Oh god, I know where he’s going with this. I’m even more horrified than I was a few minutes ago. “What happens then?” Please don’t tell me.
Zane looks over at Roman and it’s obvious he’s not happy his grandmother broke up the fight. Looking back at me, he says, “How did it feel when the doc touched it?”
The pit of my stomach fills with fear. “It…it hurt.”
“Hurt?” Zane pushes.
Anger is pushing my fear into a corner. I wish I had never met any of them. “Fine, it hurt so badly I passed out. Are you happy now?”
“Not at all,” he says. Dropping his hands back to his sides, he turns to his grandmother. “What do you want to do with him?”
“You’re not going to kill him, are you?” I ask, terrified that Mrs. Gregori is just going to pull the trigger.
“We are not savages like them,” she scoffs.
A desperate thought pops into my head. “Wait, if you have safeguards in place like Brielle had at her apartment in the city, how could he have gotten inside the house? Or into the apartment for that matter. He can’t be a djinni.”
“Only lower level djinn are affected by the sine wave. Upper level djinn are almost human, so it doesn’t bother them,” Brielle explains.
“Oh.” What else could prove he’s not a djinni? “All Roman has done since I woke up is tried to protect me. He hasn’t tried to hurt me at all.”
“He was just trying to gain your trust until he could pry you away from the people meant to protect you. And from the goings on in here, it appears he was doing a good job at it,” Mrs. Gregori rasps. She’s starting to look a little pale. I’m pretty sure she needs to sit or else she’s going to fall down.
“For what purpose?” Roman asks.
“To get her alone to kill her,” Brielle says.
Roman shakes his head in bewilderment. “If I wanted her dead, I could have killed her days ago. Or I could have left her at the hospital. I’m sure those djinn could have taken care of it.” He does have a point. An accidental overdose would be easy to manage.
Mrs. Gregori sighs. “If I lower this gun, what are you going to do?” She really needs to sit down.
“What do you expect me to say to that?” Roman growls. “Tell you I’m going to make a run for it or try to assure you I won’t?”
She stares at him for a long moment. “Brielle, take him to his guestroom and see to his injuries. He also could use a change of clothes. Get some from Zane’s room.”
“What?” Brielle says in disbelief.
“You heard me. When he’s all cleaned up, lock him in there while we try to figure things out.”
Roman is seething. “So you intend to make me a prisoner then.”
Mrs. Gregori shrugs. “Would you rather I just shoot you? That would be the easiest solution.” Again, the caliber of truth in her words is frightening.
“Roman, please,” I say. “We’ll get this sorted out.”
Without a word, he walks to the door. Brielle has to move aside to let him out. Then she follows him next door. So, now what do I do?
Mrs. Gregori turns to me. “I understand you don’t believe us, but that doesn’t change who he is.”
“What do I have to do to get you to let him go?” My words are cold enough to send a chill down my own spine.
“There is nothing you can do.” The finality in her words makes my blood run even colder. “This is for your own good.”
Anger is seething from my pores thick as blood. “You have no right to say what is best for me.” My voice is growing louder, more acidic. “Roman has never given any indication that he intends to harm me. He has protected and cared for me since my accident; but your family has done nothing but be hostile and holier than thou in your ‘we know the djinn and you don’t’ crap. You hold us at gunpoint. You make outrageous claims that I’m supposed to take as truth despite the lack of proof. You hold me prisoner under the pretense that you’re protecting me, which doesn’t make me feel safe at all. How do you expect me to trust any of this when all of you are so hostile? You have no right to do any of this,” I growl.
Fear on the faces of the two in front of me deescalates my tirade enough to focus on my surroundings. Apparently my outburst made me unaware that the creepy fog had begun rolling into the room and I’m not the only one seeing it this time. It is snaking around us, attempting to fill the room completely. Mrs. Gregori and Zane back towards the door, but the fog circles around them, somehow binding them in place. Their faces contort in pain. Their screams become deafening until the fog blocks them from my view, their screams no longer heard.
“My dear one, you cannot do this. You must not pull them into the veil. You will kill them,” a desperate voice says to me. “Truly, they meant you no harm. They are only doing as I asked. There is much you do not know and I cannot help you in any other way right now. Let them protect you; I beg this of you. You must step out of the veil. Quickly. I did not realize you would still have this ability or I would have warned you sooner. You are vulnerable here. They will find you.” Oh god. I’m in the veil? How did I get here and what does he mean still have this ability? Through the fog, I see in the distance the shape of the man speaking to me. I can barely make out his blonde hair and finely chiseled face, but his blue eyes are like beacons calling to me. I want to rush to him, to find safety in his arms.
I start to move towards him when another voice speaks; a voice so dark I feel as if I’m being coated with tar. “She made her choice, Malik. She accepted the mark willingly. She no longer belongs to you and you will relinquish your hold on her.”
“She was tricked into accepting the mark, Sitna. That violates our most basic laws. You know this. She may break free if she chooses.”
Are they really talking about me? I stand perfectly still, hoping if I don’t move they will forget I’m here. Unlikely, I know, but I can’t come up with a better plan at the moment.
The one called Sitna laughs and I suddenly feel like he let loose a million millipedes to feed on my skin. “She does not have it within her to murder her master in cold blood. The Marid are powerful, but so merciful,” he says with derision. “A weakness that will be your downfall.”
“Perhaps someday,” Malik says. “Today is not that day.” He holds his hand out and lightning crackles from his fingertips. It penetrates the fog, seeking the shadowy figure of Sitna. When it hits, Sitna howls in agony. His body contorts in ways I hope to never see a body contort again. His limbs buckle and shift as if he’s an accordion. If he was human, he would never survive this attack. Since he’s a djinni, I have a feeling he will.
Malik turns his attention back to me and says, “You know now that you chose to be marked. Our world has hung in darkness since you were sent into exile amongst the humans. There is war behind the veil, and we are slowly losing our footholds without your power. You are weakened by the mark you wear; you will never be powerful again as long as you give in to its hold. You must find the truth within yourself and make your final choice. If you choose to remain his, you will be lost to me and our kind forever. Your exile will be permanent and you will live forever in the shadows of the human world. If you choose to remove your mark and return home, your full powers will be restored and your crimes will be forgotten.” Crimes? I really did commit crimes against the djinn?
“He comes to pull you from the veil now,” Malik continues, “but only for his own selfish reasons. Do not trust him. Return with him to the human world, but please do not be fooled again by the charms of a Saitan. These years without you have been too long, Skye. I know in my heart you will choose the right path this time and we will be together again. Keep yourself safe until then.”
Malik’s shape begins to fade. I call out to him, begging him to tell me more, but he doesn’t stay. He leaves me in this desolate place. He leaves me in the midst of the screaming souls whose voices echo in my head. With that thought, I realize that it is not just Sitna’s screams I hear.
I feel pressure against my lips. A pleasurable feeling that pulls me forward, forcing the fog to ebb. I open my lips ever so slightly to taste the mouth that covers mine. So familiar. So right. I close my eyes as the kiss deepens and the fog lifts completely. When I open my eyes again, I am in Roman’s arms. He has pulled me from the veil once more.
But why? Am I simply a pawn in a war I know nothing about? It seems impossible that I would let anyone, even this man who is kissing me with so much passion, such adoration, control me. There is no doubt in my mind that Malik was telling the truth. I feel that down to the very bottom of my heart. Now I must find out why I apparently did such a stupid thing.
First, I have to end this kiss from the one who seems to have orchestrated at least some of this mess.
I place my hands on Roman’s chest and push. It takes a moment for him to realize what I’m doing. When he does, he raises his lips from mine and stares into my eyes with the intensity of a lion ready to feed on its prey.
I push at him again and try to roll my body out from under his. Realizing the need for his kiss no longer exists, he reluctantly sits up, allowing me the room to move. I scoot away from him on the bed. Roman must have lain me on it when he started kissing me.
Zane and his grandmother are on the floor slouched against the wall. Their breathing is ragged; Mrs. Gregori may be going into cardiac arrest. Brielle is doing her best to make them comfortable but she’s lost in regards to her grandmother.
Getting off the bed, I say to Roman over my shoulder, “Come help them.” He’s just sitting on the bed dumbstruck. What the hell is wrong with him?
“What is a Saitan?” he asks. He heard that? What else did he hear as Malik took his leave in the fog?
Brielle’s head snaps up and her eyes flash with ire. “A fucking devil, that’s what,” she grinds out. She holds up a threatening hand, insisting I stop walking towards her. “Both of you need to stay the fuck away from my family.”
“Brielle,” I say softly, “your grandmother is hurt. She needs our help.”
“I would rather die,” Mrs. Gregori says. Her skin is becoming more ashen by the second.
Roman’s medical training finally wins out over whatever drama is going through his head. He rises from the bed and ignoring Brielle, strides to her grandmother and crouches beside her. “You just may if you don’t let me evaluate you. Have you had a heart attack before? Angina, high blood pressure, anything?”
He attempts to lift her wrist to take her pulse, but Brielle’s hand shoots out, grabbing his. “I said, stay the fuck away from my family.”
“Brielle…” I start to say but am cut off by Zane.
He puts his hand on Brielle’s. “I’m not going to let Grams die because you two are too stubborn to take help from a djinni. I’m not going to lose one more person that I love. He is a doctor; trained in human medicine. He is going to check Grams over and you’re going to let him.” A silent war is fought between them. Expressions are being flung back and forth as only brothers and sisters can do. Brielle glares; Zane’s brow rises in a dare. Brielle narrows her eyes and Zane’s eyes harden.
“Oh, for god’s sake, I’m dying over here,” Mrs. Gregori rasps. Her hand is pressed to her chest and her lips are starting to turn blue.
Roman shakes his hand free from Brielle’s grasp and goes back to assessing Mrs. Gregori. “Do you have any nitroglycerin?” he asks.
Zane and Brielle both say no. Mrs. Gregori says, “In my nightstand drawer, under a book.” Both of her grandchildren stare at her in surprise. “I wasn’t going to have you two worrying about nothing,” she tells them, her voice getting weaker. “You would have been at me constantly.”
“Yeah, because watching you die is so much better,” Brielle says, rising to her feet. “I’ll be right back.” She trots out of the room and down the hall. She’s only gone for about thirty seconds before she returns with a small medicine bottle and gives it to Roman. I’ll admit it, I’m surprised. I think the shock of how truly serious her grandmother’s condition really is has softened her in regards to letting a djinni help her.
Roman is a djinni; a djinni that I let mark me. I chose to be his for some reason. I cannot fathom the circumstances under which that happened. And when did it happen? Could my parents really have lied to me about everything?
There’s a thought knocking on the backdoor of my mind. I’ve turned the lights off and I’m pretending nobody’s home, but it just won’t go away. It’s like a cat that has been out all night and now wants to come in and eat and get warm. Slowly, I let the thought seep into my mind. Not only is Roman a djinni, so am I. And so is Malik.
From the anger and betrayal on Brielle’s face, I’m guessing she’s at least figured out that he asked her to protect one of those he professes to hate. I’m not certain she’s connected enough of the dots to know that she has been guided all this time by a djinni. I think I’ll leave discussing that topic with her for another time. And for another person other than me. I’m pretty sure she’ll have a psychotic break when she finds out and I don’t want to be anywhere near her when that happens.
Roman has taken one of the nitro pills out of the bottle and he places it under Mrs. Gregori’s tongue. “I’m sure we’ll need to do this again in five minutes. I know you’re not the most comfortable where you are, but I don’t want to move you just yet. Let’s give the medicine a chance to work.”
Mrs. Gregori nods and leans her head back against the wall, closing her eyes. I strongly suspect that if she doesn’t live, neither will Roman or I.