by Rain Oxford
“Shit. I’ll get you another out of supplies.”
I stroked my hand across her back as she shivered. “You could wear clothes to bed.” I was an absolute idiot, but my stupid-advice filter wasn’t awake yet.
“I normally do. I only sleep naked with you because you’re like a furnace. If you have a problem with that, I can sleep in my own bed.”
“I’ve got a better idea. We can warm up the blanket and stay in bed for the rest of the day. Nobody is going to bother us after the shit we just went through.”
She kissed me. “That is a better idea.”
I turned off the light, set it down, rolled us both so that I could shield her from the cold, and pulled the blanket over us. It was jarringly cold, but Remy distracted me with her lips.
* * *
Remy and I had lunch in her office as I caught her up on everything that we had learned about my grandfather. While I wasn’t all that close to her at Quintessence, I didn’t see any point in keeping this from her now. I trusted her more than my uncle or her father, because I knew she was on my side. Vincent and Hunt cared about me in their own way, but they were on their own side.
In the human world, I was extremely discreet. In the human world, almost everything I needed to know could be found by looking in the right place at the right time. Then, in the paranormal world, I realized that knowledge was currency. I was playing on a two-dimensional platform. This world was too complex to play alone.
I could read books, files, and journals for information, but half of the ones I needed were in other languages. Wizards couldn’t be bugged because their magic fried surveillance equipment. Books containing vital details could be destroyed from a wizard without them ever going near it. Telekinesis didn’t leave fingerprints or DNA.
I needed Darwin’s knowledge and Henry’s talents. Remy… she made me better at being me somehow.
“When you were in the heads of the council members, did you see anyone you didn’t recognize?” Remy asked.
“I was digging around in their thoughts, not memories. It was hard enough seeing into their minds. Serena was taught specifically to protect her mind from John, and I imagine she wasn’t the only one.”
“She’s a strong, suspicious witch, so I’m not surprised.”
“She didn’t seem that suspicious. You know her?”
“Yes. We went to school together.”
“Quintessence?”
“No, the children’s school.”
“She said she’d never been here before.”
Remy frowned. “She was here. We were friends until she got with Rick and didn’t have time for anyone else.” Remy got a photo album off her bookshelf and flipped it to a spot towards the end. “This was our graduation picture. We were both eighteen.”
The picture was of two dozen people and Remington was in the middle. Although she was recognizable, she was cute in a very different way, as her features were softer and she had a carefree, devious look in her eyes. She looked like the kind of girl who was too smart for her own good and had at least a few pranks in motion.
The girl next to her was blond with blue eyes and a nice figure, but she was wearing tight and revealing clothes and heavy makeup. She came across as trying too hard. People could change a little throughout the years, but this was definitely not the Serena I knew. “This is Serena Luella?” I asked, pointing to the blond.
“Yes.”
“Then I know who Veronica is.”
“Who?”
“The woman I talked to isn’t this Serena. It makes sense. My intuition didn’t warn me of the poisoned tea when she was close. She’s on the council, but in the background. Becky trusts her.”
“What do we do about it?”
“I don’t know. She can hold the council members against us. Maybe if I confront her in person, she’ll give up something.”
“Or she’ll kill you.”
“I have to get answers.”
“If you barge in there and challenge her, I’ll kick your ass. With love,” she added reluctantly.
“With what?”
“I said ‘don’t be stupid’! You’ve seen what she can do.”
“I know how to be careful. I’m not---”
“Then why do you never do it?” she yelled.
My body tensed automatically. “What are you---”
“You constantly put others first. You had Vincent block your magic because you were afraid you would hurt your enemies!”
“I took the chain off.”
“To save people.”
“Because I realized it was a mistake,” I corrected her.
“You’ve been at the heart of danger so many times since I met you, and even now, you have two serious wounds. Yet you find out that an enemy who beat you repeatedly is nearby, and your first thought is to face her head-on, on her turf. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Of course not.”
“Are you sure?”
Regina was always questioning me and ridiculing my choices. She wanted to change me. Remington was barely the same species, but she was more dangerous. Regina just screamed at me and threw things.
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“I want you to be safe!”
“That’s not me. I can’t watch my friends get hurt and threatened and do nothing to help.”
“I know that,” she said quietly, resigned.
“So where does that leave us?” Cody had been through two divorces before he rescued me. He had told me that it was due to his job. Many people couldn’t handle the stress and risk of being a cop’s spouse. “Do you want to break up?” I asked.
“No,” she said.
“Neither do I. I will try harder to be cautious for you, but I can’t stop doing what I do.”
“I don’t want to change you,” she said. “I just want you to be careful.”
“I will try.”
She didn’t argue. I never intended to get myself killed, so my agreement was pretty useless. She knew that as much as I did. Nevertheless, I would try.
“So, rather than confront her, what do you suggest I do? Keep in mind that she’s already tried to have you killed, and when that didn’t work, got you arrested. She also had Darwin arrested, attacked Amelia, and cursed the school. She even separated you from your beloved familiar.”
“I know we have to stop her.”
“We need to figure out what her weakness is. Maybe we can get her away from the council. To do that, we’d have to draw her out with what she wants, but I don’t think she’d fall for it.”
“Have you figured out what she wants?”
“Not really. She could be after immortality, possession of one of her siblings, or the other powers that I have. We still don’t know how much she knows, if anything, about her grandfather. She excels at covering her tracks. However, knowing who she is now, maybe I can find something of hers and use it to induce a vision of her weakness or what she’s after.” She had a child, but I didn’t think I could use a defenseless baby against her.
“You’re the investigator, so I’ll let you deal with that as you see fit. If you need me, I’m here, but otherwise, I won’t interfere with your job.”
* * *
Despite Remington’s concerns, I had to face Veronica. I didn’t have to go in there unprepared, though. Since I knew what she looked like, I could find her through the shadow pass. What I still needed was a plan.
“Serena is Veronica,” I explained to Darwin and Henry in my room.
Henry nodded easily. “It would make sense; she was working very hard to cover her scent.”
“And you couldn’t read her mind,” Darwin said. “And didn’t she just leave you a moment before you were poisoned with that tea?”
I nodded. “She admitted to poisoning me, but because of the game, I couldn’t ask her why. She wants to use me. It could have been a backup plan; perhaps she would have stopped me from drinking it if I had been more receptive to her.”
I felt the blood drain from my face as I remembered what had happened. “Oh, god. I kissed my sister.”
“You kissed your sister?” Darwin asked.
“Well, she kissed me. I pushed her away and said that I was involved with Remy.”
“You kissed your sister!” Darwin shouted. “He kissed his sister!” he told Henry.
“I heard.”
“She kissed me,” I insisted. “I didn’t know at the time, obviously. She did, though.” I shuddered a bit.
Understanding filled Darwin’s expression and he dropped the kiss.
“What is it?” Henry asked.
“Veronica is playing out some schemes that will take her years to complete. She’s smart, and she clearly understands people, but she can’t see into the future. Her ultimate goal is to take over the paranormal community, but what is her motivation?”
“Is that important?” Henry asked.
“Of course.”
“My parents were rich,” Henry said. “Yet they were miserable. They had more than they could spend in their lifetimes, and still they were obsessed with attaining more money. It really wasn’t about the money they had; it was about getting more. Not because they wanted it, either.”
“That’s a good point,” I said. “I’ve seen different forms of that… condition. Maybe there is no motivation except to have more power.”
Darwin nodded. “That would make her very easy to defeat. Single-mindedness like that will get you killed quickly in the paranormal world. How many times would your parents have been caught or killed if it weren’t for you?” he asked Henry.
Henry considered it for a moment. “Hundreds of times.”
“Or, if she has a specific reason for wanting to take over the paranormal community, we can use that against her. The point I was trying to make is that she can’t see into the future and doesn’t have the intuition. She may be better than you in mind control, but that isn’t all you have. That’s why she’s using your siblings as her pawns. Until she can assimilate that power herself, which may be one of her goals, she’s using them to keep ahead of you.”
“That’s not a good thing.”
“You’ve been a temporary guardian for Jason and Jamie for how long? You still can’t keep them under control and Jason adores you.”
“They’re under control,” I argued.
“They made a teacher think she was repeating the day over and over and she had a mental breakdown yesterday.”
“Shit.”
“If there is one thing a child of John Cross can’t be, it’s under the control of anyone. Some of them might choose to join her, but she can’t make them.”
I thought about the visions we were having and realized he was right. Working together, my siblings were powerful. Of course, I couldn’t use them against her, because they were kids and she could kill them. It was a good thing if she couldn’t use them against me, but she could still use Darwin or Henry against me.
Darwin continued. “Use what you’ve got that she hasn’t got. Veronica is obviously a better mind-controller than you. However, you don’t need alchemy or mind control to enhance your intuition. You’ve already done it.”
“You’re talking about my staff?”
“Yeah.”
“Remington said that wasn’t to be used for fighting,” I said. Darwin rolled his eyes, but before he could cut in, I realized his point. “But I might be able to use it to get some answers and figure out how to fight her.”
“Exactly.”
“Then we’ll have to go to the council and sneak in. We’ll use the hex bags so that she can’t track us. Is there another way to protect our minds?”
“Well, yeah. You learned how to protect your mind at Quintessence.”
“I did, but even with my staff, I’d prefer something more powerful.”
“And I would love it if she was allergic to oxygen and burst into flames, but we don’t always get what we want.”
“You’ve been especially irritating lately,” Henry told him.
“Do you mean since I was bitten and envenomated by demonic monsters, since I got hit by a car, since I was arrested for murder, since I got out of jail only to discover that my fiancée was sent away when she needed reassurance most, or since my family was attacked? Tell me when, exactly, did I become more irritating than usual? Because I seem to recall you being a bit more irritating when you decided Devon was crazy after he confided in us that he could see ghosts.”
“I didn’t think he was crazy. I thought something was causing him to see something that wasn’t there.”
“Now isn’t the time for squabbling,” I said. “We need to focus on destroying Veronica. She can’t be in my head constantly. When I’m in someone’s mind, it takes most of my attention. I bet the same goes for her. If we can set a diversion, it could cause her to pay us more attention.”
Darwin shook his head, but kept his mouth shut. I almost wanted to ignore it, because his problem was talking too much. At least I didn’t have to sleep in the same room as him anymore. He talked, mumbled, argued, and once even sang in his sleep.
Then again, when he was conscious, Darwin’s information was often vital. My job would have been so much harder, and sometimes impossible, without his help. “What are you thinking?” I asked.
“I’m thinking you’re overthinking it. I tease you a bit about you being an idiot when it comes to the paranormal community because you grew up in the human one, but now I’m worried it’s gone to your head.”
“You have a way of giving backhanded compliments.”
He sighed. “I know facts, math, science, mythology, formulas, languages, history… but you seem to have forgotten that you’re really good at your job. Although you may not know a ton of information, you make connections that other people don’t, and it’s not your intuition. Veronica is clearly clever, but you’re overestimating her. You’re thinking of all the ways she can block your moves; you’re playing a game of chess. The problem is that you’re predicting the moves of someone who is just like you. Yes, she’s your sister, and yes, her mind control is superior to yours. However, she doesn’t solve mysteries and outsmart enemies for a living. She isn’t omnipresent. You will always be able to figure out how to ruin your own plans. She can’t.”
“In that case, we need to find out as much as we can about her and use that information to make our plan as strong as possible.”
Darwin nodded. “Do what you do best and I bet she can’t keep up. Besides, even if she can over spy on your plan, that doesn’t mean she can stop you.”
* * *
I told Remy what I was doing. Although she didn’t like it, she trusted me to try my best to stay safe. Darwin wanted to go with us, but we needed to use the shadow pass and he was better off reading Arthur’s books. We used the hex bags. Fortunately, wizards didn’t have the advanced senses that shifters and vampires did, so we actually stood a chance of staying hidden.
Sneaking in was easy. We appeared in a study that Henry figured would be empty. He explained that he could focus on the location and a general study room, and we would naturally exit the shadow pass into the darkest study in the council. There was a chance that somebody would be sitting in the dark, but it wasn’t likely.
The plan went perfectly; we appeared alone in a study. I pulled out my penlight and clicked it on. It was exactly like all of the other studies; it was full of books with a writing desk. I summoned my staff, sat in the chair at the desk, and focused on my intuition.
We need to find a clue to stop Veronica. We need a weakness. A grimoire, maybe. What does she know? What is she after?
My intuition drifted towards the grimoire, but it was still less helpful than usual.
“There doesn’t seem to be any book near that can help us, but I feel like there’s something that can help somewhere here. She probably has whatever it is on her.” As I said it aloud, I knew it was true. My intuition was a mixture o
f foreseeing the future and reading people’s minds, but much faster.
“I can steal it if we know what it is,” Henry said.
“Let’s search her room. Between my intuition and your senses, we should be able to get there.”
I didn’t want to use my magic because I knew it could be detected by some wizards. Instead, I relied on my intuition. We made it down the hallway easily. A few times, Henry motioned that someone was coming and my intuition would tell me which rooms or hallways were safe to duck into until they passed.
Almost there, we encountered three wizards, chatting. We had no choice but to wait. “You could make them leave,” Henry suggested.
“Were they human, I would. I don’t want to take on the entire council, even with my staff.”
“In Darwin’s absence, I feel it necessary to comment on your wizard’s staff.”
“I know what Darwin would say about my staff, but go ahead.”
“It is cooler than Hunt’s and makes you look like a proper wizard.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“But you hold it like a gun, and that makes it weird.”
“How do I hold it like a gun?”
“You’re not supposed to aim the crystal down.”
“I don’t want to accidentally shoot someone… shut up. Don’t tell me how to hold my staff.” I tilted it upright and held it like a cane.
“Don’t forget to turn off the safety,” he said.
I aimed the crystal at him threateningly. “I’m not afraid to use this on you.”
“You do realize that I can bite through that, right?” He sniffed, distracting me. “They’re distressed.”
I turned to watch the wizards whispering frantically. I crept around the corner, close enough to see them. Becky? “Can you make out their words?” I whispered to Henry.
“Barely. Becky is upset because she’s figured out that something weird is going on. Jenny and Paul think she’s overreacting.” He paused. “Paul says that if something is wrong, it’s your fault. I’ll maul him later if I get a chance.”
“Don’t worry about it. Paul isn’t the smartest member of the council and doesn’t pose a threat. If I need to manipulate his mind, I can.”