“Like Raven.”
Nicolette smiled. “Yes, and like me—and your father. To Tobias’s credit, he did not kill Philippe, though he wanted to. Believe me, I would have told him the truth if it had come to that. Remember, there will always be people ready to take advantage of others. I hope my daughters inherited their fathers’ sense of guile, and not my naïveté.”
Jade’s eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t love me enough to live?”
Nicolette was silent for a long while. She seemed perplexed as to what she should reveal to her daughter and what secrets were best kept hidden.
“I did—I do love you, ma bébé—always. Don’t ever think that I didn’t…that I don’t love you. I love you more than you’ll ever know. But Jade, you must try to convince your father to stop this. I have tried to reach him, but he won’t listen.” Nicolette looked like there was more to tell, but she told her daughter as much as Jade was prepared to hear.
Jade begged. “Why? Père knows what really happened between you.”
“I don’t have much more time with you here. Just know that I have to make right what I messed up so miserably. Somehow, I have to fix this. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I love you with all my heart.”
“I love you, too, Maman.” Jade grasped her mother’s hand, not wanting to let go.
Jade’s surroundings took on a pixilated quality.
Images faded in and out.
“I don’t want you and your sister to be enemies. I never wanted that.” Tears filled the older woman’s eyes.
The two women stood and embraced. Nicolette stood back and looked deeply into the green eyes whose shade was identical to her own.
“You are so beautiful. I’m so sorry, ma petite. I have to go.”
Raul watched as Tracy left Jade’s room. She had brought him a sandwich earlier, and now that her task of administering blood was underway, Tracy headed back to the lab. There was a discernible ripple in the energy of the hall where Raul sat, but he could not put his finger on it. By the time he realized what was happening, the needle was plunged into his arm, while white powder flew in his face.
Laroque used a torsion wrench to unlock the door to his daughter’s room. The bag of blood that replenished her body was empty. Carefully, he removed the IV, his anger flaring while he unhooked the leather restraints. Gathering Jade into his arms, he whispered a charm to create a diversion, making it possible for them to exit the hospital without notice. He rushed to the parking lot carrying his daughter, whispering words of reassurance to her.
“Maman…”
“Il est moi, papa.”
“Père…I’m so sleepy. I saw maman,” Jade muttered as he placed her in the backseat of the borrowed sedan. The shape shifter he had just infected would not need his vehicle for a long time, if ever.
“Rest, Jade. We will be home in a little while.”
“Don’t say it! Please, don’t say it!” Raven cried to her father.
“You are lucky he came solely for Jade and not to get revenge, although he’ll be back,” Tobias countered.
Raven slumped against the wall outside of Bo’s room. Her whole world was crumbling around her. She was terrified that she’d taken too much blood from Jade. Everything she tried to improve became worse. She was grateful to her father. Though angry, he kept the depth of his rage at bay.
Nothing turned out like she had imagined.
Laroque was supposed to return and beg for his daughter’s safe return. The way it played out in Raven’s mind, he should be handing over the vaccines. Then she would unlock the door to where she had Jade hidden.
“How’s Raul?” she asked.
“Missing. I think it’s time Laroque and I have a meeting,” Tobias said. “I have kept this inside long enough. He is a monster. The things he did to my sweet Nicolette—to your mother. He’s the worst kind of animal, and I let Frank convince me for your sake to let it go. I will not let it go any longer.”
Raven grabbed her father’s arm. “No! You’re more vulnerable than any of us. This virus is mutating, and if Bo’s grandfather is correct, it is the magickal aspect of our make-up that makes us susceptible. There has to be another way.”
Both daughters of Nicolette were fearful of losing the only parent they had left, and both would do anything to protect them. Their loyalty to family was unwavering, and they were more alike than Raven realized.
“Raven, I am going to see him, no matter what you say. Bo is not getting better. We have to do something. I will finally have my revenge.”
Raven clenched her jaw in frustration. “And what if you can’t get him to give you the antidote? What if he infects you? You’re going to have another child. Think of Emmie! You cannot go, and you can’t kill him. Then we’ll really be screwed.”
Tobias flashed his lethal fangs as he swore at his daughter. At a time like this, when Tobias was enraged, he appeared massive. “I’ll get the answers we need from him. I have had many years to plan a slow and painful torture for Courtier de Sang.”
Joe Menendez came barreling down the hall with Bianca on his heels. “Raven, you’ve got another siren washed up on the shore and two more people with bite marks in the ER, and …”
“What, Joe?”
Bianca answered. “An Empusa is dead and there’s word of a Lykan’s death. Nat is doing the autopsy on the Empusa with Davis. The Lykan, as I’m sure you know, evaporated to dust upon death. This is becoming some kind of a mystical-being murder spree.”
“A Lykan? I didn’t know they came to the island,” Raven said.
“Seems some Lykans and shifters have mated. There aren’t many around. Joe, how do you know for certain it was a Lykan?” Tobias asked.
“Solaris saw him, the Lykan. Tracy is running some tests on the…remains.” Joe looked helplessly at Raven, then at Tobias. “And they’re bringing in Emerald as we speak. She passed out in the hospital parking lot. They think she’s infected.”
“The baby!” Tobias lunged toward the ER’s dented green double doors. “If Hekate is awakened, we’ll have more to worry about than Laroque,” he said before the doors swished closed behind him.
“Hekate?” Joe asked Raven as she headed toward the lab.
The lab was in the newer section of the building. Celery green paint covered half the walls, and oak wainscoting adorned the rest. Beautiful watercolors donated by local artists added a soothing quality to the room. Raven felt anything but soothed.
Lush greenery of Swedish ivy hung in corners from macramé holders and Norfolk pines added life-giving energy to the space. Everything should be dead. Bo is dying. Everything should die with him.
Despite the homey quality of the lab, Raven was anxious. She needed to do something to try to help Tracy come up with an answer—and fast. She mentally gave herself a slap, commanding herself to snap out of it.
“Rav…who’s Hekate?” Joe asked.
Bianca attempted to fill in the blanks. Raven’s thoughts were light years away. “Yeah, Hekate—don’t ask,” Bianca said. “You mean you’ve lived here your entire life and you don’t know the folklore of the island? Shame on you,” she teased.
Joe eyed the pretty young woman.
Raven could see he enjoyed flirting with her. How can he flirt when his partner is fighting for his life?
“Then why don’t you fill me in? Take pity on an ignorant native and teach him a thing or two,” he said with a sly smile.
“You want to learn?”
“Guys?” Raven tried to get their attention.
“Honey, anything you want to teach me, I’ll be more than willing to learn. How about we start with a dinner date? Then, over drinks, you can teach me the history of Mirabelle. I’ve heard you have ancestors who helped establish the island.”
“Are you asking me out?” Bianca asked.
Raven’s ire was building. “Guys.”
“Yes, I am.”
Bianca smiled. “I accept,” she said, and headed for the ER.
“Sor
ry,” Joe said contritely.
Joe and Raven walked through the morgue and into Raven’s lab. Joe’s face was engraved with worry and confusion.
“I guess I’ll give you the short version of island lore,” Raven said.
Raven inhaled deeply and attempted to explain the history of the Lamai in as few words as possible.
“The Lamai originated in ancient Greece. Queen Rhia of Libya literally went insane after the brutal murder of her husband and children. She headed to Greece, blaming Hera for her children’s death, but it wasn’t Hera’s fault. It was an Empusa.” Joe looked more confused. Raven tried to elucidate. “Empusas are demons that take on human form from time to time. They are affiliated with Hekate. Rhia went on a rampage and took to traveling the earth, starting in Greece. She drank the blood of humans and, like the succubus, would manifest as a beautiful woman, only to devour her lovers. She fed on the blood and was therefore considered the Mother of the Lamai. Not a very pleasant history.
Raven walked to the table where Tracy was working on Bo’s latest blood samples. Tracy’s affect was solemn. “What many people don’t know is that Rhia and Hekate are sisters, though Rhia chose to live as a mortal. The Empusas were once beautiful creatures. After Hekate learned what they did to her sister’s family, she cursed them with hideous looks.”
Joe was curious now. “Is she still around, this Rhia? And what does this have to do with Hekate?”
“Yes, Queen Rhia is still walking the earth, though she doesn’t feed anymore. She doesn’t have to. Hekate is the Goddess who watches over the island and is in charge of the Empusas. I suppose it’s a guilt thing over Rhia’s losses. Hekate wanted to activate Rhia’s goddess powers, but Rhia refused. They have a kind of alliance. Hekate has the power to grant mortals anything they wish. If Laroque is trying to awaken her, who knows what he may try to get from her.”
“What could he possibly get?” Joe asked, jingling his pocketful of change.
“Immortality…” Raven stood and suddenly threw herself into Joe’s arms, hugging him and kissing his cheek. “You’re brilliant!”
In a flash, she was gone.
Chapter Eleven
Solaris tried in vain to convince her friend that contacting Hekate was not one of her better ideas, but she had no luck in changing Raven’s mind. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em was Sol’s motto. Dressed in lightweight hiking boots and khaki pants with a matching jacket, she packed her duffle bag.
The smaller barrier island was located a few miles south of Mirabelle Cove, hidden in the Mists of Magyck, the home of Hekate. A few islanders made the journey through the Mists at the spring and fall equinoxes and left Hekate gifts ranging from gold and jewels to exotic fruits and incense. Solaris and Raven had made the journey together many times.
However, this time Solaris hesitated before she agreed to go. It was one thing to leave gifts for the Goddess, and another to try to awaken her. Time was the one thing they had in their favor. With All Hallows Eve approaching, Hekate’s attention was on the outer world.
“Hekate’s my only hope to save Bo. I have to convince her to spare him,” Raven said after hanging up the phone with Uncle Caleb, who agreed to let her use his boat, again without question.
Sol smirked. “Wait a minute, you don’t convince Hekate to do anything. No one does. Either she does it for her own reasons or she doesn’t. You’d better pray we’re getting her on a good day.”
“All I’ve been doing is praying since Bo was infected,” Raven admitted.
“You know she’ll want something in return, and this time fruit or gold won’t suffice,” Solaris said, adding a handful of protein bars and bottled water to her bag.
The tension in the room was thick. Both women knew what was at stake. “I know. Whatever it is…I’ll give it to her.”
Solaris took Raven’s hands in her own. “Does your father know what you’re up to?”
Raven gripped Sol’s hands tighter. “No, and you can’t tell him. Promise me. He would try to stop me. Besides, he’ll be with Emerald at the hospital.”
Solaris turned, her eyes wide. “Emerald? What happened? Is she all right?”
“Yes, she’ll be all right. I checked on her before I left. It was just exhaustion that caused her to pass out—that and stress, but she and the baby are fine. Dr. Odin is certain she’ll carry to term, and Jules assured Emerald that she’ll have a healthy baby boy.”
“Emerald wanted to know the sex of the baby?”
Raven smiled. “Yeah, they both wanted to know. My father is over the moon.” She paused a moment. “Mordred is cured.”
Sol’s brows pinched together. “I’m worried about what would happen should the humans fall prey to this disease.”
“Me too,” Raven admitted.
Solaris glanced at Raven. “And how’s Bo?”
Raven’s throat tightened and her eyes threatened to spill oceans of tears. “He’s running out of time, Sol. The only thing that’s keeping him here is his sheer will and the constant blood transfusions, but if his organs start to bleed—” She couldn’t finish the thought. Wiping the tears away, she reached for her jacket. Sol hugged her.
“Then we won’t let that happen.” Solaris grabbed her shawl and headed toward the door, tossing Raven another duffle bag. “I heard Bo’s family arrived.”
The two women walked out into the afternoon sun. Blue skies betrayed the darkness that was about to descend upon the island.
“Yes, they’re supplying the blood—his human sisters. Luckily, two out of his three sisters share his type.” They approached Solaris’s car.
“Frank has been MIA lately. I wonder why.”
Solaris hit the automatic lock opener, opened the doors and threw the bags in the back. “He probably feels guilty.” Solaris got into the driver’s side.
Raven sat next to her friend. “Why would he feel guilty?”
Solaris shook her head. “That’s something he has to tell you. It’s not my place.” She started the engine and drove toward the marina.
“Oh, come on.” Raven huffed. “I understand your sense of honor, but this is serious shit!”
“Are you saying you want a reading? Because if you are saying you want a reading, I can do that. But if you’re asking me to betray a confidence—well, that’s a bit different. Do you want a reading?” Sol asked coaxingly.
Raven remained quiet until they reached the marina. Caleb had left the keys in the ignition of the boat.
As Solaris and Raven tossed their gear into the boat, Raven finally answered. “Yes, I want a reading.”
Solaris untied the ropes from the cleats and climbed into the thirty-foot Grady White. Raven guided the boat out of the inlet and into the open waters.
Solaris entered a deep meditative state as Raven quietly navigated her way toward the Mists of Magyck.
The force of Solaris’s words hit Raven directly in her heart. “Your mother wasn’t raped. She gave herself willingly to Philippe Laroque. Your father doesn’t even know this.” Solaris gave Raven a little time to absorb the news. “But she was under the spell of a fae’s magick.”
Information that Frank had tried to keep from everyone—especially Raven. “Your mother was angry at Tobias for leaving so often. She was content with the money they had, but Tobias had business concerning both the Lamai and his financial dealings all over the world. He also had to make his yearly pilgrimage to Queen Rhia.”
Raven was indignant. “So my mother had an affair?”
“An affair, no. Technically a one night—afternoon—stand. But her willingness to give in to Laroque was ignited by magick. The fae’s magick. And that’s how your sister was conceived. Not by rape.” Solaris softened her tone. She psychically knew this could not be easy news for her friend to accept.
Solaris continued. “She was human, with faults and all, and she had intense difficulty with the fact that she had betrayed your father. Neither your mother nor your father knew about the fae’s involvement. Nicolet
te tried to forgive herself, and your father was…for lack of a better phrase…an angel about the whole situation. For the sake of the baby—for Jade—and your mother, he didn’t kill Laroque. He loved Nicolette more than he loved any other woman. This I know. She was his destined mate. Fated to be together lifetime after lifetime.”
The air around the boat felt thicker as each minute passed. They were nearing the Mists, and Raven was unusually quiet.
“Are you all right?” Solaris asked.
“Just shocked—this is a bit much to absorb in one day. Learning about my mother’s indiscretion, a sister…my fiancé is on death’s doorstep and my father is going to get married and have a baby…”
“Hold on, girlfriend—your fiancé? When were you going to tell me?”
Raven conjured a weak smile. “It all happened so fast. Bo proposed… just before.” Raven was quiet for a moment. “So all along this was an act about my mother’s rape, to preserve her honor?” Raven blinked away tears.
“Yes. To a certain degree, Frank thought this was the best way to handle the situation. Your mom couldn’t bear for Tobias to know she’d given herself willingly to another man. Frank concocted this story, and that was that.”
Solaris hugged her forlorn friend and momentarily changed the subject. “You’ll make a beautiful bride, and Bo will be a gorgeous groom. It’ll be all right.” Solaris gave Raven a squeeze.
Solaris continued with Raven’s family tale/reading. “Frank wanted to protect your mother at any cost. That’s why he did what he did.”
Raven corrected her. “You mean ‘lied’. He lied.”
She nodded in agreement. “Yes, he lied. Frank was very much in love with Nicolette. He’s a powerful wizard, too. Did you know that? He used his power to conceal his feelings from your father. From us all, really.” She took in a deep breath. “I don’t know if it was out of fear, or for another reason. Anyway, no one believed Laroque when he went around boasting he’d had an affair with Tobias’s wife and that she loved him—certainly not Tobias. They dealt with the situation as best they could up until the point when your mother’s pregnancy couldn’t be hidden anymore, and then people began to spread rumors. It left questions in everyone’s minds.”
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