I waited, having nothing else helpful to offer. I’d found it was easier to just let Nate rant when he was in the mood. Like a tornado. Some things you just survived.
On cue, he continued, as if to make up for our lack of awe. “I’m also friends with Baba Yaga, but she doesn’t carry around all this cool stuff,” he muttered.
Rai’s eyes briefly widened at mention of the legendary witch. But that was pretty much the extent of Nate’s witchcraft resume. Rai glanced down at her own belt – the vials and pouches hanging from it – as if it suddenly felt inadequate. “I’ve got some crushed starstone, a pinch of sunrise, two chimera eyes, and some sawdust,” she admitted. “A satchel would be nice…”
Nate and Grimm both snorted indelicately. Almost victoriously. Nate was becoming a bad influence on Grimm, like two frat brothers left unattended for too long.
I clapped my hands together to end their pissing contest.
“You’re going to explain why you stole the Seal of Solomon in the first place, and then why you gave it to me.” I took a slow step forward, “and finally, why you are dating my dad.” I lifted my palm, a ball of white fire suddenly crackling into existence. “He isn’t a part of our world, and I’m a little overprotective. But first, you’re going to tell me how you found me, and show me how your disguise works.”
Rai took a breath, nodding.
“I used the blood you left behind at the duel with the Templar. I burned the rest of it, don’t worry,” she added quickly.
I nodded stiffly, not having even considered that I’d left blood behind.
Rai continued. “Your father was never in danger, because the woman he met doesn’t really exist,” she said. Then, with a murmured phrase, she was suddenly the Rai I had met at the restaurant – an older, raven-haired woman.
Rai lifted her gaze to mine, making sure I was watching. Then she pointed at a strange symbol tattooed on her wrist. “A Druid owed me a favor and made me this secret identity.”
I frowned in surprise. “The younger version is your real look?” I asked, wondering all over again why she had decided to date my dad. If the young look was the real her, she could have chosen to date anyone, so why an older man like my dad?
She nodded. “I age well.” She murmured the same phrase, and was suddenly the younger woman again, her real self.
I just nodded, having seen too much weird stuff in my life to be overly impressed to hear she was significantly older than she appeared to be. Par for the course in my world.
But she had still put my dad in danger, whether she saw it that way or not. What if one of the Templars had seen her secret identity and connected the two versions as the same person? Seeing her around my dad would have put crosshairs on him, because they likely already knew who he was. Thinking of that for the first time, I suddenly felt a panic attack brewing.
I needed to have him watched, protected. It wouldn’t be hard for the Templars to connect Terry Penrose as my dad, and Olin Fuentes was currently very, very pissed at me. I wouldn’t put it past him. His only saving grace was the fact that he was a Regular.
“You’ve just proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt…” I began, nodding as if impressed at her transformation, “that you are remarkable at deceiving people. And that my dad’s life may now be in danger,” I snapped.
Her briefly hopeful face suddenly blanched at my change in tone. “He’s in Las Vegas with his friend, Harry.” I looked up at her sharply. “I bought him tickets first thing this morning and told him he had one hour to get ready. A boys’ weekend. Just in case,” she said, nervously.
“Prove it,” I finally said, trying to conceal the sudden wave of relief I felt. If he was out of town, he was safe. Olin couldn’t find him. And I knew Harry, the boring English teacher my dad usually took with him to the local riverboat casinos every few months or so.
She slowly reached into one of her pouches and pulled out her cell phone. She thumbed through it before holding it out so I could see. I walked a few steps closer, glancing at the screen. There, not an hour ago, was a picture text from my dad. Him and Harry in front of the Bellagio.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Thank you,” I managed, not meeting her eyes. “But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You’re the one who put him in danger in the first place,” I hissed, wanting to rip her throat out. “Using him to get closer to me. How dare you? I should kill you where you stand. You don’t even deserve to utter his name. Let alone think you can date him in the first place?”
Surprisingly, little Rai was a wee bit possessive, and didn’t like my tone.
“He was just a charming man in a grocery store!” she snapped, face reddening in fury. “He flirted with me, and I said yes! I had just gotten into town and hadn’t even begun looking for Constance yet—”
I raised my hand without intending to. My mind went blank and my vision flashed white.
I heard screaming, crashing, and shouting, I think.
Then I felt much better.
Chapter 51
I realized something was locking me in place, hugging me tightly, but it didn’t feel like arms. I blinked in confusion to see Nate standing in front of me, holding out his hands with a horrified look on his face as he stared at me, mouth moving wordlessly.
I stared at him, not understanding.
But I realized he was blocking my magic.
My ears popped, and sound abruptly returned. “Callie!” Nate shouted at me desperately. I held up a hand, flinching at the immediate increase in volume.
I slowly shook my head, trying to remember what had led to this situation. “What just—”
A pained groan cut me off, and I glanced past Nate to see a woman-sized dent in the wall, and Rai woozily climbing to her feet. I blinked a few times, memory slowly returning. Rai had said something…
Constance. Rai had been looking for… Constance.
My mother.
She stared at me, looking terrified.
“You attacked her. Out of nowhere. You remember?” Nate asked, shifting so that he blocked Rai from my view.
I nodded numbly. I opened my mouth to apologize, but then clicked it shut. Instead, I closed my eyes, breathing deeply for a ten-count. Then I opened them again, meeting Nate’s eyes.
“I’m better. She caught me off guard when she mentioned my mother’s name.”
He nodded, searching my eyes. “I’m going to let you go, now. Okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. But… maybe be ready to jump in again.” I met his eyes, letting him see the torment I felt. That it was probably best for someone to play referee. Because I didn’t remember consciously deciding to send Rai through the wall.
“Okay. That sounds smart.” He released his magic and stepped back, revealing Rai again.
“I’m sorry, Rai,” I told her. And I meant it. I had apparently blacked out in a rage, using my magic to hurt her. It didn’t mean I wasn’t upset right now. I was livid. And terrified. And confused. But those emotions didn’t justify what I had done. “I think we need to start from the beginning. To prevent any more… surprises. I’m a little unstable right now,” I admitted.
Rai studied me for a moment, still looking startled, but not seriously hurt. “I should have expected it, to be honest. Saying her name like that. But… I lost my cool when you grilled me about Terry.”
“Two over-emotional women,” I said, lips curling into a hint of a smile. She returned the smile and gave me a single nod. She brushed some drywall off her shoulder, waiting for me to start.
“How did you know my mother?”
She sighed, staring down at the floor sadly. “My sister and I were attacked by Templars many years ago,” she whispered. “Outnumbered as we were, we never stood a chance. They tortured us. I watched my sister die and knew I would only survive her by minutes.”
Rai’s breath shuddered at the memory, and I watched as a few tears fell down her cheeks.
“Just when I had given up, and was b
leeding out beside my sister, a wizard appeared out of nowhere, chasing the bad men away.” Rai finally looked up at me with a faint smile. “Constance.”
The room seemed to tilt beneath my feet, but I somehow remained upright, ignoring the concerned look on Nate’s face. I shook my head. The two witches I had seen in Eae’s vision. The survivor had been… Rai?
“I remember the Templars all screaming as they fled, slaughtered by their own weapons coming to life as if wielded by an army of ghosts.” My own vision blurred as I nodded stiffly. “Everything was quiet for a time as I hugged my sister’s body, waiting for the pain to stop. The next thing I knew, a woman was staring down at me with tears in her eyes. She said her name was Constance, and that everything was going to be alright, now.”
Rai shook her head wonderingly at her own story.
“She cried for a complete stranger bleeding out on the grass when most people would have simply looked the other way. The last thing I remember is her holding my hand, humming a lullaby to me, and I knew I was about to die as I closed my eyes for the last time.” Rai glanced up at me. “I woke up the next morning beside my dead sister, and Constance was already gone. I feared that the Templars had come back for her, that she had sacrificed herself for me… But then she appeared at my doorstep years later, asking for my help—”
Something crashed to the floor behind me, shattering loudly and making me spin instinctively, my pulse suddenly racing as fight or flight kicked in. Eae stood there, wings of stone and vapor flared out wide to touch almost each wall of the office. He had knocked a lamp off a nearby table. Where his wings touched walls, drywall disintegrated to powder. He stared at Rai as if at a ghost. I heard a muffled gasp behind me and turned to see Rai giving him much the same look, except more frightened than shocked. As if suddenly very afraid of the outcome of the next two minutes.
“You…” Eae breathed.
“Me…” Rai squeaked.
I flung my hands out between them. “If one more person interrupts my goddamn special moment, I’m pinning them to the wall!” I roared as a swarm of butter-flays suddenly hovered above each of my hands.
Eae flinched and I heard Rai gasp.
“Amen,” Grimm growled from the corner of the room.
“Got it?” I shouted, letting the swarms of butter-flays rise a foot higher.
Everyone agreed very quickly after that. I released the butter-flays and turned my back on Eae, focusing on Rai’s stunned face. “You were saying?” I asked her in a much gentler tone. “My mother asked for your help…” I encouraged, reminding her of where she had left off.
Rai nodded hurriedly. “Constance appeared on my doorstep years later, requesting a powerful blood potion that could ward someone for a very long time. She had heard I was the best at them,” Rai added somewhat proudly.
“You made the ward?” I asked her, dumbfounded. The ward that had kept me safe my whole life. My parents’ parting gift. It had to be.
Rai nodded. “I asked her why she didn’t just use magic, but she insisted that it needed to be a blood potion. And she needed it to last for a good long time. I told her I would do it for free, thinking it was the least I could do to repay her, since I wouldn’t have been able to make it for her in the first place if she hadn’t saved my life. Except she refused my gift, telling me she would rather pay. She even acted like we had never met, even though it was obvious we had.”
Nate cleared his throat gently. “That makes sense. A gift could establish a bond. A way to trace the spell. But services rendered are more common, more exchanges to search through. Probably why she pretended not to know you, too,” he mused.
Rai sniffed. “I didn’t think of that at the time and insisted I would do it for free. She didn’t argue further, just held up three glass vials from her pocket and asked if she could be the one to pour the blood in the cauldron when it came time to add the final ingredient. I didn’t see any harm in that, and so agreed.” Rai’s eyes grew distant, recalling the memory with a sad smile. “Took me all night, but it was the finest blood ward I ever created. She never told me what it was for, so I assumed she was wanting it for herself, fleeing dangerous foes…”
I hardly breathed as I listened. My mother had done all that? Why had she wanted to add the blood herself? Had my parents put their own blood in the vials? Then what was in the third vial?
“After she left, I found a pouch of gold hidden beneath her seat, the old cow,” Rai muttered. “I never heard from her again, but I sensed the potion still out there in the world, doing its job, and left it at that.” Rai glanced meaningfully at me. “Until a few months ago when I felt it suddenly evaporate. Almost gave me a heart attack. If anything, it should have dissipated over time, not disappeared in a blink. I knew something terrible had happened, so I followed it here to Kansas City. She had saved my life, and if she was in danger, now, I wanted to repay that debt. Or avenge her.”
She met my eyes warily, and I gave her a nod, knowing what was coming, and silently promising not to smite her again. “I ran into Terry my first day here. We had a lemonade together at the grocery store,” she admitted, blushing slightly. “I agreed to a second date just to get him out of my hair,” she said defensively, scowling at Nate in particular for some reason.
I glanced over to see a big grin on his face.
“Anyway, I found myself at Dorian Gray’s mansion for a casual meeting with the Hellfire Club. I never told them why I was in town, although I heard all sorts of tales about a young woman battling demons. It didn’t take me long to realize that my blood ward had never been intended for Constance, but for you. I hadn’t even known she had a daughter until I saw you for the first time, jogging right past me down the sidewalk, as healthy as can be…” she said, shaking her head.
“I never knew about the ward until it dropped,” I admitted.
Rai nodded to herself. “I’ll admit, I wandered the city feeling a loss of purpose, not sure if I should approach you or leave you be. Especially when I realized the man harassing me for dates was none other than your adopted dad. I even convinced him to go to a horror convention, hoping it would send him running and screaming. No pun intended,” she smiled faintly, shaking her head. “I hate horror movies.”
Unable to help myself, I burst out laughing. “Really?” I gasped.
She nodded, smirking. “I’ll admit I’m kind of glad my plan didn’t work,” she said cautiously.
I smiled at her, feeling a huge weight lifting from my shoulders.
“Then you went off to Italy, and I found myself rather enjoying this city.” Her smile faltered. “But then the Templars arrived, and they caught me all over again, just like they had done so long ago…”
Chapter 52
I stared at her, leaning forward. “They found you?”
Rai nodded. “Quite by accident. Wrong place, wrong time. They locked me up in a prison below ground, leaving me to rot.” She shuddered at the memory. “I heard them talk a lot about a certain Ring they had found, how it would help them regain their power. They didn’t bother hiding this knowledge, choosing to rub my face in it, to tell me that my death would be meaningless.”
I realized I was clenching my fists. The Templars were going to pay. Beckett was going to pay. Everyone was going to pay.
“It took me two days before I saw a chance to escape – when the guard rotation was delayed by a few minutes.” She lifted her shirt slightly to reveal a finger-length slice across her stomach.
“What is that?” I asked. It looked fresh, only just crusting over with a scab.
Rai smiled grimly. “After your mother saved me so long ago, I swore I would never be captured again. I sewed a small baggie of traveling powder into my skin for emergencies. Just enough for two people. In memory of my sister,” she added sadly. “I used one pinch to hop out of my cell, retrieve my gear, and grab their stupid ring from a pedestal. Then I hid inside a crack in the wall while they ran around like insects for a few minutes. I used the other pinch to ge
t the hell out, but it wasn’t enough traveling powder to take me very far.”
Nate let out a long whistle. “That is fucking hardcore.”
Rai shot him a smug look of appreciation before turning back to me. “They were quick to find me, though, chasing me through the streets within minutes. I don’t know how. That’s when I ran across you, imagine my surprise,” she said, smiling at me. “You distracted them long enough for me to throw down a few of the more powerful potions from my pouches and truly escape. I’ve been hiding ever since. Went to the Hellfire Club to update Dorian about it all, except the Templars found me there, too.” I nodded, remembering. I’d been there.
“Wait, did you say Hellfire Club?” Nate hooted. “That sounds like a riot! Where—”
“Nate!” I hissed angrily. He pursed his lips.
It looked like Midas hadn’t told Nate about them yet. After what I’d seen from their board meetings, I realized that was probably for the best.
I took in Rai’s story, thinking about it all. One thing still eluded me. “Why did you slip me the ring?” I finally asked her.
She looked suddenly uncomfortable. “I… when I was in the dungeons, all they spoke about was that ring, and making you pay for your crimes. I knew they would come for you either way, and I figured if they wanted that ring so badly, it must be powerful or dangerous. I thought maybe it would help you. I just didn’t know how to tell you about it… When I gave you a hug at dinner, it just kind of happened. I panicked, I guess,” she admitted.
I nodded absently, considering. Because as desperate as I was to pry every detail from her – what my mother’s smile looked like, how she sounded when she laughed, if Rai remembered the lullaby my mother had sang over her…
I had something a lot more important to deal with right now.
I checked my mental guards, and was mildly surprised to see I hadn’t gotten so lost in the story that I accidentally dropped them. That was a relief.
Angel's Roar: Feathers and Fire Book 4 Page 24