“Even if he leaves?”
“I had Dallas, you, and the twins. I was married to the handsomest man to ever grace a uniform.” Mary Beth arched a wicked brow. “Trust me, honey, that was worth any sacrifice.”
Elizabeth snorted and groaned. “Mooom.”
Mary Beth laughed and combed in silence, loosely French braiding Elizabeth’s hair. She understood so much more now. Mary Beth was being honest.
She hadn’t been the best mother. On many occasions, not even a good one. But for once, Elizabeth could accept that, make peace with it. Her mother tugged on her hair again and Elizabeth looked up at her.
“Bethy, don’t bury me in some stupid formalwear. Heaven, hell, or haunting the house, I want to look hot.” Mary Beth gave a little wiggle.
Elizabeth laughed and eyed the black jeans her mom wore, the same ones she’d been thinking of earlier.
Elizabeth’s eyes trailed up to the silky shirt outlining her mother’s torso and her smile became uncomfortable and guilty. “Um, I think I’ll have to buy you a new shirt, though.”
Mary Beth’s lips curved into a playful smile. “See some action, did it? Damn, that shirt gets around.”
Elizabeth blushed and looked away. “Not anymore. It’s pretty much staying where it is.”
“Ahh, my Charlie always loved to pop a few buttons. More than a few the night you were conceived.”
“Mom!” Elizabeth gave her a pained look.
Mary Beth smiled beatifically.
Elizabeth hid her smile against her mother’s lap and Mary Beth began brushing her fingers through the braid until it came out. It was so soothing. She wanted this time, selfish or not, before she told her mom about her dreams. Before she brought her brother and sisters to say good-bye. Elizabeth barely noticed time passing until a few feathery strands tickled her nose.
Mary Beth’s hand curved under her chin. She smiled sadly. “It’s time to go, Bethy.”
Elizabeth frowned in puzzlement, her heart suddenly thumping hard, causing a strange buzzing in her ears. Then her eyes widened with understanding. Her face twisted, trying to hold her tears in. “Not yet. Mom, the others—”
“It’s not my choice, honey. They waited as long as they could.” Mary Beth looked up. Elizabeth turned to see an obsidian angel standing beside a pearlescent, crystal angel with snow-white wings. She rose to her feet.
“Just a little bit longer—” Tears streamed down her face. Too late. They’d waited too long to fix their relationship. To have the one they were always meant to have.
“We’re not supposed to waste time, Bethy. We have too few years to live,” Mary Beth rose, glanced at the two waiting for her then back at Elizabeth. “I don’t know where I’m going, Bethy. I know how I lived, but I’ve always hoped …”
Elizabeth grabbed her mother’s hand as Mary Beth’s voice trailed away. “I hope, too.”
Mary Beth’s smile wobbled. “Tell the kids—”
“I’ll tell them your heart is always with them, even if they can’t see you.” Elizabeth pulled her mother close and hugged her tight.
“Thank you.” Mary Beth whispered into her hair. With a shuddering breath, she kissed Elizabeth on top of her head, like she used to when she was a baby.
“It’s time to go, honey,” a man’s voice interjected.
Elizabeth pulled back, staring in disbelief at the familiar, handsome man in dress blues. Mary Beth turned toward him and froze, shock and wonderment on her face.
“Charlie,” she breathed.
Her father reached for her mother’s hands, his face somber, his eyes the deepest blue Elizabeth had ever seen. “I always promised I’d come back, Bethy. It just took a bit longer than I planned.”
His jaw bunched and tightened. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Mary Beth’s eyes filled with regret. “I didn’t wait—”
“Yes, you did.” He stared into his wife’s eyes, starkly sincere. “You waited longer than I could have wished for. You sacrificed more than I ever wanted you to. I know what you’ve done, and I know why.”
Mary Beth shook her head, her lips trembling. “I don’t deserve—”
Charles leaned down and kissed her gently, then gazed into her eyes. “We have forever to compare notes.”
Mary Beth collapsed against him and his arms surrounded her tightly. Then he met Elizabeth’s gaze. Father stared at daughter for long moments.
Mary Beth straightened. “I’ll wait for you over there.”
One last hug for Elizabeth and Mary Beth walked toward the Angels. Charles watched her walk, love filling his eyes. Then he turned to Elizabeth and spoke. “The mind plays tricks, sweetheart.”
She looked at him. How was he even here? This was her mother’s mind. Had she brought him with her? Why was he different?
“Sometimes what you think is the outside is really the inside looking out.”
Elizabeth looked around a little wildly, then she found it. The steel door was open and black tunnels lay beyond it. Her heart pumped faster and faster. Had her moments with her mother been real? They’d felt real.
“Sometimes a familiar dark cave can look like a field. Sometimes you think you are in one place, but it’s been altered to look like another.”
Elizabeth gulped. She was in the Room of Sorrows. His hand clamped around her wrist and she waited for the screaming to begin.
“I know you fear me. I am sorry. This prison was my penance. My redemption. I regret none of these years with you. So don’t carry guilt for me any longer. If it weren’t for my interference in the first place, Mary Beth could have married Earl and lived a normal, happy life. You are my chance to fix the damage I caused.”
Elizabeth nodded shakily, trying to understand.
“If it weren’t for my genes, you wouldn’t have the gift that enabled you to say good-bye.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “It was real?”
“Oh, yes.” He smiled. “A good-bye is always real.”
Her heart jumped to her throat. “Daddy? Are you leaving?”
He searched her eyes. “You did it, Elizabeth. You healed the rift between you and your mother. You opened your heart to her, knowing it could get crushed. You took the leap.”
Elizabeth could see what was coming and shook her head.
He nodded. “You can do it again. You can heal our entire family.”
“I can’t do it alone. I need you.”
“No, you need someone else. All little girls leave their daddies at some point. It’s the way life works.”
“But there’s so much I still don’t know. Maeve is coming, Daddy.” Elizabeth grabbed his arm. “I don’t know how to stop her. I don’t know how to save everyone from her. If you don’t help, how can we defeat her?”
“You’ll figure it out. You have everything you need. Just remember, you are a dreamwalker, one of the strongest ever made. No matter what strengths and skills Maeve has, she can’t take away yours.”
Elizabeth frowned. Adad kissed her cheek and walked to the steel door. This time, the other side wasn’t a dark tunnel. It was the field where her mother and the Angels were waiting. Adad walked through the doorway, switching forms as he passed the threshold. Elizabeth stayed in the Room of Sorrows, watching Charles Raines join his wife. Then they were gone.
Elizabeth looked around the room her father had occupied most of her life. The candles and wooden furniture were sparse but comfortable. His drawings decorated the walls, visions of the future on each poster-size page. They would tell her the truth. He’d left them to guide her, to help her heal their family.
But good or bad, she didn’t want to know the future. She wanted to live in the present. Elizabeth backed out of the room, pulling the door closed and sealing it shut. This was one room she wouldn’t ever return to. Familiar blackness surrounded her, then she realized something not so familiar was pressed against her throat.
* * *
Alex stepped forward and soft, thick leaves brushed his
face. Forward he continued, never hesitating, to the clearing of his worst nightmares. He’d love nothing more than to avoid it, but the people he loved most in the world were waiting and they needed him to save them.
There hadn’t been enough time. With more time, he could have questioned Adad further. Studied Geoffrey’s research harder. Gone to the dojo and practiced. He could have done something so his journey wouldn’t be so full of doubt. Bile coated his throat and tongue because he knew even all that effort wouldn’t have helped. Geoffrey. He needed Geoffrey to win. He needed Geoffrey to die.
Alex pushed through the last of the tangling vines and stopped at the edge of the clearing. They were waiting for him as predicted, but this time he knew the children so pale with terror. The twins were tied side-by-side beneath a tree. Not far from them, Tommy glared at Maeve, only his bindings held him back. Beside him sat Teddy, clearly focused on the blade Maeve held to Elizabeth’s throat.
The toddlers were grouped together. The baby dangled from a branch by a small sling, the straps slowly fraying. Sarah dug her hands into the soil at her sides. Abby pouted, tears filling her eyes as full as the stormy grey clouds overhead. Just as the lightning reflected in Jessie’s eyes arced from corner to corner, spinning into circles in the center. Below her was a small puddle of sand, but as still as it lie, Alex knew too much to hope it was only sand. Mewls escaped Veronica’s mouth as she waved her hands and feet fussily. Shelly struggled at the base of the tree, forcibly held by thick, twining vines as she reached for Veronica, hoping to catch her when she fell.
Where was Kevin? Where was Geoffrey when he needed him? Alex took a step closer, stopping just short of the line that would trigger the barrier, looking for them both. Maeve tightened her grip on the knife, nicking Elizabeth’s skin. One more step and the trap was sprung. Light bent around them like a dome. Like glass, only tougher, more impenetrable. Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It was time to clear his mind and pray.
“Come forward, healer. We have much to discuss.”
With no idea of the way free from this mess, Alex did the only thing he could. He stalled for time. Alex raised his hands and walked forward as slowly as he could get away with.
Behind Maeve, Geoffrey and a cloaked figure appeared. The same one Geoffrey had seen last time he died? They approached the barrier, but neither could cross. It figured.
Maeve turned and looked at them both. She laughed. “Did you really think it would be that easy?”
At that moment, Alex felt a presence beside him. Felicia raised wide, fearful eyes to his. Where had she come from? Alex looked behind her. The angel Geoffrey had seen before stood behind them both, his hands on the barrier, unable to pass.
“How did you get through?” Alex asked.
“I am the Mistress of the Light,” Felicia answered.
Somehow, it made sense to him. He’d known they all had gifts, though not what kind. Alex faced Maeve, his gaze bouncing from Elizabeth to the children and back. The clearing would run red with all their blood. He couldn’t prevent it. He and Geoffrey had already figured that out. Ten people would die before he saved one. “How much do you love them?”
Felicia’s hand tightened on his. “More than my own life.”
“That may be the price.”
She nodded. “I understand. I’m here willingly.” She glanced to the angel, then back to Alex. “I trust you.”
“I see you’ve gained a friend.” Maeve switched her gaze from Alex to glare at Felicia. “One who should be dead.”
Alex scowled at Maeve. “Where is Kevin?”
Maeve smirked. “My Dugan has become quite … attached to him.”
Alex followed her gaze to the man behind her. With both hands he parted his brown cloak, until two black appendages held it open for him, exposing him from his neck to the waistband of his pants. His hands rested on Kevin’s shoulders.
Just above the small boy’s head was a round, black face with more shining eyes than fur. Fangs glittered, extending to just over the nape of Kevin’s neck. Four long black limbs curled around his wrists and ankles, one held him securely around his waist, and the last pressed its tip into the skin over his heart. At their feet, piles of spiders swarmed around them.
Kevin watched the spiders, a frown of confusion on his face. But it wouldn’t take much to turn that frown to outright horror. Felicia swallowed back a scream. Elizabeth bit her lip and closed her eyes.
Growling, Alex looked at Maeve. “You fucking bitch.”
She grinned. “Why, thank you.”
Maeve watched them closely. She didn’t move or speak, drawing the tension out. She glared at Alex, her eyes narrowed in a look that could only be personal. Why? What had he done to her?
The baby slipped another inch and Shelly gasped. The strap was unraveling faster now. He didn’t have much time, but how could he stop it? How could he heal them? How could he do it all at once? When Kalyss had faced an impossible situation, she said she’d learned if she could imagine it, could visualize it in her mind, her gift would meet her there. How would his meet him?
“You seem to hate me,” he stalled.
“I do.” Maeve’s smile died, twisting with a ferocious bitterness.
Alex waited, seeing in her eyes that she wanted to tell him why. Needed to. Her fury demanded that he know what he’d done to cause her suffering.
“I’m only doing what you did to me. Allowing those you care about to dwell in pain.”
Alex narrowed his gaze. Kai. Who else would she care about? “How the hell do you figure? You’re causing their pain, and I did nothing to cause his, even though I wanted to.”
She growled, not liking his comment. “You caused his death. You turned your back on him to help the bastard and his whore. I saw what you did.”
Alex stilled. She thought Kai was dead. Alex had helped her psycho son, saved him even though it made no logical sense. Alex was a healer and it felt unnatural not to try. Although without love, he wasn’t sure it had done much good. Kai was still in a coma, so he doubted telling her Kai lived would aid them in any way.
Maeve waved a hand and invisible blades sliced everyone in the clearing. Thin lines of blood appeared then began to drip down cheeks, down arms, down necks. The toddlers started crying loudly. Tears covered Kevin’s face while the older boys just looked pissed off. But the worst was the baby’s cry. Shelly started sobbing. In a flash, Alex and Felicia healed. The glow from his wound, and the one he absorbed from Felicia, reached out into the darkness. But fell far short of helping the others.
You can save them if your love is strong enough.
Love powered Alex’s gift and his gift came from his mind. If he loved them enough, he could visualize his healing power surrounding the area inside the barrier.
Maeve chuckled and Alex’s gaze swung back to her. She was enjoying the tears on everyone’s faces, soaking in their anxiety and dread. “Did you honestly believe you could ignore my child without reprisal?”
Alex let her words continue, flowing around him as he tried to imagine stretching his touch, his gift. Felicia was Mistress of the Light and the barrier around them was made of light. Light would reflect his gift, bouncing it around the dome, around all of them. He only needed to love enough, to accept all their pain, bringing it into himself. He could draw on Felicia’s love to reach out to her family and … Maeve.
His mind nearly froze on the thought.
Maeve and her spider-minion. No matter how he stretched it, no matter how he bent the light and the healing, there was no way he could omit part of the dome. No way he could tell his gift to go here and there, but not in that one spot. Could he risk holding back?
Freaking hell. He’d heard the phrase “love thy enemy” so many times, but this was worse. So much worse. Love Maeve? How could he possibly? Die bitch. Suffer endlessly. Those things he could honestly feel. Love? Not likely. Yet, if he didn’t do it, if his enmity canceled out any of his power, he would fail.
Ale
x examined the faces of the children. They’d opened their hearts to him this week. Elizabeth’s eyes were wide and tear-filled, her gaze so dark it almost wasn’t blue anymore. She was caught, helpless, and he was the only one who could save her. Her expression spoke of her belief in him. Her acceptance. She knew he was trying and she understood if he failed. Who could possibly win against someone like Maeve? So destructive. Fierce. Evil.
“He was my son!” Maeve screamed the words, almost as if she cared. He just couldn’t imagine that to be true.
But Kai had loved her. The son’s love for his mother may have been poisoned, but it had been real. Kai had killed to avenge her. He’d suffered for centuries, tormented by the vision of her “death”. Alex knew Maeve couldn’t die. At least, he had no idea how to kill her. But once, nearly a thousand years ago, she’d lived as a human. She’d married. She’d borne a son. Then she had “died” in Kai’s arms, her body broken, falsely accusing his half-brother, Dreux. Her lie had launched centuries of vengeance.
Her son had loved her. Not only did Alex remember Kai’s love, but he could understand it. A son’s love for his mother. Shelly’s love for the precious baby that was slipping one more notch closer to the quicksand beneath her. Even Kevin’s for the spiders that crawled up his legs, around his hands and arms. Felicia’s for her children. Elizabeth’s for her family.
Alex looked into Elizabeth’s eyes, wanting to stroke her hair. Wanting to kiss her, to redo their time at his apartment, spend it more wisely, say everything he felt. Say good-bye. He knew what he was about to sacrifice. Kalyss had demanded too much from her gift and she’d nearly died, needing Alex to heal her. But there would be no one to heal him. Alex wanted to say what he felt, that all the love he needed was right in front of him.
Instead, he winked.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The entire scene was all too familiar to Draven, and yet so different. So much more dangerous. Tension vibrated in the air. Last time it had been Kai and two lovers in a barrier of light. The lives of three adults at stake. Now an entire family’s future was at risk.
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