I knew what it took for him to make the offer. These days Henry was so gentle, but it hadn’t always been the case. “Henry—”
“Don’t protect me, Kendall.” Henry didn’t let me finish. “We’re all in this together. I can do more than keep the kids whenever Victoria risks her life. If this man needs stopping, then I will do so. And I’ll live to tell the tale. I won’t even flinch.”
I really didn’t have any reply other than, “Okay.”
Peter spoke up. “Logan and I can do more, too. I’m not afraid of violence. It doesn’t always have to be you.”
I was at a loss. “This all feels like my job.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “Try micromanaging, honey.”
I tried to imagine the idea. They wanted me to micromanage the battle? The violence? How did that all work?
Chase stepped back from Troy. “Wow.”
Troy stumbled backwards, and Ross caught him. Always the doctor, I wasn’t surprised Ross couldn’t let him fall over. He walked Troy to a seat. The deceptive man who had kept my husband prisoner held his head in his hands.
“Well?” I couldn’t wait for Chase to answer me. “What did you see?”
Chase whistled through his teeth. “Troy himself didn’t realize it. I had to watch conversations between the Others in the background. It’s a big giant mess. Basically, it comes down to this: Troy, here, is a distant relation of The Master.”
I couldn’t make sense of what he’d said. It took me a long moment to answer. “What?”
“Great-great—how many greats, I have no idea—grandnephew. The Others knew it. They know all of our backgrounds. He’s with us because of his relation to The Master.”
My head started to pound. To what degree did this matter?
Victoria spoke, which was good because I couldn’t utter a word. “That makes so much sense.”
Henry laughed. I loved their dynamic. They were so in tune with one another. “How so?”
I almost spoke, but Malcolm put his hand on my arm. I couldn’t think of a time Henry had ever questioned Victoria. My husband was right. I didn’t need to get in the middle of it.
“The family spells.” Victoria kissed Henry’s arm. “Blood can handle blood.”
Dex shuddered next to Levi and caught my full attention. When he cried out, it was in the voice lost to a vision. I wanted to cry. My sweet boy had been through so much. I hated that he had to suffer like this.
“And it will come to pass that the one who was lost will be the winner or all will perish. Nothing is written. Nothing is set.”
He collapsed, and Levi caught him. I darted forward, kissing the top of Dex’s head. Levi let out a long sigh. “Kill these fuckers, Kendall. I want our children to not be bombarded anymore.”
I wanted to cry. Dex looked so small in Levi’s arms. The Master’s offer to me, the one where I could have lived a different life, flashed in front of my vision. I wouldn’t deal with what-ifs, just truth. And the truth was that Levi had always been a wonderful father, even when he’d been only an okay husband.
“I will. This will end.” I turned around fast. “Victoria? Blood?”
“All the best spells have blood in them, Kendall. This creature is going to be killed by one of his own. The universe—when it comes to poetic justice—it loves a good blood feud.”
The tide was finally turning in our favor.
Chapter Twelve
With Troy back in the middle of the circle, I took a deep breath. I was the phoenix, so once again, this all fell to me. I had to give Troy back his powers. I’d assumed I could do it. After all, I’d taken them away. But standing there, I was suddenly worried I wasn’t up to the task. I could bring back life, no problem. Take it, yes. Give back powers? I’d never done it before.
“Need something?” Malcolm kissed my cheek. “Want me to take the baby?”
“Nope.” I rocked back on my heels. “Unless you know how I can do this. It’s not just happening because I want it too.”
He put his arm around my shoulders. “Sorry. I’m not versed on this. When you bring back life, you raise your hand and your power flows through it. You don’t have your arm raised. You could start there.”
“Hey,” Victoria called out. “It helps when you actually want to do it. Get over your reluctance, and make it happen.”
“I have a question.” We hadn’t heard from Annika in this conversation yet, and her voice made me stop and turn to her. If anything, her question would at least buy me some time to get over how queasy this made me feel. “What are you going to do with him now that you know he’s got the same blood or whatever? What’s the end game here?”
I was glad to hear Annika speaking. She and Chase were not in a good place since he’d confessed his decision to move on. Neither she nor Mary had uttered a word to him since. He’d been so glad to come to dinner so he could hear conversation and not walls of silence. I could understand his girlfriend and his sister. If Malcolm checked out on me, even temporarily, I would be really hurt.
Chase got it, too. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
“They have to battle.” I was glad Victoria knew. “It will weaken The Master. Then we can step in and kill him.”
“What stops him from doing the opposite? Helping The Master? Or turning his powers on us?”
That was a good question. “I think it’s a two-fold answer. Number one, I’m here. I can’t be killed, at least not permanently, so if he does anything I don’t like, I come back, take his powers, and kill him.” The fact that I was discussing this so openly in front of my children should have been wrong. Except in times like this I had come to believe the kids needed to know what their world was. Everything had not been roses and unicorns for them in a long time.
“I’m not going to turn on you.” Troy spoke but we ignored him. He wasn’t trustworthy, hands down.
“If it means anything, he believes what he says,” Chase added. “That doesn’t, of course, mean that he couldn’t change his mind. He does share blood with the worst creature in the universe, and Troy has the strength of character of the wind; he could blow in any direction.”
Annika crossed her arms over her chest. “Imagine that. A person who rapidly changes their mind about important things.”
“Sweetheart—”
She interrupted him. “Later.”
“Okay.”
“The second thing that will stop him is that Chase is going to be in his brain the whole time. If Troy starts to even think about betraying us, Chase’ll know.”
Block hissed out a breath. “I’ll keep the kids safe.”
“I’m not going to betray anyone.”
I nodded. “So you keep saying. Okay.”
I had no choice but to get on with this. I raised my arm. I had to at least start with the movement that seemed to activate my powers. Sure enough, I felt the burn of energy, and I pointed it straight at Troy. He shuddered, a loud moan coming from his lips. He closed his eyes. He’d screamed like a banshee when I’d taken his powers away. This must have elicited a much more pleasurable feeling. I wished I didn’t have to hear it. There were certain noises I preferred never to hear outside of my bedroom and with my chosen partner.
Gross.
Malcolm actually snickered, which didn’t help me not lose it. Our daughter cried out, and Malcolm took her from me. Across the circle, Levi escorted the kids away from the circle. Finally a burst of power released from my fingertips, and I knew he had his powers back.
“Chase?”
He nodded. “On it.”
Chase would monitor him. That was the best we could do.
Victoria nodded twice. “All right. Time to get busy.”
Victoria, Troy, and Henry were setting up the scene to perform blood magic. Chase monitored them with a very pissed off Annika next to him. His sister still hadn’t spoken to him. I was leaving them to their own drama. There was only so far I was willing to meddle in other people’s lives. They had to work this out am
ongst themselves
Malcolm laced our fingers together, walking me to a cabin we’d never stayed in before. Levi was with the kids in the cabin I’d lived in for many years. This was a new one I couldn’t remember ever being occupied before.
“I asked Levi to give us the kids tonight. He’ll bring them over in a bit. We’ll need to set up some formal visitation schedule, but for right now all of us being polite is working out fine.”
I put my hand on his arm. “Thanks for thinking of that.”
“Yep.” He put our still-napping daughter down in a crib. He’d clearly spent some time getting this prepared. I wasn’t sure when he’d had time to do so. Maybe Block had helped.
Two seconds later, I was in his arms and he kissed me intensely. I let him take the lead. Malcolm set the pace, and I followed. His hands roamed all over my body. I was happy to have Malcolm however he wanted it. He’d been dead; I’d killed him. To have him now? I’d never been so lucky in my life.
He gently pushed me down on the couch. We didn’t have a lot of time. Levi would bring the kids, or the baby would wake up. I understood his desperation. It was the truth of all new parents. Love-making had to happen expediently. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be hot as hell.
Malcolm’s hands were everywhere, pulling my clothes off and discarding them who knew where. I tugged at him, and soon we were both naked. I put my hand over his heart, temporarily stopping our encounter.
His heart beat. I’d stopped it, but once again the beat was strong and steady.
“You’re okay.”
“Better than.” His mouth was on mine again. Malcolm bit down on my bottom lip, and I cried out. God, I loved him. He grinned at me. “You’ve always liked a little pain with your pleasure. My sweet, hot, unexpected Kendall. You never stop making things so surprising.”
Soon we were both naked. I pushed back on the couch, opening my legs wider so he would have no questions about what I wanted or how much I needed him. He raised his eyebrows before he scooted down to press his tongue against my clit.
I cried out again. I hadn’t expected that. I’d been thinking he’d push himself deep inside of me. I should have known that Malcolm would have other ideas. He was a sight to behold, on his knees, his tongue stroking my clit.
I closed my eyes. This was heaven. He moaned against me, which only added to my pleasure. Malcolm enjoying what he was doing was such a complete turn on. I didn’t come in an explosion but a slow burn while my body gave in to the pleasure he gave me. I cried out his name.
With my eyes closed, I never saw him move, but I felt it. His mouth pressed to mine, and our tongues danced frantically while he pressed deep inside of me. He was hot, throbbing, and all mine. I opened my lids and then wrapped my arms around his neck to hold on.
Our movements were frantic, not practiced. He rubbed against me, and we both cried out as pleasure rocked through us. “Too fast.” He spoke through clenched teeth.
“Come, darling. I love you.”
I wanted him to. I wanted him to so much. His pleasure called my own, a feat rather impressive considering I had just come seconds earlier. Malcolm whispered my name, and I closed my eyes against him. If I hadn’t been the phoenix, we’d never have this. If I hadn’t been able to bring him back, we’d never have been like this again.
I held him tighter, and for a few minutes, before the baby cried, I pretended I would never have to move. Like we could stay that way forever and ever.
I was halfway through reading Molly a book when her eyes widened, her gaze fixed on something behind me. I turned to look but saw nothing.
“What is it, darling?”
She visibly swallowed. “I see a man sometimes. All over the grounds here. I’m the only one. No one can see him. Not Grayson. Not Victoria. Not Ross. Can you, Mommy?”
I looked again. I didn’t see or feel anything at all. “I’m afraid not, my love. But here’s the thing. I long ago learned we all have talents. You might very well be able to see someone I can’t.” I stood and walked in the direction she’d been looking. “Is he here now?”
Was something or someone messing with my daughter? They’d know pain like no other.
“No, he’s gone. He appears for a second. Looks at me or Gray or Dex. Then he goes. Wanders around. Doesn’t say anything and doesn’t frighten me. He watches.”
That was truly odd. “There are no ghosts or demons in this dimension, so whoever he is, you don’t have to worry.” I hoped I was right. “Make sure you tell me when you do see him. I’ll get the rest of the group on alert, too. You’re safe here.”
“Oh, Mommy,” her eyes were too old for a seven-year-old. “None of us are safe.”
She broke my heart.
Under the noon sun the next day, I gathered with anyone who wanted to watch Victoria get the ritual ready to take on The Master. Blood magic was powerful. She’d killed something to create the circle she would use. Her cheeks were coated in blood. So were Troy’s. I turned from looking at him.
“Victoria,” I called out.
Levi stood next to me and elbowed me when I spoke. “I don’t know if we should be bothering her right now.”
“I have to disagree. I need her attention. Oh, and by the way, I hear you’re dating the lawyer. I really like her.”
He raised his eyebrows, his cheeks turning red. “By all means, bother Victoria.”
I wasn’t surprised he didn’t want to discuss it. “Victoria.”
She turned to look at me. “Kind of busy, Kendall. Is this important?”
“Little bit.”
My best friend put her hands on her hips. “Well, all right then.”
It was funny to remember that at one point I had thought she was a simple clothes store owner. I’d known she was a witch, but I’d had no idea how powerful she was. She walked over to me. There was a glow to her eyes that told me magic rode her hard. Other people would bend to the power. Troy looked a little worse for wear, his eyes red-rimmed. Victoria, however, treated the whole experience like a fashion statement, as though she painted herself in blood every day.
“What’s going on?”
I took her arm and pulled her further away from the group. “I’ve been thinking about something Michael told me.”
“Oh?” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “What did he say?”
“That the shadows destroyed his dimension, and so he moved here to train us and whatnot.”
She nodded. “Right, we all know that.”
“But they did try to fight the shadows, and they lost. The shadows destroyed their world. I’m a little bit concerned about doing this to Earth. I mean, okay, we kill The Master. We need to do that. But what about the other shadows? I don’t think there’s a way to handle any of this without making things worse.”
I had her full attention. “What are you suggesting, Kendall?”
“I think the problem with the Shadow Dimension is they had no jailors. The powers that be put them there, then left. Once the shadows figured out how to break out, there was nothing and no one to stop them. Maybe what we need to do is put them somewhere and keep up with them. Not just us. But our children and their children.” Maybe me, if I wasn’t going to be able to die. “A better facility, a better dimension, to keep them under control.”
“You want to create a dimension, like the Others did. Kill The Master. Put the rest of the in the new dimension?”
She totally got it. “Keep watch so this can never happen again. Maybe move the ones in the Shadow Dimension there too. Can you do that?”
She grinned. “As a matter of fact … I can.”
We were dooming our children—and grandchildren for generations—to a fight they might not want. They’d have to stay involved in keeping these things under control. The universe would still be sending bad souls to the Shadow Dimension. Periodically, we’d have to go and move them to our version of it to keep things in order. We’d have a constant job, and so would my precious babies.
But t
he truth was, they already did. As Molly said, none of us were safe.
This could at least allow them some kind of future.
“You can?”
She bit her lip. “It’s not going to be pretty. Nothing is created in the universe without some expense. Something will have to be given up for the creation.”
I put my hand on her arm. “Like what? Because I’m not going to allow any of us to give up what we can’t afford to lose.”
She looked around. “This place.”
“What?”
“Our sanctuary. The Other dimension. We’d have to give this up. There isn’t endless space to be creating dimensions. We’d have to recreate this one.”
My heart sank. This hadn’t been my favorite place, but I liked knowing it was here. I adored the fact that my family was safe here.
“Are we willing to do it? Can we bet on ourselves to such a degree we can say definitively that we can give up the Other Space to trap the shadows?”
Victoria shook her head. “I don’t think you and I can make that kind of decision. I think there are others to whom this matters more.”
She was right. Those of us with powers could fight. We could battle until our dying days. Or my lack of a dying day. But the non-talented ones? The people we fought for? This was their decision.
Our family and friends who didn’t possess talent met without us at a distance away. It was weird not making this decision. I was fairly certain I was right. We needed somewhere to stick these shadows or someone would simply replace The Master the second we killed him. There had to be a safe spot to store the bad in this universe. If we were to be the jailors, then so be it.
Victoria buzzed with energy, and Troy rocked in the corner. They’d started the blood ritual; it was hard not to use the power.
I eyed Chase. “Our boy doing okay?”
He nodded. “Troy is not making any plans of betrayal. He’s mostly concentrating on breathing. To go from no power to this much? It’s heady and difficult to manage. I’ll keep him under watch.” He rubbed his eyes. “Annika is speaking to me again. So is Mary. But they’re both yelling at me now. I prefer it to the silence. Still …”
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