by Patti Larsen
Well, sorta. Witch, Sidhe, demon and vampire. And maji.
Aw, hell.
“Did you talk to Mom?” The remainder of my orange juice chased breakfast as I sat back and tossed my napkin on my plate with a yawn. No sleepy. Not yet. A jolt of power shook me out of the food-induced need for a nap—a good night’s sleep, to be honest—and back to reality.
“I did.” Gram’s mouth narrowed to a slash. “She’s not happy.”
“With me?” I shrugged. “Let her be pissed.”
She sighed. “She’s sending Enforcers,” Gram said. “But I don’t know if they’ll be much good.”
“We can handle it.” At least Mom was doing something. “When they arrive, just fill them in on the shielding thing and have them patrol town. Keep an eye on the family.”
Gram’s faded blue eyes blinked slowly at me. “While you run off and do something stupid, is that it?”
I grinned at her, leaning close to kiss her cheek. “It’s what you’d do.”
Gram actually had the nerve to look innocent and indignant. “I beg your pardon.” It only took a moment for her eyes to sparkle and her familiar cackle to make me laugh. “You know too many of my secrets.”
“Me too.” Demetrius smiled at us, chewing, eyes narrow and full of mischief, focused on Gram. “Don’t I, Ethie? Don’t I?”
Yes, we had to go, but I had time to ask some questions. “Gram—”
She was on her feet already, clearing the table with magic, shoving me toward the door as I stood to face her.
“Out,” she grumbled. “Save the world again, girl. Then we talk.”
I’d heard that song before. “You better believe it.”
The veil welcomed us, Charlotte with a firm grip on Demetrius, as we skipped into the slice between worlds, exiting at the edge of town near where our old coven site used to be. Memories tugged at me, but this was no time to think about the past and the girl I’d been.
“Tell me where to go, Demetrius.” I pinned him with a scowl. “No tricks.”
“No, no tricks, not from me, nonono.” He bounced on his toes, clapping his hands together. “Not far, they aren’t far, all the pretty crystals you could ever want. Ever.”
“Show me.” I’d been playing around with my veil riding, the Galleytrot sniffing thing buoying my spirits, and since I always wondered if I could travel somewhere just from an image of it, this was as good a time as any to find out.
“Here.” He threw the picture at me, the sight of yet another mansion, but this one ultra-modern, all glass and cold concrete and white stucco surrounded by grounds manicured to within an inch of hideous. I ground my teeth against the intrusion, but took it before cutting him out.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m going to give this a try.” I didn’t need the look of concern briefly touching Charlotte’s face, thanks. “Just hold on as usual, and don’t let go.” She could have a little freaking faith already.
I grasped for the veil, the image of the house in question firmly in my mind. My demon grunted, shrugged and pulled us in, two heartbeats passing before she dumped us out again into a small grove of trees.
Damn it. The boonies. And no house in sight. I sighed as I scanned the horizon before me, the stretch of forest and winding road, blue sky. Great.
Just great.
“Sorry,” I said. “I guess it didn’t work after all.” I was so sure it would.
Charlotte tapped on my shoulder. I turned to find her looking in the other direction with a little grin on her face.
“Sorry I doubted,” she said.
There, behind us, at the bottom of the low rise we stood on, was the very house.
Okay then. You have a terrible sense of humor, I snapped at my demon.
She just muttered at me, though her tone was definitely on the side of giddy.
Bratski.
***
Chapter Twenty Six
I was still trying to decide if marching down to the house was the best course of action when I felt someone reach for me. It was only the barest flicker of a touch, hardly there at all. And if I hadn’t been out in the open, mind focused and power gathered, I probably would have missed it.
Reaching back for whoever it was gave me nothing.
“There, see?” Demetrius did a little dance before me. “Told you. Get a crystal now. Then fix me!”
“Hang on.” I waited for a repeat connection. Whoever it was, there hadn’t even been enough contact for me to identify the power source. Was I imagining things?
Nope, there it was again. I dove after the thin, fragile thread of demon magic, finding Sassafras, Meira boosting him. His power latched onto mine, but so weak, as though he were too far for me to reach.
Or behind the Sidhe wards.
My heart stopped, pounded once as the thread strengthened and suddenly surged to life, my demon cat yelling my name.
Sass. I cut him off. What’s wrong? Please, please, tell me they listened. That Trill didn’t do what I now feared she’d done, and this time not alone.
They’re gone. His mental tone was furious, magic lashing around him while Meira steadied the link, though her power was equally as angry. Tricked the lot of us. Even me, Syd. Even Galleytrot. He shuddered. That maji power of hers, she used it to make false forms, smell, vision, everything. They only just faded now.
I was trying to talk to Owen, but he was ignoring me. Meira’s temper had always been moderate, nothing like mine, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be the younger Zornov at that moment. Turned out he wasn’t really there at all.
Syd! Liam’s mental voice reached me as he too stepped outside the protections of the cavern. I’m sorry, Syd. We lost them.
My decision was made for me before I even realized I had a choice. Liam, you and Galleytrot track them. Find them. Meira, you and Sass go home and help Gram. There are Enforcers coming to protect the family. I want everyone out looking for those two.
I cut off communication, glaring at the house below while Charlotte waited, as patient as ever, though Demetrius squirmed for attention like a love-starved puppy.
“The kids are gone,” I snapped to my wereguard. One of her arched eyebrows rose, but she didn’t comment. “Trill and Owen have forced our hand, it seems. Our only choice now is to get a crystal and hope it’s enough.”
Demetrius slunk low to the ground as I spoke. “He’ll find them,” he whispered. “We’re doomed.”
I resisted the urge to kick him. “Just do what you promised,” I snapped. “And get me that crystal. We’ll worry about the Zornovs later.”
Damn her. Damn her.
I was going to wring her neck.
“Come,” Demetrius waved at me. “They aren’t home yet. Perfect, perfect.”
“Wait.” I stopped, stared at the house, the empty driveway, the walls of glass shining in the sun. “Whose house is this?”
“His.” Demetrius giggled madly, wiggling and squiggling until following his movements made me nauseated. “Himself, of course.”
Belaisle.
Could my day get any better?
“You’ve brought us to the snake’s nest?” Charlotte grabbed him, faster than he was though he tried to dodge out of her way, shaking him by his collar so hard the fabric ripped. “Are you—” She didn’t finish, for obvious reasons.
“Yes,” I sighed. “He is insane, Charlotte.”
She dropped him, backing away a step. “We have to get out of here,” she said, voice low and soft like it always sounded when she knew I was in danger.
“I have to have that crystal,” I said.
“So send him in after it.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Bossy. “You actually trust him to go in there and steal a crystal on his own with no supervision?” Demetrius crouched in the grass, poking at his big toe and humming to himself. “Seriously.”
Charlotte hesitated. “I’ll go with him then,” she said.
“No.” I took a step toward Demetrius who leaped up, ready and ea
ger. “I’m going in.”
“I don’t trust him.” She glared at the wreck of a man.
He whined softly, ducked his head, amber eyes pleading. “You can trust me,” he said. “You can, you can, you can. Always trust me.”
“You’re forgetting the time you kidnapped me and blocked my powers.” Sarcasm. My tool of choice. “Or tied me to a stake and tried to burn me alive.” That was a fun time, yup, yup. “Or drugged me and stuffed me in the back of a van so you could kill me?” His face crumpled as I went on. “Sure I can trust you, Demetrius. You’ve done nothing but prove that to me.”
He fell on his face, pressing his lips to the tips of my shoes. I pulled back, but he followed, creeping on his hands and knees. “Forgive me, please.” He rolled over on his back, stared up at me, all innocence and need. “That was different, was then, before I knew you, knew the truth. Knew everything.”
“Such as?” He was babbling. And yet… what did he know that might have changed his mind?
“Mistress,” he said. “Just trust, I promise.”
Best I was going to get from a looney toon. I turned to Charlotte and her clear protest. “You can stay here if you don’t like it.”
Charlotte had the good sense not to comment. Because there was no way what came out of her mouth in reply would be anywhere near polite.
Our approach was surprisingly simple. We just strolled down the hill and headed for the house. Demetrius didn’t seem concerned and, after Charlotte carefully sniffed her way along, neither did she.
Any attempt I made to check the place out with magic met with a wall of emptiness, so I was relying on the pair of them to make sure we were clear.
Nervous times.
Charlotte paused once, jerking me behind a tree, when someone emerged from the front door and climbed into a car, black, naturally, before driving off. Demetrius gave me two thumbs up, grinning like a fool.
“All gone,” he whispered so loud I’m sure they heard him in the next state. “Just the servants left.”
And that was a good thing? Seemed to be, according to him. We bypassed the rock garden as I tried not to allow my gaze to linger on the carefully pruned shrub resembling a giant octopus as we made our way around the back.
“No security?” When the Chosen were running things, Demetrius had the mansion the vampires now occupied wired with lights and surrounded by his people, but the man in demon guise shook his head.
“Nothing mundane. Just sorcery.” He moved on before I could stop him, feet silent on the grass, softly padding on the concrete walk as his flip-flops impacted the ground. I hissed at him, but followed, feeling very exposed, though at least Charlotte seemed calm.
Her I trusted. Him? Yeah, not so much.
“Here.” He set his hands on a window casing, the vinyl panel sliding upward, the tall, wide hole almost as big as a doorway. When he let it go, it stuck open, the plastic melted and bonded together, holding the window in place.
Again he moved without waiting, sliding through the gap and into the house. I went after him, biting back curses, only to stop, frozen by horror, as my powers went away.
Just like that. Gone. No demon, no Shaylee, no vampire. No family magic. Not a blessed thing.
Panic? Me? Well, it’s not like I hadn’t felt anything like this before. After all, I’d been demonless, my witch magic smothered by Gram’s, basically rendered inert and latent.
Hadn’t liked it then, either. Way less now. My skin did a goosebump shimmy, air gasping from my lungs as I lunged forward and jerked Demetrius to me with a claw-like grip I was sure would leave a bruise.
“My magic.” I could barely choke it out past the absolute sense of loss kicking me in the guts over and over again.
He whined, but nodded. “Shielding,” he said.
So they hadn’t stolen my power? “You’re sure?” Because I’d have to kill someone. Probably him. With my bare hands.
Demetrius didn’t know smiling at me was the worst possible choice. Was too crazy to understand his faux pas. It was times like this I was so grateful for Charlotte. She carefully pried my hands from around his neck, calm and soothing, putting herself between us.
“We have to go,” she said.
I looked back over my shoulder, longing tearing me apart. I could just leave, trust her to bring back what we came for. She’d offered, after all. Leaving was a great idea.
If Demetrius could be trusted…
I had to know.
My demon roared at me as I stepped outside, Shaylee shrieking like a banshee while my vampire calmly told me in no uncertain terms she would never, ever forgive me if I went back inside that horrible house.
It took every single scrap of resolve I had to turn around and climb back through the window.
The quiet made me want to weep, to collapse in a ball and hug myself, but I couldn’t. Maybe later. “Let’s go.”
It occurred to me as we wound our way deeper inside it was probably the worst possible choice I could have made. I was useless to the both of them if something happened, my power gone. Sure, I could do a little damage in a fight with my feet and fists, but I wasn’t Charlotte by any means. She could kill someone with a sideways glance. I’d be lucky to break my hand on their jaw.
The more I thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed for me to turn around and go back outside, to hide in the bushes and wait for my faithful wereguard to make sure the deed was done. I could count on her, of course I could.
What the hell was I thinking?
Charlotte’s hand settled on my arm and I let out an involuntary squeak before she covered my mouth with her hand. A wide-hipped woman in a maid’s outfit swayed her way past us where we hovered in a partially opened doorway and let her go. I shook myself, tried to pull my act together. We overlooked some kind of foyer and only then did I kick myself for running on autopilot.
Get a grip, Syd.
Demetrius waved at us to follow, drifting along as though he owned the place, the sound of his flip-flops so loud I wanted to strangle him again. But I figured Charlotte would just rescue him and waste my effort, so I crept beside her instead with my hands in fists, waiting for the worst.
It never came. Instead, Demetrius led us to another door, on the other side of a massive spiral staircase, the steel and concrete winding its way up to the second floor. I bypassed it, slipping to his side as he tapped the handle with his fingertips and let us inside.
Light flooded the room. I heard Charlotte close the door behind us while my eyes traveled upward, taking in the massive glass dome over a large wooden desk, the giant skylight setting the room aglow with sunlight. Demetrius had no such need for sightseeing, instead heading right for a glass case in the center of the space. I joined him, drawn to the glinting facets of cut crystals as he jerked open the curio door and turned to me.
“Ta da!” He held up both hands, a proud jeweler showing off his wares. “You see? You trust me, always.”
So far, so not in the custody of the Brotherhood. I took it as a good sign. “Now what?”
His face crumpled from happiness to petulance. “Choose,” he said.
Oh. Right. I looked inside, hands shaking a little. The cabinet was more museum display case than anything, four glass shelves holding an array of crystals. “These are all weapons?” Maybe I should just take them all.
But Demetrius shook his head, voice that of a teacher with an exceptionally slow student. “Only one will fit you,” he said. “Like mine fit me.” Tears welled in his eyes. “Choose, and wisely.”
No pressure or anything. “So the Brotherhood has tested all of these against their people?” It seemed odd no one was a match. Some of them were lovely.
He shrugged. “Not all can use them,” he said. “Only those with power over stone. But Belaisle hoards what he can’t bend to his will.”
We definitely had to talk later. If we got out of here all right. And survived the Brotherhood. And found Trill and Owen.
Focus, Syd.
“Watch.” He held it up in front of me while his free hand took mine. “Feel.”
And I suddenly did feel, magic again. But this was foreign, dark and angry magic, demanding, destructive. It wound through Demetrius and into my hand, up my arm, into the crystal. I wanted to pull away, but couldn’t, the draw of his sorcery tying me to him. To the blue stone. It burned with an internal flame, multi-toned, reminding me of the iridescence of the maji power, pulsing in time with my heartbeat while it absorbed what it needed, drawing from my very spirit until it finally flared one last time and went silent.
Demetrius clapped his hands, leaving the crystal in my grip, spinning in a circle. “Done!” He hugged me, the stench of him, something I’d grown accustomed to, so powerful all of a sudden I gagged from the close contact.
Like I had time for another shower.
Crystal acquired. Time to skeedaddle.
But Demetrius had other ideas. “Fix me.” His amber eyes went cold as I slid the crystal into the pocket of my jeans.
“When we get out of here,” I said, turning to go, already a whole house ahead in my heart, the need for my magic’s touch returning with a vengeance.
He grabbed my arm, turned me to him. This time his demon face snapped with anger, the scar on his right cheek taut with fury. “FIX ME!”
Okay, if we’d gone undetected so far, we’d be caught for sure, now. Charlotte cursed in her home dialect and dashed for the door, peeking out to be sure we were okay while I grabbed Demetrius’s shoulders and shook him.
Just a little. Honest.
“My power,” I whispered though it was really a silly thing to do, considering. “I can’t change you back until we’re outside the shielding.” He relaxed a little, but his doubt didn’t leave him. “You asked me to trust you,” I said. “It’s your turn now.”
He sighed, deep and harsh, but nodded. “Please,” he said. “Please.”