Chapter 19
Cindy’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. What did you just say?”
The entire room had turned to ice with Satina’s words. Even Timmon, who was admittedly still a mystery to me, seemed to tense.
“You heard me,” Satina said, “and I’ll thank you not to give me that face. I’m not the architect of this fate. I’ve been on the phone with Ramsey for nearly an entire day now trying to find a way around this.” She spread her hands. “Unfortunately, there is none.”
I opened my mouth to speak, to say that there must be a way out of this that didn’t involve someone ending up dead, but for once, I was beaten to the punch.
“You people are ridiculous.” Cindy stood and grabbed at her purse. “With your magical talk and disjointed fairy tales. And now you want to use them to justify murder. Well, I won’t have it, and neither will Charlie.” She motioned toward where he still sat on the floor. “Come on. We’re leaving.”
Satina glared at Cindy. “That’s a lot of concern for someone who you just described as an attempted murderer.”
Cindy didn’t answer. She didn’t have to as far as I was concerned. I knew the look on her face like I knew my own nose. As much as Charlie loved her, she loved him right back. She might try to deny it, even to herself, but when the chips were down as they were right now, the only thing that mattered was the primal need to get your love to safety.
Differences be damned. We were in the presence of true love. Even though the world looked to be teetering on the edge of an impossible knife, that made me happy somehow.
“We can’t go anywhere, Cin,” Charlie said, setting his jaw and looking up at her. “And you especially can’t go anywhere with me.” He stood to meet her, and I saw echoes of Abram and me in their movements.
He took her hands in his. She flinched, but he grabbed her tightly and pulled her closer. Suddenly, all the concerns Abram had looked very foolish to me. He couldn’t have looked at her the way he was now and have feelings for anybody else. Not even me. Which meant all along that kiss had been meant as some kind of distraction, probably because Abram and I were treating him like a prisoner. Even if he had agreed to it, Charlie still had a prideful side.
“I can’t trust myself,” he continued. “There’s something inside of me—somebody. And that person wants to hurt you. I don’t care about the rest of it. I’ll die before I let that happen.” He looked over at Satina. “If it takes my heart, then it takes my heart. So be it.”
“No!” Cindy kneeled in front of him. “This is insane. This stuff doesn’t exist. Snap out of it, Charlie!”
“You saw it,” he said, matter-of-fact. “You watched this chick’s father almost kill you and Charisse, and you watched Charisse level a building on the guy. This stuff does exist, Cin, and now you know it, too. Unfortunately, pretending otherwise won’t make it go away.” He shook his head. “Listen, Cin. Everyone dies eventually. If I get to die for you, that’s a pretty good way to go in my book.”
“Shut up!” She reared back and slapped him. Turning to us, she added, “He’s an idiot. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. No one, and I mean no one, is touching his heart, or so help me God, I will have a team of lawyers down here that will make the Supreme Court shudder with anticipation.”
Abram narrowed his eyes. “Are you threatening us with legal action?”
“It’s all she has,” I said, placing a calming hand on Abram’s bicep. “She’d give anything to save him, and that’s all she has.” I looked Cindy square in the eyes. “Or it used to be.” I turned back to Abram and Satina. “No one is to lay a finger on Charlie Prince as long as I’m breathing.”
“Oh, thank God.” Cindy sighed and cupped her hands over her face. It seemed that, to Cindy at least, my word was all it took. It made sense, seeing as how she had just watched me unleash power that, even hours ago, she would have sworn couldn’t be real.
Abram pinned me with his gaze. “We need to talk about this, Char. We can’t not do anything.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” I said. “He’s not sacrificing himself for Cindy, me, or anyone else. No bargaining with terrorists, right? I can fix this. We just have to give The Brothers what they want, and it’ll all go away.”
Abram’s nostrils flared. “Give them what they want? Are you insane?” Abram roared. “Or do you just get off on seeing me lose my mind? I will not have you martyr yourself to this cause.”
“But Charlie can?” I asked defiantly.
“Charlie is capable of making his own decisions. He’s a grown man.”
“And I’m a grown woman!”
“My woman,” he said, stepping closer to me, grasping me at my elbows. “In case you have forgotten what my number-one priority in all of this is, let me take this chance to remind you. I will keep you safe. Through hell, high water, and whatever other cliché you’d like to throw in there. I will not lose you to this.”
“Don’t you get it?” I eased out of his gentle hold and stepped back. “If you don’t let me do everything I can to take responsibility for what’s happening because of me, then I won’t be me anymore. Sure, I might survive, but what’s the point? I won’t be me anymore. I’ll be less than that, and I won’t let them take that away from me.”
“What about what they’d take from me?” Abram asked, matching my tone.
“Do you want to be with me, or just a shell of who I used to be?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Char.” Abram’s jaw clenched. “You’ll still be you.”
“I’m sorry, my love,” I said, running my hand down his shoulder. “The world’s not perfect.”
“You’re damn right,” Satina said, sidling up to us. “And neither are you,” she added, eyeing me. “Not that it surprises me at all, but you’re being a little shortsighted, even for you.”
I cut my gaze to Satina. “What does that mean?”
She flicked at her yellow curls and rolled her eyes. “The Brothers want you, that much is clear, but have you ever thought about why?”
“I imagine because I’m very powerful,” I said, discomfort starting to seep in my nerves from her tone.
“And do you know why powerful people are important?” She raised her eyebrows. “Because they can change things. They can make things better. They can make things worse. But most importantly, they can make things different. I’m not sure how many times I have to tell you that your existence is vital. The people you’ll save and the good you’ll do… It’ll mean nothing if you sacrifice yourself to The Brothers.” She shrugged. “Have you forgotten the deal they made with Mandrake? As soon as you die, he gets control of Charlie’s body. Mr. Prince will fade into nothingness. Or worse still, he’ll have to live for all eternity as a passive occupant of what used to be him, unable to do anything but watch as the killer in his skin runs amok. And Cindy here, she’ll die, too, right along with Abram, myself, and the unfortunately timed Mr. Timmon. And all because The Brothers don’t like loose ends.”
Satina leaned in. “Your sacrifice will mean less than nothing, and the world will suffer for it for centuries after your pathetic heart has stopped beating.” She quirked her head to the side. “So do yourself a favor and listen to your boyfriend for once.”
I stood there, stunned to the core. “So…” I stammered. “What am I supposed to do?”
“The only thing you can do,” Charlie answered, turning to me but never letting go of Cindy’s hands. “Put a knife in my heart.”
Chapter 20
The next few hours crawled past. Silence dominated our little group as each of us tried to come to terms with what was happening.
Was that really our only option? Killing Charlie, or letting him kill himself, seemed like a total last resort. But maybe that was where we were. Had The Brothers really thrown us to the end of our rope so quickly, and, if so, did any of this even matter?
They wanted me dead. Would getting rid of Mr. Mandrake, even by decimating his heart, stop The Brothers from tr
ying again?
I shook my head. I didn’t want to think about this, holed away in the back room of this sprawling hotel penthouse, but it beat the alternative. Because whenever I stopped myself from thinking about the pressing issues in front of me right now, all I could think about was the past.
I thought about Charlie, about how full of life he was when we were together, how we believed the world was ours and that we would soon hold it in our hands.
How quickly the world had proved us wrong. It wasn’t ours. We belonged to it, and it was getting itself ready to discard us.
I thought about Cindy, about the love she felt for Charlie—a love that mirrored what I felt for Abram so clearly that it gave me chills.
I couldn’t live without Abram. Not for a day, a minute, or even more than a few seconds. And I was sure Cindy would suffer the same thing. Killing the man she loved or letting the entire world fall apart—for Cindy, there would be no difference.
Guilt, I found, didn’t suit me well. It clashed with my complexion and weighed on my soul. Also, it tasted kind of chalky.
I watched as the sun inched lower in the sky. Soon, this bastard who had hijacked Charlie’s body would take control again. He would look for me, or, more likely, for Cindy.
Satina had explained that her father would likely keep the fact that it was me, not Cindy, who The Brothers were after to himself. Apparently, he was the type of person who would use that sort of information for his own personal gain. My head on a platter would buy him anything he wanted from The Brothers. As it turned out, they often paid well.
We were going to have to kill Charlie before the sun went down. There was no way he would chance another night that put Cindy’s life in danger. Hell, he probably wouldn’t chance mine either. That was the kind of guy he was.
And now he would be dead.
I ran hands through my hair, trying to think of something—anything—to make this unnecessary. Nothing came. I was, along with the rest of us, defeated.
It seemed strange that, after all we’d been through, this would be the end. And it seemed stranger still that Charlie, who had no part in any of it, would be the first of us to pay the price.
As the sun dipped behind the tallest of the city’s skyscrapers, I stood and started toward the door.
Charlie had an hour at the most, and I wanted to spend at least a little of that time with him. This would be a long night, and it felt like the rest of them going forward would be even longer.
After tonight, Abram and I would no longer be pure in all of this. Although we had fought like hell to stop it, though we’d both have done anything to keep it from happening, we would soon have blood on our hands. I wasn’t sure how I was going to live with that.
Before I reached the door, it flew open, and I jerked back.
Satina stood, her brow sweaty and her face tired. She glared at me. “I need you in the living room.”
“Already?” I asked, my voice quivering as much as my heart was. Was it already time? Were they not affording Charlie even another hour? “Can’t we give it a little longer?”
“No,” Satina answered. “Not if we want to put this off.”
“Put it off?” I asked, but Satina turned and headed to the living room without a word.
I ran my hands through my hair again, trying to straighten myself up. Sure, everyone probably assumed I was falling apart, but there was no sense in looking the part.
I moved into the other room. Everyone was already there. As soon as I entered, Abram’s eyes met mine. I bit my lip, unsure of what was going on, but certain from the apprehensive looks on everyone’s faces that it wasn’t good.
Charlie stood by the window, staring outside and echoing the way Abram looked just days ago when he realized he had lost his powers. I cringed. Charlie was about to lose so much more.
“I told you I don’t want you to do this,” Charlie said, not even bothering to turn around.
“Then I’m glad I don’t give a rat’s ass about what you want at the moment,” Cindy answered. She stood in the center of the room. Blinking hard, I realized she was only wearing her underwear.
“What’s going on?” I asked, my body tensing up.
“We’re trying something,” Cindy answered. “Something that doesn’t make any sense at all. But apparently, we need you to make it happen.”
My eyebrows kissed, and I looked over at Abram.
“Satina has a plan,” he explained.
Satina had settled beside Timmon, who had light gashes on his right cheek and was bleeding freely into a glass. It was grotesque to look at, but he seemed completely at ease.
“Explain,” I said, looking at her.
“No,” Charlie yelled, finally turning around. “There’s no need to explain, because we’re not fucking doing it!”
“Yes, we fucking are,” Cindy screamed. But behind that anger was a whole lot more hurt than fury. Tears streamed down her blotchy cheeks, and her words quivered. “Now turn your ass back around and let me save you!”
“It’s my life, and I won’t risk you for it,” he said.
“It’s my life, too, and I will!”
I clenched my fists at my side until my manicured nail pinched at my palms. “Someone tell me what’s going on!”
“It’s a spell,” Cindy mumbled. “Your reincarnated witch friend wants to cast a spell on me so that Charlie doesn’t have to be murdered to stop the supernatural serial killer living inside of his transplanted heart.” She turned to me. “Which is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever said, but I suppose life can take you strange places.”
Satina grabbed the cup, now full of Timmon’s blood, and poured the contents in a circle around Cindy. “It’s a cloaking spell. If it works, it’ll stop Mr. Mandrake from being able to sense Cindy as connected to Charlie in any way, shape, or form. He basically won’t be able to identify her at all, much less target her.” She looked at me. “Unfortunately, this spell is tied to the energy expelled by Mr. Mandrake himself, and it can only work for one person.” She pursed her lips. “I wanted it to be you, but Abram said—”
“That I’d never forgive any of you if that happened,” I finished. Satina nodded. “Smart man. Cloak Cindy. I can protect myself.”
“You better,” Abram muttered beside me.
“If Mr. Mandrake can’t see Cindy, who seems to be the last of Charlie’s girlfriends still standing, present company excluded, then we don’t need to be in a hurry to dagger him.”
“Good,” I answered. “Just do it already, please. We don’t have a lot of time.”
“You heard the woman,” Satina said, motioning to Cindy. “If the gentlemen would turn around.”
Abram, Charlie, and Timmon all did an about-face, and I soon discovered why. Cindy stripped off her underwear. There she was, stark naked in a circle of blood. God, life was strange.
Satina looked past her, to me. “Focus on me,” she said. “And I’ll focus on you as well. We need to look past her, as though she isn’t there. If we are successful, she won’t be.”
The minute the words left Satina’s mouth, a shot of energy surged between us. I held onto it, but it was so strong that keeping it up was nearly painful. Still, I focused on Satina, looking through Cindy.
She’s not there. She’s not there. She’s not there.
And then…she disappeared.
I blinked hard. Were we making her invisible?
I blinked again, and she reappeared, but she was different now. Energy flew around her and then settled into her, vanishing into her body.
When I felt the energy seep into her, I knew the spell was over.
Quickly, Cindy snapped her clothes up and rushed into the bathroom. My eyes met Satina’s. This was some A-level ‘witching,’ but would it be enough to pass the grade?
* * *
When we went to sleep that night, everyone was blissfully alive, which was a win in my book. I curled myself against Abram. For the first time in days, I felt absolutely safe.
It wasn’t long before I woke to screaming. Bolting upright, I found Abram darting out of the room. I scrambled out of bed, rushing behind him toward the door.
When I reached the living room, I found Cindy with her hands clasped over her mouth with tears in her eyes.
“What did we do? What on earth did we do?”
“Cindy?” I asked, but she didn’t reply.
Slowly, I turned to follow her gaze to the television. The news was splashed across the screen. The ticker along the bottom read: New York City Massacre: Twelve Women Murdered in One Night.
I gasped.
“Twelve women?” I muttered, my heart on fire.
“Hunting,” Abram answered. “He couldn’t find her, so that bastard went after everyone he could find.”
Chapter 21
Five hours later, we still didn’t have answers. We just stood in stunned silence, the television scrolling the same news over and over, and Charlie sobbing to the point I couldn’t take it any longer.
“Stop it,” I yelled, staring at the tears streaming down his face.
Abram was beside me, although his attention was on continuing coverage of what the media was calling the ‘Manhattan Moonlit Massacre.’
Twelve women—one dozen lives—had been snuffed out in a little under eight hours. The authorities didn’t know what to make of it. But we sure as hell did. One of us more than the rest.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Charlie sobbed. “This isn’t your fault.”
“It’s not your fault, either.”
Cindy was relatively quiet as we argued, and it didn’t take much detective work to figure out why.
“It’s not your fault either, Cindy,” I said, much calmer, looking over at her.
“Of course it isn’t,” Charlie balked, looking at the thin woman as though it was the first time that idea had ever even crossed his mind. “This is on me.”
Cindy scowled. “Stop saying that! It’s not ‘on’ any of us. The fault lies with those monsters.”
Charmed by the Beast: an Adult Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Conduit Series Book 3) Page 13
