Vengeance

by Carrie Whitethorne

  “You sayin’ you understand all this?” Naylor demanded. “Witches and goddamn dragonkin? Didn’t think so.”

  Leaving him to his meltdown, I went directly into the kitchen, pulled out a mixing bowl, and began cracking eggs.

  “It’s a war,” Jefferson stated.

  “It is,” I interjected, “only neither side knows they’re fighting.”

  All three turned my way. But it was Cox whose eyes narrowed as he commented, “You know a lot about it.”

  “I should say so,” I replied with a shrug, “since I was helping steer it.”

  He moved with lightning speed, pulling a pistol from the back of his pants and aiming it at my face.

  “Put that away, Cox,” Jefferson ordered. “Now.”

  “It’s okay, Jeff,” I soothed. Turning my back to Cox, I began beating the half dozen eggs in my bowl and added a pinch of pepper. “He won’t hurt me. I don’t blame him for being angry and confused. I was, too, until they chased me down at the gas station. I got more answers there than they meant to give. They underestimated… or overestimated. We’ll find out which in time.” I turned and looked right at Cox before adding, “But I can’t help with a bullet in my head.”

  There were a few tense seconds where nobody moved except me. I wasn’t going to stop cooking just because he was having a trust crisis.

  Eventually, I sighed and placed the mixing bowl next to the stove. “Okay, from the beginning. I was hired to be captured and see what’s going on inside your facility. I fed information back to them while the night guards were sleeping.”

  Jefferson was incensed, but I held up a hand to stop him from interrupting before turning and igniting the stove. “Yeah, they all sleep. Perks of the night shift. Anyway, there wasn’t much to relay back. And I guess they thought I was withholding information and grew tired of not getting what they wanted. Whatever, they blew the place up when I proved less than useful.”

  The three of them watched me grease the pan before Jefferson asked, “And what do you propose we do now?”

  I shrugged. “Well, they tried to kill me, which was very rude, by the way. It’s changed my allegiance somewhat. Not that I had one to begin with. I wasn’t there for beliefs, I was there to get paid.”

  “And will you be?” Naylor queried.

  With a shake of my head, I flipped the omelet I was cooking. “Apparently not. I’m not happy about that either.”

  Silence filled the space for a moment before I nodded to the table. “Breakfast won’t be long. Go wash your hands, bathroom’s down the hall.”

  Naylor looked at the kitchen sink and I scowled. “Bathroom.”

  I watched them file out of the room and really set to work as plates, cutlery, a loaf of bread, a jar of honey, a pat of butter, and a pot of tea appeared on the tabletop. The omelets I cooked without magic.

  Despite the long night and string of events, I wasn’t too hungry, so I opted for a cup of tea and an apple.

  They returned looking a little less unkempt, and each took a seat around the table.

  “Thanks for this. You shouldn’t have gone to the trouble,” Jefferson said, tucking into his omelet while Cox poured himself tea.

  I nodded my acknowledgement and inquired, “So where do you guys need to go?”

  Jefferson paused, lowering his fork. “Well, there’s a post in Hattiesville. If you don’t mind us getting some rest first, we can leave at dawn.”

  I shook my head. “Not at all. There’s no rush. Stay as long as you need and I can send you there by gate far more quickly than you can travel. When you keep your firearms to yourselves, you aren’t bad houseguests. I’m afraid you’ll have to fend for yourselves though. I need to go out.”

  “Where are you going?” Naylor asked between bites of food.

  I considered lying, but that wouldn’t help build a more positive relationship. I probably wouldn’t see them again once we parted ways, but that didn’t mean I wanted us to split on bad terms.

  With the shit thoroughly hitting the fan with the Assembly, there was every possibility our people would have to work together again at some point. A positive impression on my part wouldn’t hurt.

  “Since I wasn’t paid for my time in your keeping, I have a deficit in supplies. I only took the job because there’s a reagent I desperately need and that hasn’t changed. Shower. Sleep,” I suggested. “I intend to be back before by dawn, but if not, can you lock the hens up for me at sundown?”

  Not waiting for them to ask any more questions, I made for the door, grabbing a small satchel from a peg on the wall as I passed.

  “Sleep well,” I called, as I stepped outside and let the door swing shut behind me. With any luck, they’d be ready to leave when I got back.

  Chapter 7

  Sorrel

  Stepping into the underbrush, I moved with a grace only one could achieve through years of uncovering its many secrets. I’d gone so far as to blindfold myself once, and still managed to find my way.

  My mother finally settling in a small cabin surrounded on all sides by forests was no accident, even in her addled state. It took me a while on that first trek to pinpoint the precise location of the limestone cliff face, but when I did, I began translating my mother’s spells immediately.

  Now, as I made the familiar journey, my satchel contained all the basics I needed for a visit below, as outlined in my mother’s work.

  It wasn’t technically below, more stepping onto another plane of existence, but living among humans for most of my young life had led to me picking up their terminology, and their notion of hell and the underworld had kind of stuck.

  I was about to unfasten the bag when boots scuffed on the rough ground behind me.

  I should have been angry at being followed, but I had to admit the sentiment was nice. “Did Jefferson send you to tail me?”

  “Didn’t want you out here alone,” Cox explained gruffly. “Said something about lack of sleep and safety.”

  I should have known he was keeping tabs on me. I raised a skeptical brow. “While that’s kind, it’s unnecessary. You’re as sleep deprived as I am, so we’re probably no help to each other. Please, go back to my house. You’re safer there. Most of the forest is safe enough, but this particular area is—” I paused, listening. I wouldn’t usually worry about what was lurking in the forest, since the beast wouldn’t usually bother me, but with Cox here? He was fair game. “Shit.”

  “What is that?” he questioned, looking around. There was nothing to see. There wouldn’t be until it was on top of us.

  Scrubbing a hand across my tired face, I released a heavy breath. “Something you don’t want to come face to face with. Leave your weapons behind that rock, knives included. Quickly.”

  He didn’t look convinced.

  “If you’re coming with me then you can’t come armed,” I insisted, “and if you stay here… well, knives and bullets are no match for what’s heading this way.” I shrugged a shoulder. “Your choice.”

  Another crash, closer this time, and the telltale sound of a tree falling made up his mind, and he swiftly removed all the weapons he had concealed in his clothing.

  “Come close,” I urged when he’d hidden the last of his knives. “I need to—”

  It was quick, the mark appearing on his cheek only seconds after I touched his stubbled skin.

  Cox scratched his face immediately. “What are you doing?”

  Wanting him to leave it alone, I kept an eye on the trees as I lowered his hand. “Don’t. The itch will go in a minute or two.”

  “But what have you done?” he demanded in a harsh whisper.

  “Made it look as though you belong to me. You don’t want to be there unprotected, anyone could claim you. It’s not permanent. It’s not even real. Sometimes all you need is the illusion.”

  “Claim me?” he echoed, a small line forming between his brows.

  “Yep,” I confirmed, slowly looking him up and down. “A trained, toned, and virile man like y
ourself could entertain a succubus for a good few months before she completely broke you.”

  “And this will work how?” he queried, running his fingertips over the mark I left on his face, an edge to his tone. “Is there no way to tell if it’s fake?”

  I frowned. “Hmm, fair point. Well, I suppose we should make it authentic.”

  With my satchel already open, it was no effort to reach inside and withdraw the dagger I kept in there. It wasn’t as effective as the dagger I should have been using, but it was sufficient for the time being. “Your index finger.” I indicated to his hand with the dagger.

  He presented it palm up without further question. To be honest, I expected a little more hesitance, but I pricked his finger, followed by my own, and returned the dagger to the bag.

  With the weapon safely away, I pressed my bleeding pad to his and muttered, “Circumda tibi in ministerium in Aquarius servulus monstra. Fides inceptum tuum redi. Praemium tuum praesidium. Usque release tuam.”

  “What was that?” Cox inquired, pulling his hand away sharply and wiping our combined blood on his army issued jacket.

  “A minor binding spell,” I answered, turning back to the stone wall. “It translates as, ‘Bind thee in service to the caster. Loyalty your task, protection your reward. Until your release.’”

  “Until my release?”

  Not paying him any more attention, I reached back into the bag and retrieved a thick, black candle. Again, it had no wick, its sole purpose to draw the runes I needed to open the gateway, and I began sketching on the limestone before me.

  “Bishop,” Cox growled in a hoarse whisper, “when will that be?”

  Not stopping what I was doing, I replied, “If we get back with you in one piece, then.”

  “Wh—”

  He stopped dead when vibrations traveled through our boots and up our legs as another tree fell behind us. It was dangerously close, the culprit’s heavy breaths audible in the now silent forest.

  “Don’t move,” I murmured, adding a final accent to one of the runes I’d drawn and reaching out my left hand to light it.

  Cox didn’t respond, but as the flame from my thumb and forefinger transferred to the blood-wax on the limestone wall, the beast at our backs did.

  Its roar was deafening, and while it sounded fearful, I didn’t want to take any chances—I’d come too far for the soldier to die on me now. Transferring the candle to my left hand, I reached out and grasped Cox by the arm with my right.

  Thankfully, he didn’t offer up any protest as I dragged him into the flaming portal. Only when the wind picked us up and propelled us to the Otherworld did I breathe a sigh of relief.

  The demon I was looking for could usually be found in a tavern on the edge of the Veil. Very few demons actually lived within the Veil itself, there wasn’t enough food to go around, and she was no exception.

  With one eye on my surroundings, I led Cox through the bustling streets, not bothering to gauge his reaction to the place. He wanted to follow me, so he could handle what he saw here.

  “Sorrel Bishop,” a voice declared, and I could pick up on the saucy smirk without having to look at my friend. “Word had it you were lying low after the apothecary was robbed.”

  “It was robbed?” I tried to add an inflection to the end of that question but failed miserably. It just wasn’t me. “I didn’t even hear about it. I was out of town, a friend needed help delivering her baby.”

  I took stock of my acquaintance and raised an eyebrow at her current attire. It didn’t leave much to the imagination, but given what she was, it didn’t surprise me. “I heard you had a stock of phoenix tears.”

  “Hmm, I may have.” She ran her eyes up and down Cox and licked her lips. “Who’s this?”

  “Oh, just something I picked up on my travels. His father needed a healing brew and couldn’t pay. He’s suitable recompense. I had hoped he would be useful in maintaining the façade with the humans, but so far all he’s been useful for is warming my bed,” I explained with a wink.

  It caught her attention. Not that Liesel wasn’t already sizing him up. “Is he that good?”

  “I’ve had him for two months now. I see no reason to kick him out.”

  A single sharpened nail tapped against her chin. “I’ll trade the lot for him.”

  She was already considering it. “He’s more useful to me than that amount of tears.”

  She had the gall to humph at me. “One night.”

  Crossing my arms, I shook my head. “One vial for one kiss.”

  “Done.”

  “One more thing,” I cut in as Liesel almost tripped over her feet in her haste to get to Cox. “You don’t happen to know anything about the little spat going on over on the bright side, do you?”

  Liesel grinned, grabbing Cox by the crotch. He groaned but took it without protest. The guy was clearly smarter than he looked.

  With her nose pressed into his throat, she inhaled. “Mmmm, Romani… Sorrel, you do choose them well.”

  Romani? Well, that was a turn-up.

  They’d gone to ground decades ago, and I could honestly say I’d never met a full-blooded Romani before and could count the half-breeds I’d come across before on one hand. Nobody knew the real reason why, of course, but it was rumored the Assembly had taken a disliking to their sight and the security issues their gift posed.

  From my own experiences with the Assembly, I believed that theory to be closest to the truth. That was how they worked.

  There was a kind of poetic beauty to it since they would have reaped the benefits of my hard work twice over.

  Cox’s groan snapped my attention back to the present in time to see Liesel’s plump lips pressed tightly against his. Overwhelmed by Liesel’s gift, or curse as some would call it, Cox tilted his head back slightly to give her full access to his throat. Liesel took the advantage, running the tip of her tongue over his pulse point.

  And that was it—he was entirely ensnared.

  “As a matter of fact, I did hear a whisper. Information like that costs though,” she teased, finally answering my question, a finger circling the button of his pants.

  I didn’t know what it was, but my demon half wasn’t happy with the display, and the bitch swished her tail in annoyance. I gave Liesel a few seconds, letting her hand splay right over the growing bulge as I tried to calm the jealous bitch.

  Cox couldn’t fully resist Liesel, but his mind was still largely his own at that point. The confusion in his eyes gave way to realization, and all the while his body was demanding more from the succubus. I admit, at first, it was marginally entertaining to see him so conflicted, but I wasn’t about to let her take full advantage of her power over him. Not without my wings splaying and risking my hands growing into talons again.

  As the barbed tail flicked continuously at my insides, I had no choice but to step forward and take Cox by the hand. “Nah. I’m not that interested. Thanks for this, see you next month. Come on, puppy, let’s go.”

  He followed mindlessly. Poor guy. And Alva, my demon side, paused in battering my insides so she could face fuck Liesel with her tail.

  “Wait,” she called after me, a hint of desperation in her tone.

  I stopped walking and peered at her over my shoulder while raising my eyebrows in expectation.

  Through clenched teeth, Liesel ground out, “The Assembly is taking the heat, but according to an imp and a pixie I overheard talking last night, it’s higher up than that. Heard from someone else that they were looking for a witch that went rogue.”

  “A rogue witch?” I parroted, feigning surprise. “Well, whoever he is, he wants to watch his back. You don’t screw with those Fae guys and get away with it. Thanks.” The vial materialized in my hand and I turned sharply, shoved the vessel into my bag, and tilted my head, indicating to Cox he should get moving.

  “Hold on, where’s my kiss?” the succubus snapped, following us.

  My witch side wasn’t prepared to fight over the guy,
he wasn’t that valuable, but I couldn’t risk Alva being let loose and creating a massacre.

  Throwing up a barrier to hold her back, I called, “You took too long, Liesel. Maybe next time,” and tugged Cox toward the door.

  “What the fuck was that?” Cox demanded, when we were out of the tavern.

  “I didn’t ask you to tail me,” I replied, glancing sideways at him but keeping my pace—I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. “I didn’t want you to come through here. Be thankful it was her and not an incubus.”

  He visibly paled and I shook my head. “You people are incredible. How your race survived being so phobic is beyond me… What did she mean back there? Romani? Who was it, your mother or father?”

  “She’s mistaken.” Cox kept walking.

  I wasn’t about to be dismissed so easily, so I poked the bear. “Hmm. Might be worth finding out. If you have some latent power—”

  He spun on his heel, his eyes hardening. “It can stay buried. Where to now?”

  Not expecting that reaction, I paused for a moment, but when I could tell he wasn’t about to be swayed on the topic, I decided to let the subject drop. “Home. I got what I came for and I’m sure Jefferson and Naylor will be concerned about you.”

  “He was more concerned about you.”

  With a shake of my head, I responded, “I don’t need a grandfather figure. You, however, need to get back to your people before the Assembly catches up with you.”

  “Think it’s too late for that.”

  “Wrong again,” I sang. “I can make it look like I controlled you all to get free.”

  Cox had the gall to snort. “Sounds like those guys really want you dead.”

  Reaching the wall, I smirked over my shoulder. “Nah, I’m worth more alive, for now, Mr. Cox. I’ll get that off your face when we get back.”

  “Sorin.”

  I didn’t respond to his offer of a given name, but it answered more questions.

  So not all Romani originate from Romania, but they do have a strong community in that area of Europe. It seemed there was someone on that base of particular interest to the Assembly after all.