No Love for the Wicked

by Powell, Megan

  I turned to the man I’d conjured, the embodiment of the hold my family still had over me. “This golden place is made up of so much more than any of you could ever imagine.”

  The dream man frowned. “What do you mean, ‘any of you’?”

  “You,” I said and waved in his direction. “My family. All of you. I was always the strongest—all of you always knew that. But now the power in me is more than just our bloodline.”

  For a long moment, I enjoyed staring out at the image of Theo. Soon, he had said, and I couldn’t wait. My fingers played in the blood, tickling my twin’s fingertips and making her smile even wider. When the dream man remained silent, I turned to him again. His expression had dropped, startling me. He looked as if he were stunned.

  “You think I am from you,” the man whispered, his voice barely audible. “You think you have imagined me as some representation of your family, the way you’ve imagined a vision of your dead twin sister and the man you pine for. You think I am nothing more than another part of your dream.”

  The blood in the lake started to quiver as an uneasy feeling settled over the landscape. “Of course you are from me. None of my relatives has the power to enter my dreams like this.”

  His eyes flashed red, and I gasped. No one in my family had ever done anything like that. Only I had that power. He turned his gaze to my hands. They had completely changed, turned into long leathery claws. I hadn’t even felt the shift.

  With a tight smile, the man said, “Wake up, Magnolia.”

  Instantly, I came awake, gasping for air.

  CHAPTER 9

  My hands fisted into the sheets as the remnants of my dream still shook me. I was scared to look, but slowly I glanced down. My hands were normal. They hadn’t shifted at all. Thank God. It really had just been a dream.

  The man from my dreams flashed in my mind, and I automatically reached out with my senses to see if he was really there. Of course, there was nothing. But now I wondered if he really was just a part of my subconscious. The way he’d told me to wake up—it felt as if his words had actually pulled me away from the dream. I’d never done that to myself before. The thought made me shiver.

  I lay back down and cuddled my quilts tight to my chest. Just a dream. The man’s eyes had flashed red because he was a part of me, that’s all. I lifted my hand again. There was the smallest glow to my skin now, visible even in the darkness.

  In the morning I sat on one of the mismatched ottomans in the little farmhouse’s living room and powered up my Network-issued laptop. Computers weren’t exactly my forte—considering my lack of formal education, I figured it was pretty impressive I knew half of what I did. But after spending a couple of weeks hanging in a Wi-Fi café in Cincinnati, I’d grown pretty comfortable with the Internet. Geeky minds were so easy to access.

  For all the place’s shortcomings (even with the furnace at full blast, I had to wrap myself in blankets just to keep my skin from goose-bumping), the farmhouse had great broadband Internet service. Must be all the high-tech security stuff hidden under the boxes in the little bedroom. The moment I signed into the secured intranet line Chang had set up, the whole screen went black.

  “Good morning, Agent Magnolia One, Red-Level Task Force,” an electronic female voice greeted me.

  “Er, hi.”

  It didn’t answer. Chang had had to program my last name as One because, apparently, the system had an autodestruct mechanism that would be triggered if anyone with the surname Kelch tried to log in. Whatever.

  The computer hummed for a few seconds, then connected me to a remote desktop that looked exactly like the one in Thirteen’s office. I cracked my fingers, pulled the quilt tighter around my shoulders, and got to work. My very first e-mail was from Thirteen. I had an assignment. Not a turn-invisible-and-use-my-supernatural-strength-to-break-into-a-target’s-home type of assignment. But a normal, could-have-been-assigned-to-anyone assignment.

  And how cool was that?

  My job was research. Specifically, I was to find out everything I could about a small city named Bohlren located somewhere in Eastern Europe on a river. This would be cake. I pulled up Google Maps and started my search.

  Twenty minutes later I was done. Bohlren didn’t exist. That’s all there was to it. It wasn’t on Google Maps anywhere, and according to one of the Cincinnati coffee geeks, everything was on Google Maps. Obviously this place didn’t exist. Frustrated, I got up to add some more whiskey to my coffee. It was after noon. I checked my phone, but there were no missed calls. Theo’s thoughts last night had whispered that we’d talk soon. So where was he?

  The quiet alarm beeped. A quarter mile away, a car turned in to my icy dirt driveway. It paused just past the fencerow and just idled there. I reached out to the driver’s thoughts. Well, well, this was an interesting surprise.

  I leaned back on the kitchen counter, sipped my whiskey. They idled at the road for almost seven minutes. Then with a murmured Fuck it, they pulled up the drive to the house. I made sure the door was cracked open when they stepped onto the porch.

  “Come on in,” I called out. They hesitated. Slowly the door opened. Luce entered the kitchen first, Tony a few steps behind. “Welcome back,” I greeted them. “Want a drink? Oh, wait, you’re driving. What about you, skater dude? You old enough to drink?”

  “Are you?” he replied quickly. I just smiled.

  “How’s the nose?” I asked, wincing at the bandages across Luce’s black-and-blue face. “Looks painful.”

  She narrowed her eyes a little. At least I think she did. Hard to tell with all that gauze and swelling. “Magnolia?” she said drily. “Just a single name like Beyoncé or Ke$ha?”

  “Those were Colin’s words, not mine.”

  “Your father is Magnus Kelch. You are a Kelch.”

  I took a drink and studied my glass. “Your point?”

  She leaned back on her boot heels, thoughtful. Tony pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against and strolled around the kitchen. His untied hiking boots squeaked on the hardwood floors. He had tucked his baggy cargo pants into the boots and left his thick orange coat unzipped. He looked at the walls and peeked into the living room as if my mere presence would somehow shift the house in some strange, supernatural way. The laptop on the ottoman snapped shut. Tony jumped. I smiled as I poured more whiskey into my glass.

  Luce’s thoughts grabbed my attention. “I’m impressed,” I admitted and looked her over with new respect. “You’ve tailed me since yesterday? Thirteen didn’t even catch a whiff of it. I had a few moments of paranoia, but nothing that set me off. Impressive.” And distressing. If these guys could put a tail on me without me catching it, my father could track me no problem. I’d been sloppy, too relaxed. That needed to change.

  “We don’t move on our target for another couple days,” she said. “And you’re dangerous. Even someone who doesn’t know about the supernaturals of the world could sense that.”

  “So you two took it upon yourselves to follow me. And Thirteen.” She averted her eyes. “Yeah, probably not such a great idea to set a tail on a Network chief like that, huh? Does Colin know you’re here?”

  “He’s the one who sent us,” Tony answered from behind me. He’d taken a post at my back. Not that it would help him if they tried to jump me, but I had to respect the thought. “The Network has never employed supernaturals before. Er, at least not that we know of. And you can get in our heads. We needed to be sure you were really with the Network.”

  “Jesse’s word wasn’t enough?” I asked over my shoulder.

  “Who’s Jesse?” Luce frowned.

  “I mean FedEx. He knew who I was.”

  They exchanged a look. They didn’t trust Jesse either. Interesting. “So now that you’ve followed me around and listened in on Thirteen’s and my conversations—two things that I can assure you won’t be happening again—what’s the plan?”

  Luce wandered the kitchen. Her internal debate was fascinating. Colin’s order was for t
he two of them to find out if I was a legitimate member of the Network. If I was, then they were to see if I could be authorized to assist in apprehending their target. Luce knew I was legit, but she wasn’t convinced I could be trusted. Follow orders or follow instinct. What was a good little soldier to do?

  “What were you going to do if you discovered I’d been lying?”

  Tony’s thoughts went through an elaborate scene where they overpowered me and turned me over to the Network, the two of them receiving all kinds of accolades. I spewed out my whiskey across the table, accidently drenching the bandages on Luce’s face. “I’m sorry,” I said quickly, trying to contain my laughter. “Here, let me get that.” I grabbed some paper towels off the counter and passed them to her. The gauze was ruined. She went to the sink and started peeling off the bandages. “There’s some first aid stuff in the bathroom.”

  “I know where it is,” she snapped and stomped off down the little hall. The door slammed behind her. I wiped up the table and looked to Tony. “Well?”

  “We want your assistance,” he said after a moment of deliberation. “New information has come to light on our current target, and we need additional team members to guarantee the takedown. Colin doesn’t want to risk going over budget by increasing the team’s head count by three or four like we need.”

  “But if it’s just one supernatural team member with the eyes and ears of three or four normal agents, that wouldn’t stretch the budget at all.” I finished off my whiskey and pretended to weigh my options. Truthfully, though, I couldn’t wait to help with their target. They’d need me there, in on the takedown. Not staring at a computer screen, flipping through page after page of research crap.

  “Do you think your team chief would approve the cross-team assistance?” Luce called out from the bathroom.

  Thirteen liked to keep a close eye on me. He trusted me, sure, but if I went on an assignment that he wasn’t directly involved in, it might be pushing the risk level past his comfort zone.

  “I’m sure he won’t have a problem,” I said. “My team’s current mission is weeks away from moving forward, so I’m basically in standstill mode anyway.”

  “Good.” Luce slipped back into the kitchen sans bandages. Her nose looked purple. “We’re reconvening at the west-side safe house tonight at eighteen hundred hours to finalize plans and go over the new information. I’ll tell Colin to expect you.” She gave me one last hard look, then headed for the door.

  Tony paused long enough to give me an appreciative once-over. “Gotta admit, I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do.” He strode toward the front door, then stopped again. “Not that you’ll tell me or anything, but I’m curious. Just how many supernaturals you got on your Network team?”

  “You’re right,” I said. “I’m not telling you.”

  His eyes were sharp. “I just asked because at your meeting last night another guy showed up, a late arrival. I could have sworn I caught a feeling of power the moment he stepped into the house.”

  I swallowed the rest of my whiskey in a long, slow gulp. Theo’s powers were strong enough now; I could imagine someone who knew what to look for feeling his energy.

  When I remained silent, Tony nodded and shot me a tight half smile. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Then he walked out and closed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER 10

  The next day, Heather and Cordele showed up early on my doorstep with plans to go shopping. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who got bored with research. I’d never really done the whole “girlfriends” thing before, but since my cell phone had remained silent all night—Theo hadn’t even bothered to send me a text—I had to admit that I looked forward to getting out of the house. Downtown was too far away, and the closest mall was overrun with holiday shoppers taking advantage of the last weeks of Christmas sales. So in an attempt to avoid all that, we just went to the nearest Target.

  “It’s weird not having everyone drool all over you anymore,” Cordele said casually while inspecting a new bath mat.

  I flipped through some shower curtains. I’d been showering with just an open stall because the last shower liner had molded while I was away. I should probably grab some thicker curtains for the bedroom too. And maybe some lamps. And groceries, definitely groceries. God, I loved Target—it had everything!

  “I mean, it’s cool,” she continued. “It must be horrible having every person you pass want to jump your bones.” I ignored the hint of jealous sarcasm she didn’t realize she was throwing. “But it must take a lot of control to suppress something that’s a natural part of you like that. Your powers must be getting really strong.”

  I froze with two toilet covers in my hands. She didn’t look at me, but there was a nervous tightness in her face as she continued to flip through the same bath mats she’d been flipping through since we’d come down this aisle. I looked in her thoughts. Bath mats, bath mats, bath mats—her focus was way too intentional.

  “My powers are what they’ve always been,” I said carefully.

  She nodded quickly, studying the pattern on the mat in her hand. “Oh, of course. I mean, you’ve always been more powerful than anyone we’ve ever heard of. Did Thirteen tell you about the truth serum I developed for interviews? I would have never thought to combine the doses like that if you hadn’t shown us how you can use your telepathy aggressively. There’s a lot we could learn from you.”

  I relaxed a bit. I’d forgotten that Cordele had moved into the R & D end of things. No wonder she was so interested in my power level. I’m sure I’d make an excellent lab rat. Not that that would ever happen—I’d kill everyone in the Network, including Thirteen, before I let someone lock me in a cage and study me. But at least I could understand the why behind her interest.

  “They have Merona tank tops on sale,” Heather said, appearing at the end of the aisle. She had a cart half-full of clothes and shoes.

  “Why would we buy tank tops when it’s thirty degrees outside?” Cordele asked.

  “Because they’re only fifteen dollars and they never shrink.”

  “Seriously?” Cordele pushed past me. “I’ll meet you over there.”

  “You want some?” Heather asked me.

  “Er, that’s OK.” I had enough clothes for now. And truth be told, while I was fine buying discounted lamps and bath mats, I wouldn’t put that cheap-ass fabric on me if she paid me to. One of the residual effects of growing up on the estate: everything I’d ever worn had been top-of-the-line or custom-made. Not because Father cared about what I wore, but because that was all that was ever purchased. Nothing but the best for anyone with the name Kelch. That my clothes were burned or shredded off me every night during Father’s sessions had been a moot point.

  I tossed my bathroom stuff in the cart with Heather’s things and started to the next aisle. After a few steps, I realized she wasn’t following me. “You OK?” I asked, looking back at her.

  “I was about to ask you the same thing,” she said with a frown. “What were you and Cordele talking about? You seemed tense when I showed up.”

  Ah yes, an empath at work.

  “She was interested in my powers. How strong they are now compared to before I left.”

  Heather nodded. “Yeah, she talked about you a lot while you were away.”

  “Really.”

  “You saved her life twice last summer: once on the assignment with your uncle’s guard, and then again when you rescued her and the others from your brother Markus. She wants to get to know you better now that you’re back, but she just doesn’t know how.”

  I considered that for a moment. Becoming friends with Heather had been easy. She was so open and kind, it had been impossible not to like her. Cordele was different. Her thoughts weren’t open at all, and her attempts at chitchat seemed like forced conversation.

  Heather inched the cart up next to me. “Have you talked with Theo yet?”

  Instantly power sizzled beneath my skin. It had only been a day and a ha
lf, but still. I’d expected him to call or text me or something.

  “No. I haven’t had time.”

  She gave me an arch look. I started walking at a clipped pace. She kept up, pushing her shopping cart quickly. “We’ll talk soon,” I said. “I just don’t know when I’m going to see him outside of a meeting.”

  I could see her argument forming: I should just call him and get it over with. Fortunately, when I ignored her, she decided to let it drop. For now anyway.

  We had walked all the way to the electronics section of the store. A wall of TVs showed the local news in various degrees of HD. I headed to iPod accessories. Over my shoulder, Heather moved to one of the wider TVs and turned up the volume.

  “With the call center expansion, Kelch Inc. is looking to bring another three thousand jobs to the greater Indianapolis area. Governor Bader was enthusiastic in his press conference yesterday afternoon, explaining that the addition will help bring the state’s unemployment rating to a twenty-year low. When asked if the north-side expansion can be seen as a stepping-stone to further growth, CEO Magnus Kelch was unavailable for comment.”

  The newscaster moved on, and Heather turned the volume back down. “How come your father never speaks to the press? Senator Kelch gives press conferences every other day practically. It would make sense that Magnus would want some of the limelight as well.”

  “Father hates people,” I said bluntly, browsing the available iPod docks so I wouldn’t have to look at her. “Sees them as sheep. They’re good for working the various jobs at Kelch Inc., but why should our family, with all of our powers and intelligence, waste time speaking to them any more than necessary? Normal people are totally beneath us. Uncle Max hates them too, but he needs voters. His telepathy is powerful enough that he can coerce an audience pretty easily. So he does what’s necessary. If he didn’t need them to maintain his position, he’d never acknowledge them at all.”

  “It’s all about power with your family, isn’t it?”