Authors: Linda Lamberson
Just as Tartuf had said, Jaegar seemed well briefed about my “unique” predicament and the fast-approaching deadline. I agreed to meet him and his partner, Chase, that evening in the ocean-side town of Holden Beach, North Carolina.
I sighed both in relief and dread when the call ended. Part of me couldn’t believe how smoothly everything seemed to be going. I’d met with Tartuf, I had a viable plan—two plans, actually—and I was on my way to put one of them into action. But the other part of me, the part that made my stomach lurch, knew this was only day one. It wasn’t always going to be this simple and straightforward.
Just before tucking my phone back into my pocket, I noticed a text Quinn had sent several hours before: “YOU BETTER WAKE ME … ;)”
“No more beauty sleep for you,” I said, chuckling to myself.
I returned to the Falls to find Dylan sitting near the waterfall, skipping stones into the water.
“He’s still sleeping,” Dylan said without so much as glancing at me.
“How late did you keep him up last night?” I asked good-naturedly.
“Nah, it wasn’t me.” Dylan’s tone lacked humor. “He was worried about you. I explained the whole time conversion thing to him, but I don’t think it helped much.”
Crap
.
“
You’re slipping.”
He turned to me with a knowing smirk.
“
Double crap,”
I replied telepathically, flashing him a snarky little smirk of my own.
Dylan chuckled. “So, should I even ask how your meeting with Tartuf went?”
I didn’t even know how to begin to answer Dylan’s question.
“That good, huh?”
I rolled my eyes cynically.
“You want to talk about it?”
I sighed. “Quinn should hear it first. It’s his life.”
He nodded. “Understood—but don’t wait too long. We need to sit down and seriously start planning.”
“Agreed. Things seem to be happening faster than I’d anticipated—
a lot
faster.”
“Yeah? Well, not according to this.” Dylan held up his watch. “Last time I checked, my Incident Timer was still blank.”
“Lesson number one while on assignment: Don’t rely solely on your watch. Case in point, I was just told all signs point to the ritu—the attack occurring on July eighteenth.”
“That’s …” Dylan looked up at the sky, calculating the days.
“Thirty days away,” I chimed in, sparing him the mental strain. “But the Servants can always strike earlier.”
“Son of a bitch. We’re going to need some help. I’m gonna go find M. It’s time you two met.” He flashed me a wicked little grin. “You going to be okay if I leave you here all alone with College Boy?”
“I think I can handle it. In fact, don’t feel the need to rush back on my account. I need you focused and ready to work—so get whatever you need to out of your system so they’ll be no more
distractions.”
I grinned, and so did he.
“Gotcha loud and clear,” he said brightly. But not a moment later, his expression completely changed; there wasn’t a hint of humor to be seen. “Evie, you know I’m one hundred and ten percent in this, right? I’d never let anything happen to Quinn, you know that right?”
“I know, and that’s why I wanted you to be his Shepherd. I trust you.”
“I’ll do right by him—and you.” Dylan smiled sincerely and then phased out of view.
I stood there, staring at the entrance of the cave for a few minutes. Was I ready to tell Quinn the truth? Would he even want to know? If the roles were reversed, would I? I wasn’t the intended victim of demonic conversion, and the whole thing terrified me. So how would he react? Would every strange noise, every creepy shadow, make him wonder if this was it? If his time had come?
I couldn’t do that to Quinn. It wasn’t fair to tell him yet—not when I was still working out the details of a game plan that would save his life. I had until the end of tomorrow to come clean and tell him everything. By then, I would’ve already met with Jaegar and Chase, and I’d know the odds of getting Quinn’s blood back. Tomorrow night I’d sit down and tell Quinn what the Servants wanted and how we intended to stop them.
With my new plan in hand, I took a deep breath and teleported myself to his bedside. Quinn was still sleeping soundly. He looked so peaceful and at ease, like he didn’t have a care in the world. I wanted him to always feel that way, and I hated the Servants even more for knowing he couldn’t.
“Quinn,” I whispered as I sat down on the edge of the mattress and ran my fingers gently through his hair. He stirred slightly. “I’m back.” I leaned over and kissed his cheek. He stirred again, rolling over onto his other side. I couldn’t resist morphing out of my clothes, crawling into bed, and snuggling up next to him. “Quinn,” I whispered again into his ear.
He rolled towards me still half-asleep and looked at me with heavy eyes and smiled.
“Hi.” I smiled back at him.
“Hi.” He reached up and stroked my cheek. I leaned into his hand and closed my eyes.
“How’d your meeting go?” he asked with his raspy morning voice.
“Let’s talk about it later.”
Thankfully, it wasn’t difficult to convince him to go along with what I had in mind.
We lay there in bed, my body glowing slightly. He brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed it.
“So, you going to tell me about what you and that Tartuf guy talked about?”
I turned onto my side and looked at him. All the reasons that convinced me to wait to tell him anything came flooding back into my head.
“I thought I had one more day to figure things out before we talked.”
“So, this is you doing your best to include me? Keeping me completely in the dark until you’re forced to tell me the truth?” The frustration in his voice rang loud and clear.
No, this is me doing my best not to scare the living crap out of you until I have a plan to keep you safe,
I thought to myself. The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I saw how torn up Quinn was over my silence, so I swallowed them back and took a deep breath.
“I don’t want to keep you completely in the dark.”
Only partially
. I sighed. “I’ve been told the Incident in April wasn’t really a typical Incident by our standards.”
“What do you mean?”
“Quinn, Cy and Rex weren’t there to kill you—they were there to kidnap you.”
“They could’ve fooled me.”
“Yeah, well, I think those two screwed up and deviated from the plan. And I think there would’ve been hell for them to pay if they’d managed to finish what they started.”
“What do the Servants want with me?”
“They know we’re true soul mates. They know about this supposed strength we each can develop, and they want to use it somehow. And since I’m already a Shepherd …”
“It leaves me to be the one for them to use and abuse,” Quinn stated.
“Yes.”
“And that’s why they took some of my blood?”
I nodded and opened my mouth to tell him more, but then stopped myself.
“What is it?” Quinn asked.
Maybe he’s stronger than I give him credit for. Maybe I should tell him the truth now.
“Evie, you can’t leave me hanging like this—tell me,” he urged.
“Quinn, the Servants don’t want to just kill you—well, I mean, they still want to end your life—that part hasn’t changed—but their reasons for wanting to do it have changed. They don’t just want to get rid of you anymore,” I spit out quickly.
“I’m not following you.” Quinn looked thoroughly confused.
Reason won over emotion. I couldn’t dump this on him yet. Guilt washed over me, knowing I was about to revert back to the “cryptic Evie” mode Quinn hated.
“I know I’m not being clear, but it’s hard for me to explain it all to you right now. Look, I have another meeting tonight. It’s with these two guys, Jaegar and Chase. Hopefully, they’ll be able to help us.”
“Great, I’ll go with you.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this again.” Quinn narrowed his eyes and shook his head.
“Doing what?” I whispered, my voice trembling slightly. I was busted. He knew I was ducking his questions and shutting him out.
“Damn it, Evie!” Quinn snapped. “Despite what you may think, I’m a big boy. I can handle whatever it is you’re hiding. So why don’t you just tell me what the fuck is going on for once?” He stared at me, waiting for my answer, but I was left speechless by his reaction.
He flew out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans, and stormed out of the cave, leaving me in bed with my mouth hanging open, staring wide-eyed in shock at the now empty space next to me.
After giving him some time to cool down, I walked out of the cave to find him standing to the left of the waterfall in the same spot where we’d exchanged vows a few months earlier. I walked up behind him and placed my hands on his back.
“I’m sorry,” I said, resting my cheek against his shoulder blade. “It’s just—what you’ve had to deal with this past year was pretty heady stuff, and I don’t want to dump anything else on you before I understand it and can answer your questions. It’ll only make things worse—especially if I’m wrong. And that’s not what I’m here to do. It’s my job to—”
“To do what?” Quinn snapped. “Protect me?” He turned to face me. “Not anymore, Evie. You passed that job off to Dylan.” Quinn sighed. “What I want—what I
need
more than anything right now,” he continued in a calmer voice, “is for you to tell me the truth.”
“And I
will
tell you the truth when I have more than bits and pieces of information I’m still trying to fit together.” Quinn opened his mouth to protest, but I pressed my fingers to his lips. “And even if I don’t have a complete picture of what’s going on, I will tell you what I know by end of day tomorrow, okay?”
Quinn looked at me skeptically.
“If it makes you feel any better, Dylan doesn’t know anything yet either.”
“He doesn’t?” Quinn mumbled behind my fingers.
“No, he doesn’t. I told him I wanted to explain everything to you first. But I just need a little more time, okay? Please?” I lowered my hand and watched Quinn’s face relax.
“Fine, you have until the end of day tomorrow. But at some point, you’re going to have to realize we can make a lot more headway if we worked
together.”
“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Dylan called out.
“Perfect timing as always,” I muttered sarcastically.
“Retract the claws, K.C., I brought company,” he replied lightheartedly.
Quinn and I walked over to greet Dylan and the woman who was holding his hand at his side. Dylan was beaming like a love-struck fool. I glanced at Quinn and knew he was thinking the same exact thing.
“Evie, Quinn, this is Minerva,” Dylan announced proudly.
“Quinn, nice to finally meet you.” She smiled and extended a hand to him as we approached, which he politely shook. “And Dylan’s told me so much about you, Eve, I feel like I know you already.”
“That’s great,” I replied a little too enthusiastically, and Quinn cleared his throat quietly. “Dylan’s told me about you, too,” I continued in a more relaxed tone. “It’s nice to meet you. Oh, and, please, call me Evie.”
Minerva was stunning—older than I thought she’d be, around thirty if I had to guess—but it was easy to see why Dylan was taken with her. She was glamorous in an edgy, supermodel kind of way. Her sleek black hair was bobbed just above her shoulders, framing her perfectly oval face and large, dark brown eyes. Her lips were full and red, which contrasted nicely against her ivory skin. She was tall, slender, and athletic in build, and her choice of clothing made her well suited for an appearance at Fashion Week in New York or Paris. She wore a cropped black leather jacket over a fitted sheer white top with a black bra underneath. She finished the look with dark blue skinny jeans and black leather stiletto peep-toe ankle boots. I suddenly felt very plain in my black tank top and jeans. From now on, I was going to have to be more conscious of how I dressed when Minerva was around.
“Yeah, hey, I hope I didn’t cause you too much trouble the last couple of months,” Quinn said a little awkwardly, flashing that million-dollar smile of his as he ran his hand through his hair.
What the—was he actually flirting with her? This time I cleared my throat at him.
“No more than the usual suspects I watch over,” she replied warmly. “In fact, your friend over here was the real thorn in my side most of the time.” She smiled sweetly at Dylan and squeezed his hand. His face immediately brightened and his eyes sparkled.
“So,” she continued, turning to me, “Dylan tells me that you could use a little extra help.”
“He’s right. We could,” I replied, hoping neither Dylan nor she would mention we only had thirty days to come up with an ironclad plan to protect Quinn.
“Well, I just found out I won’t be getting any future assignments until it’s determined if and how I can best assist you all. So, put me to work. I’ll do whatever I can.” She flashed what seemed to be a genuine smile. Still, just because Dylan trusted her, didn’t mean I did—not yet anyway. I’d been burned recently for trusting Peter, and I wasn’t about to make that mistake twice. Minerva would have to prove herself to me.
“So, what’s the plan, K.C.?” Dylan asked.
“I was just telling Quinn I have a meeting tonight that hopefully will shed a little light on what’s at stake and give us enough answers to start coming up with a solid game plan.”
“Sounds good,” Dylan replied.
“Will we be working here inside this portal? Is this where Quinn will be staying?” Minerva asked.
“Makes sense,” Dylan added. “He’s definitely out of harm’s way up here.”
Or so we hope
. I glanced at Minerva out of the corner of my eye.
“It’ll act as home base for strategy and training sessions,” I replied. “But we can’t camp out here the whole time. It’s just not feasible,” I continued, remembering what Tartuf had said. “No one outside the portal can communicate with anyone on the inside and vice versa. And Quinn has to be able to stay in touch with his friends and family or they’ll worry too much about him.”