Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“It barely looks like you.” Val pointed to the image of Gemma’s back on the laptop monitor. Val kept few electronics in her place. This computer was the one she used at the shop. “This is so weird, if that is you falling into the show.”
“That’s me. I swear. Just wait.” The wizard went down. Skarde laughed at her use of profanity.
“Sounds like you.” Val pointed at the screen when she stripped her pants and her jaw dropped.
There it was on screen. The tattooed triquetra knot on her lower back, inked by Val’s tattoo artist friend while Val held her hand.
Eyes wide, Val met her gaze. “Holy mother. That is you.” She pointed at the screen.
In an incredulous, hushed tone she asked, “How did you get inside the show? That’s impossible. ”
Gemma released a shaky laugh as the tension she’d been holding inside released. Thank God, Val didn’t seem to think she was crazy. “You didn’t do it on purpose?”
“How could I do that? That’s some top-level magic way beyond my little spells.”
“If you didn’t, then who could do that to me?”
Val held up her hand to command silence as she watched the rest of the episode. “Skarde Blackmann is fully into you. In the episodes I watched he never looked at anyone like that.”
“You haven’t even seen the next episode,” Gemma muttered.
“A ticket into his world is way beyond anything I ever thought possible.” Val did a mind-blown sign by her temple.
“Being able to cross means that show isn’t a TV show.
It’s a view into another realm. Going between this world and another is called realm walking.
That’s powerful magic. Let me watch the next episode.
” Moments later, Val cursed. “Is that the dickhead, Dylan?”
“He planned to kill me in my apartment. If Skarde hadn’t jumped across to my apartment I’d be dead.”
“Did Skarde kill him?” Val didn’t glance away from the screen as Skarde dragged her into his bedroom and slammed the door, which ended the scene. Thank God.
“Yes.”
“The way he won’t let go of you is so romantic. So unlike him.”
“He can be a little dangerous and scary when he loses it, but I think he’s a good guy at heart.”
“No vampire is a good guy.” The witch’s tone sounded ominous.
The scene changed to the one with Cade, but Val pushed pause at the start where Cade had his back to Skarde in front of the fireplace. She slowly glanced up. “What happened behind the door with you and him?”
She nibbled on her lip. “In his bedroom?”
“Did you sleep with a vampire?” Val’s eyebrows rose as her gaze dipped to Gemma’s neck.
She shook her head. “He has this no-sex-with-humans rule.”
Val leveled her with a disbelieving look. “Come on, something happened.”
“I might’ve fallen asleep and woken up with him next to me. There might’ve been some hot almost-moments. The guy is huge. Like, everywhere.”
Val’s face recoiled. “He’s a vampire. Not a man. You don’t… Never tempt a bloodsucker like that. They don’t have morals. They’re narcissistic sociopaths who toy with humans. They take their pleasure from you. Then they kill you.”
“Not Skarde.” Cautiously, Gemma asked, “You believe they exist? As in vampires are real? Do they exist here?”
“Of course they’re real. They’re a vicious, self-serving species. Dangerous. They use their beautiful exterior to lure humans in for death.”
Not Skarde. She crossed her arms. She was fully prepared to defend him, maintaining the fundamental belief that he was a good person deep down. Sure, he did vicious stuff, but he wouldn’t randomly attack. He had resisted her. “Maybe you should watch the next scene with Skarde’s brother.”
Val resumed the episode and watched the entire fight scene with a shocked, almost horrified expression straight through to the fade to black. She stumbled backward and sat hard in the rickety metal chair she kept in the back of the store. “I’ve seen him.”
“Him who?” Her gaze ping-ponged between the screen and Val.
Val covered her mouth and hung her head. “Cade.”
“Did I miss seeing him in an earlier episode? Or are we talking about your dreams when you see things?”
“Dreams. But I didn’t know who he was or that he was a…vampire.” She rolled her head back and forth. “No, no, no. He can’t be a vampire. This is so bad.”
“What exactly happened in your dreams? We’re talking about the visions you have that usually come true?” The thrum of her pulse pounding in her ears overshadowed all other noise. Don’t let it be something bad about Skarde. Cade dying… Okay. She didn’t know him, and he didn’t seem particularly nice.
Val’s face blanked, which meant whatever she’d seen she wouldn’t divulge. “His imprisoned witch was talking about you.”
“Sounds like it.”
“That means you might get…turned.” Val swallowed hard and glanced at the dark screen. “Please, don’t watch any more. Let me keep the disc. If you go back there, you’re going to become one of them.”