Elemental Light (Paranormal Public Book 9) (11 page)

I crawled into bed, not ready for the dawn.

Chapter
Nine

A cold hand on my shoulder intruded into my dreams. Visions of Risper’s death had been flashing through my mind, and my blankets felt like ropes that were binding me, keeping me from doing anything to help. As I came half-awake, I assumed it was Sip rousing me, and I mumbled something about bad dreams and sweaty sheets.

“Sip’s having bad dreams?” Lisabelle’s worried voice asked.

“Stop dreaming,” I whispered. “Just stop.”

The cold hand tapped my shoulder again. Irritably, I brushed it away, but as I did I felt a large ring on the hand that had touched me. It was only then that I realized I had a visitor in the real world, outside my terrible dream. Slowly, I opened my eyes. Even then, they scraped over my eyeballs, pleading to stay closed.

When they were finally open, what I saw was Lisabelle sitting on the edge of my bed, her white hands now neatly folded in her lap.

“Hi,” I said, searching for my friend’s face in the dark. There were no words adequate to what I was feeling, so I stuck with the practical. “What are you doing here?”

“After what you saw at Vampire Locke, I wanted to talk to you,” she said, just as simply.

I was warmed a little that she had called it Vampire Locke instead of Demon Locke, but even in the small bit of light coming into the room I could see how tired she was.

“Sip says you’re sick and she’s trying to find a cure,” I explained, glancing at the log over in the other bed that was usually my friend. “She doesn’t think it was really you that killed your uncle.”

Lisabelle’s eyes burned. “And if it was really me that did what you saw?”

“You don’t mean that,” I whispered. Lisabelle looked away, studying the dark corner of the room.

“The
Black Ring is tiring,” she acknowledged, shifting the subject.

“Shouldn’t we wake her up?” I asked. “I know she wants to talk to you.”

Lisabelle shook her head. “Not yet. I’m going to try and make another one of these visits soon, but it’s hard to get away. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long already.”

“How did you get away?” I was fascinated by the deadly game Lisabelle played with such ease.

“I threw a minor fit about being followed after winning my battle of wills with Malle,” said Lisabelle, “so they stopped following me.” She smiled. It sounded like Lisabelle.

“We’re leaving in the morning,” I said. “We’re headed for the Circle.”

Lisabelle mulled that over. “I don’t think you’ll have much luck, but at least you aren’t heading for Public.”

“It’s that bad there?”

Lisabelle shrugged. “More resistance was expected at Public than at Locke. Besides, that’s where the Mirror Arcane is, and the Premier really wants the Mirror. It’s the last piece of her puzzle.”

So if Lisabelle was right, Malle had been ly
ing when she said that all the Objects on the Wheel were in the hands of darkness. But I didn’t want to pursue this subject out loud with Lisabelle.

“Can’t you tell me anything?” I asked. I had so many questions for her, like was she upset about Risper, and who was the Premier? How much had it taken her for to sacrifice family? Had he told her it was okay? Now, having laid eyes on her again, I knew she wasn’t that cold, but when we were apart it was more difficult to fathom how she could have brought herself to commit such a horrendous act.

“It’s safer if you don’t ask,” she said. “Besides, I have to go. I’ll do this again, and by then, hopefully Sip will have good news for me.”

“What about Lough?” I offered, thinking how much my dream giver friend missed her.

“He doesn’t need to know I was here either,” she said. “It’s better for both of them to keep their distance. I have so much darkness in me . . .” She shook her head.

Lisabelle stood up. Her hands, uncovered, were dark with tattoos.

“Are you really dying?” I asked.

Lisabelle pursed her lips. “I’ll be fine. Sip’s on the case. I’ll be fine. I’m sorry you had to see that at Locke.”

I couldn’t believe she had known we were there. Then again, I wasn’t surprised.

“Luck and loyalty to you then,” she said with a small wave.

“Luck and loyalty,” I whispered, lying back down and watching as she slipped out the door.

She was gone, and I was none the wiser about what had happened with Risper.

When I went back to sleep, I dreamed. In my dream, I rolled over and threw off the covers. The world looked different. There was a steady silver glow emanating from the windows, but no sign of the sun in the sky. Frowning, I padded forward. My feet slapped against the stone and sank into the rug. I stared outward, wondering where the darkness had gone.

“Are you comfortable?”

I turned around, the shock at such a familiar voice in such a personal place making me giddy.

“Keller?” I whispered.

And indeed, it was my former boyfriend. He sat at the desk, turned sideways with his legs crossed at the ankles. His fingers were steepled in front of his pale face, but his blue eyes burned as brightly as ever. My heart fluttered, but I didn’t look away.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to sound normal. Epic fail!

He placed his hands on either side of the chair arms and smiled. “You called me. I came.”

“I didn’t,” I whispered. Okay, so I fell asleep every night thinking about him and how much I missed him and where was he, and Sip would tell me I was being totally annoying. Phew.

“You haven’t really spent any time mastering your dream giver side,” Keller mused, “but I think it got tired of your dreams and just demanded my presence. That’s what it felt like, anyway.”

“Were you at Vampire Locke?” I asked, my eyes greedily taking him in. Well, he was one of my best friends, after all, even after everything that had happened.

“No.” Keller shook his head. “I’ve been traveling the country, meeting with different Nocturns and paranormal groups.”

I nodded as if I understood, but I didn’t.

“Will you be at the Circle?” I winced as I asked it. Keller was the enemy now. I shouldn’t have said that.

“You can trust me,” Keller said, sitting up as if he thought he needed to be more alert.

“Can I?” I whispered. “You work for the Darkness Premier.”

“She’s not the Premier,” said Keller. “It’s so much more complicated than that.”

“Do you work for darkness or not?” I spluttered. It would be one thing if we’d been communicating this whole time, if Keller had been feeding us information, but he hadn’t.

Keller sighed and scrubbed his face as if he was giving himself time to think.

“Look,” he said, “I can’t explain, but trust me when I tell you I’m always on your side. Whatever side that is.”

“What about your parents?” I demanded. I couldn’t imagine a world where I wasn’t on the side of the paranormals.

“My parents were afraid,” said Keller. “They went with what they know, and they’ve known Cynthia Malle for a long time.”

“But they took you away from me,” I whispered. My voice shook audibly, but at that point I didn’t care if Keller heard it. It was the first time I’d gotten to talk to him in a long time and I wasn’t going to waste it.

Keller got up and came toward me, but when I backed away, he stopped.

I eyed him dubiously.

“I don’t know anything about my dream giver powers,” I said. “Elementals are stronger, and my father was a king.”

“Right,” said Keller. “I think a lot of this goes back to family.”

“That’s cryptic,” I muttered.

He grinned. “Never satisfied unless you have all the information.”

“I like to know what I’m up against,” I said. “Do you know who the Premier is?”

Lisabelle knew, I was certain of it, but she also wasn’t saying. In fact, she had informed me that under no circumstances would I believe who it was.

Keller shook his head. “No, I’ve tried, but it’s a closely guarded secret. Malle knows, the Demons of Knight on the Demon Council know, Lisabelle knows
. . .” He trailed off once he got around to mentioning our mutual friend.

“What?” I demanded.

“Lisabelle,” said Keller. “I had no idea how strong she was.”

I ignored that. Lisabelle was too dangerous a subject between us, and I wasn’t going there.

“What about Faci’s father and mother?” I remembered Lough pointing the mother out when we were at Vampire Locke for Lanca’s coronation.

“It’s Faci’s stepmother,” said Keller. “His real mother killed herself.” There were other rumors, but I wasn’t going to bring up those, either.

“Yeah, I know,” I said. “If I was related to Faci I’d be pretty upset too.”

Keller smiled. “Yeah, well, I think they know, too. They’re the ones who secured Vampire Locke as a base of operations, anyway.”

I sighed and looked out the window. The world still dripped in silver.

“Okay, so what now?”

“Now I go back to working for Malle,” said Keller, “and you take care of yourself.”

“Both of those things are really stupid,” I informed him.

I could feel tears building behind my eyes and I wanted the dream to end before I became a total crybaby.

“Can I hug you goodbye?”

I hated that word, and I especially hated it right then. Something in my face must have given me away, because Keller took another step closer to me.

“Oh, fine,” I muttered. If I wasn’t careful I’d turn out to be as grumpy as Lisabelle.

But Keller ignored my tone, stepped forward, and opened his arms. Carefully he wrapped them around me, his chin resting on my shoulder, his forehead nestled into my hair. I felt his chest expand and his breath on my neck. Gingerly, his fingers touched the small of my back.

My arms went around his shoulders. He was broader than he’d been before, but also a little thinner. I delighted in touching him.

Always, I supposed.

Chapter Ten

The next morning I had to talk to Ricky. The sunlight sparkled into my room through the open curtains, but the brightness wasn’t enough to warm me. I was dreading the conversation and for good reason. My nerves felt like they’d been hit by lightning. My body jangled like strung up keys in the wind.

I slipped out before Sip woke up, knowing she needed her rest. As I closed the door and made to turn around I skidded to a halt, surprise making me blink several times.

My little brother was waiting for me outside the door. He sat on the floor, but when he saw me he lifted his gray eyes and glared.

Ricky stared me down, his gray eyes never blinking behind the dark lashes that accented his pale face. He was furious at me for leaving him behind when I went to Locke, and now he was furious at me all over again for nearly getting killed, not telling him anything, you name it. We Rollinses were never very good at hiding our feelings. Given what we both knew the day would bring, I was already resigned to the fact that he would be even angrier later. I sighed.

“Morning,” I said carefully. I slid down the wall across from him. He just continued to stare.

“I’m sorry,” I said. I knew one “sorry” was inadequate for so many failings, but on the other hand, the word lost its effectiveness when it was used too often. I twisted my hands in front of my shins, curling an invisible wire into knots to mimic how my stomach felt now. “But I have to go.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

I searched his face for understanding, but all I saw was pain.

“What about me?” he asked quietly. “What am I supposed to do? Stay here with strangers? With vampire strangers?”

It was still hard for me to wrap my head around how new all of this was to Ricky.

“It’s safer here,” I said. “The roads aren’t safe. Neither is the Circle. All those paranormals in one place is just asking for trouble. You need to be protected, at least until you show powers, and even then you need to be trained. I don’t want you fighting demons.”

“I don’t want you fighting demons either, but you don’t care what I want,” he said. I could see the hurt in his eyes and it nearly killed me. I finished twisting the invisible wire. Now the knots couldn’t be undone.

“You’re too young to show your powers,” I argued. How had I been so blind as to think this would be easy? Or had I merely foolishly hoped? But now was not the time to think of hope as foolish, so I plowed on. “Once you do, and once I have an elemental ring for you, it’ll be different. You’ll be safer.”

“Am I safe here with Lanca?” he countered. “Under the nose of the demons? With vampires?”

“We got Lanca her crown,” I said. “They’ll be hard pressed to overrun her on her own ground. Besides, these vampires are on our side. If they weren’t they would have killed us already.”