Amethyst Tears (YA Paranormal Romance) (Luminescence Trilogy) (17 page)

“All done,”
Blaze’s voice sounded from behind me.

I let a huge sigh of relief.
She smoothed on an ointment before leading me to a full length mirror. Turning over my shoulder, I looked at the red patch on my lower back. There just above my jean line sat the dark lines and incandescent rainbow ink of my first act of rebellion. It was majestic, mystical, and alluring – a cross between a sun and a star. A trail of dust encircled the image. In awe, I watched as it swirled in movement.

“I love it,” I said
, facing forward grinning. It had been worth the risk, worth the pain. At the center of my back I could feel the thumping of magic where the tattoo sat. “It is remarkable,” I gushed.

Blaze
smiled in the mirror. “It really is. One of the best I’ve ever done. A reinforcement of what already courses through your blood. This will heighten, guard, and guide you.” Then her eyes went stony and opaque. “But the price for the darker side of magic will be increased tenfold. Choose wise in your spells. The vector of elements suits you.”

Her words struck a chord inside me, a weight of responsibility I hadn’t felt before walking inside the deceiving rundown house. “Thank you,” I managed
in a soft and shaky voice.

Gavin, after a playboy
worthy smile goodbye to Blaze, ushered me back down the slender hallway into the main entrance. He was such a flirt, I thought to myself but really I didn’t mind. It was adorable and harmless.

Billy the badass gave me a sl
y wink as we past him heading for the door. “I’ll see you soon sweetheart. They said once you’ve been inked at
Divinity
you always come back for more.”

Gavin placed a hand on my elbow
, and his flirtatious mood vanished. I could feel the steam of energy radiating off him. “Don’t hold your breath tough guy,” he added spitefully. Then he ushered us into the cool wash of twilight not giving me a chance to say anything, which was probably a good thing.

Th
e moment the door closed behind us we were surmised in darkness. Gavin intertwined our fingers. Sparks flamed in the air from all the pent up irritation that suddenly rolled through him. “I should go back there and give Rambo a thrashing,” he growled.

I did my best not to smile.

He had been jealous. My chest bloomed.

I took a quick peek at the shabby house before climbing into his car.
Sitting with my legs tucked under me on an angle, I avoided putting any pressure on my back. Settling in for the ride home, I closed my eyes and listened to the low hum of the radio. Before I knew it we were zipping into his driveway, and I wasn’t nearly ready to say good-bye.

Careful of my movements, I leaned a hip against his car and
waited for him to walk around. Even with the black night, I could see his sapphire eyes lighting up like blue diamonds. “I wish this night would never end,” I admitted.

His answer was to pull
me into his arms, exactly where I wanted to be. I squeezed and let out a contented sigh. Plastered against him, he kissed the top of my head. There was still a light sting at my lower back, nothing intolerable. He pressed his face next to mine, and his ridiculously long lashes fanned my cheek. “Good-night Bri.”

I didn’t want to leave
. It had been a huge step to the way things used to be between us. No way was I ready to let that go. I was too afraid that when I woke in the morning, it would cease to be the same – to exist. There were a billion questions on the tip of my tongue, questions about us, questions about the tattoo, and questions about that place. In the end, I was just too exhausted to expel the energy needed to process all that information. So instead I just said ‘night.

He pressed a sweet, soft kiss to my lips, and I floated on cloud nine all the way home
on that kiss alone.

This was a night I would never forget.

Truly.

I had the tramp stamp to prove it.

Chapter 18

THE FEELING OF BEING ON top of the world followed me the rest of the night. As I got ready for bed I could still feel the warmth of his lips. Pulling on my knee-high socks, I sat at the edge of the bed. Unable to believe the events of the day, I touched my lips remembering what it was like to have his mouth pressed to mine.

Everything with Gavin was always so
intense. When things were good, they were cosmic. When things went sour, it destroyed my world. I doubted either of those things were healthy for a relationship, but I didn’t think Gavin and I constituted as a
normal
couple.

I knew that there was nothing
normal
about me anymore.

Lying on my
side, I snuggled into my pillow. The tingling throb on my lower back brought a small smile to my lips. It was annoyingly persistent but brought pleasant memories. I had to remember to thank Sophie for her underhanded plan. In the end, it was just what we needed.

Closing my eyes
, I tried to force my giddiness to subside. Sleep was going to be a long time coming at this rate. My fingers clutched the tingling cool stones of the necklace dangling at my neck. Even though it didn’t necessarily work with powerful witches like granny dearest, I felt more secure with it on. Maybe the added presence of my new glamour tattoo would protect my dreams from others or more importantly, from me.

Sleep might not have been in my future, but my unusual dreams were.
I recognized the dream for what it was…magic. The swooping feeling of being swept away from myself to a world I had yet really been able to control. The possibilities were there. I had even on occasion grabbed the reins and steered the mystical visions. It was just the instability of it all, the insecurity of my ability to control my dreams. One day soon I was going to master these dreams.

For now
I just wasn’t sure who I would find waiting for me in this parallel universe I seemed to visit more often than not.

The frothy blue-green waves lapped against the foamy shore as they
rose and fell. My dark auburn hair whipped against my face with the wind, blocking my sight. Sand squished in-between my bare toes. Spitting a strand of hair from my mouth, I pushed the tangling mess from my face.

There she stood on the bluff
like a dark goddess with mega self-entitlement and a streak of wickedness. She looked like she owned the world, as if it was hers to command with a crook of a finger. If I thought Gavin had an ego problem, she took the cake. She oozed badass.

She wore a bikini with a sarong tied at her waist in black. Long tan legs peeked through the sheer fabric. Waves upon waves of
flaming dark red hair flowed with the wind, not like my snarling mess. Her purplish eyes laughed as she looked down to me, her granddaughter.

Immediately I went on defense.

Raising my head a notch, I met her amused gaze and arched a challenging brow.

She threw her head back and laughed. A deep, enchantress kind of laugh, and there was pride in those t
winkling eyes when they found mine again.

Hmm. Apparently my newly protected mark doesn’t hold against Morgana, and I could tell that it had been her magic that had pulled me here.
Though if I had to guess, since she technically was dead, it was still my dream, still my head she was poking around in.

Like a light switch had been flipped on inside m
e, I was packed with rage. Angry for being a puppet in some wacked out dream escapade, angry at myself, and angry at feeling useless.

She made me want to strike her
down with lightning. I was so furious, I was quaking from it. Unaware of the storm brewing around me, I was lost in my own fury and frustration.

“I see someone still doesn’t have a handle on their control over the weather,” she taunted
, knowing just what buttons to push.

The wind picked up, light
ning lit the sky and the heavens opened up behind me, except this time I took notice. The blood through my veins intermixed with power. Together the two blended, changing me, giving me an unconscious strength and confidence.

I blinked. Taking just a second to rein in what was begging to be released.

In just that nanosecond, she was in front of me, her soft yet firm hands gripping mine. Her eyes illuminated like purple lite-brite pegs. “What you don’t want is to let nature rule you. Remember that it is
you
who summoned her here, she is yours to control. Like a child, she must be taught to obey.”

Together with our hands bound,
I felt the energy between us amp up like a high voltage shock. Stunned I gasped. Then the mother of all storms circled us but never touched us. We stood in the eye of the storm, unscathed. Just as quickly as it had been ignited, the vibrating hum of magic began a slow dance of recession and with it the storm followed. The winds died to a standstill, the darkened ominous clouds broke apart letting a stream of sunlight hit the beach as the thundering waves quieted to low, gentle surf.

“Wow. That was amazing.” I couldn’t keep the awe from my voice.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Her smile was smug, and her eyes lively. “I’d expect nothing less than amazing from my granddaughter.”

Every time she referred to me as her granddaughter I forgot that she was talking about me. It really had
n’t sunk in that this prevailing, beautiful, arrogant woman was part of my existence. Without her I never would have been. It was a hard pill to swallow considering she hadn’t been the friendliest during our first encounter. She wasn’t exactly your typical grandmother material.

I was unsure what to say or do. Like most of my dreams of her
, she took the reins.

“Let’s soak up some vitamin D and have a little girl time.” She waved her hand in the air and poof, out sprang two wooden beach chairs. “We can chitchat about school, about magic, the boys in your life.” She casually sn
uck in the last part.

Boys
?

As in more than one, apparently Morgana knew more about my life than she led on. She made herself comfortable in on
e of the lounge chairs, and for the first time I realized I was practically naked. Well I had on a very skimpy red bikini and a wrap much shorter than hers.

“You put me in a
bikini?” I couldn’t help the outrage.

She tilted down a pair of sunglass she had
n’t worn earlier, amused at my discovery in lack of clothing choice. “Hmm. I wasn’t sure about the cut, but it flatters your curves splendidly. I’ve seen your selection of clothing dear, what you need is a little more piazza in your wardrobe. That and some sex appeal.”

I choked on the sea salt air. My own grandmother was giving me fashion advice.
God who knew what was next – tips on sex?

She studied me from behind her shades. “
You’re looking a little pale, magic will do that – drain you until you build up your strength. Why don’t you have a seat?”

Grandma Morgana just boarded the crazy train. She was out of her mind if she thought I was going to lay on the beach
, mostly naked and gossip.

However much it irked me, she had been right about my energy levels. I was feeling more than a little lightheaded and wobbly on my feet. A seat sounded fabulous
right now and was too appealing to resist.

I sighed and joined her.

Sitting in the sun baked chair, I fought the urge to cover myself with my arms. This was silly. What I needed was a large beach towel. No more had the thought crossed my mind when lo and behold, a zebra stripped towel appeared at my feet.

“Inventive. How about snapping us up a couple martinis while you’re at it?”
Was everything to her so nonchalant? A joke? She gave me a smile filled with a thousand secrets. “One drink won’t hurt. After all you do have a fake ID. How is your newly mutated body art anyway? Sore? Tingly? All normal I assure you.”

Wide-eyed and
suspicious, I began to wonder if anything in my life would be my own ever again. She left me speechless more often than not, and I think she thrived on the element of surprise.

“Don’t be so shocked
. As my only granddaughter, well only living descendant really, I’ve taken a special interest in your wellbeing.”

Jeesh. Can a witch get any kind of privacy around here?
“So what you’re saying is you’re keeping tabs on me.”

She tapped a black nail to her lip. “If you like.
You should be more careful who you let in your house,” she spoke, seriousness sparking in her violet eyes. “You’re in danger.” Gone was the feisty banter.

No shit. Thanks to you.

She let a sultry laugh. “Not me sweet granddaughter but…someone close to you.”

Cripes. Had she just read my thoughts? That was scary.

Then it dawned on me. The magic I’d felt in the air on Thanksgiving came flooding back to me. “It was you,” I accused knowing without a doubt I was right. “You were at my house on Thanksgiving.”