Last of the Ravens
Page 22
“You’re still with them?” Miranda shouted. “After everything that’s happened, you’re still working for the Order that damn near killed us both, the Order that kidnapped Jackson, the Order that condoned the killing of countless people?”
Talbot calmly said, “The only way to change wrongs like those is from the inside.”
“You took Quinn’s place, didn’t you?” Bren asked.
Talbot looked him in the eye. “If I did I couldn’t tell you. You don’t want to know any more than you already do, trust me. Let’s just say that decrees have been issued that end all study and observation of both of you. You’re to be left alone. There are enough real monsters in the world to keep us busy.” He looked only slightly chagrined. “You two are no longer being watched. Baby boy or no baby boy, you’re off the radar.”
“Why should we trust you?” Miranda asked. “Why should we believe a word you say?”
“That’s up to you,” Talbot said. “I’ve done everything I could to make up for being a part of the mess that nearly killed you both. I can’t do any more. I just wanted to let you know.” He turned to leave, but Miranda was obviously not ready to let him go.
“Roger Talbot, if you’re not watching anymore, then how did you know about…about ice cream and pickles, and baggy shirts, and bank accounts?”
Talbot smiled tiredly. “That all came from local gossip Autumn picked up on when she was here a couple of weeks ago. She told Cheryl, Cheryl told me. Simple community chitchat, Miranda, nothing more.” He turned to Bren, resigned. “Whatever happens, take good care of her.”
“I intend to.”
The FBI agent opened the front door to exit, but stopped in the doorway and turned around, glancing from Bren to Miranda. “Believe it or not, the Order was formed to do good and necessary work, and as long as decent men are in charge, that’s what happens. Good and necessary work. If you decide to stick around, your talents would be greatly appreciated.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Miranda said sharply. “What makes you think we would ever work with men like Archard and Quinn and you again?”
Talbot shrugged. “Quinn is dead. Archard’s locked away. That just leaves me.”
“I can’t believe you’re still with them,” Miranda said, disappointment clear in her soft voice. “After everything that happened…”
“Everything that happened is all the more reason for me to stay, to make sure the Order functions as it was intended to. Do you think you two are the only extraordinary people in the world? Do you think no one else has gifts they hide? The difference is, some of them get their kicks by killing innocents or stealing souls or turning ordinary people into monsters with a bite or a dark spell. Should I sit back and let them continue? Should no one fight against them?” He pointed an accusing finger to Miranda. “If a dark thing came after your son with the intention of tearing him apart or stealing his soul, would you not kill to stop it?”
Miranda instinctively laid a protective hand over her stomach.
“So, are you taking over that damned farmhouse?”
“No,” Talbot said abruptly. “There was too much excitement at the farmhouse a few months ago, as you well know, and the local cops are watching the place too closely. Besides, it’s been tainted.”
“I would say so,” Bren said darkly.
“We’re going to be neighbors,” Talbot said. “I bought a house on the next mountain over.”
“What does Cheryl think about that?” Miranda asked.
Again, Talbot shrugged. “One minute she’s furious. The next she’s in tears. A few minutes later she’s planning trips to the outlet malls and scouting out local restaurants and dancing schools for the girls. And then she starts the process all over again.” He nodded. “The transition would be easier for her if she had a friend nearby.”
With that statement Roger Talbot left, not giving Miranda a chance to respond.
Miranda blew out the candles on the huge birthday cake. It was another lovely spring day, another birthday, another gathering of friends. A new life.
This year Bren was cooking hamburgers on the grill, which was sitting on the deck that overlooked the lush green valley. The crowd that milled in and out of the house was large, but not too large. She adored them all. Autumn was attending the celebration with her new boyfriend, one of the real estate agents who worked at Bren’s company. She was happy again, and it was obvious that this new man adored her. Maybe something would come of it, maybe not. The important thing was Autumn’s happiness, and her recovery from the betrayal of her low-life husband.
Jackson, a handsome sixteen and already a touch taller than his dad, had brought along his pretty girlfriend. They’d met and clicked instantly when school had started last fall. His old childish crush on Miranda was history—and thank heavens, he remembered almost nothing of his kidnapping, thanks to the drugs they’d given him.
Cheryl had adjusted to her new life pretty quickly, thanks to outlet malls and having Miranda nearby. The girls were resilient, the way children are.
Roger stayed busy, but apparently not too busy. Cheryl was four months pregnant. They hadn’t planned to have more kids, and now and then Cheryl swore she was too old to go through the baby thing again. But she and Roger were both thrilled more often than they were annoyed by the “surprise.”
It had taken some time, but Miranda had forgiven Roger. Considering that she—and Bren—had started working for him now and then, it seemed the thing to do. Besides, how could she hold on to anger when her life was so good?
After Miranda had blown out the candles on her cake, Bren handed her the baby. Joseph Jesse Korbinian was wrapped tight in a blue baby blanket, oblivious to the excitement around him.
There was one other guest at her birthday party, one Miranda had not expected to see again.
Jessica’s spirit cooed over the baby. Joey must’ve seen his aunt, because his eyes—eyes that were blue at the moment but would one day be as dark as his daddy’s—were fixed on the ghost. Jessica made faces at him and he smiled and kicked his feet.
“Happy birthday, little sister,” Jessica said when she managed to take her eyes off the baby. “Nice work, by the way. That is probably the cutest kid I’ve ever seen, now that he’s past the wrinkled, little-old-man stage.”
How could she have ever doubted that her sister was around? “You’ve been visiting without showing yourself.”
Jessica gave a nonchalant lift of her shoulders. “Now and then. It’s not easy to visit once the move forward has been made, but if I want it badly enough and I work very hard, I can drop in for a moment or two.”
Miranda wanted to have her sister here often, not now and then, not when she made a great effort just to appear. But if it wasn’t meant to be, then it wasn’t. “I miss you,” she said honestly.
“I’m fine, really,” Jessica said. “More than fine.” She smiled as if she knew something Miranda did not—and she probably did. “I came today to give you a message.”
Messages from the other side were rarely of the pleasant sort. Still, Jessica’s smile eased Miranda’s initial worry.
“It took a lot of work to get you and Korbinian together,” Jessica said. “I just wanted you to know that things will be easier for Joey. He will know his Kademair almost all his life. He will never have a memory without her in it.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jessica nodded in Cheryl’s direction. “Their baby is a girl.”
Miranda held her breath for a moment, and then she let that breath out slowly and smiled. In good times and bad, these people had been her family for years. One day their children would make it official.
Bren walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and Joey. For a long moment they stood there, looking over the valley together while the others talked and laughed and filled their plates. Her bond with Bren had only gotten stronger in the months since they’d married. He could get into her head so easily, and she always knew what
he was feeling.
“Tonight?” she asked after listening to the rhythms of his body for a few precious moments.
“Yeah. After everyone leaves. Roger said a creature was spotted near Pigeon Forge. I’m going to do some recon after dark.”
There was a place in the world for the Korbinians and the talents they hid from the world. As in the old days, Bren had become a warrior. He was a messenger and a fighter, as well as a builder of fine homes, a father and a husband.
Miranda had actually done some work for the Order herself, as well as her continuing consultations with the FBI. Talking to the ghosts of those killed by dark fiends had helped her to accept that the Order was a necessary evil. With Roger head of this division, injustices of men like Ward Quinn had been abandoned.
“If there’s something over that way Roger had better take care of it ASAP. Cheryl will be royally pissed if a were or a vamp messes with her favorite outlet mall.” Miranda leaned into Bren’s chest, melting there.
Bren dropped a casual kiss on her neck, and Miranda smiled as she gazed at the majestic mountains in the distance. Those mountains were a wrinkle in the world, a soft fold of earth and green trees, and they were home. Her son rested in her arms; her husband held her close. Behind Miranda the sounds of friends and family filled the once lonely house, and before her stretched forever.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-4653-3
LAST OF THE RAVENS
Copyright © 2010 by Linda Winstead Jones
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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