by Jamie Magee
Judge nodded once.
“I need this, Judge. Let me face her alone.”
Judge moved his head slightly back and forth.
Adair sucked in a sharp breath then stepped forward. She glanced back at Judge, her stare seeming to say a million things, mainly—trust me.
As she slowly turned her head back to Talon, magic swirled about her. A nod from her slammed the door in Thrash’s face and then placed a dome of energy around her and Talon. Judge could see, but he could not hear. It was her compromise.
Talon lifted a brow, and slanted his head to the side, seeing Brosia in Adair, more so tonight than any other.
“We have had a tough night, he wants to be close,” Adair said in way of explanation.
“What happened?” Talon asked growing instantly protective when he saw her bandaged fingertips
Adair lifted her hands; pleasantly surprised they didn’t hurt nearly as badly anymore, her spells were working.
“Figured out how Talley was finding me so easily,” She shrugged one shoulder. “Splinters, who would have guessed?”
“How did you figure it out?”
“I think Talley told Judge.”
Talon’s stare shot to Judge but his gaze was on Adair.
“He can’t hear you or see you, only me, and if he lunges for me, he will reach me.
“And why would he do that?” Talon asked crossing his arms.
Adair glanced over at him slowly. As she did she remembered her childhood differently. He was always there. Talley and Rush’s best friend. Dinner at least three times a week, every birthday, every holiday, and every school event. Hell, he was even there the night she left with her prom date.
Looking back, the clues were there, as slight as they were. A glint in his eye, the words between words, the tiniest of things that would only reveal a truth to those who already knew it.
“I spelled the president of the most lethal biker game in existence, the Pentacle Sons. I entrapped you. Could have killed you.”
Talon lifted his chin ever so slightly. “You don’t know that.”
“I was aware I was spelling you.”
“You thought you were helping me.”
Someone sure helped you, Adair thought. She couldn’t recall feeling this much power ever coming off him before.
“Because a ghost told me to, and of course, this vision I have of a flaming bird in chains being pulled down.”
At this, he glanced to Judge.
“Yeah, we figured out we both saw that afterward.”
“What ghost?”
“I don’t know. She said ‘save him.’” She squinted. “Then Miriam kinda told me you have been, er, um… deprived and I knew Zen would fix that.”
“How?”
“Because that’s how I—” She flushed. Father or not, she was not eager to tell anyone wet dreams were her mojo juice.
Talon stepped up. “You see your mother?”
Adair shook her head and awkwardly nodded in Judge’s direction. “He was faceless over the last few years, but yeah.”
Talon flushed too and stepped back giving her space or him space, one of the two.
He began to pace in the small area afforded to him. Finally he spoke. “What do you know?”
Adair looked at her feet as if she were ten again. “I saw it, my conception.”
Talon’s head jerked in her direction and Adair flushed enough so that Judge stepped closer.
Adair lifted her hand telling him she was fine then looked up at Talon. “Not the actual deal. And in truth, none of it makes sense. But I know it was a long time ago. I know my grandmother was really the vessel that birthed me. I know my mother is a Lady of Death.” Adair fidgeted with her hands. “Judge said you have avoided Zen and you might’ve had a good reason. I didn’t know that.”
Talon nodded weakly then went back to his pacing.
“She’s evil. Is she the devil my grandmother always told me I was?”
Talon stopped short and looked to his side at her. He’d give anything to kill that woman a million times over for what she put this child through, insane or not, some sins are unforgivable. “You’re not evil.”
“Is she, my mother?”
Talon painfully closed his eyes. If Adair had asked him this a year ago, hell, six months ago, he might have felt inclined to say yes, to say, ‘your mother ripped me away from my kingdom, from a woman I care deeply for. She’s held me prisoner, and she’s tricked me. She is an adversary that should never be doubted.’
Today, at this approaching dawn, he wasn’t sure he could say such a thing. Brosia had opened her arms to him at death so quickly, Talon never felt the pain or fear of it. The struggle began when Reveca fought her.
Over the years, at each two-hundred-year mark, there were times when she was less than pleasant, when she was seductive, when she was needy, when she was generous. She had tried them all, shown every side of herself to Talon, all the cold dark crevasses that most keep hidden.
And when he was down, when he and Reveca had parted ways and he need a lifeline, she was there. Sometimes, it was a brutal union. Other times, it was exactly what he needed. The night she took human form, the night Adair was conceived, was the one and only time he had made love to her. When he was completely there. When he thought to himself, this is how it should feel.
He didn’t trust her, he never would, no matter the circumstance. She was an obsessive soul, one entrenched in her thoughts, and unforgiving when wronged. But evil was not a word he could squarely place on her shoulders and vow it to be the truth.
“No.”
“You had to think about it.”
Talon grinned and shook his head. She had his wit. Any day of the week, she may have her mothers’ passion, but the rest was him. Cool and agile one second, fiery and lethal the next.
“She’s determined.”
“Would she have hurt you? If I held you there—in Zen?”
“She would have kept me there.”
After a tense moment Adair spoke. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
He appeared just before her, looming darkly, staring into her eyes. “No. I am.”
Adair swallowed nervously, sure she was about to be sentenced to some doom for her infraction.
“This secret was kept for more reasons than I can explain.”
Adair nodded shakily. “I’m sure it would not have been an easy conversation to have with Reveca.”
“That wasn’t it.”
Adair arched a brow, politely calling bullshit on the matter.
“Some of it, but not for why you think. I didn’t—I still do not understand the gap of time between your conception and the time you appeared in Savannah. Reveca could have gotten over the existence of you but not any form of black magic, not near her family.”
He tilted his head to the side. “It was Jade who told me, a hundred years ago, Talley and Finley would raise you.” He paused. “She spoke of Judge, too.”
Adair stepped back in shock. “Jade.” If Adair had a menace, it was her.
Talon nodded. “Reveca feels the same about her, and I don’t know what to say about the matter. She was right about you, and circumstance proved the other three to be right as well. For all I know, Talley raising you separate from the Club kept you safe. If my enemies in either the mortal or immortal world knew I had a daughter, you would always be at risk.”
“I get it.”
“You don’t. You’re pissed. You’re scared.”
“And not nearly buzzed enough for this conversation,” she said with a longing glance at the ashtray.
“That will jack with your magic,” Talon warned, sounding more like a father than ever before.
“It’s not what you think, at least not all of it. Sometimes, I’m more of a seer than a witch.”
“You’re more than both.”
Adair smirked.
“Are you going to forgive me?” he asked hoarsely.
His words killed her smirk, and sh
ock emerged in her expression.
“Depends,” Adair admitted after a long pause. “Are you going to die and leave me here?”
Talon narrowed his stare on her.
“You looked like death last night. Now you don’t, and I don’t know why, but I know you’re going through some shit right now, this Club is, and I refuse to get attached if you’re just going to starve to death and leave anyway.”
He shook his head as he reached for her, but he hesitated, dropping his arms, still not sure how to act around her. “I wasn’t starving because I wanted to die. I was because—it just happened that way.”
“Not good enough,” she argued. “That shit doesn’t happen. You should’ve found a way to get more energy. A spell, something.”
“I didn’t expect to decline that fast, and when I began to, my thoughts were too scattered to find an answer.”
“Then you should have asked someone,” she accused.
“Who, Adair?” He lowered his voice that he never meant to raise. “I couldn’t have asked Vec. I wasn’t going to her fucked coven. Jade? I don’t know where to put my trust with her—I still fear she will vanish with you one day, because that is how you both appeared—out of the clear fucking blue. My men? No way, I could not show weakness.”
“To me,” Adair offered.
He shook his head. “No memory, no knowledge of us.”
“I mean now. I mean you come to me. You tell me you need help. You swear you will not leave me, you will come to me for help, and we are at peace.”
“Peace?” he asked, knowing every single word a witch says must be checked twice over for hidden messages.
Adair shook her head slightly with tears welling. “I can’t give you forgiveness because I hold no blame. You found me. You brought me home. You kept me safe.”
Talon’s shoulders fell ever so slightly, then he lifted his palms, the only sign Adair needed.
She crashed into him, tears flowing down her cheeks that only gained speed when she felt in his arms tighten around her. His lips pressed on the crown of her head.
He swayed them side to side and then leaned back cupping her face in his hands, wiping her tears away.
“We’re going to make this all right. We’re going to get Talley back. I have a deal in place, and you will always be safe from your mother, from whatever her obsessions have landed on our doorstep.”
“Easier said than done,” they both heard Reveca say, her words thick with grief.
Adair looked from Talon to see that the turbulence in her emotions had broken her spell, and more than likely, Reveca, Thrash, and Judge had heard the very end of their conversation.
“We can’t make the trade, and she has to see her mother when the moon rises this night.”
***
Reveca had sat as calmly as possible as Gwinn and Shade recounted everything they had seen through the night.
Gwinn was now an advocate for Mia, stating he could not be the bad of the balance. Her theory was he was keeping Talley in check.
Adair had told Gwinn the night she shot Scorpio, she heard a fight in the distance. Gwinn was now sure Talley had been spelled to hurt Adair, and Mia was the balance in the matter.
“This is a test,” Gwinn stated. “And we have to help them pass it—every spell has a loophole, and those two need to find this one.
The lights around them flickered when Gwinn made her declarations, meaning the haunts about agreed.
The why behind it all was still missing but right there, Reveca could feel it.
Under it all, her gut told her this mystery could only be solved by Adair. At best, the others were there to support her, protect her, and set in motion the events she needed to happen.
The truth of the matter was Reveca had set far too many things in play across one night.
Once Reveca had her wits about her, she drove to Jade’s, and she wasn’t the least bit surprised every light was on and tea was waiting to be served. Their conversation was short and sweet. Basically, Reveca glared, and Jade spoke.
When she told Reveca where Ambrosia would and could meet Adair, Reveca felt like she had been punched in her stomach. It was the exact same spot Shade and Gwinn had found.
“It should all come to pass rather quickly now,” Jade had said. “Oh, and your family is at Adair’s loft. It doesn’t seem as if Judge would care for her to go the Boneyard just yet. You may need to send out an invitation, or at least tell the girl to get some rest before her journey begins.”
On Reveca’s way to the loft, she was sure she was going to find Judge and Adair entangled in the sheets, lost in sleep. It would have been the one win from the past night, Adair having her memories back just in time to really need the support of Judge.
When she parked outside and saw Thrash and Talon’s bike for the first time in a long time, she felt her nerves roil in her gut.
It could have been because now, even though she knew these people and loved them—life had caused them all to see each other differently. Now, all familiarity and comfort would be gone.
More than likely, it was because she sensed King. The hum of his presence, the pull she had to him. She could feel his eyes on her.
She’d dip her head and was prepared to ask him to at least allow her to deliver her message before they fought her sins out. But he never came. He never appeared before her or made himself known—not even long enough to glare in her direction and let her know, no forgiveness would be offered.
She lifted her head, prideful as ever, and squared her shoulders as she dismounted her bike and walked up the steps to Adair’s place.
She couldn’t hear anything coming from inside, and at first, assumed Talon and Thrash were only guarding the place like King, but all she found outside was Thrash.
Reveca’s shoulders fell a bit; anger and regret shined in her eyes as she spoke to Thrash. “I know we got a lot going on, and what I’m here to say is only going to turn up the heat, but you need to make time for Bastion. The sooner the better.”
Thrash nearly grinned. He tossed his head to the side to clear his bangs from his eyes, looking as youthful and confident as ever. He was still an ass not to be crossed, but having Bastion around had taken the edge off him. The pair of them looked more like brothers, but those in the core of the Club saw it for what it was, a family going through some shit, but a strong one.
“Never thought I’d have trouble gettin’ a boy of mine out of a library,” he said quietly, doing his best to read why Reveca would have said such a thing to him. As always she was unreadable. “Is he trying to hook up with a road whore again? I think he does it for attention, and the last one told me he didn’t want to hit it. He wanted her keys—she thinks he’s gotta a girl he was trying to sneak off to meet.”
Reveca shook her head. “We saw her, Thrash.”
He stood up straighter, tense, ready to hear the worst of news.
“I-I’m not sure how, but there was a witch from the Veil that appeared, and when she left, it gave Evanthe a way to show herself to us.”
“What do we do? She told you, right?” he asked, gripping her arm.
Reveca shook her head. “Not really, I have to make sure those who know how to make this drug are stripped of the knowledge.” He nodded stiffly. “She said there was a snake among us and the bad were good. She ran out of time around then and tossed specific books at us, but she gave Bastion two totems. I didn’t ask him what they were, and even if they are not for you, he just saw her. It would be good to see you.”
Thrash swallowed harshly and brushed his hands through his hair. “She look good? She hurt?”
Reveca gasped a smile. “Mean as ever.” She reached to grip his arm. “She looked strong. She is where she wants to be now, and I know she’s happy Bastion is with you.”
Thrash nodded rigidly. “What fucking snake?”
“I don’t—” They both stopped short because they heard Adair asking for a promise from Talon.
Reveca bowed her head and
thought to leave, but Thrash gripped her arm. “Thank you.”
She grinned. “You won’t thank me when Bastion tells you I spent half the short time Evanthe was here arguing with her.”
He ticked his head toward the door. “I meant him, you brought him back. Like all the way back.”
Reveca felt sick as hell but hid her expression. Instead, she stepped toward the door when she heard Talon begin to make promises she knew he could not keep.
At first, Reveca could not understand why Adair was looking at her with fear in her eyes, then realization trickled up. Adair and apparently Judge, were not sure where she was with this revelation of father and daughter. Reveca wasn’t either; she was still lurking in the shock realm as she prepared for the war that had all but broached the battlefield the night before.
Reveca did her best to offer Adair a comforting look, but Talon consumed her vision within a breath, Judge was behind him. “What the fuck are you talking about, Vec?”
Reveca pushed him back, making her way in. Thrash followed closely behind her.
“I went to make the trade with Crass.”
An uproar from the three Sons was heard, Adair was a bit lost but understood, Crass was bad mojo.
“Shut it,” Reveca ordered with a fling of her hands that sealed the loft with the same kind of barrier Adair had used, only stronger. She didn’t need any mortals filing noise complaints. She wasn’t worried about Devils Den spies, as pissed as King may be at her, he would have dispatched anyone who was a threat.
“I was in the mood for a fight, and I got one,” Reveca said honestly. “Fucking Tisk is not rotting away. She was whoring across Crass’ lap and apparently knows how to use her mouth to talk too because he—” she hesitated wondering if King could hear this. “I had to prove to him Cashton was one of us, nothing special. Before that, he tried flipping the deal on me, twisting it.”
“What now?” Talon growled. He wasn’t a fan of helping King find any souls Reveca needed. But the pair of them had come to an understanding a way to help each other without making a deal to—Talon would drive to a nest of them, then “mysteriously” they would all die before he could go in for the kill. Talon pointed the arrow, King’s men made it happen.
“Crass wants you,” Reveca stated, meeting Talon’s stare.
