The Coveted (The Unearthly) (7 page)

I moved my hand to another section of the deck spread in front of me and drew a second card. On it, people fell from a burning building. That couldn’t be good.

Leanne made a small noise when I handed it over to her.

I furrowed my brows. “What?”

“The tower. Violence. Chaos. Murder without remorse. I can’t tell how you fit into that, but this is either your present situation or one that is quickly approaching.”

Leanne must be seeing the murders I was investigating with Andre and the Politia. I hadn’t told her that I was on the case, so she only knew that the Politia had called me in early in the morning during the last few days.

I moved my hand again.

“Your third card represents the challenge you face.” Funny, based on the card I already pulled, I thought my situation was challenging enough.

I grabbed a card and pulled it out.

I took one look at it. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I handed Leanne the card. She dropped it like it had burned her. “It’s metaphorical Gabrielle.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

We stared at the horned beast depicted on the card. The devil.

This one I could interpret on my own.

Chapter 7

Later that day
I entered my anthropology class. Just like everywhere else on campus, pumpkins of all sizes, shapes, and colors had been brought in. A skeleton wearing a black, pointed hat grinned at the class. Next to him an enchanted spider crawled along a glittery web.

Just like the day before, I could smell the fear in the room. Head down and fangs firmly hidden behind my sealed lips, I made my way to my seat.

Shortly after I took my seat, Professor Blackmore entered the room. “Morning class,” he said. “In honor of the upcoming holiday, I’d like to focus today’s lecture on the customs and celebrations of Samhain, known locally as
Hop-tu-Naa
, which means ‘this is the night.’

“In other cultures, this day is known as All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween, and
Dia de los Muertos
—
the Day of the Dead. It’s a celebration of the dead, but more broadly speaking, the night of October thirty-first is when the barrier between worlds is at its thinnest. And, in certain areas, it is nonexistent.

“The Otherworld is the general name we use for all those worlds outside our own. The Underworld and the Celestial Plane are examples of other worlds that are included in this umbrella term. And on the night of Samhain, the barrier between all of these worlds thins out.

“Once these barriers thin out enough, beings can cross from their world into ours, and vice versa.”

I tried to wrap my mind around that idea, but I had a hard time doing so. I raised my hand.

“Yes, Miss Fiori?”

“When you say that at certain points the barrier nonexistent what do you mean by that?” I asked. “It sounds like there are places on earth that act like portals.”

He gave me a small smile. “I’m glad you asked. Portal is a good term for it. There are certain physical locations where, at the right time and place, someone could literally walk from one world into the next.”

***

After Anthropology, I went to the library to get a head start on my history homework. I opened my abandoned calendar to write in some of my homework assignments when a previous note I’d left myself caught my eye.
TOM’s weeklong fling.
TOM was code for that Time Of the Month.

It was written down for the beginning of the October. Three weeks ago. I’d been so busy scaring off naked men and investigating the murders that I hadn’t thought about something as unimportant as my period. Until I missed it. I hadn’t had my period in over a month.

For one earth-shatteringly scary second, I panicked.

I’m pregnant.
It was sad how much scarier that thought was than realizing I’d died at the Awakening, or facing death in the weeks that followed.

The panic subsided. Considering I’d never done the deed, pregnancy just wasn’t possible
—
at least I didn’t think it was. When it came to the supernatural world, I could never be positive.

A more logical answer crept up on me. I was becoming a vampire, which meant that I was dying. So naturally, one of the first things to go would be my ability to support life. That meant no more periods.

My phone interrupted my thoughts. I pulled the vibrating smartphone out of my bag. Caleb had sent me a text.

Hey, want to meet up tonight? Investigation, dinner, and a movie?

Crap. I’d forgotten that I was supposed to work on the case with Caleb. Instead I was leaving him hanging to investigate with Andre. I felt a twinge of guilt before I reminded myself that the truce was at stake.

I typed a quick response.
Can’t. Sorry.

Why not?

Nosey much? My fingers moved over the digital keypad.
Group orgy.

A couple students gave me dirty looks as my phone vibrated for a third time. Then they saw who exactly was disrupting their quiet and their expressions went from annoyed to meek real quick.

Really? Can I come?

I packed up my belongings and left the room.
Nope. Vampires only.

My phone buzzed.
That’s kinky.

Just stop,
I wrote back.

You started it.

Talk to you later.
I should’ve told him right then and there that I was serious about the vampire part of my message. Andre and I would be investigating the crimes tonight.

I knew when Caleb found out he’d be hurt and pissed, both because I was working on the investigation without him and because I was working on it with Andre, the man who left him for dead. He didn’t yet know that the Politia had asked me to reconnect with Andre, and more importantly, he didn’t know Andre and I were soulmates. But once he did, things were bound to get stickier between us.

I was postponing the inevitable by not telling him, but hell, I needed a momentary break from drama. My life already had too much of it.

***

An hour after the sun had set, I felt the first thrum of energy. I glanced out my window. A black sports car entered Peel campus.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Leanne said, not bothering to look away from her homework.

I should’ve known that my roommate foresaw my evening. “Is there something I should be worried about?”

The hand that held her pen shook. “Not if you’re careful.”

Unease coiled at the pit of my stomach. I opened my mouth to ask her what she’d seen when she cut me off. “Gabrielle, I’ve foreseen a lot of strange things concerning you, most of which have not come to pass. You’ve outwitted fate over and over again.”

I’ve been outwitting fate?
Considering that fate was actually three women, I wondered just which one of them I was outsmarting. I really hoped I wasn’t pissing her off. Having a fate angry with you was probably a dangerous thing.

“Just be your normal, pragmatic self, and everything will be alright,” Leanne said. “That I have foreseen.” I could tell by the clip of her voice that was all she was going to tell me.

I cocked my head, my eyes lingering on her as she continued to work on homework. I thought my roommate was an open book, but Leanne’s cryptic warning made me think that she hid a lot of herself from everyone around her, including me.

If I could’ve guessed, I’d say that Leanne knew more about my future than she was letting on, and it was probably for my benefit.

But the only reason I wouldn’t tell a friend about their future was if it was bad.

I swallowed. She had told me about foreseeing my death. If she was willing to tell me that, then what premonitions were too horrible to speak of?

***

I exited my building. Outside, Andre leaned against his sports car, clad in a black T-shirt that clung to his muscular torso and sculpted arms, and pants that fit him in all the right areas. The outfit was more casual than Andre’s usual
—
and lighter than what the weather called for
—
but I wasn’t complaining.

Behind him, a cluster of students took pictures of him as they passed on their way to the castle.

I was sure he was aware of the attention, but he acted as though he wasn’t.

“Miss me?” he asked.

“You’re delusional.” I smiled as I said it.

He pushed off the wall and sauntered to me. When he reached me, he ran a hand across my cheek and behind my head. He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. I wanted to resist him
—
I’d spent a whole two months doing just that
—
but I was so tired of trying to deny this.

Instinctively I closed my eyes, and behind them I saw a flash of red as someone took a photo.

So much for holding off telling Caleb about Andre and I. Tonight those photos would hit the Internet and he’d find out. At the back of my mind I wondered what kind of awful person didn’t care about another’s feelings. Because right now, with Andre’s lips warm on mine, I felt no guilt for the choices I’d made.

Andre pulled away. “Ready?”

I nodded.

We’d drawn the attention of a small crowd. They hung off to the sides, far enough away to indicate that they thought we were dangerous. The girl becoming a vampire, and the king of them.

I got in the car. “Where to?”

Andre revved the engine and peeled out, probably just to give our onlookers a show.

His gaze flicked to me. “The scene of the first crime, Glen Maye.”

***

The ride to Glen Maye was a short one. Now I understood why a Peel student would come here; it was so close. We got out of the car and began trekking through the glen.

A little ways in we saw the taped off area. Andre and I stepped over it. “The body was found over there.” Andre pointed to an area near a large boulder. “When they found her, her legs pointed to our left and her arms were spread out at her sides.”

I moved over to where her body had been found and looked around. One particular patch of the glen was greener than the others. According to Andre it was what her legs pointed away from.

“Why is that area greener?” I asked Andre.

He followed my line of sight. “That’s near the entrance to the Otherworld. Around this particular entrance you can find rare and powerful plants. That’s why witches and others come here. Here they can find ingredients for heightening their abilities or performing spells.”

“Huh.” I mulled over why a serial killer would position his or her victim away from this entrance.

“Gabrielle?”

“Yeah?” I said, distracted.

“We need to go.” Andre’s voice had an edge to it.

I glanced at him. “Now,” he emphasized.

I paused, only for a second of a second. But long enough to realize what had startled him. Nothing moved, no creature made a sound
—
not even the ethereal music I’d heard last time I was here. Animals hid from vampires, but they didn’t disappear. Here, right now in Glen Maye, the animals were gone.

And we hadn’t scared them off.

Knowing Andre would follow, I bolted. Andre fell in step behind me. The trees and plants blurred as we ran. Next to me, I thought I heard the snap of a branch and the hint of a whisper.
Just my imagination.

Around us the trees rustled violently, though the night wasn’t windy.

Getting to the car took less than thirty seconds. I snapped on my seatbelt and Andre cranked the ignition. The car roared to life and Andre floored the gas pedal.

The car shot off like a rocket, and then Glen Maye was just a strange and disturbing memory.

***

“What was that?” I asked Andre, looking through the car’s side mirrors even though we were far away from the crime scene.

“Nothing holy.”

I remembered Leanne’s warning from earlier in the day. “What would’ve happened if we’d lingered?”

He shook his head. “I have no idea.” Then he fell silent. Just like Leanne, he wasn’t going to say more.

I exhaled. I couldn’t tell if he was also withholding information from me, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to figure this one out on my own.

***

We pulled up to the entrance of Douglas Cemetery and Andre cut the engine.

“Do I have to go in?” I asked.

Andre took my hand. “I swear on my life I will let nothing happen to you,” he said, his eyes moving between mine.

I was sort of hoping to stay in the car, but it was the next best thing. “I appreciate it,” I said.

We got out of the car. I approached the wrought iron gates that loomed ahead of us. “Uh, Andre, they’re locked.”

As he passed me, he glanced over. “You haven’t done this much, have you?”

“What are you
—
” Andre yanked apart the metal chain that was wrapped around the middle of the gate
with his bare hands
.

He pushed it open. “Ladies first.”

“How chivalrous of you,” I said, passing through the entrance. Only then did I realize that I was standing in a graveyard, the land of the dead.

Andre closed the gates behind us and came up to me, twining his fingers through mine. Two months ago I would’ve had a major problem with this, but right now I really appreciated the physical reassurance that he was next to me.

In front of us the gravestones were old and weather beaten, and they stuck out of the ground like crooked teeth. Crows perched on top of several of them and in the nearby trees. They cawed, making my skin crawl.

I was so getting cremated when I died.

He tugged on my hand and I followed his lead. “So,” I said, “you were also called in to view this body?”

He made an agreeing noise in the back of his throat. “I’m always called in when a crime appears to involve a vampire.”

I studied his profile as we wound our way through the graves. He looked like a dark, avenging angel.
My
dark, avenging angel, according to a childhood prophecy.

He caught my eye and gazed down at me. A sly smile spread across his face. “Enjoying the view?” he asked.

I was. Quite a bit, which was making it hard to concentrate.

I shrugged. “It’s decent.” I had only just uttered the words when we heard laughter.

My first thought was that it was man in the suit. I hadn’t seen him since the Autumn Ball, so I was about due a visit. But as our eyes roved the cemetery, it was clear that no one was here.

Andre’s grip on my hand tightened. “There it is.” Two our left I could see the crime scene tape. I could also smell traces of blood and other bodily fluids, and beneath that, the smell of the long dead. A headstone whose top was shaped like a three-leaf clover had maroon stains sprayed across it.

I made a face and crouched down. “Did the second victim die here?” I asked, placing a hand on the top of the clover-shaped gravestone.

“Yes, but the killer laid the body out over here.” Andre walked a few paces away from me, and I followed him. The space was just big enough to arrange a full grown man in the shape of a star.

Was the killer a religious fanatic? It seemed strange that the first body would emulate a Christian sign in an area that drew mostly non-Christian believers, and that in a graveyard filled with crosses and angels, a second body would replicate a pagan symbol.

As my eyes roved over the scene, a soft wind tickled my face.
The devil’s consort,
a voice whispered.

My gaze snapped to Andre. Unlike all those encounters with the man in the suit, Andre’s narrowed gaze and coiled muscles indicated that he too had heard this voice. Worse, he was staring at something behind me and to my left.

I spun around and searched the dark cemetery. I didn’t see anything. However, some unconscious part of me must’ve known that there was something in the darkness that watched me because the hair along my arms stood on end.

“Gabrielle, move slowly towards me,” Andre said.

“
Slowly
?” I said, still searching the darkness. “If I move, I’m sprinting out of here. There is no such thing as moving slowly.”

“That’s fine. Just move. I’ll follow.” He didn’t need to tell me twice. Just like in Glen Maye, I ran like my life depended on it
—
and it just might’ve.

Unlike Glen Maye, this time we didn’t have far to run.

A voice sang next to me,
Consort, consort, consort.