“So, you need allies against some council of old guys.” Which was odd considering Alma seemed to appreciate what they brought.
So, Alma the Good thought the council was okey-dokey, but Merry the Evil didn’t?
Paige was interested to see what a magickal criminal would say about them. Would she have real reasons for warning Paige against them, or would they be reasons of convenience?
The Council had probably told Merry she couldn’t murder, maim, and generally have her way, so she’d stomped her foot and fled, telling her coven what a mean bunch of brutes they were.
Yeah. That’s the story Paige expected to hear from Merry. Maybe not in those words, and probably without the stomping, but that’s what she expected.
But she had to ask anyway. “Why? What do they want?”
“I don’t know what they want,” Merry said in a rare fit of irritation. “All I know is that they appear to enjoy our society in turmoil.”
In turmoil. Right. “Like when you kill dozens of innocent people kind of turmoil?”
“I do what I must to remain alive long enough to protect our community,” Merry said harshly. “And if that means I kill a few dozen people to save hundreds, then I will continue to do so.”
Oh. So, hero complex. “And Shelia? When you murdered her and used her blood, did you know her magick would taint your spell?”
Merry blinked her gaze down. “Shelia was too small-minded.”
Paige had just needed a yes.
“She didn’t understand what I was trying to do,” Merry continued. “She told me how her magick works and thought that would be the solution. I thought if I had that ability, her blood running in my magick, that I wouldn’t have to kill anymore to maintain my youth.”
The lettuce in Paige’s mouth gained a bitter taste.
“And remain leader of my very powerful coven.”
Paige set her fork down and grimaced at Merry. “You do realize how disgusting that sounds, don’t you?”
“Eastwoods can live like vampires. They live on blood, Paige, and still manage not to kill. All the time. Don’t be such a snob.”
Paige stared at Merry incredulously.
“My spell requires all the blood be spilled. Blackman magick requires very little.”
“And the souls of the children? Of their parents?”
Merry closed her eyes, setting aside her own fork. “Part of the spell.”
“Why is it so important that you maintain your youth?”
“And remain leader of my coven? Of my bloodline?”
“Yeah.” All of that. What made killing okay, or draining the souls of children an acceptable sacrifice?
Merry met Paige’s gaze. “We’re dark, Paige. You’re light. Well, your grandmother and sister are. Hell, even your brother, but you? You’re as dark as the rest of us.”
With her death magick. And Leah with the Eastwood blood magick?
“Do you have any idea what would happen if I stepped down as leader, if someone weaker than myself took over?”
No. Paige really didn’t.
“With your daughter in control of my coven?” Merry raised an eyebrow and dropped her gaze. “My son?”
Was she going to tell, or were those questions for dramatic effect?
“They’re killers, Paige. My coven—if left on their own without order, without rule, without consequence—they would kill openly.”
“And I would put them all away.” In the same manner Paige was going to put Merry away.
“You have to understand, Paige—”
“No. I don’t. You think you can live outside the rules, that you don’t fit into society, that you’re above the law. All because your coven is full of murderers. And you’re the one who leads them by example. You kill people to remain young and then harvest the souls of children. You created that coven.”
Merry sighed deeply, her head bowed as if searching for patience. “I discovered that spell in dark and desperate times.”
“And you haven’t changed it up yet? Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the times aren’t dark or desperate.”
“You don’t see it, but I do.”
Paige pushed her plate away. “Do you have some ability to see the future? Or have the old guys from the round table talked to you?”
“Mock me, but I am right. Dark days are ahead.”
“And I should be okay with you murdering people. I should just sit by and let that happen because, in the end, it’s the better way?” No. Paige wasn’t buying it. Not for one second.
Merry chuckled and sat back, her hands on either side of her salad plate. “I want you as an ally for that spirit, right there.” Merry met and held Paige’s gaze.
Paige didn’t shy away from it, staring into Merry’s dark eyes, trying to see into her soul. “What are you doing? What game are you playing? You can’t honestly think I’d join you.”
Merry blinked rapidly and dropped her gaze demurely. “What exactly have I done, Paige?”
Paige hated that particular question because, as far as Paige could tell, Merry was a deflector. She made everyone else do for her so that she couldn’t be accused of anything. Innocent by shifting guilt upon others.
Except when she’d murdered Shelia Blackman, but Merry didn’t seem upset by that. At all. “Besides murder? You threatened my family.” Paige leaned forward and pressed her pointer finger into the table. “You came to our home, you came to my place of work, and you threatened the lives of my family.”
“To test—” Merry stopped and looked up, her expression a careful mask.
Their server, Kevin, took their plates away, frowning at their remaining food. “Were the salads not up to your standards?”
“They were fine, Kevin.” Merry gave him a tight, but seemingly genuine smile. “Thank you.”
Kevin nodded and left.
Merry waited until Kevin was well out of hearing before leaning in and saying softly, “I did that to test you. Did I once do more than threaten you? Have I hurt you? Endangered you?”
No, but wouldn’t Oliver, her own freakin’ son, know she was only threatening Leah? “You did so very convincingly.”
“Because there are others who told you their stories of the horrors I’ve brought down upon them.” Merry spread her hand and picked up her water glass. “My own son, perhaps.”
Oh, shit. She knew about Oliver coming by to see Paige? “It’s kind of hard to believe you’re doing this all for the greater good when I hear the stories of the things you’ve done.”
Merry nodded, her gaze lowered.
“Are you trying to tell me that someone else did all that, too?”
Merry shook her head. “I have done what I had to.”
Wow. That was some justification. “You’ve killed people because that’s what you had to do? You started a war, Merry.”
“The bloodlines were going to mix. I couldn’t allow that.”
Well, if she couldn’t allow that then she’d have a pretty hard time with that Paige had done. “Why not?”
“The elders have decreed it.”
That shit sounded archaic, like it belonged in a Sword of Truth novel. “Well, if you’re scared of a bunch of old guys around a table and they’re scared of us loving shifters and combining our bloodlines, don’t you think that’s something you should do just to piss them off?”
Except the Council of Elders had seemed pleased and mildly excited that Paige had done…just that. So, what lie was Merry spinning now?
Merry met Paige’s gaze.
Kevin arrived, placing soup bowls in front of them. “Enjoy.”
“Thank you, Kevin,” Paige said softly.
“You are welcome, Ms. Whiskey.”
Merry’s eyes flared as she watched Kevin walk away.
Paige tipped her head to the side, watching, wondering what had gotten Merry on high alert. “What is it?”
“He knew your name.”
Paige’s heart rate picked up a beat. “Wouldn’t th
e driver or whoever have mentioned it when he called in your lunch order?”
“He hasn’t before.”
Paige scanned the room. Everything seemed normal. People talked. Most pretended to be someone they weren’t. Maybe that was just Paige injecting herself on them.
She switched to witch vision. Normal.
She shook her head and turned her attention back to Merry. “Do you want to leave?”
Merry thought about it, scanning the area herself. “No. But be on high alert.”
Roger that.
“Back to your question.” Merry picked up her spoon and ladled some soup. “Two hundred years ago, or however long it has been, I was scared. I did what I thought was best at that time.”
Paige stared at the soup. It looked and smelled pleasant enough, but Merry’s suspicions had her on edge. She kept her spoon on the table and ignored the food in front of her.
Merry returned her spoon to her bowl, her soup untouched. “Your interactions with the shifters has made me rethink things. And now that you, yourself, house an animal spirit, and the elders have not come down upon us, it has made me think even more.”
Paige’s mouth filled with saliva as fear ran through her. Merry really did know a lot about her life. Paige kept her detective mask in place. “You know about that?”
“Of course I do.”
“How?”
Merry watched Paige for a long moment. “Oriel. Why do you think I went to Texas?”
Paige froze. Merry had been in Texas for her family and because Oriel had talked, just as she’d suspected. “You were buying a company.”
“From Charles De Luca. Yes. I was.”
“Is he a part in this, too?”
Merry shook her head. “He is true to you. He sincerely believes he can protect you, I believe.”
“You believe. You’ve spoken to him about me?”
“No. But I have watched him when he does not think I watch.”
“Scrying? You’ve been scrying him?” Holy fuck buckets. Did Paige need to button up her wards some more?
Merry nodded. “You have nothing to fear from his honesty, Paige.”
Paige’s ears rang. “What was your plan? In Texas?”
“Originally? I was going to kill you. I had so many opportunities, too. And then I saw Leah. She looks so much like Mark. And I saw Rachel. And I saw how you reacted to Rachel. And I watched as a shapeshifter judge granted you custody over your own child. And I watched as you fought to save shapeshifters and how they rallied around you.”
“They didn’t rally around me.”
“Not that you saw. They patrolled your neighborhood, keeping me and the Blackmans away. They protected your grandmother at the hospital.”
“They were there for Ruby.” Not that she’d seen them.
“They were there to protect your family, Paige.”
And she’d never known. Just how badly did Chuck want them in his pack?
“And then I saw with my own eyes your animal spirit and how it…well, it changes you, doesn’t it?”
The breath caught in Paige’s throat. “What do you mean you can see it?”
Merry looked over Paige’s head as if she, too, could see the animal spirit’s head above the human head. She dropped her gaze to meet Paige’s. “It helps to keep your heart pure, your magick strong but just.”
Paige blinked. She was powerful, but the day Cawli had agreed to join with her, they’d discussed the day she’d summoned a demon to kill Rachel. There had been no condemnation from him. “Just” wasn’t the word Paige would use to describe what Cawli did for her magick.
A triumphant light lit in Merry’s eyes. “I think the elders do fear you.”
That wasn’t something Paige had even thought of. “So, you’re what? Turning a new leaf? You’re going to stop killing? You’re going to find a new way to protect the community?”
“I believe you are the new way to protect the community.”
Then…was Merry no longer a threat? Was that even possible? Probable? Did that even make sense?
No. It didn’t. It really, really didn’t, but everything—everything—that Paige saw in Merry’s expression, her body language, vocal intonation, word choices—she sounded sincere.
But she’d had two hundred years to perfect the art of lying.
Paige swallowed.
“My son is trying to get me killed. He’s planted evidence for you, for Lovejoy to put me away in her jail.”
Paige wasn’t going to deny it, but she wasn’t going to confirm it either.
Merry reached forward and grasped Paige’s hand. “Be careful with Oliver. He is not as he seems to be.”
Really? Because Paige was getting a feeling Merry wasn’t either, so, maybe that apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.
“The Eastwood coven cannot be contained nor controlled by him. He is not strong enough.”
“Is that why you had all your sons murdered as well?”
“I did not kill Mark.”
“Or have him killed?”
Merry went still.
There. Truth. Real truth. Maybe. “Or your other sets of sons? Or your other daughters? You didn’t kill them?”
“They were not strong enough. The Eastwood coven is powerful and must be held with a very tight fist.”
“Mmm. Well, that sounds entirely convenient.” Paige was ready to arrest her then and there with the planted DNA evidence Oliver had provided. “Merry—”
A startled cry rent through the room.
Someone shouted.
Another screamed.
One by one, the patrons of the restaurant fell to the ground, blood pooling form their mouth, ears, noses, eyes, and from the beds of their nails.
The blood trailed toward Merry.
Paige stared in wonder. What the fuck was she supposed to do with that? Her witch vision showed nothing out of the norm. A silver line of magick in each line of blood. The auras of the patrons dimming and disappearing.
“Merry Eastwood,” she heard herself say as she got up and pulled out her handcuffs, “you’re under arrest.” She slapped on the cuffs and pulled out her phone.
“Yeah,” Lovejoy’s voice said.
“I need you to follow the GPS of my phone. Bring your CSI. And ambulances.” Though, everyone was dead and she didn’t know how to counter whatever this was. This had to be a spell and Paige didn’t know spells.
“What happened?” Lovejoy asked.
Paige watched as the blood continued to creep toward Merry. It crawled up her legs, disappearing into her skin as if being absorbed. “I have Merry Eastwood in custody. Dozens of people murdered in a restaurant. We need a clean-up crew.”
And to get Merry out of the path of the blood because as the blood seeped into her skin, her power grew.
“Send reinforcements now.” Paige shoved Merry through the restaurant and into the open street. She turned back to the door, raised her free hand, and called on the elements to provide a blockade of magick.
The blood crawled up the block Paige had created, searching for a way to Merry.
Merry gave Paige a drunken smile. “You seriously didn’t think it would be that easy. Did you?”
Paige was pretty sure everyone inside was dead. Auras gone. That much blood. There was no way anything was living through it. She couldn’t leave Merry unattended to go check on them anyway. She’d shoved the witch into Jackie’s passenger door to keep the people on the sidewalk from gawking.
Though, how they missed the blood crawling up the door, Paige had no clue.
Paige was tired. Fuck. She was exhausted.
The local PD arrived within minutes.
Captain Banes stepped out of his unmarked car, followed by two other squad cars. “Captain Whiskey, what’s the situation?”
Paige buzzed with what had just happened. First, the pack attack, and now this? Fuck. Ever since she’d regained her powers, she hadn’t had much room for a breather. She needed one. Desperately. “Severa
l dead. More than a dozen.”
“A bomb?” Banes stared at the restaurant in confusion.
“Spell of some sort.” Paige shook her head. “Blood magick. Eastwood magick.”
Banes glanced between Paige and Merry who glared at him through the windshield. “You’re sure it’s Eastwood magick.”
Paige nodded. “Helpful tidbit, Blackmans have death magick, Eastwoods blood magick, and Whiskeys life magick. Neat. Right?” It didn’t feel neat. She watched as the blood from the victims inside continued to seek a path toward Merry.
“What is that?” Banes asked carefully, finally seeing the blood.
Paige released a tight breath, a headache growing behind her eyes. “That is how I know it’s blood magick. The blood is trying to find its way to her.”
Banes turned slowly and watched Merry Eastwood through narrowed eyes. “You know this to be a fact?”
Paige nodded slowly.
“How?”
“When Director Lovejoy gets here, I’ll show you.”
“You got the FBI involved?”
“Sir.” Paige pressed her thumb and forefinger into her eyebrow ridges before looking up at him. “Yes. She’s been building a case against Merry Eastwood that courses over almost two hundred years. Murders. Blood magick rituals to keep her alive and young.”
Banes shifted his gaze to Paige.
“And Director Lovejoy says she has a place to hold her where she can’t use her magick.”
“What’s keeping her from using her magick now?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
“Then, why isn’t she breaking free?”
Good damned question. Could be Merry was trying to fight the call of the blood. Or maybe she was hoping to maintain appearances. Or maybe this wasn’t her doing. Maybe this was Oliver.
In which case, shouldn’t she be going after him?
One Eastwood at a time.
“I’m staying on high alert just in case she pulls something, but I doubt she will in this crowd.”
“Why not?” Banes folded his arms over his chest.
“Public. She doesn’t want humans to know.”
“Why not?”
“Normal people are scary?” Honestly, Paige didn’t know. She only knew that Alma had been open about witchcraft and casting, but magick? That was never done public. Yes. Alma would wave her hands in the air and chant on occasion, but she never did real magick. Why? Maybe it had something to do with the Council of Elders? Paige just didn’t know.
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