Ameline must have seen or felt the essence of the vampire wake inside me, because the draw on my power ended abruptly as her eyes flew very wide, mouth hanging open.I have to admit I was more than a little shocked myself to find myself standing suddenly over her, even more that I didn't have anything to do with the movements of my body. I'd had my demon take me over before, but this was different.Very, very different."Listen to me, witch child," the vampire said, reaching out with my hand to touch Ameline's forehead. The moment she did, the mist collapsed, pattering to the floor in a rain of blood, soaking everything. But at least I could breathe.Ameline rocked back on her heels, face slack as the vampire went on."What you are creating, what you seek and desire, can never be. The maji knew it. I was formed in an effort to do what you are attempting. They failed. The greatest powers of their kind failed." She lashed out with white magic, knocking Ameline on her butt in the blo
Mom's face told me everything I needed to know. Sure, she'd been all official and supportive when the Enforcers were around, when the Council demanded an emergency meeting and we were presented as heroes, my friends and me. But now, hours later, in the wee dawn of an approaching new day with no one around to see it, she didn't look happy.Nope. Not happy at all."What were you thinking?" She faced down Uncle Frank first, shaking she was so furious."We did what we had to do," he said."This was none of your business." Mom slashed the air with one hand, face mottled red, shoulders so tight I was worried she might snap in half."Wrong." Sunny stepped forward, cold and beautiful. "This was every bit our business. Those vampires are our responsibility."Mom drew a breath. "Fine, perhaps them." She glared back and forth between them. "But you had no right dragging Syd into this mess with you.""They are here because I asked them to come." I stared her down. Two could play this game.
I took the day off classes, spending it in my room, Charlotte in hers after I begged for some time alone. She seemed to understand and was less protective of me, I suppose because I'd faced down Ameline and won.Mostly.Why did it feel like a hollow victory? Maybe because Ameline was still out there. But, worse than that, my whole life was a mess again. Alison was gone, turned into who knew what, now with the taste for blood driving her. And Quaid... an Enforcer. He'd chosen. I'd driven him away from me and he'd chosen to leave instead of fighting for us.Typical.I felt him on the other side of the door and almost didn't answer when he knocked, but knew I had to face him sometime. His deep brown eyes, so full of understanding and concern, almost did me in when I jerked the door open and caught his gaze."Syd." He lowered his hand from his attempt to knock. "I wanted to check on you. Make sure you were okay."Contrite, wasn't he? Guess the whole looking for trouble thing had fina
I settled into life at school pretty well after that. No more trouble. With no sign of Ameline or Rupe, things stayed that way. Even the Dumont brothers seemed more reserved, subdued, after Mom cleared them of wrongdoing when they claimed they knew nothing of Ameline's involvement in the Star Club.Yeah, right. Still. Seeing them walk around campus with their heads down, expressions nervous did it for me.As for the club itself, Mom saw to it the doors closed forever. When the older members involved were revived, drained of so much power they had to be fed from the Council magic, they didn't put up much of a fight, clearly shaken by their near death experiences. Still, I couldn't help but wonder if they would just trot off and start a new one all over again once the dust had settled.Traditions and all that.Sebastian contacted me the night after the attack to tell me he was in negotiations with Yvette, the queen of the Blood Clan Wilhelm, Sunny's old family. The following night he
Book Ten: First PlaneSnow slid down the back of my jacket, but I didn't care. I was having too much fun swishing my arms and legs back and forth while my little sister, Meira, did the same beside me. The sound of her giggling warmed me up enough the bit of a cold trickle down my neck sneaking past the collar of my coat and knit scarf didn't bother me so much.I squinted up into the bright sunlight as Liam bent over me, mittened hands on his knees, a huge smile on his face. Green glints danced in his hazel eyes, blonde hair sticking out from under his hat.I accepted his hand and let him pull me to my feet, turning to observe my handiwork. A perfectly formed-if I do say so myself-snow angel imprinted the crisp white of the park behind town hall, joined by a second as Liam leaned in sideways and practically scooped Meira up from the ground. The floppy red pom-pom on the top of her multi-colored toque bobbed to one side as she cast a critical eye over what she'd made."Mine's cuter
I grabbed Meira's hand, feeling Charlotte rush forward to my side as I turned to her. "The veil."She nodded quickly and took my other before I pulled open the barrier between planes and rode it home. I loved the freedom of riding the veil between planes, the rubbery surface welcoming me as always. Not only was it fun and exhilarating, it meant we were saved running for five minutes through slush, instead dumped a heartbeat later into our very toasty kitchen and Dad's arms.Not a moment to waste. At least Mom had brought his effigy home with her from Harvard for the holidays instead of leaving him alone there. He used to visit more often, now that he had his new and improved diamond statue to feed him energy. But those frequent trips from Demonicon to us had tapered off again. I could only guess he was busy because of his responsibilities as a Demon Prince of the Second Plane, a promotion he'd acquired since Sassy, my demon cat sans demon boy, almost died to give Dad the power to cro
I have no idea what I was thinking as I finally pulled myself together enough to finish dressing. All I knew was my temper was rising and I needed to vent.How dare Quaid reach for me after all this time, be nice, sweet even, worry about me? Treat me like there might still be something between us, hug me for goodness sakes? Twice? I wanted to be mad, to rage to someone about his absolute arrogance and could only think of one person who would listen to me in this shape.Liam came right to the entry of the cavern as I stormed my way through the shields and he just stood there, his mouth open a little, eyes wide as I dove right into what became a ten-minute rant about Quaid and what a jerk he was."... arrogant, bossy, over bearing, how dare he think he can just contact me and everything's all freaking okay and crap? Because it's not okay, not even a little bit, him and his high and mighty jerkathonabration of three whole months being a total ass not even giving me the time of day, fla
I took the slow way home, choosing to huddle inside my jacket in the dark, the sparkling lights of the corner trees doing little to elevate my mood. I could have simply rode the veil home again, but like my stomping trip to town hall, I needed the drawn-out foot dragging on my way back just as much.My boot caught a clump of snow, now brown from the many car tires splashing old dirt and salt from the roadway to coat the sidewalk in ugly slush. Kind of ruined the pretty, pristine whiteness I loved.No metaphors there or anything.The house was quiet when I walked in, cheeks cold and hands stuffed in my pockets since I'd forgotten my gloves when I stormed out earlier. I still felt Dad downstairs, but knew I'd be spending lots of time with him in the very near future and decided to let Mom have his sole company for the evening.Besides, they didn't need my mood dragging them down.I'd made a promise to myself not to wallow, not to doubt myself anymore, and for the most part I was doi