“Grandfather Abraham, the one who believed the greatest sin imaginable was for a Supernatural to fall in love with a Mortal — to taint the supernatural bloodlines? And you can't trust your father. He feels the same way. He wants to keep us apart so you'll return to Gatlin, that god-awful town, and creep around underground like your brother. Like a monster.”
“It's too late. I can already feel the Transformation. I stay up all night listening to the thoughts of Mortals, hungering. Soon I'll be hungering for more than their thoughts. Already, it feels like my body can't hold what's inside me, as if the beast might literally burst free.”
Jane turned away, her eyes welling up with tears again. But Macon wasn't going to let her ignore him this time. He loved her. And because he loved her, he had to make her understand why they couldn't be together. “Even standing here, the light is beginning to burn through my skin. I can feel the heat of the sun with such intensity, all the time now. I'm changing already, and it will only get worse.”
Jane buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “You're saying this to scare me, because you don't want to find a way.”
Macon grabbed Jane's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “You're right. I am trying to scare you. Do you know what my brother did to his Mortal girlfriend after the Transformation?” Macon paused. “He ripped her apart.”
Without warning, Macon's head jerked back, his golden-yellow eyes shining around strange black pupils, like the eclipse of twin suns. He turned his head away from Jane. “Don't ever forget, Ethan. Things are never as they seem.”
I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything until the fog lifted. The vaulted ceiling of the study came into focus.
“That was creepy, man. Like The Exorcist creepy.” Link was shaking his head. I held out my arm, and he pulled me up. My heart was still pounding, and I tried not to look at Liv. I had never shared a vision with anyone except Lena and Marian, and I wasn't too comfortable doing it now. Every time I looked at her, all I could think about was the moment I walked into this room. The moment I thought she was Lena.
Liv sat up, groggy. “You told me about the visions, Professor Ashcroft. But I had no idea they were so physical.”
“You shouldn't have done that.” It felt like I was betraying Macon by bringing Liv into his private life.
“Why not?” She rubbed her eyes, trying to readjust.
“Maybe you weren't supposed to see it.”
“What I see in a vision is totally different from what you see. You're not a Keeper. No offense, but you have no training.”
“Why do you say ‘no offense’ when you're planning to offend me?”
“Enough.” Marian looked at us expectantly. “What happened?”
But Liv was right. I didn't understand what the vision meant, except that Incubuses couldn't be with Mortals any more than Casters could. “Macon was there with a girl, and he was talking about becoming a Blood Incubus.”
Liv looked smug. “Macon was going through the Transformation. He appeared to be in a very vulnerable state. I don't know why the vision showed us that particular moment, but it must be significant.”
“Are you sure you weren't seeing Hunting, not Macon?” Marian asked.
“No,” we said, our voices overlapping. I looked at Liv. “Macon wasn't like Hunting.”
Liv thought for a moment, then reached for the notebook on the bed. She scribbled something and snapped it shut.
Great. Another girl with a notebook.
“You know what? You're the experts. I'm going to let you two figure this one out. I'm going to find Lena before Ridley and her friend convince her to do something she'll regret.”
“Are you suggesting Lena is under Ridley's influence? That's not possible, Ethan. Lena's a Natural. A Siren can't control her.” Marian dismissed the idea.
But she didn't know about John Breed. “What if Ridley had help?”
“What sort of help?”
“An Incubus who can walk around in the daylight, or a Caster with Macon's strength and the ability to Travel. I'm not sure which.” It wasn't the best explanation, but I didn't know what John Breed really was.
“Ethan, you must be mistaken. There's no record of an Incubus or a Caster with those abilities.” Marian was already pulling a book from the shelves.
“There is now. His name is John Breed.” If Marian didn't know what John was, we weren't going to find the answer in one of those books.
“If what you're describing is accurate, and I find it hard to believe that it could be, I'm not sure what he might be capable of.”
I looked at Link. He was twisting the chain on his wallet. We were thinking the same thing. “I have to find Lena.” I didn't wait for a response.