Precarious Possessions (Maxwell Investigations)

by Dawn Ibanez

  “Do you want to go after her?” Tina asked.

  Dylan looked at Tina seriously. “No, you need to go to Luna’s.” She paused for a moment. “And you need to confront your daughter, and the demon that lives in her.” When Tina frowned, Dylan slowly nodded. “I know she isn’t a monster, but she is really close to being one. You remember when she threatened to level the East Coast? It wasn’t one. If this thing in her gets loose, then we’re all screwed.”

  “Why ask me to do it?” Tina asked curiously. Dylan was closer to Madison than anyone else. Any of the boys would cut off their own limbs to help her. It seemed odd to lay everything on the person that was considered the enemy for most of her life.

  “I’m hoping that you won’t hold back. Or if you do, you won’t be obvious about it. Madison knows all of us too well. You, not so much.” Dylan folded her arms over her chest and sighed. “Crispin is about to send Casper after her. I need you to go too. At least she’ll think her family loves her.”

  Tina wiped her eyes and looked at her husband. “You two stay here. If that thing comes after Eric again, kill it. I’m going after my daughter.”

  Chapter 19-

  Madison frowned as she walked up to the doors of Nina’s Kitty Palace. There was no one in sight. Usually a number of Werepanthers, acting as bouncers for the club, stood guard at the front door. It also didn’t help that she could feel an almost overwhelming desire before she even entered the building. She opened the door and felt her anger rise.

  Cord’s powers as an Incubus had taken over the entire pride.

  There were nearly a dozen bodies writhing on the floor in one massive orgy. Men and women that Madison had thought of as friends were all stripped bare and moving as one massive unit. What made Madison call forth her weapon was the sight of the pack Alpha.

  Luna’s prone body was on the stage covered in blood and semen and other bodily fluids. A woman Madison respected was now lying tossed away as if she were some worthless whore. No one deserved better that.

  Madison started to walk to the main floor when the mass on the floor started to shift. Her eyes turned red as she spotted two people she never expected. “Alex, Claudia!” she shouted.

  Dazed green eyes pulled away from the pleasure trying to drown them. Claudia reached her hand out towards Madison just as her fiancé bit at her neck. He ground against her. “I can’t stop,” she sent mentally. “He killed Luna and almost did the same to Alex,” she added.

  Fury erupted in Madison. She looked around the crowd for her target. “Cord!” she shouted. “I know you’re here. Show yourself.” Her eyes zeroed in on the door to Luna’s office as it opened. She growled low in her throat when she saw Cord calmly step out and smile.

  Cord looked at the slim woman the Council tried sent after him. “You?” he mused. She was nothing more than 5’3” and looked to weigh maybe 130. There was nothing about her that made him want to fear her wrath. “You’re the feared Necromancer?” He looked around the club before turning his eyes back to her again. “This has to be a joke.”

  Madison approached Cord with her ruby scythe ready. “It’s no joke.” She swung her weapon. Her eyes narrowed when he barely dodged her attack. Before he could gain his balance, Madison swung again. Just as she sliced the skin of his chest, a pair of arms wrapped around her tightly. Madison turned her head and saw one of the usual bouncers holding her.

  Cord’s eyes were wide as he looked at Madison. He touched the cut on his chest and frowned at her. “You were supposed to try and capture me,” he said hotly.

  Madison slammed her elbow against the bouncer’s chest and twisted in his hold. Just as he was about to tighten his hold again, she pulled the small dagger out of her pocket and slid it between his ribs. She pushed him off of her before turning back to Cord. “You’ve killed at least five people, put my brother in the hospital and are basically raping my son. Do you really think I’m going to let you walk out of here?” she hissed before rushing at him again.

  Cord barely dodged her attack before slamming his fist into her face. As she stumbled back, he glanced at the orgy still taking place. “You won’t kill all of them,” he said in a panicked voice.

  Madison straightened as she felt Cord’s power radiate. She banished her scythe and smiled darkly at him. “You really don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

  Cord frowned at the evil look in her eyes. He then looked back at the office. “Dad, you said that she was only going to capture me,” he said quickly.

  Madison grinned at the Incubus. She could sense the person still in the office, but there was no way she would allow Cord to distract her. “Did your father tell you that before or after you went after what’s mine?” she asked. Her voice adopted its sibilant quality as she stalked him. When he fell over a chair, she quickly jumped on top of him and wrapped her hand around his neck. “Because I have to say, it was a stupid move.”

  Green eyes looked around and saw three more of the bouncers slowly pulling away from the orgy. “Stop her!” he screamed.

  Red eyes looked at the three and hissed. As they jumped at her, she swung her hand. Her attention turned back to Cord when three heads fell to the floor. She started to squeeze his throat as her own powers ran wild. She started to laugh as he tried to buck her off of him.

  Cord grabbed a chair leg and hit her with it. He took a much needed breath as she fell off of him. Before she stood, he hit her again. Cord looked to the office and saw his foster father standing at the door. “You’re going to let her kill me?” he asked frantically. “I thought you came here to protect me!”

  “You lost that protection when you couldn’t control yourself,” his father said darkly. “There are other reasons why I’m here.”

  Madison shook her head to clear it. A growl escaped her as she turned and saw Cord’s foster father. “You cocksucker,” she breathed. She summoned a sword out of her ruby and swung at Cord. As he jumped out of the way she turned to Mathias. “You had us all chasing shadows and you knew it was him?”

  He shrugged. “There were some things that had to be done.” Mathias approached Madison slowly and felt his shoulders drop. “Fate has a funny way of doing things.”

  “Like I don’t know that,” she replied. Movement from her side caught her attention. Without pause she gripped her dagger again and launched it at Cord’s fleeing back. She turned back to Mathias when Cord fell over. “Where’s Barry?” she asked.

  Mathias had to respect her loyalty to her family. “When we heard about Eric, I let him go to the hospital.”

  “And you’re just going to let me kill your son? Like he’s some useless piece of trash?” she asked.

  A faint smile crossed his face. “Cord has always been wild. Lily seemed to grow up, he just grew wilder. Make no mistake, he was never useless.”

  Madison shook her head and went over to where Cord fell. She inhaled sharply when she saw the Incubus with his hand tangled in Alex’s hair and devouring his mouth.

  “See, with just a few moves Cord can bring even the Great Madison Maxwell to a stop,” Mathias said in a whisper.

  Madison focused her magic and sent it straight at Cord. She watched with dispassionate eyes as he started to convulse. The blood that had been seeping from his chest was now a flowing and gushing wound. She turned hate filled eyes to Mathias. “You did this to get to me?” she asked softly.

  Mathias walked over to the stage and looked at Luna’s body with sad eyes. “Not all of it,” he answered. “Did I want to see the limits of your powers, yes. But really I wanted Ashton to find Cord. I thought he was one of the Horsemen at first.”

  “Horsemen? What are you talking about?” she asked.

  Mathias sadly shook his head. “Your brothers will know what I mean.” His shoulders were low as he walked over to Madison. “But know that I am sorry for all of this,” he said before shoving a knife into her abdomen.

  Red eyes were wide as she fell over. Madison turned her eyes to look at Alex, who was slowly
pulling himself out of Claudia. She balled her fist and summoned her scythe again. With a savage growl, she swung at Mathias. When he stepped back, Madison saw flashes of red and gold. She shook her head before attacking Mathias again.

  Mathias was hard pressed to block her blows. His eyes widened when Madison’s foot connected with his stomach. He doubled over, and Madison slammed her fist into his jaw. He was about to straighten when the blade of her scythe pressed against his throat. Mathias looked into her eyes and allowed his arms to fall limp at his sides. “It has to be this way.”

  * * * * *

  Tina ran into the strip club and took in the sight before her. Madison was attacking Mathias while a bunch of people were slowly coming to their feet. “Madison, stop!” she yelled. A gasp escaped her when Mathias’s head fell from his shoulders. She ran down to her daughter but was stopped by a hand on her leg. Tina looked down and saw Alex with his arms wrapped around another young woman. “Alex?”

  He shook his head. “If you go near her, she’ll kill you,” he said lowly.

  Tina pressed her lips together and took off her coat and blazer. She held them both out to the young man. Alex was about to protest when she shook her head. “I have to stop her.”

  Madison slowly turned to where her mother stood and tilted her head to the side. “You think you can stop the monster?” she asked lowly.

  “Or die trying, yes,” Tina answered calmly. As she walked closer to Madison each of Tina’s limbs became encrusted with diamonds. “You need to pull your Magic back Madison.”

  Glowing red eyes were mocking as a smile crossed Madison’s face. “Make me,” she challenged. The smile on her face vanished when the scythe in her hand broke into pieces. “Really Mom? You gave me that ruby.”

  Tina flexed her fingers. “I gave that to you for your own protection. Not for you to kill innocent people with it.”

  Madison rolled her eyes. “Innocent? A man unleashes an Incubus on the general population and he’s innocent?” she asked. “Then again, you gave away your own kid. So what the fuck do you know about innocent?” Madison saw the hurt that crossed Tina’s face and attacked.

  Alex watched as Madison and Tina traded blows. His heart broke as he looked into Madison’s face. This was all of her anger and rage finally surfacing after years of being buried.

  Tina grabbed Madison’s fist and brought her arm behind her back. Just as her arm went around Madison’s throat, Madison’s foot came up and kicked her in the face. She kept her hold on her daughter as they both fell. Her hold loosened when she felt something in Madison’s arm snap. “Madison, that’s enough,” she said softly.

  Madison’s limp arm hung low as she turned and glared at her mother. “Don’t tell me when it’s enough,” she spat. “You weren’t around enough to have the right to tell me anything.” Madison lashed out again at Tina, this time knocking her mother onto the floor.

  “Madison, stop!” Troy shouted. He ran over to his Mate and quickly stepped between his Mate and her mother. Troy looked into her eyes and saw the gathered tears there. “It’s okay, Sweetheart.” He slowly approached her. “I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere.” When she started to shake her head, he gave her a kind smile. “This was your worse fear right? That you would be fresh from a blood bath and I would walk away? I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere. Me, you and the boys are going to have our own family. Starting right now.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw a familiar head of blonde hair. “Casper can help arrange a trip to Vegas. We’ll be married by morning.”

  Madison started shaking as she backed away from Troy. “She didn’t want me, why would you?” she asked in a small voice.

  Troy ignored Tina’s gasp and stepped even closer to Madison. “Maybe because she just doesn’t understand my Maleficent,” he replied before touching her good hand. He pulled her closer to him and gently wrapped his arms around her. “What happened is in the past, Madison.” She wrapped her arm around his waist. “Don’t think that I don’t want you. Hell, I couldn’t give you up four years ago. You think I can walk away now?”

  She looked into Troy’s eyes, her own starting to slowly change back to their normal color. “I love you,” she whispered before letting darkness take her.

  Troy caught her up into his arms and looked at Tina. “Are you okay?” he asked her.

  She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I’ll start the clean-up. Can you tell Dylan and James that I’ll need help?” She turned her away from Troy and went over to where Alex and Claudia were still prone. She knelt in front of the young man and frowned when she saw that the woman in his arms was still unconscious. “Give her here,” Tina commanded. “I’ll get her outside to help.”

  Alex shook his head and held her closer to him. “I’ll get her out,” he said quietly. When Tina frowned at him, he nearly closed in on himself. “I’ll get her out,” he repeated.

  There was something more going on here, but Tina didn’t want to push. Not when the young man barely knew her. She stood by ready to help him as he fought his way to his feet. Tina silently watched as he slowly walked towards the exit. There was no doubt in her mind that he learned that sheer stubbornness from Madison. She took a slow breath and ran her fingers through her hair. As she looked around she spotted something that would make the Council throw a fit. Tina reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She would make her report and take a page from Madison’s book.

  If they tried to come after any of her family, there would simply be pure hell to pay.

  Chapter 20-

  Claudia slowly woke up to the feeling of a gentle hand caressing her hair. She looked up into Alex’s concerned face and gave him a weak smile. “Madison stopped him?” she croaked. Both she and Alex grimaced at the sound of her voice. When he only nodded, Claudia realized how closed off his expression was. She also realized she was in her room at Crispin and Dylan’s estate. “They wouldn’t let us go home?” she asked playfully.

  Alex folded his arms over his chest. “I wanted to make sure someone was here to look after you,” he answered. When she started to sit up he walked over to the window. “I can’t.”

  “I’m fine. You don’t need to look after me,” Claudia replied. She looked at his posture and felt a cold dread settle in her heart. “If this is about what happened, I don’t blame you.”

  He looked at her with dark eyes. “It was my fault. I couldn’t stop him from killing Luna. And then he turned and used that same sick shit on me. You got pulled into it because of me.” Alex mused as he leaned against the window sill. “Maybe you were right. Maybe we never should have started this.”

  Claudia closed her eyes to the tears that were filling them. “I was stupid,” she said softly. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me.”

  “I’m some catch,” he snorted. “I nearly got us both killed.” Alex kept his head lowered as he wiped at his face. “I called Donald. He’s getting my things from the apartment. When I leave here, you won’t have to see me again.”

  Claudia raised wide eyes to him. “Alex, don’t do this,” she pleaded. “I don’t blame you.” He started to shake his head when she slowly approached him. “Cord was sick. He was the one that made us join in his orgy. It’s no more your fault than it is mine.”

  Alex finally looked at her. Claudia paused when she saw the tears spilling from his eyes. “I enjoyed it, Claudia. I fucked you like a whore, I fucked other women in front of you, and I enjoyed it.” He ran his hands through his hair and tried to stop shaking. “I was fucked by other guys, and I liked it. What’s that say about me?”

  There was nothing she could say to him. Claudia’s legs gave out as she fell to her knees. “I still love you,” she whispered.

  He went to her side and knelt in front of her. “You deserve better than me,” he said before wrapping his arms around her. Alex helped her to her feet and allowed her to pull his face close for a desperate kiss. His heart broke as he felt her love for him in her kiss. This woma
n would have done anything for him. He couldn’t keep her close as he tried to get his head straight. It wouldn’t even be fair to ask her to wait for him to. This was something he would have to do on his own.

  Alex gently pulled away from Claudia’s kiss and sat her on her bed. They were both crying. “For what it’s worth, I still love you too.” As her eyes flew to his, Alex kissed her forehead and stood. “But it doesn’t change anything,” he said before going to the door.

  Claudia doubled over as a sob escaped her. Never in her life had anything hurt as much as this. “Alex, don’t do this. Please, I’m begging you.”

  He almost went to her side, but images of what happened flashed in his mind every time he closed his eyes. “I can’t stay, Claudia. I’m sorry.”

  She looked at him with bloodshot green eyes. “I can’t forgive this,” she said shaking her head. “If you leave, you’re dead to me.” Claudia closed her eyes and covered her ears when he reached for the doorknob. “I never want to see you again,” she whispered as Alex slowly left her room. When she heard the soft click of the door, Claudia could only do one thing.

  She held her pillow close and cried.

  * * * * *

  A few hours later, Alex slowly made his way to Madison’s hospital room. He shouldn’t have been surprised when he saw Kayin sleeping next to his mother and Aiden asleep on one of the other chairs. “I thought she was alone. I’ll leave,” he said quickly.

  Troy shook his head. “No, stay.” When Alex paused, he gestured to Madison. “You’re her son. She’d want you here too.” He tried to give the younger man a smile but failed. Troy then leaned his head back. “Is Claudia alright?” he asked. A frown crossed his face when Alex sighed. “Alex? Everything okay?”

  “Not in the slightest,” Alex answered. He looked at Troy he shook his head. “I broke up with Claudia today.”

  The Werewolf sighed as he remembered the state he found Alex and Claudia. “I don’t want to press, but if you need someone to talk to....”