by Judy Mills
"Thanks ever so," I said in a flat tone.
He gave me an assessing stare. "As for you. We have much to discuss. You spoiled a pair of antique brandy snifters."
"As to that. Too bad." I said.
"Addie," Cooper said in a warning tone.
I looked at the ring of assassins and then back at Bellmonte. "I'm sorry."
Bellmonte beamed. "There. Was that so difficult?" He turned to Cooper. "You have a suite at the Ritz for forty-eight hours and a limo waiting to take you. I suggest you make use of it. Unless you enjoy long nights being grilled by the FBI."
"Why?" Cooper and I asked at the same time.
"They love to question people so they have something to justify their reams of paperwork." He stopped and feigned surprised embarrassment. "Oh, silly me. The gift of the rooms. My dears, tonight you have delivered my fondest desire."
I did my best not to roll my eyes, I really did. "Dare we ask?"
"With my brilliant destruction of Lord Navarro's disgraceful attempt to become solvent, I will be offered the position of Archon. Right on schedule."
I frowned. "You had no way of knowing it would play out this way."
A smug satisfaction settled over the vampire's face. "Didn't I?"
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Safe house number six was a small cabin on the edge of town. Cozy, well stocked, big fireplace, plenty of wood stacked up outside—definitely a favorite.
My beautiful new silver dress was tossed across a chair by the bed. Cooper's shirt and pants were crumpled in a pile next to it.
We cuddled in bed under a thick quilt. I felt luxuriously relaxed and content and if Cooper's face was any indication, he was right there with me.
I snuggled into his chest and his arm tightened around my shoulders. "How long do you think it will take for Bellmonte to realize we ditched his vamp escort?" I asked.
"Before the sun came up he knew. But I doubt he minds. He'd lose all respect for us if we let him keep tabs on us that easily."
"Having the new vamp Archon in our lives doesn't bother you?"
"You'd never bite through a poisoned three-inch chain to save his highness' ass. I feel pretty good about that."
I winced at the memory. "Worst heartburn I ever had."
"I still don't understand how it all fits together. Your father was Were. Demon-Were actually. Generations of legends all end with that clan getting completely wiped out." He lazily slid his palm up and down my bare arm. "According to the biology class I barely paid attention to in high school, your existence is impossible."
"I want answers, too. Laswell wants to meet. Ought to work out fine."
"I should be there."
"That'll probably kill the answer side of the formula." He started to protest and I stretched up and kissed him lightly on the mouth. "I don't trust him or his sister either. They don't smell right."
He looked pleased. "Spoken like a true Were."
I smiled and hugged him, then made a show of pulling back and scrunching up my nose. "Or maybe it's you."
"Race you to the shower," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
Laughing, we wrestled our way out of the tangle of bed sheets. The sheets won and we tumbled to the floor, kissing. Cooper paused in his amorous attack on me and leaned back.
"Hey, Addie?" he said, his silver-green gaze dancing with happiness.
"Yes, sugar britches?"
"I love you."
My stomach plummeted with surprise and then a full, sparkling joy burst into my chest. "You'd better," I purred. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him back toward me.
"I should really go to that meeting," he murmured, his hand sweeping up my waist. "He's up to something."
"Nope." I covered his mouth with mine and went to work making him forget all about Laswell and his strange request.
* * *
I followed one of Laswell's new Were security guards through the luxury of the practitioner's house and out onto a beautiful flagstone terrace with a view of an even more spectacular garden. I'd give this to the guy. He sure knew how to live.
Looking unsurprisingly elegant and prosperous, Laswell and Holly relaxed at a table loaded down for high tea. Laswell indicated that I should take a seat.
I did, making sure I picked a seat with a view of the house and the garden. Holly handed me a cup of tea.
"I understand Mr. Daine's brother has summoned him to return home and that you plan to accompany him," Laswell said as I settled against the deep cushions of my chair.
"I heard you finagled a way to make the school complicit in what happened to the kids instead of you," I said.
"The principal has been provided with the best lawyers money can buy. How much do you plan to reveal to Mr. Daine's clan?"
The breeze shifted as I picked up my tea. "That's interesting cologne you're wearing," I said, setting the delicately painted cup down. "Whenever I smell that particular scent, it means someone, or something, who doesn't belong here has recently crossed into our dimension."
Holly gracefully reached for one of the tiny sandwiches on the plate by the tea service. "Jasmine is a very common perfume."
"Rotten jasmine, actually. And I never said what the smell was."
"We brought you here to urge you to keep what you are a secret," Laswell interrupted. "To make your nature public could be very dangerous."
"For me? Or you?"
"Do you trust the three witnesses?" Holly asked.
"More than the two individuals talking to me right now."
Laswell leaned toward me, his expression worried. "Bringing your form into this world triggered a vibration that rippled across time and space. That signal will awaken something that hasn't walked this dimension of Earth for ten thousand years."
"Which brings up a wonderful topic for discussion. How do I even exist?"
Laswell and Holly exchanged glances.
"None of that cryptic look stuff, you two," I chastised. "You want something from me or I wouldn't be here. No answers? No cooperation."
Holly sat back and gave her brother an exasperated look. "She's too young to know, Jacob. We discussed this."
Laswell offered his empty cup to Holly. She frowned.
"Oh, very well." She gracefully refilled his tea, though her expression remained disgruntled. "When it became apparent that your father's clan was on the brink of extinction by a creature created to kill them, actions were taken."
"Practitioners and the Demon-Weres joined forces," Laswell added.
Holly considered her words for a moment like she was trying to figure out how to dumb down a complicated concept for my sake. "They created a protected space beyond this dimension and shifted the clan and their village into it."
"From this side, they seemed to vanish without a trace." Laswell took a sip of his tea. "Once they no longer existed in the physical world, the edict of the creature's edict was fulfilled. It went dormant."
Holly nibbled on her sandwich and a smile played around her perfect mouth. "Spells always have a loophole, or so my brother tells me."
I pushed my full cup away. This was the biggest crock of nothing I'd ever heard. "Once upon a time I was conceived thousands of years ago. It's been a pleasure." I shoved back my chair.
Holly's expression sharpened and a chill clawed my shoulders. "Though quite young, your mother was a powerful practitioner."
If she thought intimidating me would get her anywhere, she was going to be disappointed. "So I've heard."
"She accidentally accessed this protected area and summoned your father," Laswell said and I was surprised to hear the note of regret in his voice.
Surprised, but not swayed. I got to my feet. "In other words, I'm some kind of demon spawn. How nice. It's an orphan girl's dream."
Holly made an exasperated sound and glared at her brother. "Do you see? Her limited mind can't grasp what she can't see."
"And you should be her greatest advocate!" he growled at her.
"You're too
idealistic. You always have been," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Spoiled by nymphs."
"Not everything can be solved by going off in the woods and shooting things," Laswell snapped.
I planted my fists hard enough on the table to rattled the china. They looked up, apparently startled, or maybe just put off by my rudeness.
"Here's what I do grasp." I looked at Holly. "I don't know how you're connected to the Weres or what your hold is over them, but I intend to find out. I do know that you like to toy with people's emotions, especially if they're in love. Well, back off. When Cooper's ready to tell me he's some kind of prince or something, he will."
I gave Laswell a hard look. "And you. Thanks for calling the FBI and nearly getting my boyfriend killed just to force me to shift. I don't know what you hope to gain by it, but I'll find that out, too. Meanwhile, watch your back because I don't forget a betrayal."
I straightened up. "Thanks for the tea. I'd appreciate never hearing from either of you again."
I stalked down the stairs, heading for the garden below and the front gate beyond it. No reason to give the house guards an opportunity to teach me better manners.
"What an unpleasant child," Holly said behind me like I wasn't still within ear shot. "She didn't even drink her pomegranate tea."
"For the first time in four millennium, I have hope of success," Laswell replied.
What a pair of weirdoes. I quickened my step, impatient to get clear of them.
I heard the faint tinkling of a silver bell behind me and Laswell ordering champagne. His sister said something about nymphs and then I was blissfully beyond range and plunging into the garden.
The earthy, sweet scent of cedar and flowers flowed over me and the anger cooking my nervous system started to cool. I headed down the first path that looked like it led to the gate on the side of the property. The white pebbles covering the trail crunched under my boots and I started to feel my irritation from the meeting fading. Twenty minutes later, I found myself in a dead end.
I turned around and headed back to the main trail and took the next right. Another dead end. I wasn't feeling relaxed or peaceful anymore and I stomped back to the main path like a frustrated toddler.
This time I took a left, though it didn't go in the direction I needed. It would be just like them to create a counter intuitive garden.
The path wound along and then doubled back, giving me hope. I turned a corner and nearly ran into a statue.
Backing up, I surveyed the alcove I'd been dumped into. It looked like a shrine that would have been right at home in ancient Greece.
In front of me was a Greek-styled statue of Hermes and a nymph cooing over a fat baby with the legs of a goat. Huh. The lawn at the Rhea School for Practitioners had one just like it. I wondered what that meant.
Next to it was another statue, this one of a beautiful woman in Greek-styled clothing. It looked so much like Holly that I half expected its eyes to snap open and glare at me. The statue Holly had a quiver of arrows strapped to her back and held a bow. An unnaturally large wolf stood at her side.
The wind sifted through the leaves of the tall box woods around me and I imagined I smelled rotten jasmine. Suppressing a shiver, I peered at the plaque on the statue of baby Pan. "In loving memory of my mother."
Then at the other. "Live for the hunt -- Diana."
I stood back and frowned at the statues. No way. "They can't possibly be..."
Could they be...? I looked at the faces of baby Pan and the goddess Diana. The resemblance was freaky.
I pivoted and stared back at the house, just visible on the low hill past the gardens. "You've got to be kidding me."
Words from the past that haunted my nightmares echoed in my mind: My brother and sister have waited a long time for a creation such as you....
Oh crap.
* * *
Agent Stillman, Cooper, Falcon, Chiwa and I collected in the back storage room of Falcon's store near the open tunnel entrance. I hadn't told any of them about who, or rather what, I thought Laswell and Holly were. I didn't think they were the same kind of threat as their murdering brother, Aedodra had been. No need to worry anyone until necessary.
I hadn't even needed to pull out the interdimensional gods card to get everyone moving. The new Archon was a big enough threat. We all knew Bellmonte wasn't done with us. He was only taking a break to lower our guard so the kill would be that much sweeter.
Making yourself scarce when you didn't know what your enemies had up their sleeves was always a good idea. The urgency behind the summons from Cooper's brother gave us the perfect opportunity, though it had added to Cooper's worries.
Hours before dawn, the five of us had loaded up with hiking backpacks, gear, and in the case of Cooper, Stillman and me, various types of weapons. As soon as the sun rose, we planned to make tracks.
"You're sure Ms. Fairview can run the shop competently?" Falcon asked for at least the tenth time.
"With Wizard's charm and good looks to draw in customers? You'll be a millionaire by the time we get back," I reassured him.
He stared down into the opening to the tunnels. "Danger and adventure is overrated."
I'm diggin' it!" Chiwa piped up. "The only thing that would make this more fun is if all those other kids had seen everything, too."
"It's not that I don't want to hang out with you guys," Falcon interjected, "but since I didn't actually see anything incriminating—"
"Whether you know anything or not, it won't stop them from drugging or torturing you to find out, kiddo. Or worse," I said.
"You mean like trying to turn him?" Chiwa asked. "Only ten percent of acolytes survive that, you know." We ignored her. The kid loved her some drama, the more horror-filled the merrier.
"Are you sure we just can't go to Raleigh?"
"The mountains are safer," Cooper said in a firm tone. "Hard to sneak up on a couple hundred Were families."
To my relief, Falcon shut his mouth. I understood that he was worried, but the whining was getting on my nerves.
Stillman adjusted her pack, her shoulders tensed with impatience. "Every second of sunlight wasted is precious travel time lost, people. If we don't make the meet point on time, Marc will have heart failure."
"Stick to the order we discussed." Giving Chiwa a firm look, Cooper slid into the offshoot that led to Falcon's shop. Looking only a little disappointed, Chiwa waited a moment and then followed him.
Falcon turned to me, his forehead creasing. "You still think Bellmonte will try and stop us?"
"He's a manipulative S.O.B. who's capable of anything," I replied.
"They all are," Stillman said. "And they don't give a rat's ass about any of us."
She climbed into the tunnel, giving Falcon a narrow look before her head disappeared into the darkness. He swallowed, his face pale, then his mouth firmed with resolve and he followed her.
Giving the shop a final glance, I inched into the tunnel. I pulled the infernal crate of books onto the top of the open trap door as I braced my shoulder against the underside. I squirmed awkwardly on my bottom deeper into the offshoot and let the door slam closed above me.
Covering my face to keep the shower of dirt out of my eyes, I scooted the rest of the way down the narrow tunnel and jumped to the floor. A few feet down the main passageway, my friends paused, looking back as the crate settled against the trap door above me.
A strange feeling of loss pushed down on me. Despite everything, Charlotte had always been my home. I had a terrible feeling I would never see it again.
My gaze met Cooper's and his smile splashed over me, warm and comforting. My heart lightened and I jogged to catch up with them.
Wherever he and my friends were was where I belonged. I didn't need anything else.
* * *
Across the city and far underground, Bellmonte settled himself beneath the thick silk comforter of his bed and prepared for the oblivion that daylight brought.
The last two nights had been par
ticularly gratifying and for the first time in many years he looked forward to what was ahead. Lacing his hands on top of his chest, he gazed at the rich blue of the canopy above him. He barely remembered what a clear autumn day looked like, but he imagined the sky was still that color.
After a moment, he raised his left arm and pushed back the silk sleeve of his pajamas. Reverently, he touched the elaborately realistic tattoo covering his forearm—a terrifying dragon-like creature in flight with a spear and shield gripped in its clawed hands. A brilliant sun blazed behind it.
Someday...
He pulled down his sleeve and meticulously re-buttoned the cuff. The irony of the ludicrous contract she'd made him sign was delicious. The bond between them went far deeper than that. Deeper even than time itself.
Bellmonte folded his hands on his chest again and closed his eyes. He could feel the sun touch the horizon, feel his heart slowing until it stopped as the temporary death that daylight brought crept over him.
And he smiled.
Destiny was not something one could easily escape...