Enticed (42 page)

„Why did he come here?" I asked Onyx.

„He"s been watching you for some time, I"d say, waiting," Onyx said, again his words striking a chord with me.

Griffin knocked on Dapper"s door.

„Come in," called Dapper from inside.

The senses were now strong, the flavour of apple seemed to mix with a foul aroma.

„Ew, that"s putrid. What is it?" I couldn"t help asking.

Griffin and Lincoln, as specialists in sensing the floral combinations exiles exude, were also wrinkling their noses.

„Dracunculus Vulgaris," Griffin said. „A stunning flower that smells of rotted meat."

We walked in and found Jude siting on a stool at Dapper"s minibar. His robes stil the same dirty brown, still covering his face, his whole frame hunched over.

Dapper stood behind the small wooden bar, looking nervous, not taking his eyes from Jude.

„I don"t think I was clear when I told you lot not to bring your troubles here," he said calmly, as if worried he might stir his unwanted guest.

Since I was the only one who had spoken with him in the past, I felt I had to say something.

„Jude …" I started unsure. „Why are you here?"

He didn"t answer. I looked to Griffin, he just opened his hands a little. But the Jude started to move. I saw Lincoln"s hand go to his dagger while Jude"s went to his hood and he revealed his beautiful face. This time I was prepared and stopped my hands floating towards him,

Reaching into the sides of his robe, Jude revealed something else. The Scripture, the one he"d taken from Jordan. He raised his head, his baby blue eyes looking softly at mine as he held the parchment out to me.

„You"re just giving it to us?" I asked, worried to take it in case it was some kind of trap.

He nodded once.

„What do you want in return?" I asked, trying to concentrate as more images from my dreams flooded back to me. All the pain, the guilt, the responsibility.

„Nothing," he replied.

„What about Phoenix?"

His head tilted. „He thought he had found my weakness. He had not."

„You were supposed to give him the Scripture in return for something."

He nodded again. „He will know by now that I had not kept my end of the arrangement. It wil not take long for him to know where I am."

I looked around the room, everyone seemed unsure of what to do. Lincoln"s hand stil hovered near his dagger. Steph looked completely baffled and Salvatore had a firm arm around her. He must have had to restrain her at some point from approaching Jude. Even Onyx seemed wary, standing at the back of the room, though I also saw him keeping one eye on Spence. I wondered if he was still a little apprehensive in his presence too.

But I wasn"t scared. Images of my dream continued to flow as if the door had been unlocked. I could see it, feel it.

„How long have you been in the world realm?" I asked.

The corners of his mouth made a minuscule movement. Did he know I was working it out?

„A little over two thousand years."

His eyes went to the Scripture and then back to me. I took a step towards him, towards the thing that had cost so much already.

„You are betraying your own."

„Sometimes it is necessary, even when others cannot see."

Because we need a villain.

He stood. I heard the others shuffle nervously behind me. I took the Scripture in one hand, and closed the final step between us. I leaned in slowly and he let me. My other hand took hold of my cold hard destiny.

This was it. The moment.

And I was right, Jude
was
another cliff. I remembered how Uri had explained it in the desert. Now, it was true again.

It was simply a matter of the right question being laid before you so that you could, in
turn, make the right choice.

My grip tightened around the dagger. This was the same as leaping and I knew, once I did this, I"d never be able to go back. And then the words of my angel maker floated through my mind, words from my dream. I"d assumed he was speaking of Jude, but now I wasn"t so sure.

We all have the capacity to find the will – even when that which we must do terrified us
most.

Jude"s cheek was soft, and untouched for so very long. I kissed him once.

„Thank you, Judas," I whispered as I pul ed back and drove the dagger into him, returning him for judgement.

His kind eyes met mine. An eternity of sacrifice showed. A tortured solitude.

„Thank you, Keshet," he said, using the same title both my angel maker and Mother had given me as his reach our towards me gently. Before his fingers touched my face they disappeared, along with the rest of him. And though he was gone, I was sure I still felt him the moment he would have connected with me.

I hoped he got the nothingness he had craved.

„Did you say
Judas
?" Dapper asked.

„Uh-huh," I answered, looking down at my hands. In one, an ancient Scripture, in the other, a dagger.
My dagger.

„Oh. Just checking." Dapper started pouring himself a drink.

„So is it true," Onyx said from the back of the room, moving forward now.

„Which part?" Lincoln asked, sounding out of breath.

„Keshet," Onyx said, looking at me.

„The rainbow," I said, distracted. Bewildered.

I just killed Judas.

Dapper, who seemed to be relaxing a bit now that Jude was gone, put down his drink. „It"s why your aura is always different," he marvelled, reminding us of his ability to identify auras.

„Kind of a contradiction - Grigori power usually multi-coloured, but Grigori auras are always just the one colour. It can be different shades for different people, but always just one and, on top of that, a lining of gold. Violet, here – she"s well, she"s like a rainbow with streaks of gold all over the place."

„I hate to ask the obvious, but what the hel does al that mean?" Spence spat out.

„It means," Lincoln started, as if saying it hurt him, „she can connect the realms.

I didn"t real y understand, but I knew he was right and that, my Mother had always known.

It was why she"d sacrificed herself, why she"d named me Violet.

Onyx moved over to the bar and motioned for Dapper to pour him a large glass of whatever he was having. Whisky, I think. Salvatore and Steph collapsed onto the chaise while Zoe made herself comfortable on Dapper"s hag rug. Griffin and Lincoln joined me on the other side of the minibar. I took a deep breath and unfurled the Scripture.

The blood drained from my face. My vision blurred.

„What?" Griffin prompted.

My eyes welled with tears of pure fright. „Does anyone know what Tartarus is?" I asked, in barely a whisper.

„The pits of this realm," Dapper said, as Onyx took a massive gulp of his drink and offered a much plainer explanation.

„Hell."

My hands shook, holding the Scripture that was not meant for us. „This is not the Grigori Scripture. It"s … it"s …"

My heart started to race, my mouth went dry. The large bold outline of a triangle in the middle with small symbols at each point haunted me to the core. Below that, two sections of text. The words were not decipherable, but they didn"t need to be. Instinct told me what this was.

„I know why Phoenix wanted the Scriptures. It was never about the Grigori list." My hands shook so much Lincoln had to take the parchment form me.

„What is it?" Griffin asked, now looking over Lincoln"s shoulder at the Scripture.

„Writing. Diagrams. It"s in another language but … I think it"s … instructions." I stared into the room, full of my friends - Grigori warriors, Steph, even Onyx and Dapper. I feared for us all and could think of only one person who would know what to do. But Mum was already dead.

„To return one of the damned," Lincoln said. „Phoenix wants to bring someone back from hell."

„Who?" Spence asked, irritated he was missing something.

Lincoln"s ghost-white face now mirrored mine and even when I looked Onyx I could see he wasn"t exactly a shade of good health either. Together, we gave Spence his answer.

„Lilith."

„And so," Griffin sighed, „we have what he wants and he has the lists."

My phone beeped in my pocket and I pulled it out with still-quivering hands. I already knew it would be him. There was no running, no quitting – he wouldn"t let me, and somehow that helped. A kind of resignation came over me.

I stood a little taller, not so tired anymore. I stared at the text message as my hands stopped shaking.

Interested in a trade … lover?