by Deanna Chase
His words brought me back to myself. He wasn’t holding my hand because of some mystical connection he couldn’t tear himself away from. Not like I was. He looked concerned, as if he hadn’t let go because he thought I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to help Harrison. “Yeah,” I said again and pulled away before he had a chance to. “We will.”
He sent me a reassuring smile that did nothing to ease the anxiety suddenly overwhelming me. Working with Tal was going to be torture. Especially with David watching over everything we did. I made a conscious effort to not look at David and went to work on arranging the plants I’d brought for Tal.
“Want me to alter any of them?” I asked once I had everything unpacked from the tote.
“Not yet.” He shook his head and turned to David. “Have you tried them on any of her creations so far?”
David cleared his throat. “A few were administered intravenously. A liquefied hibiscus mixture and one with jasmine.”
Tal glanced at me. “Hibiscus? Jasmine?”
“There’s a healer who uses hibiscus seeds for healing. I’ve been experimenting with it and had some success. Jasmine is the main ingredient in my detoxifier energy drink. It was worth a shot.”
“Any results?”
David walked over to a file cabinet and pulled out a beige folder. He placed it on the table in front of Tal. “Everything’s in here.”
Tal was silent as he read the report.
Irritated that David hadn’t just told us, I got up and read over Tal’s shoulder.
Hibiscus-seed injection: Slightly elevated blood pressure, rapid eye movement, and slight muscle spasms consistent across all three subjects. Harrison Camillo fluttered his eyes before settling back into stasis.
Jasmine injection: Increased blood flow to the brain and increased oxygen levels across all subjects. No other change.
“Hmm.” Talisen scribbled a few notes on his legal pad. “Willow, can you modify your plants now? The hibiscus and the jasmine. Maybe some cocoa beans as well.”
“Sure. But I did bring some that are already modified as well.”
He shook his head. “No. I want you to do it while we’re connected. Basically using my energy and yours. Just like we did with the crystal.”
“I strongly recommend you try your conventional healing spells before you start experimenting,” David said, clearly impatient. “We’re running out of time.”
Tal turned and met the vampire’s gaze. He cocked his head and narrowed his eyes. “I already did that while you were busy making sure I knew you and Willow have a thing now.” He paused and stood up. “You know, when you escorted her to her shop as if she were incapable of driving herself.”
David straightened, seeming to grow at least two inches taller. His fists clenched as anger radiated from him. “What I do with Willow is none of your concern.”
Tal raised one eyebrow. “Really? I think we both know differently. If I hadn’t left town, you’d never have had even an inkling of a chance with my girl. And she doesn’t need a damned babysitter.”
My girl? Oh shit. My heart stilled and then pounded almost out of my chest. What was he trying to say? That if he had his way, we’d be back together?
“But you did leave.” David seethed. “And now you’re too late.”
Too late? Was that true? I glanced at Tal, took in his long, lean frame, his corded muscles, his quiet strength. No. The word flittered through my mind. It wasn’t too late. It had never been too late. Why else had I kept David at arm’s length? Except for that vampire thing. I knew right then and there I wouldn’t let Tal leave me again. I wouldn’t let anyone force us apart. Even if all we ever were was friends, I’d make sure he was still in my life and I was in his one way or another. And he was right—I’d always be his girl.
Tal didn’t look at me. Neither did David. They were staring each other down, each waiting for the other one to strike a blow.
Were they really going to do this right now?
“Tal,” I said softly, placing a light hand on his arm.
He glanced at me and his expression shifted to concern. “Sorry.” He took a deep breath and turned his back to David. “I’m ready to infuse the plants when you are.”
“Just a minute.” I glanced at David. “I think this would be better for everyone if you waited in another room.”
“What?” He took a few steps closer to us. “I’m not leaving them unattended.”
“They aren’t.” I took a deep breath, ready to scream. My footsteps were silent as I tugged him across the room and lowered my voice. “Look, I know this is awkward for everyone. But Tal and I need to focus, and I’d appreciate it if you’d wait in another room because honestly, it’s too much for me to deal with right now. Send someone else in to keep an eye on us if you want. But for now, we… I need a little space. Can you understand that?”
I’d softened the request in order to get what I wanted with the least conflict necessary, but really I was ready to kill both of them. There were far more important things to deal with right now besides my love life.
David glanced between Tal and me, tightened his jaw, and then left soundlessly.
Tal raised his eyebrows at me, asking if everything was okay.
I shrugged and sat across from him again. “Let’s just get moving, ’kay?”
“Sure.” He took my left hand and placed the hibiscus seeds in my palm. Then he laid the crystal over the seeds and curled my hand into a fist. “Keep a loose hold on these.”
“Okay.” The crystal warmed my hand, and I had to actively keep from absorbing Tal’s healing energy. It was like my drug. Tal’s energy had always been too much for me to resist.
He reached both of his hands out, each of them covering mine. “Now, concentrate on altering the seeds.”
I let out a breath and focused on the seeds poking into my palm. Picturing them in my mind, I closed my eyes and pulled in the sharp essence of the seeds. The bitterness was like fire in my veins. It was the immaturity of the plant that caused the burn, but I was used to it. I’d been working with the seeds for the past few months.
But then a rush of coolness soothed my limbs. The crystal’s magic was chasing the essence of the seeds. I pulled harder, making sure I had all the life the seeds had to offer and let it mix with the coolness. Euphoria made my vision slightly blurry as peace settled over me. I felt as if I were floating over the table, overtaken by the intoxicating magic.
I felt hopeful and more powerful than ever before. I heard a small cry of joy escape my lips as a life with Talisen flashed before my eyes. We were together in my house, lying under my oak tree, me pressed to his side as he caressed my back lazily. There was a feeling of contentment, one of peace, a confidence that this man loved me. I was whole. Whole in a way that I hadn’t been since Beau died.
Tal’s soft voice tickled my ear as he told me of his day in his lab and asked about the shop. The joy of a normal life, a stable relationship, of knowing that I was with the one person who cherished me.
“Willow.” Tal’s voice broke the haze of the vision. “Send it back. Now.”
His words jolted me, made the images flee, and all that was left was the incredible magic fighting to consume me again. “Return,” I whispered, something I never had to do when I was altering plants. All I had to do was think about sending it back and it went. Not this time. It had too much of a hold on me.
“Return,” I said more forcefully and imagined the magic flowing with ease from my palm, straight into the tiny seeds lying in my hand.
Magic rushed from my core, snapping with force back into the seeds. I slumped over, completely empty. I opened my palm and let the seeds and crystal slide to the table.
“Excuse me,” I said, pulling away from Tal. I stood and wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to hold myself together. I felt as if I was going to shatter into a billion pieces.
Tal was there a moment later, engulfing me in his strong embrace. He whispered in my ear, “It’s all
right, Wil. I promise.”
“It’s not all right,” I choked out on a sob. “I can’t…” My body started to shiver from the magic loss.
“It is, love. I felt it, too. I know.”
I grabbed his T-shirt and held on, too afraid to ask what he’d meant by that. Had he envisioned the scene in my oak tree? Or had he only felt the magic leave and was referring to the hollow feeling after infusing one’s magic into something? It had to be the latter. How could he have seen into my private thoughts?
Damn him for leaving. And damn me for not moving on.
“Willow. You need to open to me. I can’t help you if you keep yourself closed off.”
It was then I noticed he was caressing my neck, trying to help with this healing touch. Only I was so tense, my body wasn’t willing to accept it. “Sorry,” I whispered and tried to relax. But it was no good. No matter what I told my body, it was in too much shock.
“No need to apologize.” His touch only got lighter as he leaned in and brushed his lips over my temple. I froze, unable to move. But he didn’t stop. His soft kisses trailed in a line down my cheekbone until he kissed the corner of my mouth. I turned into him, letting his lips press over mine briefly.
Then his magic rushed into me, filling all my empty places. I jumped back, my eyes wide with wonder, and I clasped my hand over my lips. “Whoa.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Sorry. My magic got the better of me.”
He shook his head, smiling at me. “Not yours. Ours. And don’t apologize. You did exactly what I asked you to.”
I nodded, still feeling unsettled. The image combined with the tender kisses was too much for me. I sat back down and stared at the seeds sitting innocently on the table.
“Want to try the jasmine?” Tal asked, startling me.
“What?”
“We don’t have to. We can see if these work first before we move on.”
My gaze landed on the seeds, then the jasmine, and then Tal. “You want to alter the jasmine?”
He frowned in confusion. “I thought that was the plan.”
“Uh… yeah. I mean, I guess so.” I was so disoriented because of what had happened when we’d used our magic together that I was having trouble focusing. Was I ready to try that again? Was it better to just get it over with? The allure of losing myself in the magic was too tempting, and before I could second-guess myself, I pressed the jasmine flowers into my palm and held my hand out to Tal.
Chapter 16
The jasmine didn’t burn my veins like the seeds did. Its life force was mild, almost ticklish. But the effect of Tal’s magic from the crystal was just as wonderful and torturous as before as I envisioned Tal and me strolling hand in hand along Magazine Street. We were checking out the local shops, browsing for new living room furniture… for our own place. The sun was shining on a beautiful spring day with a slight breeze, no supernatural nonsense in sight.
The scene was straight out of a daydream. I could’ve stayed there indefinitely, but the objective was there in the back of my mind: to alter the jasmine. This time Tal didn’t have to pull me back from the fog. I focused on the flowers and sent our combined magic zipping back into them, leaving me somewhat depleted but not incapacitated.
But Tal seemed a little beat up when I gazed at him across the table. His brows were pinched over sad eyes and his lips were turned down.
I touched his hand. “You okay?”
He shook himself slightly. “Yeah. Fine. Sorry. Long day.”
I couldn’t argue with him there. My limbs had started to get heavy and my vision was going slightly blurry.
Gathering the flowers and the seeds, he stood. “Let’s get these cooked down.”
I followed him to the lab table and went to work on chopping the flowers first. Then I ground the seeds. In order to administer each of them, they needed to be liquefied. I dumped each into its own pot and then covered the contents with a couple of cups of water before setting them over a propane burner.
The only thing left to do was wait. Once each was boiled, we’d strain the liquid and then a nurse could administer it while Tal used his crystal to try to heal Harrison and the others.
“Willow?” Tal said as I stirred one of the pots.
“Hmm?”
“Want to talk about what happened when our magic mixed?”
I froze. No. Yes. Hell. “What do you mean?”
He leaned against the table, bracing himself with his hands. “You know. The visions.”
My breath got caught in my throat as I met his serious gaze. “You, ah… saw those?”
He nodded slowly.
“What did you see?” Had he seen everything I had? More importantly, had he sensed how I’d felt about it? Blood rushed to my head and my cheeks heated. I wasn’t ready to face those feelings. I sure as heck wasn’t ready to talk about them or analyze them.
“Ah… well, you. Me. Link.” He paused as he stared down at me.
Wait. Link hadn’t been in either of my visions. “Link?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you see him running on the beach?”
Beach? My mouth fell open. Tal had seen a different vision than I had. Slowly I shook my head. “You were in my vision, but Link wasn’t.”
His lips pressed together in a tight line. “That’s odd. I swear it felt like you were right there with me. Like we were sharing the connection.”
I’d been too occupied altering the plants, so I couldn’t say. Shrugging, I said, “You were in mine, but we weren’t at the beach. We were spending the day on Magazine Street in one and in the other we were… at my house.” I’d almost told him I’d envisioned us in bed together. But that wasn’t something we needed to talk about right then.
“Interesting.” Tal’s eyes lit up with excitement. “We’ll need to compare notes to see if anything was the same and what the visions mean.”
I gave him a nervous smile but said nothing. It was fascinating that we’d both had visions, but talking about what they meant? No. Just no. I already knew what mine meant. I was still hung up on Tal. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.
The door swung open and in walked David and Allcot.
“Ms. Rhoswen. Kavanagh,” Allcot drawled in his cool tone. “Have you come up with a solution for my employees?”
I waved at the pots on the burners. “We’re working on it.”
He raised one perfectly groomed eyebrow. “And your plan?”
I bit my tongue and let Talisen explain. When he was done, Allcot narrowed his eyes at us. “And what makes you think your magic combined with Rhoswen’s is going to do anything of consequence?”
Oh no. Had he really just said that? We were doing the best we could. I puffed up, ready to tell him to take a leap, when Tal’s hand landed on my shoulder, sending a lazy stream of magic down my left arm. I shivered from the unexpected jolt of desire.
I clutched the edge of the table, trying to push the thoughts away. It was the magic and the fact we’d been working together. That’s all. Uh-huh. I could keep lying to myself, but it wouldn’t help anything.
“Father,” David warned. “They both have powerful magic. I’m sure they feel that if they combine forces, they’ll stumble on something that will help.”
“Thanks,” I mouthed to David. I had to give him credit. Lately he’d taken to standing up to Allcot when no one else would. I was starting to admire him for it.
David cracked just the barest whisper of a smile and quirked one eyebrow as if to say no problem. The smile vanished as he strode over to Harrison’s side. The look of despair on his face nearly broke me. David didn’t have many friends. Nate, another vampire who was one of Carrie’s guards, me, and Harrison. Everyone else was loyal to Allcot.
Allcot stood near our makeshift lab table, studying our concoctions. “What is your plan if this doesn’t work?”
“We’re going to measure these results, and depending on what happens, I’ll want to secure a few natural stones,” Talisen said. “Ones indige
nous to New Orleans. Preferably ones that reside on the estate of a witch family. More power. Also, there are more plants Willow can try. I think we’ve used the ones that are the most promising, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop there. But the very best thing to do would be to analyze the ingredients in the poison the fae used. If we had that information, my job would be much easier.”
Allcot pursed his lips and nodded. “Yes. Solid plan. We’re working on uncovering the poison.” He turned to me. “Your Truth Clusters and Orange Influence are being put to use on some of our informants and a suspect or two.”
I gaped as my blood boiled. He wasn’t authorized to use Orange Influence. No vampire held that privilege. I could try to fight him on it, but it would be a wasted effort. He did what he pleased, regardless of law. Besides, he already had it thanks to the order he’d placed when I hadn’t been in the shop. I would’ve stood up to him, but my employees couldn’t be expected to do that same. It was too dangerous for them.
“Keep me informed on any changes. Got that?” Allcot ordered.
Tal gave him an emotionless stare. “I’ve think I’ve got it.”
“Rhoswen,” he said without looking at me.
I cleared my throat. “What?”
“Make sure you keep your fae in line. I’d hate for anything to happen to him.”
This time I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut. He’d gone way too far and with no freakin’ reason. “Was that necessary? He’s here, isn’t he? He’s been—” Shit. I was about to say he’d been working for Allcot, his new mob boss, without complaint, but I wasn’t supposed to know Tal worked for him.
“He’s been what, Rhoswen?” Allcot’s voice was cold and uncaring.
“Nothing.” I averted my eyes.
Allcot’s slicked-back blond hair didn’t move an inch as he glanced between Tal and me. Finally he pulled out a cigarette and lit it right there in our little hospital area.
“Some of us are allergic to smoke,” I said as clearly as possible amid a coughing fit.
“I’ll do whatever I damned well please, faery.” He took a long drag, savoring it as if it were a lover.