Change (35 page)

They left Jack
alone in his room with his thoughts, something that was lethal
nowadays because his thoughts usually drifted to Cora. Jack
couldn’t begin to explain how much he missed her. It wasn’t a case
of, you didn’t know what you had until you’d lost it. Jack had
always known what he’d had, and he was always aware of how lucky he
was to have her. In this case, she’d been snatched from
him.

Jack missed
the sound of her laugh, the way she pushed stray strands of her
hair behind her ear. He longed to touch her hair again, to smell
the sweet strawberries. He growled and threw the covers aside. He
couldn’t sleep, not whilst he was still in this frame of mind.
Pulling on his jeans and shirt, he grabbed his trainers and headed
out of the room. He needed a drink.

41

BAR
TALK

Pushing open
the floor to ceiling glass doors that revealed the bar, soft
instrumental music floated like waves over Jack. Neon blue lights
lined the glass cabinet that was positioned behind the bar.
Hundreds of wine glasses gleamed throwing the blue glow back into
the room.

Several
couples were seated in the bar, their bodies closer as hands were
entwined lovingly. Jack ignored them. He couldn’t cope with that
side of things at the moment. Love. Happy people. It turned his
stomach with anger.

Walking with
purpose, he looked at the cloud white stools lining the bar and
found Ayden seated on one of them at the furthest side of the bar,
nursing a large beer. Ayden would look inconspicuous to most with
his back to the door, but Jack recognised the bulky frame, the skin
head, the defeated slouch. Ayden was a man struggling to live
without the love of his life by his side. Jack couldn’t do this. He
made his way over to him.

Jack felt
relief at having some company whilst in this love filled bar, but
the tension sprung back into his shoulders. It was still there
between them. How was he meant to bring up the conversation when he
hated to see the way life already sat heavily on Ayden’s shoulders?
Since leaving for Edinburgh the atmosphere between the two of them
hadn’t been right. Jack knew something had happened with Cora
before they had left, but he just didn’t want to ask. Jack feared
the worst, and judging by Ayden’s reaction, it wasn’t good. He also
hadn’t told Ayden about his stint under Alastair’s
element.

“
Is this seat
taken?” he asked, standing next to Ayden.

Ayden turned
flashing him a weak smile. “No. Beer?”

He nodded as
he took the seat.

At Ayden’s
nod, the barman placed the beer in front of him. Thankfully the man
hadn’t asked for ID. It was one of the many annoying things about
being a witch, forever remaining seventeen. Why hadn’t he gone
through the change at an older age? A legal age?

Lifting the
cold bottle, Jack nodded to Ayden and sucked back the
liquid.

“
What do you
think to the plan then?” Ayden asked.

Jack shrugged,
again hating the change in their relationship, this attempt at
small talk. It didn’t work.

He thought
back to the days when he hated Ayden. The feeling had been more
than mutual between the two of them. Hating someone was easy, you
don’t care about them. Building a friendship was harder. Caring was
harder.

“
I’m not too
bothered about the plan right now,” Jack sighed and sucked back
more beer. The plan would sort itself out, they usually did. What
was on his mind at the moment really needed to be taken care of. “I
do, however, want to know what happened before we left for
Edinburgh.”

Ayden smirked
as his fingers played with the top of the glass bottle. “You don’t
miss a trick, do you?”

“
No,
unfortunately I don’t,” Jack sighed and looked at Ayden, the ice in
his eyes thawed as he smiled. “What happened with Cora?”

Ayden watched
him, no doubt judging how he would respond to whatever he was about
to say. Jack wouldn’t kick off in a bar full of people, but then it
worried him, what revelation would make him respond in such a
way.

“
Are you sure
you want to know?”

Jack
swallowed, picked up the bottle and pulled back a long drag of the
cold liquid. “Ready.”

“
Cora’s
redecorating her room. I’ve mentioned this before, but whether you
actually remember...

“
I remember
everything you say about her...” Jack whispered.

Ayden nodded.
“Well, she wants something new as things have changed a fair bit
for her recently... so, she picked emerald green. Her coven colour,
I know,” Ayden answered his slightly confused
expression.

Jack hadn’t
expected her choice of colour to be her coven colour. This told him
that Cora was obviously still clinging onto her coven, even though
it was in tatters. It gave him hope that they were doing the right
thing.

“
As I was
leaving to come here I could hear laughter coming from her room, I
know what that kind of laughter means, and I had to go and tell her
about leaving with you. I wanted to see her reaction, but when I
entered her bedroom I nearly swallowed my tongue. I know I’m not
her father, but I do feel so protective of her.”

“
What did you
see?” Please,
please
don’t let it be what he thought it was. He didn’t think he
could bear it if it was.

“
They were
lying on the bed, and he was on top of her. Things looked like it
was a bit heated between them and not in the angry way. You and I
both know what that kind of heat leads to.”

Jack swallowed
the lead balloon that was lodged in his throat. He’d asked for
this. He had to accept what it would do. He’d pushed her into
another man’s arms, but this was not part of the plan.

“
You’re going
to kick off, aren’t you?” Ayden asked, making sure to move further
away from him.

“
No,” Jack
said through clenched teeth.

Ayden barked
with laughter and slapped him on the shoulder, an attempt to
diffuse the situation. “You’re an appalling liar, Jack, but I want
to crush his skull too. Hey, tell you what, I will give you first
dibs. How’s that?”

Coming from
Ayden, this was quite an honour. “That sounds good.”

Now that Ayden
had told him what had happened, and he was still coming to terms
with how quickly Quinn was working, Jack felt guilty for his little
secret. He had to tell Ayden but he feared what it would do to the
man. They’d crawled their way out the darkness after the business
with the Corenthio Coven, after losing Laura and Clio. Ayden had
only just managed to set himself right again. Jack couldn’t be the
one to cause the hurt, but what other option did he have? He
couldn’t keep this from Ayden. He valued the trust and openness
between the two of them.

“
Ayden,” he
said, coughing nervously. “There’s something I have to tell
you.”

“
I thought
so,” Ayden said, nodding.

Jack smirked
at the man. “So you sensed something too?”

“
Yep,” Ayden
picked up his beer and downed the rest of it. “Come on, let’s have
it.”

Taking a deep
breath, he looked at Ayden. “At the shop when I was sent into the
darkness by Alastair, I wasn’t alone.”

Ayden’s
eyebrows collided in the middle of his head. “What do you
mean?”

“
Well, when he
thrust Cora into the darkness she was alone and afraid. She told us
that she couldn’t see anything and that alone scared her. I think
Alastair works on the fear factor and with me he had to up his
game. Darkness is something I can deal with, and I would have got
through it, so I wasn’t alone. I could hear the footsteps, and I
thought it was you or Eli coming to help me but instead... Varick
stepped out of the darkness.”

“
But he’s
dead,” Ayden exclaimed.

The couple sat
at the bar jumped and looked at them with interest.

“
How can that
happen?” Ayden hissed furiously.

“
I don’t know,
but it did happen. Alastair is very powerful judging by that little
experience. ”

“
He’s the one
who fried your leg, isn’t he?”

“
Yeah, but
before I could do anything, someone else appeared.”

He saw the
anger cross Ayden’s face. “Evander was there,” Ayden
stated.

Jack didn’t
say anything as Ayden clenched his fists.

“
You’re going
to kick off, aren’t you?” Jack said, repeating Ayden’s earlier
words.

“
It’s not like
I can pummel Evander with every bit of anger I feel deep in my gut.
He’s dead. I personally made sure of that. I killed him,” Ayden
whispered.

Jack nodded.
“Do you think he can bring back others?” He watched Ayden fight
with the information.

“
No, I think
he uses only those who are useful, those who will hurt
us.”

“
I’m sorry
that I had to tell you. I’m sorry it happened.”

“
I can deal
with it. I’m glad you told me.”

Jack felt the
weight lift off his shoulders. “So, tell me about your missing
leg,” Jack grinned, pushing aside his thoughts of their plan, of
Cora, of the Corenthio Coven. He could sit in a bar with his
friend, enjoy a pint, or two, and talk about random crap. That is
what a teenager should do.

Ayden laughed,
picking up the new bottle of beer that had been placed in front of
him.

42

PHASE
THREE

“
Hold still,
Jack,” Ember said impatiently.

Ember’s arms
were placed around his shoulders holding him close to her petite
body. He couldn’t hold still. This whole thing felt uncomfortable.
He liked Ember, as a friend, but he’d never had his body pushed so
closely to hers before now. He could feel every bump, every curve.
It felt weird, and yes he could admit that he was being stupid
about it.

They were
standing so close for a reason. Apparently Ember needed this
contact to transport him, she couldn’t do it any other way. She’d
waltzed in to his room first thing this morning, 6am to be precise,
and flung open his curtains letting the deadly morning light set
his eyes on fire.

He’d groaned
in pain and rolled over out of the path of the sun. The hangover
he’d felt stabbing at his head was a little too severe. Jack had
tried drinking Ayden under the table the night before, and it had
been rather unsuccessful. Ayden could hold his alcohol. Jack
wondered now if this had something to do with his power. If he
could split himself did that mean multiple Aydens’ were holding the
drink?

Ember, rather
unsympathetic to his throbbing head, had explained her power as Eli
had stumbled into his room followed by Ayden who appeared bright
eyed and bushy tailed. Jack had glared at Ayden which had received
a smirk, as Ember had told them her power only worked if they were
so close to her that it was almost like they were a part of her.
Now they were going to test if she could do this.

“
Do we have to
do this now,” he muttered.

“
Yes, now hold
still,” Eli chastised.

He let Ember
mesh her body as close to his as humanly possible. Eli and Ayden
watched with growing fascination at what was about to happen. Jack
picked the perfect moment to talk.

“
Don’t mess it
up.”

Ember’s hold
on him disappeared. Within seconds of her disappearance he
experienced a dull ache and by the look on Eli’s face, this ache
wasn’t a good thing. Jack took a deep breath as the dull ache
strengthened, becoming more painful. He really didn’t want to see,
but he looked down at his body. It was one of those moments where
you couldn’t stop yourself looking, no matter how hard you
tried.

“
Arrrgggghhh,”
he choked out and stumbled back.

He was
armless.

Jack jumped
around on the spot trying to find his arms. They had to be here
somewhere? His panic rose when he caught sight of the blood that
was pumping out of him. Maybe jumping around and increasing his
heart rate hadn’t been a good idea. The pain spiked. It felt like
someone had taken knitting needles, and they were stabbing through
his flesh and continuing to push the long sticks into his
body.

Oh God, he was
going to bleed to death. He’d seen this happen on
Saving Private Ryan. H
e
remembered a soldier amidst explosions, bullets whizzing past his
head and the screams of pain. He’d looked numbly around for his
limb, found it, picked it up and walked on. Jack could sense the
shock creeping into his chest.

“
Jack, hold
still, I have to stem the bleeding.” Eli stepped towards him,
holding something that looked like a dishcloth. “Now, this may
sting just a little.”

The instant
the cloth touched his arm, Jack cursed and dropped to his knees. He
could smell the burning of his skin. “Jesus,” he hissed through his
teeth. “Sting, my ass! That’s like telling someone they will feel a
small scratch when having an injection when it feels more like a
stab.”