Spellbound (Spellbringers Book 1) (33 page)

“
Oh, yes. Look at this
wedding announcement. And this driver’s license picture for Darius.
If that isn’t the spitting image of Jabron…”

Abe glanced at the photographs in
Albert’s hands and nodded. “That’s Jabron. No doubt about
it.”

Albert continued. “A year or so after
Darius’s wedding, several assets were transferred from Jabron’s
name into Darius’s name. A few of those assets were transferred to
Keira’s name right before Jabron’s death six years ago when his car
spontaneously burst into flames. The authorities suspected foul
play, but gave up on the investigation before they determined
exactly what had happened. There was something suspicious about
that, if you ask me.”

My heart clenched in pain. My father
was a liar who hid his true identity from his family. He was a
Spellbringer, trained as a Watcher. I knew he’d died in a car
accident, but I’d never heard anything about suspicious
circumstances.

“I’m here, Rachel.” Jace soothed my
mind with his calm assurances. “We’ll get through this.”

Albert continued, “Now, for the
interesting part. Darius worked for a Demon named
Re’Vel.”

“I know him.” My words burst forth
before I could think. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I should
have waited until Albert was finished telling us about his
investigation, but I couldn’t help myself. The moment I heard
Re’Vel’s name, I couldn’t contain my secret any longer.

“He’s had access to my mind for weeks.
I thought they were just dreams, but I was wrong. Until a few
nights ago when Abe mentioned Re’Vel crossing the Georgia border, I
didn’t realize he was real. At first, he was like a friend. Then he
began tempting me, trying to convince me to follow him. The last
time I dreamed of him, he scared me. He told me I belonged to him
and that ya’ll were trying to trick me.” I looked at Jace. “That’s
why I put a lock on my magic. I’ve been trying to block him from my
dreams, and I didn’t know how to do it without blocking you too. I
was afraid he’d come for me. Truthfully, I’ve hardly slept in
days.”

Jace whispered in my mind, “You’ve
been through so much, and I haven’t been there for you. I’m sorry
Rachel. I should have beat down your front door when you refused to
talk to me.”

“Oh, Rachel. I wish you would have
told us. You didn’t have to go through this alone,” Jerica said. I
couldn’t believe they weren’t angry with me for dragging their
whole family into all this trouble. Jace wasn’t upset that I’d been
dreaming about another man. He still loved me. So far.

Albert stammered for a second, trying
to get his bearings before picking up the threads of his story.
“The Demon Re’Vel convinced Jabron to work for him. Jabron fed him
information about the inner workings of Central until the Head
Examiner released Jabron from his duties pending an investigation.
Jabron began using the name Darius exclusively and settled right
here in Oaktree. He worked as a traveling salesman and spent a lot
of time away from home.” Again, Albert paused.

When he said ‘traveling salesman’,
he’d used his fingers to form quotation marks. I hated it when
people did that, especially when it was used to illustrate what a
sneaky liar my father was.

“The verifiable portion of my
investigation ends here. Rumor has it Jabron had a change of heart
a few years ago and tried to contact Central. He died shortly
after. The people I’ve talked to believe Re’Vel had Jabron killed.
The Demon couldn’t risk allowing Jabron to spill his secrets. One
interesting fact I forgot to mention, was while Jabron attended the
Academy, he took quite an interest in ancient curses and claiming
spells.” Albert paused again, this time to open a portfolio of
photographs. I recognized many of them.

Albert extracted a couple of pages and
passed them to Abe, who in turn handed them over to Jerica. “These
are just a few photos of Jabron at the Academy. As you can see, the
graduation photo for Jabron is nearly identical to the wedding
announcement for Darius.”

Jerica wordlessly passed the photos
over to Jace and me. My father’s face stared back at me when I
viewed the photographs. The graduation picture could have been my
brother Jeffrey, they looked so much alike.

“This next set of photographs, you
will recognize.” Albert passed over another page. “Jerica, your
translation of the tattoo, of course, was correct. I asked a Spell
Master at the Academy to have a look to verify. He made a few notes
on the side for your review.”

“Claiming spell,” Jerica read aloud,
“Demon Mark…can be used as a suppression spell. A tattoo, of
course, would be permanent as opposed to a written or verbal spell
which could be reversed.”

Jerica offered the page to Jace and
me, but I waved it away. I didn’t need to see images of the curse
my brother would bear for the rest of his life.

“That wraps it up. The rest is
conjecture. I don’t think Jabron ever really had a chance to escape
Re’Vel. Anything the Demon touches is corrupted by pure evil,”
Albert said.

My gaze stayed fixed on my tightly
clasped hands. Tears fell silently and I watched them trickle
between my fingers. I was afraid to move or look at anyone.
Corrupted by pure evil—that’s what I was. Any minute, I suspected,
this wonderful family would recoil from me in horror. Jace stood up
and walked away. I didn’t blame him. I would have left me
too.

I was too absorbed in my own pain to
hear Jace’s soft footsteps as he returned. He sat on the loveseat
next to me, closer than before, and handed me a box of tissues. He
put his arm around me and reached up with his other hand to wipe a
tear from my cheek.

“I love you,” Jace said out
loud.

“I love you too,” I replied using our
private form of communication. I couldn’t speak at that moment. I
loved Jace more than ever before and felt like an idiot for ever
comparing him to Re’Vel and finding him lacking. I’d once viewed
Jace as an irresponsible teenage boy. From this point forward, I
saw him as a man—a man who just drew a line in the sand and
declared his love for me in front of his parents and his dad’s old
friend from the past.

I sat in a daze for the duration of
the evening. Abe steered the conversation around to lighter topics,
chatting with Albert about some things I didn’t pay much attention
to. Before Albert left, Jerica took down the name of the Spell
Master he’d worked with at the Academy. She said she had a couple
of questions about the curse. Abe and Jerica thanked their old
friend for his help, and before I knew it, he was out the
door.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when
he was gone. I couldn’t remember a more stressful and upsetting
evening. Jace sat next to me through it all, holding my hand,
whispering in my mind. Abe and Jerica messed around in the kitchen
for a few minutes, emerging with a tray of steaming cups of
coffee.

“You doing okay, Rachel?” Abe asked,
smiling. “You’ve had a lot to take in. It’s been a shock for you,
hasn’t it?”

“I’m okay, I guess. I have a lot to
think about. My whole life has been turned upside down. I don’t
know what to think about my father. How could he appear to be so
normal when he was so evil?” My voice shook with emotion and I
prayed I wouldn’t start crying all over again. My eyes already felt
puffy and a headache was setting in.

“The word
evil
has been used
entirely too much tonight. We don’t know what was in Jabron’s
heart. Let’s not judge him, okay?” Jerica always knew what to say
to make me feel better.

“I think before it’s all said and
done, we’ll find out a lot more about your father. As for tonight,
I think we should focus on solutions. We need to find a way to keep
Re’Vel from attacking you in your dreams,” Abe said, lifting a cup
of coffee from the tray and taking a sip. “It has become apparent
that the Protection spells surrounding your house are not adequate.
We’ll need to use different spells to keep the Demon
out.”

“But you said Rachel’s house already
had Protection spells surrounding it,” Jace said. “Why did the
protection stop working? Why wasn’t it strong enough to keep Re’Vel
away?”

“Re’Vel told me in one of my dreams
that he was the one responsible for providing protection. He said
he put up the spells,” I said.

“The Protection spells were meant to
repel enemies. Re’Vel was not your father’s enemy at the time the
spells were performed,” Abe said. “We’ll just have to put up
different spells. Jerica and I can use the same spells we used when
we moved into this house. It’s very simple. We can write down each
spell on a piece of paper. All you have to do is bring the papers
into the house and hide one in each room in a safe place. I can
reinforce the spells later when your mother isn’t home.”

Abe and Jerica discussed certain
spells and their various uses before deciding on the best
combination. I zoned out, barely able to stay awake, while Jerica
inscribed each spell onto a separate piece of paper. They discussed
the merits of hiring a Protector to accompany me when I left my
house, but my head hurt too badly to stage a protest. It was a
battle I would save for later.

Jerica insisted that Abe drive me home
just in case. Since my extreme exhaustion and stress made it
impossible for me to control my magic, she feared Hunters would be
drawn to me that night like palmetto bugs to a porch-light. I did
not find this reassuring. I did, however, find it comforting that
Jerica and Abe were putting forth their very best efforts to
protect me. Armed with my Protection spells, I staggered out the
front door and into the backseat of Abe’s car. Jace sat beside me,
his arm wrapped protectively around my shoulders.

At home, I waited until Mama went to
bed, and then stashed the Protection spells in various nooks and
crannies throughout the house, hoping these scraps of paper would
be effective.

When I was finished, I fell into bed,
more fatigued than I’d ever been. With our link reestablished, Jace
and I talked until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Despite
the fact that I’d relaxed tremendously since my admission to
allowing Re’Vel access to my dreams, there was still something
pulling at the back of my mind, making it difficult for me to fully
surrender myself to sleep.

I remembered what had been bothering
me as my eyes began to close. “Jace,” I whispered across our link.
“I forgot to confess one thing, one very bad thing. I lied to my
mother and used Persuasion on her to get her to believe me. Do you
think I’m evil?”

“You’re a good person, Rachel. I love
you.” Jace’s voice was the last thing I heard before I sank into
the oblivion of sleep. I slept safely, soundly, secure in the
knowledge we would never be apart. Never again.

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Alisa

I woke up feeling wired. It was way
too early to be up and about. Being awake at nine A.M. during
summer vacation was unheard of. I couldn’t even contemplate falling
back to sleep. It was the day I’d been waiting on for months.
Barring any flight delays or other travel complications, I would
see Bryce by nightfall. I thought I might possibly die if anything
happened to extend the time I had to wait to see him. Already, I
painfully counted the hours. Any delay would be
heartbreaking.

It didn’t seem real. Could I fully
remember what he looked like? Was the image in my head accurate
after these many months? More importantly, would I live up to his
expectations? Just thinking about Bryce’s possible rejection
brought on a bout of nausea. I couldn’t bear it if Bryce’s
expression of happiness at seeing me faded to disappointment when
he realized what he was getting.

It wasn’t only Bryce I was worried
about seeing that evening. This would be my first time seeing
Rachel since her huge fight with Jace. He assured me she was fine
now and harbored no ill feelings toward my friendship with him. But
still, Rachel and I hadn’t spoken in a week and I felt weird about
that. Maybe if she saw how happy Bryce and I were together, she
wouldn’t worry that I still had feelings for her boyfriend. She
should know darned well Jace didn’t have any feelings for me. He
was completely in love with her and she had nothing to worry
about.

I knew I shouldn’t expect me and Bryce
to be an instant couple the second I saw him, but we kind of were a
couple already. At least I hoped so. He was certainly open about
his feelings in his emails to me, but all that could change when we
talked face to face. I felt dizzy with apprehension and riddled
with self doubt.

My parents had already left for work,
so I had the house to myself. I quickly showered, dressed, and
headed downstairs to bake the chocolate chip cookies I’d promised
Bryce. At first, I figured baking cookies would take up at least a
couple of hours including preparation and cleanup. It would be
something to do to keep me occupied and help keep my mind off
Bryce. The problem was, after the initial mixing of ingredients,
there remained a lot of time where I did nothing at all. Once a
batch was in the oven, I had to wait ten minutes for the cookies to
bake.

Waiting led to thinking. Thinking led
to daydreaming. Daydreaming led to trouble. While I paced around
waiting for the oven timer to shriek, my thoughts inevitably
strayed to Bryce. I kept finding myself skipping down the lanes of
Fantasy Land and I had to yank myself back to reality repeatedly.
To distract myself, I blasted twanging country music so loud it
nearly burst my ears. I sang so obnoxiously, it was a wonder I
didn’t shatter windows for miles around.