EdgeofMoonlight

by Steph2

  “John?”

  “Shh, Evie. It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

  “What’s going—Wait.” Her eyes shot open. “There was someone in the apartment. Someone was here, John.”

  “It’s okay. I know. Kaine’s here, she’s a friend.”

  Evie started to shake her head then couldn’t stop. “No. No, she’s not. She did something to me. She… She hit me.”

  “What?” His gaze snapped to Kaine and her guilt was so easy to read. “Why?”

  “Tinia’s teat, the girl’s pulling some serious power,” the boy said. “We’ve got to shut her down or she’s going to blow the roof off this place.”

  “I know.” Kaine’s voice was barely a whisper. “I don’t know what I did.”

  “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.” The boy walked over to him, his smile easygoing. “Hey, John. Everything’s gonna be okay.”

  Evie burrowed closer to him as the pain in his head threatened to crack his skull open.

  Then everything went dark.

  *

  John and Evie went out like someone had pulled their plugs.

  As John’s arms loosened around his sister, Sal caught her before she fell off John’s lap and hit the floor.

  Evie already had a bruise on her chin from where Kaine had knocked her out.

  John would hate her for that. Hell, he’d hate her for a lot more than that.

  He’d slept with a monster. And if the streghe had to lift the spell masking his memories of everything that had happened, he’d know that.

  And he’d despise her.

  “Kaine, we don’t have time for you to fall apart right now.” Sal’s sharp tone snapped her to attention as he set Evie on the couch next to John.

  He’d released his glamour and the cap, the clothes, were all gone now. His hooves made little indentations in the carpet as he moved to stand in front of her, Evie in his arms.

  “The girl needs help right away,” Sal said. “I’m afraid she’s going to have permanent physical damage if we don’t do something.”

  And that was Kaine’s fault. She’d been so selfish. “Then do it. John will be devastated if something happens to her.”

  Sal nodded as his gaze sharpened on hers. “Before we go back to the streghe with them, I’m going to hit up Amity for help.” Sal stepped away from the couch to an open spot on the floor. “I put them out pretty hard. They shouldn’t wake before I return.”

  Kaine nodded, shameful grief and guilt making her stomach roll. If John woke, she’d take whatever he dished out.

  “Kaine!” Sal’s sharp tone bit at her and she felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t. At least, not yet. You need to suck it up and deal until I get back, sicari. Understood?”

  Her back straightened at Sal’s deliberate use of her rank. Yes, she understood. It didn’t matter that she couldn’t shift, or that she was something other than she’d always understood herself to be. She was still sicari and that would get her through.

  “Go,” she said. “Get Amity. I’ll be fine.”

  After another hard look into her eyes, Sal nodded. Then he closed his eyes and disappeared.

  For several seconds, she just stood there, staring at the spot Sal had been standing in only seconds ago.

  Then with a deep breath she turned to look at John. Her breath left her in a rush when she found him unconscious still.

  Thank the Blessed Mother Goddess for small favors.

  The man had the will of a bear. He’d broken through her sleeping spell earlier. Granted, she hadn’t made the simple spell too powerful. She’d only wanted enough time to slip out of bed and out of the house. It should have kept him out for several hours at least.

  But he’d fought through it.

  Maybe the spell had failed because she was different now. Maybe none of her magic would work the same as it had before.

  Maybe…she just wasn’t ever going to be the same.

  Tears threatened again and, even though she knew John couldn’t see, she couldn’t cry in front of him. She refused to cry in front of him.

  She forced her feet to move, to carry her to the opposite side of the room and the window that overlooked the street in front of their building.

  From this height, she could see down into the small garden in front of the house on the opposite side of the street. The rose hedge separating the garden from the sidewalk and the street sported fresh green growth. The thickness of the hedge keep passersby on the street from seeing into the garden beyond, but up here, Kaine saw the lines of a beautifully maintained courtyard.

  It looked almost magical in the dark and fit the house behind it. The house looked like a tiny castle, made of stone and featuring tiny turrets.

  Kaine wondered if a princess slept in that house, waiting for her prince to come wake her.

  Which was such bullshit.

  Why did all those stupid old fairytales insist that a woman needed a man to save her from the evil witch? Maybe the man needed to be saved from the big bad wolf.

  Vaffanculo, she needed to get over herself. Enough with the self-pitying crap.

  As soon as Sal got back, she’d get the hell out of here.

  John would probably want a piece of her pelt when he woke. He’d be confused, worried for Evie and pissed off. At Kaine.

  And rightly so.

  Behind her, she sensed Sal’s return and turned before dropping into a curtsey for the woman standing by his side.

  No, not a woman. A goddess.

  “Lady of the Singing Heart, greetings.”

  Munthukh, Etruscan Goddess of Health, or Amity as she called herself now, strode over to wrap her arms around Kaine’s shoulders and pull her in for a hug. “And hello to you, too, Kaine.”

  Startled at the warm embrace, Kaine hugged her back for just a second before remembering that this was a goddess. And she was an assassin.

  When Amity released her, Kaine took a deep breath and forced a smile for the woman standing before her. Unlike some of the other Etruscan goddesses Kaine had met, Amity was not so much beautiful as pretty. Light brown hair the color of polished chestnuts fell in waves past her shoulders and framed a pretty face full of soft features.

  Dressed in a purple sweater set, a denim skirt and matching purple Chuck Taylor high-tops, this goddess drew you in with her bright smile and warm brown eyes.

  Kaine felt comfortable in her presence and the walls she’d built around her heart to keep it from aching started to fracture. Taking a deep breath to catch back a sob, she only just managed to contain it.

  Amity’s smile turned rueful between one heartbeat and the next. “Now, now, it’ll be alright, Kaine. Just give me a few minutes to check out your friends. Sal’s given me the rundown so I have something to go on. Why don’t you just go have a seat and give me some room to work?”

  Nodding, Kaine turned and grabbed the nearest chair, the one at the dining table against the wall by the front window.

  And started to pray.

  *

  John woke with the realization that he was on the couch in the living room.

  The sky was still dark and moonlight seeped in through the window. Still hours from dawn.

  How had he wound up here on the couch when he’d went to bed with—

  “John.”

  His gaze shot to the woman standing so still against the wall directly in front of him. She had her hands shoved in the pockets of her jeans, her shoulders hunched as if fighting off a cold wind. Or anticipating a blow.

  But her gaze met his straight on.

  “Kaine? When—What’s going on?”

  He sat up, hating the sense that he was missing something vital.

  “Evie’s in trouble, John. She needs help. She had a breakdown when she came home last night from work.”

  Jumping to his feet, he didn’t stop to think. He pushed open the closed door to Evie’s room and stopped when he saw his sister asleep in her bed and another woman
sitting next to her on a chair.

  “Hello, John. I’m Amity. Your sister’s resting peacefully now but we need to talk.”

  In two steps, he’d crossed to his sister’s side and put himself between Evie and this woman he’d never met. “What the hell did you do to her?”

  In spite of the consuming fear threatening to drown him, he swore the woman’s smile made his heart ease off its heart attack pace just enough to let him think more clearly.

  “I didn’t do anything to her. But she nearly caused herself irreparable damage last night.”

  Shit, was the woman saying—

  “Oh, no,” Amity rushed on as if she’d read his mind. “She didn’t try to hurt herself. But Evie needs help. I have her powered down for now but when she comes out of this, I’m not sure what she’ll do if you can’t keep her calm.”

  Amity remained seated, seemingly unafraid of him. Which didn’t make any sense because he was pretty sure he was wearing his intimidation face. Grown men were known to break and run when he looked like this.

  This woman just smiled. “I’m sure you’ve noticed changes in your sister. Since the kidnapping.”

  John went deadly still. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Amity continued to smile. It should’ve freaked him out, should’ve made her seem weird or creepy.

  But he sensed no danger from her at all.

  A flash of movement in the doorway caught his eye and he turned to find Kaine staring at him with no emotion whatsoever. But from her, he sensed guilt.

  “I want answers now.”

  “And you’ll get them, of course,” Amity said as Kaine dropped her gaze to the floor. “Evie’s resting comfortably. Why don’t we go into the other room and talk there?”

  Torn between leaving his sister, who did appear to be sleeping soundly, and finding out what the fuck was going on, he decided he needed answers first.

  This Amity woman appeared to have them. And the woman he’d taken to his bed last night, who’d blown his mind as he’d come in her body…

  She’d lied to him. He could see it in the way she held her body. She felt guilty about something.

  Fine, he’d let these women tell him what was wrong with his sister because he knew there was something going on with her. Ever since the kidnapping, Evie had been different.

  And somehow Kaine, who he’d never met before last night knew what was going on.

  He wanted to hear her explanation. Then again, maybe he didn’t.

  Half an hour later, John thought banging his head against a wall might be helpful as he tried to make sense of what the crazy woman sitting next to him on the couch had told him.

  “So, you’re saying the tests done on Evie gave her powers. Like…magical powers.”

  “No,” Amity said. “What I’m saying is the tests brought out her latent powers and she doesn’t know how to handle them.”

  John fell silent as he considered everything the woman Kaine had brought into his house to help his sister had said.

  The thoughts in his brain tangled around each other until he couldn’t seem to get a handle on any one thread and follow it to a logical conclusion. Absolutely none of this made sense.

  At least, none of it made logical sense.

  When Amity spoke, it sounded plausible. When she told him magic was real and his sister needed help controlling hers, it all made perfect sense.

  But in the rational part of his mind, he knew better.

  And he knew that Evie had been holding it together until he’d brought Kaine home last night.

  The woman who looked so damn guilty.

  Yet every time he caught sight of her, standing still and quiet against the wall by the door, he wanted her. It felt like a fever in his blood.

  “You know,” he said, “this all sounds fucking crazy, right? Like some B-movie on the Syfy Channel.”

  Kaine’s head dipped lower, as if trying to make herself invisible.

  “Yes, I know what it sounds like,” Amity said. “And I know how hard this is going to be to understand but you can’t handle this for Evie. You can’t make it better.”

  Damn, that almost sounded like the woman had read his mind. Again. Another impossibility.

  His gaze shot to Kaine and he forced himself to ask the question he didn’t know if he wanted an answer to. “Did you do something to her? Did you do something to Evie?”

  Kaine’s head shot up but she didn’t open her mouth. Instead her lips trembled.

  He saw how pale she’d gotten, how physically ill she looked. And he wanted to comfort her. Wanted to pull her into his arms and tell her everything was okay. But if she’d done something to Evie…

  “Kaine had nothing to do with this.” Amity’s voice cut between them like a knife and John glanced at the other woman to see Amity and Kaine staring at each other, Amity’s expression set in determined lines. “I know you think you did. I know you think you were the trigger for Evie’s breakdown, but it wasn’t you. At least, not you specifically. From what you told me, Kaine, you startled her when she came home last night. You didn’t mean to. But she saw you as a threat and after her kidnapping, you can’t blame her for that.

  “But it was in no way your fault. It could have happened to her at work the next day or at the mall if she’d gone shopping and someone happened to brush against her. Anything could have triggered her. This isn’t your fault.”

  Kaine didn’t say anything, but he knew she didn’t believe a word the other woman had said.

  “So,” John sighed, “if it wasn’t Kaine’s fault, then how did she know what was happening to Evie? How did she know to ask you to come here?”

  Kaine took a deep breath before answering but held his gaze. “Because I recognized what was happening and I sent for Amity’s help.”

  A tiny fragment of memory flashed in John’s brain then, something about a kid in a knit cap in his living room. No, one fucked-up mess at a time.

  “And you believe in all this bullshit?”

  He’d deliberately made his question snide, wanted her to show a little spark. She looked like she’d been kicked in the gut and he hated thinking it was because of him.

  He couldn’t really believe Kaine had done anything to harm his sister. He usually had a good handle on people and Kaine hadn’t thrown up any red flags in the time they’d spent together. All he’d felt had been lust.

  And maybe that should have been a warning.

  Kaine’s chin tilted up the slightest bit and her mouth firmed. “Yes, I do. I know magic is real.”

  Her voice, so matter-of-fact, made his eyes narrow. She absolutely believed what she was saying.

  Christ Almighty, what the hell was he supposed to do?

  “Then show me.”

  He needed to see. He wasn’t a man who took things on faith. He needed proof. Physical, tangible proof.

  “Kaine.”

  Amity’s voice held a warning. And a note of sympathy. As if Kaine was about to do something painful as she pushed away from the wall and walked to within a foot of him.

  Damn it, he didn’t want her to—

  Kaine held out her right hand, snapped her fingers and a bright orange flame flared into being just above her index finger and thumb. Like a candle, the tear drop of fire burned bright.

  “Go ahead, touch it,” she said. “It’s very real.”

  He was already extending his hand to pass it over the flame and felt the heat of it lick at his palm.

  Parlor trick. Easy enough to do, his brain insisted.

  Kaine’s expression was dead serious. But the look in her eyes… She was terrified of what he would think.

  Not the look of a woman who was trying to con him.

  And when she snapped her fingers and every one of the many candles Evie had placed around the room burst into flame, he took a deep breath. Then another.

  “So, my sister has magical powers she can’t control. Fine. How do we get rid of them?”

  Kaine’s
eyes widened in shock and the flames she’d conjured sputtered and died.

  Shoving her hand in her pocket, she backed away, intending to retreat to the wall. She needed the support, needed to feel something solid at her back.

  She couldn’t believe he’d accepted her demonstration so easily. She’d expected him to scoff, to rant, to deny. She’d expected disbelief, at the very least.

  Instead, he sat there, looking at her as if she had more answers for him.

  Luckily, Amity spoke up. “Now we take her to see a group of women who should be able to help her. It’s not far. But I have to warn you. There may be nothing they can do for Evie except teach her how to control her powers.”

  John’s gaze narrowed on Amity’s as the goddess paused to bite her lip. The man read facial expressions like some people read a book. He’d probably know exactly what she was thinking, how she was feeling if he’d been looking.

  But right now he had a laser’s focus on Amity.

  “A group of women.” He paused and she swore she could see his brain cycling through information.

  “Yes,” Amity said. “And yes again to exactly what you’re thinking.”

  His chin rose the tiniest bit. “Witches. You want me to take my sister to see witches.”

  “If that’s how you want to classify them, then yes, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.”

  The only outward sign he gave about his thoughts was the tightening of his mouth. She thought for sure he’d start to laugh and tell Amity she was crazy.

  That they were both crazy and they should get the hell out of his apartment and out of his life.

  Maybe she should go now. Get the hell out of here while the getting was good. He wouldn’t want her around. While he might believe she hadn’t caused Evie’s meltdown—at least, not on purpose—she still couldn’t believe he’d want her near his sister.

  Not after what he’d seen she could do. And that was just the tip of a very large iceberg.

  If she ever regained her ability to shift…

  “And you think these…women will be able to help Evie?”

  She blinked in shock. She couldn’t believe he was actually considering Amity’s plan.

  “Yes,” the goddess answered solemnly. “I do.”