Page 1 of Illusory

1.THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM

As suddenly and unexpectedly as the sprawling black wings sprouted from my shoulder blades, stunning the entire room into a deafening silence, they unceremoniously retracted and vanished from sight, as though they had never even been there to begin with. If it wasn’t for the fossilized expressions of horror plastered across the faces of Trace, Gabriel, and Dominic, I might have tried to convince myself that I had simply lost too much blood and imagined the whole thing.

It certainly would’ve been thesanerexplanation for what had just happened.

But even then, mere moments after the wings had folded themselves up and disappeared like magic, I could somehow stillfeelthem there with me, like a subtle burn tingling under the surface of my skin. A gnawing itch I didn’t yet dare attempt to scratch.

Because itwasreal.

It happened.

I had...wings.

My brain clicked off as a wave of numbness surrounded me, encasing my body like the strong, able arms of a lifelong protector. In an instant, the would-be panic anduncomfortablesensations pillaging my body were gone, replaced with an eerie, almost primordial calmness that made it somehow possible for me to coexist with the revelation that was otherwise impossible to digest—to make sense of. To fully reconcile in my mind.

I hadwings.

The last few days had nearly blurred into each other,and in my current state of shock, I wasn’t evenalmostpsychologically prepared to ask the important questions. Like why the wings had suddenly sprung up atthatmoment or what their impromptu appearance even meant. Far too much had happened in the last few days, and I wasn’t even sure where orhowto start with any of it. The Order setting me up. Dominic returning to me. My Alt traveling back in time to turn Trace into a Revenant to save his life from certain death. Trace nearlykillingme…

And now the wings.

Themother-flipping wings.

Just when I’d thought things couldn’t possibly get any crazier for me, life decided to throw another mega sized wrench at my face.

“What…w-where did…how—?” Gabriel managed to produce four whole words before returning to his stunned stupor. I could hardly blame the guy, though. He’d taken the nonsensical sentence right out of my mouth.

My vacant, glassy gaze skirted over to Trace and Dominic, curious to see if they had any other riveting pearls of wisdom to add to the discussion and then immediately regretted it. Trace looked as though he was stuck somewhere between a state of complete confusion and murderous bloodlust, his pupils dilating uncontrollably like he couldn’t figure out the off switch on them yet, while Dominic just stared at me with the faintest hint of a smirk on his lips. A smirk that screamed he’d just spotted his new favorite chew toy to play with.

I wasn’t sure which of the two looks alarmed me more.

“I didn’t...I’m not...” My short, impromptu declaration of innocence expired in my mouth. Mostly because I had no idea what to say about myself or the feathered appendage that had sprung out from my shoulder blades mere moments ago. What the hellcouldI say about it anyway?Whoops? Sorryboys, they just slipped out? Yeah, sure. Slipped out of where? AndHOW?!

It was all justtoo muchto deal with and the more I tried to put it together in my mind, the more I wanted to run away from all of it. Starting with my damn self.

Unfortunately, runninganywherein my post-vampire-attack state was completely out of the question, so my mind circled back to the next best thing.

“I think…I think I need a drink,” I finally managed to say. BecauseWINGS, dammit!

No one in the room responded to me, not even Dominic—my forever drinking buddy. My partner in crime. The silence felt like an indictment of the strangebird-like creature I’d apparently become. The one that made the three people I cared most about in the world shun me with their silence in my time of need.

“Right. Better make thatseveraldrinks,” I amended under my breath as I pushed away from the wall I’d been perched against and warily began making my way across the room.

My legs instantly felt weak and jelly-like, like I’d just run a marathon and lost, and my upper body was slick with my own slow-drying blood, courtesy of Trace’s frenzied attack. Despite feeling each of their weighty gazes on me, I refused to meet their eyes, too afraid of what I would find there. Judgement. Fear.Disgust. I’d need a lot more than a few shots of whiskey to deal withthat.

Instead, my gaze remained fixed on the bedroom door, never deviating from my narrow path as I clumsily crossed the room in my desperate pursuit of an immediate escape. I could only imagine what I looked like to them just then, all bloodied and disheveled, hobbling like I was taking my ‘walk of shame’ off the battlefield after losing the biggest fight of our lives. Ofcourse, that wasn’t what had happened in the last twenty-four hours, but I felt the suffocating humiliation of it just the same.

Dominic was the first to take pity on me and bounce back to life. “I could certainly use a drink myself,” he drawled lowly, his dark eyes shadowing me with their full, undivided attention.

Trace cleared his throat and nodded. “I could use a drink too,” he agreed, his baritone voice sending an unexpected shiver through my body. It sounded like liquified smoke pulsating over my skin, and I nearly missed an entire step at its beautiful trill.

Up until yesterday, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to see him conscious and awake again, let alone talking and walking as though he hadn’t been dying a slow death in a magic-induced coma—courtesy of his psycho-bitch-ex-girlfriend Nikki Parker. Also known as the soon-to-be-dead supersized hemorrhoid in my ass.

More on that later.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I really don’t think pouring alcohol into an already delicatesituationis a good idea for any of you,” objected Gabriel, his voice teetering around the edge of panic. “If there was ever a time to be prudent and clear-headed, that time isnow.”

Oh, my sweet strait-laced Gabriel. Forever trying to keep a level head and do therightthing. I was seriously going to need to get that guy drunk and loosened up one of these days. You know, for his own good.

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