He was red in the face now. “And you think you know, do you?”
“Yes I do.” She really did. Clarity had hit her as she’d sat on the floor with Elliot, his eyes forever unseeing. “It’s hard to be a witch. I know that is a ridiculous thing to say, but it really is. Almost since birth, we’re all preoccupied with finding our soul mates. It seems very important to us. We need someone to share our souls with. We’re made to have it. And then if it doesn’t come, it can come to feel a little bit like… desperation.”
He shook his head. “I have never been desperate for anything in my entire life.”
“You lied when you said you didn’t order me killed, and now you’ve lied again. That’s two lies. That’s fine. I didn’t expect you to admit to it. But the years as they passed and she—whoever that she is that you’re supposed to have—didn’t present herself, that must have made you feel nuts. You’re a rich, good looking, powerful, successful man who has everything. Except your soul mate. You must have thought you could force it. That somewhere along the line you’d meet someone who would at least do. Someone you could force to fit in the box.”
She stepped toward him. Her powers rode her. This was what it felt like in court when she was winning. Melanie had him. She knew she did.
“So you get these women who need money and power, or maybe they just have daddy issues, to agree to take that spell with you, to bind their souls. Only it doesn’t work, does it? Something feels awful inside. You aren’t meant to be together. You’re not right. And it must just feel sickening. Like… a person changing the direction of a river, it’s unnatural magic.”
He made a face, and she wasn’t surprised. He wouldn’t have the slightest idea what she meant and that was fine. It had all become clear to her, like clouds moving away from her vision to let in the light of day.
“You have to undo it. You divorce. But you can’t have them talking because no one can know just how desperate and sad and… lonely you are. That would ruin everything. No one can ever know. But I do. That’s why you want to kill me, right? Because, I see you just as you are. Just the way that Elaine, your poor dead wife, did. Sad. Lonely. Not worthy of a soul mate.”
He pointed his finger at her. “You’re dead. I called the assassins before I answered the door. You’re dead. You’ll never make it out of here alive.”
She tilted her head. “Get that Lawson?”
The Enforcer popped next to Evans, Stefan on the other side. The former nodded. “Sure did. You’re coming with me, Mr. Evans. Threats against a member of the court are punishable by vanishing from existence. My colleague is going to show you your new home.”
Melanie had the pleasure of watching the man pale before Stefan took him away.
Lawson stared at her. “That was quite a risk you just took.”
“I knew you would follow.” And right now she didn’t care about taking risks, about whether or not she made it out of anything. She’d like to think that there would be a time when maybe she would feel differently again but that wasn’t going to be anytime soon.
Now there was just the absence of Elliot.
Lawson sighed. “You know you’re our family. You’re not alone.”
“I appreciate that.” She sighed. “But right now there is only pain. We both know that if you guys didn’t care about me, you would have used me as bait a long time ago. I should have drawn him out days ago. Now, it’s done. And I guess I’m a hypocrite, because I don’t care even a little bit that neither he nor the assassin who is coming up behind me any second won’t get a trial.”
Lawson waved his hand and the assassin floated into the air. “You felt him?”
“I did. Whatever we did in that house with the ghosts? I feel like it woke up my powers.”
“They’re buzzing pretty strongly. You know that means you’re going to crash.”
She stepped back. “I loved him, Lawson. It was only days and maybe it never would have happened if he’d had a normal life, but I loved him nonetheless.”
“I know you did. I could feel it. Like I feel it with Eleanor and Mitchell, like I feel it with Kim and Stefan. Like I know Ava loves me. It’s part of what I do. He loved you, too.”
“I’ve got to figure out what to do next.”
He nodded. “We’re here for you.”
She was lucky in her friends, in her family, but that didn’t make her any less alone or the lack of Elliot—the sheer absence of his light in her life—any less difficult to deal with. Without Elliot Boothe there was a big gaping hole in the universe.
* * *
Eleanor lay on the grass with Melanie, staring up at the afternoon sky. Mel had hardly been alone since everything went wrong. Someone was always with her and that spoke volumes about just how worried about her they all were.
“It was a spell gone terribly wrong. Max, Elliot’s ancestor, wanted to be rich. He called a spell of good fortune on the family. But everything has a price. Magic is balance. They had their good fortune, but they also had to live with dying like that.”
She jolted at the word. Dead. “And the ghosts? Were they just there or did they come with the spell?”
“When he screwed with the natural forces over there, he made everything a mess. Ghosts. It’s just… mind blowing. They are opening a department at Mitchell’s university to study ghosts now. Everything about what we thought we knew has changed. Max must have tried to undo things, over and over, while he was still alive. And he just screwed with the natural forces of that entire area. The house, the grounds, it was a plethora of psychic activity. Everything was stuck, like the owner himself.”
She supposed that made as much sense as anything in their lives did. All she had known was that it was a place where she’d fallen in love and lost everything. “Is he gone? Did Lawson tell you guys anything? I’m… I’m not allowed to see him. Edward says Elliot was very specific, no visitors at this stage.”
Eleanor shook her head. “I haven’t heard anything. I think when Lawson does, you’ll be the first to know. I can’t imagine him telling anyone else first. Or keeping it from you.”
“I’m going back to the house. I promised him I’d get it in order, and I didn’t yet. I have to at least do that much for him.”
Her friend turned her head. “Do you want help?”
“No. This is something I have to do alone.”
* * *
Boothe Estate felt empty, and not just because no one was home. It was empty of the life that had made it feel loved. Even when it had been haunted and sucking the life out of Elliot, this place had felt alive. Now, it was cold and empty. Like Melanie on the inside.
She couldn’t feel anything.
But that worked fine for what she had to do. With nothing to bother her and her mind on autopilot, she went and ahead and finished cataloging the house. Piece-by-piece, paper-by-paper, things were saved or discarded. The house itself was in perfect shape to be donated to the historical society Elliot had wanted.
The only thing that had to happen was that Elliot had to die. Nothing could happen until then.
“Don’t zap me.” Edward caught her attention from behind. “I heard you had been here for days. I thought I might be able to help.”
She shook her head, turning to regard him. “Zapping is not one of my powers.”
“Well, who knows with you? You did all kinds of things from what I heard.”
With one last look around, she walked toward Edward. “I still haven’t crashed from it. It’s like I can feel it coming but then it doesn’t.”
“You’re very strong, Melanie, and you loved him. Grief can and will do strange things to us. Like when I lost my parents. I was… despondent. Elliot picked me up from that mess. Gave me a job and a purpose. And then you found love for me. What makes it great is I think, even though I tried to mind my own business, you found love together. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me, the kind of joy it brings to me, to think that he had that before he died. He never thought he should, tha
t he deserved it.”
She had to look away from him. “Edward…”
“I know it has left you with a ton of pain. But you made his life full in his last days. That is something to hold onto.”
She nodded at him, tears clogging her throat. Melanie really hoped he understood why she couldn’t talk anymore.
* * *
Elliot
His head hurt, and it seemed like every minute it got worse and worse. He had to do something about it, which meant he had to push through the nothingness that was forever trying to engulf him.
But he wouldn’t let it. Melanie had forbidden him from getting lost in the void. He’d held onto that. It was such a strange thing, but it was like he always wanted to do what she said, he always wanted to make her happy.
He pushed and pushed. Sounds came blasting toward his ears. He didn’t know if people were shouting, but it certainly sounded like they did.
“I’m telling you, Lawson, there is activity happening in his soul. I can feel it.”
Silence followed that statement. Elliot didn’t know that voice. It was female but unknown to him. Unless he’d forgotten her. But he didn’t think so. Trapped where he was, all the things he had lost were back. He could remember his life.
Finally, Lawson—who he did know although he’d never seen with his eyes—answered. “After a year? Michaella, is that likely? I mean, we knew this could take some time. It took his father years to die; he lingered in incoherence, and Elliot skipped that part, but is that possible?”
She stepped toward. “His body is healthy. I’ve kept him fed magically. His muscles remain strong. All magic. He could come back and be fine.”
A year? Panic filled him, and he drove his consciousness forward. It wasn’t something he’d been able to do before now. But desperation made men perform greater feats than this. He surged forward, finally opening his eyes and sitting up. Light blared in on him. Fuck. He could see. Sort of. It wasn’t the blinding nothingness of the bright light that had taunted him for years. No, his eyes worked.
A woman he didn’t know stared down at him, her mouth gaping open, while a dark haired man—Lawson? —stared at him from the other side.
“Hi.” He looked between them. “Sorry, I’m… Elliot, and I think…”
“You’ve been sick.” The woman placed a gentle hand on his arm. “I’ve been taking care of you. Well, me and a staff of people I employ. My name is Michaella Addington. You’ve been here and we’ve been taking care of you.”
He nodded. That much he’d gleamed. He knew that name. Addington. They’d run in the same society, well their parents had. He shook his head. That didn’t matter right now. Okay. This Michaella person was a healer. That was good. He turned to Lawson who nodded to him.
“Welcome back. This is unexpected. Can you see me?”
He nodded. “I can. You’re Lawson. We’ve had dinner. Spent time together. Did you guys get the curse off of me?”
“Not me. Not Michaella, she took care of you. She’s the best, but we thought we were just doing end of life care. No one thought there was a possibility that you could make it. Melanie saved you. She got rid of the curse, cleared the house. It was all her.”
My heart rate sped up. My Melanie was amazing. “How did she do that?”
“Force of will. The woman is smart. I always knew that. We used to compete in school, but I think even I underestimated just how smart the woman is.”
He swallowed. “Is she okay?”
Elliot wanted to see her more than anything in the universe.
“She’s…” Lawson ran a hand through his hair. “Changed. Losing you was a blow I’m not sure she’s entirely going to come back from.”
No, that wasn’t true. She hadn’t lost him. He was still here, and he’d spend the rest of his life showing her that he was always going to be around. Elliot jumped out of the bed.
“Whoa,” Michaella said, grabbing his arm. “Take it easy. You’re very strong, even for being magically helped. But I don’t want you to overdo it.”
He owed this woman a huge debt. “I see you wear a wedding ring.” Three of them around her neck and one on her finger. He didn’t know what that was about, and he wasn’t going to comment in any case. “What wouldn’t you do for the man you’re married to?”
Her smile was fast. “Now that is a can of worms you don’t want to open. But yes, your point is taken. Come on. Let’s get you ready to go get your girl.”
Lawson cleared his throat. “That isn’t going to be so easy.”
Dread filled Elliot’s stomach. He’d been gone for a year. Lawson said she was changed. What did that mean? She was so beautiful that men seemed to be unable to stay away from her. Had she married someone else? Was that it? Was she gone from him forever?
“What happened?” He found his voice and forced himself to use it.
Sighing, Lawson answered.” There is this whole new field of study in ghosts, because of what happened with you. Melanie has gone back to school, and she’s getting her degree in historical witching society with a focus in ghosts. In the meantime, she’s left for the summer with several of her professors. She’s somewhere… I’m not sure where. I should know. But we have a new baby, and Mitchell and Eleanor went with her. Mitchell is heading up the team. So I know they were in Egypt, but I think they might now be somewhere in China.”
China. Okay. Well, that wasn’t Mars. He could get to China. “How can we find out exactly where she is? Who would know? Your wife… No, you guys just had that baby. Her mother. I guarantee that Mel’s mother knows exactly where she is. Can you find out? Don’t tell her about me. I want to speak to Mel before anyone else does. Okay? I don’t want her hearing I’m awake from someone else.”
Lawson nodded. “In person is always best when you’re going to lay your heart on the line.” The other man lifted his brows. “Not to state the obvious here, but you’ve never technically seen Melanie with your eyes. Not as an adult. Is this secrecy because you want a chance to see if you like what she looks like first?”
He walked over to Lawson, somehow managing to keep his back straight and his muscles firm. “What she looks like doesn’t matter to me. Not even a little bit. I love her soul. She’s beautiful, whatever is there on the outside.”
Lawson patted him on the back. “This works out and you’re going to be eating at my house every week, Bomber.”
“I knew you’d figured it out.” There had just been something at the table that night at dinner that tipped Elliot off.
Michaella looked between them. “Am I missing something?”
Lawson shook his head. “Just an old nickname.”
So he wasn’t going to out him? Maybe Lawson was a man who understood secrets.
Chapter 14
Elliot
It had taken a week to find her and that was with the help of the Enforcers. Elliot had been right that Mel’s mother knew where she was supposed to be. Only she hadn’t been there. Apparently, academics did what they did with little regard for men who were supposed to be dead chasing down graduate assistants to confess their love. They chased the history. In this case, that was ghost hunting. Or so he had heard. He hadn’t actually seen anyone to discuss it yet.
But she was supposed to be around the corner. Elliot strode through a cave, ducking to watch his head when it got low and getting stares from undergraduates who probably wondered who the dude in the inappropriate clothes was. The rest of them seemed to be in a uniform of some kind of coveralls and smocks that kept them from really brushing up against anything in their clothes.
These caves were old and not viewable to humans. You had to have magic to get inside. That was what Mitchell had told him when he’d met him by the entrance. He’d recognized Mitchell from all of the news footage from when he’d left Ava, Lawson’s wife, at the altar years earlier. He hadn’t remembered when he’d been blind, hadn’t been able to picture him, but it had come back. The poor guy—he was so glad they’d gotten that hex of of
f him and that they were all happy now and with the right people.
Elliot stopped by the entrance to the small cavern where Mitchell had said Melanie would be. He stood and really looked at her for the very first time. It didn’t feel like the first time he’d seen her, even though it was. It would have been hard to explain it to anyone who asked, but it felt like he’d seen her with his heart forever now. Maybe it was because he’d seen her when she was little, but he preferred to think of it as her being such a part of him that he’d already known what she looked like.
And yet… she was so beautiful that she took his fucking breath away, and it was like his eyes got to appreciate her for the first time.
She was turned away from him slightly, looking to her left. Her hair fell slightly out of a messy bun she had at the top of her head. It was more auburn than he would have pictured it, but then he tilted her head and it seemed almost chestnut with gold. He leaned his head against the side of the wall and watched her. He’d known how soft her locks were. His hands tingled for wanting to touch her.
Elliot knew her curves well, the long slope of her neck, the way that her hips felt pressed against his. Her face was beautiful, almost ethereal, like she was from another world. Melanie seemed to glow, and it wasn’t about her magic.
It had been a year, and she’d been on her own. Would she even want him back? This was the aching, nagging fear that rode him this week. What if she said no? What if it had all been too much and she didn’t want another moment of it?
He stepped toward her, slowly but not silently. She ran a hand through her hair but didn’t look up from where she studied the wall paintings. “Did you get the rub? We need to make a sketch of it.”
She was obviously not speaking to him. He cleared his throat, suddenly finding it dry. “No, I’m afraid I didn’t know you needed any.”
Tragic Magic: Wards and Wands #3 Page 16