Death be Charmed

by Epstein, Katie

  “The car will be here in two minutes. Okay?” his tone was gentle, as if he was ready for me to break, and it irritated me like nails down a chalkboard.

  “I’m fine,” I snapped, not needing him to baby me. What I needed to do was get to wherever Kaleb was and find out what the hell had gone on. What had Kaleb been doing? How had he gotten so hurt?

  Thoughts thundered through my head as a million possibilities hit me. Even lowering my gift did nothing. No visions came through, no thoughts. Only a flurry of emotions stood on the sidelines, waiting to overtake me. As soon as I sensed them, I put my shields back up. I needed to have my wits about me before seeing Kaleb. I needed to know he was okay and that he would get out of this alive. Then I could kill him for making me worry.

  Before long, we were in the car and heading back to the city. The car ride seemed to take an age, but finally we reached the border. A solar cab with PCA on the side was waiting for us near the outskirts. Bernard must have contacted Cole and he must have sent it for us. We jumped in and headed off to the Healer Hub not far from the agency. Nothing Bernard said to me on our journey ailed my aching heart. Every motion, every noise, grated on me as the urgency to reach Kaleb rode me hard.

  Once we reached the Healer Hub, I ran as fast as I could, Bernard at my heels. The champagne I’d drunk earlier on an empty stomach rolled around inside me, stoking the nausea that had blossomed with worry. I pushed it aside refusing to have anything stop me from getting to Kaleb.

  Mayra met me first. She looked disheveled and tired, but she was still strong enough to stop me in my tracks. “Terra. Stop. Wait …”

  “Mayra. What happened? How is he?” My words came out fast and hard. My eyes tried to see past the white doors behind her.

  “We’ve put him in a healing coma to be on the safe side. Terra. Terra, look at me.”

  Her words finally made their mark, and I dragged my eyes away from the door. “What? What is it?”

  “He was attacked in the trees on the border of the Indicium Quarter. You know the forest that leads onto Fey Lands?”

  I nodded desperately, needing to know more but unable to find the words to ask for it. Thankfully, she continued. “He was ripped apart. By both claws and magic. From the inside out …”

  “W-what?” I asked, tears falling from my eyes so fast that I could barely see her. “Please tell me he’s okay, Mayra … please?”

  “He’s healing. And his shifter genetics are doing the rest. All we can do now is wait as he tries to come through this. They’ve put him in a water tank for now. I’ve added a few crystals and potions to aid him. I’ve done all I can through the magic. The healers are with him as we speak.”

  “But … but he’ll be okay? Right? Right, Mayra?”

  “I don’t know, sweetheart.” She brushed my tears away. “It’s a waiting game now. That’s all we can do, is wait.”

  A headache formed alongside a pain that had settled in my chest. It was as if the pressure was building in me, quick and fast. “Can I see him?”

  “Cole’s in with him right now. They only want one visitor in there at a time as they’re still working on him.”

  “Damn it!” I shouted, and I punched the wall in frustration. The pain shot up my fist but I didn’t register it. I didn’t care. And why should I? I’d spent the night dancing with the vampires while my partner was getting torn apart by who knows what. And he’d been left alone. He’d been alone … “What the hell was he doing!” I shouted out. “Who attacked him?”

  Bernard came up by my side and turned me around to face him. “Look at me. Terra, I mean it. Look at me.”

  “What?” I asked in disbelief. “Why does everyone want me to look at them?”

  “Because you need to calm down. You’re in no state to see Kaleb right now. And you’re in no state to demand answers that you won’t digest anyway. Calm down.” He pulled me close, holding me there in a vice-like grip until my panic subsided a little and I relented. “You can see him soon. You can find out what’s happened. We both will. But right now, you need to get control.” He kissed my head and started to gently rock me back and forth. At first it made me angry, but then common sense started to shine through. I let him hold me. I held onto him. At the moment, he was my anchor, and I knew that if I didn’t start to rein my emotions in, I would lose it. And Mayra would probably enchant me to sleep. I needed to get control.

  “Terra?” a voice said from behind me, and I snatched my head up.

  “Cole?” I asked, seeing his large frame peek out from the doors behind us. “Oh God, Cole.” I ran to him without thinking, hoping he would let me see Kaleb. But as soon as I saw the worry etched into his own features, I broke.

  He caught me in his arms and I sobbed. I cried and cried as the fear for Kaleb eked out of my pores. Cole didn’t stop me, or push me away. In fact, he grabbed me and held on tight.

  “It’s alright,” he cooed, once my tears had subsided. “He’s going to be fine, Terra. He’s a fighter.”

  Rubbing my eyes, I knew then that I must be a right sight to behold with all my make-up running down my face. But I didn’t care. “C-can I see him?”

  “Sure. Go on through.”

  “Wait,” Mayra said from behind me coming forth with wipes in her hand. “Come here, sweetheart.” She removed what she could from my face. “Your eyes will sting like hell otherwise.”

  I sniffed at Mayra’s mothering, but I didn’t want to break again. Instead, I nodded my thanks to her then pushed my way through the doors.

  I needed to see my partner. I needed to see that he was okay with my own eyes. Then, after that, after I saw that he was going to be okay, I would work on finding the bastards who did this and make them suffer.

  That was the least I could do.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  WHEN I WALKED through the clinical doors, all I had eyes for was the half naked form in the glass tank before me. Submerged in deep green water from the neck down, the healers had strapped Kaleb on a white board that sat within the tank. I assumed it was to keep his body from floating up out of the healing waters.

  I’d heard about this treatment before. It was a key healing technique for shifters, used with a solution that aided the healing properties of a shifter’s DNA. Crystals sat around the outside of the tank, and a blue light beamed up from the large crystals beneath it to hone the energy.

  White shorts were all that preserved Kaleb’s dignity. And his head rested on some form of cushion that was part of the soft edging bordering the tank.

  His eyes were closed, and a noise had me snatching my head up to see what was going on. One of the healers was working on what looked like a lab workstation in the corner of the room. She nodded in the way of an apology. I didn’t respond as she got on with her work. I just edged forward. I was scared to death that stepping closer would make this all real.

  But of course it was real I berated myself. And I needed to stop acting so damn stupid and be there for my partner.

  Kaleb was the one hurt. He was the one stuck healing in the tank. And by the looks of it, he’d been torn up pretty badly.

  Dark pink gashes across his throat were evident as I neared the white chair next to the tank. My shaking legs forced me to sit down, and I took in the claw marks across his torso. I always said his abs were like a cheese grater, and the thought of it made me chuckle. Hysteria hovered so close, but I refused to let it in. I needed to stay in control.

  Part of me thought he would wake up at the sound of my mirth and yell ‘Surprise!’, giving me grief over it and claiming I was too easy to scare. But that didn’t happen. He just lay there; his eyes closed as the water tried to work its magic.

  “I’m so sorry, Kaleb,” I said in a croaky voice. The emotion lodged in my throat, and I coughed to clear it. Fresh tears filled my eyes and spilled over as I placed my hand against the glass. “I should have been there. I should have been with you.”

  Anger filled me once more at the thought of him being a
lone and attacked so viciously. Did he suffer? Did he wonder if death would claim him this night? The thoughts filled me, hard and whole, but that was a dangerous road to go down as the rage threatened to swallow me. And in the end, none of that mattered. All I knew was that he shouldn’t have been out there alone. And in the Fey Forest of all places. What the hell had he been playing at?

  “You didn’t wait for me. Did you?” I asked the silence, expecting no reply. I focused on his hair, subtly swaying with the ripples in the water. “You’re such an impatient ass. You always have been.” I sniffed. “You couldn’t wait for me. Oh no. You had to send me off in this stupid gown, and now you’re here. Stuck in this thing.” Frustration spiraled through my stomach with a vengeance. “When you get out of here, I’m going to make you pay, Kaleb Cipher. I’m going to buy you that stupid chocolate that you like. Then I’m going to make you pay, you selfish, little asshole.”

  “Terra,” Cole’s voice came from behind me and my spine went rigid.

  “I thought only one person was allowed in at a time,” I said stiffly, refusing to turn around. Cole came to stand beside me, and I kept my eyes on Kaleb.

  “I asked the healers if we could just have a few moments with him. Together.”

  I looked up to see that the healer had disappeared. Now it was only me, Cole and an unconscious Kaleb in the room.

  “Oh,” was all I could say, and Cole crouched beside me.

  “How was Darkwood?” he asked, offering me a tissue. I reluctantly took it from him as my cheeks burned. Not only had he heard me call his injured brother a selfish, little asshole, now he was mopping up my tears. Wonderful.

  “Telling,” was all I said.

  A huge sigh left his lips. “I’m sorry I contacted you. But Kaleb shared with me Bernard’s instruction on how to communicate with you at least. He’s been quiet about everything else that’s been happening, and I took that to mean there were no leads.” He scoffed. “Looks like I was wrong.”

  Wiping my cheeks, I turned to face him. “What do you know?”

  “He was found on the border of the Fey Forest. A member of the Ground Patrol firm who operates near that particular border heard a noise coming from the trees. They found him when they investigated and brought him in. They saw no one else.”

  “What about tracks? A scent? Anything?”

  “I can’t get the other agents involved until I know what we’re dealing with,” he said, as if tired. “It’s too risky.”

  “And your brother being ripped to shreds isn’t worth that risk?” I snapped. Cole looked at me in understanding and I snatched my head away. I didn’t want his pity. It wasn’t my brother lying there.

  “Is your family coming to see him?” I dared to ask, and Cole casually put a hand on my knee. I hated that it felt so nice—that I felt pleasure while Kaleb was lying there, hovering between life and death.

  “No. I haven’t told them yet.” He lifted my hand and linked his fingers with my own. “The last thing Kaleb would want when he wakes is my father leaning over him. And my mother isn’t allowed to leave without my father. It’s their way.”

  “Wow. Nice parents.” He said nothing and it made me feel guilty. “Sorry.”

  Cole chuckled softly. “Don’t worry about it. Kaleb’s always felt the odd one out, and my parents do nothing to rectify that. It’s best we wait and see what happens before I tell them anything.” He hesitated. “Do you know why Kaleb was found in the Fey Forest, Terra?”

  I gnawed on my lip before glancing his way. “I think so.”

  “Care to elaborate?”

  “You think this is the time?”

  “I think it is. There’s nothing we can do but sit here while we wait for my brother to wake up. And that’s wasted time while we have dangerous prisoners on the loose. I can’t just push all that aside while I wallow in sadness.” He paused. “Neither can you.”

  Damn him. Even during a family crisis he was still the control freak Enforcer Chief. Couldn’t he take a break from it for just five freaking minutes?

  “I called Kaleb, as agreed,” I told him eventually, hating that he was right. There was nothing we could do right now. Nothing but wait. “I called him when I came back to the city to get a dress for a ball the vampires were having.”

  Cole fingered the fabric of my gown as if he’d just noticed it for the first time. “And?”

  “He told me that Torroro’s mother had reached out to him. He was due to meet with her, and he asked if I wanted to come.”

  “You met with her?”

  “We both did.” I went on to tell Cole everything we’d learned from Nuo and the vision I’d seen from touching her. “We went to The Mutuari to see if they had any security footage we could look at, but it was closed. Kaleb told me not to worry, that he would check it out in the morning when they were open. Then I went back to Darkwood.”

  “You think he went to investigate things alone?”

  I nodded. “The Fey lands that border the Indicium Quarter run the back of The Mutuari. I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

  “And he was sniffing around there?”

  “And getting attacked for his trouble. Yes.”

  “Damn it, Kaleb,” Cole whispered. He let go of my hand before standing up to his full height. “Terra, you need to go home and get some sleep. First thing in the morning, we’ll head out to The Mutuari and see what we can find. We need to look deeper into this before anyone else is attacked.”

  “I don’t want to go home,” I said in a petulant tone, but he wasn’t having any of it.

  “You’re going. Even if I have to get Bernard to drag you there.” He took my hand once more and pulled me up out of my seat. “There is nothing you can do tonight. I’ll be sleeping here with Kaleb. They won’t let another person stay.”

  “Then I’ll stay in the waiting room.”

  “Why? So you can be exhausted tomorrow when I need you to be focused?”

  So now he was playing the guilt card. “Fine,” I said reluctantly. “But you contact me straight away if anything changes. I mean it.”

  “I will. Of course, I will.”

  “Thanks,” I whispered, and I dared to glance one more time at my partner. He hadn’t moved a muscle. He just lay there, like a pickle in a jar. “I’ll head out first thing in the morning.”

  “I’ll meet you at The Mutuari when they open. It should be usual store hours.”

  “I can investigate this on my own, Cole,” I told him. I hated that he couldn’t trust me with this.

  “I’m not having another agent hijacked with no back up. I will meet you in the morning.”

  He could be so stubborn. And knowing exactly how stubborn he could be, I bit down on my lip to hold back a retort.

  “Nice to know you can agree with me sometimes, Agent Vane.” He gave me a small smile. “Get some sleep. Then in the morning you can update me on what’s been happening with the vampires while we head out to check the Currency Hold.”

  “Okay.” I nodded. Not an ounce of fight was left in me. I was tired. I was filled with worry. And all I wanted was for this day to end and for Kaleb to open his stupid eyes. “Call me if he wakes.”

  “I will do.”

  Turning away from Cole, I headed for the door.

  “Terra?” Cole called out to me before I could make my exit. My hand hovered against the door as I looked back.

  “What?” I asked him, my voice tired.

  “You look beautiful, by the way.”

  My heart hitched at the words I had longed to hear. Words I’d fantasized about when I’d imagined Cole seeing me in this dress with such a look in his eyes. It was just a pity his timing sucked.

  Giving him a meek smile, I pushed the door open and swept out of the Healer Hub to let Bernard take me home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  AFTER A RESTLESS night’s sleep, I finally gave up and rolled out of bed. Bernard had stayed with me and was still dozing when I yanked the curtains open. Groaning a
t the piercing light, he threw his arm over his face.

  “Really, Terra?” he said, groggy with sleep.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled as I pushed the covers back. I checked my watch comms on the nightstand to make sure Cole hadn’t contacted me. I’d called him a couple of hours ago when I’d woken up for a glass of water and nothing had changed. But I got up and checked my transmission pod regardless, to make sure he hadn’t called me on that either.

  Nothing.

  Frustrated, I rubbed at my face to try and rid myself of the exhaustion that pulled at me. I didn’t have time for it. I needed to get up. Get dressed. Go and meet Cole. The Mutuari’s would open soon, and then I could throw myself into the investigation.

  When I climbed out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around me and headed to my bedroom to get changed. I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw Bernard standing outside the door with a tray in his hands. Coffee and toast stared back at me and I felt sick.

  “You’re not going anywhere until you eat this,” he told me, walking past me and carrying it into my bedroom.

  “I’m not hungry.” I stomped after him.

  “I don’t really care. You eat and drink what is on this tray, or you’re not going anywhere. Your choice.”

  “You know you’re not really my husband, right?”

  “Right,” he told me as he placed the tray on the bed, “but I know I’m your friend, so eat it.”

  Walking over to my wardrobe, I yanked a fresh pair of jeans from the hanger. I snatched up a vest tee followed by some clean underwear before heading back to the bathroom. I made sure to glare at him along the way.

  Once I was dressed, I found Bernard still on the bed. He lifted the tray again. “Your choice, Terra. You eat it, or I’ll make you eat it.”

  “Try me,” I snapped, showing my teeth.

  “My fangs are a lot sharper than yours. You know I can charm you to do it if you push me. And I will do so if I think your well-being is on the line. Now eat.”

  “You’re a son of a bitch, do you know that?” I grabbed a piece of toast and bit into it with venom.