by Zile Elliven
Emily went so pale he thought she might faint.
Stella was silent and calculating for a moment, then nodded her acquiescence to Marshall, and said to Emily, “Do it.”
She was prepared for that, Adelle said. What do you bet she isn’t the only one wiped clean?
“You won’t have our full family, Guardian. Most of us are with my sister on holiday or out hunting for my niece.
“Convenient,” hissed Adelle, no longer keeping her thoughts to herself.
“How many are here?” Marshall asked.
“Right now, our compound only has twenty-two people in it.”
“You had that number very fast, Stella,” said Adelle.
“When I was put in charge, I made sure to ask how many people were under my care.”
“I find it interesting that your sister went on vacation and left her newly injured sister in charge.”
“Elanor has been ill for some time now and couldn’t put the trip off any longer,” Stella said stiffly. “She knows that, even injured, I am more than capable of protecting my family.” Her polished words were laced with a threat.
Before Adelle could rise to the challenge Stella presented, Marshall said, “Stella, your family isn’t under threat unless they have been doing something illegal. Your aura was scrubbed bare moments before we got here. That alone is enough to have your entire family scanned.”
“That?” She laughed, a brittle bark that grated on his ears. “Of course I was scrubbed bare, I was nearly killed by my psychotic niece using twisted magic no one has ever heard of! The gods only know what it did to me. If you look at Sterling and Helen, you’ll see the same thing.” She pointed at the far end of the room toward two curtain-covered beds. “Only don’t expect Helen to talk to you, she’s very single-minded right now. All she wants is another crack at her cousin, and if you aren’t interested in helping her, well . . . teenagers, right?”
Adelle drew her eyebrows together and looked at the beds thoughtfully. “Marshall?”
“Check them and the nurse. If they are clean, meet me and Jack outside.” He began to walk away and stopped. “You can come too, if you’re up to it.”
“Thank you so much for allowing me to go somewhere in my own home,” Stella snapped and began to struggle out of the bed.
Marshall offered his arm, but she shook it off.
“I meant what I said. If you don’t have our help, anything could happen. That girl is a disaster.” She tried walk ahead of Marshall as he left the room, but she cradled her arm as she walked and moved slower than a woman twice her age. Marshall made it out into the hallway first.
Behind her, Adelle shouted after her from the doorway, “Didn’t you hear? We’re Fire, we thrive on disaster.” Her voice was lighter and more playful now she knew Marshall wasn’t going to leave the girl to the Blaikes.
When did you get so attached to the girl, Addy? His mental voice was reproving. Guardians didn’t get attached during a mission.
Somewhere between the Blaikes dropping that building on her and her destroying the cemetery with untried magic just to save her friend, came her haughty reply.
You never let on.
I didn’t want to influence you. You job is to be the evenhanded one. Mine is to be the angry thing you set after people.
And what’s mine? Jack asked.
To be a pain in the ass, Marshall and Adelle said at the same time.
You two spend too much time together.
“Just to be clear, this is a giant waste of everyone’s time.” Stella’s breath was ragged as she attempted to keep up with Marshall’s gait. “You could slow down, you know.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Last I heard, your compound hosted nearly a hundred people, and you claim to only have a fraction of that number available for a turnout.”
“I’ve already explained where they are—”
“Not to mention you personally are suspected of being in a battle tainted with demon energy, and your aura is cleaner than the day you were born.”
“I’ve explained that too! I’m going to have a word with the Guard council about this . . .” Stella gasped for breath. “Just see if I don’t!” she yelled at his back, panting heavily as she tried to keep up.
As they reached the massive doors leading to the outside, Marshall opened one and waited for Stella, allowing her to precede him. “Acting Praetor Constance could be here with the entire council, and I would still do a turnout for just one of your excuses. Your family is known for being ruthless in the war against the demon realm. You should be the first person insisting this be done. So why aren’t you?”
“I don’t like being threatened in my own home. I know there aren’t any nightmares camping inside my people—I’m not a complete novice. But what do you care about my word? It means nothing to you. I mean nothing to you.” Stella’s large, round eyes were shimmering with injured innocence.
“Well, with a looker like me around, you wouldn’t expect him to notice anyone else, would you?” Jack came up to the top of the steps and slung an arm around Marshall’s neck.
Marshall smiled ruefully at his teammate. Jack never cared much about what others thought of him—he always said exactly what he was thinking, and he knew how uncomfortable Stella had made Marshall during their last meeting. There was little chance of him passing up a chance for payback. “Stella, I believe you’ve already met Jack.”
She stared at Jack’s arm on Marshall and sneered. “I’ve always thought it was a pity our future praetor was saddled with someone so beneath him. Tell me, Jack, was the plan to ride his coattails to a better life, or were you just planning on dragging him down into the dirt with you and the rest of your kind?”
Jack put the back of his hand to his forehead and sighed. “My kind? I had no idea you felt that way about brunettes.” For all his playfulness, his eyes had a dangerous glint.
“Why you allow this unregistered to play at being a guardian, I will never understand.”
“Not everyone can trace their family back to the Flood like you can, Stella.”
“How about just one generation, then? No one even knows who your parents are, you abnormality. How do we know you didn’t just sneak out of the Dreamscape one day?”
“A former praetor vouched for him. That’s good enough for me.”
Even Stella wasn’t fool enough to ignore the steel in Marshall’s voice, so she changed tactics like the well-seasoned politician she was. “Of course, I respect all your father’s decisions, Guardian. Even the ones I don’t understand.” She glared at Jack, who blew her a kiss in response.
Marshall looked down the steps at the crowd of people shifting nervously before him. “Is this everyone?”
She squinted at her people and nodded. “Everyone on the compound at the moment.”
Addy? He could feel her coming toward him, done with her task.
Other than the people I checked in the infirmary, everyone on the estate is now outside with you. My people were all clear, by the way. Sterling and Helen were as clean as Stella—they had to have been scrubbed right before we arrived. His sister’s tone was grim. I’m willing to bet time in the ’Scape they are hiding something.
Right there with you. Let me see how far this goes. Marshall slowed his breathing and concentrated on the cool air touching his skin. He felt irritation from the situation sitting inside his chest and concentrated on where its edges were, accepted that the feeling was there, and observed as it faded gently away.
Now that he was centered and free from the control of his emotions, he could access his magic safely. He decided to go as deeply as possible to see if he could gain any more clues from the family. Right away he was able to discern that none of them had demon taint nor had any of them been cleaned. If he had been asked to paint a picture to represent a group of unremarkable witches, this was what he would have painted. The only unusual thing he noticed was their magics were all shades of green, purple and blue—traditionally protective, but very passi
ve forms of magic—his blue essence being the only magic he knew of that didn’t fit the tradition. Other than Stella, whose vivid, blood-orange magic was already beginning to bleed back into her aura, there were no witches here with offensive magic.
Watching him intently, Stella pounced on him as soon as he broke from the trance. “Have you seen enough, then? Unless you’re planning on arresting us all, I’d like to dismiss my people to go back to their jobs.”
Several members cringed at the words arresting us all, and Emily made an animal-like sound of distress in her throat.
“Lady . . .” Emily croaked and plucked at Stella’s arm.
Stella shook her off and stood as tall as she could manage. “There’s no point beating around the bush. Either we are free to go about our business, or we aren’t. I want to know so I can begin planning the rest of my day.” Her mouth was a hard line, and she crossed her arms over her chest. And though the gesture must have agitated her injured arm, she showed no sign of it on her face.
Marshall looked down at her. “You know I can’t detain you—as I see it your family has broken no laws.”
“Marshall—” Adelle cried in anger.
He cut her off with a firm mental poke.
“While I and my team are off searching for your lost family member, you will send the rest of your family to the Boston Chapter House within the next twenty-four hours to complete the turnout, or they will be considered fugitives.”
Stella growled in outrage.
Marshall raised his voice, “Including your matriarch. Unless she is about to die, she will be there.”
“Is that all, Guardian?” The title was a curse on her lips.
He was about to turn to leave but paused, considering. Stella’s arrogant entitlement could not be allowed to stand. Any opposition to the Guard had to be swiftly punished. If the governing body of the Other was perceived as weak, the entire world would fall into chaos in the ensuing power struggle. The time for diplomacy was over. In his opinion, the entire Blaike family needed a reminder of why they should respect the Guard.
He dropped back into a mild trance and gathered the lights representing the souls of the assembled Blaikes in his mental hand and squeezed. Every member of the family went still as death, including Stella. He felt her light batter against him, and he clutched her soul even tighter.
Right now he could do anything to them: force them to break into song, rewrite their personalities, even tell them to die. Only the strict moral code of the dreamwalkers kept them from taking over and creating the world in their image. Respect for life and free will had been drummed into every potential dreamwalker from birth. Between that and the Guard's core tenant to protect the balance, Marshall rarely got to use more than a fraction of the abilities at his fingertips. But today it was his job to scare the living hell out these people in the name of protecting the balance.
As a child he thought it would be fun to play with other people like puppets. He used to imagine forcing his babysitter to make him cake or buy him toys. And oh, how he used to rail against the watchful spell his father had cast to keep him in line—any indication of Marshall using his magic unsupervised and his dad would shut his mind down.
Looking at the blank faces in front of him and the grim expressions of his partners, Marshall knew playing with other people’s souls wasn’t fun. It was a heavy burden.
“While you have broken no laws set by the Guard, I consider the treatment of your niece abhorrent. If anyone in your family gets in my way during this investigation, I will cut them off from the Source.” Marshall tightened his hold on the family for emphasis before releasing them.
Nearly everyone collapsed to the ground, gasping and shivering as they all regained control of their bodies. Emily lay draped over a nearby concrete urn. She struggled to rise and kept flopping back down to crush the pansies planted in it. They must have been enchanted—they sprang up unscathed each time Emily managed to haul herself off them.
Only Stella remained standing. The moment Marshall let go she was on the offensive. “You—you can’t do that!”
“I’m a guardian on a mission,” he said. “You’d best to remember that.”
With a gesture to Jack and Adelle, he left Stella standing there with her quivering servant and her recovering family. Even without a trance, he could see her blood-orange magic flaring around her wildly as she struggled to contain herself.
As they drove away, Jack managed to stay silent in the truck for nearly thirty seconds before he snorted out, “Abhorrent? You have a secret word-a-day calendar hidden somewhere in your bag, don’t you?”
“It’s what people expect, okay? People don’t respect a guy who says things like, ‘You are in so much trouble, bro.’ Or high-fives his teammates.” Marshall smoothed a hand over his hair and looked in the rearview mirror. Most of the Blaikes were still on the ground as the truck rolled back up the long driveway.
“I don’t know, remember the time I high-fived that nightmare in the face? He looked mighty respectful as I was unmaking him.”
“As always, Jack, you are the exception.”
Chapter Eleven
Aeyli
Aeyli was roasting. The hard body beneath her was radiating more heat than seemed humanly possible. She opened her eyes to see Fourteen gazing intently at something. She followed his line of sight and realized what he was fixated on—her hand clasped around his exposed wrist. She snatched it away, but he caught her hand and trapped it neatly in his own. Then with slow deliberation, he pulled the glove off his other hand with his teeth and reached out to her face, stopping when less than an inch of air was between them.
The invitation was clear—he was giving her the chance to refuse if she wanted to.
As if.
She focused her attention on her magic—the pink inferno inside herself she was just now getting to know. As soon as she nuzzled her cheek into his hand, she noticed a tiny flame emerge from the source of her magic and travel up her spine, spilling into Fourteen where their skin made contact. It was such a subtle sensation that, if she hadn’t been paying close attention, she wouldn’t have noticed the slight warmth had spread through her body into his.
His fingers trailed over her lips, and her eyes flew to his face. His pupils were blown out just like they had been in the dream they’d woken from. Her mouth went dry, and she bit her lip—right where Fourteen’s fingers had been. His eyes tracked the motion, and he growled. The sound sent bolts of electricity all the way to her toes.
“Thank god you’re eighteen.”
A laugh escaped her, but his mouth silenced it. Everything came into sharp focus, and time seemed to stop. She could feel the butter-soft fabric of his jacket against her arm, the delicious scrape of his face against hers, and his mouth, blazing hotly against her own. Her insides were liquid lightning, and she felt like her body was melting away into nothing, into everything.
When he pulled back a fraction, the world rushed back in on her. “Wow,” she whispered.
The corners of his mouth quirked up slightly, and he growled again, louder. Before she knew what was happening Fourteen had rolled her onto her back and was smirking at her, his eyes full of the devil as he dipped his head and kissed her again.
Her hands went to his chest, trying to get through the complicated system of straps and buckles that held his jacket closed, but her capacity for thinking was overwhelmed by the incredible things Fourteen was doing to her mouth. She soon gave up. Instead she allowed her hands to roam over his arms, playing with the combination of the buzz of his jacket and the movement of his muscles under the leather.
His mouth moved from hers, found a sensitive spot behind her ear, and nipped it, causing her to clutch his arms and whimper while mindlessly grinding against him. She couldn’t think, could only feel, as Fourteen and her own magic drove her past all reason.
She had to stop, had to think. What if there was something she was missing because she was too busy getting lost in Fourteen? She p
ushed against him, needing to catch her breath and regain control of her mind. She wasn’t used to getting so carried away, and it scared her.
When Fourteen pulled back, his heavy-lidded eyes questioned her.
Aeyli ask the first question that popped into her head. “What is this like for you now that you have your memories back? Touching me, I mean.” She knew, if she really wanted to get her head back, she should stop touching Fourteen but couldn’t convince her body to obey that command. Instead she tried to concentrate on the throbbing in her head rather than the feeling of her magic as it eased into Fourteen’s body.
He blinked slowly as he processed the question. After running a gentle hand down her arm, he rolled to the side and sat up. Aeyli followed suit but kept her hand in his. “I feel a little drunk, but my mind is my own. I think.”
“What is it like for you normally?” She knew she wasn’t going to like the answer but couldn’t stop herself from asking.
The warmth on his face retreated, and Aeyli hated herself for it. “Cold. Empty. It’s like I’m walking around inside a giant meat-locker with unbreakable walls. I can see what’s outside, but nothing out there can affect me. At least that’s how it was until you showed up.” There was a slight upturn to his lips at the last sentance. “After that, things got complicated. Now things break through even when we aren’t touching, but it’s disorienting.” He scooted until his back was against the wall, pulling Aeyli with him as he went, careful to stay in contact with her skin. He settled her between his legs and wrapped his arms around her. “I don’t know how normal people deal with emotions all the time.”
Aeyli would have given anything to not have been the one to put the lost expression she’d glimpsed on his face. She was about to apologize when she felt another question form in her mind. And she tried to hold it in. As she wrestled with it, she noticed it had a pink tinge to it. Were these questions coming from her? Or her magic? The thought startled her, and the question broke free. “Do you want it to stop?”
