Page 55 of Resurrection
“Are we waiting on them to come inside?” Unable to stay quiet any longer, I jab my elbow in Sebastian’s side.
I can feel all eyes snap in my direction, Sebastian glancing down to look at my face. Pressing my lips in a firm line, I glare at him. It’s not like I yelled the question. Whatever his problem is, he can deal with it. This is my first official fight as a monster, not counting my rescue mission when I dragged him out of the coffin like the stupid little fool that I am. I was only half a monster at the time, even though I wasn’t aware of that fact since I didn’t have fangs or claws. I have questions, damn it.
“Well?” Undeterred by his stern look, I lift my chin defiantly.
“No.” Amusement twinkles in his dark eyes and one side of his lips lifts slightly up. “We do not wait for them to come inside, my redemption. We go after them.” Cupping my face in his hand, he glides his fingers to my jaw, turning my head to the side. “Look.”
As if waiting on his words, dozens of Guardians start pouring out of the stairway entrance, moving stealthily through the lobby and heading straight for the front doors. Stiffening, I brace myself, watching them go up in smoke, but to my disbelief, they walk through the rays of daylight unflinching.
Humans.
Dressed in black just like the Guardians plastered to the walls, they spread out, going in different directions as soon as they exit the doors. They all look buffed and like they know what they’re doing. I knew we had humans here with us, but I’ve never seen these people before. Have they been hiding? If so, then where? Glinting at their chests as they pass like a river pouringout through the front entrance gets my attention. Flicking my eyes from one to the other, I see they all wear something that the vampire Guardians do not. A thick cord is tight around their necks with a fist-size medallion hanging on it, swaying with each step they take. Tiny crystals from it are blinking when they catch the light.
“What do they have around their necks?” Curiosity makes me blurt things out.
“Protection,” Sebastian says proudly, and I snap my gaze to him.
“Protection from what exactly?”
“Magic.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
SEBASTIAN
I can see clearly on April’s face that she struggles to accept the fact we are dealing with a mage. Why this out of all things bothers her so much I don’t know. Many emotions cross her expressive face, from disbelief to incredulity, until they finally settle on doubt. I can work with that.
“We already talked about this.” She opens her mouth to answer but just shakes her head, sending her hair flying around her shoulders. “Why is it so hard to accept this, my redemption? Out of everything you have seen, of what you know that we are, magic is what tops the glass?”
“Stupid, I know.” Chuckling uneasily, she turns to watch the last of the humans disappear through the doors. “I know you said the Council used a mage and magic when they killed me, or that version of me, centuries ago, and I must say that’s easy to believe. Like fairytales, magic used so long ago is easier to accept than the fact that someone is using it now.”
“Go see for yourself.” Keeping to the shadows, I creep along the wall, getting closer to a hole in the wall the size of a chair. “Stay hidden, we don’t know how many are out there.”
“They flying on brooms or something?” Murmuring, April leans on the wall, her fingers gripping it tightly when she bends to peek through the broken bricks.
I move along with her, her back pressed to my chest, so I can snatch her away if she is seen. There is a movement on the other side of the barricade we made around the hotel. My body hums with power, pebbling April’s skin where I grip her upper arms. She tilts her face, sniffing the air experimentally. I can feel where the magic is brewing from the left side across the street. She, on the other hand, ignores that, but keeps flaring her nostrils.
“Do you smell that?” mumbling under her breath, she cranes her neck to look at me. “What is that spiciness in the air?”
She did this earlier in the kitchens with the mole. Keeping my face calm, I search her eyes for anything that will tell me this is indeed something in the air from the blasts and not some unheard of development that I never expected. I know we can feel things like lies, or magic, but only through our senses, bonds, or instincts.. To be able to smell it…I’ve never heard of that before. It’s not a trait of a vampire, that much I know.
“What does it smell like?” Inhaling, I sort through the scents that assault my senses, trying to pinpoint what got her attention.
“I don’t know, it’s like breathing in sharply while standing on top of a…” she yelps when I throw us both to the side, covering her body with my own.
“…fire.” She finishes her sentence, the words muffled in my chest.
Luckily, she was pointing in the direction that whatever she was smelling was coming from. I saw the ball of fire hurled at the place we were watching a second before it collided with the wall, sending sparks all over the lobby. April can smell magic. I stay on top of her, incredulity warring with my rational brain.She can smell, not feel things.
“Get off me.” At the stifled command, I roll to the side, taking her with me.
“Where else do you smell the strange scent?” Waving a hand at one of the crouched Guardians, I watch her keenly. “Can you tell without getting too close to the open areas?”
April doesn’t answer. Her eyebrows pull tightly in concentration when she closes her eyes and lifts her face in the air. A shiver passes through my body at how animalistic her behavior is, even compared to a predator like me. Her nostrils flare, and her head moves from side to side before her eyes snap open, focusing on me.
“It’s faint, a lot less noticeable than when I was at the hole over there.” Waving a hand at the destroyed wall, she glances warily at the Guardian that answered my call. “But I can smell it coming from the exact opposite side too.”
“Send the humans to check,” I address the Guardian, not taking my gaze from hers.
