“Then what should I call you?”
“Mark.”
“Fine, Mark, what did you want to talk about?”
“You are running out of time.”
She straightened. “What do you mean?”
“I know what Malcolm is planning, and if you want to kill him, you had better move quickly because he already has it.”
“Has what? What is he planning?”
“I’m not going to tell you that. I will tell you that he is going to be damn hard to kill at this point.”
“Why?”
Mark shrugged. “If you want him, I can give you his address.”
“Why would you do that?”
“Because as much as I hate you, and trust me I do, I hate him more.” He leaned across the table. “You know it really is a shame you weren’t more interested in me. I would have loved to have fucked you just before I killed you.”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Just as she thought he would, Timothy came into the room. “Tell us the address,” he insisted, and Jake smiled at him.
“Tell me, McGinley, she as fiery in the sack?”
“You’re going to want to stop talking,” Paislee warned him.
He looked smugly at her. “Give me a piece of paper and a pen, and I’ll write down his address.”
“Do you think he’s lying?” Aengus asked Timothy when he and Paislee stepped out.
“It’s possible, but I doubt it,” Paislee responded. “He hates Malcolm, that much is true. And it would serve his purpose if we killed him.”
“Don’t forget he also wants you dead. It could be a trap,” Ashton added.
Timothy, who had been silent, spoke up. “It’s more likely that it’s not a trap. Paislee is right, if he can’t get his own revenge on Malcolm, it is possible he would want to help us get him.”
“You don’t have long. Only a few hours by my estimation,” Mark said from behind the glass. The tone of his voice made Paislee queasy. “Then boom!” He laughed.
“He’s insane.” Aengus gaped at the glass.
“Yeah, a big bucket of crazy,” Paislee commented. “We need to move.”
“We need to do some recon.”
“We don’t have time for that, a few hours remember?”
Timothy ground his teeth together. “Aston, get a team together. We will scout the perimeter and decide if it’s worth it to go in.”
“On it.”
Ashton disappeared, and Timothy turned to Aengus. “You need to not go in with us.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, I told you I’m here.”
“We could all die Aengus, I cannot have your death on my hands. You have a family.”
“How many times do I have to tell you that you are a part of my family? You were there for me Timothy, let me be there for you.”
“That was different. Caipre was crazy, yes, dangerous, sure, but not like this. This is different.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Aengus headed back towards the stairs. “Shall we prepare for war?”
* * *
“Can I ask you what he was like? Before?” Paislee asked Aengus as they waited for Timothy to return. He had gone down to check on Ashton’s progress and left them to finish loading weapons.
Aengus laughed. “Stubborn, tough, kind, and loyal as hell.”
“Kind? That’s a new one,” she joked.
“He’s a good man Paislee. Again, he can be stubborn, but it’s only because he cares for you.”
“I know that. I love him.” The words spilled out of her before she had even finished processing them.
“Oh?”
She nodded. “I never thought I would survive this. If I’m, honest with myself, I didn’t want to. But with Timothy in my life, I find that I’m looking forward to an after.”
“I know how you feel. After Aine was killed I went through a very dark period, trauma and grief can do that to a person.”
“You guys were friends as kids?”
Aengus smiled. “The best of friends. We were a force to be reckoned with, and one that got into trouble fairly frequently.”
She smiled “I can see that. It must have been nice to see him again.”
“It was, but I’ve been kicking myself for not finding him earlier.”
“You didn’t know he was alive.”
“I didn’t know he was dead either. It was entirely too painful for Myria and I to look into those we had cared for. She knew Timothy had married, and after that, I think she forced herself to forget.”
“Did she love him?”
“Not in the way you’re thinking. She had always cared for him and had things worked out differently I suppose it’s possible she could have grown to, but she didn’t really love anyone until Sheamus.”
The jealousy she carried in her heart for what Timothy and Myria could have been loosened, what right did she have to hold onto it anyway? He had never given her any reason to think he still loved Myria.
“Thank you for being here,” she said to Aengus.
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”
They went back to loading the weapons in silence. A feeling of dread had settled itself into the pit of her stomach, and no matter how many times Paislee told herself everything would work out, she couldn’t get a single thought out of her head, someone she cared for was going to die tonight.
* * *
“Can I talk to you?” she asked Timothy once he returned.
He nodded, and they walked into the bedroom together. She was nervous, her hands fidgeting with the hem of the black t-shirt she wore.
“What is it?”
“Give me a minute.”
Timothy stood quietly while Paislee worked up the courage to say something she never thought she would say to anyone. Just do it Paislee, like ripping off a Band-Aid. You don’t want to regret it later. “I love you.”
She looked at him and repeated. “I love you. I wanted you to know that just in case.”
“Just in case what?”
“You know what.”
“Is there something you aren’t telling me?”
“Can you just take it, please? Even if you don’t feel the same, can you give me a thank you? Anything?”
He closed the distance between them and cupped her face with his hand. “I never thought I would feel this way again Paislee. After Cait, I did what I could to close myself off from the world, from feelings. I know what you’re doing, you’re saying goodbye because you think you aren’t going to make it out of there tonight. But I’m telling you that you will because I love you too and I can’t lose you.” He pressed his lips to hers, and she leaned into him.
When he released her and left the room, tears burned her eyes. The words he had spoken were sweet and should have lifted her spirits, but his accusation had stuck with her. She wasn’t saying goodbye because she was worried she was going to die, she was saying it because the pit in her stomach told her it was going to be him.
* * *
They arrived outside of Malcolm Gentry’s estate at just after ten p.m. A black sedan was parked in front of the house, the engine running, and Timothy guessed they had gotten there just in time.
Dressed head to toe in black and carrying assault rifles, the team Ashton had brought together crept towards the car. They managed to drag the driver out and knock him unconscious before locking him into his own trunk, and then they tossed the keys into the bushes and made their way towards the house.
The man in charge gave Ashton a hand signal, so they moved forward. Timothy had his gun at the ready, and Paislee couldn’t help but be impressed with the way he handled it.
The black sweatshirt he wore was tight on his body, and she could see the muscles in his back coiled and ready for anything.
“Stay with me,” he whispered to her as they followed the men into the house. Gunshots rang out, and everything moved so quickly that Paislee could hardly keep up. The blood thundered in her ears as adrenaline pu
lsed through her veins.
A man popped around a corner, his gun aimed at Timothy, and Paislee let loose a blast of magic that sent him flying backward. For the first time in her life, she felt completely in control, with those she loved on the line, she didn’t have a choice.
She watched as Aengus took down a man with his hands and had to be impressed by his level of skill. Ashton was hands-on as well, and the man handled himself like a lethal weapon.
She and Timothy made their way up the stairs and towards Malcolm’s office. When they stepped inside, Paislee let out a cry. Her old cage sat in the corner of the room, and a woman was curled into a ball on the inside. Her eyes were wide but empty, and fresh tears still stained her cheeks.
“She’s dead,” Paislee whispered in shock. How had Malcolm found another witch?
“She wasn’t nearly as powerful as you,” Malcolm said as he stepped from the shadows, Lindsay next to him. “None of them have been.”
“You monster!” Paislee screamed.
Lindsay laughed. “You are a naïve child. We have plans, and all plans require sacrifice.”
“I’m going to kill you both.” She promised.
“Big words from someone who is powerless.” Malcolm pulled the necklace out, and Timothy fired on him.
Paislee watched with satisfaction as blood pooled onto the white dress shirt he wore. He looked down at his chest with fascination, and then back up at them. “Good to know this works.” He held his wrist up where a cuff glistened in the light.
Paislee glanced at Timothy who looked rattled.
“Do you now know what this is? I thought of everyone you would recognize it. It’s the cuff of immortality. While I’m wearing it, I can’t die.”
“That’s not all we have.”
Paislee noted the earrings in Lindsay’s ears, the garnets impossible to mistake. In front of their eyes, she transformed until she was an exact match for Paislee. Even the earrings disappeared.
“Well, this is disgusting.” Paislee tried to steady her voice, but it was anything but.
“You aren’t getting out of here Malcolm, I have dozens of men with me, and the authorities are on their way.”
“You mean those men?” Malcolm mocked just as Ashton and two other guards came flooding up the stairs. He waved his hand, and the doors slammed shut, locking them inside with two maniacs. “Now, how about we have some fun? Immortal man too well, mortal one?”
“How about her?” Timothy turned his gun on Lindsay. “She immortal?”
Something flashed in Malcolm’s eyes, and he flung his hand out, when Timothy didn’t budge, his eyes widened.
“You have your tricks, and I have mine.” Timothy said with an arrogant grin.
Paislee tried to not look surprised, why didn’t the magic work on him? Hope surged through her. Maybe they did stand a chance! If Timothy could get to Malcolm, he could kill him and then it would all be over.
“Yes, I do have my tricks.” Malcolm turned on Paislee in an instant, and she was shot back into the mirror above the fireplace. She crumpled to the ground, and Malcolm attacked Timothy. He fired nearly his entire clip into his enemy, but it didn’t even faze him.
Timothy dropped the gun and rushed Malcolm. They locked into a hand to hand, and Timothy was winning.
Paislee got up just in time to see herself, or rather Lindsay, stalking towards her.
“You know they say imitation is the best form of flattery,” Paislee commented as she got to her feet. “But I find I’m not flattered.” She let the magic spark at her fingers and attacked.
She didn’t waste time going for anything else, she simply used her magic to knock the other woman to the ground. “Did you honestly think you would stand a chance?” Paislee mocked.
“You aren’t immortal.” Lindsay grinned and slashed out with a dagger she’d pulled from her waist.
Paislee wasted no time and slammed her hand down onto Lindsay’s chest. The woman screamed, and Paislee felt her life force fade away. The dead woman changed back into herself, and Malcolm howled.
“YOU KILLED HER!” he screamed and pulled the necklace out from under his shirt.
Paislee screamed and fell to her knees as the magic was pulled from her blood again. She wasn’t sure if it was because the necklace already held so much power, or that she had exerted some herself, but she felt the drain taxing on her more than it ever had before.
“Timothy,” she whispered.
Timothy tackled Malcolm to the ground and ripped the cuff off him. They fought for control of it, and Timothy ripped it out of his hands. His focus was on getting the necklace, but if he didn’t kill Malcolm, who knew what other items he’d gotten his hands on.
Timothy pulled a knife from his waist and drove it down into Malcolm’s heart. The necklace didn’t stop though, and Paislee was moments away from death. Knowing it could be dangerous for them both, Timothy carried the necklace over to Malcolm’s desk, and set it on the wood. He lifted the orb paperweight off and slammed it down full force into the gemstone.
It shattered into three pieces and magic began to swirl in the air. Paislee screamed again as everything that had been in the necklace surged back towards her.
“Run!” she screamed. “I cannot control it! You’ll die! Don’t you understand that! Run!” she screamed again, tears pouring down her face. She could feel the magic pulsing through her veins as it continued to fill her. She had nearly killed a man because her power had overflowed before, but then that had only been hers.
Now she could feel the magic from others as well. How many witches had Malcolm killed after she’d escaped?
“Timothy, please,” she pleaded. “I cannot hold on it’s going to decimate everything, you have to leave.”
Timothy walked to her and knelt down. “I’m not going anywhere.” He wrapped his arms around her as the world came crashing down on them both.
* * *
The magic slowed around her. She could see everything as it happened, the wood splintering around them as power surged out of her.
Timothy’s face was clearer than anything, though. His eyes were closed, his face contorted in pain, still he held onto her. She cried out when blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth, he was going to die. She was killing him, and she couldn’t stop it. The magic simply poured from her body, saturating the air, and destroying everything around them.
No mortal man could survive this blast of power, and Timothy was no longer immortal.
She watched as her life flashed before her eyes. She could see every memory with complete clarity as she knelt on the floor.
Then suddenly, the magic was gone. Timothy slumped to the floor in a lifeless heap and she cried out. Her body was exhausted, aching, and her heart was broken.
“Timothy? Please no,” her voice hoarse, she cried and touched his face. “You can’t leave me.”
His eyes opened slightly, and the tears she had been holding back came out full force. He lifted the blood-soaked sleeve of his shirt, and she saw the silver cuff, now scorched, against his wounded skin. He pulled it down, revealing a burn mark on his arm where the magic had been blocked, and then he smiled. “I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”
The door burst open, as Ashton and Aengus pushed inside. Paislee took a quick stock of their injuries. Aengus was bleeding on his arm and cheek, Ashton had a cut on his side, but overall, they looked fine.
“What the hell happened?” Ashton stalked towards them.
“Paislee had a bit of a meltdown.” Timothy joked from the floor, his body still charred as if it had been burned.
Paislee choked on a sob. “Are you seriously making a joke right now? You almost died!”
He shrugged. “I didn’t.”
“Well, this is a bit of a mess.” Ashton studied the gaping hole in the room where the exterior wall was.
“Why didn’t the rest of the room get leveled?”
“Iron in the walls would be my bet,” Ashton responded. “He proba
bly couldn’t risk a certain witch getting into the house and bringing it down on top of him.”
“Would make sense then I suppose to not line the exterior walls.”
Sirens sounded in the distance. “I think Detective Schultz is going to have her hands full with this one.”
“I’ve got Jake, or rather Mark’s full confession on tape, so we’re safe,” Ashton assured them.
“Fuck, I have a headache.” Timothy sat up and leaned against Paislee’s chest.
“I’m sure you do.” She commented as Ashton and Aengus turned to talk about the next steps. Paislee kissed the top of Timothy’s head. “I should give you a worse one after that crap you pulled. You should have run.”
“I told you, I’m here no matter what. You’re stuck with me.”
“There are worse things.”
“Let’s see if you’re saying that in ten years.”
“Ten years huh?”
“For life, Love.” He looked up at her, and she pressed her lips to his.
Epilogue
Paislee leaned against Timothy in the back of the town car. His body was warm against hers, and she breathed him in. It had been two weeks since she’d thought she had lost him. A week of dealing with the police, including detective Shultz, who was not nearly as grateful as they thought she’d be seeing as how they took down a terrorist who had killed her partner.
She had simply warned them that if they stepped out of line again, she wouldn’t hesitate to arrest them. They had turned Mark over to her, and he offered a full confession to nearly everything, minus the magic.
He had promised her with the utmost conviction that he would be coming after her though, which made his death on the way to prison more of a convenience than anything. No one knew who killed him, and while Shultz would have loved to pin it on them, unfortunately for her, they had a solid alibi.
Allison Carver had been captured trying to flee the country and was currently awaiting trial on multiple treason charges. Her entire company was shut down, her assets seized, and it looked as if she wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon, if ever.
Collateral Damage_A Tethered Novel Page 23