Part 12 (1/2)

”If Bella tells me to go, then I will go.”

Something cold and sharp brushed past me and I watched as Giovanni's upper arm ripped open. He looked down at his arm and then at Pallo. ”You've been holding out on me, my child.”

I made an attempt to go for Giovanni and another icy blast of power pa.s.sed me. This one caught my right shoulder on the way to Giovanni. My skin pulled apart and I opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came out. I fell forward into Giovanni's arms.

He pushed my hair out of the way and let out a gasp. He lowered me to the floor and laid me on my side. ”Pallo ... what have you done to her?”

Pallo appeared behind me and touched my shoulder tentatively. I winced as my magik grabbed hold of the power he'd used to cause the cut. My magik didn't understand it, and I could feel it acting much as humans' white blood cells would. It began attacking Pallo's power. I screamed and Giovanni clutched my hand in his. I tried to get up and run away from the pain. I knew it would follow me, but I didn't care.

My skin ripped more. The magik that was waging a war within me was pulling my shoulder to pieces. Giovanni moved close to me and kept whispering my name.

”Pallo, you must pull your power out of her, quickly.”

Pallo touched my back again. ”Gwyneth, I am sorry. I did not intend this for you. I ....” His voice was shaky.

I wasn't so sure about what he was telling me. I thought of the look on his face whenever he saw me with Giovanni. It wasn't a look you give someone you love. Hurting me might very well be the only thing he had left to do. Maybe, hurting me would bring him closure. Maybe, now he would find peace.

Pallo grabbed hold of me and I screamed. ”Gwyneth, no ... I would never try to hurt you ... no ... this is not closure, this is torture.”

Giovanni pried him off me. ”Pallo, you must pull your power back! Look it is getting worse.”

”I ... I do not know how.” His voice held something I'd never heard before, he was ashamed and scared.

”Give me your hand,” Giovanni said. For a moment, I thought there was going to be another fight. Pallo put his hand out and Giovanni took it and placed it onto my shoulder hard. I screamed out again and he tried to soothe me. Static radiated from his body and moved down his arm. Pallo's body began to give off the same feeling. It felt like someone was taking a vacuum cleaner hose and placing it directly over my shoulder. The icy cool power receded slowly from me. My power washed up and over my back. I knew I was beginning to heal.

Giovanni let up on the pressure he was putting on Pallo's hand. They moved their hands off me. Pallo pulled my ripped blouse aside and then ran his fingers over my skin.

”It is gone.” He sounded shocked.

Giovanni leaned down and touched my cheek. ”How do you feel?”

”Better ... fine,” I said softly.

Pallo took his hand away from me and stood. Giovanni put his hands under me and helped me stand. I let him wrap his arms around me tightly and I buried my head against his chest. I didn't look at either of their faces. This was a moment between a master and his student-his child. Pallo was a master himself now, but he had just learned a valuable lesson. If he was not careful with the power he now possessed and learned to control it, people would be hurt. I knew that their silence spoke volumes. It told Pallo that even though he had grown into his full powers-Giovanni was still superior to him.

”Gwyneth,” Pallo said, from behind me. I pushed my face down further against Giovanni's chest. I didn't want to hear what Pallo had to say to me. He spent his time preaching to me about Giovanni being so dangerous and he was the same as him. He possessed all the same powers of his old master, but lacked the discipline needed to control them. That made him a bigger threat than Giovanni in my book. That made him deadly.

”No, Gwyneth, I ....”

I cried softly against Giovanni's chest. Everyone had changed so much while I was gone. Caleb was acting like an arrogant ladies' man and Pallo was now lethal. I wanted to get as far away from them as possible and I knew that Pallo sensed as much. I was able to feel when he was reading me.

I heard him in speak inside my head. I am sorry that I hurt you, Gwyneth.

I didn't respond to him. I kept my face buried and listened to his footsteps as he left the room. I heard the door shut softly and reached around to hug Giovanni. He let out a small moan and I pulled away.

His arm was still ripped wide open. His black s.h.i.+rt was wet with his blood and the gash was making no signs of healing.

”I thought you could heal yourself,” I said, desperate to hear him tell me, yes.

He drew me closer with his good arm and kissed the top of my head. ”Yes, but some things are more important.”

He had used his power to help Pallo control his and now Giovanni could not heal himself. I could see his bone through the cut. It was nasty and needed to be tended. Normal medicine was pointless with vampires. They were dead already, so nothing any doctor could do would help them. They needed power-magik and right now Giovanni and I had little to none left to spare.

”Caleb!” I shouted and pulled away from Giovanni fast.

Chapter Twenty.

I ran down the stairs and missed the bottom three. I crashed into the server that sat on the opposite wall across from the stairs and bounced into the wall next it. I heard the gla.s.s bowl that held fruit crash to the floor. I glanced back long enough to see the wine that had been sitting on it was still there. James came running out from the kitchen. I looked down at him wearing my adoptive mother's old ap.r.o.n and shook my head. I'd comment on that later.

”Caleb. Where's Caleb?”

James motioned towards the kitchen. I ran past him, expecting to find Caleb there. It was empty. I spun around and stared at James.

”He followed Pallo out back.”

I ran as fast as I could to the backdoor and threw it open. The early spring air was cold yet and my blouse was ripped open in the back. I would have been better off naked. At least I wouldn't have been wet with blood soaked clothes, too. I sucked my breath in and ran down the back porch steps. I almost fell in the giant hole that was in the ground. Before I left, Caleb had put in a Koi pond. He got as far as digging a mega-huge hole and that was it. Apparently, Pallo hadn't felt the need to fix that undone renovation project. No, that would be silly to fill in the big giant hole while you could fix the perfectly fine kitchen instead. Yeah right!

I ran past the hole and visually scanned the yard frantically. I lived on two hundred and fifty acres of mostly woods. I hoped that they hadn't gone too far or I'd be looking all night.

I spotted Caleb's light hair near the edge of the back barn. I took off in that direction. I ran up behind him, out of breath and sweating, even though it was cold out.

”Caleb ....”

He turned around. I must have looked like quite a sight. He grabbed a hold of my arms. ”Gwen?”

Pallo stepped out from the other side of the barn. His gaze flickered over me quickly. I made no attempt to try and fix the problem between us. If I dared, I'd only make it worse.

”Caleb, I need your help.”

Pallo stepped forward. ”No, Gwyneth, it is not you who needs his help. It is Giovanni.”

I glared at him. ”And why is that, exactly? Who couldn't control their own power?” He backed up and averted his gaze.

Caleb shook me a little. ”What does he need?”

”His arm ... there's a huge gaping hole ... I can see the bone through it ... he can't heal it because he ...” I was so out of breath. I really needed to start running daily again. I glared at Pallo to signify that he knew exactly why Giovanni was unable to heal himself. ”Caleb, please, he helped me ... and ....”

”Calm down, Gwen. I'll help him.”

Pallo moved up and touched his arm. ”Caleb?”