Chapter 33

33

EVANGELINE

I woke up slowly, with the sort of tired but relieved feeling I usually got after a particularly nasty bout of flu. Light hit my closed eyelids, making everything a haze of glowing orangey-pink. I was sore, but in a weirdly satisfying way, like I'd done a challenging workout. My magic was flowing through me in a way I only felt when I was casting a particularly strong spell. Was this my new default? God, it was intoxicating. My chest felt warm and prickly. My fingers twitched on soft sheets.

Cool hands clasped around mine, and I smiled as I opened my eyes. "Gabriel," I murmured.

He was perched in a chair next to the bed, leaning so far forward he was barely in the seat at all. His face was even paler than usual, and every muscle taut, but his eyes were impossibly soft as he looked down at me. We were in his bedroom, and I was propped up on a huge pile of pillows at the head of the bed.

"How do you feel?" he asked, squeezing my hand gently.

I frowned as I took stock. "I feel fine, actually. Good, even."

"You had me worried," he admitted. "What were you thinking, leaving like that?"

Irritation spiked up in me, and the prickly spot on my chest itched. "I was thinking that I could deal with it, and I was right. I took down those vampires without breaking a sweat."

"And then you passed out," Gabriel said. I knew he had a point, but my irritation was building, and him making logical, reasonable arguments didn't help.

"I'm fine," I snapped. I pushed myself up and away from the pillows, dropping his hand. He held it out still, ready to catch me if I flopped over, and I gave him a dry look, flicking the blankets aside and climbing to my feet. "See? Fine." At some point, someone had changed me into a white T-shirt and a pair of sleep shorts. Bandages flexed on my chest as I moved.

A pinched look flickered across Gabriel's face, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. "Well." He cleared his throat. "I'm sure the others will be very pleased to hear that. They've been worried about you."

"How long was I out?"

"Just a few hours."

"I've taken naps longer than that," I said. "They shouldn't have worried about me."

"Evangeline, you just absorbed the magic of two incredibly powerful witches and fought off four vampires," Gabriel said. The pinched look returned. "I think it's understandable for them to be concerned."

The prickling in my chest was turning into something spiky, growing and twisting through me. Did they have that little faith in me? I could handle it. I bit the thought down before it could leave my mouth.

"Come on," I said. "Let's let them know I'm back on my feet."

We didn't have to go far. The others were all gathered in the little sitting room area that was part of Gabriel's suite. It was a surprisingly cozy scene. A fire crackled in the grate, and music drifted from a gramophone. Lissa had her feet kicked up in Vic's lap, and the two of them were playing some sort of complicated card game with Marcus, which seemed to involve at least two decks of standard cards, a pile of colorful glass beads, and a tarot deck. Marcus set The Hermit on the coffee table next to Lissa's queen of spades, and she scowled, taking three of the glass beads. On a low fainting couch, Isabella was curled up with a handheld video game console, and Theo was leaning over the armrest, pointing at the screen.

"So, this is where I keep my turnips, and this is where the little art forger guy turns up," they were saying quietly while Isabella nodded appreciatively.

I cleared my throat, and all of them turned to me. Isabella grinned, Lissa cheered, Marcus beamed, Vic nodded at me, and even Theo gave me a relieved scowl.

"The conquering hero is back on her feet!" Lissa crowed, sweeping me into a hug and spinning me around. She was so casual and glamorous, it was easy to forget her vampiric strength, and I let out a startled squawk as her sudden bear hug lifted me off the floor.

"Go easy on Evangeline," Gabriel said warmly, clapping Lissa on the shoulder. She set me down gently. "She only just woke up."

"I'm fine," I said sharply. Then again, more evenly, "I'm fine, seriously. Just a little sore."

The door to the suite opened, and Gwendoline sauntered in. Dressed in high-waisted, pinstripe pants, knee-high boots, and some sort of renaissance bodice with corseting and puffy sleeves, she should have looked like a pretentious idiot, but instead she looked like she'd strutted here all the way from a high-end fashion runway. That feeling in my chest grew stronger.

"I guess not everyone was worried about me," I said under my breath.

Too late, I remembered the goddamn vampire super-hearing. Gwendoline looked at me with the barest hint of a smirk on her perfect porcelain face.

"So good to see you up and about," she said, her voice as smooth and sweet as artificial maple syrup. "Terribly sorry I couldn't hang around your bedside waiting for you to recover, but I had things to do. I was certain you'd bounce back, of course. You seem so… robust."

I bared my teeth at her in what some people would probably interpret as a smile, but only if they'd never seen one before. "Gee, thanks."

"I just got back from a minor court matter, you see," she carried on, completely ignoring the fact that I was making a face like a rabid baboon. "I picked up some useful tidbits, but if you all don't mind, I'd like to freshen up and change before I share them. Gorgeous as the '98 Dior is, it isn't exactly suited for lounging around and scheming. Gabriel, do you still have the robe I left behind last time I spent the night?"

I turned the diseased baboon grimace on Gabriel, and he actually took a full step back.

"Er…" he said, looking back and forth between Gwendoline and me.

"Oh, don't worry," she said breezily, brushing past him. "I'm sure I'll find it. You generally leave my things in the same part of your walk-in closet. You've always been such a creature of habit."

My jaw was starting to ache, and I was probably doing serious damage to my molars with how hard I had my teeth clenched.

"Last time she spent the night?" I asked Gabriel. My tone was just as sweet as Gwendoline's had been, but a little more from the candy-with-razor-blades-in-it side of things. Magic crashed through me, and the fire began to burn brighter in the grate. I was so mad, I was almost giddy with it. It was like that little voice that popped into my head when I was driving on an empty highway; the one that said: Floor it. Let's see how fast this sucker can really go .

"Well. That is. I mean. Gwen—Gwendoline—and I, we've… we've known each other for a long time, and, well, occasionally we've—really just as a matter of convenience, you understand, it's never been?—"

"You do know just what to say to make a girl feel special," Gwendoline drawled as she swept back into the room. She'd swapped out her top for a kimono-style wrap made of black silk, belted loosely enough to show off a triangle of pale chest. She paused for a moment next to Gabriel. They looked infuriatingly good together, both tall, dark, and stunning. I could feel my hair starting to flop out of its braid. The bandage on the middle of my chest was starting to get sticky. I wanted to pick the scabs off everything and clean out the wounds underneath.

"You said you had information for us," Gabriel said.

"And I do." She stepped away from him and sat elegantly in a large wing-back chair, glancing around the room to make sure she had everyone's attention. I sneered. As if she didn't already know that every goddamn eye was on her.

"Lord De Montclair wasn't at the council meeting," she began. "The official story, as provided by his second in command, is that his lordship and his wife had a personal matter that needed seeing to, and that Lady De Montclair may have to spend some time away to ensure it is properly taken care of."

Gabriel nodded and began to pace in front of the fire. I glanced around the room, a little awkwardly. All the seats around the table had been taken, which left the piano bench in the corner as the only remaining spot. If I sat there, it would put me solidly outside the circle. Or I could drag it over. Or I could just keep standing where I was, awkward and out of place.

"Sterling—Damien Sterling," Gwendoline clarified, briefly directing her attention at the witches, "is Lord De Montclair's right-hand man."

"And a potential asset," I cut in.

Gwendoline inclined her head smoothly. "I was getting there, yes. Anyway, according to Sterling, if anyone has immediate business with Lord De Montclair, he'll be briefly available tonight at one of his properties in the Garden District."

"The Tranquility Pavilion," Gabriel said. "It's where he always goes to rest."

"Precisely," Gwendoline said.

"What time tonight?" I asked.

"Six," Gwendoline said. "But?—"

"Great." Her perfect nose wrinkled with irritation when I cut her off. "That gives me plenty of time to get ready."

"It would be foolish to rush off to confront him," Gwendoline said levelly.

God, I wanted her to get mad. I wanted her to get in my face, to give me an excuse, any excuse, to throw a fucking punch. How dare she swan in here like she owned the place and tell me what to do?

"She's right," Gabriel said from his spot by the mantle.

"Thank you," I said. "I'm just saying, we know he's weak. We need to hit him while we can."

"Ah," Gabriel said. "No. I meant that Gwendoline's right."

I glared at him. "Really."

"We can't be hasty," Gabriel said. "Everyone knows my father wasn't exactly the brains of his marriage, but that doesn't mean we should underestimate him. The Tranquility Pavilion is heavily warded, and relatively easy to defend. Don't you think it's awfully convenient that one of his people should just so happen to tell us exactly where to find him?"

I scoffed. "So, what do you think we should do?" When he hesitated, I barreled on. "Let me guess. You think we should wait. Do some recon. Maybe come up with some plans, scrap them, wait a couple decades, then try again. That's your usual M.O. for dealing with your issues, isn't it?"

Gabriel looked like I'd just slapped him across the face. He sagged against the mantlepiece.

"Evangeline…" Lissa said softly, like she was trying to calm down a kid throwing a tantrum.

"Don't," I snapped, pointing at her. "Don't try to manage me, and don't try to protect him. He's not actually your little brother. He's a fucking ancient vampire, and he's capable of making his own goddamn decisions, even if he doesn't act like it."

Isabella was watching me with wide eyes, her hands pressed over her mouth. Next to her, Theo was blotchy red and practically bouncing with rage.

"Even if it is a trap, and we don't know that it is, I'm way more powerful than they're prepared to deal with. I proved that this morning, and I can prove it again. The longer we wait, the more time they'll have to figure out my new strengths." The strength that was rushing through me that very moment, filling every inch of my body. They wouldn't be able to stop me. I was wild now, full of power. They might as well try to stop a tsunami.

"I think you should sit down," Isabella said. Her voice was shaking just a little.

"I don't need to sit down," I spat. Was Isabella afraid for me? Afraid of me? No, that wasn't it. She was afraid that after years of being the friend I turned to for help, I didn't need her anymore. I was stronger than her now, and she hated that. It was obvious. She didn't want anyone else to see what I was capable of—really capable of.

"Evie," she whispered. "Your chest…"

I glanced down. The center of my borrowed T-shirt was stained with black ooze. I touched it. The wound in my chest didn't hurt, just pulsed and prickled warmly. My fingers came away slick with the black liquid. Ignore her , I thought. The magic was moving through me with white-water ferocity, and I was a leaf being swept along by the currents. She's jealous and petty, and small .

But… that didn't sound like something I would think about my friend. My chest burned, and black ooze spattered onto the spotless floor.

For a brief moment, I thought of the knife Gabriel's father had thrown into my chest. The runes etched into it, the shape of it… I should have known better. I should have known a cursed blade from across the room, let alone when it hit me.

The magic surged. The fire blazed higher, and the lights in the room flickered. I could feel my hair moving around me sluggishly, brushing my shoulders. The little leaf that had been bobbing on that current went under, and I was lost.

Everything went dreamlike, distant, yet oversized at the same time.

"It's fine," I heard myself saying. "Why won't any of you believe that I'm all right? I'm a really fucking capable person, and you all keep babying me!"

"I think Isabella is simply suggesting that we should take a look at your injuries," a calm voice said. I spun on my heel to face Marcus.

"Why?" I asked. "So you can keep even more information from me? So you can say some cryptic bullshit I'll have to pretend is sage advice? So you can go ‘hmm,' and stare into the distance, then disappear for six fucking weeks? No. No, Marcus. I'm done. If you want to convince yourself that you're helping, you're going to have to do it somewhere else."

"Please, Evangeline," he said gently. "You have to let us?—"

"Have to?" I shouted. "Have to! I don't have to let you do anything!" Behind Marcus, Vic moved slowly to put himself between Lissa and me.

Gabriel was stepping forward slowly, carefully, his hands raised like he was showing me that he didn't have a weapon. "I think we should all just take a deep breath," he said cautiously. The rage that spiked through me at that was only half because of the curse—nothing pissed me off like people telling me to calm down.

I looked down at Gabriel. The part of my brain that was still mine to control realized I was usually shorter than him. I was floating half a foot above the floor, a growing pool of black ichor pooling below me.

"No," I said. "I'm sick of it, Gabriel. I'm sick of your patronizing bullshit, of you telling me that I'm not as much of a fuckup as you expected, of you chasing after me like you think I'm fucking incapable of cleaning up my own goddamn messes. I. Don't. Need. You."

Gabriel looked up at me with a sad little smile. He was bathed in golden light, and I could see the burning shape of myself reflected in his eyes.

"I know you don't," he said. "You're brilliant and capable. You've never needed me. If anything, I needed you. I needed someone to shake me out of the rut I'd let myself fall into. I know you don't need me, Evangeline, but it's been an honor to be by your side."

The prickling monstrosity in me howled. No, that wasn't right. He should lash out. He should fight back. He should give us more fuel, more to burn, more to break. He should?—

Three things happened in very quick succession. One, Gabriel's eyes flicked to a spot just behind me. Two, I felt the familiar cool sensation of Marcus's magic against the skin of my wrist. Three, the thing puppeteering my body spun me around.

While Gabriel had distracted me, Theo and Marcus had crept up behind me. Marcus had a spell curled between his hands, and Theo was braced to grab me. The spell was pathetic compared to what was already in my system. It was a quick, simple sleep spell, meant to knock the target out for a few minutes without them noticing they'd been out. The creature that had once been me shot out a hand and closed it tightly around one of Marcus's, trapping his fingers in a vise grip. It squeezed. It was the thing that was doing it, but I was the one who would have to live with the memory of Marcus's bones breaking beneath my fingers. He screamed through his teeth and dropped to his knees. Theo bellowed and charged at me, but it was useless. I scooped up the spare magic of Marcus's sleep spell, amplified it as easily as breathing, and threw it at Theo. They were flung backwards by the impact, and there was a crash as the back of their skull hit the corner of the fireplace.

It all happened so quickly. Everyone was frozen for a moment. Marcus, slumped on the floor, whimpered, and clutched his mangled hand. Theo lay completely still. Isabella was on her feet, unsteady and horrified. Vic was trying to shield Lissa from me, and I could see her face streaked with furious tears behind him. Gwendoline looked completely blank, like she was too shocked to even keep her impassive mask up.

Gabriel, though. Gabriel was distraught. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving. He looked more scared than I had ever seen him.

He looked scared of me .

So, I ran.

I ran back through the bedroom door, away from him, and a wild bolt of magic crashed out of me, taking out half of the bedroom wall with a deafening noise. I was still floating, and as I ran through the hole in the wall, the whole city spread out beneath me. It was getting dark. The city of Eldoria blurred beneath my bare feet as I ran through the air. Streetlights flickered to life as I moved. The part of me that was truly me was drowning, and I knew I had to think about something, anything, except what I had just done if I didn't want to lose myself completely.

I watched the city beneath me; watched the streets pass below my feet far too quickly. There was Highland, with the good bookstore. There was Main, with the second-best coffee shop, and the fourth-best bakery. Danvers, with the garden store I went to but never bought anything from because it was too expensive, and I would kill all their fancy plants immediately. Pearl Street and Baker Lane and Spruce Ave all blurred together below me, interconnected chains of streetlights blinking on as I passed. All those lives below me.

Ahead of me was a gap in the metal and brick of the city. The Garden District, green and shadowy. One building, right on the edge, was already brightly lit. Everyone in Eldoria knew the place. It was printed on postcards, drawn on quirky landmark posters, featured in every single Things To Do listicle about the city. The Tranquility Pavilion was a gleaming latticework of metal and glass; a greenhouse the size of a football field. Parts of it were sectioned off with stained or frosted glass in intricate motifs. Local legend said it had been the final masterpiece of an architect who was being driven mad by the ghost of his murdered wife. It sure looked the part.

My body plummeted toward it like a professional diver. I watched with a strange detachment as the beautiful glasswork got closer and closer, and then I crashed right through the center of a large rose window, showering the greenery below with glittering shards. I landed hard in the middle of the greenhouse, cracking the mosaic floor below me.

"You and I have unfinished business, Roland," the thing in my body called out. My voice echoed off the glass, the lush fronds of the plants all around me doing nothing to muffle it.

There was a click, then a hum. I glanced around, and my face scowled without my input. On the underside of the metal lattices that supported the glass, runes began to glow a cold, sterile white. My own burning gold glow was fading, disappearing faster and faster as each of the runes clicked on.

Stupid.

Stupid, stupid, stupid .

Gabriel had been right; it was a trap, and a trap set specifically for a powerful witch.

My light sputtered and went out. My hair flopped down limply against my back. Suddenly, the pain in my chest was excruciating.

"This isn't—" the thing in my body mumbled. "No. This can't be. This isn't right!"

The pain was enough to make me woozy. I swayed and began to drop, but before I could hit the ground, a pair of arms wrapped around me.

"Gabriel?" I slurred. But no. When I squinted up at the shape above me, it wasn't Gabriel.

The man who had caught me was broad and bulky, with a square jaw and watery blue eyes. The last time I'd seen him, I'd drugged him into spilling his secrets and accidentally knocked him out.

"You're Damien," I rasped.

He looked down at me. Something seemed off, even to my pain-and-magic-addled brain. He didn't look like he was smug about a job well done, or like he was ready to help me make some brave escape. Instead, he looked miserable.

"Evangeline Summers," he said. "I really hoped it wouldn't come to this." He rubbed a hand over his face, staring at me like he'd seen a ghost. The cold white lights of the runes glinted off a ring on his finger, highlighting the engraved shape of a narrow crescent moon.

I knew that shape. I'd seen that shape before, and the border around it. It had been stamped into the wax seal of the letter that had turned up in my office at the start of all this. The letter that had warned me about the array and had led to me meeting Gabriel.

"You sent me the letter," I said dumbly. "You sent me that letter."

"I had to," he said, oddly softly. "I'm sorry, Evie. I'm sorry about all of this."

Cradling me in his lap, he supported my back with one arm and reached his free hand down. For one surreal moment, I thought he was going to hug me close to him. Instead, his huge hand clamped down around my throat. I struggled against his wrist, kicking limply, but it was useless. Blurry shapes closed in around us—other vampires? I couldn't tell. The last thing I saw as the world went dark was a pair of watery blue eyes staring down at me, unblinking.