Now I was stuck here until I could get a lift into town.
Footsteps thumped across the wooden floorboards above my head, telling me Triskel was up.
“Great, just bloody great.”
Chapter 26
“Thanks for doing this,” I said to Megan before I hung up the phone. At least I’d managed to secure a ride into town. Now I just had to figure out a way to get Triskel out of the house so Carolyn didn’t feel so panicked about the strange fae.
“We can leave,” Carolyn said, watching Triskel sitting on the couch in the living room.
Merry was creeping around the chairs, every so often pouncing out at the fae before running away whooping with joy.
“She hasn’t moved since you sent her in there,” she said, turning back to face me.
I sat at the table, drinking a particularly strong cup of tea. The bag still floated in the water, and I contemplated fishing it out but changed my mind. I needed all the fortitude the warm drink could offer me, particularly with what I had in mind.
My cell phone buzzed next to me, Adrian’s name flashing on the screen. Right on time.
I swiped to decline the call. No way was I going to have him turn me down on the phone—that was far too easy. No, Adrian was going to get a personal visit, and face-to-face was the best way I knew to bring him around to my way of thinking.
“She’s fine, I think she’s just sulking,” I said, loud enough for Triskel to hear. She was definitely sulking, although I had no idea why, apart from the obvious: she hadn’t gotten up early enough to see Grey.
“We’re really inconveniencing you,” Carolyn said, staring down into her cup.
“Honestly, it’s not you.” I didn’t bother elaborating; it seemed pointless. Triskel was more of a minor irritation, and her immature attitude baffled me. I’d never met a fae like her, either in personality or abilities.
“I’ll look for somewhere new today,” Carolyn said, continuing as though she hadn’t even heard me.
“Carolyn,” I said, cutting across her. “You’re not an inconvenience. Neither of you are.” I stretched my hand across the table toward her, but I didn’t touch her, choosing instead to leave my hand sitting in the centre of the table. I knew what it was like to be touched without consent, and for a long time after escaping Kypherous, I’d been wary of anyone who wandered too close to my personal space. Without knowing her background, I didn’t want to overstep my boundary and make her feel worse.
She smiled at me and wrapped her hand in mine, squeezing my fingers gently before releasing me.
“I don’t know why you’re being so kind to us,” she said quietly.
“Because you both need a little kindness,” I said. “And anyway, I wouldn’t call giving you a place to crash kindness. The way I see it, it’s a human right, and you’re both welcome to stay until you get on your feet.” I twisted my head and caught Triskel’s dark glare. Something was definitely eating at her, and it was getting worse.
“The ghosts haven’t bothered you, have they?” I asked Carolyn almost absentmindedly as I studied Triskel.
“No, ever since you brought the box into the house, they’ve been pretty quiet,” Carolyn said. “I think Merry is a little disappointed.”
The young girl chose that moment to burst into the kitchen. She darted across the floor and dived beneath the table in a flurry of activity, and I could feel a wide smile spreading across my face.
I felt a small hand on my ankle, and I leaned back in my chair, peering under the table. Her wide-eyed gaze met mine, and she giggled loudly as she pressed her fingers to her lips in an attempt at a shushing motion.
“Hidey-hidey,” she whispered, loud enough that had I been in the living room, I still would have heard her.
Carolyn’s face fell, and she reached beneath the table. “Merry, come on, you know I don’t like you playing that game anymore.” Her voice was strained with pain.
The little girl darted from the room once more, humming happily to herself as she continued to dash around the house.
“Hide-and-seek,” I said quietly, studying Carolyn’s expression.
She buried her face in her hands and then shoved her fingers back through her tangled blonde hair with a sigh.
“I have to make everything a game or she gets upset.”
I nodded but didn’t say anything. If she wanted to open up, then I wasn’t going to interrupt.
“She doesn’t understand danger, or the fact that some people want to hurt her or don’t care that all she wants is to be happy…”
“Who wanted to hurt her?” Even imagining that anyone would want to take the smile from her face or dull the mischievous sparkle in her eyes caused an ache in the pit of my stomach.
“He was the head of the local coven,” she said. “When he found out about Merry, he was just a little interested, and then that interest became something else. Magic runs in her veins, and she’s pure of heart, so apparently she would make a powerful conduit…”
“A conduit for what?” I asked, fighting to keep my rage in check.
“He didn’t say, and I didn’t hang around to find out…” She trailed off, and I knew she wasn’t telling me something. Carolyn met my gaze, but her eyes shimmered with tears. “I suppose I should tell you that he’s her father.”
“I guessed as much,” I admitted. “When did you see him last?”
“Six months ago,” she said. “Every so often he catches up to us, and when he does…”
“All hell breaks loose.”
“He has connections.” She hesitated. “Connections with Division 6. They consider him an invaluable asset.”
Her words sent a bolt of fear through me. Grey knew she was here, he knew about Merry. Hell, he’d known without me ever saying anything to him, and if he knew then it was a safe bet that others in Division 6 would too.
“So when I saw the Division 6 agent turn up yesterday, I got worried… I didn’t know that you knew them too.”
“In the interest of full disclosure,” I said, “I used to work for them.”
“But you still do, or else why would two of the agents have stayed over last night?” she queried, and I went still. How had she known about Grey and Alex? Heck, Grey hadn’t even known Alex was here until the early morning hours, and they’d both left before she’d appeared in the kitchen with Merry leading the charge.
“I’m helping them out on a case,” I said, which wasn’t a lie.
“You want to go back to work for them, though.”
I glared at her. “Please stop reading me, it makes me itchy and more than a little uncomfortable.” I fought to soften the edge in my voice.
“I’m sorry, it’s just force of habit. We’ve been running for so many years now, it’s second nature for me to read those around me.” She fidgeted with the small gold band on her finger. “It’s the only thing that’s kept us both alive. So far anyway…”
“Why do you say ‘so far?’”
Carolyn gave me a sad smile. “I’m not the only one who has bad habits. Merry showed me what your friend Adrian saw…”
I jolted in my seat. The memory of what Adrian told me had stayed with me. But as far as Carolyn and Merry were concerned, the only future they had was with me… well, me and my non-existent future.
“His vision gave her nightmares… Took me days to get her settled again, but she hasn’t had one since we came here. She feels safe here, with you.”
That made me smile. At least I was good for something, and making Merry feel safe seemed like a pretty worthwhile cause.
“These friends of yours,” Carolyn said, tracing the lines on the table, “can they be trusted?”
I had no doubts about Grey, especially as he’d already told me that he would keep their secret. Clearly, whatever he’d read in the file had been enough to make up his mind on that front, which told me that whatever was in the file was bad. Like really bad.
Alex, on the other hand… He was definitely a loose cannon
, and while we’d seemingly bonded over our shared secret as immortals, I sensed that if the right offer was made, he would sell me and everyone I cared about down the river in a heartbeat. That knowledge didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, but what was I supposed to tell Carolyn?
“Your silence tells me all I need to know,” she said with a sigh. “I’ll start packing.” She stood.
“Wait.”
Carolyn eyed me carefully before taking her seat once more.
“Look, Grey can be trusted. He wouldn’t hurt you or Merry,” I said.
“I’m not worried about him hurting me, but if he tells the wrong people…”
“He won’t,” I said, more confidently than I felt. What if he had already told Alex?
“And the other one?”
I shook my head and spread my hands. “Honestly, Alex is new territory for me too.” Carolyn’s face fell. “But I will say this: if he opens his mouth, I will kill him.”
Carolyn started to laugh, but quickly let it die off as she realised I hadn’t joined her. I watched as her expression grew much more serious.
“You’re not joking, are you?”
“Nope. At the end of the day, this goes way beyond you and Merry. If I can’t trust Alex to keep my guests out of his reports, my secrets out of his reports, then he’s a danger not just to you but to me as well.”
Carolyn nodded, and I wondered just how much she understood. I always found it fascinating how appearances could be so deceptive. Most people, when pushed to the pin of their collars, would kill to protect the ones they cared about, and Carolyn had the look of someone who’d already been there, done that, and bought the T-shirt.
“Even if you do end up killing him, by that time it would be too late,” she said.
“Look, let me get done with this case first. One thing at a time, eh?” I gave her a wide grin.
“Okay, we’ll wait until this case is done…”
“Great.”
“New friend!” Merry chirped, appearing in the kitchen. She was dragging Megan, who looked as surprised as I was, by the hand.
“Where did you come from?” I said, glancing down at my cell phone. As soon as I realised the time, I swore beneath my breath. We’d been talking for an hour, and I hadn’t even packed the weapons I’d planned to bring with me.
“This cutie let me in,” Megan said, giving me a concerned look.
“Merry!” Carolyn said. “What have I told you about the front door?”
Merry’s bottom lip jutted out and wobbled dramatically as her eyes filled with tears. I couldn’t tell if she was merely reading the tone in her mother’s voice or whether Carolyn was giving off far stronger emotions that had genuinely frightened the little girl.
“New friend,” Merry repeated, her voice on the verge of breaking.
“You know not to open the door to strangers,” Carolyn said, and her own voice cracked with emotion.
Megan met my gaze, and I saw that her eyes were also filled with tears. “She didn’t mean it,” she said quietly.
“What in Goddess’s name is that?” Triskel said, appearing in the kitchen.
I jumped at the sound of her voice and dashed away the tears tracking down my own cheeks. Crap. Merry’s emotions were sweeping out across the room, and I dug my fingers into my leg in an attempt to blot them out.
Triskel’s hand touched my shoulder, and I glanced up at her. She had a look of fierce determination on her face, and as soon as her hand touched me, Merry’s broken-hearted emotions subsided.
“What is she?” Triskel asked, her fingers spasming against my shoulder, and I knew she was struggling to keep Merry’s emotions from consuming her too.
“She is my daughter,” Carolyn said angrily, whirling on Triskel.
“Carolyn, stop,” I said. “She didn’t mean anything by…” My words died as another wave of emotion slammed into me.
Carolyn’s face crumpled. “I didn’t do the binding spell on Merry…” She choked the words out.
My tears came faster then, and I felt a sob rise up the back of my throat as I climbed to my feet and headed for the cupboard. I had to step over Megan, who was curled in a ball on the floor next to Merry, her face red and her eyes puffy as she sobbed into her arms.
Merry’s wails rose above everyone else’s, and it took every ounce of my strength not to succumb. Maybe it was because I knew about her power, or perhaps it was due to my gorgon nature, but I found it easier to fight back the tears that blurred my vision. I swallowed around the thick lump in the back of my throat as I pulled a packet of cookies from the cupboard.
“Merry,” I said, my voice hoarse, “I know they’re not Oreos, but how about chocolate chip cookies?”
She gave a cough and a small, hiccupping sob, her face redder than I’d ever seen it, but as I held the open biscuits out to her, she gave me a watery smile. Then she took the packet and set it on the table, and I watched as she took one biscuit. She stared at it for a minute before turning to her mother and handing the cookie to her.
“Don’t cry…” she said, and I had a feeling that this was Merry’s attempt at an apology.
Crouching on the floor next to Megan, I helped the young, bewildered witch to her feet as she swiped at the tears drying on her face.
“What happened?” she whispered, leaning toward me.
“Merry got a little upset is all,” I said, but my stomach churned with concern.
She’d taken us all down without so much as a thought.
Carolyn had taken the biscuit and was staring at Merry as she happily munched into her own cookie, crumbs tumbling down onto the table.
“Carolyn, can I have a quick word?” I said.
She nodded and climbed to her feet, staring at her daughter as though she hadn’t truly seen her before. I paused in the hallway, waiting for her to catch up.
“What was that?”
“I forgot to do the binding ritual this morning, with everything that’s been going on… She rolled me like I was just another bystander.”
“I thought she couldn’t do that? You said you were immune.”
Carolyn nodded. “That’s what I thought, but I guess I was wrong. I’ve been binding her power daily for the past six months, ever since we had the last run-in with her father. It stops him from tracking us through her.”
It made sense, especially considering who her father was. He would have the ability to track her, blood to blood, without ever needing something personal of hers. It was simply another version of the spell Grey planned to perform using the creature’s blood from the blade I’d used to stab it.
“With all the binding I’ve been doing, I didn’t realise just how much her powers had grown.”
“Well, you can do the binding spell now,” I said. “We’ll get out of your hair, give you the space you need.”
“I think that’s best. The more of an audience Merry has, the less likely she is to cooperate.”
Merry came skipping from the kitchen, a chocolate moustache visible above her lips. She held out a piece of chocolate to Carolyn.
“New friend,” she said, gesturing for Carolyn to take the sweet.
We returned to the kitchen, and I found Megan sitting at the table chatting with Triskel, who seemed far more animated than she had all morning.
“I had some chocolate bars and a couple of muffins from the café,” she said in response to my raised eyebrow over Merry’s chocolate-covered face.
“You really didn’t have to,” Carolyn said.
Megan shook her head. “Don’t worry about it, every woman needs a little chocolate to cheer her up every now and then.” She reached out and brushed a couple strands of blonde hair back from Merry’s face. “Isn’t that right, monkey?”
“No monkey!” Merry said defiantly, but she wore a wide grin and her voice was filled with joy as she ran at Megan and planted a kiss on the young witch’s cheek.
Megan started to laugh and then climbed to her feet.
“Y
ou ready to go?” she said to me. “I’ve got to go in and relieve Jack.”
“Couple of minutes,” I said, darting for the stairs. I took them two at a time and raced into my room, grabbing the wooden box I kept beneath my bed.
Flipping the lid, I rummaged around inside it before pulling out another set of karambits. The ones I’d been using needed sharpening and a proper cleaning, but I didn’t have time for that now.
A long obsidian sword lay in the bottom of the box, and I tugged it free. I stared down at the opaque blade and ornate stone handle and contemplated tossing it back into the box.
Kypherous had the blade specially made for me, back when he’d thought he could mould me into a weapon for his own use.
I’d stabbed him with the blade, driving it up into his body. But he’d moved at the last moment, and it hadn’t been a killing blow. The ragged scar beneath my breast itched, and I remembered the feel of the blade as he’d sunk it into my body as payback for what I’d done to him.
It had been the first time he’d managed to kill me.
The first of many.
I tossed the sword back into the box, closing the lid on the blade to hide it from view. Not that it really mattered. Every scar I had was another reminder of what Kypherous had done to me.
I shook my head.
No. Not a reminder of that monster.
Every scar was a reminder of what I’d overcome.
He hadn’t beaten me. And this creature was no different.
I would stop it. Even if I couldn’t kill it, I would at least stop it.
Chapter 27
Sliding into the front seat, I started the engine on my Land Rover and waited for the heat to kick in. Triskel sat in the front seat, her arms folded across her chest, instantly reminding me of a petulant child.
“Not even Merry sulks the way you do,” I said quietly.
“Well, she’s an idiot,” she said, and her words stunned me into silence.
I twisted around in the seat and met Triskel’s gaze.
“What did you say?” My voice had gone low, lethal, and the gorgon inside me relished the sudden uncertainty in Triskel’s eyes.
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