"Rylan, could you -"
"No problem. Ruby, Mr De Luca." He acknowledged us with a nod of his head and left.
"Eli, are you okay?"
Something didn"t feel right in my stomach; If Eli had run to find me, it had to be serious. I gestured for him to sit down next to me and he did.
"It"s the higher power."
I gripped Eli"s arm. Please, no. I didn"t want them to take him away again.
"Mr Aleksandrov received a phone call, the higher power is coming to Sage. He"ll be here by nightfall and he wants to meet with you."
My stomach sank; it was a feeling I had become terribly familiar with in the last year or so. I exhaled and fought back the urge to break down into a panicking cry.
"Wh- what? Why?"
Eli"s face reflected the my horror.
"I don"t know, but I know it"s about us. I thought I threw his suspicions off, but I mustn"t have. Ruby, I need you to tell him everything I did to you when he asks. Don"t protect me; it"ll be worse for you. You have to tell him I took advantage of you."
"No, I won"t."
"Don"t be stupid!" Eli snapped.
I flinched at his words, he exhaled and his urgently calm facade returned.
"Please, Ruby; I need you to do this. If you don"t, his minions will take whatever he wants by force. I"ve seen it, and believe me, it"s something you don"t want."
I thought long and hard about his words. There was no way I was going to throw Eli in the deep end to save myself. It wasn"t his fault we ended up like this, it was mine.
I nodded in agreement to make him happy, but I wasn"t going to follow through with it. There was no way.
The Higher Power.
Night was approaching quickly and Mila was pacing our room nervously.
"What if it"s because he knows you"re trying to help me and Gabriel?"
"I doubt it."
She collapsed on the bed in defeat and looked down at me. I was lying on my back on the floor. The fluffy purple rug was ridiculously comfy, it made me feel safe. The fan pushed a warm breeze around the room, cooling my burning skin.
"What if -"
"Mila, stop stressing yourself out, it"s making me more nauseous. I"m sure it"s nothing, or at least it has nothing to do with you. Relax."
My tone was a little harsh, I suppose. I didn"t mean to be frustrated with her, but I was trying to control my thoughts and emotions. If the higher power started questioning me, the last thing I needed was for my emotions to work against me.
"I can"t relax. The higher power doesn"t just leave his secret hiding place to visit a random school in the middle of nowhere. Something is wrong."
I closed my eyes as I felt my nerves twisting around my stomach and making their way up my throat. My muscles tensed as I tried to swallow my throat-burning anxiety.
"Ruby, look!" Mila whispered urgently.
I opened my eyes. All around me, tiny b.a.l.l.s of water from Mila"s gla.s.s of water floated above me. All the anger, nervousness, and love I had felt the last few months were sucked out of me and replaced with awe and pride. Finally, I had managed to conjure water b.a.l.l.s. They were small, but I still did it.
I sat up abruptly to get a closer look; my thoughts were interrupted and the little b.a.l.l.s of water fell onto me. My skin and clothes quickly absorbed them. I felt a proud smile spread across my face.
"Let"s try again."
I stood up, grabbed Mila"s cup and ran to the bathroom. The cold clear water gushed into the cup and I grew more and more excited. It took my mind off the whole higher power thing.
When I entered the room, Mila had laid a waterproof table cloth on the fluffy rug to protect it from getting too wet. I glanced out the window. Only a portion of the sun was visible over the horizon. I didn"t know what was going to happen to me later, but for now I was content.
I raised my hand above the cup and thought about a calming, deep blue ocean and palm trees. A beach with no waves was a perfect beach.
I opened my eyes slowly, and underneath my hand floated a clear ball. I kept the calm, watery thoughts in my mind. I wanted to stare at it for as long as I could. I was doing it. The water ball collapsed with a splash over the cup, wetting our legs.
I repeated it again and again, each time needing less and less concentration.
I swept my eyes from the cup to the window; there was no light now, unless I counted the light from the foggy light posts outside. Mila let out a small squeal as a knock thundered on the door.
I stood up, straightening my track suit and tightening my ponytail.
"I"ll be back soon."
"Ruby?" Mila mumbled.
I turned to face her and she leapt at me, pulling me into a tight embrace. Jeez, anyone would think she thought she"d never see me again.
I opened the door and met Eli"s face on the other side. His full lips were pursed into a straight line and his beautiful green eyes burnt into mine. He was wearing his guardian get-up, the big combat boots, and the baggy black cargo pants that were tucked into his shoes. The tight black t-shirt he was wearing was tucked into his pants, making it tight around his upper body, leaving nothing to the imagination. I swooned over every line of his muscle remembering last night, when he held it against me. I dropped my eyes to the floor rapidly, trying to keep my composure. I needed to act and believe it never happened. It was the only way to save our lives, if it came to that point.
"Let"s go, Ruby," said Mr Aleksandrov, who was also standing in the hallway.
I stepped out into the corridor. The door to my room creaked loudly as I closed it. I couldn"t help but imagine being locked in a cell, big cast iron doors being slammed behind me as I rocked myself helplessly in the corner. The thought must have stopped me in my tracks because Eli and Mr Aleksandrov"s expressions reflected my worry.
"It will be okay," Mr Aleksandrov a.s.sured me. "You"re a student of Sage Sanctum, my school. I won"t let any harm come to you."
It meant a lot to hear Mr Aleksandrov say that. I had thought he didn"t actually care.
"Thank you," I mumbled.
Gra.s.s cracked and rustled under my feet. He approached the border of the school. The ten foot stone wall surrounding the campus had a small cast iron gate in the middle of it. Mr Aleksandrov pulled a long stick from his robe, it was a wand. Mr Aleksandrov said he was a wizard, I thought it meant he could do spells and charms. I had no idea he could wield a wand. He whispered and flicked the wand slightly at the gate"s lock. The gate creaked open. Despite my nerves, I smiled, amazed by the world I was involved in. It was a dangerous and overwhelming world, but it was filled with so much opportunity for adventure and beauty.
"Where are we going?" I asked when the three of us were on the other side of the gate.
The trees were cloaked in shadows and they creaked slightly above us. I wrapped my arms around myself, hoping it would tone down the scariness of the bushes. It did help a little.
The trees" thick bases and low hanging branches made me feel claustrophobic. All of these were scary, but the one thing that made it absolutely frightening was the silence. The sounds of any other living creatures were absent.
"In the middle is a clearing, he has set up camp there," Mr Aleksandrov replied, pulling me from focusing on my fears of the bush.
"But that"s outside of the protection charm."
"He didn"t want to share accommodation with students or our faculty members. The higher power is a very strong man, capable of fighting off a bunch of vampires without breaking a sweat," Mr Aleksandrov explained.
"Have you ever met him?"
"Yes. Once, and it"s not something I want to repeat."
"He usually sends his minions to do things for him. You might not even see him. I didn"t," Eli added.
I felt a little better, it would be less intimidating if I was lying to a bunch of lowly servants than to the ruler of our kind himself.
We pushed through the bush unflinchingly as spider webs broke over our skin. It bothered me slightly, but in the scheme of things, being bitten by a spider and pa.s.sing out or dying seems a lot less stressful then having my brain pried through or put under a spell which exposes all my deepest secrets.
When we reached the clearing, I couldn"t believe it. Right in the middle was a giant tent; it was at least two stories high and the same length wide. If I had a portable tent of this scale, I would have stayed in it, too, instead of being cramped up in a high school filled with smelly boys and high-pitched girls.
"This is Aalin. She"s here."
I jumped and turned around; I felt Eli"s hand rest on my shoulder, easing my racing heart. Before us stood three very tall men with sniper rifles and night vision goggles. They wore a hard-out stealth army outfit. Every inch of their body was covered, not one section of skin was exposed to the cool night air.
"Send her in." A woman"s voice came through the walkie talkie that was strapped to Aalin"s chest.
The stealth guys grabbed me, forcing me to stand between them.
"You aren"t coming?" I asked both Mr Aleksandrov and Eli.
"Ruby, we -"
"The higher power has requested only you, Ruby Moore," the anonymous middle guy said.
They pushed past Eli and Mr Aleksandrov, pulling me closer and closer to the tent. I couldn"t help but look back at them as they stood watching, Eli"s eyes burning fiercely into mine. I think he had a plan if things went south for me. At least, I hope he does.
The inside of the tent wasn"t a tent at all. I was in a brightly lit, undistinguished room. It was like a normal open living house. The floor was hard and a deep crimson color. It was warmer in here, for which I was grateful. The walls were off-white and st.u.r.dy; there were no windows or any gap for air or light to flow through, but regardless of its set up, it still had that "tent" smell. I stood in the main room; it wasn"t much different than an actual living room and my eyes met the curious gazes of several people. The low discussions that filled the room when I entered were gone. My stomach dropped down into my intestines, sending my heart up into my throat. I wasn"t surrounded by G.o.ds, G.o.ddesses, or guardian angels. I was surrounded by vampires.
My stomach turned to ice and a cold sweat began to form on my forehead. I tried hard to swallow the panic rising rapidly in my throat. Vampires can smell fear; they know when your heartbeat increases, I know because I"ve experienced it. It explained why they were staring at me, amused and hungry. A woman sitting to the left of me rose from her chair and approached the guard that escorted me in.
"Thank you, Aalin," she whispered seductively, running a long, pointy index finger along his chin.
He nodded and exited the tent, leaving me alone with the vampires. The woman slowly walked towards me, her long pale legs stretching out from underneath her dress. I bit the inside of my lip in hopes of calming my nerves.
What was going on? Had vampires taken over? I shuddered at the thought of them killing the higher power. Mr Aleksandrov said he was strong enough to take on loads of vampires, maybe it was merely talk.
"Aren"t you just delectable?" she growled, licking her lips. Her fangs clicked out. I shut my eyes as images of myself as a vampire filled my brain. I ran my tongue along my teeth to rea.s.sure myself they were, in fact, gone. She ran her long nailed finger against the skin on the back of my neck and I clenched my jaw as an ice cold trail followed her touch.
"Don"t touch me," I snapped. I couldn"t help it, the words leapt out of my mouth before I had the chance to fight them. There was a ghost of a smile on her lips and her eyes were alight with humor, as if she was enjoying some kind of private joke.
"But we"re sisters." A slight Russian accent laced her words.
My heartbeat accelerated, it drew her eyes to my chest and she smirked.
"Stop teasing the girl, Ludiia," a man snarled as he entered from a side flap in the wall.
Ludiia strolled back to her seat, but my heart rate didn"t ease off. The man was very old, older than Ivan Aleksandrov, but his hair was cut just above his ears and no beard occupied his face. The only connection between the strange vampire and Aleksandrov was that the vampire wore a long, pitch black robe that rustled as it dragged along the floor.
"Why"d you bringing her here, Lucian? Exposing yourself puts everything you"ve worked for at risk."
I should have guessed the strange man would have a strange name. Lucian shot the random vampire a threatening glare and the vampire slunk back into his seat.
"So, you are Ruby Moore?" His attention returned to me.
"I thought I was meeting with my people?" I asked, forcing confidence into my tone hoping that it would, in turn, make me confident. No such luck.
"We are your people." Lucian chuckled, his deep coal eyes pierced mine.
"No. My people help the world, not destroy it."
The room erupted in laughter, but I didn"t take my eyes off Lucian. I wanted to. I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut and wait for someone to save me but I couldn"t. I needed them to think I wasn"t afraid.
"I can see why the guardian angel is so captivated by you." He approached me and circled me slowly. "Absolutely stunning."
He twirled my ponytail around his finger and I shivered at the thought of him being so close to me.
"Where is the higher power?"
"Oh my dear," he said, coming face to face with me. "I"m right here."
No. It couldn"t be. The higher power was supposed to be a G.o.d. He was supposed to be on our side, not theirs. Everything was in fast-forward and I was motionless in the middle of it all. How could this happen?
"I- I don"t believe you," I stammered.
"Not many people do." He sighed. He clicked his fingers and a vampire handed him a manila folder. Lucian clicked his tongue against his teeth as if in thought. "Here are a few reports that were made against you, Miss Moore." He cleared his throat and opened the envelope. "It seems a few of your peers have a problem with you."
"So I recently discovered." Although I had no idea there was a few. Lucian glanced at me in amus.e.m.e.nt.
"You got into a fight with a G.o.ddess, ran away from school, hunted a vampire, which cost the lives of three guardian angels -" He paused and smiled a fang-filled smile. "And then there is the issue of Eli De Luca, your guardian angel."
"Ex-guardian angel," I corrected bitterly.
"Oh yes. I ended that, didn"t I?" An icy chuckle seeped through his lips, causing my skin to erupt into gooseb.u.mps. My fists curled into b.a.l.l.s at my side as I remembered the morning my tattoo washed off like dirt.
"Protocol. Sorry." Lucian"s grin widened and his eyes held a devious gleam. "Ah, speak of the devil."