Page 29 of Black Hand
“I owed you that for standing up to your kind.” His attitude changed and the shifter I’d met the first time I saw him returned. “Don’t you dare think you’ll get one more drop again.”
Still mute, I watched him storm out of the house and slam the front door behind him. I searched within myself to see if I felt any different but i found nothing. Only then did I release a shuddering breath, my mind a whirl of confused thoughts. Having his blood might change things inside me but it may take time. Unable to deal with all of it at once I pushed that worry aside, I’ll deal with it if the need arises. This was all surreal. It could’ve been the injury still messing me up. Or maybe I did die and this was some personal hell or something.
Alice came back and broke me out of that rabbit hole. She moved around the living room, her hair bouncing around with her rushed steps. Head spinning from Dominic’s confession, I followed her silently with my eyes. I didn’t know what to think. So, when Alice came behind me and started waving her hands over my head, I swatted at her while ducking to avoid being smacked.
“What are you doing, Alice?” Wincing when the injury sent another pain shooting through my side, I narrowed my gaze at her.
“I’m trying to clear your aura.” Showing me a clear stone clutched in her hand, the human frowned at me as if I was a disobedient child. “Dominic said you should’ve died, and I see you believe in energy and crystals, so what’s the problem, Brooklyn? I know what I’m doing.”
“I believe in what now?” Distracted by her comment, it took a second to see her waving that clear stone over my head again. I slapped her hand, which sent it flying to the side. “Stop that. What do I believe in?”
“Energy and crystals.” She pointed at all the bracelets clinking on her wrists before turning one damning finger at my throat. “You are wearing a blood stone. So what’s the problem? I don’t understand. It’ll make you feel better.”
“You know what this is?” Pulling the chain up and letting the pendant dangle, I searched her face.
“I told you it’s a blood stone.” Pushing the thick frames up her nose, she leaned forward to see it better. “This one has been carved with symbols, but yeah, it’s one. I’d recognize it anywhere. Those look like sigils,” she murmured the last part under her nose.
My heartbeat sped up at this information. If what she said was true, for the first time I had a starting point, somewhere to begin looking for a way of removing it. And, if by some chance the human had any power inside her that I couldn’t detect, Alice just might be the answer to a lot of my prayers. Still focused on Alice’s face, I took a deep breath.
“Dominic.” I didn’t have to shout because I felt his agitated presence on the porch.
The door opened and the shifter walked in, his once again distrustful gaze locking on mine.
“Alice knows what the stone of the pendant is.” I didn’t look away as the wariness on his face was replaced by excitement.
“Why is it such a big deal?” Alice huffed. “You two are acting like I’m a monkey that figured out how to fit the right shapes in a slot.”
“Do you think you can find out what the symbols are?” Afraid to hope too much, I kept my voice even.
“I can do better than that,” she told me proudly. “I have an entire encyclopedia on sigils. I’ll be right back.”
“I’ll be damned.” Dominic whistled, rubbing the back of his neck. “You were right. The human is more useful than she looks, I’ll give you that.”
“Yes.” Dropping the pendant, I allowed hope to bloom in my chest for the first time in a long time. “Yes, she is.”
16
At first Alice would harshly tilt my chin out of her way to bring her face as close as she could to the pendant, comparing the engraved swirls to every second page she turned in the thick book opened on her lap. When I pointed out she didn’t have to be that close, I was informed she wasn’t a vampire like me and she wouldn’t chew on my throat, much to Dominic’s amusement. The shifter was back to his new persona, smiling and bickering with the human back and forth like they’d known each other for years. I, on the other hand, wondered who Dominic really was. It was like two people sharing the same mouthwatering body, and that left me confused as hell.
So, when Alice suggested he should trace the symbols on a piece of paper and she tore a blank page from old notebook, I had to gulp my panic down. I also had to breathe through my mouth the entire time his face was so close to mine because I felt every breath passing his lips. While he was focusing on the pendant, I used the opportunity to study him. His square jaw was still covered in stubble that he absentmindedly scratched with a rasp of his fingers, while a slight frown pulled his eyebrows over his eyes. He was making sure every line was drawn correctly, and his eyes flicked back and forth constantly as he traced the design on the paper with a steady hand.
His upper lip was little thinner than the lower one, which curled outward and formed a shadow at the top of his chin. The corners of his eyes were slightly tilted up, and the reddish tint to his skin made him so different than me that my fingers twitched from the need to touch him. Of course I curled them tightly into fists and stuck them under my thighs in case they acted on their own when I wasn’t paying attention. A movement behind him made me look over his head and panic shot through me. Alice was standing up grinning like a fool and giving me a thumbs up.
“Don’t move,” Dominic murmured, his deep voice sending a shiver through me.
Pressing my lips in a thin line from displeasure, I jerked my head to the side to tell her to stop her pantomime before he saw her. Wasn’t she sitting next to me staring at her damn book? Being around the human was like I would’ve imagined babysitting a child would be like. The second my eyes were off her she caused some sort of trouble. This was proved when Dominic turned to look over his shoulder and caught her with her hands folded at the center of her chest and batting her eyelashes at me. I was sure at that point that I did die and that this was my hell.
‘Oh, carry on, Dominic.” Not missing a beat, she shuffled closer and leaned over both of us. “I’m just admiring your skill. Your hand is so steady. I would’ve messed it up by now.”
He grunted something I didn’t understand but turned back to his task. I was going to strangle her the second the shifter was done. To make matters worse, she petted him on the shoulder like she did to one of her animals, which made him growl deep in his chest.
“Alice.” Saying her name as a warning did exactly nothing.
“Fine, geez. A girl can’t do anything right around the two of you.” Prancing a few steps, she plopped on the couch next to me and fanned out the skirt of the dress she wore. “I’m trying to lighten the mood,” she continued, unperturbed by my glare. “That one jerk that escaped might tell the rest where we are. And then they’ll find us again. We could die tomorrow for all we know. Might as well enjoy life.” With a shrug of her shoulder, she pushed her ever-sliding glasses up and picked up her book.
“They already know where we are.” Not wanting to give her false hope that we were safe, I told her the truth. “More will come at nightfall tomorrow just like every night so far.”
Dawn was approaching fast. I could feel it in my bones. My breathing was slowing, and my movements were becoming sluggish and delayed. Through the window the sky was changing from deep gray to faded pinkish and purple shades. It pulled at the center of my chest to bring me under so I could rest. I fought it with everything in me.
