Cut to the Crone

by Amanda M. Lee

  “I’m going to take him,” Gunner explained. “Things are in flux a bit because of an incident several weeks ago, but your family is respected throughout the state. If you want help, they’ll offer it.”

  Aric hesitated and then nodded. “I don’t know what I expect but proper etiquette dictates I stop in.”

  “Oh, well, proper etiquette,” Zoe snorted with obvious disdain. “Lord knows I want to make sure I don’t offend them.”

  “Zoe.” Aric pinched the bridge of his nose and looked to the sky.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on here, but the local pack is okay,” Gunner interjected. While he wasn’t the type to insert himself into the middle of a marital squabble, obviously he sensed things spiraling. “He’ll be okay, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “He will be okay,” Zoe agreed, her tone dark. “Tell your pack members that if one hair on his head is hurt, I’ll burn their entire leadership to the ground.”

  “Zoe,” Aric shook his head, “you can’t constantly throw threats around like that. It makes you sound maniacal.”

  “I’m fine with that.” Zoe avoided making eye contact with her husband and instead focused on me. “I want to see that house.”

  I nodded without hesitation. I was looking forward to learning more about the infamous Zoe Lake-Winters. Her reputation was built on fire and death and yet she’d managed to build a happy family life on top of that. Of course I was curious.

  “You’re going to have to drive unless you can handle a motorcycle,” I said. “I don’t have a car.”

  Aric tossed Zoe the keys. “I’ll ride with Gunner. You can take our truck.”

  “Thank you.” Zoe’s demeanor was stiff as she shoved the keys into her pocket. She refused to meet Aric’s gaze, which I found interesting.

  “Zoe,” he said softly, moving closer to her. Obviously he had no intention of taking off when they weren’t on the same page. “It’s not like before. They’re not going to try to force me to agree to something that could possibly come back to bite us. This isn’t my pack. I’m just showing my respect.”

  A head bob was all he got in response. I looked around them to focus on Gunner, confused as to what the problem was. Gunner didn’t appear any clearer than me.

  “I’ll text you every few minutes so you know things are fine,” Aric promised. “You don’t see me asking you to go against what you know to be right, do you?”

  Zoe glared. “You make sure they know I’ll kill them if something happens to you. I’m not messing around this time.”

  Aric captured the finger she pointed at him and leaned close. “Duly noted.” He planted a firm kiss on her lips. “You be careful at this house on the hill. Just because it burned to the ground doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.”

  “I’m always careful.”

  He snorted. “Right. That’s your middle name. Zoe Careful Winters.”

  She held his gaze for an extended beat, something unsaid passing between them, and then nodded. Whatever worries she had, she was going to look past them. I figured that was a good thing.

  Sensing the crisis had cooled, Sami spoke up for the first time. “I’m going with Dad. I want to see the local wolves.”

  Zoe immediately started shaking her head. “No, you’re staying here with Rafael.”

  Rafael cleared his throat, drawing Zoe’s eyes to his, and shook his head. “I have other things to attend to. There are other paranormals in this area and I’m familiar with some. I trust them, but it’s best if she doesn’t come with me, just in case.”

  Zoe’s gaze darkened. “Why can’t you just stay here with her?”

  “Because I am not her babysitter.” Rafael was firm. “I kept her safe last night. I will always keep her safe. My contacts here aren’t going to be thrilled if I show up with a child, no matter how magical she may be.”

  Sami threw up her hands, her expression fierce. “I’m not a child! How many times do I have to tell you that? You know what? This is exactly why I no longer have a crush on you. I’m a woman and should be treated as such.”

  Zoe’s lips quirked at her daughter’s response. When she looked at Aric, her grin only widened. “She gets that from me, too.”

  “She definitely does,” Aric agreed. He seemed much more relaxed. “I’ll take her, but I know you won’t like that.”

  Sami made a protesting sound. “Why not? I like meeting other wolves.”

  “Please,” Aric said. “You don’t like the other wolves any more than your mother does. The only reason you want to come with me is because Gunner will be with me. I’m not an idiot.”

  Sami’s mouth dropped open. “That’s so not true. It’s also mean. You’re a mean dad.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Aric waved his hand. “I think she should go with you, Zoe. I know you’re looking for remnants of vampires but you’re unlikely to find them during the day. Even if you do, she’ll be safest with you.”

  “I don’t want to go with her,” Sami complained.

  Zoe ignored the outburst. “Fine. I still want you texting regularly.”

  He mock-saluted. “Yes, ma’am. You know how it stirs me up when you boss me around.”

  SAMI WAS STILL POUTING WHEN I DIRECTED Zoe where to park. The kid ran hot and cold. Technically, that was probably a result of her age, but I found the kid’s mood swings dizzying.

  “Here we are.” I inclined my head toward the shell of the house. Seeing it like this, under the bright light of the sun, reminded me what a thorough job I’d done when torching it. “There’s not much left.”

  “So I can see.” Zoe killed the engine on the vehicle and hopped out, feigning patience while she waited for a sulky Sami to join her. “I don’t particularly enjoy the attitude,” she said to her daughter. “I know you wanted to go with your dad but it’s better this way.”

  Sami rolled her eyes. “You guys need to stop treating me like a kid. I’m not a kid.”

  “You’re fourteen, Sami. That essentially means you’re going to be the devil for another year or so. You’re nowhere near an adult.”

  “Whatever.” Sami scuffed her foot on the ground and studied the house. “I don’t understand why we’re here. These vampires are dead.”

  “Unless some of them escaped.” Zoe eyes were busy studying the ground. “What’s this?” She strolled forward, stopping when she reached the spot where a magical barrier had once been erected. She apparently recognized what she was looking at. “Who slapped this thing up?”

  “That would be the female minion I mentioned.” I dragged a hand through my hair as I thought back to Emma. There had been something familiar about her, although I couldn’t say why I felt that way. She was very obviously dangerous. While where she’d fled after the initial fight was unknown, I had severe doubts that she’d left the area. I figured she would make her presence known when ready.

  “Ah.” Zoe bobbed her head. “You said she was held against her will.”

  “That’s the way with minions. The little one, Bixby, embraced his lot in life. Emma was actively working against her master. The thing is, she wasn’t working against him because she recognized he was dangerous. She only cared about herself.”

  “Can you blame her?” Zoe watched as Sami studied the spot where the barrier used to be. “Do you see what this was?”

  Sami nodded, her earlier annoyance forgotten. “It was a dome of some sort.”

  “Pretty much,” Zoe agreed. “It was cast from inside the house to protect those inside.” She turned back to me. “Obviously you managed to get through it.”

  I nodded. “A local witch helped me figure it out. I still don’t know how it worked. I sort of made myself fluid when slipping through. Oh, and invisible.”

  She smirked. “We’ve used domes, mostly for the same reason. It’s interesting.” She rubbed her shoe against an invisible line. “Did the dome fall when you burned the house?”

  That was a very good question. I hadn’t given it a lot of thought.
“I don’t know. My team was held captive inside. I saved them, sent them out and then headed for the basement.”

  Zoe nodded, her gaze keen as she studied the remnants of the house. “Tell me about this master. I’m not familiar with master vampires.”

  “You’re extremely good friends with a vampire,” I pointed out.

  “Yeah, but he’s different.” Zoe fell into step with me as we walked toward the house. Her eyes periodically darted to Sami, but the teenager seemed to be content to watch and listen. It was a great relief given the whining in the vehicle during the whole drive. “Rafael is a born vampire.”

  I stilled. “I didn’t know that was a thing.”

  She nodded. “At one time, there were only born vampires. They diluted their ranks over the years. Now the made vampires outnumber the born vampires by a long shot. The bulk of my knowledge of vampires has been informed by Rafael, so his take on vampire politics might not be unbiased.”

  “Uh-huh.” Zoe began to circle the house. I had no idea what she was doing, but she appeared intent. “May I ask how you met? All of you. It seems you have an interesting little family.”

  Her lips curved and she ran her hands over a fallen beam. “Aric and I met in the student bookstore right after I arrived at Covenant College. I had a different boyfriend, who happened to be in a fraternity with him, but there was a spark there.”

  “Will the dill hole,” Sami piped in.

  “I see you’ve been listening to your father tell college stories,” Zoe said dryly.

  “He said you were stupid when it came to men before him,” Sami replied. “I believe him.”

  “Of course you do.” Zoe shook her head before turning back to me. “My college experience was a mess. I didn’t know what I was when I first arrived. Others did. They kept referring to me as a mage even though I didn’t know what the word meant. Over time, things became clearer. Aric and I fell in love. My roommates joined the fight, sometimes willingly and other times, not so much. Rafael became a trusted ally despite the fact that he tried to glamour me so he could take a drink the first night we met.”

  I made a face. “That’s gross.”

  She chuckled. “It all worked out in the end.”

  “You love them both.” It was a statement rather than a question.

  “Not the way you’re thinking,” she replied on a firm head shake. “Aric is my soulmate. I’m not even sure I believed in soulmates until him. I do now. He’s my whole heart. Rafael stood by us through some very tough times. We haven’t always kept in touch over the years, but when it came time to return to Covenant College to ... finish things, he was there.”

  “You obviously trust him with your only child,” I pointed out. “She’s the most important thing in your world and you gave her to him to protect.”

  “He would die for her.” Zoe took on a far-off expression and then shook her head. “I told Aric to go with them. The plan was for me to stay behind and take on the vampires myself. He refused and sent Rafael ahead with her and circled back.”

  The pain was naked on her face and it touched me. “You’re his soulmate, too.”

  Zoe nodded. “We’re kind of a mess right now. We had an agreement that we would always put Sami first. He reneged on that agreement and came back for me.”

  “And that makes you angry.” In a weird way, I understood where she was coming from. “You can’t ask him to be something he isn’t. Isn’t it possible that he knew in his heart that she would be okay but that you were at risk?”

  “Of course that’s what happened.” Zoe rubbed her forehead. “We had one child because we knew it would be impossible to guarantee the safety of multiple children. It didn’t matter if we had a boy or girl, we only knew we had to protect this tiny being that sprang from both of us. From the moment she came into our lives, we became hyper-vigilant. We protected her with everything we had, sent messages left and right. For the most part, she had a quiet childhood. And then she turned twelve.”

  “What happened when she turned twelve?”

  “She came into her powers, and not just the mage powers she got from me but the shifter powers she got from Aric. It happened all at once.”

  Something occurred to me. “Do you think she’s more powerful than you?”

  “I don’t know,” Zoe said sincerely. “There are ... things she’ll have to face as she grows older. I suspect we’ll figure out the answer to that question then. Right now, despite her attitude, she’s still our little girl, and we’ll fight to the death to protect her.”

  Something in her tone stirred me. “Can I ask you an invasive question?”

  She chuckled, her eyes drifting back to Sami, who was fixated on the house. “I think you’ve earned it. You kept my family safe last night.”

  “Not really. I just didn’t kill the vampire. Sami kept herself safe, and then rode to the rescue this morning looking for her friend.”

  Zoe’s smile deepened. “Yeah. That she got from both her father and me. We’re both loyal to a fault. She got a double dose of that.”

  “The thing is, I don’t know where I came from.” I hesitated and then barreled forward. “I was abandoned at a young age. I have no memory of my time before then.” Before I realized what was happening, I launched into the tale. I didn’t embellish anything or drag out the story. By the time I was finished, Zoe looked intrigued.

  “What are you asking me?” she asked, confused.

  “Just that ... if you thought it was necessary to save Sami at a young age, would you have left her to be raised by someone else?”

  The question appeared to stump Zoe. “I don’t know. I guess that depends on a great many things. That would never be my first choice. I would fight to the death to make sure it didn’t happen. If my choices were losing Sami to an enemy faction or death and losing her to a world without me, I would like to think I’d do the right thing.”

  “What’s the right thing?” I was genuinely curious. “Isn’t the right thing keeping a family together?”

  “In theory, yes. However, that’s not always possible in practice. I get that you’re upset about what happened. To you, it feels as if you were thrown away. You don’t know the truth behind who you are. You’re powerful, Scout. I sensed it the second we landed in your front yard. Why do you think I put on such a show of being a bitch?”

  I chuckled at the memory. “I knew what you were doing, and why. I wasn’t offended. Don’t worry about that.”

  “I’m not.” She returned my smile. “The thing is, you’re dealing with a lot of the same things I dealt with when I arrived at Covenant College. Everyone and their brother knew something about me being a mage and I was in the dark. Apparently, you’re a Child of the Stars, although I have no idea what that means.”

  That was a disappointment. “I was hoping you’d heard the term.”

  “I’m not great when it comes to the paranormal history stuff,” she admitted. “I do know somebody who is.”

  “Yeah?” I cocked an eyebrow. “Who might that be?”

  “A witch. We went to school together. She’s my best friend. She lives in Detroit now, works at some death gate. We’re going to see her in about two weeks. If we can get through this mess, that is. She might be able to come up with some answers. I get that you might not be willing to trust her because you’ve never met her.”

  “I ... need to think about it.” I appreciated the offer. I simply wasn’t sure how I felt about chasing the option. “Let’s get through this and then tackle that.”

  She nodded in agreement. “I think that’s a good idea.” Straightening, she drew her eyebrows together. “Where did Sami go?”

  “I’m over here,” the teenager called, drawing our attention to the tree line on the west side of the house. She was fixated on something she’d found on the ground.

  We closed the distance to her, and when I realized what she was looking at, my excitement ratcheted up a notch. “Footprints.”

  Zoe nodded, her eyes keen. �
�At least two sets. There might be more.”

  “There’s more,” Sami said. “I think there’s at least three, more likely four.”

  I gave her an encouraging smile. “Is that the wolf in you figuring that out?”

  Sami shrugged. “I don’t always know why I can do the things I can do ... or how. I just feel it’s more than three.”

  “We’ll check it out.” Zoe straightened. “I’m taking the lead, and if I tell you to run, Sami, you’d better listen to me. I don’t want any crap.”

  “I’ll agree to your terms if you make Dad stop treating me like a kid.” Sami’s expression turned dark. “I’m a woman and I wanted to be treated like a woman.”

  Zoe snorted. “I’ll talk to your father about not treating you like you’re eight. You are not, however, a woman.”

  “I am.”

  “I’m not going to fight about this.” Zoe’s eyes flashed with impatience. “You do what I say when we get in those woods. Do we have a deal?”

  Sami reluctantly nodded. “I’ll do what you say. I won’t like it, though.”

  “You also get that from me.”

  Seven

  “The woods are stupid.”

  We’d barely made it beyond the tree line when Sami stepped in something funky — I was leaning toward bear crap — and the afternoon took a turn.

  “I kind of like the woods,” I remarked, shooting her a rueful smile as she wiped the sole of her shoe against a fallen tree. “I’ve spent the bulk of my time in the city, so I find the woods a refreshing change of pace.”

  Sami shot me a withering look. “That’s easy to say when you don’t have crap on your shoe.”

  I risked a glance at Zoe and found her smiling. “You find this amusing?”

  Zoe shrugged. “She looks like her father, but acts like me. It’s just the way of the world.” She moved closer so she could study Sami’s shoe. “I’m not all that fond of the woods either, even though we live in the middle of nowhere.”