Incipient: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Marked Book 6) Read online

  War’s eyes were back on me then, doing that deciphering thing that made me want to squirm under his stare. “It was a pleasure to meet you,” he said as he extended his hand to me expectantly.

  “Yeah, it was a real a blast,” I said and reached forward to shake it. The moment our skin connected, a massive clap of thunder exploded outside the window, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin.

  My eyes darted to the window and then back to War whose own eyes were still fixed on me in a strange, penetrating way.

  “Indeed,” he said and then let go of my hand.

  Well, then. That wasn’t weird at all.

  4. READY OR NOT

  The sun had yet to begin its descent by the time I left Temple, which meant I’d have at least an hour or two to roam the streets freely without fear of running into Dominic. The thought completely depressed me. Never in a million years did I ever think those words would pass through my lips, and certainly not about Dominic.

  Pricilla Beaumont was going to pay dearly for what she did.

  I wasn’t sure how or when, but she was going to get what was coming to her and I was going to be the one to hand-deliver it.

  I unlocked my door and climbed into the driver seat before taking a deep breath to calm myself down. The more I thought about Dominic and Pricilla, the more I could feel the angry waters churning under my skin, the waves crashing onto the shore in search of revenge. I hated feeling this way. Angry. Lost. Out of control.

  Under normal circumstances, Dominic was my go-to guy for relinquishing any and all ill feelings, but unfortunately for me, I no longer had that option. I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d ever have that option again.

  I realized in that moment that I had no idea how any of this worked. What exactly was the extent of the Sire bond and could it ever be severed? What if it couldn’t? Would Dominic ever feel for me again or had I lost him forever?

  Without even deciding it, I turned out of the parking lot and made my way to the edge of town—straight to the only person who might have the answers I needed.

  Gabriel opened the door before I even finished knocking, which either meant he knew I was coming or he was just standing by the door, waiting for someone to visit. For his sake, I was hoping it was the former.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked as he stepped back to give me room to enter his apartment.

  “Like what?” I answered and walked inside, making my way to the futon. “Were you on your way out or something?” I asked, turning back to look at him.

  “No. Why do you ask?” He bolted the door and then came to join me in the living room slash main area of his very quaint apartment.

  “No reason.” I shrugged like it was no big deal. “I mean, you answered the door pretty fast. Like, I didn’t even have time to finish knocking,” I added, apparently not willing to let it go.

  He faltered for a moment and then said, “I sensed you were here.”

  I flinched back as though his words has just bopped me in the head. “Woah. You sensed I was here?” I was fairly certain that had never happened before. “Is this like a new skill you have?”

  He didn’t look amused. “No. It’s a consequence of our bloodsharing.” The way he said it, he might as well have accused me of holding him down and stealing his blood without his permission.

  “Well, don’t act like I killed your puppy,” I said, sounding a tad defensive now. “Desperate times called for desperate measures. Besides, I thought it took a while to create a bloodbond?”

  “It does,” he said and sat down on the armchair on the other side of the coffee table. Far away from me. “But the connection—the building blocks of that bloodbond—begin almost instantly.”

  Well, damn. Feeling defeated, I sank back in my seat a little. Mostly because I knew asking him for another hit today would be totally out of the question.

  “So, what happened last night?” he asked, pressing his forearms against his knees as he leaned forward.

  I went on to tell him everything that had happened with The Four Horseman, with Nikki and the baby, and all about the lies Pricilla had spewed that got us into this mess in the first place.

  “She’s going to pay for what she did. For lying to me, for Dominic, for showing her face in this town in the first place.” I let out a frustrated breath. “I just have to figure out how I’m going to get close enough to her to do it.”

  “I should have seen this coming,” said Gabriel, taking on the burden as per usual.

  “How could you have? How could any of us have anticipated this? She twisted everything around.” I shook my head at myself because if anyone should feel the blame for this, it was me. “She played me from minute one.”

  “Yes, well, that is what Pricilla always does. Which is why I should’ve known better.”

  “There’s no use in crying over what we should’ve done. Besides, this is in the Council’s hands, not ours,” I said, feeling a sense of relief that I wasn’t going to have to shoulder this one alone again. “At the end of the day, we’re nothing more than foot soldiers with orders.”

  “Well, some of us more so than others.” He pushed back into the armchair and crossed his leg over his knee. “Have you spoken to Dominic since the hospital?”

  I shook my head. “He hasn’t reached out yet at all.”

  Gabriel’s expression turned worrisome.

  “I know, I know,” I said, before he could vocalize what he was obviously thinking. “He’s probably planning something horrible as we speak. With Dominic, no news is definitely bad news.”

  “Unfortunately.” My knowledge on the subject did nothing to quell the concern from his expression.

  “What am I going to do now?” My eyes stung with hopeless tears that ached to break free, but I refused to let a single one of them fall. Because this wasn’t hopeless. It couldn’t be, and I wasn’t about to sit here and cry about it, or worse, throw in the towel and admit defeat. Not when it came to Dominic.

  Swallowing back my sorrow, I looked up and met Gabriel’s eyes. “How do I get him to turn his emotions back on? Would killing his Sire do it?” Frankly, I was just itching for another reason to slay that bitch.

  He shook his head and my heart slipped into my stomach once again. “She may have forced him to shut them off, but once he turned them off, they’re off. She has no control over them.”

  I swallowed against the knot in my throat. “Can they be turned back on?”

  He gave a circular nod, like he couldn’t figure out which way to go with it. “The only way to get them back is try to bring out the human part of him again, but that could take months, years, decades even.”

  “Jesus Christ. Decades?”

  “I’m not saying it’ll take that long,” he quickly amended. “I’m saying it’s a possibility. It’s different for every Revenant.”

  Well, that didn’t really make me feel any better. “So, how do I do it? How do I bring back the human part of him?”

  His expression tightened as his gaze fell heavy on my face. “You use any and all emotions against him. Not just love. Use his anger, his jealousy, his pride—every emotion you can think of. If you can make him feel again, then maybe, just maybe, you can bring him back from the void.”

  I left Gabriel’s appartement shortly after sundown, feeling only slightly better than when I had arrived there. While I didn’t exactly hear what I’d wanted to hear, at least there was some glimmer of hope—a chance that Dominic’s emotions could be turned back on. And that was better than nothing. Unfortunately for me, it was going to take a lot more than just true love’s kiss to break him out of this spell.

  Pulling into Trace’s driveway, I killed the engine and sat there for a moment, staring at the row of garage doors as indecision plagued me. Trace was inside. Alone. Waiting for me. He’d ported Famine and himself to his house after William let him know that he was sending a car to fetch the Horseman.

  As much as I didn’t want to be alone at the mom
ent (and definitely not at the Blackburn Estate where I’d stupidly invited Dominic in), I was nervous about seeing Trace. About being alone with him.

  The situation between Trace and I was beyond complicated and I didn’t have enough hours in the day to untangle it. Not to mention the fact that Nikki was carrying Lucifer’s child and had managed to convince herself that it was Trace’s. I prayed that my warning earlier had broken through to the sane part of her, but I certainly wasn’t counting on it. The threat of Nikki’s bombshell dropping over Trace’s head was ever present and I couldn’t help but fear how he would react if he ever did find out. And worse, what if I was the one to accidently let it slip out to him, through touch or otherwise?

  This was a bad idea.

  Too much was at stake to risk being here with him, no matter how safe I felt or how much I wanted to see him.

  I started the ignition and put the car in reverse. Before I could remove my foot from the brake pedal, a soft knock rapped on my passenger side window, jolting me in my seat.

  “Where are you going?” asked Trace, his voice low and muffled from the glass barrier.

  Putting the car back in park, I turned up my nose and rolled down my window. “I was, uh…” Think, Jemma. Think. “I was just going to get some clothes and stuff at my house.”

  Disproval marred his gorgeous face and I instantly regretted the lie. “Seriously?”

  My cheeks picked up color. “The sun barely just set. I doubt he’s even left his house yet,” I quickly defended even though I knew the whole lie sounded ludicrous and made me look like that idiot girl from horror movies who always runs directly into the killer’s path. And I was so not that girl. Well, not usually anyway.

  “Jemma, you know it’s safer if we go together.”

  I blew out a breath of frustration. “Can we not do that please?”

  “Do what?” he asked, his eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

  “This,” I said, motioning to the two of us. “I’m not your responsibility, Trace.”

  “No, you’re not,” he agreed and then opened the passenger door before climbing into the seat next to me. “But you are my friend, right? And friends look out for their friends.” He flashed a charming smile that set off both his dimples in tandem, and damn me if I could ever resist those dimples. “Besides, we need to get some grub. I think that Famine dude rotted every piece of food I had in my house.”

  I spluttered a laugh. “I’m sure he has better things to do than go around destroying your food,” I said as I backed out of the driveway and started up his street. No point in arguing with him now since he was already buckled in and ready to go.

  “I don’t think he did it on purpose,” he said, giving me a sideways glance.

  I looked over at him and held his stare. He was totally serious. “What do you mean he didn’t do it on purpose?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “All I know is everything was fine when I made supper last night then dude comes to my house for twenty minutes and suddenly everything is rotten. I’m talking curdled milk, molded bread, apples that look like they’ve been sitting there for over a year.” He rolled down the window and threw his piece of gum outside. “It was nasty.”

  “Hm.” I let that sink in for a moment. “I guess that’s why they call him Famine. I can’t imagine getting much to eat with him around being that he rots everything in sight.”

  “Exactly.” He grimaced. “I don’t even want to know what Death and War can make happen.”

  Yikes. I hadn’t considered that at all. “We should probably be thankful we got rid of Pestilence in that case.”

  “Silver lining,” he said and we both laughed at the inappropriate comment.

  “You want to grab something to eat first? There’s a drive thru open over there,” I said and pointed to a burger place just off the main highway.

  “Nah,” said Trace and then looked over at me, his gaze discretely taking me in. “Let’s pick up your clothes first and then we’ll eat. There’s this restaurant I’ve been wanting to take you to.”

  I immediately started shaking my head at the idea.

  “It’s not a date if that’s what you’re worried about,” he continued before I could object. “Just two friends and some good food.” Something about his smirk made me think there was a lot more behind it than just a meal between friends, but that dimple made another appearance and I’d pretty much stuck a fork in myself.

  Like I said before, bad idea.

  I knew no good would come of this. I knew every moment I spent with Trace was a dangerous moment and only increased the chances of triggering his memories. I knew every night we spent together only made it harder for me to leave him in the morning. I knew all of that and yet I couldn’t seem to stay away from him even when our lives depended on it.

  It was the way it had always been, and something told me it was the way it was always going to be. z

  5. BLANK SPACE

  The Blackburn Estate stood tall and looming, draped in shadows that spoke of its defeat. I couldn’t help but feel a pull of sadness as I drove up the winding, fog-kissed driveway and stopped atop the hill. The life that had once lived inside those walls was now gone. There wasn’t a single light glowing or even a vagrant soul roaming. Just a pile of bricks and mortar, sitting against the backdrop of dusk, looking wholly and pitifully abandoned.

  I unlocked the front door and walked inside, taking in a lungful of that familiar sage scent as Trace trailed behind me. It really hadn’t gotten any easier coming here since my uncle passed away. I supposed I hadn’t been here nearly enough to get comfortable with it again. And now with Dominic’s open invitation sitting heavy over the entire house, that probably wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

  “You can wait here. I’ll just be a minute,” I said to Trace as I started up the grand staircase. Being alone in my room with Trace again was hard enough without the added stress of worrying whether it might trigger one of his memories. I needed to minimize the amount of time spent in places where we’d previously spent time together. And my bedroom was certainly one of those places.

  “I don’t mind coming,” he answered offhandedly as he followed me up the stairs, his eyes taking in the entrance, the stairs, the paintings on the walls, as if searching his memory bank for any semblance of familiarity.

  I stopped short and turned to face him. “You have to stop doing that.”

  His head snapped forward and then titled back as his gaze climbed up to meet mine. “Doing what?”

  Following me. Protecting me. Trying to remember what we were. Being so sweet and charming. “Acting like I’m some fragile mortal. I’m a Slayer, and I can take care of myself. I don’t need an escort to pack a bag.”

  “I know that.” He shrugged his shoulder and then smiled up at me. “But your house is kind of creepy and I didn’t really want to stay down here by myself.”

  It took me a good, long moment to process that, and then I was laughing. Hysterically. “You cannot be serious.”

  “What?” he asked innocently, which only made me laugh harder. “I’m secure enough in my manhood to admit that.”

  Leave it to Trace to completely brighten even the gloomiest of days.

  “Wow. Alright then, let’s go,” I said, still laughing as I made my way up the rest of the stairs. “It’s a little dark down this hallway. Should I hold your hand, or do you think you can make it?” I asked teasingly and continued trudging forward.

  “I didn’t say I was scared of the dark,” he pointed out and then slipped his hand into mine, interlocking our fingers. “I said I didn’t want to stay by myself. That could be for a number of reasons.”

  My body damn near exploded from the electrical current pulsing from our touching skin. I quickly pulled my hand away and scowled at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Right now?” He looked around the corridor, all casual and innocent. “Nothing really.”

  “You were just holding my hand!” I pointed out indigna
ntly.

  “Yeah.”

  I glared at him. “Why?”

  “You offered.” He laughed and then pressed his back against the wall.

  “I was making a joke. Quit playing around,” I scolded and then scrubbed my palm against my legs, as though trying to wipe away the remnants of his electrifying touch.

  His eyes dropped to my hand. “That’s not going to make it go away,” he said smugly.

  “I know that.” I stopped rubbing and studied him. “You did that on purpose.”

  His dimples pressed in as he tried to bury his smile. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah, sure you don’t.” I rolled my eyes at him and then marched forward to my bedroom door, ignoring the humming sensation rioting through my body or how hot and delicious he looked leaning against the wall.

  Ugh! I really needed to get my hormones in check.

  I couldn’t afford any more distractions, and definitely not from Trace. I had enough on my plate, thank you very much. Flicking on my bedroom light, I barreled across the room and headed straight for my dresser.

  I wasn’t sure how long I was packing for, but I wanted to make sure I had enough clothes to last me at least a week to avoid making any unnecessary trips back here. Obviously, I was going to need to come up of an alternative place to stay at some point, or like, buy a new house altogether, but until that happened, I needed to be fully equipped.

  “Nice room,” said Trace from somewhere behind me. “Have I ever been here before?”

  My back straightened as a bout of panic ripped through my insides. What the hell was I supposed to answer to that? If I lied to him about being here before and then he suddenly remembered it on his own, he’d realize that I had lied to him and would wonder why that was. The last thing I needed was for him to get suspicious of me.

  I turned to face him with a pile of clothes cradled between my arms and chest. “Yeah, you’ve been here before,” I admitted, deciding to go with the lesser of two evils. “For like homework and stuff.”