Something Witchy This Way Comes: A Jolie Wilkins Novel (27 page)

“My motivations were purely selfish,” he said, and paused. He grabbed my arm and packed me onto his back in an instant. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist as he continued forward at a much faster clip.

“Don’t say that,” I refuted.

“I must confess the truth.”

“Then why are you here now?” I asked, leaning my cheek against his broad back. I closed my eyes, inhaling his spicy scent.

“For the same selfish reasons.”

“How can that be?” I asked.

He stopped running once we reached the barbed wire fence, and he set me back on my feet. Kneeling down, he pulled the bottom of the fence up, where he’d neatly cut a flap in the wire. Then he faced me and shook his head. “I cannot live without you,” he said simply. “Yes, it is true that I have dedicated myself to your protection, but that is only because I could never bear to lose you.”

I gulped down my skepticism, shocked by the direction this conversation had taken. “Sinjin—” I started as I watched him widen the hole in the fence by bending it back on itself.

“No.” He shook his head and stood up. He grabbed both sides of my face, forcing me to look at him. “I begged Mercedes to send me back in time. I ached to win your love, Jolie, because I wanted you to feel for me what I feel for you.”

My shock threw me and I was suddenly at a loss. “I don’t know what to say,” I said softly, shaking my head.

“There is no more to be said,” Sinjin answered. “When you bonded with the warlock, I lost my opportunity.”

“I’ve missed you, Sinjin,” I offered in consolation. I cared about Sinjin deeply, but I knew I could never be with him as long as I still loved Rand. Rand was absolutely the only one for me. We were soul mates just as we were bond mates.

“Poppet, there is no time to tarry,” he said quickly, and pointed to the hole in the fence. “Go.”

“I can’t go with you, Sinjin,” I said resolutely. “You must go without me and help Rand. I can’t explain why now, but there is a plan, a master plan.” I shook my head as tears flowed down my cheeks. “Tell him I have reinstated you in my kingdom and appointed you my chief protector, my guardian.”

He held my face as he shook his head. “Please, poppet. No more of this foolishness.”

I held myself firm. “I’m not leaving.”

He eyed me resolutely. “In that case, I shall also remain. I will not leave without you.”

“Please, Sinjin, you must trust me, I will be fine.” I took a deep breath. “But it isn’t safe for you here. You have to go before they find you.”

As the words left my mouth, the sound of motors suddenly surrounded us. Before either of us could
utter another word, we were encircled by at least five spotlights. Sinjin grabbed my hand and lurched forward, as if to elude the circle of light, but the floodlights increased in brilliance until it was almost like looking at the sun. He fell to the ground, screaming.

“Sinjin!” I yelled, kneeling down beside him. I reached for him, but he pushed away from me. He cradled his head between his hands and I could smell the acrid odor of burning flesh. I yelled at the shadows behind the lights. “Stop it! Turn them off!”

Sinjin’s skin was smoking, darkening into charcoal as the lights hit him. I glanced up at the lights again, incapable of seeing anything beyond them, and had to shield my eyes against the glare. Again I screamed out, “Stop it! You’ve won, just stop torturing him!”

Then I could see the outline of someone stepping forward. I scanned the line of her body and rested my eyes on Bryn. She glared down at me, her body silhouetted by the blinding bulbs behind her. “Luce will be quite interested to hear of this,” she said drily as she eyed Sinjin with hatred. “Do something with him!” she called out. Then she walked over to me, grabbed my arm and forced me upright.

I watched as the spotlights abruptly dimmed, dousing us in darkness. It took my eyes a few seconds to adjust, and when they did, I saw that Sinjin was still lying on the ground. The Lurkers poured out of the numerous Jeeps on which the spotlights had been mounted. Two Lurker men grabbed Sinjin, dragging him into one of the vehicles.

“What have you done to him?” I demanded of Bryn as she hauled me forward, before throwing me into
the arms of two Lurker men, who handled me none too gently.

“It’s sunlight,” she said simply. She walked away as I turned to look at Sinjin’s prostrate figure in horror. Somehow, they had captured sunlight and turned it on Sinjin. Although I knew sunlight would kill him, I could only hope that it hadn’t been enough to do the trick.

God, don’t let him be dead
, I thought to myself.

“He’ll wish he were dead,” Bryn interjected as she turned to face me. She’d obviously picked up on my thoughts.

At that moment, I could honestly say I held nothing but hatred for my sister.

“Bryn!” I screamed as I pounded on my door for the umpteenth time.

After Sinjin and I were discovered, Bryn ordered the two Lurkers holding me to return me to my living quarters. Then she sealed the house off with a charm so I couldn’t escape. What had happened to Sinjin? I had no clue, but I couldn’t stop thinking about her last words—that he’d wish he were dead.

I slammed the door with my fists again and screamed, “Luce! Bryn! Come talk to me right now! Dammit!”

Of course, I received no answer. I also tried to reach Rand, both through our mental connection and our bond, but there was no response. My abilities and powers appeared to have been completely shut off. After realizing I was basically alone, that no one was going to come for me, I collapsed onto the floor and began sobbing.

When I heard the doorknob opening, I forced myself upright and dried the tears from my eyes, not wanting anyone to witness my breakdown. When the door opened, I found Bryn standing there.

“What do you want?” she demanded.

“I want to know what you’ve done with him,” I ground out. “Where is he?”

She shook her head. “You would rather not know because you obviously … care about him.” She said the words with as much disgust as she could manage—like I was despicable for fraternizing with a vampire.

“Tell me, damn you,” I said in my most threatening tone.

She leaned forward and grabbed my hand, pulling me outside. “Fine,” she said curtly. She yanked on my arm as she started forward. “He’s in our lab, where I will gladly escort you.”

“Your lab?” I repeated.

She motioned toward a dark green army Jeep parked outside my door. I followed her.

“Get in,” Bryn said simply, and I didn’t argue. She hopped into the driver’s side, started the engine, and peeled out onto the dirt street. She hit the main street and took a right, then a left onto the hillside, the Jeep straining with the change in terrain. She downshifted and took the grassy hillside all the way to the fence surrounding the camp.

“What is the lab?” I asked finally, a little afraid for her answer.

She frowned. “Well, since you’re officially one of us now and you’ve convinced Luce that you’re going to make a mighty contribution to our team, you might as well know.” She drove alongside the fence for what felt like a few minutes, finally stopping, turning off the engine and jumping out. I followed suit.

“What goes on in the lab?” I repeated. She didn’t
say anything, just started up the base of the hill. Again I followed.

Finally, Bryn turned to face me. “I’d rather you see for yourself,” she said simply. Then she started forward again and held her hands up, a bright blaze of light flowing from them. “Enter,” she commanded, dropping her hands.

The grass beneath us began to glow in the outline of a box, bisected with a line down the center. Bryn quickly stepped back, clearly not wanting to stand inside the lustrous box. As soon as she did, the grass began dissolving, chunk by chunk, and in its wake, the silver of polished steel emerged. When the grass within the glowing box disintegrated, I found myself looking at two steel doors. They slid open, and I could see nothing but darkness inside. Bryn stepped forward, and from the way she appeared to be going down, I could tell she was on a staircase.

“Well, are you coming?” she demanded, turning back.

I nodded, staring down into the darkness. I could just barely make out the staircase, and took the steps carefully, holding on to a railing to keep myself from falling. When I was halfway down, the doors closed above me. Then the room lit up brightly, fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling guiding our way. There was nothing beside the staircase but an empty room. It was strange.

Bryn continued down the steps until she reached a hallway, then paused and faced me. When I caught up to her, she started forward again, without saying anything. I followed her down the long hallway to another solid steel door, where she held her palm in
front of a red, glowing box affixed to the wall and the door slid open. Whatever this “lab” was, it was highly confidential, that much was obvious.

She motioned for me to come through the door, and when I did, I entered a large room—maybe thirty feet square. Inside I saw about fifty hospital beds, and lying atop them the young Daywalkers, obviously close to death. They were pale and sickly with tubes and apparatuses strapped to them.

“What is this?” I demanded as I furrowed my brows at Bryn.

She shrugged as I approached one of the beds. I noticed a long tube inserted into the young man’s wrist. Flowing through the tube was what appeared to be blood. “A blood transfusion?” I asked.

Bryn nodded, and that was when it hit me. “Oh my God,” I said, steadying myself against the wall. I shook my head as memories of a conversation with Luce suddenly pounded through me.

We are in the process of searching for the missing gene in the Daywalkers … once we can identify that gene, we can cure them of this illness
.

I felt bile rising up my throat, accompanied with nausea that might have been due to the baby, or maybe not. Suddenly, the pieces were falling into place, painting a terrible, ugly picture. I glanced up at Bryn, aghast. “You’re transfusing the Daywalkers with vampire blood.”

All those vampire disappearances suddenly made sense. The Lurkers hadn’t killed the vampires, they’d kidnapped them … for this. Bryn didn’t so much as blink. She nodded.

“Do the vampires die?” I asked, a shudder working its way up my spine.

“In the long run,” she answered in a monotone, and there was something in her eyes that told me she felt nothing for the vampires; they were merely donors, research subjects to be sacrificed in the name of a greater good.

I gulped hard as something else occurred to me. “Is Sinjin here?” I asked, tears burning my eyes.

I was not going to let Sinjin die.

“Is he your vampire?” Bryn asked, her eyes narrowed.

Is he my vampire?
The words echoed through me, and my eyes blurred through the flood of tears. I clenched them shut, refusing to cry in front of these monsters. Then I opened them again and glared at my sister.

She is not your sister!
I yelled to myself.
Just because you share the same blood doesn’t mean she’s your sister! She’s nothing but a … a monster!

“So are you going to answer the question?” she demanded, her hands on her hips. She’d probably heard me thinking, but I hardly cared. I nodded, unable to find my voice.

She crossed her arms on her chest and regarded me with cold precision. I couldn’t read the answer in her eyes—it was almost as if she didn’t know.

“He is here.”

The voice had come from my right, and I turned to look at the speaker. It was a woman, maybe five-foot-ten, her cherry-red hair pulled back into a tight bun, which made her look severe. Her skin was a translucent white, and her eyes a dark shade of auburn that
made her resemble someone living in a dark cave for years, unaccustomed to the light of day. Her eyes narrowed as she studied me from head to toe, apparently disapproving of what she saw.

“Who are you?” I demanded.

She raised a brow as if I were stupid for asking, as if I should have recognized her the moment I saw her. And the truth of it was, I did know who she was; I’d known as soon as I set eyes on her.

“I am Nairn,” she said simply, but the very weight of her name caused the room to go silent, and I could feel my heart rate quickening. When she moved her mouth to speak, I could see tiny fangs, like little, pointed Chiclets.

“If you lay a hand on him—” I started, my eyes burning with rage.

She threw back her head and laughed. But there was nothing happy in it—it was meant to disparage and belittle me. It was as if she were shocked that I would dare speak back to her, much less threaten her.

“If I lay a hand on him, then what?” she demanded finally, her eyes piercing. I noticed that Bryn was silent, though I could feel something coming from her. It seemed she was warning me not to excite Nairn, but the strange part was that it was purely a feeling I was receiving. When I looked at her, I got no indication of it at all, which made me half wonder whether I’d imagined it.

“If I am to be one of you,” I said to Nairn, refusing to be intimidated—I wouldn’t back down, not with Sinjin’s life on the line, “then I want him freed.”