiring Bears’ memorabilia. “Lorraine suspected that you’d need a…sizable amount to handle what awaits you.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, suspicious of the dubious way he phrased that last remark.

  “For every strategy an enemy had, your grandmother already had a response in place, along with three other possibilities. But even she couldn’t prevent the line from falling. Given your unfamiliarity with magic-related activities, she wanted to give you a financial cushion.”

  “But that doesn’t prevent my sister or mom from slaughtering me. When it comes to magic, I don’t know what I’m doing. So how can I stop them?”

  “That’s what The Book of Souls is for. Once you were ready, you’ll be able to tap the knowledge within it.”

  Because he believed so strongly about how The Book of Souls could help me, he still presumed that I had it in my possession (or at least knew where it was located). Which meant he hadn’t swiped it from the secret chamber. If that was the case, had someone else removed it? Or was it still in the room…and invisible to prying eyes?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Moments after Darius left the shop, my phone vibrated, and I saw a text from Kendall with the words, “I’m at Intensity. Come quick!” Fearing that she’d gotten herself in trouble, I hurried over to the club on Sheffield Avenue. I didn’t know what to expect, so I kept my mind open and my guard up.

  Perfume laced with undercurrents of perspiration, reeking of sex and desperation, sifted through the two-story club that featured a bar and a huge dance floor on the first level and a balcony that included a smaller bar along with more intimate booths and a VIP area. The Daft Punk song, “Get Lucky,” pumped out of the stereo system for only a few moments before the thumping bass of “Blank Space” by Taylor Swift took its place.

  I made my way through swarms of bodies, ignoring the strobe lights flickering above, and kept my eyes on the lookout for Kendall and Brandon. A few moments later, I found both on the opposite end of the room at the bar, watching dozens of people on the dance floor.

  “Hey,” I said, relieved that they weren’t in trouble. “What’s the rush?”

  Brandon nodded toward the dance floor. “Check it out.”

  I did as suggested, scanning the room, expecting to find a demon or vampire or God-knows-whatever else walk by. Thankfully, I didn’t spot any supernatural creatures.

  But I did see my sister.

  On the outskirts of the dance floor, Alexis let loose with a sexual dance routine in front of a tall, well-built man with his back to us. His long blond hair and languid motion reminded me of Nolan, although I probably thought so because I found it difficult to pu
sh thoughts of his smile, talent, and charisma out of my mind. At that moment, the man gestured toward the restroom before following through with that intention.

  Alexis looked after him, slowing her movements, turning in my direction, the enraptured expression on her face falling, obviously disappointed that he’d left her. But as though suspecting that cameramen surrounded her in order to document her life in a popular reality show, she pushed a hand through her hair while gyrating to the pounding bass, swinging her hips in every direction.

  Eyes closed, without a worry in the world, her lips curved into a smile as she slid her hands down her ribs to her lean abdomen and onto her hips, slinking to the beat. She made her way around the dance floor, joining one couple and dancing alongside them, until she’d elicited a smile from the man, who had temporarily forgotten about his dancing partner. Now that Alexis had disrupted the connection that couple shared, she appeared happy to move on and focus on another couple, this one composed of two women who were too frisky to be simply friends.

  My sister’s sexuality made me feel like an elderly woman that regretted not being more lively and outgoing, living in the moment, and disregarding her inhibitions. In short, I had a lot to learn from my sister about spontaneity.

  I watched the way her long dark hair whipped from one direction to another, spraying two women in the face and neck, giving them no attention, allowing the rhythm to take hold of her, as though she was the only person on the dance floor.

  She ignored the irritated looks from a handful of women around her, who had left their dancing partners to organize into a haphazard U-shaped pattern, obviously strategizing on how best to get revenge for taking over such a wide swath of the floor.

  “Shocked it took this long for the women to confront her,” said Brandon.

  “Why didn’t you text me after you texted Kendall?”

  He exchanged glances with Kendall before meeting my eyes, but before he had the chance to respond, Kendall said, “I asked him not to. I didn’t want there to be a situation.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, anger creeping into my tone. “Shouldn’t I know if my sister is about to get all ‘witch-bitch’ in the middle of a dance club?”

  Brandon chuckled. “Yeah, but has that happened before? Besides, I only let Kendall know because I saw Alexis here.”

  Kendall wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I asked him to let me know if he saw her anywhere.”

  “Why?” I asked, feeling like they were keeping something from me. In fact, I knew why Kendall wanted to monitor my sister, but I wanted her to say it, not that I thought she’d acknowledge the truth.

  “I don’t trust her,” Kendall said. “And for good reason.” She gestured toward Alexis. “She’s been pissing off most everybody since I texted you, but the tension has been rising since you got here.”

  With the abilities my sister could call upon at any minute, she wouldn’t need any help handling herself. Still, I appreciated the opportunity to see how she reacted to whatever plan the ladies had just agreed upon: they had now closed the distance between them. That’s when I realized that Kendall had contacted me to prevent Alexis from using magic to harm others.

  As much as I feared that my sister would do just that, I allowed another question to torment me: why wasn’t Alexis at home with Celestina? Why weren’t they playing a game of Monopoly or a videogame? Why weren’t they snacking on popcorn and watching a Pixar film? Why was Alexis here…at a dance club when she should have been home parenting?

  Of course, just because she had a child didn’t mean she couldn’t have fun or enjoy a night out. But intuition told me that Alexis frequented dance clubs to let her wild side run free. That notion disturbed me, not only because she’d let her parental duties slide, but also because, assuming that Alexis worked a full-time job (something I vowed to check up on soon!), what did that teach Celestina about the importance of parenting? More than that, however, I feared that my sister had let our mother care for Celestina. Despite my sister’s behavior and vices, I knew that deep down she loved her daughter, but I couldn’t, however, say the same thing about our mother. In that regard, I thought Delphine planned to manipulate her granddaughter every chance she got, and it bristled that Alexis couldn’t see that as well.

  “What do you think?” Kendall asked.

  Brandon tapped his foot to the beat as Taylor Swift’s tune blended into “Blurred Lines” a song by Robin Thicke. He set his gaze on Alexis. “She should be on Dancing with the Stars. She’d blow away the competition.”

  “Yeah,” Kendall said, “literally.”

  Brandon smirked at the sexual connotation. “I’m just saying she has a gift, and she should share it with the world.”

  “I’m sure she does,” Kendall said. “But I’m guessing the guys aren’t too happy to get chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis.” A second later, she turned to me with an apologetic look. “Sorry, I—”

  I gave her a hard stare, not because I felt the need to defend my sister, but because I thought of Celestina having to look up to a mother who walked around her home guzzling liquor from a bottle, a woman so self-centered she didn’t have the least bit of concern for how her actions affected others.

  “This is getting exciting,” Brandon said. A goofy grin split his lips, and he shook his head, as though shocked that anyone could encompass the fantasies that knocked around his head. “My God, she is something.”

  I felt Kendall tense beside me. She looked my way and a demented smile appeared. Then she set her attention on my sister and stalked onto the dance floor straight toward her. Kendall’s emotions often got the best of her, usually resulting in acting without considering the consequences of her actions.

  She probably wanted to get first crack at my sister, which made no sense because Alexis could no doubt freeze Kendall into an icicle, or she could use mind control to tell Kendall to walk away, or even worse, she could have the five women harass Kendall...something that would trigger bad memories.

  That possibility, and the need to defend my best friend, throttled me onto the dance floor after her. I slipped between those who swung one way and another, diverting arms and legs and hips…until I caught up to Kendall as she came upon the group of women who planned to face Alexis.

  Just as one of the women raised a hand to jab a finger into my sister’s shoulder, Kendall interrupted her by using that same method to get the woman’s attention. She motioned to the side, drawing aggravated expressions from the women.

  “That bitch deserves a serious tongue-lashing,” said a redhead with purple lipstick and a space between two front teeth large enough to fit an almond. The women around her nodded their heads while planting their hands on their hips or crossing their arms across their chests.

  “Totally agree,” I said to prevent an argument. I motioned to Kendall. “But we’ve dealt with her before, and we know how to handle this. You okay with that?”

  One of the women beside the redhead put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “It’s not worth it. Let them take care of it.” The redhead glanced at Alexis, who raised her arms in the air, indifferent to those around her, sashaying in every direction, as though a belly dancer had taught her the moves she now incorporated into her routine. The redhead said, “Make sure she knows the dance floor isn’t just for her.”

  “Oh, we will,” Kendall said, anger making her voice rattle.

  Dancers cut a swath of space to allow the women to head back to the bar, where five guys stood drinking beers and watching us, curious how we would handle my sister. As I turned back toward my friend, I noticed that more and more couples gave Alexis and her latest partner more space with every passing moment. They watched her warily, as though sensing a disturbance in the air. Others disregarded her, either too inebriated or too wrapped up in the music to let outside factors to influence their enjoyment.

  Kendall turned to me. “You need to let me handle this.”

  “No way. She’s a superhero, for Gods-sake!”

&nbs
p; “So are you, but you can’t control yourself. That’s why I need to take care of things.”

  She had me there. It brought to mind my inability to prevent fireballs from shooting out of my hands, which would never make sense to me. But how would she deal with my sister? “I don’t trust Alexis.”

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Not when it comes to my sister.”

  “Someone has to talk some sense into her.”

  “And that’s you? Why not let security take care of it?” I glanced around and didn’t see any security guards around. How odd! Every nightclub had a bevy of security guards to toss out those who drank too much or got into a scuffle. Then my eyes fell upon the image of my sister dancing without a care in the world. Now it made sense: she had probably used mind control to convince the security guards to take a hike.

  Kendall’s eyes pleaded with me. “I’m asking you to trust me.”

  If I refused it would create friction between us, so I reluctantly gave in. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” I said, glancing at my sister, shocked that she hadn’t noticed that the dancers had given her too much space on the dance floor…or that Kendall and I were only six feet behind her.

  Kendall nodded but didn’t offer a response.

  At that moment, Alexis whirled around and, spotting us, revealed a vibrant smile. Her chest rose and fell with every heaving breath. “You realize this is a dance floor, right?” For all the energy she’d put into dancing, she hadn’t worked up even the slightest sheen of perspiration. Alexis’s gaze landed on me and surprise registered on her face. “You hang here much, sis? Thought you were into Goth music?”

  “We’re a metal band.”

  “Metal?” she said with a dismissive tone. “So you like whips and chains, that sort of thing, huh?” She looked me over, impressed. “Little Miss University likes to get down-and-dirty. Who would have thought?”

  “Exactly,” Kendall said. “Who would have thought…that you’d have a thought?”

  “Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be?” Alexis asked, all trace of humor vanishing. She stalked toward Kendall, staring her down.