The Onyx Talisman Read online

  The Onyx Talisman

  Book Three Talisman Series

  by

  Brenda Pandos

  NOOK EDITION

  : : :

  Published By

  http://www.obsidianmtpublishing.com

  : : :

  Text Copyright © 2011 by Brenda Pandos. All rights reserved.

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locals, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond intend of the author.

  No part of the book may be used or reproduced without written permission of the author.

  For Kristie,

  Because you believed in me

  and pushed me to do my best.

  For all my fans,

  Because you loved my characters as much as I do

  and wouldn’t let me off the hook.

  One life is all we have and we live it as we

  believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you

  are and to live without belief, that is a fate

  more terrible than dying.

  - Joan of Arc

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Acknowledgements

  Follow the Author

  About the Author

  Excerpt from EVERBLUE

  Chapter One

  “I need some ore,” Phil said with a scrupulous grin behind his fanned out cards as his sexy dark eyes flirted directly with mine, framed in a perpetually perfect shock of sandy blonde hair. “Anyone got any?”

  Three ore cards mocked me within my undisclosed hand, along with a few others. If I traded my ore—which I really didn’t need—he might win again. His smug aura told me he pretty much had this game in the bag; it was a matter of time.

  “I’ll trade for a brick?” he asked, his sharp canines revealed in his smile. No one budged, though I sensed a few were tempted. “Two bricks?”

  Katie caved first. “Okay. Here.”

  Within moments of the trade, Phil switched out his city for a settlement, pleasure beaming from him like a strobe light.

  “Nice,” Tyler said with a twisted grin.

  “Pschtt!” I nudged Katie in the arm, pretending to be upset. “Why did you do that?”

  “I need a brick and Phil’s sitting on a brick factory over there.” She pointed at the game board and blew aside her black bangs tinged with florescent pink highlights.

  True.

  Tyler’s turn was next. As I watched him palm the dice, my competitive side itched for Lady Luck to grace me this turn. Normally the rolls I needed came up all the time, but not in this particular board game of Settlers of Catan.

  Scarlett sat off to the side, dark hair falling over her shoulders in glossy waves, and read her worn Tales by Edgar Allen Poe. The fact she enjoyed the stories as much as she did gave me the creeps. Her mind-reading abilities had ousted her from playing any games with us—not that she’d play anyway.

  Tyler blew into his partially closed fist. “Come on, karma! Papa needs a new set of shoes.” He shot us a coy smile then winked at Katie.

  I withheld my comment as Katie giggled and wove her fingers through his brown locks at the nape of his neck. If she got the karma she deserved, she’d lose every game. Quick as a flash, Katie grabbed his hand and kissed his fingers before he could fling the white cubes. The interruption discombobulated his throw, causing them to skitter across the table, and onto the floor. I peeked over Tyler’s knee and watched a die move of its own accord from a four to a five.

  Scarlett coughed. Her icy-blue eyes peered at us momentarily over the binding of her book.

  “You so cheat,” I accused Phil, who appeared bewildered.

  “I didn’t do it.” Phil held up his hands—truth rolling off him in huge waves. “This is crap anyway.”

  “That was so a four.” I pursed my lips and raised a brow as guilt billowed out of Katie like a hole in a balloon.

  She snickered and waggled her eyebrows. “What?”

  “Fine, it’s a four. No arguing.” Tyler pulled a face and finished his turn.

  Katie’s turn was next. I crossed my fingers for something I could use.

  “Eight,” she called out. While she traded out her cards and moved her pieces on the board, I playfully mad-dogged Phil. Our competitive sides quietly bantered with one another through our eyes. My turn was next. I only had one chance to finish him off. While feeling for the dice, I kept an eye on Phil when Katie’s shock and sudden elation sliced through my psyche.

  Her squeal, followed by her inhumanly fast flit around the table, upset the board onto the floor. Annoyed, I pushed away from the table and moved over to the couch opposite Scarlett, away from Katie’s blatant display. Though she rarely won, I wouldn’t indulge her poor sportsmanship with any type of congratulations.

  Phil came over and sat next to me—a little too close, actually. His wonderful natural scent filled my lungs and tempted me to bury my nose in his neck.

  “Awww, don’t pout,” he whispered in his golden honey voice.

  A huge part of me wanted to lean over and kiss him right then and there, but I knew his powers of persuasion were running at a high level. I fought the temptation and pulled out my iPhone instead, searching for a text from my missing boyfriend Nicholas—an obsession I couldn’t kick.

  “I’m not,” I said defiantly. “If I would have gotten one more turn, I would have won. Katie was lucky.”

  “I see.” He touched the tip of my nose then pointed to my touch-screen. “Anything exciting happening at Drama High?”

  With a smirk, I put the phone away in my pocket. “No. Not today. But that reminds me. My Dad’s out of town this weekend and—”

  “No,” Phil said quickly, flipping from sexy to cold in an instant. “Out of the question. We’ve already discussed the dangers as a group, not to mention I will not escort you to L.A. without your father’s knowledge. Not after what happened.”

  His words sent tiny pinpricks of pain radiating across my chest. Every day I’d conspired a way to get Phil to take me to L.A to see Nicholas and every time he’d tell me no. All to his benefit, of course. Without Nicholas around, Phil got all my attention. I couldn’t complain. Alora had resurrected him from the pits of hell and he’d practically become a saint.

  But what I did hate her for was the fact she’d awakened Nicholas’ vampire side by feeding him blood. She’d hoped, by turning him to the dark side, he’d retrieve her talisman from me so she could become invincible. The plan almost worked until Phil defected from her rule and saved me in the nick of time.

  The horrific family reunion came to an end once Preston, Nicholas’ father and avenger of evil, came to the rescue and took his wayward wife and son back to L.A. with a promise to rehabilitate them. The only thing I’d received to even su
ggest he was on the mend was a letter stating he missed me and a reassurance he’d come home soon. That was a month ago.

  The lyrics hid in my pocket, practically falling apart from all the times I’ve read them.

  Down by the ocean tide

  the still of the moonlight

  Its come at the right time

  The moment we caught eyes

  The sun hits your eyelids

  an hour too early

  and your heart starts racing

  too quick for the morning

  Ill equipped

  for pretty sights

  we're just ships

  passing in the night

  Just say the words

  and I'll be right over

  I'll meet you

  at your bedroom roof top

  The porcelain doves

  chime above the highway hum

  serenade the setting sun

  I’m caught in your balcony breeze

  Turn around

  the winter jasmine crowns are born

  they're waiting for a head to adorn

  a pretty little head like yours

  a pretty little little head like yours.

  Ill-equipped

  for pretty sights

  we're just ships

  passing in the night

  I’d continually looked for clues to what he was thinking when he wrote them. But all I could decipher was that separated ships never docked at the same time. Was that how he saw our relationship? Something that could never really be?

  I curled my arms across my chest and huffed. His words promised he’d meet me on my bedroom rooftop. But when? Where was he?

  “I can’t keep doing this day after day. I have to find out something,” I finally said with clenched teeth.

  “I know.” Phil looked at me tenderly while he massaged my shoulder, infusing me with his stress-releasing charm. “Patience, my dear sweet Parker. Patience.”

  I slid up against his chest. Whether I liked it or not, Phil did make me feel better. My spirit mended in his presence and I was beginning to need him—like a drug. I shut down my empathy and closed my eyes so I didn’t have to watch Katie and Tyler snuggled up together on the opposite couch as they started a movie. She of all people didn’t deserve the happiness wafting around us and lately my jealousy was getting the better of me. I didn’t want to be a love buzz-kill, but their blatant displays often rubbed raw the longing in my heart.

  But, for some reason, I always returned to hang with the Fab Five. Sam, my supposed BFF, had all her free time sucked up with her boyfriend Todd. So, I had no choice but to melt into the coven’s regular routine where my melancholy mood was understood, for the most part. Phil and Katie were our sober vampires, Tyler and I were the inducted humans, and Scarlett was the token shape-shifting half-vampire den mother—a very motley group. After school, Tyler and I would hang out at Nicholas’ abandoned house where Phil and Katie hid during the daylight hours.

  “Do you have homework?” Phil asked while petting my hair.

  “Mostly studying for finals,” I murmured. “I also need to finish my history report.”

  Phil scoffed. “So glad I never have to finish high school.”

  I nudged him in the side. “Brat.”

  After a few minutes and with much reluctance, I slid down onto the floor and opened my backpack. My report wasn’t going to write itself. Phil continued to try to distract me by playing with my hair, but he eventually succumbed to the movie.

  I started to read about Betsy Ross, the subject of my report, but my mind drifted. The group didn’t know, but I’d devised a new plan to see Nicholas. Sam and I were going to Disneyland for a few days as soon as school was out for summer. She’d scored tickets from her aunt and during the trip, somehow, someway, I’d get to Preston’s house and see Nicholas in person. I had to.

  I refocused my attention back to Betsy Ross when I felt it. A storm of rage sped towards Nicholas’ house and whomever the feelings belonged to, they weren’t about to let a door stand in their way from getting inside. I stood up, eyes glued to the sunlight-blocking barrier as I held my breath, hoping that someone was Nicholas.

  “Parker, what’s wrong?” Phil asked before Scarlett’s warning screamed in our minds.

  “Hide!”

  The sudden movement of vampires escaping the scene launched my notes into the air like confetti, leaving Tyler and me alone to deal with whoever was about to come through the door.

  Chapter Two

  Heart filled with hope, I sprinted to the door and threw it open. My feet skidded to a halt and I squinted up into a shadowed face, the silhouette shorter than I expected. My eyes took a moment to adjust in the full light of the sun.

  “Julia?”

  My brother’s voice crumbled my anticipation into a ball. “Luke? What are you doing here?”

  “What am I doing here?” He sneered and looked past me into the darkened living room, then grimaced once he spotted Tyler.

  “Hey.” Tyler stood and plunged his hands into his pockets. The guilt painted on his face didn’t help matters.

  “I’ll be right back, Tyler.” I shooed Luke off the porch before shutting the door.

  We faced off for a moment as I slowed my rapid breathing. Luke’s angry brown eyes bored holes into me.

  “Dad knows I’m here. What’s the big deal?”

  “I called and you didn’t answer.”

  I pulled my phone out to prove he didn’t call. The missed call warning stared back at me.

  “Oh. I didn’t get it.”

  “Who’s that guy?”

  Suspicion ebbed off him in small bursts, infusing my anger with pity.

  “Tyler?” I laughed. “He’s just a friend. We’re waiting for the others to come at any moment for a study group.”

  “Study group? Here? Whose house is this anyway?”

  I propped my hands on my hips. “It’s a friend’s cabin. Really, it’s no big deal.”

  Luke’s anger hovered on the surface. He kept glancing at the house, shooting big brother lasers into the siding with his eyes.

  I touched his arm. “Luke, you don’t have to worry. Nothing’s going on. I’m not like that.”

  His cheeks flushed at my correct assumption. He shuffled his feet against the dirt walkway. I wasn’t sure if I should be hurt or flattered he cared about my honor, but I couldn’t entirely be upset. Dad must have put him up to checking on me. I wanted to tell them both to chill and stop being all parental. In just a few short weeks, I’d be a senior in high school and practically an adult. I could handle myself.

  “Last time your phone didn’t work, you did need help . . . or have you forgotten already?”

  I bit my lip. He was right. In September, I’d run out of gas after work and almost fell off a cliff walking home in the woods. My phone had become a casualty in the mishap. But of course, I’d left out the small detail when explaining the story of how I’d sprained my ankle. That a vampire stalked me and Nicholas came to my rescue.

  “Since you’ve fixed my gas gauge, everything’s been great. And I haven’t been in the forest since that happened. . .” and I wear a vampire warding talisman, “. . . so.”

  Luke tilted his head. “Still.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Okay, well. As you can see I’m fine and if it makes you feel any better, I’ll turn on my ringer so I don’t miss your call. Can I go now?”

  He squinted, pausing for effect. “I guess.”

  “You guess?” I playfully stuck out my tongue.

  Luke still remained firm though my answers should have lessened his worry. I pulled out the big guns and pushed some peace his way to loosen him up. He finally produced a smile.

  “You should open the blinds in there and let in the sun. What are you trying to do? Become vampires or something?” He shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his keys.

  “Ha. Right.” An unnaturally high pitched chuckle trilled from my lips as I punched him in the arm. “Wil
l do. I’ll be home later.”

  He rubbed his arm with a crease in his brow and spun on his heels. I waited until he drove his Blazer down the gravel driveway out of sight. Dad was seriously going to get a lecture for siccing Luke on me when he should have been the one calling if he was worried.

  “I’m opening the door,” I called out as a warning in case Phil or Katie were within reach of the sunlight I’d let in.

  “What was that about?” Katie asked after peeking around the corner once I’d locked the door behind me. “Big brother’s watching you. Dun, dun, dunnnnn.”

  “Nothing.” I collected my papers from the carpet and rearranged my workspace on the dining room table behind the couch.

  “Hmmm… Seems Luke needs something to do.”

  I ignored her and tapped my pencil on the paper, trying to pull together my thoughts.

  Scarlett, who had shape-shifted into cat form at the sign of danger, curled up in the corner and gave herself a bath. Tyler started the movie again and the general curiosity died down, except for Katie.

  She hung over the back of the couch, her face in her hands. “How did he know you were here?”

  I glared at her inquiring eyes and bit my tongue. Years of unexpressed frustration from her rudeness bubbled to the surface. “It’s no big deal, okay? He needed something.”

  “And he couldn’t call you?”

  I cocked my head to the side. “My phone was on silent, as if that’s any of your business.”

  “Must have been important for him to drive all the way here.” Her brow arched.

  “It was.”

  “And?” Her big dark eyes bore holes into me while I remained tight-lipped. When I didn’t cave, she pulled a face and slithered down the leather into Tyler’s lap. “Well excuse me for asking.”

  Her catty tone sent a hurricane roaring through my stomach. She didn’t care about me or Luke, or if something bad might have happened. She only asked because she feared being discovered. But the audacity for her to question me, especially after I’d secured her a hideout and protected the secret with my life was unconscionable. With shaking hands, I began to throw my things into my backpack.