by Erin R Flynn
“You,” Jerome growled. “They wanted you.”
“Oh, if only it was just me,” I chuckled, catching thoughts from several of the people there, focusing on the female senator who deeply loved the caster. “They wanted the whole coven, all my businesses, and even a hold on all the Alphas and leaders we do business with because I keep supes safe with that income and they can’t hold equality and jobs over them.”
I moved over to the caster as I smiled at her.
“But I’m his elder,” I purred, enjoying the fear in her eyes. I glanced over at Hunt. “I was who you should have come to. If you had taken a fucking moment to ask any of us, any supernatural, they would have told you that. Instead, you went right to the people who were moving you like a rat in a maze.”
I put my hands to the caster’s head and pulled out all the information I needed, rattling off names and places the others would need later. Then I made a totem appear and woke the caster back up, whimpering as he glanced between me and his lover he thought would save him.
“She can’t help you,” I hissed in his ear as I smirked at her. “You sent a pup to come after me with the help of a guy who doesn’t have enough juice to get a Vegas show. I am the Enchantress, and your bill has come due for all the checks you’ve been writing that you can’t cash.”
I pulled out all the chi from the caster and put it in the totem, not quieting his screams so the senator saw, heard, and felt every one of his last agonizing moments. And then I tossed his decayed corpse at her feet. I threw the totem over to Tommy.
“There’s blood magic in that one. He was killing people for the juice to fix her elections.” I glanced over at Hunt, seeing the horror in his eyes. “Yeah, we’re the monsters. She was finding him victims no one would miss so she could win elections and torture supes in the name of science.” I glanced back at all the “powerful” humans. “So this is how things are going to go. Some of you are dead. Very dead.”
“Plane crash?” Tommy asked.
“That should work,” I agreed, fear filling some of their auras. I chuckled. “How did you think this would go? I’d bring you all here and you thought we’d just have a chat? Right, because you wouldn’t come after me later?”
“Apparently they really have no idea who they picked a fight with,” Helen drawled, smiling at whatever was on the tablet she made appear. “Oh, they have all next week off and a bunch of them were vacationing together. Isn’t that perfect?”
“Lovely,” I agreed.
“Well, we’ll just change a few of these calendars and say they were going to play hooky a few days early. That sounds like something they’d do.”
I nodded, pleased at a stray thought. “They even have a way to slip their security details so none of them ever find out they have their secret club meetings here.” I burst out laughing as two of them had very clear and loud thoughts. “They don’t believe we can do it. They think this is all a bluff.”
“Idiots,” Keegan grumbled, shaking his head. “Self-important idiots that really don’t know shit.”
I nodded, making a TV appear as I focused on the most important of them and turned on the news. I smirked at him as I pulled information from his head and made it appear in front of the reporter, changing the teleprompter and images even.
“We now have confirmed reports that there are eleven women the senator paid off to keep quiet and their names,” the anchor said, looking a bit shocked at the loop she was being thrown. “All eleven filed sexual harassment complaints at the capital and were squashed, as the hoops to jump through are extensive and ridiculous as we’ve reported on before. Apparently five were actual sexual assault and police reports buried.
“We’re also being told that it was made clear to some of the women that they took the money and signed the non-disclosures or they would be harmed. Internal documents from the senator’s own offices and staff show discussions with the senator on what steps were being taken and the surveillance on the women—at the expense of the tax payers no less—that helped make the women compliant.”
“So your career is over,” I chuckled, muting the TV but letting the broadcast play. “They have it all now, and I got it all from your mind, used a little magic, and sent it over. That’s it. All done. No more you.” I let power flash in my eyes and swirl around me so even the humans could feel it. “But if you prefer to be one of the victims in the plane we’ll crash, just say the word. You have the option of retiring and living, crawling under some rock the rest of your life, or dying.”
He very, very clearly picked living and finally understood just who he’d fucked with.
“Wise decision,” I taunted. I pulled some more information out of his mind and relayed it. I went over to him and pulled out a few strands of his hair, chanting as I focused on my hands. Walking over to Tommy, I handed him the charm I’d made. “That’s for the senator. If it glows, it means he’s telling someone what happened here or typing about it or even thinking of telling someone.”
“So if it glows, he dies, got it,” Tommy replied, slipping it into his pocket. “I’ll make sure it’s in the security room and always has eyes on it.”
“Thank you.” I smirked at the senator. “Do you get now how far behind you’ve been? You’re not Goliath here. You’re David, and you don’t even have the fucking slingshot.” I waited until I saw acceptance in his eyes before releasing him. “Anything you want to say before I send you back?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m done. I was planning on retiring soon anyways. I just want out and to live my remaining days in peace, I promise.”
I nodded and ‘ported him back home. I shared a look with Tommy that we both knew the senator wouldn’t have all that many days left. It was too much to kill that many at once, but that didn’t mean I’d be stupid enough to let them all live for very long.
Right, like I’d lived for over a thousand years by being that stupid.
I snorted when I caught a random thought, glancing over at a different senator. “I just use Devil as my last name because it screws with people. No, I’m not really a demon or going to hell, you idiot. You can pray for it all you want, but I’m pretty sure I’m good with where I’m at after an angel showed up today asking for my help restoring balance.”
“Wait, what happened?” Helen asked, turning to me with wide eyes.
“What angel?” Keegan echoed.
I gave Helen a confused look. “I thought you were getting with Kate and Tommy.”
“I spoke with Kate, and she didn’t mention a damn angel. Do we believe in those?”
I snorted. “I do now that I met one and he kissed me so he could track me because he’s worried about other angels forcing me to erase demons, as I’m the only one who’s ever done it. Ever.”
“You’ve had one day out of hermit mode,” Jerome growled, pacing the length of the room. “How do you even—didn’t you take down a dirty elder? How do you do all of this in one damn day?”
“Is that where you were?” Helen asked Tommy. “I went to talk to you, but the guy in the office said you were doing something.”
“Yeah, I was helping her with a dirty elder.”
“Oh, and I finally ended things with Theo since he found his mate and she’s jealous of Dominic and another woman having his heir and not her, so she should call our therapists,” I threw in, swallowing a laugh as they all just blinked at me as if trying to figure out what to ask about first.
“Okay, that at least answers why you were going to Hunt for angry hate sex,” Keegan muttered, scrubbing his hands over his head. “That was seriously bugging me because I heard you rescued some hot as fuck hawks last night and all they talk about is you.”
I shrugged at the unasked question. “I’m just that good. I wore them out.”
“Of course you did,” Helen chuckled, shaking her head. “Got it. Schedules all changed. Who are we killing in the plane crash?”
I swallowed loudly when her eyes landed on Hunt, realizing she wasn’t the on
ly one angry at him. I went over to him and smiled, ungagging him.
“Soraya, let me—please—” he whispered, sounding choked up.
I leaned in and put my finger over his lips. “No, you don’t deserve to even start apologizing yet, you fucking traitor. I took care of the caster who wronged your sister, and I’ll destroy the people who set her up, who used you like this. I’ll even make sure she’s really at peace, and do you know what that means?”
He swallowed loudly, nodding. “I’m yours. You own me.”
“Yes, yes I do,” I purred, using my power and putting a magical collar on him that I could do anything and everything to him through. I could anyways, but the collar could only be put on with consent, acknowledgement of the debt owed. I moved to straddle his lap, running my fingers over the collar. “Was it worth it? Was your hate and revenge worth all of this?”
“No, not even before you found out because I fell for you even if I hated magic,” he whispered, whimpering when I stood and slapped him across the face.
“Save your bullshit for someone who would listen,” I sneered. “You never took me or who I was seriously, but you will now, Hunt. You will now that I own you not only by getting your revenge but not turning you over to your elders as a traitor. The lions who tried to kidnap me to make porn videos or give me to my elders are dead. What do you think would happen to you? How do you think the wolves would punish you?”
“They’d take my wolf,” he whispered, hanging his head in shame. “They’d give me the ultimate punishment.”
“They can’t do that, but I could. I don’t hurt animals though, and they should only do that if someone is feral to save the person,” I muttered. “I only do it for them if someone is feral, so I’m not happy if they’ve been throwing that at people. But that’s not what I’ll do, Hunt.”
“What will you do with me?” he asked, not having the guts or energy to look at me.
“Lots. I’m going to do lots to you. For now, you can watch how wrong you were about us as we take care of the bad guys you were working for to sell us out.”
It sounded like a good start to me.
5
We started simple, as we had the first and huge distraction with the news breaking about the senator. It would also explain the sudden schedule changes of the other seventeen to be unavailable and playing it off like an early vacation.
It wasn’t our first conspiracy, after all, but it would be the first one Hunt saw every part of, his collar teleporting him with me once I adjusted it. He was going to see all of it so he understood just how badly he should choke on his guilt.
I took the senator who would be first to die in the plane even if she was swearing revenge on me in her mind because I’d killed her caster lover. She would not get the chance. Instead, we went to her house, and her memories helped me and the others handle everything needed like she simply slipped her security to hide through the political shitstorm that was going on.
“The Beijing nest is raising the price because you cut him off from sex and didn’t approve the last few uses of the truth telling potion,” Tommy informed me as we returned, waving his phone at me as if saying they were in negotiations.
I sighed and brought their leader, Hui Yin to me. He growled at my doing it without even asking, but I simply plopped on his lap, which instantly put him in a good mood.
“Darling, why did we stop having sex? Do you remember why? I do.” I leaned in and pressed my lips to his ear. “Do you remember the ‘accidents’ with my being cut randomly? Should I give you the punishment you deserve for that instead of just cutting you off? How about I have a conversation with your elders that—”
“The normal price is acceptable,” he cut off, kissing my neck. “You cannot blame a man for missing you, Soraya.”
I hummed as I fisted his hair and yanked until he gasped. “You will only get half now for playing these games like you’re boss here and not the employee, but I will let you have first dibs on anything we find in China to handle as you see fit. These are dirty, dirty people, and I doubt their interests are only in the US.”
His lips curved up in an excited grin. “All of Asia.”
“No, as you are not even my favorite supe in China, Hui Yin. I have other friends. I am loyal and always go to you first. Should I change the practice?”
“No, of course, forgive me and my greed,” he muttered, lowering his eyes respectfully.
“Good boy,” I breathed in his ear, smirking when he shivered. I kissed him deeply as I moved his hands to my breasts. I threw back my head and laughed at what I heard in his mind. “Oh, you poor thing. Has no one given you what you need as I did? That should teach you to appreciate a woman better.”
“Yes, but it is my nature to be greedy.”
“And it is mine to be unforgiving,” I reminded him. “I have five hawks that I have given my protection and allowed into my coven. They have shown an interest in joining our security as I keep pissing more and more people off and giving more sanctuary. Would you like to be in my good graces?”
“Always. I will have my people train them and work with them on these interrogations,” he promised.
“Good. Do not corrupt them. That is my job. I don’t want them learning all of your ways. That’s up to Tommy. Just interrogation and how to handle the potion.”
“Of course.”
I gave him one more kiss before sending him back, sharing a look with Tommy and shrugging. “I do keep pissing off more people. We could use the help, and honestly, it’s not a bad idea to have guards on shift who fly.” I held up my hand when he went to object, crooking my finger so he leaned down and I could study him closely. “Tommy, you are exhausted. Let me give you more help.”
“Thanks, boss,” he sighed, accepting I was right at least.
“Okay, so the plane will take off soon with the passenger list we give them,” Helen said as she came over. “And it will go missing a few days to give the nest time to interrogate everyone. Then it will be found crashed and whoever we’re including dead.”
I nodded, catching a question from Hunt’s mind. “The wolf wants to know why we’re going through all of this instead of just telling the truth?”
“Well, you’d be dead for one,” Jerome reminded him. “Your elders would know and you’d be very, very dead. So that’s about the only reason I’d vote for that option.”
I rolled my eyes. “And people would find out about the already active and running lab. Do you think it wise to take the chance that people think it a good idea to keep it going since it’s already there and paid for by taxes? How many would fight for it to stay? Or try for their own now that one got through the regulations?” I nodded when his face went pale.
Yup, sounded like a valid worry.
“People don’t know about this chip you used, and they won’t, but if we tell everyone, people would assume her security is lax not to have found a traitor,” Tommy explained, taking the next main concern. “So how many more will try and try harder after that? How long until the next asshole attacks her? A minute?” He waved off whatever Hunt was going to say. “You didn’t know what they were doing, but you were still part of the attack.”
“And what would happen if not only the American public found out elections were being rigged, but everything else they were doing here?” Keegan threw in. “How fast would the headline be that a caster was rigging elections and killing to do it? They’d leave everything else out of that, just their sexy part, right? I mean, you hate magics and that’s all you’d see too.”
“And the government was in an actual huge ass conspiracy,” Helen drawled. “How long before the next Mr. Fuckhead Paid Conspiracists Jones will pop up to cause more bullshit unrest in the country? Because let’s be honest that he doesn’t believe in shit besides selling his next product and endorsement deal. We need more of that like a fucking hole in the head.”
“We’d be doing this even if they were supe friendly lefty guys,” Keegan clarified. “It’
s more tempting to let it all out because they’re on the far right and hate us, but that could also make them martyrs for the cause that could make people rally behind them. It’s better to just undo as much of the damage as we can and take out the baddies.”
“But we’ll leave enough dirt visible so they don’t get to ride off into the sunset all clean and their legacies intact,” I added. “We aren’t that nice.” I stretched as I glanced at the others. “Okay, you guys get all caught up while I go grab calories to handle all of this. We’re going to be getting into this for a while.”
“Yeah, this is quite the mess,” Helen sighed, staring at the others. “I really thought the afterglow of what you did to the elders would last a bit longer.”
I shook my head. “It feels like weeks ago already. Wow, I really do cause a lot of trouble.” I popped to my apartment to get more gelato, forgetting about Hunt coming with me until he tried to approach me since we were alone. I gave him the look he deserved and brought us right back, making sure he ‘ported into the room far from me. I wanted him to see it all, not die because I was so upset with him I might do something rash.
Diving into my gelato, I listened as everyone got caught up on the day and all I had done and been through. Then I moved on to the next person, checking their mind and seeing where they landed on the dirty scale.
Yup, they would be on the plane. I was starting to think I would have trouble not throwing people on the death plane and leaving them to live longer. We couldn’t have seventeen die at once. That would raise too many questions. We agreed no more than ten.
Unfortunately, there weren’t seven I could stomach letting live and just burying in scandal. Mostly because four made it very clear they would not go quietly.
“Have two run off,” Hunt suggested. “Make two of the dirty also be having an affair that comes out in this leak and they took money and ran, leaving a trail of security cameras catching them in Cabo or somewhere without extradition.”