Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45934 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Crazy Lizzie clicked her fingers in front of Layla’s face. “Focus. Don’t drool over the hot dead guy.”
Layla chuckled and her cheeks went a bright shade of red. “I’m not drooling.”
“Come on, it is close. Let’s face it, Alexander has kept his looks.” Crazy Lizzie turned toward him and blew him a kiss.
He shook his head.
“Now, I need you to close your eyes and focus on yourself.”
She hesitated for several seconds but then closed her eyes.
“What do you see?” Crazy Lizzie asked.
“Nothing. My eyes are closed.”
Crazy Lizzie slapped her thigh.
“Ouch! Hey.”
“Focus, and don’t make jokes.”
Layla took a deep breath, then another, steadying her breath, taking a deep one in, then blowing out.
“What can you see?”
“Still nothing.”
“Open your mind. Your eyes are closed but you’re finding something within yourself. A spark. A light. Something.”
“I think you have this all wrong,” Layla said. “There is no way I’m some powerful person thing. I mean, what am I?”
There was silence because the truth was, none of them truly knew what she was. Yes, she was human, but even that was subjective as none of them knew how she was going to age, or if she would even age. None of them knew anything. Layla was a mystery.
Crazy Lizzie tilted her head to the side. “Even if you don’t believe in your powers, perhaps the fact you’ve been raised by a couple of gargoyles will help make you believe.”
Alexander took a step toward the circle. “Maybe this is enough for one day. She has learned a lot.”
“Or, we’re not pushing her quite so hard enough.” Crazy Lizzie looked around the circle and then smiled. “Sometimes people need a bit more of an incentive to access their gifts.”
Before any of them could react, Crazy Lizzie suddenly stood in front of Elle, but Brandon was there in another blink of an eye.
“Right, that is not going to work.”
Crazy Lizzie glanced over at Lewis, shook her head, and then before Alexander could stop her, she had a large, wooden spike and had it poised at where his beating heart should be. He did have a heart, and it wasn’t quite so easy to take from him. A wooden stake could take out younger vampires, but for him, it would take a lot of strength to pierce through his chest. He had no idea if Crazy Lizzie even had it in her to do the deed.
“No!” Layla was on her feet.
“What’s the matter? You don’t want me to kill your mate before you’ve given him a little test drive?” Crazy Lizzie asked.
The tip of the stake rubbed against his chest. He knew exactly the kind of game this witch was playing and he didn’t like it, not one bit.
“Stop!”
“Why stop?” Crazy Lizzie asked. “This dude is a vampire and in case you don’t know what that means, it means he’s deadly, dangerous, and freaking scary. He deserves to die. No one can save him, not even you.” She drew back the stake and just as she was about to thrust it into his chest, Layla yelled stop, but even Alexander had to pause. He felt the compulsion to stay completely still. Not out of fear, but because she had told them to.
He looked at Layla and he knew. There hadn’t been any doubt in his mind that she was who Crazy Lizzie and the gargoyles claimed her to be, but it was now clear. From the looks of the people around them, they no longer held any doubt. Even Crazy Lizzie had stopped. He didn’t know if the witch had done so willingly, or because she had been ordered to do so.
“What?” Crazy Lizzie asked.
“Put the stake down and leave him alone.” Layla’s eyes seemed to shine a little brighter.
Alexander had a feeling she didn’t even know what she was doing. By allowing her to live a semblance of a normal life, the gargoyles and her parents had potentially caused her a great deal of trouble. With the Disaster of the Otherworld coming, she had to be ready.
Crazy Lizzie dropped the stake and took a step away from Alexander. “See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”
He did notice she had to wait a few seconds to be able to make that jibe.
“Did you not see what you just did there?” Elle asked.
Layla seemed to shake herself out of it and turned toward her friend. “What?”
“None of them could move.”
Layla spun in a circle to see them all watching her. She nibbled her lip and then he saw her lip quivered, before taking off. He saw the gargoyles were about to follow her, but he stopped them, lifting an arm up and letting them know he would follow.
Elle walked over to Brandon and placed her hand on his chest. “Are you okay?”
“She’s powerful,” Brandon said.
“She is meant to be.” This came out as a hiss from one of the gargoyles.