"Sorry? How can you be sorry? You don't know suffering—you only think you do," she said, her rage gathering around her like a dark cloak.
She twisted her grip on my hand, driving me down to my knees as she moved closer.
"Do you know what slavery is? I mean true slavery.... No will to stop him...." She trailed off, her gaze lost in the distance.
My heartbeat stuttered in my chest and it dawned on me that she wasn't just using her rage to fuel her anymore; she was feeding from the blood seeping from the cut on my hand.
Her dark eyes came back to rest on me as I tried to pull my hand free. "You're just like him, and so is he," she said. I knew without having to look that she meant Marcel. "You think your actions don't come with consequences, that you can do as you please and get away with it." She reached out with her other hand and grabbed the rune-covered knife I held in my grip.
I pushed against her as she forced my hand up and back towards my heart. "In the end, I let him murder me. I allowed his creature to rip my body apart and I welcomed my oblivion. At least it freed me from him. At least I didn't need to feel his vile hands on me. The things he had me do with them...." She trailed off, her eyes filling with angry tears. "Never again."
I fought against the hold she had on me, and it was then that it hit me. I didn't need to fight her. I had summoned her and I could control her.
"Tess," I said, lending power to my use of her name.
Fear flared in her eyes and she pressed harder, pushing the blade closer to my chest.
"Never again. I won't let you take me, too," she cried, tears dripping down her cheeks.
"Tess, stop," I commanded.
It was instantaneous, her movement halting, her body suddenly frozen, her dead man's grip on my arm cutting off my circulation.
"You asked me for help—do you remember?" I asked.
"Don't make me, please," she pleaded, her eyes rolling down to meet my gaze.
I knew what she was asking of me. If I continued to command her, she would become mine. I'd called her soul back from the oblivion Jasper had sent her into, and she was teetering on the edge.
"Do you remember?" I asked again, pushing a little more power into my voice.
"Yes, I remember. I wanted you to kill me, to rest me."
"And I will rest you, Tess, but first I need you to help me stop the one that is doing this.... I know there are others that need help just as you do.”
She nodded, tears dripping down her face and onto the carpet at her feet. One of them splashed down onto my hand and I felt it, wet, against my skin.
"Where is he?" I asked.
She shook her head. "Don't make me, please don't make me...."
"I need to stop him, Tess. Tell me where he is."
She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them once more, she looked at me with such hatred that I almost recoiled. The only thing that stopped me was the grip she had on my hands.
"I was wondering when we would meet," she said, but it wasn't Tess's voice anymore. "Now, how did you do this?" She rolled her shoulders back, releasing her grip on me.
The second she moved away from me, time seemed to restart once more, and Marcel dragged me backwards.
"This is very interesting," Tess said, staring down at her hands, but it still wasn't Tess.
"Jasper, I presume," I said, but my voice was shaky. "Where is Tess?"
"She's here, with me.... I could have sworn I destroyed her, though," he said.
"She doesn't belong to you," I said, pushing up onto my feet once more.
"Amber, what did you do?" Marcel asked.
"Are you sure?" Jasper asked, and Tess's ghost disappeared. It reappeared a moment later, but it wasn't standing in the same spot. Instead, she was next to me—well, between me and Marcel. Her open palm slammed into my chest, sending me careening across the room and into the far wall.
The ghost, or whatever it was, blinked out once more and reappeared, crouching next to me as I fought to catch my breath from my position on the floor.
"She feels like one of mine, only better—and that's all thanks to you, Amber," Jasper said.
"Amber, you must destroy it," Marcel said, gesturing to the knife still clutched in my hands.
"No! I can help her, I can bring her back," I said, gritting my teeth and dragging my bruised body up onto my knees.
Jasper laughed, the sound contorted as it left Tess's mouth. He reached down and grabbed my hand, snapping my wrist back. The sound of my bones grating against one another filled my head and I cried out, losing my grip on the blade.
"You cannot even hold onto your blade, let alone control me," Jasper said. Tess's body leaned down toward me, her face pressed into my hair as Jasper drank down my scent. "Everyone is so weak.... I had high hopes for you, Sorceress.” He tightened his grip on my hand.
I called my power, drawing it up through my body the way water is brought up through the earth. But it was as though he knew what I was doing and he was one step ahead.
Jasper wrapped Tess's other hand around my throat before I could get my command out, his grip cutting off my supply of oxygen.
"Where the fun be in that?" he whispered in my ear. I started to turn into his grip, but his hold on me was unmoving, and nothing I did shifted his hand on my throat.
"Hear me, spirit," Marcel said, and power rushed over my skin. It was enough to draw Jasper's attention.
"You think that can stop me?" he asked, staring through Tess's eyes at Marcel.
"Nope, but this will," Victoria said, suddenly appearing next to me. She swung out, the smell of singed flesh filling the air as her weapon connected with Tess's body.
Jasper screamed, and then he was gone, taking Tess with him.
With his hold on my throat gone, I slumped back against the wall, air rushing into my lungs with enough speed that I grew lightheaded, the room spinning in streamers of light.
When it all stopped, I opened my eyes and stared up at Victoria. Her gaze was alert as she searched the room for any sign of Jasper's return.
"How did you do that?" I asked, my voice hoarse.
"Iron doesn't just hurt the fae," she said, showing me her singed hands.
It was then that I saw the iron bar on the floor next to my leg. Where she had gotten it from, or how she had known to bring it … well, those were questions I could ask her later. For now, I was just glad she'd been so quick to react.
"What were you thinking?" Marcel demanded, the expression on his face twisted with rage.
"I was thinking I could talk to Tess and get a read on this Jasper guy. She is the only one who knows anything about him, after all," I said, climbing slowly to my feet, and using the wall for balance.
"You nearly died," he said.
"But I didn't." When he didn't react, I sighed. "You do realise not dying is a good thing, right?"
"You have given our enemy a powerful weapon," Marcel said.
His words cut me to the core. It was bad enough to think that I'd given Jasper a weapon he could use against us, but to think that the weapon in question was Tess herself just didn't sit right with me. I'd used her, just as he had. In the end, I really was no better than the monster he clearly was.
But there was one difference between us, and that was that I had no intention of letting Jasper keep Tess, or any of the others he had enslaved. I would find him and I would free them—there was no doubt in my mind about it. And the next time we met, I wouldn't underestimate him. I'd done enough of that already.
"Maybe not," I said, remembering the rage Tess had felt toward Jasper. That rage didn't just go away, it was still there.... I just needed to figure out a way to take Jasper's control over her away. If I could do that, then maybe it would give Tess the chance she needed to destroy him.
Marcel groaned and scrubbed his hands across his face. "My God, you are a child. Your arrogance knows no bounds.”
"If you don't like it, there's the door, Bokor," Victoria said suddenly, her declaration surprising me.<
br />
"What, and leave you to get yourselves killed?" he asked.
"I didn't see you saving the day," she said, taking a step in his direction.
"Guys, enough already—" Before I could even finish the sentence, my cell phone rang, the shrill ringtone cutting the tension. It continued to ring. Victoria's cell joined the noise, and when a third ringtone split the air, bile rose in the back of my throat. Everyone getting a call was way too much of a coincidence, not that I believed in them. Clearly, something had happened, and whatever it was, I had a feeling we weren't going to like it.
Victoria tugged her cell phone out first and I watched the colour drain from her cheeks as she took the call.
Pulling out my own cell phone, I took the call.
"Where are you?" Graham barked. His authoritarian tone set my teeth on edge.
"Over at Miss Greenville's house … why?" I didn't bother giving him a smart answer. There was no point in us both acting pissy with each other.
"Whatever you're doing, forget it. I need you and Victoria over at DeMerris Cemetery, and if Mr Deco is there, then bring him with you. You're going to need him." There was an edge of something in Graham's voice that, if I didn't know him better, I might have thought it was panic.
Had I misread him before? Clearly, it was an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation, and whatever was going down was serious enough to panic Graham.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Just get over here—" His words cut off as the sound of screaming filtered down the line to me. It was quickly followed by the sound of gunshots and more screaming.
"Wait, I thought you were still at the hospital with Karis," I said, listening to the strange sounds coming through the call. What the hell was going on?
"Get here now, Morgan!" The line went dead and I was left staring at the cellphone.
"Who was that?" Victoria asked, snapping her own cell phone shut.
Marcel met my gaze with his own steady and knowing gaze. He wasn't standing close enough to have overheard Graham, and yet there was no doubt in my mind that he knew exactly what was happening, despite not answering his own cell phone.
"Graham needs us over at DeMerris," I said, catching Victoria's eye.
"The cemetery?" she asked. "But we left him back at St Barts."
"Yeah, something happened.... I think we both know where this is going.”
"Did he ask for me?" Marcel asked, keeping his tone as neutral as possible.
"Why ask when you already know the answer to that question?" I pressed a couple of buttons on my phone and sent off the request for back-up. It seemed pointless with Victoria receiving a call, but the thought of Graham alone there filled me with dread. We fought, but I still cared about him, and he'd given me a chance when no one else would.
"Then it will be my pleasure to go with you," Marcel said cheerfully, which did nothing to improve my mood.
The day had started out bad and this last thing with Jasper had put the tin hat on it for me … but I had a hunch that it was about to get a whole lot worse.
16
The run over to the cemetery was an interesting mix of awkwardness and distrust. Marcel sat directly in the middle of the back seat, and every time I lifted my gaze to the rear-view mirror, I could see him staring at me. Not to mention the fact that even when my gaze was trained on the road ahead, I could feel his eyes boring holes into the back of me. Clearly, he was still utterly pissed at what had gone down at Tess's house. But I wasn't going to enter into another pointless argument with him on the topic.
"What the hell happened here?" I asked, straining against my seatbelt, staring out through the windscreen of the car as we pulled up alongside the other emergency vehicles parked in the middle of the street.
There were Elite vans everywhere, and I could see a couple of SWAT trucks mingled in amongst the other cop cars and unmarked vehicles parked haphazardly around. From where I sat in the car, I could just make out Graham's pale face. His angry expression told me that whatever had happened, it was really bad. Without waiting for the car to come to a complete halt, I unbuckled my seatbelt and slipped out from the car. Crossing the street, I caught Graham's eye as I darted toward him.
"Where the hell is your vest, Morgan?" Graham said, anger practically vibrating from him.
"Didn't realise I needed one. You weren't exactly forthcoming on the phone," I said, folding my arms across my chest. I tried not to be too obvious in my attempt to see past him.
"Well, you and everybody else is going to need one. I can't let you in there without full tactical gear."
Victoria reached us and thrust my tactical vest toward me without so much as a word. I gave her a grateful glance as I slipped it on over my head and watched as a group of SWAT prepped just ahead of us, in front of the gates.
"What happened, Graham?" I asked, giving up the pretence at being subtle. I stepped past him toward the cemetery gate. A scream split the air, confused shouting followed by a blast of gunfire that quickly fell silent. My instincts kicked in, and I darted forward toward the sound without waiting for Graham's answer.
Reaching the gate, the moment my hand closed around the iron railing, I felt energy pass through my skin and into my body. It was searching for something, or perhaps it was the lack of something it was looking for; the magic was tainted with death and I was very much alive.
Strong arms wrapped around my waist, jerking me back from the gate, and I collapsed against the broad chest of my would-be rescuer. The power still tingled against my skin as though my hand was still in contact with it and the metallic taste on my tongue was very familiar. It reminded me of Heddou's house. It told me everything I needed to know.
"You must not do that. It seeks your kind out and it will devour you if it's allowed to," Marcel said, his voice very close to my ear.
Tugging free of his grip, I tried to stand on my own two feet, but my knees and legs were reduced to jelly and it took all of my strength of will to simply stay upright.
"What is that?" My words came out in a breathy whisper. Marcel's power was strong and utterly overwhelming—the vile feeling of being suffocated was something I never wanted to experience again. But when I’d touched the gate … that had been something else.
In a way, it reminded me of Fionn and his power—his overwhelming desire to take me over, control my mind and body to use me for his own purpose. I had gotten away from him by the skin of my teeth and had made a promise to myself that I would never let myself feel like that again, that I would never allow anyone to make me feel so powerless and vulnerable. And while whatever magic being used in the cemetery was different, it still had that same flavour of possession, and if I was honest, it frightened me.
Was that how Tess felt? If it was, then I suddenly understood her rage and terror. And to make matters worse, I had basically fed her back to the monster that had chewed her up and spat her back out in the first place.
Shit.
"Very powerful magic," Marcel said, with his usual added veil of secrecy. "Powerful magic that you have made all the stronger." That comment wasn't so veiled and the barb hit home.
"I can feel it," Victoria said, her eyes rolling back in her head. Something shifted beneath her skin, as though her bones and muscles had become fluid. She jerked, her eyes sliding back so that she stared at me. Her irises disappeared beneath the expanding pupils, and for a split second, I could see the changeling that she was shimmer to the surface. It hung there, just beneath the glamour of her human form, her fists flexing as she fought against the urge to release her true nature. She swallowed it back as quickly as it emerged, but I could tell that her true nature was intrigued by the magic being performed in the cemetery.
"How do you do that?" I asked. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous. If I had the ability to control myself in the same way Victoria did, well, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be at risk of exposing myself the way I always seemed to be.
"Years of practice," she said. There was no hint of
a smile, no indication that her statement had been anything other than the sheer, brutal truth, but then, that was Victoria. She was blunt and honest to a fault.
"Who's in there, Graham?" I asked.
Graham turned his worried gaze back to the gate as though he could see past the rows of headstones and over the hill to whatever and whoever was being attacked.
"I don't know exactly who's in there. I know one of the SWAT teams went down there before I got here. By the time we arrived, they had already lost radio contact with them. I've refused to let anybody else in there."
I nodded. It made sense. There was no point in sending more cannon fodder in there, especially when we didn't know what we were running into. I suddenly understood why Graham had asked for me and Victoria to rush down here. What surprised me more was that Graham had known enough to invite Marcel along for the ride, without truly knowing the type of power being used.
"How do I fix this?" I said, turning toward Marcel.
He stared at me in surprise, a small smile hovering around the edge of his lips. There was nothing sincere about it; it was more the kind of expression one might give to an overzealous child.
"You do not fix this. You have done enough damage. Only those with the kind of power I possess can do something," he said.
I rounded on him, jabbing my index finger into the centre of his chest, forcing him to take a small step backwards I glared up into his face. "Cut the bullshit! You keep your secrets. I'm not interested in them. All I want to know is how the hell we stop whatever it is that's going on inside that cemetery," I said, the anger in my voice enough to cause the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle with power.
He was partially right, but I wasn't about to let him guilt me out of doing my job. I owed Tess too much, and I knew what Marcel would do to her given half an opportunity. She was dangerous, and in the wrong hands, she was a formidable weapon … but I had done this to her; I would be the one to rest her.
"You are not a Bokor, you know nothing of Voodoo, and yet you stand there and demand that I tell you all that I know. This is my life; the power runs in my veins, I have experienced the highs and the lows of every part that this power has to offer. It has taken me more years than I care to admit to come to terms with what I'm capable of, and yet you want me to simply give up everything I know," he said, his anger rising to meet my own.
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