Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,94
toes. “So, how long will it take you to work the spell?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “Fifteen minutes. I can use the Lab downstairs. Do you have anything for the talisman?” he asked and then zeroed in on the bangle I was wearing on my wrist. “How about that?”
I slid it off my hand and then handed it over to him. “Anything else?”
“Nope.” He shook his head and then winked smugly. “Just got to work my magic on it.”
32. BABY IN BLUE JEANS
Caleb delivered as promised. After a grueling twenty-minute stretch of party talk and Halloween hoopla that continued well into the parking lot, I’d finally managed to slip away from the group and escape into my car, talisman in hand. Or around wrist, I should say.
While I felt bad for declining their invitation to join them for a late-night bite, my mind and heart just wasn’t in it. For one, I had yet to recover from my encounter with Dominic in the woods and secondly, I couldn’t stop thinking about Trace and wondering where the hell he was or why he hadn’t answered any of my messages or calls. It had been hours since I’d last heard from him and it wasn’t like him to not answer me.
The longer time dragged on, the more frayed my nerves became.
If he was at All Saints doing paperwork, then why hadn’t he bothered to call me? Unless, he decided to go have that talk with Nikki after all, though that didn’t seem very plausible since he would have at the very least texted me to let me know he wasn’t going to meet up with me like we’d planned.
None of this was sitting well with me. Unable to stomach the uncertainty a moment longer, I abruptly steered off the highway and headed straight for Nikki’s house.
Not in a stalker kind of way, though.
In a worried-for-your-friend kind of way.
To my utter relief, his car was nowhere in sight, though my relief was short-lived after I passed by All Saints and didn’t find his car there either. Maybe he’d gone home and fallen asleep after finishing up his work at All Saints and accidently slept through the meeting at Temple? It would certainly explain why he hadn’t called me or answered any of my messages.
As much as I wanted to hope for the best, I couldn’t shake away the awful feeling of dread from slipping into the pit of my stomach and burrowing in as I jumped back on the highway and headed for Trace’s.
Less than ten minutes later, I parked my car in the empty driveway and then let myself inside with the spare key Trace had given me. I was still holding onto the hope that maybe he was home and had simply parked his car in the garage, but after stepping into the darkened, lifeless house, all remaining hope had finally evaporated.
Where the hell was he?
This wasn’t like him. What if something awful happened? What if he’d gotten in an accident? What if he’d gone to see Nikki after all and his mind imploded on itself from the barrel of lies she’d undoubtably dumped on him?
Stop panicking, Jemma. You’re spiraling!
Realizing that I was spiraling and that sitting around waiting as I concocted a bunch of what-if scenarios in my head was very counterproductive, I instead decided to jump into the shower and attempt to wash away the vile day from my skin as I waited. I’d doubted that a bar of soap was going to be enough to erase what had happened with Dominic earlier, but I was certainly going to try.
After scrubbing my body until it was raw and red, I stepped out of the shower and made my way to the vanity. I’d only been able to do a half-assed job of cleaning up my latest neck wound at the service station with whatever I’d had in my purse, so I already knew it wasn’t going to be a pretty sight…
But I winced at the gaping hole, nonetheless.
It occurred to me that Dominic’s bites were getting worse with every attack, and not better. My heart sank as it became painfully clear that I was making zero progress in regard to turning his emotions back on. At least I wasn’t going to have to continuously keep sporting those reminders anymore.
Sliding off my bracelet, I held it in my hand and then scowled at it. I really didn’t want to utter the incantation that Caleb had charmed the bracelet with, but I