Taunt (18 page)

“
Morning, Ava,” he said cheerily. “Hi, Eddie. I know I’m early,
but I thought I’d have breakfast with Ava before we opened
up.”

Eddie made a face
and gave up, mumbling under his breath about me not being hungry as
he walked away.

“
Thank
you so much,” I said, pulling Carl into a grateful hug. The effects
of the blood bond were still there because I always felt better
when he was around. The door opened, and Peter walked in carrying
steaming cups of coffee and looking even moodier than the day
before. I grabbed the bag out of Carl’s hand and delved
in.

“
Oh,
my God, I’m half-starved,” I moaned, reaching for a breakfast
roll.

“
I
forgot you eat like a teenage boy,” Carl teased.

“
Yeah,
yeah.” I hoisted myself onto the counter. I unwrapped my food, took
a bite and let out a little happy moan.

Carl and Peter
exchanged bemused glances.

“
Leave
me alone,” I said. “Eddie’s been following me around all morning,
trying to see what I’m up to. I couldn’t even get anything to
eat.”

“
What
were you doing?” Peter asked.

“
Just
reading a book; he’s doesn’t seem to want me to read half the books
here. They’re just books. I don’t know why he’s so interested,” I
complained.

“
Maybe
there’s something here he doesn’t want you to see,” Carl
ventured.

“
I’ve
seen enough, trust me.”

Peter took a sip
of his coffee and inched toward me casually. “Like
what?”

A familiar sick
feeling churned my stomach, and I put my food down. I couldn’t pass
it off as nothing anymore. With a sinking feeling, I watched Peter
carefully. I was used to things feeling off in Eddie’s shop, but
this was altogether too familiar. “Never mind,” I said at
last.

Peter looked
vaguely disappointed, but he didn’t press the issue. After a
moment, the sick feeling eased off, but I was no longer in the mood
for food.

“
So,
anyway,” I said. “I’m supposed to help out here today. Eddie’s idea
of a punishment, I suppose. Peter, you still on with Esther?” I
hoped I didn’t sound too eager.

“
Yeah,
unless Aiden is keeping her locked indoors in case she gets
attacked again.”

“
That
was weird, wasn’t it? In the club, I mean,” I added.

Peter frowned.
“It was, actually. Shifters always stick together, and they keep
themselves in control when they bunch together like that. They
never turn on their own, especially not in public. That’s what
I
don’t understand about it. If they have problems, they
keep them locked in. Sometimes shifters disappear, but it’s done
following their rules. I’ve been thinking about what happened, and
it makes no sense. I’ve never heard of a shifter harming himself.
Not like that.”

“
Esther was pretty shocked, too,” I said. “But she didn’t seem
too upset by it.”

“
They
don’t experience emotions like humans,” Peter explained. “The
animal side keeps them pragmatic about certain things. The danger
was over; therefore, there was no real reason for her to stay
scared or upset by it.”

“
That’s strange,” I said.

“
She’s
nice, though,” Carl said, his face brightening. “Maybe Becca will
warm to her, too.”

“
I
really can’t see Becca giving us information freely.” Becca wanted
to be a vampire; she would hardly rat on the others.

“
So we
make her,” Peter said, his expression turning ice cold. We finished
our coffees in silence. I felt sick again and knew it had something
to do with Peter. The spirit blew gently on the back of my neck,
and I realised I had the means to find out if there really was
something wrong with Peter.

As we sat there,
I sent out my other sense, knowing the others would never realise
what was happening. I felt Eddie’s presence upstairs then returned
to the shop. Many sensations around me, not human, not vampire,
something different. I wondered if it could be the souls I had seen
Eddie take advantage of. On a whim, I tried to find the spirit that
followed me around. I couldn’t see a thing.

I swooped my
other sense over Carl, everything fine and normal there. Then I
turned to Peter. Red pulses, normal. I pushed harder, moved onto
that other plane and saw something that wasn’t quite normal,
something that sent shudders of apprehension through my body. A
dark shadow clung to Peter, swallowing his inner light. It held
tight, not quite able to seep into his soul.

I’d often had the
instinct to drink blood, but now I had another instinct, one that
compelled me to cleanse Peter of the darkness. Without thinking, I
jumped off the counter and crept up to Peter, staring into his eyes
and probing around him with my other sense. I had always assumed it
was a vampire talent, yet I felt bound to battle darkness with it.
It made no sense, but I didn’t have time to consider it.

I kept exploring,
ignoring Carl when he called my name. I had to find where it
attached itself. I felt the darkness very definitely now,
cobwebbing itself to Peter’s soul. Anger flared within, I had to
kill it, whatever
it
was.

Unsure of myself,
I acted on a gut feeling and, ignoring his bewildered expression, I
placed my hands on either side of Peter’s head. I pushed against
him, not with my body, but with that other something I had inside
me. I felt warmth bubble up from my stomach, into my arms and
through my hands. The energy, if that’s what it was, moved from my
fingertips into Peter, burning whatever linked the web of darkness
to him.

It reacted wildly
and latched on to me instead. I took a deep breath and inhaled the
black shadow. I saw it clearly, tasted the bitterness, choked on
the pain of it.

The cold look
left Peter’s eyes; I could feel Carl pulling me away, but I
couldn’t let go. Not until the shadow was all gone. Only when
Peter’s light shone through did I let go and fall back into Carl’s
arms, knocking us both to the ground. I left that shadowy level of
existence and lay on the floor of the bookshop. I panted with tears
rolling out of my eyes. My nose felt wet. I wiped it, and my hands
came away crimson.

I curled up, pain
wracking my body as the shadow I had absorbed was burned up. My
veins lit up under my skin, and I wondered if I was dying. The
thought drifted over me but didn’t stick.

I gasped loudly
as Carl grabbed my arm and touched the flaring lights that shone
through my skin.

“
What
is this?” he cried out. “What’s happening? I’ll get Eddie.” He
moved to lay me down on the floor, but I gripped his
wrist.

“
Don’t,” I hissed. “Not him.” Eddie probably already
knew.

Carl nodded,
trusting me completely. The burning stopped, the nausea cleared up,
and I managed to take a look at Peter. His skin was grey and
sweaty; he didn’t make a sound—not the best sign. He had his back
to the counter and shook almost as much as I did.

I stared at the
ceiling and touched the floor beneath me, drumming my fingers to
ground myself. I counted aloud, not caring that Carl and Peter
could hear me. After a few crazy minutes of lying on the ground, I
knew I wasn’t losing my mind or my life. I finally sat up, helped
by Carl who did his best not to freak out at the sight of the blood
all over my face.

“
Are
you okay?” I asked Peter. He shrugged, speechless.

“
Please tell me if you’re hurt or anything.” I moved toward the
counter so I could lean against a solid surface. Peter was the
solid object of choice, but he didn’t look particularly
welcoming.

“
What
did you do to me?” he asked, disgust in his voice.

“
I
reckon she saved you from something pretty bad,” Carl said. “I saw
it. It was… unlike anything I’ve ever seen. All of this black smoke
just poured out of you and into Ava. Her skin turned black, then it
turned white, like something lit up inside her. Like the vampires
when she sticks them with that little knife. It scared the
crap
out of me.”

“
You
saw it?” I asked, relief sweeping over me. It made more sense when
I wasn’t the only one who could see something.

Carl nodded
again, and I thought he might throw up.

Peter looked at
me. “Do you know what it was?”

I shook my head,
exhausted. “I can sense things. It’s like I have another pair of
eyes that see energy or something. It’s how I found Carl, actually.
I have to concentrate on using it, though. Sometimes I feel like
something is off, and that’s how I know I should use it. One of the
Guardians, the one we saw at Gabe’s bar, he makes me want to throw
up when I see him. There’s something screwed up about
him.”

“
Coyle?” Disbelief coloured Peter’s voice.

“
Yeah,
him. I had that same sick feeling in the bar before that shifter
attacked Esther. Do you remember?”

He hesitated,
then nodded. “You almost vomited. I remember that now.”

“
Yeah,
well, it was the same feeling. Then I started feeling it around you
and, just now, I thought I’d… take a look.” I fidgeted with my
sleeves. “Sorry, but I needed to know. I saw Carl as normal but,
with you, there was like a web of darkness over you, sticking to
you. It was like it tried to get into your soul. I’ve no idea what
it was, but Carl’s right about it absorbing itself into my skin.
Then something in me just burned it away. It hurt, but it’s gone.
Definitely gone.” I hoped.

Carl helped me to
my feet, then pulled Peter up, too.

“
Did
you feel any different today?” Carl asked him. He had no trouble
believing anything I said.

Peter shrugged.
“I felt like I was coming down with something, maybe, nothing
serious. I don’t know what the hell she’s talking about,
though.”

Carl put his hand
on Peter’s shoulder and spoke in a firmer voice than I’d ever heard
from him. “She’s telling the truth, Peter. Something got to you.”
He let that sink in, then turned to me. “Shall I get you something?
To clean up?”

Carl hurried off
without waiting for an answer, leaving me alone with Peter. I felt
like we were back at the beginning, back to when we first met. I
half-expected him to punch me again.

“
You
feeling okay now?” I ventured.

He rubbed his
face and looked everywhere but at me. “Yeah, I better go meet
Esther.” He left without saying goodbye.

Carl came back
with a wet cloth and basin of water. “Maybe you should use this in
the back room, if anyone comes in… hey, where’s Peter?”

I grabbed the
cloth and wiped my face. “Gone. He has to meet Esther.”

“
Damn,
I forgot. Peter’s off to save the day.” Carl bit his lip, then
slammed the basin on the counter, splashing water everywhere. “I
have to go, watch the shop for me, please. You’re a star, see
you!”

He was gone
before I could form a question. I finished cleaning my face and
took Carl’s place behind the counter. Just when I thought I knew
myself, I proved I’m even freakier than I ever expected.

Eddie showed
himself, a suspiciously innocent look on his face. The incident
hadn’t exactly been silent. What had he been doing? My frown only
deepened when I sensed his bliss. Smug happiness rolled off him,
but the spirit spun around and around me. Another warning. This
time I was tired enough to listen.

“
Where’s Carl?” Eddie asked, and I realised he carried two
cups, one for him, and one for me.

“
He
didn’t say. I’m taking his shift. You wanted to give me something
to do.”

He smiled
pleasantly, but I did my best to keep out of his way for the next
few hours, despite his insistence that he stay in the shop with me.
He found the book I’d been reading and put it back on the shelves
without a word. I made note of the shelf. As soon as Eddie turned
his back, I went to retrieve it. I couldn’t find the book, no
matter how hard I looked.

I whirled around
in frustration and saw Eddie watching me with an amused look. I
forced a smile and sauntered around the bookracks, as if I were
only perusing the shelves out of boredom.

Esther and Peter
arrived together later that evening. Peter did his best to avoid my
eyes as Esther related her experience with Becca. Not good. Becca
wouldn’t talk.

“
But
what did you think of
her
?” I asked.

“
She
looked awful.” Esther frowned. “But if she won’t talk, then we
can’t point the finger. I believe something is going on, so I’ll do
my best to convince my Circle we need to look into it. Illeana is a
siren; she’ll be the most help here, I think.”

“
Why
are you bothering that creature?” Eddie demanded.

Esther shivered
noticeably at his voice. “Council business,” she said, but her
voice was small and pitiful. “It’s my duty to prevent
trouble.”

He opened his
mouth to argue, but the door opened and interrupted him.

“
Carl!” I ran to him, horrified. He grinned through a split
lip, as though his face wasn’t swollen, bloody, and bruised. My
mouth watered in spite of myself.