by A. C. James
“Holly, go and pour me some tea from that pot on the stove. Use one of those white cups and place it on a saucer.” She gestured toward a shelf lined with dishes. “And don’t forget the spoon.”
Her odd way of asking me to grab a cup of tea made me raise my eyebrows. She’d never given me such specific instructions, and I’d had tea with her many times, but I was certain she had her reasons.
“Tea?” Toren asked. “Come on, lady. Get on with it. We came here because my brother needs help. It’s not a social visit and this isn’t time for high tea.”
Rue looked up at him. “Sit down.”
Toren frowned, but much to my surprise he only hesitated for a second before he sat in the chair to her right. He did cross his arms over his chest while I fetched Rue’s tea from the make-shift break area that comprised the other half of the backroom. The tea cup and spoon rested in the saucer I placed in front of her and I sat in the chair across from her. Arie walked over and leaned against the wall next to me, placing a protective hand on my shoulder. I smiled, grateful for his reassuring touch.
Immediately Rue frowned at the cup.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Why did you place the spoon upside down on the saucer?”
“Why?”
“I asked because its position is significant. What were you thinking when you placed the spoon on the saucer?” she asked.
I thought about it for a minute. Then shrugged. “I didn’t intend to place it any particular way. It just sort of landed that way when it clanked into the dish. I guess I was in a hurry when I grabbed it from the drying rack. And I can’t remember thinking anything other than how much I want Arie to be okay.”
Rue nodded. “A teaspoon placed upside down onto a saucer means ill-health of someone close to you.”
“Right,” Toren said. His tone was sarcastic and clearly implied that he didn’t believe a word of it, which was foolish considering Arie’s sporadic lapses in memory. “Well, that wasn’t too hard to figure out. Tell us something we don’t know, lady.”
I glared at Toren. “Hush up.”
Toren shrugged. “Hey, I’m just saying. Isn’t that why we came here in the first place? The parlor trick is nice and all, but so far it hasn’t given us anything we can use.”
Rue ignored his rude remark and slid the tea across the table to me. “Holly, I want you to stir the tea three times. Clockwise.”
I stirred the tea three times with the spoon.
“Now close your eyes,” Rue said.
With a shaky breath I did as Rue asked.
“Good. Now clear your mind of everything but your intention, what you desire the most. Do you know what that is?”
More than anything I wanted Arie and I to live happily ever after. It sounded stilly when I thought about it, but I couldn’t help it. It was the first thing that had popped into my head. Isn’t that what everyone wants?
I didn’t want him to look at me the way that my grandmother had through the lens of her disease. She’d seen my mother when she didn’t know me. Arie had seen Katarina. I’d live without him if it meant that he would be okay. That’s all that mattered to me, and as long as we could fix whatever was going on with Arie, then I could live without him if I had to.
It would completely crush me, devastate me beyond the hopes and dreams I held for our own happily ever after, but I’d do anything for him. I suppose that’s what it means to love someone—to move beyond your own needs and sacrifice your happiness if it meant that they would survive.
“I need to know why this is happening to Arie and how we can stop it before it’s too late,” I whispered.
Rue smiled. “Open your eyes, dear, and drink your tea, but stop when there’s just a splash left in the bottom along with the leaves. The tea will help calm your nerves, too.”
I slowly sipped my tea. Toren tapped his fingers on the satin tablecloth, but Rue had closed her eyes and seemed worlds away. I bit my lower lip, because in truth I was just as impatient to get to the bottom of that cup as he was, but I was worried this would leave us with more questions than answers. That’s how my visions worked...they only showed part of the picture. Magic was anything but dependable. Arie seemed to sense my anxiety, and gave my shoulder another squeeze.
Then Rue opened her eyes just as I was finishing the tea. “Now pour the remains into the saucer.”
Again, I followed Rue’s instructions, and watched the leaves spill onto the white dish.
Her eyes widened infinitesimally.
“What do you see?” Arie asked, his voice a quiet command.
“See the forked line running toward the shape that looks like a bat?” Rue said as she pointed to the dish.
“Yes,” I said.
“I don’t see a damn thing,” Toren grumbled.
Arie shot him a look.
“There is a decision to be made, and a journey that lies ahead. That journey will end in disappointment. But see the curtain draped to the side of the dish?”
I nodded.
“It means that there’s a secret,” Rue said.
“I don’t like secrets.”
Never had. Maybe because I’d always had to hide having the Sight from everyone I’d ever known, everyone I’d ever loved—until I’d met Arie. But secrets only cause trouble, because where there’s a secret, there’s usually a lie.
“What secret?” Arie asked.
“That could be any number of things. There’s not a person in this room that doesn’t have a secret,” Toren said. “Is there anything else you can tell us? Something we couldn’t find on our own by eating some Chinese food and popping open a fortune cookie.”
Rue ignored his sarcasm. “Do you see the stalk that is short and dark?”
Toren shrugged. “Okay, yeah, I guess I see it.”
“There is a woman with hair that’s as dark as a raven. And do you see how the stalk is above the bat?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“That’s your journey. Find the woman and she’ll be able to help him,” Rue said as she gestured toward Arie.
“How do we find her?” Arie asked.
“It would help if we knew who the hell we were looking for,” Toren said. “Got anything else we can go on?”
Rue shook her head. “This is all I have for you.”
There is a woman with hair that’s as dark as a raven.
A chill ran down my spine as Daeveena’s image sprang to my mind and I remembered her muttering something that sounded ominous on her way out of the club. It had been the night we’d lost Victoria, defeated Victor Monti, and protected Luna from her half-fae, half-demon, half-sister who was almost as unhinged as their father. Daeveena had hair like a raven, and I knew in my gut that this was her doing. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I contemplated her parting gift.
“Well fat lot of good this does us,” Toren said.
“Just stop. I’m not in the mood for your mouth,” Arie said and let out a sigh.
Arie looked tired as he sagged against the wall behind me.
Toren was perceptive to his brother’s exhaustion and his tone seemed to soften. “Look, I’m not trying to sound ungrateful for her help, but it’s still too vague to do us any good.”
“I know what we have to do,” I said.
They all turned to look at me.
“This is Daeveena. She’s the one with the raven hair,” I said as I turned toward Arie and placed my hand on his arm. “Remember the night she left the club? She’d been pretty put out that Luna didn’t want to go with her. And she muttered something. I just know it has to be some sort of curse. That’s what she tried to do to Victoria, but it backfired.”
Arie arched an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”
“Who’s Daeveena?” Toren asked.
“A half-demon, and Luna’s sister,” Arie said.
“Her twisted sister,” I countered.
“Okay, I’m up for demon-hunting, but how do we find her?” Toren asked.
“I could do a locator spell if I had something that belonged to her,” Rue said.
I shook my head. “We don’t have anything. Do we?”
“No, but Luna might have something of hers. They are sisters, so it’s worth a shot,” Arie said.
“Find me something that belongs to the demon and I’ll tell you where your journey begins.” Rue gestured to the tea leaves scattered across the white dish, which reminded me of dark twigs on freshly fallen snow.
I nodded. It was something. At least it was a starting point, and I knew exactly where we needed to go. “We should go to the club. I’ll call you as soon as I have something we can use.”
Luna had been staying in Arie’s old apartment on the third floor of HFC ever since things went down with her dad. Couldn’t say that I blamed her for not wanting to be alone, especially now that Victoria was gone.
Rue got up from the table and hugged me tight. “Please be careful. Now that you’re in my life I don’t want you out of it.”
I smiled. “I will.”
“Promise me?” she asked.
“Of course.”
I wouldn’t remind her that I was a vampire, which gave me several perks, one of which was being damned near indestructible, because I knew it wouldn’t reassure her at all. After all, an act of magic had defeated Katarina and turned me in the first place. The bell chimed as we left Rue’s Attic and piled into my BMW to head over to the club. If Luna didn’t have something for Rue to do the locator spell with, I was sure I’d lose my mind. But I didn’t have the luxury to do that, not when Arie was on the verge of losing his mind if our plan didn’t work.
* * *
Toren kept whistling from the backseat, some tune they kept playing over and over on the alternative station. I sighed. When would life get back to normal? Or was it ever really normal? There was a time with the Ellis family when I was starting to feel like it would, but then they up and moved.
Elizabeth texted me a selfie: she had a French fry between her teeth, and the parking lot behind her had one of those digital signs that told you what the temperature was. I rolled my eyes but texted her back and told her how much I was looking forward to visiting her this summer. It had seemed like summer would never get here, but now it was spring and my birthday trip was just around the corner.
I worried my lower lip as I thought about whether I should take Arie to meet my adopted parents. Would he even be okay? Stop it. Don’t think that way. If I let my emotions get the better of me, then I’d be no good to anyone—not Arie, not Toren, and not Victoria if she ever came back. I tilted my head against the head rest and tried to ignore Toren’s whistling. It seemed like he got off on trying to get under people’s skin, so I couldn’t let him know that it was working.
“Just stop already,” Arie said.
I looked over. –He’s doing it on purpose. Just ignore him.-
Then Arie turned toward me. –Nope. Can’t do it.-
“Stop what?” Toren asked, and when I turned my head to mouth the words ‘quit it,’ he grinned. That self-satisfied curve of his mouth twisted a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I wasn’t sure I could identify. Annoyance? Agitation? Whatever it was, it couldn’t possibly be desire. Guys like Toren were never really my thing.
“You know what,” Arie said, sounding exasperated.
I let out a heavy sigh. “You’re both acting like two-year-olds, and you’re getting on my nerves.”
It had to be sibling rivalry, and unfortunately it seemed they’d had an eternity to perfect antagonizing one another.
Arie gave a half-smile as an apology and squeezed my knee again. “I’m sorry.”
-He’s the only one who’s ever had the ability to aggravate the piss out of me.-
I met his eyes. –I know. He pisses me off too.- “It’s okay.”
“You two can quit the double conversation. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing. I’m on to you,” Toren said.
Of course, there was no way that he could have known about our telepathic double-talk, but I dropped the issue when Arie pulled into the parkade attached to HFC.
“We’re here,” I said.
Arie pulled into an empty space and turned off the engine. “Let’s go find Luna.”
“Yeah, let’s hunt some demon,” Toren said.
I grabbed Toren’s arm as he got out of the car. “Be nice. Luna’s not a demon, her sister is.”
“Relax. I’ll be good,” Toren cajoled me, and the way his voice dropped told me that he wasn’t talking about good behavior.
Arie slammed the car door as he got out. “Remember what I told you. Leave her alone.”
I let go of Toren’s arm and started toward the art glass doors that led into the lobby. I knew now that the French greeting above the door meant ‘Do what thou thou wilt,’ which seemed very apt for HFC. It operated as a Goth club downstairs, and the second floor was a BDSM sex club which fronted a feeding ground for our kind.
Toren caught up to me and walked so close that my skin prickled with sensation.
-I still remember the first time I saw you here.-
Warmth flooded my cheeks. You look good wearing nothing. I swallowed the hard lump in my throat and quickened my pace.
-Well don’t.-
-Can’t help it, darlin’.-
God, I wished he’d stop calling me that. I swung one of the doors to the lobby open and let it swing shut in Toren’s face as I walked through. More than anything I just wanted to get this over with. I needed to feel Arie’s arms around me—to be wrapped in his strength and to know that everything would work out in the end. Arie must have bent time, because I felt his cool fingers tangle with mine.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.” I rolled my eyes in Toren’s direction and Arie nodded.
“Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll figure this out together,” Arie said, his thumb brushing over the back of my hand.
How did he know what I was thinking? Sometimes he could read me so well, and no words or telepathy were needed. He’d find a way to show me in a simple gesture, like stroking my hand, that he understood exactly how I felt. At that particular moment it made my heart soar, and I forgot how complicated things were with his half-brother in the picture. I smiled up at him, tears stinging my eyes.
“I know we will. We always have,” I said.
-I love you, Holly. I want you to know that. Always.-
-And forever.-
It was strange, as we walked past the table where Victoria always sat when she was screening people and letting them in the club, to see it empty. Arie’s face fell, and I knew he was thinking the same thing. We were so in tune with one another. I’d never had that with anyone but Arie. He gave me everything. Love. Family. Protection. His whole heart, body, and soul belonged to me. And the same was true in reverse. When I thought about the look on his face when he called me Kat, it made me feel like the earth was falling out from under my feet. I didn’t ever want to feel like that again.
Chapter 5
The last thing that I expected to see when we took the elevator to the third floor at HFC and walked into Tessa’s office was the Cheshire Cat smile that spread across her face when she saw Toren.
“Well, what’s it been?” Tessa asked as she flicked a red-polished fingernail in Toren’s direction.
Toren grinned. “That’s the first thing you’re going to say to me? Really?”
“Well considering that it’s been about a hundred years…yeah.” Her green eyes flashed with genuine desire that went beyond the sarcastic repertoire she directed at everyone, but in an instant it was gone.
“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the predicament I left you in the last time I saw you?” Toren teased.
I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I had a pretty good guess from the sparks that were flying between these two.
My eyes widened.
No one topped Tessa Green, the most notorious dominatrix
of Chicago and a powerful Ancient vampire in her own right. But Toren stood there taunting her, and it sounded like he was implying so much more. I had the impression that he knew her quite intimately.
“You didn’t leave me in a predicament that I didn’t anticipate or walk into knowing full well where I was going. After all…I’m a lot older than you,” Tessa said.
It made sense. Tessa had been a famous hetaera, a Greek courtesan, long before Arie and Toren were ever vampires.
“Well now that we’re all caught up,” Arie interjected.
“Is Luna here?” I asked.
“Why?” Tessa asked.
Toren flopped into one of the oversized chairs in front of her lavish desk made from Carpathian elm. “We’re going demon hunting.”
Tessa tapped her red nail on the desk’s surface. “Any particular demon?”
“Daeveena,” I said. “The night Victoria took off she did something to Arie on her way out. I heard her mutter something under her breath. We were just at Rue’s Attic, and from what we discovered I think she did something to meddle with his memory.”
Tessa looked from me to Arie and frowned. I could tell she was concerned.
“Okay,” she said. “Who am I?”
Arie glared at Tessa. “A pain in the ass.”
“And who’s that?” Tessa said, pointing at Toren.
“An even bigger pain in the ass,” Arie said, before he crossed his arms.
“His memory seems fine to me,” Tessa said.
“It’s sporadic,” I said quietly. “He called me Kat. He didn’t know me at all.”
Toren’s eyes softened at my words. One thing I hated to the depths of my soul was pity. I’d had my lion’s share of pity my whole life. Before the Ellis family took me in I’d been a pathetic little foster girl, and it always meant one of two things—pity or ridicule. I almost preferred the ridicule.
“We need to see Luna and see if she has anything that belongs to Daeveena that we can use for a locator spell,” Arie said.
“We’re going to take it to Rue,” I added as I raised my chin.