I wasn’t sure if he was asking me or Billy, but I nodded anyway. “The spell is gone. Not sure what kind of damage it did though.” I unlatched the thong from Sam’s mouth, letting her lips fall slack.
Wyatt rubbed his eyes, yawned. “Her color is good.” He picked up her wrist, felt her pulse. “Still a little fast.” With his fingers at the point of contact, he flooded Sam with his healing magic. I felt it as it sought out the wounds we couldn’t see. He was giving her everything he had, if only for five minutes.
“Clive?”
We all snapped to attention the second Sam’s eyes opened. Wyatt released her wrist.
“Where’s Clive?” Sam asked again. “Kali, what are you doing here?”
“She came to help,” Billy said.
“Help?” Sam attempted to push herself up, the restraints keeping her in place. “What the fuck is going on!”
Wyatt stepped back to let Billy through. “That spell is gone for sure?” Billy asked.
I nodded.
“Then I guess it’s safe to remove these.” Billy motioned for me to help.
“What happened? Did I get hit?” Sam’s eyes were flashing with confusion, anger, panic even. No witch wanted to find herself strapped down to a rack, no matter what side they were on.
“You got hit. Kali took care of it.” Billy hesitated, his expression sour. “Wyatt dosed you with some of his healing magic.”
I watched as Sam’s mind made all the connections, gave her credit for fighting the sneer when she looked at Wyatt. “Thank you.” It was obvious to everyone in the room that it was hard for her to say those words.
Wyatt gave a nod then returned to his seat.
“Sam!” Clive came crashing into the room, a swath of bandages across his head, more peeking out from under his shirt.
He scooped her from the table, wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her so passionately I actually had to turn away. Not because I thought it was gross, but because it hurt my heart to know that that would never be me. Not with Clive. Ick.
No. It would never be me and Wyatt. Our reunions were always filled with angst, it seemed. I’d never been one for the gushy stuff but, meaning something to someone? Yeah, I wanted that. Meaning so much that you wanted to die for them. Or maybe you wanted to kill for them. Wyatt let me walk away. Eight years later and the chemistry was still there, but so was the anger, the passion searing my heart as much as making it spark. He wasn’t ever going to give me what I wanted. A part of him. An open line to his feelings, if he had any. That just wasn’t him.
“Why don’t we go into the next room and hash out some plans while these two catch up,” Billy said as he draped an arm over my shoulder. I wanted to shrug it off, punish him for his cold treatment earlier, but at that moment I kinda wanted a little tenderness, even in a platonic way.
“Sure.”
Wyatt followed behind us, his glare boring into the back of my head. He’d always been a jealous man and I didn’t mind letting him stew in it now.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Any ideas why it’s being called the Dark War?” Billy motioned to me then Wyatt, a coffee pot in one hand, a mug in the other.
I nodded, needing the caffeine. “Mom didn’t say. Why, you hearing stuff through your informants?”
Billy carried two steaming mugs to the table and put them down in front of us. “Yeah, that’s what they’re calling it. Confirmation that your mom’s prediction is on the right track.”
“She suggested that it’s connected to the solar flare, maybe there’s something there.” I poured a generous amount of sugar into my coffee, needing some extra kick in the worst way.
Wyatt was already drinking his, black as usual. He was such a bad ass. “The experts have been saying there will be a disruption in power.” He shrugged as he put his mug down. “Maybe they’ll take advantage then.”
“But only for a minute or two? Do you really think that they can do much damage, to war-like proportions in a couple of minutes?” I shook my head. “No, it doesn’t fit.”
“It does seem unlikely. But the Strix are ruthless and reckless. I wouldn’t put it past them to organize something that would take advantage of a few minutes of dark, maybe with the thought that it would cascade into more.”
“Bad timing that this solar flare is happening at night. Your mom didn’t say anything about a world war though right? This might be centralized to America. Strix will be limited during the day.”
“That’s true.” My mind was whirring. I didn’t like it. I felt as if there was something missing from our logic. Drake had said this had been in the works for years. Strix planning a war for years? They were ruthless, Wyatt was right, and reckless enough to take a lot of chances if they thought they would benefit. “You said that you chased a bounty to a warehouse and that there were other supernatural species there?”
Billy brought his coffee and sat opposite to Wyatt, each of them taking one end of the small table like a face off. “Yep, less than ten, more than five. Was hard to get a count once the fighting started.”
“Don’t you think that’s odd? I mean, we’re not typically into inter-species relations.”
“We’ve seen it before, not to this scale. A witch and a vampire, werewolf, whatever, pairing.” Billy shrugged. “Thought it was just sex stuff. You know, exploring the other side.”
I frowned. “There is something very wrong with that.”
“Now who’s being a bigot?” Wyatt snickered into his coffee.
I shot him a dirty look before turning back to Billy. “Not the idea of a sexual relationship between two species, the idea that they are intermingling when, for centuries, we all typically steered clear. Everyone knows that it’s safer to fly under the radar in smaller groups. Werewolves, witches, vampires all keep to themselves, boundaries keep people safe and easier to manage.”
“You think this is connected to the prediction?” Billy asked.
“I think it’s possible.” I tapped the table. “Ivana said that she was the one who came up with the idea for the Dark War. I don’t know if that was just an egomaniac boasting or what, but I think it’s something to take into consideration.”
“A hybrid in charge of things? Scary.”
“A hybrid? What?” Billy’s sputtered on his coffee.
I’d forgotten about Billy not knowing that detail and cringed. “She’s a witch turned vampire. Gets her magic back by sucking blood from other witches. Takes on their powers permanently if she drains them dry. Makes it so she can walk in the light too.”
“And that’s why she’s after you, isn’t it?” He was putting pieces together faster than I had. He might look like a big brute, but Billy was a genius when it came to strategy. “Brilliant. She gets a tracker’s blood and can locate her prey easily, keep her magic up.”
“It’s addictive, according to Drake. She craves the power. That’s her weakness too, though, along with the fact that when she’s drained she loses the edge. We killed her partner that way.”
“Wow, that is scary shit. If she builds an army of Strix witches, they can attack mass amounts of humans, day or night.”
“We need to take her out.” Wyatt got up and walked to the coffeemaker, pouring himself another cup, then leaning against the counter. “She’s a leader of some kind. Maybe she’s the leader.”
“Could be.” It was plausible, I guess. She had taken over a Strix Master’s empire. She’d have hundreds, possibly thousands of vampires at her bidding. “Problem is, we don’t know where she is.”
Wyatt pulled his phone from his pocket, glanced at the screen then left the room with it at his ear. I shrugged as the door shut behind him. Business. Whatever.
“Do you know which Master she overthrew?” Billy lifted his hand to his face, stroking the sides of his jaw. “Maybe we can track her to headquarters. I mean, if I were staging a war, I’d probabl
y be holed up in a central location at this point, somewhere that my troops could locate me if necessary.”
“Of course!” I smiled. “I knew there was a reason why I kept you around.”
Billy smiled as he slid his hand across the table, motioning me to do the same. I did it without thinking, clasping fingers out of excitement.
He snagged my wrist and pulled me forward. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
I frowned. “Huh?”
He leaned even closer and I fought the urge to pull away. I was off balance, one side of my upper body almost lying across the table corner, our heads close enough that I could smell whatever aftershave he was wearing.
“When you got here and I….”
“Oh!” I waved his concern away. “No worries. I understand. You were stressed out.”
Thinking we were done, I tried to pull back but Billy’s grip was like a manacle around my wrist.
“I just want you to know that I have always thought very highly of you.” He glanced down for a minute, blush spreading over his cheeks. When he looked up again, he was smiling. “I’ve always kinda had a crush on you. More than a crush really.”
I should have seen it coming. I mean really, I wasn’t an amateur with this kind of thing. He leaned in and kissed me, lips on mine, pressing firmly. Nothing raunchy. No tongue. Just soft lips. It was nice. It was more than nice. It lasted for half a minute, if that, before he pulled away, his blush a deeper shade of red. Endearing. The man was a big sweetie.
“I just…” He cleared his throat. “I just figured that if we’re headed toward a war, I want you at my side. My partner, like Clive and Sam.”
I gulped. I hadn’t been expecting that either. “Um…”
Wyatt walked back in, perfect timing as usual. I shot back, yanking my hand from Billy’s fingers. Knowing that I would never be able to hide the evidence of what just happened from my face. Not from Wyatt.
He looked at me, his eyes narrowed, his jaw tightening with each passing second before turning to look at Billy.
“Something wrong?” Billy’s tone was less than patient, a bear wanting to lay claim.
Wyatt glared back, fists clenching and unclenching. And me? I was totally forgotten, the conquest meant to take a step back and let the big boys duke it out. For a moment, I thought they were going to whip out their dicks and start a pissing contest.
“That was your father,” Wyatt said as he snapped his gaze back to me, his face like stone once again, eyes simmering with their usual intensity. “He’d been trying to call your cell. Couldn’t get through.”
“My phone took a swim, remember?”
“Your mom had another vision.” He sauntered over to the counter, leaned there like he was just hanging out.
“And?” I crossed my arms. I wasn’t going to rise to the bait. I wasn’t. Ugh, Wyatt and his fucking vague statements and incomplete thoughts.
“You gonna spit it out or what? It’s not like we don’t have a timeline here.” Billy stood, arms at his sides, facing off with Wyatt.
The tension spiked.
“Ivana is the one we need to go after. She’s the leader. If we take her out we stop the war.”
I frowned. Mom’s predictions were never that clear. “What did Dad say exactly?”
Wyatt shrugged. “I just told you.”
I stood, hands on my hips. “Those were his exact words? He used Ivana’s name? Did you even speak to my mom?”
“Your mom is sleeping. The last vision knocked her senseless.” He raised his hand when I started to panic. “She’s fine, just asleep. Not permanently. Your dad’s been waking her up every hour to check.”
Poor woman. I’m sure she loved that. But I couldn’t blame Dad either. She’d been in a deep catatonic state for a long time. I’d probably be checking that way too. “Okay, fine, but I need to know what he actually said. Give me your phone so I can call him.”
“He said that we’re seeking a woman with extraordinary power, capable of ruling masses with a flick of her hand. Dangerous, deadly, brilliant.” Wyatt motioned toward me. “Sounds like Ivana to me.”
I shook my head as I sat back down. Vague. Too vague. “I don’t know.”
“I’m gonna have to side with Wyatt on this one, Kali.”
I snapped my gaze up to Billy in shock. Really? They were ganging up on me now?
“Sounds like the hybrid.”
“That could be anyone!” I stood again, started pacing. “There are infinite ways that could be the wrong conclusion. I’m telling you, it’s not a definite thing. Predictions, they’re tricky to decipher.”
“Your dad said that he was calling on behalf of your mom. Before she passed out, she explicitly stated that you needed to know, that you’d know what to do. Why would she insist that you needed to know if it didn’t connect to you somehow?”
“She must think you can stop this, Kali.” Billy added.
I looked from him to Wyatt, feeling like I’d entered a twilight zone of some sort. “What, now I’m some fucking superhero? I need to stop the villain and save the world? Mom knows me better than that.”
“She must have faith in you.” Billy was looking at me like he believed it. Falling for what Wyatt was selling without a second thought.
“That can’t be right. I’m not hero material. I’m too selfish.”
Wyatt shrugged but didn’t say anything. He couldn’t argue with me on that. Billy just didn’t know any better.
“You’re underestimating yourself, Kali,” Billy said, his tone sounding way too tender for his words.
Wyatt shifted closer to me, eyes narrowed, jaw tight once again.
“I say we put the team together and find Ivana,” Billy continued, ignoring Wyatt’s posturing.
“We don’t know where she is. Even your idea to track down info on the master she slayed seems impossible.”
“One phone call.” Billy pulled his cell from his pocket.
“Huh?”
He raised a finger for me to shut up and smiled. “Drake, how does twenty-four hour protection sound?”
Fine, Drake would know. I sighed as I slumped down in my chair. This wasn’t sitting right in my gut. Nothing about it was.
A second later and Billy clicked his phone shut. “The Beach House.”
“I know that place.” I sat up straighter. It was a notorious vamp den, under the protection of… “She killed Master Edwards?”
Billy nodded with a smirk. “Not the hardest target to kill but he did have a sizeable following.”
I gulped. Hell yes, he did. Last I’d heard, the Edwards’ gang had reached numbers in the thousands. “Would they all follow her, though?”
“She killed the master. They’re hers.” Wyatt ran a hand over his jaw. “Fidelity transfers immediately. She controls them.”
“Great.” We were so fucked. What was my mom thinking? I wasn’t equipped to battle a vampire master who also happened to be a deadly witch.
Billy nodded to the door. “Give me a few to get a team together. We’ll strategize and go get that bitch.”
“So we’re really doing this?” I sighed.
“Saving the world? Hell yes!” Billy left the room, presumably in search of rest of the team.
I looked at Wyatt, the smug smile was gone from his lips. He knew.
“This is a suicide mission,” I said.
Wyatt shrugged. “Your mom hasn’t been wrong before. Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
I shook my head, feeling so weary all of a sudden. He had that right. We were fumbling in the dark and nothing was certain.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Although I’d been a member of the Union for a short time, I’d never actually been in the stock room, having always provided my own weaponry needs. When Billy led us into the armory, I was actually struck spee
chless.
“Whoa!” It was literally a floor to ceiling assortment of every kind of weapon you could ever want.
“This is impressive,” Wyatt said as he came up next to me.
Billy started laying out empty army issue duffle bags, propping them open to make for easy loading. “We like to be prepared.”
“I’d say.” I walked over to a display of crossbows ranging in size, some so large I wouldn’t be able to hold them up let alone take a shot.
“If you’d prefer a gun…” Billy pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and walked to a huge display cabinet. “There are a few here.”
A few turned out to be over a hundred. The cabinet was stocked with rifles, handguns and shotguns. I picked up a Glock 9mil, subcompact. It was cute, fit in my hand, wasn’t heavy. I liked it.
“Here.” Billy tossed a shoulder holster my way. “This’ll work with that.”
I nodded my thanks as I continued down the length of the room, my gaze jumping from weapon to weapon. The choices seemed endless.
Wyatt beelined for the swords. “I want one of these!” he said with awe. He ran a finger reverently along the hilt of a rather hefty looking one.
“Go for it,” Billy said, the tension from earlier gone. “You’ve used one before?”
Wyatt nodded, then he pulled the sword down from the rack. “Did a little training back home.”
He had? I watched him adjust his stance, maneuver the sword in a way that suggested more than a little training.
Swords huh? Okay, I wasn’t going to deny the hot factor there. Wyatt wielding a sword was unquestionably sexy.
“Don’t have a scabbard for that one. You’ll have to be careful with transport.”
“Gotcha.” Wyatt straightened, his gaze still on the sword. “It’s impressive. I think I’m in love.”
I snickered bitterly. Sure, he’d say that about a weapon, but not about me. Nope. The words love and you would never come out of his mouth where I was concerned.
And maybe that was for the best.
I glanced over at Billy. He was busy loading the bags up, checking clips, sheathing blades, tossing a few guns in each. He was a handsome man, big, fearsome to some, which meant strong to me. I liked strong men. Vulnerability bothered me, which was quite the contradiction wasn’t it? I wanted tenderness but at the same time couldn’t stand for a man to show me a soft side. It was confusing, even to me. Billy though, he was sweet, kind to me, like a teddy bear. So very different from Wyatt. I didn’t doubt that Billy would love me, maybe he already did. Was that what I wanted?
The Dark War: The Dark War, Book 1 Page 15