Beautiful Darkness(51)

I thought about the face in the column, the laughter, and the feeling of déjà vu in Macon's room. Was it my mom? I'd been waiting months for a sign from her, since the afternoon in the study when Lena and I found the message in the books.

Was she finally trying to contact me now?

What if she wasn't?

I realized something else. “If I am one of these Waywards — and I'm not saying I'm buying any of this — then I can find Lena, right? I'm supposed to take care of her because I'm her compass, or whatever.”

“We don't know that for sure. You're Bound to someone, but we don't know who.”

I pushed back the chair and walked over to the bookcase. Macon's book sat on the edge of the shelf. “I bet I know someone who does.” I reached for it.

“Ethan, stop!” Marian shouted. My fingers had barely scraped the cover when I felt the floor give way into the nothingness of another world.

At the last second, a hand grabbed mine. “Take me with you, Ethan.”

“Liv, no —”

A girl with long brown hair clung desperately to a tall boy, her face buried in his chest. The branches of a huge oak reached down around them, creating the impression they were alone instead of a few yards away from clusters of Duke University's ivy-covered buildings.



He cradled her tear-stained face gently in his hands. “Do you think this is easy for me? I love you, Jane, and I know I'll never feel this way about anyone again. But we don't have a choice. You knew there would come a time when we would have to say good-bye.”



Jane lifted her chin, resolute. “There are always choices, Macon.”



“Not in this situation. Not a choice that wouldn't put you in danger.”



“But your mother said there might be a way. What about the prophecy?”



Macon slammed his palm against the tree, frustrated. “Damn it, Jane. That's an old wives’ tale. There's no way it doesn't end with you dead.”



“So we can't be together physically — I don't care about that. We can still be together. That's all that matters.”



Macon pulled away, his face twisted in pain. “Once I change, I'll be dangerous, a Blood Incubus. They thirst for blood, and my father says I will be one of them like he is, and his father before him. Like all the men in my family, as far back as my great-great-great-grandfather Abraham.”



“Grandfather Abraham, the one who believed the greatest sin imaginable was for a Supernatural to fall in love with a Mortal — to taint the supernatural bloodlines? And you can't trust your father. He feels the same way. He wants to keep us apart so you'll return to Gatlin, that god-awful town, and creep around underground like your brother. Like a monster.”



“It's too late. I can already feel the Transformation. I stay up all night listening to the thoughts of Mortals, hungering. Soon I'll be hungering for more than their thoughts. Already, it feels like my body can't hold what's inside me, as if the beast might literally burst free.”



Jane turned away, her eyes welling up with tears again. But Macon wasn't going to let her ignore him this time. He loved her. And because he loved her, he had to make her understand why they couldn't be together. “Even standing here, the light is beginning to burn through my skin. I can feel the heat of the sun with such intensity, all the time now. I'm changing already, and it will only get worse.”



Jane buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “You're saying this to scare me, because you don't want to find a way.”



Macon grabbed Jane's shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “You're right. I am trying to scare you. Do you know what my brother did to his Mortal girlfriend after the Transformation?” Macon paused. “He ripped her apart.”



Without warning, Macon's head jerked back, his golden-yellow eyes shining around strange black pupils, like the eclipse of twin suns. He turned his head away from Jane. “Don't ever forget, Ethan. Things are never as they seem.”





I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything until the fog lifted. The vaulted ceiling of the study came into focus.

“That was creepy, man. Like The Exorcist creepy.” Link was shaking his head. I held out my arm, and he pulled me up. My heart was still pounding, and I tried not to look at Liv. I had never shared a vision with anyone except Lena and Marian, and I wasn't too comfortable doing it now. Every time I looked at her, all I could think about was the moment I walked into this room. The moment I thought she was Lena.

Liv sat up, groggy. “You told me about the visions, Professor Ashcroft. But I had no idea they were so physical.”

“You shouldn't have done that.” It felt like I was betraying Macon by bringing Liv into his private life.

“Why not?” She rubbed her eyes, trying to readjust.

“Maybe you weren't supposed to see it.”

“What I see in a vision is totally different from what you see. You're not a Keeper. No offense, but you have no training.”

“Why do you say ‘no offense’ when you're planning to offend me?”