Reign Fall (3 page)

There was no love lost between the two of us, nor was I remotely interested in him anymore, but I still worried about him since I knew what was causing his recent problems. Had his mother finally told him the truth about his origins? Not everything could be swept under the carpet forever. Some of those things started to creep back out all by themselves whether you wanted them to or not.

As I got ready to leave school on Wednesday afternoon, I passed Melinda and another girl at the end of the hallway sitting on the steps to the parking lot exit.

“Nikki!” Melinda called out to me. “Need a ride home?”

“That would be great. Thanks.” It wasn’t that far of a walk, but touching base with Melinda at the mid-week point might be a good idea. Despite her near-misery on Monday morning, she’d really been keeping up a shiny, happy exterior ever since. I just didn’t know if it was real or not.

“Hey, do you guys know each other?” she asked, turning her attention from me to the other girl. “This is Clara. She’s new to Erin Heights. Clara, this is Nikki, my best friend.” Clara was very pretty, with long dark hair and bright blue eyes. She gave me a smile. “Hey, Nikki.”

I smiled back at her. “Hi. Where did you move from?”

“Los Angeles.”

I grimaced. “My condolences. I’m sure you miss the palm trees and beaches. Ontario snow storms and icy sidewalks aren’t exactly a nice consolation prize, are they?” She laughed. “You sound like you speak from experience.”

“I do. I’ve lived a bunch of places, including San Diego. It was gorgeous there.”

“Erin Heights is cool too.”

“
Cool
being the important word in that sentence. Very cool. Freezing, actually.” My mother had grown up in this area so this was like a homecoming for her, but I was new to cold winters like this. Spring couldn’t come soon enough, in my opinion.

We’d moved here when she married her most recent husband, a marriage that only lasted a couple of months before she threw him out for being an abusive jerk. Only one problem—we were still living in his house while he stayed with friends. Eventually we’d have to find somewhere else to live, but I knew Mom liked it here and thankfully had no intentions of picking up and moving us across the continent again. Despite the weather and the drama I’d had to face since moving here, I didn’t want to leave.

“Clara’s coming to the sleepover at my place on Friday night,” Melinda said, standing up and brushing off the front of her jeans. She swung her leather bag over her shoulder.

“Sounds good to me,” I said. And I meant it. Anything to divert Larissa’s attention from me at the party would be a very good thing.

“My mom’s picking me up in five minutes out front,” Clara said. “See you later, Melinda.

Great meeting you, Nikki.”

“You too.”

With a wave, she took off down the hall to our left.

“She’s really nice,” Melinda assured me.

“I’m sure she is. How did you meet?”

“She’s in my English class.” She smiled. “What can I say? I like to be nice to the new girls.” I laughed. “This new girl appreciated it, too.”

“So it’s the three of us, is it?” Rhys asked.

I jumped a little and looked to my right to see him approach. I deflated a little. I thought I’d be able to spend some quality alone time with Melinda to help me figure out how she was coping this week.

“You know what?” I said. “On second thought, I think I’ll walk.” Melinda frowned. “You sure?”

“Positive.”

“Don’t go on my account,” Rhys said with a knowing grin.

“I don’t want to get in the way,” I said, faking a friendly smile toward him. “Three’s a crowd.”

“Maybe you should give your boyfriend a call,” he replied dryly. “We could do a double date over the weekend. Seen him yet?”

I tried to control my glare. Not only
hadn’t
I seen Michael since before Christmas, but it was also starting to bother me. It was as if Rhys could sense that and wanted to rub my nose in it.

“Sounds like a plan,” I instead said sweetly.

“Are you still seeing that guy?” Melinda said. She’d met him in passing at a party. “Michael, right? I haven’t seen him around lately.”

“Uh, yeah. We are still...seeing each other. Now and then. But it’s not serious or anything.” I cringed as I said it even though, based on his absence, it was obviously the truth. “He doesn’t live here in town and can’t get away to visit me all that easily.” Michael was at the mercy of my father when it came to getting permission to come to the human world. I had a gut feeling that my father was keeping him away on purpose.

Melinda grinned. “He was a little strange, but so hot.”

“You’re right,” I said pointedly. “Michael’s probably the hottest and most amazing guy I’ve ever met. He’s just a little shy. But guys who aren’t all vain and showy are more my type anyway.”

“He sounds delightful,” Rhys said, a thin smile on his face. “Please give him my regards if you do see him again soon.”

“I’ll do that.” And that was about all I could take of this particular conversation. “See you tomorrow.”

“Bye Nikki,” Melinda called after me as I took off.

It was good to get some fresh air. The cold helped me focus on one thing, which was getting home. There’d been some mild weather over the holidays to clear away most of the snow, leaving brown lawns and clear streets behind. But the temperature had plunged. It was sub-zero today and I wrapped my red scarf around my face as I made my way home. A quick walk, since I took the shortcut, so it wasn’t too bad.

Once home, I passed my mother’s office on my way up to my room.

“Hey Nikki,” she said when she caught a glimpse of me. “Just let me finish another chapter and then maybe we’ll order pizza for dinner. Sound okay?”

“Sure. How’s the writing going?”

“Pretty good. Trying to get into the new book. It takes a while to get the momentum going.” My mother wrote paranormal romance novels for a living. She’d written more than twenty of them, actually, and was able to do it full time. Her chosen vocation described her personality pretty well. She loved love. Loved romance. Loved the idea of the “ideal” hero who swept the heroine off her feet and they got to have a happily ever after, even if my mother had become jaded over the years about it happening for her in real life.

No, real life romance didn’t seem quite as perfect or dependable as fiction. Thus her four marriages and divorces, her most recent currently in the works. She wanted to meet the perfect man who would make everything wonderful and love her back like the vampire heroes in her books loved their heroines, but so far it hadn’t worked out so well for her four ex-husbands.

I hated to think Mr. Crane might be on his way to becoming number five.

Not that I had anything against him. He was nice enough, way nicer than a couple of the others had been. He was smart and, for an old guy of around forty, reasonably good looking.

Plus, they were taking things really slowly. But...

Well, he wasn’t my father.

That was who I
knew
my mother was meant to be with—why she couldn’t find true happiness with anyone else. Only I couldn’t say anything. He would be furious if I did since their relationship from the very beginning was forbidden by demon law and any contact now would put her safety in jeopardy. He’d had no idea she’d even been pregnant—and he’d had no clue I even existed until just last month.

My mother had her heart shattered into a million pieces when he disappeared without a trace over sixteen years ago, leaving her as a single mother who’d had to support both herself and me from the time she was only eighteen—not all that much older than I was now. Even though I now knew why he hadn’t been able to say anything or stay in touch, I understood how she must have felt then. How she still felt now. Betrayed. Abandoned. Heartbroken.

I wished I could tell her the truth. I wondered if it would make any difference to her. Was there a chance she could still love my father, even after knowing the truth about what he really was?

Just because she wrote about vampires in love didn’t mean she could deal with a real live demon. Even if he was a demon
king
.

In my room, I eyed the two things on my nightstand in silence. The little white box containing the faery rose on one side, and the drawing Chris had done on the other. Both freaked me out, but not enough to throw either away. They’d just sat there for the last few days, taunting me.

“You don’t scare me,” I told them.

Finally, as if to show just how much they didn’t scare me, I looked at each one up close again.

The drawing of the ominous winged figure was still as creepy. Chris had drawn it in pencil, pressing so hard in some places that it had torn right through the paper. It made me shiver as a weird sensation of dread filled me. I folded the drawing back up and slid it into the drawer so I wouldn’t have to see it and worry about what it might mean. After all, it could mean absolutely nothing.

Then I lifted the lid off the faery rose and its sweet scent hit me immediately. It was as beautiful and fresh as it had been on Monday morning, but, oddly, it wasn’t red today. It had changed to a soft pink color. This surprised me, but didn’t fill me with dread like the drawing did. It filled me with happiness that I’d been given something so exquisitely beautiful. Which, really, was still disturbing, considering who’d given it to me.

It also went into the drawer.

After pizza and an evening of mind-numbing TV, I went to bed at eleven. My room felt warm since Mom had cranked the heat all day. She liked to work in shorts and a tank top, so she kept the house warmer than I preferred it. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to fall asleep, but knew it would be difficult. I must have tossed and turned for at least an hour before...I heard it.

A tapping. On my window pane.

Since my room was on the second floor, this wasn’t exactly normal. I clutched my sheets. My heart began to race.

More tapping made me sit straight up and swing my legs out of bed. Slowly, I made my way over to the window. I clenched my fist at my side, and I could feel the tingling as I summoned a little energy into my hand. Not enough to create an energy ball—I had to be in Darkling form to do that—but enough to help give me some courage. I held my breath and pulled the curtain slightly away from the window.

I peeked out, half expecting to see only a tree branch brushing against the glass.

It wasn’t a tree branch. Someone sat on the ledge of my window sill.

I relaxed. A little.

Then I unlocked the window and slid it open. Cold air rushed in.

Michael smiled at me. “Hello, Princess.”

I wanted to be angry with him for scaring me. And for disappearing completely from my life for nearly two full weeks. But I wasn’t angry right now, just elated to see him again. Still, I didn’t want to be overly friendly.

“I’m sorry, what’s your name again?” I asked. “You look really familiar, but I can’t quite place you.”

His smile slipped and a frown creased his brow. He pushed the dark hair back from his forehead and away from his vivid emerald-green eyes. My heart skipped a beat. “It’s me, Princess.
Michael
.”

He looked so serious that I had to laugh a little. “I was just kidding.”

“Oh. I...knew that.”

“No you didn’t. You really thought I’d forget you that easily?” I shrugged a shoulder. “I mean, it has been a while.”

His smile hadn’t returned yet. “I know.”

“No visits. No lurking. Nothing at all. Total silence.”

“I wanted to come here...”

“Did you?”

“Of course I did.” He slipped a little on the window ledge, which was too narrow to hold him for long. It was meant more for squirrels and birds and maybe a flower pot or two, not for a six-foot-tall seventeen-year-old boy.

“You’re going to break it,” I warned, opening the window wider. “Come in, but just...be quiet.

If my mother finds you in here she’s going to lose it.”
Quiet
was definitely one thing a Shadow could be. He swung around and slid his long legs through the open window in two seconds flat to stand next to me in my bedroom. This immediately made me self-conscious and fully aware that I was wearing pajama bottoms and a tank top and had just emerged from my very messy bed.

He’d never been in here before. His gaze moved over the dark interior as if assessing the area for potential danger. In the darkness of the room, his amulet glowed a little, pulsing with a soft, green light.

He always wore it. An oval stone, about two inches tall, which looked like an emerald—an exact match to the color of his eyes. All Shadows had one. And all Shadows had green eyes.

From what I’d been able to understand about the very enigmatic Shadows, the stone was essential to their existence. Without it, they lost solid form and became, just as their name suggested, formless shadows. They could also summon energy through the stone and use it as a weapon—but that was forbidden. Plus, it was exhausting and draining for them.

If Shadows lost their amulet, lost form, then it wouldn’t be long before they lost their hold on the world completely and faded away to nothing. In other words, it would kill them.

Shadows had been servants to demonkind for ages. Well, maybe “servant” was the wrong word, even though that was the term everyone used. Shadows had no choice in what they were and were punished if they tried to rebel. To me, that made them slaves. It was a thought that turned my stomach.

Michael had lived in my father’s castle since his parents died when he was only a baby. His father and my father had been good friends. But, despite those close ties, my father still considered Michael a servant. Embarrassed by this lowly status, it took Michael a long time to come clean to me about who he was and what it meant. By then I had developed some serious feelings for him. None of which involved me ordering him around like a haughty princess would.

He was my equal. All Shadows were my equals. I refused to think of them any other way.

However, nobody seemed to feel this way except for me, and I had no idea why. I guess some stigmas and traditions were hard to shake, even if they were wrong.