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The beach was packed with a mob of people, but I figured that even with the abundance of bodies roaming around, the odds seemed fairly favorable in spotting a six-foot-four, blonde hair, blue-tipped bang, vampire wandering around. But what if he wasn’t just wandering around? What if he was doing something he would regret? What if he was drinking blood again?

I started to walk faster, the sand making my footsteps heavy as I barreled across the shoreline.

Every once in awhile the cold ocean would roll up and hit my ankles. I was trying to keep it together, but the further I went down the sandy beach, the more concerned I became that I wasn’t going to find him.

I decided that it might be a good idea to ask someone if they had seen him. So, as a girl around my age with auburn hair and hazel eyes walked by me, I stopped her.

“Have you seen a guy that’s about six foot four, with blond and blue hair and has a lip ring?” I asked her.

She thought about this and then her expression lit up. “Is he like really good-looking with bright blue eyes, and has these symbols tattooed on his arms?” I nodded. “Do you know where he is?”

She pointed up the beach, towards a group of rocks that framed the lip of the shore. “Yeah, he went that way.”

“Thanks,” I said, and I took off, sprinting like a mad man for the rocks.

By the time I reached the rocks, I was panting for air. The mobs of people were so far away now that they looked like dots. There was a small narrow path that went between the rocks, and I stepped down it and the beach disappeared out of sight. I gradually made my way down the path, stepping over the sharp rocks as I braced my hand on the cliff’s wall. A few times I lost my balance and slipped, and by the time I made it to the end of the path, the palms of my hands were covered in cuts.

But the cuts were the least of my problems because there was no one at the end of the path, and nowhere else I could go. I tried to listen for voices, but the sound of the ocean was too loud. Shaking my head, I started to turn around, wondering why the girl had told me Laylen had come back here.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

His voice sent me scurrying backwards, and I scraped my back on one of the rock’s jagged edges.

“Easy, Gemma,” Nicholas said, his hands in the pockets of his tan cargo shorts. “Why so jumpy?” I didn’t answer him, my gaze searching desperately for an alternative way out. But after a few seconds, I realized I was trapped.

“Where’s Laylen?” I asked him, keeping my back pressed into the rocks, even though it hurt.

He tapped his finger on his lips, his golden eyes watching me like a cat watched a mouse. “Haven’t seen him.”

I opened my mouth about to tell him that I knew Laylen had come back here—that an auburn-haired girl back on the beach had told me he had, but the wicked smile on Nicholas’s face stopped the words from leaving my mouth.

“It’s amazing what a little faerie charm can get people to say,” he said, casting a glance back in the direction of the beach. “Well, except on you. My charm never seems to have any effect over you.”

“Charm?” I said snidely. “Is that what you call it?” Nicholas pressed his hand to his heart dramatically.

“Oh Gemma, how your words hurt me.”

I glared at him, and he grinned.

“Well,” he said. “As much as I would love to hide out here with you all day—I mean, think of the endless possibilities of the things we could do back here, way out of sight of everyone. But I’m afraid I have a promise to finish.” He reached for me, and I jumped back, bumping my head on the serrated wall of the rocky cliff.

“Careful there.” Then, the next thing I knew, Nicholas was in front of me, so close I could smell his flowery scent overlapping the scent of the salty ocean air.

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” he whispered, sliding a finger down my cheek.

I kneed him in the stomach, and he buckled forward. I seized the opportunity to dodge around him, but I didn’t make it very far, before Nicholas grabbed me by the shoulder and threw me to the ground. My head smacked against a rock, and the world started to spin like a merry-go-round.

He stood above me, looking relieved, as if a huge burden was about to be lifted from his shoulders. “It’s time to go,” he said.

I think my head had started to bleed. Either that or I was lying in some other kind of warm, sticky liquid. I still tried to get up, but my legs weren’t having any part of it. I tried to use my Foreseer power to take me away, but all I got in return was a headache.

Nicholas knelt down beside me and placed his hand on my arm, and there was nothing I could do but lie there as he retrieved the miniature, ruby-filled Foreseer ball out of his pocket. He held it close to my face as if to taunt me, and closed his eyes.

Then we were gone.

Chapter 43

When I opened my eyes again, Nicholas was gone. The room I was in was completely empty. And cold—Wyoming mountain cold.

I was lying on the floor, my face pressed against the hard floorboards. My head felt like it had been split in two, my body ached, and there was dried blood in my hair. I also noticed that my necklace was missing from around my neck, which sent a surge of panic soaring through me. The one thing that could protect me from magical harm and it was gone

I sat up slowly and glanced around the room that had nothing more than a door on each side of it, and a single window, which was barred shut. I have been here once before. This was the place that I had seen myself, lifeless, curled up on the floor.

This was bad. I thought Nicholas would take me to the City of Crystal, especially since he had taken out the ruby-filled crystal ball. But he brought me here instead. Why, though?

Fearing the answer, I got to my feet, ignoring the painful head rush I had, and took a few wobbly steps toward the door. It took me forever to get there, but I finally made it. Before I could get the door open, though, it was opening by itself, and I was hit with a puff of air so cold, it froze my body over in a heartbeat.

And then I saw him and part of me wished that the cold air had turned me to ice and killed me.

Stephan stood in the doorway, dressed in black, Death Walker’s towering on each side of him, their ravenous eyes gleaming yellow beneath the hood of their black cloaks. Snow was blowing in from the outside, and I could see snow was everywhere outside, just like it had been in the vision I had seen.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Stephan said, entering the room as if he owned it.

I stumbled backward, my heart pounding with terror.

“Nicholas said you were out when he left you,” Stephan said, still moving toward me.

Thankfully the Death Walkers didn’t enter. But really, could I be thankful about that because Stephan was here and the scar on his cheek had reminded me of everything my mom had told me.

“Why am-m I-I here,” I stuttered, my whole body shaking, not only with fear, but from the cold that was swirling through the room.

Stephan’s dark eyes stared at me, and they held so much irritation that I wanted to duck under something and hide.

“You’re here because I had to create out an alternative plan.” He walked around the room, glancing at the log walls, as if he was searching for something. “Since you and my son ruined my original plan—a plan I worked very hard to create—I had to come up with a new one.” He turned and faced me, his hands behind his back. “But I think this plan will work out a lot better. And the best part is, I won’t have to worry about my son finding you again. He’ll never find you here.” His dark eyes pierced into me. “No one will.”

My breathing faltered out of me, and the room was starting to sway again. “What are you going to do to me?” I asked, thinking about the memoria extraho, and fearing he was going to use something similar to it on me.

“Oh, I’m not going to do anything to you, Gemma,” he said, with a wicked grin. “Except leave you here.”