Anathema (Causal Enchantment #1)(91)
All fifteen Council members instantly appeared around the statue, eagerness shining in their vibrant eyes. Only my four vampires dragged their feet as they moved grudgingly toward us.
“Hurry up, or we’ll be going without you!” Jonah snapped.
“No, we won’t,” I answered smoothly. Where is this nerve coming from?
His cold white eyes darted to me and I saw surprise flicker in his face before it smoothed over. With a slight nod and a wink, he turned his eyes back to his hand on the statue. Unease stirred in me, and not just because of his hideous face. There was meaning in that wink. He probably wanted to kill me, but he couldn’t. That knowledge brought me little comfort.
My four vampires finally reached the statue, Jonah considerately shifting to make room for Caden beside me. I reached out and grabbed hold of his arm, the need to be connected with him uncontrollable. He leaned in. “Is there no other way?”
I shook my head. “It’ll be okay,” I whispered back. “Sofie’s prepared.”
“I don’t think she’s prepared for this …” he muttered, his apprehensive eyes flitting over the crowd around the statue.
“Don’t worry,” I offered feebly, desperate to be done with all of this. I raised my voice again. “Okay now, everyone just … stay right where you are,” I instructed, my eyes on my four vampires to ensure they heard me. “Don’t move.” I didn’t know if not moving was a requirement, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Nineteen vampires leaned closer toward the statue, their palms splayed on the statue. They must have been thinking the same thing. I could feel their anxiety and excitement lying over me like a heavy blanket. After seven hundred years, they would be in a world of humans again. My heart started pounding against my chest as hysteria briefly overwhelmed me. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can’t believe I’m unleashing this on my world!
“You okay?” Caden asked. I glanced over, finding calm in those spectacular jade eyes.
Everything would be fine. It had to be done. With a nod and a smile, I knelt and inched the pendant I gripped in my trembling hand toward the statue’s stone hand. Toward the portal.
As it approached its intended resting place, the heart of the pendant began shimmering a dazzling bluish–green, like sunlight cast over tropical waters. Like Caden’s eyes. The icy cold faded to a perfectly comfortable temperature. I fumbled as I struggled to fit the pendant within the statue’s fingertips. It didn’t want to fit. Maybe I had misunderstood somehow? Maybe—
I heard a click.
“Now what?” Mage asked in a whisper, her eyes wide.
Frozen in a crouch so I wouldn’t dislodge the pendant, I murmured, “Now we wait.” Please let this work, I prayed. Don’t let there be any more pieces to this puzzle. This group didn’t seem like a patient lot. They’d be peeling the skin off my arms soon if this didn’t work.
The seconds dragged on and my agitation increased. I was all but convinced I had misinterpreted the pendant’s message when a wave of fatigue hit me. Recognizing the call back to Earth, I glanced at Caden, then at Amelie, Bishop, and Fiona. I could see it in their eyes—they felt it! Glancing around at the Council, I saw their confusion and panic; they’d gone too many years without experiencing weariness. “It’s working!” I whispered breathlessly.
Looking up at Caden, I saw his eyes fixed adoringly on me. His lips moved as he mouthed, I love you.
Despite the current circumstances, my heart skipped a few beats. I opened my mouth to return the sentiment—
And watched in horror as he flew backward to crash into the rubble a hundred feet from me, hurled away from the statue by a still smugly grinning Jonah. Hurled away from salvation. Away from me.
“No!” I shrieked as Amelie dashed to her brother.
They weren’t going to make it back in time. Within every fiber of my being, I knew this. None of this was worth it if I didn’t have them.
I groped frantically for my pendant, intent on yanking it out—
A cloudless blue sky hung beyond the glass ceiling above me. I was lying on the cobblestone path in the atrium, beside Veronique’s tomb, the dreadful image of Caden flying away and Amelie chasing after him still vivid in my mind. I clambered to my feet, needing to see those two faces. Knowing I’d want to die if I didn’t.
I found Viggo and Mortimer first. They were sitting at their bistro table, motionless, their eyes round with panic. Sofie was standing beside them, her pale, minty eyes darting about wildly. I followed her gaze.
There were bodies everywhere.
I had wanted four. I had expected nineteen. But there were more. So many more. Creamy pale, beautiful faces lay in repose on the cobblestone paths and in the flower gardens. There had to be a hundred, at least, and none of them were moving. Yet.
“What have you gone and done?” Mortimer whispered slowly, clearly in shock.
“It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” I stammered, shaking my head shaking back and forth in vigorous denial.
“I warned you two about unexpected outcomes, didn’t I?” Sofie muttered, her tone surprisingly calm, given the disastrous situation. The four of us were standing in a minefield of comatose vampires.
The sound of shattering glass drew my attention upward in time to see a sleek black body sailing through the air from a fifth–floor balcony. Max landed beside me with the agility of a cat. The other dogs tore out the door of the mansion and surrounded me in seconds. Leo rushed out close behind them.