Chapter Five – Evangeline
“Julian!” I screamed, pushing past the snarling wolves, balancing two containers of blood against my chest.
It did nothing to distract Julian, his hands gripping Brian’s neck as he bashed the man’s head against the hard ground. Over and over again, relentlessly. I could see the back of his mangled skull—matted with blood—and, though I knew it would heal on its own if it had time, it didn’t appear that Julian would be letting up.
To my left, Veronique faced off against Cecile, the two vampiresses baring their teeth and snarling at each other as Cecile hovered over the cooler of blood.
A quick glance at Julian’s and Veronique’s empty cartons identified the catalyst of this brutality.
“Julian! Here!” I dropped the containers to the ground and peeled off the lids. That caught Veronique’s attention. Within two blinks, she was at my feet, sinking her teeth into a fresh bag.
But Julian’s rage persisted and bits of bone and gray matter splattered the ground.
I warned you. Vampires aren’t keen on sharing, Max said.
“Julian. Hey …” I ran over to my friend—the friend who had saved me when Ursula wanted me dead, the friend who I shared more in common with than anyone else in this entire ordeal—and grabbed his shoulder, trying to break the murderous rampage he was on.
My touch apparently turned that murderous rampage onto me.
He lashed out, growling, his wild arm connecting with my jaw. The bone cracked and pain reflected through my neck and skull. Another round coursed through my back as I slammed into the wall. One … two … for three seconds I was sure I would defy all odds and cry. Then the pain dissipated and I was whole again.
I scrambled to my feet just as Julian stalked forward, his hands out, looking ready to tear me apart. Though I knew I’d heal, eventually, I also knew this was going to hurt. He was so much stronger than I was.
“Julian …” My hands went up in surrender. “You don’t want to—”
A massive black body flew at him from the right. Max’s jaws wrapped around Julian’s neck, primed to tear out his jugular.
I shrieked as I watched them tumble in a pile of fur and skin, claws raking and fists flying. Brian found his way to his feet, his skull no longer smashed. His hateful eyes locked on Julian, as if waiting his turn.
The sound of a bone snapping, followed by a canine yelp echoed through the tunnel, setting my hair on end. I knew Max would heal but hearing his pain was worse than feeling my own.
Max struggled to stand, one of his hind legs very obviously broken, his ocher eyes still fixed on Julian. He would attack again to protect me, even with broken bones.
For the love of God, Max, just stay down. You stubborn fool! I silently screamed as Julian rose to his feet, his attention shifting between Brian and me, as if deciding whom to attack first.
Fine, but he’s a dirty fighter. Watch out.
My mouth dropped in shock, temporarily distracted. Did I just … You can hear me?
There was a pause. Yes. I suppose I can. Max turned to me, and I swear the big beast may have smiled.
Julian came at me again, face contorted with rage, eyes red and veiny, looking ready to rip my head off my shoulders. That strange energy bubbled in my core, and I assumed it was terror—I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was terrified. I didn’t want to fight. I just wanted my friend back.
With that silent plea in my mind, my hand flew out in front of me, palm out. “Julian! Stop!”
His charge ended as his feet planted themselves. He blinked and squinted several times, as if trying to regain focus. “Evie?”
Had I somehow gotten through to him? “Yes, it’s me. Your friend. You’ve been in this haze for hours. It’s time to take a break.”
He blinked several more times, like he’d just awoken from a dream. The red disappeared from his eyes, his pupils returning to normal. “Did I hit you?” His eyes widened. “I’m sorry! I don’t know what got into—”
The distraction afforded Brian his chance. He lunged, sending Julian flying back, his head smashing into the stone wall. As Julian crumpled, Brian charged forward, grabbing hold of Julian’s shirt to pummel his body against the wall, looking intent on returning the brain-bashing favor. Julian cried out as his bones shattered without a chance to heal.
Rage erupted inside me. I charged after Brian, throwing my body into his side. The force sent us flying across the room. The refrigerator broke our momentum, teetering a few times before the entire thing toppled, a prominent dent visible in its steel door.
Brian regained his balance and hovered over me, his hands around my neck, an intense look in his eyes as his fingers tightened around my flesh.
“Go to your cooler!” I croaked as my arm flailed toward the opposite side of the tunnel. Brian froze. His eyes darted between me and the corner twice before he released his grip and quickly claimed his spot, his teeth sinking into a fresh blood bag.
Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.
“What?” I rubbed the sting out of my neck, watching Brian with distrustful eyes.
What do you mean, what? Max retorted. Brian was ready to break your neck and he just stopped. That doesn’t happen.
“It just did.”
“Are you okay?” Julian asked, helping me up. “That guy’s an asshole.”
“Yeah, well, you haven’t exactly been charming lately, either.”
Julian grinned sheepishly. I couldn’t help myself; I threw my arms around his neck in a tight embrace. “You were horrible! I’m so glad you’re back. Please stay like this.”
I felt his body relax and mold itself into mine. I closed my eyes and sighed, a wave of contentment spreading through me.
He suddenly pulled away, his eyes searching with anticipation. “I need to see Amelie.”
“We need to stay here.”
“But—”
“I know. I get it.” I grabbed his hand and squeezed as I recited the reasons that only hours ago I’d fought to accept. “It’s too dangerous for us to be there. They can’t fight and watch over us at the same time. We need to stay here.”
He nodded, indicating that he understood, and the distraught aura around him faded.
Max’s nose jabbed into my shoulder. Try something for me. Go tell Veronique to stop feeding.
I felt my face scrunch up as I looked over at the petite French woman, now sitting back against the wall with her eyes closed, a bag hanging from her mouth.
Just do it.
With the commotion, I forgot that I’d been able to talk to him telepathically before. I was desperate to do it again. Why? I asked inside my head, hoping my conscious effort to converse with him was enough to relay the words. I didn’t seem to be tied to all of his thoughts and I hoped he wasn’t privy to all of mine.
I have a theory.
With a smile—we could finally communicate telepathically!—I closed the distance. Veronique’s hideous red eyes narrowed suspiciously as she assessed me.
“Veronique,” I fought the urge to look away. “You need to stop feeding. You’ve had enough. Your needs are satisfied for now.”
I expected her to cackle wickedly. I expected her to snarl, perhaps spit. But she regarded me for a moment, and then her hand dropped, taking the bag with it. Slowly, her eyes returned to their normal beautiful olive green.
What the … “Max?” I asked slowly, unable to peel my eyes from her face. Though I didn’t know Veronique well, the strange connection we’d lived through for a time, thanks to the pendant and the curse, had bonded us.
He sauntered over to stand beside me. I think you just compelled a vampire.
“But … but …” That was impossible. Vampires could not be compelled by anyone but the original vampire. Mage could compel vampires. But I was not the original vampire. “Evangeline?” Veronique’s delicate French accent was such a contradiction to the ravenous side we’d just seen. “Where is Mortimer?”
“In New York City. He’ll be back soon.”
She nodded. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
“I’m just … I …” I leaned back on my heels, stumped. “How do you feel?”
Her mouth puckered. “Satisfied?”
Max’s loud snort filled the cave and I couldn’t help but giggle.
I could compel vampires. How on earth had this happened?
I was still giggling to myself when Caden stormed in.
“Evangeline!” I didn’t have a beating heart anymore and yet something skipped inside me with the sound of his voice. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nothing’s wrong!” I threw my arms around his neck, inhaling his delicious scent. It was slightly off. Pulling back, I quickly saw why. “Except you’re covered in blood.”
He grimaced. “Yeah, I know. What happened here? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. How bad is it out there?”
Though I’d been too excited to notice it immediately, I could sense his worry. “Not sure yet. I saw that you called. Five times.” He took in the room, his eyes skimming over Cecile and Brian, lingering on Veronique and Julian for a long moment, before settling on the turned-over fridge. “What happened?” he pressed.
“They were going through the supply really fast and we were going to run out so Max and I went out to—”
“You went out?” Jade eyes sparked with anger. “You promised me you’d stay here!”
“Well, I had no other choice!” I snapped, indignation suddenly flaring. “Besides, I’m fine around humans. I didn’t lose control,” I assured him. Not in the way we he had feared, anyway.
“And what if you’d gotten hurt?”
My head fell back with my groan. I was used to Caden worrying about my safety when I was a human. But I wasn’t human anymore and he needed to stop treating me like a piece of glass. “Would you just listen?” I didn’t want this to turn into a fight. “We had to get blood so we went to a hospital about thirty miles west of here. I stole an entire truck of it. It’s about two miles back that way. I drove it off a cliff.” Caden’s brow arched but I rushed on before he could interrupt. “We got back just in time because they were already fighting over the last bags like barbarians. They’d either still be bashing each other’s heads in or we’d be chasing them through the town by now. I’m fine, Max is fine, and there’s more supply that we need to bring in.” I reached into my pocket and pulled out my shattered phone. “This was a casualty.”
Caden exhaled, tossing his black knapsack into the corner. “Maybe you do have things under control.”
“Maybe,” I teased, earning a grin as he reached out and pulled me to him.
Turning to Julian, he said, “Good to see you civil again.” Julian closed the distance, clasping hands with Caden. There was a time when Caden wanted to kill Julian. Once he understood that Julian and I had never been anything more than just friends, he’d become much more amiable.
“Where’s your sister?” Chocolate-brown eyes wandered past Caden to the tunnel. “Did she come with you?”
Caden paused and, though his expression never changed, I felt the tension rippling through his body. “No, she didn’t. She’s still back in New York.” His forehead wrinkled. “You seem to have a handle on things. Quick too. We were expecting you to be more like …,” Caden jutted his head in Brian’s direction, “for the next couple of days.”
“Yeah,” Julian scratched the back of his head, a sheepish smile on his face. “I don’t know how I managed but thank God I’m over that.”
“I think I know.” Four sets of eyes turned to me. Was Caden going to think this was absolutely insane? Probably. I opened my mouth to explain when Max cut me off.
Don’t say anything. Not within earshot of Julian and Veronique.
I frowned at my protector. Why not?
Because, what if you’re like Mage? You won’t be able to compel Julian anymore.
Huh. He had a point. Mage had told us that her powers to compel were negated once the vampire knew what she could do. If I was the same as Mage, then I didn’t want to blow this neat trick of mine by announcing it to everyone.
“What’s going on, Evie?” Caden’s gaze passed between Max and me. I couldn’t lie. Not anymore. I’d spent weeks lying to him about Julian—about my relationship with him, about Julian being a Sentinel spy—and I promised myself I would never do it again.
Still, Max was right. I leaned in, reveling in the strength of his body pressed against mine as I whispered, “Later, okay?” Pulling away, I followed that more loudly with, “I can talk to Max inside my head now.”
Caden dipped his head covertly and then smirked. “Finally.” He turned to the big beast. “You must be thrilled, Max.”
That remains to be seen, Max muttered, earning my eye roll.
The sound of approaching footsteps turned our attention to the end of the tunnel. Kiril’s men stormed in, arms laden with cartons from the truck.
“Is there more?”
A grunt answered him. The wolves had never been much for talking to any of us. From what Sofie had told me, they hated vampires. It was only thanks to a favor owed to her that they continued to help us.
“Great. We’ll grab it.” Caden swiftly led me out of the mine by the hand. “Which direction?”
“I’m coming,” Julian called out, echoed by Veronique seconds later.
“No,” I threw out quickly, turning to meet their gazes. “I need to talk to Caden alone.”
We stepped out into the fresh, cool night. “The truck’s that way.” I pointed north.
Caden took off, glancing over his shoulder once with a teasing smile. I took the bait, running after him, never able to catch up but thrilled to see his strong, lean frame move swiftly through the thicket, dodging trees and branches, practically gliding over the deep snow banks.
I managed to only take one small tree down.
By the time I made it to the truck, he was in the driver’s side, inspecting the smear of blood on the now-deflated air bags.
“See? Perfect again.” I wriggled my nose for effect.
A glimmer of movement, and then he was standing in front of me, head bowed to lay a soft peck on my nose. When I was human, Caden always surprised me, sending shivers through my body when he would suddenly appear, his movements too quick for my mortal eyes. It would be so much more difficult for him to catch me off guard, but it wasn’t any less thrilling.
“Yes, it is.” He pulled me against his body as his mouth found mine.
“Won’t it be nice when we don’t have to run anymore? We can just do this for hours,” I whispered between kisses.
“Days,” he corrected as his tongue slid against my bottom lip.
“Years.” I deepened the kiss, my fingers winding through his thick hair.
And that’s when his phone rang. Caden broke off with a groan and, sliding the phone out of his pocket, he answered. It was Lilly’s voice on the other end, but her words were clipped and low.
“Where are you?” Caden asked. A moment later, “Have you found her?” His frown told me that whoever “she” was, was still missing, a prospect that instantly wrenched my nerves. “I’m on my way. I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point. I’m going to leave my phone here, for Evie. Hers is gone. Keep trying, Lilly.”
“Who’s missing?” I asked as Caden tucked his phone into my coat pocket.
His arms around me, his mouth pressed against my forehead, he whispered, “Amelie.”
Alarm sparked. I pulled away to look at him. “What do you mean! Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She went after some fledglings one minute and the next … gone. Probably got caught up in the chase. I’m hoping that’s all it is.” He bowed his head, his eyes squeezing shut for a long moment. Caden and Amelie were closer than any siblings I’d ever met, each willing to sacrifice everything for the other.
“And …” Serious eyes opened to settle on me. “Galen’s dead.”
My mouth hung open. “Dead? But … how? The fledglings?”
Caden nodded.
“But I thought they were easy to kill. Sitting ducks! Baby chicks!” I threw out the analogies I’d heard in the past. If the fledglings could kill someone as battle-hardened as Galen, then …
A lump formed in my throat. “Let me come with you. I can help find her.”
Caden’s head was shaking before I even finished. “No. I can’t be worrying about you out there. You’re safe here, with Julian and the others.”
My hands flew to my mouth with a gasp. “Oh my God, Julian!” What would happen when he found out?
“Do not tell him.” Caden’s hands cupped my cheeks as he leveled me with a stern stare. “I mean it, Evie. Don’t say a word. He will go nuts.”
“Okay.” I hoped Julian didn’t bring her up again. I was a terrible liar. Leo, Viggo’s old butler, used to say I was allergic to holding a secret. I guess I didn’t have a choice. Caden was right. “But you’re going to find her, right?” Another thought hit me. “What about Lilly and the missiles? What if—”
“We’ll find her before sunrise. We will.” His jaw tightened.
“We have to,” I urged.
Caden closed his eyes and nodded. “Don’t worry.”
That’s all I was going to do between now and sunrise, though. Worry.
Leaning against the side of the truck, Caden crossed his arms over his chest. His very stance had heat coursing through my body. “What’s this big thing you couldn’t tell me earlier?”
I paused. No secrets between us. That was the deal. What was he going to say about this? Would it bother him? Would he not trust me? I hoped not but our kind was such an untrusting bunch. “I can compel vampires.” Caden’s lips remained pressed together as I told him about Max’s suspicions.
“That’s impossible, Eve. Max is just screwing with you.”
“I don’t think so, Caden. It was really strange. They went from raging maniacs one second to calm and composed in the next. You saw Veronique and Julian back there. They weren’t like that ten minutes before you arrived. Is it normal for a fledgling to just switch off like that?”
He began to pace, his hands resting on top of his head, his shirt inching up to reveal that ridge above his belt line that I loved so much. It reminded me of the waterfalls in Ratheus, of the rundown shack in the woods behind the Chateau, and of our short time earlier today. We’d spent so much of our time running scared. I was desperate to stop running. To stop being scared. To just enjoy being with Caden.
“Believe me, I know it sounds crazy. But you’ve already said that I’m different. What if I can do things that are different?”
“If this is true … You’re completely in control of yourself. It’s like you haven’t transformed. Only you have! We all witnessed it. And now you think you can compel our kind into thinking they don’t want to feed?” He drew one side of his cheek in as he bit the inside of it. Caden had always been the practical if not slightly pessimistic one. I couldn’t blame him, after all he’d been through. “If this is true, then I don’t know what the hell the Fates are up to. It sounds like they’re helping us. And they have never truly helped us.” He yanked a case of blood from the truck. Grabbing my hand, he pulled me back toward the mine. “I need to see this to believe it.”
*
“Hungry?” Caden nudged the container by Celine’s feet, earning a snarl. With a smile—I think that was the response he was looking for—Caden sent it sprawling across the uneven ground. Bags scattered everywhere.
Celine lunged, her long fingernails raking four gouges in his cheek. Without thought, I ran for her, intent on sending her body into the wall.
“Evie!” Strong arms grabbed me and Caden’s soft chuckle tickled my ear. “I’m fine.” A look his way confirmed that his face was back to its perfect state. Letting go, he nodded toward Celine, his eyes widening with expectation. I approached the fledgling as she scrambled to collect the bags. She eyed me suspiciously, her lip furled. I truly hoped this would work. If I could compel her to be less feral, I think everyone would be happy. “Celine, you’ve had enough for today. Go put it all back in the refrigerator.”
Her hands stilled, her fingers twitching slightly as if she wasn’t sure what exactly she should do. I waited.
And then she stood and very quietly carried the cooler to the upturned refrigerator. Caden and I watched as she yanked open the door and slid the box in. When she faced us again, her eyes were back to their pretty cornflower blue. “Who are you?” she asked in a soft voice, her southern twang lulling.
I smiled. It had worked. “I’m Evangeline,” I said. “That’s Caden. Over there is Julian and Veronique.” I didn’t introduce Brian, though Celine turned to eye him. I caught the recognition, followed by repulsion, and then embarrassment flicker across her face. She had likely picked through the haze in her head to her own memories of snarling at Caden only moments ago.
There was a pause, and then, “Where’s Galen?”
My mouth opened but nothing came out.
How could that question have caught me off guard? Of course she’d want to know. Julian had asked right away; Veronique as well. Aside from the irrepressible craving, a loved one would be the first thing on the mind of a vampire. Always. I shouldn’t be surprised. Caden was the first thing on my mind when I came around. “He had to go deal with issues in New York City, but he insisted that you stay here, where it’s safe,” Caden lied, warning me with a severe glare, though he didn’t need to. I wasn’t in a rush to crush her soul.
I plastered a smile on my face, though it couldn’t possibly look sincere. Try as I might, I couldn’t keep my eyes from grazing Julian’s. I hoped he couldn’t read the anxious look in them. What would Julian do if he found out about Amelie? What if they couldn’t find her?
Nodding slowly, Cecile continued her assessment of the tunnel. She finally smiled, her face brightening until it appeared almost angelic. “It worked,” she stated. “It really worked!”
A sick feeling stirred in my belly, knowing that her smile would soon vanish forever. She’d likely throw herself into a fire.
A hand slid along the small of my back. “It certainly did,” Caden said with an awestruck gaze. Leaning in, his lips tickled my earlobe as he whispered, “Amazing. You going to do the other one too?”
“He seems adequately entertained for now. Less trouble.” Brian hadn’t moved from his corner, though he didn’t seem to be in such a frenzy anymore, the pile of empty plastic next to him growing at a slower rate.
Caden’s soft chuckle warmed my heart but it faded too fast. “I need to go.” My fingers latched on to his biceps, the muscles beneath tensing in response. “And you need to stay.” He kissed me briefly and then pulled away. “You’re not just a babysitter, Evangeline. Believe me. Stay with them. Keep them safe.” He pointed to the knapsack lying on the ground. “And stay the hell way from that.”
“Why? What is—”
“Merth.”
I glared at the bag with a new level of disgust. It had proven useful to me time and time again as a human, but I was now on the other side of the fence with the silvery plant and I would feel its wrath like a thousand razor blades cutting into my skin.
“Exactly. We won’t need it for the time being anyway.”
I pulled Caden into me, desperate for another second of contact, dread gnawing at me. “How long will you be gone?”
His sculpted jaw tightened. “We’ll be back by sunrise.”
Still hours away. “Call me with updates,” I demanded. “Every hour.” With one last kiss, Caden vanished.
I stared after him for a long moment, my mood crashing as I gripped the phone he’d left me. It was my only lifeline to him now. “I’m going to lose my mind waiting for them.”
Approaching footsteps and an arm wrapping around my shoulders reminded me that I wasn’t alone. “The mountains of Siberia didn’t seem so bad next to this, did they?” I turned to catch Julian’s feeble attempt at a smile.
*
“Amelie brought me here earlier today.” Julian’s rich brown eyes looked out over the blanket of stars, their brilliant twinkle like diamonds in the sky.
“Of course she did,” I snorted, my feet balanced precariously atop the rocky precipice, thinking how very much “Amelie” this treacherous mountain peak was. Lose my balance and I could be sailing off a two hundred foot cliff in seconds.
His arm rested lazily over my shoulder. “Relax and trust your abilities. We’re not going to fall. Vampires don’t fall.”
I inhaled the fresh, cold air, enjoying the much needed space after spending an hour enlightening Celine about the impending doom of our world and witnessing the excited sparkle in her bright blue eyes extinguish.
This excursion hadn’t come without a heated telepathic battle with Max and the need to compel Veronique and Celine from tailing us. At first I hadn’t even wanted Julian with me, afraid of what might happen if he crossed paths with a human. What if I couldn’t compel him? But, after agreeing to stick to the high mountains where risk of running into a human was almost nonexistent, I yielded.
“Do you think there’s another planet like ours out there? One that, in seven hundred years, will be facing human extinction?” Julian asked.
“I don’t know.” It was a good question. Would a girl just like the old na?ve, confused me show up in the middle of the woods one night seven hundred years from now, believing that she was sleepwalking, a glowing pendant searing her chest? Would she meet and fall in love with a creature too beautiful to be human? Would she find herself in one trap and then another, and another, fighting for her life and her happiness?
The demise of Ratheus may have begun on a different path, according to Mage, but the path led to the same dilemma we faced today. How many more paths led here? What other games did the Fates have up their billowy sleeves? What entertainment at the expense of entire worlds did they relish?
My gaze shifted southeast, toward New York City. Nothing but black.
Julian groaned. “I’m gonna lose my shit if I don’t get my hands on Amelie again and soon. I just need to be near her.” A pause. “Is it like that with you and Caden?”
“Pretty much.” I bit the inside of my mouth before I blurted out more, fighting the urge to pull out my phone and call any of the numbers programmed in the speed dial, hoping to reach him. It had been an hour and Caden hadn’t called yet. He should’ve made it there by now.
Maybe he had even found Amelie too.
“What’s wrong, Evangeline?”
I dropped my eyes to the darkness below. “Who says anything’s wrong?”
“You’re biting the inside of your mouth. You’re trying not to blab.”
“My, haven’t we become perceptive.”
“You’ve always done that and I’ve always noticed.” Julian smirked, but then his face turned serious. “What gives?”
I sighed, deciding to lessen part of my burden. “The fledglings killed Galen.”
“What?” Julian’s body jerked as if zapped with electricity, the sudden shift in weight pulling me backward.
And then I was falling.
I screamed as I plummeted, as the broad expanse of sky loomed over me. It felt like an eternity of falling, fear paralyzing my body.
I eventually found myself standing in front of an equally disoriented Julian.
His head tipped to regard two hundred feet of rock wall as he brushed the snow from his sleeve. “See? Like cats. We always land on our feet.”
Judging by the broken branches and crimson stains on the ground around us, I’m pretty sure we didn’t land on our feet like cats. I’m pretty sure that about five seconds ago, we were two bloody messes embedded in the ground.
“I think that was my fault,” Julian admitted with a sheepish grin, but it faded quickly. “How did Galen die?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. Caden didn’t get into specifics.”
“Damn. That’s going to crush Cecile.”
“Yeah. That’s why we can’t say anything. She’ll go nuts.”
Julian’s face screwed up. “But Galen was like a freaking commando maniac. How could a fledgling take him out?”
“Good question.”
“If they can take Galen down, then …” Julian’s face smoothed over.
“Who will be next?” I finished. This was ridiculous. I couldn’t sit around, waiting for Caden to come back. Not when fledglings were obviously so much more dangerous than Caden had led me to believe.
“I want to go help Amelie,” Julian insisted.
“You can’t, Julian! You’ll get distracted by humans and become a target!”
He flung a muscular arm back in the direction of the mine. “But look at all that human blood I just walked away from!”
I groaned. This was giving him a false sense of security. In truth, I could go. I could leave now and run straight for New York City, not stopping until I found Caden. But how could I in good conscience lead Julian there? Sofie and Caden had a valid reason for keeping Julian and the others isolated. It just didn’t apply to me. “You need to stick around here, Julian. Maybe we should head back to …” My nostrils caught the sweet scent of a warm-blooded animal a second before I felt its heart throb inside my throat.
Julian took off through the trees.
Crap! I went after him, pushing through the thick brush, terrified of what I might see each time I cleared another tree. I found him a hundred feet away, hovering over the twitching body of a deer, the scent of freshly spilled blood assaulting my nostrils. Tracks leading off in the opposite direction told me its companion fled the scene.
Hunkering down on a fallen tree trunk, I sat quietly and watched my best friend as he partook in an urge that not long ago he had condemned.
So much for being able to handle it.
I lasted five minutes before I insisted, “That’s enough, Julian. You’ve had enough.”
He dropped the carcass to the soft snow. I knew that wasn’t typical fledgling kill behavior. They’d normally suck the creature dry. That meant that I had compelled him. I didn’t even have his full attention and I managed to make him stop.
I couldn’t explain this ability but my instincts were telling me it could be of some use in the city. That or my conscience was searching for a good excuse to break my promise and run for New York now.
Julian didn’t immediately stand or talk, kneeling in front of the dead deer, head hung. And then I heard it, just a light whisper. “I hate not being able to help myself. I feel like some sort of addict.” He turned and I sighed with relief when his pretty brown eyes settled on me. “How are you not affected, Evie?”
I shoved my hands into my pockets and ambled over to regard the body. “I guess the Fates gave me a break. For once.”
He admitted in a low voice, “I don’t want to kill anyone, but part of me just wants to get it over with. Just so I know how much control I actually have.”
Or how much control I might have over him.
Was it worth it to try? If I could help him, then we could track down Caden and the others together.
“Come on.” Reaching out, I roped an arm through his. “I have an idea.” Probably the dumbest one I’d had yet.