Fall For Me ((The Tate Chronicles #1)) (24 page)

“Where are we?” Ryan asked.

“The mausoleum,” I said, “at our family cemetery.”

“Where you saw Emma?” he asked.

He
had
been listening when I returned from my walk on Friday night.

The room was home to one solitary resting place. My first father, John William Tate, lay in the centre of the room under a white marble slab, but it wasn’t the time to start reminiscing.

“Please,” I said to Charlotte. “Do something.”

“You know what you’re asking of me, don’t you?”

“Please…” I whispered again.

“What are you expecting her to do? Grace?” I looked at Archer and saw it snap into place in his head. “No Charlotte, don’t.” Archer went to her. “You don’t have to do this.”

With my back against the wall I sank to the floor, sobbing, whispering please over and over again, and pleading with Charlotte to do something.

“I can’t heal him; he’s lost too much blood. It’s all or nothing.”

“I know, Charlotte, just
do
it. Please.”

Ryan looked on in horror. He sat beside me without taking his eyes off Josh. “What is she going to do? Is he going to die?”

Josh’s breathing was shallow, and his skin was ashen grey. He lay on the cold stone floor clinging to the last strands of his life while we all watched.

“He will die if she doesn’t … turn him.”

I wiped my eyes and drew a deep breath. What had I asked her to do?

“What, no!” Ryan said, making to get up.

I pulled him back down and he didn’t struggle, just shook his head as if to say he didn’t want to believe it was all happening. I didn’t want to, either.

Charlotte cradled Josh’s head in her lap then gently picked up his right hand. She extended her fangs and they glistened under the light of the oil lamps. She hesitated, then bit into his wrist and drank what was left of his blood until he was almost dry. Then, using one sharp pointy fang, she slit her own wrist and let her blood run into his mouth.

Streams of blood coursed from Charlotte’s eyes, staining her cheeks. The enormity of what I had asked her to do hit me smack in the face. She’d never been a creator before, and she’d never tasted human blood. Charlotte once told me she swore she would never inflict this life upon anyone, and here she was, breaking her own promise. Uncontrollable sobbing wracked my body. I knew my brother was torn between comforting Charlotte or me. In the end, Archer came to my side and held me tight, while Ryan slipped his hand into mine.

Charlotte gently laid Josh’s head on the ground. She removed his stake belt and tried to make him as comfortable as possible on the stone floor. When she was satisfied, she scooted back to the wall, wrapped her arms around herself and began to rock. Across the dim room our eyes met briefly, and again I saw the locked box inside her mind. Whatever it was, she was desperately trying to keep it hidden. I knew she felt completely alone with us on one side of the room, and her on the other, but I knew Archer would always choose me.

Charlotte stared at Josh with sad eyes. “Now, all we can do is
wait
,” she said.

GRACE

Early Sunday Morning

N
one of us knew what was happening back at the shed and I hoped everyone was alright. Josh definitely wasn’t. His body was covered with a film of sweat, and every now and then he cried out in pain. It was heart breaking to watch. I tried to listen to what he was thinking but there were no coherent thoughts, just blackness.

Charlotte wasn’t sure how long the change would take. She couldn’t remember most of hers and had never seen one happen. She flinched each time Josh made the slightest movement. We’d made him as comfortable as possible on the hard floor.

Archer and I hadn’t set foot in the mausoleum for a long time, so everything was coated in a thick film of dirt. Light seeped through the narrow windows which meant we’d been watching Josh half the night.

“I have to get out of here,” I mumbled. My butt was numb and cold.

“Where are you going?” Archer jumped up. “You can’t leave now.”

Someone called my name and I held my hand up to silence Archer. No one had spoken out loud so I strained to listen, hoping it was Josh, but the voice had gone. Frustrated, I rubbed my face and sighed.

“Someone has to find out what’s going on. Cain is still out there with Charlotte’s blood.” I also wanted to know if Seth was ok, and before I could stop the thought, Archer heard it.

His brow furrowed. “I’m coming with you,” he said.

The room was silent except for Josh’s shallow breathing, if that’s what he was still doing. I knew Archer wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“Fine,” I said. “Just don’t slow me down.”

Charlotte and Ryan stayed with Josh. He would need someone when he came round and I had a feeling he wouldn’t want it to be me. If he was angry, Ryan was probably our best chance at calming him down.

Archer followed me out the wooden door and into the cemetery. Walking back to the shed was not an option; it would take too long, so I grabbed Archer’s hand and misted us into the dining room of the cottage. I went to the kitchen and splashed some water on my face, wishing I had time for a shower, but there were more pressing issues to deal with.

The clearing was covered in dew. It reflected the early morning sunlight making the grass sparkle like diamonds. It would have been magical if it wasn’t littered with cans, rubbish, and overturned chairs. But I liked the eerie silence, and if the knowledge of death, changing vampires and betrayal wasn’t hanging over my head, I may have actually enjoyed it.

Archer walked silently beside me to the shed while I tried to figure out what to do next. Seth’s wellbeing concerned me because I needed him if we had any chance of getting to Angelica. Caught up in my own thoughts, I didn’t feel Archer sneak into my head again.

“Why are you so worried about Seth?” Archer asked when we reached the shed door.

“In case you didn’t notice, he helped us last night.”

“That doesn’t mean he will again, and it doesn’t erase the past.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I mumbled.

“What is going on between you two, Grace?”

That was a question I couldn’t answer. Archer blocked the door and waited for my reply, but I didn’t have one. Seth was complicated, the whole damn mess was complicated, and I had to focus on getting Angelica and Annie’s rings. Or finding another way to stop them, because I didn’t think they would give up in a hurry.

I pushed passed my brother, and I knew Seth was inside the shed before my hand even touched the door handle. When he got up from the couch, Archer moved in front of me. I could see the hatred dripping off him.

“Would you quit it,” I said, pushing him out of the way. “And what is it with you two trying to protect me? I can look after myself.”

He scowled and retreated to the kitchen table, shouldering Seth on the way past.

“Watch it, Tate,” Seth said. “I could kill you with a flick of my wrist.”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” I walked over to Seth and he sat down again. “Are you ok?” I touched a cut near his eye that was weeping. “They must have got you good if it hasn’t healed yet.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing,” he said, taking my hand and pulling it away from his face. He didn’t let it go; instead, he turned it over and traced the lines of my palm. If someone had asked me a few days ago if Seth was capable of doing something so gentle, I would have laughed in their face. He raised his eyes to mine. “Are
you
ok, Grace? Is Josh…?”

I drew a deep breath, willing myself not to cry. I’d done enough crying in the past week to last myself a thousand lifetimes. The weight of Seth’s hand around mine suddenly felt awkward and I pulled away, instantly regretting it. Why did it feel wrong when he touched me, but when he didn’t it was all I could think about?

“I’ve been better,” I managed to reply. “Josh is…”
changing.
I finished the sentence silently. I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. Seth’s body stiffened and he moved away a little. I knew what he was thinking because we both had our mental guards down. Seth had been comforted by the fact we had forever. He could spend years trying to win me over. Josh should have been dead in sixty years or so if he lived out his natural existence, but the bar had just been raised.

“You know, thinking like that is not going to make me like you,” I said.

“What will make you like me?”

He brushed my cheek with his fingers. I really wished he’d stop doing that, it made my head go cloudy.

Archer cleared his throat loudly and brought me back to the present. “Are we going to sit here discussing your relationship, or are we going after this bi…”

“Archer!” I said.

He slid his chair back from the table and it made a horrible squealing sound on the concrete floor.

“I vote for the latter,” Seth grumbled, running his hands through his hair and standing.

“Do we have a plan?” Archer said.

“You could try to hide your sarcasm, you know.”

“I wouldn’t have to if you weren’t fraternising with the enemy, Grace.”

The tension hung in the air as the three of us stared each other down.

Slowly, and trying to hold his composure, Archer said, “I know you two have history, but come on, it’s
Seth.
He’s…”

“Standing right here ready to help us.”

The boys glared at one another, and I swear steam was coming from Archer’s ears. I threw my hands in the air in exasperation.

“Can you stop acting like boys and start behaving like men? Just try to like each other for the next few hours, please. We have two rings we need to figure out how to get.”

“One ring,” Seth said. He held a thin silver band between his thumb and forefinger. A tiger eye stone was set in the centre of diamond encrusted wings.

“Where did you get … how did you … Seth?”

My mouth dropped open. Archer was trying to hide his shock as he leant in for a closer look. Seth laid the ring in the palm of my hand and I tried to ask again how he’d managed to get Annie’s ring, but I couldn’t form the words.

“She was a piece of cake,” Seth said, shrugging. “All I had to do was push her buttons, so to speak, and it was mine for the taking.” He laughed at the expression on my face and it made me angry, or was I jealous?

“What do you mean push her buttons?”

“You’ve got so much to learn, Grace. I simply knocked her out.” Seth moved towards me until we were almost touching. “There’s a spot on our backs, right at the bottom of our wing lines.” I froze as he gently slipped his hand under my T-shirt and up my back. “Right about here, where they almost join,” he said. His touch was soft and surprisingly warm.

“Gracie, what’s he…?”

“Arch, it’s ok. Isn’t it, Seth?” I looked up into his dark, smouldering eyes.

He leant in and I felt his lips move against my forehead when he spoke. “One direct hit and you’d be unconscious,” he whispered, before taking his hand away and stepping back.

“Unconscious?” Archer asked.

“An angel’s only weakness,” Seth said. “Generally, Angels of the Light don’t know about it, why would they need to in their perfectly safe haven of Heaven? Only the Guardian, and a select few,
know
how to render an angel powerless.”

Angels could be knocked out. It had never happened to me and I didn’t think I wanted it to. I was usually the one doing the knocking out. My head was so full of new information I was having trouble putting it into coherent order. I turned Annie’s ring over a few times before putting it in my pocket.

Seth looked at me with a devilish crooked smile and I couldn’t help smiling back. For a moment I wanted to reach out and touch his lips, I wanted to know what they felt like. What was wrong with me? A few days ago, even a few hours ago, I would have been the last person thinking about how much I liked anything about Seth. But the more time I spent with him, the more I didn’t want him to leave.

“How do you know all these things?” My voice cracked as I spoke.

“I’ve been one of the fallen longer than you’ve been on earth, Grace. Sometimes you discover things as a matter of survival. Plus, we have access to more knowledge because we’ve seen both sides of the coin. Angels of the Light are very sheltered, to say the least.”

I had so many questions and no time for answers. Where was Annie now she had no wings? Did Angelica know Seth had stripped her?

“Annie is no longer a problem,” Seth said, reading my jumbled thoughts. “Angelica, on the other hand, is out there somewhere. She took off as soon as I had the ring in my hand.”

“What do you mean, no longer a problem?” Archer asked. “Angels can’t die.”

“Actually, we can, we just don’t publish it in the
How to of Mystical Creatures
handbook.”

“Seth?” I asked. “You implied it wasn’t easy.”