by T. S. Snow
"Earth to Charisma, are you even listening to a word we said?"
I just blinked at her, which was all the answer she needed, apparently.
Andres groaned, which made Blair smirk.
"Trust me to be in the car with the one pretty girl who not only won't react to my flirting, but who will outright ignore me," he complained, good naturedly.
"Maybe you're losing your mojo, little brother," Blair sassed.
"This is all your fault. Tell me the truth, did you cast an illusion on me so I'll look ugly? Is my face full of warts?"
I stared at their friendly banter like a judge on a tennis match, turning my head from side to side so I could follow the speaker.
This was... nice. The sense of camaraderie between the siblings, even if they had different mothers, their playfulness and the ease with which they interacted with each other even if their timing was completely off.
I mean, c'mon, even I wasn't so clueless as to crack jokes when we had just barely escaped the people who'd tried to kill me once already.
Not that Andres seemed to agree with me on that one, since he was adamant that we had been followed by AMIA and not the rebels, but it wasn’t like he knew what was truly going on.
Which reminded me...
"Why did you say AMIA was following us and not the rebellion?" I blurted the question out before I had time to truly think things through, such as the fact that I wasn't supposed to trust Andres with knowing I was alive let alone in on AMIA's secrets.
But I needed to know who had been after us, because if I was right and it had been the rebellion, then I hoped to the Goddess we hadn't blown our cover. If it had been AMIA... well, let's just say I'd find out soon enough once I reached the safehouse and checked my phone.
I doubted Christian would have been fooled even if the agents were.
Fucking hell in a handbasket.
"They had government issued SUVs," Andres started, ticking off imaginary points on his hands. "They made a weird group, and I think I've seen one of the guys who was there before, the bald one, and if he's who I think he is, he definitely works for AMIA."
"How do you know he's not a double agent working for the rebellion?" Andres' eyes widened at my question.
“There’s a mole inside AMIA!?”
Oh. Oops.
I had to stop giving away state secrets like it was Halloween candy.
I just nodded, and even though his jaw literally dropped, Andres paused to consider the question, instead of dismissing me completely.
Major brownie points to the guy for taking me seriously even back when he'd been trying to get into my pants. Not that I actually thought Andres Illudere would ever want in my pants; I was fairly certain his flirting was almost pathological at this point. He didn't even seem to realize he was doing it until it was too late. Either that or he simply didn't give a fuck.
Either way, I digressed.
"It doesn’t add up, though. Why on Earth would the rebellion be after you? They’re barely big enough to make a wave, let alone terrorize civilians."
I shared a look with Blair, asking her without words if I truly could trust him with this, and she nodded.
Well, in for a penny...
"They're the ones who blew up my apartment, Andres. I'm pretty sure they're trying to kill me."
"But why?" he asked, curiosity burning in his gorgeous hazel eyes.
"Because I found a way to track them so we could take them down. Instead, they decided to take me down."
"We?"
"AMIA. Charisma is an agent, too," Blair chimed in. "That's how we met."
"Yeah, she's on babysitting duty until we catch the mole in AMIA. It's the only way I'll ever be truly safe again."
It was a good thing Andres wasn't driving when he heard the news, because I was pretty sure he would've crashed. He whipped his head around so fast, I worried it would fall off from his neck or something, or at least give him a crick in his neck.
"What? She's.. You're what?" he asked.
I gave him a sheepish grin. "I mean, technically I work for AMIA, but I'm not actually an agent. I mean, I am an agent but I don't go on missions and stuff. I'm just their head of tech development. So I basically just stay in the nerd room all day and do my thing."
"So you're saying that you not only made an illegal career as a Magical Tech developer as Onyx while you were a student, you also joined a secret intelligence agency and became their head of technology development?" Andres whistled. "Is there anything you can't do?"
"Go up or down a flight of stairs without falling down?"
Blair smirked. "You should've seen her in the apartment, she had to hold onto me like an old lady with no sense of balance."
I gave her the stink eye. "It was dark and there was debris all over the place."
"That's your story and you're sticking to it," Blair replied.
"Alright, alright. Focus. If you're both working for AMIA, why did they chase after us and why were they attacking us?"
"Oh. That might have been because we thought they were rebels and kind of attacked them first."
If we were in a cartoon, this was the moment where Andres' eyes would've popped out of his eye sockets dramatically. Instead, they just widened and his jaw slacked a little bit.
"But they weren't agents, were they, Blair? If they were agents, Christian would've called us by now."
As if he'd just been waiting for this moment, Blair's phone started ringing and she pulled it out from its hiding place near her boobs. We stared down at the screen where Christian’s name was written in bold letters.
Instead of answering it, Blair threw the phone at me. "Pretty sure that's for you," she said.
I gulped. Pretty sure that was indeed for me.
Fucking hell. I was in trouble.
23
Charisma
We drove to the safe house in tense silence. Andres kept throwing worried glances at Blair and me from the rearview mirror, while Blair cradled the Katana like one would a baby and I stared out of the window hoping to be going anywhere else but where we were.
We made for such a weird ass bunch. Honestly, if anyone saw us they'd probably have us committed.
Except for me, of course. I was three hundred percent a normal opossum who had her shit together.
I stared at the run down house outside the window and I knew how people felt when facing imminent death.
This was it. This was so it.
Outside door number one would be Christian, and I wasn't sure I was woman enough to face his wrath.
Mailbox for one, anyone?
It's fine. You're fine. Everything is fine. It's gonna be fine. Just go in there, look innocent, and show him the data once you manage to log into the laptop. We got this. You totally got this.
I did not got this.
I needed a drink. Alcoholic. Ohh, maybe I could have a milkshake... with Baileys.
Or an iced coffee with Baileys and coffee ice cream.
Yes. That would definitely give me enough courage to face the boss.
"You do know you'll have to go in there eventually right?" Blair commented, and I glared at her.
"I know. Doesn't mean I want to. He sounded super pissed, Blair."
Blair moved closer to me so she could reach the door handle on my side, open the door, and gently push me toward it. "C'mon, girl, we can't stay here all day. What happened to the whole badass speech, and all that bravado?"
"It was fake. I totally faked it. I'm not brave. I just wanna hide under the bed and wait until he goes away."
Blair chuckled, and I kind of felt bad for whichever guy she had to ditch to babysit me because boy, she was hot. Even her chuckle was sexy. How was this possible?
Not the time, Charisma. Breakdown in progress, please focus.
Right. Yes.
I stared at the pitiful house with the ugly peeling paint and overgrown grass and I realized it at least made for a great murder scene.
You know, because
Christian was so going to murder me.
I had one job: play dead.
"How long do you think she's going to keep doing this?" Andres stage whispered, directing his question towards Blair, and I was too busy freaking out to even roll my eyes at him.
"I don't know, but I'm not willing to find out," Blair replied, scooching over so she was right behind me. "If you don't move your ass right now and get inside that house, I'll log into all your gaming accounts and delete all your progress, right before I slice your Switch with my brand new Katana."
I gasped. This was pure evil.
"You wouldn't."
"Try me."
Oh, I did not want to try her. Before she could blink, I was jumping out of the car, tripping over the sidewalk, and stumbling my way toward the front door. I heard Blair's evil laughter and Andres asking his psychotic sister what she'd threatened me with, but I was too freaked out to even curse either of them.
I opened the front door on a single hard pull, throwing Blair an evil glare over my shoulder before I let the door slam behind me.
Fuck her. I couldn't believe I thought we could be friends! The betrayal, the audacity. She had basically just shoved a damn knife in my back.
I was so busy being pissed over Blair and her threat, I almost didn't see the people waiting for me inside the living room until it was too late.
And by too late I mean I stopped two seconds from headbutting Blaze's chest.
Oh good he was back, and just in time to witness Christian yelling at me.
Although... it only took me one look up to see that if anything, Blaze seemed even more pissed than Christian did. I'd thought Logan Nightshade had the whole locked jaw, vein ticking thing down good, but oh boy, was I wrong.
Blaze looked like he was barely holding his magic together; in fact, I was pretty sure the only reason he hadn't lost control and had his power manifesting was because you couldn't just manifest runes.
I mean, you could, but it wouldn't really do anything; it'd just be an illusion of runes.
But I digressed.
The door closed behind me and, in a mature way to avoid the confrontation that awaited, I turned my back on Blaze to watch the Illudere siblings entering the house. Andres had my backpack with my computer slung over his shoulder, and a wicked, amused smile showing his dimples. His. Dimples.
Turning my back on the beast was a mistake, though, because the minute Blaze registered who had stepped inside the house, he tensed behind me, and then I was very conscious of his presence when his hard, hot body pressed behind me everywhere and he held me in place by locking both his hands on my arms. His breath tickled my ear when he asked, in a dangerously low tone. "What is he doing here?"
Shit. Fuck, magical duck.
Abort. Abort. Abort. All systems shutdown. This brain will self-destruct in three, two, one...
"Can someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on?" Christian boomed from the other side of the living room, and I swear my gulp echoed around the entire house.
I could feel my brain literally playing possum to avoid this.
Ohh, maybe if I fainted I could catch a break. Have a do-over. Maybe I could wake up and this would all be a horrible, horrible dream.
Blaze's grip on my arms tightened as if he were anticipating my need to flee.
Stupid mage, no more sexy times for him.
Fucktard's hold held strong as he physically moved me so I was facing Christian, and I briefly wondered if the ticking vein thing could be taught because I was surrounded by people who could do it and I kind of felt left out.
Blair breezed past me, winked when she caught my eye, and then hopped on the damn kitchen counter, crossing her legs and making herself comfortable. I swear to Arcane it wouldn't surprise me if she conjured some damn popcorn and started eating it while she watched disaster unfold.
I was going to fucking get payback for her lack of female support.
It was anti-feminist of her to leave me to fend for myself. Seriously. There oughta be a rule written somewhere about that. I would find it and then I'd prank the hell out of her.
Maybe I could hide her bike. Oh, maybe I could make her leathers make annoying rubber sounds whenever she moved.
Now that would teach her.
I'd read a book once where the chick had a prank war with one of the guys she got involved with, and they went all out. It was epic. I could totally use one of her tricks as inspiration and use it to get back at Blair. Ohh, maybe I could turn her water bottle into a dildo. Though I don’t think she would have a problem with that one.
Hmm. Must brainstorm more.
“... are you even listening to me right now, Carter?” Christian boomed and my eyes flew up to his.
Oops.
I felt Blaze’s body vibrating against mine and I just knew he was laughing at me.
Fucker.
“Before you tell me all about how I’m irresponsible and screwed everything up and whatever else, just hear me out for, like, ten seconds.” Christian opened his mouth to speak, but I didn’t let him, I just kept talking faster. “I had to go inside my apartment. I had a program running when my place went boom and I know how to catch the rat. Also, I can’t just stay here inside, hiding forever. I needed to be proactive. And we were careful. I didn’t just run off on my own, I took Blair and Andres Illudere with me as backup—” Granted, I hadn’t wanted to take them and Blair had steamrolled her way into the entire thing, but those were mere details.“—we had shit under control. We were in and out of there in less than an hour, and we made it here safely.” I stopped speaking so I could gulp in a lungful of air, and Christian used the opportunity I accidentally presented him with.
“If you had things under control, then how come three of my agents got attacked and one of them got hurt when the wards we set up in your apartment were triggered?”
I exchanged one look with Andres, who seemed smug, and winced.
Dammit, so he had been right, it had been AMIA and not the rebels following us.
My bad.
But hey, at least now I knew my anti-fire tech worked on my enemies too!
“And I thought I made it perfectly clear you were not to reveal to anyone that you were alive. So why does Andres Illudere know you’re alive? I gave you a direct order, Carter.”
“Hey,” Andres yelled, from across the room. “I can be trusted.”
Even I rolled my eyes at him. He should’ve stayed quiet.
Blair opened her mouth to say something, but I spoke before she could. I didn’t know why, but I felt compelled to protect her.
I smiled sheepishly at Christian. “I needed backup. Besides, your agents are fine and we did manage to escape them without compromising my cover, so it’s all good.” I shrugged, pretending I hadn’t been high on adrenaline and terrified. Not to mention the annoying burn on my arm, which I hadn’t acknowledged yet to avoid bringing attention to it. It’d only get me in even more trouble.
“Carter, this code of yours better sing the name of every single double agent we have inside AMIA or I swear to the Goddess I’ll find a way to punish you, and you won’t like how that will end.” Christian turned to Andres next. “And you, if you speak a word of this to anyone, I’ll have you thrown into a dungeon so dark, you won’t even remember what sunlight is like.” He turned to Blair last. “You’re lucky your brother was in the process of being conscripted by AMIA, or else it’d be your neck on the line, too. Congratulations, you’re now in charge of him and the rest of his training. If anything happens, if he talks, or he balks, it’s on you.”
Christian turned toward the door, as if to leave, but before he made it there he looked back at me “I expect a report from you in the next two hours, with a detailed description of everything that happened, and a location for the mole, or else I’ll put you on IT call duty twenty-four-seven for a whole year.”
No, not IT call duty! Anything but IT call duty.
With that terrifying threat, he left.
&
nbsp; 24
Charisma
The minute the door closed behind Christian, I sprang into action faster than if I'd been told there was a sale on Steam with all the games ninety percent off.
What? A girl needed to have her priorities, and this girl loved a good deal.
Besides, I had a shit ton I needed to do before the Boss came back and decided to follow through on the punishment.
Seriously, who even did that? What kind of sadistic bastard would threaten to lock me in IT support duty for a year?
I'd rather spend a week without TV.
Oh. I got it now. The whole no technology inside the safehouse. He was punishing me. Early punishment; he probably knew way ahead of time what I'd do the minute I was left alone. Clearly, it had all been an evil plot by Christian. But if he thought I'd fail, he had another thing coming.
I'd barely taken three steps when Blaze gripped me again, forcing me to stay in place.
"Woah, where's the fire?" Andres asked, and I stared from him to Blaze in shock.
"Did you not hear Christian say I only had two hours to figure this shit out and make a report!?" They couldn't possibly have missed the conversation. They were right there!
I turned to Blair, but she just held her hands up in the air, smirking. "Hey, don't look at me, you're on your own."
Traitor.
"Blaze, let me go," I demanded, trying to escape his grip, but it was like being held by a damn tree.
I could probably force him to let me go, but I didn't want to hurt his pretty face. Yet, anyway. If he kept this up I was going to wipe the floor with him in order to get shit done.
"I will, once you explain what the fuck you were thinking." Blaze forced me to face him and I got a very clear, very close up view of how pissed off he was. "I want you to explain to me why, in the name of the Goddess, you and Blair thought it was a good idea to waltz into the building that the resistance fucking bombed to try to kill you when I said I'd take you there myself when it was safe. I want to know why in the name of Arcane you thought it would be a good idea to enter a magical fight in the middle of New York with AMIA agents, and why you have blood on your arm."