The Price of Knowing: A Powers of Influence Novel (The Powers of Influence Book 2)

by C. B. Haight

  “Get out of here Collett!” Cade ordered from beneath his attacker.

  She ignored him, concentrating on the one before her. Think! she told herself. With surprising speed, the demon rounded on her and grabbed her arm. He yanked her off her feet to meet his cruel gaze. She shivered as his taint entered her heart.

  “I like thisssss one,” Henifedran hissed with depraved intent.

  Collett quit thinking and reacted in order to survive. She lifted her dangling feet and kicked out at his face as hard as she could. Her feet connected. Bone crunched as she broke his nose. He growled, covering his nose with his free hand. She swung her free arm up to grab the dagger from her right hand that was incapacitated by the demon’s bruising grip. Even in his grasp, she wasn’t close enough to reach his heart, and she didn’t trust her aim enough to throw it. Instead, she used the weapon to gain her freedom by stabbing him through the wrist, but in reaction, he bashed her into the Tahoe. Her body slammed painfully against the idling vehicle. Crying out, she lost her grip on the hilt of the blade.

  Warm fluids dripped down her arm, and she could see ichor steadily flow from the wound where the dagger remained. A strange sound drew her attention back to his ugly face, and she realized he was laughing at her.

  He brought her in close enough to smell his wretched breath. “I think I will take you back inssstead.”

  She gagged, but when she looked into his grayish, bloodshot eyes, she couldn’t help but channel the evil pouring from him in sickening waves. Chills shot down her spine, and her stomach twisted and roiled against the onslaught of disparaging images and vile intent she read in his thoughts.

  “Collett!” she heard from somewhere distant.

  She felt a sudden despair and desperation for all of the victims those images showed her. She saw sadness, fear, horror, and heard pleas for mercy. Righteous anger bubbled from deep within her. In her mind, his destruction became the only thing that mattered.

  He yanked her hair and brought her even closer, sniffing at her like an animal. “Sssomethingss different ‘bout you.”

  She wasn’t listening. She closed her eyes and focused, forcing her thoughts back to the memory of Jenny in the kitchen. She couldn’t explain why or how, but power stirred within her. It was frightening. Something shifted inside her. Channeling all of the pain she could remember, Collett welcomed it as the power built and spread throughout her body.

  Ignoring the combat around him, and Collett’s sudden stillness, Henifedran sniffed again. His jaundiced eyes widened. “You smell like—” He didn’t get the chance to finish.

  Her muscles twitched as she remembered the shocking sensations of the Taser and passed it, through her, to him. She tasted blood in her mouth as she bit down on her tongue. She forced herself to experience the beating Jenny endured once again. Realizing the demon hadn’t moved or spoken in more than a minute, Collett carefully opened her eyes and saw terror in his.

  Before she could even consider what it meant, a streak of black fury attacked. The jarring force of Jarrett’s attack had her flying from the demon’s grasp and slamming against the pavement. Suddenly, Cade was there frantically checking her for wounds as his hands moved over her.

  “Collett, talk to me.”

  She looked at him with confusion in her eyes and realized he must have said it more than once. Her head felt heavy, and her ears were ringing.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She could see a gash in his head and couldn’t help thinking about the irony of his question. She tried to get up.

  “No. Stay down for a minute. It’s over. Where are you hurt?”

  “I’m okay. At least, I think I am,” she assured him.

  He used the pad of his thumb to wipe at the blood on her lip and lifted it to show her.

  A strange, gurgling shriek from Henifedran drew their attention as Jarrett clawed and tore at his neck with unequaled animalistic savagery until his body disintegrated.

  “Let’s get you out of here,” Cade insisted.

  Collett shook the image away and tried to settle herself. She gently grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I’m fine. I bit my tongue, and I’m sure I have a few bruises, but I’m okay.”

  Helping her rise, he examined her wrist. Then kissing her forehead, he replied, “You scared the life out of me. You should have stayed in the car.”

  Approaching, Jarrett watched the exchange. Anger still seethed in him, but he bit back his comments. After days of watching how Cade and the others trained with Collett, and realizing how even he reacted in battle around her, Jarrett found himself losing patience with all of it. At this rate, the pair of them would accomplish nothing more than getting the whole group killed. Cade enabled her, and worse, Collett let him.

  Being blind to everything other than Collett’s safety, Cade couldn’t see Collett was hiding. Jarrett saw it though, and he saw it clearly. She didn’t fear for her safety, or for her life even. Collett was afraid of what she could do rather than what she couldn’t. After this last encounter, Jarrett knew it had to change and decided he would fix the problem himself before they all ended up dead, or worse.

  Bearing his canine teeth, Jarrett growled low in his throat. Cade looked up sharply. “I heard something,” Jarrett uttered in a guttural snarl. He sniffed the air around them as if searching for an assailant. Cade mimicked his behavior. “Up there, above us,” Jarrett said, carefully moving closer as if the assailant would hear.

  Cade glared up at the rooftop and stepped in front of Collett. Jarrett struck like a coiled snake. Grabbing a fist full of her hair and wrapping his arm around her, he yanked her against himself. She yelped.

  Cade whirled around. His eyes glowed red at the sight before him. “What are you doing?!” he demanded.

  “I’m curing us of a problem.”

  “Let her go!” Cade ordered.

  “I’m sick to death of watching you with her.”

  “Let her go!” Cade repeated with deadly intent filling every syllable.

  Jarrett knew this had to be done, but he didn’t look forward to the fallout. Cade tensed as if he was going to attack, but before he could move, Jarrett pressed the wicked dagger against the white skin of her neck.

  “Jarrett, you don’t need to do this. You don’t want to do this,” Collett pleaded.

  “Oh, but I do. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time,” he growled in her ear.

  “Jarrett, please,” Collett tried again.

  “You hurt her and you're dead,” Cade spat. His measured control was slipping, and his voice revealed signs that the wolf was surfacing to protect his mate.

  Jarrett shrugged. “There are worse things.” He pricked her skin, wanting Collett to feel the cold bite of silver. He wanted her to be afraid. If he was a better man, he might cringe at what would come next, but he didn’t—it had to be done. Without hesitation, he pulled at the blade.

  The consequences of that single action were everything he expected it would be. Well, almost. He didn’t really expect it to hurt so much.

  Cade rushed him, but he never made it. Collett reacted to her supposed imminent death.

  There was a bright flash, and Jarrett felt a burning sensation travel throughout his body. The green gem of his magic ward flared bright, but it did little to protect him from the blow. His body slammed into the wall three feet behind him. He slid down, fell to his knees, and involuntarily shuddered. He crumpled to the wet pavement, lying in the fetal position as snowflakes fell from the sky. He felt like his entire nervous system was fried, and had to fight to keep his current form. He figured the only thing more humiliating than his current state would be lying naked while he shuddered and spasomed. Finally rolling to his knees, he found Cade standing over him.

  His brother cocked his head to the side and looked at Jarrett with a combination of shocked confusion and distrust. The twins glanced back to Collett simultaneously.

  She stood there with tears glistening in her wide eyes and a hand pressed against her neck. �
��I felt the blade. It cut me. How is it I’m not dead?”

  “Be…cause… I used... the dull side of the blade,” Jarrett forced out as his body quaked again.

  “Why?” asked Cade. The simple word asked so many things at once.

  “You’re holding her… back,” he replied, and focusing on the convulsions, thought to himself, At least it’s getting easier to breathe.

  Confused but no longer angry, Cade bent down and helped Jarrett to his feet. To both of their surprise, he couldn’t stand on his own for several minutes. Finally, he pushed Cade away and leaned his back against the wall. He didn’t feel like he was on fire any more. He only felt like a hundred or so bees were attacking his organs instead.

  “You’re going to get her killed, Cade. You’re going to get us all killed.”

  “I won’t let that happen. I won’t let anything get close enough to try!”

  “That’s the problem. Collett isn’t helpless. She’s far from it, but you won’t see it. Look at me. I can barely stand. She did that!” he replied as he pointed at her. “You’re so blind with worry you can’t even see her potential. You can’t protect her all the time. She has to be able to protect herself.”

  Collett stood there with a guilt ridden expression, “I’m so sorry. I just—”

  “Don’t!” he snarled and forced himself to stand. He stared straight at her. “Don’t. You better learn to use what you got.” He looked to Cade and ordered, “and you better learn to let her.”

  “You would do the same if it were someone you loved.”

  Jarrett scoffed, “Well it’s lucky then that I don’t know what that’s like, because it’s made you vulnerable. Look around, Brother, it isn’t the eighteenth century anymore, and even then, women—especially that one right there—shouldn’t be underestimated. I’ve seen and felt what she is capable of.”

  Cade had no reply. He looked back and forth between his wife and Jarrett.

  Turning his back on them, Jarrett started to walk toward the front of the buildings. “Either you teach her how to survive without you, or I’ll do it my way. Otherwise, that wretched hope you’re always preaching about won’t make a damn bit of difference, and we’ll all be dead before the next full moon.” As he reached the end of the alley, he turned. “If you get yourself killed, who will protect her then?” He spun on his heel and left them to contemplate his last words. When he was out of sight, Jarrett stopped and closed his eyes. Leaning against the building again, he cursed and wondered how much longer it would hurt. He released another pain filled breath.

  Chapter 23

  After a quick assessment and cleanup of the area, the small group made it back to the old house in short order; albeit they were all in the same vehicle this time. The SUV Jarrett drove would likely never drive again. Deciding it would best to hide the car until they could figure out what to do with it, Jarrett and Cade pushed it behind the shopping center and concealed it as best they could. Cade thankfully kept clothes in any vehicle he traveled in, so Jarrett was able to get dressed. They then drove the 30 miles back to the cabin together.

  For Collett, the trip felt at least twice as long. No one said a word the entire way back, and she couldn’t help but soak in the tense emotions surrounding her in the confines of the Tahoe. Upon arriving at the house, Collett felt extreme relief as she exited the car and deeply inhaled the chilled air.

  Taking a step, she felt a new tightness in her hip from her encounter with the archdemon, Henifedran. Cade and Jarrett awaited her on the other side, so she limped forward. The snow was coming down steadily, and she looked down at her footprint. She stopped and took in her surroundings. Behind her, Cade and Jarrett stopped too. A white Christmas, she thought and knew it would be a beautiful sight to behold in the morning.

  “Collett?” Cade questioned with concern.

  She turned to see the brothers both looking at her oddly. She almost laughed at the site. In almost every way, they were identical. Though neither would ever admit it. She noticed new similarities in them every day. Their expressions, their mannerisms, their incessant need to be in charge were evidence of their inherent traits. Even the incident that morning, when Jarrett blew up about her not taking the strike against him, reminded her of the day Cade called her out on not accepting help. Now here she was, a little more than a month later, relying on them all too much. I need to find a balance, she thought, There must always be balance.

  “It’s going to be beautiful tomorrow,” she observed aloud, looking up at the sky and watching the flakes fall.

  Jarrett huffed disbelievingly.

  “Come on, Collett, let’s go inside,” urged Cade.

  “We have to leave again, don’t we?” she asked Jarrett.

  He shrugged.

  “I like it here. There’s this feeling…almost familiar,” she said sadly.

  “Come on, they’re all waiting for us,” Cade said again.

  She looked down at her hands, wondering how so much could happen in a single day. “Will you teach me?” she asked Jarrett.

  “What?” the brothers said together; Cade’s tone was surprised, Jarrett’s confused.

  She smiled. There it was again. It was amazing that twins who had been so far apart for so long could still be so much alike. “I’ve been either hiding or running for too long. I thought if I kept running, the problem would go away. It didn’t. I thought if I could hide, I could be normal. I’m not though. I guess I never will be.”

  The two men remained quiet.

  “I want my life back,” she said with desperation. She saw the tick in Cade’s jaw and amended, “Not my old life, just my life. I want to enjoy Christmas without being afraid. I want to have happiness without an enemy at my back. I want…I want to quit running. I’m want to stand and fight.” She paused and looked back to Jarrett. “I can’t do that yet, but I think, with both of you at my side, I could.”

  “The only way to end this is to take down Niall,” Jarrett told her.

  “I know that now,” she replied.

  “I can’t teach you how to remember, and I don’t know magic,” Jarrett said irritably.

  “But you do know how to push me.”

  “I’ll teach you, Collett,” Cade offered.

  Jarrett shook his head.

  She nodded. “You will, and you have, but you won’t be hard enough.”

  “I will,” he insisted.

  “No, Cade, you won’t. You want too badly to protect me. What Jarrett said earlier? He’s right. You can’t always be there to save me, and I can’t keep expecting you to. I couldn't stand to lose you because of my own weakness. ”

  He moved to her and, putting his hands on her arms, said firmly, “I don’t want you hurt. ”

  “You can’t protect them all, Cade,” Jarrett groused.

  As he spoke, Collett vaguely remembered the taunting voice from her dreams, “You can’t save them all.”

  Collett took Cade’s hand. “I know you’ll be there if I need you, but I won’t see you hurt when I could have prevented it. Neither one of us should be handicapped because of how we feel about each other. We’ll do this together and protect each other.” She looked to Jarrett. “All of us.” Cade looked over to his brother then back to her. “If you love me, trust me. I would never do anything to hurt you, but I have to do this.”

  Cade thought back to when Selena had told him to trust her over a month before. Collett’s words mimicked the Native American seer’s words, “Cade, when the time comes, trust in her to know what’s right. No matter what, no matter the cost—believe in her. She is not willing to cause anyone undue pain, especially you. Some things simply must be done with fierce courage and resolve.”

  Cade searched her eyes and saw Collett’s determination in the depths of them. “If anything happens to you…”

  “I can’t guarantee everything will work out, but if anything bad happens, it won’t be because I didn’t fight back,” she answered.

  Cade turned his attention to his
estranged brother and knew, whether he liked it or not, there was no one better to teach her to stay alive. Jarrett was a fierce fighter, and Cade also knew they were right. His love and instinct to protect Collett kept him from stretching her limits.

  “We’ll try it your way,” he relented, still watching his brother.

  Jarrett looked at them both and realized that, not only was Cade trusting Collett, they were gifting him with a certain level of trust. He felt a sudden, unfamiliar twinge in his chest, but he pushed it aside.

  Finally, he inclined his head in agreement. “It won’t be easy.”

  “Nothing worth it ever is,” replied Collett.

  “Alright then,” Cade replied.

  Collett smiled up at her husband but then stepped from his reach to pin them both with a serious expression. “We’re in this together now. To the end, whatever it may be.”

  Jarrett said nothing. He knew she wanted a promise from him. She wanted the promise that he would stick around. The odd part was, looking into her hopeful blue eyes, he found himself wanting to give it.

  “Together, to the end then,” Cade offered first.

  “To the end,” he reluctantly vowed, hoping it wouldn’t be a mistake.

  They entered the house together, which Delphene took as a good sign. She’d known they were outside for a while now. She’d heard them pull in, but she kept herself from peeking or butting in, which was hard for her.

  She recognized Jarrett was wearing new clothes and evaluated the group’s entire appearance more carefully. Smelling the demons on them, she could guess what had held them up. Cade and Jarrett met her scrutiny with expressions of confirmation.

  “What happened?” asked Cynda.

  “We had some trouble,” Cade answered. “A few friends came to visit for the holidays.”

  “Oh no! Are you alright?” asked Ashley, putting her book down and rising from the couch.

  “Fine. We’re all okay. There’s nothing that won’t heal by tomorrow anyway,” Collett reassured.

  Nate came in, munching on a piece of bread. “Whoa, you three have a fight?”