Page 24

“What happens now?” I asked in a small voice.

“You use this to find a way to save future victims,” Julian held out the gun he’d grabbed with the syringe full of GoDKiller. “And I find and take out Mordock.”

I blinked up at him, noting the scarlet ring around his glowing indigo eyes. “You can’t go after him, Julian. Not on your own.”

A smile softened Julian’s face, and the red in his eyes faded as he considered me. He grasped my hand in his. “He has to be stopped, Charlotte.”

“I know,” I said. “But you should bring in a team or something now that you know it was him.”

“SHADE can’t know,” Julian said. “It isn’t just GoDKiller, Charlotte. He knows your secret, and he will use it to hurt or manipulate you. I will not allow that.”

I shook my head in confusion. “I just admitted everything to you. I’ll face the music, Julian. I can’t live with the guilt anymore. It’s tearing me apart.”

“I’m not talking about your work, Charlotte. I’m talking about your abilities. I’ve never met a psychic who has both telekinetic and mind-bending abilities. You’ve demonstrated both. If your TK when Mordock attacked your lab sent up flares, then yesterday’s display was like a sonic boom. Not to mention that you demonstrated both abilities in front of four adversaries, Mordock being the most dangerous—and he already has an interest in you.”

“I don’t regret what I did,” I said with a sniff. “You’d be dead if I hadn’t.”

Julian did something I hadn’t known possible, he tensed and straightened even further. “We will discuss your refusal to follow orders later. For now, we have to take care of all witnesses and make sure you have an alibi, so the general doesn’t find out the psychic in question is you.”

“Why is it so dangerous for him to know?” I pressed, grabbing his hand before he could zip away from an uncomfortable topic. “There’s more going on than a difference of opinion.”

“Psychics are highly sought after and rare. One who has both extreme abilities would be like obtaining the Hope Diamond.” Julian paused to let this sink in. “There are several organizations out there who collect psychics, one of which, Project MorningStar, already tried to take you once. And though I believe SHADE is a better alternative, I’m not convinced the general would care much about your free will and comfort if he had an opportunity to study and use you. He certainly would keep you under lock and key.”

Swallowing, I nodded my understanding. I’d cross that bridge if I came to it. “And what did you mean by ‘take care of all witnesses’?” I pressed.

He pursed his lips as if to say, what do you think I meant?

“I’m coming with you.”

“No. You’re not.”

“You can’t stop me.”

Julian raised his brows in challenge.

“I’m a mind-bender,” I reminded him. I hated the idea of manipulating other people’s actions, but he didn’t need to know it was a blind threat.

“It’s far too dangerous,” he countered, slipping his hand from mine and standing to pace. “You should be here, studying the sample to see how they’ve manipulated it.”

“I…don’t think they’ve done anything to it,” I said, bringing his pacing to a halt. I stared at the beanbag in the corner because I didn’t want to see his reaction. “It was supposed to be a cure, not a weapon. And I think it works, but the problem is that when the virus is eliminated, so is the thing keeping vampires undead. Did you see how it worked on the shifter? I…I think it works on shifters, Julian. I think it’s a cure.” I chanced a glance. My face heated when I found him studying me like a rare artifact.

Maybe like he would the Hope Diamond.

“You made a cure,” he whispered, taking a step toward me then stopping.

“I tried. I want to keep trying.”

“Why?”

One blink, and when I opened my eyes, he knelt beside me, searching my gaze as a single rogue curl dangled on his forehead. I tucked it away, unable to control the impulse. It almost felt as if I’d done it a thousand times before, and I shook off the strange thought. I was distracting myself from telling my story. But Julian deserved to know. He’d saved my life more than once. He was protecting me even though he knew what I’d done—what I was, and at great personal risk.

“My dad was turned,” I said and took a deep breath. “I was a kid, hanging out in his lab with him on the weekend because I always loved what he did. He…was my hero.” I laughed and brushed a tear from my face, though I’d thought I’d cried myself dry already.

“Did you see it happen?” Julian asked.

The memories I constantly fought to push away surfaced, but this time, I allowed them to come, narrating as I watched it happen. “We heard a sound. That was the only warning we got, but it was enough for my dad to shove me down behind a counter and distance himself from me. Then they were there, two vampires, one who tossed aside the corpse of my father’s associate. He hung back while the other spoke to my father in a hushed voice. They argued, but I couldn’t make out the words. I would’ve tried to get closer, but I was frozen in fear.”

Julian squeezed my hand. I wasn’t sure when he’d taken it again, but it was comforting to know he was there with me, supporting me.