Chosen - Kiersten White Page 0,81
a very illegal U-turn. “Artemis. She set me up. She set this all up.” I toss the phone at Leo. “Tell me the second you get any texts.” The phone dings, and I resist lunging for it.
Leo reads it quickly. “ ‘Everyone accounted for. Lockdown initiated.’ ”
Maybe they haven’t had time to launch an attack yet. The vampires did say they needed to hold me there for another hour. Hopefully, talkative Jane blew it for them. “They were probably hoping they could just walk in. But the castle knows they’re coming. And Artemis and Honora haven’t been there since we created the lockdown procedures. They won’t know what to expect.” I shake my head, disbelief numbing me. “Artemis. She’s going after the castle. I never should have let her leave with Honora. This is my fault.”
I clench my jaw, strangling the steering wheel imagining Honora’s perfectly lush and thick dark hair, that smug smile, those clever eyes.
“You’re not okay.” Leo’s eyes are heavy on me, even though my own are glued to the road blurring beneath us.
“Of course I’m not okay! The castle is probably under attack, Artemis is behind it, and I’m not there!”
“No, I mean, more than that. I saw you in that fight. It didn’t seem like you.”
I wanted to have this conversation. Needed to. But I couldn’t make myself because it felt too important and scary. With this news, it feels less scary. “Ever since you gave my Slayer power back to me, it’s felt different.”
He sits up from his slouched position. “What do you mean, different?”
Another ding.
“ ‘All clear.’ ”
But I don’t feel all clear. I feel like I’m flying apart at the seams. I drum my fingers against the steering wheel. “Not that I was an expert before or anything, and the powers are demonic in origin anyway, so there’s a certain amount of darkness that accompanies them, right? But I’ve been having these flashes of rage. And sometimes I want—I want to hurt things. Not to stop them or fight them, but to hurt them. And that’s new. That’s not me.” My voice breaks. I stop and clear my throat. “You had my power for a little bit. You felt it. Did you feel that?”
I finally look over at him. And then I wish I hadn’t. His face is frozen in a mask of horror.
“What?” I ask. “Tell me.”
“I—oh, Athena. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think—I didn’t even consider it.”
“Consider what?”
“When I took the energy from my mother. It was overwhelming. So much of it. I assumed that was what it felt like to have your power. But—god, I should have died. I should have died when I was supposed to.”
I pass a car with barely enough space, an angry horn following us. “Leo, tell me. It can’t be worse than what I’m imagining.”
“My mother drained others before you. Bradford Smythe. Cosmina. Several incredibly old demons. And I assumed that power would have burned off. She was using so much of it. But …”
“No, that’s worse than what I was imagining. That’s for sure worse. You’re telling me I got an extra demoned-up cocktail of power? That my demon-based Slayer power wasn’t demony enough, so I got several shots of demon espresso to really bump me to the next level. And Cosmina! And Bradford Smythe! Oh gods, I have part of Bradford Smythe’s life energy force free-floating around in me! I need to take a shower. I need to—”
“I should never have been part of your life. I thought I was helping. I really did. But who was I kidding? This is who I am. What I come from. I corrupt everything I touch, and I always will. I’m so sorry. I wish you hadn’t found me. I should have died alone in Von Alston’s house.”
“You’re not going to die.” The tires skid as I take a curve too fast but somehow keep control of the car. “No one is unless I say so.” It comes out a snarl.
He slumps in his seat. His voice is exhausted. It sounds like it’s coming from much farther away than it is. “I never took any energy myself. It was always my mother. And she’s gone. I’m dying. Starving to death. But it’s only incredibly slow and painful, so, all things considered not a bad way to go.” He tries to laugh. It doesn’t work.
His mother’s fate hangs in the air between us. His mother, who stole power and energy from others while they slept, and then passed it to