by Melody Raven
He didn’t say anything, but he stared off into space with an intense look of… pain? She realized she was wrong. Whatever it was that bonded him and Claudia and made him so loyal, it wasn’t a good thing. At least not to him.
“I’ll leave you alone.” Claire backed up and walked away.
She went back to the living room of the posh apartment and fell into the couch. It was gorgeous and a bright white, but not nearly as comfortable as the couch at Dante’s. She pulled the pillow close to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut. He’d be better off without her.
And that’s the thought she repeated over and over as she waited for Claudia to come back.
Sam and Derek were almost back to her apartment when the cars arrived. Sam’s first thought was that Abigail was coming to finish off Claire, but when the backseat of the first car opened and the handsome man stepped out, she was faced with the sinking realization of what was really happening.
She could feel Derek stiffen next to her and reach into his jacket pocket, but she put a hand on his arm to signal that he didn’t need to draw his weapon. Yet. “Phillip,” she said, the tension evident in her voice. “What are you doing here?”
He looked her over dispassionately as the other car doors opened. There were four cars in total, and each was packed full of sentries. Except it was becoming apparent that these weren’t Claudia’s men. Mainly because each was looking at Sam with the kind of disdain she would expect from people hanging around Phillip Carpenter.
“I’m here for the soul sucker.” He looked to the building. “She’s at your old place, right?”
She didn’t want to think about where he was getting his information from. Sam moved to stand in front of the entryway, and without even thinking, the flames came to her and her hands ignited, ready to go at any sentry who came at her. “If you want to get through this door, you’re going to have to go through me.”
Derek probably had no idea what the hell was happening, but the second she caught on fire, he pulled out his handgun and moved to stand as close as he could without being burned by the fire.
Phillip’s eyes widened when he saw the fire. He was the one she was paying attention to. He might have twelve guys with him as backup, but Phillip was a high-ranking member of the families, and if he wanted something done, it normally got done.
And as far as he knew, Sam had no control over her power. The fact that she stood in front of him like this would be a shock. It had better be enough of a shock to get him to turn the hell around, though.
“Let me pass,” said Phillip, a not-so-subtle hint of warning to his voice. Phillip was used to people doing what he said. Even if he wasn’t strong enough to get humans to do whatever he wanted, his good looks and money went a long way. He was just under six feet, but he had his hair gelled up and back to give him another inch or so of height. His well-trimmed brown goatee was in style, and he looked as though he could’ve walked off a fashion magazine. He and Sam were the same age and had been in the same classes all through school.
Even though her family had been in control the entire time, Phillip had never missed an opportunity to remind her how much of a disappointment she must be to her lineage.
And now he was living his dream. Her family was crumbling and here he was, surrounded by the men who used to work for her grandmother. Claudia had sent most of the sentries away once she found out they might be influenced by the darkness. Phillip obviously didn’t share that fear. But what had he said to them to get them to follow him? It didn’t matter now. She wasn’t going to let him through.
“Come on, Samantha. I know you’re a spoiled brat, but you didn’t honestly think you could keep a soul sucker as a pet without facing consequences, did you?”
“She has me as a pet too.” Derek pointed his Glock right at Phillip. “And I bite.”
Phillip snorted at the threat and waved a hand at Derek. Sam could only assume he meant to toss Derek aside like a ragdoll, but the charm she’d given him so long ago still worked against lesser magic. “What….”
“I’m not kidding around, Phillip. You need to leave or we’re going to make you leave.” She wasn’t about to tell him what was protecting Derek. Let him be afraid. She felt strong and she knew she was stronger than all of the sentries individually, but all together? That might be more than even she and Derek could face.
“Leave? Do you have any idea what’s happening, Sam? Or are you too far up in your tower to give a second thought to the people down here? Claudia is supposed to protect us from this. Where the hell is she? We’ve got darkness sitting at the head of the building and our fearless leader is in hiding somewhere. Well, there’s new management in town now.”
Sam looked him down. She probably should’ve worked harder to hide the look of disgust, but the idea of bowing down to him literally made her stomach churn. “This isn’t a democracy,” she reminded him. “You can’t call a vote to overthrow Claudia. She could crush you like the bug you are.”
“Yeah, well, to do that she’d actually have to show her face. Now are you going to let us through or not?”
She was about to tell him, in graphic detail, how he could go to hell, but Derek used his left hand to show her his phone screen. It was a text from Parker saying that Claire was gone. Damn it. She was going to find her best friend and then strangle Claire herself. She clenched her hands into fists, putting out the fire, and stepped aside. “Fine. Go get yourself a soul sucker,” she said with sickening sweetness.
Derek didn’t drop his weapon as he and Sam both moved aside to let the wave of sentries through while some went around the side of the building, obviously looking for any sign of Claire escaping through the back. A minute later, Parker and Dante came out the front and Derek finally lowered his weapon, even if he didn’t holster it. He motioned with his head for everyone to walk a bit down the street.
As soon as Angela saw Derek, she pulled out her own sidearm. Phillip stood aside and glared at them but didn’t make any move to attack. Probably because he was too unsure about Sam’s sudden control over her powers and the strange anomaly that was Derek. Now that Dante and Angela were there, he really didn’t know what he was dealing with.
But Sam didn’t count him out by any means. “Who the hell is that?” asked Angela once they were a few buildings over.
“Fucking Carpenter,” said Dante.
“Phillip fucking Carpenter,” clarified Sam. “The Carpenters are one of the main families. Mom always said they picked that name because they think they’re the second coming of Christ.” She wanted to smile at her mom’s joke, but then she remembered what was currently happening to her mother and she couldn’t smile. “He’s got a bone to pick with my family, and now that Claudia is showing more vulnerabilities than ever before, he’s trying to pounce. But we can deal with him later. Where is Claire?” Sam stopped and turned around to make sure they weren’t being followed. But just because they didn’t see anyone didn’t mean no one was looking in. “Dante?”
He nodded and brought his thumb to his mouth and in a quick motion, bit through the skin hard enough to draw blood. Angela’s eyes widened, but Derek didn’t show any surprise. Sam didn’t know whether that was a good or bad thing that he was getting used to this.
Dante bent down and drew a symbol on the sidewalk. The blood he drew didn’t go far, but as long as it was represented in the symbol, the magic should work. Sam remembered enough from school to know how the ritual worked, but she didn’t know the symbols required by heart. Dante was an expert in knowing the ins and outs of witchcraft, a skill Sam really wished she shared now that she could control her powers.
Once the symbol was done, he stepped on it and held out his hands. Sam took one while Angela carefully took the one with the sore thumb. Derek looked annoyed that he had to holster his gun, but a second later, he took Sam and Angela’s hands. The moment the contact was complete, it was as though they were hit with a loud whooshing sound, and a second later there was nothing. Dead silence su
rrounded them. No wind. No honking horns. No sirens. No cars. Nothing.
“This should last a few minutes,” said Dante. “What happened?”
“We were out for a walk and when we came back, they were there,” said Derek.
“They said they were there for Claire,” said Sam.
“Who you apparently lost,” accused Derek.
Sam could feel Dante’s hand tighten on hers and knew he wasn’t too happy about that either.
“She was stressed, understandably,” he bit out. “So she was sleeping and I was giving her space. When I checked on her a few minutes ago, she was gone.”
“Gone or taken?” asked Derek. “Because if you didn’t know, there’s a psychopath who wants her dead.”
“Gone,” said Angela. “Her phone was missing. If she still has it on, Derek and I can try to get a rush trace on it.”
“Have you tried calling her?” asked Sam.
“For fuck’s sake, that’s the first thing I did. She’s not answering my calls.”
“We need to find her.” Sam started to filter through her mind for where Claire might’ve gone.
“Do we think she’s gone into hiding?” asked Angela.
Everyone was quiet and she knew Derek and Dante were thinking the same thing she was. “Claire wouldn’t hide from us.” If she left, it was to track down Abigail. “We need to find my mom.”
“You can’t use magic? Like a locator spell or something?” Sam frowned at Angela and the woman shrugged. “I watch TV. I know some things.”
Even though locator spells were a thing, they wouldn’t work. “The darkness is shielded from our magic. Like Derek is.”
“Fine,” said Angela. “Then we’ll go magic-free. Pierce and I can go to the precinct and put out an APB on Abigail. We’ll have it so it’s sighting-based. Anyone who sees Abigail will call us and we’ll know where she is. Since she has a history with the department, she’s going to be recognizable. And she’s worried about Claudia and Claire; she’s not going to worry about cops.”
“Okay. We’ll go to the station and—”
“No,” said Dante.
“What?”
“I’m going to look for Claire. I’m not going to let her go off and sacrifice herself.”
“Sam, go with Dante,” said Derek. “I’ll take care of cop stuff—you do witch stuff.”
Sam opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She didn’t want to leave Derek for even a second. Not with so many things in motion. But if she did go with him… what was she going to do? She couldn’t help him set up an APB. “Dante should go with you,” she said weakly. “If anyone needs coercing—”
“No one needs their mind controlled,” snapped Angela. “We don’t need Dante for this.”
“Then it’s settled,” said Derek. “We all have phones, so we’ll be in contact.” He looked to Dante. “Don’t stop trying to call Claire. If she’s ignoring us, she wants to talk. We just have to wear her down.”
Dante nodded as he pulled away from the circle. All of a sudden, the noises of the city came back. Even the mostly silent night seemed almost deafening compared to what they just had.
Sam looked around them but didn’t see anyone nearby. She would’ve felt better if she’d seen Phillip standing there. Because she knew he wouldn’t have let them just walk away without trying to keep tabs on them. It was unnerving to know you were being watched but have no idea how.
“Come on.” Dante started down the street in the opposite direction from the police precinct.
Sam wanted to say a solid good-bye to Derek, but Dante was moving too fast. All she could do was give him one last wistful look before she followed Dante down the street.
Claire was about to give up on trying to remain calm. She’d been sitting here for hours and there hadn’t been a sighting from Claudia. She was willing to do whatever it took to bring down Abigail, but this waiting was crazy.
It didn’t help that her phone had been ringing off the hook. Obviously her friends had realized she was gone. Even though she’d turned off the ringer, she couldn’t help checking it constantly to torture herself. Was she really never going to talk to them again?
Just as she was starting to become tempted to answer the next call that came in, Claudia appeared right in front of her. Claire jumped back in her seat on the couch and her phone tumbled to the ground.
Claudia eyed the phone skeptically but didn’t mention it. “I’ve found Abigail. Are you ready?”
Claire decided against telling Claudia what a stupid question that was. Of course she wasn’t ready to take on Abigail and probably die in the process. Instead, she stood, picking up her phone, and closed her eyes, trying to find whatever peace she could. “Let’s get this over with.”
Before she opened her eyes, she felt Claudia’s cold hand on her arm and the world seemed to tilt on its axis. Claire winced at the unnatural feeling, and when her lids opened, they stood outside on a street she didn’t recognize. From the modern style of the buildings around them, she was going to guess they were in the Upper East Side.
She had barely gotten her equilibrium back when Claudia pulled her to the side until they were in the shadows of a building. Claudia was tense and her eyes darted along the cars parked along the street. It was a dark, deserted time of night when almost no one was out, but Claire was betting that soon rush hour would completely change that.
“Where’s Abigail?” Claire looked around, trying to find any sign of Sam’s mother or any other witchy activity, for that matter.
“Close,” said Claudia, not turning her attention back to Claire. The fact that Claudia was tense had Claire close to terrified.
“So what’s the plan, Stan?”
That got Claudia’s attention and she turned her stern gaze on Claire. “Don’t call me Stan.”
“I….” Whatever. She didn’t have to apologize for trying to defuse the tense situation with humor, no matter how stupid.
“Abigail will be leaving soon. Then you’ll have to do what you do best. If the darkness realizes you’re here, you’ll never make it there in time. The element of surprise is the only advantage we have.”
The words were in the calm, cool, powerful voice Claudia always spoke with, but the tension throughout her entire body was more than obvious. She was nervous and that was damn terrifying.
Though what did Claire have to be afraid of at this point? She was going to be out of the picture soon enough. She leaned back and let Claudia continue to be on the lookout. Almost subconsciously, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and stared at the little blinking light.
She didn’t have time or the emotional capacity to make a call to explain herself. Instead, she went to the text messages and, refusing to read any of the many she’d received from Dante, Sam, and Derek, she opened up Sam’s information. She felt the need to say something, but nothing was enough. So she wrote a quick “I’m sorry” before she powered down the phone and put it back into her pocket.
She squeezed her eyes shut as the mixed emotions swirling around inside threatened to take over. She could do this. She would do this, damn it.
“The darkness approaches,” said Claudia.
Claire squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them again, she was ready to go. “How am I supposed to get close?” Surprising someone as powerful as a darkness-fouled Abigail wouldn’t be easy.
“I will distract her.”
“I’m not Sam,” said Claire sternly. “Now isn’t the time to hide things from me. How exactly are you going to distract Abigail?” Well, apparently knowing she was about to die made her ballsier than normal.
“I’m going to distract her by making myself a target.” Claudia turned. They were the same height, but Claudia still managed to look down her nose at Claire. “You’re not the only one willing to die for this.” Then the doors of a nearby building opened and Claudia’s attention was immediately on the movement. “Don’t disappoint me, Claire.”
With that, she walked aw
ay. Her strides were long and confident, and Claire only hoped that she could be that put together when it was her turn to approach Abigail.
Abigail herself had left the building and was surrounded by an entourage. Claire was just trying to think of ways to get past the entourage when Claudia waved her arm, sending all of the witches down the street.
That solved one problem. Abigail started to say something, but Claudia wasn’t waiting around. She held her palm out and a burst of blue flame shot out to Abigail.
Abigail threw her arms in front of her face just in time to stop the fire from hitting her. Claire knew that she wasn’t going to get any more distracted than this, so she stepped out from the shadows and started for the frenzy in front of her. She knew that if she gave herself time, she’d chicken out, so she sped up to a jog and ran straight for her best friend’s mother.
“I think we found Abigail,” said Derek as the entire street was lit up by the blue flame.
Parker slammed on the brakes before they got too close. For a second, they both stared out the windshield. “I don’t want to sound like a coward or anything, but I think we should stay in the car.”
He was inclined to agree with her. When they’d run Abigail Harris’s credit card activity and came up with, strangely enough, a hit on one of the parking meters here, they had planned to drive by to see if it checked out. They’d never planned to confront anyone. “I need to tell Sam we found….” Derek trailed off when he saw the little blonde running across the road before the flames obscured her. “Fuck.” He jumped out of the car and pulled out his sidearm as he tried to assess the situation. Claudia seemed to be giving it her all and Abigail seemed to be straining under the effort to keep the fire away. Would it be possible for Claudia to beat her? Maybe this whole thing would be over before he needed to step in….
But then the flames started to die down and Derek knew it was wishful thinking. Before he could even aim his gun at Abigail, Claire appeared behind her and set a hand on the bared skin of her wrist. A look of surprise came over Abigail, but before she could twist around, she lurched forward as if she were about to gag. Claire’s grip tightened as Claudia fell back a few steps, obviously drained from her display of power.
