31. Emily
31
EMILY
T he vampires couldn’t stop me.
It was the weirdest thing, to press my hands outward as I reached them, and watch them fly across the room like ragdolls. Hit the walls. Scream. It made me sick to my stomach, giddy with excitement, a mixture of both.
I hated it, but I wanted this power. I wanted to free myself.
One of the vampires, the tall one, rose and rushed toward me. But he bounced away as if he’d collided with an invisible barrier. The short vampire tried and encountered the same shield, bouncing away and hissing.
I had no idea what was going on, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. After being afraid and weak for so long, it was amazing to feel so powerful. Invincible.
“The keys to the door?” I asked.
The tall vampire hissed at me. “You won’t get anything from us.”
“Karn will come back any minute,” the short vampire said. “He’ll see her like this, and we’re going to be the ones who get in trouble.”
Another hiss .
And then they attacked as one.
A pulse of power emanated off me, forcing them back so fast and hard that they struck the opposite walls of the chamber. The taller vampire’s head cracked against the wall, and he rolled over onto his front. The shorter one screamed.
“The keys,” I repeated.
But neither of them listened. They wanted me dead. They were afraid, and it wasn’t of me. It had to be because of Karn.
If I had somehow gotten his powers, or a portion of them, and this was the result, he had to be incredibly strong.
The vampires attacked again, and I released another of those pulses. This time, it cracked the dungeon door open so hard that it banged against the outside wall.
I’m escaping. I’m leaving.
Hope burgeoned in my chest. This was it. I’d done it.
And I wasn’t sick anymore.
I ducked out into the corridor alone and started walking up it. A whisper sounded in my mind, one that sounded exactly like Alex’s voice. Emily. Emily, where are you?
“Alex?” I shouted. “Alex? Are you here?”
“Emily!” The call came from further down the hall to the right.
Behind me, the vampires darted out of the hall and chased after me. “Don’t let her get away. If she escapes?—”
I cast a hand behind me, and red light pinned them against the wall and held them there. Their mouths filled with it, and I stopped myself before I could do anything worse. I turned away and continued down the stone hallway, a strange sense of calmness taking over.
A little of the power was gone. I sensed the shield around me was smaller, but it didn’t matter. I was fine. Nothing could touch me.
“Emily?” Alex’s voice again.
None of this made sense to me, but for the first time since I’d fallen ill, I felt good again. Like I could help.
But why help the vampire who had lied to me? Was this where he’d brought the book? Were these horrible creatures a part of his coven?
I entered the room, heart pounding.
Ezekiel stood in the center of it, his hands out, magic pulsing from his palms. Alexander darted forward, diving toward him, and they collided, teeth gnashing. An explosion of magic sent me backward, and I let out a shocked cry.
Alexander's gaze darted toward me. “Emily?”
Hadn’t he called me here?
That moment of hesitation was enough. Ezekiel leaped toward him and tackled him to the ground.
“No! Alex!” It didn’t matter that he’d lied. It didn’t matter that he’d taken the book.
Alex had come to find me. To save me. To make things right.
I ran toward Ezekiel and jumped on his back, screaming and trying to reach for that strange magic that Karn had injected into me, but it was too late.
Ezekiel elbowed me off his body with such force that I flew backward and hit the wall opposite.
Everything went black.
My eyes opened in an opulent bedroom with a four-poster bed, a desk, and a beautifully upholstered armchair. The large window looked out on sprawling green grass under a gorgeous moonlit night. The room itself was palatial, the finishing in gold. There were two occupants aside from me.
Jacques, the vampire, standing beside that ornate desk.
And then, the Guardian, Sofia, sitting in that armchair, leaning over a book. She examined it, turning the pages.
“It should be burned,” Jacques said.
“Burned? This is the only knowledge we have that pertains to the powers of Guardians. We can’t burn it. ”
“It can easily be read. I don’t want others having access to this, Sofia, my darling. It’s dangerous. This type of information could lead to war.”
She appeared to consider it, leaning back in her chair and pinching her chin. Sofia, who looked just like me, who I now knew would dive off the balcony and plummet to her death. Chills ran up and down my arms at the thought.
“Then we store it elsewhere. In an item,” Sofia said. “We transcribe the knowledge into something using your powers.”
“Which item?”
Sofia reached up, touching her fingers to the necklace at her throat. It was a gorgeous necklace, with a ruby crystal at its center, all in gold. She stroked it. “This,” she said. “Then it will be with me forever.”
I cast my mind back. Had she gone over the balcony with the necklace? I couldn’t remember. I’d been so afraid …
“Very well,” Jacques said. “We’ll imbue the necklace with the knowledge and burn the book, but that will be it, Sofia. You will need to study the contents of this book if you want to practice your Guardian powers with any strength.”
“I can do that. How much time will you give me, my love?”
Jacques peered at the book. “A week.”
“Very well. You’d best leave me alone then.”
But he lifted her from the chair and swept her into his arms with ease. Sofia giggled and squirmed, and he laid her down on the bed, lavishing her with kisses and sweet whispers.
I ignored them. Granted, it made me blush that I’d witnessed their intimacy, but I was more focused on the book. It lay open on the table.
I went over to it and peered at the words on the page.
Of all the gifts a Guardian is privy to, the one that is most advantageous for vampires is their ability to heal those who are grievously wounded .
A Guardian, even unbonded, has the ability to heal through touch and intent alone. And if ? —
The words continued on the next page, and I reached for the book, touching my fingers to it. It dissolved underneath me, the scene fading away into nothingness, and the knowledge I wanted so close yet so far from my reach.