Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6), Lan Chan [free ebook reader for android TXT] 📗

I knew the ones reflecting back at her were nothing close to the natural dark brown of my real eyes. The image the disguising spell projected would be different for everybody who happened to linger too long on my appearance. “Shall we dispense with the illusion?”

I gently pulled the hair back. “I’d rather not.”

Her head tilted to the side. “Paranoid, I see.” She frowned, and in it were a hundred questions I knew she was dying to ask. But then she too sniffed. “Suit yourself. Did you bring the item?”

I produced the necklace from my pocket. Andrei tried to grab it for inspection, but I snatched it away. Unfortunately, the overeager waitress took it as a come-hither gesture and bustled up to us. The rosy hue in my cheeks as she smiled at Andrei made my stomach turn. Ew.

No matter how much blood he now drank, or how frighteningly attractive he’d become as a result, when I looked at him, all I saw was the disturbing menace in his sky-blue eyes. He said something to the waitress and she left, but I didn’t hear it above the beating of my own heart in the presence of a predator. Even though I was certain he wouldn’t hurt me, the primordial prey instinct in me was perpetually on edge. His smile slipped a little at my intense scrutiny.

“Don’t look at me like that, cupcake,” he said, eyes going crimson at the rims. “You’re making me blush.”

After the waitress brought back a pitcher of enchanted beer for them and a lemonade for me, I laid the necklace out in front of Cordelia for inspection.

Cordelia didn’t move to pick it up. In fact, I’d noticed that in the confined space, she didn’t move much and almost flinched whenever Eugenia tried to touch her—something the other woman did as often as she could just to get a reaction.

“This has been cleansed?” Cordelia asked.

I nodded. “I also dunked it in seawater and buried it in dirt for a few days.”

“You didn’t use anything supernatural on it?”

I shook my head. “I was worried it would leave imprints. The only other thing I did was smoke the scent of leather out.”

For the first time, Cordelia produced an expression that I might have considered a smile. “At least the human knows how to follow orders.”

It might have been a compliment had her face not contorted at the word human.

Gingerly, Cordelia reached out to take Kai’s mother’s necklace into her ivory-skinned grip. Lex’s necklace, I corrected in my head. Though it seemed less like it belonged to her given her complete abandonment of it after the whole Chanelle incident. Everything in me was crossed in the hope that there was enough of Kai’s essence left behind in it for some kind of vision.

Now more than ever, hope was a dangerous thing in this world. As evidenced by the stinging pain in my chest when Cordelia’s eyes opened and she shook her head.

“There has to be something!” My voice was whiny. I didn’t care. “Do you need some other personal item?” How I would get it, I wasn’t sure. The Nephilim had anything Kai-related on such tight lockdown I’d only managed to swipe the necklace because it had been the first thing I’d done after teleporting from the cells in Seraphina. A week after Lucifer returned, news began to spread that Raphael had succumbed to some kind of ailment. The Nephilim Council went into overdrive locking everyone else out.

Andrei played with the tip of the blood knife. The blade was a dull reddish-brown, the handle an intense magenta. Though it was no longer a part of me, the hum of my blood transmuted into a physical state still made my molars ache. Eugenia stared at it hungrily. Kicking him in the shin, I tilted my head in a silent plea.

Andrei grinned at Eugenia. “What this?” he said. “Why yes, it is a hexed weapon made entirely of blood.”

She might have licked her lips had it not been so obvious what she wanted. Turning to me, she pointed a finger. “Name your price.”

I shook my head emphatically. “No way. I don’t have the energy for more.”

She leaned forward this time, the amusement in her demeanour drying up. “There are ways we can increase your stamina.”

There was no need to elaborate. I was more than convinced of Ravenhall’s magical virility. “I said no! You’ve got your own ways to counteract the malachim. You don’t need me. I only risked coming here to find Kai’s soul.”

“I can’t find something that no longer exists,” Cordelia said.

Trying to ignore the spear that was repeatedly lancing me through the heart, I said, “What do you mean?”

Cordelia snapped her fingers. “Poof. Zip. Zilch. It’s gone. What part of that don’t you understand?”

None of it. None of those words made sense. My mind refused to accept their meaning. “Just because you can’t find it–”

Discarding protocol, Cordelia latched onto my shaking hands. “No, witchling. Understand what I’m saying to you. He’s–”

Her words died out in a garbled cry as her eyes rolled back in her head. I saw Eugenia mouthing something before shaking her sister. All sound receded into the background as a whooshing filled my ears. Cordelia’s skin turned blistering cold around my fingers, making my teeth chatter. Just when I was about to try and yank back, images flooded my mind.

I sat upon the grass inside the soul gate erected by the Sisterhood. Beside me, Lex knelt in the grass, her little body wracked with pain. Around me, the supernaturals charged repeatedly at the barrier or threw themselves in between the demons swarming out of the portals. High above the gate, Kai lashed out with his blade, only to be flung back. But it wasn’t the chaos of the fight that was the epicentre of this vision.

It was the smouldering rage of the lion shifter who was preparing for another assault on the barrier. One of his back