CHAPTER TWENTY
When I awoke, I immediately tried to sit up, but my muscles screamed with exhaustion. I opened my eyes and saw flashing lights painting the ceiling fan twirling above me, and the ceiling itself in shades of blue and red.
“It’s okay,” a strange, distant voice said, “You’re safe.”
I allowed my neck to relax and my head to sink into something like a pillow, sending delightful, restful waves throughout my body.
“Can you hear me?” the voice asked.
I nodded and focused on opening my eyes further, giving them a moment to adjust to the light. Wherever I was, it was hot. My forehead, chest, and back were dripping with sweat. Constant movement almost directly above me drew my eyes toward the ceiling where a fan rotated lazily, accomplishing little else than to swish hot air around the room. Then, my eyes pulling down somewhat, I saw the person who had spoken.
“Nicole,” I said, after a couple of tries.
“Here,” Nicole said, bringing a cup of ice cold water to my lips, “Drink this.”
I drank, and immediately felt better. “Thank you,” I managed to say.
“I healed you as much as I could, but only a good night’s rest has the power to heal exhaustion.”
“I feel like I’ve been run down by a freight train.”
“What the hell happened?”
I struggled to think for a second, but then it came to me. “I… went to see Tamara,” I said.
Nicole’s eyes widened. “She did this to you? What happened?”
“Not exactly,” I took another sip of water. “She sent me a letter saying she wanted to negotiate a truce, so I traveled out to the Ninth Ward to meet her. It was all just one big play to stop me from protecting Jean Luc. She wanted no truce, just a chance to get me out of the way.”
I saw the makings of tears beginning to pool along her waterlines. She reached for my hand and grabbed it, then squeezed firmly. Her lips pressed together and she shut her eyes, turning her face away.
“Nicole?” I asked.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “If I hadn’t been such a bitch to you yesterday, then maybe you wouldn’t be lying here like this. I’m so sorry, but I’m also so glad you’re okay.”
I couldn’t help but squeeze Nicole’s hand in return. I thought my own confused emotions may come screaming out of me if I didn’t. “Me too,” I said, “I thought I was going to die.”
“How did you end up in the swamp?”
“She attacked me after I said no to her crappy terms and knocked me unconscious, then she dumped me in the swamp. By the time I woke up, it was night, and I was surrounded by vampires.”
“Are you fucking serious? How did they know you were there?”
“It was her. Look, I know you all want her to be the second coming of Remy, but she’s definitely in cahoots with those bloodsuckers. One of them even said that I was promised to them.”
“So, do you think she had anything to do with what happened at the party the other night?”
“It’s too coincidental that vampires came for us the day after we pretty much told her to get lost. And from what Remy told me, she’s no stranger to being a shady bitch. She wanted me dead, Nicole. That psycho isn’t fit to run a city.”
“I hear you. I just really didn’t think she was capable of murder, even if it wasn’t by her own hand.” She looked at me differently, now—almost with something like awe. “I also can’t believe you fought off a pack of vampires on your own…”
“It wasn’t just me. One of the imps had followed me… I had been using my shield for hours, I could feel my energy fading, and just when I thought that I would have to drop it and run, the imp gave me whatever magick it had been storing.”
“Well, you owe that guy two debts of gratitude. Jared and I had been looking for you all night when it appeared from out of nowhere and lead us to you. It still calls you monkey witch, by the way.”
A genuine smile appeared on my face. Once, those things had been a huge thorn in my side. I couldn’t be more grateful for them now.
Nicole grabbed a wet cloth from a bowl and gently dabbed my cheeks with it. I hadn’t realized how dirty, or how sore, my face was until she applied the water to my skin. “All night I’d a feeling something was wrong,” she said, “All night, I couldn’t shake it. That’s why when Jared knocked on my door, I was ready. I almost expected something would happen, only…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence, and again I saw her eyes begin to well with tears again. “Nicole,” I said, keeping my tone as soft and as comforting as possible, “I’m here, I’m alive, and I won’t let myself get into that kind of danger again. What’s the matter?”
“I didn’t… I’m sorry, Maddie.”
Nicole was shaking now, and I took hold of her shoulders to try and stop the shaking from getting worse. She had been hiding something from me ever since I woke up, some other thing that had happened, and the weight of it was crushing her like a pebble at the bottom of the ocean. “Is it Jared?” I asked, as my heart started to race, “Has something happened to Jared?”
She shook her head and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Emmett, then, or Dean? Are they okay?”
“They’re fine,” she said.
“Then what is it?”
“I… I can’t tell you yet,” she said, “You’re hurt; you need to rest.”
“Nicole, if something else has happened, I need to know about it. Please. You have to tell me.”
“I promised him I wouldn’t.”
“Promised who?”
She turned her eyes away from me. “I promised Jared I would keep you in here, keep you safe while you recovered. Then we would all tell you. But…”
“Nicole… you’re scaring me…”
“Please, I promise I’ll tell you, but you have to relax.”
“Goddammit, what is it?”
A surge of magick came rushing out of me, causing Nicole to shield her face. It was a wave strong enough to shatter the glass and bowl on the end table, make the ceiling fan tremble, and the curtains sway. Then I saw them again, the flashing lights. They were real, they were close, and they looked almost like—
Nicole had stood up, now, and she didn’t seem to be able to decide between keeping me pinned to the sofa and stopping the shades from moving. I fought to stand as well, fighting through the pain in my muscles, in every fiber of my being, until finally I was back on my feet. I made no apologies for what I had just done. Instead, I moved as quickly as I could out of her living room, around into the foyer, and toward the front door.
As I wrapped my hand around the handle and pulled, Nicole hurried past me and pushed the door shut. “I can’t let you go out there,” she said.
“Why?” I asked.
“Maddie… please. I’m begging you. Stay here, rest, and we’ll tell you everything you need to know later on.”
I pulled on the handle and Nicole offered no resistance, allowing the door to open fully and let the night in.
There was a man standing in the doorway with his back toward me. When he turned around to face me, I saw it was Jared, and my heart leapt. He was here, and he was safe. But the expression on his face was far from happy to see me, and by turning around he had given me a clear view of the street and Lumière.
Or at least, what was left of Lumière.
Jared put his hand out to try and get me back into Azure House. “Maddie, get back inside,” he said, but I didn’t listen. I tried to run through him, getting only as far as his waiting arms, and then I screamed as loud as I could. Like living through a waking nightmare, I saw and heard everything, but could do nothing.
The façade was gone, the towers were gone; all that remained of the front of the house was a charred, blackened section of the wall around the front door where the structure was strongest. The rest was black, standing in stark contrast against the glowing orange embers still burning in and around the house. As I continued to scream, making my voice coarse and raw, it was almost as if the pain I was feeling wasn’t only my own.
And through it all, there wasn’t only the smell of burnt wood and smoldering leaves circulating heavily in the air, but also the distinct odor of rotting eggs.