Claws and Effect

by Amanda Arista

  His voice was low, like velvet over the phone line. “I felt that.”

  “Good. I don’t like repeating myself.”

  I sighed. Enough with the fuzzy. “Jessa will be there with bail. You won’t be paying her back. I’ve been to her parent’s house. She can afford a little trouble.”

  “And you? As your Riko, I need to know.”

  “I promise not to go after Cristina,” I said to him. I’ve got a bigger fish to fry.

  “Good. I’ll see you later.”

  “Bye, Tucker.”

  He hung up the phone, and I looked down at the glowing screen. A voicemail? When did I get a voicemail. Two key strokes later and I listened to Chaz’s voice.

  “Hey babe, it’s me. Finished the job in Chicago early. Should be home for your big day. Love you.”

  I took in a deep stuttering breath as I saved the voicemail. He wasn’t hiding from me. He had been taken from me.

  My jaw locked up as I tried to contain my anger. I’d just found my breaking point. You can attack me in an alley, throw a massive sociopath in my way. You can even make me the Key to resurrecting a demon.

  But you will not touch my boyfriend. Cheating or no, he was mine.

  The patter of feet cascaded down the steps. Nash and Jessa were both rubbing their eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” Jessa asked.

  Nash ran his fingers through his short hair. “Something woke me up.”

  I took in a deep breath now that the plan had solidified. I turned toward them with a smile. “Jessa, I need a doorway.”

  “What? Where?”

  I pointed to Myers. “He will tell you?”

  As Jessa turned to him, she jumped. She’d felt his power too as it lapped around the living room like a summer storm. “What happened to him?”

  “The truth has set him free,” I grumbled as I brushed past Nash to go upstairs.

  Nash followed. “Is everything okay? Have you talked to Tucker?”

  I went into the bedroom and dug some socks out of my drawer. “Yes. He’s fine. When did it turn out that being in jail was the better of two options?”

  “Welcome to our world.”

  I laughed. “Guess it is, isn’t it.”

  Nash stayed in the doorframe.

  I gave him orders as I pulled on my Chucks. “You and Jessa can bail them whenever they call. See if you can find something on the traitor symbol that I saw.”

  I pulled a sweater out of the closet and my messenger bag. “And Nash?”

  “Yes, Violet.”

  “Most important. Don’t let Jessa out of your sight. She’s got this thing that she wants to be a hero. Don’t let her be. She’s stubborn, but she will usually see reason; and if not, you just lock her in a closet.”

  Nash smiled. “Yes, Violet.”

  “We need to do this all together. It’s the only way from now on.” I jammed a few things into my messenger bag, including a pair of clean socks. Iris’s number one rule.

  “Where are you going?”

  “They took Chaz from me, Nash. I’m going to get him back.”

  “But what about us?” His voice was pinched.

  I went to him and reached out to put my hand on his shoulder. He ducked his head a little, and I caught his cheek instead.

  “I promise I’ll be back soon. Better. Dare I say stronger and with a sure fire way to find Cristina and kick the living hell out of Carlisle.”

  Nash’s eyes began to water. “Spencer made a lot of promises too.”

  I felt it, felt it in that golden strand that held us together. He was scared, scarred. I took that strand and poured my whole heart into it. Nash inhaled sharply.

  “Spencer didn’t have this, Nash. Spencer didn’t know how precious you all are. And now that I have you, I’m not going to ever let you go. If that’s okay by you, of course.”

  Nash nodded, his chin still cupped in my hands.

  “I’m coming back. Preferably in one piece, but I will be back. Okay?”

  “Yes, Violet.”

  My thumb stroked his cheek until I knew he meant what he said.

  I shivered when I felt Jessa call for her power. “And I’m off.”

  Jessa had charmed the mirror in the guest bedroom. I thought the Cleaners had just put it in there for décor, but I was guessing now that Jessa made sure that I had at least one decent standing mirror in the house for emergencies.

  The surface glowed slightly. It wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d seen. Hell, it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d seen today.

  “I’ve got it set for the bathroom above the headquarters,” Myers said.

  I ignored him. “So we’ll go through and demand that they release Chaz, and I’ll call you when I’m ready for another jump home?”

  Jessa nodded. “What are you going to say to Chaz?”

  I dropped my head. “I have no idea. All I know is that they took him and I want him back.”

  “And then you’re going to rip his head off?” Jessa asked.

  I put my bag over my shoulder. “He loves me. I’ve always known that. But I need to know the truth about what we saw. And if I don’t like the answer, then I’ll be upset like any other girl.” I looked back at the mirror and then at her. “You’re getting really good at this.”

  “I am,” she nodded.

  “Good. Can you work on one of these that zaps someone to, like, the sun?”

  “Only places that I have been or someone else has been.”

  I shrugged. “Just trying to think ahead.”

  “Let me worry about locking people up, Violet.”

  “Yes, Mama Morton.”

  Jessa rolled her eyes and shoved me toward the mirror.

  I reached out to brace myself against the surface, but tumbled through and before I knew it, was head over heels. I felt like a baseball being thrown through deep space, spinning and weightless and cold. Everything was bright and sharp and I just squeezed my eyes shut

  A hand reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me forward. My eyelids flew open, and I finally saw Myers.

  He pulled me through the mirror and my foot landed in the stop up sink in a bathroom.

  He picked me up by the waist and carefully set me on the floor.

  As soon as my feet hit the ground, my stomach lurched forward as if it had just caught up with me.

  After I’d puked out all my dinner that Devin had graciously paid for, I was at least glad that Myers had chosen a bathroom for us to transport to and not a bedroom or something.

  “So best friends with the Key Holder and you’ve never jumped before?” Myers asked, unaffected by being shoved into a mirror, magically turned into a thought of light, and thrown halfway across the country.

  “Like to keep my feet on the ground, actually.”

  Myers reached out to help me off the bathroom floor, but I swatted his hand away.

  Slowly, I peeled myself away from the porcelain and went to wash my face. I looked like it was three in the morning, and I had just thrown up in a bar. This was going to make for a lovely reunion.

  I dried my face on the thin paper towels and readied myself.

  “Lead the way.”

  The bar was dead. Of course it was three a.m. on a Monday morning. The place was silent, but the lights were still on and there was still an ancient bartender behind the bar, wiping down the obviously clean shellacked surface.

  His beady black eyes watched us as we walked across the floor and Myers swept aside a red velvet curtain, hidden in the shadows of the walls. There was a blue square panel in the middle of the wall. It looked like something from an Indiana Jones movie, with a rune engraved into its stony surface.

  For all I knew, maybe this place was that ancient.

  Myers pressed his palm against the panel and it glowed for a moment. I heard the massive click of a lock and a door swung away from the wall. Lit by a torch that I was sure was there for effect rather than lack of electricity, stone stairs circled around and out of sight.


  “Welcome to headquarters of the Cause.”

  “Down the rabbit hole,” I muttered to myself.

  Myers started down the stairs and I followed quickly. As soon as he had opened the door, I’d gotten a pressure in my head that was either what I was facing or the creepy eyes from the man behind the bar.

  I was glad for my panther vision in the dimly lit stairwell. It circled down and around for at least two stories underground. The air smelled of earth and Myers’s cinnamon scent before me.

  He pushed open a door, and I had to turn away from the immense light behind it. I blinked a few times for my eyes to adjust.

  The long conference looking room was in all white. White light fixtures, white table, white chairs. Someone was trying to make a point.

  More important, from what it looked like, was what it smelled like. Nothing. No people, no dust, not even cleaning products. Nothing. It was unnatural.

  Myers looked over his shoulder as I took in a deep breath. “Weird isn’t? Makes you realize how much we use our sense of smell to judge someone.”

  “Or how wrongly we judge someone,” I grumbled.

  “The medallion was their idea. Yasmina knew that if I walked in there as a pure bred that you’d assume I was there to take over.”

  “And you weren’t?”

  I walked farther into the room. The pressure was stronger here, and I felt myself put up thicker borders to keep the pressure away.

  “I could appreciate honesty, Myers. If I’m so smart and beautiful, then why hide behind the medallion? Just tell me what they wanted. I could have respected you for that.”

  “And now?”

  “Well, now you’re no better than all the other panthers that I’ve met.”

  I turned away from him. It hurt. But he needed to know that we were not puppets, that he is not a puppet and if I had to rake him across the coals to make him learn that, then so be it.

  “And another thing,” I said as I turned on him. “I walked you through shifting, through borders. And you knew all that stuff?”

  Myers let loose a small smile. “Actually, I was crap at that, so you did help me, but I’ve been shifting since I was thirteen. Still not as good as you though.”

  I walked down the length of the table and took another sniff of the chairs. They didn’t even smell like wood, just nothing. Like I was standing in a room that didn’t exist.

  “Why trust me now to bring you here?” Myers asked.

  “Because everyone gets two chances, Myers. This is yours.”

  I looked over at him and his doe eyes were still Myers, still the man I’d been working with for the past month. “Just so I know how much to hate myself when all of this is over, how much of it was a lie?”

  “What?”

  “You knew my shows, my movies. You got the Doctor Who reference. How much of that was a lie? It is really hard to fake my level of geekdom.”

  “I wasn’t faking that, Violet. I really do watch Everville. I really do like your movies.”

  I pursed my lips. I was pretty sure that he was telling the truth. I put my hands on my hips and turned to look out into the bland room. “Who are we waiting for anyway? I’ve got friends out on bail at some point.”

  “I apologize for the wait, Miss Jordan.”

  I skittered away from the voice and my heart raced. I looked across the room to see a woman coming across the floor toward us. Not really walking, there was no natural sway to her precession. Floating?

  Her caramel skin was a stark contrast to the white floor-length dress. Again, someone was trying to make a point. Her curly, dark hair fell naturally around her shoulders and her hands were folded at her waist.

  “It truly is an honor to meet you.”

  “Yasmina.”

  The woman smiled and her rose lips parted to reveal perfectly white teeth. This woman was perfect. Not a hair out of place, not a single dog hair on her dress. I looked down at my own T-shirt and jeans and suddenly felt underdressed as I picked off a piece of Shadow’s hair from my shirt.

  “Can I assume that you have succeeded in your mission, Myers?” she smiled, her voice calm and steady.

  I laughed. “Yeah, not so much. I’m just here to get my boyfriend back and then I’m out.”

  I felt the weight of Yasmina’s gaze as it fell on me. If I was six months younger, I would have looked away, but I wasn’t. And I was Violet Jordan. I simply wasn’t smart enough to back down.

  I looked right back at her and let that Haverty gaze rise up my neck and settle around my shoulders as I gripped her with my stare.

  “Myers told me what you were planning, and I’m here to respectfully decline to be mated like endangered species in a zoo.”

  Yasmina held that perfect smile as the pressure in my head increased. I pushed back with my power.

  “Don’t get me wrong. He’s a great catch to someone he doesn’t lie to with every breath he takes.”

  “But he is not you’re Charles Garrett.”

  “No, he’s not. And I’d like to know what you’ve done with him.”

  “He is safe.”

  “But he’s not with me.”

  “Which is why he is safe.” Yasmine took in a deep breath and dropped her gaze from mine. The pressure around my head eased.

  I sighed with the ease. “I know that you don’t care about your worker bees, but I’ve got a little situation in Dallas that I need to get back to, so if you could just poof him back here, that would be great.”

  She walked a few steps away and put her hands on the back of a chair. “How are the nightmares of the Neveranth, Violet?”

  I gulped. How could she know that?

  “And the struggles dealing with so much evil power?”

  “I’m managing.”

  “But what happens when you can’t control it and you lose control like you did under the full moon with Myers?”

  My eyes snapped toward him. He was pale and his lips were parted. “I had to tell her, Violet.”

  I looked back at Yasmina. “I’m only six months into this. I’m still ahead of the curve.”

  “But you are a hundred times stronger. That’s dangerous, Violet. We can help you control the urges, the Haverty power.”

  “No thank you. I’m doing quiet well, actually.”

  “You think your little pack will help you.”

  Just remembering the four boys, the way they looked when they showed up at the party made me smiled. “Yes, I do.”

  “And your Guardian duties? Which do you choose when you have a pack emergency and a problem with the Veil?”

  Anger tainted with a hint of brimstone wound up around my shoulders and spun around me. She was stalling. Trying to convince me of something.

  “I’m just trying to offer you an alternative.”

  “Then get to it, please. There is a bit of a ticking clock here.”

  Yasmina clenched her jaw for a split second. It made me smile that I could frustrate a woman with the power of a god and the patience of a saint. Or at least a woman who dressed like she believed all that.

  “I’ve offering you a position in the Cause. To have help whenever you need it. To have more than just a little shape-shifter and a fairy on speed dial. You make a call, we send help. You need a person to work a protection spell, you’ve got it. You need a vampire hunter, one will come to you.”

  Yasmina walked closer to me. “You need an army to destroy Carlisle once and for all, and one will be at your command.”

  Peace. She was offering me peace. I could walk around town without armed guards. No more need for Jessa to take a tail with her on a date. No more assassinations attempts. I could go on a date and wear heels and not have to worry about ruining my dress again. I could take a vacation someplace; I’d never been in a home to come home to.

  “No more dead girls. No more kidnapped friends. Just you and Myers living in . . .”

  And there was the kicker.

  I laughed and shook my head, my eyes daring to look up
at her again. “You almost had me there, kid.”

  A crease formed between Yasmina’s perfectly defined brows. “I’m eleven hundred years older than you.”

  It made me smile. “So how long until you understand that it’s not about the power, that it’s not all about the fight. It’s about the quality of life you have in between those fights that give you a reason to fight.”

  “You can’t understand, Violet.”

  “Condescension? Are you kidding? You took the man that I love.”

  I couldn’t stop the sizzle of power as it burned through my shields and sent ash scented anger through out the room. It ruffled Yasmina’s dress as she stepped away from the table.

  “My life with him is the reason that I fight. I’m sorry that you have lived eleven hundred years and have never found that.”

  Yasmina looked like I’d smacked her and that it was the first time someone had smacked her in a very, very long time. “How dare you speak to me like that!”

  “Why not? You’ve proven yourself as nothing more than a puppet master. You have to earn respect and right now, I respect Myers more than you. At least he manned up at some point. You’re hiding behind this façade.”

  Yasmina rippled. It was the only way to describe it. Like a holograph with dust in the projector, her perfection faltered and I caught a whiff of something, something like lightening and dry leaves.

  “You should calm down, Violet,” Myers whispered over my shoulder.

  “Why? Isn’t she used to anyone questioning her authority?”

  It was that last line that did it. That last little thing that I couldn’t quite keep in my mouth.

  White hot lightening lifted me up and threw me into the far wall. I cracked my head against the white tile, which was in fact very real and smelled like chalk as I fell to the floor.

  I rose and dusted off the pulverized tiles, looking back to see a very Violet shaped indention in the wall. I reached up to my head and came away with blood on my hand. I think I’d just made some sort of record for most concussions in a month. My head spun as I felt her move toward me.

  Her previously calm eyes now burned white hot, literally. No pupils, just white hot irises. “You insolent girl. You have no idea the darkness that is on the brink of consuming us all.”