by Jamie Magee
“Don’t look at your gardens,” Talon said with a squint of his eyes, knowing when she did see them she was going to be heartbroken. Every one of her flowers were dead, the life within them just vanished. Somehow the very presence of Talley had destroyed the fairest of nature around the Boneyard.
“He’s been spelled. I know he has. Zale is using him, he has to be,” Reveca said as she rushed her hands through her hair.
“I don’t doubt it, but babe, it took twelve of us to get him here. I don’t want you close to him until we get him calmed down,” Talon said with a glance to the room.
Talley had destroyed the room, and from the sounds of it Evanthe’s, and he had struck every single Son, killed one who was mortal. He was out of control.
“Finley won’t answer me when I call her,” Reveca said with a sigh. “You don’t think he—”
Talon put his finger to her lips. “Finley knows how to keep herself safe.”
Before Reveca could counter his argument, say if anything they should be side-by-side and not apart right now, Thames crashed through the door that was only barely hanging on its hinges.
“We got problems!” he said with wide eyes as he held his shoulder that had been sliced open with knife.
“What the fuck?” Talon growled.
“He knocked me the fuck out, shot Rush in the chest. Adair called Judge, told him Talley was chasing her. Echo took off after Judge—he’s beyond pissed, we’re all rolling out.”
“Son of a bitch,” Talon said as he moved past Thames.
Judge had laid a formal claim on Adair Vallet. If Talley hurt her there would be no stopping Judge from destroying him and by the law of the Sons he had the right to. This shit storm had just picked up a notch or three.
***
Finley didn’t take Adair to the Boneyard, which completely trashed every backup plan Adair had to stop Finley from what she was sure she was about to do. Adair had hoped that once they got there the others would talk sense into Finley, at the very least Reveca could help Finley with the darkest spell that Adair had ever read. And the most confusing aspect, Adair still didn’t get how it was possible to bend time, or halt it, even go back—and a Fold? What was a Fold? She didn’t know, but there were loose pages in the book in Finley’s handwriting, talking about such a place.
Finley took out on a long highway, doing her best to get their tiny rented sedan to hit ninety. When Finley turned off onto a road that to a dead end, or rather it would lead them straight to the Gulf, dread seized Adair. The spell book she now had ingrained in her mind evasively spoke about water, the power of it.
Adair’s mind was racing through each and every possibility Finley could be plotting to engage—she didn’t like any of them.
She was determined to stop Finley. Adair had faith that if she pleaded with Talley, called upon the father instinct he had when it came to her, that she could help him.
Mystic was huddled in Adair’s lap. Each time Adair went to call Judge—what every fiber in her soul was telling her do to—Finley would glance in her direction and the phone would die. “Not yet,” Finley would say under her breath as she looked into the rearview mirror then leaned forward and tracked the moon with her unnervingly calm stare.
It wasn’t long after when Adair heard the rumble of a bike coming from behind. It was Talley, and he was even more manic than the last time Adair had seen him. He was using his bike as a weapon, weaving all around the car trying to get Finley to stop. Mystic was barking, doing her best to make her puppy voice sound fierce. Adair kept holding the on button on her phone as she twisted in her seat looking for where Talley was, what he was going to do next.
For a second it looked like he had fallen back, which made no sense to Adair; she knew his bike could outrun the go-cart wannabe car they were in.
“Call now,” Finley said as her eyes stayed on the rearview.
Right then Adair’s phone turned on. She had hit send on Judge’s number and was frantically waiting for him to answer. It was always hit or miss on getting in touch with him. Apparently the Sons were wrapped up in some dark drama outside the shit that was going down with Talley, and when Judge was ‘working’ he wouldn’t answer.
When he did answer, when she heard his deep, calm, baritone voice slide over her a sense of calm emerged, but it was faint. She knew she was in a battle for her life. Adair wasn’t one to depend on anyone, beyond Finley at least, but this boy, the first time she saw him he did something to her, stirred her deep inside. She felt connected to him long before he spoke to her. Of course he pissed her off shortly thereafter, but who the hell needs a meet cute—not Adair Vallet.
In a rush she told him exactly where they were, and that Talley was chasing them. Before he could even ask her to clarify, before she could make sure he heard her over Mystic’s barking, Talley attacked.
He charged his bike from behind and used the car as ramp and literally drove over the trunk and the hood, crushing it as he did.
The collapsing roof had knocked Adair out, for how long she didn’t know. When she awoke the car was on the bank of a shore they had been racing toward. Through the haze of her blurry vision Adair saw Finley feet from the shore, heard her scream as she fought with Talley who was on top of her—she was kicking and tossing sand and rocks in every direction, chanting mystic words.
Adair, still dizzy, pushed her way out of the car. She gripped the handle of the gun that was strapped beneath her arm, and pushed Mystic further into the car.
By the time she found a way to stand and stumble a few steps forward, she saw Talley lift his blade and slice Finley’s neck wide open as he screamed, “Shut the fuck up!”
“Finley!” Adair roared in a bloodcurdling scream.
Talley jerked his head in Adair’s direction just before he rose and began to charge her.
“I’ll shoot, stop!” Adair warned, over and over, as she raised her gun, but he kept coming like a freight train.
Shock took over Adair as she squeezed the trigger and fired four bullets dead center in his chest.
Talley didn’t even rock backward. Instead, he coldly smirked. Adair’s defensive stare moved to Finley. She heard Finley choking on her own blood—heard her die by the hand of only man she had ever loved.
Talley growled as he continued to charge Adair. “It’s you! Isn’t it?”
Adair fired again, twice more. These shots, too, didn’t even sway him. In his dark eyes she could see waves of gray moving across, she saw a demon in him.
Talley reached her then, grabbed her, flung her to the ground only feet from Finley. As she fell, the final shot left her gun.
She crawled away from his grip and ran as fast as she could. Adair made it to the point where the low tide brushed across her sandaled feet, but before she could utter a word of protection, think a single thought, Talley had overpowered her.
He was on top of her then, his six foot five stance, two hundred and thirty pounds of muscle crushing Adair, who by no means was a weak or frail girl. Adair felt the cold blade of his knife against her jaw, her warm blood spilling out. “It is you,” Talley said as he peered down at her. His knife sliced against her neck but only barely. He was trying to cut her shirt away and managed to do so with the next flick of his knife.
She whispered words of protection, never stopped fighting.
Talley sat astride Adair, grimacing at her words but not faltering as he cut her belt then ripped her jeans down. When he saw her hips he cursed and snarled. “You whore!” he said as he reached up and slapped her.
Adair was on barely clinging to consciousness but she used what she had to fight him, fight as hard as she could as she felt him slicing the skin on her hips away, slicing away the words, going deeper and deeper.
“You’re not going to fucking stop me!” he bellowed as he shredded her panties and went for his belt.
Adair was expecting his thrust in that next instant and was sure she was about to follow Finley into the great unknown when all at once he
left her.
In a daze she looked to her side. She couldn’t hear a thing, her calling death had muted the world around her, but she could still see. She saw Judge beating the hell out of Talley and oddly his fist were having a far greater effect than the bullets Adair had already put in Talley.
It looked as if Talley had passed out at that point, but Judge fired his gun into him over and over, and then reached down and pulled his arms off as if he were a rag doll. He was surely going for his legs but others showed up then.
It was Talon who held back Judge, made him look him in the eye, and then pointed to Adair. Judge snapped out of his cold rage and met Adair’s languid, fading, emerald stare.
She had felt other hands on her, Reveca’s and Echo’s. They were trying to stop the bleeding. Everyone was yelling at each other. Adair didn’t see any of it or hear it. She saw Judge’s near clear blue eyes, saw a fear there. Slowly, as if the world was on his shoulders, he walked to her and fell to his knees.
His hands cradled her face, and carefully his lips met hers. Every kiss they had shared before was full of fire, unprecedented passion. It was categorically electrifying and always left Adair searching for breath. This kiss was different. She felt his lips tremble, felt his tenderness, his pain. A goodbye.
His stare moved down her body then back to her eyes. Rage was there again. “My dove,” he said leaning in to kiss her forehead. She had been the only peace he’d known as an immortal...his dove.
Adair closed her eyes, feeling cold and tired all at once.
When she went limp in his arms, Judge found a new level of rage.
Reveca reached across Adair’s body to console him. “She’s fine. It’s the shock. I stopped the bleeding. He didn’t cut deep.”
“You don’t know what I saw,” Judge said acidly.
Right then he heard Talley moan and turned and fired his gun into his head. He wasn’t the only one. Rush, Talley’s brother, had done the same.
Reveca charge forward, trying to defend Talley, one of hers.
Judge carefully laid Adair down and stood, prepared to demand the vengeance he was owed by sacred law.
“Take him down,” Judge said as he loomed over Reveca who was arguing with Rush as he went to put another bullet in his brother.
“No,” Reveca said with the firmness she was known for.
“Vote,” Talon said through gritted teeth.
“We’re not fucking voting!” Reveca shouted. “What is wrong with you?” She raged as she pushed her bloody fist into Talon’s chest. It was when she touched him that her eyes went wide. Through his shirt, through his kut she felt fire, scorching heat that would scar any mortal who bumped against him.
In the long life they’d had together there were but a few times when Talon had felt this way, when everything lethal about him was about to erupt. Each of those times was when he was protecting what he deemed precious, what was sacred to him.
“No we’re not,” Judge said, breaking Reveca out of her confused stare which was locked on Talon’s dark eyes. “He fucked with my woman. I have this fucking say,” Judge said, seeing nothing but agreeing stares landing on him.
Reveca knew Judge was lethal but he was always level headed in war. She counted on him to be that way, and he was letting her down.
“This is not him, Judge. Our Talley didn’t do this. He’s been spelled or worse. But he’s in there. I know he is.”
Judge fired his gun again as Talley moved. He wasn’t alone; five more shots rang out, too.
“If I have to rip him apart piece by piece, hourly, I will, Reveca,” Judge said in an unemotional calm tone. “I will take every fragment of his body and spread it across this globe.”
“Vote,” Talon said again. “Deny.” No one raised their hands. Reveca’s stance over Talley was the only protest.
“He’s in there,” she argued. “How the fuck would you feel if something happened to you and I just laid you down, didn’t give a fuck that it wasn’t your fault? You call that fucking family? You call that loyalty?” She glared. “It’s that fucking simple to all of you?”
Rush stepped forward. Talley was his older brother; they’d both become immortal on the same day, years before. Both were wolves, only Talley had the hardest time with immortal life. In all truth he never really had a life with any true bliss until he fell for the mortal witch, Finley.
Rush adjusted his broad muscular shoulders, let his near golden stare move all over Reveca. His face was stained in blood, so was his hair, those long dark blond locks that managed to stay in his eyes and hide their otherworldly appearance. “In there or not—life is not what he wants.”
Reveca refused to waver. She didn’t care that no less than twenty men three times her size were against her. Talley was hers, they all were, and she would do the same for them. Love, family, is not conditional, ever. “You cannot speak for him.”
“I’m the only fucking one here that can!” Rush roared, feeling grief and rage mingling in his chest, shaking the cage his beast was in. He pointed his finger to Finley’s dead body. “Where is she, Vec?”
Reveca held his unforgiving stare. When they got there the first thing she did was go after Finley. Her plan was to search for her in her Edge and pull her back, that was always the plan. Finley knew of it. She would have been immortal years ago if she weren’t worried that the transition would interfere with her raising Adair.
Finley wasn’t there. She could only assume she had ran open-armed into death.
In all truth, at the exact moment, Reveca couldn’t find fault in Finley’s actions. She knew that immortality sucked when you were alone. Reveca had been down that road before. Reveca was sure Finley felt that she had lost Talley, gave up, which was stupid. She was all Adair had. This scene right then was too highly charged with emotion for Reveca to understand anyone’s intentions. None of them had a right to make a final decision just then.
“Gone,” Reveca said finally.
“Fucking gone,” Rush repeated. “Even if you figure out what the fuck is wrong with Talley, if you manage to take Judge’s fucking right to slaughter him away, do you honestly think Talley would want this life? Would live knowing he killed his fucking woman? Almost raped the girl he helped fucking raise—tell me, Reveca! You look me in the fucking eye and tell me if you believe that bullshit.”
Reveca’s eyes met Talon’s looking for help, support. Vacant rage was all she saw.
“It’s not fair to Adair,” Reveca said in a whisper, that was her only hold out at that point. Adair had been all but raised by Talley. Reveca knew she could get Thames to push out the memories of what Talley did. After Reveca fixed Talley, Adair would still have a connection to her Finley.
“Adair is not going to remember anything, any of us,” Judge said into the night.
All of the Sons were quiet for a moment but then the arguments began, Reveca’s the loudest.
“Not fucking happening,” she fumed. “You arrogant son of a bitch! You want me to kill one of my own for redemption on your woman—then you’re going to strip her mind. Walk away from her.”
Judge only offered a glare. He was. It was his say, and his decision. Adair meant everything to him, but he wasn’t going to have her this close to this war, not now. She didn’t deserve this. She deserved to have someone that didn’t come home to her covered in blood. She deserved to fall asleep each night in peace, safe and sound. He couldn’t give her any of that. Not now, not if Zale and his Rouge fucks had figured out how to penetrate the Boneyard, take out one of their own, turn them into a weapon.
“She’s gifted,” Reveca said as her eyes dared to water. That was a truth. It had been a long time since Reveca had come across anyone with as much talent as Adair. She never once found someone who was not somehow a descendant of her coven with her kind of endowment.
Adair was a lifer and Judge was about to shut all of it down. He was letting Zale win, by not only torturing himself by taking Adair away, but all of them. Because there was n
o doubt this girl was the prodigy Reveca had been searching for.
Reveca stepped up to Talon, pushing him back from the crowd, not bothering to wince when she felt the heat of his body searing her flesh. As the president he was the only one that had the power to override this, at the very least to order Judge to contemplate his choice for a given time.
“After everything—” she said in a harsh whisper. “Every single thing you did to bring this girl here where she would be safe you’re going to throw her to the wolves?” Reveca jutted her chin up. “You told me this child was your burden to bear.”
Talon’s stare was cold, but beyond the surface Reveca saw grief, a sadness that had always been there when the likes of Adair Vallet were mentioned—an emotion Reveca had yet to question. No, seeking that answer remained permanently on her ‘do later list.’
Talon slightly flinched his eyes before he spoke. “A noble man, one to love her and protect her—that’s what I wanted when she was brought here. That’s what I have. Not my call anymore, babe.”
Reveca’s mouth gaped, not believing what she was hearing, enduring.
“Now, Reveca,” Judge called in Reveca’s direction. He refused to waver in his decision—the one that was ripping his soul in two.
He had to let her go…he loved her enough to do so.
Chapter Two
Now
The enchanting scent of night blooming Jasmine infused the sultry air as it floated across a tepid breeze. The Jasmine was doing its part to drown the thick aroma of smoke, beer, and the Po-Boys, or rather the shrimp, which was being prepared for the day—it was nearly three A.M.
The August night was absolutely sweltering, yet the coming storm dared those who were still out and about to sigh as they felt the wind lick the layer of sweat which always lingered on the flesh in the Quarter.
Adair Vallet had planned to close up shop an hour before, but one of her clients begged her to wait until she could get there. Taylor was sure she needed Adair to read her cards. She’d said evil was hunting her, nothing new when it came to that particular client. She looked for the worst and always found it.
