Darkbeam Part IV, page 42
"Elena, my father, is watching me like a hawk around you, and I can promise you this shield just set off more alarms in him." I put a strand that hung in her face, behind her ear.
She laughed softly. "You're good at sneaking around. Just phone me, I will wield my shield. And I'm nineteen, not ten, Blake."
I chuckled again, and she lowered her shield.
All sorts of things went through my mind as I nodded at her and walked to my dad.
I released my lower lip as I saw dad squinting slightly and tried to get rid of the thoughts in my mind.
I would've just given her the stupid book if I knew it was going to make all her doubts disappear.
"Dad," I said. My voice broke. Why was I so nervous? It was me, for crying out loud, then again, it was her—something I'd wanted for the past eight months.
"Blake," my father didn't smile. Shit, he was so not going to let me out of his sight tonight.
"Really, Elena?"
He finally grinned. "I'm a strategist, Blake, and it's the Dragon League. What kind of a leader would I be if my son overthrew me on his first try?"
I laughed and gave him a slap on his shoulder. "Let's talk."
"Yeah, we should, especially about that shield she just wielded. What did she say?"
"It's private. I'm almost twenty-three."
"Blake, she's not."
"Dad, she's nineteen, not some twelve-year-old." Just shut the fuck up, stupid idiot. "You know that will never happen. Not after what she went through. She just finally feels safe with me."
"Oh, is that what you kids are calling it nowadays?"
I chuckled, and he started to laugh too.
"Seriously, Pop."
"She's my rider's daughter, Blake. I just want you to be careful."
"And she's my rider. Just like it always should've been, Dad. I've waited a long time for her to trust me enough to be alone with me. Nothing will happen tonight, okay? I'm not stupid."
"Okay," he said.
Okay, so that was not entirely true, I thought, but he did seem to back off a bit. Whether he was going to stop being a hawk, I had no idea. After all, he was a strategist, and this could be just giving me some rope—not a lot—to see what I was going to do with it. Probably hang myself.
I wielded my shield again and started speaking about Taylor. There was seriously something off with that chick, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was, and my doubts didn't vanish either. The fact that George found an identical necklace to Becky's around her neck, just a different color ruby, was seriously bugging my thoughts. Becky lost hers, and it was a priceless gift.
It made me nervous.
"Emanual has worked with her for more than a year, Blake."
"I know, Dad. I'm just telling you what I've gotten from her the past two months. It's like she is always scouting, wanting information. She makes me nervous and not in a good way."
"We should get Emanual."
I lowered my shield, and my father asked Fred to call Emanual.
My father started to speak to me about the information they'd gotten the other day Elena had to go back in. She'd brought in a couple of new people and brought out scouts.
"They saw Goran?"
My heart clenched as I heard the news.
Dad showed me a photo. He looked so much like Helmut. It made me want to throw up.
"Have you shown anyone else this?"
My father nodded. "Helmut, Caleb, and Emanual."
"He still looks the same way I remember him, Dad."
"He's not that guy anymore, Blake."
"I know. It's just so hard to think that it was King Albert's best friend that betrayed them."
"I know. But at least we have the advantage here. We have Goran's twin, and if there is anyone that can become him," he tapped on the photo, "It's…." the door opened. Emanual entered before my father could finish his sentence.
"You called?" Emanual sat down, and I wielded my shield around the three of us again.
"It's about Taylor."
Emanual squinted and looked at me. "Something happened?"
"She makes me nervous, Emanual, and I don't know why."
"In what way, Blake?" He started to smile.
"Not like that. There is something seriously fishy about this girl." The more I put a voice to my concerns, the more it made sense.
"Look, Taylor made me nervous too, especially behind those creepers."
Dad and I looked at Emanual.
"Why do you say that?" Dad wanted to know.
"She is a bit uncontrollable that side, always sneaking off or trying to. Raymond caught her a few times, I caught her once, and decided that she needs to get back this side."
"What did she tell you when you caught her sneaking off?"
"She said that she wasn't built to watch people suffer. She wanted to go to the pits. To help out those in need."
My gaze flipped to my father's. He was contemplating too.
"I know she is rough around the edges, Blake. Reminds me a bit of you, to be honest."
"Me?"
"Yeah, when she gets a mission, she would do anything in her power to finish it. Me cutting it short that time, that was what pissed her off. I'd done a thorough check on her, Blake, like I do with all my troops."
"And?"
"She's a Night Villain. She is smart as hell. She is strong-headed and hates to lose. It is a Night-Villain thing." He looked at my father. I chuckled the way my father's face went slack, just glaring at Emanual.
"It's not that."
"Then what is it, Blake?" Emanual asked.
I told him about that night when George just stared at Taylor's necklace. That it was almost identical to the one that Becky lost. He listened with eager eyes.
"This girl is giving me the creeps, Emanual. I can't put my finger on what it is."
"You think that she is not who she says she is? I saw her dragon form, Blake."
"Yeah, I did too. We all had. But then you know how some dragons can be."
"Not Night-Villains, Blake."
"Dad, Phil is also a Night-Villain. Not all of them got a lucky break the way you had." I got up and paced as I carried on with why she made me feel like she had a different agenda and asked Emanual the question. What if she tried to sneak off during those times to get word to Goran.
Emanual fell silent, thinking about what I said.
He shook his head. I knew this was hard on him. It meant that he fucked up and basically put Elena's life in jeopardy.
"You know how they function. Paul and Nora would wait for the right time."
"Not Taylor, Blake." He looked at me, and I nodded.
"How did she become part of your squad?"
"She and Jerry came to the palace with Simeon when Helmut started recruiting more guards after the Nora incident."
I squinted. "Nora incident?"
"You were sedated back then. Elena was still a Rubicon. She spent Christmas with us, and Nora ambushed Maggie and Elena at a play."
"Raymond mentioned it." I sat back down on the chair.
"You were sedated, Blake." My father spoke this time.
Simeon also gave me the creeps, and he was huge.
"Simeon and Jerry are as human as they come. He came from Alliandro, just a few miles from Tith. I did my research."
"Dickers died at the palace, Emanual." I reminded him.
"I know." He still blamed him for not finding anything.
"What is Simeon's ability?" I asked.
"Simeon is a lightning wielder that lost his dragon a long time ago. He never tried to claim a new one. I know he is scary outside, but inside he has a heart of gold. Jerry and Taylor grew up together and came from Melbador."
"What is Jerry's ability?"
"He wields the Sun-Blast's fire." Emanual smiled. "Look, maybe Taylor is just affectionate with you. That could be the reason why she keeps staring at you from day one."
I knew it wasn't that. My father and Emanual chuckled.
I sighed and looked at my watch. Time flew when one was speaking about things.
Emanual smiled at a memory.
"What is it?"
"It's funny how you mentioned Taylor and not Jerry. Jerry was actually the one that started all my doubts about the three. Not Simeon, he just happened to reach the palace in Tith the same time they did."
"Jerry made you doubt?" Jerry was far from dangerous; sure, he was really good with weapons, any sort of weapon.
He nodded.
"Why?" I squinted, thinking that if there was smoke, there has to be a freaking massive fire somewhere.
"When I asked Jerry to wield his fire the first time, I could have sworn I saw a different kind of flame, one I'd never seen before."
My insides clenched.
"It was as if it was green, I closed my eyes and opened them again, and it was blue."
My heart pounded crazily fast, and Emanual saw the horror on my face.
"Blake, what is it?"
"Jerry has a green flame?"
"No, his flame is blue. I made sure of it time and time again. It must have been my imagination or something."
I closed my eyes and got up. "It's not your imagination, Emanual," I grunted.
"Blake," my father said.
"Paul had a green flame. He can put thoughts in your head. You must have seen his true flame the first time he wielded it and put that thought in your head that it was blue."
Emanual's eyes rose. "No, Blake. I'm not that easily persuaded."
"Emanual, Paul is powerful. I've seen it with my own eyes. He used it on me so many times. But my own doubts always came back after a while, breaking whatever that idiot put in my head. It was as if I would lose information each and every time he put something in my mind and had to start all over again, finding the clues. We don't know what Paul looks like now. He's been under our noses the entire time." I froze.
"No," Emanual sounded worried again. "No, I know Jerry. Blake?"
"What, you mean Paul is not dead?" My father voiced. None of us answered him.
Emanual's face went numb, and worry appeared as he looked at the door.
"Where is Paul now, Emanual?"
"He's here," it barely came out.
"Elena." I jumped up, and so did my father.
I opened the door and walked straight into Sammy and Dean. They both looked petrified. "Elena is missing. George and Becky are tracking her right now."
"Blake!" My father threw me a robe, and I caught it.
New life found me, and I took off my shirt.
I know who Taylor was working with now that I know who Jerry was. All the images of them flew with a dash of speed through my mind. The way Jerry calmed Taylor down when she was riled up and always followed her. Fuck, she could've gotten word to Goran, or Jerry could. Nora must be here somewhere, not far behind. All the intel they got on this mission.
How the fuck did they get a Night Villain on their side.
I transformed as I darted into the air, and my dragon figure came out. I tuned in immediately on Elena, and my tracking ability redirected me like a magnet. I trusted it and flew faster.
George was heading in the right direction as I zoomed past them.
"Blake," Becky and George yelled at the same time, but there was no time to stop. Elena needed me.
"Get that tail away from me, and I'll show you." Elena's voice boomed in my ears.
He wasn't alone as a woman laughed. Taylor?
"Get on with it, Paul, please. You've toyed with her enough."
"This really wasn't part of the plan, you know. And it's going to be a slow, painful death because we need that precious blood of yours."
"You are and will always be a fucking asshole," Elena said.
He laughed again, and finally, they came into my view.
He held her against the boulder, a grip that she never could get out of.
He lifted his hand, and I saw the blade.
I saw red, but my telekinesis took over and held his hand and arm up in that position.
The second person was not in sight, but I could smell her. It was the hippogriff. Nora was here.
Her scent was just as strong as that night, just as strange and yet familiar.
I collided with the earth, and it slightly rumbled.
I pulled on the robe and tried to find the hippogriff. I know Nora was somewhere in my blind spot.
Paul changed his position fast and held Elena in front of him, with the knife pressed against her throat.
Taylor appeared, and my father's lesson of strategy jumped into my mind. Let her believe that I wasn't on to her.
"Nice job, Taylor."
Paul's hand went over Elena's mouth as she grunted. I knew what she wanted to tell me, but I had to get Taylor off guard and get close to Nora. Otherwise, I was going to die like Lucian. Elena couldn't lose another person like that, not me.
Elena kept on mumbling. Relax, I know. She still begged. I could hear the desperation in her grunts as Paul held her mouth close. He laughed, thinking it was just a fun game.
I laughed too. "What are you trying to do, Jerry? Or should I say, Paul?"
Taylor moved out of my eyesight. Her smell was blocked by Nora's scent. All I could smell now was a hippogriff. They probably thought that Nora would get me the way she got Lucian.
Elena squirmed more.
"She's a feisty one, isn't she? I bet she tastes just as sweet." His lips were close to Elena's neck, and the fucker smiled.
"Are you trying to piss me off? Believe me, you don't want me more pissed off than what I already am. I'm dangerous when I'm pissed off." I snarled at him.
Paul laughed, and I could hear Nora striking with her tail. Elena screamed again, and I turned around and caught Nora's tail.
I found Taylor. What the fuck? She wasn't a Night Vilain.
"You think I didn't know? You reeked!" I yelled at her.
Taylor ran toward me, trying to get her tail out of my grip.
"And you are not my problem." I pulled her tail harder, and she stumbled. She was off her feet, in the air, and collided hard against a boulder behind me. She fell on the ground, stone cold.
Paul grunted, "You will pay for that."
Emanual landed right behind me, as George hovered in the air above me.
He was waiting for Elena, and I knew what to do. Get her to safety and deal with Paul myself.
Emanual changed and picked Nora up as he threw an iron blade pocket knife in my direction. I caught it and put it in my pocket.
"Blake!" Paul yelled and tried again to stab Elena. I just stared at the blade. Elena squirmed again as tears welled up in her eyes.
"I swear to you, I will kill her. Let Nora go."
"No, you won't because you can't even push that knife into her neck."
Paul breathed heavily and only seemed to realize now that I was keeping him in that position.
"You killed my best friend."
"I did you a favor," Paul spat.
"Fuck you," I said harshly and went in for the retrieve.
I subdued Paul's hand that got the knife in the air and broke his other that held Elena tight with a push of my gift. He screamed from pain and let Elena go.
I grabbed him around his throat, with my body against his, lifting him from the ground.
My hand gripped tight around Elena's arm. I pulled her out of his grip and launched her into the air.
She shrieked, but George and Becky were ready and grabbed her.
George cried his dragon call to let me know that she was safe and started flying away.
And now it was only me and this fucking idiot.
The scum grunted as his nostrils flared. My arm under his chin kept him against the boulder.
If he could breathe fire, he would have. Then he started to laugh. If I didn't know darkness, this laugh would have made me back the fuck away. He was sadistic.
"I know what you are trying to do. Mocking me isn't going to help, Paul. How did you do it? How did you manage to fool Emanual the way you have?"
"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food, Blake?"
"I never listen to my mother, Paul. Something we surely have in common. Now answer my question." I roared.
He laughed. "You don't scare me," he had a huge grin plastered on his face.
I chuckled too and took out the iron dagger from my pocket and sliced his torso. The movement was so fast, and I barely felt the blade tearing his flesh.
Paul grunted as his skin sizzled. The grin on his face instantly disappeared.
"Don't let me get creative. Now tell me?"
He breathed hard through his nostrils.
He stared at me with shallow, dark, angry eyes. "There is nothing about the darkness I can't teach you, Blake. Fine," he grunted. "I became one of Emanual's best soldiers. Proved myself in Etan and saved his life," his smirk appeared again, and he chuckled. "Reminds you of a recipe, doesn't it?"
It was how he'd won all of us over, Lucian and me in particular, when he came to the academy. "Yes, you are seriously good at brewing trust, Paul."
He cocked his head. "I am one of the best." He smiled. "What I don't get is how the hell you are going to kill me with that mermaid's tail at our feet? Surely not by using an iron dagger? You are more than that, Blake."
I smiled. "You know me so well, Paul. Always had this curiosity for things you would never understand." I looked at Xaline's tail and smiled. "I knew Xaline well. I know what she was capable of, what her tail can do. She took my powers easily through Elena, but she struggled slightly in that department with me."
Paul's face froze. "You're bluffing."
"Nope, and I promised Elena that when I found you, I will make you pay for all the heartache you brought on her."
"I didn't kill Lucian, Blake. Nora did." He was a weasel too.
"I'm not speaking about Lucian's death. Nora will be dealt with, just not by my doing."
"Don't do this. You'll have a Wyvern war on your hands. I'm seen as a prince in the Wyvern colonies."
"Elena is a princess with the dragons, and Lucian was a prince, so I say tit for tat."
"Don't be stupid, Blake. You can't win this without our alliances."
I laughed. "You're seriously going to play that card? In what life do you think I will ever trust a Wyvern again? Definitely not in this one. You made sure of that. Besides, I know what is going on in Etan. He rules the wyverns. You call him the Wyvern King."
