And as he raced for the stairs, I left the building by the front door and vanished into the shadows where I knew Arianna would be waiting.
Chapter 19
It was there. The mark Raven had told him about was there, just as she’d said it would be. Dark, blood red, on his father’s left hip.
But that didn’t mean....
God, how long was he going to keep denying it? Everything she’d shown him, everything she’d said–the flashes and dreams that kept haunting him. This feeling that he knew her, that he loved her, there had to be some reason for all of it.
Just not the reason she’d said.
He raced into the hall, down the stairs, catching his father at the door, and gripping the man’s arms from behind. “Stop! I’m not going to let you go after her!”
The ease with which Nathanial broke Duncan’s grip was shocking. He was old. He had no business being so strong. But he didn’t run off in pursuit of Raven. Instead he turned, eyes as cold as ice.
“I suppose you’d rather I wait for her to sneak back in here. To kill me in my sleep. Is that what you want?”
“Of course not!” Duncan pushed both hands through his hair, sighing. “Look, she didn’t hurt you, didn’t even try. Because I asked her not to.” And he knew that much, at least, was true. “She’s not going to come back here tonight.”
Nathanial’s eyes narrowed. “She stole my blasted pot. I should call the police—”
“You were going to give it to her anyway.”
“Mmmph.” It was a growl, not an affirmation. “I changed my mind when I saw her in your room with her blade.”
“Yes.” Duncan moved past his father, closed the door, then turned to face the old man again. “It’s just like yours, her blade.”
Nathanial’s head came up slowly. “It’s similar.”
“And so is the mark on your hip.”
“Seen that much of her, have you?”
Duncan looked away. He wasn’t going to answer that. “She knows you, knew you before you came here. You lied to me when you denied that.”
Nathanial thrust his small blade into the sheath at his hip, turned away, muttering under his breath.
“God, you even wear that thing to bed?”
“I wear it everywhere,” his father replied without facing him.
“It’s time for you to tell me what this is all about. I want to know. And I mean everything.”
His back still to Duncan, his father kept walking. “No, you don’t.” Then he paused. “And even if you do, it’s not your business, Duncan. This is between her and me, and will remain that way.”
“For how long? Until one of you is dead?”
A long sigh emerged from his father’s lips. A raspy one. But he said nothing. And a moment later he kept walking, up the stairs, to his room. He closed the door firmly.
Duncan sank to the floor, holding his head in his hands. He didn’t know what to think, what to do, who to believe. It was obvious there was a fierce enmity between Nathanial and Raven. They had a past, those two. A violent one. Raven was all too willing to tell him all about it. But the things she told him surpassed belief and even the most distant realms of possibility. His father, on the other hand, would tell him nothing. And Raven’s version of things was looking more and more like the truth.
He knew one thing. There would be no killing, no dagger wielding, no bloodletting tonight. Not tonight. He’d make sure of it.
He couldn’t sleep anyway, so he played the part of sentry. And long after dawn, while his father still slept, he called the lawyer he’d contacted the day before. He called the man at home–woke him up, judging by the thickness of Jack Cohen’s voice.
“What did you find out?” Duncan asked without preamble.
It took a moment for Jack to identify him, another for him to figure out what it was Duncan wanted. They were acquaintances, not friends. Jack had done some work for Duncan’s restoration business, helped out with contracts periodically over the last several years, and Duncan had his home number. For emergencies only, Jack had told him when he’d scrawled it on the back of a business card.
Hell, if this wasn’t an emergency, Duncan didn’t know what was.
“I have office hours, you know,” Jack finally said.
“This is too important to wait. What did you find out about the accident that killed my birth parents?”
Jack sighed, hesitated. “It was easier than I expected to check into it. You had their names and everything, so–”
“What did you find out?” Duncan asked again.
Jack cleared his throat. “This isn’t the kind of thing I like to tell someone over the phone,” he said. “But, ah, there was no car accident. Your parents were murdered, Duncan.”
His throat closed off. He closed his eyes, drew a breath. “How?”
“A mugging. Wallet stolen. The cops figured they must have resisted, tried to fight back.”
Opening his eyes, Duncan whispered, “Shot?” Please, please, please say yes.
“No. No, it was...it was a knife.”
A knife. Or maybe an antique dagger with a jeweled handle.
“Did they get the guy?”
Another sigh. “The case is still unsolved. I’m sorry, Duncan, I wish the news had been better.”
“So do I,” Duncan said. “So do I.” He put the phone down and turned to see his father coming down the stairs.
Nathanial paused, frowning. “You’re up early!”
“Couldn’t sleep.” Duncan reached for his coat, hanging on an antique tree near the door.
“You’re leaving? But what about breakfast? We really do need to talk, Duncan.”
“We can talk later.” Duncan pulled the coat on, then eyed the old man. “When you’re ready to tell me the truth. Right now there’s something I have to do.”
Lowering his brows, Nathanial said, “You’re going to see her, aren’t you?”
“Yes. So don’t bother charging out there to confront her, because I’ll be there to prevent it.”
He disliked the harsh, condemning tone of his own voice, and the way his father flinched and paled slightly at every word. Even though things looked bad, he had to remember his father might not be guilty of a damn thing. All of this could be....
His chin fell. Could be what? Coincidence? Some elaborate con? Bullshit. It was none of those things and he knew it.
Still, his tone gentled, almost as if there was still some part of him, some fatherless child inside, who wanted to believe the old man innocent. “I'll be back later on.”
“She’s crazy, you know. She’ll try to turn you against me, Duncan. Don’t let her.”
“Look, all I want to do is fix this, make it all right, get at the truth. And I will.”
His rather shook his head slowly. “I only wish you could. Make it all right, I mean. But you can’t, Duncan. You’re dealing with things you don’t understand. The way things are is the way they’ve always been. It can’t be changed.”
“Anything can be changed.”
His father lowered his head tiredly. “I wish that were true. I’m tired. You’ve no idea how tired.”
Narrowing his eyes, searching his father’s face, Duncan took a step closer. “Tired of what?”
When Nathanial looked up again, his skin seemed pale, and dark circles seemed to have appeared beneath his eyes overnight. “Death. Life. All of it. I’m an old man, Duncan, and I ought to know it. I ought to just let go, but I can’t. I can’t. Maybe she’ll be the one to end it. Maybe it’s time someone did.”
“Father, what the hell are you talking about?”
Nathanial shook his head. “Nothing. I sound as crazy as she does, now, don’t I?” He smiled softy. “Go on, go to her. Do what you have to do, Duncan. We never know how much time we have left. We ought to spend it doing what we want.”
“You’ll be all right?”
“Fine. I promise. Go on, go.”
Sighing, suddenly uncertain his father shoul
d be left alone just now–but even more certain than before that he had to see Raven, he finally nodded, and left. He walked the two miles to Raven’s house. A pleasant walk, or it would have been if there hadn’t been so many unanswered questions swamping his brain. He walked along the Coast Road with the sea crashing to the shore below, giving him slight goose bumps and making him walk as far to the left of the road as possible. Raven’s story about him having been tossed from these very cliffs kept creeping into his mind, but he pushed it away. Still, it was sunny. The air held a brisk chill that invigorated, but no real wind. And the sound of the waves was pleasing, even if looking down on them did make him dizzy.
He paused once, near those very cliffs she’d pointed out to him–the place where she claimed he had died. Swallowing a lump of foreboding, he stepped closer to the edge, stared down at the froth and rocks below, expecting the slight dizziness that still hit him from time to time when he looked down from on high.
It didn’t come. Instead, there was a flash. Darkness, moonlight. Dancing red-orange torches and men all around him. Holding him. Holding . . . her.
“Disavow her, Duncan. Save yourself.”
“Never!”
“Do as he asks, Duncan. Please, trust me! Do as he asks.”
Tears glittering on her cheeks in the moonlight.
A soft rending of his heart as he looked into those dark eyes. “Not on pain of death, lass. Nay, not if it meant my own soul would I speak against you.”
They carried her to the edge. Duncan broke free of those who held him, ran forward, reached for her.
“They cannot take my life!” she cried. “Save yourself, Duncan, I beg you!”
They pitched her over the side, and he lunged for her, and then fell with her into the abyss.
Duncan pressed a hand to his head and staggered backward, away from the edge. God, what was that? A memory? A hallucination? Real or imaginary?
The image, the dream, was gone. But the feelings, the emotions remained, pressing out from somewhere inside his chest, expanding, making it hard to breathe.
“God, what is happening to me?”
* * *
When Duncan arrived at Raven’s driveway, he heard voices, and the rhythmic chink of metal clashing against metal. Was his father here before him, then? Were Nathanial and Raven fighting to the death, even now? A beat of panic pulsed in his throat, and he rushed forward, following the noise around to the rear of the house, and stopped in his tracks when he saw Raven and her blond friend wielding their deadly little daggers as if they meant to kill each other.
He lunged forward, then stopped. They were...laughing. Swinging those double-edged blades and ducking, rolling and springing to their feet again, and laughing.
My God, they were insane.
But graceful. So skilled in their movements that it started to resemble a dance the way they circled and lunged and dodged. Then Arianna let loose with a spinning kick that looked like some kind of martial arts move, and Raven’s dagger sailed from her hand to land point down, in the dirt, its jeweled hilt quivering.
Arianna leaped forward, her blade to Raven’s throat. “I have you now!” she shouted, a beautiful smile on her face.
“No, don’t!”
The shout was wrenched out of him, a knee-jerk reaction he hadn’t planned. The two women stilled, turning toward him. Raven looked surprised, but not the least bit afraid. Arianna, on the other hand, straightened, sheathed her blade, and rolled her eyes.
“Isn’t this familiar?” she said, her tone sarcastic.
And it was. He had a dizzying sense of deja vu all of a sudden. It was as if he’d done this all before. He had to close his eyes to regain his balance.
But then Raven was coming to him, stroking his hair with those loving fingers. “Are you all right?”
“More to the point,” Arianna said, “are you alone?
He drew a steadying breath. “Nathanial is back at the courthouse. I wouldna–wouldn’t–bring him here.” Then he gazed at Raven to see if she’d noticed his slip. God, for an instant it felt as if that stranger inside had leaped to the surface and taken over.
Raven’s hair was tousled, and his fingers ached to smooth it. Her cheeks gleamed pink with exertion and her eyes sparkled.
“It’s all right,” she said. “We were only practicing. We do it all the time.” She didn’t mention his slip, but she’d noticed. He knew she had.
“I don’t even want to ask why,” he said.
To stay sharp, you’ll pardon the pun.” Arianna smiled at her own joke. “So when people like Nathanial come for us–and they do, Duncan–we’re ready.”
“So you believe this nonsense, too? About immortal High Witches and beating hearts in little boxes?” He shook his head, not wanting to think about it anymore.
“I see Raven did get around to telling you a few things,” Arianna said. “Well, Duncan, old friend, you might as well come inside. If you won’t believe your lover, then perhaps you’ll believe me. I’m far older than she is anyway. Just over five hundred, actually.”
“You’ll have to give me the name of your plastic surgeon.”
She lifted her golden brows. “You can still joke about it. I think that’s a good sign. Do you drink coffee, Duncan, or is it still strong English tea you prefer?”
Strong English tea was exactly what he preferred. But how did she know that? “To be honest, I think I could use a beer about now,” he told her.
“Used to go straight to your head,” she replied with a smile. “I think you need all your wits right now. So tea it is.” She turned and led the way inside.
Raven gripped his hand and followed. “I was so afraid to leave you with Nathanial last night. Was there any trouble after I left?”
“He’s my father, Raven.”
“As if that means anything.”
They walked into a pretty room, with a fireplace flickering from one wall, and claw-footed furniture of deep cherry wood all around.
“You two sit. Talk. I’ll get that tea.” Arianna left them there.
Raven took a spot on the love seat, and Duncan sat beside her. He took her hands in his, stared into her eyes. “I want you to end this feud with my father,” he said. “It doesn’t matter whether all of this other stuff is true or not. Nothing matters right now except that it has to end.”
She closed her eyes. “Do you think I want to fight him? Duncan, believe me, I don’t. I’d end this if I could.”
“You can. I can help. I don’t think he wants this any more than you do, Raven.”
“He has no choice, Duncan.”
Duncan closed his eyes. What now? Would she tell him more far-fetched tales?
“Didn’t you understand what I told you last night, Duncan? The Dark Ones take hearts, and keep them, and eventually, they use up the power. The hearts weaken, perhaps even die if they’re tapped long enough in this vile way. I don’t know. But I do know they weaken, and as they do, so does the Dark Witch who holds them. They need to take more, to kill again and again, in order to continue living.”
He swallowed hard. “You can’t truly believe this,” he said, but in a hoarse whisper, because somewhere inside him, he knew it was true. It couldn’t be. But it had to be.
“It’s why he wants me,” she went on. “He could have taken your heart, Duncan, but you’re young, and you’ve never even wielded the power of nature. Your heart might sustain him for a few decades at most. Mine would give him centuries.”
He only stared at her, wrestling with what she’d said. Arianna came in with the tea. She set the tray down and stood there looking from one of them to the other. “He’s never going to believe you until you show him, Raven.”
“I know.”
“So?”
Sighing heavily, Raven got to her feet. She bent to a drawer in an end table and pulled it open. And then she pulled out a small-caliber weapon. It looked like a derringer. Duncan’s blood rushed to his feet.
“What the hell are you–�
�
Raven handed the weapon to Arianna, then stood facing her friend. “Go on, do it. Let’s get this out of the way.”
Arianna pointed the gun squarely at Raven’s chest, from a distance of no more than two feet.
“My God, no!” Duncan lunged between them just as Arianna pulled the trigger.
Fire tore through his chest even as the explosion rang in his ears. Warmth oozed and he drew a hand upward, pressed his palm hard against his sternum, and felt the blood pulsing from beneath it. “Holy God” he said, but the words were slurred, and he sank to the floor. “Dammit, you shot me. You freaking shot me.”
Raven snatched a towel from somewhere and pressed it to the wound. But she seemed more interested in keeping his blood from staining her carpet than in halting its flow. “I’m sorry, Duncan,” she whispered. Sitting down, she cradled his head in her lap. “You’ll be all right in a moment.”
Her words were fading. Why wasn’t someone calling 911? My God, were they just going to sit there and watch him die? “I’m dying, he rasped.
“Only for a moment,” Arianna said. “You’ll be a believer very soon, Duncan. I swear, I don’t know why Raven didn’t just shoot you in the first place. Would have saved so much time.” Then she grimaced at his chest. “It is messy, though.”
“The phone.... Someone call...an amb–”
“Oh, you’re well beyond that, Duncan. No ambulance would do you any good now.” Arianna tipped her head back and laughed, and Duncan tried to call her a bitch, but he wasn’t sure the word was audible.
Raven bent closer, pressed her lips to his. And everything went black.
It felt as if he’d grabbed a bare wire with about 220 volts going through it. The jolt split him, surging up his breastbone, and for an instant he figured he must be in some operating room somewhere, with a surgeon opening his chest.
He arched up, tipped his head back, and dragged in a ragged gasp, starved, it seemed, for oxygen. And then his body relaxed and the power surge faded. He opened his eyes.
He was still in Raven’s house. On the sofa now, stretched out, shirtless. His head felt achy, light, still buzzing with the remnants of whatever current had zapped through him.
Eternity: Immortal Witches Book 1 (The Immortal Witches) Page 28