I'm physically spent when Elias finally drinks his fill and he's taken me three more times on top of the tomb in that mausoleum. I stifle a giggle when I think about how my poor mother would react to know I've just fucked a vampire on top of someone's dead body in their final resting place. Or with her fascination with the paranormal, she might give me a high-five if I told her.
For fuck's sake, what is wrong with me?
"Cordelia?" Elias says from beside me. "You okay?"
I look over at him and he's peering down at me curiously like I'm finally cracking up. "Yeah, I was just thinking about where you chose to feed from me for the first time. In a mausoleum? Really?"
He chuckles. "Hey, you wanted to be chased. It was the best place available in the woods. We had to make do with what we had."
I smile and lean into him, and he brushes his fingers over the two puncture wounds on my neck. "I'm just teasing, herra. I wouldn't change anything about it. It was perfect."
He wraps his arm around my shoulder and kisses the crown of my head. "You are perfect, belle rêveur."
I open my mouth to respond but then I see a familiar scrap of fabric dangling from a tree branch directly in front of us and my world tilts on its axis.
My veil.
What Cane was holding when I saw him over Elias's shoulder right before he bit me.
Or at least, I think I did.
I step out of his hold and walk over toward the tree. "Hey, I meant to tell you, but I didn't really want to ruin the moment by mentioning it..."
"What?" he asks. "Wait, what is—"
I reach the tree, grab the veil, and turn back to walk toward him. "While you were feeding from me, I saw Ca—"
Thunk.
Instead of closing the distance between me and Elias, I meet what I can only describe as an invisible wall. "What the fuck?" I exclaim, trying to take another step but thwarted once again.
"Cordelia!" Elias exclaims, running over to me. "What the hell is going on?"
"I don't know!" I cry, beating my palms against the invisible wall, unable to move more than a few steps in any direction. The veil slips from my fingers onto the ground, and I feel my panic begin to rise. "Elias, help me!"
He pounds against the barrier, trying to break it with his fist to no avail.
"You won't be able to break it. Only I can release her from her prison."
Elias and I freeze and turn to watch Jolene step out of a thicket of trees. Her wings flutter behind her, ruffling the tulle and lace skirt of her pink ballgown. Like a cat stalking her prey, she walks around Elias and me. Her purple eyes don't leave us, narrowing to thin slits as she watches our every move.
"Let her go, Jolene," Elias demands, his booming tone sending shivers down my spine.
The fairy doesn't so much as blink, just continues her leisurely stroll. "She has something that is mine, and I want it back."
"That's the same shit she said yesterday when she cornered me after the dress fitting! Remember?" I say, swinging my head around toward where Elias is standing. "I still don't know what the fuck she's talking about!"
His eyebrows dip and an expression I can't quite read passes his face for a split second before it's gone. "Jolene, I don't think you are understanding me. Let. Her. Go. Or face the fucking consequences."
The laugh Jolene releases from her throat is diabolical at best. It's straight up evil at worst. "Oh no, vampire. If you don't do what I say, the consequences will be yours to face." She shrugs her shoulders. "Well, they'll be hers, actually. You'll just suffer them too."
With no warning, I'm thrown against the back wall of the invisible bubble she has me trapped in, and I bounce off of it with a sickening thud, falling to the hard ground with absolutely zero grace. "Fuck," I whimper, placing my palms on the dirt and hauling myself up, my body screaming in protest from the pain of the impact.
Elias falls silent, concern written all over his face. He waits until I'm steady on my feet before looking away. "What do you want?"
"Your brother."
"You're sorely mistaken if you think I give a shit about my brother."
"Perhaps," she says, twirling a lavender curl around her finger. "But he is part of the answer to freeing your little dreamwalker. Bring him to me."
The night goes deathly silent. I can practically hear the gears turning in Elias's head as he searches for a way around her demand. I also know when they come to a screeching halt and defeat settles in.
He steps to the barrier and places his palm where mine rests. "I'll get you out of here. I promise."
I nod. "I know you will. Please, be careful." I lean closer, knowing she can probably hear me anyway, but needing to get this out. "Cane...he was here. When you and I were..." I widen my eyes. "I saw him. And he was holding my veil. I don't know what it means, if anything, but in my dream the night before last, I—"
"Your dream," he says, and it's a statement, but a loaded one. One that leaves me feeling a little confused.
"Yes. The one I told you about. The one with both you and Cane...he seemed sure that he has some kind of claim on me. Just be careful."
"Cordelia, I—"
"Tick tock, vampire," Jolene says, tapping her wrist. "The sun will rise soon, and we all know you have a little aversion to the sunlight. Get a move on."
His face scrunches with what reminds me of the pain found in regret before he pushes away from my prison. Jolene and I watch him disappear on his quest before she turns back to me.
"You got yourself all tangled up in quite the mess with those two, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm only involved with Elias."
Jolene clasps her hands behind her back and paces in front of me. "I almost thought the same thing. In fact, I thought your sweet Elias was Cane at first. That is until Lorelai gave me the entire story of the Dagon brothers drama. Talk about a girl who loves to talk even when she should be busy with her mouth between my legs."
My stomach turns as I realize Jolene doesn't actually care for Lorelai. Whatever her sick game is, Elias's best friend was used as a pawn in it. Despite the despicable way Jolene has obtained her information, I'm curious as to what she thinks she has learned.
"Why would you think Elias was Cane?" I ask.
"Because he has a soul. A soul that is very similar to the one you took from me."
I can hardly focus on anything else she's saying because I'm so frustrated by her incessant accusations. "Jolene, I am growing tired of you constantly accusing me of stealing something of yours. And now it's a soul? How does someone steal a soul? I would have no use for it, nor would I even know how to begin," I say, pulling on my hair in exasperation.
"Because he gave it to me," she says like a feral animal. "It was my soul to hold until he completed our bargain. Then the two of you set in motion the colliding of your souls and you took his as its keeper. You gave it right back to him!"
My eyes widen and I shake my head back and forth so fast I'm afraid I'll make myself throw up with the motion. "No. What are you talking about? Jolene, I think you need to take a deep breath and bring yourself back to reality because I have not 'collided' with anyone's soul!" My heart is beating so fast and my lungs are beginning to constrict. This woman apparently means to cause me more than one stress-induced asthma attack in less than 48 hours.
She throws her hands up and her pacing quickens. Her delicate wings flutter behind her like they just might sweep her off her feet at any moment. "They are the same, yet not the same. Same beginning, same end, and same rebirth, but they are two beings. Two can't rule. No, never two. It is too much chaos. One thinks one way and the other thinks another. But they are so much the same that their souls are both kept by you. But do you give them both your soul?" She growls at the sky and spins to face me. "Do they both have your soul? Do they?"
I shake my head in confusion.
"If they are soul bonded to you, you must be soul bonded to them. You took his soul right out of my hands! Now what guarantee do I have for weaving the spell that saved his life? He says things will be as they once were, but what if he can't win the throne from his brother? Then I called all that dark magic for nothing."
So many thoughts are moving through my head. I'm so confused, so overwhelmed by everything she's saying, implying...Elias said he told me everything. Clearly that is not the case if Jolene is to be believed, which the jury is still out on, to be honest.
But right now, the main problem I have is that I can hardly breathe. The only words I can manage to answer Jolene's question are questions of my own—throne and soul-bonded—before I fall back to my knees in the dirt.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she barks, as if she's just now noticing I'm barely drawing air into my body. "Take a breath!"
I shake my head and place my hand on my chest. "I—can't. I need—"
"Cordelia!" Elias's voice echoes through the thicket and I snap my head in his direction, grateful that he is back. Surely he stopped for my inhaler on the way. Was I beginning to have an attack before he left? I can't even remember now. But I'm stuck in this fucking bubble. Will she let him in?
But it isn't just him. If I didn't know better I'd think I was seeing double. Cane is standing right next to him, and how very identical they are chills me to the bone.
"It's about time, assholes," Jolene grumbles. "Something is wrong with the Dreamwalker."
"No shit, you fairy bitch, she's having an asthma attack," Elias says. I know it's Elias because my lipstick from earlier is still smeared all over his collar. "She's going to die if you don't let her get her inhaler."
My eyes dart to Jolene, expecting her to jump for joy at this news, but her face goes stark white, and she says, "No! No no no, she can't die like this. It'll ruin everything! Fuck, give her what she needs then!" She waves her hand and I can feel the air shift around me, and I know the dome is lifted.
"Thank fuck," Elias murmurs, and he and his brother both rush over to me. Which is odd. Why does Cane give a shit? "Here, belle rêveur, I've been carrying one since—" He reaches in his pocket but comes up empty. His eyes dance around the clearing as he pats every pocket. "What the hell? Fuck, no, I swear, I—"
"Here, coelhinha," Cane murmurs as he kneels next to me, pulling one of my inhalers from his pocket and pressing it to my lips gently. "Now, breathe."
I'm so shocked by his show of sensitivity and care that I almost forget how, but I do as he says, and he places his other hand on the back of my head to support me.
After a couple of puffs on the inhaler, I am feeling a little more stable, and when I look up at Elias, the expression on his face is impossible to define because it is full of so many different emotions—self-loathing, jealousy, and betrayal leading the charge.
I look over each brother, a million questions about who I've spent my time with racing through my head. But there is one that is screaming to be answered first.
"Whose soul do I have?"
"Mine," they say as one and then exchange annoyed glances.
"I told you...both," Jolene says scrunching her nose at me like I'm a distasteful dish of food.
I close my eyes and clench my fists before looking at who I know, at least right now, to be the man I love. "Elias. Tell me, right now. What are you and I to each other? The whole fucking truth."
"All your dirty secrets are about to come to light, brother."
Elias and my head snap in Cane's direction as we both say, "Shut up!"
"You know what we are, Cordelia. The technicalities of it don't change the feelings we have for each other." He takes a breath like what he's about to say is the biggest bombshell he's dropped on me yet. "We are soul bonded. Where you come from, you would call it soulmates. We have something deeper than a physical bond and more unbreakable than being in love. We are the keepers of each other's souls."
Cane steps closer and slides his hands in his pockets. "Elias and I are both the keepers of your soul. Like calls to like or some bullshit like that."
I ignore Cane for the moment because...I have to or I'm going to spiral. One disaster at a time.
Keeping my eyes on Elias, I say, "Okay...and how long, exactly, have we been soul bonded?"
"We were destined since the beginning of time. When did I know it was you?" He runs his hand over the back of his neck and takes a big breath. "The second you walked into that dining room dressed like a witch."
All the blood rushes to my face and my anger bubbles out of me like a volcano. "Elias! What the fuck? We're soulmates and you've known since I walked onto this island and you didn't think this was pertinent information to share? Even when I specifically asked you if there was anything else you needed to tell me?"
Elias swallows, and he at least has the decency to look ashamed. "I didn't want to freak you out and scare you off. Not when we were working out so well. And at first, I was going to try to ignore it...I was sure you wouldn't want anything to do with me."
I shake my head and look down at my feet. "You lied to me. You should have told me, Elias."
"I know, I'm so fucking sorry. I know I was wrong. But—"
"Are there any other bonds I need to know about?" I ask, crossing my arms under my chest.
Cane smirks and raises an eyebrow. "There's the primal bond."
I snap my head in his direction. "The what?"
"Brother, you just left this sweet thing to find out everything on her own."
"I hate you, Cane."
"The feeling is reciprocated, Elias."
"Will someone please tell me what the primal bond is!"
The twins turn wide eyes to me, and Elias says, "It is an intimate exchange of magic. So feeding from you while—"
I nod and throw my hands in the air. "What? While fucking? Great. Check! Mark that one off the list." I shoot Cane a glare that could cut glass. "And you were a witness to it, so I don't know if that's a weird vampire thing or not, but if so, that's done too!"
"No one forced you to fuck on some dead guy's grave. You two could have been civilized and taken it behind closed doors." He tilts his head to the side and flashes me a sly grin. "I got a great view of your fantastic legs though. 100% worth the ick factor."
"You're a pig," I spit.
My insult doesn't faze Cane. Something tells me I'm not the first nor will I be the last to call him a pig.
"Is there anything else I need to know?" I ask darting my eyes between the Dagon brothers.
"We—" Elias quietly starts, massaging his temples. He doesn't get to finish his sentence because Cane just talks right over him.
"Where would you like to start? Elias's bid to be vampire king? Would you like to hear how he tried to kill me to get his crown? Or—"
"Quiet!" Jolene shouts.
I narrow my gaze on Elias and try to burn holes through him with it. I know nothing about him. He has hidden an entire sordid past from me. How dare he make declarations of love while hiding who he is from me. I know him just as well as I did when I first walked through the manor doors.
"It's time to get back what is mine." Jolene says, stepping forward. Dark swirls of shadows move around her hands and her violet eyes dim to black. "What is mine is only released in death."
Elias and Cane rush forward but the tendrils bolt out of Jolene's hands and wrap around them like snakes. The shadows squeeze while slithering over their shoulders and around their necks.
I step back to run but hit the same invisible wall that held me captive. Fear clogs my throat, and my knees buckle beneath me. Jolene wraps her slender fingers around my neck and smiles. "Mine."
"Why don't you just fall over dead?"
Jolene's face turns purple, and she gasps for air. I look beyond her shoulder to Lorelai standing in the clearing. Her sleek scarlet dress whips around her slim frame on a phantom wind. And she stands with her hands clasped before her like she is singing a song no one else can hear.
Jolene drops to the ground, lifeless.
Lorelai kicks her with the pointed tip of her shoe. "Deceiving bitch."
I run toward Lorelai, and now that Jolene is dead, all the spells are broken, including the bindings holding the twins. She wraps me in her arms and then holds me away from her, inspecting me for injuries. "Are you all right?"
"Yes, yes. I'm okay. Thank you," I say, throwing my arms back around her neck. "Thank you for saving me."
"Yeah, well, I know we hate a 'damsel in distress' trope, but..."
"Hey, at least I was saved by another strong woman," I say, and she squeezes me tight.
"Now what the fuck is going on with these two idiots?" she asks, gesturing toward Elias and Cane.
I take a deep breath and hate the hot tears that spring to my eyes. "I don't know. There's so much that Elias didn't tell me, so much that he...fuck, he lied to me. I suppose some of them were lies by omission, but still. I asked him straight up if there was anything else I needed to know about him, about us...and he said no." I glance over at him, where he still looks devastated, and my heart cracks in my chest. "Obviously that isn't true."
Elias and I lock gazes. It is all written there, everything he is dying to say out loud. I don't know if his apologies will be enough, not when I gave myself to him so wholeheartedly.
Like I'm on autopilot, I close my hand over my wrist and slip off the bracelet Elias gave me when he told me how much he loved me—how can I even know if he was telling the whole truth about that? His face contorts as it dawns on him what I'm doing.
"Belle rêveur, please don—"
But it's too late. The bracelet hits the dirt at his feet, and when I look up, blood is streaming down his cheeks.
My heart shatters.
But I just keep going, whispering to Lorelai as if the two of them aren't even there. I need to get this out. "And Cane...he's claiming that he's my soulmate too, and...and I hate it, but it fucking makes sense. If they're that intertwined...why wouldn't their souls be too?"
"I thought figuring out Jolene was a serial killer was a complicated matter, but you two..." She shakes her head.
"Cane wasn't the one killing everyone?" Elias asks, and when I look up at him, the blood on his face is gone as if it was never there.
"No." His brother shakes his head like it is the stupidest thing he's ever heard.
"Then what the fuck are you doing here?"
Cane holds up his hands in surrender, like he is trying to ward off Elias's anger. He takes one step and then another, his gaze darting to the horizon where a light blue hue is slowly merging into orange. "I thought it was obvious, brother."
"Nothing you do makes sense, Cane. It is the reason you and I ended up the way we did."
Cane slides in next to Lorelai and me. "I promise you; this makes complete sense."
A cool hand wraps around my elbow. Panic and realization flash in Elias's eyes. He bounds forward.
"I came for Cordelia," Cane says, and everything is lost in a flash of morning light.
NEXT UP: WICKED GAMES!!! Head over there and begin the second book!