Violet Midnight (Violet Night Trilogy) (9 page)

“Now I remember why I don’t go to the movies much anymore.” Dylan let out a long huff. “That sucked.”

Jake laughed and swung his and Emma’s clasped hand. “It did.”

“We’re parked over here.” Dylan pointed to the red sports car he’d picked Jake up in when he’d found him wandering that night.

“I’m sure there’s a coffee house open somewhere.” Cynthia fingered her watch. “Want to?”

“I better get back. Big psych test tomorrow,” Emma said and squeezed Jake’s hand. “I need a good night’s sleep.”

“And I’ve got to work on my paper due this Friday. I’ve been slacking.” Jake steered Emma two steps to the right, toward his car.

“Good, you’ll be ready for a monster-party on Friday. Celebrating the paper being done
and
your birthday.” Dylan held his fist to Jake.

Birthday. That was right. Jake’s twenty-fifth was on Saturday. With everything happening so fast since meeting Emma, he’d almost forgotten.

“No party needed. How ‘bout we all go out? Ava and Greg, too.” Jake knuckle bumped his friend.

“Oh, no.” Cynthia wagged a finger at Jake and Emma. “You’re going to be a quarter-century old. That’s a big deal. Demands celebrating.”

“Cynthia’s folks are still in Europe. The house is huge and empty. No better place. We’re doing this.” Dylan winked at Cynthia. “Can’t say no to this one, remember?”

“Might be fun.” Emma leaned into Jake. “More normal stuff. I could get used to this.”

“Normal?” Cynthia cocked her head to the side.

Jake wouldn’t have thought anyone could have heard Emma she talked so quietly. Nothing got past Cynthia.

“Oh.” Emma stood straight. “I was just meaning—things—well, with exams and junk. Things haven’t been so normal until tonight. This was fun. Friday would be, too.” She squeezed Jake’s hand. “But I thought your birthday was Saturday?”

“It is.”

Cynthia smiled and said, “But a tick after midnight on Friday, and it
will
be Saturday.”

“Oh. I get it,” Emma said. “Sounds good.”

“Ava and Greg must come as well.” Cynthia dipped her chin. “I insist.”

“Ava’s not known for missing a party. I’ll tell her.”

“It’s set. No backing out. It’s going to be epic.” Dylan opened Cynthia’s door and motioned her in. “Right, Cyn?”

“As twenty-fifth birthdays should be.” She waved. “Bye, thanks for the movie. It was fun.”

“See you tomorrow, man.” Dylan pointed at Jake. “Weight room. You and me, buddy. Three o’clock.”

“Got it.”

“You only just met them before school started?” Emma leaned toward Jake as they meandered down the row of parked cars toward his.

“In the student center. All the tables were filled one day, so they joined me since I’d been sitting alone.” He wove his arm around her waist. “We…
clicked.
They found out I was new to the college and took me in.”

“I like them.” Emma let out a sigh. “You know, I meant what I said earlier about the getting used to normal. Kinda scares the crap out of me, you know?”

“Why?”

“People like me and you, we’re not normal.” Emma stepped away from Jake and kicked a rock. “Never will be. I barely know what I am and really don’t know exactly what you are either. And us changing at the same time, yet I was in Arizona, and you were in Minnesota.”

He tugged her to a stop and propped himself against his trunk, bringing her with him. The night blanketed them in darkness despite the weak lights spotting the lot. But that didn’t hide the sadness claiming Emma’s face. “What brought this on?”

“I’m just mental.” She shook her head.

Jake guided her that last step to him, and she melted into him. “What’s going on, Em?”

“God I want
this
, Jake. Normal. Me and you doing school stuff, hanging out with friends. Isn’t that what twenty-one and twenty-four year olds are supposed to do in college?” She rested her cheek on his chest and wove her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry. I’m just—well—tired.”

Now that was
not
normal to hear from a person who didn’t need to sleep. He opened his mouth to ask her what she meant, but she went on.

“Not tired as in sleepy. But, God, Jake. Two years. Hunting. Worried. Angry. Confused. And now, the Vamps are here in full force, but I just want to get lost in you. In what a normal college co-ed would be doing.” She nuzzled her cool face to his neck. “Not researching Vamps and keeping an eye out for lurking danger.”

“I hear ya.” Jake traced his hand up the curve of her spine and back down. “You’re not alone anymore, though. I’m with you now. We’ll do this together.”

A stream of dampness glided along his throat. He’d yet to see Emma cry. Always so tough and focused. For so long, she’d had to be. And she’d been alone until ten days ago.

In that short time, Jake had come to love this woman. This strong, fragile, brilliant woman. He didn’t want to see her in tears. To see her sad or hurt.

“It really hit home tonight for some reason. I’m sorry, Jake.” She sniffled. “Hanging with Cynthia and Dylan. They’re like a dream. So, totally in love. They finish each other’s sentences. Did you notice that?”

“I did.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to ruin our first date with the freak out.” She tensed to lean back, but Jake held fast, keeping her body close.

“You didn’t.” If anything, she’d intensified it with her openness. Made him fall harder for her than he already had. He petted her silky hair and kissed the top of her head. Always alone. Having to take care of everybody else, along with herself.

It was Jake’s job, now. He’d be strong for her. Find out what the hell was going on with all the recent attacks. No matter what it took, he would not fail her. He’d protect what was his.

And she was his.

“Welcome to Horizon’s Elite, what can I help you find?” A petite blonde asked Jake from behind the counter.

“Hi. I’ll just browse. Thanks.” Jake strode past the checkout and down the center aisle. Tall shelves of books flanked him. The scent of paper, dust, and surprisingly, dampness struck his nostrils.

The early afternoon sun beamed through the picture windows lining the front of the store. Soft, harmonic music piped in from overhead, and a calm presence settled over the place.

Jake inched forward again, scanning for signs to direct him to the rare editions collection. A tall, pale-skinned guy stood in front of the self-help row but made no indication he’d heard Jake walk by.

At the last row, Jake turned right and stopped in front of a wall of tattered book spines. The sign above read,
Rare Books and First Editions.
He reached up and dragged his finger across each and every one on the top row. No evidence of his mark on any spines, like the internet pictures showed.

His book in question was black, though, so he passed by most of the brown leather spines in the next row. The third row held promise of success as it was nearly full of black leather books. Mostly faded and torn edges, but one caught Jake’s attention mid-way through, and he reached for it.

Toward the bottom of the narrow, tattered spine, a small version of his mark was embossed into the leather.

“Bingo.” Jake took it from the shelf and stepped back, checking both directions. Still quiet, but he spied two plush chairs in the corner and moved toward them.

The cover of the book held the full mark of Chaos gracing Jake’s arm. It looked more like it’d been branded into the leather from the smeared black lines.

He sagged into the chair and cracked open the first page. Foreign language. Great. A weird arrangement of letters and symbols, acting as a title probably, were the only markings on that first page.

The next page, only a picture of his mark. He brushed his finger over the atrocity, wondering if it’d been hand-drawn.

Smooth.

How could a mark that always led to dark meanings be meant for good? For killing the Vamps Emma had been facing these past two years?

The third page revealed more writing he couldn’t decipher, but a picture of a tall, meager guy, cloaked in a black coat filled most of the page. More unreadable writing for a few more pages. Drawings of people, phrases, and paragraphs, probably explaining who was in the drawing.

Hopefully, Cynthia would know this language. Though, it didn’t look like anything Jake had ever seen before, but he could tell it was hand written. He skimmed ahead a few pages and saw more drawings and foreign verbiage.

He tossed the book onto his lap and scrubbed his face with his hands. An awful feeling coiled around his stomach.

He tilted to the side and slid his cell phone from his front pocket. Cynthia was his best resource at this point. He pressed her contact information, and as he held the phone to his ear, he opened to the middle page.

Ring
. Someone’s cell phone blared Beethoven’s Fifth through the quiet of the bookstore.

“Oh, sorry.” A hushed whisper followed the ringing. “Forgot to silence—hello?”

Funny, he heard
Hello
on his end of the phone at the same time.

“Cynthia?” Jake rose from his chair.

“Jake. Oh, hello. What’s—”

“I hear you. Are you at a bookstore?” He crept to the end of the aisle and looked toward the front of the store. Cynthia’s head poked out from between two aisles four up from him.

Jake held up his phone and clicked end. Five long strides brought him to Cynthia.

“Okay, now that’s plain eerie,” Cynthia said as she tucked her phone into her purse. “Just plain eerie.”

Jake laughed. “I’m thinking more like lucky right now.”

“Oh yeah? What are you doing here?”

“Looking up some things for a paper I’m working on.”

Cynthia scanned the shelves around her. “Here?”

Jake motioned for her to follow him. “Need your help, though. Got a minute?”

“Sure.”

“So, what are you doing here?”

“Me? I live here. Fine Arts, remember? Old stuff. Love it.”

Jake turned the corner to where he’d been sitting. “Well, I’m hoping that’ll help me with something interesting I found.”

“Do tell. I
love
interesting.”

Jake motioned for her to sit in the chair he’d just vacated, and he sat in the one perpendicular. “I found this book, but it’s in another language. I can’t even tell what language it is, actually. But, I hope you can.”

She did a silent little clap and squirmed in the seat. “Is that it?” She pointed to his hand. “Let me see.” She tossed her pink purse to the floor and reached for Jake. “Why are you looking at books in the battered old first editions section, anyway? You’re a Psych dude.”

“Just looking at something from a different angle.”
Total lie
. He relinquished his hold on the weathered book and rested his elbows on his knees to watch.

Her amber eyes widened as she stroked the cover. Auburn hair fell forward as she leaned in and brought the book to her nose. “Love that smell.” She sat straight and flipped the book open.

She sagged.

“What?”

“I don’t know Czech.”

“Czech? You’re kidding.”

“No. I mean, I know a few words. Studied a little bit about it when it was Bohemian. Didn’t change until the 19
^th
century. Thought that was interesting.” She cleared her throat and paged through. “So, your tattoo is in here.” She flipped the book over, then returned to the page she’d held open. “Beautiful book.”

“I’d like to know what it says.”

She huffed. “You and me both.” She stopped. “Wait. Here’s a word—er—phrase. Gosh their language is so difficult to understand. So old. Beautiful, though, isn’t it, how the words are written like this?”

“What does it say?”

Her eyebrows puckered into a “V” as she held the book open almost at the middle section. “Power and Great. That’s something I recognize here.” She tapped to a couple of words beneath Jake’s symbol.

She sagged into the chair, holding the book close to her. She crossed her long, slender legs and twitched her foot side to side as she analyzed a few more pages.

The silence rang like a gong in Jake’s head. Power and Great. The power he understood. It coursed through his veins. Especially the other night when he’d ripped those Vamps off Emma. It had pulsed through him like adrenaline hyped up on amphetamines. He figured it was mostly fear for Emma. But maybe he’d finally accepted what he was. Came into his great power.

“Oh. Here.” She sat straight. “Soul and Destiny.” She flipped the book for him to see and he leaned forward.

“What’s it say?”

“Look at the picture there. I’ve seen that mark before, too. It means power.”

“Yeah, I know that one.”

Cynthia slapped a palm to her forehead. “Duh. Emma’s got that tat on her wrist.” Cynthia nailed Jake with a look. “You two sure have unique taste in tattoos.”

Her mouth curved up at the corners. Not a full smile, but more of a knowing one. Her eyes flickered with mischief, then she returned her focus to the book and tapped the page.

Emma had always mentioned her Instinct, it’d never led her astray. And Jake’s Instinct triggered big-time with the look Cynthia gave. “Where else have you seen Emma’s mark?”

“Besides this book?” She smiled. “In some of my mythology studies. It means power.”

Jake nodded. “I know. So what does this page say?”

“Not exactly sure, but I picked out the words soul and destiny. And see how the mark of power is close to the mark of chaos like this? Maybe that means destined to be together or something? Connected somehow.”

Jake leaned closer. The tip of the arrow from Emma’s mark touched the outside of the inner circle of Jake’s mark.

Made sense. The immediate connection between the two. That had to be it. And with soul and destiny sprinkled in there, it made even more sense. Together, he and Emma would have great power.

And since the Vamps were showing up again in droves, that meant they were about to face something big. Something they must join together to defeat.

“Jake?” Cynthia’s voice sliced through Jake’s tirade of thoughts.

“Oh. Sorry.” He set back in his chair. “Thanks for trying to read this.”

“Want me to take it to some of my professors? See if anyone knows more?” She held up the book. “They’d get a kick out of seeing this.”

“Oh. Sure. That’d be great.”
Emma’s papers.
Jake hopped out of the seat and dug out Emma’s papers from his back pocket. “Hey. One more thing. Any chance you can read this?”

“What is it?” She leaned forward.

He handed her the folded sheets. “Something Emma found.”

Cynthia grinned as she took the papers. “You guys are such an interesting couple.”

After a few minutes sifting through, she said, “I know more of this language. Latin.” She held up one page.

Jake took hold of it. The left side of the crinkled yellowed paper was frayed, like it’d been ripped from a book. A drawing, seemingly by a young child. A cross was drawn on the top of the page and down below it, two stick figures. One kneeling, hands up, the other apparently holding a knife in the air, as if ready to strike the one kneeling.

“What’s the text say?” Jake eyed Cynthia.

“Something along the lines of a distinguished family will once again reclaim the night, allowing darkness to rule beneath their watchful eyes.” She coughed into her hand. “Now where on earth did you get this?”

“Not sure. Emma stumbled across it.” Jake studied the paper again. “Was curious.” So that was what they were fighting. The return of an evil family. There must be something about this town. Or this land, maybe, meriting return to reclaim.

Finally, some progress.

Cynthia let out a long sigh. “Interesting.”

Jake looked up and found Cynthia staring at him, brows puckered.

“What?”

“Nothing. I’m curious how Emma would
stumble
upon a sheet such as this.” Cynthia gathered her purse. “I’m seeing her in a whole new light.” She tapped her watch. “I better go. Class in thirty, and since I’m the TA, I better not be late. I’ll take this page with me. Maybe I can decipher it better when I have more time.”

“No. That’s okay.” He reached for it. “I better check with Em first. It’s an original.”

She held the sheet for a long breath scanning it. “Are you sure?”

“We’ll get with you if we need to.” Jake stood. “Here. Let me buy that book quick so you can take it.”

“Oh, don’t bother.” She coiled her purse around her shoulder. “They let me borrow things all the time. I know the owners.”

“Thanks for your help, Cynthia.”

“Sure. I’ll let you know what I find out on this book.” She waved and disappeared around the corner of the bookshelves.

Now that was a hurried exit.

Jake settled back into the seat. “Distinguished family, huh? Well, if you’re a Vamp family, prepare to die.”