by Dawn Ibanez
Lily started to pace. She had known Cord was getting out of control, but now this was too much. “Where did you leave the body?” That was the first order of business. This would be the last mess she cleaned up for him. Their father would have to find someplace else for Cord to go. Hopefully then she could get a grip and move on with her life.
Cord looked up at the ceiling and smiled as he thought back to the delicious meal he had. “Not that far from the club,” he giggled. “There’s an alley that’s between Haven and this little rundown mill that was perfect.”
Disgust rolled through Lily’s stomach. “I have some calls to make.” She ran her hands through her hair as she tried to get her thoughts in order. A gasp escaped her when Cord’s arms wrapped around her. The gasp turned into a growl when Cord started to trail his lips up and down her neck. “Let me go,” she ordered.
“Why don’t you let me watch you anymore?” he asked. Cord could only smile as he grabbed one of Lily’s thinly covered breasts. “We used to have so much fun. And I have to say, you with another girl is hot as hell.” He moaned softly as he moved to slide his hand under her shorts.
Lily quickly threw her elbow back into his chest and turned to bring her knee into his stomach. “We aren’t children anymore, Cord,” she spat. “There are rules that we have to live by. Do you know what could happen if we’re found?”
Cord gave her a smile that most women would consider charming. “The real question of the day is: do I care what would happen if people find out about us?” He leaned in close to Lily, only to pause when something sharp scraped against his neck. His eyes spied the fact that her fingers were now claws, and laughed. “You’re going to hurt me?”
She hated the way he always seemed to mock her. She would not continue to live as his accomplice. “Get out of my house,” she said lowly. When he blinked at her, she held onto his throat as she walked him to the door. “I am done with you. I will not be your scapegoat, your accomplice, or even your entertainment any longer.” She pushed him into the hall. As she watched him to struggle to his feet, the urge to peel the skin off of his bones nearly consumed her.
He looked into her eyes and swallowed. It was rare that Lily would lose her temper, but when she did she was scary as hell. Cord forced himself to sit up at her feet. “Don’t do this Lily,” he said shaking his head. “Dad just got to town. If he finds out you kicked me out he’s going to be pissed.”
“I am done. I’ll handle Daddy. You get out of here before I call the Keepers for you,” she said before closing the door in his face. Lily leaned against the large piece of wood and slowly inhaled. In the matter of moments her day had gone to mediocre to shit. Cord knew not to knock on her door. There was a man on her floor that was prone to shoot first and ask questions later when it came to loud noise. And anything Cord would do in the state he was currently in would be noisy.
Lily walked into her living room and grabbed her phone. She sat on her sofa as she dialed the first important phone call. It didn’t surprise her when her adoptive father’s voice answered. “I kicked Cord out,” she said simply.
“Do I want to know what happened?” he asked.
“He’s been breaking the rules lately. The news said something about chaos down at the morgue yesterday afternoon. A Keeper was there to examine three bodies. They were Cord’s casualties. There is also another girl in an alley by the club Haven.” Lily took a breath and leaned her head in her hand. “And he doesn’t even know if she was legal. I can’t keep this up. Not for him. Not if this is the way he’s going to keep acting.”
Her father was silent for a moment. “I will handle everything, Sweetheart,” he assured her. “You sound off. Did Cord do something else that you don’t want to tell me?”
Lily pressed her lips together. She tangled her hand in her hair and pulled on the strands in frustration. “He said some really crude things and grabbed me. It’s no big deal.”
“Lilavanti,” her father said sternly. “What your brother did is a big deal. You have come too far to let him take you back to where I found you.”
“I know Daddy,” she said as tears filled her eyes. He had always been so proud of her. Most days she wished she had been born a Mage instead of a Demon.
“Now, I want you to call your boss and take the day off.”
She stood and started to pace again. “I can’t do that.”
“Eric Maxwell is going to be too busy to have you fetching his coffee. He was supposed to be supervising that fiasco you were just talking about. Call out. Tell them you had a family emergency or that you were attacked. I don’t care which. Just stay out of the office today. Especially if Cord left another body for them to find.”
Lilavanti sat on the sofa again and sighed. She was supposed to be extinct. If the Council found out about her or Cord, she would become a lab rat. “Alright,” she said softly. “I’ll call in now.”
“You’re doing the right thing.”
“I’m not too sure of that. But if you say so.” She leaned back and put her feet up on the table. “I’m gonna go. I have those calls to make. Love you Daddy.”
Chapter 15-
Troy woke and smiled at the woman sleeping in his arms. After leaving the kitchen he and Madison ended up putting that can of Reddi Whip to good use. When they finally fell asleep two hours ago he promised that he would be the one to get up with the boys. He buried his nose in Madison’s loose hair and brushed his lips against her pulse. It still amazed him. He was home with his Mate. With his family.
He untangled himself from Madison’s grip. Troy could only chuckle when she moaned in protest and pulled his pillow into her arms. It was the most vulnerable he had yet to see her and it only made him want to protect her more.
Troy got out of bed and made his way down to the kitchen. He folded his arms over his chest and could only laugh at the sight that greeted him. Aiden and Kayin were standing on the counters trying to reach for bowls and boxes of cereal. “Good morning boys,” he greeted. He would have panicked if he hadn’t seen them the night before.
Two pairs of eyes turned to look at him. Aiden grabbed a box of Fruit Loops and turned his attention to his father. “Morning Daddy,” he said happily. He jumped from the counter and went to the table.
“We’re fixing breakfast,” Kayin chirped with two bowls under his arm.
“I can see that.” Troy walked over to the table. He sat next to where the boys were working and leaned his chin on his hand. “Why didn’t you come and get me or Mommy?” he asked curiously.
“Because with Alex gone, we’re the men of the house,” Kayin announced proudly. “We have to make sure Mommy eats right.”
The entire conversation was getting stranger by the second. “And why would you boys need to do that?”
Aiden gave his father a serious look. It took everything in Troy not to laugh in his son’s face. “Daddy, we have to tell you a secret about Mommy.” He leaned over to Troy’s ear as if he had the world’s biggest secret to tell. “She can’t cook. She tries but it comes out really bad. But don’t say anything, it’ll hurt her feelings and she’ll cry.”
Troy looked into his son’s face and couldn’t fight the chuckles that left him. “Then I think it’s a good thing for you two that I can cook,” he said trying to be as serious as Aiden. When they both looked at him skeptically he stood and went to the stove. “I even went to school for it.” He pulled out a frying pan and looked at the two boys. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had two sons. The more he looked at the twins he could see how much they resembled their mother. “What would you like to eat?”
The boys looked at each other for a moment before smiling brightly. “Bacon!” they cheered.
They resembled him too. He smiled at the pair and went to the refrigerator. “Why don’t we add something to that? We can have pancakes or waffles.”
Again, the boys looked at each other. They smiled brightly, and Troy could see women falling at their feet in a fe
w years. During that time he would have to tranq their mother. The boys turned their attention to Troy. “Both,” they demanded, “with bacon!”
* * * * *
Mathias opened the door to his apartment and looked at the man on the other side. He had to give the Maxwell family credit. They all knew when to own up to their responsibilities. “Shall I assume your father told you what has been ordered?” he asked. When Barry didn’t answer, Mathias stepped to the side and gestured for Barry to enter. “Your friend is tucked away safely with your sister as well.”
“Thorne has nothing to do with any of this and you know it,” Barry said lowly. When Mathias shrugged he hissed out a breath. “What the hell are you playing at now?”
It was times like this that made Mathias regret becoming a Keeper in the first place. The decisions he had to make were never ones that rested easy with him. As he shut and locked the door, he rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I wish I could say that I’m not playing at anything,” he answered seriously. His dark brown eyes took locked with Barry’s and Mathias allowed his usually strong shoulders to slump. “But there is so much going on, I have had to play most of it against my chest.” He motioned for Barry to sit. “You and your brothers are basically the only ones I can trust with any of this.”
Barry looked at the high ranking official and frowned. “Why us?” He had always known there was something going on with Mathias, but he could never find out exactly what. Now, it looked like he was about to find out.
“Frankly, you’re incorruptible. Each and every last one of you.” Mathias walked to the window and looked out into morning cityscape. “You all seem to do the right thing. Even if it’s the hard choice. I need people like that in my corner.”
A dark laugh escaped the black Mage. “If we’re so incorruptible we wouldn’t be in anyone’s corner,” he reasoned. When Mathias frowned, he mirrored the look. “Why don’t you just tell me what you need? This would make everything a lot easier on everyone.”
“There are people on the Council that don’t want this investigation to continue.” Mathias shook his head as he thought of all of lies he had uncovered. “Hell, they don’t want the Council to continue. They want all of us exposed.”
Barry tried to wrap his head around what he was being told. “And you think the best way to handle this situation is to throw me under the bus?”
“No, but it’s the best I can come up with at this moment in time.” Mathias ran his hands through his hair and started to pace. “Madison doesn’t know this yet, but Ashton is back in the area. He wants to investigate the murders that have been happening. With this newest body, there’s a chance that I’ll have no choice.”
“Why is he back now?” he asked.
Mathias walked over to a tall book case and pulled down a leather bound book. “My mother left me this,” he said quietly. As he returned to Barry, he flipped to the back of the book. “These were the worst of the visions she had.”
It took Barry a moment to realize what Mathias wasn’t telling him. It had been widely known that the last Oracle was Martha Maxwell, Barry’s own great aunt. When she passed away some years ago it was said that she left no heiress to her gifts behind. “Are you saying we’re family?” Barry asked.
“She left no daughters,” Mathias answered. “I seem to be a freak of nature.” He laid the book open to the page he wanted and returned to the book case. “Martha met and fell in love with my father. They were married and she went into hiding when she became pregnant with me. The story for a while was that I was adopted. Then when I started looking just like him, I was his bastard son. For a while my Magic was similar to his. I could almost talk to plants. Our grandfather used to call me an Elf. But after Martha died, I became the one that saw visions. All I had was that book to show me how to figure out any of this.” Mathias tapped at the book and sighed. “So while she didn’t leave an heiress, she damn sure left an heir. And if you don’t believe me, ask Madison. She figured it out years ago.”
Another dark muse escaped Barry. It figured that Madison would find a long lost member of the family and let them stay lost. After her own personal history, no one could blame her. “I’ll get into it with her later. For right now, what is this?”
“You know how everyone is getting out of sorts because of the Mayan calendar ending? Well, Martha also had something to say about it. Read that page.”
Barry reached for the book and nearly dropped it when he felt utter terror wash through him. He looked at Mathias with wide eyes. “What the hell was that?”
“Some of her emotions became embedded in the pages of the book. This page is the worse one. There are some days when I can’t even handle it.”
Barry placed the book on the table and looked at the quickly written prophecy. The frown he wore only deepened as he read the passage. “No one has to fear the End Date. The Mayan calendar will simply reset and the world will seem as if everything is right. But when the Dragon falls to the Snake the 4 will rise. Each one has been bred for her role. Conquest will be revealed as the one thought extinct. War will be the one that can and will call people to her side. Pestilence shall be the one who holds true powers of Nature under her control. Death will be the just that. Her power will be the most feared out of the four. Not because of her talent, but because of her understanding. The 4 will decide the fate of us all.” Barry felt his stomach churn as he looked at Mathias. “She’s saying that four women are the Horsemen of the Apocalypse?” he asked.
“Yes, and I think I may have found three of the four.”
Bile rose up in Barry’s throat. “Madi, Dyl, and whoever killed those women.”
Mathias nodded slowly. “Madison said that she believed that it was a Succubus. They’re supposed to be extinct. Dylan is the Vampire Queen. If she demands it, they would go to war in a heartbeat. Madison is the only female Necromancer that we have ever encountered.”
“Is there a way we can stop this? There has to be some sort of out clause, right?”
“I’ve been trying to find something. I haven’t yet. All I know is that someone is bringing all of this together now. It could be so they have all of their ducks in a row for this Dragon/Snake thing.”
Barry rubbed his jaw trying to think. “Who do you think is behind all of this?”
“I can’t say. I’ve only seen shadowed glimpses of him in visions. I can tell you that he knows your family and how you all operate. If you all circle around your sisters, he’ll know something is wrong.” Mathias ran his hands through his hair again and let out a frustrated sigh when his eyes landed on the open pages of his mother’s journal. “As for the Dragon falling to a Snake, I don’t have a clue. I just keep seeing red and gold.”
Barry stood and paced to the window. “It has to be the Chinese New Year.” He turned to Mathias who was giving him a strange look. “I dated a couple of Chinese girls,” he explained. When Mathias opened his mouth to ask another question he waved it off and pulled out his cell phone. “If I remember right in the Chinese Zodiac the Snake follows the Dragon.”
Mathias nodded and leaned back into the sofa. “It does. That would also explain the colors I keep seeing.”
“So we have just over a year to find Conquest and Pestilence and to figure out how they are supposed to decide the fate of us all.” For all they knew these four women could simply decide to let the normal population know that mythical creatures exist. A warning didn’t necessarily mean the worst case scenario, however the thought of his sisters being labeled as bringers of the Apocalypse didn’t sit well with him either. “Alright, let’s take this one puzzle piece at a time.” He started to take Mathias’s place pacing across the floor. “How much of this does Eric and Jimmy know?” he asked.
“Jimmy knows nothing. He’s been in and out of the area for months looking for a friend of his. Eric and Sloane on the other hand,” Mathias ran his hand through his hair again. “I told them everything except for our relation.”
“Why tell me and not him?”<
br />
Mathias allowed himself a small smile. “Because I like your sister,” he confessed. His dark eyes locked with Barry’s. “When she found out, Madison was furious. She believed that I thought I was too good for your family.”
Barry couldn’t help but snort. That sounded exactly like something Madison would have said. “Was she right?” he asked in turn.
It was Mathias’s turn to snort. “Not by a long shot. I never said anything because it was a known fact that Martha didn’t have a daughter. As far as anyone else knew, I was her stepson. If it came out that there was a chance that I could have visions like her, I would’ve been caged. By the time I reached a position of power, I had seen how your mother just sent your sister away. The way I see it, she was scared of the potential of her powers. Imagine if she would have met me. The cousin that could see into the future. I figured it was best that I just kept my mouth shut.”
For a long moment Barry thought about the impression that everyone had of his family after his parents sent Madison away. “I think I can accept that, but that still doesn’t answer my question.”
Mathias ran his fingers through his hair. “I need someone to understand exactly what’s at stake if things get out of control and you have to kill me.”
* * * * *
Madison glared at the slim device currently playing Eric Clapton. She had known it was only a matter of time before her Keeper hiatus ended. Victor pulled her off of rotation when she was pregnant and everyone left her to her own devices because of her fragile mental state. Now, her boys were toddlers and her brother dropped the ball at the ME’s office. It wasn’t a shock that Eric was calling. She just wished she could’ve had the chance to have breakfast with her family first. “How bad is it?”
“Barry turned himself in, Thorne is staying with Dylan and Crispin, Jimmy is in town for the moment, and another body has been found,” Eric answered. He took a slow breath. “I need your help Madi.”