Allegiance (Causal Enchantment #3)(68)

“Yep …” he answered, dumbfounded.

“Told you there was a door,” I added with smug satisfaction.

A subtle breeze behind me, followed by a light pinch of my elbow, warned me that Caden had entered. He surveyed the area. “Maybe we shouldn’t be in here.”

Max’s long snout appeared in my periphery. “Who’s Sofie hiding in here, Max?” I demanded to know.

I have no idea.

“Right. Since when don’t you have the 4-1-1 on everything?” I gave him a doubtful glare. “You’re lying.”

I swear it! I’m as baffled as you. His nostrils flared. Looks like it’s empty. Whatever was here smells like it died long ago.

“That makes no sense. Why would Sofie be hiding an empty room? And why the lit fire?” Above the mantle hung a painting of Sofie in the arms of a handsome dark-haired man. There was only one man it could be. “Is that Nathan?” I asked.

Yup. They made a nice couple, didn’t they?

“Yeah.” I wandered forward, Caden and Bishop in tow. Running a finger along a stack of magazines, I pulled it back and found a thick layer of dust coating my skin. The couch cushion had a worn spot in the center, as if someone had sat there for so long that his or her body imprinted into it. Someone had certainly lived here at some point.

“Who are you?” a voice suddenly called out, startling everyone, including Caden. I whipped my head around to find a man standing in the doorway of the hallway. I gasped.

It was the same face from the painting.

10. The Past, Resurrected—Evangeline

“Nath-an,” I sputtered in a gasp, my words half caught in my throat, any alcohol-induced buzz vanishing. “H-H-How?” As if the sound of my voice triggered a switch, Nathan’s eyes fastened onto my face, his head cocking to one side in a form of recognition. Icy cold slithered through my entire body. This had to be Nathan but …

With a wary eye on him, I strained to glance back at the painting. Same face, same nose, same hair, same … no. I blinked several times. Rich dark chocolate orbs gazed down at me from the wall. Shifting my full attention back to the live Nathan, I recoiled under the cold, washed-out slate color, the irises too large to be normal. Even more odd, those oversized irises reflected everything like mirrors—the dark leather couches, the flickering flames, me.

“Evangeline,” he said in a monotonous drone, his face showing no expression, his voice lacking definition. Nothing but emptiness. A rod of panic shot through my spine. He knows my name.

He wasted no time. With robotic movements, Nathan began moving toward me, his focus glued to my face. A low growl to my side warned me that Max was ready to pounce.

“Evangeline,” Caden whispered through clenched teeth, his tone cutting, “move back … now.”

I couldn’t move, though, so transfixed was I by those blue mirror balls, as if they had lassoed and were now wrangling me in, gripping me tightly. This wasn’t like being compelled. No … those eyes were consuming me. I felt him etching my face into his mind. Worse, that eerie familiarity from outside in the hall now swarmed me with renewed intensity as he neared.

I barely saw what happened next. Max leapt for Nathan’s throat, growling and snapping as I had never seen him do before.

“No!” I shrieked, realizing that Max would kill him. Caden wrenched me away, throwing me into Amelie’s waiting arms. A canine yelp of pain froze all of us in our tracks, turning my blood to ice. We turned to find Max lying motionless on the ground. “No,” I whispered breathlessly, my knees buckling, reaching desperately for my guardian. With Max out of the way, Nathan wasted no time continuing toward us. Toward me.

Bishop dove in next, a crazed determination on his face. Without a glimmer of concern , Nathan’s arm swiftly moved up to block the attack, his large hand wrapping around Bishop’s neck. What happened next, I couldn’t explain if I wanted to. Already pale, I watched Bishop’s face turn a pallid ashen color and tighten up, as if Nathan was leeching out the life that kept him immortal. Once done, Nathan tossed Bishop’s limp, withered body to the side.

“No!” Both Amelie and I shrieked in unison. My heart stopped. What had Nathan done? Was he Walking Death now too? Is this what I was doomed to become?

With desperation, I searched Bishop for signs of life. His left knee twitched. Like nerves in a freshly killed body. Was he dead? Was Max? Had Nathan just killed them in front of me? I stood frozen, watching Nathan continue closing the distance. Sucking in, I curled into myself, cowering. Amelie’s fingers tightened around my arms, her own tension channeling through me like a live wire.

But then those blue mirrors flickered off me, moving to my left. To Caden.

I froze, seeing Caden’s jaw set with resolve, his body swaying as he positioned himself, getting ready to attack.

Getting ready to die.

In the blink of an eye—because I had opened the door that Sofie didn’t want anyone opening—I was about to lose everyone. Dread, guilt, and desperation boiled over inside me, charging my limbs with newfound strength, electrifying my body until I could almost see sparks shooting from my skin’s surface.

No … no … no! I couldn’t allow this. I wouldn’t allow this. I would fight. “Stop!” I screamed, struggling to break free of Amelie’s viselike grip.

“You can’t, Evie.” Her fingers dug into my forearms.