28. Echo
THURSDAY
I collapsed on my bed, ignoring every ache that radiated in my bones. Despair was trying to take over, but I couldn’t let it. When Isla walked out, I knew I had fucked up. Badly. I’d just needed some time to recover from the rut, wrap my mind around the fact that she wasn’t dead like all my previous partners, and come to terms with being with her in the first place.
But she left. Ran, actually.
Without a backward glance or a chance to find my words, she had abandoned me.
A theme when it came to the women in my life.
My mother, now Isla... Couldn’t I catch a single fucking break?
Rolling over, I curled up in my bed, trying to breathe quietly and be as still as possible. If I didn’t move and no one heard me, maybe I wouldn’t have to exist for a little while. I could just drown myself in every crazy, unreasonable idea. Too soon, my self-deprecating thoughts gave way to flashbacks.
Our home was always quiet and somber, but it was worse today. The tension was explosive the moment Aizel opened the front door. We shared a concerned look before he took a deep breath, slipped on his wide-grinned mask, and ambled inside.
I never managed to plaster a smile on my face, especially around her .
The house was one of those old brick mansions, a sprawling building with lots of rooms that were never used. Each was filled with just the right amount of furniture so it didn’t feel as empty as it truly was. Appearances meant so much to our mother, and that was obvious in everything she did. From where we lived, the clothes we wore, people she associated with... They were all carefully crafted and calculated moves on her part.
Except for Aizel and me.
In our society, incubi were viewed as throwaway. While one could be viewed as a fluke of fate, two was an abomination.
And twin boys... Mother never recovered from that particular cruelty.
On more than one occasion, she told us if she would have rather slit her own throat than give us even one gasp of air. Aizel made himself smaller, funnier, and palatable for her. Even after all these years, he wanted her approval and love.
I knew I’d never get it, though. I was never, not once, under the impression that she had the capacity to view me as anything other than a disgrace. Her love and affection were reserved for our sisters, who cared for us in their own way. Even then, their affection came in carefully measured doses that could be concealed from our mother’s eyes.
Slowly, I quietly followed my brother. I joined them in the living room where Mother was flanked by two people I’d never met before. One was a succubus, her lips curled in distaste when I came to a stop beside Aizel. She raked her eyes over us then looked haughtily at our mother before flicking her gaze to the man standing by the window.
Our sisters were nowhere in sight. My gut twisted with worry as to what that might mean. Nothing good happened when she decided to not have a familial audience for something. I’d learned that at a young age.
“Where have you been for the past two days?” the man asked. He didn’t deign to look at us because that would have given us the tiniest ounce of respect as people.
“Feeding,” Aizel replied with a nonchalant shrug. “We didn’t violate any rules.”
Mother sniffed disdainfully. “As if you would be powerful enough to break any rules.”
“A human party disappeared three nights ago. It took place not far from here.” He continued speaking, ignoring our mother. He was older, with short graying hair and deep wrinkles on his face that showed he rarely smiled. “Would you like to reconsider your answer?”
“The comings and goings of humans are not our concern,” Aizel answered while I blankly stared in space.
“Are you the only one that can talk?” he snarked, his blue eyes now on me.
“No. I can talk,” I replied softly, carefully keeping my voice even.
“What do you have to say about this?” he asked, glaring at me as if that would make a difference.
“I don’t make it a point to follow the comings and goings of humans near here,” I told him, looking up to meet his gaze with a blank one of my own. “I’ve learned my place.”
Mother’s hands clenched even though she kept her expression pleasant. Aizel tried to step in to draw attention to himself, but the anger was already directed at me.
“There are reports that two incubi were seen approaching the party, and you two match the descriptions. Human police are sniffing around, trying to find out what happened,” the succubus said sharply. “It’s better if you find other places to be than here.”
“That will be arranged,” Mother cut in primly. “We will, of course, cooperate with what you think is best.”
“What would have been best is if you had put them down like the dogs they are,” the woman snapped. “Too bad you kept them around.”
She stormed out with the older man trailing behind her. He said something about coming back to make sure we were gone in the next few days, then he was out the door as well.
It was so quiet after the door shut that you could have heard a pin drop.
“Aizel, pack your bags. You’ll both be out of here tonight,” she ordered.
“Mother–” Aizel said, trying to reason with her.
“Get. Out.” She pointed at the stairs.
Aizel looked at me and mouthed ‘I’m sorry’ before following her order. Him staying would only make whatever was about to happen worse. She only let her unbridled rage loose with me, and when he delayed it, it always made her more... creative.
Walking up to me, she grabbed a handful of my hair and used it to lead me down the hallway and outside to a small shed. She unlocked it and shoved me inside. The door slammed shut behind us, and I heard the lock snick into place.
She pulled her long gray hair up into a ponytail as she ordered me to stand up.
My memories got a bit spotty after that, my mind refusing to fully recall what she did to me in that shed.
Beaten.
Humiliated.
What I remembered was bad enough.
My throat was so dry it felt like sandpaper when Aizel found me. My body was black and blue, and the blood on the floor almost made him fall while trying to untie me. When he got me outside, his face was pale in the moonlight.
“Echo? Are you ? —”
“I’m tired,” I rasped. “Just leave me.”
“Fuck no,” he whispered, furtively looking around to make sure no one could overhear us. “We’re leaving.”
The echo of a cold laugh made me whimper, and my body tensed. “Where? She’ll find us, me. She hates every breath I take but savors every bit of pain she can put me through. I can’t keep doing this, brother. Just… just let me go.”
Aizel growled and picked me up. That’s when I noticed the bags he had with him.
“Together, brother. We leave together.”
Then he was half dragging me away into the night.
We got the invitation to Greywood two nights after that during a sex party we’d crashed so I could feed and heal. The next day, we were interrupted and taken to Greywood.
Running into Isla and Zhara soon after that was just a stroke of luck. The graduation story Aizel came up with worked like a charm.
I was hidden. Safe. At least for now.
Pounding at my door had me waking with a flinch. I cursed, running my fingers through sweaty hair as I sat up in bed.
“Echo?” Aizel called out.
“I’m here,” I told him, trying to get my breathing under control.
The door opened. Aizel stood there, eyes wide at the state I was in.
“Is Isla?—”
“She’s alive,” I answered roughly. A bark of laughter escaped as I forced myself to stand up.
“That’s good,” he said slowly, cautious hope sparking in his gaze.
“She ran. Afterward,” I told him, tears stinging my eyes. “I fucked up.”
“How did you fuck up if she ran?”
“She asked me what was going to happen now.” I gestured wildly. “I just… I avoided it, and she got pissed. Hell, I don’t know? I’ve never come out of a rut with someone alive. I dodged her question, so she left. I tried to catch up to her, but she was gone.”
Aizel sighed. “She should have stayed and let you explain, but you’re right. You fucked up.”
“Thanks,” I told him wryly.
“You’re welcome,” he deadpanned. “So… what are you going to do about it?”
“Get my shit together and hope she listens to me when I see her again.” I rubbed my face. “I need a shower. I need to get the remnants of my dream out of my mind.”
“Dream?”
“ Her ,” I spat out, hating the quiver of fear present in that single word.
“She can’t get to us here,” he reassured me, gaze hardening. “And if she gets anywhere near you, she’ll only live long enough to regret it.”
I nodded, appreciating his reassurance but not believing it. Aizel left soon after, and I hurried into the bathroom, only letting myself break down once I was under the hot spray of the shower.
My attraction to Isla had hit the moment I saw her, but my fear and anger toward women was wrapped up in that. Well, my anger and fear toward my mother. She was sickly twisted into so many things in my psyche that I was worried I’d taint anyone I was with.
The things she had done to me… the things she had made me do.
I shuddered. If only there was something to take the pain away, but I knew from experience that everything was just a temporary relief. Not even my mind was a safe place to be.
I just hoped I could get Isla to understand, to forgive me. Hopefully, we’d still be friends when I was done or maybe even more, but I wasn’t foolish enough to put stock in that wish.
The lounge was quiet even though Zhara and Aizel sat with me. We were all waiting for Isla to come in. Wells had joined us too, coming as soon as he heard that Isla was okay but missing.
He sat on the couch beside me, gaze bouncing between me and the door.
I watched him watch me, small sparks of enjoyment peeking through whenever his cheeks flushed or he pretended like he was staring off in space. Part of me wanted to ask what he was thinking, but I was too worried and anxious about seeing Isla again to really let myself get carried away with thinking of Wells.
It was dinnertime when Isla walked into the dorm. Her face was pale, and she came to a dead stop at the sight of us. The hints of bruises and scrapes on her face made me wince, but they didn’t seem to be bothering her.
“Is this some type of intervention or something? Because I honestly don’t know what I could have done to warrant this level of attention,” she said to all of us. Aizel sighed with relief as Zhara chuckled. Wells remained quiet, but there was palpable relief radiating from him.
Laughing softly, I stood up, walking around Wells to get to her. Thankfully, she didn’t look scared by my approach. Unsure, yes, but not afraid. I could work with uncertainty.
“They wanted to see with their own eyes that you were okay,” I told her with a half-smile. “And I wanted to talk to you… if that’s alright with you.”
She looked up at me, chewing her bottom lip, before nodding sharply. “But I need dinner after. I’m starving.”
She pulled me into her room, shutting the door behind us and telling me to make myself at home. I sat down on the edge of her bed while she rushed to the bathroom and came out a few minutes later.
“First, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” I told her softly. I wanted to reach out, to touch her, but I didn’t know if she’d welcome the contact or shy away. “I shouldn’t have been an asshole and dodged your question earlier. I just… There was a lot going through my mind, and I think I just needed time to sort through everything. I should have just said that instead of being a smart ass.”
Isla’s shoulders slumped as she nodded. She didn’t sit down beside me. In fact, she almost seemed more nervous than before.
“I appreciate the apology,” she said after a deep breath. “I get needing time to figure things out, though. It’s not as if we’ve known each other for long, and the rut was… intense.”
I nodded slowly, watching her thoughtfully. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Not any more than I wanted to be,” she said with a half-smile. Before she finished her reply, she went over to her dresser and started to look through the drawers. Her movements became more agitated as she went from one drawer to the next. “Sorry, I was going to wear my gloves, but I haven’t been able to find them anywhere. Anyway, focusing, sorry. Apology accepted. So we’re good?”
“I hope so,” I told her. Relief filled me when she smiled, a real one that reached her eyes. “But I did… I did want to talk to you about the rut.”
She was rifling through a few things, but she paused to shoot me a look over her shoulder, eyebrows raised.
“I like you,” I told her, hoping like hell I wasn’t fucking things up for the second time today. “As more than just a friend. So this is me asking you on a date. I figured if you can put up with my bullshit with the rut, then dinner shouldn’t be too bad,” I rambled.
Isla didn’t turn to face me, but every muscle tensed until she inhaled deeply. After an eternal moment, she turned in my direction with a gentle expression that I hated on sight.
“Look, forget it,” I told her, not wanting to hear whatever patronizing excuse she was fabricating.
“Echo…” She held out a hand, stopping short of touching me when I flinched back. “My answer isn’t no. I just… I need to talk to someone first before I can say yes.”
“Talk to someone first? What does that even mean?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I haven’t seen you in a few fucking hours. How complicated could it have gotten?” I demanded.
Her soft reply hit me square in the gut, and time slowed to a standstill. There was no way I’d heard her right. I heard myself ask her to say it again, and this time she came over to me, grasping my hands in hers.
“I have a mate.”
Every flame of hope inside me extinguished. I stared up at Isla and her beseeching gaze and felt nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
UNKNOWN
The place reeked of blood, sex, and death.
Greywood hadn’t changed a bit in my absence.
Fear permeated the air, and the trees were quietly screaming a sinister warning as I slowly ambled through the quad to where I’d be teaching for the foreseeable future.
When I reached the building, the forest fell silent and an odd sense of awareness reached out to me. Something knew I was here. I paused, waiting to see if they would make themselves known, but whatever it was faded away. Probably better for everyone that they did since I didn’t have the patience or inclination to deal with anyone right now.
The door to the greenhouse opened soundlessly when I pushed it, and the richness of the dirt and plants inside enveloped me, welcoming me back.
To be truthful, I had never intended to come back to this place, but the call was too alluring to resist.
Greywood reminded me of everything I had lost. There was no getting those pieces of me back, and I felt that loss keenly as I looked around the building I hadn't seen in many years.
Now was not the time for this, I reminded myself. I had to focus. Whose magick had flared strong enough to call out to me in my solitude?
Closing my eyes, I inhaled deeply, sending my awareness out, searching.
My magick paused when it felt a power so like my own—rich, earthy tones with a hint of a deadly allure hiding underneath. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the one who had beckoned me here.
Before I could pull back, bone-chilling coldness slithered amongst the deep richness of her magick. I quickly yanked myself back into my body before I could experience more, bitterness creeping up my throat until it threatened to spew out of me.
The change and shift in powers… It could only mean one thing.
Her gifts were awakening, and the secrets that were hidden behind the facade of this conservatory were going to come to light.
Time was running out.
“Hopefully, I’m not too late.”