SPELL TO UNBIND, A

by Laurie, Victoria

  I debated staying in the car or chasing after him for about twenty seconds, and then hopped out of the car and crossed the street myself.

  I stopped next to Finn, who stood at the front gate, which was covered in charred smoke and hanging on only one hinge. He put up his hand, fingers splayed, and closed his eyes. I waited while he muttered a few words and watched the rubble carefully, after recognizing that Finn was invoking his comeback spell.

  If the cruet was in the rubble, I doubted it had survived the explosion, but knowing the power of the vessel, I also knew that some of the fragments would still hold some charm and would likely rise from the rubble unless pinned underneath.

  So I waited and watched, feeling and admiring the sheer power emanating from Finn. As he commanded the remnants of the cruet to rise from the ashes, his essence wafted off him in big sexy waves, and dammit if it wasn’t a gigantic turn-on.

  The charm below my shirt seared into my skin, and without thinking, I leaned a little closer to him, pulled by the insanely strong attraction I felt for him—especially in that moment.

  It was then that something really, really weird happened: I felt my own essence gather, unbidden, and it rose in power by several degrees more than I might be able to manage on my own. It pulsed with new life, as if some secret, hidden part of me had been harboring a well of energy that had previously been held just out of my reach.

  This extra burst of energy then shifted sideways to meld with Finn’s. It wasn’t like the melding of our energies when he’d had me tied up in his car. This was different. Significantly so. It was like getting a boost in amplitude from an unknown source, then lending that source to Finn to wield it as he would.

  And the feeling was also igniting a spark of passion that I was once again slave to.

  A wave of pleasure rose with the wave of new energy, mingling with it, tagging along as it bonded with Finn. I closed my eyes, concentrating on resisting the urge to turn to him, rip off my clothes and his, then have my way with him. The charm once again seared my skin, this time more intensely than it ever had before. A battle was taking place for control over my will, and I felt like a bystander to that battle more than an actual participant.

  And still the energy of our combined essence ratcheted up in power until the air was practically crackling with it. It was so similar to the feel and vibration of the energy that built right before it exploded back in Finn’s condo, but this didn’t seem lethal. Well, at least not to me.

  I began to lose myself in the swirl of our energies, dancing all around us. It almost felt like I was falling, so I opened my eyes to try to anchor myself, and that’s when I saw the remnants of Grigori’s mantel, fireplace, and part of his chimney rise out of the rubble.

  I realized abruptly that that had been the last place I’d seen the succubaen, and I was mesmerized by the sight of such a large and heavy structure lifting effortlessly out of the debris.

  I looked over at Finn and saw that he was looking intensely back at me. We were both engulfed in a flame of aqua blue energy, my green mixing with his blue, and it was gorgeous. As gorgeous as the light coming off Ember when I looked at her through my monocle.

  But there was more. I swear I became aware of Finn’s thoughts. Not in specific words, per se, but I sensed that I could feel what he felt while he was looking at me: a note of surprise, of empowerment, and of attraction. It mirrored everything I was feeling, but it was distinctly separate and masculine.

  And I realized that if I could sense what he could, then he could no doubt do the same.

  I think he also realized it, and at the exact same time we broke off from each other, causing the chimney and fireplace to crash back to earth with a loud rumble.

  “What the hell was that?” Finn whispered as we continued to stare at each other.

  “I have no idea,” I admitted. “But I don’t think we should ever do that again.”

  “Agreed.”

  I clenched my hands into fists, once again at war with myself. There was nothing I wanted more than to mingle my energy with Finn the Flayer, but I couldn’t admit it. Especially since he had agreed.

  To my relief, he broke off eye contact, turning away from me to kick open the gate and stride up the short walkway directly into the rubble. I followed but kept my distance.

  Using the flash from his phone to light the way, he moved to where the remains of the chimney lay and shuffled the ash, soot, and brick with his foot. “Did you sense it?” he asked.

  “The succubaen? No. But the mantel was the last place I saw it.”

  “Explains the chimney,” he said, kicking at a brick.

  “What now?” I asked.

  Finn sighed, and it was such a reluctant, heavy sound. “Now we go talk to my brother. He was in no shape to go anywhere but home, so that’s where we’re heading.”

  I nodded. I was out of other ideas of where to look too.

  Finn began to walk back toward the Escalade, and I followed.

  “Should we call first?” I asked.

  “Nope. And don’t you dare send him a text that we’re coming.”

  “Wouldn’t think of it,” I said, lowering the hand that’d been reaching toward my back pocket where I’d tucked my phone. I’d actually been ready to do just that.

  A short time later, we arrived at a neatly arranged suburban home with precisely trimmed shrubbery, a perfectly manicured lawn, and tastefully elegant touches.

  A lone bench sat under a giant oak tree off to the side of the yard, and a tire swing hung from a nearby limb of that same tree.

  Gideon’s home was a surprise: I’d expected something closer to his brother’s place—all sleek wood and midcentury modernism. But this was elegant and homey. It was nice.

  We headed up the brick-paved walkway and stopped at the front door. Finn raised his hand to eye his watch and scowled. “My watch stopped.”

  “Probably from the blast,” I said. I reached for my phone to check the time before we knocked, when the door opened abruptly and there stood Gideon, wearing sweats and a long plaid robe, looking mad enough to murder the both of us.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?!” he whispered harshly to his brother.

  “We need to talk, Gid.”

  “Do we?”

  “Yeah.”

  Both men glared hard at the other, and it wasn’t a pleasant thing to watch two identical twins staring venomously at one another.

  “You look better,” I said, trying to break the ice.

  Gideon slid his gaze to me, narrowed his eyes in warning, then went back to having a glaring contest with his brother.

  “Detective,” I said softly, unwilling to back down. “It’s about the case.”

  He stood there clenching and unclenching his fists, his gaze still firmly on his brother. “I’ve told you never, ever to come here again, Finn.”

  “Gideon?” a woman’s voice called from somewhere deep in the house. “Who’s at the door?”

  I saw both men stiffen, which was a surprise, given that I would’ve expected only Gideon to startle at the sound of his wife’s sleepy voice calling to him from the stairwell.

  His eyes held such hatred in them as he stared at his brother that I thought he might punch Finn in the face. Still, what he said was, “It’s just Officer Stanton, babe. He’s here to brief me on the case. Go back to bed, okay?”

  “Brett’s here?” she asked, on an apparent yawn. “Does he want coffee?”

  “I don’t know,” Gideon said, his expression practically double-dog-daring Finn to reply. “Stanton, would you like some coffee?”

  Finn opened his mouth as if to respond when Gideon spoke for him. “No, honey, he’s good. I’ll take the meeting outside so you can get back to sleep, okay?”

  “But you’re sick, sweetheart. Does Brett know you’ve had food poisoning?”

  “He’s just briefing me. I’m not going to work until I feel better. I promise.”

  “Okay,” she said, but remember that Kea
ton’s window is open, and you know what a light sleeper he is, so keep it to the side of the house, okay?”

  Gideon’s eyes closed as if she’d said something painful, while Finn pressed his lips together and looked as if he’d just been hit in the gut. Meanwhile, my head swiveled back and forth between the two brothers, utterly puzzled by their expressions.

  Gideon stepped back inside and closed the door slightly, preventing us from seeing his wife up the stairs. “We will, Trish. Go back to bed. I’ll be there soon.”

  He waited a bit—probably to see if she’d turn and do as he suggested, and then satisfied, he stepped out onto the porch and motioned us toward the driveway.

  We followed behind him, and I could see how he was still struggling to walk, his whole frame straining under the weight of standing upright.

  Ember had definitely rescued him back from the brink, but her limited time with him had brought him only so far, and the trinket I’d loaned him could do only so much given that he’d had it for less than a day.

  I glanced at Finn and saw a pained expression on his face as he too watched his brother struggle.

  Gideon would have to recover the rest of the way on his own, which I had no doubt he would, but it would take time, and any thoughts I might’ve entertained about bringing him along to finish the rest of this quest abruptly ended when I watched him labor the twenty-five feet to the driveway.

  We followed him all the way around the house, then down the drive to the detached garage, which lent a lovely view to the backyard, where flower gardens were neatly trimmed and free of leaves, and a soccer net was set up at the far end.

  When Gideon finally stopped underneath a basketball hoop, he turned to face us. “Spill it,” he said.

  Finn asked him, “Where’s the pin with Petra’s insignia that I left you with?”

  “Don’t know, don’t care,” Gideon said stubbornly, but I saw him press his hand against the pocket of his robe and immediately knew he was lying. I also thought that maybe it served Finn right for impersonating his twin at the police station.

  “Why do you need it back?” I asked, if only to dispel the tension. Plus, it wasn’t like any of Petra’s goons were going to suddenly bow down to Finn if he paraded around with it clipped to his jacket.

  “Gideon can’t be walking around impersonating me with that thing,” Finn said, glaring at his brother. He thought he was lying too. “It’ll get him killed.”

  “Like I said, I don’t have it, don’t want it, and when you find it, you can shove it up your a—”

  “It’s probably in the rubble,” I said quickly, stepping to Gideons side and placing a hand on his arm. I needed to ease the tension before this friendly tête-à-tête escalated even more. “I’m sure you’ll find it when you sort through the debris.”

  Gideon, however, eyed me sharply. “What rubble?”

  “My condo blew up,” Finn said easily.

  Gideon blinked at him. Then he looked at me and blinked some more.

  “It was the same mystic’s essence that was used to blowup Bree’s place,” I explained. “Somehow he found out we were there and blew your brother’s bachelor pad to kingdom come.”

  “With you in it?” Gideon asked, his eyes still wide.

  “Yes,” Finn said simply. Then he bumped me gently with his elbow. “This one helped get us both into the trinket room before the second blast though, and good thing, or you’d no longer be a twin.”

  Gideon worked his jaw in a way that suggested he wasn’t sure if that was in fact a good thing. “Boris?” he asked next.

  “He’s fine. And so is the trinket room, which I see you’ve been pilfering from.”

  Gideon ignored him and turned to me again. “Did you get a look at the guy?”

  “No,” I said. “Too much debris in the air. Whoever he is, he’s a powerful son of a bitch.”

  “Any ideas who it could be?” Gideon asked next.

  “Plenty,” Finn told him, without elaborating further.

  “That’s helpful,” Gideon sneered.

  “You’d know all about helpful, wouldn’t you, Gid? Like how you helped yourself to the most valuable possession in my trinket room?”

  Gideon’s brow furrowed. Giving a subtle wave toward me he said, “You’ve got another one just like—”

  “Not that!” Finn snapped. For the first time he reacted angrily toward his brother, and I found it telling on several levels because I believed they were referring to my charm, and if they were, then the thief in me definitely wanted that other half, mostly because it would likely give me double the power to ward off my attraction to Finn.

  “The glass bottle in the leather box?” Gideon said next, looking surprised by Finn’s reaction.

  “Yes. That,” Finn said, anger still wafting off him in waves. “You have no idea what you’ve unleashed, little brother, by sending that thing out into the world.”

  “Didn’t seem that powerful to me,” Gideon replied, crossing his arms and puffing out his chest. He was back to being difficult.

  I sighed. “Gideon,” I began, laying a hand on his arm to get his attention. “The cruet you took and gave to Grigori is a succubaen. Do you know what that is?”

  Gideon tore his gaze away from his brother to look at me. “I’ve heard the term. Doesn’t it mean that using one will kill you?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Which is one of the reasons they’re illegal and why there are almost none left in the world. But Grigori created one, using the egg to raise himself from the dead each time he gave up his life to bring the trinket up a level or two.”

  “Why?”

  “Because the succubaen would eventually lead him to the phoenix.”

  Gideon uncrossed his arms. “The phoenix?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “That thing actually exists?”

  “It does,” Finn said.

  “Supposedly,” I countered, trying to throw a little smoke around the subject. “It’s more legend than fact, but most members of the Seven believe it’s real.”

  For the first time since opening the door to us, Gideon’s expression registered regret. “I needed it, and it was the one and only trinket in the room that pulled on me for an appropriate gift for Grigori.” He then eyed his brother and said, “Plus, you weren’t using it, so I figured it was safe to give away.”

  “I wasn’t using it for good reason, you idiot!” Finn snapped.

  Gideon stood up a little taller, which was a struggle for him, I could tell. “You got a lotta nerve calling me names here at my home, Flayer.”

  Finn took a deep breath and sighed. With a nod, he said, “You’re right. Still, Gideon, you don’t understand what you stole from me. That thing is dangerous. Especially in the wrong hands.”

  “I already gave it to Grigori. It’s probably still at his house.”

  “It’s not,” I said. “We checked.”

  Gideon turned angry eyes to me. “You entered my crime scene without authorization?”

  “Nope,” Finn told him. “We stayed on the sidewalk.”

  “Then how do you know it’s not there?”

  “There’s not much there there anymore, bud. Grigori’s killer blew that up too,” Finn said.

  Gideon swept a hand through his hair. “Jesus,” he said. “What the hell?”

  “This guy is out of control and as lethal as one of Elric’s death spells,” I told him. And then I turned to look at his house meaningfully, spotting the soccer net and the swing set. “Maybe you and your family should think about relocating for the night. Maybe even for the next couple of nights.”

  Gideon’s eyes widened, but then he followed my gaze to the house, and specifically to the soccer net.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Finn said, backing me up.

  Gideon turned to his brother, “Can’t you just assign some of your goons to watch the house for a couple of days?”

  “I would if I could, bro,” Finn replied. “But Petra’s not letting me
play with her toys right now, so we’re all on our own. How about taking your family to the lake house?”

  Gideon ran a trembling hand through his hair. “This is so fucked up,” he whispered.

  “It’s only for a few nights,” I said. “Until your brother and I can identify who’s behind all this.”

  Gideon shook his head slightly but then changed that to a reluctant nod. Glancing up at me again, his brow furrowed. Pointing over my right shoulder, he asked, “What’s that?”

  I reached up to tap my hand against Lunatrabem’s hilt. “New toy.”

  “Did my brother give it to you?”

  “More or less. We can save that discussion for later. What we need to know now, Gideon, is how you first came into contact with Grigori.”

  “Why?” he asked stubbornly.

  I wanted to punch him. But then I remembered that I could basically tap him on the shoulder and he’d probably fall over, he was still so weak. “Because no one else could’ve gotten the cruet from Finn but you. And what better way to lure it out of the trinket room than to set up a mentorship between you and a willing mystic who’d been in hiding for a hundred years?”

  Gideon’s brow furrowed, and I could see that he was trying to put the pieces together. “I interviewed him,” he said.

  “You interviewed him?” his brother repeated.

  Gideon ignored Finn and focused on me. “One of Grigori’s neighbors was murdered.”

  I frowned. “Who?”

  “A guy that lived three houses down from Grigori.”

  “Wait, there were two murders on that street in recent weeks?” I asked.

  “No. This guy was murdered in his bookshop. He was a rare books dealer.”

  That confession went through me like a hot knife. Now I understood how Grigori had learned about the book that would lead him to the knowledge that the phoenix was a rust-colored dog.

  “How was he murdered?” Finn asked, unaware of my alarm.

  Gideon continued to direct his answers to me. “His throat was cut.”

  I winced. “If he was murdered in the bookstore, why would you interview Grigori?” I asked, trying to tie it all together.

  “The guy’s sister shared the house with him. I asked her if anyone had been acting suspiciously around her brother, and she mentioned that one of their new neighbors gave her the creeps. She said he seemed overly friendly with her brother and was always trying to get himself invited over, so I checked it out and met Grigori.”