The Devil's Third (26 page)

An uncomfortable feeling in my bladder alerted me to its fullness. I slowly lifted Brayden’s arm off me, careful not to disturb him and rolled off the bed. He grunted, scratched his nose, and flipped to his other side. I tiptoed to the bathroom and softly closed the door. It clicked when it latched shut, and I released the knob. The room displayed a cute, rustic theme I liked. The brown shower curtain had a wilderness scene with a black bear and her three cubs trailing behind. There was even a matching rug to go along with it. Adorable. A few minutes later I was pleased to see a toothbrush wrapped in plastic and a small tube of Crest. While I brushed, I thought about Nathan. My stomach did a silly flip, and my white, foamy lips turned up into a goofy grin.

“Paige, are you okay?” Brayden asked on the other side of the door.

I titled my chin up, careful not to drip toothpaste on me. “I’m fine,” my garbled voice answered.

“What?”

I spat in the sink and tried again. “I’m brushing my teeth. I’m okay.”

“Do you want something to eat? We can order room service. I found a menu on the night stand.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said, feeling a hollow ache in my stomach, I hadn’t realized was there. Then it growled, confirming my hunger. I opened the door and walked out, wondering for the first time how to tell Brayden about my change in plans. He sat perched on the edge of the bed, reading the menu. “Brayden--”

“I think I want the BLT with fries and a Mountain Dew. What about you?” He looked at me, waiting for my response.

A bacon sandwich actually sounded good. “I’ll have the same, except I want--”

“Coffee,” he said, smiling, “with cream of course.” He knew me so well. I couldn’t help but smile back.

“You got it.”

He picked up the phone and pushed a clear, protruding button above the other ones. While he ordered, a thought occurred to me . . . I could call Nathan. But then I remembered he had smashed his phone against the wall, and I didn’t know the number to his spare cell. The momentary rush I felt subsided. I’d have to hang tight here until he arrived. In the meantime, I needed to deal with Brayden. I straightened my back and squared my shoulders.

“It’ll be ready in twenty minutes,” he told me after he hung the phone up. He narrowed his eyes and tilted his chin down. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong,” I said, pushing my hair off my shoulders. “In fact, I’m feeling optimistic right now.”

“So am I.” He patted the space beside him. I didn’t accept the invitation. He frowned. “Okay, what am I missing?”

“Nathan is on his way here,” I said.

Brayden’s eyebrows furrowed, deepening the crease between them. “What do you mean?” he asked, his tone full of caution.

I took a deep breath and told him everything. After I finished, he looked at me like I lost my mind. I knew he and Nathan didn’t care for each other, but Brayden would have to get over it. I loved Brayden and never wanted to hurt him; however, my heart belonged to Nathan and once again, Brayden would have to accept it.

There was a knock at the door. I jumped, and my heart pounded against my chest. Could it be Nathan? Not likely. It was too soon, I told myself when I reached the door. Brayden stood next to my elbow when I opened it. An attractive girl around our age with shoulder length dark hair stood behind a small stainless steel cart. On top of it were two plates with BLTs and a generous portion of what looked like homemade fries. In the center stood a tall, icy glass of Mountain Dew and a steaming cup of coffee. I noticed different types of creamers grouped together on the right of my drink, along with several packets of ketchup and Ranch dressing.

“Your order,” the girl simply said, her brown eyes roaming Brayden’s body. The corner of her mouth tugged upward when they rested on his face. “Would you like anything else? I’d be happy to get it for you,” she said only to him, completely ignoring me. She lowered her eyelids and bit her bottom lip when Brayden offered her a teasing smile.

Oh, he was good.

Even I couldn’t help but stare at how he used his daring, handsome looks to his advantage. He handed her a fifty dollar bill and told her to keep the change. I took the handle of the cart and wheeled it in. I turned, right when she accepted the money and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. She seemed reluctant to leave, and when Brayden thanked her and stepped away from the door, her cheeks flushed. She blinked and told him again if he needed anything else, she’d be happy to assist him.

Yeah, I bet.

“She seemed nice,” Brayden said after he closed the door, “and pretty,” he added.

I didn’t answer right away, instead I added some cream to my coffee. I could feel his eyes on my back. Something pinched inside my chest. Jealousy? I ignored it and moved our stuff off the cart onto a small, round table in the corner of the room. I sat and took a sip out of the Styrofoam cup, eyeing him over the rim. “She is,” I agreed, knowing he was trying to see how I’d react to him admiring another female. I refused to play his little game, though, and kept drinking my coffee.

Brayden pulled the chair across from me out and plopped down with a sigh. “I don’t want to date her.” He sounded exhausted, like he’d been repeatedly kicked in the stomach, but he continued to persist anyway. “I want you and nobody else.” He took a deep drink of his Mountain Dew when I didn’t response. The ice clinked against the glass when he set it down. “How can I get you to realize we belong together?” He picked up his sandwich and took a huge bite. He watched me while he chewed, waiting for my response.

“I love you, Brayden. I always will,” I told him, dipping a couple fries into ketchup. “But like I told you before, Nathan and I are together. I’m in love with him.”

His gaze fell to his lap, and he slowly shook his head. When he spoke, I could hear the hurt in his voice. “Like I told
you
before, he’s not from the same era as us. His mind is programmed differently than ours because he grew up in a different time. He’s too overprotective, and I think he hinders you.” He looked up, and his eyes locked onto mine. Through tight lips he said, “I don’t like it.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, he has his flaws, but so do I.” I took a bite of my BLT, loving the taste of the peppered bacon combined with the fresh tomato and mayo.

“How can you be so nonchalant about it?” Brayden asked, his voice raising, outraged.

“Because Nathan wants to be equals now. Once upon a time ago I told him I refused to be in a one-sided relationship. I won’t do it, and he knows it. End of story.”

Brayden didn’t comment. Instead, we sat in silence while we ate. Normally it would have been awkward, but we were comfortable enough with each other not have it be so. I also knew he was collecting his thoughts. Maybe gathering more ammunition for his argument. I could see his point, but it wasn’t going to change how I felt about Nathan or the connection I shared with him.

“I don’t want him here,” Brayden finally said, rising from the table.

“Too bad,” I retorted defensively. I took the last swig of my coffee and stood. “Nathan and Ameerah should be here anytime now. You need to deal with it or leave.” I hated telling him the last part. I didn’t want him to go, but then again, I didn’t want him to be an ass either.

“You’re choosing Nathan over me?” The hurt was back in his voice and guilt stabbed my chest. “After everything we’ve been through together . . . our history . . .”

“I don’t want to,” I admitted. “However, this is my life--”

Brayden held up a hand, palm facing me. “Stop. I don’t want to hear it.” He turned his back on me. His shoulders slouched. I lifted my hand, edging it toward his arm, then dropped it. No. My sympathy would just encourage him to pursue his feelings for me. He turned and faced me. A deep sadness echoed from the depths of his green eyes, until a sudden willful determination glossed over it. “You can’t deny we make a great team. We always have, and I know you love me. I also know if you were completely honest with yourself and gave into those feelings, you’d find you were still in love with me.”

I didn’t respond. I knew if I’d never met Nathan, Brayden and I would most likely be together. But then again, I wasn’t the same girl as I was a month ago. I was changing. I could feel it–the strength, sense of empowerment and duty.

“I want you and I to find the incantations,” he said point blank. “We need Anwar to help us,” he threw in. My mouth dropped, and he continued before I could find words to comment on his admission. “Anwar’s friend Shem can fly us to Africa, and Anwar is from there, so he can be our escort.”

“Are you kidding me?” was all I could say. I knew he and Anwar were friends for some strange reasons, and I had an idea why. Anwar was Team Brayden and thought Nathan should be tracking instead of spending his time with me. Anwar had made that clear to Nathan the night Roeick kidnapped me. But I thought or hoped that Brayden would come to his senses and decide to keep his distance from Anwar. Apparently not yet.

“Just hear me out,” he said. “Bael was playing dumb in the Tahoe earlier when he mentioned Aosoth. I know because Anwar told me all about it. Bael actually found Aosoth and Roeick after Nathan imprisoned them in the old Victorian house where you were held captive.”

“How did Bael know where they were?” I asked, not surprised at his deception.

“I don’t know. Maybe he tracked her by her cell phone.”

I cocked my head to the side and chewed on my bottom lip. “He did make me get rid of my cell because he said Nathan could use it to track us.”

“I had to give up mine as well . . .” Brayden paused. He stared past me like he was contemplating something, then his gaze shifted back on me, and he continued. “Anyway, Anwar told me Bael lured a soulless female and male to where Aosoth and Roeick were, probably so their spirits could jump in the bodies, vacating the ones they were trapped in.”

I looked away and fixed my eyes on the unkempt bed, but not really seeing it. The premonition I had not too long ago raced through my mind. I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but now that I did, and what Brayden just told me, caused a chill to run up my spine.

Brayden touched my arm. When I looked at him, concern marred his features. “What is it?”

“I was thinking about what you just said and a premonition of mine.”

“What was it about?”

I recounted its ominous words, “The innocent locked in grief from the illusion before the eyes. An unlikely pair reunites in treachery and affection.”

Brayden rubbed his forehead and sighed. “You’re thinking the unlikely pair is Aosoth and Bael?”

I nodded. “It has to be.”

“Or,” Brayden piped, “it could mean Ameerah and Volac. She used to be a part of his group, ya know.”

I gave him a funny look. “I don’t think so because Volac had his men captured Ameerah that night at Gnat Creek.”

“It could have been a ruse,” Brayden said.

I shook my head. “Not likely.”

“Did you know Roeick and Volac were related when they were human?”

Wide-eyed, I gaped at him. “No, I didn’t.” I realized then Brayden knew more than I thought, and I wondered what else. “How do you know this?”

“Roeick is Volac’s descendant. However, since Roeick is infatuated with Aosoth, and Volac can’t stand her, the kinsmen are not on speaking terms.”

“But how--”

“Anwar told me.” He paused and a thoughtful look entered his face. “The things I know are due to Anwar and Cassondra. Knowledge is power, and I plan to be one of the most powerful immortals out there. I think together, you and I could reign our world.”

All the air escaped my lungs. The room was silent except for the clicking noise the heaters were making, announcing the steady flow of heat about to escape. I couldn’t believe what I just heard. The wall I had mentally erected to seal off my weak “human” emotions, wavered. My eyes began to sting, and I blinked. My throat constricted, and I swallowed several times, refusing to cry. Those were bogus emotions, attached to a mortal girl who still thrived inside me, longing for those simpler times. I silently told her to get a grip. Brayden had changed and so have I. Sure our humanity was still linked to us, and where I had chosen strength over my weakness, Brayden was intoxicating himself with fantastical power. The notion he or we could dominate our new world by using both our strengths, thus becoming almighty, was in the same vein as Bael’s ultimate goal–to rule this world.

“Are you okay?” Brayden asked. “You look paler than normal.”

Ya think?

I cleared my throat and decided to say it like it was. “You’re no better than Bael, and I can’t believe what I just heard come out of your mouth. You’ve changed, and I think you should leave.” I turned away, and he grabbed my arm, spinning me around.

“Wait a minute,” he said and let go of my arm when I tried yanking it away. “I’m still the same Brayden you were in love with two years ago. However, the cards we were dealt have changed. Just because I’m holding a different set, doesn’t mean who I truly am has changed. I’m just playing a better hand.”

“But you’re willing to ante up who or whatever you have to in hope you’ll win the game. I mean, earlier you were willing to sacrifice Tree in order to free me from being Bael’s puppet.”

“I already told you why,” he said, exasperated. “Tree is like a brother--”

“Yeah, sure.” I could feel the heat in my face and knew it was red. “I would never,” I said through gritted teeth, “dodge a bullet, knowing it would strike someone I loved instead.”

“What if Bael made you choose between Nathan and Tree?” Brayden demanded. “Who would you choose?”

I threw my hands up and laughed, though nothing was funny. “He already did, and I chose Tree.”

“Oh, I forgot.”

“You just don’t get it,” I told him, heading toward the door. “And I don’t want anything to do with Anwar or ruling our world. If that’s your thing, fine. I don’t want anything to do with you then, and I want you to leave.”

In a flash, Brayden stood by my side. “I love you. I think you have extraordinary gifts you haven’t even tapped yet. Anwar and I can help you.”

“I don’t want your help.”

“Paige, please. Don’t you love me?”