“They’re here,” Hawk said.
I already knew.
Lou walked into the back room. His attention zeroed in on me like a heat-seeking missile. “Do you know what you did? How did you do that?” Lou demanded.
Xazier followed in after him. He dropped onto the couch, looking more like a spectator for an interesting show than an active participant.
Hawk stepped closer. “I suggest you watch how you talk to her. My patience with you has worn dangerously thin.”
Hawk was about to rip Lou’s head from his shoulders, but I’d already bought us enough trouble.
I discarded my tea. With a hand on Hawk’s arm, our eyes met. It took a few seconds, but he eventually granted my request and took an infinitesimal step back. There was no doubt it was borrowed time.
“I know exactly what I did, or you wouldn’t be here.” Technically, I had the gist of what I did. The finer details were still revealing themselves to me. Even now, I could feel my magic flexing inside of me, pouring through my veins, just looking for an outlet.
“I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t do something like this,” Lou said.
This didn’t seem like a good time to ask for a full explanation of what it was I’d done. But damn if I didn’t want to ask.
“Would you care to take a seat?” I waved toward the couch, hoping to keep this somewhat civil but losing my optimism fast.
Lou took another step in my direction. Hawk moved toward me as well, but I held up my hand.
“I’ve got this,” I said softly.
Hawk tilted his head slightly and then gave a nod, looking interested in what I could do. Him and I both.
“Lou, I think this would be a much more comfortable meeting if you took a seat.” I waved toward the couch again.
He opened his mouth, probably to hurl insults my way, but went speechless instead. His body froze up as he tried to fight off the command. Slowly, inch by inch, his feet dragged backward. He dropped onto the seat, and the rage shooting through him was palpable in the air.
That might’ve slammed the door shut on any hope of civility, but it had been a slim chance anyway. I could see Hawk nodding beside me. Xazier wasn’t moving a hair, as if not wanting to draw my attention.
I eased off my control of Lou slowly, knowing he might lunge at me or something worse. There was no back-pedaling from the humiliation I’d just dished out, but there had to be some way to calm this situation down.
The second I released him from my grip, he launched into a tirade.
“You think you’re something special? You’re just another Xest reject, a peasant in the scheme of things, put here to do my bidding. You haven’t seen anything yet,” Lou said.
He was leaning forward in his seat, his face nearly as red as Xazier’s. His fists were clenched, and if he could, he’d kill me now.
Hawk looked from Lou to me. His arms were crossed and his muscles tense. I gave him a nod, hoping to buy a little more time to get this back under control.
I took a step toward Lou but then froze. Anything that might appear confrontational, even approaching him with the best intentions, might be a bad idea. “I had to do what I did because you put me in an uncomfortable position. Now, I think we should try to come to some sort of compromise.”
It had taken all my restraint to hold out an olive branch, and Lou was sitting there sneering at me. He’d screwed me over any chance he could, and this was what I got? If I didn’t have issues with heaven and hell looming, I’d kill him myself—if I could.
“If you think things are going to be copacetic, bygones be bygones, you’re delusional, the whole stinking human lot of you. This doesn’t end here. You can’t have it all. You can’t possibly think that this is going to fly with my boss. You’ll be dead by the end of the week. Did you really think that you could drain all the magic out of Xest and live?” He was on his feet again.
Wait. What? Drain all of it? Now what did I do? I took it all?
Killing Lou somehow was beginning to look like a real possibility and not just wishful thinking. I’d never have peace with him around. But what kind of a shit show would that bring down on Xest? Did I have a right to take that kind of risk for selfish reasons? Could I have peace even with him dead? Could I put my desires and wellbeing before everyone here? No. There had to be a way to fix this.
Hawk walked over to Lou, who barely glanced in his direction. Lou wasn’t giving heed to him at all, consumed with rage for me. If Lou understood how much power was pulsating through me, how even now it wanted to boil up and obliterate everything he was, he wouldn’t be so relaxed and free with his words. I dug my fingers into the arm of the chair and could feel heat surging through me.
The sounds in the room dimmed. My gaze shot to Hawk, who wasn’t fully human anymore. His arms had shifted into his beast, black claws out.
I realized what was going to happen, but there wasn’t any time to stop it. Hawk was right beside Lou, his hand plunged into his chest. Light exploded like a flash grenade had gone off in the room. I was blinded for a few seconds. As my eyes readjusted, Hawk’s hand was no longer in Lou’s chest. It was hanging at his side, dripping a strange, clear, gooey substance.
I couldn’t speak for a second, as all the possible ramifications tumbled about in my brain at once. What had he done? What did this mean? Was the sky going to part and strike us both down in the next few seconds?
Hawk walked over to the counter, grabbed a rag, and wiped Lou’s residue from his now-human hand.
Xazier leaned back in his seat, an eyebrow raised. “We’re still good, right?” he asked, looking from Hawk to me.
“I don’t know. Are we?” Hawk asked, leaning on the counter and watching him.
“We’re good,” Xazier said, nodding.
“Did I take it all?” I asked, watching as he edged his way toward the door.
“Seems so,” Xazier said, continuing to inch his way out of the room.
Lou was dead. I’d stolen all the magic in Xest. This was definitely turning out to be a bad day.
“I’m just going to…” Xazier nodded toward the door.
“Yeah, sure. Go,” I said. Hawk had already killed an emissary from heaven. In my book, that was enough for one day. And if the emissary from hell didn’t get out of here, Hawk might want a two-for-one deal—not that things could get much worse, from the way I was looking at it.
Xazier nodded and then paused at the door. “You know, I feel as if I’ve been typecast this entire time. I was always the good one.”
“Goodbye, Xazier,” I said, hoping he’d hurry it along. The smell of Hawk’s blood lust was nearly filling the room, and my own tolerance was fading fast.
I dropped onto the couch, looking at the blob that was once Lou. I wasn’t sure if I was more stunned by how easily Hawk had killed him or how plain bad this situation was. And there was no way that this wasn’t anything but extremely bad. I’d jacked up my magic to try to gain some leverage, but there wasn’t enough magic in Xest to fix this.
I looked at the blob in the chair, formerly known as Lou, to the reason we had a blob. He was leaning against the counter still, sipping the tea I’d forgotten about.
I took a couple of deep breaths before I said, “Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t go after Lou before we discussed it?”
He walked past the blob, sat on the other end of the couch, He kicked his feet up onto the table and rested his arm along the back. “I agreed not to go after him. I didn’t. He came here.”
“Are you sure that this was the best way forward? Don’t you think this could possibly escalate this issue?” He was acting so calm about the matter that screaming “we’re screwed” and running around the room didn’t seem the thing to do, even if it might be warranted.
“I don’t know, but I didn’t see another alternative. Lou had to go, and he made it painfully clear tonight. He wasn’t going to be happy as long as you existed, and I was tired of his bad behavior. I didn’t see a reason
to wait.”
Didn’t see a reason? Really?
I didn’t bother arguing with his logic because it was done. Lou was now a blob. I’d already been in hot water. Now I was officially sharing my pot. Didn’t Hawk care he was in the pot with me?
There was a magic issue. I couldn’t think about Lou, who was now a blob, and the magic, too.
Hawk stood, about to walk out of the room, and nightmares of cleaning the place after he left suddenly plagued me.
“Where are you going? What about…Lou?” I said, pointing at the blob with clothes.
He glanced over. “The cleaning crew will take care of it.” He made his way to the door and said, “I’ll be back in a little while,” before he left.
Bibbi walked in a few minutes later. She threw her jacket on a hook and walked to the couch before stopping short. She stared at the blob for a few minutes.
“What is that? It looks disgusting,” she said.
“That”—I stabbed in the direction of the blob—“is Lou. He stopped by tonight, and that’s how it went.”
It was the wee hours of the night when my door opened. Hawk appeared in the shadows. I’d given up on him coming home. I’d worked it out in my mind as I tossed and turned for the last few hours. He’d go out, clear his head, and realize how badly he’d messed up, and all for me. He’d realize I was too much trouble. After all, according to Lou and Xazier, I’d taken all the magic of Xest. He’d regret killing Lou and putting himself in such a bad spot.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
My stomach sank. That was it. He’d finally come to his senses. He wanted me to leave for good.
“I’ll go,” I said, sitting up. I should’ve known this would happen. How could I have been so stupid? No rational person was going to throw their lives away for me.
He walked forward, picked me up, and walked out of my room. He hit the landing and then started upstairs toward his room.
He dropped me on the bed. He still wanted me? He hadn’t come to his senses yet?
I couldn’t seem to stop staring at him as he stripped out of his clothes, and it wasn’t because of how he looked, or not mostly. Didn’t he understand what the ramifications of what he’d done were? No, I hadn’t told him to do such a foolish thing, but it was because of me that he’d done it. Actually, if I’d known it could be done, and how to do it, I might’ve done it myself. I was already in the hot seat as far as hell and heaven went. Even if Lou had set me up, I knew there were bigger issues looming in my future. What was there really for me to lose? But Hawk had everything at stake.
“You killed Lou.” Maybe if he heard it enough times he might begin to understand how much shit was headed our way. Or maybe not.
“Yes. I know. I was there.” He spoke as if this were a joke. He moved around the room, as I watched.
“You realize what could come from that?” I asked.
“Why are your clothes still on?” he asked, then walked over and tugged my top off.
Was he delusional? He’d always seemed fairly logical, but unless you crawled into someone’s head, it was hard to tell for sure.
“Do you think you can fight off heaven and hell?” Was it possible I’d slept with a madman? Correction, was sleeping with. I had every intention of doing it as many more times as I could before we both died some bloody death.
“I’ll give it a good shot.”
He pushed me onto my back before hooking his fingers into the waist of the shorts I liked to wear to bed.
No. Not delusional, as suspected. But then, why would he do that?
“Were you just overtaken by rage at the moment?” There had to be some logic I wasn’t seeing.
He did have a temper, not that I’d ever seen it get away from him—until tonight, that was.
He settled in between my legs, and I put my palms flat on his chest, knowing the minute he kissed me, the discussion would be over. Logic and Hawk didn’t seem to mix well for me. He rested his weight on his forearms as he watched me, staring at my lips.
“You want to talk? Fine. I killed Lou because I wanted him dead.” He said it like it was so simple.
“I wanted him dead as well, but were you thinking about how that single act could get you killed? Or if you do survive, kill your business and everything you’ve built? Why would you do that?”
“Because as long as he was alive, he was never going to stop coming for you, and that became very clear today.” He brushed the hair away from my face, his gaze going from my lips to my eyes and then back again.
“Coming for me. Not for you.” Did this really need to be pointed out to him? Did he not see the issue?
His gaze hardened. “Coming for you is coming for me.”
Stupid or not, logical or not, he really did love me. He might never say the words, but I didn’t need them when every action he took screamed them so loudly that even I could hear.
And I might’ve just gotten him killed.
“Except it’s not. I’ll tell them it was my fault. Maybe I can get Xazier to back up my story if he hasn’t said anything.” I shimmied up, trying to get a better vantage point. He needed to really hear me.
“You’re not doing that.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me back down.
“Why?”
“You’re not taking the blame for what I did. I meant to do it, and I’d do it again.” He really was insane.
I parted my lips, looking for something I could say that would make him realize how dangerous his actions were.
“Are you done?” he asked.
Were there any words that would get through to him? None I could think of. “I mean…I guess.”
“Good, because I’ve been waiting for this all day,” he said, and then kissed me like he really had been.
33
In my efforts to take back the magic that was mine, had I made everything worse? If having so much magic before was bad, what troubles would it cause now?
I lifted my hand, staring at it and feeling the power that coursed through me. I’d thought it was a high of regaining what was once mine, but now, as I paid closer attention, as it settled in, as it seemed to do so easily, the difference was there. It felt as if a mere flick of my wrist in any direction could start a tornado. I’d had problems before, plenty of them, but this time my cure made it worse.
When I looked up, Hawk was in the room with me. “Don’t look like that, as if you’re awash in the sea.” His voice was gruff.
He wrapped his arm around me, tugging me until I was leaning against him. Instead of fighting or denying that I was wallowing, I sagged into him. I let him anchor me. It seemed like a trend I couldn’t break. Whenever I was weak, he seemed to come up and strengthen me. It might be a dangerous habit to form, but right now I wasn’t going to worry about it.
“I don’t know how to fix the problems that are looming. I didn’t mean to take it all, and I don’t know how to put the magic back. And the idea of what’s in me, I just…” I shuddered at the realization that everything that was in that hill was now part of me. That was why I could hurt people when I’d never been able to before. After I’d trapped Dread in the hill and gotten a surge of magic, things changed. What would I become now with so much more?
“Magic and power isn’t good or evil. The people who wield it are. You aren’t evil. I’ve seen evil. There’s something wrong with evil people, something that gets warped and bent, misaligned, and everything they do gets shaped by that deformity. Sometimes it’s who they were when they were born. Sometimes something deforms them before they’re old enough to fight it off. You’ve already been through trial by fire and come out the other side. You’re not evil, and you never will be.” He tightened his arms around me, as if he could shield me from myself and the dark thoughts trying to invade.
I shifted in his arms, looking up to see if he really believed what he was saying. There was absolute confidence in his eyes. Hawk didn’t speak to flatter, and I hoped he was right.
Mertie groaned from across the room.
“Oh no. First Musso and Bertha, but at least they keep a lid on it somewhat. Then you got Oscar, who’s looking like a lost puppy dog. Now you two? Can no one keep their emotions private? Screw on the couch if you must, but please cut it out with the looks unless you’re in your own rooms.”
She huffed her way over to the counter and began fixing a tea for herself.
“I need you to bring Zurdoch back,” I said. “I need to talk to him and see what he knows.”
She put the tea kettle down with a bang. “He was furious. If I get him back and you give him a bad potion again, that’s it. He’ll never talk to me again.”
“It’s not going to be a problem.” Magic was not on my list of issues anymore, that was for sure.
“So it’s true? You’re back up to snuff? Like full snuff?” She eyed me up and down, as if taking my magical weight with her eyes.
“I’m back.” I was something, all right, but I couldn’t quite say what.
She leaned on the counter, continuing to size me up. No one could fault her for it. I’d burned her once already.
She tilted her head. “I hear what you’re saying, and I see it, can nearly feel it. But if I put myself out there again and you don’t come through… I mean, how can I be sure it’s not fleeting?”
“Because I went to the hill and took out everything it had.” She’d find out anyway. Everyone in Xest would at some point.
Her jaw dropped open and it took her a second to form the word. “All?”
“All.” I pushed up my sleeve and held out my wrist to her. It was a vulnerability you’d only let your most loved ones have, but after how I’d put her in a spot with her friend, I owed it to her.
She was looking at my exposed wrist as if I were crazy.
“Do it. She means it,” Hawk said, and then gave me a nod before leaving the room.
She lifted her hand but then froze. “You’re sure?”
Tired of waiting, I grabbed her hand and wrapped it around my wrist. I felt the jolt of her magic, which was considerably more than I’d thought.
Witch of All Witches: Tales of Xest #4 Page 19