Betrayal 2012 (7 page)

As though answering my silent question, I noticed an entire wedding party shuffle into the ballroom and kneel in front of the Council.  They were celebrating in the next hallway if I recalled the sign in the lobby.  Mistress Lyonetta had just taken control of every human downstairs in the hotel.

For a full five minutes, people came to her.  They never spoke and never looked around.  They simply walked in and knelt like an obedient dog.  The floor was getting crowded and soon the humans were nearly piled on top of each other.  When the doors finally closed, Mistress Lyonetta had summoned about at least a hundred and fifty people.

The remaining merfolk audience members moved towards the edges of the room in order to allow for more space.  By the looks on their faces, I think they were a little frightened of what they were witnessing.  Considering that Kain and I had known very little about compulsion and how it was used, I was guessing that a demonstration of this magnitude was pretty rare.  I know I’d only ever seen one person do this before.  And now I feared I knew what was coming next.

“Eviana,” Mistress Lyonetta declared.  “Show them what you can do.  Take them from me.”

Five

A frog climbed into my throat.  Swallowing the lump I tried to speak.  “Pardon?”

“Take them!  This is your plan to fight against Lucian, is it not?  We need to see how strong you really are.”

Without thinking, I glanced at Graham.  He was probably my only fan at the table and I watched as a hint of curiosity washed over his face.  It was almost like I needed him to encourage me to do this and ensure that now was the time for me to display my strength.  As though reading my thoughts, he winked at me again.  Immediately after that, Kain place his warm hand at the base of my back.  He leaned in and whispered. 

“Breathe, Eviana.  Relax and focus.  You can do this.” 

I closed my eyes and sent a silent thanks to Kain.  After everything I’ve done to him, he was still standing by my side.  The thought almost made me cry but it also helped me push the nerves away.  Okay, time to prove my worth in this world.

The surrounding air seemed stale as I took in several large breaths.  I could smell alcohol and some type of fried food on many of the hotel patrons.  That made sense since they’d been pulled in from their happy hour drinks and appetizers.  How in the world would we explain this?  I stopped my thoughts from going in that direction and forced them to focus instead. 

First envisioning a dark room, I then tried to pinpoint each consciousness.  Nothing happened and I heard some of the Council members grumble.  I knew that if I opened my eyes, I would be met with skeptical and arrogant faces.  So I kept them closed and soon I began to see each mind light up in my head. 

They weren’t very bright and I attributed that to the fact that Mistress Lyonetta had control over them right now.  When I’d taken over Lucian’s human and selkie army, I had been so angry and emotional, I didn’t really even know how I did it.  Now that I’d been practicing more, I could conceptualize the idea of minds as little floating light balls.  Although I still didn’t know how to take control from someone else. 

So, I visualized a tiny hand and began reaching for them.  It was kind of like one of those sticky arms you get from a gumball machine.  I would throw the flexible appendage out towards a mind and try to wrap my fingers around it in time to pull it back to me.  It took three tries before I finally got one.  I think I sucked in a breath in excitement because Kain whispered softly to me that it was working.  One down and a hundred and fifty more to go.

I don’t know how much time passed, but I soon created three different sticky hands so that I could grab more than one mind at a time.  I lost count around sixty but I was also losing energy.  Lyonetta’s hold was strong and she was able to steal a few back.  When I thought that I’d taken the majority, if not all of them, I opened my eyes.

The humans I had compelled were all facing me and the ones I didn’t get continued to kneel in front of the Council.  From what I could tell, I’d missed about twenty of them.  I looked up at Lyonetta and smiled.  “How’s that?”

Something resembling pride swept over her face and she gave me a small nod.  “Not bad.”

“Not bad?” Christopher jumped in again.  “She didn’t get them all.  That could mean the difference between life and death.”

“No, she didn’t,” Lyonetta confirmed but didn’t say anything else.  I could see the growing doubt amongst the Council members and I would bet that those same feelings were running through the rest of the audience.  Something inside of me cringed at the thought of letting them down.  I had to prove myself not only for my clan but also for Kain’s.

Remembering our practice session yesterday, I began humming the tune to the chicken dance in my mind and at once I pushed it out into the light balls filling up the darkness of my room.  Every human facing me stood and starting flapping their arms and shaking their butts in a very unorganized and truly hilarious version of the traditional wedding dance.  Even the bride and groom participated, making me wonder how many times they would have to perform this dance today.  I let them continue for several minutes before the sound of someone clapping disrupted my concentration. 

Graham was standing now and the grin on his face told me at least he appreciated my display of power.  “Fantastic, luv.”  He turned to the rest of the Council.  “I think she’s proven herself.  I’ve never seen you make them dance before,” he directed towards Mistress Lyonetta.  She glared at him.

“Enough, Eviana.  Please release control so we can send them away.”  I didn’t really know how to do that either, so I imagined a pair of scissors cutting my gummy arms.  The room in my head instantly went black and all of the humans turned back towards the front tables.  With another silent command from the Council’s leader, they began to walk out the doors with our protectors following closely behind.  Maybe Lyonetta had the ability to wipe their memories too because otherwise, I don’t know how they would be able to explain where the last thirty minutes of their life had gone.

Kain rubbed his hand over my back again and sighed.  “You were perfect,” he smiled down at me. 

The look in his eyes left me wondering about the extent of our relationship again.  This was a moment where I wanted to reach up and kiss him.  The way he looked at me like I was the only person in the room right now left my heart pounding in my chest.  Yet, being with him, even if Brendan wanted nothing to do with me, was not possible.  He made that perfectly clear when we got back to California and agreed to work together.  But what I was seeing in him now seemed to contradict those harsh words he had for me.  Kain was either an excellent poker player or he was just as confused as me.

“You are dismissed.”  The command brought my attention back to the front of the room and again I caught a glance of Graham staring at Kain and me with a bemused look on his face.  When neither of us moved, Mistress Lyonetta continued.  “We will recess until tomorrow morning to allow us time to confer.”

And with that, the seven Council members stood and made their way towards the double doors.  Graham and two others walked right past us but he was the only one to stop and he only spoke to me.

 “Rain check, then?”  I wrinkled my brows in confusion.  “On the drinks.  Looks like duty calls tonight,” he said with a sigh.  All I could do was nod my head quickly before he rushed away and placed an arm over one of the Council woman’s shoulder.  I could see her glare up at him and shrug it off before they even made it out of the room.

“He is as irritating as everyone says,” Kain said while watching Graham’s exit.  That caught my attention.

“You know him?”

“No, but he’s somewhat famous.  You don’t know?” I shook my head.  “He’s the only Council member other than Adele Lyonetta to earn a seat as a teenager.  He’s only twenty two and he’s already been a member for five years.”

“Five years?” I asked.  He would have been seventeen then.  Now I really felt like a child remembering what I was doing, and running away from, at seventeen.

“Yeah, and apparently no one is too thrilled with it.  But he’s powerful in some way or he wouldn’t be sitting there.”

“Hmm…” It was all that I could say.

“You should stay away from him,” Kain added.

“What?”

“He has a pretty bad reputation when it comes to the women in his life.  They fall all over him but he tosses girls aside like trash.  You really don’t want to be seen with him.”

“Thanks,
dad
.  I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”  I rolled my eyes because the idea of me being with Graham was so ridiculous that I couldn’t even believe Kain would bring it up.  Besides I wasn’t interested because I had someone else in my life.  Or at least I was about to find out if I did.  “What time is it?”

Kain looked at his watch and then back at me with a weird look on his face.  “Almost six.”

“I have to go.  I’ll get Palmer and Troy to go with me and I should be back in time for dinner.”

“Okay,” Kain said but it was clipped with disappointment.  At least I think that’s what it was.  “Call me if you’re running late so we know.” 

I smiled up at him with another
yes dad
type of look and went to find my cousin and his partner.  There was a small skip to my step as I hurried across the room, thankful that most of the audience members had left right after the Council did.  I’m sure they would be talking about me all night long, but right now that didn’t matter.  I was finally going to see Brendan.

The coffee shop was a few blocks away and since it wasn’t raining, we decided to walk.  Being in that ballroom not only exhausted me but it also seemed to creep out my cousin who kept looking at me in a strange way.  I wasn’t going to let him ruin my moment so I pushed his concern aside to deal with another day.

We arrived five minutes early and I wondered if I should grab us a table or order a drink.  Ever since taking over leadership, I’ve found that coffee is a mainstay in my diet now.  I didn’t always like the bitterness, but I’d discovered that by adding a little bit of caramel and chocolate flakes, I had a drink that satisfied both the sweet tooth and the caffeine cravings.  Not knowing what Brendan was into now, I decided not to order for him for fear of being too aggressive.

I found a small two person table along the side of the coffee shop but far enough away from the counter and the front door to give us a little bit of privacy.  Taking in my surroundings I had to laugh at the random design of this place.  The walls were painted a dark purple and the floors were covered in faux wood.  The background music was a mix of reggae and bollywood sounds that didn’t seem to go together at all.  As if that were the plan, hanging from every available nook and cranny were naked Barbie dolls of various ages and colors.  Some were dangling by their legs while others had tiny intricate nooses around their necks.  It was quite creepy.

My eyes continued to drift over to the front door.  Right on time, the bell chimed and Brendan walked in.  I sucked in a breath and held it for several moments.  Ever since we were little, he had that instant ability to take my breath away by his presence alone.  No one else had that much power over me and I knew he had to remain in my life. 

He looked wonderful.  Tanned skin, dark hair, and those emerald green eyes that were unnaturally beautiful.  It was like a desert mirage, too good to be true.

 He spotted me almost instantly and smiled in a way that I knew had to mean something to him.  In only a few strides we were standing in front of each other, just staring.  I didn’t know if I was allowed to hug him or kiss him or chain him to me for the rest of our lives like I wanted to.  I couldn’t tell what he was thinking and I needed to be strong and prepare for the worst.  That thought brought tears to my eyes before I could stop them.

Brendan wrapped his long muscular arms around me and pulled me tight against his chest.  With my heels on, my height reached to just under his chin and I felt him rest his head on the top of mine.  I squeezed him so hard that I thought I would break a rib.  His heart was thundering against my ear and every day that I spent in anguish over missing him suddenly disappeared.  He was here now.  We were together now.