by Deanna Chase
“Of course not. But people she knows would be and they’ll be talking. You’d be amazed at what people say after someone dies.” She kicked the shopping bag. “And I’m going to miss it, being holed up here like one of the house slaves.”
I sighed and leaned back against the headboard. “I know it sucks, but I really do think he’s trying to protect us.”
“More like control us.”
The vampire sensation hit me right before he spoke. “Don’t tempt me, Agent Kilsen.” Allcot strode into the room, and Talisen stumbled in after him.
Tal glared and clenched his fists as he stared back out into the hall.
“I believe this fae belongs to you.” Allcot waved an impatient hand toward Talisen. “If you don’t want him to get his neck ripped open, take care to keep him away from my people.” He turned to Phoebe. “You can go at nine in the morning. The deal will be finalized by then.” His deep blue-gray eyes found mine. “It’s best you pretend nothing ever happened with Maude for the time being. Treat her just as you always have.”
“You mean with little respect and plenty of disdain?” Phoebe let out a hollow laugh.
“If that is the norm, then yes. We don’t want anyone who may be watching to think anything’s changed. Don’t pretend she didn’t hold Willow in lockdown. Too many people know about it already. Brush it off as necessary testing and resume the job you’ve been contracted to do. Got it?”
I nodded but Phoebe narrowed her eyes. She placed one hand on her hip and raised her chin. “What about Maude? Will she resume as normal? Or will Willow find herself locked up in some remote place out in the swamps? What’s to stop Maude from going off the reservation?”
Allcot’s expression hardened, turning his appearance marble-like. “I’ve got that covered.” He nodded to me and was gone in one blink.
Talisen stood against the wall, staring at me.
Heat rose to my face. My outburst had left a gaping crater between us. The truth was, I had no idea what he saw when he looked at me. A sister? A close friend? A backup girlfriend if he ran through the world’s female population? I shifted so I wouldn’t have to meet his eyes and ran a hand over Link’s soft fur.
“What trouble have you been getting into?” Phoebe asked him, gathering up the last of her clothes.
He grunted.
Phoebe tilted her head and eyed him. “Why did Allcot march you in here?”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “One of the female vamps tried to lure me into her den and when I said no, words were exchanged.”
Words. Yeah, I bet. After the coal-raking I’d gotten over the bite on my neck, he’d probably invited her to fang herself. Prejudiced jerk. A small voice whispered in my mind, hypocrite. I shook my head and crawled into bed. I rolled over and faced the wall, trying to forget I was now sharing a room with Talisen. Morning couldn’t come soon enough.
***
The burning in my neck woke me. I shot straight up in bed, my fists connecting with the person hovering over me. “Get off!” I shoved with both hands and rolled out of the bed.
“Willow, calm down. I was only healing your neck.” Talisen, who I’d knocked to the floor, hopped to his feet and took a step toward me. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
My heart pounded as I took deep breaths, trying to get myself under control. I clamped my hand over my pulsing bite marks. Talisen’s healing had never felt like that before. “It hurts,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
His eyebrows burrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?” Gently, he pulled my hand back and inspected my wounds. “They’re red and angry.”
When he traced a light finger over the punctures, I winced. “Stop. That burns.”
He yanked his hand back and frowned at the amethyst clutched in his other hand.
“Maybe there’s too much vampire energy here. We can try again when we get back to my house.” I flicked the light on and rubbed my gritty eyes.
Talisen cleared his throat and his voice came out low and husky. “Am I still allowed at your house?”
I peered at him, trying to focus. “Of course you are.” I stepped closer and grabbed his hand. “About what happened last night…”
“Forget it. Like you said, I have no right to judge you. I was worried and in my overprotectiveness, I didn’t stop to consider the circumstances.” He squeezed my fingers and let go.
Circumstances? What did that mean? My war with Maude or the fact that I was forced to work with my vampire ex? Or the not-so-subtle insinuation that I just might be interested in Tal if he wasn’t such a commitment-phobe? I put the entire question out of my mind. I didn’t want to talk about Maude, and I definitely didn’t want to argue about David or my relationship with Talisen.
I glanced at the clock. Seven a.m. “Where’s Phoebe?”
She’d shared the other half of the bed with me, but now it was empty.
Talisen shrugged. “She was already gone when I woke up.”
I strode into the empty bathroom and then returned to the foot of the bed. All the shopping bags were gone except for the one filled with my clothes. “Shit. She took off.” I glanced at Link. “You couldn’t have woken me when she left?” Who knew what time she’d fled? Link put his head on his paws and glanced away.
“Be ready in five minutes,” I told Talisen as I grabbed my clothes and headed to the bathroom.
***
David caught up to us as we headed down the front walk. With the sun burning bright, he was the only vampire who could stop us. I braced myself for an argument. Allcot had said we could leave at nine, but I wasn’t waiting another minute to find out what Phoebe was up to.
“The car’s this way.” David pointed to a long driveway.
I stopped. “You’re not going to try to make us stay?”
Talisen moved a half step closer, and I held back a frustrated sigh. I hated this new display of dominance he had going on. We were just friends and always had been, despite how he made me feel sometimes. This new Talisen confused me.
David cut a glance to Talisen but ignored the subtle challenge and told me, “The deal is done. No need to hang around here any longer.” He started walking up the driveway. “You can wait here. I’ll bring the car.”
Talisen and I stared after him. “Something’s brewing,” I said.
He draped a light arm over my shoulders. “Do you think he knows where Phoebe went?”
He’d wrapped his arm around me in the same fashion hundreds of times before, but it felt different this time. Like he was claiming me. I bent down under the guise of tying my shoe. “I doubt it. She doesn’t check in with anyone when she’s on a mission.” When I stood, I stepped aside, putting distance between us.
“Then why do you think something’s off with him?”
“He’s not mad I didn’t tell him I was leaving. This is too easy.” David seemed as if he’d expected me to try to ditch him. Had he been watching for us?
Talisen chuckled. “Maybe he’s started to pay attention.”
“What does that mean?”
His lips twitched as he squeezed my shoulder. “You’ve never been one to ask permission from anyone. And you sure as hell don’t wait around for a man to do anything. It’s not a surprise you’d disregard any plan put in place by anyone other than yourself or Phoebe.”
Momentarily stunned at his assessment, I gazed up at him, my head tilted. Finally, I asked, “Was that a compliment?”
He snorted a laugh. “Your call.”
A silver Mercedes zipped down the driveway and stopped beside me. David lowered the window. “Ready?”
I raised my eyebrows. “New car?” I’d only ever seen him drive a Ford truck.
He nodded and his expression turned blank. “A gift from Father.”
The hollow ache in my stomach returned. Another turning gift, just like the house. Of course he got a fancy new car. Eadric couldn’t have a new vampire driving anything less. There was an image to uphold.
Talisen
held his tongue as he climbed in the back with Link. I really wanted to join them but forced myself to take the front seat. I slammed the door and stared out the window, unable to even look at David. After what happened the night before and having Talisen in the car, the whole situation was just too awkward.
“Where to?” David asked, peeling out of the driveway.
“Home. If Phoebe stopped by there, she may have left me a note.”
“Okay.” The inflection in his tone made it clear he thought the idea highly unlikely. I concentrated on the traffic, never once glancing in his direction during the fifteen-minute ride.
The second the car came to a full stop behind Phoebe’s, I jumped out and ran to the house.
Before I could get the door unlocked, David placed a firm grip on my arm. “Let me check to be sure no one’s waiting inside.”
“Like who? Every other vamp is hidden behind blackout shades.” I pressed forward, but his iron grip held me in place. “Let go.”
Talisen strolled up the walk, an amused smile lighting his face.
“Stop it.” I glowered at him and then back at David.
“Maude could have people waiting.”
“Allcot said he cut a deal. Maude’s not supposed to be a threat anymore.” I yanked my arm back, trying to get away from him.
David let go, probably realizing his caveman act wasn’t helping his appeal. “Right. But it doesn’t hurt to be cautious. At least let me go in first.”
“Fine.” I threw my hands up and stepped aside. “But hurry up.”
David brushed past me through the unlocked door. He froze mid-step in the threshold, his body filling the space.
“What is it?” I pressed forward, trying to peek around him, but couldn’t see past his solid shoulders.
“Phoebe,” he said carefully. “What’s going on?”
Phoebe? My internal panic button went off full steam, and I barreled into David’s solid form. “Ouch!” I cried, holding my shoulder. Damn him and his chiseled vampire physique. He glanced down at me once, then stepped aside, giving me room.
I stumbled inside, gasped, and backpedaled right into David. His cool hands gripped my arms, keeping me steady on my feet. Every inch of the place had been ransacked. End tables lay on their sides with broken legs, stuffing from the couch cushions covered the wood floor, and papers from Phoebe’s desk had been scattered everywhere.
In the middle of the room sat a dark-haired, wide-eyed, college-aged girl tied to a chair with duct tape covering her mouth. And right in front of her stood Phoebe, in her low-cut satin top and four-inch heels, a small chocolate-orange wedge in one hand.
“It’s about time you got here,” my roommate said. “We were just about to find out who put a hit on Willow.”
Chapter 21
“Phoebe, no!” I lurched forward and knocked the Orange Influence from her hand. “Where the hell did you get that?” Was she out of her mind? Not only was she breaking the law, she was going against everything I stood for.
She reached down, fumbling for the magically enhanced chocolate. “Where do you think?”
I kicked the Influence across the room.
“Willow. Stop it.” Phoebe moved, but I grabbed her arm.
“No, Phoebs. Absolutely not. What you’re about to do is illegal. I won’t be party to it.” I kept a death grip on her arm, praying she wouldn’t spell me before this argument was over. Not that I had any reason to believe she would, but then again, I never would have thought she’d resort to using Orange Influence. She knew how I felt about it.
The girl in the chair whimpered. I dropped Phoebe’s arm and took a step toward her.
“Willow!” Phoebe yanked me back. “Goddamn it! I tied her up for a reason.”
I stumbled back and buried my desire to lash out at Phoebe. It’s not as if I was going to set the girl free. “Let go,” I said, my voice tight with anger.
She tightened her hold and I twisted, trying to break my arms from her death grip. My patience gone, I snapped, “Link, help!” But he ignored me, already shimmering gold. His limbs elongated and his bones shifted as he leapt in front of the girl. He landed in full wolf form, growling.
He hunched forward, jaws snapping. The girl was just sitting there. What was setting him off? I stilled and gazed at the prisoner. “Is she a witch?”
Phoebe relaxed her grip and when I didn’t fight her, she let out a frustrated huff. “Yes. A powerful one.”
Why was a witch ransacking our house? I turned to face my friend, truly bewildered. There were better ways to elicit information. “Why are you trying to Influence her? Don’t we have any Truth Clusters around?” I started up the stairs toward the kitchen.
“I already gave her some. They didn’t work.”
Phoebe’s words stopped me mid-step. Slowly, I retreated back down the stairs.
Talisen raised his eyebrows and met me at the bottom of the steps. “Is there some sort of vaccine that can keep people from being affected?”
I shook my head, clutching the banister. “No, not that I know of.” I turned to Phoebe. “Could she have spelled herself to be resistant to it?” Was that possible? I’d never heard of such a thing, but then my edibles had always worked before.
Phoebe stalked over to the fallen chocolate, scooped it up, and waved the Influence at me. “If she’s already under the Influence, your Truth Clusters won’t work, right?”
Dumbstruck at my own stupidity, I stared at the Orange Influence bobbing in the air as Phoebe continued to wave it at me. “Shit. You’re right.”
“And if we force-feed this to her, we can break the original spell and get the information we need.” Phoebe didn’t wait for me to respond. She kicked her way through the debris as she strode across the room.
“Wait!” I ran after her. Influence was a powerful drug. Whoever administered it had complete and sole control over the subject, including forcing them to tell the truth. Used without a person’s consent, it was the worst kind of violation.
David, who’d been oddly silent through the whole ordeal, did that thing vamps do and suddenly materialized in front of our prisoner, his arms folded. He glowered at Phoebe. “I believe Willow has something she’d like to say about using the Influence.”
I sent him a grateful smile and skidded to a stop in front of Phoebe. “I know using the Influence seems like the logical action here, but I can’t allow it. Controlling someone against their will is wrong.”
“Willow,” Phoebe said, her tone measured. “Look at what she did to our house.” She walked over to the ransacked bookcase and picked up a shredded notebook. “Look at what she did to your reference journals.”
“Is that…?” I stalked to Phoebe’s side, my hand outstretched. The leather journal was missing at least half its pages. Hot blood rushed to my head, burning my ears. “My recipe records,” I said through clenched teeth. That freaking witch had destroyed the notes I’d meticulously logged with years of recipe experiments.
“Now can I use the Influence on her?” Phoebe gave me a pointed look.
I inhaled a deep, ragged breath and slowly let it out, willing myself to calm down. Talisen followed Phoebe’s path through the mess and stopped beside me. His cool hand cupped my neck. A tingle soothed its way through me.
“Better?” he asked, holding up a blue stone.
Blue lace agate. The calming stone. I nodded. “Thank you.”
“What the fuck, Tal?” Phoebe sneered. “That anger was helping her get a backbone.”
“Phoebs.” I held a hand up, ignoring the insult. Another witch had invaded her space. It wasn’t a surprise she was lashing out. Witches don’t play nice when other witches encroach on their territory. And I was stopping her from using a surefire weapon. “We’re not using the Influence. Give me ten minutes. I can whip up the antidote.”
Phoebe’s nostrils flared, but she clamped her mouth shut.
I brushed past David and whispered, “Don’t let her do anything stupid.”
&nb
sp; He raised his eyebrows and glanced over my head at her. “You sure about that?”
“Tal can’t stop her. Someone has to.” I took the stairs two at a time. Light footsteps sounded behind me, and I knew without glancing back it was Talisen. Perfect. I wondered how long Phoebe and David would last before one of them attacked the other. The current score was two to zero in Phoebe’s favor.
“I could use a calming force down there,” I said, striding through my kitchen door.
“The only one I have any effect on besides you is Link. And right now he’s doing exactly what he’s supposed to. No one else is open enough to accept the magic from the agate. Calming stones are very different from healing stones. It won’t work without trust.” Talisen leaned against the counter, his hands stuffed in his pockets.
“Still. If Link loses it, you can keep him in check.” The last thing I needed was for Link to eat the intruder. Then where would we be? Knee-deep in witch guts. I slammed the cabinet door shut and placed a handful of dried herbs on the counter.
“Willow,” Tal said with no small amount of impatience in his voice.
I spun to face him. “What?”
He took my hands and gently squeezed. “Why are you being so stubborn about this? If you use the Influence on her, you’ll be able to order her to tell the truth.”
“Not you, too.” I threw my hands up and grabbed a copper bowl from the rack hanging above. “It’s not right!”
“The world isn’t black and white. Your life is on the line here. Now isn’t the time to be so worried about your morals.” He shifted to stand behind me, his breath warm in my ear. “I’m not going to lose you. I can’t. Not now, not ever. Remember that when I cross some imaginary line.” He pressed his lips to my cheek, kissing me ever so gently, then turned and took off back down the stairs.
I threw the herb container across the kitchen, satisfied when the glass container shattered on the floor. My shoulders slumped and I pressed my forehead to the cabinet in front of me. None of them understood. Not even Talisen. I’d expected him of all people to stand by me on this. Our whole lives we’d been taught our magic was a privilege. Something to be used to help people. It was not to be used as a weapon.