18. Alexander
18
ALEXANDER
E mily’s breaths were soft and sweet, and I took comfort in the rise and fall of her chest. Every movement meant she was still alive. The scent of her skin had changed ever so slightly after our coupling, and I didn’t understand it.
I would have to find out why it had changed or if that was normal. While I hadn’t slept with a mortal woman before, there were others of my kind who had. If the change of a human’s scent was to be expected, it would be knowledge I could easily acquire.
Emily groaned in her sleep and threw her hand above her head, tossing this way and that.
I stroked a thumb over her forehead, and the contact soothed her. She snuggled deeper into the pillows.
My gaze moved toward the window in her bedroom, the curtains drawn but thin enough to allow the light from the lampposts outside to shine through. She had mentioned bats, and I could only think that Cassia had been here.
It would explain Emily’s suspicion about the book the other day. And I wouldn’t have put it past Cassia to come here and try to pressure her. She couldn’t kill Emily or steal the book outright as that would be a direct betrayal of the U.C.’s orders, but she could meddle.
And there was only one thing I trusted about Cassia—her propensity for meddling.
Emily’s room was small, with her desk in front of the window, the closet, bedside table, and a small dressing table pressed against one wall. It smelled of her, a light jasmine and now, this new scent, almost coppery and rich. Like gold or blood or a mixture of the two.
I shifted off the bed, careful not to wake her, and retrieved my phone from the table. I dressed quickly in the silence, watching her as if she would disappear if I looked away.
If anything was a curse, it was love. A burden that I hadn’t anticipated and didn’t want. How was it possible to have grown this attached in such a short time? How was it that Emily had changed my perspective without even trying?
One last kiss brought the tiniest of smiles to her lips, and she turned over in bed, hitching one leg up and exposing her pale, shapely leg. Moving away from her was difficult.
I let myself out into the darkened hallway.
Earlier in the evening, I had heard Morgan return home, make herself dinner, watch some TV, and then head back to her room. Emily’s phone, also on her dressing table, had lit up with a text from her checking that she was okay, and Morgan had knocked lightly but decided to leave Emily to her rest.
I didn’t expect kindness from most creatures, and to witness it so often recently made me feel things I didn’t want to examine.
I sat on the sofa beside the book, staring at it and considering. Taking it now … What would it do to her? How long of a separation could be allowed between the two of them?
Of them? It wasn’t a living entity.
I turned on my phone and waited for the screen to light up.
Three missed calls and two texts from Haldren.
“Time is almost up. I’m expecting results.” Haldren’s texts were always short .
The second message was from Cassia. “I hope you’ve enjoyed yourself so far, Alexander, because tonight things are going to end for the worse.”
“What are you talking about?” I texted back, irritated at my weakness in responding. Cassia was tempting me into a response, and I had buckled. But only because my feelings for Emily had grown insurmountable.
She was precious to me. Precious and breakable, and I had tasted her blood, just the tiniest bit of it when my fangs had grazed her tongue, and it had been like nothing I’d experienced before. Sweet and delicate and flavorful. Full of her.
The text came through.
“I’m going to speak to Haldren in about five minutes. He’s going to take you off this mission, mark my words.”
“He gave me a week.”
“A week too long,” Cassia said. “I know you’ve been fraternizing with her. She’s in love with you. Like a fool. Anyone who falls in love with you is a fool. You’re a broken creature, Alexander. Nothing you say or do has been for anyone but yourself.”
My grip tightened on the phone, and the plastic squeaked. I typed out the response. “You have nothing.”
“I have what I need. And unless you can magic that book out of your ass in the next five minutes and get here, you’re done.”
I glared at the text.
Three dots appeared as she typed another one. “And I’ll tell you, Alexander, I’m not going to take your precious Emily to bed. I’m going to tear her limb from limb and take great pleasure in it.”
“You should have joined Sanguine Nox.”
“I’m just saying, if she won’t give me the book then she’ll die. And I have a feeling she won’t give me the book.” Cassia’s texts were a mockery. “How is she feeling tonight? Still sick?”
I’d been right about her meddling.
Instead of responding, I navigated to my text thread with Haldren .
“I have it.” I hesitated, and then sent the text through.
Cassia had been moving in the shadows behind my back. I had no choice but to do this.
“I have a meeting with Cassia in four minutes.” Haldren’s text was as clipped as always. “If you have it, I need to see proof.”
This was bad.
If I sent him proof, I would have no choice but to take the book, and taking the book might condemn Emily. No, it would definitely condemn her. But there had to be another way around this.
I shut my eyes for a second.
Another text came through.
“Two minutes.” From Haldren.
I snapped a picture of the book then sent it to him. “I told you,” I said. “I have it. I’ll be on my way back to the coven shortly. I have to make sure there isn’t an ambush waiting outside.”
I waited for the response, hating myself and the situation.
“Good. I’ll see you soon.”
“Cancel your meeting with Cassia,” I said.
“It’s already been done.”
I let out a breath and leaned back against the sofa cushions. The comfort was lost on me, and I stared at the accursed book like it had attacked me.
So much trouble for such an idiotic thing.
A thing that had made Emily sick. That had embroiled us all in danger and pain. I hadn’t asked to fall in love with a mortal, and I certainly didn’t want to murder people needlessly. I wanted …
But after this, I wasn’t sure anymore. That deep desire for revenge was still there, but there was more to it now. Emily was involved, regrettably.
I gritted my teeth and took the book from the coffee table. Emily mumbled in her sleep so loudly it was audible. I went to open the book, but another sound stopped me. Waking her would stop me from removing the book, and now that I had sent the text, I had no choice .
I had to remove it. A part of me desperately wanted to read it, but touching the pages would wake her. I placed the book back on the coffee table, went to check on Emily, and then dialed my contact.
“Hey, big boss man, how are you this fine evening?”
“Julius, I need your help.”
“Music to my ears,” Julius said, and crunched something on the other end of the line. “You caught me in the middle of my midnight snack. Carrot sticks. I’m on an orange kick. Everything orange. Carrots, oranges, orange Jell-O, which is not the best by the way, orange?—”
“Too much talking. Listen to me, Julius, I need to remove the book from the woman.”
“What, it’s inside her?”
“I will find you, Julius, and I will?—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, sorry. Off-color joke. I don’t know what got into me, must be the beta-carotene. So, wait, you want to remove the book. And the victim, the one who’s cursed is a woman? We’re talking about the same book you called me about the last time, right?”
“Correct. The cursed object.”
“Gotcha. Where is it?”
“It’s in the living room,” I said. “How is that relevant?”
“It’s not. I meant, how far away from her is it? What happens when you touch it?”
“She’s aware it’s being touched,” I said.
“Ah. Can you move her further away before you take it?”
“No, and that’s not my issue. I need to know that I won’t instantly kill her by taking it out of her apartment,” I said. “I need to know how long I have before she dies.”
“Huh. That’s a tough one. Likely, her condition will improve while she’s away from the book at first. Like, she’ll be right as rain, might even forget that the book existed at first, or just move on with her day like everything’s fine. And then after that …”
I ran a hand through my hair.
“Five days, maybe a week?” Julius said. “But it depends on the book and the curse. I’d have to look at the book before I could give you a real idea of how long it would take to kill her.”
I railed at the phrasing. Kill her? I wouldn’t allow it. “Do you know anyone who could copy a book in a short period of time?”
“How short? A couple of days?”
“A couple of hours. At most, half a day.”
Julius was silent for several minutes. “I might know a guy, but it will cost you. He doesn’t work for cheap.”
“I don’t care about the cost. I want it done. Someone close by. In the city.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve got a guy. Let me forward him your number. I’ll tell him what the deal is.”
“Good. Thank you, Julius.”
“I look forward to my next paycheck, Boss. I figure it’s going to be significant after the twenty million questions.” Julius crunched down on his carrot. “Just, uh, don’t go falling for a mortal, would ya?”
I hung up without answering, grinding my teeth. Don’t go falling for a mortal? It was too late to worry about that.
I rose from the sofa, staring down at the book. I had to get it back to Haldren as soon as possible, and I would have to smuggle it out of the apartment without waking Emily.
A quick peek through her bedroom door showed that she was still fast asleep, that beautiful hair strewn across the pillow. Her breathing was labored, as if the proximity to the book and the distance from me had worsened her condition.
That was what I’d forgotten to ask Julius about, but no matter. I shut her door quietly then walked back to the living room and lifted the book off the coffee table.
Emily cried out softly, but I didn’t wait to hear if she’d woken all the way. I strode toward the door and opened it, slipping out of her apartment and shutting it behind me. The hall was quiet, and I made myself invisible as I moved down it and away from her. Away from Emily and the protective circle I’d placed around her.
But no protective circle of magic would save her from her fate if I couldn’t figure out how to get rid of the curse.