by Hazel Hunter
He finally had to come back up to his penthouse, tired and exhausted, but he still couldn't get her out of his head. Her scent was in his pillows and his sheets. When he took his shower, he was haunted by the image of her writhing for him in mounds of bubbles. It was close to eleven when he finally decided to call Stephan.
“Hey champ, how's the city treating you?”
Dominic growled, in no mood to banter with Stephan. “It's fine. I'm ready to leave, and I can debrief when I get back to base.”
“That mean you find the girl herself?”
Dominic hesitated. “Yeah, yeah, I found her. She's not coming along.”
“What?”
“Listen when I talk for once, Stephan. She's not coming along. She doesn't want us.” She doesn't want me. “I'm coming home. Mission complete.”
“That's messed up.”
“Not my call to make,” Dominic said shortly. “She wants nothing to do with us, says she's fine on her own, and given the fact that she's given us the slip for a good four years, I'm inclined to agree. It's her call, not mine.”
“Hmm. Sounds like there's something you're not telling me, man, but hang on, we're well within the realm of not-my-call-to-make. Please hold, don't chew up the pillowcase and mattress while you wait for me to come back, and think happy thoughts.”
Stephan, damn him, actually did have happy hold music to play while he went off somewhere. Dominic was left gritting his teeth and frustrated. He really did feel like chewing something to bits, or more likely, heading back to the gym to lift some more weights. Anything was better than being left on hold while he thought longer about Sophia—about how the future that he’d always dreamed of had simply slipped away.
Come on, you only knew her for a few days, he tried to tell himself.
But he hadn't been lying when he’d told her about the thunderbolt. That wasn't something he could take back—nor did her want to. Like so many things, he was just going to have to live with it.
Stephan came back on the line, and this time, it was with a totally different tone. Regardless of what the two of them might joke about, Stephan actually outranked him. He was a Major who held the rank of the iron pentacle, and that was the man who came back on the line.
“That's a negative on leaving town, Berrett. Commandant wants you to stay put and stay alert.”
Dominic was usually a good soldier, though in many ways, his work had more to do with improvisation than following orders to the letter. But when the Commandant gave him an order, he followed it.
“I want to know why,” he said, after rejecting the first few retorts that came to his lips. “As far as I'm concerned, the job's done. We don't force people under our protection, not if they're of age, and not if they've shown that they can look after themselves. What's going on?”
“More than we knew about the last time you called. We're getting reports of Templar activity out in your direction. We don't know what it is, and we honestly don't know if it's more than a rogue or something like that. However, Commandant wants eyes in the area. If there's an untutored witch running around out there, your boots are already on the ground.”
Dominic hissed a swear word between his teeth, but he understood the rationale. They couldn't dispatch a team on the basis of rumors, not when there were so many Corps members tied up down south. If his heart wasn't tied up in knots, he would have relished the chance to kick back and enjoy more time in the penthouse. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. But as far as the Commandant was concerned, Dominic was perfectly placed to keep an eye on things.
“Affirmative. I hear and obey, Stephan.”
“Yeah, I can hear how happy you are about that. The Commandant tells me to remind you that there's a lot going on, but if you need reinforcements, they will be found.”
“Roger that, Stephan. I'll report back if I see anything. But if I don't see anything in the next week, you're going to need to give me a damn good reason to stay here.”
“Heard and received, Berrett. I'm always on, so call when you need.”
There was a pause, and Dominic could hear his friend sorting through a dozen different questions.
“And call when you want. Doesn't have to be the end of the world.”
Dominic's laugh was hollow, and he hung up without replying. It felt like the end of the world, but it was hardly something he could explain to his friend over the phone.
He stretched out on the bed, smelling her scent and the sex that they had had less than twenty four hours ago. He had lived for a very long time, and it never stopped surprising him how things could change in the space of a heartbeat. Dominic suspected that from now on, his life might be cut into two. There was before Sophia, and after Sophia, and the time after Sophia was looking bleaker with every passing moment.
Finally, he hauled himself to his feet and glanced out the window. It was getting darker, and though he hadn't slept at all, he decided it wouldn't be a bad idea to go out for some patrol. At this point, he would welcome it if a little bit of trouble found him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE NEXT TWO days passed in a haze, and Sophia was grateful to go back to work. Her mind was not on the cases in front of her, and even as she accepted the payment from a very grateful Amanda Burns, she could no nothing beyond summon up a pale smile. Brent seemed to notice her foul mood, but he didn't say anything until close to the end of the day.
She was just turning the placard on the door to “Closed” when he came out of his office and fixed her with his piercing gaze. Most other days, she would have been intimidated by that glare, but she had spent the previous two days wandering her tiny apartment in a daze. She hadn't slept, had eaten very little, and Zora had given her up for a bad cause, retreating to glare and yowl from the top of Sophia's desk.
“Everything all right, boss?” she asked finally. “Do I have something on my face?”
“More like something missing. I know you, kiddo. I know that you can smile even when the cases come crashing down on both of us. What's going on? Does this have something to do with that guy you told me about?”
She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be the tough girl that Dominic knew, the one who didn't rely on him or anyone else to keep her safe. However, she had been that girl for a long time, and suddenly, she couldn't do it any longer. Brent's brusquely-worded concern broke down the last of her fragile barriers, and tears filled her eyes. She felt her body wrack with involuntary sobs, and she could sense Brent freeze, as if he had never been confronted with a crying woman before. He tentatively put his hand on her shoulder, and it was such an unnatural motion that she giggled through her tears. She shrugged it off, swiping at her eyes and grinned at him, though it was a rather watery grin.
“Never run into a crying woman before?” she teased, and he offered her a wry half-smile. In moments like this, it was hard to remember that he was close to sixty.
“Most of this job deals with angry men, not sad women. But, um, I do care about you, and I do want to make sure that you are going to be well. I haven't liked the sound of this guy since you mentioned him.”
“He's not going to be a problem any more,” she said, waving her hand as if she could shoo her pesky emotions away.
“Oh?” Brent said, tense. She wondered if he thought she was going to confess to a murder.
“Ha, no, I didn't off him or anything like that. I just... Well, he's leaving town.”
“What?” She looked up curiously at her boss, and he shook his head. “Sorry, I'm old and I have ideas on how real gentlemen should treat women. But you said he's gone now?”
“Gone or likely to be so soon. We saw each other Saturday, I think? He said he'd be leaving town.” She gathered up her things, trying to ignore the way that Brent was looking at her. “But yeah, one way or another, I'm out of danger. No need to stay in your basement like a teen kid afraid of horror movies, right?”
“Right, right,” Brent said after a long pause. “Look, are you headed home right away
?”
“I was planning on it, why?”
“Could you just finish this lot of paperwork before you go? I've got a thing I need to get to, and I could use the help.”
“Overtime's overtime. Sure, I'll take care of it. Go ahead and go.”
“You're a gem, kiddo. Be safe getting home.”
“You bet.”
At the end of it, the paperwork wasn't so bad at all. It was almost eight by the time she finished, but as she had told Brent, overtime was overtime, and she could use the money to get out of town for a bit.
Unbidden, Dominic's face rose up before her, and she flinched. The way he had talked about Italy had made her want to see it, but even if she had saved up the cash to take the long flight overseas, she wasn't sure whether she wanted to see the Venetian canals or if she had really wanted to see them with him.
The walk back to her apartment was quiet, and she went through the park again. She remembered how they had met here when the band was playing, and then as if her thoughts had summoned him, she saw his shape by the swing set.
She gasped for a moment, thought about pulling up her defenses and skulking away invisibly, and then she felt an unfamiliar anger roil up in her. It wasn't fair, but it was real, and it made her stalk over to him.
“So this is what you call keeping your distance?” she demanded. “Is this what you call giving me the space I need?”
Dominic's head shot up when he saw her, and he stared for a long moment.
“Sophia, I swear, I had no idea you were here.”
“Bullshit. We met here. I walk through this park twice a day, and you have a magical toy that tells you exactly where I am. You expect me to believe that?”
In answer, Dominic held up the crystal that had been in his hand. She remembered seeing it light up while they were in his hotel room together, and now she could see that it was as dull as any chunk of rock.
“It doesn't work anymore,” he said with a wry smile. “It seems like you've moved to the next level.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” asked Sophia skeptically.
“This thing used to flicker off and on. I used to have maybe an idea of where you were, and I could at least tell whether I was getting close or whether you were in the city at all. Now, I can't.”
“Was it something I did?” asked Sophia confused.
Dominic shook his head. “More like what you are. Your power is that you hide. You keep yourself hidden, and damned if I know whether it is invisibility or you just make people stop looking at where you are. Some time over the last few days, it's gotten a lot better. It's gotten to the point where I can't tell whether you're next to me or on the moon, according to this little toy.”
“Was it something you did?”
Dominic's laugh was short and bitter. “I could say something about not wanting to give you one more tool to hide from me, but no, that's not me. I suspect though, that even if you are not initiated, being close to a warlock triggered something inside you. Your powers want to grow and change, and being near other powerful people helped it. So, you're welcome?”
Sophia scowled. “I didn't want that.”
“Well, that's the way it goes.”
“Were you waiting for me?” she demanded.
He paused. “I don't know,” he said finally. “I was hoping, maybe. Were you in your apartment that morning?”
Sophia's silence was all of the confirmation that Dominic needed, and he nodded.
“I thought you might have been. It was strange. I both hoped you were and hoped you weren't.”
“Why is that?”
A dark cloud swept over Dominic's face, and it made her take a step back. For a moment, she could see a man who had once killed people for money, who had lived a long five-hundred years doing more or less exactly as he pleased.
“Is it so hard to understand?” he demanded. “Is it so hard to understand that while I might hope you were listening to me shoot my mouth off, that I might not want to be there if you were just going to hide from me?”
“It's what I do best!” Sophia shouted. It shocked Dominic enough that the rage fell from his face. “Don't you understand? I've been running and hiding for the last four years, and if I'm going to be honest with you, I did it for the twenty years before that too! My parents died when I was a kid. I was in foster care. And believe me when I say that you don't want anyone at all noticing you when you're in foster care.”
“Sophia–”
“Listen to me! I was comfortable spending the rest of my life hiding. I was getting better. I was coming out, talking to people, doing my job and doing it in my own time. I have a cat! Do you know how long it took before I realized I was ready to have a cat?”
She shook her head. The rage that had powered her outburst was mostly gone, but in its place was a bone-deep exhaustion.
“I've been keeping myself safe for most of my life, Dominic. You can't just come in here and ask to...to...”
“To help?” he asked, his voice surprisingly gentle. “To take some of that from you, to say that you don't need to hide anymore? You don't, Sophia. Please…”
“Nothing's changed,” she said. Her voice choked, and she knew that if she kept talking to him much longer, she was going to start crying. “Nothing's changed at all. Please leave me alone, Dominic.”
“It doesn't have to be this way, Sophia,” he said, but there was defeat in his voice.
She took another step back, and as if to spare both of them more pain, he turned his head to look at the swings. She summoned her power—he was right, it was getting easier—and when he looked back, she knew that he couldn't see her.
“Bye, sweetheart,” he said, the defeat tinged with sadness, even though he didn’t know she could hear.
In that moment, she could no longer resist. She stepped close, light as air, and on tip-toes, planted a kiss on his lips. Dominic stiffened with shock, but his arms quickly wrapped around her. He deepened the kiss, and she melted into his arms, but just as quickly as the kiss began, it ended. He pushed her away, a terrible pain on his face. She remembered how he had said that the thunderbolt could be as much a curse as a blessing, and now she understood that. The air crackled like the calm before a lightning strike, and she shivered.
“If you won't be with me, if you won't at least come join people who would be a family for you, leave me be, Sophia. Please.”
Her heart broke. She couldn't take it anymore. She turned and left. When she glanced back at Dominic, he was gazing off into the distance, but it was impossible to tell whether he was looking after her or simply gazing emptily at space.
CHAPTER TWENTY
IT WAS ALMOST funny how long you could walk when you weren't paying attention. Sophia circled the block of her apartment building a dozen times, just tying to get out of her own head for a while. But she realized it was getting late and that Zora was expecting food. As she walked up the stairs, something prickled at the back of her neck. She had felt it a few times before in her life: before her parents died and before bad things started happening. But things were different now. She was safe. She was hidden.
But her first clue to the contrary was not being greeted by Zora’s friendly meow at her front door. Then Sophia flipped the light switch on, up and down a couple of times, before she realized it simply wasn’t working. She forced herself to stay calm. She took the phone from her back pocket, powered it on, and used the dim light to get to the bathroom. Luckily the bathroom light still worked. It shone a broad beam indirectly into the main room, and she gasped.
Her tiny apartment, gathered together from dumpster diving and thrift stores, was a wreck. It looked like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it. The chair and the bed frame had been smashed to pieces. Her clothes had been scattered and trampled. Her desk was tossed haphazardly on one end, her laptop crushed underneath it. The light above had been smashed as well, which was why she hadn't been able to turn it on before. She tucked the phone back into her pocket.
There was no sign of Zora anywhere, and Sophia braced herself and stepped into the room.
“Kitty?” she said in a trembling voice. “Here, sweetie. It's okay.”
She stepped into the tiny kitchen, hoping that the light in there was intact, but when she switched it on, she saw something hanging from the doorway lintel. For one horrible moment, she thought it was Zora, but then she realized it was only a doll. It was a crude thing, made of fabric with button eyes and yarn hair, but it was hanging by its neck. Aas she watched in horror, it spun to look at her.
It was more than she could take. She dashed out of her apartment, down the stairs and to the street. She was breathing too hard. Tears were streaming down her face. She couldn't think. She couldn't collect herself, and some part of her was terribly angry at Dominic. She had never been like this before him. She was calm. She knew what was safe and what wasn’t. But now, unable to stop herself, she dashed into the street, where a light rain was starting to fall. All she knew was that she had to run. But where? Her breath was coming faster and faster.
“Okay,” she panted. “Okay, stay calm,”
She ducked into a nearby alley to steady herself. But as her mind flashed to what Dominic had told her about Templars, about the people who came around to kill witches just like her, panic threatened to take over. She pressed her back to the wall, chest heaving, just as a familiar car rolled to a stop at the end of the alley. Startled by the strange sense of something she recognized on a night that was increasingly more bizarre, she watched Brent got out. If she thought he had looked alien to her before; now he looked downright terrifying.
“Come here, Sophia,” he said.
There was something terribly dead about his voice, something frighteningly dark. There was a strange yellowish glow in his hand, and no matter how much she tried to fade out, those awful eyes were focused on her.
