by Krista Walsh
Gabe cursed under his breath. “Then someone give me something to work with, because our choices right now range from cruel to almost impossible to a waste of time.”
John brushed his thumb over the wide gold band on his pinky finger, the amethyst glittering in the soft light of the lamp. “There is, of course, a fourth option we might consider.” His upper lip curled with distaste, and his tone lowered. “In the years since I captured Ligeia, we’ve come a long way in containing supernatural creatures who cannot be allowed to wander the globe. I could contact the people I know at Tartarus and pay to have her transported there.”
A hush fell on the room. Allegra stiffened and drew her hands into her lap. Gabe didn’t blame her for being uncomfortable. Mention of the prison located on a supernaturally created island off the Atlantic coast was enough to put any otherworldly creature on edge.
Since the destruction of the guardians a hundred years ago, a prison system had been developed as a deterrent for otherworldly beings who caused too much trouble. Different versions of the prison existed in each dimension, and in this world it was known as Tartarus. The prison’s reputation was horrible enough that, for the most part, it worked to keep the species in line. Only the worst-case scenarios ended up there, hidden away from the rest of the world until they’d completed their sentence, which could be as long as millennia depending on the severity of the crime. Various rumors and tales abounded about Tartarus Prison, but the consensus was that if you had to choose between prison and death, you chose death.
“I wonder if sending her there would be worse than keeping her under the river,” Gabe grumbled. “I think we should keep that at the very bottom of the list. I know she’s done a lot of damage, but I don’t think I could stomach forcing anyone to face that fate.”
John sipped his coffee. “That decision must rest on your conscience. But, as it happens, I agree with you.”
“Wonderful,” said Gabe. “So what is this device you mentioned that would allow me to capture her without having to get too close? And is there anything else you’re ready to offer to make sure everything goes according to plan, because as it stands right now, all I’m seeing is a long shot.”
Allegra shifted in her seat, nudging her elbow sharply into Gabe’s ribs.
He hadn’t thought he’d said anything overtly rude, but he noticed the narrowing of John’s eyes and realized he’d spoken to the man like someone he’d bumped into at a bar instead of an immortal supreme being. This sort of confusion was why he could never get the hang of extended social interactions. Too many unspoken rules.
“I understand your frustration, Mr. Mulligan,” John replied, sinking deeper into his chair, any irritation gone from his expression. “Now you understand my position when Ligeia first rose as a threat to my town. The device I speak of is a new set of chains, one that offers good length if your aim is sound. The metal is infused with magic that will drain the siren of strength and speed, though it will not silence her song. Once you make contact with her, you’ll be able to approach her and complete the task at a much reduced risk to yourself. I do suggest you wear gloves to avoid being similarly affected.”
He sipped his coffee and glanced between Gabe and Allegra. “I can also offer you financial support and am willing to pay damages to the families who lost loved ones by her hand.” He set down his cup and pinched the bridge of his nose as though battling a headache, his face haggard. “I look forward to this crisis being behind us. There are days her voice is so clear, I’m tempted to return to the harbor to release her myself. I can’t help but fear the sway she still holds over me. But you’ve shown an impressive resistance to her spell, Gabriel. I have faith that you can see this through.”
Gabe could offer no such words of reassurance. If Ligeia’s music had clung to the insides of his head in that way, he doubted he’d want to go up to her to ask how she was doing after all these years. So he would bundle up once more, armed with the weapons John supplied, and hope he got the siren before she got him.
If I don’t, I’ll do what I have to do. Suck it up. Take one for the team.
Her memories might drive him mad if he didn’t strap them down quickly enough, but what was his mind compared to the lives of so many people?
A sharp pain pierced the space behind his left eye, and he took a sip of coffee to distract himself.
John spun his ring around his finger. “I will offer one thing more. If you change your mind or fail to kill Ligeia, I ask that you capture the siren and bring her to me. I will ensure she is kept in a proper prison, one that will provide comfort and sustenance and that will keep her safe even as we keep everyone else safe from her. I promise I will take it upon myself to make sure she never troubles New Haven again.” He stared into the center of Gabe’s sunglasses. “She has already been left alone to play long enough. If you do not wish me take care of this myself, then one way or another, you will fill those chains within the next three days. Do you agree?”
The sharp point of Allegra’s elbow found its way between Gabe’s ribs again, reminding him of her lecture on taking precautions.
He balanced on the brink of a decision. His dream that morning returned to him — how he had stood on the threshold of his house as it tipped toward the water and tried to get to safety before it fell.
In the dream, the safety of the house was an illusion. Even if he’d managed to get inside and close the door, the house would still have fallen into the water, and he wouldn’t have been able to swim free.
But where did the trap lie in this case? In his previous conviction that he could handle the siren on his own, or in this deal that John proposed?
As though he saw the thoughts mulling through Gabe’s mind, the corners of John’s lips curled upward. “At what cost would you refuse me, Mr. Mulligan? If you catch her instead of kill her, you cannot keep her in the basement of your decrepit apartment building and hope the superintendent doesn’t find her. And if there are any more deaths, the pile of bodies on your conscience will be too big for you to ever work off.”
The words came at Gabe as a physical attack, reminding him of every bad decision he’d ever made and every person who’d been hurt because of it. He thought about the seconds of uncontrolled temper that had left childhood friends frozen for eternity in friendly, sun-filled parks.
A dark train of doubts filled his mind from the base of his skull until his entire head pounded with them. If I mess this up, the whole town will suffer. One mistake. One instant of bad timing, and I’ll be dead, she’ll be free, and so many more people will die before she’s stopped.
He couldn’t take the risk of doing this alone. And why should he, when here was a man who had already dealt with her once and was offering to step up and do it again? With John, he at least stood a chance.
Before he spoke, Gabe ran through the deal in his mind. Nothing popped out at him as a warning. Nothing in the wording forced him to give anything up. He and John were after the same end goal, and if getting John’s help meant ridding the town of the siren, he was all for it.
He shifted away from Allegra’s elbow and raised his chin, a swell of certainty and confidence rising within him. “You help me catch her, and within the next three days I hand her over if I can’t kill her. I think we have a deal, Mr. Deverill.”
14
The moment the words were out of Gabe’s mouth, the atmosphere in the room shifted. John relaxed, and his confident smile returned in a flash of white teeth. Allegra emitted a low growl that might have been a groan, but she covered it beneath a soft smile as she reached for her coffee cup. She took a long sip, and her gaze returned to the depths of the fire.
“That comes as a great relief to me,” said John. He set his cup down and reached for another shortbread cookie. “As I mentioned to you on our first meeting, it will set my conscience at ease to do better this time around. When will you return to the river?”
Gabe’s stomach gurgled, and the scrapes on his hands from his last visit to the
harbor flared in a sudden burn. “Soon,” he said. “I need to get a few things together, but it’ll probably be this evening.”
John nodded. “Good. My only suggestion is to be smart, Mr. Mulligan. You cannot overpower her, so you must outwit her if you want to catch her. David.”
He didn’t raise his voice for the summons, but the tall butler stepped into view, filling the doorway. Even though they were there as John’s guests, Gabe couldn’t help but feel trapped in the room while David blocked the exit.
“Please fetch the restraints from the basement, if you’d be so kind.”
David bowed his head and disappeared.
John looked to Gabe. “These restraints were crafted with the same magic as the chains that currently bind her, although an enhanced version. The spell works on contact, so as long as you have the opportunity to touch metal to skin, she’ll be weakened. Physically, at least. Her song will still carry its full potency, so be wary. Once she’s bound, it should prove no trouble to clamp the shackles, and then it will be a simple matter to bring her back to me. Or kill her.”
He tacked on the last part almost as an afterthought. Apparently the man already had an idea of how the scene would play out.
John rose and strode over to a wide walnut desk spread in front of the curio cabinets. With a fountain pen made of what appeared to be real gold, he scribbled something down on a piece of lavender paper and approached Gabe.
“This is my private number,” he said. “Once you’ve claimed her, call me, and I’ll be there within moments to take her off your hands. This whole enterprise should be resolved within the next twenty-four hours. That is a thought that can give us all a great deal of comfort.”
“It will be a great relief for the balance of this city to return to what it was,” Allegra agreed. She brushed her hair behind her ear and offered a bright smile that appeared to hold nothing but respect and support of the jinni’s prediction. Yet Gabe guessed that the thoughts lurking beneath her expression were far from peaceful, and he prepared himself for a lecture after they left.
When John remained standing, she nudged Gabe’s ankle with her foot, and he realized it was a silent indicator that they were dismissed. He stood and accepted John’s outstretched hand.
“I look forward to doing business with you, Mr. Mulligan. I’m confident we’ll have no trouble seeing this battle through.”
“That’d sure be nice,” Gabe said.
John bent over Allegra’s hand, and Gabe noticed the tightness around her eyes, although her smile remained in place.
The jinni escorted them to the foyer, where David returned as they reached the front door. Gabe accepted the chain and nearly dropped it when his hands went numb with a pins-and-needles sensation. A faint purple glow shimmered around the edges of the metal, and it warmed under his palms. He was surprised to find the chain so light and thin. Four shackles branched from the center of the chain, and his throat closed at the idea of snapping them around Ligeia’s wrists and ankles. He thought of the manacles she already wore, the thick chains dragging her down, and wondered how a chain this thin was supposed to do the trick this time.
John chuckled, and a suspicion trickled into Gabe’s mind that he was actually capable of reading their thoughts. John’s reassurance about the dogs and his secret smile when Allegra had gone quiet supported the theory. Allegra had shared what she knew about the jinn, but even she didn’t know how their magic worked. To be safe, he cleared his mind. The next time he and John met, he wouldn’t be so careless.
“Have faith in the spell,” said John. “It might not look like much, but it will do the task required.”
Gabe raised the chain in thanks, then he and Allegra stepped out onto the front porch.
As soon as David closed the door behind them, Allegra grabbed Gabe’s arm and squeezed. He expected her to pull him down the driveway, but she kept a measured pace, as though she suspected someone might be watching from the window.
“Take me home,” she said, and the chill in her voice froze Gabe’s blood more than the snow that swirled around them.
He waited until they reached the end of the street, then guided her behind a hedge. He drew the doorway low enough that anyone looking out the window wouldn’t see it and helped Allegra step into her apartment.
As soon as the rift closed, she turned on him and shoved him away from her. “How stupid can you be, Gabriel? You did exactly what I recommended you not do.”
“I know,” he said, calling after her as she stormed into her bedroom, “but I honestly didn’t see any other choice. Thanks, by the way, for telling Deverill about me. Really puts me at ease that, while I keep my mouth shut about your abilities, you’re willing to tell the whole world about mine.”
“Do not whine,” Allegra shot back, returning to the kitchen with Gabe’s T-shirt and sweater in her hands. She thrust them at his chest, then crossed her arms. “If you had not been so distracted with John’s money and wealth, you might have noticed he was slipping into our minds. I noted the surprise on his face when the thought occurred to me about you turning her to stone and realized what he was doing. If I did not offer it as an alternative then, he would have known I was withholding something.”
Gabe bit down on any extra accusations, seeing the wisdom of her move, but he still didn’t appreciate her questioning his own play.
“You mentioned it, and I got out of it. We’ll call that one even. But even taking my ability off the table, we weren’t left with a lot of choices. You were there. You heard our options.”
“I heard him manipulating you, making you believe there were no better alternatives. I realize you do not have much experience with the opposite sex, but did you ever think that when I suggested you speak with Ligeia to resolve some of your questions, I was being serious? A risk, yes, but with so many possible benefits.”
A tendril of anger, as insubstantial as smoke, drifted up inside Gabe. “You don’t think I tried? I gave her a chance to talk to me and she attacked me. Forgive me if I don’t feel in much of a rush to do it again.”
Allegra rolled her eyes. “Of course she attacked you. You seek her out on the ice with a mind to kill her, how do you expect her to react? She has been trapped under the water for two centuries, Gabriel. Use your head. Consider the possibility that you might have to tuck your masculinity between your legs for a few moments to assure her you do not mean her harm.”
“I didn’t hear you make that suggestion while we were bouncing ideas around,” he shot back. A ribbon of shame wrapped around his chest as he realized she was right. He’d offered to speak with Ligeia, but had been poised for a fight, ready for her not to listen when he’d asked her to leave the men alone. Now it likely didn’t matter. Considering how he’d left things with the siren, he suspected she would attempt to kill him on sight the next time he came calling.
Allegra’s brown eyes burned gold. “You think he would not have found a way to twist your mind against my words? I told you to be on your guard and now you’ve walked right into what he wants.”
“I don’t understand. We both want to catch this woman. I’ll do my best to finish this, but if I can’t, at least in John’s hands we can be sure she won’t hurt anyone else. And he did promise to be humane.”
“A comfortable prison is still a prison,” she retorted, “and I would argue that John did not care much for being humane on their last encounter. Can you not see what he’s done? His suggestion of sending her to Tartarus only made the option he preferred sound less galling.” She groaned and tugged on her hair. “To think of that poor creature returning to another prison indefinitely. How can you even consider it?”
“I don’t see you volunteering to have a chat with her. Sitting down over cocktails and discussing the state of the world,” he said. He stretched the chain toward her, and Allegra recoiled.
“You know as well as I do that she could turn her song on me if she wanted. Even if I retaliated with a lure of my own, I do not have her years of
resentment boiling in my blood.” She turned away. “Besides, I do not care to speak with her. One way or another now, she will be removed from my feeding ground, and I refuse to be dragged deeper into your affairs when I see no direct benefit.”
“So what do you suggest?” Gabe asked. He shoved his hand through his hair and gave the ends a tug. “That I invite her to tea?”
“Of course not, Gabriel. Do not try my patience. I would have suggested that you should end her life however you could if you could not successfully speak with her. I would have suggested that you not leave her to suffer at someone else’s hand, no matter what he offered you. But now you’ve entered into a deal with John Deverill, and I do not know what the consequences will be if you do not follow through.”
The longer she spoke, the more her accent came through her speech, the smooth tones highlighting her anger.
“No consequences were mentioned,” he reminded her. “I didn’t guarantee that I would succeed in catching her, or that I wouldn’t kill her on the spot — and I still intend to do exactly that. I only agreed to hand her over if I couldn’t kill her, and to pass the whole thing off to him if I couldn’t do either. That’s the bargain I struck, no matter how he tries to twist it around later.”
Allegra laughed, the sound dry and bitter. “That was not his wording, and I suggest you analyze his exact meaning if you do not want to be taken unaware. I do not know if you are naive or an optimist, but give it time. If you do not fulfill your end of the bargain, you will find out just what you offered him.”
She peeled off her coat and hung it on the coat rack, then glared down at her outfit.
“I feel I might have to burn what I wore today,” she grumbled. “That man’s manipulations are still sliding against my skin as though he were running his hands over me.”
She went to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, twisted open the cap, and poured it into a glass. Each move was slow and deliberate. She turned her back to Gabe, and her arms trembled as she leaned on the counter. As strong and powerful as she was, the jinni had left her shaken.
