by Kim Faulks
I didn’t get like this. Didn’t well with tears. Didn’t feel loved, wanted…until now. I dropped my hands, one went to my side, the other slipped behind me, caressing the slick feel of feathers until I found the hard muscle of his thigh and lifted my gaze to the room behind the glass.
I saw myself in Redemption…saw the omen I once was, alone…cornered…and left out to dry.
How quickly the wheel turned.
How quickly the gold was cast into the mud. Pain cut across my chest at the thought. I hated to see him that way, hated that he was hurting, but I hated them more.
The door opened and closed inside the room as the sergeant left, and Titus was alone with Redemption, who turned his head, and, even though he saw nothing more than his own reflection, he looked straight into my eyes. “You want to stop playing your games now?”
Titus swung his gaze back to the fae against the wall. “It’s just you and me now. No need to lie, no need to bluff. You’re not getting access to The Circle’s lawyers, and we both know the reason why.”
One brow shot high as Redemption lifted his gaze and turned fully toward the mirror. “By all means, Inspector, please enlighten me.”
“They’re hanging you out to dry. Don’t want to taint their perfect name with your crimes. Now, I don’t know about supe’ law, but there’s been how many deaths associated with this drug?”
There was no answer. Redemption had closed down, and the man had slipped behind the mask.
“Nine witches, at least twenty demons, not to mention the humans caught up in this goddamn mess…that poor girl…that poor human girl who’ll change on the next full moon, all thanks to you. Now, you can make it easy on yourself. I’ll write in my report, that’ll most certainly find it’s way to the Director of The Circle’s desk, that you were more than co-operative. You were the primary reason why this case was solved. All I want to know is who are you working with? Who’s the supplier, and where is the main distribution site?”
There was no answer, no noise. The room fell silent…my pulse ticked like a damn bomb. I glanced from Redemption to Titus as both men held each other’s gaze.
Answer him. Answer him, you sonofabitch. My fists clenched, falling away from Gabriel’s thigh and Rival’s hold.
Second by second of silence followed…every tiny sound, every little scrape, was like nails on a damn chalkboard. He wasn’t going to answer. He wasn’t going to give Titus a damn thing.
What the hell happened to him? Where was the man I once knew? The one who would’ve done anything to save a life…who would’ve never given up.
I hated him in that moment. Hated the man he’d become. Hated the secrets he’d held onto that resulted in this goddamn mess.
“You think you’re helping by being silent?” Titus growled. “There’s others out there hurting right now because of your actions. Others who cared about you, who still care…”
“Save your breath, Inspector. There’s no one left.”
His words were a fucking slap. My breath caught, my cheeks burned, searing and aching.
“If you believe that, then I’m even more sorry for you than before.”
The hard bark of laughter tore through the room. “Save it, save it and shove it up your ass.”
“She’s listening, you know.”
I flinched with the words, as did Redemption. He swallowed, eyes widening slightly. “Who?”
“Lorn, she’s right behind there, listening. I wonder if you’d be man enough to look her in the eyes and tell her that?”
“You’re lying,” Redemption snarled, and took a slow step forward. “She’s not here. She’s gone.”
Titus gave a shake of his head. “No, she isn’t.”
Panic raced across Redemption’s face. “I told her to leave. I told her to get out of the city.” He wrenched his gaze to the mirror. Agony and terror shook his voice. “She didn’t leave…did she? She stayed…she stayed.”
He closed his eyes and swayed on his feet. “It’s all my fault. All my damn fault. It’s too late now. He’s coming.”
“Oh, you mean good ol’ Dad? Yeah, she knows about that.”
“Then she knows nothing,” Redemption growled and glanced at the mirror once more. “They’re coming. All of them…all the alpha’s, all the queens and the kings of all the lines. Why do you think I’ve been escorting them all these years? I’ve been trying to stop an all-out war. They’re coming to stop him. And it’s all happening tomorrow night.”
I glanced to the door and took a step. None of this made sense, not the war…not the damn timing. “I need to get in there. I need to see him face to face.”
Titus lifted his gaze to the mirror as though he could hear me.
“She should’ve left. I told her…I warned her,” Redemption moaned and took a step, terror now finding a new path. “Get me out of here…get me out now. I can protect her…I can save her.”
A savage growl filled the room, echoing from my right and behind, as Titus braced his arms on the table and leaned forward. “And you think you’re the only one who cares about her? You think you’re the only one who’ll lay his life on the line to keep her safe?”
Redemption froze, lips parted. He looked at Titus, really looked at him, as though he was seeing him for the very first time. “You…”
“Me…” Titus answered. “So, you can just stop with the macho bullshit. Give us the information we need to protect her…or go back to the cells. You can rot in there for all I care.”
Redemption flinched. It was a killing blow delivered with nothing more than words. “The bar, Wicked. Tomorrow night. There’s a witch-storm brewing, Inspector, and Lorn is caught in the middle of it. She’ll need all the help she can get. And if you’ve spent more than a second with her, you’ll understand how special she is. So if there’s any way you can get me out of here…man to man, I swear I’ll do everything in my power to protect her.”
Protect me?
That dark need whispered across my skin. I didn’t need protecting. I needed honesty. I needed loyalty. I stepped closer to the glass and lifted a hand. Fingers touched the surface and the cold raced through my palm.
“I’ll see what I can do, but you have to tell me everything. I can’t walk in there not knowing what to expect.”
“And the Angel…Gabriel, will he be there?” Redemption asked.
“Yes, and Rival…a hellhound.”
“It’s not enough,” Redemption growled and shook his head. His eyes were alight with desperation. “It’s not anywhere near enough.”
His panic felt wrong somehow. More than just a fear of me meeting my father. There was something he wasn’t saying.
“Not anywhere near enough for what…what aren’t you saying, Redemption? What are you holding back?”
Feathers tickled my arms as Gabriel moved close, and Redemption answered. “He’s not coming to meet her…he’s coming to kill her.”
The floor fell away from under me. My knees buckled, the air rushed. Hands found me…arms and feathers wrapped me in a cocoon.
“He’s lying,” Gabriel growled in my ear. “Lucifer would never do that. You’re his flesh and blood. He’d never hurt you…never.”
“He’s the Lord of Hell,” my words sounded hollow and dull. “He can do whatever he wants.”
“Do you really believe that?” Rival broke in. “You’ve tasted his power, you’ve felt his strength. Did the energy feel predatory to you? Were you afraid?”
“Afraid? No, not for me…” I whispered. “Only for everyone else.”
But Redemption wouldn’t say that without reason. He wouldn’t hurt me…not like that.
“Get me out, Inspector,” Redemption demanded. “You’ll need me.”
There was a tiny shake of Titus’ head before he found Redemption’s gaze. “Then give me something! I can’t bargain with a bunch of could be’s and maybe’s. Give me something concrete and I’ll do my best.”
“The wolf…the one who bit the young woman.
The witches are using him.”
“Using him? How?”
“He’s damaged…the drug, it changed him somehow, made him a conduit, and they’re using him to syphon Lucifer’s power.”
“They’re draining him?”
There was no flinch, not even a breath, before Redemption answered. “Yes. And then we might have a chance at stopping him.”
They were wrong…so damn wrong.
I turned my hand, fingers brushing the glass as I stared at the sigil burned into my palm. I’d had a taste at what lay under the surface. There was no draining a bottomless well. No end to the tsunami of power that flowed in these veins.
The only thing they’d do was piss him off. “We have to stop them,” I murmured, and then turned to Rival and Gabriel. “Before it’s too late.”
Gabriel stared into my gaze and nodded. I knew now, knew why he’d stayed away, knew why he’d shut me down time after time, and it had nothing to do with loyalty.
Deep down, he was scared. The Lord of Hell was coming, the only question was…how much blood would he spill on his way?
“Where is he? That wolf…those witches?”
I flinched with the question and stared through the glass.
“Hurricane,” Redemption murmured. “If what you’re saying is true, then Lorn will know what I’m talking about. It was the place we first fell in love. The first place I…the first place I told her that I loved her.”
“Just not enough to make sure she had enough food to eat, or enough money to pay bills. That’s some kind of hard fucking love, buddy,” Titus snarled and picked up the folder. “You’re no better than a goddamn wife-beater, you make me fucking sick.”
He gave Redemption his back, missing the agony that settled in his eyes. He didn’t understand…not a complex thing like love. He never had…never wanted to.
“I tried,” he whispered. “I tried.”
“Like you said…save it. Don’t waste your breath.” Titus threw those words into Redemption’s face as he made for the door.
I took a step from the glass as the lock echoed and Titus left the room.
“I tried! Goddamn you! I looked out for her…I did my best!” Redemption strode across the room and lashed out with a fist, hitting the door.
The boom shook the wall. He curled his fist and bowed his head. “I tried my best.”
My heart ached with those words. I neared the glass, drawn by the remnants of good times in our past. The door next to me opened and then closed. Still I couldn’t turn away from the sight. I couldn’t abandon him.
“Do you know the place he mentioned?” Titus murmured.
I nodded. I knew the place. I loved him in that place. “I know it.”
The touch on my arm was soft and careful. “We have to go, Lorn.”
Redemption turned his head, and tears filled his eyes. It was the first time I’d ever seen him cry, not in all the years we were together…not in all the cases we’d worked.
“I’m sorry,” Redemption murmured, and stared into the glass. “I failed you…please forgive me.”
My voice trembled as I turned away. “Twenty-eight Obsidian Drive. That’s where the Hurricane is.”
Chapter Seventeen
Tangled vines reached out through the night to brush my cheek as I passed. I glanced down, finding illuminated stones amongst the mass of green on the stony path.
Heavy footsteps echoed behind me, and Rival’s grumble rang in the still of the night. I slowed, finding the next spelled stone amongst the vines. “Don’t touch anything.”
There was a snarl, and then a mutter, as Rival yanked his gaze up from his feet to glare. “Why? ’Cause you like how the weeds grow all over the damn place?”
I stopped, turned, and answered. “No, because they bite.”
He flinched, paled, and then looked to the tangle of vines on the path. “You’re joking, right?”
I gave a shrug and then turned away.
“Hey, you’re joking, right?”
I took a step, and then another, finding the glinting markers step by step as we rounded the decrepit old house.
“She’s joking, isn’t she?”
Thunder masked the desperate sound in his plea as heavy drops smacked the vines at my feet. Thick green leaves unfurled with the first taste of sweet midnight rain.
“Well. Anyone going to answer me? Titus…you…duck man?”
The men didn’t answer…they knew better. I moved faster, hitting the brightly lit stones before I stepped again. Drops hit the vines around me. Leaves fluttered, tendrils moved, rolling and curling, as above the heavens opened.
“What the fuck?” Rival roared behind me.
I risked a glance over my shoulder. Vines gathered around their feet, dancing seductively in the air as the rain plastered strands of hair against my face.
Lightning raced amongst the dark clouds. There was a taste on the air, a hunger that I’d never felt before. A witch-storm. “Come on, we need to hurry.”
“I’m trying,” Rival tripped and stumbled, windmilling his arms before he leapt.
Two steps and he was alongside me, and then he was gone, spearing through the dark one lunge after the other. Titus watched his steps, dancing between the moving ocean of green. Tendrils curled around his ankles before he wrenched free and kept moving.
Gabriel just glided, whipping his massive wings through the air and walking a foot above the path. I turned to the stones and stumbled forward as the shower turned torrential.
Out of the darkness, the massive dome came. Lightning lit up the sky, the glare bouncing against the glass walls as the crack of thunder followed.
The sight hurt me…like a wound that had never healed. I moved closer, leaving the spelled path and the vines behind, and headed for the door.
“I tried it. It’s locked,” Rival growled and glanced along the side of the dome.
The place was big, and special. I reached for the handle and felt the metal recognize my energy. The lock clicked, releasing the door.
“What the hell…” the hellhound muttered. “Don’t tell me…spelled, right?”
I held it open as Rival stepped inside, followed by Titus.
“Nothing is going to lunge out of the dark and eat me, is it?”
“You sure you’re not a panther? Maybe a lion?” Titus barked. “’Cause you’re acting like a damn pussy.”
“Oh, ha fucking ha,” Rival bit. “How about you walk in front, then?”
“Nope,” Titus answered and looked around. “I’m good.”
I closed the door behind me and stared into the dark. The place hadn’t changed…not in all the years I’d tried to forget it existed.
“So, you going to let us in on the secret?” Titus murmured, and lifted his head to the glass arching above us.
I followed his gaze. “The secret?”
“Why the name? Hurricane.”
His question hurt…marrow hurt, the kind of ache that never quite healed. Still, I took a step, and then another, working my way into the center of the dome. “Come and stand next to me.” They never moved, not until I cut them a hard gaze. “Come on. It’s not going to hurt you.”
They all stepped, slow at first, dragging their damn feet, until they reached the middle. I lifted a hand and whispered words of love, and then words of war…I called the winds, and they snarled into the darkness.
The air inside the dome responded, tearing the stuck strands of hair from my face to whip into the air.
And, as always with the dark whisperings, I felt the urge for bare feet.
I wanted to curl my toes into the dark, rich soil.
And burrow…
Deep down where the dark magic lay.
I wanted to listen to the whisperings of old, feel the Mother’s arms close ’round me tight, and listen to the silence of the crone.
I wanted to be the maiden, bare breasted, the frigid night air licking between my thighs as I danced and howled at the moon. I wanted the stars…spa
rkling above me while I sank into the cold, cold earth.
Vines crawled and snaked, leaving the path and the gardens behind to spread thorny tendrils along the glass. Sharp talons squealed and squeaked against the glass, filling the void inside with piercing sound.
The men cried out and slapped hands over their ears.
Still, I couldn’t move as the vines grew with my power, curling and twisting, reaching higher and higher, as inside the air whipped and circled.
And with the wind they came.
Tiny flashes of pure white light, peppering the darkness here and there, and as the vines smothered the glass ceiling, the lights brightened, whipping past as the air circled…and circled.
“Oh my God,” Titus murmured.
And amongst the chaotic disarray we stood in the eye of the storm…tranquil and utterly perfect.
Titus moved closer, his fingers found mine. Rival reached for my other hand, and Gabriel slipped close, curling the tip of his wing around the outside of my thigh.
And in that moment, with the fireflies whipping around in a hurricane above us, I felt the first stirrings of love once more.
And with the crack of thunder, something woke from a silent slumber…something powerful…
The first lash of energy was a taste…strength to strength, and then the sting retreated. The wind eased, fireflies danced around, flapping tiny wings in a frenzy as the vines stilled above us. “Someone is coming,” I murmured, and looked into the darkness.
Feral and animal, and dangerous. I took a step forward as the shadows shifted. And out of the dark she came, quiet and soft, moving inch by inch until she stepped into the room.
Silver hair shone in the firefly glow. She was ethereal and beautiful, her long hair draped around her shoulders and cascaded over the soft mounds of her breasts.
“Lorn,” the older woman greeted. “It’s been a long time.”
There were more covens in the city than I could count. Every day there were new ones. But when it came down to it, there were only two sides…you were either a Day Warden or a Night Walker…and if you belonged to Mother Night…then you also belonged to the witch who stepped close.
“Raven,” I answered and bowed my head in greeting. “I’m sorry if we disturbed you.”