Free Kick The Candle (Knight Games) by Genevieve Jack Page B

mouth. “I smell bullshit.”
    “I know, but then he told me something else…”
    “The reason you’re here?”
    I nodded. “Turns out Rick has been following me around my whole life. He knew about Gary and me. The night Gary was turned, Rick allowed it to happen. He was there.”
    “What the hell?”
    “Yeah, he admitted it. Said Gary consented so the vampire wasn’t breaking any rules. But he knew, Logan. He knew it would break my heart, and he allowed it to happen because he wanted me for himself.”
    “Are you sure it’s true?”
    I took a sip of liquid courage. “He admitted it.”
    “Whoa.”
    “That’s not even the worst part. Julius says that Rick manipulated me into thinking that I needed him to become the witch, when really I could’ve done it myself. Gary said that I bound myself to him needlessly. I would have become the witch anyway, but Rick might not have been my caretaker. The ceremony was for his sake, not mine.”
    Logan drained the rest of his glass and poured another. He lifted it to his mouth, but paused and gestured in my direction. “That last part has to be a lie. Prudence backed Rick up. She told both of us it had to be sex and blood. She said he was the vessel; you had to drink from the vessel.”
    “Yeah. Rick denies it, and I know in my heart that it’s a lie, but it’s under my skin. It’s like, my intuition is telling me that Rick is hiding something, and it’s fucking with my head.”
    “I wonder where Prudence got her information?” Logan asked.
    I became inordinately interested in my empty glass. “Me. In my last life, I’d shared what I was and given her the power to care for my seat of magic in my absence.”
    He cupped my face and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. “There you have it, hon. You wouldn’t lie to you. Julius is lying. As much as I hate the gravedigger, I think Rick was telling you the truth.”
    “But what about this feeling I have?”
    The remains of the bottle of Shiraz were emptied into my glass. “We’re friends, right?”
    “Right.”
    “Friends can be honest with each other.”
    “Of course.”
    “I think this feeling you have has more to do with you than with Rick.”
    I swung my hand through the air like the mere thought was ridiculous.
    “You’re afraid of commitment, Grateful. You told me as much when I was living in your attic. Rick represents the first permanent thing in your life besides your dad, and it terrifies you.”
    “Why are you standing up for Rick? I thought you hated—”
    Logan’s wine glass slipped from his hand, shattering on the counter. Shards of glass skimmed along the granite. His face turned hospital sheet white, and he stared, open mouthed over my shoulder into the living room. I followed his line of sight, thinking I’d see an ax murderer approaching from that direction, but there was nothing there.
    “What’s going on Logan?”
    “Sh-she says you have to find it.”
    “She? She who?”
    He pointed to a spot over my shoulder, but there was still no one there. “She says you can’t see her because her soul has already crossed over to the other side. You need to find the book before they do, or the entire human race is in great danger.”
    “What book?” I shook my head. I could tell Logan was really shook up but maybe he was hallucinating or something.
    “ The Book of Flesh and Bone .”
    “Flesh and Bone?” I raised my eyebrows as I remembered where I’d heard that title before. Rick told me Reverend Monk had used the Book of Flesh and Bone to bind my spirit to my human body before he burned me alive—well, the first me. But the grimoire exacted a high price; Monk and all of his parishioners were struck dead. What happened to the book after that? Rick never said and who else could know?
    “Who are you talking to, Logan?” I asked, softly.
    He swallowed hard and turned to face me. Like a fish out of water, his mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out. I placed a hand on his and shook a