by Jaymin Eve
“I’m always nice to you,” he said, bunching his eyebrows together. Then he smiled, flashing both dimples at me.
For a moment he looked like a little boy, the same little boy who’d been with me my entire life. So beautiful and innocent he’d been as a child, and now he was beautiful and hard. All man. But still my Braxton.
I attempted to smile. “Come on, I’m starving.”
For once I actually wasn’t hungry but I needed to do something normal.
“Can you tell me anything?” he asked, as we walked toward the dining hall. I should have known he wouldn’t leave it alone.
“Um…” I thought about it. “Well, Mischa is my younger sister.” Not completely a lie, just an exaggeration … a really big one – our age gap was about two minutes. “Apparently our parents have had a few rendezvous over the years. It was a mutual decision to be apart and now they’ve decided to try and be a family.” I wasn’t certain when I would tell them the truth. I was heeding Jonathon’s words for now, but it would come out eventually. I sucked at keeping secrets.
Braxton’s features were hard as we continued to walk. “Still sounds like Lienda’s a selfish bitch.” His voice was low. “I don’t understand how anyone could leave their child behind. At least she had the decency to raise Mischa.”
I guess you could leave your children to save their lives. It was actually a very good reason, as reasons go. I wished Braxton knew the truth, I didn’t want people to hate Lienda anymore. Did I agree with what my parents had done? I wasn’t sure, to be honest. I guess it’s hard to know if they’d stayed together whether I’d have been taken and killed. In that case, they’d definitely made the right decision, but maybe simply spelling the marks would have been enough. I’d missed so many years with my full family. I wanted those years back.
“No point dwelling in the past,” I mused. “I can’t change that, all I can change is the future and how I decide to handle the return of my mother and sister.”
Braxton laughed. “Gee, that’s very rational of you. Did some sort of mind meld happen in the forest?”
I punched him; it was like hitting a rock wall. Dammit, why did I continue to punch these men? It was killing my hands. He laughed again, shaking his head like I was the funniest thing he’d ever seen. I needed a better way to smack some sense into them.
Braxton suddenly shifted directions, steering me off the main road and toward their place. “Let’s stop in and grab the others. They’ve been worried too.”
As we neared the front door my sensitive ears picked up the sounds of cursing and shouts.
“Great.” Braxton started moving. He had the front door open and disappeared inside faster than I could track.
I followed his path inside. Exiting the hall, I ground to a halt at the sight of Tyson and Maximus fully going at it. The four boys didn’t fight a lot, they were as close as any siblings I’d ever met, but they were hot tempered men and on occasion disagreements erupted.
“Don’t talk about her like that again,” Maximus bellowed as he slammed his big fist into Tyson’s jaw. “This was not her fault.”
Maximus was bigger, but Tyson was a brilliant fighter, fast and strong. Tyson spun once and elbowed Maximus across his cheek, knocking the vampire back a few steps.
“I don’t trust her, and if you’d stop thinking with your dick you’d realize I’m right.” He launched onto Maximus, knocking him down. “Her arrival couldn’t be more coincidental … fey dead … prison breakouts.” He was punching his brother in between each word. “And it’s not just us to worry about, Jessa is right in the thick of this.”
With a roar, Maximus jumped to his feet, sending Tyson flying backwards across the room, then using vampire speed he followed.
Braxton was leaning against the wall, all casual-like. “Don’t make me break you up,” he said.
He wouldn’t get in the middle unless it got further out of control. Which it easily could. They’d let their inner hunters free and probably wouldn’t stop without serious bloodshed. Both of them had cuts and bruises, but nothing major yet.
Maybe it was the fact I was so out of it over the dragon mark revelations, but I decided to do something I’d never done before. I darted across the room, and with barely a moment’s hesitation jumped between the brawling men. If my sudden appearance didn’t shock them into stopping, I was going to be in a world of hurt.
“Jessa!” Braxton roared. He was reaching for me, but I was too far away.
The world seemed to hold its breath as the air swirled between the two of them. It almost seemed to be in slow motion as Maximus’s fist swung toward me. He’d been aiming for a body shot on his brother. Horror and fear crossed his features as he realized it was going to hit me and not Tyson. I closed my eyes and prepared for the hurt.
Silence descended over the room. I flicked my lids up to find a trembling fist right in front of my face.
Somehow he’d halted his punch a hair’s breadth from me. My heart was pounding rapidly, and my fear flooded the room, so potent I could taste it.
“Don’t fight, please.” I was begging. I had so much turmoil inside that I just couldn’t see them smash each other to pieces right now.
Maximus’ hands were still trembling as he reached for me. “Jess…” His voice wavered. “I could have killed you.” Then he was shaking me and roaring even louder than Braxton had. “I could have killed you! Don’t you ever do anything like that again, don’t ever get in the middle of a fight between us.”
I closed my eyes, willing my pulse and heart rate to slow. Then his strong arms were around me and Maximus’ scent was everywhere. “I’m sorry, Jessa.” He held me tight enough to cause discomfort and I knew by the way he continued to shake that he was full on freaking out.
“It’s okay, Max.” Braxton was behind us, I could feel him. “You stopped, you didn’t hurt her.”
“I could have killed her,” he moaned.
I opened my eyes, meeting the deep brown of Maximus’. His anguish was visible.
“Stop,” I said. “It was my own stupid fault. I know better than to jump in between you all fighting.”
“Yes, you’re in big fucking trouble, Jessa.” Braxton’s voice had that edge; he was close to losing control again. “And you are going to tell us what happened with your parents. Clearly, it was something bad enough to make you suicidal.”
Maximus still hadn’t put me down; he seemed unable to let go.
Jacob burst into the room then. All of our heads swiveled in his direction.
“There’s been another death,” he said. “Someone killed a vamp.”
I exhaled. The quads might let me get away with my hedging on what had happened with my family in the forest. Murder was a pretty big distraction.
As the five of us ran toward the gathering in the forest, Braxton quizzed his brothers hard, trying to determine the reason they’d decided to use each other’s faces as a punching bag. The most we got out of them was that Maximus was defending Mischa’s honor and Tyson was feeling a little distrustful toward the new arrivals. Our stilted conversation halted as the stench of death reached us. We were still a hundred yards from the scene. As we moved closer, the crowds came into view; already there was a crowd of onlookers.
I found it a little odd that there were so many people around the corpse. Generally the council would have cleared the evidence by now. I pushed through the masses of supernaturals who were gathered in a circle around the kill zone. I cursed as the scene came into focus. What the hell was going on? Vampires were notoriously hard to kill. The constant influx of new blood gave them amazing healing and regeneration abilities, but someone had cut off the victim’s head. The body was slumped against the large roots of the redwood, and a long machete had been speared through the skull, pinning it to the trunk.
“Is that Markus?” Jacob cursed. “Shit, he was like a hundred years old.”
Which meant whoever killed him had been strong and powerful, able to resist his vampire comp
ulsion. Not to mention crazy-as-hell, judging by the scene we were seeing. Which was a scary concept.
“No blood and no bite marks.” Braxton was sidling closer for a better look. “This is not the kill scene. He was moved.” He lowered his head close to my ear. “Do you scent anything strange?”
I closed my eyes and tried to focus my nose on the scene, filtering out all of the scents which had nothing to do with the murder. The most demanding smell was still that of death. It was a recent kill so there wasn’t an overpowering smell of decay and excrement, but it was still there. I wrinkled my nose, moving past that to anything else strange. Forest smells and … coconut.
“I smell coconut oil and something flowery,” I murmured as I opened my eyes.
Braxton nodded, “Yes, coconut and lavender.”
He was right, they were was the underlying scents.
Why was that ringing with some familiarity in my head? That combination was something I’d smelled before. I turned and saw Tyson. “Didn’t one of the spells you used – to find the prison – use those two ingredients?”
“Yes,” Tyson bit out. “And it’s a spell I created. The scented oil was designed as a trail marker to take us to the prison.”
I twisted my head back to the morbid scene. “Does that mean someone has left us a trail to lead to the killer? Or are they trying to implicate Ty as the killer?”
“Fuck!” Braxton clenched his fists. “Those marks on the tree, do they look like claw marks from a rather large animal?”
I’d been so focused on the head speared to the tree I hadn’t noticed there were two large gashes out of the bark. I examined them, and they were definitely a familiar shape and size. I didn’t need to be an evidence magic user to know those claw marks would probably line up perfectly to Braxton’s dragon. There was no reason for the Compasses to have killed Markus. Note I did not say they weren’t capable, they were more than capable, but they would need a reason. Someone was staging this scene to implicate them.
At the moment of that realization, arms grabbed around me, tightening across my chest and yanking me backwards. I was dragged ten feet away before the boys realized I was gone. They spun as one, coming at me, but in unison stopped when they saw who held me. I hadn’t scented him at all, he’d cloaked himself so he could take me unawares. But the large ring on his middle finger was familiar enough that already my skin was starting to crawl. Kristoff.
The sorcerer had one hand wrapped around my throat. “We left this scene here to draw you Compasses into public. The four of you need to come quietly.” He almost sounded gleeful. “I will keep a hold of Jessa until you allow the council guards to cuff you.”
Where the hell was my father? My eyes darted around the crowd but none of my family were here.
When Jonathon found out about this he was going to be pissed. He would not appreciate the council using me as leverage to arrest the boys. I noticed Jerad off to the side, but the way he spun his head and walked away spoke volumes. Spineless dickwad. I was so well rid of him.
I didn’t struggle against Kristoff, I could feel the strength of the spell under his hands. He would only have to let it loose and I would most probably lose my head.
“You can’t kill her.” Maximus sounded confident but he wasn’t stepping closer. “If you kill an innocent, then you’re a murderer and will lose your leadership and freedom. Right after I torture you for life,” he added, no change in tone but the fires of hell in his eyes.
Kristoff laughed. “The five of you are implicated in the murder of Markus. Jessa would simply be killed resisting arrest.” He waved his hand at the scene. “I’ve been examining it for hours. All the evidence points to your group.”
Shit, there must be even more than we’d noticed, and Kristoff was a master at deception and manipulation. It would not be hard for him to convince everyone of his word. Our standoff was starting to draw a crowd.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for you to make a mistake.” The magic leader’s lips curled into a sneer. “You think you’re untouchable, all powerful, you show no respect, not even to the council members. But you made an error in not cleaning up your kill site.”
“Come on, Kristoff, doesn’t this seem a little convenient,” someone shouted from the back of the crowd. It sounded a lot like Torag, the demi-fey council leader. “No one would be this stupid, and we know the Compasses have the power to hide anything they want.”
Kristoff growled. “That’s up to the investigators and the trial. For now the men need to be held in our cells at the prison.” He straightened. “As an added incentive, I’ll wipe Jessa as a suspect if you promise to go quietly and behave in Vanguard.”
I wanted to shake my head at them, but I couldn’t move. I had to keep fighting my wolf, she wanted to rip Kristoff’s face off. But attacking a council member would be a very bad move. Even if he’d started it.
All four pairs of Compass eyes were locked on me, and one by one they placed their arms behind their backs. From the crowd, ten wizards emerged, as if they’d been lying in wait for this movement from the quads. I recognized the red bands they wore around their right biceps. These were our magic users skilled in offensive powers, like supernatural police. It took no more than ten seconds for the unbreakable magic cuffs to be slipped around the Compass’ wrists. They were threaded with silver and gold links, and then infused with spells that cut off our access to the energy inside, rendering the boys as close to human as we could ever get.
Kristoff released me. I coughed a few times, finally free to breathe deeply. I didn’t think or pause, I swung at him, throwing my shoulder and full weight into it. Okay, so I said attacking him was a bad idea, but really, who gave a shit? The sorcerer clearly had not expected for one second that I would hit him. He never even raised his hands. My shifter strength flooded down my arm, and as I connected bone crunched under my fist. He flew backwards and slammed into the ground. I heard his yells and knew I’d broken his jaw. With one last sneer I turned away from the pathetic lump.
Braxton called my name. They were already leading the quads away. I ran to catch up. They were being marched along at a rapid rate, but we had enough time for a few murmured words.
Braxton locked me in his gaze, there was something cold in his dark blue depths. “Jessa, this scene is complete bullshit, there’s no way for it to make it through a trial. I’m not sure why, but watch your back.” The cold changed to a hot fire in his gaze. “If someone is gunning for you or Jonathon, now would be the perfect time.”
“Remember your training, Jessa babe.” Maximus was leaning toward me. “We’ll get out soon and come for you.”
All four of them looked pissed, but I was also picking up tendrils of fear. And from men who were never afraid – that was the most worrisome. They were trying to tell me that this whole setup was probably just to get them out of the way to get to me or Dad. And they didn’t even know about my dragon mark. If they did, I doubt they would have gone as quietly, because all of this seemed to be happening conveniently right after I found out about my heritage. It felt like too much of a coincidence. My heart ached as I followed them all the way to the edge of town, where they were thrown into the back of two Hummers. I didn’t know where they would be taken, all I knew is that they’d be gone at least a week.
“Stay safe!” I screamed as the doors slammed on the vehicles. I raised a shaking hand to cover my mouth. I didn’t know what to do. Who knew what was going to happen to them?
Kristoff’s words kept running through my head. They’d deliberately left that scene there, using my presence and the crowds to be able to publicly arrest the boys. My heart felt as if it were going to burst from my chest as I watched the cars disappear. The Compasses were gone. I must have stood there for a long time. Eventually I found my feet leading me back to the scene. I had no idea what I was looking for – evidence, a clue of who might have created the murder scene.
The crowd was still gathered around. There was much noise and chaos as
I stumbled into the forest area.
“Jessa?” Jonathon ran up to me, his strong arms wrapped around my shaking torso. “I was showing Lienda and Mischa around Stratford when I heard.”
Kristoff stormed across in a wave of power “Your daughter broke my jaw.” I could see the healer behind him. His face had been mended. Bastard. “I want her punished.”
Jonathon swung around and in one movement wrapped a hand around the sorcerer’s throat and lifted him into the air.
“You used my daughter as leverage to falsely arrest the Compasses. You held a decapitation spell to her throat. You’re lucky I don’t kill you right here and now.”
At least Dad believed in their innocence.
Kristoff was not strong physically, but his magic was. With a blast, he shot my father back. “You would be lucky to kill me,” he sneered, as he straightened and smoothed down his black dress shirt. “See you at the trial, Jessa. I hope you’re okay without your protectors.”
I bared my teeth but didn’t reply. I took the warning for what it was.
“Jonathon…” Lienda’s panic was clear as she came up to us, Mischa by her side. “This is what you were talking about, the start of an assault on our family.”
He nodded. “Maybe. It is too soon to tell if it’s about the Compasses, the girls, or just another attack on my position on the council.”
It was late at night and a small group was gathered around our living room. Jonathon, Lienda, Mischa and myself on one couch. Across from us was … well, I almost couldn’t believe it … Louis. The. Sorcerer. This had to be the man who had spelled our dragon marks. He was the strongest sorcerer in Stratford, probably in the entire supernatural community. A legend. He looked about twenty-eight, which meant he was old in supernatural years, and he was absolutely striking. Honey-blond hair with caramel-colored skin, almond-shaped eyes that I swear were so blue they were purple, and straight, aristocratic features. He wasn’t as tough looking as, say, the Compasses, but you only had to meet him once to know he was scary. I’d only seen him from a distance a few times and I couldn’t believe he was sitting here in my living room. Our privacy dome was courtesy of his spell, so we all knew it was more than safe to speak freely.
