PART 3

PART 3

The phone was ringing. Alyson drowsily got up to answer it, or at least to beat it into oblivion.

"Hello," she said.

"Is Mrs. Roze there?" asked the voice on the other end.

"No, she's not," replied Alyson tiredly.

"Oh, okay then. We'll call back another time."

"Bye," she said, hanging up the phone. Stupid courtesy calls. Alyson glanced at the clock. The numbers flashed 7:45. She was going to be late! Damn, damn, and double damn! Aly raced to the car and gunned the engine. She raced the setting sun all the way to the hill outside town known as Knoll's Bluff. She glanced at her watch. 8:01, it read. Just in time. Now, where is everybody?

Aly got out of her car and locked it behind her. She looked around, but saw nobody. She jumped a mile in the air when a strong had clasped her shoulder. And right after she jumped, she felt a little woozy, as if the world had this pink fuzz around everything. Aly shook her head clear and turned around, about to seriously punish whoever had scared her like that, and saw the smiling face of Griffin Weald.

"Hey there, beautiful. Welcome to initiation night. It's just going to be you and me for a while, and if you want friends around here, you're going to do everything we tell you to do," he said with a leering look in his pale green eyes.

Fear swelled up in her breast, making her heart beat erratically. Had she been found out, or was Griffin Weald just a jerk? She squashed down the paralyzing fear before replying somewhat confidently, "No, I don't think so, buster. I guess you didn't realize this before, but I'm stronger than you are, Griffin. What's to stop me from just…" Aly trailed off as she focused her attention on unbuttoning her shirt collar to reveal a giant ruby set in gold. It was the strongest charm of desire she had ever created, and, ironically enough, she used it on the males who annoyed her most. While in the stone's unshielded presence, men couldn't even think, let alone take advantage of her. Aly could see the change on Griffin's face immediately. It went from almost hostile to downright love-stricken in less than a second.

"You see, I came prepared for tricks." And she had; Alyson was never unprepared for a dangerous situation. It was her assassin training. "I am a member of Circle Midnight, and a descendent of Frost, and I will not be taken advantage of!"

Griffin nodded stupidly, never taking his gaze of the ruby at her throat.

"We can still be friends, right?" she said cheerfully. "I mean, I don't have to do your stupid initiation thing to be a witch around here."

He shook his head. "Uh-huh," he agreed verbally.

He looked so handsome and vulnerable right now, as opposed to handsome and dangerous, like he normally looked. Aly, on a bizarre impulse, leaned forward and planted her lips on his, and when she did so, something completely beyond her experience occurred. It was like lightning sparked between them, carrying a message into each of their minds. I know you! And she did, every intimate, miniscule detail of his life. Aly knew right then that she had to pull away. If she could see into his mind, he could surely see into hers, and for a spy, that meant certain death.

Aly roughly tore herself away from his lips and prayed to the Goddess and Hecate Witch Queen that Griffin hadn't learned anything about her mission here. She also cursed Griffin's heritage. The Weald line was a scion of the Harman line, and the Harmans had been hit by the soulmate principle time and time again in the past couple of years. She was soulmates with a freaky, cold eyed, Circle Midnight witch who probably wanted to kill her. Isn't life great?

***

Griffin shook his head. He was alone on Knoll's Bluff and he had a heckuva headache. The last thing he remembered clearly was Alyson Frost insisting that she was stronger than he was. He had been about to laugh at her presumption when…something had happened. He didn't quite know what, but he knew that whatever had occurred afterward was very important. Why can't I remember?

He felt incomplete now. Had she stolen something from him? Griffin did a mental check and found all his faculties in top form, so what could she have done to him? He didn't like this…not knowing. He was used to being in charge of a situation; growing up with girls always making him feel inferior had given him a steel determination. He would find out what Frost had done to him, and then he would find a way to undo it.

And why'd she have to completely overreact like that when he'd told her about initiation? All of the Worcester Circle Midnight witches had gone through it, it was no big deal. They might have cast a few harmless spells on her to make her do amusing stuff, but they'd never actually harm another witch, after all, they were family, all descended from the Witch Queen. Griffin's own initiation had been embarrassing. They had made him act like a dog, and he'd gone around for maybe fifteen minutes pissing on trees until they released him. No harm done. And after the initiation, they'd have a big party to welcome the new member of the Circle.

Frost had no business subverting tradition! Griffin was really beginning to dislike her now, with her holier than thou attitude and arrogant manner. And what had she done to him that made him feel this painful loss in his heart? She had a lot to answer for, and Griffin was going to take great pleasure in making her talk.

PART 4

Aly was just about to drift off into sleep when she heard a loud, insistent knock on the front door. Her mother was out with some friends or something, so Aly swore and got out of bed, ready to pummel whoever it was. A girl needs some beauty sleep every once in a while, creep, she thought mentally at the person at the door. Aloud she called, "I'm coming!" She raced down the stairs and through the family room to the double oak doors that were the entrance to her house. She took a quick look through the peephole, but saw nothing.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Griffin Weald. Can I come in?"

Aly wanted to say no, but that would be rude and that might lead him to be suspicious of her. So instead she opened the door and sweetly asked him in. She led him to the family room, where they each took a seat in one of the two overstuffed loveseats. She watched him warily, but all he did was hold his head in his hands and glare at her.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"I want to know what you did to me earlier, and you'd better tell me the truth."

"You mean, after you threatened me?"

Griffin winced. He supposed he had come off as sounding a little threatening. "Sorry about that. We do it every time a new witch comes to town. But you're evading the question."

Aly groaned. "Let me guess, you have a big old hole in your memory?"

"Got it in one, Einstein," he replied sarcastically.

"I specialize in stones of Power," she said, as if explaining to a small child, "and I used a ruby on you to make you back off my case. It was set into gold, which you know amplifies its inherent power. Basically, you were so overcome by lust that your rational mind ceased to function." And good thing, too! Aly didn't want him remembering what had happened afterward. He certainly wouldn't appreciate being soulmates with her.

"What right did you have—"

"You were threatening me!" she protested.

"Fine. How about what you took from me, then? Tell me what you stole and give it back, or I'll make you regret ever meeting me."

Aly swore mentally. He knew that they were connected, that they were soulmates. At least it wasn't conscious knowledge. "I didn't take anything from you." Except that kiss, she thought.

"I shoulda known you wouldn't come clean." Then, unexpectedly, his eyes flew up and met hers. Power sparked between them, powerful and undeniable. Griffin shook his head away, but in that second, he remembered what had happened after Aly had unveiled the stone. He knew what he was missing. He was missing her.

"Shit!"

"Oh, no," he moaned. He didn't even like this girl. But he loved her, completely and hopelessly. As if he had no will of his own, he went to her and sat down beside her, then pressed his lips firmly against her own. She kissed back, even though common sense told her that she shouldn't, that it was dangerous. In that moment, though, she didn't care. She felt his mind pulling on hers, and suddenly they were connected by something stronger and more unbreakable than anything she had ever experienced. It was like a shining silver cord connected their hearts. They were made for each other.

Aly saw the memories in Griffin's mind, the dark ones that came from being a Circle Midnight witch, as well as the good ones with his friends and family. She was almost surprised to learn that Griffin was basically a decent person who had been sucked into something beyond his control, just like her and the Daybreakers. On opposite sides of the war, each of them had found a match in the other. For right now, in the moment they had created, sides didn't matter; they were just people, just Alyson Roze and Griffin Weald, trying to survive in a crazy world.

But then Griffin broke the kiss and the moment ended.

"You are a Daybreaker spy," he stated.

"Yes. You are plotting to ally yourselves with the vampires against us."

"I'm just along for the ride; they're my clan, my people. I don't betray my people," he said, his meaning evident.

"We are soulmates. How can you even take the vampire's side when they would kill you for the bond we have? We could leave here, just the two of us. Go to Las Vegas and hide out under Circle Daybreak's protection. You wouldn't have to be your clan's assassin anymore."

He looked up suddenly, shocked. "You saw that?"

She nodded. "I saw everything."

"Then you know why I can't run away from this. I am loyal to my clan, they're the only family I have anymore." Griffin put his head in his hands and was silent for a few moments. When Aly said nothing, he continued. "I won't tell anybody about you or your mission, but I won't protect you if they find out. Good-bye, Alyson Roze." With an air of finality, he let himself out the door and was gone into the night.

***

Griffin drove home in silence. The rock music that usually blasted from his speakers had been for once upstaged by Griffin's own melancholia. Soulmates with a damned Daybreaker, wasn't that the ultimate irony. He had been sure once that it was merely a legend, but then his cousins in the Harman bloodline had been stricken by a plague of chance romances that seemed much deeper than was natural. And secretly, Griffin had been dreading the day that the soulmate principle would spread to the Weald bloodline. Now it had, and it was even more terrible than he had feared. He was in love, and it almost made him regret the things he had done and would do for the sake of his clan. Almost.

A cool breeze from the open car window blew his long blonde hair back from his face. He was an assassin for Circle Midnight, and he wouldn't let himself feel guilty about it. But it's wrong! screamed a voice from within him, before he could squash it down. Protecting his family couldn't be wrong. But you don't protect, you kill people who have no plans on attacking the clan. They just happen to believe in different things, like the idea that humans and Night People can live in peace. And you don't even give yourself the chance to see if they are right. Griffin gritted his teeth. Even he was against himself. God damn that Daybreaker witch for making him doubt himself!

Griffin stepped hard on the accelerator, imagining it was his conscience. A Circle Midnight assassin didn't need a conscience, it just got in the way. If the clan found out that Aly was a spy, they would send him to kill her. And if they did that, he wouldn't be able to stay with Circle Midnight any longer. This whole thing was tearing him apart; he could either betray his family for Circle Daybreak, or betray his soulmate and hate himself for the rest of his life.

Griffin floored the pedal, and the car's speedometer zoomed up to 120 mph. He felt out of control and reckless, but he didn't care. Maybe he'd get himself killed. At least then he wouldn't have to deal with the problems in his life. He gritted his teeth. God damn that girl!