Amaretto Flame (24 page)

“Well, you should also know that my sister,
Sylvia, has a disease that prevents her from ever shutting up,” I
said. He chuckled, amused by the fact that I'd guessed the source
of his information.

“I also know what you did to that man who was
bothering Jenny,” he said. My smile faded. “I saw you sneak out the
back door, and I could feel the magick in every cell of my body.
And I thought it was incredibly kind,” he added, rubbing his thumb
down the length of my fingers.

“It wasn't nice,” I said. “It's one of my
many, many flaws. I have a lust for revenge that I just can't
shake.”

“And a great deal of empathy for
people...even the people that you're not very good at getting close
to,” he said, throwing my own words back at me. The fire that I
loved was shining in Jackson's eyes like an amaretto-colored flame
that made it hard to look away. I knew he was going to kiss me
before he ever leaned forward, and so help me, I wanted him to. He
hesitated just before our lips touched, making whatever was between
us heat up to the point that it was almost tangible. And then I was
the one to move forward so that his mouth was on mine.

I might have been scared to death of Jackson
Vance and whatever power he held over me, but the kiss was pure
bliss. It gave me the same dizzy feeling that I'd had the night I
was drinking, and I leaned into it, letting that heat radiate
throughout me in waves. I wanted...I didn't know what I wanted,
only that I wanted more of whatever this feeling was. I let my
senses stretch out, wanting to hear Jackson's heartbeat when he
kissed me, wanting to appreciate the taste of his lips more,
wanting to dive inside the essence of him. It filled me, the warmth
and the golden light that was Jackson Vance.

The moment I started to bask in it, he
stopped kissing me and jerked back. “That's it,” he said,
breathless.

“What?” I asked, dazed and still longing for
him.

“Whatever you just did. That's how I was able
to heal you that day. That's how you dropped your guards.” He was
looking at me in awe, as if he was dizzy from the kiss, too. “Can
you do it again?”

I exhaled, realizing I'd been holding my
breath. “I don't know. I didn't really do anything except...” I let
the sentence drop, not knowing how to explain the stretching of my
senses.

“Do it again,” he said, gripping both of my
hands in his. “Just like you did.”

I furrowed my brow at him, and then inhaled
deeply. Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the tingling in my hands
and let my senses stretch out. I could hear his heart beating
steadily, the deep breathing of Zeus' sleep beside us, and in the
background, the sounds of my family; a shifting here, a heartbeat
there. Suddenly, my hands were hot in his and that same golden
light and warmth came spilling into me. I felt like I could drown
in it; like I wanted to drown in it.

“That's it,” he whispered, his voice sounding
a little raspy.

I could feel the life force coming from him
and into me, rejuvenating me. I had no wounds to heal, but it was
as if I was absorbing the energy directly from his body. When he
let go of my hands, my eyes opened. He was gazing at me
intently.

“You did it,” he said, grinning at me.

“Wow.” Not much of a reply, but I was a
little at a loss for words. For a long time, we sat in the chairs
side-by-side, hands touching. I was going over and over the feeling
in my head, the light, the energy. I guessed he was doing the same,
since he wasn't speaking. I started to wonder if it would be
possible to do the same thing with other magick users; Everett,
Charlotte, Ivanna. Did I have the power to allow myself to
experience the magick when I wanted? How was I constantly keeping
up guards that blocked the magick without even knowing what I was
doing?

Soon, and without words, we settled into a
quiet watch, fingers still just touching. I could still feel the
energy coursing through me; the energy that I must have taken
directly from Jackson. As the rain started to fall from the inky
sky in soft, steady drops, Jackson turned his head toward me and
spoke in a low voice.

“James Dean wasn't all
that
gorgeous,”
he said, lifting his head high.

Biting back a laugh, I shrugged nonchalantly
and looked back out into the night. That's when I heard the
scream.

I was out of the chair before the scream even
faded, Jackson at my back. Sylvia was in the guest bedroom next to
mine, and Everett and I nearly collided in the hall and rushed into
her room at the same time. Ivanna, Perry, and the others followed
closely behind us. Someone flipped on the light as I reached her,
and I was startled to see that she was sitting up in the bed, her
eyes glazed over and an expression of fear on her face.

“Sylvia,” Ivanna said calmly, making her way
to the other side of the bed. “What is it, honey? What do you
see?”

I realized that Sylvia was having a vision,
something I'd never seen before. Her silky, dark hair was messy
from sleep and a sheen of sweat covered her brow. She sucked in a
sharp breath at something the rest of us couldn't see, and then
whispered, “Venator.”

The hair on the back of my neck stood and
every nerve in my body readied itself for fighting. I watched
Sylvia closely, waiting for her to reveal some location. Were they
near the house? Were they outside? Was there some way that Jackson
and I had missed the sounds of them approaching because we'd been
so focused on the healing...or maybe the kiss?

“Where, darling?” Ivanna asked in a soothing
voice. She was gripping Sylvia's hand in both of hers, comforting
my sister, but I could see the gleam of panic in Ivanna's dark
eyes.

“They have Livvy. They're going to kill her.
Oh, Goddess. They're hurting her!” Sylvia's voice grew louder, and
she winced. I could almost picture the scene in my mind, too. The
hunters grabbing me outside the safe house, the dark cloth going
over my eyes, the chair that I was bound to.

While the eyes of everyone in the room landed
on me with fear and anger flashing in them, I breathed a sigh of
relief and allowed my body to relax. “It's already happened,” I
said, putting my hand to my chest as if I could calm my heartbeat
in that way. “Everything's okay.”

A moment later, Sylvia looked around at us,
at me, and I could see that her eyes were clear. Her vision was
gone, just like that. She threw the covers off and leaped up at me,
slinging her arms around my neck. I shushed her gently, hugging her
back.

“It's alright, Sylvia. You're seeing
something that has already happened. I took care of it. It's okay,”
I repeated myself to calm Sylvia.

“Already happened?” she asked.

“Yes. It was before you got here. It was the
hunters who took me to the safe house. Jackson rescued me.
Everything is fine.” I smiled at her. I could feel the collective
sigh of relief from those around me. “Come on. Back to bed. You
need to sleep.” I helped her into bed and pulled the blanket up
around her. Ivanna kissed her on the forehead as if she were a
small child, and seeing that everything was fine, the others
started to shuffle out of the room.

“Go back to sleep, Ivanna,” I said. “I'll
make sure she's fine and then we'll continue our watch.” Ivanna
gave us another worried look before smiling at Sylvia and then
leaving the room. Jackson hovered by the door.

“Alright,” I said. “No more screams like
that. You scared me to death,” I laughed, bringing a small smile to
Sylvia's lips.

“Sorry,” she said. “There was just so much
blood. It was blending into the color of your dress so that it
looked like your entire body was covered with it.” Sylvia shivered
at the image she must be reliving. My smile froze on my face. For a
moment, I couldn't move, and then I looked at Jackson with a
warning in my eye; a warning for him to keep his mouth shut.

“Everything's fine now,” I said, giving her
hand one last squeeze before leaving her room. Jackson waited until
we were back in the chairs on the porch to speak.

“When you were attacked by the Venator
before, you weren't wearing a red dress,” he said. “You were
wearing Stallott's uniform.”

With dread in my chest, I nodded. “I
know.”

Jackson and I didn't talk much more during
our watch, maybe because he knew I was thinking about what Sylvia
had said. I told myself that she was wrong; that she'd been wrong
before. After all, she'd seen the Venator going to Eagleton, not
Staves. Even Margaret, a far more advanced oracle, had been wrong.
She'd assumed the Venator were searching for Everett. When Perry
and Everett relieved us and I went back to the quiet guest room,
there was no sleep to be found. I puzzled over the entire situation
for so long I gave myself a throbbing headache. The truth is, her
words had terrified me. Sure, I didn't want to face torture from
the hunters, but most of all, I didn't want my plan to fail because
if it did...what would happen to my family, to Jackson, to
Claire?

Finally, I convinced myself that my plan
simply
had
to work, that it would work. I had to make Ivanna
agree, though. After last night's episode, I had an idea of how to
do that. When the gray light of dawn was just starting to spill
through the windows, and I could hear slight shuffling downstairs,
I sneaked into Sylvia's room. I knew that Everett, Perry, and the
other boys were making preparations out back, and there was a heavy
tension over the house. It was the calm before the storm...the
Venator were no doubt already in Staves, waiting for Jackson or me
to show up somewhere.

Sylvia's breathing was steady and soft, and I
gave a silent prayer to the Goddess for forgiveness for what I was
about to do. I needed Sylvia to cooperate with me, and I knew
exactly how to touch her heart strings enough to make her do it. So
I woke her up, shushing her when I accidentally startled her, and
then told her I needed a favor.

“What is it? What's wrong?” She asked, her
voice still thick with sleep. She sat up, pulling the thick quilt
over her legs, and leaned forward toward me. That's when I told her
about Jackson; about the things that had really gone on between us.
I told her about Paula, about Jenny and Erika, about the kisses and
the healing in the woods. As much as I hated the reason I was
telling her, it felt really good to talk about it to someone. The
more I talked, the more her eyes sparkled. She got a ridiculously
romantic look on her face that stayed even after I was
finished.

“Well I'm not going to pretend I haven't seen
the way you two were looking at each other,” she said, “but I
didn't know it was like
that.
What's the favor?”

I explained to her what I needed, and talked
even more to convince her when she swore she wouldn't be able to do
it. “Sylvia, it's our only chance. Don't you see that? Do you want
our family to survive this? You have to give them this gift, at
least.”

Her huge brown eyes stared at me for a few
moments and then she took a deep breath. “Okay. I'll do it, Livvy.
But only for you, and I can't promise I'll be convincing
enough.”

“You can do it. I know you can,” I said. We
hugged, and then went together down the stairs. The kitchen had
become a headquarters of sorts, a place where we could all fit
comfortably and discuss what we were to do. Not to mention the fact
that it contained the fresh coffee and food. Everyone else was
already there when Sylvia and I entered, Sylvia moving quietly to
'her' chair. Instead of sitting, I stood at the doorway and cleared
my throat.

“Ive been thinking,” I said. Gradually, every
face in the room turned to look at me. “I've been thinking about
how to get the Venator here.”

No one spoke, but it was clear that they were
expecting me to continue, so with my heart beating nervously, I
did. “They'll be at Stallott's or the safe house without a doubt.
They'll be waiting for Jackson or me to show up. If Jackson were to
show up, they'd capture him, or die trying. If I were to show up,
they'd follow me or attempt to get me to reveal where Jackson is.”
I paused, swallowing hard. “Part of being a great assassin is
having a wide range of disguises. I think my latest one should be
bait.”

I waited for my words to reach them all, for
the meaning of them to register, and then for the reactions I knew
would come. Jackson was the first.

“No,” he said harshly, and then looked around
at my family. “I mean, there has to be another way.”

Ivanna joined in. “Absolutely not, Olivia. We
cannot risk you like that. This plan of yours is a big enough risk
as it is.” Charlotte was shaking her head nervously and Everett was
staring at me like I'd just spoken in another language.

“Hang on just a minute,” I said, putting my
hand up. “I know that you're all nervous but the fact remains that
one of us will have to do it. Jackson is out of the question,” I
threw a protective glance his way, “and they're not looking for any
of you. It's likely that they have my description since they
captured me once.” I took another deep breath, searching for the
right words. “I can do this. I was
made
for this.” I looked
to Perry for help, knowing that if someone were going to defend me,
it would probably be him. Perry loved me, but unlike many of the
others, he had a greater understanding of the survivor in me; the
dark face of the Goddess. He didn't have a chance to speak before
Ivanna, though.

“It is out of the question,” Ivanna said.
“We'll just have to find another way. And you'll swear to me right
now --”

I coughed, and Sylvia's sharp intake of air
sent the heads in the room snapping toward her. I watched,
nervously. She squeezed her eyes shut, moaning low as though she
had a terrible headache. Charlotte immediately put a hand on her
shoulder, and looked toward Ivanna.