Kindled (Page 50)

Cassie frowned, moving closer to the window as she strained to hear him better. The fog in her mind seemed to clear as she became riveted upon what he was saying. “Had to be certain of what?” she whispered.

“Of what you are, of course.”

Cassie’s mouth parted slightly, her hands slipped away from her pants. “What do you mean?”

“When I touched you that first time, I learned that you believed you have no powers.”

“I don’t have any powers,” she inserted sharply.

Julian’s eyes were hard when they met hers; the white band around the pupil momentarily grew larger. “Then how do you explain a single Hunter being able to take out a vampire that was nearly an Elder?”

Cassie bit on her bottom lip as she recalled the hatred and fury that had suffused her the night she had killed Isla. The awful feeling, and loss of control she had experienced, had been overwhelming. It had nearly buried her beneath the monster inside of her. Though, as much as she’d hated the feeling, and the pain that had accompanied it, she almost wished that she could bring that monster out now. Almost. It had been awful, and vicious, and nearly destroyed her. And no matter how much she hated their current situation, she hated the creature inside of her more.

“Whatever is inside of me, it’s not a power,” Cassie broke off, her gaze darted worriedly toward the mirror across from her once more. “It’s a curse. It’s a… it’s something awful,” she finished on a whisper.

“They will tell you that it is something awful,” Julian hissed. “But they created your race, so they created you.”

Cassie swallowed heavily as she shook her head. “I’m confused,” she breathed.

Julian heaved a large sigh. Turning, he rested his shoulder against the mirror, his head dropped to the glass. Cassie realized that whatever they were pumping into the rooms was having an effect on him too. “When I first met you, I wanted to hurt you, not because of what you are but because I wanted to hurt Devon. Though I am very certain your blood would be an amazing treat.” Cassie glared at him as he offered her a roguish grin that had probably melted many hearts in his long life. Despite herself, Cassie couldn’t hold her anger at him. She didn’t know if it was the drugs, or the bizarre fact that she almost liked this strange Julian. “It was a challenge to get to you, and I love a challenge.”

“I see,” she murmured.

“I am what I am.” He showed no remorse for the things he had done to her, and her friends, but then she had never expected any from him. It wasn’t in his nature to show regret. “But when I touched you and saw what was inside of you,” he shrugged. “You are a danger Cassie, to everyone around you, but you are also a force of power. I wanted to see how that power could be used, and what it was capable of. I knew you could beat Isla, if you unleashed that power…”

“And if I hadn’t?”

He shrugged again. “Then you would have been killed, but I had to see what would happen.” She knew she should be annoyed by his nonchalant attitude, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be. It was Julian after all, and although she didn’t really mind this Julian, he was what he was and there was no changing that. “And Devon had to see what you could be capable of. Though I think he suspected what was inside of you before that night.”

Cassie yawned again as she rested her head against the glass, dimly aware of the fact that their heads would have been touching if there was no glass between them. “Yes, he did. But why would you want him to know about it?”

Julian was silent for a moment and then he heaved a large sigh. “Because he had to know. If Isla couldn’t beat you, and there is a chance that I may not be able to take you, then he had to know that if he changed you, like I know he wanted too, then there was a good possibility that no one could beat you if it went wrong. That you could very well destroy us all, including your friends. And although it would have destroyed Devon to watch you become a monster, which would have made me very happy, I could not allow such a thing to happen. I enjoy my existence too much for something like that. I don’t need you scouring the earth trying to destroy us all.”

Cassie managed to shoot him another fierce glare, but there was no anger, no hatred in his gaze. Instead, there was an odd sense of compassion. Cassie shivered, disarmed and disoriented by this strange new Julian. “I may not become a monster,” she retorted.

“No, but there is no way to know that. And either way, you may still become more powerful than the rest of us.”

Cassie sighed softly, fighting against closing her eyes again. “These people must realize that,” she whispered. “So why wouldn’t they just destroy me?”

“I don’t know. Just as I don’t know why they are keeping me alive. What they plan on doing with the two of us is not something I want to contemplate. They’ve left me alone, but now that you’re here…”

Cassie lifted her head slowly as his voice trailed off. He was still awake however, his strange eyes distant as he stared at the far wall. “This is going to be awful.”

He focused on her again, his lids drooping slightly. The lazy look he gave her was sympathetic as well as hard. “I believe so.”

Cassie shuddered; she rapidly blinked back the tears that burned her eyes. “They’ll come for us if we go to sleep, won’t they?”

He hesitated for a moment, and she could tell that he wanted to sugarcoat it, but in the end he didn’t. “Yes.”

CHAPTER 16

“Where the hell could he be?” Devon snarled.

He was well aware of the fact that Chris took a swift step away from him; his eyes darted rapidly over the woods before finally settling on Devon again. “Devon, I don’t think he’s in this area anymore,” Annabelle said softly, nervously. “You haven’t been able to find him, Chris can’t sense him, and Melissa has had no premonitions. We need to come up with another plan.”

He rounded on her, his hands fisting as his nostrils flared. Anger and panic tore through him. He was such a wildly swinging pendulum of emotions lately that even he was surprised that he had not snapped. It had been three days; she had been missing for three days! Three days in which they could have done anything they wanted to her.

He shuddered, struggling hard not to lose his temper again. As he had yesterday. He tried not to think about the rampage he had gone on yesterday, the destruction he had done to the trees that had been in his way. If he had gotten his hands on something alive, he would have ripped it to shreds whether it had been animal or human. It had been a dangerous state to be in and he had been lucky that no one had been around him.