She pleaded with God, begging Him to save Mazie’s soul.
Make an exception for a Cambion just this once and I’ll gladly take her place in Hell when the time comes.
The details following were blurry…
Aamon buried Mazie. Ivy had cleaned her body. They’d dressed her in her favorite X-Men shirt and used the sheets from her bed to make a shroud.
A sugar maple stood in the backyard that had the most glorious colors in the fall. Mazie called it her “Halloween tree.” That was where they laid her to rest.
<><><>
Through it all, Jordan sat in the swing. No one bothered her, not even Xander. He and Aamon had put Gina in a “special” room that connected to her father’s study and, as far as she knew, the bitch was still there. Jordan would have to deal with her, but not yet. She concentrated on the smooth movement of the swing. After a while, she laid her head against Aamon’s shoulder and fell into a deep sleep.
When Jordan woke up, she was in her bed and it was close to midnight. Someone had spread an old blanket across her comforter to keep it from getting soiled by her filthy clothes. She reeked of blood and sweat.
Still trying not to think, Jordan grabbed some clean clothes and made her way to the bathroom across the hall. She glanced at the closed door to Mazie’s room and fought back tears that threatened to choke her.
Scalding water pelted her body while Jordan scrubbed blood from her hands, watching helplessly as the only part left of her sister swirled down the drain. She ended up sitting on the shower floor, praying for the pain to stop.
After she dressed, Jordan went downstairs. She found Ivy, Xander, and Aamon at the breakfast table. Ivy stood and poured her a mug of coffee. The warm brew soothed Jordan’s throat and her stomach complained for something more substantial. She felt guilty, but ate the sandwich Aamon put in front of her, and then another.
No one spoke. They moved from the kitchen to the living room. Koda appeared and sat beside her on the couch. He placed his burly head in her lap and Jordan absently scratched behind his ears, trying not to think.
Ivy broke the silence. “Gina wants to talk to you.”
When Jordan didn’t answer she added, “She says she has important information you’ll want to know.”
“Is this information in exchange for her life?”
Jordan didn’t recognize her own voice. It was…lifeless, just like she felt inside. The others must have noticed, as well. They regarded her with narrowed eyes.
“Well? Is it?”
Ivy nodded. “I believe she wants to make a trade, yes.”
“No deal.” Jordan said.
Gently, as if she might fall to pieces at the smallest amount of pressure, Xander took her hand.
“She said it has something to do with your family.”
Jordan frowned. “My family is here in this room.”
From his favorite armchair, a ghost of a smile floated across Aamon’s face.
Ivy cleared her throat. “That’s true, but we’re not your only family.”
Jordan ran her fingers through Koda’s fur. She’d forced her mind to remain blank all day and now, it was hard to assemble any thoughts at all. They took shape, forming in her mind like sand sculptures that teetered and collapsed.
There was something important about Ivy’s comment.
She wanted to curl up on the couch and sleep.
Was someone talking to her?
Koda’s fur was so thick and warm.
Off to the side, Aamon whispered, “She’s still in shock.”
“I understand, Dad, but this is important. Gina would lie like a drunken whore if it meant saving her own skin, but what if she’s telling the truth? Jordan’s uncle and brothers could be in danger.”
“We don’t know that.”
To Jordan, Xander’s voice sounded far away.
“Look what losing Mazie has done. Now picture her one-hundred times worse because that’s what she’ll be reduced to if anything happens to Casen and the boys.”
Jordan felt as light as a feather. Idly, she wondered if she could float away. Just drift on currents for the rest of her life.
“Dad, we need to wake her up.”
Was she asleep?
Her fingers raked through sable fur.
Someone kneeled in front of her. In her dream, Jordan managed a lazy smile. Ivy’s face came into focus, then shimmered like heat waves on desert sand.
“Jordan, I’m sorry, but this may hurt.”
Her tongue felt too thick. “You gonna hurth me, Ibeyy?”
“Not too much. Do you trust me?”
She smiled again and touched her sister’s cheek. “Yep.”
“Your family may be in danger. You’ve gotta shake this off and come back to us.”
Ivy looked so serious. Jordan wanted to fix what bothered her. She could withstand a little pain. After all, this was just a dream.
It had all been a dream.
Your family may be in danger…
The thought took shape and Jordan held it with all her might only to have it unravel in her hands.
“Do what you need to do,” she muttered before succumbing to the dream once more.
“Move Koda,” someone said.
His warm fur was suddenly gone and Jordan groaned as her fingers reached for him. Why were they changing her dream? She was happy with the way it was.
“Not too much, Ivy,” Aamon cautioned.
Too much what?
Seconds later, a jolt of pain shot through her hand. The taste of something stannic, like tinfoil, filled her mouth, and Jordan found she couldn’t swallow. Heart racing, it felt like someone was scrubbing her skin from the inside with a wire brush.
Jordan screamed.
When she opened her eyes, she found Xander, Ivy and Aamon hovering like a couple of mother demons, and Koda licking her hand. Jordan felt awake. Wide awake – and her body ached.
“What happened? What hit me?”
She tried to sit up but the effort was too taxing. She couldn’t lift her arms.
“Am I paralyzed?”
What the hell is wrong with me?!
“Easy, Jordan, be still. I’m going to help.”
Aamon’s hands glowed with white light that pulsated from his chest to his arms. Poised an inch or so above her body, he moved them around, focusing mainly on her heart and her head. The pain and heaviness passed and she was able to sit up on her own.
Ivy handed her a glass of water. “I’m sorry, I had to do it.”
As Jordan sipped, it all came back to her – the dream that wasn’t a dream at all.
“You zapped me!”
“I didn’t have a choice! You were in La-La land, and though I wish we could have let you find your own way out, we don’t have the luxury of time right now.” She grabbed Jordan’s hand. “Shit’s going down that you need to know about.”
Gina sat like a queen on the steel-backed utilitarian chair in the center of the room. An iron cuff threaded with silver was wrapped around her ankle and connected to a short chain bolted to the floor. A metal table sat before her.
Regarding Jordan with a look probably saved for homeless beggars and ugly babies, she flipped a lock of golden hair, then demanded a cup of coffee and a bagel with cream cheese.
“You can fucking starve, Hag.” Ivy shut the door behind them.
Seeing Gina triggered memories Jordan had struggled all day and night to repress: the glint of the sword, the whooshing sound as it fell, Mazie’s look of fear, and sitting with her sister’s lifeless body.
It all came back in a rush that squeezed the air from her lungs. Ivy and Xander had begged her to let Mazie go while Aamon’s broken cries assaulted her ears. Jordan remembered thinking that his pain was almost palpable. If she’d bothered to look up, she might have seen it riding on the freezing air like some sort of black fog.
“I can’t let her go,” she’d explained as tears fell, plopping like salted rain to her sister’s face. “That
will make it real, don’t you see? She needs me to hold her. I have to hold her.” Jordan smoothed Mazie’s bloody hair and cradled her like a baby. “I have to protect her. I can’t fail again…”
But she had failed. Mazie was dead.
Her chest ached and she looked away, biting the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood.
“Take your time,” Xander whispered, rubbing her back.
Gina expelled a heavy sigh, as if they were delaying her from a shopping trip. Facing her again, Jordan’s power soared. Vision hazy and tinged with red, she balled her shaking hands into tight fists and crossed her arms.
“I want to see my father,” Gina stated matter-of-factly. “If you want my cooperation, I want him here to prevent any…accidents.” She smiled sweetly and winked.
Jordan closed her eyes and counted backward from ten. It didn’t work. Raw energy whipped around inside like a cyclone. She couldn’t come down. The force nearly knocked her off her feet and she grabbed Xander’s arm for support.
“Aamon won’t be joining us.” Ivy said, placing her hands on the table, getting in Gina’s face. “He’s done with you, finished; you’re nothing to him now.”
“I don’t believe you,” Gina hissed. “I’m his favorite.”
Ivy’s laugh was bitter. “Not anymore. If you wanted to stay in Dad’s good graces, you shouldn’t have killed his little girl.” Her eyes travelled around the room. “Don’t you get it, Gina? This is death row and your number is up.”
No, Jordan thought. She doesn’t get it, but she will.
Combing her fingers through her hair, Gina flashed perfect, bleached teeth, and looked at the door, as if waiting for rescue. She was the princess of her own twisted fairy tale, and her hero waited just around the corner.
Jordan’s feet carried her across the tiled floor. She grabbed Gina by the shoulder and squeezed.
“You can stop waiting for Superman – he isn’t coming.”
Gina’s smile remained fixed but she winced from the pressure Jordan applied.
“This isn’t a game!” Jordan shook her, taking pleasure in the way Gina’s head flopped back and forth. “You murdered an innocent child – struck her down like some sort of annoying insect. Mazie was your sister! She did nothing to you.” Jordan blinked, pushing tears away. She couldn’t cry now. Still, her voice cracked, betraying her. “The pain she must have felt…oh God, why? Why make her suffer like that?”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t retaliate after what you did?” Gina shot back, her face contorted, ugly. “You took something important from me, something vital. Now, we’re even.”
“You took a life!” Jordan screamed.
“So did you.”
“No, no I didn’t. Not yet.”
The chain attached to Gina’s ankle rattled as she crossed her legs and proceeded to examine her cuticles. There was no remorse, no regret for what she’d done.
Jordan had witnessed many types of monsters in her lifetime. Some killed for sustenance, others because they weren’t in their right minds, and a select few took lives simply because they were ordered to. None of them compared to Gina. She killed Mazie because she could. Using revenge as an excuse was just an evasion. The truth was that she took pleasure in making people suffer. She was the purest form of evil.
“You are one sick bitch,” Xander said, his blue eyes hard, like ice.
Gina blew him a kiss. “You may be right, handsome, but considering the fact that I’m the one with important info about a certain hillbilly family, I’d watch my mouth if I were you.” She turned to Jordan. The kilowatt smile was back. “Speaking of lives, I know of three country bumpkins who don’t have much time left to enjoy theirs.”
“I doubt you know shit from Cheyenne, but I’ll bite. What’s this crucial information you have?”
“Uh-uh.” Gina waggled her finger. “First, you have to agree to one condition. I don’t give secrets away for free.”
“I don’t know why,” Ivy said. “You give everything else away for free. It’s a little late in the game to reach for standards, don’t ya think? Hell, you probably can’t pay guys to touch your secrets now – not without a Hazmat suit and a gallon of Purell.”
“Such a clever girl.” Lips pursed, Gina made a face like she’d sucked on a lemon. “Shut up and let the grownups talk.” She dismissed Ivy with a wave of her hand. To Jordan, she said, “My only stipulation is that you and your flunkies keep your hands off. I leave here without a hair out of place, get it?”
“You’re hardly in a position to set terms.” It was Jordan’s turn to smile. “Here’s my counter offer; you tell me what you know and I’ll make your death quick and a lot less painful than Mazie’s was.”
Gina blanched. “You can’t do that.”
“I can do anything I want; I’m not the powerless Cambion chained to the floor.”
Jordan placed a finger on Gina’s hand. It took a great deal of restraint, but she managed to keep the flow of energy to a trickle. Even so, it was a great incentive. Gina screamed and jerked away.
“Bitch! Stay away from me!”
“That was just a taste of what’s to come unless you start talking.”
Nursing her hand, she said, “If you’re just going to kill me, why should I tell you anything?”
Jordan’s stomach clenched. As much as she hated Gina, she wasn’t Gina. The thought of taking her life had once been appealing. Now, she just wanted to go home.
Mazie was gone. Murdering the one responsible wouldn’t bring her back, and Jordan wasn’t God. She refused to allow her Paladin status to dictate her fate. She might be a lot of things – some good, some bad – but she would always be the one to decide which paths to take.
Xander pulled Jordan aside and Ivy joined them in the corner. “You don’t have to do this,” he said. “I can get the information without bloodshed.”
Bottom lip trembling, Jordan closed her eyes. “Mazie…”
“…is dead,” Ivy finished. “There’s nothing anyone can do to change that. I know you, Jordan, and this isn’t you. Let Xander fish the information from her demented mind and we’ll blow this joint – go see your family. You need to get away from here for a while.”
“But Gina shouldn’t get away with this. She ended a little girl’s life and couldn’t care less. It’s like she’s not even human.”
Xander shook his head. “The problem is that she is human. Gina no longer has any powers. You’ve been so wrapped up in the supernatural world, fighting what you perceive – what you’ve been told – is evil, that you’ve lost touch with the real world.” He glanced at Gina. “There are some evil SOB’s in our neck of the woods, but nothing holds a candle to man.”
But Gina was twisted before she lost her powers and became human.
Jordan grappled with her emotions. Right and Wrong were both players in a dangerous game – one she couldn’t win no matter what cards she played. If she killed Gina, took it upon herself to decide her fate, she’d lose a part of herself she could never get back. If she didn’t, Gina could possibly hurt someone else, and that would be her fault because she could have prevented it.
Unless…
“Come on,” Jordan said. “I think I know what to do.”
What she had planned was risky, but chances and wagers were all she had these days.
Gina yawned when they approached. She feigned indifference, but the veneer was cracking, the yellow color of cowardice showing underneath.
“Can you try to keep your sentimental pow-wows to a minimum? My ass is falling asleep in this chair and I’m hungry.”
Ivy flipped her off while Jordan motioned to Xander. “Do your thing,” she instructed. “Make sure to get every detail.”
“What are you doing?” Eyes narrow and cat-like, Gina moved as far as the chain would allow. “I’m not telling you a damn thing until Jordan agrees to my terms.”
“Xander’s an Invictus. We could make you spill every nasty, horrid thought in that perver
ted head of yours if we wanted.”
Gina paled, and Jordan felt hopeful. This would work. It had to.
“Lucky for you, we don’t have time for all the therapy we’d need afterward, and there isn’t enough bleach in the world to scour those images from our brains, so we’re only going to focus on the information you have about my family.”
Struggling with the chain now, Gina screamed, “I never agreed to that!”
Ivy grabbed her shoulders and she suddenly went still. “Ain’t that a bitch? Now be a good girl and give this handsome guy your undivided attention or I’ll be forced to make a mess on Dad’s nice shiny floor.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Quinn
The ride back to town was the longest of his life. Even on the weed-choked back roads where farm land distanced neighbors and electric light was scarce, the night was unusually dark. Thick clouds eclipsed the moon, leaving the barest hint of ghostly shine that did nothing to cut the blackness.
The headlights of the Mustang illuminated faded white lines, flickered across the trunks of trees, and occasionally highlighted an animal before it scampered from his sight. Quinn felt like he was driving under water. It was too quiet and the weight of leaving his family behind pressed down on him like the sea. Several times he stopped the car, determined to go back and help. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Gabe. Archangels probably had more juice in their little fingers than soldiers contained in their entire beings. His brother and uncle would be fine. The problem was that he wasn’t one to run from a fight.
For as long as he could remember, he’d taken the biggest risks when lives were on the line. Unable to endure another loss, Quinn gladly threw himself into caves, swamps, woods, dens…wherever evil dwelled, always a few steps ahead of Nathan and Case. He did his best to make a safe passage for them to follow. To run and leave them in the middle of a dangerous situation went against his very nature. He’d spent his entire life trying to keep them alive, and because of a book, he may have pissed it all away.
Don’t think like that. They’ll be fine. Gabe promised to keep them above ground.
Refracted (The Celadon Circle Book 2) Page 25