The Scent (The Bryn and Sinjin Series Book 2) (7 page)

Are you ready?
I asked, refusing to indulge in her sorrow. I had a mission to accomplish; and if I was good at anything, it was fulfilling my missions.

Jolie simply nodded as I knelt down in front of her and reached for her hands. I gripped both of them and closed my eyes. I imagined myself absorbing her essence while surrendering mine to her. A hum of electricity started in my fingers as soon as we made contact. It traveled up my arms and throughout my body until I was buzzing with Jolie’s and my combined power. Even though she was in a weakened state, I could still feel strength pulsating through her. When paired with my own powers, our combined strength seemed to grow exponentially.

Now focus!
I instructed her.

I imagined a mirror standing in front of me with Jolie’s reflection looking back at me. Squeezing my eyes shut tightly, I imagined my sister’s reflection changing and morphing into mine. I opened my eyes and watched her platinum blond hair darken into a shade of honey brown, and grow longer until it cascaded around her elbows in straight tresses. Her cornflower-blue eyes lightened slightly, but her eyebrows darkened and arched until they resembled mine. The fullness in her cheeks grew hollower, and her fair skin yielded to a light tan. The pink blanket that previously covered her disappeared, along with her baby. After another second, I was facing myself.

It was just as though I were looking at my own reflection. Even though I was really looking at Jolie, she was now dressed in the same champagne-colored, fitted satin gown I had been wearing. Glancing down at myself, I found my precious niece bundled in my arms, her little, pink blanket surrounding us both.

It worked,
I said to Jolie with a smile as I felt a surge of gratitude flow through me.

Thank you,
she answered, but I could see regret and sorrow behind her eyes.

Don’t thank me. I’m only doing what has to be done. It’s the right thing to do—and the only thing to do.
Jolie opened her mouth as if she were going to say something more, but I immediately shook my head.
Don’t say anything,
I warned her,
our voices are still our own.

Understood,
she finished in thought before nodding at me.

“We can do this the easy way or we can do it the hard way.” Luce’s voice startled me as he suddenly materialized directly in front of us, as if the air had just spat him out. His back was to us, his long white hair looking like a rope as it cascaded down his back. He stood between us and Sinjin and faced the vampire. I craned my head to see if any of our tribe had accompanied Luce, and was surprised to find they hadn’t. I had to wonder if that meant the rest of my tribe was still at Kinloch Kirk, fighting Jolie’s people.

“If you think I will willingly allow you to leave here with either the queen or the princess, then I am afraid you are sadly mistaken,” Sinjin threatened him in a tone that forbade any argument.

“I am only interested in the queen,” Luce answered. Glancing back at us, he spared me (aka Jolie) a brief look before his eyes fell on the baby. “And her offspring.” He returned his attention to Jolie, all the while thinking she was I. “Come, Bryn,” he said, and I felt myself beaming on the inside because we’d obviously fooled him.

Of course, Jolie didn’t get up—but that was mainly because she couldn’t. Luce glared at her for another few seconds, all the while believing she was me. “Very well, you have clearly shown where your loyalties lie.”

When he took another step toward us, Sinjin leapt forward, his fangs clearly displayed and extremely threatening, to say the least. Luce simply turned around to face Sinjin. Then he held his palm out toward the vampire, keeping his lips tight. Even though I couldn’t see anything stemming off or out of Luce’s hand, Sinjin suddenly flew through the air, as if he’d just been rammed by an invisible Mack truck. His back hit the wall of the cave with a huge thud, and he immediately righted himself to avoid falling flat on his face. A heartbeat later, Sinjin disappeared into the air, no doubt ready to materialize right on top of Luce. But Luce immediately turned toward us and reached out for me, thinking I was Jolie. Once he touched me, I felt the intensity of his power filling me but I couldn’t say I cared. He’d fallen for my trick just like I’d hoped he would.

And for that, I was happy.

***

Luce had made the choice that I knew he would. He’d chosen my sister and he’d left me. I’d always had an inkling that Luce believed Jolie was superior to me in every possible way, although he’d never dared to admit as much. But now, seeing the truth in his thoughts confused me as much as it upset me. Part of me realized that the time for blindly believing in Luce was long past, but it was also incredibly difficult to shake the ties that bound me to him. I was both hurt that he’d chosen my sister at the same time that I was furious.

Of one thing I could take encouragement from was that Jolie and my niece were safe. My plan had worked and that reality made me beam inside. I had no idea what punishment awaited me once Luce realized his mistake, but I also didn’t care. I’d protected the two people in the world who were the closest to me, and whom, I could honestly say, I loved above all others. As far as I was concerned, nothing else mattered.

“I thought I could trust you, Bryn,” Luce said as he headed for the front door to one of the empty dormitories on our base camp. This training facility, which happened to be our largest, was located in Montana, hidden amongst a dense forest with no roads to recommend it. And apparently I would now find myself prisoner in the empty dorm. Who knew for how long?

Although we affectionately referred to the empty barracks as guesthouses, they really weren’t any different from the long-term housing provided to our tribe members. Yep, it was just another white, nondescript building like all the others I’d come to know so well over the years. Funny how it now seemed so alien to me. After living at Kinloch Kirk amidst beautiful architecture and elegant furnishings, the minimalist jail I now found myself in paled in comparison.

“I thought I could trust you, but the joke was obviously on me,” Luce continued.

“I guess in the end, blood really is thicker than water,” I answered with no amount of apology. I could only look at Luce so long before I felt nauseous. Instead, I stared at the white walls of my newest abode, and the dark brown carpeting and light brown linoleum of the kitchen and entryway. All the furniture was a lackluster, off-white. Included were two sofas, a coffee table, and a kitchen table with two matching chairs. I could only yearn for my little room at Kinloch Kirk. Not only was it comfortable and sunny, there was something pleasant about knowing that Sinjin could always be found in the room right next to mine.

An image of the debonair vampire suddenly flashed into my mind. I could almost see his boyishly bold grin that made his crystal blue eyes seem to laugh. And the way his black hair sometimes appeared blue, depending on the light. I also remembered the clean scent of his skin, and the luscious feeling of his plump lips when he dared to steal a kiss or two. Not that he ever really had to steal anything from me—I was always a willing donor. Lost in my fond memories, my shoulders sagged as I suddenly worried that I’d never see him again. I wasn’t sure how it could have happened, owing to our tempestuous relationship, but somehow, I’d grown inordinately attached to the frustrating man over the past several months.

“I always imagined you were stronger than this! And better than this,” Luce said after a lengthy pause. He still refused to look at me. His expression hadn’t changed from the moment we appeared in the dorm room and I allowed my disguise to melt away until all that was left was Bryn, the real me. His expression had been blank and remained so now. “I did not ever foresee you mutineering and betraying me.”

Gulping down the acid that climbed up my throat, I didn’t know what to say or think. Even though I loved my sister, and now felt completely okay to admit it, mostly to myself, I did
not
consider myself to be one of her people; although I couldn’t say that I still felt like one of my own either … not anymore. Now, I didn’t know where I stood. “You were a fool to think that I could have ever betrayed my sister, my own flesh and blood.”

“Your sister is not your family!” Luce roared at me, his face scrunched into an angry mask. He physically looked like a very old man with a long white beard and even longer white hair. I knew he was old, but I was never really sure how ancient he actually was.

Legend claimed he was one of the original Elementals who came into existence during the massacre at Gratz, Austria, centuries ago. According to the story, some regular humans came across a band of witches and vampires in the woods. After acting as their prey, some of the humans ingested the witches’ and vampires’ blood, resulting in Elementals and Daywalkers. Luce was purportedly among that original group of humans, but I always reserved some doubt where that story was concerned, although I wasn’t sure why.

“Then I suppose you’re going to tell me you’re my family?” I spat out with a frown, clearly conveying that I didn’t feel the same way.

“We
were
your family,” Luce replied before piercing me with a narrow gaze. “But family does not backstab one another. Family defends one another. Family doesn’t do what you did.”

“You never were my family,” I argued, surprised at the magnitude of my own brashness. “If you were, you never would have left me for so long, surrounded by my enemies without any word, or assistance, nothing.”

“You were deliberately placed in the queen’s lodgings as a decoy. You knew that then; and you know that still,” he rallied without a pause.

“There’s more to it than that,” I seethed. “When you saw Jolie and me in the cave, you realized you couldn’t take us both. So you went after her and abandoned me to my fate,” I finished angrily. “So much for your familial ties.”

“You would do well not to remind me about family ties,” he said with a scowl. “And as to why I opted to bring your sister, or whom I thought was your sister, rather than you back with me, I should think the answer would be quite obvious.”

“Because you believe Jolie is stronger than I am,” I said. “You believe she is more powerful.”

“There is nothing for me to believe,” he responded matter-of-factly. His bushy white eyebrows reached for the ceiling. “Your sister is and always has been the stronger of you both. You, my dear, are unfortunately the weaker link.” Swallowing hard, I didn’t say anything. Instead, I allowed Luce to continue tearing me down because that was exactly what I needed. I needed to hear what he truly thought of me. I needed to allow him to break me, piece by piece so I would never, ever trust him again. I needed to see Luce for the lowly bastard he was to ensure that I no longer had any confusion regarding my loyalties.

“Nice to know what you think of me,” I answered, my tone of voice even.

“When you were both infants, Jolie was the one I always wanted,” Luce continued. “It was my own rotten luck that we ended up with you instead.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I refused to grant them any release. I had always thought of Luce as a father figure, since he was the only male role model I’d ever known. My parents had both died before I was old enough to remember them, and the only family I’d had was Luce and the members of my tribe. But now I didn’t think of him as anything other than an angry and embittered old man who was so set on revenge against my sister’s people that he couldn’t even think straight. “So what now?” I demanded.

“I have not yet decided what to do with you,” Luce answered before taking the three steps that separated him from the door. He put his hand on the knob and gazed down at it in what appeared to be thoughtful repose. He paused for another few seconds before turning again to face me. “As of now, I consider you a threat to your own people.”

“You aren’t my people!” I spat back, a raging fire in my tone. “And you never were.”

Nodding, he didn’t seem upset. Instead, he was almost detached, like he was just observing me without any emotional attachment to me whatsoever. And that was probably the truth. “The damage runs deep,” he said indifferently. “You have been brainwashed to believe your sister’s lies, brainwashed to believe that we are your enemies.” Then he shook his head. “I imagined you were much stronger, Bryn, that you would not have fallen for such an obvious ploy.”

“I haven’t been brainwashed to believe anything,” I railed. “The only thing I learned from my sister is what it means to love someone. And you certainly never taught me that.”

He nodded, obviously finding no argument in my sentiment. “You should know better than to indulge such things. Emotions are dangerous. They should be …”

“Rooted out and destroyed,” I finished by rote.

“At least, you haven’t forgotten some of your training,” he said in an acidic tone. “Unfortunately, you couldn’t follow it.” He rotated the doorknob, but before he stepped outside, I had one last thing to tell him.

“I regret nothing,” I managed to announce in a level, cool tone. Although he didn’t turn back to face me, he did pause at the threshold. “Whatever happens from here, I don’t care,” I continued. “Because in the last six months, I learned how to live. I learned what true love feels like, and how wonderful it is to care about another person. And I have no regrets for that, not for one second.”

“Perhaps you will take comfort in your words in due time,” Luce answered. He closed the door behind him before I could ascertain what his cryptic comment meant.