Beautiful Creatures(143)

But where Macon resembled a Southern gentleman from another time, this man looked fiercely stylish.

Dressed in all black, a turtle-neck, jeans, and a leather bomber, he looked more like a movie star you’d see on the cover of a tabloid rag than Macon’s Cary Grant. But one thing was obvious. He was an Incubus, too, and not—if there was such a thing—the good kind. Whatever Macon was, Hunting was something else.

Hunting cracked what must have passed for a smile, to his kind. He began to circle Macon. “Brother.

It’s been a long time.”

Macon didn’t return the smile. “Not long enough. I’m not surprised you’d take up with someone like her.”

Hunting laughed, raunchy and loud. “Who else would you expect me to take up with? A pack of Light Casters, like you did? It’s ridiculous. The idea that you can just walk away from what you are. From our family legacy.”

“I made a choice, Hunting.”

“A choice? Is that what you call it?” Hunting laughed again, circling closer to Macon. “More like a fantasy. You don’t get to choose what you are, Brother. You’re an Incubus. And whether you choose to feed on blood or not, you are still a Dark Creature.”

“Uncle Macon, is what she said true?” Lena wasn’t interested in Macon and Hunting’s little reunion.

Sarafine laughed, shrilly. “For once in your life, Macon, tell the girl the truth.”

Macon looked at her, stubbornly. “Lena, it’s not that simple.”

“But is it true? Do I have a choice?” Her hair was dripping, tangled in wet ringlets. Of course, Macon and Hunting were dry. Hunting smiled and lit a cigarette. He was enjoying this.

“Uncle Macon. Is it true?” Lena pleaded.

Macon looked at Lena, exasperated, and looked away. “You do have a choice, Lena, a complicated choice. A choice with grave consequences.”

All at once, the rain stopped completely. The air was perfectly still. If this was a hurricane, we were in the eye. Lena’s emotions churned. I knew what she was feeling, even without hearing her voice in my head. Happiness, because she had finally gotten the one thing she had always wanted, the choice to decide her own fate. Anger, because she had lost the one person she had always trusted.

Lena stared at Macon as if through new eyes. I could see the darkness creeping into her face. “Why didn’t you tell me? I’ve spent my whole life terrified I was going to go Dark.” There was another crash of thunder and the patter of rain began to fall again, like tears. But Lena wasn’t crying, she was angry.

“You do have a choice, Lena. But there are consequences. Consequences you could not understand, as a child. You can’t really begin to understand them now. Yet I have spent every day of my life pondering them, since before you were born. And as your dear mother knows, the conditions of this bargain were determined long ago.”

“What kind of consequences?” Lena looked at Sarafine skeptically. Cautiously. As if her mind was opening to new possibilities. I knew what she was thinking. If she couldn’t trust Macon—if he had been keeping this kind of secret all this time—maybe her mother was telling the truth.

I had to make her hear me.

Don’t listen to her! Lena! You can’t trust her— But there was nothing. Our connection was broken in the presence of Sarafine. It was like she had cut the phone line between us.

“Lena, you can’t possibly understand the choice you are being pressured to make. What is at stake.”

The rain turned from a patter of tears to a screaming downpour.

“As if you could trust him. After a thousand lies.” Sarafine glared at Macon and turned to Lena. “I wish we had more time to talk, Lena. But you have to make the Choice, and I am Bound to explain the stakes. There are consequences; your uncle wasn’t lying about that.” She paused. “If you choose to go Dark, all the Light Casters in our family will die.”

Lena went pale. “Why would I ever agree to do that?”

“Because if you choose to go Light, all the Dark Casters and Lilum in our family will die.” Sarafine turned and looked at Macon. “And I do mean, all. Your uncle, the man who has been like a father to you, will cease to exist. You will destroy him.”

Macon disappeared and materialized in front of Lena, not even a second later. “Lena, listen to me. I am willing to make the sacrifice. That’s why I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want you to feel guilty about letting me go. I have always known what you would choose. Make the Choice. Let me go.”

Lena was reeling. Could she really destroy Macon if what Sarafine said was true? But if it was true, what other choice did she have? Macon was only one person, even though she loved him.

“There is something else I can offer,” Sarafine added.

“What could you possibly have to offer that would make me want to kill Gramma, Aunt Del, Reece, Ryan?”

Sarafine tentatively took a few steps toward Lena. “Ethan. We have a way the two of you can be together.”

“What are you talking about? We’re already together.” Sarafine cocked her head slightly and her eyes narrowed. Something passed across her golden eyes. Recognition.

“You don’t know. Do you?” Sarafine turned to Macon and laughed. “You didn’t tell her. Well, that’s not playing fair.”